Chapter 79: The Emperor's Shadow Watch, Comedy Is Hard to Perform

"Emperor Shadow watches?" Lin Xing was a bit surprised after hearing Sister Dao’s words.

Emperor Shadow was a Swiss luxury watch brand, and their Greater China brand ambassador had always been Qu Shi before. However, the contract between Emperor Shadow and Qu Shi ended last month, and they didn’t renew it. Since this model was considered entry-level and always marketed toward young people in China, it made sense for them to pick a new ambassador who appealed to a younger audience.

This made Lin Xing a potential candidate.

Sister Dao smiled and said, “I have to say, our latest issue of *Fashionable Men’s Style* really hit the mark. The strong sales have attracted the fashion industry’s attention, but most importantly, our reputation is solid and won’t collapse.”

This was crucial for a brand. Any commercial brand signing an ambassador would always conduct a thorough background check. It wasn’t rare for ambassadors to have their reputations collapse one after another, as happened with Black Bear Beverage in the fashion industry.

Take PudaO, for example—despite being a luxury brand, nearly all their ambassadors ended up embroiled in scandal, as if cursed.

When Emperor Shadow rechecked Qu Shi’s background, they found someone persistently reporting him for tax evasion. Although Qu Shi’s PR team managed to suppress the matter, Emperor Shadow couldn’t possibly keep him on. No brand would use an ambassador with even the slightest blemish, let alone one involved in something as serious as tax evasion.

So they began searching for a new face.

Young, popular, reputable, and fitting the brand image—there were still quite a few in the entertainment industry. Lin Xing hadn’t been on Emperor Shadow’s initial shortlist, but his performance in *Fashionable Men’s Style* caught their attention. Once they dug into his background and found it clean, the decision was made.

Lin Xing would be their next ambassador.

“Compared to the electric car endorsement, this business deal is a clear step up,” Sister Dao said with a smile. “The contract will be finalized today. I expect they’ll want to announce the partnership before Double 11, so as soon as you sign, we’ll shoot the promotional film.”

Lin Xing was taken aback. “That soon?”

“Yes, they have their reasons for wanting to announce quickly. And it’s lucky your scenes in *Anti-Crime Tides* wrapped ahead of schedule, saving us several days,” Sister Dao nodded. “I’d initially planned to wait until you finished filming *Farming Life*. But now, we can shoot these next few days instead.”

“Alright, I’ll leave it to your arrangement.”

Lin Xing had no objections, but he did remind her, “Let’s do our own check on Emperor Shadow too, just in case—”

Sister Dao assured him the company had already investigated. Emperor Shadow was clean.

Sometimes, it wasn’t just the ambassador who could spark a scandal; brands could too—be it due to quality issues or breaches of principle. So stars also had to be cautious when selecting endorsements.

An hour later, Lin Xing arrived home, while Sister Dao prepared to finalize the contract with Emperor Shadow. As she’d said, the terms were already ironed out.

The next day, Lin Xing went to the company meeting room and met Emperor Shadow’s team. After brief pleasantries, he left the negotiations to the professionals—his only job was to sign.

An hour later, the deal was done.

From that moment, Lin Xing was officially the Emperor Shadow Greater China brand ambassador.

“Tomorrow at 8 a.m., we’ll shoot two promo clips for the official announcement,” Sister Dao said with a smile. “It’s all studio work, so two days will be plenty.”

Lin Xing nodded. “Alright.”

“Oh, one more thing—you’ll need to repost the official ‘Comedy Must Laugh’ account later. Our episode airs this Friday,” Sister Dao told him.

At that moment, the show’s official Weibo had already started warming up.

In the 8-to-4 performance battle of ‘Comedy Must Laugh,’ eight people would join as guest actors: aside from Lin Xing, there was a host, a singer, a director, a stand-up comedian, a model, a well-known internet celebrity, and a comedy actor.

The previous episode featured the host, singer, and director. The results? Mediocre, at best.

Feng Li, a rising pop star, had hoped to win back public favor through *Comedy Must Laugh*, especially after last year’s illegitimate child scandal tanked his reputation. This year, he’d managed to rehabilitate himself somewhat on a travel-music variety show.

Now, *Comedy Must Laugh* was this year’s breakout hit, leagues above *Farming Life*, so Feng Li naturally accepted the invitation.

He’d expected reactions like, “Feng Li was hilarious! He really was born for this!” But in reality, the response was more, “He did fine, but please don’t do it again.”

When the public dislikes a celebrity, their past scandals resurface. Feng Li’s plan to redeem himself on *Comedy Must Laugh* backfired.

With the last episode falling flat, most people were skeptical when it was announced that Lin Xing would guest star next.

“I heard Lin Xing is joining ‘Comedy Must Laugh’ as a guest. Didn’t expect him to help out the ‘Go Go Go’ troupe.”

“Damn, they’re doomed. The ‘Go Go Go’ troupe is getting eliminated.”

“I’m out, I’m out!”

“Lin Xing, with his domineering CEO persona, doing comedy? And for ‘Go Go Go’? That’s not going to work.”

When the official account posted the promo, fans of the ‘Go Go Go’ troupe let out collective groans.

From the start of the show, the duo known as ‘Hum and Haw’ in the ‘Go Go Go’ troupe had been audience favorites, their acts the best of the lot.

But now, with the troupes facing off, a single group’s loss would send everyone into the elimination zone.

Imagine how ‘Hum and Haw’ fans felt.

As everyone knows, comedy is the hardest genre. Otherwise, why are there so few true masters of comedy in the entertainment world?

Yet Lin Xing still reposted ‘Comedy Must Laugh’ and added, “My first time doing comedy—please take care of me.”

…