Black Clouds Press Down on the City, the Storm Is About to Break

Inside a budget hotel not far from Zhejiang Blue TV.

Three men with unfriendly demeanors were "confronting" each other, glaring menacingly.

To be precise, two of them were giving the other a death stare.

"Old Zhou, where's Teacher Zhang?"

"I don't know~" Old Zhou said with an innocent expression.

"You brought the person here, and you don't know where she went?" Long Ziqiang looked disbelieving, as if he was certain Old Zhou had hidden Zhang Xiaorong.

Using this as an excuse, he incited Bai Youlou to gang up on Old Zhou.

Torture! Give him the works!

He wouldn't believe Old Zhou wouldn't talk.

This plan was brilliant.

Without the slightest hesitation, Bai Youlou acted purely on instinct.

Old Zhou: Uh oh, here it comes!

"Teacher Zhang actually..."

Old Zhou was about to tell the truth, but he didn't get the chance.

Bai Youlou and Long Ziqiang cooperated flawlessly. One lifted a leg, the other covered his mouth, and then they threw a blanket over him for a "beating."

He had wanted to deal with Old Zhou, this "faggot," for a long time. Seizing this opportunity, he didn't care what was going on; he'd cover his ears and teach him a lesson first.

"Ouch! Holy crap! Stop!"

After a lightning-fast slide into begging for mercy, Old Zhou crawled out from under the blanket pitifully.

Looking at the scene, anyone who didn't know better would think he'd been violated by some specialty from Sichuan or Chongqing.

Oh, wait, a specialty from Tianfu.

"Teacher Zhang went to find her support group. You two bastards, where could I possibly hide her?!"

"Support group? Did her family come?" Bai Youlou felt no guilt whatsoever, only interest in the topic.

"I really don't know about that. Isn't it popular on 'The Voice' for the support group to cheer from backstage? I was supposed to be her support group, and you two could just stick together. But then I thought, some people in the industry might recognize my old face, and my appearance might expose her, so I just let her contact some relatives and friends herself."

This explanation was reasonable enough, and Bai Youlou extinguished the thought of going to find Zhang Xiaorong for now.

What if this girl brought her parents? If he went running over there eagerly, wouldn't that be walking into a trap?

He might as well pull Old Zhou along and start planning their future schedule.

The most important thing, of course, was the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, where the shortlist would be announced.

Speaking of which, Long Ziqiang wasn't as excited as before.

He had looked up what the main competition section of Cannes entailed. Only about twenty films could be shortlisted, and the scope was the entire world!

He hadn't even seen the final cut of "Whiplash," let alone a rough cut.

Just thinking about Bai Youlou, a novice director, having to go head-to-head with famous directors from around the world, industry bigwigs, and all sorts of Best Actor and Actress winners right from the start... he felt that just getting shortlisted would be a blessing.

He had even prepared words of comfort for Bai Youlou in his mind, hoping he wouldn't be too discouraged.

Of course, there wasn't much to discuss about the Cannes Film Festival. Bai Youlou knew his chances of getting shortlisted, as he was the one who edited the film. Winning an award was more about luck.

Besides Cannes, the upcoming "promotional film tour" presented a bit of trouble.

First, the episode they recorded earliest for "Talent Show" was about to air, and Bai Youlou and Long Ziqiang had to be prepared for nationwide attention and large-scale cyberbullying.

During this time, they would also be recording for "The Voice." They would definitely have to stay away from Zhang Xiaorong then...

It was possible that many paparazzi would try to complete some KPIs by targeting Bai Youlou and come to Hangzhou to corner him.

It was no wonder the entertainment industry had been unusually quiet lately. The cheating scandals, drug use incidents, and prostitution cases showed no signs of scoring points.

So, rehashing Bai Youlou's story would clearly be a good choice.

This feeling of impending doom, like dark clouds pressing down and rain about to fall, made Long Ziqiang a bit nervous.

He was about to experience his first cyberbullying, and he had no experience!

He looked at the "experienced" Bai Youlou, only to find the guy concentrating on scratching his nostril.

