Chapter 32
As a private detective, Liang Shu’s prop was a magnifying glass, which had the ability to dig deeper into clues.
According to the show’s arrangement, each person’s secret required three clues to be fully cracked, and each person also had a special ability.
Most of the abilities were offensive, while the bank scion’s ability was special; he had three lives.
The private detective’s ability was also unusual. His ability was not used on people, but on clues.
As long as he found one clue and used the magnifying glass, he could get the complete secret. But this ability also had a limitation: it could only be used one hour after the game started, and only once.
The photos Lin Yanran had obtained were, in everyone’s eyes, the product of her ability, not a clue hidden in advance by the show’s team.
Liang Shu would naturally not waste his ability on such photos.
The two stick figure drawings that had fallen on the ground, he knew they were useless, but he still picked them up for Lin Yanran’s sake.
Like Lin Yanran’s “relics,” he treasured this clumsy doodle and put it in his pocket.
Lin Yanran’s live broadcast room was closed due to her elimination. The audience who were curious about the follow-up could only go to Liang Shu’s. Unexpectedly, as soon as they entered, they saw such a heart-wrenching scene.
[????]
[LMAO, the eliminated Lin Yanran would be brought back to life by anger.]
[That photo is also a clue! Hurry up and use your magnifying glass, big brother!!]
However, no matter how the audience shouted, Liang Shu was unaware. He silently took on the responsibility of avenging his teammate and went all out to find clues.
Shen Wu and Meng Huaizhi had a hellish start, a very unfavorable 2v4, and their abilities were not strong. Who would have thought that as the game progressed, the two of them were unknowingly on the verge of victory.
The fans of the two of them were not merciful at all and left a screen full of “hahaha” in Liang Shu’s live broadcast room.
Suddenly, someone reminded, [Sisters, hurry back. It seems like Huai-ge is about to play the piano!!]
Shen Wu and Meng Huaizhi had eliminated Lin Yanran, solving the threat of long-range photography. The two of them did not delay and went to the piano in the first-floor hall again.
It was a retro walnut grand piano.
Meng Huaizhi sat down on a corner of the soft bench. Seeing that there was still room on the bench, Shen Wu also sat down next to him.
Meng Huaizhi opened the sheet music prepared in advance by the show’s team and quickly read it from beginning to end. “This piece will take about ten minutes to play.”
“Please play this piece completely without interruption, and then you will know what you want to know,” Shen Wu read the prompt above the sheet music and couldn’t help but worry, “Once you start playing the piano, there will be sound. Liang-ge will definitely come over. It seems a bit difficult to play for ten minutes without interruption…”
Speak of the devil. Meng Huaizhi was still confirming the key of the sheet music when Liang Shu had already seen them from the second-floor corridor and was rushing downstairs.
Nan Dengwei had been chasing him and followed closely behind, coming down from the other side of the stairs, his speed not at all inferior to the burly Liang Shu.
He rushed over resolutely and blocked Liang Shu’s only path to the piano. “Liang-ge, don’t come over.”
He warned him verbally, while holding up a stethoscope in his hand. If Liang Shu rushed over regardless, it would be like running into the stethoscope himself, failing to stop Meng Huaizhi and getting eliminated instead.
The two of them were in a stalemate for a while.
Shen Wu and Meng Huaizhi could just take this opportunity to play the piano, but Meng Huaizhi’s brow was slightly furrowed, and he murmured to himself, “This sheet music… seems to be written randomly.”
Liang Shu was overjoyed to hear this. Nan Dengwei, who was blocking him, still had a serious expression and warned with a straight face, “Liang-ge, don’t come over.”
Nan Dengwei was a semi-non-celebrity. At the beginning of the show, he was the one with the lowest attention among the guests. As the show progressed, he had gained a lot of new fans with his beautiful and delicate face and his contrasting personality.
At this moment, the audience’s favorability towards Nan Dengwei had risen to a new level, and it even included the “Wuye Shuhuai” CP fans.
[I suddenly feel a bit sorry for Nan Dengwei. The little couple is dating, and he’s helping them keep watch.]
[I feel sorry for Xiao Nan, I understand Xiao Nan, I thank Xiao Nan. When they get married in the future, you’ll sit at the main table.]
[Wait a minute, let’s bring our Director Fang along too.]
[Hahahahahaha]
From what Meng Huaizhi meant, it seemed that this piano piece could not be figured out in a short time.
After a few dozen seconds, Liang Shu made a decision, turned around, and chose to give up.
Nan Dengwei, who was on full alert, suddenly lost his target and was taken aback.
