Chapter 853: Forcing Her Hand

Xia Ling frowned slightly, guessing what she was going to say.

As expected, Xia Yu said, “In the past, I didn’t know that Ye Xingling was the reincarnation of my sister, Xia Ling, and hence, my behavior to her was unacceptable. Now that I know that she is my sister, I’m regretful of all my actions. I hope I can gain the forgiveness of my sister.”

Her tone was forlorn and pitiful.

The emcee was full of sympathy for her, but still raised fair suspicion. “In that case, Miss Xia Yu, why didn’t you look for Miss Ling in private to seek her forgiveness? Why did you have to pick a public event like today to do so?”

“To be honest…” Xia Yu had tears in her eyes. “I did go find my sister a while back. However, my sister refused to forgive me, and wouldn’t even agree to meet me. Every time I go to look for her, her bodyguards will prevent me from getting anywhere near her. I’m really out of ideas and this is my last resort. Sorry for taking up everyone’s time.”

The emcee’s expression turned to shock. “Miss Ling wouldn’t forgive you? Is there any misunderstanding between you both? I remember that Miss Ling treated you as the most precious gem that she had in her past life. Your relationship was so close. I believe that she’ll still forgive you regardless of what you do in this life.”

Emotional music started playing in the background.

Xia Ling was so furious she almost smashed the glass cup in her hands onto the floor.

“What is this emcee doing?” She angrily said to Lin Yunan. “What does she mean by I will definitely forgive her? Are they trying to get the moral high ground here?! I want to lodge a complaint against her!”

Lin Yunan’s expression was cold. The emcee was being too much—how could she not have checked with Xiao Ling on her views on such a grave matter, and speak as she pleased in the live broadcast. This ran against all the rules in the industry, and was a big disrespect to someone of Xiao Ling’s status.

He responded in a low voice, “I’ll handle this.”

Xia Ling calmed down a little and continued to watch the live broadcast.

Xia Yu was explaining to the emcee how she intended to apologize to her sister. “Four years ago, my sister said that I was lip-synching. Then, I was young and didn’t know any better. Moreover, I had been studying business administration at Cambridge University, and didn’t receive much formal music education. Hence, my singing was horrendous. I didn’t want others to say that ‘Why is Xia Ling’s sister such a bad singer,’ and thus, decided to lip-synch on stage. I really regret that…”

Tears were flowing down her cheeks. Coupled with her makeup, it made her look all the more pitiful.

People were being bought over by her performance in the audience. Yes, her sister was so famous… It was perfectly understandable for a young girl under so much pressure to do something like that. What’s more, she was sincere in her apology.

In an instant, many hearts softened towards Xia Yu, and they couldn’t bring themselves to pin blame on her any longer.

Xia Yu had always been proficient in garnering pity from the audience. Now, she continued, “After that lip-synching incident, I’ve disappeared from the entertainment scene. I’ve been practicing my singing overseas, hoping to be able to redeem myself from that shameful incident. I can’t let ‘Xia Ling’s sister’ be known for lip-synching my entire life. That would be too disrespectful to my sister.”

There was sporadic applause offstage from some in the audience that were touched by her words.

Many were forgiving to a person that was willing to repent and change.

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The background music became more emotional, and even the emcee started to wipe at the “tears” that were forming at the corners of her eyes. She said, “Xia Yu is such a good girl. So you’ve practiced diligently for your comeback this time, right?”

“Yes.” Xia Yu nodded and regarded the audience sincerely. “These years, I’ve been practicing through the night. Even though I wouldn’t profess to have reached my sister’s level of singing, but I’ve improved a lot from before. I want to sing a song that I’ve written for my sister these few years that I’ve been away. To prove that I’m not lip-synching, I’ll sing this acapella.”

Acapella!

There was bustling offstage.

It was much harder to sing acapella than with background music. Many songs that sounded great with background music tended to lose its flavor when sung acapella. This was a big test of a singer’s foundation and abilities. Up till today, the only singer that dared sing acapella in front of an audience was probably only Xia Ling.

Could Xia Yu do it?

“Miss Xia Yu, are you really going to sing acapella? This is too shocking, but we are also full of anticipation.” The emcee remarked with mild excitement. “Then, let us hear the song of apology that you’ve prepared for Miss Ling today.”

The emcee went offstage, leaving Xia Yu alone on the vast stage.

Xia Yu was elegant and confident, her chiffon skirt being dyed with many colors from the stage lighting. Lyrics flowed out of her lips like a river, and her voice was as light as a feather and so melodious that it struck at the audience’s heartstrings. “From the beginning, it was just you and me. But I didn’t know to cherish you… till I lost you…”

Even though it was sung acapella, she was able to make it so pleasant that the audience felt like they were in a dream. This was a marked improvement from her singing abilities a few years back.

Backstage, Lin Yunan and Xia Ling were watching the live broadcast together. They couldn’t resist but comment. “What’s going on here? Xia Yu has become a different person. This singing standard is so much better than her singing a few years back… she can almost match up to Xie Linlang and the others… This is too suspicious. Even if a talented trainee trained incessantly in the training camp, it would still be difficult to reach this standard in four years!”

Xia Ling felt more irritated.

She was a perfectionist when it came to music, maybe due to the amount of time that she spent with Wei Shaoyin. She was of the view that music was a display of one’s beauty within. Such a beautiful voice could only come from a clean and pure spirit. How was it that the singing was coming from this fake and cruel person?

“Switch off the sound.” She didn’t want to hear any more.

“Tsk, tsk, she’s singing an apology to you.” Lin Yunan remarked but picked up the remote as he spoke, muting the sound. The subtitles still showed the lyrics of the song, which was recounting the love-hate relationships between the two sisters in their past life. Even though the lyrics were not sufficient to move Xia Ling, it did serve to touch the audience listening.

Tons of netizens online were leaving comments talking about the relationship between the sisters.

Many spoke up for Xia Yu and begged Xia Ling to forgive her.

In their opinion, “Ye Xingling” and Xia Yu didn’t have too big a misunderstanding in this life. They had some conflict during their debut period in relation to performance venues, but nothing that couldn’t be forgiven. It seemed like if “Ye Xingling” chose not to forgive Xia Yu, she would appear to be petty, and many would start to suspect if she truly was Xia Ling reincarnated. After all, Xia Ling openly doted on her little sister in her past life, and couldn’t possibly be so unforgiving to her over such trivial matters.

There were posts everywhere with the words “Xiao Ling, forgive her.”

Lin Yunan showed the comments to Xia Ling, whose face was cold as snow. She seethed, “No way.”

Someone pushed open the door of the makeup room and a staff member walked in. Smiling at Xia Ling, he said, “Miss Ling, it would be good for you to make an appearance after Miss Xia Yu has finished her song.”