Entertainment Circle’s Mascot - Chapter 19

The host Uncle Ji asked, “Why do you say you’re used to it? Don’t you usually hold hands with Tian Tian? She’s your CP in the drama, isn’t she?”

“But outside of the drama, I hold hands with Little Monk more often,” Brother Cheng smiled and said. “Not just me, everyone outside of the drama holds hands with Little Monk more often, including Tian Tian.”

Uncle Ji was surprised and asked, “Why?”

“Because he’s the favorite of our crew,” Mo Tian continued, laughing. “Everyone in the crew treats him like a child and likes to play house with him.”

Lian Qing was dissatisfied and said, “I’m already an adult!”

“Yes, yes, our Little Monk is already a big child, be good!” Mo Tian said, reaching out to comfort Lian Qing and gently patting his arm.

Lian Qing: “…”

Others: “Hahaha……”

After the laughter, Uncle Ji said again, “Okay, now please perform your unique skills individually. Let’s start with Brother Cheng, then Tian Tian, Wen Xiang, and Lian Qing.”

Lian Qing was at a loss. This program also required them to showcase their unique skills?! He was a little panicked, trying to recall if he had any unique skills…

Before he could remember, the first three partners had already finished their performances.

The host Sister Tang called out to Lian Qing, “It’s your turn, Little Monk.”

Lian Qing was a bit bewildered, “No one told me to we’re going to perform…”

“Huh? This is a tradition, everyone who watches the show knows. Little Monk, have you never watched our program?”

Lian Qing nodded stiffly, “I don’t watch variety shows…”

“Why not?”

“I don’t have time,” Lian Qing said sincerely. “Before, when I was on the mountain, there was no TV or phone, and after coming down the mountain, I was always busy, so I didn’t have time to watch.”

“Okay, how about you perform something live then? Like Iron Head Skill or Breaking Rocks with Your Chest…”

“I don’t know any of those,” Lian Qing admitted honestly. “If I knew those martial arts, I would be performing on the streets for money.”

“Hahaha… well, how about you perform something else, and we’ll make do and let you pass?”

Lian Qing nodded and thought for a moment, then performed several backflips and ended with a split.

The host and the audience were all amazed and applauded continuously. “He really deserves to have been a monk, he’s amazing!” said Uncle Ji, impressed.

“Right, he hardly ever used a stunt double in the fighting scenes in the drama, because no one could match his skills!” Mo Tian calmly revealed. Using stunt doubles for fighting scenes was not uncommon, but the young monk hardly ever used one. Sometimes even the martial arts director of the crew had to ask him for help with a few moves.

Lian Qing stood up, feeling a bit embarrassed, and modestly said, “It’s just that I have practiced martial arts before.”

“Simple?” The second host raised his hand to his eyes and looked around. “Your performance was as good as *Sun Wukong’s! In post-production, remember to add some monkey hair to him! His entire body should be covered in it!”

*Sun Wukong the legendary mythical Monkey King from Journey to the West.

Lian Qing was scared and waved his hands: “No, please don’t embarrass me! I… I rely on my face to eat!”

“Did you hear that, crew? Embarrass him, make him really embarrassed!”

Lian Qing: “…”

Everyone: “Hahaha…”

After a noisy introduction, the four of them were temporarily arranged to the side. The production team continued to invite members of another drama group to the stage for introductions.

When the other group finished their introductions, the host finally invited Lian Qing and his team up on stage.

“Alright, now we’re going to play a little game called ‘Guess What I Am’. First, you will split into two teams by drama group, then do you see that rack over there?”

On one end of the stage, there was a large iron rack that looked like a single pole, with several pot lids tied to it with ropes.

“Now, walk over to the pot lids, put on your blindfolds, and wait for a staff member to bring out something covered in a glass dome for you to feel around for. After feeling it, each person gets one chance to ask a question, and then you must give your answer. If you get it wrong, you will receive a punishment. In the end, the team with the most correct answers wins.”

After explaining the rules, the host had staff members bring out blindfolds for each guest, including Lian Qing. After a while, a staff member pushed a long cart with several glass domes, with one side being clear, towards them.

The clear side was facing the audience, and after it was set up, Lian Qing heard a lot of gasps from the audience below. He twitched his ears and felt like something was off.

The host asked several staff members to grab the hands of the guests and guide them toward the only opening on top of the glass cover. Lian Qing carefully stretched his hand inside and touched the bottom by instinct. As soon as his hand touched the thing, he immediately pulled it back and relaxed.

He stood calmly in place, listening to the genuine and false screams of the other guests, as well as various true and false words such as “scary”, “it’s moving”, and “I’m scared”.

When everyone had finished touching, the host began to ask for answers one by one. Lian Qing was at the end of the line, so the host asked him last.

“Okay, little monk Lian Qing, do you have any questions you want to ask, or do you want to answer directly?”

Lian Qing shook his head and confidently replied, “I’ll answer directly. The box I touched contains a stone covered in green moss.”

The second host seemed to be holding back a laugh and asked, “What did you use as your judgment basis?”

“There’s no warmth, and it’s slippery. It must be a stone covered in green moss!” Lian Qing was most familiar with this type of stone. There were many of them on the mountain, and he felt that he definitely wouldn’t guess wrong.

“So confident? Little monk, why don’t you touch it again, just in case it’s not…” Sister Tang maliciously advised.

