As the high-jump bar rose higher and higher, more and more people were eliminated, until only three remained: Yan Su Ang, Xiao Tian, and Lian Jue Xiu, all attempting a height of 1.63 meters.
As though mentioning it casually, Lian Jue Xiu said to Xiao Bai, “Looks like I’ve greatly exceeded your expectations.”
Xiao Bai nodded and admitted his mistake. “I didn’t expect your legs to be only a few millimeters shorter than Yan Su Ang’s.”
“……”
What did he mean, only a few millimeters shorter than Yan Su Ang’s? His legs were very long too, okay? Someone had once offered him a hefty sum to play Daddy-Long-Legs. If he hadn’t been determined to become a director, who knew whether there would even be a place for Yan Su Ang today?
Lian Jue Xiu’s mouth twisted with anger.
Chen De Zhang seized the chance to wander over and stir things up. “Director Lian, you’re pretty formidable with your mouth too. How come you can’t out-argue him?”
Lian Jue Xiu snapped, “I can’t out-argue him? I simply refuse to lower myself to his level!”
While they were talking, Yan Su Ang launched himself upward again and easily cleared the bar with a Fosbury flop.
Xiao Bai applauded enthusiastically.
Lian Jue Xiu angrily ran back over. “Why didn’t you clap when I cleared it?”
“Because your posture didn’t look good.”
“My posture didn’t look good?” Lian Jue Xiu was baffled. “Are we picking Miss High Jump, first runner-up, and second runner-up at the end of this game? What does it matter whether my posture looks good?”
“We’re not having a beauty contest.”
“Then why do you care whether I look good when I jump?”
Xiao Bai blinked. “I don’t care about you.”
“……”
Xiao Bai continued in confusion, “But why do you care whether I clap?”
Lian Jue Xiu finally discovered the tragic heart of the problem. “Because you don’t care about me.” What was sadder than being hated? Being ignored!
Carrying that tragic realization with him, Lian Jue Xiu magnificently landed flat on his back in the next round of high jump, taking the bar down with him and once again proving Xiao Bai’s theory that he did not look good doing it.
This time, however, Xiao Bai politely applauded.
And so Lian Jue Xiu felt even more tragic.
With Emei completely eliminated while Penglai still had two generals standing, Penglai won the event decisively.
The next event was wrestling.
Emei sent out Chen De Zhang, Dong Huan, and Xiao Zhou from Four Seasons Boys.
Penglai had originally intended to send Tan Fei, but considering that she was a woman, Yan Su Ang took her place. The other two were Xiao Tian and A Ding from Hula Hoop.
Xiao Bai introduced the rules. “The competition will be best two out of three. You can raise a white flag halfway through…” At this point, he looked around, then stared blankly at the producer and silently mouthed, Where’s the white flag?
The producer wrote in huge letters on the cue board: FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF.
So Xiao Bai faithfully announced, “Because the program’s production budget is tight, everyone will have to figure out their own white flag.”
Tears in his eyes, the producer wrote on the cue board: DON’T AIR OUR DIRTY LAUNDRY IN PUBLIC.
Xiao Bai hurriedly patched things up. “Anyone watching should please keep what I just said secret, because the producer says we shouldn’t air our dirty laundry in public.”
“……”
Wiping away his tears, the producer thought, Fine. We’ll call it a comedy bit. My entire artistic career is basically one long comedy anyway.
During the break for makeup touch-ups, Chen De Zhang walked over to Xiao Bai with a smile. “It probably isn’t a good idea to offend Director Lian like that.”
Xiao Bai looked bewildered. “Did I offend him?”
Chen De Zhang nodded with certainty.
“Oh.” Xiao Bai remained bewildered.
“You still have scenes left to film in Tears of a Man, right?”
“Mm.”
Chen De Zhang said, “If you treat him like this, he might torture you mercilessly during the rest of filming.”
“How would he torture me?”
