Pei Ziyu thought for a moment and said tactfully, "That must mean your social network at school is pretty good, otherwise nobody would've come to you for help to fill in this spot. Events like these usually have a few backup acts. Even if something unexpected happens, one of the backups takes over. It's rarely necessary to get someone from outside, unless people from outside actively pull strings."
So there's a lot of twisty little details in this—he's actually worried that Mei Mengzhen might have fallen for someone's game.
Mei Mengzhen was genuinely shocked, instantly understanding what Pei Ziyu meant. "So I could've taken someone else's slot for the performance, and this kind of thing needs connections? If it wasn't a friend asking me for help, I would absolutely never have agreed."
Mei Mengzhen's not afraid to go on stage. She's just not confident about things she's unfamiliar with.
