Chapter 50

"So you need to review the material in advance?" Cheng Lang understood. The client was paying to hire performers for a commercial show, and to ensure nothing went wrong, such a request was perfectly reasonable.

"Don't worry! I'll go back and pick out a setlist right away. Since Old Master Qin can't accept new things, I'll just choose a few classic old routines!" Cheng Lang was happy to save himself the trouble.

Chen looked at Cheng Lang somewhat speechlessly. He realized this kid was quite good at cutting corners. "You don't have to be that conservative. Old Master Qin has been listening to storytelling for decades. What classic old routines hasn't he heard? Don't tell me you think that just because you can crack a few jokes, your crosstalk skills are better than those famous masters?"

"Not at all." Cheng Lang answered with complete confidence. "I just heard the saying that old people love the young. Maybe Old Master Qin will be willing to hear me tell old routines just because I'm good-looking."

The ancients said that familiar things always seemed new upon revisiting them. That was probably what it meant. Otherwise, why would scholars always say, "Books hold beauties within"?

Chen suddenly understood. So that phrase could be interpreted that way?

The assistant, who had barely spoken, chuckled. He adjusted his glasses and looked at Cheng Lang. "You really are interesting."

Cheng Lang smiled shyly.

Assistant Hu examined Cheng Lang with great interest and asked again, "Would you be willing to change jobs?"

Cheng Lang blinked. "Are you asking that, or are you asking on Qin's behalf?"

Assistant Hu was taken aback by that. "What do you mean?"

Cheng Lang blinked. It seemed Qin had not told anyone about the embarrassing things he had done outside the second-floor restroom.

What a good man!

Without batting an eye, Cheng Lang gave Qin a good-guy card.

Chen was the first to react. "You saw Qin just now? What did you say to him?"

Cheng Lang lowered his head and said bashfully, "Since Qin didn't say anything, I'd be too embarrassed to say it either."

Cheng Lang spoke with genuine feeling. He really was too embarrassed to say it. Seeing him act like that, the three men looked at one another. Even the security manager could not help sitting up straighter.

What was going on?

Watching the three of them itch for gossip but not dare ask, Cheng Lang felt instantly refreshed. "Chen, do you have any other instructions? If not, I'll head downstairs first. The guests are still waiting for me to perform!"

"Huh? Oh!" Chen snapped back to his senses and waved him off. "All right. Nothing else. Go on down first."

Even his tone was far more polite than before.

Cheng Lang left the office with a grin. The moment he stepped outside, the smile vanished from his face.

Sure enough, no banquet came without an ulterior motive. Who knew what bad idea these people were cooking up!

By the time Cheng Lang returned to the first floor, it was already 9:20 p.m. The guests below were craning their necks and shouting for him to come onstage. The resident singer scheduled before him stood onstage red-faced and at a loss, clearly unable to control the crowd.

Cheng Lang went onstage smiling. He first thanked the resident singer, gave him a few habitual words of reassurance, and sent him offstage. Then he picked up the microphone and bantered with the guests. "What's this? I was only twenty-some minutes late, and you folks couldn't hold yourselves together? You missed me that much?"

The audience burst into laughter. Someone asked, "Why were you so late today?"

"Where were you fooling around?"

"Listen to that." Cheng Lang clicked his tongue and said innocently, "I'm a hardworking, honest employee. Where could I possibly go fool around during work hours? The boss called me into his office again!"

"Why does your boss always call you into his office?" someone in the audience asked with suspicious intent. "What does he want at this hour of the night?"

"That's a good line of thinking!" Cheng Lang suddenly "realized," his tone like he had discovered a new continent. "No wonder he's been making me go to his office these past few days. And he insists I go at night. The later, the better. So he's been harboring improper thoughts about me?"

Wang stood below the stage and slapped his forehead with a pained expression. This kid was going to use Chen as a punchline again.

"I knew it!" Cheng Lang slapped his thigh, sounding agitated. "What respectable manager keeps calling employees into the office late at night to discuss work? Could this be the legendary workplace unspoken rule?"

The guests stared at Cheng Lang. Wasn't he a little too excited about this?

Perhaps because they were both in the same boat, Wang Liu'an could not bear to watch Cheng Lang slander Chen like this and could not help defending him. "That's because you don't work during the day!"

"Ooh!" The guests immediately began heckling again. "Tell us! If you weren't working in broad daylight, what were you doing?"

"I was going to school!" Cheng Lang said, sweeping his gaze over the crowd before righteously demanding, "Could you people put in a little effort and remember my persona? I'm a new-era striving young man with no father or mother, hardworking, diligent in school, dedicated at work, and sometimes forced to play the fool just to make a living! Do you think it's easy maintaining a persona like that? Don't just see my strength and optimism while overlooking my fragile shyness."

"...Maybe your disguise is just too thick. We really couldn't see it." The guests reflected deeply and sighed with emotion. "School during the day, work at night. That really does take a lot out of you. No wonder you're already no good at such a young age."

Cheng Lang: "..."

The guests slapped their thighs and roared with laughter, laughing so hard tears nearly came out.

Cheng Lang pointed at that guest. "I'll remember this! If you request Men Cry, It's Not a Crime tonight, I won't sing it."

That guest laughed and did not let Cheng Lang's words fall flat, immediately replying, "Don't worry. I won't request Men Cry, It's Not a Crime tonight. I'll switch it to another song."

"Do you know there's an F-country movie called Breathless?" The guest deliberately stressed the tones of the words as he told Cheng Lang, "Just play the song that appears in that movie."

Cheng Lang hugged his guitar. "I can't."