Overprotected By My Tsundere CEO

Chapter 1016 - 699: Showing Affection [02] Variety Show Livestream, Suona at Dawn

The director didn’t stay long.

After finalizing the camera positions, the director and the crew left. Pedro Langley and Nora Scott didn’t mind inviting them to dinner, but they refused.

Evening.

At the dinner table, Nora took a couple of bites of rice and thought about the show’s recording, deciding to give Pedro a heads-up, "There are two things I need to tell you."

"Alright."

Pedro was all ears, ready to listen.

"Anthony Santos’ wife, Emily Bay. I’ve worked with her before."

"Did she bully you?" Pedro slightly frowned, his gaze turning cold instantly.

"... Not that far." Nora thought she wasn’t that much of a pushover and casually said, "We had a bit of a falling out."

"..."

Pedro understood.

It happened during the filming of a martial arts movie where Nora was cast as the third female lead, and Emily was the lead. Even though Nora’s acting wasn’t great, her looks and action scenes still overshadowed Emily, leaving Emily feeling unbalanced at the time.

But that wasn’t enough for Emily to target Nora.

The real trigger was Benjamin.

That guy arranged top-tier treatments for Nora to support her. The most luxurious hotel suites, the most extravagant trailers, every meal catered by Virtue Retreat, and heaps of assistants and bodyguards... Back then, even the top celebrities didn’t enjoy such luxury like Nora did.

Emily was envious.

The crew was envious too.

Thus, they started targeting Nora with various methods like cold-shouldering, isolating, and making things difficult.

But Nora wasn’t one to be trifled with. Even though she knew the root of their jealousy towards her, she never made any effort to fit in or please them, so naturally, conflicts arose.

Emily intentionally made things difficult for Nora, and Nora fought back, making Emily suffer a significant loss, ending up in the hospital for a month and losing a bunch of resources. From then on, their feud was set.

Later, Emily even intercepted some of Nora’s resources.

However, by that time, Nora was already acting less frequently, so Emily’s antics didn’t matter much anymore.

Eventually, Emily faded from Nora’s memory, only to resurface as she stepped back from the spotlight and married Anthony Santos, who was connected to Alexander Vaughn.

"Got it." Pedro immediately understood after listening, "During the variety show recording, I won’t let her take advantage."

Nora raised an eyebrow.

She turned to ask, "How many people knew we were joining the variety show before it was made public?"

"You suspect Anthony Santos and Emily Bay are targeting you?" Pedro asked.

"I don’t know." Nora said bluntly, "After all, the timing is a bit coincidental."

Anthony surely knew of her.

And he knew about her intricate connections with Antonio Easton, Mechanism City, and Alexander Vaughn.

However, it was unclear whether Anthony knew she was also participating before agreeing to join the variety show.

If Anthony was aware, then his motives needed to be evaluated...

"Some people in the industry do know." Pedro said, "Regardless of his intentions, we need to stay alert."

"Yeah."

Nora nodded.

"What’s the other thing?"

"Lennon Turner and his wife..." Nora blinked, "We have a grudge."

"..."

Why does everyone seem to have a grudge against you?

Pedro thought this variety show wasn’t about their married life but rather a live reunion of Nora and all her enemies.

He pinched his brow, "Tell me about it."

"I filmed a show with Lennon Turner, and he spread rumors that I was obsessed with him while he was so disinterested in me. His wife had a crush on him back then and helped stir things up by writing some misleading reports, which indeed made him quite popular at the time." Nora explained.

"When did this happen?" Pedro’s expression gradually turned cold.

Nora let out a sound, "Not long after I made my debut."

This incident didn’t really affect Nora much.

Because at that time, she was still underage.

Moreover, during that era, netizens weren’t as easily swayed, and publicity accounts weren’t as rampant, so there was still a bit of goodwill left towards Nora.

However—

Back then, Nora also received some letters advising her not to go astray and to focus on her studies.

After a brief pause, Pedro collected the coldness in his eyes and said lightly, "Alright, got it."

*

Two days later, the show began its live broadcast.

The program thoughtfully scheduled the live broadcast for Saturday, making it convenient for working professionals and students to indulge.

Even before the live broadcast started, the stream of "Mr. and Mrs. Ringtone" was occupied by eager viewers, with hundreds of thousands watching online.

[I’m so bored that I set an alarm early to watch other people’s married life.]

[But it’s Nora’s life, who wouldn’t want to watch?]

[I wonder if Beauty Nora sleeps in?]

[I’ve got my snacks ready. I don’t want to see Mr. Langley pampering Beauty Nora, I want to see Beauty Nora overpowering Mr. Langley.]

[Let me fantasize a bit about Beauty Nora just waking up. I’m ready to screenshot and admire.]

...

Seven o’clock sharp.

The first scene appeared in front of the eager viewers—

And then, they were in turmoil.

[???]

[My mom’s going to hit me.]

[I’m dead on the spot, thanks.]

[Heavenly Immortal, please be human!]

...

Nora and Pedro were not together; the streams were separate, and most people were waiting in Nora’s channel.

However—

Early in the morning, they were greeted not by the stunning beauty of the Heavenly Immortal but by the haunting tone of the suona.

In the study.

Nora was playing the suona while video chatting with Julian Linfield, completely unaware that the live broadcast had already begun.

After finishing a piece, Nora raised her eyebrows at Julian proudly, "How was it?"

Julian was so angry that his face turned green, "Why don’t you join a funeral band?"

"I actually have."

"..." Julian, unable to contain his anger, had all his good manners evaporated, and ranted and raved, "I taught you the bamboo flute for so long, and you didn’t improve. But you’ve been playing the suona for a short while..."

In the live chat:

[Hahaha, the master is going to be driven crazy.]

[Honestly, Nora’s suona playing is quite good. That piece is the theme song for the Death Legend anime, right? I heard Julian personally composed it, and he arranged the crew himself.]

[Listening to the theme song is exhilarating, but hearing Nora’s suona... feels like being haunted by restless souls.]

[What to do, it’s kind of captivating, I want to hear more.]

[Able to play the suona well but not the bamboo flute. What kind of problem is this, Nora?]

...

Although it was a shocking start, viewers with strong psychological resilience quickly adapted.

However, there were still some discordant voices—

[If someone played the suona in my neighborhood early in the morning, I’d have to get a knife and deal with her.]

[Is making noise considered fun? Have some decency.]

[Honestly, playing the suona in the morning is really out of line.]

...

But soon, some new viewers chimed in.

[??? What suona?]

[Was there just now? Mr. Langley and his brother are in the living room, I didn’t hear a thing.]

[Hahaha, they must have soundproof walls, right? If someone made noise early morning, the neighborhood management would be the first to knock on the door.]

...

The trolls got shut down immediately: "..." Damn.