FLME Ch50

Yi Ming still had work to do, so she logged off right after the variety show ended. The heat in the livestream remained undiminished. When Yu Wen returned from the washroom, Jian Heng was diligently answering the netizens’ questions about the plot.

“What does ‘I can’t get out’ mean? It means exactly what it says. This detail shows that the Bard already knew about the curse existing in the castle, and it also foreshadows him being bewitched by the Demon Lord later…”

Jian Heng thought for a moment. “But the Bard’s line is different from the others. The others were unwilling to sacrifice their companions and prepared to sacrifice themselves. The Bard said it because he had no companions to sacrifice—”

Yu Wen had just sat down when he heard this, and was stunned. “Is that how it’s interpreted?”

“That’s how I interpret it anyway,” Jian Heng said. “After all, I’m a super big baddie.”

[Bard: Bro is super bad.]

[Keep asking, keep asking, we can get a hundred and eight versions out of him.]

[Truly silencing them with a single question.]

Since the other guests weren’t live-streaming, the netizens had nowhere else to pour their enthusiasm, turning Yu Wen’s livestream into the home court for the Hero’s squad. Moreover, his performance in the first episode was outstanding; a few of his improvisations made the netizens exclaim in awe. Naturally, he was the one receiving the most attention.

At 10:00 PM, Battle Royale officially went online on the streaming platform. A continuous stream of newcomers flooded the livestream. Yu Wen’s eyes swam trying to read the bullet comments, so he simply gave up and focused intently on crocheting his koi fish.

Jian Heng was a bit more relaxed, dutifully passing on messages for the netizens whose comments were getting buried in Yu Wen’s stream.

“Xiao Yu, they want you to crochet a Hero…”

Yu Wen looked up in bewilderment and said to the camera, “You guys think too highly of me.”

Does he look like he has that kind of capability?

The bullet comments laughed “hahaha”. A moment later, Jian Heng relayed again: “They said, if you can’t crochet a Hero, how about crocheting an Evil Dragon.”

Yu Wen tilted his head and pondered. “I can barely try crocheting a dragon, but an Evil Dragon is a no-go. The production crew’s Evil Dragon was built with heavy funds, I can’t crochet that.”

Hearing this, Chu Han enthusiastically crawled over. “An Evil Dragon? I’ll crochet it, I’ll crochet it! I have more talent.”

Yu Wen looked at the shapeless ball of yarn in his hands.

Chu Han said, “The koi was too simple, I wasn’t even being serious.”

Yu Wen had no choice but to hand him another skein of yarn, instructing, “Be serious this time.”

Xie Heyu sat on the side, using a tablet to find tutorials. Yu Wen leaned over to look.

Seeing a tutorial fail video, he rested his head on Xie Heyu’s shoulder, hiding his face as he laughed. After laughing, he told Xie Heyu, “We’re doomed, it looks so hard.”

Wearing a mask, Teacher Xie’s eyes curved slightly, the smile evident in his voice.

He said, “It’s fine, we’ll just say Teacher Chu crocheted it later.”

Yu Wen: “And if it turns out pretty good…”

Xie Heyu: “If it’s pretty good, then you crocheted it.”

Yu Wen: “Hahahahahaha…”

Xie Heyu was entirely out of the frame. When Yu Wen leaned over, half his body left the frame, revealing only occasional glimpses of his beaming profile.

He whispered secrets with Xie Heyu, not sparing a single glance for the netizens in the livestream. The neglected netizens were unhappy and began calling for Chu Han and Xi Su to go eavesdrop.

Chu Han was busy showing off his handicraft talent and didn’t notice the comments. However, Xi Su—who was still tied to the corner of the sofa with nothing to do—caught sight of them.

He squinted at the bullet comments for a while, confirmed they were calling him, turned his head, and spat out the towel gagging him. He shot the netizens a look that said: Leave it to me, rest assured.

He wriggled a few times, trying hard to inch closer to the two.

Everyone wasn’t too far apart, otherwise they wouldn’t all fit in the frame. Xie Heyu was a bit further away, but by craning his neck, Xi Su could still hear the conversation.

After eavesdropping for half a minute, Xi Su immediately snitched: “Reporting, comrades! They’re planning to claim that whatever they crochet ugly belongs to Chu Han, and whatever looks good was crocheted by Yu Wen! Their consciences are incredibly wicked!”

Chu Han, getting scapegoated before he even finished crocheting: “…Ah?”

Yu Wen surrendered. He was now highly suspicious of Xi Su’s mental state, feeling it was necessary to take him to the hospital for a checkup; the guy genuinely didn’t seem quite normal.

“You, sit back down,” Yu Wen pointed at the corner of the sofa. “You’ve completely thrown away all our company’s face.”

“Heh.” Xi Su let out a snort—three parts mockery, three parts aloofness, four parts nonchalance. “The Party and the people will seek justice for me.”

Yu Wen: “…”

Psycho!

