FLME Ch20: Drama

“The points stolen by the mole will be settled in the final round. Now announcing the members’ points situation: Song Chenglei 221 points, Tong Li 176 points, Chu Han 197 points, Xi Su 154 points, Cao Lingyun 188 points, Yu Wen—”

The director’s team deliberately paused for a moment.

“Teacher Yu, -32 points.”

Yu Wen cooperatively acted out his vision going black.

The others were extremely astonished and looked at each other in dismay. Tong Li said exaggeratedly, “Teacher Yu was touched thirty-two times today?!”

Song Chenglei: “Aiya, aiya, we’re a serious variety show, right?”

Cao Lingyun was dumbfounded, saying in a soft, delicate voice: “Not only is Teacher Yu tens of millions in debt from coming here, but he’s also lost his innocence…”

Yu Wen looked up at the sky, his mouth flattening in grievance. “How am I supposed to face people after the show airs?”

While the crowd was noisily discussing, Chu Han calculated his own points and realized something was wrong.

“I’m also missing four points,” he said in confusion.

Director: “Each time the ‘Gold Stealer’ steals, it’s two units of points, doubled for members of the same group.”

Tong Li: “Who touched you today?”

Chu Han thought for a second, didn’t speak, and silently stood a bit further away from Xi Su.

Xi Su: “Ge, I’m innocent. I’ve been keeping my distance from you all day today, it’s absolutely impossible for me to be the mole. Besides, if I were the mole, would I only steal four points?”

Song Chenglei: “No matter what you say, the number four points is too indicative. It’s exactly double two points. The possibility of a group member committing the crime is extremely high.”

As soon as the points situation was broadcast, the moles could quickly understand that there wasn’t just one in their camp. Those high stolen points weren’t done by their own hands, so their companions must be hidden in the team.

But Song Chenglei was an exception. He had almost fleeced Yu Wen dry, and the bulk of the points were on him. Therefore, he couldn’t figure it out for a moment and continued to throw dirty water onto Xi Su.

Yu Wen did a rough calculation. Chu Han was obviously Tong Li’s target; there was no follow-up because her personality was cautious, stopping while she was ahead. Xi Su’s target was him, possibly interrupted by the restroom accident, so temporarily he had only stolen two points. Song Chenglei’s target was also him; this big brother had forced him to wipe his shoes a full eight times, plus the same-group doubling rule, making a total of 32 points.

Director’s team: “Do you need to switch teams?”

Director’s team: “The team that arrived first just now has one right to switch teams.”

Oh. Yu Wen’s restless hand settled down. They were third place, by the way.

Chu Han hesitated and raised his hand.

Xi Su was helpless. “Ge, you’ll regret it.”

Chu Han wanted to switch to Yu Wen, but when he looked over, Yu Wen pursed his lips, gesturing towards Song Chenglei beside him.

“…I want Teacher Song,” Chu Han said.

The remaining Yu Wen and Xi Su naturally teamed up.

Yu Wen sucked on the popsicle Chu Han had exchanged with the production team before leaving, lifting his eyelids to peek at Xi Su.

Having his editing of the scandal audio in the restroom walked in on, Xi Su was naturally a bit embarrassed, but more so, he felt bewildered.

“What’s wrong? Did I not make it clear on the phone?” Xi Su quietly took off his microphone, his arm carrying the same small bamboo basket as Yu Wen. The cameraman was left far behind. The two pretended to be digging for mushrooms in the field, but were actually keeping their heads down and talking.

“You picked the wrong one, that’s a bamboo fungus egg. Pick the one next to it…” Yu Wen directed him.

“Oh.”

After being ordered around to pick two or three mushrooms, Xi Su asked him, “You still haven’t said, how do you know my… identity.”

He pondered over the last word for a while before summarizing it, his tone revealing his nonchalance.

Yu Wen munched on his popsicle crunch crunch, his lips numb from the cold, his speech slurred: “Hard to explain, anyway I usually watch these gossips live at the scene…”

Xi Su analyzed the deep meaning in his words and looked horrified. “You’re stalking me?”

