Zeng Wen smiled and continued, “Let me introduce this gentleman, my partner, Meng Jingyuan—definitely no one will mistake this one. In the past, I usually collaborated with Teacher Meng; today, we have this young cross-talk performer as our third wheel…” The audience understood: “yoooooooo~” In an instant, Qi Shejiang’s eyes widened slightly, unnoticeably. “Wait a minute, what do you mean by ‘between us’; wasn’t it the right side?” Meng Jingyuan smiled, purposely glossing over that line. Zeng Wen pretended to be clueless, “Yes, yes, right side.” Meng Jingyuan: “Just hold on a second; I wanted to say this earlier, the one you introduced earlier is a cross-talk performer? That’s not right, is it?” Zeng Wen laughed, “What’s not right? Haven’t you two performed together before? At a gala.” Meng Jingyuan waved his hand, “That was all for entertainment.” Zeng Wen added, “Now it’s not for entertainment, Jesse, come on, tell Teacher Meng.” Only then did Qi Shejiang speak, “Here’s the thing; after we performed the last cross-talk, the response was pretty good. I wanted to pursue this direction, so I sought out Teacher Zeng. Teacher Zeng is really nice; he said sure, come perform with me.” “So casual?” Meng Jingyuan said to Zeng Wen, “Do you know how capable he is that you just call him a young cross-talk performer?
Zeng Wen said with satisfaction, “You wouldn’t know; he is exceptionally talented.” Meng Jingyuan looked at Qi Shejiang, “Is that so?” Qi Shejiang honestly said, “Yes, Teacher Zeng mentioned especially about my face.” Zeng Wen: “Ah, yes, yes, yes!” “Hahahahahahaha, right.” The venue was filled with applause and echoes of agreement.
Zeng Wen said, “How about this, Jesse? Teacher Meng and I will choose a song, and you sing. Sing three segments; if you can sing well, that shows you have some singing ability, and you can keep that title of young crosstalk actor!” Qi Shejiang nodded, “Sure!” Meng Jingyuan and Zeng Wen whispered to each other for a moment, then raised their heads and exchanged mischievous smiles with Qi Shejiang, “Sing ‘Time of Love’ for us.”
