Entertainment Circle’s Mascot - Chapter 26

“Infinite Challenge” was one of the top variety shows in China, with high ratings and popularity. Currently airing its second season, it was filmed and broadcast simultaneously.

The show’s success was not solely due to the star power of its guests. Rather, it was because the show itself was exciting and unpredictable. Without a script, the production team only provided a vague framework or game rules, allowing the guests to improvise freely. The four permanent hosts were also charming and entertaining. The production team often invited popular celebrities to join in, and with the team’s cunning and competitiveness, guests and the team engaged in witty battles. These clashes created a unique and outstanding variety show.

However, there was one aspect that remained consistent throughout the show – the tradition of “bullying” new guests. Over many episodes, no guest had been able to sail through the program effortlessly unless they were a highly respected veteran or a special female artist.

As a result, many guests who had appeared on the show once did not return for another episode. Nevertheless, despite its reputation, many celebrities still desired to participate in the show, especially those who were not at the top of the industry. The show’s high ratings and excellent reputation could boost their popularity, and if they impressed a powerful industry figure, they could benefit from the relationship for years to come.

The production team planned to begin filming before dinner, allowing the guests to rest in their rooms beforehand. However, just as Lian Qing stepped out of his room, a staff member led him into a small dark room, claiming to conduct a brief interview.

The interviewer was the show’s director, who grinned and asked, “Lian Qing, is there anything you’re afraid of, such as small animals or heights?”

Lian Qing responds without hesitation, “Snakes.” Apart from snakes, he feared nothing else.

“So, do you have any fears like fear of heights?”

“No,” Lian Qing shook his head.

“Do you like children?”

“Yes,” Lian Qing said, “My junior brother is a child, he is very obedient and cute.”

“Okay, how about your food preferences or dislikes?”

When it came to food, Lian Qing’s eyes lit up involuntarily. “I’m not a picky eater, but if there’s more meat and vegetables in my diet, and an extra bottle of drink, that would be great.”

The program director’s mouth twitched slightly and thought to himself that this silly boy must have thought that they were being kind by inviting him to the black room just to ask about his preferences so they could prepare his meals for him.

“So, do you have any allergies or health problems?”

“No, I’m very healthy!” Lian Qing patted his chest, believing that there was no one with better physical fitness than him there.

The director asked several more questions, and Lian Qing answered them honestly.

After the short interview, the director patted Lian Qing’s shoulder and said with a smile, “Good boy, I hope you can grow after the program is finished.”

Lian Qing: ???

When he walked out of the room and met the other guests, he was even more confused. Sun Yazhi came over, patted his shoulder, and asked, “What did you talk about?”

“Nothing much, just about my personal preferences,” Lian Qing replied.

“You told them everything?” Luo Zisheng came over and asked with his chin resting on Sun Yazhi’s shoulder.

Lian Qing nodded, puzzled. “Is there something I shouldn’t have told them?”

The three older men looked at each other with pity on their faces. They came forward, patted Lian Qing’s shoulder one by one, and said, “Take care of yourself!”

After receiving a series of “take cares”, Lian Qing felt even more confused.

In the end, the fourth eldest brother kindly took him to the restaurant for dinner, but the dinner did not go smoothly – the program director suddenly appeared and pointed to the two tables of food with a smirk, saying, “Due to limited program funding, we can only prepare three sets of steak dinners for tonight. As you can see, one table has steak, and the other has steamed buns, vegetarian dishes, and rice porridge. To be fair, we will play a game.”

Luo Zisheng raised his hand and said, “Director, please arrange a simpler game. We shouldn’t play too exciting games before dinner.”

After a pause, the director said, “Okay, let’s change it to a simpler one.”

The others breathed a sigh of relief and gave a thumbs-up to Luo Zisheng.

The director then announced their game, which was the “rapid-fire question and answer” game that many variety shows have played before. It was played in pairs, and each person took turns asking and answering questions, with all questions and answers needing to be completed within three seconds.

