For about half an hour, Kang Liang and Lu AnLing practiced their duet and shockingly, after less than 20 minutes, they were able to harmonize perfectly. Kang Liang looked at Lu AnLing with raised eyebrows."Have you ever been a professional singer?" Kang Liang asked.
Looking at him straight in the eyes, Lu AnLing answered.
"No."
Kang Liang looked at her with more disbelief. "You"re lying."
She wasn"t.
Lu AnLing frowned. "I don"t lie."
She had really never sung professionally in the true sense of the word but back when she was abroad, she had been in a rather small band. They did a couple of shows and they traveled around but the band had broken up before signing with a record label.
Hearing the girl"s reply, Kang Liang"s mouth hung slightly open. To him, that sounded like something Kang Jun would say.
It made him wonder how long the two had known each other...
Snapping himself out of it, Kang Liang opened his mouth, about to say something but instead of speaking he immediately closed his mouth shut and sighed.
He had asked her plenty of questions in their small period of time together and the girl only replied simply and to the point. It was never really elaborate and her replies begged more answers, however, no matter what she asked the girl, he could bet that he would never get any information from her.
And so, they went back to practicing. Once they were done, close to an hour had pa.s.sed and a technician approached them.
"It"s time." The male technician said as he checked out Lu AnLing and Kang Liang"s microphones.
Once he determined that everything was okay he left, leaving the two in silence.
Up on the stage, Lu AnLing sat on a low stool facing away from the stage curtains. Because of her dress and the fact that she wasn"t Ning Jie, Lu AnLing was not allowed to be seen from the front. But from the back, both her and Kang Liang believed that no one would be able to tell the difference. They a.s.sumed that Ning Jie didn"t know anyone from the upper cla.s.s, so everything should go without a hitch.
Kang Liang, who stood beside Lu AnLing was facing the curtains. He turned and gazed at the beauty for a second. He watched as Lu AnLing took deep breathes and straightened her back. With the way she placed her legs, from the back, the dress looked like a pure white mermaid tail.
Her eyes were closed and her hand was on her right, above her breast.
"You ready?" Kang Liang asked concerned. His voice sounded much less flirtatious than usual.
Turning to look at the boy, then back down the stairs where she knew Kang Jun waited, Lu AnLing felt her heart rate quicken. She wasn"t ready at all but Ning Jie still hadn"t been found so she had to take the girls place.
"Yes…" Lu AnLing was able to force out. Yet her voice didn"t sound like her. It was completely coated by nervousness but once the curtains opened she would have to chase the feeling away.
From the other side of the curtains, suddenly, a voice rang.
"h.e.l.lo honored guests, I, Mo Yichen, am glad you"ve all stayed for so long. Charity has always been important to me, but so has entertainment and so, as an appreciation for all you and your respective companies have done for charity and the entertainment industry, I present you a performance by Liang Ke and a new artist, Ning Jie!"
Claps rang through the hall before the curtains opened, revealing the jungle of people bellow.
Kang Liang starred at the people through glazed eyes and for a second. The room went completely quiet.
On her stool, Lu AnLing didn"t face the people but her heart was completely agitated and her mind was fully concentrated on those who she knew were now staring at her and Kang Liang.
Feeling the stares, Lu AnLing fought back a shiver.
This feeling of fear consumed her until she wanted to puke but she refused to give in to it.
This was for Ning Jie, after all… but also for herself. She didn"t want to feel the way she"d felt when she auditioned for the lounge singer job in Hotel Helios. She wanted to sing with all her might so she could be proud of herself.
Lu AnLing took several breaths.
She began to feel her body completely numb.
From the side, Kang Liang had been watching her. In a matter of seconds, he had seen the girls face completely transform from nervousness to a serene calmness.
And he began to feel the same.
Slowly, the music began to play and both Kang Liang and Lu AnLing forgot their surroundings. They just listened to the music until it was time for them to sing.
The first one was Kang Liang. When he began, his voice was a bit gruff but as he continued his voice improved by leaps and bounds. He began to sing with all his heart and with no regrets.
