Shanle Culture’s team members were busy taking turns recording Want to Chat With You, and with year-end tasks piling up, they were living through a period that was both tense and fulfilling. Regular performances, external shoots, program preparations – the actors all sprinted to finish their assignments in one go before the Spring Festival break.
Of course, aside from the heavy workload, there were also little side episodes at the company.
“Friends, come take a look!” Bei He weaved through the office desks, waving an opinion form and calling out, “Sorry to take a bit of your time, but we’re collecting suggestions for the annual gala!”
It was during the lunch break, and people were scattered about – some just back from the canteen, others dozing lightly at their desks. Bei He’s loud voice instantly drew attention, like a street promoter handing out flyers.
Even though Shanle Culture was a comedy company, it still followed the usual corporate traditions – such as the love-it-or-hate-it annual gala.
Bei He handed out the opinion forms one by one. “Please fill these in, the party’s coming up soon. You can write down ideas for programs or prizes, and if you don’t know what to suggest, you can just pick something from the list.”
Wang Nali stared at the raffle prize list on the paper and exclaimed, “Wow, some of these prizes are pretty expensive – are we really going to have a raffle like this?”
Bei He thumped his chest confidently. “Of course! Whatever you want, just write it down, the company will make it happen!”
Lu Fan, with her years of work experience, immediately sensed trouble. She tactfully asked, “So who’s performing the programs this year? We still have outside shows to record – we probably won’t have time to fuss with this.”
That’s the terrifying part of company annual gala: even if the raffle prizes are luxurious, the awkward, ridiculous performances that come with them can do serious damage to the morale of workers.
“Relax, you think I wouldn’t consider that?” Bei He said with grave sincerity. “I know everyone’s been working hard lately, so I’ve already arranged for the people with the lightest workload to perform.”
Chu Duxiu raised a skeptical brow. “People like that even exist?”
The stand-up comedians were tied up with outside gigs, the production team was busy preparing Shanle’s new shows, and Wenxiao Theater had its year-end performances coming up. Everyone was running nonstop – who would have any leisure time?
“There are! How could there not be? I’ve already gathered the names – check the back, you can pick!”
Chu Duxiu flipped the opinion sheet over. Looking at the list of names on the back, she hesitated for a moment before remarking, “…Bei He really does know how to organize things.”
No wonder he’d never been fired by Mr. Shang – he clearly had strong backing in the workplace.
*
Inside the conference room, Xie Shenci, Shang Liang, and Shang Xiaomei gathered together, going through the annual gala suggestion forms that Bei He had collected.
Shang Liang tossed the form onto the table, crossed his arms, and glared in displeasure. “I told you we shouldn’t have let Bei He handle this. Just look at the suggestions he gathered – do these seem reasonable to you!?”
At the company, Bei He was in charge of actors and theater operations. With his strong and energetic organizational skills, he had taken on the task of managing the annual gala. As the party’s chief director, he had solicited ideas from employees and compiled them into a final proposal.
“What kind of ideas did they come up with?”
Xie Shenci picked up the booklet on the table and casually flipped through a couple of pages. He realized it contained both the annual gala plan and the collected suggestion forms. The proposal was detailed, while the suggestion booklet had a certain thickness – each sheet filled out in different handwriting, clearly showing that everyone had been asked for input.
The annual gala not only featured guest performers from outside but also included programs rehearsed internally, with those parts even highlighted so they couldn’t possibly be overlooked by the reviewers.
“We hope to enjoy a wonderful performance from the three founders at the annual gala, as this will be of vital importance to team building within the company.”
Shang Xiaomei took a look and laughed. “So they want us to perform?”
Shang Liang protested, “Exactly! And there’s no way this was voted in fairly – someone must have steered things behind the scenes!”
He had never heard of anything so absurd: the founders being pushed onto the annual gala stage, only to be praised as if it were “the will of the people.”
After reading the plan, he couldn’t sit still any longer. He immediately thought of joining forces with the other two founders to strip Bei He of his role as annual gala director and put a stop to this kind of terror-attack-style activity.
However, compared to Shang Liang’s fussing, someone else read it with great interest.
“Why not? Performing a skit is no problem for me,” Shang Xiaomei said openly. “If each of us comes up with one, that makes three programs already – sounds about right!”
Shang Liang was at a loss for words. “…You really mean to perform?”
Among the founders, was there actually someone eager to stand out?
Shang Xiaomei laughed heartily. “What’s the big deal about performing? I even took the arts entrance exam back in the day. Since it’s the company’s annual gala, we should just have some fun and liven things up a bit!”
She had always been versatile and talented; her university life had been colorful and lively. Unlike Xie Shenci, who was taciturn, or Shang Liang, who was conservative, she had always been one of the key players in campus events and parties.
Shang Xiaomei looked at the other two and covered her mouth, teasing, “No way, no way… don’t tell me in this day and age there are actually founders who can’t perform at a company party?”
Shang Liang and Xie Shenci: “……”
“No, I can’t accept something this absurd.” Shang Liang furrowed his brow. “Let’s put it to a vote. Majority rules – raise your hand if you support removing Bei He as director. If you support keeping the current program list, don’t raise your hand.”
He raised his hand, then glanced at Xie Shenci with full confidence. “I already know how this will go. He doesn’t like being on stage.”
Xie Shenci had never been interested in showing his face in public. Even when it came to speaking at events, he usually let Shang Xiaomei handle it, so it was obvious he wouldn’t volunteer to perform.
There were three founders in total. As long as Shang Liang and Xie Shenci voted down Bei He’s proposal, Shang Xiaomei wouldn’t be able to overturn the result on her own.
