Small Theater
Jiaqi stood at the front of the stage, her face brimming with happiness and excitent as she waved to her fans.
Galaxy would periodically arrange for so promising mbers to perform solo in the theater.
For rising idols, this was incredibly important—a straightforward way to prove their popularity.
Before this "concert," Jiaqi had been extrely nervous.
Who would’ve thought that once Galaxy put the tickets on sale, the small theater with over 500 seats would be completely packed?
At this mont, her fans were "wailing like ghosts and howling like wolves."
They were shouting tacky love poems in stretched-out, playful voices: "The fragrance of osmanthus fills the building in May, Jiaqi has pushed us to gather in Jiaxing. Wishing you eternal youth, our love for you will never change."
Jiaqi’s face turned red with excitent. "Thank you, thank you!"
"Jiaqi, Daddy loves you!" a male fan suddenly roared at the top of his lungs.
"Jiaqi, Mommy loves you!" a female fan shouted with all her strength.
Imdiately, the male and female fans started battling over who could yell "I love Jiaqi" louder.
In the end, the female fans admitted defeat, unwillingly muttering, "Honey, we just can’t outshout the boys."
"It’s okay if you can’t; in my heart, you’re all the best." Jiaqi stretched out her left hand and made a heart gesture, causing another wave of frenzied screams from the fans.
"Are fans these days always this good at confessing?" Yu Qingjia, who had co to support Jiaqi, joked.
"Not only are they good at confessing, but they’re masters at stealing hearts too! It’s just that we’re here today, and they’re feeling a bit reserved. Otherwise, who knows what kind of scandalous things they’d say!" Xu ngchen quickly chid in.
Her comnt imdiately drew a round of laughter and cheers from the fans.
"Huh? Jiaqi’s fans often say such ’wild’ things to her?" Zhang Yu’s baby-faced expression was full of mock suspicion.
"Oh my gosh! What are you all doing? This is a public performance! Can’t we save those kinds of lines for when we’re back on the ship?" Lu Shanshan, who wore round glasses and had a studious vibe, tried to rein things in.
This only made the fans even more excited—they loved this kind of teasing interaction during emcees.
"Alright, alright. Let’s save these depraved questions for serious discussion after we’re back tonight," Yu Qingjia said while waving her hand.
She deliberately emphasized the words "after we’re back tonight," imdiately causing the fans to erupt in an uproar.
The fans, who adored these "soft and sweet" idol ladies, quickly went along with the banter.
Just as the atmosphere was reaching its peak, the male fan who had purchased the most "red tickets" for Jiaqi’s concert walked onto the stage and got down on one knee to present her a bouquet of fresh flowers.
The entire venue instantly boiled over. Everyone knew that this was Jiaqi’s top fan, Du Jinyu.
At this mont, Du Jinyu was feeling quite smug.
At just twenty years old, he had a penchant for gaming and hanging out with internet celebrities. He first stumbled upon Jiaqi’s performance when a friend dragged him to a show.
Although he initially dismissed the quality of the performances, he was completely captivated by Jiaqi’s presence.
Her looks were exactly his type, and every ti he saw her, he felt restless and unable to control himself.
At first, he thought about leveraging his family connections and money to arrange a private eting with her to "chat," but Jiaqi wouldn’t even give him the ti of day. This left him both frustrated and helpless.
So, he resorted to his ultimate tactic: financial power. He began spending tens of thousands each day on gifting her "chicken legs."
Every ti Jiaqi had a public performance, he would show up and always bought VIP seats to get close to her.
"Thank you, thank you," Jiaqi said, accepting the flowers with a proud smile.
By now, she was no longer the virtually unknown rookie she had been a few months ago. She was Galaxy’s rising starlet of the year, and next month, the company had arranged for her to play the third female lead in a web drama.
Du Jinyu stood up and returned to his seat, a look of triumph plastered across his face.
This was the modern equivalent of wealthy patrons funding the fa of courtesans in ancient tis, a showy satisfaction in itself.
However, the status of today’s "courtesans" had significantly improved—they now belonged to the "artist" category and couldn’t be easily manipulated.
Sitting in the front row, Zhang Yuzhe’s eyes burned red with jealousy.
Despite his recent promotion and salary increase, his asly annual inco of a million yuan couldn’t hold a candle to this second-generation heir of a canned goods empire.
