Chapter 118: Toast Showdown

Both are charity events, but "Charity Night" focuses more on competition, so the program consists mostly of various mini-games. These mini-games rely more on improvisation, which saves the participating artists a lot of rehearsal time.

Li Sishi was only assigned to sing "In a Clear Sky" in this round, but as the team leader, she had to participate in many mini-games herself. Therefore, this time she was given various game rules and precautions, and she tried her best to memorize them whenever she had free time, hoping to find more "loopholes" in the rules of the mini-games.

Seeing Li Sishi diligently studying and memorizing the game rules, the other two captains, who had already witnessed her quirky ideas and unconventional tactics, immediately became wary.

Although we always say that friendship comes first and competition second, it's easy to get carried away when playing games. If they lose to Li Sishi, this little sister, wouldn't they lose face?

Even if they each have different feelings for this girl, there's no custom of deliberately giving way these days. On the contrary, the common idea in this era of straight men is to beat the person they secretly like in a good way and then comfort her when she's sad or angry.

Li Sishi was unaware of the intricacies involved, but she was very eager for the social points that such charity events could bring her. Therefore, even though the captains of the other two teams were her "good friends," she did not intend to show any mercy.

On another level, however, his thoughts converged with those of the other two.

After several rehearsals on-site according to the program order, everyone had a general idea of ​​the flow and their respective tasks, and soon the official performance began on Saturday night.

Most of the charity events were arranged at the TV station's No. 1 studio. As the team leader, Li Sishi picked up the flag representing her team with practiced ease, but Xiao Xie took the initiative to extend her hand: "Sister May, let me hold the flag. When there are men in the team, the girls shouldn't have to do these heavy tasks."

Her sweet talk made the rest of the team laugh, and they all chimed in, "May, since Lemon is so responsible, then you should let him carry the flag."

Anyway, this big flag is just a long bamboo pole and a piece of cloth, it's not heavy at all, and Xiao Xie is almost fifteen years old, so lifting such a big flag is no problem for him at all.

Seeing Xiao Xie extend his hand and her teammates chiming in, Li Sishi didn't hesitate and readily handed him the flag: "Then..."

Thank you for your hard work.

"It's no trouble at all. Serving ladies is what a gentleman should do," Xiao Xie replied in a funny tone as he took the flag, which immediately drew laughter from the older women again.

Hearing the laughter, Shang Hanyou and Ling Chen, the two captains holding the big flag, curiously came over to ask what was going on. They then learned that it was Xiao Xie's funny behavior that had elicited loving and affectionate smiles from the group of older sisters.

The two exchanged a glance, both holding large flags but with their teammates looking completely at ease. Although they thought Xiao Xie was quite classy for his age, why did they feel a little strange about him?

The two, who didn't yet understand what a natural talent or a native greentea was, could only silently endure this unequal treatment.

Anyway, Xiao Xie is just an extra. He appears when everyone is presenting or performing, but most of the time he's just a human background figure getting points for social activities. So why bother with a minor?

With this in mind, Shang Hanyou and Ling Chen, after appearing as captains of the three teams on stage together with Li Sishi at the beginning, began the first round of performance arrangements.

Charity events like these have always been opportunities for newcomers and second- or third-tier artists to make an appearance. As the team leader, you have to properly arrange the performance time for each member of the team. You can't deliberately squeeze out the appearance opportunities for newcomers and second- or third-tier artists in order to give performance time to the most popular artists in your team and steal the audience's attention.

Of course, if newcomers and second- or third-tier artists can't hold up the audience and cause the performance to fall flat, that would also be a problem. Therefore, they had already worked together and coordinated during rehearsals to have popular artists perform alongside newcomers or second- or third-tier artists to maintain balance.

As a team member, Li Sishi only needed to make sure her own performance went smoothly; now that she is the captain, she has to do her best to fulfill the responsibilities of the team leader, and she can't just think about herself, but needs to take care of the whole team.

To this end, she often consulted Shang Hanyou, who had experience as a team leader, about the knowledge of being a team leader, and occasionally she would call Pei Yansang for remote advice, just like a diligent student who would make up for a lack of talent with hard work.

