My cousin asked me to go to Wuha, and Hanikezi stuck to me.

Three days later, in Haikou, Qiongzhou, the recording site of the fourth episode of "Five Ha".

Under the blazing sun, Old Wang stood on the beach holding a megaphone.

"Today marks the first day of our Five Huskies family welcoming our new permanent members! Chen Yi, say hello to everyone!"

Six main cameras were simultaneously pushed toward Chen Yi.

Chen Yi stood between Deng Chao and Chen Chichi, his [Variety Show Perception] working frantically in his mind.

He was calculating.

The key is to figure out how to say this opening line in a way that both responds to the negative comments online and brings out just the right amount of humor, while also taking into account the screen time of the senior actors next to him.

Three seconds passed.

Chen Yi raised his hand and said something extremely calm and measured.

"Hello everyone, I'm Chen Yi. I'm very happy to be a regular member. I will work hard to cooperate with everyone and complete every task."

There was a two-second silence.

Even the radio operator next to him was stunned for a moment.

This is not Chen Yi at all.

The non-celebrity boss who was always ready to argue and beat up the regular guests in the first two episodes has suddenly become an intern reciting an onboarding speech.

Deng Chao reacted quickly, immediately coming over and putting his arm around Chen Yi's shoulder.

"Hey, why is our new resident so official today? Did Old Wang slip you a bribe?"

This is an excellent way to deliver a message.

If Chen Yi simply complains about Lao Wang being stingy or retorts to Deng Chao, the joke will be over.

Five jokes flashed through Chen Yi's mind in an instant.

He chose what he considered the most ingeniously structured one and was about to speak.

Chen Chichi took a step forward and slapped Chen Yi on the back, interrupting his spellcasting animation.

"He didn't accept any bribes! He saw netizens criticizing him last night and got so scared that he stayed up all night memorizing a book called 'The Art of Emotional Intelligence in Communication'! Look at that posture of his, is he taking a civil service interview?"

The entire audience burst into laughter.

Lu Han laughed so hard she slapped her thigh.

"Brother Chichi, don't expose my weakness! Doesn't my cousin have any pride?"

"What does he care about saving face! He's on a regular salary now; he has to pay for his lunch!"

Chen Chichi then smoothly steered the conversation to his specialty: dry rice.

The atmosphere became lively again.

Old Wang wiped his sweat in the director's booth and, following up on Chen Chichi's topic, announced the beach volleyball grouping rules for the morning.

Chen Yi stood still, his fingers curling slightly.

A blue virtual screen popped up in my mind.

"Ding!"

"Warning: Host's mental state is extremely tense!"

"[Variety Show Perception] Overload operation leads to delayed response."

System notification: Suggestion for improving variety show awareness – Relax and return to a natural state. Excessive thinking and calculation will severely reduce your performance on set!

Chen Yi turned off the control panel and took a deep breath.

He was in a strange state throughout the entire morning of recording.

He desperately wanted to prove that he deserved this permanent position.

He wanted to perfectly connect with every joke and fill every frame with variety show effects.

As a result, he became a slow-reacting bystander.

It was only thanks to Chen Chichi's constant witty remarks that his shot was managed to be preserved.

Recording was paused at 12:30 pm.

The guests returned to the air-conditioned bus to eat their boxed lunches.

Chen Yi took a box of roast duck rice, walked to the last row of the carriage, sat down, and didn't touch his chopsticks.

The seat next to me sank in.

Deng Chao sat down in the back seat with a glass of iced Americano and casually tossed a bottle of mineral water onto Chen Yi's lap.

"Drink some water, your lips are dry and chapped."

"Thanks, Brother Chao."

Chen Yi unscrewed the bottle cap and took a sip.

Deng Chao didn't rush to speak. He took two sips of coffee through the straw and looked out the car window at the staff who were moving equipment.

Have you read the online comments?

Chen Yi paused for a moment.

"I watched a bit."

"Angry? Feeling wronged? Want to dominate today's show and slap those haters in the face?"

Deng Chao turned his head and stared into Chen Yi's eyes.

Chen Yi met his gaze and did not deny it.

"Brother Chao, I got a top-salary contract. I have to live up to the money."

"fart."

Deng Chao cursed directly.

Chen Yi was stunned.

"Why do you think Lao Wang signed you despite the pressure from the investors? Why do you think the audience likes watching you?"

Deng Chao lowered his voice, his tone extremely serious, "Because when you came in the first season, you didn't take us seriously at all!"

Chen Yi tightened his grip on the mineral water bottle.

"When you criticized me in the first episode, it felt so natural. When you protected that little girl from Xinjiang, you were so confident. Did you even think about how to throw out a joke back then? Did you even think about how to stir up trouble?"

