Noticing that Xu Yi and Xue Yi’s emotions had instantly dropped, Chi Yan said, “Duan Jing and the others are not Ye Jiawen, and likewise, we are not those teams that give up before even stepping onto the stage.”
“You’re right. We haven’t even tried yet, how can we be discouraged?” Xu Yi said, then went to a quiet corner to go over her lines.
Xue Yi suggested, “Chi Yan-jie, I should also go over my lines again.”
“Don’t push yourself too hard. Just perform normally. Xu Yi and I aren’t trained in this, so she’s been under a lot of pressure, but you’re different from us.”
Ye Jiawen happened to come down from the stage just in time to hear Chi Yan’s words to Xue Yi. He raised an eyebrow and walked over.
“Chi Yan, your standards for Xue Yi are too low. He’s in his third year now; he should be taking acting jobs soon. When he’s on a real film set, no one will be as gentle with him as you are.”
Xue Yi said, “Chi Yan-jie is only thinking of my best interests—”
“That’s exactly why she should be stricter with you,” Ye Jiawen said, then abruptly changed the subject. “I need to go rest now. My brain isn’t functioning anymore after playing three roles just now.”
“Your performance just now was incredible. Let me congratulate you in advance on advancing to the next round,” Chi Yan said.
Ye Jiawen grinned. “I think so too. I’ll wish you all good luck as well.”
One group after another took the stage. Before long, it was the eighteenth group’s turn.
When Chi Yan and her teammates entered the dressing room, they happened to run into the ten-person group coming out.
At the doorway, Han Xi smiled and said, “We’re heading to the backstage waiting area now. It’s our first time performing in front of cameras, and we’re feeling a bit nervous. You guys have to do your best too!”
“You too,” Chi Yan replied.
Xu Yi and Xue Yi’s makeup was simple, so the makeup artist finished with them quickly. The tricky part was Chi Yan’s transformation.
She was playing a mother in her forties, nearly fifty, who had spent over twenty years searching for her daughter. The role required the makeup artist to make her look haggard and weathered.
Fortunately, the production team had a special effects makeup artist. Although the process took a long time, the final result was incredibly realistic.
After Chi Yan’s makeup was finished, Xu Yi and Xue Yi immediately leaned in to examine her face.
“Oh my god, Chi Yan, are you really Chi Yan? If I hadn’t watched you get your makeup done, I’d swear you’d been swapped out for someone else!”
“I think so too. The makeup artist is amazing.”
Seeing Xue Yi staring at her face in disbelief, Chi Yan waved her hand in front of him and asked, “Stunned?”
“It’s too realistic,” Xue Yi said. “If I saw you like this on the street, I definitely wouldn’t recognize you.”
Xu Yi said, “I’ll bet today’s trending topic will be ‘Chi Yan’s makeup transformation.’”
Chi Yan laughed and asked, “Is it that easy to get on the trending list?”
None of them expected that Xu Yi’s prediction would turn out to be right.
After a few lighthearted jokes, they heard the director’s voice through their earpieces, calling them to the waiting area.
“Let’s go quickly. Once we finish performing, the results will be announced,” Chi Yan said, feeling excited. “After that, we can finally rest for a bit.”
When Duan Jing’s team bowed and exited the stage, Chi Yan took the lead, with Xu Yi and Xue Yi following behind her onto the stage.
As the stage lights were still dim, Chi Yan said one last thing before the performance began.
“Just do your best.”
Once they had all taken their positions, the stage lights suddenly flashed on, illuminating Chi Yan and Xue Yi, who stood inside a prop-filled room.
The entire venue remained dark, with only the stage bathed in light.
On the sofa, the mother sat anxiously, watching the door. She asked, “Officer, how long until my daughter arrives? Did something happen to her on the way?”
The thought alone made her panic. She got up and started pacing at the doorway.
“Auntie, please wait a little longer. It’s only 8:50. Your daughter said she’d arrive by nine! Have some tea. You’ve been waiting since 8:20 and worrying nonstop.”
Just then, someone knocked on the door. The mother instinctively moved to open it, but just before her hand reached the doorknob, she hesitated.
She turned back and asked, “Officer, if I do this—”
She gestured with her hands. “Will it be okay?”
“It will,” the officer reassured her. “Your daughter will love it.”
Only then did the mother smile through her tears and open the door.
Seeing the young woman outside, she cried out, “Juanjuan! My Juanjuan!”
The daughter flinched in surprise. “Don’t call me that!”
Sensing something was off, the officer quickly stepped in to mediate. “Ma’am, let’s talk inside! Let’s talk inside!”
The mother wiped her tears and said, “Yes, yes, Juanjuan, let’s go inside!”
But the daughter pulled her hand away and looked at her with hatred.
…
The officer’s words finally made the daughter tear up. She sobbed, “You don’t understand anything!”
When she looked up again, her eyes were filled with tears. “I don’t want to leave my mom and dad…”
The air grew heavy. The mother struggled internally for a long time before she relented, saying, “Alright, alright, as long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters to me.”
The daughter was in disbelief. She asked, “Really?”
“Really. You… you can go home.”