The two had already clashed openly and covertly multiple tis.
As an old-ti fan, he had also spent a lot of money supporting Jiaqi’s campaigns and was still the president of her global fan support group—but even this position was on shaky ground.
The only consolation for him was that Jiaqi hadn’t "fallen for the new and forgotten the old," nor had she prioritized wealth over loyalty. She still maintained relatively close contact with him.
With that thought, Zhang Yuzhe regained so energy and resud frantically waving his glow stick to cheer for her.
In the end, the concert concluded amidst tears and heartfelt emotions from the fans.
Jiaqi then returned backstage to remove her makeup.
Knock, knock!
"Jiaqi, I’ve reserved the ’Dragon King Feast’ for you at the Sea Transport Dynasty. I also prepared three bottles of Bordeaux wine from 1984. You can bring your colleagues to celebrate tonight’s successful concert." The ssage from Du Jinyu was full of flattery.
Jiaqi knew this customized seafood feast and wine were worth at least 70,000 yuan.
Knock, knock!
Another notification chid on WeChat: "Congratulations on the successful concert, Jiaqi. I bought you an LV bag, the one from the picture you sent the other day. There’s a little surprise inside, too."
Zhang Yuzhe’s ssage reeked of pitiful sycophancy.
Jiaqi, wearing a high-end designer lipstick, sneered disdainfully and tossed her phone onto the table.
"Jiaqi, you did so well today." Xu ngchen walked over with a smile, placing a cup of rose tea in front of her.
"Thank you, Sister ngchen." Jiaqi picked up the cup and took a sip like it was the most natural thing in the world.
The two had once been sworn enemies, but now they were as close as sisters in Hanoi.
This wasn’t surprising, considering the drastic shift in their statuses—such transformations were commonplace in the entertainnt industry.
At that mont, Yu Qingjia returned from the restroom and walked in.
Jiaqi imdiately stood up and ran over with a big smile. "Sister Qingjia, thank you so much for supporting tonight!"
"Oh, co on, we’re sisters—there’s no need to thank . You were incredible tonight," Yu Qingjia said as she reached out to fix Jiaqi’s hair.
Over at the side, Xu ngchen’s eyes flared with jealousy and she quickly looked down, biting back her displeasure.
Since joining Galaxy, she’d been trying to cozy up to Yu Qingjia, even attempting several tis to form a duo with her, but was always politely declined. Qingjia had never shown her this kind of affection before.
At first, Xu ngchen thought it was because Yu Qingjia was always following their queen bee, Lu Bingbing. Although it hurt, she could only watch enviously from the sidelines.
Later, when Bingbing grew close to Jiaqi, Xu ngchen thought her chance had co. But Qingjia remained distant to her.
Now, with Bingbing having left, Qingjia was again friendly with Bingbing’s new ally.
"Why? Why? After everything I’ve done, it’s still just unrequited efforts," Xu ngchen lanted bitterly, feeling like a flower that had lost its color.
Zhang Yu and Lu Shanshan also sat there with mixed feelings, visibly dejected.
They hadn’t expected Jiaqi to rise to prominence so rapidly.
Given the insane level of support from her fans, it wasn’t impossible for Jiaqi to break into the "Top 3" this year.
"Sister Qingjia, I still have to thank you all for helping ," Jiaqi said sincerely to the group.
"By the way, I’ve reserved a table at the Sea Transport Dynasty. Let’s head over now—it’s my way of showing appreciation for all your hard work tonight," Jiaqi said with a smile.
"Sea Transport Dynasty! Jiaqi, no need to spend so much. We’re all sisters here," Zhang Yu said with an innocent smile.
"Haha, it’s no trouble at all. You’ve all done so much for , I have to treat you to sothing nice."
"Since Jiaqi already made the reservation, let’s just go. No need for any pretenses among sisters," Yu Qingjia decisively concluded.
After removing their makeup, they all grabbed a cab together.
What they didn’t realize was that a nondescript car had been tailing them the entire ti.
Once they entered the private dining room Jiaqi had reserved, Zhang Yuzhe, sitting outside in his parked car, slamd his fist onto the steering wheel.
"Hmph! Du Jinyu, so you’re really determined to compete with for Jiaqi," Zhang Yuzhe muttered, his glasses reflecting an eerie light in the dim and desolate car interior.
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