Chapter 129: The Originality Controversy

Su Zitong did not step forward to testify against Lin Qihua. This reminded him of the girl’s fierce resolve that night—the moment she had held a glass filled with shards of broken glass against her own throat. She must be under tremendous pressure now. Countless people were hoping she would come forward and testify against him. If she did, he would be all but doomed. Perhaps Tang Zhijie and the others would offer her any number of conditions, so long as they could drive him into a dead end.

Fortunately, she had remained silent. That alone was the greatest support she could give Lin Qihua. Expecting her to defend him under such pressure would be far too much. Even if she were willing, she could not appear before the cameras, and the media interviewing her would never allow such a thing to happen. Wouldn’t that amount to slapping themselves in the face?

Su Zitong had not come forward. But another person—someone both expected and unexpected—had.

It was Liu Feng, Lin Qihua’s former teammate and sworn rival.

On the second week’s talk show, Entertainment Tonight, Lin Zhao invited Liu Feng onto the program.

“Good evening, everyone, and welcome back to the talk show Entertainment Tonight. Last week, we invited Mr. Tang Zhijie, setting off a massive public campaign to judge a certain young singer in the entertainment industry and allowing the entire nation to see his true face. Tonight, we will continue following this story and delve deeper into the truth behind this young singer. Please welcome tonight’s guest, Mr. Liu Feng.”

Liu Feng walked onto the stage beaming.

“Good evening, host. Good evening, everyone.”

“Welcome.” Lin Zhao smiled broadly. “You are the captain of the renowned group Heavenly Melody. It is an exceptional group, and we are delighted to have you here.”

“Yes,” Liu Feng replied with a smile. “I’m very pleased to be on the show.”

“I imagine you already understand tonight’s topic. Lin Qihua was once your teammate, correct?”

“Yes.” Facing the camera, Liu Feng spoke with ease. “We were signed to the same company and trained at the same academy. After our debut, we formed the group that is now known as Heavenly Melody. We were teammates, and once, we were good friends as well.”

“I noticed that you just used the word ‘once.’ In other words, you were friends in the past, but you are no longer friends now. Is that correct?” Lin Zhao seized upon the wording.

“Uh… yes.” Liu Feng hesitated for a moment. “We used to be good friends. Not anymore.”

“Same old tricks,” He Li sneered from in front of the television. “What a performance. Yuwen Hao is applying pressure from behind the scenes, Tang Zhijie and Star Radiance Entertainment are charging ahead, and now Liu Feng has appeared too. How impressive.”

“This has nothing to do with Magnificent Arts,” Lin Qihua explained. “It should be Young Master Guo’s doing. Both he and Liu Feng have a grudge against me.”

“So every demon and ghost has gathered in one place,” He Li muttered, pressing a hand to her forehead.

“The person pulling the strings must be Chen Yan,” Lian Yuling said firmly. “The true mastermind probably isn’t just Yuwen Hao. He alone couldn’t make so many media outlets and entertainers fall silent in fear. Someone else must have intervened as well. No—she definitely intervened. She has never liked me, either.”

“So this is still your fault?” Lin Qihua asked, looking at Lian Yuling’s guilt-ridden face.

“Yes. Two superstars have taken action because of you. Isn’t that making things rather serious? But the real target is probably still me. It is mainly a warning.” Anger filled Lian Yuling’s otherwise calm face. She had endured the humiliation for ten years, yet her opponent still refused to let her go. Whenever an opportunity arose, she seized it to strike Galaxy Entertainment a vicious blow, warning Lian Yuling not to dream of making a comeback—or else harsher measures would follow. Who could possibly swallow such an insult?

“Two superstars?” Lin Qihua clapped his hands and laughed. “I’m truly flattered. If I don’t make it through this, wouldn’t I be letting down the importance they attach to me?”

“Exactly. What are we afraid they’ll do? We’ll deal with whatever they throw at us. Going up against two superstars—now that’s exciting.”

Many of the staff laughed enthusiastically as well. After a week of trials, they were already able to face the situation with ease.

“Let’s keep watching and see what he says,” He Li said, silencing everyone.

On the screen, Lin Zhao continued questioning him.

“I imagine there must be quite a story behind all this.”

“Yes.” Liu Feng wore an expression of regret. “As his former teammate, I shouldn’t expose his faults. But I never imagined he could become so utterly unscrupulous and do something like this. So, after thinking it over for an entire week, I finally decided to come forward and let everyone see the real Lin Qihua.”

“Please, go on.”