“For example, he could leave you black and blue and covered in bruises.”
“But I was already covered in bruises last time.”
“……”
Yan Su Ang’s icy gaze immediately swept over.
Chen De Zhang laughed awkwardly. “The plot required it. The plot required it. Actually, now that I think about it, what you did earlier was pretty good. Director Lian bullies you in the movie, so you bully him back on the variety show. Completely reasonable. Absolutely reasonable.” He swiftly distanced himself from any responsibility for the bruises.
But Xiao Bai was not that easy to fool. “I clearly remember the bruises were because you…”
“Huh?” Chen De Zhang grabbed Xiao Tian, who happened to be walking past. “What did you just say?”
“???” Xiao Tian stared at him in complete confusion.
Chen De Zhang continued directing and acting out his own scene. “You think it’s inconvenient to say here? Then let’s talk over there.”
And so Xiao Tian, his head full of question marks, was pushed farther and farther away. At that moment, he had only one thought: So movie actors like randomly acting out little scenes in their everyday lives too.
Yan Su Ang walked over to Xiao Bai. “How are your injuries?”
Xiao Bai pushed up his sleeve. Most of the bruises had already faded, leaving only faint traces.
Yan Su Ang reached out and tenderly touched them. “I wish I’d been there.”
Xiao Bai said unconcernedly, “This is normal.”
Yan Su Ang asked, “What?”
“Didn’t you break your leg filming a movie before?”
“……That’s different.”
“You also said you still have a scar on your head.”
“Uh…” Yan Su Ang had not expected Xiao Bai to remember everything he had said so clearly. “That’s different.”
Xiao Bai cheerfully patted his shoulder. “It’s okay. This kind of thing is normal when you’re an entertainer. Don’t make such a big fuss.”
“……”
So Xiao Bai was now teaching him how to adapt to the entertainment industry?
Yan Su Ang silently drifted back toward his team.
Lian Jue Xiu suddenly ran over and leaned close to his ear, lowering his voice as he mimicked, “It’s okayyy… this kind of thing is normal when you’re an entertainerrr… don’t make such a big fuss…”
Yan Su Ang rolled his eyes. “Could you be any more childish?”
Lian Jue Xiu snorted. “Thank you so much for giving me permission.”
The wrestling began.
All three matchups were between members of the same original group or production.
The first match was Dong Huan from Hula Hoop versus A Ding.
Dong Huan was strong and sturdy. Almost the moment the match began, he forced A Ding into a position with nowhere to retreat.
Amid a wave of laughter, A Ding fled the platform in embarrassment.
Round one went to Emei!
The second match was Xiao Tian versus Xiao Zhou from Four Seasons Boys.
Xiao Tian and Xiao Zhou had similar builds.
Once the two locked together, neither yielded, and neither could move the other even slightly.
The producer watched anxiously from below.
If the people around them had not been cheering, the image would have looked completely frozen. The two seemed glued together, motionless.
Perhaps because he had held his breath too long, Xiao Zhou gave half a step. Xiao Tian immediately seized the opening and, in one burst, forced him off the platform.
Round two went to Penglai!
That meant the entire match now depended on the third round.
Lian Jue Xiu ran over to interview Xiao Bai. “As the neutral host, who do you think will win?”
“Yan Su Ang.”
And you still claim you’re not biased? Lian Jue Xiu openly expressed his protest and dissatisfaction through his eyes.
Xiao Bai said, “Because evil can’t defeat good.”
Chen De Zhang stumbled.
Lian Jue Xiu asked curiously, “Last time you only said my legs were a few millimeters shorter. Fine. But why has Chen De Zhang suddenly been classified as part of the evil path? We Emei are an orthodox and prestigious sect, the foremost of the Shu mountains. How can you compare one of our people to some evil demon?”
At a time like this, he apparently no longer minded his identity as the “Emei Patriarch.”
