I'm Really a Superstar

Friday.

In the morning.

On the day of recording the fourth episode of King of Masked Singers.

On the way to Beijing Television, Zhang Ye sat in the car with his heart in his mouth. It was Yang Shu's first time chauffeuring and bodyguarding today, and she was feeling quite nervous as well.

"Hey, hey."

"What's the matter, Senior Bro?"

"Drive slowly!"

"OK, Senior Bro."

"Hey, don't drive on the lane markers!"

"Yes, Senior Bro."

"Turn right, turn right here!"

"Understood."

"Are you sure you have a driver's license?"

"Yes."

It was obvious that Yang Shu was the kind of driver that had not touched a car since obtaining her driver's license. Furthermore, she was an extremely reckless driver just like her rash nature. She would keep driving straight at an extremely fast speed and was a typical example of those women drivers who would send a shiver down one's spine.

They arrived at their destination.

However, there were quite a few reporters clogging the entrance. Perhaps they had received some news or they had just been waiting there, but when they saw the car, around seven reporters immediately piled toward it.

"It's a BMW X5!"

"It's the bulletproof version!"

"That's Zhang Ye's car!"

"Quick, quick, quick!"

As the car was blocked from entering, Yang Shu had to park outside.

Zhang Ye said, "Get out and shield them off for a bit."

Yang Shu immediately got out of the car. "Please, could all of you make way! Make way!" Yang Shu was dressed in a black suit and even wore a pair of sunglasses at Zhang Ye's request. She was dressed as a typical bodyguard.

Zhang Ye also got out of the car.

A male reporter immediately raised an audio recorder and asked loudly, "Teacher Zhang, King of Masked Singers is getting very popular these days. As the executive producer, you deserve the credit. Would you accept an interview with us at Beijing Times?"

Zhang Ye smiled and waved it off. "I just did the pre-production. I haven't contributed much to the show itself, so let's drop the interview. But you guys can arrange one with Director Hu Fei."

A female reporter squeezed her way over to him. "Director Zhang, the netizens voted you into second place a few days ago in the Ugliest Celebrities Rankings poll. What are your thoughts on this?"

Zhang Ye walked forward while smiling. "I feel lucky that I didn't come in first place."

The reporters laughed.

"The Clown got first place. Do you know anything about this contestant?"

"I have no idea."

"Can you reveal anything about The Clown to us?"

"I don't know anything."

"The replacement singer, Flowing Time, has issued a challenge to The Clown. Who do you think will win?"

"The competition hasn't even started yet. How would I know? Alright, I have to go to the program team now to discuss some things, so let's end it here?"

When Yang Shu heard Zhang Ye say that, she immediately took two steps forward and cleared a path for him. "Please make way, thank you."

A reporter had wanted to squeeze his way past her, but when Yang Shu held him arm that was holding a microphone, that burly male reporter looked dumbfounded as he got pushed back by her. Another reporter wanted to rush up, but Yang Shu used the same move to stop that person.

Inside a two-meter radius, no one could get close to Zhang Ye!

All the reporters were dumbfounded!

Who was that woman?

Did Zhang Ye hire a bodyguard?

And why was she so strong?

When he reached the television station's entrance, several security guards ran over to block the reporters and allowed only Zhang Ye in.

Zhang Ye turned around and told Yang Shu, "You can drive back. I'll probably finish in the afternoon or evening, so pick me up when the time comes."

Yang Shu nodded. "OK!"

A number of reporters got curious and quickly snapped some pictures of Yang Shu. Had Zhang Ye hired a beautiful female bodyguard? This was news too!

In the television station's courtyard.

Hu Fei and Xiao Lu saw what had happened.

"Zhang'er." Hu Fei waved at him.

Zhang Ye walked to him. "Why are there so many reporters out there?"

Hu Fei laughed and said, "The show is very popular. I was trapped out there for a long time too."

Xiao Lu chuckled, "Director Zhang, did you hire a bodyguard? What a beauty!"

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "She's a friend of mine. Since she was sitting idle at home, I hired her to be my bodyguard."

