I was exposed for adding my female boss to my group of female friends.

The two seats next to them were originally for Guo Xiaoran and Meng Xing, but they were taken. However, everyone present was someone they couldn't afford to offend, so they had no choice but to find seats elsewhere.

Helpless, Chen Ya had no choice but to sit down in the middle.

“In a moment, we’ll retreat through the back door,” Ruriko said, stepping over a seat to him. “I’ve already arranged for them to open a safe passage for us.”

"Ah."

"Hey, what you just told those audience members, was it true?" Ruriko asked.

Chen Ya smiled and said, "Guess?"

"Guess if I guess?"

Jiang Xinhai stretched out his fingers and gently pinched the flesh on Chen Ya's chin, gritting his teeth and sneering, "Gentlemen, could you please refrain from talking over my airspace?"

"Sorry sorry."

Gu Yuqing and Jiang Xinhai exchanged glances, each harboring their own secrets.

Su Xiaonuan sat in the back, opened the thermos with a "snap," took a sip of hot tea, and remained calm and composed.

Just as the male host finished his opening remarks, Jin Lan stepped onto the stage.

Chapter 494 The Road Has Widened

With her short leather skirt, golden pigtails, and long legs, Jinlan exuded youthful energy when she appeared on stage.

The crowd immediately erupted in screams from many fans of the blue outfit.

Jin Lan bit her lip, her eyes gradually becoming misty. The scene of colorful lights flickering and crowds thronging before her eyes was like a dream.

As the third-place winner, this is very likely her last time on this variety show and on this stage.

Even for her idol career, this may be the last time she is qualified to step onto such a big stage.

In just one month, Jin Lan went from being incredibly ambitious to gradually realizing the truth—she was not the chosen one.

When Chen Liang's identity was exposed, she appeared very calm and composed, but in fact, she was the one whose emotions fluctuated the most among all of them.

She had considered that Chen Liang's background might not be simple, but she hadn't imagined that his identity and background could be this complicated—

While others are sent down as extraordinary talents, he was one of those extraordinary individuals who came to him on their own initiative.

Jin Lan gradually realized that the only reason she was qualified to be on the show and play a supporting role to Qin Yunshang was because she was Jin Wei's niece.

The reason she was able to accumulate a large audience in the early stages was because her magical little hand drew the true form of a god in the first few rounds.

Holding the microphone, her hand trembled slightly. Her gaze swept across the audience, and in the middle of the second row, she saw Chen Liang staring straight at her. Her heart pounded violently as if a north wind had blown through it.

Oh no, I shouldn't call him Chen Liang, his name is... Chen Ya? Never mind, it doesn't matter. To her, he is Chen Liang.

She made up her mind that she would call him Chen Liang for the rest of her life.

Scenes from the past flashed through her mind: being scolded by Chen Liang until she cried, complaining to the teacher in charge, fawning over Jia Yi while showing disgust towards Chen Liang... all of them were memories that could be recorded in the annals of her life's dark history.

God has been very kind to her, so why didn't she cherish the opportunity God gave her back then?

Sniffing, Jin Lan gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with her fingertips without ruining her makeup, and said:

"Thank you everyone, thank you all for coming to my performance... I am Jin Lan."

"This is very likely my last performance. I still have so much to say. In case I lose the PK later and don't have another chance to say it, please bear with my willfulness and let me say everything on my mind in one go!"

The audience was taken aback by Jin Lan's heartfelt words, and after a moment of surprise, they politely responded with enthusiastic applause.

"Thank you!"

Jin Lan took a deep breath and said, "This may be the last time I am qualified to stand on such a stage. A little idol like me may disappear without a trace one day. I don't want everyone to remember me. I just want to sing this song well."

"I want to thank my good friend Chen Liang. I didn't understand you before and thought you were the fiercest person in the world. Now I know that you are the gentlest person in the world."

