Yu Xiuyuan first walked over to Lin Xi's cameraman and instructed him, "Work with me in a minute. Film wherever I point."
Lin Xi's cameraman grew excited. Was it finally his turn?
Every time this guy asked a cameraman to cooperate, he was up to some stunt. Yu Xiuyuan's cameraman had even gotten a sizable raise because of it. Was it finally his turn now?
Lin Xi's cameraman nodded solemnly. Leave it to him.
Yu Xiuyuan's own cameraman felt a little dejected. Why isn't he asking me this time? Didn't I do a good job before?
Yu Xiuyuan walked up beside Lin Xi. Without even greeting her, he patted her shoulder and pointed at a beam of light shining through a gap between the high-rises nearby.
"Look! What's that called again? The Daliyuan effect... the Darwin reaction? What was it?"
The cameraman hurried to follow his gesture, got a clear shot, then quickly swung back.
Completely baffled, Lin Xi answered instinctively, "That's the Tyndall effect."
Yu Xiuyuan doubled over laughing, rocking back and forth. "Hahahahaha... that's called the Mirinda Phenomenon! You don't even know that? You illiterate!"
He walked out of the frame, laughing and mocking her as he went.
Then he tipped his chin at his own camera and said with effortless swagger, "Liu, get to work."
Director Liu felt aggrieved in front of the monitor. He used to be Xiao Liu. Now even the "Xiao" was gone.
Having given his instructions, Yu Xiuyuan didn't waste another word and strolled leisurely toward Li Rou's stall.
But where was Li Rou? Had she run off for two bags of sugar-roasted chestnuts?
He looked around. Oh, there she was, trailing right behind him.
She was watching him with an indescribable expression. "Have you really given up on your image? If you mess around like this now, it'll be hard to salvage it later."
Yu Xiuyuan sighed. "You people are all trapped by your own fixed ways of thinking."
"What fixed ways of thinking?"
"Come on, sis. You all need to protect your image. I don't. I'm retiring. Retiring, understand? I don't need to salvage anything. Besides, there are several livestream cameras here. Could people really mistake me for an illiterate?"
Realization dawned on Li Rou. That did seem to make sense. Was this the legendary strength that came from wanting nothing?
"So, is getting on the trending list really that easy?"
"Yep, as long as you have enough haters. Though it's not exactly easy. First, Lin Xi's fans have to get indignant and tear into me. Then some of my haters, who are well-informed but not quite well-informed enough, have to keep it going by mocking me. Finally, the spectators pile in to join the fun, and there you go."
Li Rou suddenly grew excited. "Then doesn't that mean you can arrange trending topics whenever you want?"
Yu Xiuyuan shattered her fantasy. "Not really. This trick won't work so well next time."
Li Rou came back to her senses. "True. However dumb your haters are, they should wise up after this. You've played them several times already."
"That's not what I meant." Yu Xiuyuan shook his head.
"Then what did you mean?"
"I mean, there's a limit to what people can do. This is about as far as their abilities go." He sounded wistful, shaking his head regretfully.
Li Rou gave him an exasperated sidelong glare. "Have some decency. Are you seriously trying to infuriate them to death?"
"Haha, just kidding. Get moving. We still haven't earned enough money."
With that, he took ten yuan without complaint and left first. He bought a small bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts, found a bench, and settled down comfortably to eat.
They were pretty sweet, actually.
Those who had watched the whole thing in the livestream had all sorts of reactions.
Some casual spectators kept checking Weibo now and then to see whether the topic had made the trending list.
His haters were outraged, clamoring to set up a haters' support club so they could notify every hater faster the next time something like this happened, instead of letting him use them to generate free publicity again.
A sizable portion were fans of his troublemaking, bouncing around as they watched events unfold, purely for the entertainment.
Some fans of his looks were hopelessly lost in his beauty.
Some music fans felt he was neglecting his real work and were brainstorming ways to stop him from retiring.
Yu Xiuyuan enjoyed the breeze and his sugar-roasted chestnuts, utterly content.
He crossed his legs, bobbing one foot as his upper body swayed gently.
"Evening breeze~ plucking the strings of a lover's heart~
Play a tune and bring you to my side,
White dew, bathing a lover's tender face,
Unlock the countless words of love hidden in my heart
..."
He sang without realizing it, lost in the song, while his cameraman didn't dare move a muscle.
It had been the same last time. Yu Xiuyuan had gotten comfortable soaking his feet and started singing, only to suddenly catch himself, slap a hand over his mouth, and stop. Even now, they only had two lines of that song.
Yesterday, he had even promised it as the prize for a bet. Who knew whether they would ever get to hear the full version?
Perhaps the breeze felt too good. Yu Xiuyuan never noticed he was singing, and after finishing the song, he went right back to eating chestnuts.
Before they knew it, noon had arrived. Yun Chuan still hadn't managed to get away from the shop.
Yu Xiuyuan tipped his chin at Li Rou when she came over, indicating that he wanted a roasted sweet potato. That overpowering aroma had been tempting him for ages.
Before Li Rou could do anything, Lin Xi hurried off and bought him two.
That morning, Yu Xiuyuan's stunt had left Lin Xi completely baffled. Li Rou had explained the whole story, and Lin Xi had watched him get her onto the trending list as though it were child's play.
Although she had plenty of fans, she hadn't released a new song in a long time. She had come on the dating reality show precisely because she needed the publicity.
As happy as she was, though, that sort of attention was fleeting.
But soon afterward, a video of Yu Xiuyuan singing a new song a cappella with his eyes closed soared in popularity. She saw hope-hope for a new song of her own.
"Yu Xiuyuan," Lin Xi called.
Yu Xiuyuan turned, still chewing roasted sweet potato. "What is it?"
Lin Xi held her phone screen in front of him.
Yu Xiuyuan looked down. On the trending list was #Yu Xiuyuan's full new song#, with an "Exploding" label beside it.
He froze for a moment, then tapped it. Sure enough, it was the video of him humming with his eyes closed just now. It already had over five million views.
"This..." Yu Xiuyuan nearly dropped the roasted sweet potato in his hand.
"What's the name of the song you just sang?" Lin Xi watched him intently. "It's really good."
Yu Xiuyuan smacked his own mouth again. "Why can't I break this habit of singing whenever I feel like it?"
Ignoring his posturing, Lin Xi stated her request directly. "I'd like to commission a song from you. Name your price."
Yu Xiuyuan's first instinct was to refuse. But then he remembered how she had taken the initiative to chat with him back when the whole internet was trashing him, and changed his mind.
"All right." Yu Xiuyuan took out his phone. "Add me on WeChat. We'll get in touch later."
Lin Xi's eyes widened slightly. Clearly, she hadn't expected him to agree so readily. She quickly scanned his code and added him on WeChat. "Thank you."
For the rest of the day, Yu Xiuyuan completely let himself go, lying on the bench and enjoying a good, long nap.
At five in the afternoon, Yun Chuan found him. "What did you do for fun today?"
"There wasn't much to do. I slept."
"My fault for not having time for you. Come on, let's get dinner. What do you want?"
"Barbecue. Sleeping all afternoon made me hungry."
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