Wake Up, This is Not a Dating Show! Chapter 6.1

Chapter 6 Initial Stage (Part 3) “What kind of fabric do cats like to scratch…” part 1

In music variety shows, there have been many stages that received mediocre feedback on the spot but were later highly praised and widely spread, ultimately achieving evaluations that far exceeded the top-ranking performances at the live venue.

For Yi Xingzhi to say this, he was clearly categorizing Ye Nai’s stage into this type.

Before Ye Nai could respond, Fu Tingyuan’s voting results were out: 869, which was 13 votes more than him.

Although he wasn’t convinced, it was still within his expectations.

Perhaps because Yi Xingzhi’s words had laid the groundwork, Ye Nai wasn’t too indignant, and even casually clapped his hands a couple of times along with the others.

The reaction from the netizens, however, was much more intense than that of the people at the live venue.

[Is this toxic? How could this actually surpass the previous one? Performing first is way too much of a disadvantage!]

[Agreed. As someone who hasn’t watched the drama, I just don’t get the hype.]

[As a pure bystander, I even feel a bit bad for Nyle. Where are his fans? Are none of them speaking up for him?]

[Why do you think his fans are called the Rational Sisters?]

Actually, in his early days, Ye Nai’s fans used to frequently stick their necks out for him, and they definitely hadn’t held back in flaming wars against his anti-fans. But later, they realized that Ye Nai was simply too good at causing trouble; the speed at which they annihilated his haters couldn’t possibly keep up with the speed at which he generated new ones.

Thus, they put out a statement: “You are already a mature singer, and we are rational fans. Solve your own problems yourself, and let’s all live our own peaceful lives.”

This statement once became a classic, widely circulated quote within the fandom circles.

Moreover, because his fans, regardless of their age, habitually referred to themselves as “Jie” (older sister), they were crowned with the title “Rational Sisters”.

After these few bullet screen comments popped up, a Rational Sister finally showed her face.

[The moment we speak up, we get swarmed. There are too many enemies, we can’t flame them all, we simply cannot flame them all. This sister gave up a long time ago.]

[This sister usually doesn’t even dare to expose her fan status. Those who know, know. (Slips away after posting this)]

[Nyle alone is enough to do the flaming. The idol pays for his own actions, please do not escalate this to the fans!]

[Nyle, fly safely, but if something goes wrong, don’t make this sister take the blame.]

Seeing that his fans had responded, the curious onlookers quickly took the opportunity to ask:

[Why are Ye Nai’s fans mostly “sister fans”? Aren’t they usually “mom fans” or “girlfriend fans”?]

By this time, most of the Rational Sisters had already dived back underwater, leaving only a scattered few still bubbling up.

[Who wants to be a mom fan to this rebellious son? Are our lives too comfortable or something?]

[Who wants to be a girlfriend fan to this dog of a man? Neither of us cares whether the other lives or dies.]

[Exactly. Being a sister is good enough. The kind that can sever the sibling relationship at any given moment.]

The onlookers wanted to ask more, but they saw that the bullet screen had already been taken over by people spamming hate directed at Ye Nai.

[Does the young master even have real fans? Aren’t they all just hired water armies (paid trolls)?]

[How much does it cost per comment to praise the young master? Let’s earn money together, don’t just focus on getting rich by yourself.]

[You’d even earn this kind of money? Don’t you feel it’s dirty!]

Everyone: …Alright then, we understand now.

The next to take the stage was Yin Tianhan. He sang a track of his that had recently gone viral. The theme was about how even an outwardly cheerful extrovert can have a sensitive and fragile side.

When this song was first released, it shot straight to the top of the hot song charts and dominated the rankings for many consecutive days. This was the first time it was being performed live.

It was a highly personalized pop song with a very high difficulty coefficient. If the low notes in the verses weren’t handled well, it would sound like chanting scriptures, and the high notes in the chorus required extremely strong mixed voice techniques.

However, Yin Tianhan’s performance was quite outstanding. In the first half, he added just the right amount of vocal fry as a foundation, and his transitions between chest and head voice in the second half were incredibly silky smooth.

Coupled with his deep understanding of this stage, whether it was catching the camera angles or his movement and interaction, everything was handled impeccably and with practiced ease.

When he reached the emotional climax of the song, he walked up to the audience, bent at the waist, and belted out the high notes until his voice was nearly hoarse. The deep V-neck gaped open with his movements, revealing a large expanse of cold, pale skin, instantly triggering a wave of screams from below the stage.

The fans all noticed Yin Tianhan’s reddened eyes. Substituting the lyrics into his personal life, they couldn’t help but feel a deep ache in their hearts, because his usual public image was exactly that of someone hiding his fragility beneath a smile.

There were also many people whose own sore spots were poked, recalling the moments in their own lives when they had to feign happiness, and tears consecutively welled up in their eyes.

By the third performance, the audience had completely gotten into the zone, and they weren’t ambiguous at all when it came to casting their votes. This song, which possessed both technical skill and an empathetic effect, captured the current highest vote count in one fell swoop—878 votes.

This was also equivalent to announcing that Ye Nai was currently dead last.

Even though he knew this was largely because he had performed first, the result couldn’t be changed. It was inevitable that Ye Nai’s face would fall slightly; he truly couldn’t force a smile at a time like this.

Having lost the first battle, Li Wan would most likely start another wave of momentum predicting his downfall. The mere thought of his smug, villainous face made Ye Nai feel a suffocating anger.

Whenever he felt irritable, his hands couldn’t stay idle.

He happened to feel a few strips of fabric draped over his hand. Without even looking, he casually grabbed and tugged at them, using the opportunity to vent the displeasure in his heart.

After tugging several times, Ye Nai finally realized something was wrong. Why would he have this kind of thing in his hand?

Looking down, these long, thin strips of fabric connected all the way to the sleeve of the person sitting next to him. It was actually the tassels on Yi Xingzhi’s sweater!

Fuck, what kind of stupid thing had he just done! Had Yi Xingzhi noticed?

Fortunately, the main camera had already cut back to the stage, so this scene wouldn’t be broadcast.

Ye Nai initially wanted to quickly throw the thing away, but he was afraid that moving too drastically would only draw attention to it. So, pretending nothing had happened, he turned his head to look elsewhere, slowly released the tassels in his hand, and even made a few fake motions of tugging at the air to cover it up.

He thought this operation was flawless, but then he suddenly heard Yi Xingzhi speak.

“Have you pulled enough?”

His magnetic voice was kept very low, yet it still made Ye Nai jump.

If he had known earlier, he wouldn’t have bothered acting.

“I just grabbed it casually, I didn’t notice what it was,” Ye Nai couldn’t invent a decent excuse, so he just smashed the cracked pot and said whatever.

Yi Xingzhi’s slender fingers picked up the tassels on his sleeve. “This knit material isn’t suitable for pulling. I’ll change into something else next time.”

“Ah?” For a moment, Ye Nai actually couldn’t determine whether the other party was being serious or not.

Yi Xingzhi didn’t seem like the type who loved to joke around, and his tone appeared quite earnest. But if he was being serious, was he inviting him to come pull on it again next time?

That was truly a bit of a stretch.

Ye Nai inexplicably found it a little funny.

Yi Xingzhi also chuckled lightly, the corners of his mouth curving into a good-looking arc.