They drew lots to decide who would be paired up, but since there were five people, the one left over had to be paired with the program director. In the end, the first two people to be eliminated had to eat vegetarian food and porridge.

Lian Qing was paired up with Luo Zisheng, a well-known host who was eager to win and had a confident look on his face.

Lian Qing also played the game with a winning mentality, pulling up his nonexistent sleeves in a show of determination. Luo Zisheng couldn’t help but laugh when he saw this.

Their group was the last to play, so Lian Qing had the opportunity to watch the game process of the other two groups. After watching, he was completely unsure about the game. It was all about asking piercing questions that hurt the heart. Some of the questions were impossible to answer in three seconds if it were him.

When it was their turn, Lian Qing couldn’t help but swallow his saliva and nervously said to Luo Zisheng, who was standing in front of him with his hands on his hips, “Brother Luo, go easy on me…”

“Oh, you were just imitating me and rolling up your sleeves earlier, but now you’re scared?” Luo Zisheng teased.

“I’m scared.” even Lian Qing had to admit.

“Okay, since you’re being honest, I’ll try to be gentle. So, let me start. Do you have a girlfriend?”

“No!” Lian Qing quickly answered and asked, “Do you have a wife and kids?”

“No! So, what’s the reason you don’t have a girlfriend?”

What’s the reason? Lian Qing frowned. He didn’t really know. But he was running out of time, so he hurriedly said, “Because I’m ugly!”

Luo Zisheng was stunned and uncertain, “What did you say?”

“I said I’m ugly!” Lian Qing was still thinking about the game and immediately asked, “Why don’t you have a wife and kids?”

“I’m as ugly as you!” Luo Zisheng answered, holding back his laughter. He then asked, “What do you think are your good qualities? Please list three or more!”

Good qualities? There were plenty! Lian Qing immediately said, “Being good-looking, healthy, and having a good appetite are blessings! So, can I ask…”

Before Lian Qing could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Luo Zisheng’s laughter.

Luo Zisheng laughed hysterically, “Hahaha… having a good appetite is a blessing? What kind of nonsense is that? Do you think you’re a pig or something?”

The others also joined in, slowly laughing and mocking him.

“Haha… I’ve always wanted to say this. You said you don’t have a girlfriend because you’re ugly, but in less than two minutes, you’re praising yourself for being good-looking. Do you need to slap yourself in the face like this?”

“I never knew that being healthy and being able to eat could also be used for self-praise! Hahaha…”

“You’re amazing, Little Monk! Hahaha…”

Lian Qing defended himself, “My master has always praised me this way!” He didn’t even mention how he was studious and well-behaved!

“Alright, alright, your master is right to praise you. Right to praise you!”

“Hahaha… talent must be recognized!”

“Lao Luo, you lost!”

“Lao Luo, you’re still the host. How come you can’t hold back your laughter? Really!”

“I realized that the little monk is excellent. He looks silly, but he defeated Lao Luo in just a few rounds. Impressive, impressive!”

“I’m not silly. I used to be very good at studying!” Lian Qing said, looking at the director, “Director, did I win?”

“You won, you won. Go ahead, eat meat.”

Lian Qing smiled and ran to the table with the steak set, looking at it. In the set, there was a cup of fruit tea, a piece of steak, some pasta, and french fries on the side.

This portion… was a bit lacking!

Looking at the vegetarian table, where each person had a bowl of porridge, two small dishes of vegetables, and two large steamed buns, Lian Qing hesitated. Choosing meat meant not being full while choosing vegetarian meant no meat.

After struggling for a while, an idea suddenly came to Lian Qing. He blinked his big eyes and waved at Luo Zisheng, very innocently asking, “Brother Luo, can I give you half of my steak, and you give me a steamed bun? Is that okay?”

“Ah?” Luo Zisheng was a bit confused at first, but quickly reacted and said with great emotion, “Sure! You are a sensible little monk who knows how to share with his seniors!”

He then glared at the other two buddies who also got steak meals and said, “Look at you guys, you’re so stingy! We’ve been working together for two seasons, but you can’t even share a piece of meat with me!”

