Chapter 854: Playing Along

Xia Ling was still seething and didn’t bother to respond to the staff member.

Lin Yunan was aware of her temper and spoke up on her behalf, “Xiao Ling won’t be going onstage. The agenda that was communicated to us by the broadcast station didn’t have this segment.”

The staff member was taken aback. Even though this was an additional segment, they all thought that Xia Ling would be happy that Xia Yu had apologized to her. Regardless of what misunderstanding the sisters had, this was a perfect opportunity for them to be reconciled. None of them had thought about the possibility that Xia Ling wouldn’t be willing to cooperate.

The staff member thought that Xia Ling was unwilling to put aside her pride and tried to persuade her. “Miss Ling, Xia Yu and you are family. Your relationship was so close in the past, how can there possibly be any deep hatred, right? Miss Xia Yu has already put aside her pride to apologize to you in front of so many people. Can you bear to see her standing on stage all alone after the song?”

Xia Ling’s expression remained cold and she didn’t say anything.

Lin Yunan replied, “Don’t disturb Xiao Ling’s rest. We will not be going on stage, period. The one that agreed to this segment can go on stage themselves. And… can the broadcast station give us a good explanation for the proceedings today? Is the emcee or the agenda planner new? How can there not be any discussion with us about something as important as this? Are they tired of being part of this industry?!” His voice was stern and loud, and the entire makeup room turned to look over at the commotion.

The staff member started to panic, realizing that Lin Yunan and Xia Ling were truly upset about what had happened.

He hurriedly apologized. “Sorry, sorry… the program team only received the request by Miss Xia Yu today, and hence, we didn’t have time to discuss it with you. We also thought that it would be a nice surprise…”

“Hurhur, a big surprise indeed.” Xia Ling piped up. “I thought that a big broadcast station like Nebula would have proper ways of doing things. Who would have thought that you guys are no different from the small broadcast stations in the lower-tier cities? Should I give you a surprise as well? Who was the one that agreed to the addition of this last-minute segment? With the amount of negative repercussions that this is bringing me, I think it’s not too much to ask for that person to resign from his post, right? If he doesn’t want to resign…” Xia Ling smiled, picked up her Chanel purse and stood up. “It’s getting late. Shaohui is waiting for me to read him a bedtime story.”

The staff member was almost in hysterics. What was she doing now? Was she going on a strike?

Not attending this segment was fine. Was she not going to go on stage to accept her Best Female Singer award as well?!

It was almost set in stone that the Best Female Singer award was going to Xia Ling. Even if the broadcast station wanted otherwise, there was no way to prevent that from happening. Her popularity was way ahead of the number two! If she didn’t go on stage when they announced the Best Female Singer winner, coupled with her lack of response to Xia Yu’s apology, there would be all kinds of speculations! Rumors would say that Xia Ling and Nebula broadcast station did not get along…

Digging a bit deeper would easily reveal that there were problems in the agenda, which angered Xia Ling. All her fans would be angered, and their spit alone would be enough to drown them!

“Ling… Miss Ling… please calm down. Sorry, we’re so, so, sorry!” The immediate priority was the make sure that Xia Ling was appeased. Cold sweat broke out of the staff member’s brows. “This matter is our mistake… please give me the chance to speak to my manager to decide how best to deal with the situation. Please take a seat…”

As he spoke, he signaled to the other staff members to pour Xia Ling some tea.

Xia Ling sat slowly back down with a cold expression on her face.

Lin Yunan gave a cold smile at the staff member. “Your station isn’t new to the scene… didn’t you guys hear about us and how we deal with matters before?”

The staff member hurriedly apologized again. “Yes, yes… sorry… it’s our mistake.” He thought to himself: No wonder everyone said that Xia Ling is hard to deal with. Now that I’ve experienced it first-hand, hard to deal with is a huge understatement!

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Lin Yunan continued, “Tell your manager to make the program planner resign. And… deal with that emcee as well… Otherwise, the matter might be blown up out of proportion. And if they were to be forced to resign from the anger of the netizens, that would truly be nasty.” This was not an empty threat. Xia Ling’s fans truly had the ability to force such a scenario.

The staff member ran off in search of his manager with a grave expression.

Leaving behind a room of people staring at Xia Ling in shock.

“What are you guys looking at?” Lin Yunan asked as he served Xia Ling her tea. “Haven’t you seen a big shot at work?”

Everyone was speechless.

They had seen big shots in the workplace, but one that was so overbearing was a first.

However, there was no running from the fact that the broadcast station was in the wrong. Many artistes had been the victim of last minutes changes to the rundown. Thus, they did understand Xia Ling’s frustration.

Lin Yunan lowered his head and whispered to Xia Ling, “When the broadcast station comes back with a proper explanation, you’ll still have to appear on stage after Xia Yu’s song.”

“I don’t want to go.” Xia Ling grumbled.

Lin Yunan chided her. “Don’t be stupid! Now that the matter has reached such a state, and it being a live broadcast, you not going onstage would result in too much negative talk. People will say that you’re petty… or escapist… Even if you don’t want to forgive Xia Yu, you can’t allow for speculation. You should go out there and give a proper reason for not forgiving her. Don’t lower your positive image in everybody’s eyes.”

Xia Ling felt even more upset. Wasn’t she being forced onstage by Xia Yu, then?

But she knew that Lin Yunan was right, so she didn’t say anything to retort him.

Lin Yunan continued, “Also, can you really just go on strike now? Don’t be naive! Even if you don’t want the Best Female Singer award, you still need to show support to Luo Luo. If your image is affected in this period, your ability to influence will be lowered. Wouldn’t that be putting Luo Luo at a disadvantage, then?”

Xia Ling lifted her head and glanced over at Luo Luo who was sitting a short distance away.

The sweet girl was looking at her with eyes full of concern.

Xia Ling sighed. “Okay, fine. I’ll go onstage.”

“That’s my girl.” Lin Yunan snapped his fingers in satisfaction.

It wasn’t long later that the head of planning for the Nebula Music Festival was led over by the staff member to put out the fire. They had run over and were panting and wiping away their sweat by the time they came before Xia Ling. “Miss Ling, I’m so sorry, it’s our oversight that made you feel so upset.” The head of planning decisively said, “This last-minute segment was put in by Planning Manager Zhou, who is the second-in-command here. I’ll fire him once our program is finished for today! I didn’t supervise him well and can’t shift the blame completely—I’ll punish myself, as well as emcee Annie, by docking three months of pay. Miss Ling, please forgive us for our oversight on account of our sincerity in dealing with the matter. All the fans are waiting in anticipation for your appearance… could you help us save the situation, please?”

There was no value in not playing along now, especially with the broadcast station’s pleading. Xia Ling was appeased and nodded her agreement after remembering Lin Yunan’s advice a minute ago.