Dating Show Side Character, Getting Rich by Roasting People

CHAPTER 38: I’m Afraid They’ll Fight in Front of the Cameras!

　　【I don’t get what Chu Ling meant here. Can someone translate? What’s this about a ninety percent similarity rate!?】　　

　　【When the Male Guest No.2 confessed just now, I didn’t realize it either. Only after Chu Ling called it out did I realize he copied it from The Painted Veil!】

　　【I looked it up, and wow, it really is! He deliberately left out the famous lines from The Painted Veil, so a lot of people didn’t notice and thought he wrote it himself.】

　　【He didn’t write it himself? I actually thought he did, and I even thought it was really well-written…】

　　【Isn’t he a writer? He had to copy someone else for a confession!?】

　　Lin Zirun never expected Chu Ling would notice.

　　He always thought Chu Ling was the kind of empty-headed, uncultured celebrity. The correction about The Moon and Sixpence was just a coincidence in his mind.

　　The Painted Veil had been popular in recent years, but as Chu Ling said, it was only the first half that people read widely. Very few had read the second half, so he boldly borrowed from it.

　　He thought maybe some netizens would find out.

　　But he hadn’t claimed it as original, so even if someone noticed, he could just say he got it from the book.

　　He never expected Chu Ling would call him out on the spot and scold him so harshly.

　　He tried hard to smile and lighten the mood, but found he couldn’t.

　　“…You’ve read The Painted Veil too, huh.”

　　Lin Zirun could only struggle to explain, “I just really like this passage. I found it fits my current feelings, so I said it. Of course, I wasn’t trying to describe you as that kind of person, and I don’t think you’re stupid, frivolous, or shallow.”

　　After a pause, he put on a serious and sincere expression. “In my heart, you are always wonderful. Sometimes when I quietly think of you, I feel you are unbelievably beautiful.”

　　“Now it’s Wang Xiaobo?”

　　Chu Ling rested her face on her hand, tilted her head, and couldn’t help but laugh. “Bro, do you have some kind of notebook full of famous quotes?”

　　Whenever you see a good line, you copy it down.

　　Then you pull it out when flirting.

　　You'd mastered this literary shortcut.

　　【Did I underestimate Chu Ling…? She knows way too much.】

　　【Seriously, and she reacts super fast.】

　　【Poor Male Guest No.2, it was so awkward that it almost seemed scripted.】

　　【It makes sense she knows. Who hasn’t heard about Chu Ling leaving school halfway through her senior year at A University to chase the entertainment industry for money?】

　　That’s also one of Chu Ling’s old scandals.

　　A University is considered a good school in China. Although it is not a top-tier university, it is still well-known.

　　Chu Ling entered the entertainment industry in her junior year. After becoming famous, she never went back for the graduation ceremony, so many people assumed she abandoned her studies for fame and money, painting her as a vain, greedy woman.

　　When this old story resurfaced, the haters felt smug.

　　She is a fan of Qin Shuo. If she hadn't gone through a lot of old gossip to uncover Chu Ling's past scandals in the past few days, she wouldn't have known about this.

　　But this time, the reaction wasn’t what she expected.

　　The viewers in the live comments didn’t attack her for leaving her studies to enter the entertainment industry. Instead, they kept commenting in awe.

　　【Wow, I misunderstood Chu Jie. She’s not some shallow fish.】

　　【+1, so I was just stereotyping her… she’s actually a hidden genius.】

　　【Laughing so hard, the Male Guest No.2 acting all cool in front of her looks even sillier now.】

　　【As expected, a fake literary youth needs a real scholar to deal with them.】

　　【No wonder she can crush it in this show.】

　　【Anti-pretender score +1.】

　　Haters: “???”

　　Are you guys kidding me, is this really the focus!

　　Lin Zirun’s face completely fell.

　　He swore, this time he really hadn’t meant to quote anyone else’s famous line—but just as Chu Ling said, he actually does have a digital notebook where he jots down lines he likes. Later he pieces them together and tweaks them to make them his own.

　　Because he says so many repetitive lines when flirting, he sometimes can’t even remember what’s original and what he stole.

　　That line just now was one of those—he said it off the cuff, thinking it was his own.

　　What kind of brain does Chu Ling have!

　　“Haha… you’re joking again.”

　　Lin Zirun stubbornly defended himself, but he felt guilty and even started stammering. “I just wanted to use these words to describe you… to show what you mean to me.”

　　“You see, I didn’t expect you to have read them too. I’m telling you, our souls are on the same wavelength.”

　　“No.”

　　Chu Ling shook her head. “Some people might think this is romantic.”

　　She smiled faintly. “But unfortunately, I’m definitely not the audience for these kinds of fancy words.”　　