“I’m sure it’s a stone. I won’t be wrong,” Lian Qing said firmly. He had just heard that Sister Tian next to him had guessed it was a rabbit, but the host’s words had made her change her mind, and she had ended up guessing wrong.

Sister Tang held the top cover of the glass cover and said to Lian Qing, “I’ll count to three, and you can take off your blindfold and see if you’re right.”

“One, two, three, take off!”

Lian Qing quickly took off his blindfold and saw a snake with a milk-white body and a tongue sticking out toward him in the glass cover.

Lian Qing: “…Master, help!!!!”

While shouting for his master, the young monk turned around seeking refuge. He saw Mo Tian in his right hand and a single pole standing in his left.

While screaming, Li Qing climbed up the pole with three or four moves and hung upside down at the top, facing the snake with big eyes and small eyes.

The audience exclaimed, and several hosts and three actors from “Supernatural Chronicles” gathered around, looking up and shouting with both amusement and concern.

“How did you get up there, Little Monk!”

“Come down quickly, it’s dangerous up there!”

“Can you get down, or should I get a ladder for you?”

“Just a blink of an eye, and you’ve climbed up so fast! Are you really a monkey?”

“Be good, come down quickly. That’s a pet snake, it won’t bite you.”

“Yes, it’s very friendly to humans. Have you heard of the story of White Snake? She’s also a type of snake. Have you seen her harm people?”

“That’s right, little monk. It’s really well-behaved…”

However, no matter how people below advised him, Li Qing only reluctantly said, “I’ll come down… please move aside.”

After everyone stepped back, Li Qing jumped down easily from the pole over three meters high and stepped back more than ten steps, keeping a safe distance from the glass cage with the snake before finally stopping.

Host Uncle Ji saw his appearance and kindly had the snake removed. Then he waved at the little monk, “The snake is gone, come over here quickly.”

This time Li Qing came over very readily and even consciously stood under his own pot.

Uncle Ji smiled and asked, “Are you so afraid of snakes?”

“En,” Lian Qing’s face turned pale, “I was bitten by a snake when I was young and have a psychological shadow.”

“I see… as the saying goes, ‘once bitten by a snake, one will be afraid of the rope for ten years.’ It’s understandable. Sorry, we didn’t know about this…”

Lian Qing’s emotions calmed down and he didn’t mind much. “It’s okay, I didn’t say anything. It’s like having an allergy. If someone doesn’t know that you are allergic to something and gives it to you, can you blame them?”

“But your scream just now was really miserable. You even shouted ‘Master’… I’m sorry, I can’t help but laugh when I think about it…”

Lian Qing felt embarrassed himself, he touched his nose and smiled, “I was bitten by a snake when I was young, and my master saved me. He also said that if I encountered a snake again, I should shout for him. Later, I just got used to it…”

Sister Tang leaned over and smiled, “Hey, when I saw you screaming just now, you turned around and reached out as if you were going to hug the person next to you. But when you saw it was Tian Tian, you turned around again. After that, you saw the pole next to you and climbed up. Is that right?”

Lian Qing’s face gradually turned red, nodding his head, “Yes.”

Mo Tian, who was next to him, looked sad, “Why? Why would you rather climb the pole than hug me?”

Lian Qing’s face suddenly turned red, and he silently retreated two steps, half of his body leaning straight against the pole. He stuttered helplessly, “I… I… men and women shouldn’t be too close!”

Mo Tian said in a domineering tone, “Tell the truth!”

The little monk closed his eyes and replied instantly, “I dare not!”

Laughter erupted from the audience and Mo Tian’s spirit dampened. “Am I that scary?”

Brother Cheng inserted himself into the conversation with a smile, “You only just realized?”

Even Lian Qing was frantically explaining, “I-I-I…I’m a monk! I can’t get too close to girls.”

“You’re not one now,” Mo Tian said softly, but her face quickly turned sunny again. She patted the little monk’s hand and said, “Okay, I won’t tease you anymore. If we play this kind of game again, I definitely won’t stand next to you, so you won’t climb the pole without anyone to catch you.”

The conversation caused the whole room to burst into laughter. The host laughed for a while before straightening up and continuing, “Okay, now the person who answered incorrectly, please stand in place. Tian Tian, Little Monk, you guys stand there too.”

After Lian Qing stood in place, he saw that Mo Tian looked uneasy and couldn’t help but ask in a low voice, “Are you afraid of pain?”

Mo Tian nodded, “I’m also afraid of messing up my hair.”

Lian Qing asked quietly, “Can I do something to help you?”

“Help me block the pot cover…forget it, I guess you can’t reach it.”

Lian Qing hesitated slightly, “If I use my foot, I can reach it. Do you mind?”

Mo Tian’s eyes lit up and she said firmly, “I don’t mind!”

So, when the pot cover came crashing down, everyone saw this scene: the tall boy stretched out a foot and used the sole of his shoe to prop up the pot cover that was about to fall on the girl’s head. His own head, however, was hit hard by the pot cover, making a loud “clang” sound.

Author’s note:

The moment the little monk saw the snake, his thoughts were as follows: “Oh, I need to find someone to hold onto for protection!”

Turning around, “Oh, it’s a girl, I can’t do that!”

Turning around again, “Oh, it’s a tough guy, that’s better than a girl. I’ll just climb on him!”

TN:

Find yourself a little monk that respects and protects you from a bad hair day.