Chapter 51: Brimming with Fighting Spirit

Qin Xueyang was about to go mad! It wasn’t his fault; it was the world that was wrong! How arrogant was that! If this went on, this guy would be torn apart by this world sooner or later!

Seeing that Qin Xueyang was still unconvinced, stubborn and sullen, Zhang Qiyang tried to persuade her patiently, “You need to gradually correct your thinking. Don’t always assume that everything I do is wrong, and don’t think the path you’ve planned out for me is the only right one. My future is mine to control. All you need to do is fully support me.”

“So even when you make mistakes, I have to support you? Even when you repeatedly offend Sister Xuan, I’m supposed to back you up?” Qin Xueyang poured out her grievances to Zhang Qiyang. These were all things Chen Ke had blamed her for. She had to say something to Zhang Qiyang.

“When did I offend her?”

“In the livestream, you repeatedly mocked and ridiculed the Xuanai family. Isn’t that slapping Sister Xuan in the face?”

“Why are you so biased? You only see me mocking them, but didn’t notice that they’ve been cursing me for days! They’re allowed to curse me, and I’m not allowed to fight back? Since when is the world so one-sided?”

“Well… even so, you can’t be so extreme! Can’t you handle things a bit more smoothly?”

“Come on, big sister, I don’t have your kind of figure; I’m not smooth. Maybe when I eat as much and grow as round as you, I’ll learn to be smooth.”

Qin Xueyang was on the verge of collapse, pointing at Zhang Qiyang’s nose and shouting, “You actually insulted me!”

“I’m just being factual. If you’re not happy, then resign.”

Zhang Qiyang was getting annoyed by Qin Xueyang’s scolding. He pointed to the door and said, “The door isn’t locked. If you don’t want to work here, just leave. I won’t stop you. There are thousands who would kill for this job.”

“You…!” Qin Xueyang was trembling all over with anger. “If you force me to quit, I’ll play dead just to spite you!”

“Go ahead, I’m going to bed.”

“Zhang—Qi—yang!”

Qin Xueyang’s long wail stopped Zhang Qiyang in his tracks. He looked back at her. “What now, are you really quitting?”

“If you don’t apologize to Sister Xuan, I’ll quit! But after I quit, I’ll cling to you every day, annoy you, and eat you into poverty! Are you afraid?”

“I’m afraid of your nonsense! Stop putting on a show. Did Sister Coco call you and tell you to force me to apologize to Li Xuan?”

“She didn’t tell you to apologize to Li Xuan, but she can’t stand your behavior either! You’re always bullying Sister Xuan…”

“Who bullied her?” Zhang Qiyang interrupted, indignant. “Are you all blind? It’s her pack of rabid fans bullying me! How long have they been biting at me? Sure, you’re supposed to look at the owner before hitting the dog, but when the dogs are this vicious and have bitten me already, and their owner doesn’t even bother to intervene, why should I care about the owner? If I keep silent and let them bite me to death, would that make you happy? Was I born to be bullied and she born to be worshipped—is that what you mean?”

Qin Xueyang was forced a step back by Zhang Qiyang’s retort, but tried to reason with him. “Fan issues should be handled among fans. You shouldn’t get involved. Her fans cursed you, your fans fought back and cursed her, but did Sister Xuan say anything? She said nothing at all!”

Zhang Qiyang looked at Qin Xueyang as if she were an idiot. “Big sister, how many fans does she have versus me? She’s got eighty million! I might have a million, at best. You want my fans to take on her army? Aren’t you just setting me up to get bullied? Is that your plan?”

Qin Xueyang wanted to argue more, but Zhang Qiyang lost his patience. “Enough! Stop wasting my time. If you ever support someone going against me again, you won’t have to pack up—I’ll do it for you. Don’t wait for me to kick you out.”

With that, he stopped arguing, flung his hand, and went upstairs to his lavish bathroom to shower and sleep.

Left alone in the living room, Qin Xueyang sulked, picking at her fingers, then ate a hotpot instant noodle meal, a mix of bitterness and anger, before going to bed.

