Chapter 35
At 4:30 in the afternoon, in the backstage dressing room, Chu Yu, who rarely had dark circles under his eyes, sat in the makeup chair, letting the makeup artist apply makeup to his face while muttering:
"Your skin is really good, so white and smooth. Do you almost never go out in the sun?"
Without Luo Jiayu around, Chu Yu suddenly lost his social comfort zone. He automatically retreated into his shell, with a tense face and a tightly closed mouth. He only nodded or shook his head, acting like a mute social person.
"Are you sleepy?"
Shake your head.
"Nervous?"
Shake your head.
"Are you confident?"
He shook his head subconsciously, then remembered that there was a camera nearby and something might be captured in the footage, so he nodded in an attempt to hide his mistake.
“…”
Why haven't you heard his inner voice yet? The makeup artist sister felt a little regretful.
The songs chosen by Chu Yu's group were more sunny and energetic. The stylist dyed his hair flaxen gold, applied sweet makeup, and put small golden sequins on his eyelids.
When choosing clothes, the costume designer looked at his unfathomable cool expression, scanned him up and down, and then chose the cutest candy-colored hoodie and shorts from the same batch of clothes with a smile.
"Host! You look so good! Very suitable for your age!" As soon as the styling was completed, Teacher Zhao commented passionately while hiding in his mind.
Lu Yiyang, who came in after him to do his hair and makeup, made the same comment after seeing Chu Yu. He smiled and pulled Xue Liu behind him: "Look, a cute little brother."
The 19-year-old man who was repeatedly praised for being cute, youthful and energetic finally turned slowly to the floor-length mirror next to him and saw his brand new look in the mirror.
Everyone saw Chu Yu blinking in surprise. Although he still had no expression, his mental broadcast was obviously much more normal than his previous madness.
Wow.
After all, children are still children, and they must have been touched by their own cuteness.
Then the next second, the scene changed.
[I feel like the corpse spots have faded a bit.]
Capibara touched his face kindly.
[With such a cute figure, I feel embarrassed to crawl around in a dark and twisted way. I'll try to crawl around in a healthy and sunny way from now on.]
...Well, I still maintain this stable mental state.
After Chu Yu finished her makeup, she left the dressing room and went to the corresponding position backstage to wait for her turn. On the way, she ran into Luo Jiayu who was queuing up for her hair. Luo Jiayu was leaning against the wall, chewing gum absentmindedly, but her eyes lit up when she saw him coming.
"Your hair color." He habitually wanted to reach out and rub it, but then remembered that the stage look couldn't be messed up, so he withdrew his hand regretfully, "It's like the tabby cat we raised together when we were little."
"Which group will you go on stage?"
"Group B in Group 3, the one in front of you." Luo Jiayu said as he lowered his head and touched the eyelashes of the person in front of him with his fingers. "Don't move, you'll get dusty."
Fu Hansong from the same group passed by him, gave him a noble and cold look, and was stunned by Chu Yu's makeup.
[Ding Dong, congratulations to host Chu Yu for gaining 5 points of favorability with character Fu Hansong. Please keep up the good work~]
Chu Yu had an expressionless face as Luo Jiayu held her face up to pick out the dust particles on her eyelashes, and poked the system at the same time.
Is he in love with me?
System: "...Which one are you talking about?"
Brother with sunglasses.
The system pondered: "...Which one are you talking about?"
He hasn't deducted my favorability for several days. Chu Yu said seriously, "I've renewed my VIP membership on NetEase Cloud Music until next year."
The system took a look at the character favorability list and saw that the favorability of a certain insole guy was still maintained at a steady 30 points, while to reach the level of secret love, it had to be at least 60.
"Probably not." Theoretically speaking, 30 favorability is still at a mediocre stage, but the other party's trend of desperately trying to increase favorability does not seem like it.
"There's a feeling called love born from hate." The system in Luo Jiayu's brain suddenly interrupted. Her voice was as cold as ever, but the topic she was discussing made her sound like a female lecturer who was well versed in human nature.