　　She was in a bad mood today, so of course she picked out the harshest thing and said it, making him upset made her happy.

　　Looking at the backend page, Lin Zirun must be feeling pretty bad right now. In a short while, he'd almost contributed ten thousand points to her.

　　Serves the sly guy right.

　　Chu Ling chuckled quietly to herself.

　　If she hadn’t caught him plagiarizing, he might have even hyped himself up on trending searches, bragging about his talent. If the internet found out, he could just claim he never said it was his original work.

　　He probably does this all the time when flirting, and even on the show he tried to replicate it, not expecting to run into such a tough opponent.

　　Lin Zirun couldn’t even drink now.

　　He originally thought tonight was completely his stage.

　　The perfect moonlit night, a little wine, the two of them could talk about anything, he could fully show off his talent—the kind of scenario every literary youth dreams of.

　　He never expected Chu Ling to totally reject it and even expose him in front of the cameras.

　　He finally started to regret it, thinking maybe he shouldn’t have gotten involved with a girl like Chu Ling at all.

　　“The wine is almost done.”

　　Chu Ling asked, “Do you have anything else to say? If not, I’m going downstairs.”

　　Lin Zirun: “…”

　　Lin Zirun really had nothing left to say!

　　If he kept going, he’d be completely exposed!

　　—

　　Sheng Yi was in his room, thinking about who to invite.

　　According to the original plan, he should obviously invite Wen Shu. The show was pushing the love triangle, and it was currently the hottest topic, with lots of people discussing it every day.

　　But Chu Ling had ignored him all day.

　　He knew this was the best moment to finally let her go.

　　But the effect was completely the opposite.

　　Just thinking about Chu Ling hating him for some unknown reason made him feel an unbearable, gnawing pain.

　　Should he invite Chu Ling?

　　He was startled by the thought himself.

　　This was definitely not a good idea.

　　He could already imagine how netizens would roast him. They would say he had clearly been showing affection to Wen Shu before, and now he suddenly chose Chu Ling. His change of heart was way too fast.

　　He could also imagine Chu Ling continuing to give him the cold shoulder.

　　There was only one benefit. Chu Ling could usually ignore him, but this was a program assignment. She had to accept the invitation.

　　That gave him a chance to have some private time to talk with her.

　　Finally, Sheng Yi mustered the courage to decide and prepare to invite Chu Ling, only to be notified by staff—Chu Ling had already gone to the rooftop.

　　Who!?

　　Who invited Chu Ling!?

　　Sheng Yi didn’t stay in his room either.

　　He went into the hallway, pretending to loiter casually, keeping his eyes on the rooftop and watching for anyone coming down.

　　Finally, the rooftop door opened.

　　Chu Ling left a disheveled Lin Zirun behind and walked out, meeting Sheng Yi’s gaze as he stood on the stairs, looking her way.

　　Sheng Yi glanced at her back and asked, “Did you just finish talking?”

　　Chu Ling thought he was just waiting in line to use the rooftop and was about to nod when she first looked at the backstage feed.

　　Whoa.

　　While she had been talking with Lin Zirun, Sheng Yi had been constantly sending negative emotions. They were small and sporadic, but persistent.

　　…Why did he suddenly hate her so much? He was even mad at her when she wasn’t around?

　　Chu Ling’s anger flared. “Does this have anything to do with you?”

　　“...Yeah.”

　　Sheng Yi looked at her and said, “Because I wanted to invite you too.”

　　Chu Ling: “?”

　　—

　　【Here it comes, here it comes, the next pair is here.】

　　【Lin Zirun leaving just now looking all dejected after cleaning up was so funny. I really thought he was giving up on Chu Ling this time.】

　　【Of course he would give up, what’s he waiting for? I’ve already imagined every one of his show-off moments getting shut down by Chu Ling.】

　　【Give up, brother. You haven’t read as much as she has.】

　　【Who’s the next pair? I’m so excited!】

　　The rooftop opened again.

　　The two of them walked in, one after the other, heading toward their seats.

　　When the camera showed their faces, the live comments flooded with question marks.　　

　　【???】

　　【Howoldareyou—why is it always you?!】

　　【Who invited who!!?】

　　【Breaking news!! Sheng Yi invited Chu Ling!! Overbearing CP on full display!!】

　　【Such a random pair. I thought they were fighting this morning, and now suddenly they’re on a private date?】

　　Sheng Yi sat down and sniffed the air like he smelled something. “Did you just drink?”

　　Chu Ling: “Mhm.”

　　Sheng Yi: “How much?”

　　Chu Ling raised an eyebrow. “Does it concern you?” She smirked. “Or do you want some too? Oh, I forgot, you have restrictions and never drink.”

　　“...Is there even alcohol here?”

　　Sheng Yi said, “If necessary, I can have a drink too, just to keep you company.”

