“Chi Yan, this is Dad. I heard from Yueyi that there were some unfavorable comments about her on your show. You should post something nice about her on Weibo.”
Chi Yan thought he was being ridiculous. Yang Yueyi was the one who caused the mess, yet they wanted her to clean it up.
“What should I say? How should I say it? People still remember the million-dollar bet I made with her. If I speak up now, they’ll think I took her money and am lying for her.”
There was a moment of silence on Chi Hongzheng’s end. Chi Yan faintly heard him calling Yang Yueyi, and guessed he was discussing it with her.
“Chi Yan, Yueyi says, just post something first. Some people might not believe it, but some definitely will.”
“You’d be better off asking the production team. Their denial would carry more weight. I’m just a contestant—what impact can my words have?”
“Alright, alright, I won’t bother you about this anymore,” Chi Hongzheng changed the subject. “I heard your mom submitted a painting to an exhibition? Why didn’t you tell me about this? Also, you two have been living outside long enough. It’s time to come home.”
Chi Yan felt her mom’s divorce from Chi Hongzheng wasn’t far off. To delay things, she said, “At least wait until my competition is over. Moving around now would affect my rest. Don’t you think?”
Chi Hongzheng seemed to suppress his anger before replying, “Fine. Once your competition’s over, I’ll personally drive over to pick you and your mom up.”
“Okay,” Chi Yan replied casually. “It’s late, I’m going to sleep.”
She hung up the phone and muttered to herself: Once the competition ends, you won’t have any control over me anymore.
The next afternoon, Chi Yan returned to the apartment building.
This time, the production team didn’t ask them to move out of the original dorms, which saved a lot of trouble.
The top 20 contestants had already finished filming their group GG endorsements the week before, and Chi Yan had also received a new solo GG offer.
“Chi Yan, you’re just in time,” the head director called out to her. “Put your things down and go shoot a solo GG.”
She pointed to her hair and asked, “Like this? Can I film with it?”
If not, she’d have to wear a wig, though wearing a heavy wig in this weather would be really hot.
The head director had seen Chi Yan’s new hair color the day before. He said, “It should be fine. Once you’re ready, find my assistant and they’ll take you to the shoot.”
“Alright,” Chi Yan replied.
The GG director didn’t ask her to wear a wig either, and even said, “This hair color is perfect! This rebellious vibe is exactly what we want!”
“That’s good to hear. I’ll go get my makeup done then?”
With the director’s approval, Chi Yan went to the makeup room with a staff member. Everything afterward went smoothly.
Solo GG shoots usually had more camera shots than group ones, but the storyline for this GG was simple. Chi Yan quickly grasped the role she had to play. However, the director she worked with this time was extremely strict and had her reshoot many times.
Chi Yan couldn’t help but ask, “Director, which part of my expression or movement is off? Can I see what I filmed?”
“The more I watch, the more I feel like the first take was the best,” the GG director replied as he looked through the footage.
Hearing this, Chi Yan felt a bit helpless inside.
“Director, can I leave now?”
She glanced at the time. It was nearly six o’clock. If she left now and ate dinner at the apartment, she’d be just in time for Yu Jingming’s meeting.
For the top ten round, contestants had to put on a performance by themselves. They could either play multiple characters like Ye Jiawen or perform a monologue.
Yu Jingming had received the detailed rules this morning and had sent messages to the three contestants who advanced, asking them to meet at the practice room at 7:30 PM.
“What, you don’t even have time to shoot a GG?” The GG director, who had originally sympathized with Chi Yan for all the reshoots, immediately got annoyed when he heard she wanted to leave. “You new actors have no perseverance at all!”
“Then what do you want from the shoot? Just say it clearly and we’ll get it done quickly,” Chi Yan held back her frustration and tried to stay calm.
The director finally gave in and said, “One last take. At the beginning, add one more gesture…”
Chi Yan still had basic professional ethics. After hearing the director’s request, she nodded and followed the instructions.
After the final take, the director finally allowed her to leave. But before she could remove her makeup, he kept nagging: “See? That was great. You kids just lack experience—need to train your patience more.”
Chi Yan gave a perfunctory smile and said, “Mm, I understand.”
But deep down, she was speechless. A director’s pursuit of perfection was admirable, but repeating the same work over and over—what’s the point? It was just a waste of time.
“You’re at least composed,” the director gave her a look of approval. “Unlike those talent show types… don’t even get me started.”
Not wanting to keep talking to the GG director, Chi Yan quickly took her leave.
By the time she finished dinner and got to the practice room, everyone was already there.
“Sorry I’m late,” Chi Yan said, without giving an explanation. She was used to apologizing when she did something wrong.
The last time she was late with Xu Yi, she explained because it was her fault that he was delayed too. Only in situations like that did she bother to explain.
