112: Chapter 112 The elderly couple drove, flooring the accelerator.

Guo Degang led Lin Chen and his family through the corridor, straight to the backstage lounge area of the theater.

The backstage area was quite large; besides the communal dressing rooms and the costume and prop storage rooms, there was a row of individual lounges of varying sizes.

These lounges were also ranked in tiers, with significant differences in size and decor quality.

This was nothing unusual.

Where there are people, there is a Jianghu; whether in the workplace or the entertainment industry, class barriers always exist.

The constant shouting about equality for all is purely utopian nonsense.

Among this long row of lounges, the most spacious and luxurious one was, without a doubt, the exclusive territory of the two big bosses, Guo Degang and Yu Qian.

The room was carpeted and featured not only a full set of leather sofas, a coffee table, and a large-screen TV, but also a side room serving as a temporary resting area with an attached bathroom, making the environment quite comfortable.

Guo Degang led Lin Chen and his family directly into this exclusive lounge.

After entering, everyone took their seats according to their status as host or guest.

Guo Degang and Lin Chen sat on the main sofa, with the three stunning beauties—Yang Mi and the others—sitting beside Lin Chen, while opposite them were Yu Qian, Yue Yunpeng, and the key members of the Deyun Society.

"While waiting for you at the entrance earlier, I was just telling Brother Qian. I said that our Deyun Society has really hit the jackpot today! This is Teacher Lin's first public performance in the true sense of the word! If we had tried to book him according to commercial performance rules, he might not have agreed even if we threw money at him!"

Guo Degang sat with his legs crossed, his face beaming as he flattered Lin Chen.

Yu Qian also chimed in with a smile, "Isn't that the truth! This is what you call fate; who knew we'd hit it off so well at the dinner table!"

Lin Chen leaned back on the sofa and waved his hand, "You two big brothers are flattering me too much. Besides, with the Deyun Society being so big and successful now, can't you afford a performance fee of thirty or fifty million?"

"Hahahaha!"

The room immediately erupted in boisterous laughter.

Some were genuinely amused by Lin Chen's deadpan joking tone, while others were just playing along to match the atmosphere.

When navigating society, being smooth is a required course.

Even if the boss's joke is colder than a refrigerator, you still have to laugh until you're doubled over.

Even if the inspirational speech from a leader is insufferable, you still have to act moved to tears.

Unless... you've reached Lin Chen's level.

Laugh when you want to laugh, curse when you want to curse; it's all up to your own mood.

This state is called "Great Freedom," but the prerequisite is that you must have the absolute confidence to ignore all rules.

"Master, you really shouldn't take this as a joke. If Teacher Lin were truly willing to take on commercial performances, there would be plenty of suckers scrambling to pay that thirty to fifty million price tag."

Yue Yunpeng added from the side.

Although there was an element of flattery, it was also the absolute truth.

Yue Yunpeng had recorded programs with Lin Chen for a few days and knew this freak all too well.

Given Lin Chen's current meteoric, albeit controversial, popularity across the internet and his endless array of incredible methods, as long as he was willing to make money, a few tens of millions would be mere pocket change.

He was a fierce man who, in just a short two or three days, had managed to turn himself from a background prop in a variety show into the backbone of its ratings; even if he said he was going to run for president tomorrow, Yue Yunpeng would find it plausible.

"That's why I said we hit the jackpot!"

Guo Degang laughed as he picked up the conversation, then turned to Lin Chen and said seriously, "Teacher Lin, I've scheduled you for the third-to-last spot in tonight's program, commonly known as the 'pre-finale.' As for how long you stay on stage and what unique skills you perform, that's entirely up to you. Does that work for you?"

For the first time ever, Lin Chen's expression took on a hint of seriousness, and he nodded slightly, "I will do my best."

Hearing this, Yue Yunpeng, who was sitting opposite, gently patted his master's thigh under the table, and the two exchanged a knowing look.