"When a person's heart is constantly stirred by the same person, over time they will develop an emotional bond with that person. The greater the emotional bond, the deeper the bond."
The system concluded, "It's a bit like the suspension bridge effect. It's easy to mistake this kind of attachment for a secret crush. This usually happens to people with simple minds."
"Huh? What?" Luo Jiayu had just brushed off the dust on his fingertips when he noticed that the small group of four had started chatting again without him noticing.
When Fu Hansong behind him heard his voice, it was as if some device had exploded. He snorted coldly and turned his head to the other side.
[Ding Dong, character Fu Hansong's favorability towards host Luo Jiayu has dropped by -5. Congratulations on getting your fourth character's exclusive short review, from Fu Hansong: "Why does he have to open his mouth to talk? How annoying."]
Luo Jiayu raised his eyebrows, and stretched out his hand again dishonestly, turning the slightly crooked earring that Chu Yu had just put on.
Ding Dong, character Fu Hansong's favorability towards host Luo Jiayu has dropped by -10. Congratulations on receiving your fifth character's exclusive short review, from Fu Hansong: "Why does he have to breathe through his mouth? How annoying!!!"
Luo Jiayu was satisfied.
Chu Yu didn't pay attention to his childhood friend's actions. When he went to comic exhibitions to COS, Luo Jiayu followed him like this and checked and adjusted his hairstyle from time to time. It was normal for him to pluck his eyelashes and adjust his earrings.
I understand. Chu Yu continued his conversation with the two systems and gave a rigorous response to Luo Jiayu's system.
You mean that even though I stole his favor to listen to music, play cards and games, he actually loved me more because of these actions?
“That’s the general idea.”
Then his love is also...inconceivable at first glance.
"I know what you're going to say," Teacher Zhao said. "It's too cheap, I think so too."
Out of empathy that a movie with four people cannot have only one nameless person, Luo Jiayu's system opened a real-time megaphone for his host so that he could join in.
Luo Jiayu had just finished checking the chat history and couldn't help but glance at the prince who was sulking alone with a half-smile, and happened to meet Fu Hansong's eyes.
Although the prince had just been turned into a walnut by Luo Jiayu's system, his basic emotional perception was still very sharp.
This guy's eyes are full of naked mockery and amusement!
[Ding Dong, character Fu Hansong's favorability limit towards host Luo Jiayu has been reduced to -99. Congratulations to the host for unlocking the achievement "NPC Who Locks His Heart and Love to You." From now on, gaining favorability from this NPC will be twice as difficult.]
"Host, his love is cheap and only directed at one person. For you, gaining his favor is harder than climbing to the sky." The system said calmly.
It's okay. Luo Jiayu shrugged cheerfully. His hatred towards me is cheap, and that's enough.
"You'd better pray that you don't get the strategy guide Fu Hansong when you go on a side quest next time, otherwise you'll be doomed."
Wait, there's a side quest? Why didn't you tell me before?
Luo Jiayu was about to ask when he was interrupted by a loud shout from the staff in the dressing room: "Luo Jiayu! What are you posing for? It's your turn, come in quickly."
My childhood friend went in to put on makeup. At this time, there were still a few hours before the performance officially started, but the one thousand fans who came to watch the performance were basically all present.
Chu Yu walked all the way to the backstage lounge. From time to time, he could hear the noise coming from the front desk. The system took this opportunity to ask him nervously:
"Host, are you okay now? Are you breathing well?"
All right. Vital signs are currently normal.
The most difficult dance problem for Chu Yu has been basically solved, and because of the experience of facing the audience on the first stage, he feels that at least he will not go crazy every second like the first time he went on stage.
If his requirement for himself on the first stage was to survive, then on this first public stage, his requirement for himself was to survive mentally and healthily.
Good! The road is built step by step, and he is ready!