Xiao Bai answered as though it were obvious, “Because Tang Long is a bad guy.” The plot of Tears of a Man had not been revealed, but the main actors and their roles had already been clearly listed on the promotional materials distributed at the press conference.
“……”
Excellent!
Lian Jue Xiu instantly seized the opportunity to promote the movie. “Who will ultimately triumph—the righteous Shao Zhen Qi or the evil Tang Long? For all the excitement, please look forward to Tears of a Man.”
“……”
Xiao Bai said, “Director Lian, this is the studio for There’s Always a Higher Mountain.”
Obviously. I know this is the studio for There’s Always a Higher Mountain. That’s exactly why I came here to promote the movie.
Xiao Bai accused him, “You inserted another advertisement without permission.”
Lian Jue Xiu wore an expression that clearly said, I inserted it. What are you going to do about it?
“It’ll be cut.”
Lian Jue Xiu suddenly remembered that this was not a live broadcast, and more importantly, he was not the director of this particular program. He immediately looked toward the producer, whose head had been nodding sleepily.
The drowsy producer instantly felt a chill run through his entire body. The sleepiness crawling over his eyelids was completely driven away by Lian Jue Xiu’s warning stare.
Hula Hoop and Four Seasons Boys, who had just been regretting missing their chance for promotion, immediately congratulated themselves on knowing when to stop.
Xiao Bai sighed. “Actually, there’s a technique to inserting advertisements.”
Everyone’s eyes focused on him.
Xiao Bai walked between Yan Su Ang and Chen De Zhang and slowly announced, “The ultimate showdown from Tears of a Man is about to be previewed right here on There’s Always a Higher Mountain! Will righteousness triumph over evil, or will evil rise even higher? The answer is about to be revealed…”
“……”
Yan Su Ang led the applause.
Lian Jue Xiu suddenly asked, “What if the audience really treats this as the ending of Tears of a Man? Once they see who wins here, maybe they’ll decide there’s no point watching the movie.” After all, the ending would already have been revealed.
Xiao Bai frowned and thought about it. “Then you should come up with a solution.”
“……”
Lian Jue Xiu wiped a hand across his face, walked off to the side, and closed his eyes to rest.
The match officially began.
The two participants later gave completely opposite accounts of what happened.
Chen De Zhang’s post-match statement went like this: “The instant his hand landed on my shoulder, I felt killing intent crashing over me like a tidal wave. Suddenly my body, hands, feet, legs—basically everywhere except my face and neck—were subjected to an attack like a violent storm! Even when I fell, Great God deliberately shoved the top of his foot under my waist so it dug into me.”
Yan Su Ang’s account was: “It was my first time wrestling. Pretty fun. A lot of the time I acted instinctively, so I don’t remember the process very clearly.”
In short, that was how it happened.
Lying miserably on the floor, Chen De Zhang complained, “Those weren’t wrestling rules. Those were pro-wrestling rules, weren’t they?” Punches and kicks had both come into play. It had basically been a brawl.
Xiao Bai agreed. “Yan Su Ang definitely broke the rules.”
Yan Su Ang looked at him aggrievedly. Who did Xiao Bai think he had done all that for?
“So,” Xiao Bai declared with a grand wave of his hand, “you should compete again.”
Chen De Zhang’s head, which had just lifted hopefully, crashed heavily back onto the floor.
With great sympathy, Lian Jue Xiu handed him a tissue. “Here. White flag.”
Chen De Zhang said mournfully, “This is humiliating.”
Lian Jue Xiu sighed. “When an athlete encounters a crooked referee, it’s like a sailor encountering a tsunami…” He silently patted Chen De Zhang’s shoulder.
Chen De Zhang raised the white flag with a trembling right hand and the tragic resolve of a martyr.
On the other side, Xiao Bai stood on tiptoe and raised Yan Su Ang’s hand!
Wrestling event—
Penglai wins, two rounds to one!
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