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Liang Shining listened to Ying Huai speak softly: 'Is this Hongyu Jewel Pendant something you gave me, Liang Shining?'

'How would you know about my Hongyu Jewel Pendant?'

—How would you know that I have the chance to live again?

Liang Shining silently parted his lips.

Looking at Ying Huai's expression, he instinctively panicked.

Ying Huai's expression was panicked and sorrowful, as if the moment Liang Shining admitted it, he would immediately leave from right in front of him, vanishing without a trace.

Liang Shining's heart was in turmoil. He instinctively said: 'No.'

Ying Huai's expression went blank for a moment. He stared at Liang Shining and said in a low voice: 'Then why did you write it that way in your lyrics, Liang Shining?'

His body swayed, his eyes slightly losing focus: 'Do you know something......'

'I heard about you from your brother.' Liang Shining suddenly said in a low voice.

Ying Huai's expression froze for a moment.

'Your brother said you seem...... a little different from before, as if you've become a completely different person.'

Liang Shining slightly tilted his head, revealing the Hongyu Jewel earring with scattered cracks on his earlobe.

'So the Hongyu Jewel Pendant in my lyrics refers to yours, and also to mine. I hope I can start over with Shifu.'

—This was the first time in this life that Liang Shining had called out 'Shifu' in public.

Ying Huai silently parted his lips, listening as Liang Shining continued in a low voice.

'I didn't not want to call you Shifu before. I wanted to wait...... for Shifu to acknowledge me himself.'

Although he had been clinging to Ying Huai in private, he had always worried about putting too much pressure on him.

He was too afraid that Ying Huai would keep avoiding him like in the previous life, and eventually 'hide' somewhere he could never reach again.

Ying Huai silently parted his lips.

In that instant, he felt for the first time the impulse to agree.

But the next second, the scene of Liang Shining unhesitatingly leaving the sect surfaced in his mind again.

Ying Huai's eyes darkened.

'Then why did you back then......'

He tried to pull his hand from Liang Shining's grip, but the next second, Liang Shining held him tightly.

He heard Liang Shining say in a low voice: 'Back then when I broke off our relationship, I misunderstood you. I'll explain it to you bit by bit later.'

Liang Shining looked at Ying Huai, his voice hoarse: 'I was wrong, Shifu.'

'Can you let me start over?'

Ying Huai didn't speak. He lowered his eyes, looking at Liang Shining's fingers tightly gripping his wrist.

The warm touch gradually spread from the skin of his wrist throughout his whole body, causing his tense frame to unconsciously relax.

Liang Shining felt the person in front of him silently exhale and say in a low voice: 'Okay.'

·

Liang Shining supported Ying Huai as they slowly walked down from the stage.

Beside them, Song Fengyi's face was extremely ugly.

He had originally intended to cut the microphone power at the last moment to disgust Liang Shining and Ying Huai, but unexpectedly ended up creating an iconic scene instead.

And the Live Stream Chat was about to go crazy with comments.

[Help, Ying Huai's last line...... really sounds so good.]

[Really, he sings so well. Why does he only have that one line in this song, sob, I want to hear him sing it all.]

[It's probably because Teacher Ying isn't feeling well, right? Teacher Liang and Teacher Ying were on stage for so long just now, that should be the reason.]

[By the way, what were Teacher Liang and Teacher Ying saying on stage just now? curious.jpg]

[Curious+1, seemed to hear something about a disciple......?]

[Weren't there always rumors that Ying Huai took Liang Shining as a disciple? Is it true?]

[Fake, I don't believe it.]

[Don't believe+1]

[Y: It's true.]

[Oh, Brother Y is here, any insider info to share?]

[Y: You'll know in a bit.]

[I'm Not Swear Brother: What insider info, don't believe+10086]

[Yo, Brother Xinwan is here too?]

[I'm Not Swear Brother: I said I'm not Xinwan...... wait, I'm not Swear Brother, and even if I were, how could my little shidi possibly take a liking to Liang Shining.]

[Wait, wtf look at Weibo!]

[Wtf?]

[W|tf?!]

[Can you all stop with the wtf, can anyone tell me what happened—wtf!!]

Xinwan saw this comment and suddenly lowered his head to open Weibo.

A flash of disbelief crossed his expression.

On the phone screen, a Weibo post that Liang Shining had just made was displayed prominently.

[@Liang Shining: Shifu @Ying Huai]

Xinwan was about to go crazy.

