Shen Xingshuo stared right back without the slightest restraint, leaving Yang Yi embarrassed before he could hide his expression.
The atmosphere inexplicably grew tense, and Qiao Luo and Mo Zeyao also turned to look at Qiao Luo.
"I'm so happy. I never thought you'd agree." Yang Yi hurriedly composed his expression, looking surprised and excited. "This is wonderful. We really were meant to meet."
"No need to flatter us to death. We're just ordinary people." For some reason, Yang Yi's words rubbed Shen Xingshuo the wrong way, and his nonchalant expression immediately turned cold.
"No, that's not what I meant. You misunderstood..."
"Enough, enough, cut-" Qiao Luo couldn't stand that saccharine, manipulative talk either. At those words, he immediately imitated the mentor's earlier gesture, waving his arms exaggeratedly.
Yang Yi, halfway through his performance: ...
[Qiao Luo is so rude, interrupting someone like that.]
[So the two of them are ganging up on him?]
[I don't think Yang Yi even said anything wrong. Did they really need to snap at him like that?]
[Exactly. Yiyi lowered himself to ask them to team up, and they're still acting so superior.]
[Please, are you people slow or stupid? Lowered himself? What is he, the crown prince?]
[If Luoluo actually spoke up, all I can say is that the other guy is no good.]
Compared with the extravagant praise from Yang Yi's fans, Qiao Luo's fans were numerous and formidable fighters, even picking out the haters' comments one by one to fire back.
The wall of negative comments was broken up, and Yang Yi even lost quite a few casual fans. Shen Yu, holding both his phone and computer, clicked his tongue in wonder.
As expected of the protagonist. That halo sure was powerful!
"Why is Luoluo speaking up for that man?" Seeing Qiao Luo get attacked for speaking up, Chu Yao was so angry that he squeezed his orange until juice burst out.
Seeing a perfectly good piece of fruit go to waste, Shen Yu, who had been frugal since childhood, glared wide-eyed before rolling his eyes in irritation.
This protagonist really had an overdeveloped brain and underdeveloped limbs.
"It means he's kind. Besides, how do you know they aren't helping each other?"
Chu Yao was left speechless. He was just about to open the comments to find someone who agreed with him when he saw that most of the comments about Qiao Luo were negative.
"There's something wrong with their brains! Luoluo tried to break up an argument, and they're attacking him?"
Chu Yao was furious. Without even looking at how Luo's fans subsequently turned the tide, he huffed and puffed as he prepared to call his dad for help.
Yes, young President Chu, already eighteen, had absolutely no authority at home.
After a long wait, just as Chu Yao thought his dad was too busy to answer, a young voice came through.
"What is it? Where have you run off to this time?" Chu Yan happened to have come home on leave, only to find his eldest brother working emergency overtime.
"U-Uncle?" Chu Yao's voice instinctively grew weaker. He wasn't afraid of his dad, who roared at him every day, but he was afraid of his youngest uncle, who was barely older than him yet looked terrifying whenever he put on a stern face.
Chu Yan never lectured Chu Yao. Whenever he was angry, he simply cut off his allowance. Crucially, his parents fully supported this, since Chu Yan had been the model child everyone else was compared to since he was little.
"Mm." Chu Yan pushed up the glasses on his nose. Seeing his eldest brother busy in a meeting, he turned and went out onto the balcony. "What trouble have you gotten into now?"
"I haven't gotten into trouble." Chu Yao, whose record was riddled with past misdeeds, strained his voice. Seeing Shen Yu staring strangely at him, he quietly turned away, remembering to lower his voice as well.
"My friend is getting attacked online. Uncle, find me some paid commenters."
At the mention of a friend, Chu Yan instinctively frowned. He knew this nephew of his very well; there were plenty of bad influences around him stirring up trouble.
"What friend?"
"Oh, it's Qiao Luo, the one who lived next door to us in elementary school and later moved away. He's getting attacked on that talent show!" Thinking of those negative comments, Chu Yao began to grit his teeth.
As the young master of the Chu family, Chu Yao had never imagined people could be so malicious. The people around him had always flattered and indulged him, and the Chu family had never exposed him to the underhanded tactics of the business world.
Now, seeing the unprovoked malice online, Chu Yao wanted nothing more than to crawl into the screen and punch them back, one solid blow apiece.
"Keep yourself in check." Hearing that it was the child from their former neighbors' family, Chu Yan understood somewhat.
Compared with Chu Yao, who was the same age as Qiao Luo, Chu Yan, four years older, had a vivid impression of Qiao Luo as a child. After all, their own mud-covered monkey couldn't compare at all with that fair, tender little dumpling.
"I'll look into your friend's situation, and I'll deal with the comments too. Watch what you say and do." Chu Yan took the matter upon himself, not forgetting to caution his troublesome nephew.
"Okay." Chu Yao didn't dare bargain and could only timidly remind him, "Uncle, please sort it out quickly. He'll be sad if he sees them."
"All right." Having confirmed that nothing important had happened, Chu Yan hung up directly, leaving Chu Yao and Shen Yu staring at each other.
"All sorted!" Chu Yao shed his earlier timid demeanor, looking as proud as if he had resolved it himself. "There's too much malice online. Luoluo shouldn't have come on this talent show."
Faced with the eighteen-year-old's domineering declaration, Shen Yu only wanted to roll his eyes. He managed to turn his attention back to the livestream and stopped paying a certain someone any mind.
The atmosphere among the few people in the classroom was somewhat tense, but advancing in the competition mattered more. As the only person not involved, Mo Zeyao turned to the other trainees. "We still need teammates."
"Right, the competition matters." Yang Yi ground his back teeth to pieces. Seeing Mo Zeyao offer him a way out, he immediately took it; otherwise, the other two weren't going to show any tact.
"Lin Yan, do you want to join us?" Qiao Luo caught sight of Lin Yan in the corner. Although he didn't know why the boy was always excluded, he still warmly invited his former roommate.
Shen Xingshuo dropped his cold expression and took the initiative to nod at Lin Yan, making Yang Yi turn pale with anger, though he still had to keep smiling.
With his original team-building plan disrupted, Yang Yi worried that he wouldn't have anyone on his side in the team. He hurriedly called over two close friends, gradually filling out the group.
When Zhao Kuang and Fei Yi were invited, they actually thought Yang Yi had been thinking of them. Without hesitation, they abandoned the teams they had just formed and eagerly hurried over, leaving the others looking displeased.
Although Mo Zeyao said nothing, he was also unhappy with Yang Yi's arrangements. After all, the trainees' reputations and public images mattered, and this made their team look as though they were poaching members.
Besides, Mo Zeyao wasn't a fool. Yang Yi hadn't chosen them with the team in mind; both were people he had previously used to "make himself look better."
Shen Xingshuo didn't care, since they were scored individually. Otherwise, with his explosive temper, there was no way he would have teamed up with Yang Yi.
Once the teams were formed, everyone was busy getting to know one another, but Shen Xingyi and the others had nothing to say, each staring at his phone.
Seeing how little regard Shen Xingyi showed Yang Yi, Zhao Kuang immediately felt protective and took a sarcastic jab at Shen Xingshuo.
"Have the netizens misunderstood something? Your reputation doesn't seem very good."
"Really?" Shen Xingshuo raised an eyebrow. Turning his head, he happened to see a camera shoved right in front of his forehead. He immediately leaned closer with narrowed eyes, his tone as defiant as ever.
"Type 1 if you like me. If you don't, please gouge out your eyes."