After collecting all the contestants’ phones, the show’s chief director explained their main task for the week.
“This week, you are free to form your own teams and choose a script to perform. The number of members in each team is not fixed. The scripts will be provided by the show, and multiple teams can choose the same script. Next Friday afternoon, your performances for the week will be evaluated. After this round, only twenty contestants will remain.”
The director paused for a moment before asking, “Any questions?”
A contestant raised a hand. “Director, what do you mean by ‘the number of members is not fixed’?”
“You can perform alone, or you can have up to ten members in a team. As long as you know what you’re doing, it’s up to you.”
The director’s words caused an uproar among the contestants.
“Alone? How do you even perform alone?”
“Performing solo is way too difficult. I need to form a team.”
“Yeah, me too!”
Hearing the commotion, Chi Yan couldn’t help but recall the previous timeline. In that season of the show, the contestant who won second place, Ye Jiawen, had chosen to compete solo in this exact round.
His performance was later called a “textbook example of a one-person multi-character performance,” earning high praise from all four judges, who fought over the chance to mentor him.
After finishing as the runner-up of The Actor’s Path, he smoothly signed with Bo Le Entertainment and was assigned to Wang Ying’s team. Eventually, he even won a Best Actor award.
Xu Yi turned to Chi Yan and whispered, “What kind of genius would choose to perform alone?”
“Someone very skilled,” Chi Yan replied. She considered recommending Ye Jiawen to Yu Jingming. She was looking forward to acting alongside someone of his caliber.
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Xu Yi murmured, then leaned in closer. “My brother secretly told me that if we can’t find teammates, we should try teaming up with Ye Jiawen. He’s really strong.”
Chi Yan was taken aback. She had no plans to approach him. If Ye Jiawen couldn’t recreate that legendary solo performance in this lifetime, she would find it disappointing. Besides, she had a feeling he had already prepared himself to go solo.
“Let’s not,” she said. “We might end up dragging him down.”
Xu Yi studied her and couldn’t resist bringing up the earlier bet. “How did you end up betting a million with Yang Yueyi? That was insane! My brother said you’re trending again—I knew it!”
“Shh, lower your voice,” Chi Yan replied calmly. “Do you believe that if this hadn’t happened, Yang Yueyi would have been bothering me every single day?”
“What’s the deal between you two? This is over the top.”
“It’s a family matter. You’ll find out eventually,” Chi Yan said, not wanting to discuss her personal life with her classmates.
“Hello, are you Chi Yan?”
Xu Yi gasped. “Ye—Ye Jiawen?”
Ye Jiawen glanced at her and smiled. “You must be Xu Ge’s sister. You two look alike.”
Chi Yan hadn’t expected this—she hadn’t sought Ye Jiawen out, yet here he was, coming to her.
She waited for him to finish speaking before asking, “Yes, I’m Chi Yan. What can I do for you?”
“I’d like to form a team with you. You only have Xu Yi as a teammate, right?”
“You want to team up with me?” Chi Yan asked in return.
“Yes.”
“Sorry,” she said, “but I believe you have the ability to perform solo.”
Ye Jiawen raised an eyebrow. “Before I learned about your million-yuan bet with Yang Yueyi, I was planning to perform alone. But now, I think you’re interesting. Teaming up with you might be fun.”
“I’d love to team up with you too,” Chi Yan said, “but how about this? Once we both make it into the top twenty, let’s choose the same mentor. That way, we’ll still have a chance to work together.”
“I’m really good, you know,” Ye Jiawen said seriously. “If you don’t want to lose that million, you should listen to me.”
Chi Yan caught something in his words and asked, “Are you saying Yang Yueyi has a powerful teammate?”
“She’s staying in the same dorm as Duan Jing, and they’ve already agreed to team up,” Ye Jiawen said, practically spelling out, Let me join you. “If you don’t want to lose, you should team up with me.”
Xu Yi wanted to persuade Chi Yan as well, but before she could say anything, Chi Yan declined again.
“You should still perform solo,” she told Ye Jiawen, then gave him a look, signaling him to check behind him.
Not far away, Duan Jing was staring at them—or more accurately, she was staring at Ye Jiawen.
“I’m already at odds with Yang Yueyi,” Chi Yan said. “I don’t want to make more enemies. Duan Jing’s fans are crazy, you know?”
Ye Jiawen turned around and locked eyes with Duan Jing. Then, he immediately turned back and groaned.
“She and I are classmates. She’s never liked me,” he said. “Fine, you have a point. Let’s work together next time.”
Ye Jiawen walked away but suddenly turned back after a few steps. “You’re not going to get eliminated this round, are you?”
“Relax,” Chi Yan replied. “I have some skills.”
Xu Yi watched in dismay as her brother’s highly recommended big shot walked away. She couldn’t help but groan, “Now what are we supposed to do?!”
At that moment, Duan Jing also approached them. She said coldly, “You’d better stay away from Ye Jiawen. He would never team up with you.”
Xu Yi was about to ask, What’s it to you?, but before she could, Duan Jing walked off.
