Chapter 139: Life’s Four Iron Bonds: Eaten Sh*t Together
Teacher Zhang glanced at Chi Ye, then at Teacher Wu, thinking to himself, “As expected of a professional critic, you’ll do anything for money.”
Director Kaige remained silent, merely clearing his throat.
“Is Director Kaige’s throat uncomfortable?”
Chi Ye had heard it several times and looked over.
“Cough, cough.”
At this moment, Sheng Ning probably had a nicotine craving and coughed lightly twice.
Chi Ye turned back, “Is your throat uncomfortable too? Then buy some of Zhang Xianming’s chicken feet and let the chicken feet reach in and scratch it for you.”
Sheng Ning raised her phoenix brows. Seeing so many cameras around, she didn’t speak, only secretly cursed in her heart.
I’ll scratch you to death!
“Hahaha.”
Li Qian didn’t notice their unspoken dialogue and laughed even louder. Director Kaige immediately stopped clearing his throat and cast a faint glance at Chi Ye.
Chi Ye didn’t care.
The movie circle is indeed too complex and closed.
He could clearly feel from when they were recording the program that Director Kaige and Teacher Zhang were the closest.
Yu Peier, this international film empress, was purely there to make money, serving as a gimmick.
The remaining two Hong Kong mentors, while appearing to be on equal footing with the two from the Beijing Circle in front of the cameras, were actually far behind in terms of star power and status.
If the five mentors are like this, let alone the four consultant groups…
Li Qian’s star power is quasi-first-tier, but both Sheng Ning and Sister Shang treated her very politely.
In short, this movie circle is indeed a bit complicated.
Director Jiang Kaige and Teacher Zhang clearly looked down on him, so he didn’t need to brown-nose them.
As for his relationship with Jiang Cheng… after Arthur’s massive success due to him, they had already “broken up”!
At this point, more than half of the 46 actors on stage had been introduced.
Xiang You ultimately wasn’t chosen early and returned to his seat dejectedly.
Taking his place on stage was Chicken Feet Zhang—as for that person who appeared earlier selling chicken feet… that wasn’t him, it was a certain internet celebrity.
That’s right, Zhang Xianming himself never expected that by participating in an acting variety show, he would actually encounter a “competitor”!
He had already inquired privately. This internet celebrity was a cooperation partner of Jiang Mou.
Damn it, Jiang Mou, is your ghost haunting us even after death?
Are you trying to disgust me even from afar?
Such deep camaraderie, it’s so touching!
He was very angry, but when he heard the captain had “introduced” his chicken feet to Director Kaige earlier, his mood became incredibly uplifted again.
Even after going on stage, he was full of spirit, recounting his past, and why he participated in this program. At the crucial points, he even shed tears and blurted out, “Although I haven’t been acting, I’ve really kept in shape. I’d go to the gym every day at three in the morning for high-intensity workouts…”
He confidently flexed his pectoral muscles, his eyes constantly looking at Chi Ye, hoping he would continue to “assist with his words.”
Chi Ye did not disappoint. Upon hearing his words, he exclaimed, “Working out at three in the morning? And high-intensity, heavy weights every day?”
“Yes.”
“Are you trying to possess a strong corpse?”
Chicken Feet Zhang: “…”
Li Qian covered her face and laughed incessantly. Then, she thought of something and nodded, “This is indeed… how should I put it, it’s not easy for actors to maintain their physique… Hmm, but Teacher Chi is right, you need to be mindful of your physical safety.”
What she said wasn’t just empty pleasantries, as she was indeed on the heavier side and had faced a lot of body shaming, still experiencing significant body anxiety.
“Then can you show us the results of your fitness?”
Jiang Kaige wanted to clear his throat but then recalled what Chi Ye had just said. He faintly regurgitated, swallowed it back, and said in a low voice.
Upon hearing this, Chicken Feet Zhang was immediately delighted and nodded, “Of course!”
When others went on stage earlier, if they had a “display,” they wouldn’t necessarily be chosen early, but they would definitely get more screen time and topic value than those contestants who finished their self-introductions and sheepishly left.
