Wake Up, This is Not a Dating Show! Chapter 1

Chapter 1 “Watching the fun, feeling the atmosphere isn’t enough, you still have to…”

“You went through all the trouble of tricking me into coming here, just to show me this?” Ye Nai leaned back in his chair, hands in his pockets, shooting his manager Jiang Kuan a foul look.

“If I sent it to you online, would you even reply?” Jiang Kuan retorted in annoyance. “You’d probably just play a disappearing act again.”

“Makes sense, you really know me.” Ye Nai raised an eyebrow. “So you should also know that I wouldn’t participate in this kind of show, right?”

The computer screen in front of him displayed a proposal for a competitive variety show. It planned to invite six champions from different fields to compete in various games and matches each episode.

“Do you know how hard it is to get an S-tier variety show like this given your current situation? If the production team didn’t happen to need a champion from the rap circle, how could it possibly fall into your lap!” Jiang Kuan persuaded earnestly. “Look at the list of other prospective guests, each one is a bigger deal than the last…”

“Not listening, not listening, a tortoise is chanting.” Ye Nai interrupted the magic casting, raising his hands to block his ears, looking completely impervious.

Jiang Kuan was so angry he yanked his hands down. “Then give me one reason for not going!”

“First, I hate it the most when others force me to do things.” Ye Nai withdrew his hands. His narrow eyes looked half-closed out of laziness, appearing extremely impatient. “Second, in this kind of variety show, you either act out a fake persona or put on a fake act. There’s not a single bit of reality to it, yet they insist on calling it a reality show. I’m not an actor, I can’t act.”

“First, last time you said what you hated most was people acting pretentious in front of you,” Jiang Kuan exposed him with a deadpan expression. “Second, no one is asking you to act. You just need to rein in your current temper a little, release a bit of personal charm, and let your public reputation improve slightly…”

As he spoke, he suddenly started to give up on himself. “Alright, it is pretty hard. Whatever, I’m going to write my resignation letter. Goodbye! This crappy job is making me go bald, I can’t do it for another day!”

Ye Nai was long used to this middle-aged man’s combo moves of throwing a fit and giving up. His heart didn’t waver in the slightest.

“I’m off, I’ll go buy a bottle of hair growth serum as your farewell gift.” He stood up, waved his hand, and walked away on his own, ignoring the curses from the person behind him.

There was a local music festival performance in Jinping tonight, and Ye Nai had to head over in the afternoon.

Ever since the storm at the beginning of the year, his public reputation had taken a sharp nosedive, and his popularity plummeted right along with it.

The most obvious change that followed was that in the past, he had so many performance invitations he couldn’t take them all, and if he wasn’t the center, he wouldn’t even consider it. Now, he finally managed to get a gig, but he was placed in a mediocre slot, warming up the stage for the heavyweight guests.

However, Ye Nai didn’t really care all that much.

To him, as long as there was a good stage, nothing else mattered.

Even if the heavyweight guest this time was the very instigator who threw him into his reputation crisis.

The music festival ran from the afternoon until dusk. When Ye Nai arrived at the venue, someone was performing on stage; it was a niche band.

The singers who had taken the stage so far weren’t very well-known. The audience below the stage hadn’t fully arrived yet, so the venue wasn’t crowded.

In the backstage area, some musicians about to take the stage were waiting. Seeing Ye Nai, they all greeted him politely.

Yet after he responded, no one bothered to exchange another word of pleasantry. Some looked elsewhere, some buried their heads in their own business, and some covertly stole glances in his direction.

Ye Nai had long since gotten used to this.

Since he debuted, the number of people he had dissed was not small. The impression he left on the public was already highly aggressive, and recently, bogged down by negative news, his image as irritable and rude was even more deeply ingrained. It was completely normal that no one dared to provoke him.

Just as he was about to put on his headphones, Ye Nai suddenly heard an extremely catchy guitar melody coming from not far away.

Amidst the noisy clamor of voices, that faint music could easily have been buried, yet it transmitted into his ears with inexplicable clarity. It made him involuntarily pause and look toward the source of the sound.

In a secluded corner sat a man holding a guitar. From Ye Nai’s angle, he couldn’t see his face; he could only see his long legs supporting the guitar, and the hand strumming the strings.

That hand was exceptionally slender. The ring on the index finger gleamed with a cold metallic light, and the veins on the back of his hand bulged slightly, resembling the veins of a tree root.

It exuded an indescribable sexiness.

