No. 96 Melon
"Not my biological mother, but my stepmother, right?"
Lu Yanyan stared carefully at Linlin in front of the stage. She was clearly just a girl of about twenty-five or twenty-six. Standing next to Yao Muyang, they looked more like siblings.
When Lu Yanyan saw this, her tooth ached.
They really look like siblings, because they have similar facial features, fan-shaped double eyelids, high nose bridge, cherry lips, fair skin... Lu Yanyan's heart skipped a beat when she saw it.
Oops, the more I look at it, the more similar they are!
"But if she's a stepmother, Yao Muyang wouldn't have to defend Linlin so much and fight for her," Sun Qianqian said. "Maybe Linlin just looks a little younger." Then she pointed at herself and said, "I'm thirty years old this year. Can you tell?"
Lu Yanyan looked at Sun Qianqian carefully again. To be honest, if Sun Qianqian hadn't revealed her age, she really couldn't tell that she was already 30 years old. Sun Qianqian took good care of herself, and Lu Yanyan always thought she was only 25 or 26.
[People in Hong Kong love to exercise, and their cheekbones are high, so they can hold onto fat, which is definitely good for anti-aging!]
While Lu Yanyan was observing Linlin, Lin Cha was also looking at Linlin with his cheek in his hand.
[She looks age-resistant and eats a healthy diet. Not only Hong Kong people, but many female celebrities in the industry, even though they are nearly 40, still look like they are in their twenties!]
[Linlin just looks a little young. She's obviously 32, but you can't tell at all!]
At the age of 32, giving birth to 16-year-old Yao Muyang... is entirely possible!
Moreover, Lu Yanyan knew that the legal marriage age in Hong Kong was 16 years old. So it seemed that Linlin did not even marry or have children early, but gave birth to Yao Muyang at a normal age.
However, because her appearance was so deceptive, others thought she was young and even thought she and Yao Muyang were in an ambiguous relationship.
"If they're mother and son...wouldn't it be better to just say it directly?" Lu Yanyan asked doubtfully. "Even though Linlin looks young, they have household registration certificates. There's nothing wrong with clarifying their mother-son relationship. Why doesn't Yao Muyang dare to answer?"
Facing Yue Shilin's questioning, Yao Muyang remained silent. He bit his lips and clenched his fists, but was still unwilling to reveal the true relationship between them.
There were more whispers around. The agency representatives, trainees, and on-site staff were all discussing Linlin and Yao Muyang in low voices. It seemed that the relationship between the two was not as simple as others saw.
"Now that the story of two men fighting for one woman has been exposed, why wouldn't Yao Muyang admit it? Unless there's something fishy about these two people!"
"Could it be that they are already married? They might even have a child!"
"It could also be for other reasons. For example, Linlin might have a husband, and Yao Muyang is the mistress. She's afraid that if she admits the relationship, her husband will come out and hammer Yao Muyang to death!"
"Hahaha, it seems these two are not easy to deal with! Especially that Linlin, she looks like a vixen, and she looks restless... Maybe she is the one who seduced Yao Muyang. Didn't she also seduce Xu Jinyan? She must be a fickle woman at heart... Ah! Who stepped on me!"
The dance studio's auditorium was stepped, one layer upon another. Lin Cha was sitting on the step above the man who was speaking. Without hesitation, she stepped hard on his hand!
"Oops! Sorry," Lin Cha apologized quickly, but there was no regret in his eyes. "I'm nearsighted and didn't see clearly."
"Lin Cha?" The man was initially furious, but upon seeing it was Lin Cha, his attitude suddenly changed. "It's nothing. I know you didn't mean it!"
"No, I did it on purpose." Lin Cha smiled, his eyes very cold. "When you meet a stinky rat that's full of foul language, you have to step on it, right?"
"you--!"
The man was so angry that his eyebrows were raised.
"Quiet!" Lin Zhaoyi suddenly shouted, "There are so many companies here, can't you control your mouth?"
"Mr. Lin, Mr. Lin..." The man was the agent of Tianyu Media. Since his boss had spoken, he could only shut up.