Of course, such diligence also yielded obvious results. The song performances were mostly completed smoothly, and the subsequent team-based games were also fun and entertaining, eliciting continuous laughter and applause from the audience.

Next

It was time for these captains to face off.

In this round, Li Sishi and others were assigned to the classic "Toast Matching" game.

The so-called "toast" is actually a transliteration of the English word for toast bread. The gameplay is also very simple: each team sends out two people to form a pair, and then a toast machine is placed on the table between the two people. They agree in advance which part of their body to use to pick up the toast, and then the other person controls the toast machine to dispense the toast.

The two people responsible for picking up the toast are considered to have successfully completed the challenge if they can use the parts of their bodies that are required to pick up the toast that is launched into the air.

This is also one of the classic mini-games in the long-running variety show "Super Trio Series" in Hong Kong. However, since the teams were divided into three groups this time, it was not appropriate to let the captains lead any team members directly. So, a bunch of small slips of paper with various body parts written on them were filled out on the spot, and everyone was randomly paired up.

In addition, before each group starts picking up bread, the host will invite a social celebrity such as a chairman or a Justice of the Peace from the banquet table below the stage to decide the amount of donation based on the difficulty of the challenge.

"Hey, what's there to be afraid of? As long as we don't draw the 'mouth to pomelo'..." The two people drawn in the first group were Li Dewen from Shang Hanyou's team and Huo Gucheng from Lingchen's team. So even though he had changed to a more mature look, Huo Gucheng, who was still very mischievous at heart, immediately said in a carefree manner.

“Exactly.” Li Dewen, always ready for a bit of fun, reached out and pulled out a small slip of paper. After a moment of surprise, he shrugged without a care in the world. “Okay, mouth to mouth!”

"If you fail, I'll donate another 50,000." A wealthy female chairperson, seeing how openly the two of them were invited to donate money, immediately joked.

It's not the unexpected situation where a man and a woman who are prone to rumors of romance appear on stage and then actually kiss after a failed attempt... that makes it even more interesting and funny.

"Really? Yes, we can kiss you right now!" Upon hearing this, Huo Gucheng leaned forward, standing on tiptoe as if to say something to Li Dewen, who seemed to want to refuse but also felt that not refusing was an option, and thus looked conflicted...

In spoken language, if "mouth" is used as a verb, then it means "to kiss".

"Alright, alright, there are still many children watching this show!" The host hurriedly put on an anxious expression and stepped forward to pull the two apart. "If you keep playing like this, your team leader will kick you both off the show!"

After finally getting these two playful young people back to their original positions, the game officially began amidst bursts of laughter.

Whether to feel sorry or relieved, the two didn't manage to grab the bouncy toast, nor did they accidentally bump their mouths together. However, because they were pushing so hard, they did bump their foreheads, which was somewhat of an "attentive gesture."

So the wealthy chairwoman, who had come on stage primarily to donate more money, ultimately acknowledged the two's "failed performance" and wrote a check for 80,000 yuan on the spot, handing it to the staff.

The next pairings will be a showdown between the team captains. This time, there's no need to draw names; it's three combinations: Li Sishi vs. Shang Hanyou, Li Sishi vs. Lingchen, and Lingchen vs. Shang Hanyou. This looks much more "entertaining".

After all, these three know each other and are good friends. The male and female pairings have both played lovers, and the male-male pairings are sworn brothers and fellow students. No matter how they play, there will be plenty of jokes...

Of course, viewers who are still relatively conservative and traditional in their thinking but enjoy watching male and female celebrities interact are definitely more looking forward to the performances of the first two pairings.

Especially the early morning vs. Shang Hanyou pairing, and the fact that these two drew the most ordinary hand positions - these kinds of positions don't arouse anyone's interest in watching a good show at all.

The Justice of the Peace, who was invited to the stage, also had a business-like smile on his face, saying that if the two of them could successfully sandwich bread between their hands, he would donate 30,000 dollars.

With the mindset of "the more the merrier" and "the less the better," the two diligently watched the toaster's launch moment, and with a clap of their hands, they instantly caught the toaster flying out between their palms.

