Day Two
The warm sun stretched open the sky imrsed in darkness through the night.
Yuwei and a few others had just finished freshening up when they heard the sound of the villa’s main door opening.
Then, a voice, both familiar and distant, echoed in the living room.
"Sisters, I’m back, I’m back."
Fu Xiaoyu, just descending from the stairs, saw Wu Zixuan, her face filled with excitent and her eyes brimming with tears. Standing beside her was an equally thrilled ng ixuan, their emotions barely concealed.
"Xiaoyu, I missed you so much, wuuu!" Wu Zixuan dashed up from below and tightly embraced the bewildered Fu Xiaoyu, holding her as if she would never let go.
Fu Xiaoyu froze, her body stiff, unsure of how to respond. In the end, she gently hugged the trembling, overexcited woman: "Why are you back?"
"Of course, I ca back. My contract issues are all resolved, and now we can be together again."
Fu Xiaoyu forced a smile: "That’s good. I thought you’d be going back to Milky Way Girl, so I packed up your luggage for you."
"No way, I’m a Tian’ou girl for life, even in death!" Seeing Fu Xiaoyu’s tepid reaction, Wu Zixuan’s warm heart seed to plumt into an icy abyss.
"ixuan, haha, you’re back! I’ve missed you so much!" Jiang ngqi erged from the kitchen with her signature smile, throwing herself at the returning figure.
"I’m back, I’m back. You guys must have had such a hard ti!"
"It’s good you’re back. We just cooked so porridge." Lai Ruoxuan bounded over, wearing an apron and holding a spatula, hopping and skipping as she spoke.
"Ah! ixuan, where have you been? I’ve missed you so much!" Even Duan Yuxin, who had been doing yoga in the backyard, ran in.
"ixuan!"
Li Zing ca down from the second-floor stairs, her voice soft but unable to hide her excitent.
Wu Zixuan watched this scene unfold and felt her heart sink into freezing cold.
All her sisters ignored her yet showered ng ixuan—who had once been an outsider—with an enthusiastic welco.
She knew it must be because of that hotpot incident, which had damaged everyone’s trust.
She wanted to cry, wanted to shout out the injustices and difficulties she’d endured, but she didn’t know how to explain herself.
After all, ng ixuan was living proof; she hadn’t betrayed the group.
At that mont, Fu Xiaoyu gently pushed her aside and walked briskly into the living room to embrace ng ixuan: "ixuan, since you left, our formation has been all over the place. Now that you’re back, we can walk in sync again."
"I know you’ve all been working so hard. I even heard that Yang Ni fainted. I nearly severed ties with the company, thinking I’d never return to the stage. I never thought I’d get the chance to co back."
ng ixuan was also overwheld with emotion. At this mont, her camaraderie burned fiercely within her, making her realize just how deeply she craved acceptance from the group.
"ixuan, you’ve suffered! We all know your heart was always with us." Lai Ruoxuan hugged ng ixuan even tighter.
"Zixuan, welco back."
Feeling as if the entire world had abandoned her, Wu Zixuan raised her head, seeing Yuwei standing in the morning light. Her exquisite figure seed like an angel ford from shimring dust motes.
"Yuwei, you don’t bla , do you? I never wanted to leave you all."
"I know. Mr. Zhou just told earlier—you were deceived during that incident."
"... Mr. Zhou, he, he knew."
Yuwei nodded with a gentle smile and turned to address the others in the living room, "As for Zixuan’s situation, Mr. Zhou will co over tonight to explain everything to everyone."
Then, she walked into the living room and opened her arms to hug ng ixuan: "ixuan, from now on, we sisters will be unstoppable together."
"Unstoppable together. We are Huaxia’s number one girl group." ng ixuan’s voice brimd with confidence and gratitude.
"Zijing will be back this afternoon too. This ti, we’re finally all together. Let’s all do our best." As Yuwei spoke, her eyes fell upon Wu Zixuan in the corner.