The host took this opportunity to randomly select lucky audience members to ask questions, and the loud and energetic shouts came into his ears through the microphone and the on-site loudspeakers.
"Brother Baizi, we love you! As long as we are still here, you will always have a class!"
Chu Yu's pupils trembled, and his eyes, which were about to shatter, looked at the front desk through the curtain.
"Don't be nervous, Xiaoyu. We are with you."
The cheering sounds twists and turns, and it sounds heart-wrenching, just like the main character, who is very conspicuous.
Thank you, now he is not only nervous, but also embarrassed to the point of wanting to tap his toes on the ground.
Why do so many people come to see him?
"Host, host, don't be nervous. Carrots, carrots, cabbages, cabbages." Teacher Zhao seemed even more nervous than him. While comforting him, he quickly typed code to prepare a spare electronic eardrum.
Chu Yu closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
But when I think of the fan's shouting that was as lingering as a folk song, I can't hold it in anymore.
Take a deep breath. Take a deep breath.
Just a thousand humans.
Just... Just... A thousand humans are still a bit too many for a sensitive and fragile little boy with social anxiety. A slap from each of them can kill him. He would rather go back to the Amazon rainforest and be the monkey king.
Until he went on stage, his mental state was a little confused. During this period, he didn't even dodge when Luo Jiayu patted his shoulder and said, "Brother, give me a hug." Luo Jiayu was surprised, so he hugged him again under the silent gaze of several of his teammates around him.
"If you're too nervous, just don't look at the audience. Look away or at the ground. That's better than being so nervous you forget the words or the movements."
"Did you hear that?" He patted Chu Yu.
Chu Yu blinked and nodded slowly.
At 7:30 p.m., live broadcasts on major platforms began on time, the number of people in the live broadcast rooms was refreshed rapidly, and the barrage of comments rolled like waves.
When it was Chu Yu's turn to go on stage, the barrage of comments changed as usual.
【Baby, you are so cute today! 】
[Brother Baizi finally wore clothes that suited his age]
[Really? He's only nineteen, but why do I have the impression that he has the same aura as a ninety-year-old?]
[Maybe it’s because when he’s giving up and not caring about anything, he looks very compassionate, like a Buddha saving all living beings.]
[Today is not the pendulum brother, today is the cute and energetic little brother]
I can’t imagine how beautiful it would be if he went crazy with such a sweet makeup.
[With so many loudspeakers, he could shout so loudly that it would shatter the eardrums of the entire audience.]
Chu Yu followed his childhood friend's advice and never raised his eyes or looked at the audience. He vaguely remembered that the last time he broke his clothes on the stage was because he looked up at the audience when he was getting ready.
He put on a sweet face and a cool expression, and walked to the designated position to get ready to the beat of the preparatory music.
The speakers started playing their group's selected songs. Although all the members' makeup and looks were cute, the rhythm of the song itself was fast and neat, with many electronic sound effects interspersed in the middle, which was considered sweet and cool. And judging from the usual styles of several teammates, the cool element accounted for a larger proportion.
After the prelude ended, a certain cool guy who couldn't manage his facial expressions raised his head with aloofness, his eyes stubbornly glued to the floor. Then, the entire audience heard his clear and serious voice broadcast:
The third national primary and secondary school students' radio gymnastics program, "Sails of Hope: Dancing Youth," begins now!
Luo Jiayu in the backstage watched the scene on the broadcast screen and lowered his head to cover his forehead.
I forgot to consider that this guy would self-destruct.
Everyone in the audience was shocked.
The adapted movements were simple yet cool, easy to understand yet cool. If there hadn't been a radio program stubbornly explaining the beats over Chu Yu's head, no one in the audience would have associated his movements with campus radio gymnastics.
[One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Two, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Three, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Four, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Rotate!]
Luo Jiayu looked at Chu Yu's dance on the broadcast screen. His childhood friend was really a genius. Although he was not good at any dance, he could blend in with the rhythm well and got all the moves right.
Everyone in the audience laughed.
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