Xie Heyu crocheted the rough shape of a dragon at lightspeed, held it up to the camera, and lied through his teeth: “Teacher Xiao Yu just crocheted this, it’s very beautiful.”

[The manager really spoils baby Xiao Yu…]

[Me (pretending to be blind): Ah yes, yes, Xiao Yu crocheted it. I’ll just pretend I didn’t see the crochet hook in your hand this time, put it away.]

[First time hearing the manager speak! So he’s not mute (tactical lean back)]

[Laughing so hard, the manager’s voice is actually pretty nice.]

Jian Heng had crossed paths with Xie Heyu before. Back when they were filming Immortal Sect, this person was still an assistant and would occasionally come to set to drop things off for Yu Wen.

Having observed their interactions, he always felt that the conversations between these two were incredibly adorable—outrageously deadpan, yet exceedingly intimate. As long as they occupied the same space, an atmosphere formed that no one else could insert themselves into.

Jian Heng had once asked Yu Wen if he could sit at the head table when they got married.

At the time, Yu Wen told him he was losing his mind.

But now, Jian Heng watched the screen across from him—Yu Wen crocheted a hideously ugly dragon tail, showed it to Xie Heyu, and laughed so hard he practically collapsed onto him. Xie Heyu, right in front of thousands of netizens, swapped what he crocheted with Yu Wen’s. Perhaps feeling it was too obvious, he looked at Yu Wen, his eyes curving slightly…

Based on his years of experience as an omnivorous shipper and his keen sense of smell for CP chemistry, Jian Heng swore:

He was going to be sitting at that head table very soon.

In the second half of the livestream, Yu Wen raffled off all the handmade items. The netizens weren’t picky at all; even the tangled ball of yarn Chu Han crocheted was claimed.

Unexpectedly, right before ending the livestream, Yu Wen received a call from Feng Chengzhou.

President Feng was calling to discuss business.

Having witnessed the explosive popularity of Battle Royale tonight, he drew inspiration from Yu Wen’s handmade items and wanted to collaborate with the production crew and several guests to open up a merchandise market.

“You won’t need to make them by hand yourselves, but we need your cooperation for promotion. Ideally, we could have a limited release of one hundred signed merch items…”

Xie Heyu took the phone and stepped outside to discuss profit shares and contract details with Feng Chengzhou. Yu Wen secretly grumbled in his heart; after watching Feng Chengzhou act foolish for so long, he almost forgot the man was a capitalist…

After all, he was the male lead of the original novel; his business acumen and work capabilities were still online.

Both Battle Royale and Immortal Sect were broadcast on platforms owned by Huiteng Group. Both had incredibly high popularity, and it was summer vacation—peak traffic season. Once this drama and variety show finished airing, Yu Wen’s market value would undoubtedly skyrocket. Feng Chengzhou, seizing the opportunity before anyone else made a move, had called personally to ask for his opinion.

Yu Wen didn’t have any objections. As long as the pricing wasn’t outrageous, merch was, in a sense, a form of fan welfare.

Speaking of welfare, Yu Wen remembered the wealth Feng Chengzhou scattered in the livestream during the office tour last time.

When Xie Heyu returned, the call hadn’t been disconnected yet, so Yu Wen asked, “President Feng, how is your mood today?”

Feng Chengzhou: “Ah? Pretty good.”

With his back to the camera, Yu Wen whispered, “I have a ball of yarn here, hand-knitted by Teacher Chu, a work of pure talent, costing over two hours of blood, sweat, and tears… Selling it to you at a friendship price of two million, want it?”

Feng Chengzhou: “…”

Two minutes later, the voice on the other end answered without hesitation: “I want it.”

With the raffles set at two hundred thousand per round, Yu Wen ran a full ten rounds.

He told Chu Han about this. Chu Han was a bit unhappy, yet also a bit happy.

He was unhappy because he had originally planned to keep this “masterpiece” for his own collection; he was happy because it sold for two million, proving that he truly possessed exceptional talent and value in this field.

Although the buyer was Feng Chengzhou, Yu Wen said the other party had called to discuss business this time. Since he was there for business, taking a liking to his handicraft must be due to its certain artistic value, not personal feelings.

“Fine, sell it,” Chu Han relented with reserve.

When Yu Wen was running the raffles, Xi Su, still tied to the sofa, erupted in unprecedented, violent struggles, kicking his legs and roaring: “Phone! Phone! Give me my phone! I haven’t entered the livestream yet, wait for me—!”

Xi Su only won once, but that one time netted him over a hundred thousand. Finally, when closing the livestream, he looked at the camera with utmost sincerity: “Thank you President Feng, thank you, please come visit often.”

On the other end of the screen, Jian Heng was laughing so hard his face hurt.

Even Xie Heyu, who entered the livestream to join the fun, won a few thousand. He showed the winning page to Yu Wen. Yu Wen’s eyes curved into crescents as he whispered, “Hurry up and say thank you, Xiao Yu.”

Xie Heyu whispered back, “Thank you, Teacher Xiao Yu.”

