You can't bad-mouth Assistant Chen behind his back!

[Hahahaha, holy shit, I can't take it anymore! I'm still shaking at work! My supervisor caught me red-handed!]

[Don't laugh! Hold it in! Chant with me: a curved blade sweeps past a red rose, love me, the Chen clan's heroes assemble!]

[Who knew you had this side to you, Assistant Chen?! A man of so many talents?!]

[Oh my god, is Assistant Chen secretly amazing at hype chanting too?!]

[A swaggering street kid paired with a melodramatic domineering CEO. This world has finally gone nuts upon nuts, nuts upon nuts, nuts upon nuts...]

[You up there, are you stirring up a wok full of crazy?!]

Director Meng was stunned in front of the monitor too. He turned to his assistant. "You didn't give Assistant Chen a megaphone, did you?! He'd better not start singing! It'll ruin the whole scene!"

"No! Absolutely not!" The assistant picked up the little yellow duck. "I've got this thing right..."

Before he could finish saying "here,"

a deliberately lowered voice came through the screen.

"White shirt, white gloves on show, I swing both arms and bounce where I go,"

"Back from half a lifetime, still in my prime, walking that old road one more time,"

"..."

"Get that swagger, get in line, shout Qinghai Shake for all time!"

"..." Director Meng turned and roared, "Who the fuck clipped a mic to his shirt?!"

The Props Department trembled.

He was about to keep yelling when he caught the livestream's viewer count out of the corner of his eye.

It had actually broken a million for the first time today?

So he smoothly changed what he was about to say. "You know, Assistant Chen's pretty good at hype chanting! He's got the knack."

"Pretty good? He's incredibly good!" the assistant chimed in. "Director, look at the scene. All the extras holding money have been drawn over!"

"There's nobody at Director Yang's guests' spot!"

Director Meng felt he could finally hold his head high. He grinned smugly. "Leave it to Assistant Chen. He's the perfect cure for pretentious assholes!"

The Production Crew weren't the only ones discussing it animatedly.

The Fourth Young Master's attention had also been drawn over, and he stood rooted to the spot.

The eldest wondered, "..." Has Assistant Chen gone mad, doing such a vulgar dance?

Old Third pondered, "..." No wonder he's so popular with the masses. He's down-to-earth.

The fourth recalled, "..." Didn't he lead this dance at last year's annual party? It looks pretty familiar.

The second smiled, "..." Nice little waist. So flexible. I really want to try holding it.

Seeing the envy in Meng Han's eyes, his partner Yue Lianshan curled her lip. "What, you want to learn from him?"

"No." Meng Han hurriedly waved his hands. "I can't dance anywhere near as well as Assistant Chen."

Yue Lianshan raised an eyebrow. "That Qinghai Shake people only do on some short-video app can make it onto a variety show? Does everyone like coarse grain now?"

"Whether it's fine bran or coarse grain," Meng Han said, his expression cooling, "as long as it fills your stomach, it's good food!"

"Don't you know, Lianshan? So many children from poor families have made a name for themselves through dances like this."

"You don't have to understand, but you have to respect it."

"Can we start dancing now?"

Sentence after sentence, he gave Yue Lianshan no chance to talk back. Once he finished, he turned on the speaker and started playing music on his own.

"Hey, you-" Yue Lianshan pointed at Meng Han. "How dare you talk to me like that?!"

"I'm your senior, at least-"

Meng Han didn't turn around, twisting along to the music. "Who cares about seniors?"

You can't bad-mouth Assistant Chen behind his back!

[What's wrong with doing the Qinghai Shake? Is it eating your rice?!]

[Ever since he started following Assistant Chen, Hanhan's stood taller. He snaps back at whoever he wants. A total power-fantasy omega!]

[I hate people like Yue Lianshan who throw their seniority around. Does she think this is Korea? Try bullying someone and we'll smack you flat!]

Elsewhere.

Qin Yufan had already positioned his violin, planning to play while dancing.

