Smile Code (Lost Laughter) 失笑 - Zhu Le 祖乐

3

Her apple cheeks were a bit big, and when others were sad, they had two lines of clear tears. I had four, plus the Indian lines; even crying felt effortless.

She couldn't hold it in anymore and shouted to the audience, "The guy sitting in the last row, the last time you sat in the first row and didn't laugh, and now you're hiding in the last row-are you afraid of hurting me?"

Under the gaze of everyone, the man crossed his arms, his knit hat covering his eyes, and didn't say a word. Gu Yi thought carefully about whether she had offended this man anywhere or if they had met before in another situation. No, they hadn't. Although she really wanted to say something more, she felt that continuing would be personal attack, and comedy should be funny, not mean. She smiled and said, "Just to confirm, you don't have any physical or mental... I mean, you can still change your expression, right?"

The man nodded, and it was clear that he could laugh. Gu Yi, standing five meters away, could only think of one word-bright-eyed and beautiful. The audience particularly liked interactive segments, especially when men and women exchanged words from a distance.

"I'll ask one more thing-do you have any personal dissatisfaction with me?" Seeing him shake his head, Gu Yi scratched the back of her head and laughed self-deprecatingly. "So why are you here? The tickets are hard to get, and you're not laughing. Are you here for some kind of spiritual practice?"

The bar erupted in laughter, with enthusiastic audience members urging, "Get together, get together!"

Gu Yi bowed and left the stage. "I dare not, I dare not. If a stand-up comedian were with such a handsome guy, people would doubt my professional ability and think I only got him because of my looks, right? That would greatly undermine my stand-up career." Gu Yi changed her tone to sound like a gentle threat. "You definitely have to come next time. After the show, I'll leave you my contact info. Don't be scared, I'm just curious to know which joke will make you laugh."

Of course, she didn't leave her contact info-it was just a joke for the crowd. She had even asked Yu Dule to confirm that this man really had come for the second time and had just happened to catch Gu Yi's performance. The ticket lottery for Ounce was extremely difficult; how many people were timing their applications? A week only allowed one show to be selected, and the performers were a blind box, only revealed when the program was announced.

Yu Dule, however, was very enthusiastic. "I think it's fate, you ended up performing here last minute."

Gu Yi sniffed. "Opportunities are for those who are prepared. Did I prepare, or did he?"

"Fate," Yu Dule said, raising his eyebrows mysteriously.

In order to test fate, Gu Yi kept applying for open mic spots for the next week-performers, like the audience, were chosen by lottery-but, amazingly, she didn't get selected even once. She had a lot of material ready in the office, enough for a solo show, but recently, the other performers at Ounce had been very vocal, so she never got her turn. While waiting for the open mic list to come out, she received feedback from a client on WeChat: "Lindsey, what about the content list for Q1 next year? We're disappointed. Although your prices are high, the turnaround is slow, and communication takes too long. But this time, we're especially unhappy with the theme. We need a new copy. The colors in the long image aren't upscale enough, and the font is too big. We don't like the flashy gold brand, we need a story, depth."

Although the feedback was mostly complaints, the "but" part was full of more dissatisfaction and didn't form a complete transition. Gu Yi was already used to the client's complaints and knew the biggest mistake was sending the PPT too early. The "Ideal Home" magazine was still in her drawer, and she hadn't had time to look at Liang Daiwen's interview. A month had passed without opening the drawer-she didn't dare to, because opening it meant she'd want to meet the real person, and to meet him, she'd need to get selected for the open mic. Gu Yi was getting anxious.