I'm Really a Superstar

The live broadcast started!

Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai were performing on stage!

In comparison to the chaos going on outside the crosstalk world, the broadcast hall was extremely calm and unperturbed. Apart from the judges exchanging glances and the dazed looks on the faces of the audience, there was no other activity. Aside from a small number of staff members responsible for the live broadcast, no one else knew that the cameras in the broadcast hall were live. All the phones had already been turned off or been held for safekeeping in specific locations. While recording, the entrances were all locked. Therefore, no one received the news. Not only them, even Zhang Ye himself did not know what the current situation was like.

Bba Bba Bba.

"It's Teacher Zhang!"

"Haha, Yao Jiancai!"

"What a moment! We are actually breathing the same air as them!"

"We've got something to watch for now."

"But Teacher Zhang's crosstalk? I dare not see what's going to happen next!"

"Zhang Ye's not here to perform crosstalk anyway. He's just here to mess things up. Don't tell me you even have any expectations of him going up against professional crosstalk actors?"

"That's true."

"I guess it would be similar to his talk show style."

"Although that is not really crosstalk, the talk show is rather good too. I quite like it."

The audience were very accommodating as they clapped along with the staff who led the applause. The applause even sounded very welcoming and was obviously more supportive than the other contestants. That was unavoidable as the two's popularity was still very apparent.

The lights filled the studio and helped them stand out nicely on camera.

The other contestants, who were doing a live studio recording for the first time, were all uncomfortable after getting on stage and would feel nervous. Sometimes when the lighting was poorly placed, you wouldn't even be able to tell what was on the stage in front of you, as the lights would blind you. But Zhang Ye stood on stage and really enjoyed the moment. He was too familiar with all of this. After a long while of not recording a program, he even felt a hint of reminiscence and wanted to to shout out "I, Hu Hanson, am back again"!

Yao Jiancai was also not unfamiliar with all these either. He was already a veteran of the entertainment business for more than 10 years, so like Zhang Ye, he was also someone who had been through all of this before.

Calmness.

Just their body language alone made them stand above the other contestants.

The female judge held up her microphone and smiled, "Nice to meet you, teachers."

Yao Jiancai also smiled and said, "Ah, please don't address us so."

The female judge said in a friendly way, "Usually when the contestants come on stage, we would ask them for their introductions first, but that won't be necessary for the two of you. I do believe that most of our audience members know the two of you, but even so, they probably did not know that the both of you know how to do crosstalk too."

Another judge, who was a professional crosstalk actor said, "Let me interrupt for a moment. I do not know about Zhang Ye, but Teacher Yao Jiancai used to be a professional crosstalk actor like us in the past."

The female judge said in surprise, "Oh? There was such a thing?"

Yao Jiancai self-deprecatingly said, "That was more than 10 years ago. I wouldn't even dare to bring it up nowadays."

The third middle-aged judge sitting at the far right seemed to not even have had the interest to listen to this, remarking, "Just let them start. Let's first listen to their performance." It was useless chatting so much. Even if Yao Jiancai was a professional who had studied crosstalk, Zhang Ye had never studied anything. He was just an amateur. Even if he carried on in this conversation, it would have the same effect as playing a zither to a cow. Moreover, this person was a celebrity who had been subjected to a complete ban. For him to come over was intentionally looking for trouble. No one believed that they could really perform a proper crosstalk. Would they imitate a talk show? Or mimic a traditional crosstalk sketch? In any case, he was completely disinterested.

The first judge said, "Okay, begin."

Contrary to what one might expect, the female judge revealed an expression of extreme interest.

It was worth mentioning that Zhang Ye caught the sight of someone seated in a corner of the audience. It was Tang Dazhang. This was the first time that Zhang Ye had seen this person. However, since he had seen that person's picture and video before, Zhang Ye was able to recognize him immediately. Tang Dazhang was not only the judge of the first round of the preliminary competition, but he was likely here for the performances of his disciples. One could clearly tell that he originally intended to leave and had already stood on his feet, but when he caught sight of Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai, Tang Dazhang sat down once again. On his face was a shallow smile, as if he were waiting to watch Zhang Ye make a fool of himself.

Beside Tang Dazhang were several other crosstalk performers.

One of them said, "Allowing Zhang Ye to come pollute the crosstalk stage."

Another elderly comrade also shook his head and said, "Oh, this current crosstalk competition ... There are more and more amateurs, some of whom dare to come compete even though they don't even know what crosstalk is. I really can't continue listening to this. Look, at those people from the third group in Division A and group two from Division C? Ay! This Zhang Ye won't be any better."

Tang Dazhang smiled and said, "In a moment, when he's finished performing, the judges will tell him what crosstalk really is. Does he really think that he can employ the talk show style to masquerade as crosstalk? What a joke."

The several crosstalk performers once again began to nitpick at Zhang Ye.

The performance was about to begin and the hall immediately became quiet. All the spectators looked towards the stage.

At this moment, outside of the hall, all of those paying attention to the crosstalk competition online were all staring intently without blinking at the live broadcast - a total of tens of thousands of eyes!

......

Zhang Ye's home.

On the phone, Mom said, "Old man, come back quickly!"

On the other end, Dad replied, "I'm grocery shopping right now, I'll be back shortly."

"Forget about getting groceries and hurry up! Our son is going to be broadcast live! He's just about to start his crosstalk performance! Hurry, hurry, hurry!" Mom was extremely emotional. She had originally thought that her son would have to say farewell to the entertainment world for good. She couldn't believe that he was already back before the public's eyes, especially in such a large competition with top nationwide ratings.