Lying in bed, she tossed and turned all night, still feeling there were things Zhang Qiyang had done wrong. But after he’d thrown his harshest words at her, she didn’t dare argue anymore. All she could do was silently clean up his messes from behind the scenes.

Early the next morning, she sent the press release “General Cannon Fights for the Audience” to Chen Ke, doing her best to salvage Zhang Qiyang’s image. The story sounded so fake that anyone with a brain would never believe it.

Fortunately, most of the audience rarely used their brains and were easily swayed by public opinion. As long as there was a channel to brainwash the masses on a large scale, it was possible to make them believe Zhang Qiyang wasn’t arrogant and reckless, but a hero fighting for the audience.

Unfortunately, with the trolls holding stronger sway over the conversation, this kind of image repair was pure fantasy—it was bound to fail.

When Chen Ke read Qin Xueyang’s press release, she nearly laughed herself to tears. In the past, she would have ordered the team to come up with a better piece to clean up Zhang Qiyang’s image. But this time, Chen Ke was truly disheartened and simply let the funny draft go out as it was. She no longer wanted to waste energy on Zhang Qiyang.

After this incident, Chen Ke was completely done with Zhang Qiyang. She was convinced this young master would never become a superstar like Li Xuan. No matter how good his resources, how outstanding his talent, or how powerful a team was behind him, with this kind of personality and temperament, he would never last in the entertainment industry.

Having seen through it all, Chen Ke no longer had the passion to clean up Zhang Qiyang’s messes—she’d do what she could, and that was it.

On Thursday evening, Zhang Qiyang and Qin Xueyang took a direct flight to Star City. Just like last week, they had arranged with the “I Sing” production team to rehearse first thing Friday morning.

On the flight, Zhang Qiyang gave a surprise to Qin Xueyang, who, having been wronged these days, had seen her appetite drop from five bowls to four. He actually asked her to contact Chen Ke and, after rehearsal, arrange a dinner with Li Xuan.

“You’re sure? You want to invite Sister Xuan to dinner?” Qin Xueyang could hardly believe her ears.

“I’m sure. When are they arriving?”

“They should be here tomorrow. Sister Xuan’s first rehearsal is tomorrow afternoon.”

“All right, then help me arrange it. See if we can have dinner together tomorrow night.”

“Hey, are you planning to apologize to Sister Xuan?” Qin Xueyang asked with a sly smile, lowering her voice.

“Apologize for what? Real stars with real presence, like me, don’t care about such trivial matters. I don’t think Li Xuan would care either.”

“That’s not certain,” Qin Xueyang advised. “If you do manage to set it up, you should have a good talk with her. Don’t let her misunderstand you even more.”

“We’ll see when the time comes.”

Zhang Qiyang didn’t say more, closed his eyes, and rested. He had no intention of apologizing to Li Xuan. He simply didn’t want things to be so awkward between them with the next recording coming up. Among all the singers, the others didn’t want to sit next to him or talk to him. Only Li Xuan spoke to him, but even then, it was so awkward that it was almost better if she didn’t speak at all.

Recording with Li Xuan was simply too uncomfortable. Zhang Qiyang wanted to improve this awkward relationship, so he suggested dinner, hoping to get more familiar in private and avoid another attack of social anxiety at the next taping.

Thursday night, nine o’clock.

After the flight landed, Zhang Qiyang went straight to the hotel. Some old friends, hearing he was in Star City, tried to coax him out for a night at the bar, as usual.

Zhang Qiyang turned down all these rowdy invitations. He needed to cultivate himself in the next few days and bring out his best state.

Outside the competition, he could stir up trouble and make headlines—none of that mattered. The important thing was that he had to deliver a convincing performance on the show and prove to everyone that he had the talent to back up his hype, maximizing the impact.

Otherwise, if he had no real ability and only caused a stir, he’d become a laughingstock.

Right now, everyone was waiting for him to crash and burn. No one believed he could win this week’s “I Sing” championship.

This pressure and disdain gave Zhang Qiyang unprecedented motivation.

He hadn’t cared about winning in the previous two rounds. But this time, he was determined to win!

He was going to turn their laughter into a deep-water bomb and blow up everyone waiting to see him make a fool of himself!