Xiao Lu wondered, "Can a woman be a bodyguard too? Does she have the skills?"

"Her skills?" Zhang Ye said, "Against ordinary people, she could hold off more than 20."

Xiao Lu exclaimed, "That's such an exaggeration!"

Hu Fei also laughed. "More than 20 people?"

A woman?

And such a beautiful woman?

Hu Fei and the others did not believe it!

Zhang Ye just smiled without saying anything. There was no need to explain anything to these laymen. Even if he explained, they would not understand. Yang Shu was no ordinary bodyguard. Most celebrities whose bodyguards were tall and well-built—or knew some karate, taekwondo, or martial arts, or might even be retired soldiers—could not take even three attacks from Yang Shu. She was the genuine successor of the Yang-style Taiji Fist, an internal style master who was more legitimate than Zhang Ye.

Hu Fei said, "Let's go in and talk. So, that day some of the contestants used our official Weibo accounts to make those posts, that was something we hadn't expected. When we finally got around to taking emergency actions to stop it, it was already too late."

Zhang Ye said, "It's fine. Just treat it as promotion."

Hu Fei looked at him. "Do we need to tell the masked singers to stop posting with their Weibo accounts?"

"There's no need." Zhang Ye said, "It's unnecessary, so let the contestants settle it themselves."

Hu Fei snapped his fingers. "OK, I'll take your advice."

Although Hu Fei and the King of Masked Singers program team had produced a lot of shows, the scale of those past shows had always been very small. They had never taken part in a project that had such a huge investment and had never produced a dominant show with such high nationwide viewership ratings before. Only Zhang Ye had experience doing so, even on more than one occasion. As such, Hu Fei went to Zhang Ye for his opinions on a lot of matters. Having known each other for so long, there wasn't really anything to be embarrassed about. Everyone wanted this show to succeed!

...

An hour later.

As Zhang Ye finished his work, Hu Fei and the program team staff started getting busy with theirs. So Zhang Ye disappeared from sight and changed into The Clown's costume and mask.

After a phone call, Han Qi rushed over.

"Aiya, Teacher Clown!"

"I'm sorry I was late."

"The band is waiting for you."

"OK, I'll head over straight away."

He had already rehearsed one song yesterday and needed to rehearse the second one this morning.

On the way over, Han Qi rambled on.

"That Ugliest Celebrities Rankings thingy was pure nonsense."

Zhang Ye smiled.

Han Qi said angrily, "You haven't even revealed your face yet, so how could they mess around like that? How could they vote you to first place in the polls? And it's even in some Ugliest Celebrities Rankings?! They have really gone too far!"

They bumped into Dafei and Hou Ge.

Dafei stood still. "Teacher Clown, you've arrived?"

The Clown greeted him.

Dafei said, "Please don't be bothered by that poll."

Hou Ge added, "It's just the netizens joking around."

Han Qi said, "Just joking around?! That was downright insulting!"

The Clown said, "It's fine."

The masked Sunset Glow happened to come out of the rehearsal room at this exact moment.

The two of them saw each other and exchanged a few words.

"The Clown?"

"Hello."

"Are you actually unattractive looking?"

"In any case, I'm not handsome."

"Oh, I'm not pretty either."

Han Qi was wondering why Sunset Glow would straightforwardly ask someone whether they were unattractive. But when she heard her next words, she realized that Teacher Sunset Glow was taking a different tack to comfort The Clown.

The impact of the poll that was organized on Weibo a few days ago was still huge. Many people had participated in it, which was obvious from the millions and tens of millions of votes cast. Zhang Ye had gotten second place in the Ugliest Celebrities Rankings poll, but everyone already knew that he was quite an unconcerned man when it came to such things. Moreover, he had frequently featured as one of the front runners in many of these negative rankings before, so everyone was used to it. But as it was The Clown's first time in such a poll, everyone was unsure whether he had the mental fortitude to cope with the result. After all, not everyone could be as carefree as Zhang Ye. For example, if it were any other male or female celebrity who gained this title of being the ugliest, they would have long since cursed and sworn.