At five o’clock the next morning, a voice from the speakers installed in the apartment hallway by the production team announced:
“Attention, all contestants. The scripts have been uploaded to the iPads at the practice area. Each team is allowed to take only one iPad. Please select your script as soon as possible.”
Chi Yan was already awake. Hearing the broadcast, she walked over to Xu Yi’s bed and patted her blanket.
“Xu Yi, wake up. The scripts are available now. Let’s go early to pick one.”
“Hmm?” Xu Yi responded groggily, her eyes still closed. “What?”
“Get up. We have a lot to do today.” Chi Yan patted her pillow this time.
Xu Yi finally opened her eyes, though her mind was still in a daze.
“Do I have to get up now?” She didn’t even ask why Chi Yan was waking her so early, nor did she seem to register what Chi Yan had just said.
“Yes, let’s go early and check out the scripts.”
After washing up, Xu Yi didn’t bother with makeup. She and Chi Yan left bare-faced.
Since they got up early, they were the first to arrive at the practice area. The entire place was empty, and they hadn’t seen a single person on the way there.
“Did we wake up too early?” Xu Yi asked in surprise.
Chi Yan thought for a moment and replied, “Maybe everyone else went to have breakfast first. Let’s grab an iPad before we eat.”
On the first day of The Road to Acting, most of the viewers watching the broadcast were fans of the popular contestants rather than general audience members.
When they saw Chi Yan and Xu Yi heading straight to the practice area without even having breakfast, reactions were mixed—some mocked them, while others admired their dedication.
“One second, my idol is still wrapped in his blanket, and the next second, these two girls are already up. Contestants #66 and #72 are so hardworking! Meanwhile, my idol is just lying there doing nothing!”
“What’s the point of getting up early? Real skilled contestants like Duan Duan aren’t worried at all!”
“Exactly. That girl is the one who made the ‘million-dollar bet,’ right? She’s not a professionally trained actress, so of course, she has to put in extra effort.”
Chi Yan was completely unaware of the audience’s commentary. In her previous life, she hadn’t watched much of this show, though she had heard of a few performances that went viral—one of them being Ye Jiawen’s solo performance.
Because of this, she needed to go through all the scripts carefully to find the one best suited for her and Xu Yi.
After picking up an iPad, Chi Yan was about to leave with Xu Yi when a production crew member stopped them.
“Please wait a moment. You need to complete a task before you can take the iPad. Since you’re the first ones here and there’s no competition, the production team is making an exception for you. You only need to pass a dish-name recital challenge.”
Xu Yi let out a surprised “Ah” and turned to Chi Yan. “Do you know how to do that? I’ve never memorized one before.”
“I’m not very familiar with it either,” Chi Yan frowned.
“You’ve never practiced it before?” The crew member seemed surprised. “Let me check with the director.”
A moment later, she jogged back, holding a notebook.
“The director has agreed to give you ten minutes. If you can accurately recite the dish names without mistakes, you pass the challenge.”
“When does the timer start?”
“It started when I began explaining the rules to you.”
Chi Yan didn’t waste any more time. She took the notebook from the crew member and started reading through it carefully.
Xu Yi didn’t dare disturb her and stood to the side, looking anxious.
Chi Yan was quite skilled at memorizing lines. In less than five minutes, she looked up and asked, “Can I start reciting now?”
The crew member checked the time and said, “You still have over five minutes. Maybe keep reviewing a bit longer?”
“I’ve already memorized it.”
Xu Yi hurriedly tried to stop her. “Maybe go over it a few more times? What if you suddenly forget?”
“Don’t worry,” Chi Yan reassured her. “I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t confident.”
At the director’s signal, the crew member took the notebook from Chi Yan’s hands.
“Alright, go ahead.”
“Steamed lamb, steamed bear paw…”
Chi Yan recited the entire list fluently, without a single pause. She spoke quickly yet clearly, completely stunning the crew and audience.
The comment section exploded:
“Holy crap, is this the memorization ability of a non-professionally trained actress? I love it!”
“Looks like she wasn’t bluffing with that million-dollar bet. At this level, even Duan Jing might struggle to match her.”
“I take back everything I said before. I used to mock her, but now… Miss, my face is right here. Feel free to slap me!”
Chi Yan’s fans, the Yanhuo (Smoke and Fire), were thrilled. Previously, when she made the million-dollar bet and trended online, many spectators ridiculed her for being overly arrogant. Whenever her fans defended her, they were met with sarcastic remarks about being rich fangirls. It had been frustrating for them.
But now, Chi Yan had proved herself with undeniable skill, leaving many people completely shocked—and making her fans immensely proud.
“This is the level of professionalism our queen brings to acting!”
