The younger generation, starting from where the wind blows...

Chapter 280 See you on Monday

Jia Kuan panicked completely and turned to Zhou Yiming to ask what to do now.

Zhou Yiming, in a fit of rage, declared on the spot:

"At worst, we'll fight to the death!"

Lin Shaotao was extremely disappointed to see that Zhou Yiming was still being stubborn even at this point.

Good words cannot persuade a damned person.

That’s it for now, let’s eat first.

In front of Zhou Yiming and Jia Kuan, Lin Shaotao took out his phone and dialed Jian Ai's number.

"Which restaurant are you and Liu Yingxia eating at? Maple Tree Restaurant? Okay, I'm coming right now, please save me a seat."

As he spoke, he walked out of the dormitory.

Seeing that Zhou Yiming was still standing in the dormitory and refused to leave, Jia Kuan had no choice but to chase after him alone.

As soon as Lin Shaotao put down his phone, Jia Kuan immediately stepped forward and grabbed Lin Shaotao's hand.

"Shaotao, has things really come to this point?"

"If you don't believe me, go ask Liu Yingxia yourself. When I ran into Yang Muye, both Liu Yingxia and Jian Ai were there."

After Lin Shaotao finished speaking, he shook off Jia Kuan's hand and continued walking forward.

After regaining his senses, Jia Kuan chased after him again.

"Shaotao, what if we get sued and lose the case?"

"Paying compensation and issuing a public apology is the least you can do."

Lin Shaotao turned to look at Jia Kuan, who was completely disoriented: "Although schools generally don't punish students for these kinds of civil disputes, it's normal for them to get a disciplinary action if the matter blows up and affects the school's reputation."

"Shaotao, don't scare me!"

Jia Kuan's voice was trembling.

Lin Shaotao sneered inwardly.

When the moment finally comes, do you finally realize the fear?

"Why would I scare you? Even if the school doesn't punish you two, if things escalate, you can forget about getting your scholarship this year."

Jia Kuan felt a bitter taste in his mouth and was filled with regret.

However, he still accurately grasped the key words in Lin Shaotao's words.

Don't make a big fuss.

"You mean we should go to Yang Muye now to apologize and take the initiative to reconcile, and as long as we don't escalate the situation, there's still room for reconciliation?"

Lin Shaotao turned to look at Jia Kuan:

"Now that you're willing to reconcile, is Yiming willing to agree?"

Jia Kuan immediately understood Lin Shaotao's meaning and assured him on the spot that he would definitely persuade Zhou Yiming.

Lin Shaotao didn't have high hopes for Jia Kuan persuading Zhou Yiming, but now he had no choice but to try anything.

Jia Kuan rushed back to the dormitory in a hurry, only to find Zhou Yiming already dressed in his evening performance clothes and looking in the mirror.

Jia Kuan was dumbfounded on the spot.

This is already a matter of life and death. Zhou Yiming still has to go on a performance tour tonight.

"why are you not going?"

Zhou Yiming turned to look at Jia Kuan and said confidently, "Precisely because Yang Muye is about to sue us, we should seize the opportunity to make as much money as possible."

Jia Kuan was taken aback.

It seems to make some sense.

Can--

"It's nothing more than losing the lawsuit and paying him some money. As long as you don't say anything and I don't say anything, who will know how many shows we've put on?"

Jia Kuan suddenly realized what was happening.

Is Zhou Yiming planning to fight to the bitter end?
"Yiming, if you ask me, let's not make things worse. Let's do what you just said: let's give most of what we've earned to the other party and keep some for ourselves. As long as we can settle this matter, that's fine."

Jia Kuan earnestly advised him.

Zhou Yiming remained unmoved:
"You've got it backwards. The more this matter escalates, the better it will be for us!"

what?
Jia Kuan was dumbfounded.

This is completely different from what Lin Shaotao said.

“Think about it, if Old Boys sue us, who will people sympathize with online? We only sang three of their songs, and we all went to the same school. They might win the lawsuit, but they'll lose their reputation. The real loss will be to themselves.”

"What will we do if we lose the case?" Jia Kuan asked rhetorically.

Zhou Yiming's method kills a thousand enemies but also injures eight hundred of his own.

It seems like they're the ones who actually profited.

The problem is that the enemy has a total of 100,000, so losing 1,000 is not even considered a loss.

They only had eight hundred in total, and they lost it all in one go.

Zhou Yiming turned his head away from the mirror and looked at Jia Kuan speechlessly.

"Why didn't you understand what I meant? For Old Boys, it's not worth making a big deal out of it, so they will definitely take the initiative to talk to us. Don't be afraid of receiving a lawyer's letter or a court summons. They will only want to settle more than we do. At that time, the initiative will be in our hands, understand?"

"But Shaotao—"

Before Jia Kuan could finish speaking, Zhou Yiming rudely interrupted him.