“…Are you worthy?”

Unable to hold back, Yu Wen cast a mocking taunt.

Xi Su didn’t ask again. He gave him a deep look, concluding that there must be an unknown intelligence network behind him.

Xi Su went out to work right after graduating high school. His temper wasn’t very good; his manager evaluated him as stupid and hot-tempered. But under the company’s packaging, plus two or three points of barely passable acting, he surprisingly became a positive persona of being straightforward, simple, and clumsy.

He was two different things in private and in front of the screen, he knew it himself.

But facing Yu Wen at this moment, he rarely held back his dog-like temper. After all, Yu Wen looked like someone with very deep schemes. Based on his experience mingling in society, Yu Wen eighty percent had a backer behind him.

Yu Wen completely didn’t know that he had already been labeled as a “shady society guy” by Xi Su, and continued to focus intently on gnawing his popsicle.

After finishing, he packed the trash into a small plastic bag he carried with him, licked the residual sweetness from the corner of his lips, and finally said, “May I take the liberty to ask, what is your original surname?”

Xi Su: “…Xi.”

Yu Wen: “Oh… sorry.”

Yu Wen thought to himself, I had preconceived notions and wrongly blamed you. I thought you were that cannon fodder villain from the book who didn’t even get half a page, that illegitimate son of the Feng family… Speaking of which, why does the Feng family have so many illegitimate children? Is Feng Chengzhou’s dad the Child-Giving Guanyin?

He grumbled internally, while Xi Su was left baffled by his apology. “It’s fine. How about you delete the recording?”

Yu Wen: “I was just being polite.”

Xi Su: “6.” (Slang for ‘speechless/impressive’)

Yu Wen: “Why would you think of using Chu Han’s scandal recording to blackmail Feng Chengzhou, such an ‘ingenious’ idea?”

Xi Su gave him a weird look, buried his head to dig up two mushrooms, and said while digging, “Isn’t this all over the hot searches? Are you on a 2G network? Feng Chengzhou publicly came out, Chu Han’s net worth doubled overnight. The people digging up his dark history could line up from here to France. I happened to be investigating Feng Chengzhou, and the private detective said there was a recording of Chu Han, so I spent a huge fortune to buy it.”

Yu Wen thought about it. A hundred thousand yuan, it was indeed a huge fortune.

But you’re a star, could you not talk in such a stingy, penny-pinching way?

“And then? Why not blackmail Chu Han?”

Xi Su straightened up, looking at him as if looking at a psychopath.

Xi Su: “Aren’t you his friend? Do you think he would submit? It’d be good enough if he didn’t call the police to arrest me.”

Yu Wen: “…”

Makes sense.

Chu Han had exactly that kind of stubborn donkey temper.

Yu Wen tilted his head. “But why are you investigating Feng Chengzhou?”

Xi Su’s movements paused. He frowned. This involved family matters. He said, “Are we close enough to talk about these things?”

“…Sometimes friendship is forged in a single instant.” Yu Wen opened his mouth and the words flowed out freely: “The first moment I saw you, I felt like old friends at first sight, regretting we hadn’t met sooner, like finding my soulmate…”

Xi Su’s brows were tightly knit listening to this. “Don’t understand. Did you fall in love with me at first sight?”

“…” Yu Wen opened his mouth, then closed it again, and finally said, “Teacher Xi, you possess a brain that lacks worldly irrigation yet is extremely clever and imaginative.”

Lacking knowledge, but very good at thinking nonsense.

Xi Su felt this should be praising him. “I think so too. To put it bluntly, you just want to hear about the current situation between me and the Feng family, right? Can’t you look it up yourself? Since you managed to find out my identity, looking up this stuff shouldn’t be hard.”

Yu Wen: “My parents taught me to look at problems comprehensively. I should listen to the thoughts of the person involved.”

He revealed a calm smile, looking very convincing.

Xi Su was convinced.

“We are now grasshoppers on the same boat. It’s not impossible to tell you, but you have to keep it a secret.”