The heat of Battle Royale fermented for a few days, perfectly coinciding with the pause in Immortal Sect‘s updates, so Yu Wen didn’t have to compete with himself. However, many viewers, wailing from the angst of Battle Royale, turned to the lighthearted Immortal Sect for comfort, begging for extra updates under the official Weibo account.

Knowing the grand finale was up next, Yu Wen didn’t dare say a word.

This morning, he opened his phone and habitually tapped into Weibo to see what new angles the netizens had found to dissect Battle Royale.

Ah, today the one being dissected was him.

Number two on the trending searches — #YuWen, A Highly Empathetic Healing Kitty#

Top comment: [Words cannot describe the shock in my heart the moment he pressed his forehead against the Evil Dragon’s. When he said “My friend,” I thought, the God of Empathy had descended.]

Netizens sure knew how to praise people. The comments below were even more exaggerated—things like “The Nobel Reaction Prize” or “The Ancient Greek God in Charge of Variety Show Characters”… They were praising him with such fervor that Yu Wen’s toes curled in embarrassment.

But while curling his toes, he also felt a subtle, lingering pride. So I really performed that well…

[If they hadn’t unlocked the Evil Dragon’s memories, and if we hadn’t seen the segments of the guests watching him walk out of the castle, I might not have been this moved. Without those two parts, the variety show would just be a variety show. But now, the Hero’s squad is alive.]

[I watched the health bar on the back of his hand dropping while he put everything on the line. In that moment, I felt this story was worth it, the Hero was worth it—worth being the center of the story, surrounded by everyone’s love.]

[When his health bar dropped to one percent, I began to understand why so many people were waiting for him to wake up.]

[“This sword is mine,” “I will win”—starting from these two lines, I fell in love with the Hero.]

[Actually, the clues Yu Wen received at the time weren’t complete. His reaction back then was more like an intuition. I can’t imagine how sharp an intuition must be to allow him to react so appropriately.]

[Yu Wen’s empathy gave the Hero flesh and blood, and the Hero’s flesh and blood resided within his body, giving everyone’s love a place to rest.]

In the eyes of the netizens, Yu Wen’s empathy healed the entire story. Without him, the tone of this variety show episode would have just been regret. But Yu Wen’s reactions transformed the tone of the first episode into a vibrant, flourishing hope.

Hope means expectation.

Everyone was eagerly expecting victory in every episode, expecting the resurrection of the Hero’s squad. The high viewership ratings for this season had already established their foundation at this very moment.

Yu Wen read for a while and went downstairs for breakfast. In a rare occurrence, Xi Su was up today as well, live-streaming in the living room.

Xi Su had never woken up before noon, so seeing him in the living room at this hour made Yu Wen a bit curious.

Walking closer, he heard Xi Su telling the viewers in his livestream: “I’m actually a very steady person in private. That day, it was mainly because the atmosphere felt too heavy, so I goofed around a bit. Hahaha, I’m usually not like that…”

Yu Wen: “…”

After that day, Xie Jiamao had called three times to lecture Xi Su. Having let himself loose for a day, Xi Su—for the sake of his future career—started pretending to be mature and steady again.

The internet may lack a long-term memory, but it doesn’t suffer from amnesia this quickly. Nobody in the livestream bought it. Everyone was teasing him, expressing their disbelief, and some even told him to spit it out if he had something to say and cut the crap.

Unable to keep up the act, Xi Su slumped on the sofa and said, “The boss said if I keep this up, I won’t be able to get roles in idol dramas.”

The fans comforted him one after another: [It’s okay, you can go home and sell barbecue.]

Xi Su: “…I just won’t have roles to film, I’m not retiring from the industry!”

The fans loved watching the chaos unfold; when one side is in trouble, all eight directions come to make a mess.

[Go to the kitchen and drink a mouthful of vinegar. It won’t do anything, your mouth will just feel sour.]

[It’s not a big deal, go buy a bowl of luosifen first, I have a craving.]

[If you don’t have roles, just precipitate yourself. Watch more TV, eat more food, maintain a good mood, take a bath with bath salts every day, and then you’ll turn into a delicious salted fish.]

Enraged, Xi Su shut off the livestream.

That afternoon, a new topic went viral on social media platforms.

“Look, this is the wind.”

At first, it was just a few bloggers who liked Battle Royale collaborating on a video. In the video, everyone held cloth bags bulging with the wind, smiling brightly at the camera and saying: “This bag of wind is our combat trophy.”

Then, in just a few short hours, the number of videos under this topic surged exponentially. People held bags, jackets, and anything that could capture the wind, running across grassy fields, open spaces, playgrounds… The clear sky overhead, the contour of the wind in their hands.

They said: “I can conquer the sky, and I can challenge the mountains.”

Yu Wen saw this topic in the Battle Royale group chat. Yi Ming had cross-posted a few videos, saying: [My god, how romantic.]

Daniel Li sent a voice message, sobbing: “It’s too moving…”