Deng Chao reached out and poked Chen Yi's chest.

"No, you're just an ordinary person who came here to freeload. Everything you did was instinctive."

From the front of the carriage came Chen Chichi's cursing as he snatched Lu Han's chicken leg.

Deng Chao withdrew his hand and leaned back in his chair.

"The word 'permanent' is both an honor and a shackle. Your performance this morning was too pretentious. The more you try to prove yourself, the more likely you are to make mistakes. By taking those negative comments seriously, you've already lost to them."

Chen Yi remained silent, his mind replaying the moments that had caused him to stumble earlier that morning.

The system's "overthinking" message completely overlaps with Deng Chao's description of "being too pretentious."

Don't be too nervous.

Deng Chao patted him on the shoulder, his tone softening, "Remember one thing. The audience likes the real you, not a comedic machine that's 'trying hard to perform.' Eat when you're supposed to eat, drink when you're supposed to drink, and roast Chichi to death when you're supposed to roast him. If the sky falls, we old guys will hold it up."

Deng Chao stood up, took his coffee, and walked to the front row.

Chen Yi sat there, looking at the mineral water bottle in his hand, and let out a long sigh.

He rotated his left ring finger.

The heavy weight that had been pressing on my chest suddenly shattered.

Recording resumed at 2 PM.

The afternoon segment was a "Seafood Market Bargaining Battle".

Old Wang stood at the entrance of the market, which reeked of fish, holding a megaphone.

"Everyone, you only have one hundred yuan as initial capital. You must buy all the ingredients for tonight's seafood feast within two hours. If you can't buy them, you'll have plain rice and pickled vegetables for dinner."

Chen Chichi immediately began to wail.

"Old Wang, are you crazy?! A hundred yuan can't even buy a lobster leg here! You're forcing us to rob you!"

Lu Han also joined the protest.

"Director, these prices are unreasonable! They should be at least five hundred!"

Old Wang held the megaphone, looking quite pleased with himself.

"This is a test of your survival skills. As permanent members, you must rise to the challenge. Chen Yi, as a new permanent member, is there anything you'd like to say to the production team?"

Old Wang directly targeted Chen Yi, attempting to create a point of conflict.

All the shots switched instantly.

Chen Chichi subconsciously took a step forward, ready to speak up for Chen Yi at any moment.

Chen Yi didn't move.

He didn't activate his "variety show perception" or search through his "impromptu joke library."

He just looked at the chipped megaphone in Old Wang's hand, and then glanced at Old Wang's oily forehead, which was tanned by the sun.

"director."

Chen Yi spoke in a calm tone, with his characteristic nonchalance.

"explain!"

Old Wang held up a loudspeaker.

"You just said that since you can't buy any ingredients, you'll be eating plain rice with pickled vegetables for dinner, right?"

"That's right! A promise is a promise!"

"OK."

Chen Yi nodded, then turned to Chen Chichi and Deng Chao, "Brother Chao, Brother Chichi, Brother Han, let's go back to the car and enjoy the air conditioning."

Deng Chao was stunned.

"Where to?"

"Go back to the car and sleep."

With his hands in his pockets, Chen Yi said confidently, "Old Wang promised to provide plenty of white rice and pickled vegetables for tonight. Why bother buying seafood? Wouldn't it be better to save that hundred yuan for steamed buns tomorrow?"

The entire room fell silent for two seconds.

Immediately afterwards, Chen Chichi burst into a fit of wild laughter and squatted down to punch the sand.

"Hahaha! That's right! Old Wang provides meals! Let's go, let's go back to the car and sleep!"

Lu Han laughed so hard she hung her arms around Deng Chao's neck.

Old Wang's hand, which was holding the megaphone, froze in mid-air. The smugness on his face instantly vanished, and he even burped in shock.

"No... Chen Yi, you... you're playing passively!"

Old Wang was so anxious he was jumping up and down.

"This is called making reasonable use of loopholes in the rules."

Chen Yi turned around, shrugged at the camera, and said, "The production team is short on funds, so we, as regular staff, have to be understanding. I'm definitely eating this pickled vegetable."

The staff at the scene were all laughing hysterically.

The cameramen were laughing so hard their shoulders were shaking, and the camera was swaying up and down with them.

Old Wang stood there, looking at Chen Yi's expressionless face, and angrily threw the megaphone onto the beach.

But just as he threw the horn, Old Wang turned his back, secretly took a big gulp of goji berry water, his lips curled up into a wide smile, and he let out a long sigh of relief.

That's just right.

Chen Yi, the one who dared to utterly dominate the production team, is finally back.