Entertainment Circle’s Mascot - Chapter 20

The little monk Lian Qing wore a pot lid over his head, covering his eyes. His right foot was stretched upward, and he kicked the pot lid that was about to fall onto his neighbor Mo Tian’s head, protecting the girl precisely.

Everyone on the scene looked stunned, amazed and couldn’t help but laugh at the little monk’s appearance.

The host rushed forward and put his hand on Lian Qing’s raised leg, exclaiming, “So straight!”

He patted it and said, “The touch is really solid!”

Mo Tian protected the little monk and slapped the host’s hand gently, saying softly, “It’s enough, Little Monk. Put your foot down.”

Lian Qing quickly put his foot down and lifted the pot lid off his head. He asked Mo Tian, “Did it hit you just now?”

“No, it didn’t. Thank you,” Mo Tian smiled sweetly.

Brother Cheng, who was also hit by a pot lid by mistake, came over and rubbed his head with regret, saying, “If I knew that there would be such treatment standing next to you, I would definitely stand by your side no matter what!”

Lian Qing looked at his height and honestly said, “Even if you stand next to me, I still can’t reach your head with my foot.”

Brother Cheng: “…”

“Hahaha…”

Uncle Ji laughed and asked, “Little monk, why did you use your foot to kick the pot lid?”

“Sister Tian is afraid of pain and afraid of messing up her hairstyle,” Lian Qing said. “So I estimated her height and the distance, and I estimated that I could kick the pot lid with my foot…”

“So, you’re saying I’m short?” Mo Tian pretended to be angry, staring at him with her hands on her hips.

Lian Qing quickly shook his head and said, “No, no, you… just a little bit short.” He gestured with his fingernail.

Mo Tian said, “…I’m 164cm tall!”

Lian Qing looked puzzled and said, “I know.”

“Hahaha…”

“Oh, Little Monk, haha… you’ll never have a girlfriend like this!”

“Haha… the lonely little monk!”

Lian Qing didn’t know what they were laughing at, he just said, “I was prepared to live alone for the rest of my life.”

Most likely, when he said this, his attitude was too serious, and everyone’s laughter stopped involuntarily. After a moment, Uncle Ji asked, “Why do you have such a plan?”

“Because in the future, I may return to the mountain to inherit my master’s temple.”

“But didn’t you already leave the monkhood? Besides, are there no other heirs in your temple except you?”

“There is,” Lian Qing nodded. “I have a younger junior fellow apprentice who is almost three years old. But when he grows up a bit, I will definitely take him out to see the world and let him go to school outside. If he ends up liking the outside world more and there is no one to inherit the temple, then I have to stay and take care of it.”

Uncle Ji was surprised, “You’re so young, and you’re already thinking that far ahead?”

“It’s not that far ahead…” Lian Qing touched his nose embarrassedly. “The future is still unknown, and I always feel that plans can’t keep up with changes. Everything has a chance.”

“That’s true. What if you meet someone you really like outside?”

Lian Qing nodded. If he did meet someone, he would have to come up with a different plan for his master’s temple. If not, he would follow his original plan – travel the world, see enough of it, earn enough money for himself and for his master’s retirement, and then retire early to the temple to continue being a monk.

The host then said a few words to warm up the crowd and announced the start of the next game.

“Okay, for this round of the game, we will listen to songs and guess the song titles, and then race to grab the only microphone on the stage to answer questions. The team with the most correct answers wins in the end!”

As soon as the host finished speaking, many staff members came up and set up various props. In no time, a rectangular encirclement was formed on the field with a base made of a broken sea sponge and an inflatable wall as the boundary.

On one side of the encirclement was a platform with a sponge board surface, and a microphone was hung underneath the platform.

Lian Qing wore a bitter face; he was not good at guessing songs! Despite feeling bitter inside, he still followed the seniors into the sponge pool.

Although he felt bitter in his heart, he still followed the seniors into the sponge pool. The sponge in the pool was soft and squishy, and as soon as he stepped in, it covered his knees, making it much more difficult to walk than on the normal ground. Lian Qing had a stable footing, so it wasn’t too bad for him. But the others were struggling, almost crawling and walking at the same time.

Soon, music played on the field. Lian Qing listened for a while but didn’t recognize it. He shrunk into a corner, helpless as he watched the seniors run towards the microphone under the high platform in a frenzy.

During the game, some seniors pulled and pushed each other, fierce to the point that it made one’s heart tremble. Lian Qing couldn’t help but shrink his body, feeling that he didn’t fit in with these people.

The first song was eventually answered correctly by someone from another crew. Mo Tian shouted at Lian Qing with anger, “Little Monk, what are you doing? Come and guess the song!”