Jin Lan finished speaking with a flushed face, and a lot of jeers broke out in the audience. Chen Ya was caught off guard, and Jiang Xinhai kept nudging him with his elbow.

Having finally achieved a small victory over him, Jin Lan smiled faintly and suddenly raised her voice, shouting into the microphone:

"In the future, I hope you will still suddenly remember me! Remember my songs!"

After that, the drumbeats started, and Jinlan's performance began.

The live stream chat was still buzzing with discussion about JX's exposed identity when the long-dormant fans of the gold and blue team finally came out in full force.

Finally, we got a sweet moment, but it was the last one. The gold, blue, and pink comments on the screen conveyed a sense of tragedy:

"Go Jinlan! Be yourself! Sing what you want to sing!"

"Jin Lan must keep going!"

"This is the most completely ruined but also the least flawed of all the couples I've ever shipped, sob sob sob..."

……

Jiang Xinhai nudged Chen Ya's ribs with his elbow, leaned close to his ear, and whispered:

"Your girlfriend just thanked you!"

“What nonsense!” Chen Ya immediately said, “Being too jealous is not cute.”

Jiang Xinhai feigned surprise, covering her mouth with her hand, and said, "Oh dear, what's with the jealousy? Aren't you two the most popular couple of the year? I've seen it all online."

Chen Ya said, "Don't believe what you see online..."

"Enough already, you jealous person," Gu Yuqing leaned forward, her shirt open to reveal her ample bosom. "Chen Ya is just playing around with that person. He has no self-control at all. I can imagine how tiring it would be to date you."

As she spoke, she casually leaned on Chen Ya's shoulder.

Chen Ya explained in a low voice, "There wasn't even any pretense..."

Jiang Xinhai immediately interrupted him, retorting to Gu Yuqing:

"You've never dated me before, how would you know how it feels? Whether dating me is tiring or not, you should ask Chen Ya. After all, I'm his first love, so his evaluation is the most objective, right, darling?"

Gu Yuqing squinted and leaned closer: "Then tell me, how's it like dating this jealous person? Darling?"

Chen Ya felt completely overwhelmed. The scene, the atmosphere, especially with Jin Lan's song playing in the background—perhaps because his interaction with the two goddesses offstage was too arrogant, Jin Lan on stage kept cracking her voice. For someone with her singing ability to crack her voice, that was quite terrifying.

...Behind them, Xia You, with a lollipop in her mouth, gently shook her head and sighed:

"He brought this on himself."

For a fleeting moment, she felt a pang of pity for Chen Ya and felt a tiny bit sorry for him. However, when she thought that he had brought this upon himself, she no longer felt sorry for him.

Su Xiaonuan, standing nearby, covered her mouth and chuckled, "He looks like he's having a really tough time."

The girl said nonchalantly, "He deserves it, okay? Who told him to keep running away?"

"Would you like to share the burden with him?"

Faced with Su Xiaonuan's sudden question, the girl's lollipop fell out of her mouth, but fortunately it was caught by her shirt and didn't fall to the ground.

Xia You picked up the candy and plucked off the fuzz stuck to it one by one: "It's none of my business, why should I go and rescue him?"

Su Xiaonuan raised her eyebrows: "What, didn't you ever have feelings for him?"

Xia You's face suddenly turned as red as the lollipop in her hand: "What is that? I was just a kid and didn't know any better back then... Wait, how did you know?"

She turned to look at Su Xiaonuan, only to see her covering her mouth, her cheeks flushed with laughter, realizing that she might have been tricked again.

She turned her head, composed herself, and then frowned in confusion.

She always felt that Su Xiaonuan gave her a strange feeling, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was strange about her...

Although she had been watching everything with amusement, there was something off about her tone of voice and demeanor.

It was as if she knew everything.

Before anyone knew it, Jin Lan went down and Lu Chujiu went up on stage.

Chen Ya was so engrossed in battling Jiang Xinhai and Gu Yuqing that he was also constantly being attacked by Liulizi's gaze. He was too busy to pay attention to the performance of the two contestants on stage.

