Chapter 112 Redirecting Pressure onto Isabella
Since Lawrence entered the entertainment industry, he's been linked to quite a few relationships.
Many women have been involved in scandals with him, but they all faded quickly.
So Phoenix didn't care at all.
"Ondine, don't worry about it." Phoenix calmly drank her water. "Lawrence has always been unpredictable. This whole thing about having that high school girl accompany him is probably just a whim."
Phoenix found it laughable no matter how she thought about it. "Which of his concerts isn't packed with people? Such a grand occasion, with so many fans watching - does it make any sense to put a high school girl on stage like that?"
Never mind what level the high school student's playing was at, could she even handle that kind of setting? Wouldn't she be so nervous on stage that her hands and feet would be shaking?
Ondine thought about it and felt Phoenix had a point.
Sure enough, gossip just couldn't be trusted.
The concert accompaniment matter was brought up by Ember a while ago. Ember was Lawrence's only manager, and she had always arranged everything for Lawrence, so Ember had absolute authority.
Phoenix had agreed at the time, and later Ember said she would formally approach her in a few days to finalize the collaboration.
With just a few days left until the concert, the collaboration was basically confirmed. There was no way anything could change now.
Just as Ondine was thinking this, her phone suddenly rang.
It was Lawrence's manager, Ember.
Ondine's expression visibly brightened with excitement.
"Ms. Knight, Ember's calling! She's probably going to formally discuss the collaboration with you!"
Hearing this, Phoenix's lips curved up. Everything was going as she expected.
Ondine quickly answered the phone. "Hello, I'm Phoenix's manager."
Ondine was smiling, but when she heard what was said on the other end, her expression suddenly changed.
"What?"
"They're replacing me?!" Ondine looked incredulous. "But wasn't it all agreed upon? That our Phoenix would do the accompaniment - how can they suddenly go back on their word?"
"Sorry, due to some unexpected reasons, we have to change the piano accompanist. We hope you understand..."
The other side hung up after saying that.
Not showing any consideration at all.
Very much in line with Ember's style of doing things.
As the ace manager of Lumaria's biggest entertainment company, and managing Lawrence no less - even Lawrence had to respect Ember - naturally she didn't need to take a manager from Stellar Media Group seriously.
Ondine was quite upset.
Phoenix, looking at her expression, could easily guess what had happened.
She frowned, her expression somewhat gloomy. "What's going on?"
Ondine squeezed her palms and turned to look at Phoenix, saying, "Ember just called and said that initially they planned to have you accompany, but now they're changing people. She also said we should delete the Facebook post to avoid misleading fans."
The Facebook post Ember mentioned was the one Phoenix had posted earlier about Lawrence's concert.
"Ember also said that this time the piano accompanist for the concert was personally chosen by Lawrence, and she can't change it."
From Ember's words, it was almost certain that the person replacing Phoenix was that high school student Lawrence had taken a liking to.
"Is Lawrence sick or something?" Phoenix laughed in anger. "Just because he likes that bitch, he's letting her be the piano accompanist? Does he think this is a street performance? That any trash can come?"
"Infinity Entertainment Inc. probably really isn't taking this concert seriously, otherwise they wouldn't let Lawrence mess around like this." Ondine sighed. "I looked into that Isabella - she's the Taylor family's daughter who was lost for seventeen years and was found just a few months ago. She's probably never even touched a piano."
Phoenix was shocked to hear this and felt the world had gone crazy.
She thought the person Lawrence found would at least have some piano foundation, but it turned out to be someone who knew nothing about piano.
"He must have been brainwashed by that Isabella!" Phoenix said through gritted teeth. "This must be Isabella's idea - wanting to show off without considering whether she has the ability."
"She's nothing, yet she dares to play piano at Lawrence's concert!"
"A bunch of deluded fools!" Phoenix got angrier the more she thought about it. "Replace me? Let's see how they can continue with this concert!"
By then, Lawrence would definitely regret it.
"Ms. Knight, don't be angry. At worst we just won't participate in this concert. We weren't planning to participate in it originally anyway." Ondine tried to console her.
Phoenix took a deep breath.
Indeed, if Ember's side hadn't taken the initiative to invite her, her original plan was to hold a piano recital this month.
"Ms. Knight, since Ember has spoken, I'll delete that Facebook post now to avoid causing trouble."
Ondine started to take out her phone to log into Phoenix's Facebook account and delete the post.
Phoenix watched her manager's actions, narrowed her eyes, and said, "Give me the phone, I'll post it."
Regarding why she was suddenly not participating in Lawrence's concert accompaniment, Phoenix naturally needed to explain clearly to her fans. After all, some people had bought tickets to Lawrence's concert because of her.
These people went to see her, so she couldn't let fans think it was her fault and lose followers.
Phoenix quickly typed on her phone and soon edited a Facebook post.
[Phoenix v: I regret to announce that due to special reasons, my scheduled appearance as accompanist at Lawrence's concert on the 25th of this month has to be cancelled, and I won't be able to meet everyone as planned. To make it up to everyone, I've decided to hold a personal recital on the same day, the 25th of this month. I hope everyone can come and support me! Thank you all!]
As soon as this Facebook post went up, fans immediately exploded.
[Why cancel the concert accompaniment arrangement? Did something happen?]
[Such a shame, I specifically bought concert tickets to see Phoenix, and now the concert is changed to a recital?]
Phoenix knew fans would ask.
So she pinned an explanation in the comments: [Thank you all for your concern. The reason for cancelling this arrangement is because I was told that Lawrence's side found a more outstanding and excellent pianist for accompaniment. Please don't worry too much.]
What seemed like a casual explanation immediately set off the fans.
Because it mentioned several key words.
More excellent and outstanding...
You have to know, Phoenix was already one of the top pianists in the country.
Those better than Phoenix were just one or two people, all senior pianists, some elderly veterans.
But those few would never participate in such performances.
Suddenly everyone was curious about which pianist Lawrence's concert had invited for accompaniment.
[Phoenix, can you reveal who the pianist Lawrence invited is?]
[Very curious, the other person must be very strong? To make our Phoenix feel inferior.]
[I really can't think of who could be more excellent than our Phoenix.]
Ondine on the side understood. "You're directing the pressure toward Isabella?"