“I don’t know the name of the song!” Lian Qing shouted from afar.

Mo Tian then remembered that the little monk was famous among the crew and their fans for not knowing any songs. She howled in despair, turned around, and threw herself back into the battle.

Unexpectedly, Lian Qing’s team won the game.

Uncle Ji walked over with a smile, leaned against the inflatable wall, and said to everyone, “Did you notice that there was one person who was just an audience member from beginning to end?”

Everyone turned to look at Lian Qing, who was curled up in a ball in the sponge pool.

The little monk silently pressed his face into the sponge.

Uncle Ji howled in laughter, “Crazy hahaha….”

Er Ge had already muted his voice when he laughed and cursed, “Bleep…”

Laughter erupted on and off the field.

In the end, Sister Tang reached out and pulled Lian Qing out of the sponge pool, laughing, “So, little monk, you really don’t know how to guess song titles?”

“He really doesn’t!” Brother Cheng exclaimed with feeling. “If you had watched our live broadcast before, you would know that unless it’s a song taught in his school music class, he definitely doesn’t know it! Even if he grabs the microphone to play this game, it’s useless.”

“That’s so amazing, then I have to go back and watch it!” Sister Tang said, playing up her sarcastic character. “Little monk, did you intentionally dunk your face into the sponge pool just so you wouldn’t have to show your face?”

Lian Qing shook his head, then nodded. “I just felt a little sorry for everyone. Everyone is working hard, but I can’t help much…”

“No, don’t feel that way!” Brother Cheng patted his shoulder. “You haven’t become an obstacle, you’ve already helped out!”

Lian Qing: “…”

After some laughing and teasing, the game continued to the next round.

“This round of the game is a bit dangerous and challenging, called ‘Balance Beam’,” the host Uncle Ji said, as the crew quickly removed the sponge pool and replaced it with a new prop. The new prop was a high platform, with a square base that gradually tapered to a small square platform at the top. There were many small holes on all four sides of the square column, which was connected to the upper and lower thick steel cables at each of the four corners, forming two cross-shaped structures.

“Each team sends two people at a time, carrying lanterns to walk across the beam and go from the corner platforms to the central platform, then hang the lanterns up. The team that hangs up the most lanterns within the time limit wins.”

After the host finished speaking, Er Ge added, “Be careful, you tied in the previous rounds of the game. This round is especially important, so I hope you’ll take control of it yourselves.”

Upon hearing this, Lian Qing was full of fighting spirit. He had to win this round for the prize!

The “Supernatural Chronicles” crew sent out Lian Qing and Brother Cheng first, and the other team also sent out two boys.

Lian Qing wore scratch-resistant gloves, held two lanterns in one hand, and did not hold onto the rope above. Instead, he relied on the four lanterns as balancing props and walked steadily and quickly up the steel cable.

The audience and the host were in awe, and couldn’t help but feel nervous for him. Although there was a sponge cushion below the prop and the height was not high, it would still hurt if he fell.

Lian Qing ignored the voices warning him to be careful and walked steadily to the center platform. Then, he hung up all four lanterns, turned around, and walked back along the steel cable.

However, halfway through, he heard a scream and the sound of something falling. He turned around to see that one of the boys from the other team had deliberately knocked down one of his lanterns when he reached the center platform. At this moment, the boy was still reaching out to grab Lian Qing’s other lantern.

Lian Qing quickly turned around and ran as if he was on flat ground from the middle of the balance beam to the central platform. He took down all his lanterns and hung them higher on the central platform than the boy.

The boy didn’t bother with him, he just chuckled and walked back along the rope. Lian Qing looked at his remaining three lanterns and cried out to the host below with a grievance, “Isn’t this against the rules?”

“It’s not against the rules. Our rule is that there are no rules. The team with the most lanterns wins!”

Does that mean anything goes?

Lian Qing suddenly realized, and he climbed up the pillar with his bare hands, kicked off the rope, and flipped to the top of the peak. After standing firmly on one foot, he stooped down and extended his foot, hooking all the other lanterns with it and throwing them to the ground one by one, amid everyone’s exclamations.

From then on, there were only his own three lanterns hanging on the pillar, plus one that Brother Cheng had hung up later. As for others, he hooked them and threw them away one by one.

“The term ‘stable advantage’ probably describes his situation well,” thought the witty little monk to himself amidst everyone’s exclamations.

TN:

TMI: I convinced someone to lend me their laptop so, YAY. I’m working overtime to get the chapters done before I descend into laptop-less hell again so I might be releasing the chapters every day.