140 The Competition Beginning

No ordinary friend would give such an expensive bracelet. Although he did not know why Meng Xin was so insistent on this bracelet, there might be some hidden meaning behind it.

Did Jing Yan give this to her because he wanted to make up with her?

He Miao nodded slightly, her gaze turning to the staff who had just entered the backstage. He waited quietly for her contestant number to be distributed.

Meng Lang did not want to pick a fight with her at this point in time, so he leaned to the side coldly. He was only planning to interrogate He Miao after the competition.

The competition officially began. Due to the large number of participants this time, the organizer had divided all the contestants into two groups. He Miao was in the second group with Meng Lang.

After the first group was invited onto the stage, the entire backstage was instantly half empty. Meng Lang sat behind He Miao, his eyes fixed on her back like a hawk.

In the audience, Jing Yan did not see He Miao on the stage. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs, his fingers tapping on the armrest.

Meng Xin rushed out of the backstage, feeling wronged, and immediately saw Jing Yan.

She walked over in pleasant surprise and called out sweetly to the man under everyone’s gazes, “Brother Jing Yan.”

However, Jing Yan only snorted lazily as a response to her.

Meng Xin was dissatisfied with his perfunctory reply. She turned to the man sitting beside him and smiled. “Uncle, can we change seats? I’m also in the guest area.”

“Of course you can.” This young lady was the Second Young Lady of the Meng family, and just like Jing Yan, almost everyone knew her. That person was naturally willing to do her a favor and immediately switched places with her.

Meng Xin sat next to him as she wished, leaning slightly in Jing Yan’s direction. She smiled happily and said, “Brother, did you come here to watch uncle’s match?”

“Uncle Meng is participating too?” Jing Yan frowned slightly. He had never heard of this, but Meng Lang had always been so engrossed in his research on fragrance-making that he did not even want to inherit the family business. It was not surprising that he would come to participate in this competition.

“You don’t know?” Meng Xin widened her eyes in disbelief and blurted out, “Then who are you here to see?”

Without waiting for Jing Yan’s reply, Meng Xin instantly thought of the woman she saw backstage just now. She immediately pouted and asked unhappily, “Brother, are you here to see that He Miao?”

Jing Yan frowned. He could hear the hostility in her tone towards He Miao. He looked up at her dangerously. “You’ve met her?”

“She even hit me backstage just now.” Meng Xin grumbled, feeling wronged. She held the back of her hand, which should have been fair, in front of Jing Yan, showing him the handprint that had not faded.

She thought that she would be comforted by Jing Yan, but he looked at her without any warmth in his eyes. “You must have provoked her first. What did you say to make her angry?” he asked.

“Big Brother! How can you do this!” This time, Meng Xin was so sad that tears fell from her eyes.

When she was a child, she liked Jing Yan the most among all the aristocratic families. She always followed him around and was his little tail. She had long secretly vowed to be his bride when she grew up, but now he was blatantly protecting another woman!

Jing Yan ignored her grievance and warned her lightly, “Don’t mess with her in the future. She’s the person I care about the most.”

This sentence completely destroyed all of Meng Xin’s fantasies. She muttered in disbelief, “On what basis? We grew up together, but you said that the person you care about the most is her. What am I then?”

“You’re only Meng Hui’s younger sister.” Jing Yan frowned and impatiently moved to the other side, unwilling to listen to her crying and complaining.

He had never thought that they were really childhood sweethearts, as she had said.

They had only known each other for a long time, and he was only willing to talk to her because she was Meng Hui’s sister. He had no other intentions.

However, the little girl obviously misunderstood. Her Brother Jing Yan had been ignoring other girls and was only willing to listen to her speak a few more words. Did this not prove how special she was in his heart?

Now, He Miao had appeared out of nowhere and had somehow become the most important person in his heart. How could she accept this?

The noise here was a little loud, and many people did not watch the competition, but quietly glanced over to watch the fun.

Meng Xin knew that Jing Yan definitely would not like her being unreasonable in public. She could only suppress the bitterness in her heart and wait until the competition was over to ask Jing Yan for an explanation.

On the stage, the first group’s scoring stage had ended, and the host announced that the second group would go on stage to hand their works to the judges.

When Jing Yan heard He Miao’s name, he immediately sat up straight and looked forward, completely forgetting about Meng Xin.

Meng Xin gritted her teeth and held back her tears. She looked at He Miao, who was calm and composed on the stage, with jealousy and hatred. Then, she caught a glimpse of Meng Lang behind him and could not help but smile.

Her uncle was a big shot in the incense industry, and he was not someone a newbie like He Miao could compare to.

She was just waiting to see her lose terribly on stage, so that Jing Yan would know that this woman could never compare to her in any way! She was the only woman who could stand by his side and become Madam Jing.