Chapter 21

Not long after, the girl who had been mocked in the livestream received another message: "I asked my parents, and the owner of that house next door is surnamed Gu, not Cen. Besides, I heard that family has barely lived there; the house has been sitting empty for years."

Upon receiving her friend’s reply, the girl immediately typed back with indignation: "I knew it! This Cen Meng must have sneaked into someone else's house to show off! I’m going to expose her!"

The girl came from a wealthy background and had never suffered any grievances since childhood. She had originally planned to go shopping with friends at noon today, but feeling bored in the morning, she had randomly clicked on a livestream to pass the time. Little did she know that simply posting a comment would lead to being mocked by the star's fans. Naturally, she wasn’t about to swallow this insult.

After replying to her friend, the girl immediately opened a social media platform and began drafting a post:

"I have a scoop! The luxury mansion that celebrity Cen Meng lives in isn't even hers! My friend is the owner of the house at Jinshui Bay, and she can testify that the owner of that villa is surnamed Gu—it’s definitely not Cen Meng or her parents!"

...

Back in Cen Meng’s livestream, the fans remained immersed in their idol's aura, convinced that Cen Meng was a young lady from a prestigious family. Meanwhile, various marketing accounts began to stir.

"Urban Beauty Jiajia": An elegant lady from a distinguished family vs. a nouveau riche celebrity kid who loves to show off? In a recently viral family variety show, the gap between the two mothers' ways of raising their daughters is evident—

"Entertainment Seventeen Sister": A deep dive into the three female guests of "Mom": one is low-key and cultured, another comes from a family of performers, and the last one has a great hand but played it terribly...

Several marketing posts appeared, all comparing the families of Cen Meng and Ning Yuxuan. The first blogger used screenshots from the first episode, contrasting the luxury goods Ning Fei gave her daughter with the books Cen Meng’s mother gifted her, analyzing the two mothers' educational styles. The post ran for several hundred words, criticizing Ning Fei’s methods while praising the way Cen Meng’s parents raised her. It ended by questioning the audience: "What has happened to this era? Why is the gentle and low-key Cen Meng not loved, while the superficial and money-worshipping Ning Fei and Ning Yuxuan are so highly praised by netizens?"

The second post compared animated clips of Cen Meng, Jiang Ning'an, and Ning Yuxuan from various dramas. Cen Meng had previously appeared in several idol dramas, and her acting was passable; combined with her pure appearance, the audience's feedback was quite good. Jiang Ning'an’s performance in the recently hit "Cai Xin Zhuan" was widely acclaimed. Only Ning Yuxuan had made a cameo a year ago in a flop drama, with acting that was truly painful to watch. The marketing account concluded: Cen Meng received a good family education from childhood and graduated from a domestic performing arts academy, so her understanding of characters is spot-on. Jiang Ning'an studied drama at a prestigious overseas university and inherited the true skills of her actress mother, making her acting quite impressive. Ning Yuxuan, however, is unmotivated, refuses to study acting, and only wants to rely on her mother’s fame to be a variety show regular.

Shortly after these posts went live, internet trolls and Cen Meng’s fans swarmed in.

"You don't know until you compare; looking at it this way, Ning Yuxuan is not even in the same league as the other two! She’s just a variety show regular famous for marketing!"

"Cen Meng and Jiang Ning'an are both professionally trained; who knows what backwater school Ning Yuxuan graduated from? That acting is truly awful."

"Don't overestimate these celebrity kids. They probably haven't even read a book in years, let alone attended college. They just count on having a good mother to coast through life."

Seeing the public opinion turn in favor of Cen Meng again, her fans finally stood tall. But mocking Ning Yuxuan in the comments section of marketing accounts wasn't enough to satisfy them. The fans in their group chat began to discuss excitedly—

"Love Cen Meng Forever": "Group leader, the public opinion outside is looking great! Should we organize a group outing to flood Ning Yuxuan’s livestream?"

"Mengmeng’s Little Cake": "Yeah, our Mengmeng was abused so badly in that livestream earlier; shouldn't we let Ning Yuxuan experience the feeling of being scolded too?"

"Cen Meng’s Exclusive Cat": "Agreed! I’ve already prepared ten accounts; I’m not afraid of being banned by the livestream moderators!"

...

Those days, as Cen Meng’s fans, they had been treated like pariahs online, and every time they spoke, they were branded as "thief fans" or "mistress fans." Now that there was finally a sign of a comeback, everyone’s enthusiasm was at an all-time high.

After the fans called out in the group for a while, the group leader finally appeared.

"Meng Xiao Mengmeng": "I’ve heard everyone’s voices. I have good news: I heard from a friend interning at the production crew that there will be an interactive segment in the livestream this afternoon."

"Meng Xiao Mengmeng": "When the time comes, everyone in our group will go to Ning Yuxuan’s livestream to flood the chat and get back all the grievances we’ve suffered these past few days!"

...

At Ning Fei’s house, Ning Yuxuan and Ning Fei had finally sorted all one thousand puzzle pieces by color. A rustling sound came from the villa entrance; it was Ning Shiyue returning after finishing his morning work. He had already informed the production team that he would arrive before noon to participate in the recording. The staff had prepared early and set up a fixed camera at the villa entrance.

