The next day, the weather was clear. After Serena Sterling got up, she looked at the blue sky outside the window and nodded. It was busy from early morning. This time, the costumes for the performance were very intricate, so Serena went to the designer’s place early. After getting these done, she finally took the nanny car to the finals venue of "Heavenly Sound." However, this time was different from usual. Serena hadn’t even gotten off the car when she saw a large group of people gathered outside the venue. They were making a commotion about something. Quite loud, but it was unclear from their side. "Irene, wait a moment, I’ll go take a look," said the assistant Chloe. She asked the driver to park farther away and went over to check. In just a moment, Chloe ran back with a bad expression. "Driver, can you drive directly inside?" Chloe asked. Serena sensed something was wrong and looked at Chloe. Chloe couldn’t avoid it and finally said, "Those people are all protestors, holding a bunch of signs..." Chloe didn’t continue, but Serena already understood. "It’s useless, let’s think of other ways," Serena said. "Since they’re surrounding here, they’ve surely figured out our car, and when the car gets surrounded, if there’s an accident..." Serena continued talking, but everyone present understood. If an accident occurs, the competition is out of the question. Just then, a car passed by, and Vera Hansen’s face poked out of the window. "Why don’t you go over? Is it fear?" That face was full of schadenfreude. Chloe, still annoyed, glared at Vera and then slammed the car door shut with a "bang." Serena then instructed the driver to leave immediately. Sure enough, not long after, a crowd rushed to where they had parked earlier. "Damn it!" Chloe realized it was Vera who told those people. Luckily, they left quickly, otherwise they’d be blocked on the spot now. "However, this actually helped us," Chloe said with a sly smile and immediately urged the driver to drive. Due to the noise here, most of the protestors were attracted to this spot, allowing their car to enter the venue. By the time they realized it, the nanny car had already entered the venue and parked next to Vera’s car. Then, Chloe helped Serena out of the car. Vera hadn’t reacted yet, looking puzzled at their vehicle. Chloe turned back and gave Vera a big smile. And at the end of her smile, she rolled her eyes dramatically, almost rolling her entire eyeball. Which made Vera absolutely furious. "Enjoy it, Irene, this is your last moment of triumph," Vera sneered. Serena initially didn’t intend to pay attention to her, but considering this was the final performance, she turned around. Through the mask, she looked at Vera’s face, slightly contorted with anger. She raised a carefree smile. "I will enjoy it," Serena said, "and will continue to enjoy it." "You!" Vera was about to rush forward. "What, want to get physical?" Chloe and the makeup artist immediately blocked in front of Serena. Many people were secretly watching, forcing Vera to restrain herself. "All you can do is throw a few harsh words," Vera said in a low voice and then left angrily. All the remaining gazes focused on Serena. Beatrice Sawyer also snorted as she passed by. Serena ignored all of this and walked straight to the backstage. Soon, the little conflict in the venue quickly made it to the hot search. The finals hadn’t even started yet, and the atmosphere was already so tense. Besides the large group protesting against Irene, the number of people watching the spectacle had surged. Everyone was eagerly waiting for this live broadcast. Backstage, although Serena was blocked, she was still early. Beatrice didn’t want to be in the same space as Serena, so she went to the personal lounge. Therefore, the backstage only had some staff present. The contestants, judges, guests, and hosts were all absent. Some staff also based their actions on the person’s status or prospects. As a result, the area around where Serena was sitting was completely empty, and no one was close to her. When Chloe asked people questions, they were cold and indifferent. Serena knew that Vera might have hinted at this. The little verbal spat earlier seemed to matter to Vera. When the Hawthorne siblings arrived, they saw this situation. Orion, being someone with a fiery personality, angrily rushed over. "Irene, good luck! I’m rooting for you!" Orion said loudly. June Hawthorne took two slow steps and immediately reached out to twist her brother’s head. "Don’t scare her!" June was really speechless with her goofy brother. And First Young Master Hawthorne followed behind them. Upon meeting Serena’s gaze, he smiled and nodded. "Originally, we did consider whether to come backstage to see you," June spoke gently, "Worried others would gossip, but then we thought, since Orion’s been pestering us to see you, it’s already widely known, so there’s no need to fear this bit." Orion nodded vigorously. Silas Hawthorne, as always, didn’t do much, but there was a smile in his eyes. Serena looked at this family. Their atmosphere always made people envious. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮※𝓷𝓮𝓽 Standing at the side, Chloe was starry-eyed. She was well aware of the internal struggles within the Ford Family. Serena indeed wasn’t afraid of this bit of gossip, nor this bit of protest. On the contrary, the people standing by her side at this moment were more precious. Although... the Hawthorne Family members all knew the reason... But she was still very moved. "Thank you," Serena stood up and bowed deeply. June immediately supported her. The two exchanged a glance, no words needed, already understanding. "Looking forward to your performance later," Silas said. Serena thought for a moment and politely nodded. June looked at her brother with schadenfreude and then said to Serena, "We’ll go to the audience seat first." "Okay," Serena smiled and nodded. Once the Hawthorne Family left, the backstage became slightly livelier, and the staff was slightly better. At least when asking for things, they were more enthusiastic than before, not in a cold, indifferent manner. The appearance of the Hawthorne Family represented an attitude. Yet, these people still didn’t have faith in Irene. After all, they believed there was no cleaning the slate. In their view, if there were truly any injustices, they would have cleared them long ago. The Hawthornes coming was due to Orion being a fan and wanting to bet on whether people would overlook her fraud due to Irene’s talent. As the Hawthorne Family left, other contestants and judges slowly arrived. However, everyone seemed to unanimously avoid speaking with Serena. Nevertheless, Serena didn’t mind. Meanwhile, in the audience. Julian Lawson looked at the seat beside him. On the day they processed the divorce papers, he asked Serena if she’d come, and she said she would, so he sent her a message yesterday, informing her of the time and place, and reserved a seat for her. But until now, she hadn’t arrived.