Lustrous Starlight
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Yang Chen was oblivious to matters of a maiden's heart. So, he didn't really pay much attention to the weird tantrum Zhenxiu threw out of nowhere.
As dawn broke and Yang Chen was about to head down for breakfast, he saw that Zhenxiu had already finished her porridge and was leaving for school. He thought that her temper had already abated, but he didn't expect Zhenxiu to roll his eyes at him when he tried to greet her and leave with her bag ignoring his entire existence.
Wang Ma who was carrying some food out smiled as she saw Zhenxiu when she left. She asked Yang Chen, "Young Master, why is Zhenxiu suddenly mad at you? Didn't she always listen to what you had to say?"
Yang Chen shrugged. "I'd like to know the answer to that too."
At that moment, Lin Ruoxi who had returned home after late night at work, descended. She was clad in fashionable black spring attire. Her white lace stockings wrapped around her white, luscious legs that were set in a pair of crystal-like high heels. She held a grey, diamond-infused bag in her hand and looked like a stunning fashion model on the streets of Paris.
She pushed Yang Chen aside out of habit and sat by the table. "People deserve to get treated based on how they behave."
Yang Chen almost fell straight to the ground. He gave his wife a troubled look and thought that his position within the house had always been getting lower as time passed, never higher.
Halfway through the meal, Lin Ruoxi said, "Did you mess up our working relationship with the Korean queen of the new generation, Yoo Yeonhee, yesterday afternoon?"
Yang Chen nodded with a bun in his mouth and hummed blurrily in agreement.
Lin Ruoxi gave Yang Chen a complicated look and said, "I didn't think that even you will have moments when you don't get along with beautiful women."
"Cough... cough cough..." Yang Chen choked as tears threatened to spill from his eyes. With a bitter laugh, he said, "My dear wife, I'm not a breeding pig you know. I can't do every beauty I see."
"A pig breeds with other pigs," said Lin Ruoxi with a furrow in her brow.
Yang Chen didn't understand why she bothered to argue about the semantics of it. He merely said, "Well, that's the gist of it. Yoo Yeonhee herself isn't a good person, so I can't be bothered to deal with her. She's free to decide what she wants to do. We don't need her anyway."
"You're now the director of a company. It's always better if you stay out of trouble. Fighting to a stalemate like this with others won't do the company any good," rebuked Lin Ruoxi.
Yang Chen furrowed his brow and guessed, "Did that woman cause any trouble for you?"
"That, she didn't." Lin Ruoxi finished her breakfast and wiped her mouth with a wet handkerchief as she said, "Yesterday night, Yoo Yeonhee's agency in Korea took the initiative to contact me in attempt to resolve this matter peacefully . She will still play a role as a judge in Star of Yu Lei. I believe they don't want to give up the opportunity to have Yeonhee and Christen on the same stage. However, they were worried that you wouldn't agree so they contacted me instead."
Yang Chen broke into a smile. "Looks like the Koreans are pretty smart. If they really went ahead and contacted me, I wouldn't have agreed. Call me troublesome, but I'm not one to submit to harsh or soft methods."
"Keep your ruffian behavior to yourself. When will you learn to talk more seriously? Since I’ve already briefed you about it, go ahead and agree to it," said Lin Ruoxi insistently.
Yang Chen gave her a serious look and nodded. "Since you said it's for the company's benefit, I have no reason to refuse. After all, all this is yours and I'm only doing your work for you. You're free to decide what you think is better."
Lin Ruoxi furrowed her brow and said, "I was discussing it with you. It wasn't an order."
"There's no need to discuss. Small matters like this one, I’m sure you are able to handle it alone," said Yang Chen casually.
Lin Ruoxi was a little mad because of that statement. How is this a small matter? However, when she thought back about the matter few days ago with the swiss bank, it did feel like a small matter in comparison.
She gave the man who was enjoying his coffee a perplexed gaze. She shook her head and stood up to say, "Tonight, I will be bringing some of the higher-ups of Yu Lei to meet with the judges of Star of Yu Lei. Think about how you would meet Yoo Yeonhee again without making it awkward. Get the details from your subordinates. Don't forget."