Lin Zhaoyi looked at Lin Cha, his eyes instantly becoming gentle again, "Cha Cha, it's my fault for not being able to control my people and letting them talk nonsense. I'm sorry."
Lin Cha snorted coldly and ignored Lin Zhaoyi.
【Why doesn't Yao Muyang tell the truth? 】
[I'm just worried that you gossipers will doubt Linlin's age if you find out the truth, and then dig deeper into her past and find out that she was once a mistress!]
But why would those people care that Linlin was deceived by Yao's father and became his mistress? In their eyes, Linlin is just a promiscuous, fickle bitch. Since she's so pretty, she must have seduced Yao's father!
Therefore, it was because of this that Yao Muyang didn't dare to announce their relationship! He was more worried about Linlin getting hurt than his own reputation being exposed.
There are so many people on the Internet who like to watch the show, and their saliva is enough to drown people. Similarly, because there are so many people who like to watch the show, a boy as outstanding as Yao Muyang and a beautiful mother, such a mother-son combination that looks like a brother and sister, will definitely leave a deep impression on the people around them, so the secret that "Linlin was once a mistress" can no longer be hidden.
Yue Shilin was still questioning Yao Muyang and Linlin, but Yao Muyang remained silent and said nothing.
Lu Yanyan sensed something was wrong, went to the door and made a phone call, then came back with a serious expression.
"What's wrong?" Sun Qianqian asked.
Lu Yanyan: "I just called the company's public relations department to ask if there's any news online about Yao Muyang and Linlin's relationship. Up until now, netizens still think they're a couple, and no one has dug up any relevant information!"
"What's so strange about this? Maybe it's just that people I know haven't noticed yet..." Sun Qianqian slammed on the brakes halfway through her words.
She suddenly realized that since the two people killed by Lin Cha were mother and son, it was normal for someone to expose their identities!
As people grow up, they will inevitably meet many people and have countless interpersonal relationships. A strong relationship like that between mother and child, which has lasted for 16 years, is easily noticed by people around them.
Neighbors, teachers, classmates, friends... everything is fine. But until now, no one has exposed the true relationship between the two?
"It's not that no one exposed it," Lu Yanyan said in a low voice, "Weibo told me that someone suppressed it."
Being able to completely suppress the news, and also being able to delete the related revelations so cleanly...
[Hong Kong City Li family? ]
Lin Cha continued to dig deeper into Yao Muyang's affairs, and was surprised by his father's interpersonal relationships.
Isn't it a Hong Kong jewelry family? The first generation, Li Huanyu, was known as the Hong Kong jewelry tycoon. Now the family has passed to the second generation, Li Mingjian. The Li family has only one heir, and now Li Mingjian is the head of the family, but his wife hasn't given birth to a son. The third generation male heir... is Yao Muyang!
[From this point of view, Yao Muyang is actually a top-tier rich second-generation, oh no, a top-tier rich third-generation! ]
Lu Yanyan's pupils widened slightly.
She had a deep impression of the Li family, a top-tier wealthy family that held up the Hong Kong city.
After returning to the manor after finishing the variety show two days ago, she met Lu Yanche. While chatting with Lu Yanche, Lu Yanyan learned that something big had happened to the Li family in Gangcheng recently. The second-generation helmsman Li Mingjian died, but he had no sons and only gave birth to a daughter. In the eyes of the Li family who favored boys over girls, Li Huanyu was almost extinct.
Having another child was definitely out of the question. Meanwhile, Li Huanyu was over eighty, half his body about to be buried, and he was no longer able to manage the Li family. The side branches were eager to make a move, all wanting to share in the huge pie of the Li family.
And Yao Muyang is actually the only male of the third generation of the Li family!
[Back then, Li Mingjian was clearly married to Gangchengling No. 1, yet he hooked up with Linlin. Linlin was only 16 at the time, and she fell into Li Mingjian's sweet trap, unaware that she was the mistress!]