He suddenly raised his head, 'Little shidi, look—'

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly saw something else, and his vision went dark again.

—His little shidi was almost entirely leaning in Liang Shining's arms.

After coming down from the stage, Ying Huai's expression had been listless and lacking energy.

He half-leaned in Liang Shining's arms with lowered eyes, then raised his head to glance at Xinwan, his expression looking unusually relaxed.

And Liang Shining's whole body was in an embracing posture, subtly shielding Ying Huai entirely against his chest.

Xinwan's fingers gripping the phone suddenly clenched.

He quickly walked over, but the next second heard the Director behind him say with a smile: 'Alright, there was a small accident with the microphone just now, but fortunately it didn't have too big an impact. The Director team is currently rushing to repair it.......'

'The microphone is fine, the wiring came loose.' Liang Shining suddenly interrupted him.

The Director was stunned for a moment, watching the usually taciturn Liang Shining speak in a deep voice: 'When the previous person was performing, they deliberately loosened the wiring.'

'It didn't affect the beginning of the performance, but as the singing went on, the connection point got looser and looser, eventually causing a complete disconnection.'

As Liang Shining spoke, he turned toward Song Fengyi: 'The Director can rewind the live stream, you should be able to see Teacher Song's actions.'

Song Fengyi's expression remained gentle, as if he had long prepared a response.

He turned to look at Liang Shining and laughed warmly: 'Sorry, Teacher Liang, I might have been too nervous going on stage just now and didn't notice that wire, accidentally pulled it loose.'

As he spoke, Song Fengyi gave Liang Shining a slight bow: 'This really was an accident, I hope Teacher Liang won't pursue it.'

Liang Shining looked at him without speaking. Seeing this, the Director hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over: 'Haha, as long as the misunderstanding is explained, that's good. Just right, all three groups' performances are finished, let's move on to the voting segment.'

'The top two groups with the most votes can receive qualification for at least one song performance at the final Concert, the last group cannot.'

As the Director spoke, he looked around at the people in the middle, a flash of regret crossing his expression: 'Unfortunately, because Teacher Ying's group did not follow the rules, this round's voting is regrettably voided, and they will automatically be in last place.'

Liang Shining frowned, and Su Yun directly stood up excitedly: 'Where did we not follow the rules?'

'The rules state that only two people can collaborate, but Teacher Ying's group has three people in total.' The Director sighed regretfully.

Su Yun was stunned, his expression agitated: 'But we clearly told you before.......'

'I didn't agree, I only said to consider it carefully yourselves.' The Director spoke slowly.

'What about Teacher Song changing his own performance item?' Su Yun said in disbelief, 'This clearly also violated the rules.......'

'Teacher Song had no choice, because his teammate was accidentally injured and he was forced to step in........'

'What if it wasn't an accident?' Liang Shining suddenly said in a low voice.

The Director was stunned for a moment. Liang Shining didn't speak, but turned to look at Lu Jing.

Lu Jing and Liang Shining exchanged a silent glance. He pulled out a tablet from his bag and brought up a surveillance recording.

'After Teacher Song admitted it was his own carelessness at the time, we still found the matter strange. Even if water was accidentally spilled, with such a small amount, it wouldn't have caused such a serious accident.'

Ying Huai, who had been unresponsive, finally stirred at the sound of Lu Jing's voice, raised his head, and a flash of surprise crossed his expression.

Lu Jing didn't look at him, but continued in a low voice: 'But there are no cameras in the practice room, so we couldn't check immediately.'

'So we pulled up the surveillance from the corridor outside the practice room door.'

Lu Jing dragged through the surveillance and spoke calmly: 'And there happens to be a section that captured Su Yun's fall at the time.'

'You can see that Song Fengyi deliberately sprinkled a circle of water around just as Su Yun was about to jump over, which caused Su Yun to lose his center of gravity and fall.'

Lu Jing raised his head to look at Song Fengyi and said coldly: 'This accident, doesn't Teacher Song find it somewhat similar?'

Song Fengyi gritted his teeth and said nothing. The Live Stream Chat was in an uproar.

[Right, the practice room incident and the microphone incident just now...... they seem similar.]

[Really, if Song Fengyi dares to do something like that in the practice room, then casually yanking the microphone cord just now—I don't believe it was unintentional.]

[Song Fengyi can't really think that just because there's no surveillance in the practice room, he's in the clear, right?]

[Speaking of which, when did Liang Shining and Lu Jing get so close? And how come both of them are actually helping Ying Huai?]

