[Camellia: Yuzu, have you heard? Have you heard?]
[Camellia: A few hours ago, over at the Star of Art, a group of moon sugar junkies who were high as kites caused a massive scene in the city. Is that for real?]
Seeing the chat message pop up, Xu Xiaoyou, who was still in her office contacting various investors and radio station managers to handle the public relations crisis, looked up.
[Yuzu: It was alright. The tuners have mostly handled it by now.]
[Camellia: So it really happened?]
In Chichutian, millions of kilometers away from the Star of Art, a red-haired girl on the other side of the curtain flashed a mischievous smile. Her interest piqued, she lay prone across the foot of her soft, large bed, hugging a duke rabbit plushie. Her deep red eyes reflected the chat logs on the curtain.
For the past half-month, their chat logs spanned hundreds of pages, so many she couldn't see the end in one glance. The girl had accidentally added this netizen named Yuzu, only to find that they got along exceptionally well. It was as if the other person could guess exactly what she was thinking, always able to talk about topics she liked.
From various animations to live-action adaptations, and even ancient single-player games—when she learned that the other person had actually played Zerg Star Ocean, a game from before the New Era, she was completely stunned. She almost thought the other person was an angel sent by heaven specifically to heal her lonely soul.
Ever since consciousness immersion equipment came out, almost no one was willing to experience the kind of games found only on handhelds or even obsolete gaming consoles. Compared to personally immersing oneself in a game to experience it from a first-person perspective, controlling a game through joysticks and buttons felt like a primitive relic, as outdated as it could get.
Yet, she just happened to love the feeling of controlling characters in a game, watching them slowly transform, grow, obtain equipment to become stronger, and finally defeat the demon king. It provided an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
For a long time in the past, she had spent her days playing these types of single-player games alone. She would play that copy of Zerg Star Ocean—which had shut down its servers hundreds of years ago and only supported local area networks—challenging the highest-difficulty AI over and over again.
As a result, she had completely opened her long-closed heart, treating this mysterious netizen millions of kilometers away at the Star of Art as a confidant.
The eerie moonlight from outside shone in, illuminating the small room. There was an exquisite princess bed, with dolls and plushies packed tightly into the corners, and various anime posters plastered on the walls. The girl’s gently swaying legs were fair and slender, tracing light arcs in the air. Her restless feet revealed her current relaxed mood.
[Camellia: They all trickled in from Gaotianyun. However, the new family head of the Chi family is about to implement a total ban on the circulation of moon sugar.]
[Yuzu: You know this so clearly?]
The girl’s brows curved with pride.
[Camellia: Of course. Do you even know who I am? It’d scare you to death if I told you.]
Just as the girl was planning to share the interesting things she had seen during the day with the netizen named Yuzu as usual, there was a gentle knock on the door.
"Little family head, it is time to rest."
The door was pushed open softly, and a kind, elderly woman walked in slowly.
The girl sat by the window wearing a thin camisole dress, her skin dazzlingly white. The soft strands of hair by her earlobes were lifted by a light breeze. She was as quiet as a porcelain doll, with fragmented moonlight spilling through the curtained window and onto her averted eyes.
Upon seeing the old woman enter, a smile appeared on the girl's tranquil face. The light of a deep lake flickered in her eyes, and her dark red hair slid off her shoulder; this camellia flower, not at all flashy, was quietly blooming.
The old woman softly repeated her previous words. In her impression, the little family head was always like this—sitting alone by the window, often for an entire afternoon. Her personality was steady in a way that didn't match girls of her age, which made one's heart ache for her.
"Mhm, I understand," she said in a soft, thin voice.
After chatting for a few more lines and noticing that Camellia had gone offline, Xu Xiaoyou didn't pay it much mind. Her attention returned to her career.
Yesterday's incident had pushed the entertainment company directly into the eye of the storm. The spearhead of public opinion on the curtain had successfully shifted toward Rongsen Media and Lin Fan. The discussions regarding the 'Starry Daughter' had visibly diminished.
With the public opinion front completely collapsing, everyone was kicking them while they were down. Individual media outlets on various major traffic platforms stood up one after another to criticize and discuss the behavior of Rongsen Media. However, the larger city radio stations and major official media outlets remained silent, seemingly still in a wait-and-see mode.
What surprised her was that the girl named Ai chose this moment to stand up and speak for Tang Xin.
In the video, the light-pink-haired girl's eyes were like falling cherry blossoms. Dressed in a vibrant idol skirt, she finished a public performance and openly admitted to the audience the fact that she had been an underground idol. She also admitted that those nasty words were spoken by her, even performing a segment on the spot.
Amidst a barrage of verbal abuse from below the stage, Ai summoned her courage. Instead of leaving under the escort of the staff, she ducked out from under their arms. Her shouts echoed across the empty stage.
"I don't know what purpose the person who edited that video and posted it online had, but none of those things have anything to do with Tang Xin!"
"She is a wonderful person, so kind it makes people want to bully her! She has kept her integrity from start to finish, she never said those words in the band, she didn't actually hit me in the end, and she certainly never let others touch her like the internet says!"
After finishing her shout, Ai jumped up as if her anger had been building for a long time. Clasping her hands together, she slammed the guitar in her hand violently onto the stage. The guitar strings snapped and flew apart as the entire instrument shattered into countless wooden shards and splinters that flew toward the audience. This caused a stir among the crowd; the previously noisy scene fell silent instantly.
"Long-time fans who are familiar with our Gloomy Girls Band know that in the past, Tang Xin was a complete nobody on stage. No one noticed her at all. Every time a concert ended, she would disappear alone and no one would know, let alone her coming into contact with any fans."
After venting her frustration, Ai's shoulders were trembling uncontrollably. Her long, light-pink hair fell forward, obscuring her face and hiding her expression.
She knew, of course, what saying these words in public meant. This would very likely be her last concert. From now on, she would bid farewell to the stage forever, and she might even have to pay Chenguang Media a massive penalty for breach of contract.
But she couldn't remain a silent bystander. She couldn't watch as the girl who had held her hand while burning with a fever, murmuring her hope to sparkle, was buried like this.
Who could blame her for having such an incorrigible personality?
"I'm sorry, Tang Xin. I'm the one who dragged you into this. I've been reflecting properly since that day. I'm also very grateful that you didn't actually leave me with a swollen face to go on stage looking hideous and being laughed at by everyone," Ai muttered to herself.
"You were the one who gave me the chance to be born anew."
Ai looked up, her eyes red as she shouted with all her might:
"In the past, the only girl in the Gloomy Girls Band who would be noticed was me! Those old fat slobs only liked me, the energetic girl! Even if there was filth, it would never have reached them!"
"I am the one who let you down! I am the one who let everyone in the band down!"
"If you want to curse someone, then come and curse me!"
Rate on N.U.
