Chapter 14: Chapter 014: Just a Shattered Ballad
The music and ballads gradually ceased.
The atmosphere became quiet.
Shen Yan gently set the guitar down.
The soft sound snapped everyone back to reality.
"Bravo!"
The applause started sparsely but eventually found its rhythm.
Qin Dingyue approached with bright eyes, staring intently at Shen Yan
as if Shen Yan were a piece of tempting meat.
"Shen Yan, you play so beautifully. I had no idea you had such a great voice! What should I do; I'm starting to worship you! I'm going to be your number one fan girl!"
Shen Yan smiled faintly, that moment of ethereal grace made Qin Dingyue, who only had eyes for handsome men, stare in awe!
Oh my god!
It was the first time she realized Shen Yan could be so bewitchingly beautiful!
[The silly girl is beyond saving.]
[Someone, please, come and slap my silly girl awake!]
[Girl! Please smarten up! You're killing your mom here.]
A woman's jealousy is stronger than one might imagine,
especially the jealousy between female celebrities.
Liu Qiang couldn't maintain her smile any longer, barely able to conceal the envy in her gaze.
She thought Shen Yan was useless, but the result was unexpected.
A mere casual performance revealed that Shen Yan's skills were far more profound.
Shen Yan still had more to show!
And that face—Liu Qiang, clutching the corner of her garment, nearly poked a hole through it.
Damn it.
Shen Yan managed to outshine her.
The more Liu Qiang thought about it, the more annoyed she became at her own subpar performance.
[Whoever said my Shen Yan is just a vase, care to take a stroll out here?]
[My idol is not as simple as you think!]
[Ha! Take that, fake princess.]
[From my professional point of view, there is something exceptional about the way the fake princess plays and sings.]
[Is it so hard to admit my Shen Yan is outstanding? Some people just can't stand to see others succeed.]
The trolls and Shen Yan's new fans started to clash.
The comments flew thicker and faster.
Chu Jinghe noticed several male guests' gazes being drawn towards Shen Yan, even the disdainful Mu Jincheng had a moment where he was spellbound.
This was not a good sign.
Chu Jinghe felt things were going off track.
She felt a bit uneasy,
profoundly uncomfortable with Shen Yan's recent performance.
Mu Jincheng's face turned a shade darker as he pulled his gaze away from Shen Yan.
He had actually been distracted.
And by Shen Yan, of all people.
Totally inappropriate.
Xu Zishen walked over, picked up his guitar, and looked at Shen Yan again, "You play really well! Have you had professional training?"
"No, just picked it up for a few weeks by chance."
Shen Yan wasn't lying.
That was before she was sent to the base when she had learned outside school for a few weeks.
Thoughts darkened in Shen Yan's eyes as she recalled something.
It was because of her special talent that those people wanted to research her.
And her family...
"What song is that? I've never heard it before?" Wen Yan, a singer who had heard more songs than most people had eaten salt,
couldn't recall this song from memory.
Shen Yan spoke with a light tone, "Just a shattered ballad."
Shattered?
Why describe a ballad like that?
"What a rubbish explanation. Such an act," Liu Qiang muttered under her breath.
Shen Yan's unrecorded ballad and tune went viral online.
After dinner, everyone boredly scrolled through short videos and Weibo on their phones.
Netizens stumbled upon the treasure in the desert island live broadcast and began to share it across Weibo and various apps.
[Even though I don't know her, the young lady is truly an immortal beauty! And she plays such beautiful music! Sings so well! Instant fan!]
[Pure passerby, completely captivated by the immortal girl!]
[Sob! Is it just me who gets teary easily, or do the tune and ballad sound so... mournful?]
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"[It's not that exaggerated," I didn't hear any sadness in it, sounds pretty average to me.]"
"[Nowadays netizens just love to overhype things," it's just a light and airy ballad, is there really a need to go so overboard with the praise?]"
"[I don't care, don't care," from today on, I'm joining Shen Yan's fan squad!" If Black doesn't like it, then roll away early and don't bother sis!]"
"[Let me promote @ShenYanV, the protagonist of the acapella ballad!]"
Shen Yan had no idea that because of this ballad, she had successfully captured a batch of casual fans.
The number one fan immediately went down to recruit new Shen Yan fans into the group!
After recording all day and carrying equipment all the way, even after dinner, the exhaustion from the day wasn't relieved, and everyone smelled awful, disgustingly so.