To the side, second sister asked, "Can my brother actually perform crosstalk?"

Mom exclaimed, "How would I know? I've never heard him perform it before."

Third sister harrumphed and said, "What doesn't brother know how to do? For him to dare to go compete, then he must be able to."

Big sister worriedly replied, "I hope that is true."

......

Yao Jiancai's house.

Yao Mi was running around in circles in front of the computer. "Is my dad capable? Oh, don't lose face! Although he was formerly a professional supporting comedian, he never became successful. Now that so many years have passed, he surely has already lost all of his fundamentals. In addition, my unrivalled Teacher Zhang, when did he learn how to do crosstalk? Did he learn from my dad? Isn't that screwing with him?"

Fan Yi frowned and said, "What's the point of watching? Turn it off."

Yao Mi childishly replied, "Mom, are you still angry with Dad? Didn't the public security bureau already investigate everything? Surely, you know what kind of person dad is. He may have evil intentions, but he doesn’t have the courage to do anything. How is he able to escape from that grasp of yours? Even if you gave him ten galls, he wouldn't dare to mess around outside."

"Watch by yourself." However, Fan Yi did not leave. Instead, she sat down beside Yao Mi, 'reading.' Her eyes would stealthily look at the video of the live broadcast from time to time. Clearly, she was paying considerable attention.

......

Somewhere in the Internet Surveillance Bureau. During the lunch break, Fan Yingyun, Fang Xiaoshui, and Meng Yi had all tuned in on the live broadcast.

Beijing Television Station. Hu Fei, the Hou brothers, Xiao Lu, and Big Fei were all watched the live broadcast as they ate.

Shanghai, Weiwo Company's WebTV department. Dong Shanshan and Zhang Ye's former colleagues were all waiting to watch the performance.

Etc, etc, etc.

That this was broadcast live was really too unexpected, so much so that many of those who didn't pay attention to Zhang Ye or Yao Jiancai were this time drawn over, watching this inconceivable live broadcast.

......

The broadcast hall.

The field director made several gestures, indicating that it was okay to start.

Zhang Ye, on stage, saw this and smiled slightly. He glanced at the expression on the faces of the judges and some of the audience members. He knew that it was likely that everyone here did not think he was capable of performing crosstalk. That's fine. Then in today's first round preliminary competition, this brother would first simply display what is called new trade crosstalk, to display what had been polished and developed to the pinnacle by the people of his world. More than seven to eight years ahead of this world's crosstalk format.

As he smoothed his sleeves, Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Hello everyone."

Yao Jiancai joined in, "Hey, nice to meet all of you."

Zhang Ye said, "This stage will be the both of us giving you a crosstalk performance."

Yao Jiancai smiled. "Yes, it's our turn."

When the audience and those on the internet watching the live broadcast saw this, they felt a bit speechless. In crosstalk, at least 90% of them began with these boring opening lines. This was way too stale, wasn't it? Besides, it was too insipid. Heh, looks like this Zhang Ye really didn't know anything about the art form that was crosstalk. He was too casual.

However, the moment this thought arose, the first strike came at them unexpectedly!

Zhang Ye respectfully pointed to his side. "Firstly, let me do the introductions. This is my partner, and also a distinguished elder that I respect the most, Biting Materials, Teacher Biting (homophone)!"

Immediately a great number of the audience burst into laughter.

Yao Jiancai exclaimed, "Biting Materials? I really am not picky with food!"

The audience laughed again. "Hahaha!"

Zhang Ye said in astonishment, "Then what should it be?"

Yao Jiancai said, "Nice! Don't tell me that you don't even know my name?"

Laughter rang out from the audience again.

Zhang Ye chuckled and said, "It's just a joke, Yao Jiancai, Teacher Yao."

Yao Jiancai said, "That's right."

Zhang Ye said, "Teacher Yao is great at crosstalk. Maybe many of you do not know that more than a decade ago, Teacher Yao was considered a professional crosstalk actor in an orthodox artistic group."

Yao Jiancai said to the audience, "That is true. There's no need to talk about things from so long ago."

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Today for me to dare compete in this competition, it's because Teacher Yao brought me here. Everyone should know that I am friends with Teacher Yao despite our age gap."

Yao Jiancai said, "That's right, we are old friends."

Zhang Ye pointed at him and said, "As the saying goes, it's hard to find a cock!"

The female judge, who sat in the middle, nearly burst out laughing as the live audience also roared with laughter!

Yao Jiancai hurriedly stopped him. "Hold up, hold up! When did I become another species? It's confidant!"

"Right, confidant!" Zhang Ye said, "I have a very good relationship with Teacher Yao. How good is it? His friends are my friends, his brothers are my brothers, his parents are my parents..."

"Yes, we have a great friendship." Yao Jiancai said.

Zhang Ye carried on, "His daughter is my daughter, his wife is my wife!"

Yao Jiancai immediately pushed him, "Go to the corner! Stop taking advantage of me!"

The audience erupted into laughter!

Tang Dazhang frowned.

The crosstalk actors beside him also could not help but let out a whimper upon hearing this.

The other two male judges also looked at each other in astonishment. They could see within each other eyes. A revised talk show? Clearly not! This was obviously a proper crosstalk, but in terms of rhythm and burden techniques, it was also not a traditional mainstream crosstalk format!