Later, Li Huanyu learned about this and sent his secretary to separate the two. When Linlin learned the truth, she didn't cry or make a fuss. She took the money Li Huanyu had given her and left, raising Yao Muyang on her own.
Yao Muyang had always thought his father had died long ago, and had no idea that he was actually the grandson of a jewelry tycoon!
Originally, this secret could have been buried forever, but who would have thought that a few months ago, Li Mingjian went to a prostitute club and died in the prostitute's bed due to excessive excitement!
[What a shame! He's almost sixty years old, and he still dares to hire ten prostitutes to serve him. It would be strange if he didn't make himself exhausted!]
Lin Cha was amazed at the Li family's past, but also sneered at it.
Lu Yanyan and Sun Qianqian were also amazed.
Li Mingjian has been dead for several months, but Li Huanyu still dares not announce the news of his death. Regardless of whether the death of the company's president will affect the company's stock price, if reporters ask about the cause of Li Mingjian's death, it will be difficult to answer!
"You can't control a rotten cucumber," Lu Yanyan said with disdain, "You deserve this outcome!"
As for what happened next, it is not difficult to imagine.
The Li family is extremely patriarchal. Their so-called "three generations of only one child" doesn't mean they have exactly one child in three generations like the He family does. Instead, they have many children, but they are all girls. This is considered "three generations of only one child" in the eyes of the Li family.
After Li Mingjian's death, Li Huanyu went to find Yao Muyang, but the old man was a terrible person! He didn't even mention that his son, a rotten cucumber, had gotten Linlin pregnant. He said that Linlin had seduced Li Mingjian!
[Smack, smack, there's not a single good person in this family, they deserve to be extinct! ]
Smack...
If Yao Muyang really fails here and cannot make his debut successfully, the Li family will most likely use Linlin to threaten Yao Muyang, and then Yao Muyang will have no choice but to go home and inherit the Li family.
Although Li Huanyu had no good intentions, why did Sun Qianqian feel quite envious?
"The key is, how dare Yue Shilin do that!" Lu Yanyan didn't care whether Yao Muyang would inherit the family business, but when she thought about Yue Shilin's tricking Yao Muyang, her voice couldn't help but become gloating. "In order to help Kong Yinan debut, he targeted Yao Muyang, who was in the debut position, thinking that Yao Muyang would be the easiest to bully, but... but how dare he!"
Yao Muyang is the heir of the Li family!
If he really makes something of himself in the entertainment industry but can't go back to inherit the family business, he will just be a grassroots idol with no background.
But if he fails in his debut, he can only go back to inherit the family business, and then he can use money to kill Yue Shilin!
Thinking of this, Lu Yanyan's smile became even wider.
"~^^~" Lu Yanyan: "Silently light a candle for Yue Shilin."
"Light another one!" Sun Qianqian sighed, "I guess after today, I won't see him again."
Yue Shilin didn't know that he was jumping back and forth on the road to death and was about to reach the end.
In his opinion, Yao Muyang was the one who was going to be doomed.
"Yao Muyang, if you can't explain to the audience your relationship with this election official, we can only ask you to withdraw from the competition!" Yue Shilin once again threatened to withdraw from the competition.
Yao Muyang gritted his teeth and said, "This is my private matter. I don't need to tell you."
"Yao Muyang!"
"If you don't want to talk about it, then don't talk about it!" Sun Qianqian suddenly spoke. Her voice was not loud, but it echoed in the dance studio, making everyone feel very comfortable. "Since Yao Muyang doesn't want to talk about it, Yue Shilin, why don't you ask Xu Jinyan why Yao Muyang and you had an argument?"
"Didn't I already tell you?" Xu Jinyan said as if it was a matter of course. "Because I was pursuing Linlin, but Yao Muyang got jealous! So he attacked me!"
"You're talking nonsense!"
Yao Muyang's eyes were red as he yelled at Xu Jinyan, "It's not that simple!"
"I'm just expressing my love to Linlin!" Xu Jinyan insisted.
Is this an expression of love?
Lin Cha sneered inwardly, "Taking advantage of Linlin's sleep, secretly touching her hand, touching her face, even trying to hug her... is this called love?"