Ying Huai was curious about this question too.

—He didn't know when Liang Shining had gotten so close with Lu Jing, nor did he know... why Lu Jing would be willing to help him.

Liang Shining behind him seemed to read his question, and spoke in a low voice: 'A couple days ago, when you were busy with the score, I thought that incident was a bit strange, so I asked Lu Jing to help pull the surveillance footage.'

'It's a Variety Show hosted by their company after all, so he could get to it faster.'

Liang Shining shifted his body so Ying Huai could lean against him more comfortably, and continued softly: 'I never mentioned it... I was saving it to expose him in one fell swoop.'

Ying Huai's brow furrowed slightly.

He had originally wanted to pull the surveillance footage himself at the time, but revising the score was too draining, and he truly had no energy left to deal with it.

Ying Huai glanced at Lu Jing, still feeling something was off.

But he was so tired right now that he couldn't even lift a finger, and it was a rare chance to comfortably lean back in Liang Shining's arms again.

—Someone had handled it for him, and he was happy to take it easy.

Ying Huai covered his mouth and yawned, softly hummed 'mm,' and lowered his eyes again.

Song Fengyi's face was ashen, and the Director's expression had also panicked.

'This matter... we will definitely investigate it thoroughly,' the Director swallowed, 'let's continue with the voting for now...'

But the Live Stream Chat had already begun scrolling furiously in anger.

[What voting? Disqualify Song Fengyi!]

[Disqualify Song Fengyi! He's simply rotten! I don't want to see him.]

[Please, the production team, take the fans' demands seriously—disqualify Song Fengyi!]

[Please, the production team, take the fans' demands seriously—disqualify Song Fengyi!]

[Please, the production team, take the fans' demands seriously—disqualify Song Fengyi!]

Cold sweat broke out on the Director's head. He was, after all, afraid of public opinion. He took a deep breath and quickly said: 'Fine, then... disqualify Teacher Song, and restore Teacher Ying's group's eligibility.'

As he spoke, he gestured to a staff member beside him and quickly cut the live stream.

The Variety Show recording was temporarily suspended. Song Fengyi was hastily taken away by his manager. Ying Huai pressed his chest and slowly took two deep breaths.

Ever since he had finished singing that line on stage, Ying Huai had been feeling a tightness in his chest.

Liang Shining had gone off to get him some warm water. Ying Huai, sitting and feeling dizzy, braced himself against the seat beside him and slowly stood up, wanting to find Liang Shining, when he suddenly heard a slightly cold voice from behind.

'Long time no see, Junior Ying.'

Ying Huai's movement paused slightly, and his expression shifted instantly.

He turned around and, as expected, met Su Xin's slightly cold expression.

Like Lu Jing, Su Xin was the quiet, taciturn type.

But unlike Lu Jing's arrogance, Su Xin was colder by nature, and truly didn't care about most things at all.

Except for Ying Huai.

Su Xin had always wanted to debut with Ying Huai, but Ying Huai had ultimately taken their Debut Track and left them behind.

—Su Xin had once been the most affectionate of the four teammates toward him, and later became the one who hated him most.

Ying Huai didn't know why Su Xin would come to this Variety Show.

Su Xin was the only one among them who, after Ying Huai left the company, successfully debuted and became a singer—but he had never been particularly popular. That was until a few years ago, when a well-known arranger in the industry found him and invited him to collaborate, finally making him famous with a self-composed song.

In recent years, Su Xin had gradually shifted to behind-the-scenes work as an arranger, no longer appearing in public view, but every time Ying Huai released a new song, Su Xin would harshly criticize it.

In his previous life, Su Xin had never appeared on this show either.

Ying Huai braced himself against the chair beside him, looked at Su Xin for a few seconds, and belatedly realized something: 'You're that specially invited guest judge?'

Su Xin let out a cold laugh.

He was just about to say something when he heard Ying Huai speak innocently: 'If you didn't get any screen time, you should blame Song Fengyi, not me.'

Su Xin's brow twitched.

He watched Ying Huai turn to leave, and grabbed his wrist: 'Junior Ying really has good tricks, putting on quite the act.'

'Junior Ying couldn't possibly not know I'm the specially invited guest, right? You deliberately exposed this matter right before the vote, deliberately erasing my screen time...'

—Ying Huai truly hadn't known the specially invited guest was Su Xin.

Before Su Xin could finish, he watched Ying Huai turn back and say sincerely: 'Senior really is overthinking it.'