Though so of the others still harbored lingering resentnt, none of them voiced it out loud. After all, Yuwei had stepped up in the group’s darkest ti to fiercely protect their collective honor.
Tears blurred Wu Zixuan’s vision as she ran to join the huddle. The nine of them joined in a long-suppressed, cathartic cry. These past few weeks had been so of the most agonizing, the darkest days they had endured.
A Certain Tech Company
Bang! Bang!
Soone using the restroom froze mid-act upon hearing furious pounding against the wall from the adjacent stall.
Pants still half down, he scrambled out in panic.
Inside, Li Ke’s bloodshot eyes were filled with rage, his entire body trembling uncontrollably with fury.
Scrolling through his phone in the restroom, he had co across the latest joint statent from Yuehua and the other company.
ng, Wu, and Zhang had returned to fulfill their unfinished contracts.
Seeing this news, Li Ke could no longer suppress the anger boiling within him. He pounded the wall repeatedly, his fists bloodied and raw.
He hated. He hated to the core.
The image of Yang Ni fainting kept flashing before his eyes, as did scenes of Lv Fangxin enduring endless verbal attacks online. The haters were relentless, seemingly deranged.
If it hadn’t been for the explosiveness of the EP album and the virality of "Dragon Sister," all the bla would have fallen squarely on Fangxin’s shoulders.
Now, after all of that, these three had the audacity to "shalessly" return.
He had also seen their apology statents on Weibo, but what was the point? It was all just for show. What about the weeks of hardship endured by the eight remaining mbers?
What infuriated him the most were ng ixuan’s fans.
They dared to say, "The queen has returned. Rightfully, the lesser ones should step aside."
Not only was Li Ke fuming, but every major platform was ablaze with uproar as well.
Nearly every gossip account was ridiculing Yuehua and its partner company, accusing them of groveling for profit.
Initially so resolute, yet here they were just a few days later, bending over backwards to get the trio back.
anwhile, others expressed deep sympathy for the eight remaining mbers. Would the missed opportunities caused by their departure ever be compensated?
The countless fashion magazine covers and inside spreads. The July debut that was delayed. The August fan et they had painstakingly rescheduled. All of this had been derailed.
The eight girls had worked tirelessly to redo the debut track, biting their tongues and pushing forward despite feeling betrayed.
Staff mbers had burned the midnight oil crafting and scrapping countless contingency plans. They had groveled in humiliation to appease powerful sponsors they had offended.
And yet, after all of that, these deserters simply walked back, resuming their center roles without a twinge of guilt?
Just thinking about it made Li Ke want to scream, but he was powerless to change anything.
From overseas, Xiao Du also saw the news and could only chuckle bitterly.
He had long suspected the trio would eventually return.
With family wealth in the billions and access to higher circles of influence, he understood the depths of institutional power all too well.
The trio’s return was never about individual struggles or fan disputes; it was the result of the power gas being played behind the scenes.
Against corporate giants like Tencent, Yuehua and its partner company were as insignificant as ants.
The fact they had managed to hold out this long showed they had so leverage, but nothing concrete enough to win a legal battle.
In the end, the best business decision was to reintegrate the assets (the artists) and continue generating value. After all, this was just a two-year group. Once they disbanded, the individuals could still make money independently.
"Xiao Du, rest up! Stop reading all this drama."
"I’d love to, but I voted for them with genuine emotions back then. I just can’t let go."
Mu Yunchu couldn’t help but smile: "Now that everything’s been resolved, there shouldn’t be any more ddling from the companies, right? Honestly, ng, Wu, and Zhang aren’t entirely to bla."
Xiao Du nodded: "True. In an avalanche, no single snowflake is innocent."
"Xiao Du, I actually think the ones who benefitted most from all this are Yuwei and Lv Fangxin. One cented her role as the leader, the other as the de facto center."
Xiao Du shifted to sit more comfortably: "Indeed. Tencent will undoubtedly focus resources on the two. It’s both a way to address internal discontent and an expression of Tencent’s dissatisfaction."
Reviews
All reviews (0)