A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Xia Yu didn’t pinch the female fan at all, that was a false accusation. But she couldn’t say anything to refute it.

She was clever and knew that something was amiss. She was afraid that the female fan had come prepared, so she lowered her voice and asked, “Who sent you here?”

That female fan gave her an expression that read “I have no idea what you are talking about,” before stammering out more apologies and running offstage in tears with her face in her hands.

Xia Yu was left onstage alone, utterly embarrassed.

“I…” She wanted to open her mouth and say something.

“Apologize! Apologize!”

“Shameless woman! Get off the stage!”

“Get off! Get off!”

Bottles, half-eaten bread, and all kinds of things flew toward the stage.

Xia Yu took a few steps back weakly as she bit her lips, close to tears. She recalled another incident a while back, where similarly, rubbish was thrown at her onstage. That time, she was also battling Ye Xingling, and it was revealed that she had falsely accused Ye Xingling and slapped a newbie. That night the angered crowd had booed her off the stage.

Today… it was Ye Xingling again!

Xia Yu felt that she was completely incompatible with that b*tch and suddenly came to a realization. That stammering female fan must be someone that was sent by Ye Xingling!

She glared daggers at the person on the other end of the stage.

Xia Ling stared back at Xia Yu’s scary expression, before smiling and saying into the microphone, “So you were lip-synching… what a surprise.” However, her voice did not reveal a tinge of surprise at all. “I pity all those that battled you before me. They lost for no reason at all.” Her last sentence was not only to belittle Xia Yu but genuinely feeling for the other singers before her. If they had not been treated so unfairly, perhaps they could have beaten Xia Yu.

Hearing her words, the audience and fans got riled up again. “Exactly! Our Wei Wei did not deserve to lose! Xia Yu, you don’t deserve to even battle with her!”

“Our Jiao Jiao sang so well! How could she have lost to a piece of rubbish like you! You totally cheated!”

“Apologize to out Fang Huatian! Apologize!”

“Our Sha Sha is tons better than you!”

There were many die-hard fans of the singers in the recording venue for the head-to-head battles, especially here to support their respective idols. They were feeling slightly disappointed in seeing their idols lose to Xia Yu earlier, but they had not expected that Xia Yu had lip-synched. They were completely indignant for their idols.

It wasn’t the first time that Xia Yu had encountered such an angry crowd. Since the last time that she was booed offstage and had rubbish thrown at her, she had thought hard about how to deal with such a situation. Now, tears streaming down her face as she choked. “I’m so… so… sorry everyone… I didn’t mean to lip-synch… boohooo…”

Hearing her cries, the murmurings offstage became softer, before they were indignant again. “What are you crying about?! You hypocrite!”

“Exactly… you only know how to act all pitiful!”

“I’m not going to be taken in by your poor little girl act!”

“You lip-synched! You rubbish!”

“Rubbish!”

Xia Yu’s expression became even more pitiful, but she felt wronged in her heart. “Actually, I only lip-synched for this session… I was singing live all the time before this…”

After hearing her words, Xia Ling felt an uneasiness rise up within her. No… Xia Yu was not going to be so shameless, was she? Under such circumstances, shouldn’t she be so embarrassed that she would run away? Did she already think of a way to reduce the damage to the minimum? The sessions prior to this were over, and there was no way to prove what she said was wrong. Even if there were audio and video recordings, not everyone was as professional as Wei Shaoyin, Feng Kun and her, who could discern the problems in the singing.

Xia Yu continued to deny her lip-synching.

Some in the audience started to shout at her for trying to wriggle her way out of it.

Xia Yu pretended not to hear anything as she continued her act of crying and explained herself. “When I came to participate in this head-to-head competition today, I really wanted to pit my skills against the other singers and was ready to walk away beaten in the middle. I did not expect myself to be here from start to finish.”

Xia Ling laughed silently to herself as she listened from the side. What a liar… Xia Yu had clearly decided from the beginning to stay onstage from start to finish! That was the only way that she could accumulate popularity in a short amount of time! It would propel her to fame!

Xia Ling shifted into a more comfortable standing position to listen to Xia Yu’s tall story.

Xia Yu continued, “However, I didn’t expect myself to have such great luck today. All the other singers were going easy on me…”

Boos rang out from all around again.

Xia Yu cried out loud and said, “I really didn’t expect to last to the end. Every one of you knows that I have a weak disposition, and standing here from the start is a big burden on my body. What’s more, I’ve been nursing a cold for a few days… I’m really tired… Ye Xingling sang well, but she only just got onstage, unlike me…”

Offstage, Li Lei’s expression darkened. This Xia Yu was still trying to pull Xiao Ling down at this point? She was speaking as if Xiao Ling had taken advantage of her! On the surface, it seemed true that Xiao Ling had the advantage since it was a knock-out battle and the one on stage for a longer time was at the losing end. However, Xia Yu was merely lip-synching the whole time! How was she taken advantage of?! On the other hand, Xiao Ling had only recently recovered from her abdomen injury and did not dare exert too much force in her singing yet.

“Take the live recording and send it for audio analysis.” Li Lei turned and instructed the researcher that was watching the show with him. “Compare it with her album recording. Send me the results when you have it.” He would find someone to publish it on the internet, using technology that could not be refuted to show that Xia Yu had indeed lip-synched for the entire time today.

The researcher respectfully accepted his instructions but thought to himself.Boss, you’re asking me to use the most cutting-edge technology to help your girl with such a trivial matter?

Feng Kun also felt that it was wasteful and an unnecessary expense, but he merely smiled. Hmm… he was like Xiao Ling’s big brother right now and felt more at ease knowing that there was a man so thoughtful of her.

When the results of the audio clip comparison were revealed, Xia Yu would have to face another round of insults from the netizens.

Now, he would just wait and see what she was going to do to shoot herself in the foot.

Feng Kun crossed his arms and continued to watch Xia Yu’s tearful performance.

Xia Yu’s face was covered with tears. “Ye Xingling’s condition was so much better than mine… and I was so tired… When she was singing, the staff came over and told me that they had arranged for me to lip-synch. I had initially rejected their proposal as I felt that it was unbecoming of a singer… boohoohoo…”

As she spoke, she continued to cry into the microphone. The audience quietened down as they listened to her tearful explanation.

“But the staff persuaded me for a long time, saying that it was to ensure that the competition was exciting enough, and it was my responsibility to the audience. After all, the album recording was done by me and was done when I was in the best condition. Letting you hear me sing when I’m so worn out is an imperfect experience for all of you… so it would be better to let you hear me at my best… I was really very tired today and caved after hearing the staff’s persuasive words… I didn’t think too much about it when I agreed…”

Her tears streamed down her face and fell to the floor like a string of beads.