“It’s fine, you’re here now. We were just discussing how to show individual style in the final round,” Yu Jingming gestured for her to come in. “Since you dyed your hair silver, I assume you’ve already thought about what kind of role you want to play?”
Chi Yan walked over, casually pulled out a chair, and sat down. “I do have an idea. During the auditions, I played a delicate character. For the top 20, I was a resilient mother. For the top 10, I played a refined male diplomat. For the finals, I want to play a cool and badass female role.”
“I knew it,” Ye Jiawen said. “Are you planning to include a motorcycle performance too?”
Lin Shan laughed, “Some girls online are still saying they want to marry a diplomat. If Chi Yan plays another handsome and cool guy, I bet they’ll start saying, ‘I want to have babies with Chi Yan-jie.’”
Just as Lin Shan finished speaking, the livestream feed switched to their group.
Fans in the chat were fired up.
“No way, no way, the diplomat role just matched my aesthetic perfectly!”
“My goddess’s diplomat performance was so handsome—my ideal type! It’s a pity she’s a girl…”
“I’m totally down for badass girls—move aside, let me go first!!!”
“You’re exaggerating,” Chi Yan shook her head. “What about you two? Have you decided?”
Ye Jiawen said, “Honestly, I don’t really mind. I already have a breakout role and a cross-gender one… I want to challenge myself with a more complex character.”
“Oh please, the powerful minister you played in the top 20 was already complicated enough. Going even more complex is pushing it,” Lin Shan said.
Yu Jingming chimed in, “I agree. Jiawen, your weak point is playing characters your own age. Have you noticed? In the GG ad you did with Chi Yan, the short runtime didn’t fully expose that weakness. If you want to challenge yourself, I suggest going for a character with a similar personality.”
“That’s true,” Ye Jiawen said after some thought. “I’m actually afraid of showing too much of my real self on screen, so when I play these kinds of roles, I tend to hold back—it doesn’t feel natural.”
“Alright, go look for a script on your own then. You and Chi Yan I’m not too worried about. I trust your taste. You can both go now. Lin Shan, stay back for a bit.”
Chi Yan and Ye Jiawen had no objections and left first.
“If it’s a school drama, I suggest you play someone who’s really good at basketball,” Chi Yan advised Ye Jiawen.
“Why?”
“Guys who play basketball well are always popular.”
Chi Yan was about to mention how Shen Chen became the most popular guy at Shanghai University precisely because he was good at basketball and good-looking, but considering they were still on camera, she swallowed her words and changed the subject.
“Look at the school dramas from the past couple of years—they always feature top students. Audiences must be sick of it by now. Give them something fresh.”
Ye Jiawen thought about it and said, “You’ve got a point. Thanks. But don’t be silly next time and give advice to your competition.”
“We’re teammates in the same group,” Chi Yan replied, puzzled.
Ye Jiawen fell silent, then gave a small laugh. “Alright, I get it. Chi Yan, we’re friends now.”
“I thought we always were.”
When they got downstairs, Chi Yan turned toward the girls’ dorm while Ye Jiawen headed in the opposite direction.
“Hey,” Ye Jiawen turned back and said, “Good luck in the top 10 round. Beat Yang Yueyi.”
Chi Yan smiled genuinely. “There’s no way I’m losing a million to her.”
Back in her dorm, she carefully reviewed the rules for the top 10 competition. They were completely different this time.
The competition would last three weeks, starting from July 14, which was today, and ending on August 3.
The first week wasn’t about competing. The program would host a popularity vote, lasting until next Friday night. Based on the voting results, the top five and bottom five would be split into two groups.
In other words, during the first week, she needed to attract as many votes as possible in order to qualify to compete for the championship in the coming weeks.
After the popularity round, the bottom five would compete for ranks 6 to 10 on the second Friday, while the top five would compete for the top five positions on the third Friday.
Chi Yan thought to herself that her popularity was high enough—getting into the top five shouldn’t be a problem.
That would give her three weeks to prepare.
For the final performance in this competition, she would go all in. The championship could only belong to her.
Just as she was thinking about her performance script, she received a WeChat message from Wang Ying.
Wang Ying said: Chi Yan, congratulations. Your ranking is pretty much locked in the top three.
Chi Yan was about to reply with a thank you when another message popped up on screen.
This time it was a long one:
The person you met in my office last time was one of our senior agents. After seeing your performance on “The Road of Actors,” he was very impressed. Because of your outstanding performance and massive fanbase, we’ve decided that regardless of whether you make it into the top three or not, we’ll make an exception and offer you an A-level contract. If you win first place, you’ll have the right to amend three terms in the contract.
After reading it, Chi Yan understood. This contract offer was probably that man’s way of offering a unique “apology.”
Since they’d be coworkers from now on, and with so many benefits on the table…
She started typing: Thank you, Ying-jie. I get the idea behind this offer. I really appreciate your help back then.
