I am Really a Superstar

Around noon.

Central TV\'s Department 11\'s program team began contacting every contestant to inform them that the preliminary round had been completed. They asked them to gather for the recording of the next round of competition rules by 2PM.

This year\'s rules and competition progress were slightly different from the previous years. The pace of this year’s competition was much faster than before, with the preliminary rounds, which had taken 3-4 days before, now shortened to only one and a half days. This was because Central TV had approved the usage of many more recording studios, so even with over a thousand groups of contestants and 10 minutes per performance, the recording progress moved very quickly.

At the venue.

The contestants were all gathered before 2PM.

In front of them was a large screen where the votes for each contestant pair were flashily updated in real time. It still wasn\'t time for the polling to be closed yet, so the numbers were still constantly changing.

"Aiya, I\'m dropping off!"

"Damn, I can\'t make it into the top 500 either."

"I heard that the competition has started eliminating contestants from the preliminary rounds and only 500 teams will be able to advance to the second round. Then from there, only 100 teams will make it through to the 3rd round."

"I\'m currently in 488th place. This is cutting it too close."

"Old Zhang, you did well this time! At 231st place, you will definitely advance to the second round."

"Teacher Wang, congratulations on being placed so high!"

"Oh, my ranking is too low. I guess I can only come back and try again next year."

In their discussions, many of them naturally talked about the team that was in the lead far above. Everyone knew who the \'nameless\' team was!

Suddenly, 2 people walked into the venue.

"Ah, here they come!"

"Be quiet. Stop talking about them already."

"It\'s Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai. The leading team has arrived."

When Zhang Ye and Old Yao came into the studio, the crowd toned down their discussions about the 2 of them. Many of them looked over at them and some even pointed at them as they talked about them in hushed whispers.

Amongst these people, there were those who had denounced Zhang Ye on Weibo the previous night. They scolded Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai, calling them tasteless, but now that the two of them were standing before them, no one dared to mention it anymore. They couldn\'t say anything as Zhang Ye\'s reputation was so terrible. Wasn\'t Lee Anson famous as well? Still, Zhang Ye had him beaten him like it was nothing! Let alone small timers like them, which was why, even if many of them had something against him, they wouldn\'t dare clash directly with Zhang Ye! Zhang Ye was famous for his bad reputation and violence!

At this moment, the hosts went onstage.

When it was time, the 1st round of voting came to an end!

The cameras were now switched on and recording as the event was broadcasted live all over the internet. An event like the announcement of rankings would definitely be allocated a live broadcast slot since it would definitely attract good viewership and high ratings.

The host, Wang Ge\'er, smiled and said, "My dear friends of the audience and contestants, I hope you\'re all doing well. The technical team has already closed the first round of polling. Only the top 500 teams will advance to the next round." With that, the host began to announce the results of who had qualified. Some people were beaming, while others fell into lonely silence.

This announcement program progressed very slowly for about an hour.

In between, the host also invited several popular crosstalk actors to give speeches on stage and asked some of the eliminated contestants to give their reflection speeches. It was a program designed to invoke people\'s innermost feelings.

The live broadcast ended.

The second round of competition was about to begin.

A dozen or so staff members, who were in charge of the teams, brought their laptops over looking for qualifying teams. They recorded the titles of their performances for the next round and informed them of their estimated timing for their team’s performance. Those who were queued further back and not scheduled for recording today were allowed to go home. Their performances would be recorded on the following day instead.

In front.

Division C\'s staff team walked over to Tang Dazhang\'s two disciples, "Hello."

Zhang Xiao smiled, "Hello."

The staff member said, "What is the title of your performance?"

Liu Yuan said in a clear voice, "\'The Current State of Crosstalk\'."

The staff member recorded it down, "Your recording time is scheduled for around 4PM. That will be coming up pretty soon, so please begin preparing for it." After that, he took a look at his laptop and his eye twitched a little. He looked left and right to see where the next group -- Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai were standing before going up to them as well.

Zhang Xiao and Liu Yuan did not move, but looked over at them.

The staff asked, "What about your performance title?"

Zhang Ye calmly replied, "\'I Will Reject the Three Vulgarities\'."

What?

You want to reject the Three Vulgarities?

What sort of performance was that!

The staff member panicked for a moment and then looked at them in surprise. He thought that it was a joke, but Yao Jiancai repeated it once more upon seeing that the staff member had not written it down. Only then did he realize that this was a serious reply. What was the meaning of this? After the netizens had called them tasteless and said that they did not understand the art of crosstalk, were they thinking of turning over a new leaf today? Were they planning on doing a performance closer to the accepted mainstream crosstalks? They took the initiative to become a team that advocated positive performances? Or were they planning to use crosstalk to do some self-criticism? Reflect upon their own selves? The two of you were such spineless people?!

Zhang Xiao and Liu Yuan also looked at each other, at a loss of words when they heard the title. Were those two going to perform as the prodigal son who returns home, but the two of you had already angered so many people! Even if you wanted to salvage your reputation now, it was too late!

They finally succumbed to the pressure?

Ah, it\'s too late anyway!

Around them, other people. who overheard it, also had a glimmer of doubt in their eyes.

But Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai did not say anything else. The two of them had already gone to prepare at the recording studio\'s waiting room. They were even laughingly practicing with each other as they made their way over.

After an hour.

The studio\'s staff came to get them.

Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai both went along with them into the recording studio to have their makeup touched up and for a change of clothes.

Yao Jiancai looked at Zhang Ye and said, "Bro, are you really planning on saying that?"

Zhang Ye laughed, "What do you think?"

Yao Jiancai was at a loss of whether to laugh or cry, "Isn\'t it too face smacking?"

"If it wasn\'t face smacking, I wouldn\'t have chosen this performance." Zhang Ye said frankly.

Yao Jiancai sighed in acknowledgement, "I\'ve finally understood that, with my involvement with you in crosstalk, I shouldn\'t expect my future to be stable anymore. Right now, the way we\'re going would make us everyone’s enemy."

Zhang Ye did not seem to mind. Instead, he even felt it was the norm. He said, "Since my debut, this has been happening every step of the way. I\'m already used to it."

"This old bro is not used to it though!" Yao Jiancai nearly fainted.

After a few minutes, the both of them had gone backstage to do some preparations. They could hear Zhang Xiao and Liu Yuan, who were on stage performing their joke segments and the particular one they were doing right now was.....

Zhang Xiao, ".....It\'s getting more and more low class."

Liu Yuan, "Yes."

Zhang Xiao, "The crosstalk circle these days are in such a mess. It even attracted some people who do talk shows to come and earn their keep here. Some professional crosstalkers have also stooped to an all time low!"

That was obviously targeted at Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai!

When they finished the segment, the viewers and audience did not react. There was no cheers at all!

But at the studio, there was quite a bit of laughter from the crosstalk actors who had come to watch and from the crosstalk judges. It felt as if they had just heard an extremely funny joke segment and were especially tickled. There were even some who clapped!

The audience was left completely speechless and could only stare at each other. What was so funny about that? Did all of you people become crazy? F**k, your sense of humor was too low!

Zhang Ye looked at Old Yao, "So are we gonna say that or not?"

Yao Jiancai cursed out loudly, "F**k! We must definitely say it! We have to say this \'I will reject the Three Vulgarities\'"!

***Translator notes:

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