As Chu Youwei stepped off the stage, the atmosphere inside the venue didnât diminish; on the contrary, it soared to new heights.
Because the last one was An Nuonuo!
The female blogger with the highest popularity online, and the only one whose female fans outnumbered the male fans.
Countless people were eagerly anticipating An Nuonuoâs appearance.
So when Liu Yan said she had something to announce, some people in the audience were very impatient, even cursing under their breath.
Liu Yan pretended not to hear and kept her smile unchanged, âItâs thanks to everyoneâs support that we could make this competition so explosive.
Therefore, after discussing with the organizers, we decided to change next Saturdayâs second round of competition into a âThank You Dinnerâ event.
We will draw two hundred lucky audience members from the internet to participate in the dinner.
All the school beauties who advanced in todayâs round will be there.
And the way to participate in the lucky draw is very simple, just spend one yuan on the official website to enroll.
A person can sign up to ten times.â
The previously impatient crowd, upon hearing these words, nearly leapt up in excitement.
Dining with dozens of school beauties!
The temptation was simply too great.
And the most one would need to spend was just ten yuan.
If one got chosen, wouldnât it be exhilarating?
Jiang Xu greatly admired the Mei Familyâs business acumen.
Capitalizing on the popularity of the competition, they managed to add a so-called âThank You Dinnerâ event.
First, they could collect a hefty sum of registration fees and shear a wave of leeks once again.
Second, by extending the duration of the competition, with more heat and traffic, naturally more money followed.
Jiang Xu suddenly felt sorry for these netizens, being toyed with by capital and clapping along.
Luckily, he himself was also part of the capital.
âOkay, now letâs welcome the last contestant to the stage. The pride of Jiang Cheng CityâMiss An Nuonuo!â
Under the shine of spotlight beams, An Nuonuo, clad in a white long dress, with subtle makeup, her features picturesque, and her demeanor gentle as water, walked out in a graceful manner.
Silence!
The venue fell eerily quiet!
A pair of eyes were fixed intently on An Nuonuo.
If Chu Youweiâs entrance was like an ignited star, then An Nuonuoâs entrance was like a bright moon.
Brighter than the stars, but not blinding in the least.
Backstage, everyone was also watching An Nuonuo.
Some admired, some envied.
Zhou Qingyue watched the scene emotionlessly, and no one knew what was going through her mind.
Chu Youweiâs face was full of pride.
This was her sister!
Having been alone for many years, upon finding out she had a sister who was very kind, it was like a fishing boat adrift at sea finally seeing a port.
With the children from the orphanage rescued, she had no more worries.
For the rest of her life, all she needed to do was to repay Jiang Xu, to return his kindness.
Even if⦠Jiang Xu wanted her, she would not refuse.
After An Nuonuo went to college, she even learned to dance.
After persisting for over a year, her dance skills had become impressive.
However, she never thought of performing in front of strangers.
Her dance was meant for Jiang Xuâs eyes only.
For todayâs grand finale, she merely stood on stage, quietly singing an old song.
âLike Youâ.
âBlack pineapple, that frosty wild goose frozen in silverâ¦â
An Nuonuoâs Cantonese was rather average, her pronunciation not particularly standard.
But her voice was beautiful, and overall, it was very good, even bringing a touch of cuteness and playfulness.
No one in the audience was going to pick that apart.
It was evident from the way everyone looked at An Nuonuo with affection.
After her song ended, the venue erupted in thunderous applause.
All the judges unanimously gave perfect scores.
They had all received orders from above.
Even if An Nuonuo sang out of tune, they still had to award full points.
Online, topics with the three words âAn Nuonuoâ saw an increase of hundreds of thousands within minutes.
âMiss An Nuonuo, please wait a moment,â Liu Yan came back on stage and stopped An Nuonuo, smiling, âThank you, Miss An, for your wonderful performance.
The voting on the internet will now commence, and everyone can take out their phones to vote in support on our official website.
Voting will last for twenty minutes.
Now, please, all contestants come back on stage for a group sing-along.â
A large screen displayed the names of all contestants.
Underneath were the vote counts.
As soon as the official voting started, the numbers immediately began to change.
The Plato representing An Nuonuo quickly amassed votes, ranking second in speed.
First place was Chu Youwei, followed by Zhou Qingyue, Yun Xiâ¦
However, after just a few seconds, An Nuonuo surged to the top, quickly climbing to the first position.
And the gap between her and the others grew significantly in an instant.
âIn just a moment, Nuonuoâs votes exceeded ten million,â Jiang Xu chuckled lightly.
The others, even Chu Youwei, had barely passed the one million mark.
As time passed, not only did the gap not decrease, but it continued to widen.
It goes without saying for the rest.
This School Beauty Contest was essentially just everyone else setting the stage for An Nuonuo.
One by one, they turned into bones, helping An Nuonuo build an invincible throne.
But everyone elseâs morale was actually still okay.
During the semi-finals, they had already realized the gap between themselves and An Nuonuo.
So their goals were now set on second to tenth place.
During the performance, Zhou Qingyue took the chance to glance at her vote count while turning around.
Her eyelids twitched wildly at the sight.
Instead of the expected second or third place, she found herself in fifth!
Second place went to Chu Youwei, third to Yun Xi, and fourth to Ning Rongrong.
Zhou Qingyueâs sight went dark as she nearly fainted on the spot.
To her dismay, she had fallen behind a group of amateurs!
It was one thing to lose to An Nuonuo, but being surpassed by the others was too much for Zhou Qingyue; she broke down right there and then.
âHmm?â Jiang Xu frowned slightly, âSomethingâs not quite right.â
Logically, with Zhou Qingyueâs talent, even if something unexpected occurred, she shouldnât have fallen out of the top three.
Not to mention, Zhou Qingyue actually had more fans online than An Nuonuo.
After all, An Nuonuo only had headlines every day, while Zhou Qingyue also had Weibo.
âCould it be that because of the last incident, sheâs being suppressed by the Mei Family, intentionally making her look foolish?â Jiang Xu thought to himself.
Then he checked the internet.
Zhou Qingyueâs fans were fiercely canvassing votes for her online.
Yet, the gap between her votes and the othersâ kept widening.
And her ranking had fallen to more than tenth place.
Clearly, Jiang Xuâs guess was right.
This was a lesson for Zhou Qingyue.
And if Zhou Qingyue ended up ranking below those amateurs, it would definitely be a huge blow to her career.
Jiang Xu wasnât concerned about her career per se, but Zhou Qingyue was making money for him.
Nobody should get in the way of his earnings.