'If I'd known Senior was here, I would have exposed Senior's old scandals along with it.'

Su Xin: ???

Liang Shining was walking toward them. Ying Huai broke free of Su Xin's arm and walked forward, when suddenly he felt the light above his head flicker.

Ying Huai froze for a moment, and a sense of foreboding instantly rose in his heart.

The next second, as expected, his vision went black again.

Ying Huai's body began trembling uncontrollably once more.

His chest felt tight. He groped for the wall beside him to lean on, but the next second, his hand touched someone's arm.

Ying Huai instinctively grabbed it and tentatively called out: 'Liang Shining...'

But the moment he spoke, he heard a slightly cold voice from beside him: 'Junior Ying, look more carefully.'

Ying Huai froze for a moment, and in an instant realized this was Su Xin's voice.

Ying Huai's heartbeat gradually quickened. He covered his mouth and coughed lightly, then laughed softly: 'Sorry, Senior, the power went out. I thought you were the chair beside me.'

Su Xin choked on his words.

He could feel that both Ying Huai's body and voice seemed to be trembling slightly, but Su Xin knew Ying Huai had never been afraid of the dark before.

Su Xin assumed Ying Huai was putting on an act again. He instinctively wanted to shake off Ying Huai's hand, but the next second, a strange memory suddenly surfaced in his mind.

Su Xin's head ached terribly. He shut his eyes at once, but still couldn't stop the memories from churning wildly in his mind.

It was not long after Ying Huai had debuted with his new company for over a year. Su Xin had finally gained some recognition with his self-composed song, a collaboration with a major arranger.

He had terminated his contract with the company and set up his own studio, but then hit a long period of stagnation, with fans gradually drifting away.

Su Xin was anxious but helpless, and could only spend day after day in the recording studio.

[The arrangement on this track is yours, Senior, right?] Su Xin looked up from inside the recording studio, at the person leaning against the doorframe.

Ying Huai tilted his head slightly and listened quietly for a few seconds: [Senior's arrangements really have a distinctive style—you can tell right away.]

[What are you here for?] Su Xin's tone darkened slightly.

He assumed Ying Huai had come back to mock him on purpose, and reached out to push him out.

He used to play around with Ying Huai like this all the time. He had expected Ying Huai to dodge, but Ying Huai stood at the door without flinching or dodging, and was pushed so he stumbled, crashing heavily into the door behind him.

Ying Huai let out a muffled groan, and Su Xin froze for a moment.

[Why didn't you dodge?] he asked, frowning.

Ying Huai pressed a hand to his chest and panted softly for a moment, then smiled brightly after a long pause.

[Ah, I forgot to mention—my eyesight hasn't been great lately, Senior.]

Ying Huai looked up, and Su Xin only then noticed that Ying Huai's eyes were slightly unfocused.

He listened as Ying Huai said softly: [That's why I wanted to come... find Senior to collaborate.]

Su Xin was stunned for a moment.

·

Su Xin groaned and pressed hard against his brow.

He didn't remember Ying Huai ever coming to find him to collaborate, nor did he remember Ying Huai's eyesight ever having problems.

Su Xin didn't know where this memory came from, but he knew that people who had once been blind would instinctively fear the dark.

Su Xin's heart was in turmoil. He instinctively wanted to grab Ying Huai's wrist in return.

But the next second, he felt his arm suddenly loosen.

Ying Huai had let go of his arm on his own.

Su Xin's heart panicked for a moment.

'Ying Huai—'

He instinctively raised his hand, but the next second, heard a slightly deep voice: 'What are you doing?'

In the darkness, Liang Shining finally reached Ying Huai's side. He shielded Ying Huai behind him and frowned at Su Xin before him.

Su Xin was desperate to confirm Ying Huai's condition. Anxious, his tone grew increasingly impatient: 'Who are you? Get out of the way—'

'Ying Huai is my shifu.' Liang Shining said coldly.

'What nonsense are you spouting.' Su Xin finally got a clear look at Liang Shining.

Thinking of Ying Huai's safety, he looked at Liang Shining and suddenly remembered something. His voice grew colder: 'You've been rivals with Ying Huai for years. How could Ying Huai possibly take you as a disciple? Get out of the way, don't make me call the police...'

Before he could finish, he suddenly heard Ying Huai's phone give a soft 'ding.'

Ying Huai raised his phone. Su Xin instinctively looked up, and an expression of disbelief flashed across his face.

[@Ying Huai: Mm. //@Liang Shining: shifu @Ying Huai]