Trump Card

Dinner was eaten on the mountain, by a reservoir.

Some people were so engrossed in fishing that they didn't leave even after it got dark, and some were even preparing for a night battle with lanterns.

Tang Zhi Chu and Zhou Yun were initially sitting outside the restaurant, where the scenery was good. From inside, they could see the anglers, and in the distance, the neon lights of the mountain city.

However, they went inside less than three minutes after sitting down; there were too many mosquitoes.

Tang Zhi Chu saw several people looking eager, likely wanting to strike up a conversation, but were deterred by his presence as her male companion.

Someone even offered him a cigarette, which Tang Zhi Chu declined.

"You must be a good singer?" Zhou Yun suddenly asked.

She was still pondering the matter of Tang Zhi Chu's DY fans, over 900,000 of them. There had to be a reason they were attracted to him; if it was singing, how amazing must Tang Zhi Chu be?

Tang Zhi Chu shook his head, "I can't sing, just a little bit."

"Then sing something?"

"I really can't."

"Stingy."

The dishes were served: fish prepared three ways – fish head and tofu soup, boiled fish slices, and fried fish slices, accompanied by stir-fried wild vegetables.

The two talked about their personal lives to some extent. It seemed like a casual conversation, yet also like mutual probing.

Zhou Yun had been doing e-commerce since university, starting with clothing. After saving some money, she opened a gym.

Tang Zhi Chu, on the other hand, said he inherited the family business right after graduating from university, which was that shop.

To Zhou Yun, this seemed insincere.

Tang Zhi Chu chuckled and suddenly asked, "Can you dance?"

Zhou Yun leaned back in her chair, already full, and shook her head, "I can't either."

"You have at least five dance videos on your DY account."

Zhou Yun stood up, rested her elbows on the table, cupped her face in her hands, and looked at Tang Zhi Chu, "Why are you asking this?"

"Why don't you try dancing more?"

A smile appeared on Zhou Yun's face. Tang Zhi Chu's implication was that her dancing was good? She knew Tang Zhi Chu was talking about her DY account.

"I know what you want to say. This X account is actually my third DY account. The first one was purely for singing, with 130,000 fans, and then it stopped growing. I tried finding old songs to cover and tried singing new songs myself, but there was no breakthrough. Not only was there no breakthrough, but the copyright holder of one of my cover songs found me, and that account was later banned."

"Then I created a dance account. It wasn't just me; I brought the ladies from our gym along. It grew to about 200,000 fans, but then I lost motivation. The main reason was that choreographing dances was too difficult; creating a new dance every three days took a lot of effort for mediocre results. Everyone below was discussing who looked better, and then came the account you see now."

"I haven't put much effort into this account. I post whatever and film whatever, without any specific focus, yet it's my best account. Over 200,000 fans, and the likes and comments are decent."

Tang Zhi Chu nodded, thinking to himself that Zhou Yun was aiming to be an influencer.

Tang Zhi Chu had thought she wanted to break into the entertainment industry, going to such lengths.

Tang Zhi Chu didn't underestimate her 200,000 fans. The user base on DY in this world was very different from his previous life, as the pandemic hadn't spurred its growth.

The difficulty of reaching 200,000 fans here was comparable to reaching a million fans in his previous life.

Why did he have 900,000? There were other factors, like the support from DY's traffic. DY's core user base was short-form music videos.

"Can you choreograph?" Tang Zhi Chu asked again.

Zhou Yun nodded slightly, "Simple ones, yes. See, I'm being sincere; I answer whatever you ask."

Tang Zhi Chu ignored her sarcasm and continued, "Then I'll give you a simple BGM, can you choreograph a dance?"

Zhou Yun frowned, "What do you mean?"

"You can treat it as a small business opportunity. If you don't have time, you can have others from your gym try it."

"Will you pay?"

"Yes, I can pay."

"Okay, send it to me."

Tang Zhi Chu opened his phone and then tapped on a music production app. It contained the things he had been working on recently.

After finding the file he wanted, he exported the content and sent it to Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun opened the received file with a player and held it to her ear to listen.

It was an audio clip of about twenty seconds, primarily driven by bass and drums, with a strong rhythm.

Zhou Yun tried to figure it out and said, "It's okay, not difficult."

"Alright, take it back and work on it."

"So, you're good at composing and music production?"

Zhou Yun was still persistent. Combined with Tang Zhi Chu's ability to tune instruments by ear, if his singing was just average, was he a composing master?

Zhou Yun knew a little about composing; she hadn't heard of a producer named Tang Zhi Chu, unless he was an unknown one.

Tang Zhi Chu stood up, stretched, and sidestepped the topic.

"How are you getting back? You're not going to walk down the mountain, are you?"

Zhou Yun tilted her head, acting stingy, then got up to pay the bill.

Tang Zhi Chu didn't rush to pay. Today's date was arranged by Zhou Yun, so she should be the one to pay.

Tang Zhi Chu's legs were still sore.

Why did she say she couldn't sing?

Tang Zhi Chu just felt it was like playing cards; knowing what cards you had and when to play them was a skill.

He felt Zhou Yun should understand this. Zhou Yun hadn't revealed she could sing at all for the first two days, which was precisely the point – cards had to be played at the crucial moment.

If it weren't for today's date, he wouldn't have known about Zhou Yun's dancing card either.

When they went down the mountain, the two of them took a sightseeing car, weaving through the forest.

The chirping of insects and croaking of frogs, the trees they left behind, all looked the same in the darkness of night.

The wind blew through the forest, making a rustling sound.

Tang Zhi Chu suddenly shivered, feeling a bit cold.

"Here."

Zhou Yun held her small bag and took out a jacket from it. It was the same color as Tang Zhi Chu's sportswear.

Tang Zhi Chu took it. "You waited until I was freezing to give it to me. You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Zhou Yun hugged her bag and looked outside, not answering.

She came to this place often, so how could she not know the temperature on the mountain at night this time of year?

That's why she brought a jacket. She hadn't given it to him at first because she wanted him to climb the mountain properly, and she even carried his bag herself. Later, she simply forgot.

The mountain road twisted and turned, but it was smooth.

Zhou Yun felt a bit regretful. Since she had come all this way, she hadn't gotten to ride her bike.

When she was focused on the gym, she used to come often, but later she came less.

Just as Tang Zhi Chu had guessed, dancing was indeed Zhou Yun's final card. Everyone knew that there would be a group team-building session later in the dating reality show.

Zhou Yun had originally planned to use her dancing skills in that session. Chen Si Yang could also dance, so she thought she could at least match Chen Si Yang, if not surpass her.

Zhou Yun didn't believe Tang Zhi Chu could dance too, and even be better than her at dancing.

However, also because of Tang Zhi Chu, Zhou Yun had adjusted her strategy.

Was today's date a way to get revenge on Tang Zhi Chu?

This was only the first layer.

Ever since Tang Zhi Chu arrived, she and Chen Si Yang had already set up another competition arena.

Fighting her boyfriend with a female celebrity!