The viewers watching Sheng Jiaoyang’s every move started laughing at her, saying that her behaviour was hateful.
From the very beginning, Sheng Jiaoyang had never thought of ingratiating herself with them anyway. If they were pleasing to her eyes, she would get along peacefully with them, allowing them to live together in harmony. But, if they dared to provoke her and think that she would tolerate being bullied, then that would be a big mistake.
There were only two people in her life who’d previously bullied her that she hadn’t retaliated against. One was that b*tch; her stepmother, who acted like a white lotus. The other was the great Demon King; Shen Zhining.
She hadn’t had a chance to deal with the former, while the latter, she didn’t dare do anything to.
As for other people, they wouldn’t know where to cry after she was finished with them!
Sheng Jiaoyang was utterly unconcerned regarding the difficulties the other contestants might pose for her as she was already accustomed to people talking about her behind her back. And, apart from the dressing rooms and bathrooms, cameras were installed throughout the villa.
However, even though she had a bunch of haters, not everyone disliked her.
At least, the people who got to taste her cocktail didn’t think that her actions were too arrogant. They instead felt that her lack of facial expressions was incredibly charming.
As he drank the delicious cocktail, Zhou Yiyan silently praised his decision to give her the exemption ticket during the interviews. As he expected, his intuition was right. This girl would greatly surprise everyone.
The first person who took up the challenge to mix themselves a drink failed. The colour of the cocktail was muddy, and no one would volunteer to try it. So, after such a spectacular fail, none of the contestants dared to attempt to concoct a cocktail.
No one wanted to be the next contestant to embarrass themselves.
Not long after that, the bar became empty as the contestants returned to the other side of the counter. Then, once it was free of contestants, Sheng Jiaoyang sneered and slowly walked back behind the bar. There, she started cleaning the used utensils and rubbing everything clean with a towel before making herself a Bloody Mary under everyone’s curious gaze.
Scrutinising her every move they watched as she mixed the drink, moving neither too slow nor too fast. And, since everything she did was clearly arranged before everyone’s eyes, it resulted in a few of the contestants memorising the steps to take in making the drink, and they became eager to try making their own.
This time though, once the drink was complete, there was no cheer from Sheng Jiaoyang. She had absolutely no intention of celebrating with the other contestants. So, grabbing her drink, she went straight to the piano room on the top floor of the villa.
Sheng Jiaoyang didn’t know who’d rented this villa, but everything the contestants could ever need was stashed away for their convenience. There was plenty to eat and drink, multiple forms of entertainment, and unexpectedly, on the top floor, there was a piano room with wide windows that faced the sea.
That’s right; this villa was facing the sea! Well, that was definitely a feature that you couldn’t forget to mention. On top of that, there was a gorgeous beach just a few steps from their back door!
Because Zhuo Yiyan was still present, most of the contestants were on the first floor, while a few of those who were tired were resting in the bedrooms on the second floor. As a result, there was no one in the third floor piano room.
As soon as the door was opened, the sensor light in the room immediately flicked on, revealing the space before Sheng Jiaoyang’s eyes. Scanning the room, she found that it was spacious; containing only a decorative potted plant and a piano placed in front of large french windows.
Sheng Jiaoyang slowly entered the room, gently holding the wine glass between her fingers. Her left hand caressed the cover on the piano as she moved closer. It could clear that this place had been cleaned up before they’d arrived as not even a speck of dust remained. Her fingers lightly tapped on the cover a few times, but she refused to remove it. Instead, she turned and leaned her back against the piano to look out the window.
The sun outside had already set, dimming the sky and hiding the sea in a veil of darkness. The only thing visible was her figure reflected in the window’s glass.
Although she’d been living as Xu Jiaojiao for several days now, she still felt slightly uncomfortable whenever she saw her current body. It was like she was watching another person.
Sheng Jiaoyang lowered her eyes, then pressed her lips against the wine glass and took a sip of the cocktail, the bright colour of the drink moistening her pale lips. Only moments before she’d acted like an arrogant woman, capturing the hostility of the other contestants. But now, when she was separated from the crowd, her body emitted an aura of loneliness.
