I Am A Prodigy

The next day, everyone followed the itinerary from the program crew and arrived at the beach early in the morning. Over there, a cruise ship was waiting for them.

All the cameramen went to their respective places. Director Zhan Yong approached them immediately, briefing them on the things to look out for.

This variety show was for everyone to see the celebrities’ daily routine while adding some theme of survival on a deserted island to gain some views.

At the same time, within the livestream channel, countless people waited in front of their screens.

[I heard this time’s Survival on Deserted Island managed to invite Chen Xiaoyan. I’m really excited about it!]

[What can those celebrities do on a deserted island? They shouldn’t know how to cook right?]

[Big news! You guys didn’t notice it right? According to the information they let out yesterday, this time Singer Y is joining as Chen Xiaoyan’s companion!]

[For real? Y is joining too!?”]

[F*ck! That’s major news! What does Y look like? I must see this!]

…

Zhang Yong looked at Ye Lingchen and the rest. “Next we’re going to start the livestream. You guys just carry on as normal. Try your best to make the topic a little more interesting. Don’t feel pressured.”

Seeing Ye Lingchen and the rest nodding their heads to show that they were ready, the filming crew gave a hand signal.

Three!

Two!

One!

Begin!

At that moment, everyone was boarding the ship. The camera swept past their faces one by one, pausing momentarily on Ye Lingchen’s face.

[Damn! They even have a foreign woman in there. She’s beautiful!]

[Chen Xiaoyan is so beautiful. That guy beside her seems quite stylish too. Why is he wearing a mask?]

[Could that be Singer Y? F*ck, he’s so young!]

[Ahhh, Singer Y is so well mannered. I’ll bet that under that mask is a supremely handsome face!]

[Speaking of which, this mask is so cool! Where can you buy that? You can definitely act cool wearing that!]

…

Although it barely began, the viewers’ passion was already boiling over. Most of their attention was focused on Ye Lingchen and Chen Xiaoyan.

“How is it? How’s the show’s reception?” Zhang Yong asked nervously.

“The number of online viewers just reached 1.1 million. This is the first time the viewer count exceeded 1 million right at the start!” exclaimed the analyst excitedly.

“Singer Y and Chen Xiaoyan are our guarantees for viewer ratings.” Zhang Yong let out a deep breath. “Let the camera focus on them more.”

“Understood.” The filming crew nodded. However, they asked in a worried tone, “Director Zhang, this is the first time they’re in a variety show. Will they be able to do it without a prepared script?”

Variety shows were more taxing than TV series as they were very demanding on improvisation. They needed to entertain the audience, which meant they had to be amusing.

“Let’s give it a try first. Our main goal is to record their day to day lives. Moreover, it’s on a deserted island. Even if we had a script, it’ll be difficult to adapt to the situation,” Zhang Yong explained. At the same time, he looked at the scene worryingly.

The filming just barely started, so everyone was rather restrained. Furthermore, they were all internet sensation singers, strangers to filming a variety show. Their topics went everywhere and the lackluster topics were not very amusing.

Eventually, they got the hang of it.

“Do you think the deserted island would have wild beasts?” Right then, Dalei asked out of nowhere, trying to start a conversation.

“It shouldn’t have, right?” Little Mo was obviously nervous.

“There shouldn’t be. If there are wild beasts, that would be too dangerous,” Chen Xiaoyan added as her body unwittingly leaned closer to Ye Lingchen, feeling a little nervous.

“Even if there are no wild beasts, there should be a lot of snakes, bugs, rodents, and ants,” Brother Yang said in a deep low voice, assisting in the conversation.

“Ah! There are snakes!”

As expected, women had a natural fear of snakes. The expression on all three ladies’ faces immediately turned pale, especially Little Mo, whose color drained from her face and let out a shrill scream.

“Little Mo, don’t worry. Don’t you Chinese have a saying, “A girl that loves to smile won’t have bad luck”? I feel that our luck should be quite good,” Arnelle tried her hardest to comfort her.

“Oh, I’m afraid you have not heard of what comes after that phrase,” Ye Lingchen said calmly, immediately attracting everyone’s attention. At the same time, it also piqued the interest of the viewers. ‘That phrase had a continuation?’

The cameraman took the chance to aim the camera at Ye Lingchen, who then continued, “The next phrase is, “How could a girl with bad luck afford to laugh?”

Pfft!

In an instant, the viewers in front of their TVs all laughed hard.

[F*ck! That makes perfect sense. I have no rebuttal.]

[Amazing. I didn’t expect Singer Y to be a comedian as well.]

[What was originally a wonderful bowl of chicken soup was forcefully turned into poisoned chicken soup. I just can’t…I’m poisoned.][1]

Then they heard Ye Lingchen going on, “The sea is the place with the most life forms. Snakes, as an amphibian[2] would swim to land under such weather conditions. A deserted island would be a snake’s top choice. Therefore, it’s not surprising to see snakes appearing.”

Gasp!

This time, not only the three girls, even Dalei and Brother Yang were scared. At first, they were only joking, but this caused their faces to turn pale as well.

“Mr. Y, you’re joking right?” Little Mo felt a chill run down her spine.

“Y, are you serious or joking?” Chen Xiaoyan asked anxiously as she grabbed onto Ye Lingchen’s arms, her face ashen.

“No point asking me. You should ask the director,” Ye Lingchen replied jokingly with a shrug. That finally allowed the group to relax a little.

After all, that was not an actual wilderness survival program. Basic safety should be taken care of.

Following that, the group dared not continue to chat on darker topics. They stood on the ship, looking at the scenery around them as they started chatting about some lighter topics.

“Arnelle, your Chinese is so fluent. How did you learn it?” Brother Yang asked out of curiosity.

“I like to listen to Chinese songs. Furthermore, I’m interested in Chinese culture. China is a very interesting country,” Arnelle replied.

“I’ll have you know, Arnelle is superb. Her Chinese won’t lose to any Chinese person out there. She can even sing Nunchucks[3],” Little Mo said.

“Wow, really? Nunchucks are at a level where even Chinese people might have difficulty singing it,” Dalei quickly chimed in. “Why don’t you perform a live show now?”

Very quickly, the tuner[4] prepared the music and Arnelle performed Nunchucks, winning the praises from everyone.

“Mr. Y, how was my singing?” Arnelle looked at Ye Lingchen pridefully.

Ye Lingchen nodded and said with a smile, “Not bad. However, I have a song that you can’t sing. If you can recognize half the words, consider it my loss.”

“Impossible!” Arnelle immediately shook her head. She was confident in her Chinese proficiency. “Can I know what song is Mr. Y talking about?”

The rest of them looked towards Ye Lingchen, frowning as they thought about it.

Just what song was it that was more complicated than Nunchucks? Arnelle’s skills were for all to see. How was it possible that she would not recognize those words?

The viewers in front of their TVs were also waiting for Ye Lingchen to speak…

—

[1] A pun played on Chicken Soup for the Soul. Instead of the motivational messages to soothe one’s soul, Poisonous Chicken Soup (毒鸡汤) is something akin to demotivational memes that twists a motivational message into its polar opposite. A form of (somewhat) dark humor.

[2] As your friendly fact checker, we would like to inform you that snakes are not amphibians. They are, in fact, reptiles. Thank you for tuning in. Enjoy your read.

[3] Nunchucks (双节棍) – A song by Jay Chou.

[4] 调音师 (Tiao Yin Shi / tuner) – as much as we have no idea how the tuner would be in charge of doing the job of a DJ, that’s what the author wrote.