As soon as Ning Shiyue stepped inside, his expression turned subtle. The living room speakers were playing one of his singles at a rather high volume. After that talent show ended, Ning Shiyue was one of the two most popular contestants, and his agency had immediately struck while the iron was hot by helping him release several personal singles. The song playing in the living room was a lyrical ballad, filled with the sincere emotions of a teenage boy expressing his secret admiration for a girl. The melody was simple but catchy, and the lyrics were easy to remember; once released, it became a hit on short-video platforms, and many could hum the chorus. But privately, Ning Shiyue actually found the lyrics a bit too mushy. Hearing his mother and sister playing the song at such a high volume in the living room, he felt goosebumps rising.

Ning Shiyue rushed to the speakers in three strides and turned the volume knob to mute.

With him making such a scene, Ning Yuxuan and Ning Fei turned their heads in unison to look at him.

Ning Shiyue stared at Ning Yuxuan: "We’re here to record a show, why are you playing my song?" He didn't even have to guess to know that playing his song at this moment must have been Ning Yuxuan’s idea, just like how she had previously dragged Ning Fei to watch his dramas.

Hearing this, Ning Yuxuan stood up slowly and stretched her arms. Then, she looked at Ning Shiyue with an expression of pure sincerity: "Hmm? Because doing puzzles in silence is a bit too dull, so I played some BGM to liven up the atmosphere."

Ning Shiyue continued to glare at Ning Yuxuan: "Then just play any fast-paced song, why did you have to choose this one?"

Ning Yuxuan’s eyes curved into a smile: "Because this one sounds good."

Ning Shiyue: "..."

(Hahaha, Ning Shiyue definitely didn't expect Ning Yuxuan’s next sentence to be a compliment, leaving him speechless.)

(Learned it: when arguing, suddenly complimenting the other person can have unexpected results.)

(Ning Shiyue is so cute! He doesn't know how to continue the argument after being praised by his sister, haha.)

Ning Yuxuan turned to look at Ning Fei: "And Mom said she likes this song of yours the most! Right?"

Ning Fei nodded with a smile: "Xiao Yue sang this song with such emotion."

The two of them played off each other, leaving Ning Shiyue even more speechless.

Ning Yuxuan persisted: "Besides, the melody of this song is quite easy to remember. I’ve only listened to it twice and I can already sing it—"

As she spoke, she began to hum the first line of the chorus.

When Ning Shiyue heard that Ning Yuxuan was going to sing his song, he had felt a flicker of expectation. Although he always said he didn't want Ning Yuxuan to watch his dramas or listen to his songs, deep down he still hoped for her approval of his career. Ning Yuxuan had never cared about these things before, and this was the first time she had taken the initiative to say she would sing his song.

However, the moment Ning Yuxuan sang a line, Ning Shiyue’s expression changed. How could he have forgotten? His sister had been tone-deaf since childhood.

When she was in junior high, Ning Yuxuan signed up for a singing interest class. After the first lesson, she came back to Ning Fei in tears, saying that after she finished singing, all her classmates were laughing at her. Ning Fei herself wasn't particularly good at singing, so she asked her son, Ning Shiyue—who had been a "cultural leader" in his class since he was young—to help his sister practice.

The two days Ning Shiyue spent teaching Ning Yuxuan to sing were the first time the young boy understood what "frustration" felt like. No matter how he taught her, Ning Yuxuan’s habit of singing off-key couldn't be corrected, and it even got worse. Fortunately, Ning Yuxuan had a short attention span for everything, and her enthusiasm for singing soon faded, so she never asked him to teach her again.

Listening to Ning Yuxuan singing his single with such conviction, the memories of being dominated by her voice all came rushing back to Ning Shiyue.

Fortunately, Ning Yuxuan stopped after only a few lines and asked Ning Shiyue, "How about it? How did I do?"

Ning Shiyue: "..."

He hesitated: "The lyrics were all correct..."

But not a single word was on key.

(Hahaha, I can see Ning Shiyue trying so hard to compliment her, but the singing is just too bad to praise.)

(Truly, if it weren't for the lyrics being right, I wouldn't have even known Ning Yuxuan was singing the same song.)

Ning Yuxuan looked at Ning Shiyue with feigned disappointment: "Just the lyrics were right? Did I not sing it well?"

Looking at Ning Yuxuan’s pitiful and expectant eyes, Ning Shiyue couldn't help but remember a long time ago, when Ning Yuxuan would secretly hide in her room and cry after being mocked for her singing.

Ning Shiyue gritted his teeth: "It sounded good."

Ning Yuxuan blinked: "Really?"

Ning Shiyue was silent for a moment, then nodded as if resigning himself to his fate: "It sounded good!"

The live comments were already going crazy with laughter.

(Hahaha, Ning Shiyue, you have your moments too. I almost forgot how blunt he can be on other shows.)

(This is definitely the most insincere thing Ning Shiyue has ever said since he started appearing on shows.)

(Can't help it, the one asking isn't just anyone—it's his own sister!)

The two stared at each other for a few seconds. Just as Ning Shiyue, feeling guilty, was about to change the subject, Ning Yuxuan suddenly burst into a laugh and then couldn't stop.

"Hahahahaha, Ning Shiyue—" Ning Yuxuan laughed until she was out of breath, "You really should look in the mirror and see how strained your expression is right now. Anyone who didn't know would think you’d just swallowed a fly."