Chapter 114: So that is how you want to play it?

Wang Fei, standing on the stage, watched the atmosphere in the crowd swing because of "Ayu." The people calling for him had nearly vanished, and he could not help but stare wide-eyed at the man beside him.

Fine, fine, so that was how he wanted to play it? Pretend not to know me, then come up onstage and mess with me? You brat, you really are something!

Lin Yu only felt a wave of murderous intent surge from beside him. He tilted his head back as if admiring the scenery and gave an awkward laugh. "Nice weather today, huh? Moon and stars and all that."

Then, all at once, the mask was gone, and the cap too. A bright, handsome face appeared before everyone. Lin Yu blinked his innocent eyes.

Well, that was it. He was exposed.

Wang Fei was now holding the cap and mask in his hands. Confirming that it was indeed Lin Yu, he promptly grew so angry he clutched at his chest.

The dating show had been suspended, and now he had run into this guy again. Was this not fate with a rather deep hand in it? Maybe they should just call each other brothers and be done with it.

"You little punk." While the fans below were shouting Lin Yu's name like mad, Wang Fei leaned close to his ear and said through clenched teeth, "If there weren't so many people here, I'd kick you for sure."

"If you kick me off the stage, aren't you worried that tomorrow's gossip headlines will all say you have a violent streak and bully rookies?"

Wang Fei spat in mock disgust.

After the dating show, the two of them had become closer than any of the other guests on the program. They still kept in touch in private from time to time, though not often. Running into each other here today, stirring up trouble was just the natural mischief of boys, not real anger.

After trading venom for a while, the venue quieted down, and Lin Yu seriously introduced himself into the microphone.

"I'm Lin Yu, a singer. I'm very happy to meet everyone here."

"I originally came to the music festival just to relax, and I didn't expect to run into Senior Wang by chance."

Even his self-introduction rhymed. Unbelievable.

"None of this was arranged in advance. If you have any questions, please go find the lighting crew, or the organizers, and bill my... appearance fee!"

The crowd burst into laughter. Most of them were college students, and the dating show had been quite popular recently. Even though it had been suspended, everyone who spent time online knew Lin Yu's reputation as the reborn Lu Bu.

He still had that same witty, teasing manner, and it brought back the absurd image from the dating show of that unlucky female CEO and the new artist with the genius for making trouble. The audience, caught up in the moment, began to join Lin Yu in the teasing.

"Organizers, appearance fee!"

"Organizers, pay up!"

"Organizers, stop dragging your feet!"

Wang Fei did not know whether to laugh or cry. These audience members really did fall in and out of love at the drop of a hat. A moment ago they were loving him; now their affection had shifted to Lin Yu.

How quickly they changed.

Paying was impossible. Hiring two singers for one appearance fee—that was exactly the sort of thing a capitalist organizer loved most.

Lin Yu might be a newly debuted artist, but in just two months he had established his unbeatable Lu Bu persona on the dating show, then defeated the young singing prodigy Si Shaozhe on the talent show. Those two buffs stacked together had brought him a great deal of traffic.

The music festival was being livestreamed, and the viewer count suddenly soared by forty or fifty thousand. At that rate, how could they possibly fail to make money? Especially since a big spender had rushed straight into the stream and, in the barrage, demanded that Lin Yu sing "A Decent Farewell" live, offering twenty private jets as an appearance fee.

The assistant director brought over the admissions log with a grin of pure profit. "Director, Lin Yu bought his own ticket."

He had bought his own ticket, and now the organizers had to let him enjoy the audience's cheers while singing for free. As far as the capitalists were concerned, wasn't that a guaranteed win?

"Didn't expect to run into Mr. Lin here. Welcome!"

Outwardly, Wang Fei had always maintained a gentlemanly image. This happened to be convenient; since he had already only been paid for one performance, if someone could share the singing with him, he wouldn't have to work so hard.

The moment Lin Yu saw him leading the applause, he guessed what was on his mind. There was no such thing as a free lunch. If you wanted me to sing with you, fine, but you had to pay.

These days, the rights fee for one of his songs on OO Music was already worth several hundred thousand. Wouldn't the appearance fee need to be settled as well?

So he said, "Everyone, thank you for your support. But I bought my own ticket to get in. If you want to hear me sing, that's fine. Just have Senior Wang treat me to a meal and we can make a deal."

Wang Fei had only meant to get a little revenge on the troublemaker, and he had never expected the troublemaker to turn out to be Lin Yu. As a singer, he understood better than anyone the importance of copyright.

For live performances, unless it was their own concert, the organizers had to pay the singers a rights fee, which was settled together with the appearance fee. As for other people singing his songs, he would charge a copyright fee for that too.

He had no objection to Lin Yu's suggestion. It was only one meal; they could settle it that way and then reclaim the cost from the organizers afterward.

What Wang Fei really wanted was for Lin Yu to sing. Recently, thanks to "A Decent Farewell" and "Love Song," Lin Yu had become wildly popular. If the two of them could sing a duet, both of them would gain heat and traffic. More importantly, he also wanted to collaborate with this talented young man.

"No problem. Whatever you want to eat, I'll take you there!"

"What I want to eat..." Lin Yu paused. "A candlelit dinner."

Wang Fei gave an oh. "That's more suitable for actual couples. We don't need to steal a table."

"Well... we were on a dating show together. Doesn't that count as being a couple?"

Lin Yu deliberately imitated the tone of a certain female celebrity from the industry, lifting his eyes upward with a slight hesitation.

It was just a little joke, but it made the audience burst into laughter.

Even the barrage in Jiujiu's livestream room couldn't hold it together anymore.

"LOL, so these two are the real thing after all, right?"

"Now I finally understand why Ayu spent the whole dating show hyping Wang Fei up, hahaha!"

"Wait, how does that sound when you say it like that? It went from a simple game to something weirdly suggestive."

"Please, is this a mutual consumption thing? I refuse to believe it! Both of them are my husband!"

"Wang Fei, take good care of Ayu. Take good care of him! Please!!"

"LOL, enough with the nonsense, you bunch of goofballs!"

Hearing the audience in the venue shouting for them to kiss, Lin Yu directly shot Wang Fei a flirtatious look.

Kiss? Impossible. He was a perfectly straight man who only liked girls.

"Since Brother Wang Fei doesn't want to, then let's skip the candlelit dinner. We'll keep it simple and just eat hot pot!"

"I remember Mr. Lin is pretty good at making hot pot. Back when you were on the dating show, everybody always asked you to make hand-pounded fish balls. Want to do one live?"

"Why not? As long as you like it, I'll make anything."

The audience was laughing so hard their stomachs hurt. These two really knew how to create a show.

The bullet comments in both livestream rooms surged crazily, and even the program team and Jiujiu were grinning from ear to ear.

"Ah? You two are so shippable. If Wang Fei hadn't been chasing Yi Chu on the dating show, I really would have thought you two were the couple!"

"Help, their interaction is too funny. I'm looking forward to the dating show reopening. I'm voting for these two to end up together!"

"They're just roasting each other, hahaha, aren't they good brothers?"

"Exactly. It's just banter between close friends. Don't overthink it, okay?"