When it came to eliminating Bai Youlou, the judges or mentors from the first few shows he participated in actually had some say.
This sort of thing~
Just close your eyes and endure it for a little while. Better to suffer briefly than for a long time. Grit your teeth and shudder through it, and it'll be over.
At most, give him a little extra consolation. Things would smooth out eventually.
The reason people suffered was that they wanted too much.
Why was Yu Zhan suffering so much right now?
Because he actually cared about saving face.
He organized all sorts of dignified ways to eliminate Bai Youlou, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt his vocabulary was terribly lacking.
So in the end, he turned his gaze toward Zhen Dongjun.
Brother, why don't you do it? You two have a grudge anyway.
If Zhen Dongjun stepped forward and took responsibility for eliminating Bai Youlou, the audience would probably understand once the episode aired.
With such a huge pardon hat on his head, he would be forgiven for anything, right~
However, Zhen Dongjun immediately muted himself, lowering his head and showing no intention whatsoever of joining the conversation.
It was as if his head were very heavy, as though something had pressed it down.
Seeing how pathetic he looked, Yu Zhan knew he couldn't count on him. He would have to do it himself.
At that moment, idol girl Jiang Yuanchu had already finished giving Bai Youlou a simple evaluation.
She hadn't used her position for personal revenge. She had been very objective, and had even let some genuine feeling slip out when she said, "The you from before couldn't sing with this kind of feeling."
Bai Youlou was stunned. "What kind of feeling?"
"Poverty."
Ahem. Damn, she really had a sharp eye!
She hadn't deliberately distanced herself from Bai Youlou, and had judged the boundaries perfectly. After all, the two of them had been colleagues. She had passed it off as a joke, leaving no opening for anyone to find fault with.
That joke could even be interpreted from different angles. Whether taken positively or negatively, it worked.
At last, Yu Zhan had finished composing his words. With a "pained" expression, he looked at Bai Youlou, reluctantly picking out a few faults as if searching for bones in an egg. Then he put on an expression of "those who know, know" and regretfully announced Bai Youlou's elimination.
Bai Youlou was quite used to this. An expression like Yu Zhan's was the norm for most people.
It was a singing show, after all. No matter how many "monsters and demons" there were among the judges, there would always be some genuine musicians.
Otherwise, without any professional commentary, the show couldn't go on.
Usually, it was precisely those people who looked at Bai Youlou with an expression of "what a shame."
Zhen Dongjun, on the other hand, was what Bai Youlou found somewhat unusual.
He genuinely hadn't noticed this person sitting among the mentors at first.
After he went onstage, he had started singing without any unnecessary words. Even if his eyes had glanced in that direction, all he had seen was Jiang Yuanchu.
After all, when given a choice, who wouldn't look at a beautiful girl instead of the middle-aged man beside her?
It wasn't until he had finished the entire song that Bai Youlou realized he might have launched a direct attack on the man.
He didn't regret it, though. He had already said the song's title in front of Tong Fangming, so even if he had seen the "victim" the moment he stepped onto the stage, he still wouldn't have changed songs.
The aggrieved party was great!
It made the episode more entertaining.
From that perspective, Bai Youlou's interests aligned with those of the troublemaking production team.
However, everything had consequences.
After Bai Youlou returned the guitar to Tong Fangming and prepared to leave with Long Ziqiang, Zhen Dongjun appeared.
He clearly meant no good!
The man blocked Bai Youlou at the end of the corridor, looking very much as if he intended to make sure Bai Youlou wouldn't leave in one piece today.
Long Ziqiang frantically signaled at Bai Youlou: Should I take him?
Bai Youlou replied with a look: Not yet. Be ready to take him at any moment.
Still, the way the two of them positioned themselves had already said everything.
At first, Zhen Dongjun had blocked Bai Youlou. But after Long Ziqiang quietly circled around behind him, the two of them had Zhen Dongjun trapped between them.
His assistants and bodyguards were busy clearing the area, keeping everyone else away. If a fight broke out, unless Ip Man possessed him and he could take on ten men, the two thugs would beat him until he couldn't take care of himself.
Only then did Bai Youlou speak first. "Something you want?"
Zhen Dongjun's expression was tense. He stared at Bai Youlou coldly. "You still dare show your face in front of me?"