He had found Xia Fanxing’s clue before and knew that it took three clues to eliminate someone.
And he had not found a single clue about Shen Wu’s secret.
In other words, in the huge villa, there were still several clues about Shen Wu, and it was impossible to find them all within the time of a piano piece.
But the possibility of finding one clue was very high.
With the ability of the private detective Liang Shu, one clue was enough to eliminate Shen Wu!
This thought quickly flashed through his mind. Nan Dengwei did not hesitate and ran after Liang Shu.
The two people left sitting on the piano bench, Meng Huaizhi set up the sheet music and said to Shen Wu, “I might need your help.”
Shen Wu: “…Huh?”
Shen Wu’s confusion was not due to Meng Huaizhi’s request, but the help he needed now—it could only be the piano.
From childhood to adulthood, in all kinds of extracurricular activities outside of studying, no matter what it was, he had to be the best. If he participated in a competition, he had to be first. His pride had never been without reason.
There was only one thing that was a solid wall for him on all four sides. He would hit it whether he turned his head or not.
That was music.
Meng Huaizhi of the Meng family was a rare musical genius, while he was a complete musical idiot, and the degree of his idiocy was also quite rare.
He had once, out of curiosity about Meng Huaizhi’s world, tried various musical instruments and listened to music with headphones on all day, but he had regrettably found that he was completely inept at musical instruments, was tone-deaf in singing, and even his ability to appreciate music was quite worrying.
“You play with me,” Meng Huaizhi clarified his words. Just as Shen Wu had guessed, he really wanted his help to play the piano.
Meng Huaizhi had known him for seventeen years and knew that he had no talent for music.
Shen Wu was afraid that he had forgotten and reminded him, “I can’t play the piano.”
“Mm,” Meng Huaizhi was not surprised. “I haven’t touched a piano for many years either, so I need your help.”
Shen Wu’s eyes lit up at his words, and he gained a little confidence. But for the sake of the audience’s ears, he had to give a warning in advance, “If you’re not afraid of a cacophony, I can…”
Meng Huaizhi chuckled and pointed at the sheet music with his fingertip, “Look.”
Shen Wu followed his fingertip and, among the jumping tadpole-like notes, found two notes that appeared repeatedly at the same interval.
Shen Wu: “Why is this sheet music like a logical reasoning math problem?”
“Because this sheet music,” Meng Huaizhi said in a faint tone that did not sound like sarcasm, “is a cacophony in the first place.”
Shen Wu couldn’t help but laugh.
Meng Huaizhi pointed out the corresponding positions of the notes on the piano keys to Shen Wu, “It’s just these two keys. Da, da, da, just press them in this rhythm. It doesn’t matter if it’s a little faster or slower. I can adjust on my side.”
Shen Wu nodded in agreement. When Meng Huaizhi’s hand left, he was confused again. Facing the dozens of identical black and white keys, he felt dizzy. “…Here?”
Meng Huaizhi thought for a moment, held his misplaced finger, and brought him to the correct position. “Here.”
His heart seemed to have skipped a beat.
In a moment of carelessness, his fingertip pressed down on the piano key. The high note was ethereal and crisp, like the call of a bird awakening a traveler under a blue sky and sea.
“Start?” Meng Huaizhi asked.
“Mm, okay,” Shen Wu nodded stiffly.
While they were playing the piano here, the audience in the live broadcast room was excitedly typing on their keyboards.
[Ahhhhhh, I can actually see Huai-ge playing the piano!!! In my lifetime, wuwuwuwu.]
[Four-hand piano is so sweet, ahhhhhh.]
[Taking the opportunity to touch his little hand, you’re really something, Meng Huaizhi!]
[Crap, pulling the suspender might have been an accident, but this time it’s definitely on purpose!!]
Shen Wu sat on the right side of the piano bench, and the two keys he was in charge of were both super high notes.
And the main notes of the sheet music were concentrated in the middle and low range, a melodious and gentle melody. Through Meng Huaizhi’s long hands, it flowed like a clear, gurgling stream over the wet green moss in the forest.
Under Meng Huaizhi’s guidance, even those rigid and abrupt high notes seemed harmonious and compatible a vibrant life force in this calm stream.
Shen Wu couldn’t help but think of a bird flapping its wings and flying into the sky in the forest.
The piece was finished.
Meng Huaizhi’s ten fingers still lingered on the snow-white piano keys. He turned his head slightly and looked at Shen Wu beside him.
