Chapter 42 She Was That Confident
When Simone noticed everyone’s shocked expressions, she awkwardly asked, “Why are you all looking at me like that?”
Zac approached her and inquired, “Can you play all these instruments?”
She nodded. “Yes, I have learned to play them all.”
Before crossing over to the other universes, Simone used to take fiddle classes. As a result, she was quite familiar with the several instruments before her and knew how to play them.
Zac’s eyes sparkled as he looked at her. “You’re amazing, Simone.”
Simone smiled. “Thank you for the compliment!”
Meanwhile, the elder was shocked but grinned as he beckoned–Simone over: “Come here, young lady. I’ll give you a score. Try playing these instruments.”
Simone nodded. “Sure!”
The elder took out several music scores from the cabinet and opened one, pointing to a page. “Use the fiddle to play this piece.”
Simone carefully examined the score, then took the fiddle from the elder and began playing. Soon, a lively and cheerful fiddle piece filled the air.
The elder smiled in satisfaction. “You’re quite skilled at playing the fiddle.”
Next, the elder asked Simone to try the drums, dulcimer, and trumpet.
Simone remained confident and calm as she played each of the scores given to her by the elder. Once she finished, the elder’s smile grew even wider. “Very good. I’m confident that you can handle playing the soundtracks. There’s no need to look for anyone else.”
Smiling, Simone murmured, “Sure. I’ll take care of the soundtracks.”
Jonah smiled slightly. “Miss Gray, you’ve made things very easy for our crew.”
Meanwhile, Keira and Eric couldn’t help but admire Simone. Although they didn’t know how to play these instruments, they could hear how well she had played the pieces.
Keira asked, “Simone, do you play any other instruments besides these?”
“I know a few others,” Simone replied. Keira then asked, “For example? Can you list a few?”
Simone answered, “I can play the harp, banjo, flute, clarinet, ocarina, piano, cello, guitar, saxophone,
and bass.”
Everyone on set fell silent as they suddenly had the urge to ask what she couldn’t play. It was simply amazing.
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Chapter 42 She Was That Confident
Zac’s eyes filled with smiles. “You know how to play the guitar too? Why don’t we play a duet when we get back?
Simone nodded. “Sure!”
Then, Keira pointed at the banjo on the cabinet. “Simone, I would like to hear you play the banjo. Can you perform a piece for us?”
Simone also liked the banjo and had spent a long time practicing it when she was in a retro universe. “No problem!”
She asked the elder if she could use the banjo. Not only did the elder not refuse her request, but he even personally handed it to her. “I would like to hear you play the banjo too.”
The young lady grew on him the more they interacted.
‘How could Simone know how to play so many instruments? She must be bluffing.
‘I think the show must be scripted. Simone is only acting according to the script, otherwise, how could she know so many instruments?”
‘She must have practiced the pieces she played with those instruments in private.
“This show is too fake. This scene is obviously staged for us to watch.
‘Yet the crew dares to claim they’re realistic. I’m going to report on this show.”
‘Don’t you think the crew is too biased toward Simone? Why does she get all the attention?”
‘I heard Simone previously saved the director’s wife, which is how she got on this show.”
‘Look at that. How could this relationship not seem suspicious?”
‘I’m speechless. The director is hyping Simone and even planned a scripted scene for her. Does he take us audiences for fools?‘
There were suddenly many complaints and skeptical comments on the screen.
The very first few comments that set the mood were from the paid trolls Titus hired. He planned to make Aaron and Jodie seem like close siblings while also portraying Jodie as a lovable person, creating a comparison with Simone. However, none of that was successful. Worse still, all of that failed in comparison to Simone.
In contrast, Jodie didn’t become as popular as they had hoped, and her reputation had even
plummeted. Titus felt suffocated because he couldn’t accept the fact that his plan had failed. Therefore, he hired paid trolls, hoping to make Simone look bad by claiming that the crew was trying to hype her popularity with a script.
This plan could tarnish Simone’s image and help Jodie regain some of her reputation.
They could say that the crew intended to hype Simone’s popularity, thus suppressing Aaron and Jodie.
When Aaron and Leon’s fans saw the situation, they immediately followed the trend and began
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criticizing and scrutinizing Simone.
Although Simone’s fans tried to counter, they were no match for the paid trolls and fans of the other three celebrities, so their comments were soon drowned out.
Upon seeing the sudden influx of comments, Jonah knew that someone had hired paid trolls to frame Simone and the crew. He frowned, knowing that the situation would worsen if this continued. He would admit it if this show was scripted, but it wasn’t, so he couldn’t let someone else frame him for it.
Currently, Simone held the banjo and asked, “Which song would you like me to play?”
Those words puzzled the crowd because they rarely had the chance to listen to a banjo piece, so they didn’t know what to choose.
Keira suggested, “Why don’t you choose something yourself?”
Jonah raised his head and watched as Simone confidently asked everyone to choose what she should play. That meant she knew a lot of banjo pieces.
Then, he scanned the comments on the screen and contemplated for a moment before asking Simone, “Why don’t we let the livestream viewers choose what song they would like to hear?”
Such an interaction could liven the atmosphere and show that Simone was indeed skilled at playing the banjo. More importantly, letting the audience choose a song could diminish their suspicions because it meant the song chosen would be random and, therefore, prove that Simone had not practiced it in advance.
Smiling, Simone stated, “Sure! Let’s have the audience choose. I’ll play the song if I know it.”
‘Wow! How can my wife be so talented?‘
‘Heavens, my wife knows how to play so many instruments!‘
‘Our darling spoils us so much. Did you hear what she said? She will play whatever song we choose.
‘Those who said this show is scripted and that she is only pretending to know how to play so many instruments and can only play pieces the crew gave her, why don’t you guys choose a song?‘
‘Yes! If our darling can play whatever song they choose, it proves that this show is not scripted.’
‘I believe she knows how to play those instruments. The people commenting are clearly trying to frame and ruin her.’
‘There’s also the possibility that they are trolls hired to ruin her reputation, Jonah suggested.
Jonah revealed a satisfied grin as he read the comments.
His plan had indeed worked, but of course, it was based on the assumption that Simone was truly talented and capable of playing the song the audience chose. However, he had faith in her abilities.
And so, he announced, “I have read the comments and can guarantee that our show is not scripted. Furthermore, I can assure you that we did not allow Simone to practice anything in advance. So, for those of you who continue to scrutinize the crew and Simone, please make your selection. Simone will
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play it as long as she knows how to.”
Zac and the others also understood what was happening upon hearing that. At this moment, several people in the live stream viewers were attempting to tarnish Simone’s image. That was unacceptable.
Meanwhile, Simone wasn’t surprised by this and could guess that it was probably the doing of Sc*mbag No. 2. The man had control issues and couldn’t tolerate things going out of his control and arrangements. It was evident that her performance on this show had displeased him.
If the show was scripted and pre–rehearsed, it would make the audience suspicious. Simone smiled slightly and said, “I never expected someone to question whether I’m acting according to a script. But I can assure you that I am not, so please do not falsely accuse the crew because you want to discredit me. I am confident that I can play any song you choose, so for those of you who have questioned and accused me in the comments section, select a song, and I will play it for you.”
Then, she added confidently, “Choose any song you want.”
She was that self–assured.
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