Liu Qiang was the first to couldn't stand it any longer and went down to request a bath.
Regretting being on this show for the nth time.
Not just Liu Qiang, but even the male celebrities couldn't take it any more.
They swore they wouldn't carry such heavy stuff again tomorrow.
Usually, they couldn't run for long in the gym, and here they were, hiking with weights on a mountain track, and on top of that, they had to find food on this deserted island; they were clearly being played with.
Today was the most hardcore day of shooting.
Director Li knew he was at fault and had previously set a precedent for Chu Jing and another person.
Once Liu Qiang spoke up, others followed suit.
"Let's all go take a bath; otherwise, we won't be able to sleep tonight," Qin Ding Yue affectionately grabbed Shen Yan's hand and started walking.
Shen Yan's eyebrows furrowed.
She didn't like physical contact with others.
Especially this level of intimacy.
She subtly withdrew her hand and nodded at Qin Ding Yue.
Qin Ding Yue was carefree and rarely paid attention to the details.
Shen Yan's subtle move went unnoticed by her.
She was happy that Shen Yan had responded to her.
The fans watching the screen were already speechless about their naive daughter.
They were also scared Qin Ding Yue would be attacked by Shen Yan's Black, tiptoeing around various apps only to find they were overthinking it.
Their naive girl was still quite popular, and many spoke up for Qin Ding Yue.
Although the way they spoke was a bit... peculiar, at least it was not a direct attack on Qin Ding Yue.
After the bath, nobody wanted to move.
Even Qin Ding Yue, who had been clamoring for adventure, lay sprawled in the tent refusing to come out and "open for business."
The evening's filming was much more relaxed.
The camera positions were fixed; no one needed to watch over them.
Everyone was too exhausted to even lift their fingers, having to carry weight, suffering hunger, and still maintaining their image in front of the cameras, the post-dinner entertainment was already their limit; after bathing, they flopped down like Ge You lying down, ignoring anyone who came by.
Shen Yan didn't sleep but lay quietly in her tent staring at the tent ceiling.
Although it was supposed to be a 24-hour live broadcast, there were angles that weren't covered.
Not knowing how long she lay there, a faint noise came from outside—clearly, someone was avoiding the camera to sneak over to her.
Shen Yan sat up and lifted the part of the tent that wasn't on camera.
In the night, she saw Mu Jincheng looking at her with a cold expression.
Mu Jincheng gestured toward a spot not far away, signaling her to follow.
Shen Yan raised an eyebrow and watched him groping his way over; she didn't move.
Mu Jincheng, who had moved a distance away and noticed Shen Yan hadn't followed, furrowed his brows and said in an impatient tone, "Come here."
What was going on with Shen Yan?
Before, just a glance from him would send her scurrying over happily, and now, despite his obvious gesture, she pretended not to understand.
Thinking about Shen Yan's performance in this issue.
Mu Jincheng's expression turned uglier.
Playing hard to get with him? Useless.
Shen Yan ignored this lunatic who didn't sleep at night and came looking for her, fixed the tent, and lay back down.
Mu Jincheng outside: "..."
Although the camera couldn't capture it, what if another inadvertently did?
Would she be blacklisted on the hot search again tomorrow?
She didn't like the leading male and female characters in the book, and if possible, she didn't want to have any connection with these two at all.
Mu Jincheng about to burst from anger because of Shen Yan.
But Mu Jincheng dared not bluster back and scold Shen Yan; it would ruin his reputation.
Mu Jincheng had no choice but to suppress his frustration and fumble his way back.
He thought he had covered his tracks perfectly, but Zhou Jingming saw everything clearly as he passed by earlier.
Zhou Jingming felt strangely unsettled by Mu Jincheng's movement toward Shen Yan's tent, and his mind speculated deeper about the relationship between the two.
In the first issue, Shen Yan was all over Mu Jincheng without any regard for public opinion.
But last time, Mu Jincheng had maintained his gentlemanly demeanor and didn't take issue with Shen Yan.
But since then, Mu Jincheng had been pranking Shen Yan intentionally or unintentionally, which Zhou Jingming had occasionally noticed.
He just hadn't bothered with these trifles.
Plus, Shen Yan from the previous issue was indeed detestable.
Thinking about the young girl playing guitar and singing by the campfire tonight, the scene of a beautiful woman engrained into his mind, Zhou Jingming turned over restlessly.
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