He immediately took a deep breath, feeling something was missing… hmm, a “dong ci da ci” BGM…
But considering this was an acting variety show, playing that kind of BGM was indeed inappropriate.
Of course, Zhang Xianming is a veteran artist. Whether there’s actual BGM or not has no impact on his performance, because in his mind, suggestive dancing was already ingrained in his genes.
The art of no technique surpasses any technique!
Chicken Feet Zhang cast a “contemptuous” glance at the other contestants below, then began to wiggle silently.
His body shook wildly, his hips swung, with such high frequency and apparent ease.
Everyone around widened their eyes, watching this scene in disbelief—Dude, what are you doing?!
We asked you to show your fitness results, and you’re doing suggestive dancing here?!
Chi Ye turned his head away and commented in a low voice, “Watching this makes me not even dare to commit suicide.”
Li Qian asked curiously, “Why?”
“Afraid of seeing it all over again in a life review.”
“Pfft hahaha, how are you so funny…”
Li Qian couldn’t hold back her laughter.
Chi Ye, however, noticed a key point.
Sister Shang, who was beside him, was not reacting.
He was puzzled and looked over, only to see Sister Shang fiddling with her phone with her head down, acting suspiciously, clearly lost in thought for some time.
Chi Ye: “?”
No way, my eyes shouldn’t be defiled in vain, you have to see it too!
He directly called out in a low voice, “Zhang Xianming is doing a striptease.”
“What?!”
Sister Shang was startled, looked over subconsciously, and then—
“OMG…”
Her mouth slightly opened, and an indescribable expression appeared on her small face.
How to describe it…
It’s like, hmm…
“Did you eat it?”
Chi Ye asked curiously.
“I ate it.” Sister Shang nodded, “I ate shit.”
“Thank you for calling me to eat it with you after you finished.”
Chi Ye: “The four great iron bonds in life: attending school together, fighting in a war together, dividing spoils together, and eating shit together.”
“Chi Ye, you’re so good to me, you give me the bad stuff to eat.”
“…”
While the two were whispering, Chicken Feet Zhang was also escorted off stage with his person, chair, and chicken feet.
Sheng Ning criticized with a cold voice, “Nonsense, fooling around, treating actors as a joke!”
Chicken Feet Zhang was dumbfounded—Wait, weren’t you just praising me?
Why did your attitude change so quickly?!
He was confused, unaware that Chi Ye’s earlier “advertisement” had caused Sheng Ning’s impression of him to instantly drop from pretty good to negative.
Yes, she was that straightforward and simple a person.
A pure warrior of hatred.
Chicken Feet Zhang sheepishly went off stage, thinking to himself: I deliberately showed the chicken feet logo on my chest on stage just now. Whether I’m eliminated or not, this was worth it!
Little did he know, at the backstage camera at this moment, the footage of him wriggling suggestively was edited to have his head and chest replaced with the logo of “Actors Please Take Place”.
In the picture, “Actors Please Take Place” was shaking its body wildly and gyrating suggestively. The program team also thoughtfully added post-production BGM.
Yes, “Actors Please Take Place” had become sentient and was dancing suggestively!
The director clapped his hands with satisfaction, “That’s right, haha. Don’t you think, if this footage is released, the popularity of our show will definitely increase!”
He had already thought of a trending search term: “#ActorsPleaseTakePlacePersonified#!”
Masters sparring, every move is fatal!
…
Chi Ye didn’t know that Shang Youshu was actually eating “off-stage gossip.”
Due to the sudden revival and topping of the #LateNight# CP, the fans of both sides had gradually lost their minds.
Things like Chi Ye being kept, a compilation of Phoenix Man scandals, and evidence.
Things like Sheng Ning modifying her age multiple times, hitting fans’ phones in public, and only associating with popular people.
As for “Chi Ye” having done similar things in the past, the two were truly “made for each other”…
The fans had something to say: That’s different, my idol hit the phones of fan photographers and sasaeng fans back then!
In short, scandalous news about the two was rapidly hitting hot searches. At first, everyone thought it was a chaotic battle between two fanbases, but as they got more heated, their respective teams started to get involved.