The daughter couldn’t wait to leave, but just as she opened the door, something made her glance back. She froze.
The mother was covering her face, crying softly.
The screen froze, and the scene came to an abrupt end.
Chi Yan wiped away her tears and, along with Xue Yi and Xu Yi, walked to the center of the stage to bow.
“Thank you all for watching our performance!”
From the moment they stepped on stage, the live comment section had been buzzing nonstop.
At first, when the stage lights hit, many people in the comments were shocked: Whoa, is that really Chi Yan? This makeup is insane!
One fan commented: At first, we couldn’t find Sister Chi, and we panicked. Then someone else said that the mother was actually her, and I felt like my world collapsed…
That comment got an overwhelming number of likes.
Chi Yan’s transformation won over a lot of viewers.
The entertainment industry is full of older actresses playing teenage girls, but it’s rare for someone to play a character twice their actual age. Chi Yan’s willingness to take on such a role was already commendable.
After all, among all the groups, only theirs chose the Mother and Daughter script.
At first, the audience was just discussing Chi Yan’s makeup. But as the dialogue progressed, they got drawn into the story.
Comments about the plot flooded in, surpassing the spike in engagement seen earlier when Ye Jiawen performed three roles in one.
“The mother is so pitiful. She just wants to take her daughter home”.
”The daughter is pitiful too. She always thought her adoptive parents were her real parents. She must be devastated!”
“Am I the only one who noticed that Xue Yi played the police officer so realistically? Frontline officers really go through so much.”
As the story unfolded, the audience became more and more engrossed.
“I couldn’t hold back my tears when the daughter cried. Fate is so cruel… [crying emoji]”
“That’s it? Damn, I was ready for the next part, and then they just ended it?!”
”Honestly, I’ve seen the original TV drama, but I feel like Chi Yan’s performance hit me harder. (No offense to the original cast—they were all great!)”
The previous trending topics #Ye Jiawen’s Three Roles# and #Duan Jing’s Best Lines of the Night# were suddenly overtaken by #Chi Yan’s Makeup#, #Mother and Daughter#, #They Cried, I Cried Too#, and #Officer Xue#.
Chi Yan’s popularity skyrocketed among the contestants, and her fan count surged.
After their performance ended, Chi Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief. She had poured her whole heart into it, and so had Xue Yi and Xu Yi.
She believed they had done even better than they had imagined. The audience’s enthusiastic applause confirmed it, and even the four judges couldn’t hide their admiration.
Chi Yan’s group bowed once more before stepping offstage.
The host walked onto the stage. “Thank you to Group 25 for their wonderful performance! Now, we are entering the most nerve-wracking part of the competition! Out of 100 contestants, who will stay and who will go? That decision lies in the hands of our four directors! Those who successfully advance to the next round will return to the stage!”
His co-host continued, “The directors’ selection process will be revealed after the break. See you soon!”
Viewers in the live chat groaned: I knew it! They always pull this trick! Xiyou, can you just stop? Just shut down already!
Others couldn’t help but start predicting:
“Who do you think will advance?”
“Chi Yan is a sure bet! And that guy—Ye Jiawen! His triple-role performance was amazing!”
“Duan Duan (Duan Jing) will definitely make it! Duan Jing’s fans quickly chimed in.”
“I really hope Chi Yan’s entire group advances. Their performance was just too good!”
Duan Jing’s fans weren’t happy—this was their first “defeat.”
Duan Jing was a former child star with solid acting skills and a strong reputation. Among actresses her age, she was either more famous or more skilled than her peers, so she was always the brightest star.
But after joining this competition, someone else—a previously unknown actress—had overshadowed her. And what made it worse was that Chi Yan’s performance really was better. Her fans could only hold back their frustration.
“Thank you to Shen Group for sponsoring this program! The journey of an actor begins here. Shen Motors, driving you forward!”
“Welcome back to the show! It’s time to reveal the results—who will advance to the next round?”
“Let’s turn the cameras to our four directors.”
Li Wei, Luo Fangyan, Wang Di, and Yu Jingming all greeted the audience.
The host said, “Let’s get straight to it. We’ll begin with Director Li Wei’s first pick. Director Li, who will you choose?”
Li Wei picked up the mic. “Earlier, when Ye Jiawen performed, Fangyan and I discussed how we had to pick him.”
Luo Fangyan quickly interrupted, “You go ahead, pick Ye Jiawen. I won’t fight you for him.”
“I haven’t finished yet,” Li Wei continued. “But after watching Chi Yan’s performance, I realized that she is the contestant I want the most.”
“Alright! We will now connect with contestant Chi Yan. If she accepts, she will advance and officially join Director Li Wei’s team!”
The host gestured to the big screen.
After their performance, each group of contestants had been led into a small waiting room. Chi Yan and her team had just finished performing and were finally relaxing when a staff member told them the live broadcast needed to connect with them.
“Congratulations, Sister Chi!” Xue Yi grinned.
Xu Yi gave her a thumbs-up, a wide smile on her face.
Chi Yan smiled and waited for the connection.
“Contestant #66, Chi Yan, hello!”
“Hello, host!”
The host got straight to the point. “Do you accept Director Li Wei’s invitation to join his team?”
