“No way! Impossible! How could Xingyao be that pretty boy Gu Xingyi?!”

Smack!

Inside the artist apartment of Tianmei Entertainment in Jiangcheng, Liu Qian, like a madwoman, swept all the cosmetics off the table.

Everything crashed to the floor with a loud, shattering noise.

But even that wasn’t enough for her. As if venting her rage, she stomped on the makeup with her heels—trampling it along with a legal notice from the legal department of Yin Hai Entertainment.

She’d been exposed.

The original poster, realizing things were going south, immediately ratted her out as the mastermind.

Now, Tianmei Entertainment had ordered her to take a leave. But she knew it clearly—she was done for.

In just a few days, she’d be the one sitting in court.

Not far away, Yuan-jie watched the scene gleefully. As a seasoned fox, she had known all along—things would never stay simple.

Sure enough, the twist had been even more outrageous than she imagined.

Gu Xingyi? Xingyao?
Hah! What a deeply hidden identity!

Yuan-jie sighed.

Of course she knew Gu Xingyi. Back when the whole scandal with Xia Xiyao broke out two years ago, the company was in total chaos. Nobody had believed in that pretty boy back then.

But who would’ve thought—now that pretty boy had shown his fangs, turning into a full-grown tiger.

And Liu Qian was the first to suffer the backlash.

She had to admit—Xia Xiyao’s judgment was spot on.

“I’m not accepting this! Yuan-jie! Let me use your phone!”

Liu Qian was panting heavily, eyes bloodshot. Her own phone had already been smashed in her earlier tantrum.

Yuan-jie only gave her a sidelong glance, speaking coldly:
“What exactly do you refuse to accept? You can't sing better than her, you’re not as good-looking, and even when it comes to picking a man, you lose. And now you want to tell me you’re not accepting it?”

Liu Qian snapped her head around and stared at her.

Yuan-jie didn’t flinch and met her gaze head-on.

“What? Did I say anything wrong? Once you’re behind bars, our contract ends. You should already know what that means, right? 'Leave of absence'? They’ve already thrown you away.”

“Why?!”

Liu Qian gritted her teeth, still unable to believe the company had abandoned her.

“Why? You really need me to say it? The company needs cash cows. You’re worthless now, so they’re tossing you aside.”

“As someone who's been through it, let me give you a bit of advice. You’ve still got some looks. Once you get out, find a nice guy and settle down. Stop fighting.”

“Hah… ha ha. So should I thank you for that, my dear Yuan-jie?”

Liu Qian laughed bitterly. This was it—their masks were off.

“Well then, Yuan-jie, can I borrow your phone just once? Let’s call it closure between us.”

Yuan-jie eyed Liu Qian’s creepy grin and frowned again.

“What are you up to now?”

Liu Qian kept smiling, though there was something off about it—enough to send chills down Yuan-jie’s spine.

“What am I up to? If I go down, I’m taking her with me. Why does Xia Xiyao get everything? She used to outshine me in everything. I finally got rid of her, and now she pops up like a ghost! She’s an orphan—what makes her so much better than me in every way? Even the man she found completely crushed mine!”

“Heh heh… but now that I know Xingyao is Gu Xingyi, I’ve still got one last card to play. If I can’t destroy Xia Xiyao, then I’ll ruin Gu Xingyi. If I’m going down, I’m taking them with me.”

Yuan-jie narrowed her eyes and carefully examined Liu Qian’s crazed expression.

She’s lost it.

She wanted to say—what’s wrong with Xia Xiyao being an orphan? She never fought you for anything! Her character’s a thousand times better than yours!

But she couldn’t. Liu Qian was in full-blown meltdown. One wrong word could tip her over the edge.

“…Fine. You can use my phone. But remember—none of this has anything to do with me.”

“I know. Yuan-jie, are you scared? Haha!”

Liu Qian let out a chilling laugh.

“Don’t worry. What I’m about to do—it’s all real. Not a word of it is fake. Just watch, Yuan-jie. The show’s about to begin.”

Yuan-jie gave her a long look and finally handed over the phone.

Liu Qian took it and, under Yuan-jie’s gaze, dialed a number.

A man’s voice came through the receiver.

“Hello? Who’s this?”

“Hey, Gao Cheng. It’s me—Liu Qian.”

———

In the capital.

Gu Xingyi was currently eating lunch in the apartment, but something about the atmosphere around the dining table was… off today.

Xiao Nainai, of course, was the same as always—happily munching away.

Yun-jie had a gentle auntie-smile the whole time, slowly peeling lobster, dipping it in water, and feeding it to Nainai.

Tao Lele looked like she’d just been hit by lightning. She kept her head down, silently eating her rice, sneaking glances now and then at Xia Xiyao and Gu Xingyi sitting across from her.

Xia Xiyao’s beautiful face, all the way down to her neck, was bright red. She wanted nothing more than to bury her head in her bowl and disappear.

The reason for this awkwardness?

Gu Xingyi.

He was currently grinning like a fool, peeling lobster for Xia Xiyao and feeding it to her by hand with chopsticks.

Xia Xiyao was convinced he’d gone mad!

Ever since they got out of the car earlier, he hadn’t been acting normal!

But Gu Xingyi saw nothing wrong with his behavior.

After all, she had just admitted that he was her husband!

He’d never been in a relationship before. In his mind, the most intimate thing he could do was… personally feed her.

What? That’s normal, right?

Xia Xiyao finally couldn’t take everyone’s weird looks anymore. Her face felt like that lobster—completely cooked.

“Can you not do this? I can eat by myself.”

She lifted her gaze slightly, eyes filled with shyness as she peeked at Gu Xingyi. That hint of playful coyness in her eyes made Gu Xingyi freeze.

So this is what it feels like to be looked at by a shy girl… it’s amazing!

Gu Xingyi felt like he had reached enlightenment.

He used to think only fools fell in love.

Now he had just one thing to say:

It’s glorious.

“Alright then, you feed yourself.”

Gu Xingyi obediently stopped feeding his wife and turned to feed Xiao Nainai instead.

Xia Xiyao gave him a helpless glance.

Looks like this man wasn’t going to eat properly today. He never used to be like this!

But luckily, after the meal, Gu Xingyi finally returned to normal.

He plopped down on the sofa, deep in thought about what kind of song to write for the next round.

The time gap between each competition round was only three days. That had always been the harsh rule of StarSong Gathering.

They had breezed through the top-16 to top-8 stage, but the next match—from top 8 to top 4—wouldn’t be so easy.

As the weaker contestants got eliminated, the ones left were all serious contenders. Their singing skills were no worse than Xia Xiyao’s. The difference would come down to song choice and stage performance.

Creating a solid original song in just three days was difficult for anyone.

Even Gu Xingyi was starting to feel the pressure.

He racked his brain trying to figure out—what kind of song would guarantee a win?

Meanwhile, Xia Xiyao wasn’t idle either. She sat beside Gu Xingyi, spreading out some sheet music across the table.

She was working on a song she’d been trying to finish for days.

It had always felt like something was missing in the melody—but now, little by little, she was beginning to grasp the final piece.

Furrowing her brows, Xia Xiyao hummed softly to herself, chasing that elusive spark of inspiration.