Chapter 61: Transmigrated as a Stingy Phoenix Man (61)
Cen Yu naturally had no idea what was transpiring outside.
It was only after he finished his race and climbed back onto dry land that he noticed the long-absent System bouncing around inside his head—
[Host! Our progress bar just crossed 50%!!]
50% already?
The System hadn’t updated him on their progress in ages. He had assumed the bar was sitting at around 30% at most. How had the narrative completion jumped so much just because he took part in a single competition?
[Someone is probably pulling strings behind our backs,] the fat cat meowed excitedly. [Looks like somebody’s getting ready to smear you.]
[…You don’t need to get so thrilled hearing that someone’s trying to slander me.] Cen Yu felt a bit speechless in his mind.
He had finished second in this round, with the first-place spot claimed by Jian Zhou’s civilian friend!
Yu Kexin excitedly high-fived Jian Zhou! Yet facing her near-record-breaking score, she merely offered a shy, modest smile. “I used to be on the swimming team.”
Got it—a veteran stepping in to crush the rookies.
With the first round over, Jian Zhou’s team naturally earned priority when choosing their ingredients.
The two exercised immense restraint, picking only two items before stepping away from the long table stocked with BBQ supplies.
Next up, naturally, was Cen Yu and Sang Qianshan’s turn.
Cen Yu chuckled inwardly—
Watch and learn as I show you how to be completely shameless!
He began recklessly hoarding food, leaving behind a paltry three portions of vegetables for the remaining three teams. “Sorry, but we’re taking all of this.”
Sang Qianshan felt this was somewhat inappropriate. Worried that Cen Yu’s actions would incite a wave of online hate, he quickly intervened, “I was just joking earlier… I can’t eat this much anyway.”
As he spoke, he began placing some of the ingredients back on the table, keeping only a portion of the haul.
Cen Yu could already picture how the post-production team would try to spin it in the captions, undoubtedly adding words like “Straightforward Boy” right next to his head.
Cen Yu firmly pressed down on Sang Qianshan’s hand. “I can eat this much.”
Sure enough, the bullet chat erupted into a barrage of insults aimed at Cen Yu, slating him as shameless, a villain getting ahead, and declaring their eager anticipation for how their beloved “Brothers” and “Sisters” would crush him later on.
Die, you petty villain!
Yu Jinheng had already returned to the poolside by now and naturally witnessed the little farce Cen Yu had intentionally put on. He cast his gaze toward the production team off to the side, who were looking both excited and conflicted.
The production team likely hadn’t expected to find a civilian guest who was so cooperative, going out of his way to manufacture drama and conflict for the show.
Spotting Yu Jinheng’s return, Pei Zhuo refrained from asking where he had gone, offering only a helpless, “Sorry, we lost.”
Yu Jinheng didn’t care in the slightest.
The next few events followed in quick succession. Throughout the process, Pei Zhuo competed almost single-handedly for their team, which quickly drew complaints from Pei Zhuo’s fans in the chat—
[This friend of Pei’s… did he hire a literal statue? The guy hasn’t moved an inch!]
[My heart breaks for Pei! He comes on a show and still has to carry dead weight!]
[Those commenting earlier, go look up this man’s name—you’ll get a real surprise (shh) (shh)]
A moment later, after a few viewers seemingly did their research, the bullet chat fell silent for a brief spell before someone finally commented in a cautious tone:
[He’s a real-life big boss and mega sponsor (shivering)]
Yu Jinheng ended up taking part only in the memory card-flipping event—
The crew laid out a complete deck of playing cards face-up on the table, giving participants a mere 40 seconds to memorize their suits and positions. Once time was up, the crew flipped all the cards face-down, requiring contestants to locate the exact positions of all cards belonging to three specified suits.
All in all, each round called for uncovering 12 corresponding cards.
The more correct cards a contestant turned over, the more points they scored, with the final rankings determined by total points.