Bai Youlou:
"If you have something to say, say it. If you want to fight, then fight. I still have to catch the high-speed train, so I don't have time to waste words with you!"
After saying this, Bai Youlou waited two seconds, then walked past him without even turning his head, preparing to leave.
People in the entertainment industry were like this. They had too many concerns. Even when they wanted to have a fight, they were annoyingly hesitant.
After seeing the cameras, Bai Youlou had already been prepared to lie down and take it. But this guy really knew how to hold himself back.
Just as Bai Youlou was about to ignore him and leave, Zhen Dongjun's voice came from behind him. "Don't you want to defend yourself?"
Huh?
Bai Youlou paused. Now he was a little interested. He turned around and studied the man with amusement. "Could it be that you'd believe me if I said I didn't sleep with your wife?"
Zhen Dongjun paused. Several seconds later, he finally said, "The surveillance footage in my house was deleted."
Well, well. He was pretty thorough.
Bai Youlou's expression turned rather odd. "That's an interesting hobby of yours, installing surveillance cameras in your own house."
"You admit it?"
"I don't admit it. But the way you're looking down from your high horse is making me a little unhappy, so my evaluation is—"
"Your wife is tight and wet!"
Long Ziqiang: Awesome! As expected of you, Brother Lou. You can even say something that filthy right in front of the "victim." Incredible. Aren't you afraid he'll hack you to death~
Zhen Dongjun really did want to hack Bai Youlou, that bastard, to death.
But Bai Youlou's fearless attitude and arrogant way of speaking also struck him as strange.
After all, could a normal person, unless they were extremely twisted, carry out all these acts after sleeping with his wife and becoming the target of everyone's abuse?
From the press conference where he had slut-shamed Dong Lu and created a pile of terrible memes, to deliberately disgusting him with the song "Miss Dong," and now standing in front of him with an indifferent expression—
What made Zhen Dongjun the most sensitive and uncomfortable was the pitying look Bai Youlou had just given him.
As the saying went, things reversed when they reached an extreme.
Of course, without any other evidence, he couldn't truly be broad-minded enough to "forgive" Bai Youlou on the spot. But the seed of suspicion had already been planted.
More precisely, he had already suspected something was wrong when he discovered that the surveillance footage from his living room and back door had been deleted.
When it came to the bastard who had cuckolded him, he certainly had to deal with him. But if he got the wrong person while the real adulterer hid in the shadows and laughed, just thinking about it made Zhen Dongjun feel sick all over.
The "confrontation" between the two ended completely there.
Zhen Dongjun didn't have anyone stop Bai Youlou. Even if they really wanted to fight, this wasn't the place. Having someone block Bai Youlou in an underground parking garage or somewhere similar was the proper way to vent his anger.
Before doing that, though, he had to investigate further. Being cuckolded was already a tremendous humiliation. If he picked the wrong "adulterer" on top of that, it would be an even bigger joke!
"This way, this way."
Yu Zhan arrived late with the production staff. When he saw that no fight had broken out, he let out a long sigh of relief.
Without bothering about Bai Youlou's departure, he patted Zhen Dongjun on the shoulder. "Old Zhen, don't be impulsive! We've already eliminated him. Just don't look at him and it'll be fine."
"Teacher Zhen, I'm terribly sorry. This happened rather suddenly, and we didn't manage to notify you beforehand."
The show's director seemed to realize that things had gone a little too far and hurriedly apologized.
Zhen Dongjun, however, calmly waved his hand. "How about this? I'll withdraw from the show. I'll pay the penalty. That's all."
After saying that, he left as well.
His forceful attitude left the director unsure of what to say. He wanted to persuade him further, but Zhen Dongjun didn't give him the chance.
"What do we do now? Do we need to reshoot this episode?" Yu Zhan also found the situation difficult. He was the show's main guest, so his interests were involved to some extent.
"No. Jiang Yuanchu's schedule is extremely tight. The recording time for every episode is fixed, and getting her to squeeze in another recording would be far too difficult. We can only find someone to replace Zhen Dongjun. We also have to keep this episode."
"Then our show has really offended Old Zhen beyond repair," Yu Zhan said with a sigh.
What the hell was all this?
Today, I'm going all out and aiming for four updates totaling ten thousand words. Please help me keep reading.
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