As if sensing Long Ziqiang's gaze, Bai Youlou patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I've got this. Most of the heat will be directed at me."

"There are scheduling conflicts for the subsequent programs, so we have to make a choice," Old Zhou said, meticulously calculating with a notebook in hand.

He was very professional at this job; his years as an agent weren't for nothing.

Bai Youlou thought for a moment. "'The Voice' is dragging things out a bit. Their previous response was that I'd sing two songs, which means recording twice, taking at least a week. Within this week, are there any programs we can immediately jump into?"

To this question, Old Zhou replied without hesitation, "Yes, there's a program you discussed before. I hadn't even had time to call about the online variety show, and they invited you proactively, even willing to pay a performance fee."

"There's also a program inviting me?" Bai Youlou questioned Old Zhou's wording.

Without holding back, Old Zhou simply spread out the notebook. "Because the show is called 'New Rap'."

This

This is interesting!

Mainly because Bai Youlou "participated" in this show before.

It was last season, when he was still an idol. He was a guest star for two episodes.

He was barely half a mentor.

But fortunes change, and now a "mentor" has become a contestant. He knew exactly what kind of show effect they were going for.

Of course, this isn't a big problem for Bai Youlou.

It's just a little bit of hardship~

The main thing is, he doesn't like Rap.

He looked at Long Ziqiang, who had a pained expression on his face, hands clasped together. "Brother Lou, spare me. I really can't do this! Even if you write it, I can't sing it."

"Bullshit, you were shouting lyrics at the bar a few days ago."

"Shouting lyrics is different from rapping."

"Oh, right, there's one more thing," Old Zhou reminded him. "If you're going to participate in 'New Rap,' you'll have to go there after finishing the recording for 'The Voice' tomorrow."

"Does this thing even need a rehearsal?" Bai Youlou thought to himself, didn't rappers value being "Real"? Was it too much to rehearse beforehand?

"No, a urine test."

Pfft!

He really couldn't hold it in this time. What kind of monsters and demons were on this show!

It made sense, though. Those in the rap scene understood. And if the urine test came back positive, they'd be sent to another "competition zone."

One of the show's previous mentors was currently in jail, rapping behind bars, skr!

"Brother Lou! Go! Let those rappers open their eyes!"

Long Ziqiang was laughing wildly, but Bai Youlou swore that what he meant by "opening their eyes" wasn't about writing an unbeatable rap song.

After all, they'd known each other for a long time and had even gone to the bathhouse together...

"Why don't you just ask me to sell my urine?"

"Hey! You actually could. I met some rappers at a bar before, and... how should I put it? There's all sorts of weird stuff going on. Some of them might not even pass a urine test."

"Then you come with me. Two people peeing together, more volume."

"No, no, please don't put me in a difficult position. I really can't do rap, and besides..."

Long Ziqiang seemed to have lost his mind trying to avoid being a rapper, but he was also brave, directly questioning him.

"You probably can't write rap songs either, Brother Lou. It seems like their live battles involve writing diss tracks."

"Anyone can write that stuff, it's like elementary school kids arguing. As long as you can rhyme."

"Really? I don't believe you!"

"The first step to becoming a rapper is having a bad temper. You can't be all smiles and laughter every day; you have to make your enemies fear you. If anyone messes with you, just fuck them. Express my emotions through music, turn my flow into firepower to bomb you. My position is a high ground you can't reach. By the time you finish listening to this song, I'll be at home having a wild party, skr!"

Long Ziqiang: ???

Damn? He already rhymed?

Bai Youlou patted his shoulder, interrupting Long Ziqiang's shock. "The main thing is to have anger. Look at everyone with disdain. If you lose two thousand happy beans playing Dou Dizhu, you have to write a song to curse the other person. Curse them from wetting their pants at four and a half to being a simp at eighteen. Who would dare say you're not a rapper then?"

"Bro, tell me more about this 'wild party'..."

"So, are you coming with me or not?"

"Not going."

"Damn it! I'll write seventeen songs to curse you right now!"

This is the fourth update today, totaling nearly ten thousand words. Please support with your reads and monthly votes!