Qian Linsen retorted, “Hey, you shameless guy, who secretly ate all of my afternoon tea at noon? Why didn’t you think about leaving me a bite then?”

Sun Yazhi added, “Exactly, Luo Zisheng, you are too shameless. In the last episode, you grabbed my cake and I didn’t even settle the score with you yet. How dare you say that about me?”

Li Chengsi, who got the vegetarian meal, silently approached Lian Qing and said in a friendly manner, “Little Monk, don’t swap with Luo Zisheng, swap with me instead. I am older.”

Luo Zisheng pinched his own arm, which had only a few ounces of flesh left, and tried to awaken Li Chengsi’s conscience by saying, “Hey, hey, Brother Li, intercepting food is not humane! Show some respect for the elderly and the young, and take care of me. Look how thin I am.”

But Li Chengsi was too cunning and sly to easily give in. He immediately retorted back at Luo Zisheng, and the two of them argued back and forth, almost getting into a fight.

Lian Qing looked helplessly at the others and saw that Qian Linsen and Sun Yazhi were already eating their steak gracefully, while the show’s director had an excited expression on his face as if he wanted them to start fighting. The other staff members were indifferent to the argument. He suddenly realized that this was probably the normal way that these big brothers interacted with each other.

He pulled Li Chengsi aside and asked, “Brother Li, Brother Luo and I have already agreed to split the steak in half. Do you want to exchange it for my pasta and potato wedges?”

Li Chengsi replied, “Yes!”

So Lian Qing happily cut the steak in half, gave the smaller piece to Luo Zisheng, and gave the leftover pasta and a few potato wedges to Li Chengsi. Then, he took a steamed bun from each of their meals and sat back in his seat to eat contentedly.

He ate one bite of the bun and one bite of meat and made sure that the last bite was meat.

Lian Qing specifically saved the remaining half of the bun, put it in a plastic bag, and secretly put it in his pocket. He was already quite full, so he would save the half bun as a midnight snack.

After finishing the meal, Luo Zisheng patted his belly contentedly and said to Lian Qing with a smile, “Little Monk, why did you want to swap half of your meat with me for a steamed bun? Do you think I don’t have enough meat to eat, and that I am pitiable?” In fact, he wanted to ask, “Are you trying to please me?”

Since becoming famous, Luo Zisheng has been flattered by many people, both openly and secretly. As a popular host with good social skills and a wide network, there are always people who want him to make connections for them. Among the other guests who appeared on their show, six out of ten either tried to please him or someone else. They didn’t enjoy working on the show this way.

However, the little monk was different. He had high emotional intelligence and knew how to please people

“Hmm?” Luo Zisheng sat up straight and asked, “Why did you exchange with me then?”

Lian Qing blurted out, “Just eating steak won’t fill me up.”

Luo Zisheng was dumbfounded. Did Lian Qing really exchange half of his steak for a bun because he was afraid of not being full?!

Li Chengsi leaned over and said, “That doesn’t make sense. If you already exchanged a bun with him, why did you exchange with me too?”

“As a midnight snack,” Lian Qing said confidently, taking out the half bun wrapped in plastic wrap from his pocket to show him.

“…” Li Chengsi was speechless.

Others burst out laughing, “Hahaha, the little monk is so practical!”

“Wow, what a legendary reason! Hahaha… both Luo Zisheng and Li Chengsi are like statues now…”

“Hahaha, amazing! I respect you, Little Monk!”

“I also respect you, this reason is too powerful, I’m giving you a round of applause! Hahaha…”

“Hahaha… too funny… my stomach hurts from laughing, Little Monk hahaha…”

Lian Qing looked at Brother Luo and Brother Li, who were like stone sculptures, as well as the group of people including the staff, who were laughing like a bunch of fools, and pursed his lips.

When one becomes a monk for a long time, the truth can slip out unintentionally. He needed to reflect on this!

TN:

Little Monk is the definition of never let them know your next move hahaha.

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