The highest score achieved by the four previous contestants was a modest six correct cards… When Yu Jinheng stepped up, he scanned the suits for a brief moment before turning to the crew—
“That’s enough.”
“??” The director shouted through his megaphone, visibly unsure. “Are you sure?? Don’t you want to keep looking? Your time’s not up yet.”
“I’m sure,” Yu Jinheng said.
With that, he turned away. Once the staff flipped all the cards face-down, he glanced at the prompt cards given to him—3, 9, J—and in under a minute, flawlessly unearthed three cards of each specified suit!
Moreover, he didn’t hesitate for a single second while turning them over.
What proved even more terrifying was that he flipped them all in neat sequence by suit… This left both the production crew and every guest present utterly dumbfounded!
It seemed nobody had anticipated Yu Jinheng’s memory to be this monstrous.
Cen Yu was the sole person who wasn’t surprised in the slightest. He recalled that Yu Jinheng had once stayed in a certain place for a long time, where entertainment was practically nonexistent except for a single deck of cards. The game he had played most back then was shuffling the deck and memorizing the suits.
“Brother Yu, your memory is insane!” Yu Huaining immediately began lavishing praise, having surreptitiously looked up the man’s background while back in his room earlier.
That single search had revealed the man to be a legitimate big boss and financial backer!
He was determined to butter him up as much as possible.
Hearing those words, Yu Jinheng lowered his brow slightly, looking at him.
Yu Huaining couldn’t quite understand the reaction, but the stare filled him with genuine dread, prompting him to instinctively take a step back.
“Apologies,” Yu Jinheng said, looking at Yu Huaining. “I don’t particularly like being called that.”
“You can address me as Mr. Yu.”
Yu Huaining clearly hadn’t expected Yu Jinheng to be this blunt and give him so little face. Yet knowing he couldn’t afford to offend this man under any circumstances, he could only offer a few embarrassed, awkward chuckles.
Yu Jinheng seemed entirely unbothered by how cold and unapproachable his words came across. He simply looked over at the director’s crew with practiced restraint. “May I go pick the ingredients now?”
In the bullet chat, Yu Huaining’s fans were fuming, wanting to curse him out yet not daring to.
In the end, they could only vent their frustration in the chat with a bitter—
[So what if you’re rich, big deal!]
[LOL, the idol tried to suck up and failed, so the fans are throwing a temper tantrum (clown) (clown)]
Sang Qianshan ranked third in this round, which theoretically should have earned him a decent share of ingredients. He watched as Yu Jinheng slowly walked over to the edge of the long table.
Yu Jinheng took a leisurely lap around the long table.
His eyes fell on the pitifully meager handful of vegetables sitting over on Pei Zhuo’s side.
“Bring on the meat!” Pei Zhuo hollered out.
Yu Jinheng tapped his fingers against the tabletop a few times. His eyes swept past Sang Qianshan, darted briefly over Cen Yu standing nearby, and finally settled on the director’s crew—
“If I recall correctly, the rules state there’s no limit on the quantity of ingredients we can take?”
“…Ah, that’s correct,” the director called out through his megaphone.
Hearing Yu Jinheng ask this, an ominous premonition suddenly surged in his heart—
If people start attacking our financial backer online, should I moderate the comments! Or should I just hit ’em with instant administrative blocks!
They watched as Yu Jinheng nodded slightly. Adopting the exact tone of a domineering CEO in a luxury boutique saying ‘Pack up everything except this one,’ he faced the camera and declared: “Then I’ll take it all.”
“Everything here, I’m taking it all.”
As he spoke, his eyes turned toward Cen Yu standing on the other side.
Cen Yu happened to catch his gaze, only for Yu Jinheng to look away a second later—as though the eye contact had been nothing more than an accident.
Meanwhile, in the bullet chat—
[What’s wrong? You guys quiet now? Weren’t you all having a blast bashing our sister-in-law earlier? Now that a real CEO says he’s taking it all, how come every single one of you has gone mute?!]
