The young are often foolish.

The weekend had finally arrived.

In the afternoon, Li Can and his entourage arrived at the venue of the MiusicHF Music Awards Ceremony, the Cadillac Wukesong Arena.

Winnie and Han Jiayin accompanied Chen Meijing to the backstage to change her clothes.

Lin Feng, that veteran warrior-wolf, was assigned to stand guard.

Chen Gang and Zhao Ze, under the guidance of Chen Meijing's manager, remained inside the commercial vehicle, ready to synchronize social media updates at any moment and prepared to whisk Chen Meijing away as soon as the incident exploded.

Led by a staff member, Li Can walked into the sound control room behind the glass window on the side of the stage and took control of the mixing console.

While calling himself the director in charge might have been an overstatement, he had full authority to supervise the rest of the staff and every single movement at the console.

Sitting at his workstation, Li Can stared intently at the mixing console.

His piercing gaze and towering height of one hundred and ninety centimeters made the sound engineer break out in a cold sweat.

During a recent concert, a colleague had accepted money from a big shot and orchestrated a deliberate "stage accident."

And what was the outcome?

The money was collected, but the person was gone.

And right on the heels of that incident came this supervisor.

How could the sound engineer not recognize him?!

He was the notoriously famous music producer in the industry, the very man who single-handedly brought Chen Meijing, Lin Feng, and Han Jiayin to stardom.

The sound engineer cast extremely covert glances, terrified of being caught.

He muttered continuously to himself in his heart.

[I have no idea what this big brother is actually thinking, I'm getting kind of nervous right now...]

At this moment, Li Can was completely unaware of the sound engineer's nervous gaze.

Instead, he was deep in thought.

After all, the thrill just before making mischief made it very easy to review one's upcoming actions one last time.

Right now, Li Can felt a thrilling urge to stir up some trouble.

Professor Xu Qing had previously given him certain instructions.

Once the idol trainee program began to roll out, they should target the artists that Haifeng Industry intended to promote.

Those people were out to make a profit, and since they were investing, it was inevitable that they would tap into the idol economy behind the scenes.

As long as they got their trendy apparel assembly lines running, there would be plenty of opportunities to send people in to investigate and gather evidence.

[Master said I can give him a little stimulation, crank up the intensity a bit, and put some pressure on him, but to mind my proportions.]

[Master also said that musicians shouldn't resort to physical means at the drop of a hat; they should let their music do the talking.]

Which meant...

[I can stimulate him with music!]

Equation solved.

With that, his conscience was completely clear.

Thus, Li Can slapped his thigh, giving the sound engineer beside him a violent start.

He strode out of the sound control room, intending to check on Chen Meijing and give her a pep talk.

Li Can headed toward the backstage.

Just as he passed the VIP private lounge, he bumped right into a very ordinary-looking middle-aged man.

It was none of other than Yao Jingye from Haifeng Industry.

When Yao Jingye saw Li Can, he was slightly taken aback and recognized him instantly.

Then, a meaningful expression crept across his face.

Li Can, however, completely failed to recognize Yao Jingye and simply brushed past him.

Only a few steps further, he saw Chen Meijing and Winnie walking toward him.

"Winnie, Meijing, you guys..."

Just as he was about to greet them, Li Can noticed that Chen Meijing's expression suddenly changed, becoming somewhat rigid.

"Meijing?"

After just a brief glance, Li Can followed Chen Meijing's gaze toward the middle-aged man not far away.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he began to piece together the identity of this man.

"Good day, President Yao."

Chen Meijing greeted Yao Jingye with a lukewarm tone—it wasn't impolite, but it certainly lacked any special courtesy.

"You must be President Yao from Haifeng Industry?"

Hearing Chen Meijing address him thusly, Li Can confirmed his suspicion.

He grinned widely and began to appraise the middle-aged man before him.

Looking down at him from his height.

"President Yao, I've heard so much about you. Some of your juniors came to talk business with me earlier, and there might have been a bit of an unpleasant misunderstanding. I hope you're generous enough to let it go."

As he spoke, Li Can beamed with enthusiasm and extended his hand.