Although it was a classical instrument, plugging it in could produce an electronic sound.

He had performed it onstage before to an extremely enthusiastic response, so he was brimming with confidence.

But he had never expected that the moment he showed off a little technique, hype chanting would ring out nearby, drawing away the handful of spectators he had.

That alone would have been one thing,

but why was even his partner standing there dazed,

as though some little ghost had stolen his soul?!

"Luo Ming," Qin Yufan said, biting his lip, "it's time for us to perform!"

He tried to snap him out of it, but the other man didn't hear him at all.

"Luo Ming! Don't you want to get on the cruise ship?!"

Qin Yufan stamped his foot irritably, raising his voice.

Only then did Luo Ming slowly turn back, his smile tinged with menace. "What are you barking about?"

"I'm not deaf."

"Luo Ming, you-" Qin Yufan couldn't believe it. "How could you call me a dog?"

"Have you forgotten how you used to call me your little peach when we were kids?"

"I was genuinely hungry back then. Everything I saw looked edible." Luo Ming's gaze was cool as his lips slowly curved. "Only now do I know my stomach's bad. Rotten fruit gives me diarrhea."

[Haha, Ergou, you really know how to mock someone. Calling Qin Yufan rotten fruit both openly and between the lines!]

[They say an old flame can do serious damage. So this is where the damage lands?! A direct attack on the digestive system?!]

[Assistant Chen's so fucking awesome. He single-handedly threw several teams into chaos!]

[Is this a street-performance contest? Whoever earns the most gets a reward?]

[What reward? Stripping? Can Assistant Chen pull his collar open a little more? I still want to see his abs. Slurp, slurp!]

Qin Yufan was left speechless by the retort. Unwilling to offend the Luo Family over this, he could only perform alone, his eyes reddening.

Luckily, the Qinghai Shake ended early, and Chen Bei picked up the speaker and called it a day.

The other spectators who hadn't had a chance to spend their money could only turn to the other teams.

Once the first round's task was complete, they began tallying the "earnings."

The host discovered that apart from Chen Bei, who had earned enough to buy a cruise ticket outright, the other teams were still far short.

So he stepped forward with the microphone. "The second performance is acrobatics-somersaults."

"For any guests who don't know how, we've specially arranged an instructor."

"Guaranteed to teach you until you get it."

"Of course, you'll pay the tuition yourselves."

Luo Chen folded his arms and sneered. "Mess around all you want. I'm not learning somersaults."

That would be treating me like a performing monkey!

Before he had finished speaking, the person beside him protested, "Can we each earn our own money? I don't want Oily President dragging me down!"

Luo Chen glared at him. "Who are you calling oily?"

"Lu Ze, right? Believe me, I'll have you..."

"No, I don't," Lu Ze interrupted. "I believe you're talking out of your ass."

As the atmosphere grew tense, the host looked awkward, unsure what to do.

Suddenly, a lean figure darted over and snatched the microphone.

"Since someone's unhappy with their team, we're introducing a competitive mechanism."

"Anyone who wants to team up with Lu Ze can raise their hand. Highest bidder wins!"

As soon as Chen Bei finished speaking, Director Yang sneered behind the monitor. "Who would fight to team up with a nobody like Lu Ze?"

"When has he ever been on a variety show without getting the worst abuse?"

"If anyone fights over him, I'll eat..."

Before he could finish, two people on the screen shot their hands up.

"Me!!"

"Me!!!"

Old Third and Old Fourth spoke in unison, then looked at each other the next second and shouted heatedly,

"Don't fight me for him!"

Luo Chen glared over again. "Look at you two. Pathetic!"

[Hahaha, Assistant Chen really knows how to set up a showdown!]

[How does Assistant Chen know what we love watching? Two alphas fighting over one omega is so damn thrilling!]

[I never noticed before. Only realized today that Lu Ze's poor, innocent college-boy type is actually pretty charming!]