Chapter 42

When everyone looked at her in surprise, Phoebe pulled a wry face, asking, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Maddox leaned over. “You know all these instruments?”

Phoebe nodded. “Yes, I’ve learned them all.” She had previously learned the banjo from Percival. Later, she traveled to those spaces and learned almost all the musical instruments. So she knew how to play all those in front of her and was quite good at them.

Maddox looked at Phoebe, his eyes shining with admiration. “Amazing, our Pheebs.”

Phoebe chuckled and said, “Thank you for the compliment.”

The old man was surprised at first. Then, he waved at Phoebe with a smile. “Miss, come here. I got the sheet music. Try using these instruments,” he said.

Phoebe nodded. “Sure!”

The old man took a few copies out of a cabinet, opened one of them, and pointed to a page. “Try this part with the banjo.”

Phoebe first scanned the score carefully, then sat down and took the banjo from him to get started.

Soon, they heard a lively banjo tune. “You’re very good at playing the banjo,” he remarked with a satisfied smile.

Then, he asked Phoebe to try the rest. Phoebe was confident and calm, playing each one as per the same score.

When it was over, the old man’s satisfied smile grew wider. “Very good. You can do the music for the show. You’re completely qualified. I don’t have anyone else.”

Phoebe smiled and said, “Alright, I’ll do the music then.”

Sebastian chuckled. “Ms. Jenkins, you’ve saved our production team a lot of trouble.”

Hearing this, Lexie and James could not help but admire her. Although they did not know how to play these instruments, they could tell how well Phoebe played.

Lexie asked curiously, “Pherbs, do you know any other instruments besides these?”

Phoebe replied, “Yes, but not many.”

Lexie continued, “Such as!”

Phoebe replied, “I can play the cello, lute, flute, accordion, piano, violin, guitar, saxophone, bass, and some others.”

Everyone else stared in awe at Phoebe, wondering if there was anything she didn’t know. She was simply too amazing. Maddox’s eyes were smiling as he asked, “You know how to play the guitar? When we go back later, let’s play a song together?” Phoebe nodded. “No problem.”

Lexie pointed to a lute on the shelf. “Pheebs, I want to hear you play that one. Can you play us a song now!”

Phoebe was also very fond of the lute. She had learned and practiced it for a long time in a space of ancient times. “Of course,” she answered. Then she asked the old man if she could use the lute.

He went willingly to the shelf, took down the lute, and handed it to Phoebe. “I also want to hear it,” he said. The more he looked at this young lady, the more he liked her.

The viewers started to raise questions in the comments:

[Phoebe knows so many instruments? She must be exaggerating.]

[I think this is fake. Phoebe is just following the script given by the production team. Otherwise, how could she play so many instruments?]

[She must have practiced the tune in private beforehand.]

[The production team is so dishonest. They obviously rehearsed it before this.]

Chapter 12

[The production team dares to claim that this is spontaneous. I’m going to tell the authority.]

[Is the production team 100% biased towards Phoebe? They give her a role to play in everything.]

[I heard that Phoebe saved Sebastian’s wife before. That’s why she was able to get gigs for variety shows.]

[Think about this relationship. How can there be nothing fishy about this show?]

[I don’t know what to say. The director is making Phoebe a big star. He got this script for her. Does he think we’re fools?]

Comments like these popped up on the screen. Leon was to blame, as he used paid trolls to stir things up first. So many comments of suspicion and sarcasm appeared. All his previous plans for Sienna and Phoebe had failed, surprisingly leaving Phoebe outshining her.

Sienna suffered defeat – not only did she not become as popular as expected, but her reputation plummeted. The bitterness of his defeat lingered, and there was no way he would swallow his anger like this. That was why Leon orchestrated those hate comments questioning the production team’s intentions. It was convenient to say that the production team favored Phoebe over the Jenkins siblings. This way, Phoebe would be crushed while Sienna’s reputation could be restored.

When Jamar’s fans and Reece’s fans saw those comments, they followed suit. Phoebe’s fans wrote to argue but were outnumbered. Gradually, negative remarks flooded in.

Reading this abrupt deluge of screen comments, the director knew very well that someone had paid people to defame Phoebe and the production team online. The director frowned, thinking, “I can’t let this continue. The comments will cause trouble. If we had such a script, I would suck it up. But the truth is we don’t have one. How could I let them slander us like this?”

Just then, Phoebe positioned the lute and asked, “What song do you want to hear!”

These words stunned everyone present. They rarely listened to lute music, so they couldn’t name one.

Lexie said, “Why don’t you pick something for us!”

Sebastian looked up and saw Phoebe confidently asking everyone to pick a song. This meant that she knew a lot of lute music. He then scanned the screen comments where Phoebe’s haters still had the upper hand. Suddenly, he had an idea and looked at Phoebe. “Why don’t we ask the viewers what they want to hear?”

Such an interaction would help with the atmosphere and also show that Phoebe was proficient at the lute. More importantly, letting the viewers pick could also clear the doubts because it was too random to allow Phoebe to rehearse it in advance.

Phoebe smiled and replied, “Good, let the viewers pick. As long as I know the piece, I play it.”

Positive comments started to roll in:

[Oh my! My Pheebs is so versatile!]

[Oh my gosh, Pheebs actually can play so many instruments!]

[Pheebs dotes on us so much. Guys, you heard her. She plays whatever we want to hear. Just now, the haters said the show is rigged and called Pheebs a liar who only knows how to play the instruments arranged by the production team. Then why don’t we let the haters pick?]

[That’s right, if Pheebs can play it, there is no such script.]

[I trust Pheebs. Those who left nasty comments are just haters.]

[It might also be someone who hired trolls to defame her.]

The director smiled in satisfaction as he read these comments. His move was working, but it wouldn’t succeed if Phoebe failed to play the tune.

The director believed her, so he said, “I saw the comments. I can guarantee that our production team doesn’t have a script as the viewers said. I’m even more certain that we didn’t let Phoebe rehearse in advance.”

Chapter 42

“Anyone who questioned Phoebe and the production team just now, come on. Name one.”

“As long as Phoebe knows the piece, she’ll play it for you.”

Hearing his words, Maddox and the others realized why this was happening. It was too much for people to attack Phoebe while she was doing the live-stream.

Phoebe was not surprised about the slander. She even had the confidence to think Leon was behind it. Leon was such a control freak that he couldn’t allow anything to escape his control and everything must go as planned. However, it was obvious that he was dissatisfied with her performance on the variety show. Phoebe had to admit that he made a smart move with the comments, making the audience suspicious.

Then she stated, “I didn’t expect someone to think I was following a script. I swear I’m not. Please don’t smear the production team because of me.”

“I swear I’m not. Please don’t smear the production team because of me.”

“I’m confident that I can play any song you guys ask.”

“Now, let’s ask the people who criticized and questioned me in the comments.”

After a brief pause, she added firmly, “Whatever you want to hear.” She was brimming with confidence.