Yue Yunpeng knew Lin Chen's boundless arrogance all too well; hearing the words "do my best" from him meant that tonight's show was absolutely as stable as Mount Tai!

The group chatted about this and that in the lounge for a while longer.

By eight o'clock, Yue Yunpeng and Sun Yue rose to leave; they were about to go on stage and needed to go to the front to warm up their voices and find their rhythm.

Subsequently, the people in the room left one by one to wait for their turns, and eventually, even Guo Degang and Yu Qian had to go prepare for the final act.

Before leaving, Old Guo specifically left Guo Qilin behind, putting him in full charge of hosting Lin Chen and being at his beck and call.

Although Guo Qilin was young, he was now a legitimate star of the Deyun Society, and he originally had his own special performance tonight.

But to keep Lin Chen company, Old Guo had simply cut his son's segment.

This move was, first, to give Lin Chen enough face and express sincerity.

Second, Old Guo also had his own little scheme.

He had long since experienced Lin Chen's heaven-defying methods.

Don't let the fact that this kid is currently labeled as an unemployed bum who "lives off women" fool you; that's just because he can't be bothered to show his true colors.

Guo Degang had been struggling and climbing in the world for most of his life; his eye for people was incredibly sharp.

His assessment of Lin Chen was exceptionally high.

This was not just because of Lin Chen's unfathomable skills, but even more so because of his transcendent and refined demeanor.

And the most lethal point of all was that he was only twenty years old!

What does being twenty mean? Ordinary people at this age are still in college dorms playing video games and eating instant noodles!

Youth is the greatest bargaining chip.

Moreover, he had five beautiful, top-tier celebrity wives standing behind him.

Bundling the influence and resources of these six people together was absolutely a terrifying force capable of overturning half the entertainment industry.

Forging this bond of goodwill today, even if it couldn't be used right now, might one day become a major asset for the Deyun Society in the future.

This is the perspective of a veteran in the scene. The older one gets and the more one experiences, the more long-term their vision becomes.

This is also why many parents are always worrying unnecessarily about their children; the kids find it annoying at the time, but only after hitting a dead end do they realize that all those annoying things their parents worried about came true.

...

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was ten o'clock at night.

It was Lin Chen's turn to go on stage.

Guo Qilin led Yang Mi, Tong Liya, and Dilraba out of the backstage area, quietly entering the theater hall through an internal passage and sitting in the reserved VIP seats in the front row.

As soon as her bottom touched the chair, Dilraba sneakily unzipped her bag, fished out a piece of Dove chocolate, tore open the wrapper, and quickly shoved it into her mouth like a thief.

Tong Liya looked at her as if she were an alien, her eyes wide with surprise, "Where did you conjure that chocolate from?"

Dilraba chewed while guiltily glancing left and right. After confirming no one was paying attention, she mumbled vaguely, "I swiped it from the table in the lounge earlier. This is just too inhumane; they invite my husband to perform and don't even give him dinner. Do they want to starve me to death?"

Yang Mi sat upright, looking straight ahead, and hissed a reprimand through her teeth, "Do you understand the rules? This is the industry code for the performing arts. Have you ever seen a star eat a full meal before going on stage? Both of you, behave yourselves and don't embarrass us!"

Once the authority of the first wife came out, Tong Liya and Dilraba immediately straightened their backs and sat obediently, like elementary school students caught by a dean.

Fasting before going on stage is indeed an ironclad rule in the world of Crosstalk.

In fact, it's not just Crosstalk; many professional stage actors and singers also adhere to this rule.

It's not a rigid rule laid down by some patriarch in a dream, but rather a lesson learned through blood and tears in real practice.

From a physiological perspective, after eating and drinking to one's fill, a large amount of blood flows to the stomach to aid digestion, leading to insufficient blood supply to the brain and causing a sense of laziness and drowsiness.

Stage performances require actors to maintain highly focused mental energy and an appropriate level of tension; once one relaxes and the brain slows down, the performance quality will definitely be greatly diminished.