Xie Shenci raised his arm. “I also think–”
Seeing that he was about to vote, Shang Xiaomei immediately went on a frantic campaign pitch, rattling off like a machine gun, “No way, no way – don’t tell me in this day and age someone would actually miss the chance to shine! You work in the same company as your partner, you usually go out of your way to avoid suspicion, afraid of affecting colleagues… and finally you get to stand on the annual gala stage, showing a whole different side of yourself in the workplace–”
She even drew on her own experience as persuasion. “Anyway, before I married Mr. Liu, I saw him playing guitar at a celebration banquet, and I thought he was so attractive! Girls all love that kind of thing!”
Mr. Liu was Shang Xiaomei’s husband. The two had met and married while working at a TV station, later both moving over to Shanle Culture, and their relationship had remained solid.
“…”
“Do you take him for a fool?” Shang Liang sneered after hearing her nonsense. “Falling for such an obvious bait would be a little too…”
…love-brained.
But who would’ve thought – after a moment’s thought, whatever came to Xie Shenci’s mind made him actually lower his hand. “Forget it, let’s just keep the program list as it is. Changing things around at year’s end is too much trouble, and since these were specially collected suggestions, we can’t let everyone down.”
Shang Liang: “???” So instead you chose to let me down?
Shang Xiaomei cheered. “Perfect! Majority rules, then it’s settled – each of us will perform one program!”
*
Over the weekend, in a simple and cozy living room, the TV screen was hooked up to a game console, flashing with vibrant colors of a game.
On the coffee table stood two mugs, one black and one white, side by side. The black mug, with a cat and a lightning bolt, belonged to Xie Shenci; the white mug, decorated with a rabbit and strawberries, was Chu Duxiu’s.
Not long ago, Chu Duxiu expressed strong dissatisfaction with the mug Xie Shenci had picked for her. Yet she was unwilling to simply throw away the cute new cup. Instead, she went online and bought a black mug with a cartoon cat’s head on it, insisting that he use it together with her so they could both have cartoon designs.
She firmly believed that if only one person used a childlike cup, it was immature – but if both used them, it had a “desensitizing effect” and became much less embarrassing.
To her surprise, Xie Shenci had no objections at all. Someone who usually favored minimalist designs, he now used the cartoon mug without the slightest qualm.
Chu Duxiu was astonished, at one point even wondering if she had misunderstood him. “I thought you only liked solid colors?”
She had always assumed he only preferred simple designs – everything from his car accessories to his home décor was dominated by black, white, and gray. She hadn’t expected that he had a more varied sense of aesthetics.
Xie Shenci, self-assured, replied, “I do like solid colors. But these are couple’s mugs.”
“…”
In the afternoon, the two of them sat cross-legged on the sofa, playing video games together while chatting casually.
Holding the controller, Chu Duxiu was stunned when she heard that the founders would be performing at the annual gala. “Mr. Shang actually agreed?”
Just how strong were Bei He’s workplace connections, to be able to pull off such a bold plan!
When she had first seen the suggestion sheet, she thought the plan would collapse halfway. She hadn’t expected all three leaders to approve it.
Xie Shenci said, “Majority rules. Shang Liang had no choice.”
Chu Duxiu blinked. “But I heard there’s also some kind of internal ranking…”
Bei He’s most wicked move was adding a competitive element to the plan: the founders’ performances would be ranked, and whoever came in last would have to do an encore. It was basically a live-action adaptation of The Stand-up King’s revival round – a kind of revenge from the performers’ years of blood, sweat, and tears, now aimed squarely at the executives (?).
Everyone else, of course, was thrilled to watch the chaos unfold.
Chu Duxiu looked at Xie Shenci with a complicated expression, as if she were about to watch her own cat being sent off to war. From what she knew, Director Shang did have some real skills – definitely not an opponent that could be beaten easily.
What to do?
A cat might graduate from university without issue, but that didn’t necessarily mean it had the talent to perform.
Seeing her scrutinize him, Xie Shenci asked curiously, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I feel like a Pokémon trainer about to send you into battle against the other executives,” she said, torn. “Would it work if I wrote a script for you to memorize? But then again… you can’t really perform stand-up, can you?”
If she remembered correctly, he couldn’t even recite a joke out loud.
Seeing her worried about his program, Xie Shenci suddenly asked, “Is there something you’d like to see?”
“Something I’d like to see?”
“Yes. What do you want me to perform?” He thought of her usual train of thought, then paused for a moment before adding, “Something unrelated to comedy.”
If he tried doing comedy, it would be like showing off an axe in front of a master carpenter – he’d have no advantage at all.
Chu Duxiu was taken aback by his words. Her eyes flickered, and she said cautiously, “Actually, there is one thing I’ve been wanting to see. It’s pretty simple too – it won’t take you much time…”
“What is it?”
“Wait a sec.”
Chu Duxiu put down the game controller and dashed over to her bag. From inside, she pulled out something that looked like a hairpin and said with great interest, “Last time I was out shopping with the girls, I spotted this at first glance. I brought it over specially today.”
Xie Shenci looked closely – the design was a half-circle band covered in fluffy fur, and it turned out to be a black cat-ear headband. Who knew where she had even found it.
Her eyes sparkled with excitement, her whole face lighting up as she held the cat ears in her hand, waving them back and forth as if itching to try them on his head.
Xie Shenci: “…”
His body stiffened. “…Is this supposed to be an annual gala performance item?”
This clearly wasn’t anything like a proper program.
She blinked innocently and coaxed in a soft voice, “An animal act – so cute, right?”
“???”