However, industry insiders and veteran fans familiar with the various feuds, digs, and smear campaigns in the entertainment industry quickly realized that things were far more complicated than they seemed.
—Both of their rivals had entered the fray!
Especially Chi Ye’s rivals. Sheng Ning’s rivals were easier to deal with, with only a few: Jin Xia, Shang Youshu, Shi Jinwei, and a few other popular traffic flowers who had recently risen. But Sheng Ning’s team generally wouldn’t “lower themselves” to intentionally boost their opponents.
There were only so many opponents, and after so many years of competition, it was easy to tell who they were.
But it was different for Chi Ye.
Before the broadcast of “Circulation,” he didn’t have many rivals.
The reason was simple—he was too unknown, lacked competitiveness, and few people truly considered him a rival. At most, Hua Yichen felt that Chi Ye’s singing skill and looks would threaten his status in the music scene and always considered Chi Ye a rival.
After the broadcast of “Circulation,” Chi Ye successfully joined the big leagues. Small actors in the industry, especially various traffic young male stars, were all unsettled.
For example, Jiang Yi, the good buddy of Peng Chen from a danmei drama; Chi Ye hadn’t marketed himself as a “dual top streamer” yet, nor had his star power reached that level, but he was definitely one of the traffic stars closest to becoming a “dual top streamer.”
Jiang Yi saw his good buddy Lao Peng ascend one level, and the previously overlooked obscure Chi Ye was showing signs of catching up. How could he sit still?
Besides Jiang Yi, there was no need to mention the Yue Na System artists. Other artists who were either slightly less popular than Chi Ye or slightly more popular than him were all eyeing Chi Ye.
Those who were less popular feared he would climb higher and snatch resources, while those who were more popular feared he would rise up and disrupt the game for resources…
In short, Chi Ye now had too many rivals, so many that the studio couldn’t even compile a complete list.
But these “rivals” weren’t absolute, because stabbing each other in the back was the norm in the industry.
Today we might be rivals, but tomorrow we might team up to stab another common “rival.”
Chi Ye wasn’t bothered by these minor squabbles; they were just daily feuds.
What concerned him was that in this war of attrition, one of the “pillars” of his former agency, the God of War Ji Hemming, seemed to be having some “problems.”
…
Two o’clock in the morning.
The first episode of “Actors Please Take Place” had finished recording.
The mentors, consultant group, and contestants began to “get off work” and disperse.
Of course, this kind of work schedule was normal when recording a program. Everyone was not sleepy at this hour, and it was a rare opportunity to “build connections.” Naturally, they would want to have dinner together, exchange WeChat contacts, and so on.
Chi Ye received several WeChat friend requests. Teacher Yang Zi hadn’t come over; he was sulking a little, seemingly blaming Chi Ye for not interacting with him much today.
Chi Ye looked at his pouty face and decided not to go over either.
“Want to grab a late-night snack together?”
Teacher Wu and Teacher Zeng came over, chatting and laughing. The former asked with his hands in his pockets, “Let’s talk about the script.”
“Sure, sure, I’ll find a place.”
Chi Ye replied to a friend request from someone named “Submarine Master Zhuang” on his phone, then looked up and smiled.
He had come to this event specifically to get acquainted with Teacher Wu. Naturally, he had no objections and agreed. While agreeing, he also glimpsed Jiang Kaige and Teacher Zhang gathering together after leaving the camera’s view.
Sheng Ning was also in the crowd, surrounded by a group of insider contestants.
She noticed Chi Ye’s gaze, looked back, curled her lips coldly, and left with the others without saying a word.
“You’ve offended someone.”
Teacher Wu saw this, shook his head, and kindly reminded, “Do you want to go apologize? I heard she’s quite popular among you guys.”
“Huh?”
Chi Ye was taken aback, waved his hand, “No need. What apology does she need to give me?”
Teacher Wu chuckled, “Your mouth… haha, no wonder she’s angry.”
“Shall we go then?”
“Wait a moment.”
Chi Ye saw Sister Shang waving at him. He apologized to Teacher Wu and Teacher Zeng and walked over, asking, “What’s up?”
