48: Sure win

If Lu Jin's song made those with similar experiences empathize and cry, this song 'guest' made even those without such experiences weep.

The lyrics were simply heart-wrenching; just imagining the scene made one feel sorry for the man.

Everyone even started to wonder: was it really the man's fault they didn't end up together? Or was the woman just too greedy!

Once 'guest' was released, the regrets described in previous songs suddenly felt like child's play.

Once the audience calmed down, the Host began to announce the vote counts for Chen Ting and Lu Qingyu's group.

Lou Qingran watched the stage with slight excitement. In the last round, Lu Jin's group had 1.85 million online votes, which was higher than the first round and seemed like a figure that would be hard to surpass.

However, Lou Qingran had a feeling that Lu Qingyu and Chen Ting's votes should be even higher.

As the progress bar on the screen began to move forward, Lou Qingran felt nervous—more nervous than when she was looking at her own results.

Lu Jin felt the same way at that moment. Ten seconds later, everyone's eyes nearly popped out of their heads.

2.11 million votes! Holy crap, didn't this just break the record?!

The audience erupted into thunderous applause once again. Lou Qingran and Zhang Xiaoxiao stood up to congratulate Lu Qingyu. Lu Jin struggled to maintain his public image and offered a reluctant word of congratulations to Lu Qingyu.

Chen Ting felt like his heart was about to leap out of his chest; he never expected this kind of result in his wildest dreams.

He turned to look at Lu Qingyu. The eighteen-year-old boy stood under the shining spotlights, incredibly calm. In contrast, he felt like an inexperienced greenhorn.

But Chen Ting couldn't help himself. He pulled Lu Qingyu into a hug. Unprepared, Lu Qingyu felt the air squeezed out of his chest instantly, making him feel like he was suffocating.

Lu Qingyu patted Chen Ting's back. "Boss, Boss... if you don't let go, you might as well sing 'courage' to send me off."

Chen Ting, whose tears were about to fall, felt like a flood that was about to pour out had been plugged back in by a slap.

Thanks to Lu Qingyu, his new song 'courage' was now the must-have divine anthem for funerals in their area.

As expected, when with Lu Qingyu, one couldn't stay moved for more than three seconds. Chen Ting let go of Lu Qingyu and patted his shoulder instead, saying a sincere thank you.

Lu Qingyu: "It's fine, Boss. If you really want to thank me, show some sincerity. I'm definitely not the type of person who does favors without seeking a return. At the very least, buy me a cup of coffee when I go to work tomorrow."

Lu Qingyu spoke with a tsundere expression and a serious tone. Looking at him like this, Chen Ting wanted to laugh.

"Other artists try their best to flatter their bosses. If a boss takes them on a show, they're so grateful they'd want to buy the boss coffee and desserts every day. Yet you're asking me to buy you coffee."

Lu Qingyu couldn't help but look at Chen Ting with the kind of eyes one uses for a moron.

"Boss, since you put it that way, we need to have a serious talk about this."

Chen Ting looked at Lu Qingyu, curious to see what he would say.

Lu Qingyu said, "Boss, by participating in the show, am I earning money for the company?"

Chen Ting: "Yes."

"Who does the company belong to?"

Chen Ting: "Me."

Lu Qingyu: "Then isn't the money I earn effectively earning money for you?"

Chen Ting thought about it. "Yes."

Lu Qingyu: "Then that's equivalent to me paying your salary."

Chen Ting was stunned, feeling like something was off. "I suppose you could say that..."

Lu Qingyu: "If I'm paying your salary, then I should be considered your boss. So, shouldn't you show me some respect?"

Chen Ting suddenly began to doubt himself. "Huh? Can it be calculated like that?"

Lu Qingyu: "So Boss, buying me a cup of coffee isn't too much to ask, right?"

Chen Ting was going crazy. "Damn, it seems like there's nothing wrong with that logic!"

Even after the two of them got into the car, Chen Ting hadn't quite wrapped his head around it. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he felt Lu Qingyu was right!

After the show ended, Chen Ting personally drove Lu Qingyu home. With today's episode out, Lu Qingyu's follower count skyrocketed from over nine hundred thousand to 1.8 million. Currently, the gap between him and Lu Jin was less than three hundred thousand.

On Weibo, the 'musical prodigy' labels that Lu Jin had pre-assigned to himself had now all shifted onto Lu Qingyu.

#MusicalGenius#

#CreativeMaster#

#guest#

#LuQingyuFutureIsBright#

Looking at the online comments and hot search topics, Lu Jin went home and smashed everything in sight. Basically, everything breakable in the room was shattered, but he still couldn't vent his rage.

With four topics trending simultaneously, Lu Qingyu was truly famous now.

The growth rate of Lu Qingyu's Weibo followers truly stunned Chen Ting and Su Jixing. This explosion was too fierce; no one else in their company could compare. People who had experienced this phenomenon in the past were now top-tier stars in the entertainment industry.

The key was that Lu Qingyu had only just entered the industry and had only participated in two shows. This was truly a case of becoming an overnight sensation. Su Jixing became even more cautious in the face of this situation. Since Lu Qingyu was so young, he had to carefully plan his future path.

Lu Qingyu knew he was famous, but he didn't have a clear understanding of just how famous he was.

As usual, he went to Black Pearl for his performance classes in the morning. After class, Su Jixing gave him some free time.

However, Su Jixing had started to control his diet. During the day, Su Jixing said he had to go out for some important business, so the secretary ordered a custom lunch for Lu Qingyu.

Having recently grown accustomed to eating river snail rice noodles, Spicy Hot Pot, Crossing the Bridge Rice Noodles, Spicy Incense Pot, and many other heavy-flavored junk foods, Lu Qingyu couldn't stand it when he saw a box full of healthy green vegetable salad.

Is this even food for humans? There wasn't even any dressing in the vegetable salad. Even a sheep would take two bites and spit it out.

Lu Qingyu looked around the room, saw no other dishes, and asked somewhat hopefully, "Is there anything else?"

The secretary thought Lu Qingyu wasn't full and took out another box of vegetable salad.

"I'll give you my portion too."

Lu Qingyu looked at it; it still had that unappetizing color. "Forget it. If I eat yours, you'll go hungry."

The secretary said apologetically, "No, I won't. This is a main course for you, but we eat it as a cold side dish. I still have my pork trotter rice."

Lu Qingyu: !!! He wanted to eat pork trotter rice too.

"Can't I eat the same thing as you?"

A big bowl of pork trotter rice would be great; the sauce poured over the rice, fragrant, sweet, and soft.

Unfortunately, the secretary shook her head. "President Su specifically said before he left that I have to control your diet."

Lu Qingyu gave a heartless roll of his eyes. There was no way he was eating this.

Consequently, he didn't eat anything at noon. Once the last class ended, he put on his hat and headed straight for the food street in the plaza downstairs.

The food street in the plaza downstairs was about a hundred meters long. Although it wasn't very long, it had all kinds of snacks and junk food.

As soon as Lu Qingyu entered the snack street, he smelled the aroma of the barbecue stall at the entrance. Large chunks of bright red meat were sizzling with oil, sprinkled with cumin and chili. One bite was pure bliss for the soul; this was what humans were meant to eat.

Lu Qingyu decisively bought a handful. With skewers in one hand and milk tea in the other, he lined up in front of the small river snail rice noodles shop.