　　He spotted the unopened backup bottle of alcohol Lin Zirun had left in the corner of the rooftop and stood up. “I’ll go get it—”

　　“You’re crazy, right?”

　　Chu Ling reached out and pulled him down, holding him in place. “Why do you need alcohol to get brave enough to talk? Planning to lose your voice?”

　　【Wow, that’s a sharp way to speak.】

　　【Why did Sheng Yi even ask Chu Ling out? I’m afraid they’re going to fight in front of the camera!】

　　【Am I the only one who caught that “lose your voice” line…? Such a scolding that feels like family! [cry]】

　　【The previous commenter, you bully dogs really eat up everything.】

　　【Can someone explain what a bully dog is?】

　　【It’s like this: some fans said my CP is a pair of bullies on this dating show, and that our CP fans are their equally domineering vicious dogs, so they called us Bully Dogs. But I really like the name, werwerwer. Leopard and Cat, please make peace!】

　　The camera was rolling, focused on them.

　　Sheng Yi knew there were things he couldn’t say on camera, and Chu Ling wouldn’t tell him either.

　　But since he lived downstairs and Chu Ling usually ignored him, this was his only chance.

　　“Then I’ll just say it straight.”　　

　　Sheng Yi said, “I’ve never been a smart guy, and I can hardly guess what girls are thinking, otherwise I wouldn’t have been single all these years.”

　　“But I’m not so dumb that I can’t see when you’re angry.”

　　“So, what exactly are you mad at me for?”

　　He continued, “Tell me, let’s talk it out. If it’s my problem, I’ll fix it. If it’s your problem—”

　　Chu Ling shot him a glare.

　　Sheng Yi raised his hands in surrender, saying nothing like, ‘You could never be the problem.’ He just said, “Then let’s break it down and see if we can fix it.”

　　He sounded sincere, and for a moment, Chu Ling almost softened.

　　But glancing at her earnings, she quickly rolled her eyes. “You actually wasted a deep-talk opportunity just to ask me this? Aren’t you bored out of your mind?”

　　Sheng Yi said, “This is really important to me.”

　　Chu Ling blinked in surprise.

　　“I’m not going to treat this as the only chance for a deep conversation. After all, if I want to understand someone, there are plenty of other opportunities in everyday life.”

　　Especially for deeper, soul-level deeptalk, it really isn’t suitable to do it in front of cameras with so many people watching.

　　Some things are only meant to be said privately, just between two people.

　　Past experiences, future hopes, traumas and dreams, thoughts and reflections, the moments when you expose your soul to someone else—once it’s in front of a camera, it becomes a performance.

　　In Sheng Yi’s view, their conversation at the hotpot restaurant that day was the real deep talk and true understanding.

　　“If you have to say it's a waste…”

　　Sheng Yi thought for a moment and smiled. “I think wasting it on this question is totally worth it.”

　　“This is the only answer I’ve been looking for recently. Can you tell me?”

　　Chu Ling felt her heart tighten as she looked at Sheng Yi again.

　　The system reminded her, “He’s still sending you negative emotions.”

　　That’s exactly why this was so strange.

　　Chu Ling had never encountered a situation like this before.

　　If he really disliked her, he wouldn’t have invited her for this segment.

　　But if it was just an act, it didn’t seem like it either, because inviting her didn’t offer him any reward.

　　Chu Ling thought for a moment and decided to just ask directly. “Then I’ll ask you first. What are you thinking right now?”

　　Sheng Yi froze. “Huh?”

　　Chu Ling emphasized her tone. “Right now, this very moment, what are you thinking about me? I want the real answer.”

　　Does he think she’s troublesome, annoying, unreasonable, or unapproachable?

　　“Uh…”

　　Her words came quickly, so Sheng Yi barely had a few seconds to react before blurting out, “I’m nervous. I’m worried that you’ve started disliking me for some reason I don’t know.”

　　All the unease, anxiety, and tension Sheng Yi felt because of Chu Ling at that moment poured out as negative emotions, continuously flowing toward her.

　　Chu Ling looked up and met his eyes.

　　Having been disliked many times before, she could tell that this wasn’t a look of dislike or disdain.

　　On this point, she trusted her judgment.

　　So, was this system truly bug-free?

　　After a moment, she seemed to realize something. “Wait… the negative emotion spikes… it’s not just dislike, is it?”

　　“I don’t know either.”

　　This was the first time the system had dealt with a human like Chu Ling.

　　It could only check urgently and then reported to her, “It seems that any negative emotion generated because of you—fear, anxiety, sadness—counts as negative emotion.”

　　Chu Ling groaned. “You didn’t say so earlier!”

　　What a misunderstanding. A huge misunderstanding, seriously!

 

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