Chapter 5: The Provocation of Seniors

  Facing Sakaguchi's provocation, Zhou Xiao was also at a loss for what to say or do. Should he be angry? This guy was provoking his past self, which had nothing to do with his current self. Moreover, he hadn't planned on going far down the path of being a comedian anyway. Except for today's unexpected encounter, it was uncertain whether they would meet again in the future. This made him completely uninterested in Sakaguchi's provocation, let alone angry.

  Inside the theater, there were not just three people. Apart from Sakaguchi and Inoue, there were many staff members and other performers who would be appearing later. However, these performers all seemed to be similar to Shūsuke, for a very simple reason: Sakaguchi was standing with his hands on his hips, yelling left and right like a boss, and no one dared to come out and stop him, not even the theater manager Inoue, who looked troubled.

  "What did I do to offend this guy?" Zhou Xiao looked at Jingshang pointing at his own nose, provoking him, and felt a bit puzzled.

  He carefully recalled the scene when he first came to the theater. At that time, Zhou Xiao was just out of his shell, and in this state, he was full of vigor, and the several short sketches he wrote and performed himself were quite effective, earning him a dozen or so fixed fans. Don't underestimate these dozen or so fans, an artist's initial fame often spreads from the mouths of this first batch of fans.

  If it were a more magnanimous artist, seeing Zhou Xiaohong would be unhappy, but at least they wouldn't show jealousy too obviously. However, Sakaguchi seems to be different, Sakaguchi's jealousy is stronger, from the beginning when Zhou Xiaohong joined the theater as a comedian, Sakaguchi looked down on Zhou Xiaohong, and at that time Zhou Xiaohong didn't show any strength, but what Sakaguchi was jealous of was more on his face.

  This jealousy and dislike were not very big at first, and could only make Sakaguchi treat Zhou Xiao coldly, occasionally saying something like "Growing up to be a comedian like this, the result of taking the wrong path is that you won't become popular all your life" behind his back. The turning point came during a performance one day, when Zhou Xiao took the stage before Sakaguchi. As it turned out, Zhou Xiao performed well that day, making many audience members laugh loudly with tears in their eyes. At that time, Sakaguchi's face was not very good, and the pressure on the person who appeared later due to the good performance of the person in front was evident.

  As a result, when Zhou Xiao went off stage and Sakaguchi came on, the audience seemed to still be immersed in Zhou Xiao's previous performance, and they responded quite coldly to Sakaguchi's several old jokes. The air in the entire theater seemed to have cooled down a few degrees.

  After the performance, Sakaguchi's face was gloomy as if someone owed him hundreds of millions of yen. However, Zhou Xiao, who had just started his career, didn't notice this and still went up to Sakaguchi with a humble attitude, bowing and saying: "Sakaguchi-senpai, your performance today is still so amazing, I don't know when I can reach your level, you're really awesome!"

  In the past, Zhou Xiao had also said similar things to Sakaguchi, and at that time, even if he didn't like Zhou Xiao, Sakaguchi's dead fish-like face could still squeeze out a smile. But today, when the two people's performances were so different, Zhou Xiao still did this, which was just like hitting a gunpoint.

  "Hmm!" Sakaguchi didn't say anything at that time, he just heavily hummed and turned away to enter the rest room.

  Zhou Xiao was left alone, wondering why Sakaguchi-senpai suddenly looked so angry.

  Things have come to this point, and the two people still haven't clashed. The thing that truly made Sakamichi unbearable happened after the performance ended.

  After Zhou Xiao's performance ended, he didn't leave the theater immediately. On one hand, there was no other work to do; on the other hand, he also hoped to stay backstage and see how other seniors did it.

  Just as all the senior artists finished their performances and Zhou Xiao was about to leave the theater, the person in front of him happened to be Sakaguchi, who was almost leaving at the same time.