"He just wants us to take the initiative to apologize to Yang Muye, so that he can show that he, as the president of the student union, is particularly capable and can resolve things."

“I even suspect that he was the one who leaked the news that we were going to do gigs at bars to Yang Muye. Otherwise, how could Yang Muye, who was an exchange student at Dongda University, know about what was happening in Yanjing from so far away?”

Jia Kuan wanted to say a few words in defense of Lin Shaotao, but Zhou Yiming didn't give Jia Kuan a chance to speak at all.

"Anyway, I've figured it out now. Lin Shaotao has never really treated us as brothers. He just needed a couple of followers, and we just happened to be in the same dorm as him. His kindness to us was just condescending charity."

“Seeing that we were going out to perform and earn money, he lost his sense of superiority and became unbalanced. He realized he could no longer scare us, so he started using Yang Muye to intimidate us.”

Seeing that Jia Kuan still seemed hesitant and unsure of what to say, Zhou Yiming directly threatened him:

“We’re in the same boat now. If you want to compromise and settle things peacefully, go ahead and ask Lin Shaotao for help. Anyway, I will never back down. If you push me too far, I will definitely make a big fuss.”

Again--

The worst case scenario is that the fish will die and the net will fall apart!
Lin Shaotao went to Maple Tree Restaurant to find Jian Ai and Liu Yingxia, and the three of them had lunch together.

During this time, Liu Yingxia also saw Yang Muyi and Xu Hongdou. After reminding Lin Shaotao, Lin Shaotao finally gave up the idea of ​​going over to say hello.

There's no point in going to Yang Muye if we don't deal with Zhou Yiming and Jia Kuan first.

After finishing his meal, Lin Shaotao returned to his dormitory.

I opened the door and found the room empty.

At first, Lin Shaotao thought that Zhou Yiming and Jia Kuan had just gone out to eat.

I lay in bed playing on my phone for a while, and when I looked at the time, it was already past one o'clock.

Zhou Yiming and Jia Kuan have not returned yet.

Lin Shaotao sensed something was wrong, got up and glanced at the desk on Zhou Yiming's lower bunk.

The guitar is missing!
Lin Shaotao then realized that Zhou Yiming and Jia Kuan not only ignored his words, but also wanted to continue to "defy the wind and commit crimes".

Lin Shaotao immediately took out his phone and dialed Jia Kuan's number.

The call went through, but no one answered.

Lin Shaotao then called Zhou Yiming.

The call was hung up after only two rings. Unwilling to give up, Lin Shaotao called Jia Kuan again.

The phone is switched off.

Lin Shaotao angrily smashed his phone on the bed, a deep sense of defeat engulfing him.

Seven o'clock the next morning.

Jia Kuan returned to his dormitory.

Jia Kuan had class this morning, so he rushed back early.

Zhou Yiming was still sleeping at the hotel. If the teacher called on him in class, he would ask Jia Kuan to answer for him.

After the performance last night, Zhou Yiming invited the woman from the day before yesterday to the hotel again.

Fortunately, Zhou Yiming wasn't drunk this time, nor did he ask Jia Kuan to help him buy an umbrella at the convenience store.

Jia Kuan guessed that Lin Shaotao must have woken up by now, and he wasn't sneaking around like he had yesterday.

Pushing open the door, I found Lin Shaotao sitting in front of the computer, dressed neatly, his eyes intently fixed on the screen.

Jia Kuan opened his mouth to greet him, but found that Lin Shaotao didn't react at all to his return to the dormitory.

No wonder——

Neither I nor Zhou Yiming answered the phone yesterday; anyone would be angry in that situation.

Jia Kuan closed the dormitory door, took out a charging cable, and started charging his phone.

"Shaotao, I accidentally put my phone on silent yesterday. It was out of battery when you called me."

Jia Kuan was not lying this time.

He only realized he had accidentally put his phone on silent after seeing Zhou Yiming hang up on Lin Shaotao.

And unfortunately, just as I was about to call Lin Shaotao back, my phone ran out of battery and shut down automatically.

After explaining for a long time, Lin Shaotao seemed deaf and didn't react at all.

Jia Kuan then realized the seriousness of the situation.

Lin Shaotao wasn't just angry this time, he was extremely angry.

They've even reached the point of completely ignoring themselves.

Desperate to ease tensions, Jia Kuan deliberately passed behind Lin Shaotao, pretending to glance at the screen.

"What are you looking at, so fascinated?"

As he spoke, he moved his face closer to the computer screen.

Lin Shaotao stood up without saying a word, avoiding Jia Kuan's attempt to curry favor.

Jia Kuan chased after him and reached out to stop Lin Shaotao.

"Let me explain. My phone really ran out of battery. I didn't mean to ignore your calls."

Lin Shaotao looked at Jia Kuan expressionlessly.

"Are you done talking? Get out of the way."

Jia Kuan slapped his forehead, instantly realizing the crux of the problem.