The first round of the competition has ended. Unexpectedly, perhaps because Jin Lan's pre-competition speech moved the audience, she actually won by a narrow margin against Lu Chujiu.

A little bit can make a huge difference. According to the rules, even if the difference is only one point, the gap in total points between the two players is extremely small.

Although Jin Lan's current score is not higher than Lu Chu Jiu's, the next round is the key to victory, and she still has a chance.

If Lu Chujiu loses in the next round, her score will be lower than the winner's. Whether she loses to Qin Yunshang or Jin Lan, she will ultimately finish third.

Unfortunately, according to the director team's previous arrangements, her next opponent could only be Qin Yunshang.

Therefore, her ranking was already predetermined to be third place the moment the scores were announced in the PK round.

Lu Chujiu wiped away her tears as she went on stage, picked up the microphone, her chest still heaving violently, unable to calm down for a long time.

The audience thought she was just overly emotional, but only the production team and other contestants who knew the inside story showed pity in their eyes.

What a pity.

With Lu Chujiu's strength, she could definitely have taken second place, but unfortunately, luck just wasn't on her side.

Lu Chujiu felt something stuck in her throat, and after swallowing for a long time, she managed to say with difficulty:

"Thank you... everyone, for coming to my concert. Thank you to every single audience member who brought my ticket here. It's the first time I've had so many people supporting me, and I'm truly happy."

"Next, it's my turn to choose an opponent. After careful consideration..."

"I know that if we're just considering rankings, I should choose Jin Lan as my opponent, but... now that I know Chen Liang is the famous JX..."

As she said this, she gave Chen Ya a rather resentful look.

Jiang Xinhai and Gu Yuqing, who were sitting next to Chen Ya, both noticed this subtle emotion.

"Oh? What, our great Casanova has even messed with this guy?" Jiang Xinhai started nudging Chen Ya's ribs with his elbow again.

Chen Ya's ribs were already aching from being pushed so hard. He felt that if this continued, he was at risk of stress fractures.

"That's nonsense. I have a clean relationship with all the contestants here."

"Really?" Gu Yuqing blinked. "I don't believe it at all."

Jiang Xinhai stretched out her slender, jade-like fingers and pressed them against his cheek, saying fiercely:

"Why did I specifically come on the show? It's to identify you on the spot and settle the score with you!"

“Yes, we should have done it a long time ago,” Gu Yuqing chimed in.

……

On stage, Lu Chujiu continued her speech, a right to speak that she had fought hard for:

"Now that I know Chen Liang is the famous JX, and that he has so many great songs prepared but hasn't had a chance to be released yet, I have no reason not to choose Yun Shang'er as my opponent. As his fan, I just want to listen to more of his songs, even if it's just one, even if the price is... my defeat."

After he finished speaking, a flurry of comments appeared in the live stream chat:

"A new perspective has emerged!"

"Wow, Chu Jiu really has high EQ, this will broaden her career path."

"I really think her personality is remarkable, and she will definitely achieve great things in the future."

……

Offstage, Meng Xing turned to Guo Xiaoran and asked:

"Was this a reason you and she had planned from the beginning?"

Guo Xiaoran's voice was a little bitter as she said, "No, she took it upon herself to do it. Look, she didn't even mention my name."

Meng Xing smiled, patted the back of his hand, and said, "I envy you. You have the opportunity to compete with JX's song. You are probably the first person in history to do so."

"He's probably the number one comedian."

Guo Xiaoran's voice was a little hoarse.

He is now disheartened, and his confidence has been completely shattered.

Thinking of the phrase "disheartened," he suddenly looked up and exclaimed in surprise:

Have you noticed something?

"what's up?"

Guo Xiaoran looked around, then slowly asked, "Where's Jia Yi?"

At this moment, Jia Yi was already walking outside the stadium in the chilly spring air.

"Ah!"