The auditorium lights dimmed, plunging the vast hall into a hush that felt sacred. Cameras whirred softly in the background, capturing every angle for the live global broadcast. Banners announced the event: International Voices of Tomorrow: Poetry for the Soul.
For Jiang Yue, standing backstage in a flowing midnight-blue gown, the silence was deafening.
Her palms were slick, her breath shallow. She adjusted the microphone clipped to her collarbone, trying not to betray how her heart thundered against her ribs.
"You'll be fine," Tessa whispered beside her, clutching a clipboard like a lifeline. "Your words have already saved people. Tonight, the world just gets to witness it."
"I… don't know if I'm ready," Jiang Yue murmured, her voice barely audible.
Tessa gave her a firm look. "You've survived worse. This? This is yours."
The host's voice rang out, smooth and clear.
"Ladies and gentlemen, from China, the poet whose work To Love, To Lose, To Heal has sparked conversations worldwide, please welcome Jiang Yue!"
The applause was thunderous. Spotlights bathed the stage, momentarily blinding her as she stepped out. For a second, she froze, seeing the sheer magnitude of faces stretching before her in the hall, millions beyond the screens.
Her throat tightened.
I can't…
But then, her gaze caught on one shadow in the upper gallery. A figure, half-concealed by the darkness, arms crossed as if guarding the world.
Li Zhenkai.
He wasn't supposed to be here. He'd told her he had meetings, that this event "wasn't his thing." Since she started staying at his penthouse especially the day he dropped her off and left immediately after they only met at work, But even from this distance, she knew that presence. His Cold, steady and immovable presence somehow gave her relief..
Her fear loosened, just a little.
She reached the podium, fingers brushing the smooth paper she had carried in her hand.
The microphone hummed.
"Good evening," she began, her voice soft but carrying across the hall. "This is a piece called To Love, To Lose, To Heal. It isn't just mine. It belongs to everyone who has ever broken, and still tried to stand again."
A ripple went through the crowd.
She drew in a slow breath and began to read.
Her voice wove through the air, threading sorrow and tenderness together. Each line rose and fell like the pull of the tide, carrying the ache of heartbreak, the rawness of grief, and the fragility or fragile hope of healing.
Words were not just spoken; they were lived.
"…to love is to give yourself away,
to lose is to feel the hollow echo,
to heal is to learn that broken things
can still shine brighter than before…"
By the second stanza, the audience was transfixed. Cameras zoomed in on faces streaked with tears.
One woman in the second row clasped her hands to her chest, sobbing silently. A young man near the aisle gripped his seat as though the verses mirrored his own scars.
And then, halfway through, the eruption came.
"You saved me!" someone cried out, their voice trembling but unshakable.
The hall gasped. Jiang Yue faltered, the words catching in her throat, her own eyes stinging.
But she pressed on.
"…healing is not forgetting,
nor is it pretending.
It is choosing, again and again,
to breathe even when the air burns…"
Her voice trembled but never broke.
By the time she reached the final verse, the weight of her words pressed on every soul present.
"…and though the world may not understand,
you are still here.
You are still enough.
You are still alive."
The silence that followed was absolute. A silence so full it seemed to echo louder than any applause could.
And then the hall erupted.
She remembered when she started writing this book long before going into the novel the book already became famous and sought after by many and she was glad the system brought it into this world too, so she only had to continue her poetic journey not having to start a new, cause this was what she was best at..
And the applause and faces here tonight made her realize it's worth much..
Cameras flashed, applause roared, and shouts filled the air.
"She's incredible!"
"I felt that in my bones!"
"Encore! Encore!"
Somewhere in the back, a teenager fainted outright, overcome by the flood of emotions. Volunteers rushed in, but even that only added to the intensity of the moment.
Jiang Yue's knees nearly buckled. She had to grip the podium to steady herself as the sound washed over her, waves upon waves of raw, unrestrained adoration.
Her piece had gone global before tonight, but this? This was different. This was visceral, intense..
Backstage, as she stumbled off, Tessa caught her in a tight embrace. "You did it! Yue, you did it! You shook the world!"
But Jiang Yue could barely process. Her body trembled, her throat raw, her heart a storm of disbelief.
"I just… read," she whispered.
"You didn't just read. You bared your soul. That's why they can't stop crying."
Far above, hidden from the crowd, Li Zhenkai watched silently.
His usual cold expression was unreadable, but his eyes… his eyes lingered on her with something fierce. Something dangerous.
Xu Jianyu leaned beside him, arms folded. "You're staring," he said casually.
"She's… different," Zhenkai replied. His tone was low, almost like a confession to himself.
Xu Jianyu arched a brow. "Different? Or the key?"
Li Zhenkai didn't answer. He only turned away from the window, jaw clenched, gaze fixed as Jiang Yue smiled shakily through tears, bowing once more to a world that had just fallen at her poetic feet.
System Message:
[ Global Recognition Achieved. ]
[ Fate Thread Strengthened. ]
[ Warning: Increased Host Visibility = Higher Risk of Targeting. ]
Jiang Yue didn't see it. But somewhere deep inside, her soul trembled aware that every word spoken tonight had not just touched lives, but pulled her closer to the fate waiting between her and him.
And far below, Zhou Meili's hand crushed a champagne glass as she watched the broadcast, shards digging into her palmas her palm bled "This isn't over," she whispered.