When this word popped into his mind without any warning, Ye Nai blanked for a moment, then twitched the corners of his mouth.

The vocabulary in his head was truly becoming more and more unrestrained.

Perhaps it was because everyone else was gathered in twos and threes, and only that person was solitary. Ye Nai felt as if a barrier shrouded the man, isolating everything else and exuding an aura that strangers should not approach.

“So handsome!” A girl opposite him was also peeking in that direction, obviously having seen the man’s full face. She whispered in awe to her companion, “Just a bit aloof.”

“He could abandon a teammate he collaborated with for so many years at the drop of a hat, how could he not be aloof?” The boy next to her said with a tone of slight disdain.

“Why did he abandon them?”

“You don’t know? It’s been spread all over the internet for ages. He got famous, let it get to his head, and wanted to go solo.”

Seeing the boy’s look of certainty and the girl’s expression of disappointed disillusionment, Ye Nai couldn’t help but turn his head and scoff.

A lot of times it was just like this. As long as someone said it, someone would believe it. Spreading an unverified rumor was truly too easy a thing to do.

Weren’t his own rumors exactly the same?

But before confirming the truth, of course, he wouldn’t rashly stand up for him.

At this moment, a staff member walked up to the man, holding up his phone and asking cautiously, “Brother Yi, can I take a picture with you?”

The man’s hands didn’t stop moving. He looked up, shot him a faint glance, and then, as if turning a blind eye, buried his head and continued to play.

The staff member stood awkwardly in place. His expression instantly changed, and he laughed dryly, “Ha, I was just asking in passing, why are you pulling a diva act?”

This time, the man didn’t even lift his eyes, thoroughly ignoring his existence.

Ye Nai raised an eyebrow in surprise. Although he also disliked being disturbed while practicing, this kind of completely dismissive reaction seemed at least a bit excessive. Being called a “diva” wasn’t entirely an unjust accusation.

The atmosphere was somewhat stiff when the band on stage finished their performance and walked into the backstage area.

“There’s a problem with that chair!” the female lead singer amicably reminded the others. “When I was sitting and singing just now, I almost wobbled off it. A live performance of falling off a stool.”

The person up next was a somewhat frail-looking boy. Hearing this, he hastily found a staff member to discuss it: “Hello, the chair on stage seems to be broken. Could I trouble you to replace it?”

The other party had just had the door slammed in his face and was currently busy putting away the microphone stand brought down from the stage. Being asked this, he immediately became very impatient: “Everyone else sat on it just fine, why are you the only one with so many issues? Each of you really treats yourselves like you’re some big shot?”

“I didn’t… it’s just, I’m just worried, what if halfway through…” The boy was already shy, and after being snapped at, his face flushed red. He stammered, unable to form a complete sentence.

“What kind of attitude is that?” The female lead singer couldn’t stand it and said to the staff member, “That chair was already broken, and he can’t even mention it? Isn’t a prop malfunction a dereliction of your duty?”

The man was about to argue when suddenly there was a “clack” beside him.

Ye Nai carried a chair over with one hand, his brows and eyes full of impatience. “With the time you spent arguing, it would’ve been swapped out already.”

The few of them couldn’t react in time, staring blankly at him.

Ye Nai clicked his tongue, lifted the chair again, and walked toward the stage, intending to place it up there himself.

The staff member finally came to his senses, hurried after him, took it from his hands, and went up to the stage to swap it. He was probably afraid that Ye Nai would step onto the stage without authorization, be seen by the audience, and cause a mess.

“Th-thank you,” the boy stammered to Ye Nai.

“Don’t be so polite to everyone,” Ye Nai frowned and said. “Some people will only think you’re easier to bully.”

The boy froze, then nodded heavily: “Mhm! I got it! Thank you!”

“…”

Ye Nai felt a wave of speechlessness. He turned his head only to meet the female lead singer’s highly intrigued expression.

“You don’t have as bad a temper as the rumors say, you’re actually quite helpful.”

Helpful? Ye Nai was amused by this phrase that completely didn’t fit his vibe.

His thin eyelids were usually habitually half-drooping, making his eye shape look rather elongated, carrying a sharp, world-weary edge. But when he smiled, his eyes would revert to their original slightly round shape, shining brightly and instantly diluting that ruthlessness.

“Then you’d better keep believing the rumors.” Ye Nai found another spot in the corner. “I mainly just thought you guys were too loud, it was affecting my vocal practice.”

The female lead singer: “…”

Ye Nai genuinely wanted to practice his singing. He had a habit of listening to the setlist a few times before taking the stage to find his groove first.

