Chapter 105 - Recording the Show

Rebirth of a Fashionista: This Life Is Soo Last Season

“Today is a good day, but why is that so?” Liang Chen shook his head on the stage, pretending to be mysterious.

Next to Liang Chen stood two chubby guys, and amongst them, the leaner one on the left side said, “Brother Chen, don’t keep us guessing!”

The fatty on the right followed along and added, “That’s right! Brother Chen, if you still don’t say it, Little Fatty will leap over a wall in desperation.”

“Hey! Big Fatty, who are you calling a dog?[1]”

“Did I say that?”

“You said that I’d jump over a wall, and only a dog would jump over a wall. So, aren’t you implying that I’m a dog?”

“Could it be that you aren’t one? You’re a ‘single dog’!”

The audience erupted in laughter.

“Alright, Big Fatty and Little Fatty, I don’t mind you guys attacking each other verbally, but save your energy for later and use it in the game segment.” Liang Chen extended his hands and kept the two under control.

Liang Chen smiled towards the camera and said, “Today is a good day, but why? That’s because our Ace Academy has recruited a batch of new students!”

“New students?” Big Fatty asked with a surprised look on his face.

Little Fatty smirked. “Are there any females amongst them? Adorable and cute ones?!”

Big Fatty jeered at his friend and said, “Little Fatty, even if there are cute girls amongst them, you don’t stand a chance. Tsk, tsk, don’t forget…there are still many bachelors in our Ace Academy!”

“Alright, alright, that’s enough chit-chat! Let’s warmly welcome our new students to the stage!”

Liang Chen and the two other hosts walked to the side, revealing a props door arranged with a V-shape. Dynamic western music was playing in the background as two doors in the front row were pushed open. On the left side appeared a cute girl with her hair styled in space buns. At the same time, a pair of long legs came into view on the right, followed by a tall girl wearing a silver windbreaker who walked out like a supermodel.

Many people in the audience let out a cry of surprise, even Little Fatty couldn’t hold it in and exclaimed, “Wow~!”

“The first student reporting for duty is our previous next-door neighbour who rose to stardom, our Nation’s Maiden: Meng Nanxi! The next student is our supermodel who’s just returned from the Fashion Week runway show in Paris: Xu Jiaojiao!” Liang Chen recited excitedly.

“Who’ll come out next…?” Meanwhile, two doors in the second row opened as Liang Chen continued, “Here’s our valiant and gifted handsome general of the Northern Expedition: Lu Yao! With him is our extremely good-looking Prince Regent: Gao Yizhi!”

The two men who came out wearing costumes didn’t walk onto the stage and instead stood like gentlemen on the side of the sliding door in the last row.

“Since the General and Prince Regent are here, you don’t need to guess to know who’s coming next! Please step out, Empress Fufeng: Han! Ya! Ying!”

As soon as Liang Chen finished speaking, the last door slowly slid open.

Wearing a phoenix crown, a woman in a bright red, full-length robe walked out as if she’d just travelled through time and space to arrive here. She gently placed her hands on top of the two gentlemen’s and they proceeded to the stage together.

The audience immediately erupted with a wild roar.

As such, the two girls who’d come out first were reduced to backdrops. In a corner, where the camera wasn’t facing, the National Maiden, Meng Nanxi’s smile, diminished a little. However, as she was experienced, she maintained her sweet demeanour. As for the other one…

Student Sheng Jiaoyang took the initiative to become an onlooker and was chatting happily with Little Fatty next to her.

“Let’s welcome the three main leads of our popular TV series ‘Legend of Fufeng’!” As Liang Chen took the lead in clapping, the crowd also applauded and cheered.

Liang Chen started off by addressing the plot of the drama with the three main leads, and then told them to change into another set of clothes. Afterwards, he talked to Meng Nanxi with Big Fatty next to them cracking jokes. As for Little Fatty…he’d already forgotten that he was one of the hosts of this show.

"Little Fatty!" Big Fatty couldn't stand it anymore. "I think you’re having so much fun talking that you’ve forgotten your duties. So, tell us, what did you talk about? Share the fun with us too!”

Liang Chen also followed along with the momentum and turned to Sheng Jiaoyang. “Jiaojiao, did you learn to walk the runwalk when you were inside your mother’s womb? Your catwalk at the Fashion Week wasn’t inferior to any of those international supermodels at all!” As he spoke, a short video of a model with a beautiful oriental face walking down a runway appeared on the big screen behind them.

“Wow ~” shouted the audience in amazement. Some of them were wholeheartedly admiring the model’s catwalk, while there were also others who just purely went along with the mood and cheered.

"Jiaojiao, how did you feel walking alongside a group of top international models?" Liang Chen asked attentively.

“Amazing!”

“…Uhhhh, weren’t you nervous?”

Sheng Jiaoyang smiled, "I didn't even have the time to get nervous since all the girls on that stage were so beautiful. Don't you guys think that those models are very good-looking?"

“Gasp~ Indeed, they really are good-looking! What's the reason behind this?” Big Fatty quickly followed along and asked.

