Superstar's Development Diary
Chapter 346 - 347: When Beauty and Youth are No More

Chapter 346: Chapter 347: When Beauty and Youth are No More

The instructor speaking seemed skeptical; just now, Li Zimu’s expression didn’t look like one of delight, but more like one of fright.

Li Zimu didn’t want to talk about He Jinxia and quickly said, "I’m going in first."

Entering the resting room, Meng Wan was lying on the couch playing with her phone. When she saw someone coming, she looked up, spotted Li Zimu, and her eyes lit up, happily saying:

"Zimu, Jinxia is here, she came as Sister Xingxin’s special guest!"

Li Zimu’s heart skipped a beat, feeling that bad premonition intensify, her smile becoming somewhat stiff.

"Yeah, I just saw her in the corridor outside, Jinxia has become even prettier than before, especially slim."

Meng Wan smacked her lips, "Right, she wasn’t this slim last time I saw her, she keeps losing weight even after succeeding in her diet, heaven really favors her too much. No way, after her rehearsal is over, I must pry out her secrets for maintaining such a figure!"

Another female instructor who heard the conversation agreed wholeheartedly, "He Jinxia really does maintain her figure well, look at that chest, it must be at least a D cup, her figure is so curvy and proportionate."

Meng Wan: "What’s most enviable is that she slimmed down without reducing her bust size much."

Female instructor: "Exactly, I was about to say the same thing that I don’t know how she does it, I’ll have to ask for her secrets later."

Meng Wan: "Not only does she maintain her figure well, but have you noticed her skin is also extremely good? I wonder what skincare products she uses. I had a close look, and she practically has no pores, flawless!"

Female instructor: "Could she be using some concealer?"

Meng Wan: "She did have some makeup on when she came in, she probably uses it. But you should see her without makeup, she looks almost the same with or without. Her skin is naturally good."

...

The two chatted enthusiastically, not noticing Li Zimu on the side, whose complexion was turning a shade paler.

Li Zimu clenched her fists slightly, her heartbeat racing, feeling panicked.

Did Jinxia notice something, why was her look so cold just now?

No, that can’t be, she doesn’t know, she couldn’t possibly know...

Li Zimu’s gaze flickered, as she turned and walked towards the restroom, repeatedly reminding herself that He Jinxia was purely here for the show, she was here for the show, just for the show...

Yet, the way He Jinxia had looked at her during their previous encounter sent a shiver of coldness right to her bones.

On the other side, He Jinxia and Yang Xingxin arrived at the stage, where their first opening act was a duet, singing one of Yang Xingxin’s classic love songs from the past.

It’s often said that if you can sing, you might act well, and the same goes for actors: those who act well might also sing well.

As long as the vocal conditions are decent, talent agencies want their artists to be well-rounded, earning a little bit more wherever possible.

Yang Xingxin has a rich mid-range voice, while He Jinxia’s voice is crisp like a songbird. Yang Xingxin would lead the steady parts of the song, and when it came to the soaring, impactful climaxes, He Jinxia would take over; in other words, hitting the high notes.

He Jinxia, with her figure, had quite good vocal conditions, a wide range, plus her relentless exercise for weight loss equipped her with an extraordinary lung capacity, making it effortless to hit high notes.

After singing the song together three times, they had already found their groove. By the fourth time, their performance was concert-ready.

The band and the music teachers at the scene couldn’t help but give them a thumbs up, some even cast surprised glances at He Jinxia, as if they had not expected her singing to be so outstanding.

Yang Xingxin was one thing, since at this point in the show, everyone knew full well her singing ability.

But He Jinxia had only been in a girl group before, performing and dancing in the shows, not even worthy of the title "professional singer." Yet, when she started to sing, she was on par with Yang Xingxin.

Some people had already started whispering to each other while the two of them were singing:

"Both having come from girl groups, the difference in their levels is quite big, isn’t it? When Li Zimu and Meng Wan started out, they were simply not up to scratch with pure singing."

"You don’t know, He Jinxia used to be the powerhouse in her team; she sang many of the high notes. It’s just that she was too chubby before, and when it was her turn to sing, the camera barely focused on her."

"So that’s it, no wonder the levels are so different."

...

While others were discussing, Yang Xingxin looked over at He Jinxia after they finished the rehearsal with evident surprise: "Jinxia, I didn’t expect your singing to be this good."

He Jinxia smiled shyly.

In ancient times, she also had to know how to sing, and her singing had to evoke a sense of lingering and deep emotion.

In that era, without the help of tuning and audio enhancement, it all depended on personal skill, and that’s how she honed her technique. Now, singing again came without any pressure.

Yang Xingxin looked at her several times with a hint of regret: "Had I known you could sing this well, I should have cast you in that MV back then."

He Jinxia’s face flashed with hesitation, uncertain whether to ask about what had transpired that led to them dropping her.

All of that was long in the past, the her from before did not care, and she would not care now either. It’s just that Yang Xingxin kept bringing up that incident, which stirred her curiosity.

Luckily, Yang Xingxin didn’t seem to want to hide anything and took the initiative to explain: "Last year, after your appearance on ’Letter to Future Self’ warmed up, I happened to see that episode and wanted to give you a chance to play the female lead in my MV, as the character’s image suited your figure at the time."

"However, not long after the news was released, Zhang Yingru took the initiative to approach me. She wanted me to cancel the cooperation with you, saying you were inconvenient recently as you needed to focus on losing weight. She even recommended Li Zimu to be the female lead in my MV."

Yang Xingxin sighed a little: "I knew Zhang Yingru from the early years, I was just a minor third-tier celebrity, and Zhang Yingru was a young girl just entering the industry. I had worked under her for a while, and she treated me quite well. Hearing her say this, strange as it seemed, I didn’t question it much and just agreed to her."

He Jinxia suddenly understood, so that was the kind of relationship Zhang Yingru had with Yang Xingxin.

That made sense, Yang Xingxin was a top-tier star, and even if she was aging, she was still top-tier. How could Zhang Yingru, a second-tier agent, change Yang Xingxin’s mind and have her retract a message she had already put out? It could only be owing to the favor from the past.

A look of apology crossed He Jinxia’s face, "I’m sorry, Sister Xingxin, I didn’t know about your connection with Zhang Yingru. I had thought you..."

"Thought I was deliberately suppressing newcomers?" Yang Xingxin finished the sentence with a smile.

She turned her head to look at the stage, a mixture of fondness, reminiscence, and bitterness in her eyes.

"I’m already forty years old, my youthful beauty has faded, and my career options are dwindling. Eventually, the stage will belong to you young people. Why bother suppressing you? In this business, the new waves push the old ones, and the old waves crash on the shores. The chances for me to keep standing here are growing slim."