Putting on his headphones, the melody that flowed into his ears was his original arrangement. As the music progressed, Ye Nai gradually mobilized his emotions, and it wasn’t long before he got into the zone.

Everything around him seemed to vanish completely, and the concepts of time and space faded away at this moment.

Acting as if no one else was there, he grooved slightly to the beat while gesturing as he practiced his rap, completely immersed in his own world.

It wasn’t until he had repeatedly practiced the most difficult section of lyrics to his satisfaction that he unhurriedly went to find the stylist for his makeup and wardrobe.

When everything was pretty much ready, Ye Nai suddenly heard a chair scrape nearby. A boy stood up and respectfully greeted the person who had just walked in, “Teacher Li Wan.”

At this point, the people around them had almost all left, mostly having taken the stage already. The last person to perform had only just arrived.

Li Wan was in his thirties. In his early years, he had won quite a few awards in rap competitions and could be considered an OG in the domestic rap scene.

He perfunctorily nodded at the boy as a response. When passing by Ye Nai, the cold ridicule in his eyes was practically overflowing.

“You still dare to come?”

“Why wouldn’t I dare?” Ye Nai remained seated. When his pitch-black pupils rolled upwards, they naturally revealed the whites under the irises, making him look very much like someone not to be messed with. “When you’re here, I have to stay miles away?”

Li Wan’s face darkened, and he spoke even less politely, “I want to see how long you can keep acting arrogant. Making such a huge scene and still not knowing how to restrain yourself, you brought this entirely upon yourself!”

“Is that so?” Ye Nai didn’t care that there were other people around. “Making such a huge scene, isn’t that all thanks to you?”

“Blaming me when you screwed up yourself?” Li Wan squinted and mocked, “A champion ending up having to warm up the stage for the runner-up, you’re probably the only one who can claim that, huh?”

“So lacking in confidence?” Ye Nai sneered. “Knowing you can’t warm up the stage by yourself and have to rely on us taking the stage before you? Then at least you have some self-awareness, runner-up.”

He enunciated the last two words pausing on each syllable, biting down hard on them.

The two glared fiercely at each other. Their lines of sight were like clashing weapons; for a moment, one could almost hear the sharp sound of metal striking metal.

The boy standing to the side hadn’t expected them to be so hostile and only wanted to flee the scene as quickly as possible. Fortunately, it was his turn to go on stage next, so he held his breath and shuffled to the waiting area in the corner, just waiting to evacuate at the first opportunity.

Meanwhile, the battlefield over here showed no signs of a truce.

“Aside from a championship you bought with money, what other championship could you win?” Li Wan asked contemptuously.

“Don’t you have any fresh material?” Ye Nai had heard him say this countless times and was too lazy to refute it.

“Fine, then let’s say something fresh.” Li Wan had been wanting to bring this up for a long time. “I heard Zhuolai Media invited you to participate in a variety show where champions compete for the crown?”

“Ah, paying so much attention to your daddy?” Ye Nai sneered.

Li Wan gritted his teeth and said, “Do you think you can still win this championship?”

Ye Nai shot him an amused look. “Goading me? Did Zhuolai pay you to make absolutely sure you invite me?”

“Don’t overthink it, I just want to appreciate the sight of your miserable defeat.” Li Wan smiled gleefully, as if he could already see the scene of that day.

“Why do you think that if I go to Zhuolai’s show, I’ll definitely lose?”

“Who can rewrite Zhuolai’s script?” Li Wan was also someone unafraid of trouble, never mincing his words. “Just like rewriting the championship script your daddy wrote for you.”

Ye Nai’s family background had long ceased to be a secret in the circle. He was frequently teased by others that if he didn’t do well in rap, he could only go home and inherit the family fortune.

After he won the championship, there were often dissatisfied people who asserted that he was a “pay-to-win” player, and Li Wan was one of them.

Ye Nai was provoked into a fury and was just about to angrily rebuke him, when he was interrupted by the strum of a guitar.

The two looked toward the sound. The source was exactly that man in the corner who had been called “Brother Yi”.

He wasn’t looking in their direction, as if he had absolutely no connection to this dispute, but the timing of his guitar strumming was simply too coincidental. It followed right after Li Wan’s highly provocative remark; it really didn’t seem like an unintentional act.

Ye Nai was already furious to begin with, and hearing this music follow right on its heels made him even more incensed.

“What, watching the fun and feeling the atmosphere isn’t enough, you still have to provide BGM for it?”