“What!?”
The senior was shocked to the core. “I had the honor of being mentored by Mo Nasha a few years ago and have been very grateful for it. If I have the chance, I hope I can thank her personally.”
Zhen Shanmei remained elegant and courteous. “I will ask my mum and get back to you.”
“Sure.”
Li Haojie was so utterly stunned that he was rendered speechless. Then, he heard Ning Meng ask, “Zhen Shanmei, how were you able to sing without any in-ear monitors?”
He listened as Zhen Shanmei explained. “My mum loves to sing so my dad built a concert hall for her. However, my mum’s not in the pink of health, so she would only sing occasionally. I would usually follow her to these sessions and she would show me the ropes.”
‘It cannot be… It just cannot be!’
Li Haojie was about to go mad and looked at Zhen Shanmei. He asked furiously, “Why did you lie to me?!”
Zhen Shanmei was in the middle of having a conversation with Ning Meng and did not expect him to interrupt. She looked at him in astonishment. Amidst the streaks of lights while in the darkness, Li Haojie seemed to show that he had just lost a battle. Looking at the man she had once loved turned into this mess, the resentment in her heart melted away. She decided to let go of her vengefulness for now.
She could even calmly reply to him. “What lies?”
Her faint soft tone showed that she was quite indifferent about it. Li Haojie anxiously stared at Zhen Shanmei. “You lied to me that you couldn’t sing.”
Zhen Shanmei closed her eyes halfway and softly answered. “When I was with you, I could never sing.”
Li Haojie furrowed his brows. “Why?”
Zhen Shanmei touched her ear which had been scraped earlier and answered him warmly. “I’m the only daughter of the Zhen family, so my dad gave me two options. One, I could be with you, but I would never be allowed to sing again. Instead, I would need to inherit the company. Two, I could choose the singing career, but I would have to find someone more qualified as my partner for life,”
It was as if she was talking about someone else as she was saying all of these things. “Between you and my dreams, I once chose you.”
She then chuckled. “Thank you for choosing not to marry me. I can now have a fresh start.”
Li Haojie was in a daze as he looked at Zhen Shanmei.
Perhaps it was because she had gone through many twists and turns in life that she had now become a butterfly who had broken out from her cocoon. She would only fly higher than before from now on and turn into a new star. Li Haojie felt as though a piece of his heart was missing, but he quickly regained his composure.
‘Is she not just another woman?’
Even if he had lost his chance now, so what? He had the talent, the passion. He would one day let Zhen Shanmei look up to him again!
As he thought to this point, Li Haojie staggered off toward the backstage. Since he had left, his seat was empty, and so, Zhen Shanmei sat next to Ning Meng to listen to the next song. Ning Meng leaned toward Zhen Shanmei’s ear and asked, “If Li Haojie were to come back to you, would you forgive him?”
Zhen Shanmei enlarged her eyes. “Was the song I just sang that bad or was there not enough little fresh meat[1] around? How could I go back to the past?”
Ning Meng felt reassured upon hearing this. The next few groups performed quite well. When the last group was performing halfway, Ning Meng laughed. “Su Tiantian has really hit rock bottom this time. She will surely be eliminated.”
Zhen Shanmei nodded her head and said a few words.
Ning Men could not hear her and asked, “What?”
Zhen Shanmei put her hands together into the shape of a loudspeaker and shouted out at Ning Meng, “I said, since I’m single again and your husband has cheated on you, let’s go wild tonight!!”
As soon as Ning Meng heard this, she felt a cold stream of air build up within her, and her body went stiff.
Had she forgotten something?
[1] 小鲜肉 describes handsome and young men.