The perfect life that she’d lived only months ago now seemed so distant. Yet, even with such a drastic change to her predicament, she was unconcerned about her future and was only worried about those who’d really cared about her. So, in the last two days, her heart had been full of contradictions. She was eager to reveal her identity to those who’d been closest to her, but she was afraid that they wouldn’t believe her. Currently, the money she had in her possession was enough to help her contact them, but she would hesitate falter like a coward whenever the thought appeared in her mind. She was utterly confused on what her next move should be.
“Why are you hiding up here?” A voice interrupted the peaceful atmosphere in the piano room.
When Sheng Jiaoyang turned around, she saw that Zhuo Yiyan had entered the room. Almost instantly, her face became expressionless.
“Is there a rule saying that I can’t be in here?”
Zhuo Yiyan only chuckled. “I forgot to tell you earlier that the cocktail you made was exceptional.”
“Ohh,” Sheng Jiaoyang responded lazily, her expression neutral.
Ever since he’d become famous, Zhuo Yiyan had never yet met a girl who treated him with such indifference; the novelty of it felt rather odd. Walking forward, he lifted his hand and tapped his fingers on the lid of the piano. Then, he curiously asked, “I remember that during the interviews you mentioned that your family was poor. So, can you tell me where you learnt to mix drinks?”
Sheng Jiaoyang raised her eyes and looked at Zhuo Yiyan with a pondering gaze before asking him, “If I said that I learnt how to mix drinks in a dream, would you believe me?”
“Do you believe that’s what happened?” Zhuo Yiyan asked, avoiding answering her question.
Sheng Jiaoyang snickered.
“If even you don’t believe your story, do you think that I’ll believe it?”
“Whether you believe me or not has nothing to do with me as these are all things that I learnt how to do myself. I didn’t steal or lie, and I don’t need to explain myself to anyone,” Sheng Jiaoyang’s brow arched slightly as she responded.
When he heard such a self-assured statement, Zhuo Yiyan laughed and switched topics. “Tomorrow you’ll begin the first round of training. How are you feeling? Do you feel confident that you’ll be able to manage?”
“Of course!” Sheng Jiaoyang answered straightforwardly and raised her chin.
There were no words for retreat in Eldest Miss Sheng’s dictionary, and what she liked most in life was facing challenges head-on. Life could only be truly magnificent when it was full of difficulties, wasn’t that so?
“Since you seem to be filled with confidence, then that’s good. You-”
“Sorry! I didn’t disturb you two, right?” a voice suddenly interrupted Zhuo Yiyan.
Both people looked at the doorway as one, noticing a girl peeking her head around the doorframe. When the girl saw that the two people in the room were looking at her, she walked in before they could say anything.
“I suddenly felt the urge to play the piano, so I came up here. What were the both of you just talking about?” the girl asked as she approached.
Sheng Jiaoyang glanced at Zhuo Yiyan while sneering in her heart.
At the same time, Zhuo Yiyan had been subtly watching Sheng Jiaoyang and saw her expression change minutely. Without her having to say it out loud, he knew that she was disgusted by his ability to attract people, no matter where he was.
“Since you’re going to play the piano, I won’t disturb you,” Zhuo Yiyan said, maintaining his gentle attitude.
“Eeh? Teacher Zhuo, can you wait for a while before you go? I recently learnt a piano song especially for you and wanted you to hear it!” The girl blinked her eyes as she looked at Zhuo Yiyan pitifully, seeming like she’d cry if he didn’t agree.
Zhuo Yiyan remained unmoved and just replied, “Then, you should play it.”
The girl’s eyes lit up as she ran to the piano, saying to Sheng Jiaoyang who hadn’t yet moved, “Sorry, I’m going to play the piano, so can you step aside?”
A corner of Sheng Jiaoyang’s lips lifted, and carrying her glass of wine, she moved aside two steps and pointed to the piano with her chin, “Please, play it.” Compared to Zhuo Yiyan’s gentle voice, her tone was too indifferent and came across as a little arrogant.
The girl secretly glared at Sheng Jiaoyang and thought of her as quite the eyesore.