"I'm young and too impulsive, so I really must apologize. I needed to say sorry to you in person and hope you can forgive a young man's foolishness!"

Yao Jingye hesitated for a moment, but still extended his hand to shake Li Can's.

Once their hands met, Yao Jingye was clearly somewhat surprised.

It wasn't quite what he had imagined.

Li Can didn't seize the opportunity to squeeze his hand.

Nor did he seem to harbor any provocative intentions.

Could it be... that he had genuinely relented and was offering an olive branch?

"Not at all, not at all. How normal is it for young people to lose their tempers? Who hasn't been young before? I understand."

Yao Jingye smiled faintly, uttering entirely polite conventionalities.

Although he still felt it couldn't be this simple and remained on guard.

Yet, when he thought about the preparations he had made for today, coupled with Li Can's current attitude,

he still felt a wave of smooth relief, and his demeanor relaxed considerably.

Perhaps... his own maneuvers really had beaten some sense into this stubborn punk?

With that thought, he nodded with a chuckle and said,

"It's fine. Even if a business deal falls through, the goodwill remains!"

"That's right, that's right, President Yao is completely right. It was all my ignorance before."

Li Can chuckled, then waved to signal Chen Meijing to come over.

"I specifically had Meijing change her song today to perform it especially for you, to thank you for letting bygones be bygones and showing such magnanimity!"

Chen Meijing looked somewhat displeased, but still bowed and said, "President Yao, I've caused you trouble."

Chen Meijing's expression and attitude looked thoroughly genuine; it was clear she was doing it against her will, yet had no choice but to bow her head.

Yao Jingye felt even more gratified.

He simply failed to notice

that not far away, Winnie's lips were twitching slightly as if she were desperately holding back laughter.

"President Yao, we still have matters to attend to. When you have time later, we must chat more."

Li Can glanced at the time and wore an apologetic expression.

"It's getting late, so we'll take our leave now. Please forgive us."

"Hahaha, easily said, easily said."

Yao Jingye laughed heartily and nodded, looking thoroughly amiable.

After all, Li Can's attitude was so exemplary that anyone would be momentarily disoriented.

After Li Can left, Yao Jingye's smile faded.

He truly couldn't figure out what kind of trick Li Can was trying to pull.

This sincerity was simply too sincere—to the point of making one feel suspicious.

"Uncle? Who was that?"

Seeming to hear a commotion outside the door, a young man emerged from the VIP room.

It was none other than Yao Liang, who had nearly been sent flying by Li Can's kick not long ago.

"It was Li Can."

"?! "

Hearing his uncle utter that name, Yao Liang instinctively shuddered all over.

"Uncle, he..."

"He seemed to be backing down."

Yao Jingye stroked his chin, thoughtfully watching the direction in which Li Can had departed.

Dedicated a song to me?

What on earth did that mean?

Pausing slightly, he muttered under his breath,

"Yet I have this lingering ominous premonition."

"...Uncle, don't worry!"

Yao Liang snorted, his expression rather unsightly.

"Our preparations are thoroughly complete; that punk Li Can won't be able to make any waves."

"Mmm."

Yao Jingye didn't dwell on it further and nodded.

The PR team had made multiple backup preparations.

No matter how Li Can chose to toss and turn, he was firmly in control!

...Surely the kid wasn't just trying to mess with his head!

"Meijing, remember, we won't say much. You just need to look toward Yao Jingye's direction while you sing. Chen Gang and the others have already set up a double act; we'll leave it to the netizens to fill in the blanks themselves."

"Our sole purpose is to mess with his head."

Li Can whispered his instructions to Chen Meijing.

At this moment, where was any trace of Chen Meijing's earlier reluctance?

She was practically grinning from ear to ear.

Though Winnie remained silent beside them, a gleam of mischief was clearly flickering in her eyes.

"Don't worry, got it!"

"Understood!"

Li Can smiled faintly and nodded.

Glancing toward the passage entrance not far away, where other guests had begun arriving in a steady stream, he spoke up.

"It's almost time. Go back and get ready; you'll be on stage shortly."

"Sing your heart out and don't hold back!"