Hearing this, Lu AnLing felt a strong urge to sing build up within her heart but she had to wait. It wasn"t her time yet but as the seconds pa.s.sed by, they felt as long as minutes. Her thraot longed to be free of the words that began to build up in it.
Once she heard her cue, Lu AnLing opened her mouth and as if everything had been prerecorded, Lu AnLing"s voice perfectly meshed with that of Kang Liang.
For a second, Kang Liang was shocked. He had known she was good when he"d first met her, but not this good! However, when he turned to look at the girls face in profile, he felt his whole world implode.
Her voice was meant to be heard.
And the emotion she put in the song was breathtaking. However, this was because Lu AnLing could somewhat understand the feeling of the girl in the song…
The song was by a famous songwriter with the pseudonym TYL. It was a story about a girl who was abandoned by parents at a young age but then one day, she met her father who had, apparently, been in a coma for years. The story recounts the father and daughters pain during the years they were apart and the belonging they felt while together.
Lu AnLing understood what it felt like to be abandoned by a parent. It had happened to her when she was just a baby and then, she remembered the feeling of loss she felt when her dad died in a car accident. She compared her memories past and present and she pulled from this to give her voice life.
Down in the crowd, many people listened to the voices intently. They lost themselves in the music, and some even began to tear up.
"That Ning Jie girl is so good!"
"I know my heart aches when I hear her sing, she"s actually kind of better that Liang Ke."
"I don"t know about better, but I think they should make more music together. The way he looks are her makes me feel like he likes her too! Wouldn"t a couple band be cool?"
None of those words reached Lu AnLing"s ears but it did reach the ones of those who knew her. In the crowd, Lu Xia, Lu Shuya, w.a.n.g Tingting, and Xiao Mian, looked at the stage curiously.
Feeling her heart tug, Xiao Mian turned her head to Lu Shuya. "That"s…"
Lu Shuya continued to look at the stage. She examined the girl on stage before she nodded.
"I wonder if this means that she"s signing with Halo Stars." Xiao Mian believed whole heartedly that it was possible. Lu AnLing"s voice was beautiful and it always had been.
"I hope not…" Lu Shuya muttered. Thankfully for her, it was low enough for Xiao Mian to not hear her.
Listening to Lu AnLing"s performance, Lu Shuya"s heart sank. If Lu AnLing were to enter the entertainment industry, it would be horrible.
After all Lu Shuya had done so that the girls secret wasn"t revealed, after all the guilt she"d felt for lying to he parents, Lu AnLing was going to through it away for a career in entertainment!
She would never allow it.
From her seat, w.a.n.g Tingting was also angered but other than that, fear had spread through her body…
Who had she pushed in the janitors closer?
Her fingertips began to burn and tingle.
She had to go and get the security footage!
w.a.n.g Tingting pushed herself up from her seat. Seeing her move, Kang Nianxi reached for her, but before he could feel her skin in the palm of his hands, w.a.n.g Tingting said, "I"m going to the bathroom."
With that, he allowed the girl to leave before turning to look up at the stage. The mermaid like girl who sat on the stage made her man smile slightly, but he wasn"t the only one. Kang Mei Xue who sat beside Qiao Lan looked at the woman in awe.
Turning to Qiao Lan, Kang Mei Xue took a deep breath.
Qiao Lan, who had been watching the way Kang Liang starred at the girl by his side, didn"t even notice the movements of those at her table. She was completely concentrated on the emotion in the man"s eyes. He wasn"t the type to fall for a girl but she didn"t know what else to call the emotion except for attraction.
Many questions formed at the back of Qiao Lan"s mind but no one would be able to answer it for her.
Her relationship with Kang Liang was almost as bad as the one she had with Kang Jun, so she didn"t dare ask the boy himself…
"Mom…" Kang Mei Xue said.
Upon hearing Kang Mei Xue"s voice, Qiao Lan turned to smile at the girl.
"Yes, my love."
Kang Mei Xue paused for a second before telling Qiao Lan about how Lu AnLing had saved her.
Smiling, Qiao Lan patted Kang Mei Xue"s head.
"I understand."
Qiao Lan was going to reward the girl, but thanks to Kang Mei Xue, she had a way to approach the girl without suspicion.