“Chi Yan never lets the Yanhuo down!”
Even the audience had to admit—they were impressed.
With this move, Chi Yan managed to ride the tail end of the trending list once again, even during the low-traffic early morning hours. Thanks to word-of-mouth recommendations from the audience and the enthusiastic promotion by Yanhuo fans, she gained another wave of attention.
The comments under today’s trending topic were noticeably more peaceful and friendly than yesterday’s.
The production team also realized that Chi Yan had an exceptional ability to attract traffic. In just two days since the show aired, she had already trended twice—something no other contestant had achieved.
“Are we giving Chi Yan enough screen time?” the head director asked. “Let’s increase her screen time in the coming days. Compared to Duan Jing, she’s much better at creating buzz.”
After successfully reciting the dish names, Chi Yan pulled Xu Yi away.
Xu Yi was in disbelief. “Oh my god, how did you do that? You really never memorized it before?”
“I’ve heard of it, but I never actually memorized it. I just pick up lines quickly.”
“If I’d known you were this amazing, I wouldn’t have worried so much,” Xu Yi laughed.
“By the way, how fast are you at memorizing lines?” Chi Yan asked. “If it takes you longer, we should pick a script with fewer lines.”
Xu Yi thought for a moment. “I’m not as good as you, but I should be okay. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t listen in class but crams everything the day before the exam. The more pressure I’m under, the more efficient I get.”
“Got it.”
They walked to the cafeteria between the two apartment buildings, got their food, and sat by the window.
Since they had been delayed at the practice area, quite a few contestants were already up. However, they were the only ones carrying an iPad.
“It’s only 6:20,” Xu Yi glanced at the clock in the middle of the cafeteria. “Everyone here is seriously hardcore.”
“For a lot of them, this competition is a rare opportunity. They won’t let it slip away.”
Chi Yan silently added in her mind: Right now, not many people are up this early, but by the second or third day, most of them will be. Some of the more dedicated ones will even start waking up at 4 AM.
To save time, they ordered the same simple breakfast: a bowl of porridge, a fried dough stick, a boiled egg, and a corn cob.
Chi Yan finished first and told Xu Yi, “Take your time. I’ll start looking through the scripts.”
She quickly skimmed through all the available scripts and noticed that they were all well-known scenes from highly popular films and TV dramas.
One of them was a court case about capturing a corrupt official. The official, in his defense, delivered a long, eloquent monologue, filled with complex vocabulary and lengthy passages. This script only had three characters, one of whom—a minor officer—barely had any lines. It was ideal for teams with fewer members.
Chi Yan was sure that Ye Jiawen would choose this script.
But what truly caught her attention was a mother-daughter scene. She had seen the original TV drama before, and this particular scene was widely regarded as a masterpiece among filmmakers.
In the drama, a mother spent twenty years searching for her kidnapped daughter. With the help of the police, she was finally able to reunite with her.
However, unexpectedly, the daughter refused to communicate with her biological mother and even blamed her for showing up.
It turned out that before the mother appeared, the daughter had believed she was the biological child of her adoptive parents. But after her mother arrived, her adoptive parents subtly implied that she should return to her real family.
Although the daughter was unwilling, she eventually agreed to meet her birth mother under the persuasion of her adoptive parents and the police officers.
The script provided by the production team was the scene of their first meeting.
After reading it, Chi Yan immediately decided to choose this script.
Just as Xu Yi finished eating, Chi Yan handed her the iPad and said, “Take a look at this one. The story is great, and there are only three characters. We can decide later who will double up as the police officer if needed.”
Xu Yi read through it but hesitated. “This one really tests acting skills. If we perform poorly, we’ll definitely get eliminated.”
“But if we impress the judges, we’ll be set.”
Chi Yan knew Xu Yi wasn’t wrong. Both the mother and the daughter in this scene had to navigate a wide range of emotions. Even experienced actors would hesitate to say they could pull it off. Choosing this script was indeed a risky move.
But high risk often came with high reward. Chi Yan was confident that she and Xu Yi could make a breakthrough with this performance.
After weighing the pros and cons, Xu Yi finally agreed. “Okay. But… who plays the mother, and who plays the daughter?”
“I’ll play the mother,” Chi Yan said. “You’re more energetic—you’d suit the younger role better.”
Besides, Xu Yi had no acting experience. Asking her to suddenly play a character much older than herself would be too challenging.
Chi Yan, on the other hand, had played roles that spanned from youth to old age before.
She already had some ideas about how to portray the mother.
“But won’t it feel disjointed if one of us also plays the police officer?” Xu Yi was still worried.
Chi Yan was just about to reassure her when a voice interrupted.
“Excuse me, can I join your group?”