Of course, this varies from person to person; some people actually perform better when they are full.

Therefore, this is not the main reason.

The fundamental reason that makes all actors voluntarily fast is the "three urgencies"—the need to relieve oneself!

This is the most deadly part!

Just think, what if you are performing passionately on stage, the audience below is listening intently, and suddenly your stomach starts churning, and your sphincter sounds a level-one combat alarm!

How terrifying would that scene be? To go or not to go?

Not go? The extreme, suffocating feeling of being about to soil your pants could make anyone wish they were dead on the spot.

Breaking out in a cold sweat, legs trembling—how can you possibly perform?

Go? How would you explain it to the thousands of patrons below?

Are you going to shout into the microphone, "Sorry, everyone, nature is calling, let me go to the restroom to relieve myself, please crack some sunflower seeds and wait for me for five minutes?"

Even if you are more elegant and say you are going to "change clothes" or "relieve yourself," it would still be humiliating to the extreme, and your reputation would be completely ruined.

It is precisely to prevent such social death disasters that actors have formed the ironclad rule of never eating before going on stage.

Everything is to ensure they can hold it in.

...

Lin Chen's performance was scheduled after Guo Degang and Yu Qian.

These two were the true pillars and the golden brand of the Deyun Society.

Whenever they were on stage together, the program running over time was almost a certainty.

There was no helping it; the audience was too crazy.

As soon as they prepared to bow and leave the stage, the audience would immediately clamor to stop them; if they didn't come back for an encore, the subsequent actors wouldn't be able to get on stage at all.

Today was no exception.

Just as the old pair finished their set and prepared to bow, the audience below exploded like a pot of boiling water; the applause and cheers almost blew the roof off, and they wouldn't let them leave no matter what.

"Gentlemen, everyone, please quiet down!"

Guo Degang smiled and pressed his hands down, soothing them, "Everyone, don't be impatient. Today, Teacher Yu and my performance really ends here. Hey, don't rush to boo, listen to me finish first."

Yu Qian, accustomed to playing the straight man, chimed in smoothly, "Just look at how impatient this bunch is down there."

Guo Degang chuckled and glanced at him sideways, "The way you used 'impatient' makes me very worried!"

Yu Qian nodded seriously, "Indeed, after I said it, I felt a chill in the back too."

Guo Degang raised an eyebrow, "The way you used 'the back,' I'm even more worried now!"

"Hahahaha!"

The audience erupted in boisterous laughter, and whistles rang out everywhere.

The two old perverts, in front of thousands of people, welded the car doors shut and floored the accelerator.

"Everyone must be wondering why Teacher Yu and I aren't continuing to perform. It's really not us being pretentious or difficult, but because there is a huge surprise waiting for everyone tonight!" Guo Degang teased, withholding the punchline.

Yu Qian played along from the side, "Oh! Listening to you, there's a big act coming up later?"

Guo Degang patted his chest, "That's a must! This next star is someone I had to down two jin of white liquor last night just to beg him to come!"

Yu Qian exclaimed, "Whoa! Two jin of white liquor? That's really quite a lot."

Guo Degang said, while using his short little hands to mimic a pouring motion above his head, "Two jin of white liquor, friends! I was just pouring it over my head like this, whoosh!"

Yu Qian quickly stopped him, looking puzzled, "Are you drinking, or are you washing your hair here?"

Guo Degang said shamelessly, "When I drink, the main thing is to be heroic!"

Yu Qian rolled his eyes, "Even being heroic doesn't mean pouring liquor on your crown!"

Guo Degang waved his hand, "Hey! Those details aren't important. What's important is that this gentleman was invited by me today!"

Yu Qian nodded, feigning anticipation, "Now that you put it that way, even I'm curious. Who on earth is it?"

Guo Degang glanced at him sideways, "Stop playing dumb here; didn't you already see him backstage just now?"

"Hahahaha!"

The audience was laughing uncontrollably at this seamless improvisation.