Director Zhang unblinkingly pinned all the blame on the assistant director, and the more he thought about it, the more plausible it felt. He nodded right where he stood, patting himself on the back for his brilliant deduction.
The assistant director: "..."
"Are you out of your mind? I've been stuck right next to you since this morning! When on earth was I supposed to arrange any of that?"
"How was I supposed to pass messages to them? If you're gonna be an idiot, just say your brain got eaten by dogs!"
Director Zhang didn't even bother listening to his "excuses", and suddenly struck a classic detective pose out of nowhere: "There is only one truth!"
"You people secretly communicated with brainwaves! All of you are aliens!"
The assistant director closed his eyes, looking completely resigned like he was already dead and didn't want to be disturbed.
"How am I supposed to argue with you? Does a single thing you just said even sound like something a normal human would say?"
The whole absurd scene of the two directors losing their minds was fully caught on camera for the audience to see, but the two of them were so wrapped up in their chaotic back and forth that they didn't notice at all.
The second Director Zhang stepped through the door, Li Ge had already turned the camera on him, and the confused Director Zhang never spotted it.
[Did Director Zhang get assimilated too? He's being this unhinged now?]
[Director Zhang I'm reporting you! They said no consorting with aliens!]
[Pfft! Hahaha Director Zhang is actually so funny, why don't you come be a guest on the show for an episode!]
Even though Director Zhang's silly, over-the-top act with the assistant director was hilarious, Xie Tangning, Xie Changyu, and Liang Zhou didn't dare make a single sound of laughter.
If they laughed, what if Director Zhang suddenly pulled out some random new rule? All the work they put in earlier would go to waste. Everyone knew Director Zhang loved to nitpick and mess with the guests.
The old guy held grudges like no other, and the three of them who'd snuck in outside help weren't about to bet that Director Zhang would be in a generous mood.
No wonder Director Zhang's reputation for being a troublemaker was so well-earned!
But just because Xie Tangning and the other two were too cowardly to laugh didn't mean Wu Weixiang and the rest of the guests held back, especially Liang Jiaqing, who was an old hand on the show, cackling the loudest of all.
She made Director Zhang so mad he wanted to storm over and thump her.
"What are you all laughing at? You have the nerve to laugh? Do you have any idea how worried I was?"
"I was scared out of my wits that you airheads would get scammed and end up counting the money for the people who ripped you off, live in front of the entire country's viewers!"
"All of you might not care about looking like fools, but this show I'm running can't afford to embarrass itself like that! You rascals have no right to stand there snickering!"
"And your laughs aren't even pretty! You're all grinning like a pack of silly dogs!"
"Especially you Liang Jiaqing! You're the dumbest one here, and you look the silliest!"
The guests who were just a second ago giggling away went stone-faced the moment they got chewed out.
Shen Lin perked up the second he caught the key line, turning his gaze right to Director Zhang: "For the record, the only person who got tricked just now was you, Director Zhang."
"So who's the real airhead here? That's such a hard question to answer~"
Liang Jiaqing immediately puffed out her chest smugly: "Mhm~ What Boss Shen said is totally objective and fair. Just admit it already, Zhang Goudan!"
"The whole production team, you're the dumbest one. A little prank like that had you running in circles, you're getting more ridiculous the older you get!"
"Hurry up and go get yourself remade! You're good for nothing!"
When it came to roasting the director, the assistant director was more than happy to chime in, and the sharp jabs rolled right off his tongue: "Face it, Mr. Stubborn, Sister Qing and Boss Shen are telling you nothing but the truth."
Director Zhang was so mad he was about to puff up into a ball. He fumed and pointed at everyone one by one, and the first in his line of fire was the assistant director.
Over the next five minutes, the assistant director ended up bearing three full minutes of his rant.
The assistant director could only think of a line to fit the mood: Actually, the rain isn't that heavy~ It's just the wind blowing like crazy~
The rest of the guests knew exactly how to smooth things over, though. While the assistant director was taking the brunt of Director Zhang's anger, they all nodded along no matter what he said, playing the part of obedient kids calming down their grumpy parent.
If you ignored the obvious suppressed grins on their faces, they actually looked pretty sweet humoring Director Zhang.
Xie Tangning didn't dare show how hard she was laughing, so she clamped down on it as hard as she could, grabbing onto Xie Changyu's wrist for support.
Xie Changyu winced from how hard she was squeezing, and kept trying to shake her off: "Xie Tangning, you've got some nerve! Are you trying to murder your own brother?"
The little troublemaker was freakishly strong, and it didn't take long for her to leave several red marks on his pale wrist that looked pretty noticeable.
Xie Tangning was so startled by the sight that she forgot all about holding in her laugh, she couldn't laugh at all anymore.
"I'm so sorry, Second Brother, I didn't do it on purpose! How about I let you squeeze my wrist back to get even?"
Xie Changyu huffed a laugh: "If I squeeze you back, you're just gonna run to Eldest Brother and snitch on me, crying and making up some nonsense to frame me, aren't you?"
Xie Tangning chuckled awkwardly, quickly changing the subject: "I would never! Come on, we need to figure out how to get Director Zhang to admit that the free meal we just got counts as a valid win for the task rules!"
Xie Changyu didn't bother picking on her anymore. The girl never knew her own strength, if he actually got mad at her every time, his lungs would've exploded ages ago.
"Don't panic. Before we set off, Director Zhang never laid out any strict rules. If he didn't say there was a rule, that means there are no rules at all!"
"We can do whatever we want. If Director Zhang dares to deny it, we'll just beat him up!"
"If one beating doesn't work, we'll do it twice. I don't believe he won't play nice."
Director Zhang: "..."
"You two Xie siblings over there! I'm not deaf or blind, I can hear you whispering!"
What was the point of them lowering their voices? The space was so small there was no way he wouldn't hear.
Caught red-handed, Xie Tangning and Xie Changyu grinned sheepishly.
"Well... since you already heard us, we're adding the free feast I got purely by luck to our final closing dinner!"
"Do you have any problems with that?"
The two siblings played off each other like a comedy duo.
Xie Tangning handled the part that looked like she was politely asking for permission, while Xie Changyu leaned into his cool, overbearing boss persona perfectly.
Xie Tangning thought her line just now wasn't tough enough, so she added another line: "Oh, and a reminder, we're not asking for your opinion, we're telling you what's happening."
Xie Changyu swept his gaze over, fully in overbearing CEO mode: "I suggest you be smart about this!"
Director Zhang: "..."
Where the hell did these two bandits come from?
He was just about to dig his heels in and argue, before he could get a single word out, he watched Xie Tangning slap her brother on the back of the head.
"Watch your mouth! How dare you talk to Director Zhang with that attitude? I think you've forgotten who's the boss around here!"
"Apologize to Director Zhang right now!"
Xie Changyu switched his act in a split second, no reluctance at all, grinning widely and apologizing to Director Zhang so sincerely his apology was long enough to be a full essay.
The pair of them acted tough first, then immediately switched to the good cop bad cop routine, leaving Director Zhang completely flustered.
And before he knew it, his own mouth had a mind of its own, tugging up into a smile he couldn't suppress.
He coughed lightly, putting on his dignified Lao Zhang act: "Ahem, fine. Since you two were so polite about it, I'm not gonna be a total hardass!"
"I'll reluctantly approve what you did this one time. But don't you ever pull a stunt like that again, got it?"