Lin Shaotao was not angry that Zhou Yiming didn't answer his phone, but that Zhou Yiming had gone to perform at various venues again.

Jia Kuan recounted to Lin Shaotao the reasons why Zhou Yiming had convinced him, without mentioning Zhou Yiming's later evaluation of Lin Shaotao.

After saying that, Jia Kuan decided to confront Lin Shaotao.

"Shaotao, I think Yiming is right. Anyway, Yang Muye has already decided to sue us, so we can't just sit here and wait to die. After all, if things get out of hand, it won't be good for anyone."

Lin Shaotao looked at Jia Kuan with a cold expression that made Jia Kuan feel very unfamiliar.

"I'm quite curious, what makes you think that others can't think of things that you yourselves can think of?"

Jia Kuan blinked.

What do you mean?
Lin Shaotao pointed to the screen, letting Jia Kuan see for himself.

Jia Kuan quickly sat down in front of the computer and found that Lin Shaotao was just reading a post on a forum.

As he swiped the mouse upwards, the title of the post caught his eye, leaving Jia Kuan stunned in front of the screen.

—Exposing the "Red and Black" Underworld of the Counterfeit Version of Old Boys [Reposted from Tianya]

"In the late night, the noise in the bar is just beginning. In the booths, groups of two or three customers sit together with scantily clad sexy women, either talking loudly or drinking heartily."

"At that moment, two men dressed in the same stage outfits as Michael Jackson walked onto the stage, and the entire bar quickly fell silent as soon as they appeared."

"Whether they were sitting in the open or in a booth, everyone in the audience held their breath and stared intently at the stage."

"They are not waiting for the classic hits of the superstar MJ, and some people have never even heard MJ's songs before. But everyone knows that recently there has been a short film on the Internet that pays tribute to MJ and has become incredibly popular. The two male protagonists in the film are wearing the same clothes as the two performers on the stage right now."

"Before the show started, guests kept asking questions like, 'Is it Old Boys?' and I got answers from friends like, 'No, they're just imitators.'"

"Remarks like, 'They look just like the real Old Boys, don't they?' and 'They're professional imitators of Old Boys, and they were classmates with Old Boys at the same university,' circulate among the customers."

"The two performers introduced their group's name on stage, but nobody paid attention to that; everyone just wanted to see how much their performance resembled that of the real Old Boys."

"The performance was a great success. Under the combined stimulation of alcohol and music, the atmosphere in the bar reached a climax. Just like drunk customers can't tell the difference between watered-down liquor, this adulterated performance was also warmly welcomed by the customers."

"And that's exactly what the bar owner and the performers wanted to see."

“Backstage, the two performers received three thousand yuan from the bar owner and left in a hurry without even changing their clothes, taking a car to the next bar.”

“Similar scenes played out in different bars. They performed five shows in a row throughout the night, singing fifteen songs, and didn’t leave until after 3 a.m., dragging their tired bodies and carrying 15,000 yuan in performance fees, which is two months’ salary for an ordinary white-collar worker in Yanjing.”

……

"In less than a month, these two junior students from the same college as the old boy earned a substantial amount of money that most people couldn't earn in a whole year of hard work."

"According to my understanding, the income of ordinary resident singers is only one-tenth or even less of that of the latter."

"The substantial compensation they earned was inextricably linked to their success in imitating Oldboy."

"How far can this madness, which teeters between infringement and counterfeiting, go? It's a big question mark."

After quickly reading the entire post, Jia Kuan immediately looked up and tried to explain to Lin Shaotao.

Although most of the content in the post was true, Jia Kuan even suspected after reading it that the author had actually seen their performance in a bar.

The problem is, they never actually earned as much money as the post claimed.

Of course, three-quarters of them are still there.

Before Jia Kuan could finish speaking, Lin Shaotao interrupted him impatiently:
"At a time like this, you still have time to worry about whether the data reported in this post is accurate. If I were you, I would quickly read the comments in the post."

Jia Kuan suddenly realized what was happening and quickly scrolled the mouse to the bottom of the post.

2nd floor: "My God, is the knock-off Old Boys really that profitable?"

3rd floor: "This trio has a history of faking things. They impersonated Old Boys and sang 'The Lone Warrior' at the business school's welcome party."

……

37th floor: "Old Boys is the pride of Yanjingmao University, while this 'Three' is the shame of Yanjingmao University. They made so much money by copying and infringing on the rights of their classmates. I wonder if it will be enough to pay the compensation they will have to pay when they are sued later!"

……

56th floor: "Support genuine products, crack down on counterfeits, and strongly urge Old Boys to sue these two fakes!"

……

101st floor: "Support the lawsuit! Making so much money by stealing other people's songs, this trio is disgusting!"

Jia Kuan only read the first three pages of comments, and apart from the people in the Water Tower, all the comments were cursing him and Zhou Yiming.

They agreed that if things escalated, people would sympathize with them.

How come this is completely different from what Zhou Yiming said?!

(End of this chapter)