Shen Wu’s head was lowered, his eyes fixed on the piano keys in front of him. He was afraid of accidentally pressing an extra key, so he used one finger from each hand to press a key respectively.
He was a genius who galloped freely in his field of expertise, enjoying the cheers and admiration of countless people. Only at times like this would he show a bit of childishness.
This feeling would make an older person instinctively want to take care of him, to look at him with gentle eyes.
But he was no longer the child or teenager he used to be. His sharp and distinct side profile was clearly that of an adult.
It made people want to do more than just take care of him.
Not just a younger brother.
After a few seconds, Shen Wu carefully withdrew his slightly stiff fingers.
He suddenly found that Meng Huaizhi’s world was actually very simple.
He turned his head and met Meng Huaizhi’s gaze.
Shen Wu was slightly taken aback.
He vaguely remembered that there was no such plot in the novel. The male lead and the main character shou, they each shone in their own fields. Music and acting were related, but not connected.
But now, Meng Huaizhi seemed to be leading him into his own world and telling him: Look, my world is not out of reach, not unattainable.
Even if it was the cold moon in the sky, its brilliance always shone on the face of the person looking at it.
Just then, a strange thing appeared behind the music stand. A small platform slowly rose, carrying a black and gold metal fountain pen.
Underneath was a note: You can write down what you want to know at the end of the sheet music.
Shen Wu quickly picked up the fountain pen and handed it to Meng Huaizhi, urging him, “Hurry up and write, Liang-ge’s secret.”
“Shen Wu, you are extravagant and dissolute, disregarding ethics and morality. Your indecent and immoral love is despicable to me. A person like you is not qualified to be my heir.”
“Shen Wu, eliminated.”
Before Meng Huaizhi had finished writing the words “Liang Shu’s secret,” the broadcast sound announcing Shen Wu’s elimination came on.
The two of them were taken aback at the same time and saw a similar confusion in each other’s eyes.
Meng Huaizhi stopped writing and frowned, “Immoral love? With whom?”
Shen Wu had just spat out two words, “Me too…”
The villa’s security guards appeared out of nowhere, rushed forward, and covered his mouth with black-gloved hands.
…He didn’t know either!
[???]
[Huh? Immoral love??]
[The most explosive secret has appeared.]
[Huh? With a married woman? Or… a married man? (not serious)]
[Hahaha, why did it suddenly turn into a late-night Japanese drama?]
[Ahhhhhh, so what kind of immoral love is it! Can’t you elaborate??]
Shen Wu was also very helpless.
When Fang Ci had told him the secret, he had not told him the details of the immoral love.
He guessed that the object of the immoral love might be a non-existent NPC, so it didn’t matter what their identity was.
Other guests were also possible, so Fang Ci couldn’t tell him the other person’s identity, because the same secret would inevitably lead to a firm alliance between the two.
In a solo battle, fighting for oneself, lies and betrayal were the most interesting points.
Shen Wu was eliminated with a stomach full of questions and regrets.
A moment later, the broadcast sound came on again.
“Liang Shu, you are an alcoholic, have squandered your family’s fortune, and abandoned your wife and daughter… A person like you is not qualified to be my heir.”
“Liang Shu, eliminated.”
Shen Wu had just sat down in the back room when, not long after, Liang Shu also came in.
He greeted him, “Liang-ge.”
Lin Yanran was furious and shot to her feet, “Liang Shu! Are you stupid! The photo I left for you was a clue!!”
Liang Shu took out the stick figure photo he had kept all along. He had kept it in good condition even after being eliminated. He was about to return it to Lin Yanran when he froze at her words.
Nan Dengwei reminded him, “Sister Yanran, the backstage is also being filmed. It will be edited into the highlights version later.”
Lin Yanran sighed, “Alright, I’m the stupid one.”
After two episodes of recording, everyone’s relationship had become very close. Hearing this, they all smiled.
Shen Wu was a bit curious, “What clue?”
Liang Shu gave him the photo.
Shen Wu first looked at the two identical stick figures holding hands, then at the one big and one small stick figure patting the head, and flipped it over and over, “This might be me and my immoral love object?”
Lin Yanran came over, “So who is he? What else do these two photos hint at?”
Shen Wu rubbed his nose, “I don’t know either.”
Several people sat in a row in the elimination room. The big screen in front of them was the live broadcast.
Four of the live broadcast rooms had been turned off, leaving only Meng Huaizhi’s and Nan Dengwei’s.
Shen Wu was naturally staring at Meng Huaizhi’s.
Meng Huaizhi sat alone on the piano bench, his eyes lowered, staring at the spot where Shen Wu had sat, lost in thought.