"That's because the designer has an appearance complex and has exceptional confidence in his designs.” Since he had a lot of confidence in his work, he didn’t need to worry about whether a model’s appearance would overshadow the clothes’ beauty. Rather, he would feel that the two complemented each other instead.

"Wow, Jiaojiao, are you trying to expose some insider news?" asked Little Fatty with a delighted expression.

“No, no, no~” Liang Chen shook his finger as he continued, “She was just trying to express how good-looking and attractive she looks.”

The audience burst into laughter.

"Brother Chen, you must be my long-lost elder brother who’s been separated from me for many years in my previous life. You really know me well!” Sheng Jiaoyang said.

“No, no, no~” Big Fatty mimicked Liang Chen's posture and shook his fingers as he said, “Even your biological brother might not necessarily know you this well. Brother Chen must’ve been a worm in your belly in your previous life."

"You could’ve just said that I wasn't a human in my previous life." Liang Chen rolled his eyes.

"Brother Chen, Big Fatty was actually implying that you were a bug sprite," mocked Little Fatty.

"Didn’t you know that no sprites were allowed after the country was founded?" Liang Chen let out another laugh before returning to the topic. “Come, Jiaojiao, let us gossip a little. Recently, all of Gu Zhou’s Weibo posts were related to you. Some people say that Gu Zhou even lowered his head in front of you. Remember, this isn’t coming from me, it was ‘someone else’ who said it… I’m just curious, how did Gu Zhou and you become friends? By the way, are you guys ‘friends’, or ‘XX friends’?"

"Brother Chen, what’s an XX friend? You might as well just say boyfriend and girlfriend! If you say ‘XX friends’, others might misunderstand,” Little Fatty sneered.

“So, you’re saying that a boyfriend-and-girlfriend pair can’t XX?" Liang Chen threw an amorous glance at Little Fatty.

The audience burst into laughter again.

Sheng Jiaoyang innocently said, “I must’ve participated on a bogus show today."

Liang Chen sternly replied, “Just now when I said XX, I was referring to opening your heart to someone trustworthy. Those who let their imaginations run wild should quickly go face the wall tonight and ponder your misdeeds!”

"Brother Chen, your words are too profound!" Big Fatty shook his head.

The audience laughed repeatedly, some of them even started to get a stomach ache from all that laughing.

“Jiaojiao, look at how close we are now, we were even siblings in our previous life! Can you please satisfy your brother’s curiosity?!” Liang Chen blinked at Sheng Jiaoyang and acted cute to the point of making others’ eyes hurt.

Sheng Jiaoyang’s lips curled slightly as she thought: He was obviously a decent person when she met him backstage, yet he had to act like a guy with a screw loose in front of the audience.

“Seeing how curious you are at this moment, I’ll reveal one of Gu Zhou’s secrets.”

“Okay, okay!” Liang Chen, Big Fatty, and Little Fatty stared at her simultaneously, their gazes filled with expectations. Even Meng Nanxi standing nearby was peering at her curiously.

Sheng Jiaoyang cleared her throat and said, “Gu Zhou, is…a painting freak."

“A love-struck fool?![2]” everyone asked in astonishment.

“No, not a love-struck fool, but a painting freak. The first Chinese character is the ‘huà’ of ‘painting’…was my pronunciation that bad?” Sheng Jiaoyang really rolled her eyes at their reaction.

“How can this be considered a secret? Everyone here is aware that Gu Zhou loves paintings!”

“But, that's all I know.” Sheng Jiaoyang shrugged.‍‍‍

Liang Chen once again realised how quick-witted this girl was. She’d not only switched the topic with ease, but also tactfully played around with words and indirectly used this chance to show that there was nothing between Gu Zhou and her. However, he could see that she wasn’t the type of person who liked to hype things up. If another actress was standing in her shoes and was questioned if she was in a relationship with Gu Zhou, that person would’ve certainly exaggerated her answer just to mislead the audience.

"Alright, today we’re not only welcoming our new students, but we’re also recalling the aces who graduated from our Academy. Now, let's invite our aces on stage!” Liang Chen ended the conversation with Sheng Jiaoyang and shouted excitedly while facing the camera.

When one star after another jumped out of the elevated platform on stage, the audience’s cheers and screams became louder by the minute.

“Wei Zhehan!!!”

"Jiang Yue!!!!"

"Liu Zhouming!!!!"

"Ye Fan!!!!!!!!"

The last person’s appearance made the young female audience go mad as they screamed at the top of their lungs.

This was the first time that Sheng Jiaoyang had witnessed Ye Fan’s immense popularity. When she’d met him before this, he was always with several other popular stars, so he didn’t stand out as much.

As soon as Ye Fan appeared on stage, he did a few simple yet cool breakdance moves, which led to another round of screams from the audience.

1. Big Fatty used the proverb ‘A dog will jump over a wall when cornered’ when he was talking about Little Fatty earlier, hence Little Fatty asking about being called a dog.

2. The MC was calling Gu Zhou a painting freak, which is 画痴 (Huà chī) in Chinese. While the audience thought she said a love-struck fool, which is 花痴(Huā chī) in Chinese. The pronunciation for both words is similar, with only a tone difference.