I thought this was called sexual harassment!
Sun Qianqian turned to look at the photographer carrying a camera next to her. When Yue Shilin and the others arrived at the dormitory, the camera had already been turned off.
Sun Qianqian smiled and said to the photographer, "Since we need to give the audience an explanation, why not just do it live? Please start the live broadcast so that we can show the audience the internal review process."
The photographer's eyes widened.
What a big deal everyone is having today! Such a big thing is actually being broadcast live!
Yue Shilin thought for a moment and agreed to the live broadcast. After all, Yao Muyang hadn't said anything when he had asked him earlier. Broadcasting it online would only make netizens dislike him even more. Maybe they would get upset with him and ask him to withdraw from the competition. This would save him from wasting his breath.
With permission from Yue Shilin and the program crew, the photographer started the live broadcast.
In an instant, fans flocked into the live broadcast room.
[Wow wow wow! The live broadcast has started again!]
[Yao Muyang, Xu Jinyan, and Linlin are all standing on the stage. Are they going to apologize and explain what happened? I'm really looking forward to it!]
[Believe it's all a misunderstanding! Support Yangyang!]
[Hehehe, stop kidding yourself, that violent Yao Muyang, quit the competition immediately!]
Yue Shilin was very satisfied to see the number of viewers of the live broadcast soaring.
Sun Qianqian was also very satisfied. Without further ado, she made sure the live broadcast channel was running smoothly before looking at Xu Jinyan.
"Xu Jinyan, although I've already asked you this before, now that the livestream has begun, I'll ask you again." Sun Qianqian's smile faded as she spoke word by word, "Why did you fight with Yao Muyang?"
Xu Jinyan corrected him, "Mr. Sun, you're mistaken. It wasn't me and Yao Muyang who were fighting. It was because I expressed my feelings for Xiang Linlin that Yao Muyang got jealous, so he attacked me!"
"oh?"
Sun Qianqian's voice rose at the end, a smile playing on the corner of her mouth, but her eyes were devoid of laughter. "Did he hit you because he was jealous of you, or was it because you molested Linlin while she was sleeping, touching her hands and face, that's why Yao Muyang hit you?"
Xu Jinyan's pupils trembled.
All his confidence was ripped apart at that moment and collapsed in all directions.
How could Sun Qianqian know?
There was no surveillance at the time, and Linlin was asleep. It was obvious that only Yao Muyang saw it!
No, no, no, Yao Muyang didn’t see that much. When he came in and saw that I touched Linlin, he hit me without saying anything. There was no way he would wait until I touched her hand and then her face before taking action!
Sun Qianqian must be guessing!
"You, you are slandering me!" Xu Jinyan's face flushed red as he tried to argue. "Do you have any evidence? If you don't have any, don't talk nonsense!"
"Have you heard of Locard's law of exchange?" Sun Qianqian said calmly, "Any contact leaves a trace. You thought you were doing this secretly and it would be difficult to verify, but you didn't know that the moment you touched Linlin, your fingerprint was left on her skin!"
Sun Qianqian raised her hand and checked the time on her phone. "It hasn't been that long now. All we have to do is report it to the police for indecent assault and have the Trace Examination Department collect fingerprints and compare them. It's very simple, isn't it, Mr. Lu?"
Lu Yanyan who was suddenly cueed:?
That's not right. She had been in frequent contact with Liu Youyou recently. She knew that fingerprints on the skin were difficult to extract, let alone just gently stroking like Xu Jinyan...
Then, she saw Sun Qianqian desperately winking at her.
Lu Yanyan: “…”
"Yes! It's possible!" Lu Yanyan said firmly, "The new biotechnology project invested in by our Lu Group has been put into use. It extracts fingerprints from the skin! It's approved by the police, so there's absolutely no problem!"
Xu Jinyan's face turned pale instantly.
He thought the plan was foolproof, but who knew it would require this kind of technology!
Why does the Lu family invest so much in creative ideas?
He looked at Yue Shilin, his eyes full of help.
