Chapter 7: The Most Embarrassing Silence

  "...his chest was buttoned up with a whole row of buttons!!"

  It's very quiet in the theater.

  If in other cases, the audience quietly watched the actors perform on stage would be a very happy and comforting thing for the actors. But as a comedian, especially when this comedian's performance time has already passed half, but there is no laughter in the venue, even more quiet... it's a bit embarrassing.

  Zhou Xiao, wearing a half-new and half-old suit, stood on the stage, with the bright lights shining down on him, but for Zhou Xiao, the gaze from the audience in front of him was even more unbearable.

  From his debut until now, he has performed three skits, and the result of these three skits is... not even a single laugh!

  The stage on both sides is connected to the backstage, where many of the performers and staff who performed earlier are also watching Zhou Xiao's performance with bated breath. Among these people, some are worried and nervous about the performance, such as Uncle Inoue. Seeing Zhou Xiao performing poorly and freezing on stage, Inoue was extremely disappointed.

  Zhou Xiaoneng performed in this small theater mainly because of Uncle Inoue's decision. No one would have thought that Zhou Xiaoneng would become a great star, but Inoue felt that since this child wanted to be an artist at such a young age, as long as he worked hard and was serious, it was worth affirming.

  At first, Zhou Xiao brought a considerable surprise to Jie Shang, because this kid was young and energetic, with several accumulated segments that were quite effective. Moreover, perhaps due to his age, most of Zhou Xiao's segments were relatively modern and trendy, covering topics such as mobile phones, the internet, and campus life on social media platforms. As a result, Zhou Xiao quickly won over many viewers, especially young audiences, in a short period of time.

  But soon, Zhou Xiao encountered trouble. The conflict with Sakaguchi was just a fuse, and the real reason he became somewhat subdued was that, after all, he was still only an 18-year-old young man. Such newcomers entering a circle and using up their own resources would naturally encounter some difficulties. This barrier to new people is not only in the entertainment industry, but also very common in sports circles, cultural circles, etc.

  Originally, Inoue was not in a hurry. Being a comedian is a profession that can be done well for many years and also requires accumulation. Ninety percent of comedians spend their first decade accumulating and learning, and normally, a comedian won't have a relatively stable income until after the age of 30.

  Of course, although this line has no threshold, the elimination rate is also very high. The so-called stable income after ten years of debut has an unspoken premise that you must still be in the entertainment circle after ten years. Many comedians have changed careers to do other things by then.

  What's really making Inoue nervous about Zhou Xiao is Sakaguchi, who is now standing next to him with a cold smile watching Zhou Xiao perform. Although he is the manager of this theater, Inoue is actually just an employee, and compared to Sakaguchi, who is related to the owner of the theater, his importance is probably far inferior. So when it comes to Sakaguchi suppressing Zhou Xiao, Inoue doesn't have any way to intervene, all he can do is try his best to help Zhou Xiao and guide him.

  In this line of work for so many years, what a senior's oppression means is clearer to Ue no less than anyone else. It means that as long as the senior wants to, they can bully their junior at will, and even make it difficult for them to find work.

  If this junior is exceptionally talented and extremely popular, then it's fine. But if this junior is just an ordinary person, they may be suppressed by their seniors and find it hard to turn things around, ultimately leaving the circle in a sorry state.

  Unfortunately, in the eyes of the well, Zhou Xiao was just a child with no special talent.

  Zhou Xiao's performance today further proved this point. His several segments were all very familiar, and in the past performances, although the effect was not good, at least Zhou Xiao could grasp the time well. Even if the effect was not good, at least he could use these few segments to hold on for 20 minutes and get 5,000 yuan.

  But today was different, Zhou Xiao Lian couldn't grasp the timing that she usually had good control over. The lines were spoken out of order and many key phrases were forgotten, directly leading to a failure in controlling the time!

  Inoue looked at his watch nervously, it had already been over ten minutes since Zhou Xiao's performance was supposed to start, but he had almost used up all of his material. For the next few minutes, if he didn't have any other material, would he just stand on stage in a daze? That would be the most embarrassing thing in the world.

  "Fujiwara! If he can't remember again, you go up and replace him! Do you have a spare routine?!" Just as Zhou Xiao's routine was about to end, Inoue finally realized that Zhou Xiao was not in good condition today, and anxiously pulled another comedian beside him.

  When encountering special situations, replacing one person is actually a very normal thing. As long as it's an artist who has been in the industry for some time, the creative memories in their mind usually can't be just one, so another comedian named by Jie didn't seem too surprised either, he nodded and prepared to go on stage to replace Zhou Xiao.

  But at this moment, a voice stopped him.

  "Don't switch! This is the way to train him! If you switch with someone else now, he'll probably develop a sense of dependence in his heart! And then he won't be able to grow up properly!" Sakaguchi stretched out his hand to stop Inoue and Fujiwara.

  This sounds righteous and stern, but if you weren't present at the scene, you might have been deceived by Sakaguchi's words.

  "Sakaguchi, you're being a bit too harsh! Can this help him grow? He's still new and what he needs most is confidence! If we don't replace him, after this incident, he might even develop stage fright! By then, a new star will be ruined by our hands!" Inoue also got angry and spoke to Sakaguchi in a stern tone.

  "I'm being too much!? This is for his own good! Anyway, he's not allowed to come down until the 20-minute performance is over! Without my permission, no one is allowed to go up!" Sakaguchi said, blocking everyone's way.

  "You...!" Inoue was almost beside himself with rage, but when he turned to look at Fujiwara beside him, he felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him.

  Fujiwara, who had originally agreed to go on stage, backed down in the face of Sakaguchi's opposition! There was no way around it - Sakaguchi's current status gave him absolute authority within the theater, and Fujiwara had no choice but to obey.

  Looking at Fujiwara's face, Inoue easily read the meaning in his expression: "It's not worth getting on the wrong side of Sakaguchi for Zhou Xiao's sake. I don't want to lose my job because of just one person like Zhou Xiao."

  What to do? Looking at Zhou Xiao's face turning paler and paler, speaking more and more hesitantly on the stage, Inoue's heart was icy cold.

  And by his side, Sakaguchi looked at Zhou Xiao on the stage and secretly smiled in his heart: "Hmph, it's come to this, losing so badly, see if you still have the face to continue standing on that stage!"

  When the sketch was halfway through, sweat began to flow down from Zhou Xiao's face. The sweat on his face was nothing; his back had already soaked through the dress shirt under his suit.

  "What's going on now, there's still so much time left!" After finishing the last segment, Zhou Xiao's heart was icy cold.

  The theater was very quiet, the audience were all listening to Zhou Xiao's non-stop talking about some cold jokes. At that time, every time Zhou Xiao performed to some punchlines, he felt that the audience should laugh out loud, but Zhou Xiao would always pause for a moment. But what followed his pause was always an extremely awkward silence. At that time, Zhou Xiao felt that nothing could be more embarrassing than this silence.

  It wasn't until he stopped that he realized the current scene was even more embarrassing than his previous monologue!

  Because there were obviously many people in the entire theater, everyone stared with wide eyes! No one said a word!

  Zhou Xiao turned his head nervously to look at the backstage, where he saw a scene that made him even more heartbroken. Sakaguchi was standing in front of everyone, with a smile on his face that Zhou Xiao knew all too well, staring straight at him!

  "Now let's see how you step down!"

  "From now on, it seems that the performances need to be adjusted. After each show, the audience should judge who's good and who's bad, and the person who performs the best gets the most money, while the worst one doesn't get any. Otherwise, if things continue like this, some people's salaries are too comfortable!" Sakaguchi said to Inoue.