  When I walked out of the theater, there were some girls surrounding the outside. Although comedians may look ugly and have a lot of imagination, in Japan, many girls actually like comedians, they often wait at the door after the show to give gifts or directly hand over small pieces of paper with their phone numbers written on them to the comedians who are leaving.

  Today, outside the theater, it was still like this. Looking at those eyes shining with admiration, even Sakaguchi's face cracked a relatively kind smile.

  But his smile soon froze on his face.

  The girls waiting there all shouted "yah yah" when they saw the artists coming out of the elevator, and while shouting, the girls rushed up.

  Sakaguchi's hand had just opened halfway when it froze, because he found that the group of girls rushed past him and pounced on Zhou Xiao behind him!

  Although he's only thirty years old, Sakaguchi has already been in the industry for ten whole years! Over the past decade, although he can't be considered a big star, at least he's living comfortably, and his performances on stage have accumulated some fans, especially female ones. These female fans are not just his source of income; in rare cases, they even leave their phone numbers for him. What does this mean? It means that if you call them back, there's a 90% chance you'll get a date! As long as you don't perform too badly, you can take the girl to a love hotel and spend the night together!

  Japanese civilization may not have much concept of chastity, it is very normal to do it on the first meeting. Some girls' views are even: "After confirming harmony in bed, subsequent interactions can be harmonious, and then consider becoming boyfriend and girlfriend!"

  But today, the girls who usually surrounded him were all gone! All the girls crowded around Zhou Xiao! Sakaguchi could even clearly see that among the girls surrounding Zhou Xiao, there were several who used to be his fans!

  You've already won over me on stage, and now you're even stealing my female fans! Can this be tolerated?!

  Sakaguchi hated Zhou Xiao at that time!

  After that, Sakaguchi started to go against Zhou Xiao everywhere, and at first, Zhou Xiao would still accompany a smile. After all, the other party was a senior who debuted so many years earlier than himself. In Japan, the relationship between seniors and juniors is strict to what extent? Even if Sakaguchi hits Zhou Xiao a few slaps without reason, Zhou Xiao absolutely cannot fight back or retort. Of course, doing so would not have brought much blame to Sakaguchi at the time, but in the future, Sakaguchi's work might encounter trouble, after all, no one would like to work with such a person.

  Looking at the arrogant face standing in front of me, Zhou Xiao suddenly felt annoyed after recalling everything. The things I've encountered are already so troublesome, and yet I still have to put my energy into dealing with people like you? Don't be ridiculous, I wasn't planning on being a comedian for too long anyway, why do I need to cater to your every whim?

  After understanding this point, Zhou Xiao looked at Sakaguchi who was still boasting and smiled lightly.

  "What are you laughing at? You're always deceiving Mr. Iizuka and now you have the nerve to...?" Sakaguchi asked.

  "What am I laughing at? Laughing at you, who are already jealous of others without even doing anything!" Zhou Xiao said fearlessly.

  "Zhou Xiao!" Jing was extremely surprised, today's Zhou Xiao is very different from before. The previous Zhou Xiao looked a bit weak, when Sakaguchi bullied him, most of the time he just smiled and pretended to be harmless, but today's Zhou Xiao seemed to have had enough and his retort was quite direct!

  "I'm jealous of you? Don't be ridiculous! What do you have that's worth being jealous of? I've been on a morning TV show! The amount of money I make in one month is probably more than you make in a year! I started my career a whole decade before you did! Who are you to compare with me?"

  "What are you jealous of me for? You know it yourself, do I need to say it out loud? Aren't you ashamed?" Zhou Xiao said with a face full of disdain. After saying this, he turned around and walked into the rest room without looking back, completely ignoring Sakaguchi who was jumping in anger behind him.

  "Zhou Xiao!!!" Behind him was Sakaguchi's angry and somewhat helpless voice.

  PS: Who's brushing again! TAT All those who came from Koshien, go back and vote for me with a satisfactory vote!!!! I wish to eat a big eagle!