A few seconds later, he moved to the center of the piano bench and placed his hands on the piano keys again.
He was tall and had long arms, and his piano-playing fingers were also very long. He only needed to lean his body slightly to the left and right to easily bring all 88 keys under his control.
He straightened the sheet music, and his ten fingers fell. The familiar melody sounded again.
However, this time, the speed was two or three times faster than the previous four-hand duet. The two nimble and slender hands danced on the piano, bringing a great dual enjoyment of sight and sound.
Shen Wu: “?”
He watched and commented, “Isn’t he quite skilled?”
Lin Yanran glanced at him and said nothing.
The audience could not see the situation in the elimination room. Four of the six live broadcast rooms were closed, so most of the audience had to flock to Meng Huaizhi’s live broadcast room.
Some people had just arrived and were full of amazement.
[Holy crap, Meng Huaizhi can actually play the piano?]
[There’s no instrument our Huai-ge can’t play!! But he’s never played the piano in public before. He only mentioned it once in an interview, saying he had learned it as a child.]
[Stunned… is this just the level of someone who learned it as a child?]
[By the way, didn’t he just say that he hadn’t played the piano for a long time and was not familiar with it?]
[You didn’t remember wrong, that’s what he said.]
[It was clearly just an excuse to play with Shen Wu (doge).]
[LMAO, if it weren’t for wasting time on dating, Shen Wu wouldn’t have been eliminated.]
[Huai-ge: Turning grief and anger into strength.jpg]
[Ahhhhhh, what did I miss!?]
In less than three minutes, the piece was finished.
Meng Huaizhi quickly wrote “Nan Dengwei’s secret” at the end of the sheet music.
As the last stroke fell, the broadcast sound came on.
“Nan Dengwei, for a small profit, you did not treat an ordinary patient in time, indirectly causing the death of an innocent person… A person like you is not qualified to be my heir.”
“Nan Dengwei, eliminated.”
Nan Dengwei stopped what he was doing and sighed with regret.
The final winner of the inheritance battle had been decided. The security guard was generous and did not come to cover his mouth, letting Nan Dengwei go to the elimination room on his own.
But now, he was not searching for clues about Meng Huaizhi. Instead, he was in the medical room where Shen Wu and Meng Huaizhi had first found the stethoscope.
On the table in front of him were several colorful flasks, as well as weights and a balance, a setup that looked a bit like a chemistry experiment.
“I was so close to reviving Wu-ge,” Nan Dengwei threw the test tube in his hand in a fit of anger, and colorful stains splashed on his white coat. “Your solution is too difficult to prepare.”
Shen Wu in the elimination room was taken aback, and the audience in the live broadcast room also saw him again.
Because Nan Dengwei was preparing to revive Shen Wu, Shen Wu’s live broadcast room was ready to be opened at any time.
Unexpectedly, Meng Huaizhi had played the piano at double speed the second time, and Nan Dengwei was regrettably a step too late.
“Xiao Nan’s prop is not a stethoscope?” Shen Wu asked in confusion.
“No,” Xia Fanxing said. “He lied to us. He used a clue to eliminate me.”
Lin Yanran also just found out, “Can you do that?”
Nan Dengwei returned in defeat and walked straight to Shen Wu, “I’m sorry, Wu-ge, I was so close.”
“I wasn’t planning to win in the first place,” Shen Wu shook his head. “I have to spend money every time I suppress a scandal. Twenty thousand each time. Even if I win, I can only get ten thousand in the end.”
Nan Dengwei’s furrowed brow immediately relaxed. He both smiled and sighed, gesturing with his hands, “…Just a little bit.”
Shen Wu was slightly taken aback, feeling that Nan Dengwei seemed different somehow.
The audience in the live broadcast room saw it more clearly.
[I suddenly found that Nan Dengwei seems to have been helping Shen Wu from the beginning?]
[Is he acting cute now?]
[I’ll take a small bite.]
[Ahhhhhh, no! Don’t break up my CP! Summon Huai-ge!!]
[Wuye Shuhuai is a perfect match! A match made in heaven!! Mortals, do not disturb.]
[Wuye Shuhuai is locked. I’ll fight anyone who breaks them up.]
[Not only did Huai-ge get paid to date, but he also earned fifty thousand prize money for our Wuwu, hahaha. This wave is clearly a complete victory for Huai-ge.]
Fang Ci came over to give the next instruction, “Now, please all go to the winner’s hall.”
[Let’s go and get the prize money gege earned~]