Although Yu Wen didn’t know when he had boarded his pirate ship, he couldn’t be bothered to deny it. Whether he was on it or not, it wasn’t up to Xi Su to decide anyway.

Seeing him nod, Xi Su said, “It’s a pretty cliché story. My mom was Feng Mingjie’s lover. Feng Mingjie, you know him, right? Feng Chengzhou’s dad… Oh, you know, good that you know. Feng Mingjie treated my mom as a lover, my mom treated him as her true love. After their fleeting romance, she gave birth to me. For so many years she waited bitterly for Feng Mingjie to bring her back to the Feng family to be Mrs. Feng. Later, she fell ill and wrote a suicide note for me, telling me that if I couldn’t survive in the future, I should go find the boss of Huiteng Group. That’s when I found out I was someone’s illegitimate son.”

Xi Su: “At that time, my family owed a lot of debt, and I had just entered the entertainment industry. It was the prime time to make money, who had the time to acknowledge a dad? So it was delayed for two years, delayed until now. A while ago, I finally managed to get a blood sample and did a paternity test. Feng Chengzhou was right in the eye of the storm because of coming out, so I thought about having the private detective take some of his blackmail material to see if I could extort him for a bit. Unfortunately, I didn’t get Feng Chengzhou’s, only got Chu Han’s.”

Yu Wen: “…”

He hesitated to speak, stopped, and wanted to speak again. “Do you know that… extortion and blackmail… are illegal?”

Xi Su was surprised: “Is it? I didn’t know.”

…You really don’t feel a shred of guilt.

Xi Su thought about it and felt it wouldn’t come to that. “Do you know why wealthy families are always so easily extorted? Because they don’t dare call the police. Compared to justice, reputation is more important to them. A matter that can be solved with a million yuan is a trivial matter.”

The half-time break ended, and the accompanying PD caught up. Yu Wen walked a bit closer to him, put on his microphone, and covered it with his hand. “Are you very short on money?”

Xi Su swept a glance at him. “Are you not?”

Yu Wen thought about it, that was true.

Who would come out to work if they weren’t short on money.

Xi Su: “Didn’t I just say it? My mom got sick and owed a lot of debt. My grandma is old, and I want to pay off the debts as soon as possible and buy her a house.”

Yu Wen always felt this development was shrouded in fog and mist.

What kind of illegitimate son doesn’t fight for the family inheritance, but only thinks about extortion?

He voiced the thoughts in his heart, and Xi Su showed an expression of “What crazy nonsense are you spouting?”

Xi Su: “Fight for the family inheritance? Do you think I have the ability?”

Yu Wen: “…You are surprisingly clear-headed sometimes.”

Xi Su: “I only told you this because I consider you a friend! These are all words from the bottom of my heart!”

Yu Wen: …Alright.

Going out on a trip, gaining another friend.

Before long, his intimate friends would be all over the world. Ruling the world was only a matter of time!

Recording a show was truly not a good opportunity to talk. The staff noticed their microphones had no sound and came over to pry open their hands covering the mics. The two were forced to interrupt their whispering, and only then did Yu Wen remember he hadn’t said the most important thing.

—He still hadn’t warned Xi Su to stop dragging Chu Han into CP-hyping.

Having picked two full baskets of mountain goods, halfway up the mountain, they ran into Tong Li and Cao Lingyun.

Tong Li was panting heavily, probing as if casually chatting, “Xiao Yu… just now in the last round, you were stolen from by over thirty points. Do you have any clues?”

Here it comes. The mole, realizing she has a companion, has started looking for people.

Yu Wen put on an expression of deep thought, furrowing his brows, looking like a little bitter gourd. “…No.” He shook his head.

Exchanging a glance with Tong Li, Cao Lingyun said: “We ran into Teacher Song just now. Teacher Song said he had almost no direct physical contact with you the entire time. We chatted for a bit and felt that the rules the director announced this morning are very likely not the whole story. Supposing Teacher Song is the mole, is there a possibility that he doesn’t need to directly touch you, for example, having Xi Su touch your hair, or pull your wrist. That also counts as physical contact.”

Yu Wen: “Ah? What?!”