Yue Shilin frowned. He never expected that Sun Qianqian actually knew about this and had a way to prove that Xu Jinyan molested Linlin.
This is bad!
If it really turns out to be Xu Jinyan's fault, then he would still speak up for Xu Jinyan...
"Xu Jinyan, did you really do this?!" Yue Shilin scolded harshly, "You've brought shame to our training camp!"
Yue Shilin did not give Xu Jinyan a chance to defend himself. He knew that Xu Jinyan had touched Linlin, and instead of letting the police extract fingerprints, it would be better for him to be the righteous man.
Xu Jinyan's face turned increasingly grim as he realized Yue Shilin had given up on him. He instinctively wanted to argue, but the livestream was still on, and it was true that he had touched Linlin. He thought it would be better to just endure it and trade with Yue Shilin for other resources later.
Xu Jinyan lowered his head in shame, "I'm sorry, I really just like Linlin too much, and when I saw her fall asleep, I couldn't help it..."
[Holy crap! So this is why Yao Muyang and Xu Jinyan got into a fight?!]
[Xu Jinyan is so disgusting! He even said he likes Linlin, that's obscene!]
[No wonder Yao Muyang didn't argue with me. He was probably trying to save Linlin's face! Linlin was probably asleep, so she didn't even know about this!]
[Ah! So everyone misunderstood Yao Muyang? I feel so bad for him. I just saw the trending search online and saw that he was being criticized so badly!]
[Upstairs, although Yao Muyang helped Linlin beat up Xu Jinyan, think about it carefully. If you saw a man molesting your colleague, would you rush over and hit him? You wouldn't. A normal friend or colleague would just step forward to stop the man! If you hit someone, it's because the person being bullied is not just a colleague, but also your girlfriend!]
[Yes! Although I know Xu Jinyan’s motives, the relationship between Yao Muyang and Linlin is definitely not simple!]
Yue Shilin thought the same as those netizens online.
Even if Yao Muyang escaped by chance, the fact that he beat Xu Jinyan to protect Linlin further confirmed his relationship with Linlin. He didn't believe that Yao Muyang's fans would easily accept it!
"Mu Yang, so this is the reason. Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Yue Shilin asked worriedly, "If you had said this, we wouldn't have made things difficult for you! After all, you were trying to protect your girlfriend..."
Yao Muyang's brows, like distant mountains, furrowed. He instinctively wanted to retort that Linlin was not his girlfriend, but he stopped himself.
He was afraid that after the clarification, netizens would dig up Linlin's past.
But just because he doesn't admit it doesn't mean others don't admit it.
"Not a girlfriend."
Linlin, who had been silent all the time, suddenly spoke. No one noticed that when everyone was judging Xu Jinyan, she glanced at the message on her phone and then put the phone back in her pocket.
Her beautiful yet somewhat weak eyes gradually turned red, then became somewhat tough, and she looked at Yue Shilin firmly.
"Yangyang and I are not boyfriend and girlfriend, nor are we in an ambiguous relationship."
"I'm his mother."
Yue Shilin:?
Everyone at the scene: ? ?
Netizens in the live broadcast room: ???
Question marks popped up in everyone's heads, and they even suspected that they had heard it wrong.
Their reaction was exactly the same as Lu Yanyan and the others when they first heard about this.
Yue Shilin laughed and said, "Yao Linlin, are you kidding me? In order to clear your relationship, you actually came up with such an excuse..."
Linlin: "I'm 32 years old, and Yangyang is 16. People in Gangcheng can get married and have children at 16. I gave birth to Yangyang legally and in compliance with regulations. What's the problem?"
Yue Shilin: ???
Linlin knew that no one believed her, so she simply went back to the election officer's dormitory and found the household registration book, which clearly stated that Linlin was the head of the household and that Yao Muyang and she were mother and son.
Linlin rolled her eyes and explained, "Yangyang wanted to participate in the talent show, but I thought he was too young, so I didn't let him come. So we had a fight, and he ran away from home and came to Hai City to participate in the competition on his own."