A few sparse, perfunctory applause broke out. Shang Hanyou and Ling Chen exchanged a glance, probably seeing in each other's eyes a helpless, bitter smile of their own unpopularity—this was probably the least supported performance they had received from the audience since they became famous.

After all, these kinds of events are mostly attended by social celebrities who donate money and family audiences who liven up the atmosphere. Their individual fans didn't get to enter in an organized way, so there wasn't much to see, and naturally, not many people appreciated it.

But that's okay, they'll be paired with female celebrities later on, "there'll be plenty to see."

Li Sishi calmly watched as the two men who had received the 30,000 yuan check obediently returned to their positions. Then, at dawn, they stepped out of line again and stood next to her. The two of them reached into the small box together to pull out slips of paper.

"Wow, mouth and ears!" The host leaned over for a glance and immediately exclaimed meaningfully.

"So, which one are you going to choose? This kind of situation..."

The more awkward or hesitant she appeared, the more likely she was to be misunderstood. So Li Sishi immediately and openly raised the microphone and asked a question.

"Um... how about we do it according to the parts on the note?" Whether it was him biting the other person's ear or the other person biting his ear, it felt a bit too intimate, but now that they had already drawn the notes, he couldn't be coy and act less intimate than a girl.

"Okay, I won't move, you take the initiative... come closer." According to the part of the slip of paper they drew, Li Sishi was the one with the ear, so she immediately came up with a plan.

"That's right, that's right, a man should take the initiative." Among the hosts of this charity event was none other than the great lyricist Huang Yang, who is known for his passionate and unrestrained personality. This old man is also known for his witty remarks and love of watching a good show, so he patted Ling Chen on the shoulder on the spot, not wanting to miss out on the fun.

The woman invited to the stage to donate money was a wealthy woman in a red pantsuit. When asked by another host, she immediately smiled and said she would donate 100,000 yuan to support Leo's successful challenge. It seems that she is probably one of the wealthy women who voted for Leo in the "Most Desired Male Celebrity for Rich Women" list...

However, since these rankings can appear openly in various gossip magazines, most of the wealthy women who vote are just indulging in idle chatter; very few of them genuinely want to date male celebrities.

Nowadays, most wealthy women are more clear-headed than wealthy men. They know that the most likely reason for a handsome man to approach them is for money rather than for feelings. So most of the time, if they really want to keep a mistress, it's just a matter of mutual consent and playing around. If they want to indulge in a fantasy, they mainly choose to ship couples and enjoy the visually appealing and refreshing sight of handsome men and beautiful women together.

In the early morning, he smiled and thanked the wealthy woman in red for her support. Then he turned around and took off his black suit jacket—which happened to be worn underneath a bright red shirt, making his lips and teeth appear even more red and white, which made the wealthy woman in red smile even more broadly.

"You're here." Ling Chen said to Li Sishi, who had already turned her face to the toast machine.

The sound, so close at hand, coalesced into a warm breath, and when it reached the ear, it sounded like the tender, intimate whispers between lovers, making one blush and feel hot involuntarily.

"Mm." Li Sishi nodded, forcing herself to remain calm.

"Okay, one, two, three—start!" Huang Yang took the initiative to take over the task of controlling the toaster and reminded him.

As soon as she finished speaking, Li Sishi felt a heat on her face and heard a clattering sound—

He moved slightly with difficulty and looked to the side: it turned out that he had rushed too fast in the early morning, and although he had managed to catch the toast, he had caught it by bumping his forehead into her face, and his chin had also accidentally hit the machine, causing his eyes to instantly redden...

The photographer cleverly gave Ling Chen a close-up shot of him bumping his chin, making his red-rimmed eyes look particularly endearing. Instantly, the donation hotline next door rang non-stop.

"Alright, this challenge is considered a failure..." Huang Yang was about to announce with some regret that the two of them had failed the challenge and could only receive the guaranteed 30,000 yuan in donations when the rich woman in red, who was watching with great interest, suddenly snatched Huang Yang's microphone away.

"No, no, it's clearly your fault for not pressing it correctly. Leo and Ah May should do it again!"

She doesn't want to keep watching handsome guys and pretty girls whispering in each other's ears; she just wants to donate more money to charity!