Chapter 9 Competition Performance

The Starlight Symphony recording site was bustling with activity.

This season had quite a few contestants who came with their own hype, drawing large crowds both online and offline.

On stage, Claire wore a white dress, her right hand wrapped in thick bandages, being supported on both sides by Aaron and Lonnie as she slowly walked up.

Seeing her injured hand, the audience below started whispering among themselves, feeling somewhat sympathetic toward her.

The Wilson family had given the production team a heads-up beforehand, so the host immediately seized the opportunity to ask questions.

"Ms. Wilson, your hand looks seriously injured. What happened?"

Claire lowered her head, her tone aggrieved. "It's nothing, I accidentally hurt it a few days ago."

The host continued probing. "Hands are everything for a cellist. How did it get injured so badly?"

Claire slowly lifted her head, her eyes red as she looked toward Elizabeth in the contestants' section.

"Actually, all of this happened because of the orchestra's principal position."

She didn't explicitly say whose fault it was, but subtly pointed the finger at Elizabeth.

The entire venue erupted instantly, with everyone's eyes focused on Elizabeth.

Elizabeth leaned back in her chair, arms crossed, a hint of mockery at the corner of her lips, her expression completely unfazed.

Seeing she remained unmoved, Claire continued, "Elizabeth and I both study cello. We both signed up for the orchestra principal audition this time."

"I don't blame Elizabeth, it was all my own carelessness."

"I didn't get the principal position, but my hand is almost healed, so I came to participate in this variety show."

Aaron immediately grabbed the microphone, glaring at Elizabeth. "Elizabeth! Look at what you've done!"

Lonnie also frowned, his face full of disappointment. "Claire is your sister. How could you treat her like this?"

The two of them tag-teamed, directing all the blame toward Elizabeth.

The audience below kept discussing, and the live stream chat completely exploded.

[Elizabeth's character is just too terrible!]

[Injuring her own sister to steal the principal position, how vicious!]

[Poor Claire, being bullied by her own sister.]

[This kind of contestant should be disqualified!]

Seeing this, several judges frowned.

Only Dwayne remained calm.

He knew clearly that someone who could play such moving music couldn't possibly be the vicious person they described.

A staff member then handed the microphone to Elizabeth.

This was obviously a trap the Wilson family had set up in advance, forcing her to take the blame publicly.

Elizabeth looked at the microphone, let out a cold laugh, and reached out to take it.

"With acting skills like that, don't come to a music variety show—go to an acting competition instead."

"With your family's resources, getting a championship would be a piece of cake."

"Elizabeth!" Aaron's anger flared. "The facts are right in front of us, and you still dare to argue!"

"If you don't have a brain, talk less." Elizabeth's tone was icy. "She makes empty claims, and that makes them facts?"

In her eyes, Claire was the one doing wrong, and the entire Wilson family were accomplices—not one of them was innocent.

"You're lying!" Claire cried out in tears. "You pushed me, that's how I got injured!"

"Just now you said you didn't blame me, and now you're changing your story?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "Do you dare to release the surveillance footage from the Wilson mansion's living room?"

Claire's eyes darted away, not daring to look at her, crying even more pitifully. "That's not it... you're framing me..."

"Elizabeth, you've gone too far." Lonnie immediately jumped in. "Even if Claire did something wrong, you don't need to slander her like this."

"You've become like this now—did some man out there corrupt you? You've only known him a few days, and you break up with me and cut ties with your family?"

"You really can't see straight." Elizabeth didn't bother looking at him. "I broke up with you because you can never tell right from wrong and only believe Claire's lies."

"Don't play innocent using the friend card. You know what you two have been doing behind the scenes."

"You!" Lonnie's face turned iron-blue, unable to speak for a long time.

"You what!" Elizabeth's presence was overwhelming. "This is being broadcast live nationwide. If I reveal what you've been up to, you won't be able to stand there playing the good guy."

The scene instantly descended into chaos, with both sides arguing endlessly.

At that moment, a deep male voice suddenly rang out, cutting through all the noise.

"I actually think Ms. Perez makes a lot of sense."

Everyone immediately looked toward the voice.

Stanley walked into the venue, his suit sharp and neat, his presence dignified and steady.

The noisy scene fell completely silent the moment he appeared.

The host hurried forward, attitude respectful. "Mr. Larson, what brings you here?"

"I'm a specially invited investor for this show, and also today's special guest." Stanley spoke calmly, his gaze sweeping across the venue, softening slightly when it landed on Elizabeth.

He walked onto the stage, took the microphone, and looked at Claire, whose face had turned pale.

"Ms. Wilson, you keep saying your hand is badly injured and you can't play the cello?"

Claire panicked, lowering her head and answering softly, "Yes... yes."

"If you can't play, why come to a music competition variety show? To advance by playing the victim?"

Claire tensed up, hurriedly defending herself. "That's not it! My hand is almost healed, I can play now!"

"One moment it's too injured to play, the next it's healed enough to perform." Stanley stated bluntly. "This is a professional stage, not a place for you to make a scene playing victim."

This directly exposed Claire's lie, and the audience below erupted in discussion.

Stanley continued, "Since the injury can be severe or mild, then unwrap the bandages right now and let everyone see your injury clearly."

Claire instinctively hid her right hand behind her back, utterly flustered.

"Take them off, Ms. Wilson."

The audience below started chanting, "Take them off! Let us see!"

Claire froze in place, eyes red, at a complete loss.

She knew in her heart that these bandages had to come off today.

After a tense standoff, she could only unwrap the bandages with trembling hands, bit by bit.

When everyone saw clearly, there was an uproar—there was only a shallow little scar on her palm, not a serious injury at all.

"So it was fake! Not serious at all!"

"Wasted our sympathy, such an act!"

"This injury wouldn't affect playing at all!"

Stanley turned to look at the judges' panel, nodding slightly at Dwayne.

"Mr. Larson, do the competition rules allow contestants in the same group to compete one-on-one with the same piece?"

Dwayne nodded. "That's correct, that's one of the rules for this competition."

"Good."

Stanley looked at Elizabeth and Claire. "You two are both cellists, and you have a conflict over the principal position."

"Why not perform the same piece on stage together and let your skills do the talking."

"Who deserves the principal position more, who's lying—one competition will make it crystal clear."

Elizabeth nodded calmly. "I have no problem with that."

Claire's heart filled with panic and jealousy, completely losing her composure.

Her skills were far inferior to Elizabeth's to begin with. Now competing on stage publicly, she would only be completely crushed.

Once the competition ended, she wouldn't just lose the contest—her carefully crafted victim persona would completely collapse, leaving her with a ruined reputation.