"I was worried about him, so I came to the show to be the election supervisor. But I always hoped that he would withdraw from the competition, so Yangyang is still angry with me and doesn't recognize me."
"But we've already reached the finals. There's no point in me stopping them. Besides, seeing how Yangyang protected me just now, I know that Yangyang still cares about me, right?"
Yao Muyang was tall, and his face turned red when Linlin said that. He frowned, but he reluctantly replied, "Yeah."
[So, I spent the whole afternoon eating up all this love triangle gossip, and now I’m told it’s my biological mother?!]
When I knew I was in love: Look at my 40-meter sword! My idol actually dares to date! Now: Hello, mother-in-law! Let me introduce myself, I'm your son's wife! You'll see me in the audience tomorrow!
Everything makes sense now. Yao Muyang saw his mother being bullied, so of course he had to beat up Xu Jinyan. Isn't that considered violent? No one would tolerate that!
[That’s right, she’s my biological mother! Now I just hate that Yao Muyang didn’t hit Xu Jinyan hard enough and didn’t kill that scumbag!]
…
Netizens in the live broadcast room and everyone at the scene were all amazed by this reversal.
Only Lu Yanyan and a few others looked at everything in front of them with a look of satisfaction.
Sun Qianqian poked Lu Yanyan curiously, "Did you send the text to Linlin? Doesn't she think Yao Muyang is still mad at her and thinks she's a mistress? How dare she admit to the relationship?"
Lu Yanyan threw out her cell phone, which contained the chat history between her and Linlin.
"Simple. Before contacting Linlin, I contacted Li Huanyu."
The contact information of top chaebol bosses like Li Huanyu is very private, but Lu Yanyan can get it if she wants, it is not a difficult task.
"Li Huanyu deliberately suppressed the news of Linlin and Yao Muyang's mother-son relationship in order to force Yao Muyang to withdraw from the competition and return to the Li family to inherit the family business."
"What a shame! Don't we know how Li Mingjian died? I'll use this information in exchange for him suppressing the news about Linlin and Li Mingjian's relationship! That way, we won't have to worry about Linlin and Yao Muyang's relationship being exposed."
Yao Muyang was originally just worried that if his relationship with Linlin was exposed, netizens would dig up Linlin's past as a mistress, which would be hurtful to his mother.
But with the Li family's support, there was nothing to worry about. He could continue to be a child from an ordinary single-parent family, and his mother was just an ordinary but very young-looking mother.
"I also told Linlin that Yao Muyang's father played no role in his life. After his death, Yao Muyang had to go back to be the heir. What's wrong with using their Li family now?" Lu Yanyan didn't care, and even took pride in it. She thought her trick of information trading was very good.
"I wonder if Yao Muyang will regret giving up his billions of dollars and making his debut in the future~" Sun Qianqian sighed.
"Why give up?" Lu Yanyan shrugged, a sly smile in her eyes, "I'll just find a manager when the time comes. What belongs to Yao Muyang belongs to Yao Muyang, and there's no getting away."
Just like the C position debut this time.
Lu Yanyan firmly believed that even in a filthy place like the entertainment industry, there were people who would always work hard, endure hardships, practice continuously, and sweat.
They are destined to succeed.
Gu Xingcan also thinks so.
He doesn't believe that bad luck and misfortune will haunt him forever. He always comforts himself: If you didn't debut this time, it might just be because God thinks you are not ready yet. Once you become the best trainee, you will definitely debut.
In the lounge, Gu Xingcan patted Yao Muyang's hand vigorously, his eyes filled with tears of emotion.
"Thank you! Brother, you're actually alright! Your house didn't collapse, and you made it out alive! That's fantastic! That's fantastic!"
"You're our center, 100% sure to debut! If your reputation falls apart, I'll never be able to shake off the label of 'boy band killer'!"
Yao Muyang was neither sad nor happy, and just said "hmm" lightly.
However, Qiu Yinghuai, after hearing the conversation between the two, quietly turned off the phone that he had just used to say "I love you" to his girlfriend, and his hair stood on end instinctively.
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