“I have another announcement, so I can’t join you for dinner.”
Sister Shang said somewhat listlessly, “I just wanted to remind you. When I was gossiping earlier, I saw a lot of people badmouthing you. Make sure your team pays attention.”
“Okay, I know.”
Chi Ye nodded and glanced at her, “Are you feeling alright? Not resting so late?”
“Sigh, the brand we’re cooperating with is urgently urging me. It’s scheduled, I can’t rest.”
Sister Shang looked dejected. Compared to the arrogance of Empress Dowager, the assertiveness of Sheng Ning, or even the diligence of Sister Qianzi, Sister Shang was simply a lazy dog. She was genuinely lazy, with no other impurities mixed in!
“Then with you flying around like this, do you have time to lose weight?”
Chi Ye thought for a moment and gave advice, “Stop eating Wallace burgers from now on. As for… if you really want to lose weight, you can eat some high-fiber foods to promote intestinal peristalsis…”
Sister Shang blushed and said, “Got it. Can we not talk about this anymore!”
“Alright, then I wish you smooth work.”
Chi Ye smiled, waved goodbye, and turned to leave with Teacher Wu and the others.
Sister Shang also walked to her agent and got into the car together, then took out her phone to search.
“What are you fiddling with?”
The agent was curious.
“It’s nothing, Chi Ye just recommended some weight-loss foods to me… Let me see.”
The agent was speechless. “No, you still believe it? One of you dares to say it, and the other dares to believe it. You want to be a young marksman, right?”
“Sis, this time it’s food, not junk food.”
Sister Shang corrected, then found something. “High-fiber foods do have a certain effect on weight loss… but you can’t rely on them too much… Hmm… High-fiber foods are bulky and digest slowly, occupying a large space in the stomach and intestines, which makes people feel very full, thereby reducing the intake of other high-calorie foods…”
“Regarding this…”
She frowned, looking at the food pictures, feeling a little unappetized.
A new advertisement suddenly popped up on the page.
【 Exclusive secret recipe weight loss drink, pure natural formula, lose weight by drinking it, transforming you from XL to S size in one month, easily counterattacking to become a goddess, grab it now to start your slimming miracle! 】
“Lose weight by drinking it?!”
Sister Shang found it hard to believe. She clicked on it to take a closer look, and her small mouth gradually twisted into a strange expression.
Two-second gut cleanse?
Heh, interesting.
“Da Shachun, what are you trying to do?!”
The agent also caught sight of this unscrupulous advertisement and warned, “You want to cleanse your gut quickly?!”
Sister Shang was speechless. “Sis, I was just joking. I’m not stupid, how could I believe this kind of unscrupulous advertisement?”
After speaking, she muttered and complained, “Data privacy is too bad these days. I only searched for diet pills a few times, and they started pushing diet pills to me…”
“You’re right, this big data nowadays is too accurate, tsk tsk…”
The agent also shook his head and sighed.
“I’ll just buy some black coffee. I won’t eat, just drink coffee…”
Sister Shang shook her head and swayed, closed the page, and clicked on JD.com. “It happens that we’re out of coffee at home… Hmm… hmm…?”
She saw that on the JD.com cover she had just opened, an advertisement for a certain female intimate product suddenly popped up.
The slogan was displayed above it.
——【 Your intimate friend for private moments, opening a chapter of joy exclusively for women! 】
Agent: “…”
Sister Shang: “…”
They looked at each other. Sister Shang’s expression remained unchanged. “Big data is pushing random stuff, it’s actually not accurate at all.”
“Yes, it’s pushing random stuff… They can read minds, really amazing.”
The agent paused, then asked seriously, “So when do you plan to start your exclusive chapter of joy?”
Uh… requesting some monthly tickets. We’re not far from the top 100 for monthly tickets. I don’t really understand this, but I heard that those in the top 100 can have an activity and a fan title next month… It feels like we’re not far off, let’s see if we can try. All monthly tickets will result in an additional update. I will finish repaying what I owe from last month before the end of the month. Every monthly ticket you guys vote this month, I will add it back. Thank you, my dears! Love you all!