Taking a deep breath, the girl lifted the piano cover before placing her hands on the ivory keys. After turning her head to smile at Zhuo Yiyan, she then began to play a song that she’d practised many times.
The melodious sound of the piano echoed in the spacious room, and the lively tune lingered in their ears.
Once the song was finished, the girl hastily turned to Zhuo Yiyan and asked expectantly, “Teacher Zhuo, how was it?”
“Not bad, keep it up,” Zhuo Yiyan said comfortingly. Then, he nodded to the two girls and turned around to leave.
“Teacher Zhuo, my name is Qi Hua!” the girl shouted at Zhuo Yiyan’s retreating figure.
“I remember,” Zhuo Yiyan threw out before continuing to walk out of the room.
Sheng Jiaoyang quietly laughed, then quickly sipped her cocktail to cover it.
“You and Teacher Zhuo know each other?” Qi Hua slowly turned her head and stared fixedly at Sheng Jiaoyang.
“No.”
Once she’d heard this answer, Qi Hua’s expression changed. She looked at Sheng Jiaoyang with hate and snapped, “What were you just laughing at? What qualifications do you have to laugh at me? Since the beginning of this competition, I knew that every move you made was carefully calculated, yet I didn’t expect you to be so shameless! Even daring to privately hook up with Teacher Zhuo!”
“Yeah, I just laughed at you! Bite me if you don’t like it!” Sheng Jiaoyang’s tone was particularly annoying.
“You!” Qi Hua stood up and prepared to start a fight.
“Please pay attention to your image. The cameras are still recording,” Sheng Jiaoyang’s remark caused Qi Hua to restrain her emotions quickly.
Sheng Jiaoyang smirked and moved closer before swiftly shifting the wine glass to her left hand, and with her right hand, she stretched past Qi Hua. From the camera’s perspective, it looked like she lightly tapped the piano, while in fact, she bounced her fingers on the keys and caused a very short tune to play.
Other people who heard it might be unaware, but Qi Hua’s complexion changed instantly.
“Keep it up, girl!”
Sheng Jiaoyang whispered in Qi Hua’s ear devoid of meaning before walking away without a second glance.
Qi Hua’s face was mottled a horrid shade, and she glared at Sheng Jiaoyang’s back as she stamped her foot in anger.
B*tch!
Qi Hua looked at the camera before she also hurriedly left the piano room.
For the viewers watching the live broadcast, the scene was somewhat unclear. The comments page was abruptly filled with questions.
[What’s going on?]
[Can anyone tell me what happened just now?]
[Looking for an answer +1.]
[Why did the tune that Xu Jiaojiao play sound a little familiar? Did I hear things?]
[I wonder what the meaning was for the short-haired girl to play it.]
[If anyone out there can play the piano, help us by telling us what it means!]
[+1 for an ID number.]
At the same time, in a particular female dormitory, two cute girls were engaged in an enthusiastic discussion.
“What did Goddess Xu do?” Cute girl number 1, Liu Lu, was somewhat dumbfounded.
“I think she was correcting Qi Hua on where she played the piano wrong.” Concluded cute girl number 2, who was the roommate who’d remained watching the live broadcast.
“But, didn’t Goddess Xu learn how to paint?” Liu Lu continued, utterly confused.
“Is there a rule that says a person can only learn how to draw?” the roommate asked calmly as she pushed her glasses further up her nose.
Liu Lu blinked and looked baffled. “Can one person master two complicated things at the same time?”
“That’s wrong! It’s three things,” the roommate corrected.
“Three? Oh right, she also can mix cocktails!” Liu Lu nodded.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover. There’s no lack of talented people in this world,” the roommate stated.
Liu Lu wailed in defeat before she finally sighed. “F*ck! I have such a hard time studying for a final exam, yet she’s already learnt so many skills.”
“That’s enough! Both of you!”
“So, you still remember that you have an exam to do? Hurry up and study!!!”
Roommate one and roommate two finally had enough and chastised the two girls who were busy gossiping.
The two cute girls hunched their necks in silence, turned off the phone, and began preparing for the exam.