In her impression, time had never passed over a woman's face, and the woman seemed to have been enchanted with the magic of eternal youth, so in her subconscious, she believed the woman was still at the age of blooming like a flower.

But the fact is, the era when Marlene became a Cosmos superstar was nearly thirty years ago.

"Accepting one's aging is truly not an easy thing; before, I often used skincare and makeup to disguise the wrinkles between my brows and always tried to appear beautifully in the public eye, spending a lot of money to hire photographers to capture me at my best angles."

"I'd even take up advertisements that only young girls would do – a gust of wind would blow, and then I'd hold down the skirt being blown up by the wind, striking a shy expression."

Tang Xin: "Huh?"

She almost doubted her memory was muddled; clearly, the woman in the advertisement was so stunningly beautiful, yet the other said it was shot when she was nearing fifty.

"Look at me now, very ordinary, right?"

"So, you see, I am actually not much different from most ordinary people here, whether in appearance or personality; we all age and have an obsession with youthful beauty, born in a slum, have sung on street corners, worked different jobs..."

"But you did make it big with your own efforts, becoming a Cosmos superstar; all the judges in the final of the Starry Art Competition unanimously gave you the highest score, you were indeed so dazzling, why do you say you're just an ordinary person, denying your own efforts?"

Hearing the woman talk about herself this way, Tang Xin's face turned stubborn, defending her unwillingly.

"Because all of that was originally packaged by Yaoxing Media."

Tang Xin suddenly felt empty inside, as if she had lost something important; she couldn't believe what she heard, yet the woman continued.

"At that time, a manager from Rongsen Media took notice of the ordinary me, my singing voice wasn't particularly outstanding, nor was my appearance remarkable, and my dance moves weren't captivating, but they felt that this 'ordinariness' could be a selling point and attract those ordinary people like me, so they spent big money to promote my story."

"I had noticed you earlier on, during the time when your title as Starry Daughter spread across Star of Art, that was precisely when I felt anxious; I listened to all your albums, over and over."

"Honestly, I envied your beautiful singing voice, the idol filter would make people overlook many objective truths; back when I became famous, my singing voice wasn't as enchanting as yours, Miss Tang Xin."

"How could it be like this?" Tang Xin tightly clutched her gown, "Ms. Marlene, please don't say these self-pitying things, they clearly..."

"But this is the truth." Marlene calmly observed the girl who looked irate and bewildered, "My success wasn't entirely due to effort but rather riding the tide of the times."

"After they promoted my story, I became a hit overnight. During that Starry Art Competition, Starry Gallery was mired deep in the '517 Foster Home impeachment incident' controversy, and to avoid public outrage, Belvedere needed someone like me to step up, to show hope to those ordinary people struggling on the bottom tier, so the judges unanimously voted for my highest score."

"Those stories of hope and encouragement were merely lies fabricated to hypnotize and numb many more people."

"And I willingly became the weapon used to hurt numerous ordinary people, an accomplice."

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