Yang Chen froze. He didn't think he would have to entertain his clients tonight. Just as he was about to ask whether he could sit this one out, Lin Ruoxi had already left the house.
Half an hour later, Yang Chen drove to the company and entered his office. He saw An Xin, who had been absent for the past few days, sitting by her computer with her earphones on.
Yang Chen walked up to her. An Xin's gaze was glued on the computer screen as if something had caught her attention.
"What are you looking at? Your boss and man Yang Chen is here and you didn't bother to greet me. Your eyes look like they are about to pop out of your head!"
Yang Chen arrived at her side and saw a clear broadcast of the audition for Star of Yu lei.
What caught Yang Chen's attention was the fact that the one singing on stage wasn't anybody else but Hui Lin.
Given her personality, he would’ve expected her to contract stage fright from all the lights and cameras. Unexpectedly though, she seemed to be filled with an air of confidence during her performance.
Though she wore only a plain white floral dress, Hui Lin looked like a blooming gardenia flower. She wore a bright and charming smile on her pretty face. Even though Yang Chen couldn't hear her singing, he knew that she was doing a rather good job based on the expressions of the audience there.
Actually, those audiences were 'professionals' who were paid to attend. They were trained to show faces of admiration and excitement regardless of the person or act. However, they looked a little dazed during Hui Lin's performance, as if they had forgotten that they were paid to act their part. They were really paying good attention to the singing coming from the stage.
When Hui Lin's performance finally concluded, the stage quieted down before a round of thunderous applause rang out.
Following that, three famous musicians stood up in unison and clapped as they issued a pass for the elimination round.
Though Yang Chen knew that Hui Lin had passed the selection, he didn't truly realize the significance of the situation. It was obvious that Hui Lin was going to be famous in the future. After all, Star of Yu Lei was advertised by Christen and its viewership practically soared. The number of people watching the broadcast was definitely not a small one.
An Xin only took her earphones off after the broadcast ended. She had noticed Yang Chen standing beside her, but she couldn't bring herself to remove her earphones.
Poking her tongue out mischievously, An Xin said, "Darling, don't you want to listen too? Hui Lin's singing made me speechless. I was worried that she would be too nervous at first, but I didn't think that I was going to be more nervous for her than herself."
An Xin herself was an emcee of a few of the auditions. Even though not all of them were broadcasted live, there were quite a number that were. An Xin couldn't help but be a little excited about them, as she loved involving herself in the recording process.
Yang Chen shook his head. "There's no need to. I know she sang well. For someone of your tastes to listen to her sing live and listen to her once more during the recording, she must've done great. I'll definitely attend her performance during her elimination round."
"That's right. Even though the actors in Broadway might have better singing techniques than Hui Lin, their voices are not nearly as soothing as hers," praised An Xin.
Yang Chen suddenly thought about how he hasn't seen Hui Lin since the morning. "Where is she now?"
Surprised, An Xin said, "Hubby, don't you know that Hui Lin will be rehearsing with those other participants for the elimination round? She should have been living with them at the dorms, but she couldn't get accustomed to it, so I made some arrangements with the studio. Well, it's common for her to leave early and return late nowadays so it's no surprise that you didn't notice."
Yang Chen was struck with realization. Hui Lin had lived with Abbess Yun Miao in seclusion since childhood and the reason she wasn't nervous on stage was probably due to her deep infatuation and confidence in music. However, living with the other participants was probably something too far outside of her comfort zone to do.
An Xin excitedly said, "Many citizens have already become Hui Lin's fans. Look at this forum on Qiandu. Hui Lin's fans have already exceeded some of the more famous stars. I just realized that we have a rising star with us, a big one at that! It truly feels amazing just thinking about it."
Yang Chen couldn't hold back his laughter. He looked forward to seeing how a silly girl like Hui Lin would look when she actually grew into a superstar.
Even though many within the company were busy the whole day, there wasn't much an executive like Yang Chen could help out with. He had helped Wang Jie and Zhao Teng sift through two documents in the morning and had a meal with An Xin during lunchtime. After that, they had spent the rest of the day in his office napping.