His heart was completely unfazed.

Oh my god, you guys finally thought of this point.

Tong Li: “So Xiao Yu, carefully recall, is there anyone who could be this relay station?”

“Relay station? I don’t know.” Yu Wen said absentmindedly: “But I touched my own shoes many times today.”

Xi Su gasped slightly, “Could it be…”

(Yu Wen) directly touching (Yu Wen’s) feet? Fuck, what a genius idea, why didn’t he think of that!

Xi Su secretly cursed in his heart.

Tong Li stared intently at Yu Wen.

“Did Song Chenglei tell you to touch them?”

Just as Yu Wen was about to nod, a flash of insight suddenly hit him. He raised his eyes and met Tong Li’s gaze.

In that instant, he understood the hidden meaning in Tong Li’s words. Smiling slightly, he said ambiguously, “I don’t remember clearly. I’m wearing white shoes, they easily get mud on them. Maybe I also wiped them myself.”

Tong Li gave him a deep look, and the two teams parted ways.

Not far after leaving, Tong Li said with certainty, “Yu Wen was only with Song Chenglei in the last round. If it’s really as Yu Wen said, Teacher Song remains the most suspicious.”

Cao Lingyun was dazed for a moment. Not seeking to understand thoroughly, she nodded, “I think so too.”

She had never contributed much in terms of brainpower. In her eyes, Tong Li was already an ironclad good person. Therefore, whatever Sister Tong said, went.

Seeing her not doubting, Tong Li breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Actually, that ambiguous sentence just now confirmed for her that Yu Wen was her companion.

The task card only fixed the body part of the person being stolen from. For example, her card went like this: ( ) directly touching ( )’s shoulders, Tong Li steals 2 points.

The main characters in the parentheses were chosen and filled in by her. Considering carefully, she chose the closer Xi Su and Chu Han. By having Xi Su touch Chu Han, she could complete the task.

But Yu Wen clearly took a completely different route from hers: (Yu Wen) directly touching (Yu Wen’s) foot, Yu Wen steals 2 points.

Unorthodox, bold and arrogant, and extremely deceptive.

Having been stolen from by over thirty points in the first round, no one would ever suspect that he himself was the mole.

But in reality, his losses and gains were currently equal. If he successfully remained undercover until the end, his gains would double, making it a profit.

In Werewolf, this was a high-level player self-killing to bait the witch’s potion.

Tong Li couldn’t help but marvel at the exquisiteness of Yu Wen’s strategy. At the same time, she clarified her own goal: in the voting session tonight, she absolutely had to protect Yu Wen to the death until the end!

According to the rules, as long as one mole remained hidden, they would be considered the winners.

She said to Cao Lingyun, “In the voting tonight, we’ll vote Teacher Song out in the first round. He’s way too suspicious.”

“I think she’s very suspicious,” Xi Su said, watching Tong Li’s retreating back.

“…” Yu Wen turned his head half a beat late to look at him.

Xi Su analyzed seriously: “Her words just now obviously pointed the spearhead at Teacher Song. But Teacher Song stayed with you the entire last round. Whether Teacher Song is a good guy or not, you should be clear about it, right?”

Yu Wen: “…Mn.”

Of course he was clear that Teacher Song wasn’t a good guy.

But Xi Su thought this meant agreement, and his confidence doubled. “Teacher Song is a good guy, yet she keeps stepping on him. Her identity here with me isn’t looking good right now. How about we vote her out in the first round tonight?”

Yu Wen: “…”

Xi Su’s train of thought was clear.

He thought like this: Yu Wen was stolen from by over thirty points, which must have been in the last round. In the last round, only Song Chenglei had the opportunity, so Song Chenglei must be his mole companion. Tong Li had always been responsible for brainpower output in the team, alert and meticulous. No matter from which angle, they couldn’t let her speak too much. It would be best to vote her out in the first round.

Perfect.

Yu Wen really couldn’t say much more, so he could only reply deeply: “Mn.”

Since you guys want to slaughter each other, it’s not really my place to stop you.

Have at it, then.