“Certainly.” Liu Feng adjusted his posture and continued speaking to the camera. “I met Lin Qihua at the training academy. At the time, he truly was very talented. His singing was often praised, and he attracted more attention than I did. Everyone believed his future was limitless.”

“But what people didn’t know was that, although he appeared sunny and approachable in front of the cameras, he was actually extremely stubborn in private. He could not tolerate anyone disagreeing with him. This was especially true within the group—he would not allow us to oppose his opinions. I argued with him several times and asked him to unite the members so that we could work together and put on better performances. But he continued doing things his own way. As a result, the group’s coordination was always chaotic, and the quality of our performances never improved. Naturally, our popularity suffered. Yet he blamed us for all of it and demanded that the company replace the members.”

“So that’s how it was,” Lin Zhao said regretfully. “You really can’t judge a person by appearances. He seemed quite easy to get along with on the show.”

“How could the face someone shows on television represent what they are truly like inside?” Liu Feng shook his head and continued. “Besides throwing his weight around in the group, he also liked to harass the company’s female entertainers, especially the trainees at the academy. Relying on his talent and reputation, he would often tease and harass them, leaving them furious but afraid to speak out. Eventually, he provoked the company’s senior management into ordering an investigation. Only then was his true nature exposed to everyone in the company. That was the real reason his contract was eventually terminated.”

“So there was such hidden history behind it,” Lin Zhao sighed. “A wall of ice is not frozen in a single day. The reason Lin Qihua is facing what he is facing now is precisely because he behaved this way during his training and after his debut. Magnificent Arts made the correct decision. But no one expected him to make a successful comeback, soar to fame, and eventually cause such a major scandal.”

“I was puzzled by his successful comeback as well.” Liu Feng shook his head. “When he was in the group, he was certainly very capable. But to say that his songwriting talent was astonishing would be a lie. At least, we never saw any evidence of it back then.”

“Oh?” Lin Zhao’s eyes lit up. He understood all too well how explosive this revelation could be. The reason Lin Qihua had continued to stand his ground and won the support of his fans was not only his formidable ability, but above all his dazzling talent as a songwriter. If some major scandal could be exposed in that area, it would strike at the very foundation of his reputation.

“I’m telling the truth,” Liu Feng said seriously. “When he was in the group, his songwriting talent was utterly unremarkable. On the rare occasions when we collaborated on a song, there was never anything particularly impressive about the result. As far as I know, he was absolutely incapable of writing a song as outstanding as The Person You Once Were.”

“Really?” Lin Zhao grew even more excited. “Are you saying there is something suspicious about his songwriting talent?”

“I don’t know the exact details. But I know very clearly that the Lin Qihua of the past could not have done it. Even with a year of experience, I don’t think he could have reached that level. If I had to offer a guess, I might have one explanation.” Liu Feng hesitated, as though recalling something.

“What explanation?”

“I remember one night when Lin Qihua returned to the dormitory drunk and extremely excited. He grabbed hold of me and talked incessantly. Among the things he mentioned was this.”

“What did he say?”

“He said that the group was far too small to contain a great fish like him, and that he would soon be going solo. He even had songs already in hand. From then on, he would have an endless supply of songs, and when the time came, he would rise straight to the top and become a superstar. When he grew excited, he even swayed his head from side to side and hummed a song. I remember the lyrics seemed to be from Little Luck. He muttered something about songs written for little girls being so difficult to sing, and that in the future he should get songs that were easier to perform.”

“You mean his songs were not original compositions, but were obtained from somewhere else?” Lin Zhao’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Good heavens, this is huge news.”

“I’m not entirely certain,” Liu Feng said hesitantly. “But one thing can be confirmed: back when he was in the group, he had no songwriting talent whatsoever. I can say with certainty that the Lin Qihua of that time could not have written so many beautiful songs.”

“I believe that is exactly where the problem lies,” Lin Zhao analyzed. “If there were nothing suspicious going on, how could such an enormous transformation have taken place in just a few short months? Clearly, there is something hidden here. Whether someone else wrote the songs for him or there was some other explanation, it proves that Lin Qihua deceived all of us. He successfully fashioned himself into a supremely talented musician and won praise from the entire music industry. Setting aside those dazzling songs, his singing ability is merely first-rate. It is not enough to achieve the success he enjoys today, much less attract such a vast following.

“So it turns out we were all deceived. What is truly astonishing is that someone like this is still at large even now. Shouldn’t we take action and expose his true face to the world? Let everyone understand that we were all deceived, and that his supposed talent did not come from him at all, but from some other source. I would also like to appeal to the creators who have been secretly writing songs for him: bravely come forward, defend your copyrights, and expose his true face. Let the truth be known to everyone.”