“What’s her problem?” Xu Yi grumbled. Then, looking around at the other contestants forming teams, she asked, “Should we try finding more teammates?”
Chi Yan spotted You Shan standing alone nearby and said, “Let’s ask You Shan first. No one seems to have invited her yet.
“Okay.”
Youshan was leaning against the wall with her head down, not looking at anyone around her. No one knew what she was thinking.
“Youshan, have you formed a team yet? If not, would you like to join us?” Chi Yan asked.
Youshan lifted her head, looked at the two of them, and got straight to the point. “If we form a team, I get to choose the script.”
Chi Yan thought for a few seconds and asked, “Not even open for discussion?”
“You can give your opinions, but I won’t take them.”
Xu Yi didn’t think that was fair. “That’s not really reasonable, is it? You—”
Youshan looked at Chi Yan and said, “I don’t know why you didn’t team up with Ye Jiawen, but right now, I’m actually your best option. He and Duan Jing are the top two students at Haiying, and I’m the top student at Jingdian.”
Chi Yan asked, “Why are you all so convinced that I’ll lose?”
Without waiting for Youshan’s answer, she continued, “If teaming up with you means we don’t even have the right to choose the script, then I’d rather just discuss it with Xu Yi alone.”
Youshan shrugged indifferently. “I’m not looking down on you, but the fact is, no matter what, you won’t be able to beat us professionally trained actors.”
“Did you eat Chu Heng, the Film Emperor?” Chi Yan asked with a puzzled expression.
“Pfft.” Xu Yi burst out laughing. Then she quickly pulled Chi Yan away.
It was common knowledge that Chu Heng was the youngest actor in the country to have won multiple prestigious Best Actor awards.
Most importantly, his undergraduate degree was in science and engineering. He only entered the entertainment industry because he accompanied a friend to an audition and was spotted by the director.
Chu Heng was the perfect example of a non-professionally trained actor who made it big. As one renowned director who worked with him once said, “He was born to act.” Even the biggest names in the industry recognized him as a genius.
Wasn’t an actor like him far superior to those so-called “professionally trained” half-baked ones?
“They’re all so arrogant,” Xu Yi said. “The entertainment industry has so many actors who switched careers and still perform brilliantly, but they act like they don’t see them at all.”
“It’s actually quite normal. Even our professors keep emphasizing in class, ‘Our program is the best in the country. If you don’t study hard and end up getting surpassed by students from other schools, what will you do?’”
Chi Yan remained calm. The entertainment industry definitely had its own hierarchy, but in the face of absolute talent, anyone would have to bow down.
“You sound just like them!” Xu Yi said, but then she paused and added, “I feel like you might be just like Chu Heng—a natural-born actor.”
Chi Yan just smiled and didn’t say anything.
Regardless of talent, she would work twice as hard. After all, she was aiming for the Best Actress title.
“Sorry for making the decision on my own just now without asking for your opinion,” Chi Yan said.
Xu Yi waved her hand dismissively. “No worries. I wanted to team up with you. Just the two of us is fine too.”
“Thank you.” Chi Yan thought that maybe she and Xu Yi could become good friends.
“Hey, Chi Yan, look—Duan Jing and Yang Yueyi are talking to Qi Kerong, aren’t they?”
Chi Yan looked over and saw that it was indeed the three of them, along with three unfamiliar male contestants standing nearby.
Seeing Qi Kerong chatting and laughing with Yang Yueyi, Chi Yan suddenly recalled what had happened to this girl in her past life.
In her previous life, Qi Kerong and Yang Yueyi were practically sisters, always extremely close. Qi Kerong had joined the competition just to accompany Yang Yueyi.
But what shocked Chi Yan the most was that Qi Kerong had chosen to quit acting simply because Yang Yueyi once said, “Everyone says you have more talent than me. I can’t accept that. I don’t want to be your shadow. Please stop acting.”
At that time, Qi Kerong was already a skilled actress, effortlessly handling complex roles. Her fans had high hopes that she would win the Best Actress award. But after she chose to retire, many fans were disappointed, some even turned against her and cursed her online. However, Qi Kerong remained silent from start to finish.
That incident had left a deep impression on Chi Yan, but since she had never actually met Qi Kerong in her past life, she didn’t have a strong impression of her as a person. That was probably why, when she first saw Qi Kerong just now, she found her strangely familiar.
That event had also solidified Yang Yueyi’s image as a “green tea b*tch” in Chi Yan’s mind. Instead of celebrating her best friend’s success, she had pressured her into quitting acting. What kind of logic was that?
But since both parties were willing to play their roles, Chi Yan had no intention of meddling.
“I need to be extra careful in the dorm now,” Chi Yan said. “I really didn’t expect her to be friends with Yang Yueyi.”
Xu Yi nodded. “You really should be careful. I don’t know what kind of person Qi Kerong is… Ugh, this is such a hassle.”
“A staff member just said that all the scripts will be available at the practice center tomorrow. Since we’ve decided not to team up with anyone else today, why don’t we head back, rest for a bit, and adjust our mindset?”
