Chapter 41: No One Watches the Concert
She studied her brightly colored hair seriously in the mirror. There were so many hues, and they were so dazzling.
It was clearly very pretty!
What didn’t match?
Thinking this to herself, her gaze couldn’t help but fall back onto the hair, lingering for a long time.
Gu Chacha’s solo recital was organized very quickly. In just three or four days, her performance was about to begin.
The day before the concert, she came back to deliver tickets to everyone.
Ever since she had publicly announced her relationship with Han Xuan last time, she had stopped living at home.
That guest room was way too small. She didn’t want to stay there anymore.
She specially took two tickets and handed them to He Huanhuan. “Big sister, bring Han Mo to come watch too~”
He Huanhuan reached out and took the tickets. “Alright.”
She opened her phone and searched for Gu Chacha’s recital. To her surprise, all the tickets were sold out.
Since when had she become so popular?
She continued searching for Gu Chacha and found a bunch of videos praising her.
Each video was more or less the same—calling her a winner in life, the beautiful pianist who had chosen to coast on a silver platter from the start.
And the comments under those videos were all similar too—“So jealous,” “Jealous,” “So jealous”...
She felt something was off but couldn’t figure out what.
She sneakily showed her phone screen to Gu Jinghan and whispered, “What do you think is going on with her?”
Gu Jinghan glanced at it and said, “Bots.”
At a glance, it was obvious. These were all paid bots.
He Huanhuan was confused. “But her tickets are all sold out.”
It couldn’t be that they had bought them themselves, could it?
What would be the point of that?
Did they just enjoy burning money for fun?
Gu Jinghan frowned. He didn’t understand it either.
No matter how rich someone was, they wouldn’t waste money like this. How much wealth did one need to be able to squander it so recklessly?
Where had Han Xuan found such a friend?
Someone this impressive?
He thought for a moment and sent a message to Gu Jingchen to ask: Big Brother, do you know where Han Xuan got the sponsorship for Gu Chacha?
After a long while, Gu Jingchen replied: No idea.
He immediately followed up: Big Brother, can you ask around?
Another long pause, then Gu Jingchen replied again: No time.
...
He should’ve known!
If Big Brother wouldn’t help him, he’d ask someone else!
He sidled up to He Huanhuan and said fawningly, “Huan-jie, why don’t you go ask Han Mo and see if he knows?”
He Huanhuan shot him a look. “Can’t you ask yourself?”
Even before she finished speaking, she had already opened her chat window: Do you know if Gu Chacha’s recital was sponsored by someone Han Xuan found?
The other side quickly replied: I know.
She asked again: Do you know who that person is?
There was a brief pause before the other side answered: Why are you asking?
She replied: I’m just curious.
For some reason, she didn’t want to say that Gu Jinghan was the curious one.
After another moment, the reply came through: I heard it’s a friend from overseas. I don’t know the specifics.
She showed the phone to Gu Jinghan.
“A friend from overseas?”
Gu Jinghan mused. “Han Xuan did spend two years in Europe, but his school was pretty mediocre. He probably doesn’t have any seriously impressive friends...”
Besides, Han Xuan was reckless and impulsive.
Who would want to be friends with someone like that?
And to sponsor Gu Chacha with so much money for a global solo recital? That wasn’t a small sum!
But he really wasn’t that close to Han Xuan, and they didn’t share any mutual friends.
So he put these thoughts aside for the moment, planning to see for himself when Gu Chacha’s recital came the next day.
Logically speaking, the person who had invested all that money would want to show up and watch her perform.
The next day, Han Mo’s car arrived at the Gu Manor on time.
He Huanhuan, dressed in a little black dress, ran downstairs. “Han Mo!”
Her eyes sparkled as she looked at him. “Do I look good today?”
She had specially chosen a black dress woven with colorful threads, thinking it would match her dyed hair better.
And Han Mo always liked to wear dark suits, so wouldn’t they look good together?
Filled with these little thoughts, she looked at him expectantly.
Han Mo glanced at her little black dress and nodded. “You look good in anything.”
...
Oh, come on!
He had no idea what she had done!
He Huanhuan pouted unhappily. “What do you know?! You have no taste!”
Han Mo was taken aback. Had he said something wrong?
Surely not?
Hadn’t he just complimented her beauty?
Gu Jinghan floated by sarcastically. “Is that how you compliment someone? ‘You look good in anything’? She looks bad in long dresses. How can you be so dismissive!”
...
No wonder Big Brother couldn’t get with Sister Huanhuan.
Who would want to hear that they looked bad in long dresses?
The recital was set to start at three in the afternoon. As family members, they arrived at half past two.
When they reached the backstage prep room, Gu Chacha’s makeup was heavier than usual. Seeing them, she broke into a smile.
“Mom, Dad, I’ll be going on stage soon~”
After today’s performance, she would officially be a pianist in the truest sense of the word!
Jiang Yulan looked at her exquisite appearance, her eyes welling up with emotion. “Chacha, you are your mother’s pride.”
She still remembered how tiny she had been as a child.
How quickly time had passed, and now she had grown into a young woman!
Gu Chacha stood up and hugged Jiang Yulan. “Mom, I know you love me very much. I’ll play well and step onto the international stage one step at a time.”
When that time came, her relationship with the Gu family would no longer be what it was now.
A faint smile curled at the corner of her mouth, as if she could already see Gu Chengye and Jiang Yulan carefully trying to pacify her.
He Huanhuan—what would become of you then?
You’d turn into the family’s marriage-bargaining chip, forced to marry some unreliable trust-fund brat and become their baby-making machine...
But she—she would become a world-renowned artist.
That was the difference between them.
She cast a brief glance at Han Mo. Ha, he wasn’t even worth mentioning in her thoughts.
Once her project with Han Xuan took off, Han Mo would have no chance to make a comeback.
Uncle Han (Han’s father) had never liked him anyway.
What awaited him was nothing but poverty and misery.
Thinking of this, her smile grew wider. “Make sure to watch my performance carefully~”
Watch me step by step, leaving all of you behind.
The recital was about to begin, so they couldn’t linger backstage any longer. They quickly made their way to their seats.
Once she sat down, He Huanhuan was stunned to find that the entire hall was nearly empty.
She clearly remembered checking the ticket platform the day before—all the tickets had been sold out.
But now, with the performance about to start, the hall was so empty...
Was this right?
She leaned close to Han Mo and asked, “Do you think something is off here?”
After hearing her words, Han Mo looked down at her. He hesitated for a moment before explaining, “It’s probably Han Xuan’s friend who bought up all the tickets.”
If they truly wanted to push Gu Chacha into being a pianist, they would have to invest money.
In the beginning, with no fame, no one would buy her tickets.
They would have to buy up the tickets themselves, to make it look like a sellout.
Then, after a few recitals, they could buy her some awards, flood the internet with press releases, and officially establish her reputation.
After that, they could arrange a tour.
He Huanhuan nodded along. “Oh, I see. So that’s why there’s no one here.”
Han Mo nodded but didn’t say anything more. What he didn’t add was that to push someone like this with so much money, it would take ten to twenty years to break even.
No investor would be so foolish as to pour money into a lost cause like this.