Chapter 154
Chapter 154
Before Fu Zhi even started dancing, everyone had already mentally prepared themselves.
After Fu Zhi started dancing, everyone realized they had not prepared nearly enough.
How could someone hit the right moves and the right rhythm, yet still look so frantic?
[He’s busy, but I have no idea what he’s busy doing.]
[What are you trying to steal?]
[Mystery is getting seriously mysterious now.]
[Big Socks, take a look at yourself. Isn’t this sinister?]
[This time of year has been pretty special lately. Has Fu Zhi been possessed by something?]
[Any Daoists here who understand this stuff?]
The eyes of the masses were sharp and discerning. Fu Zhi’s vote count sat steadily at 0, unmoving.
Steady. Reassuring, even.
Then, suddenly-
The music came to an abrupt stop.
All the lights in the venue went out, and the audience instantly erupted in a buzzing uproar.
“What’s going on?!”
“Is there a power outage? No, no, if the power’s out, I have to run home first.”
“No way it’s a power outage, right? How many years has it been since we had one around here?”
The next second, the red stage lights flared on, accompanied by music loud enough to deafen everyone-
“Woo-”
A riot of colorful lights flashed back and forth, bright enough to blind a person.
Aside from Ning Xi and Qin Se, who were already used to camera flashes, everyone else couldn’t help closing their eyes for a moment.
So dazzling!
Even more dazzling was Fu Zhi’s dance that followed.
If what he’d done earlier could still be counted as an ordinary person with no sense of dance trying very hard to dance, then now he had completely stopped caring whether anyone else lived or died.
Fu Zhi’s movements were huge and unrestrained: leaps, backflips, handstand spins…
Never mind whether there was any aesthetic beauty to the dancing. Those legs, spinning faster and faster, carried the resolute determination to randomly smash one lucky person to death.
“Don’t come over here!!!” A child in the audience was almost scared to tears.
“I’ll give you all my votes, okay?!”
The moment those words came out, the audience members near the front began wailing to the heavens and the earth, declaring that as long as Fu Zhi stopped dancing, they would vote for him!
Missing out on the Best Audience award was a small matter. Getting smashed to death by Fu Zhi’s rapidly spinning legs was a big one!
And so, with a high score of thirty-three votes, Fu Zhi’s dance surpassed Qin Se’s singing-and-dancing performance, becoming the current first-place act of the vote.
“How about that? I’m number one in the whole venue now!”
The moment Fu Zhi got offstage, he strode over to Ning Xi with the wind at his heels, his chin raised with a trace of smugness.
Ning Xi flicked at a nonexistent cuff and said leisurely, “Glutinous rice has gotten more expensive lately, so don’t mess around, young man.”
After all, this was no longer something that could be solved with one handful of glutinous rice.
Fu Zhi let out a cold laugh. “Jealousy! This is naked jealousy!”
Ning Xi: …
Nope. If she kept talking to Fu Zhi, she felt like she would lose face by association.
So Ning Xi took two steps back, maintaining a certain social distance from Fu Zhi. “Big Socks, as long as you’re happy. I just want to stay far away from you.”
Fu Zhi’s stubborn bull temper immediately kicked in.
He walked up to Ning Xi in a few strides, looking completely unhinged, as if wherever Ning Xi went, he would go too.
“I refuse! Even as a ghost, I’ll haunt you! That’s right, I’m a dog-skin plaster and a sticky mouse trap you can never shake off. Even if you tear me away, I’ll leave behind traces where I was attached. Don’t even dream of getting rid of me!!!”
Ning Xi fell silent for one second, then helplessly lifted her head. “Did everyone hear that? Fu Zhi is threatening me. Who can save poor Xiao Xixi?!”
Then she raised her arm and called out, “Ning Army, will you march into battle with me? Xiao Xixi only has you now!”
After discovering that no one responded, she looked at Fu Zhi in disappointment. “I was going to be your hater, so why would you want to be my dog-skin plaster? I’m heartbroken!”
Her whole strategy was to throw every formula into chaos and defeat magic with magic.
Sure enough, Fu Zhi still couldn’t out-crazy Ning Xi.
The ceiling of Fu Zhi’s all-out insanity was nothing more than a random little performance Ning Xi could put on anywhere, anytime.
“You… I…”
Fu Zhi choked with anger. Unable to win the argument, he could only make a “melancholy” exit.
Of course, that was from Ning Xi’s perspective.
In everyone else’s eyes, Fu Zhi had been driven mad with rage and needed to leave to cool down.
After Fu Zhi left, Ning Xi smoothed her hair, coughed twice, cleared her throat, and put on a “professional” air. “What just happened was only a joke. I’m usually very serious.”
Xie Lanchen, who had watched the entire thing from the side, was the first to undermine her and couldn’t help laughing out loud.
Noticing the deadly glare Ning Xi shot his way, Xie Lanchen restrained his smile and nodded in agreement.
“Mm. Teacher Ning is usually very serious.”
The amusement in his languid voice could not be suppressed at all.