He had faced many issues given the recent events these few days. Now that he had suddenly returned to his comfort zone, Yang Chen naturally wouldn't give up on his chance to enjoy.
An Xin, after having endured all sorts of hardship, had seen her figure slowly fill up once more. She felt soft and springy in his embrace just like fine cotton, soft and boneless. Yang Chen really wanted to hold her tight against his body.
After waking up from the nap, he felt completely re-energized. He then gave An Xin a strong kiss to wake her and got to business right away.
Within the small resting room, An Xin's moans began to resound and vibrate through the confines of the walls. She let Yang Chen go about whatever he liked even though her eyes were still a little groggy from sleep.
Most women would refuse to be put in such an embarrassing position. However, An Xin was one without such prohibitions and she was always immeasurably satisfied when he bedded her. Naturally, that didn't mean that An Xin would do it for just any man. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have snatched her from the wedding.
It was only until An Xin's body completely melted into a soft puddle that Yang Chen left the resting room, satisfied.
Despite his frivolous exploits during the day and the gaming session with Yuan Ye during the evening, Yang Chen didn't forget his plans for the night. Wang Jie informed him of the location for the meeting. It was going to take place at Jade Clouds Plaza, the place which now belonged to An Xin’s father. Yang Chen then asked An Xin whether she wanted to come along.
But after she heard that Lin Ruoxi would be attending as well, her face instantly turned pale and she shook her head fervently.
Even though Lin Ruoxi didn't refuse to interact with An Xin as per their agreement, An Xin on the other hand, was set out to avoid Lin Ruoxi as much as possible. Was this what Lin Ruoxi intended?
So, he set out for Jade Clouds Plaza with his two subordinates. To show that he understood the importance of the meeting, he even used the company's Lincoln car that was reserved for VIPs.
It was already night by the time he arrived at the plaza.
Unquestionably, it was an event that the media had been paying close attention to. After all, the world-class star Christen and many other famed celebrities and musicians were invited to the event. The participation of Yoo Yeonhee, who had been defeated by Christen at the Grammy's, brought some kind of tension to the atmosphere there.
Beside the blinding lights and the red carpet were many security personnel. Beyond them were reporters and paparazzi who flashed their cameras like there was no tomorrow.
The fan clubs of the stars were also there as well. Christen and Yoo Yeonhee had the most signs held up by their respective fans with many bright LEDs depicting various slogans. The large amount of people gathered here made spring in Zhonghai seem like summer.
Yang Chen was rather annoyed by all the flashing lights. He stepped off the car and brought Zhao Teng and Wang Jie into the great hall. They were led into the banquet hall by one of the staff members.
"Why do I feel like I've become a celebrity?" said Zhao Teng from behind.
"How does it feel?" asked Yang Chen with a smile.
"Not good. I don't understand why people would want to become famous."
Wang Jie nodded in agreement.
As the three of them talked, many others from the hall stepped forward to greet them. Those oddly dressed but good looking people were the judges and guests invited to join Star of Yu Lei.
Though Yang Chen didn't really know them, Wang Jie and Zhao Teng were there to entertain them. They were rather familiar with them as the people in charge and they quickly began to interact with the stars.
When he was asked who Yang Chen was, Zhao Teng introduced him to be the director of Yu Lei Entertainment. In other words, he was their superior.
At that moment, many of the famous stars started to doubt Yang Chen, who was dressed like the average passerby. He also didn't seem like anyone important in the white collar industry, much less someone from the fashion world.
Even so, they were still smart people who were looking to gain favor, so they had traded pleasantries nonetheless. After all, he was their patron and they were only entertainers no matter how famous they were.
Though he felt a wave of fatigue wash over him, he had no choice but to engage in idle talks with people he did not even know. He had done a lot less even for the people that he knew.
After a couple minutes went by, sharp cries rang out from the balcony outside the hall. Countless people started screaming again, and among the loudest cries were these words, 'Yoo Yeonhee, we love you!'