Ning Xi rolled her eyes dramatically. “I’ve noticed you’re really pedantic.”
Yet in the next second, a warm, gentle palm covered her eyelashes, carrying its owner’s distinctive faint woody scent.
“Sure enough, even the prettiest person looks… when they roll their eyes…”
The rest of Xie Lanchen’s sentence died in his throat when Ning Xi pried his hand away and revealed her bright eyes beneath it.
Even when a pretty person rolled their eyes… they were still pretty.
Besides, no matter what Ning Xi looked like, he thought she was beautiful.
She looked beautiful when she smiled quietly.
She looked beautiful when she rolled her eyes.
She looked the most beautiful when she was so full of life.
“Looks what when they roll their eyes?” Ning Xi looked at Xie Lanchen, wanting to know what exactly he had been about to say.
But Xie Lanchen simply refused to say it.
Ning Xi’s patience ran out. She huffed. “Fine, don’t say it then. I hate people who talk in riddles the most. I’m going to watch the show!”
With that, she turned and left, crisp and decisive.
As if she were angry.
Yet after only two steps, she suddenly missed her footing.
Xie Lanchen’s expression tightened. He took two steps in one, reaching out to catch Ning Xi as she was about to “fall.”
“Careful-”
“Fooled you! Hahahahahaha! I was messing with you!”
Ning Xi straightened up and burst into laughter, clutching her stomach as she looked at Xie Lanchen’s anxious face after being tricked by her fake fall.
When she saw the expression on Xie Lanchen’s face that seemed to say “silently speechless,” Ning Xi became even happier.
Only the viewers watching the livestream with magnifying glasses noticed the key detail.
[Xiao Xie’s lips curved up. Did he already know Ning Xi was fake-falling?]
[How did you see Xie Lanchen smile? Wasn’t he pressing his lips together?]
[He really is smiling. Look at the screenshot. The corner of his mouth rose by one pixel. He’s obviously very happy.]
[??? What kind of eyes do you people have?]
[I don’t care anymore. Yalaso!!!!!!]
“Huh? Why hasn’t Ning Mingyue gone on yet?”
After Ning Xi finished laughing, she finally noticed.
After all, once Ning Mingyue finished her performance, it would be her and Xie Lanchen’s turn.
Director Qin wanted to ask the same question.
After Ning Mingyue had drifted out like a wandering ghost just now, she had not come back. She did not reply to messages either.
Fortunately, the cameraman who usually followed her could still be reached. He said Ning Mingyue was not in quite the right state and needed to calm down for a bit, but she would adjust soon and come back to perform.
Director Qin nearly choked on his own breath.
Missy, this was a live variety show.
Tens of millions of viewers were watching!
Could she really stand up that many viewers with one little “not in the right state”?!
Who knew when Missy would get herself together?!
Were they supposed to make everyone wait for her alone?!
Although Director Qin was angry, he still took out his wireless mic and went onstage to interact with the audience, buying time.
He was so practiced at the whole process that he felt sorry for himself.
“Good evening, everyone! The first half of tonight’s performances has ended. Before the guests’ performances in the second half, the Program Team would like to play a little game with everyone.”
The audience all thought it was part of the normal process and did not think too much of it. They were very supportive.
But when they saw the sushi and thermoses the staff brought out, the audience fell silent.
That was it?
Off to the side, Ning Xi raised a tiny objection. “Weren’t those two things supposed to be product placements in my skit?!”
And the director had promised to pay her extra for it!!!
“Work is so hard every day, have some sushi to nourish yourself! Work is so tiring every day, have some sushi to whet your appetite!
“Thank you to the Yummy Sushi brand for providing these sushi props!
“Next, we will begin the sushi-eating challenge. Everyone present can participate. Within ten minutes, the contestant who eats the most sushi will receive a three-thousand-yuan cash prize provided by the Program Team, as well as one year of free meals at all Yummy Sushi chain locations!
“And if you choke on the sushi, you may drink the warm water provided in the BWB Thermos!
“BWB Thermos! Its heat retention is outrageously good. After a whole day, the water is still hot enough to burn your mouth. You need an electric fan just to cool it down before drinking!”
Director Qin passionately inserted the ads into the game rules.
Ning Xi said faintly, “Amazing. You Are My Blessing wants to make money.”
Since the ad had already been done, there was no need to insert it into her skit anymore.
Her precious extra cash had flown away.
In order to take care of certain people’s feelings at the scene (x)
Worried that a sudden change by the Program Team would cause someone to lose it and affect the livestream (√)
Director Qin deliberately added with emphasis, “Attention! Everyone present can participate in this challenge! In other words, if our guests are willing, they may also join the sushi-eating challenge! If a guest becomes the big-eater champion, they can also receive the cash prize and one year of free meals at Yummy Sushi!”
Ning Xi: “!!!!”
Then again.
Ning Xi’s expression changed in a second. She looked at Director Qin with stars in her eyes. “You Are My Blessing hasn’t changed after all!”