Studio Superstar

In the afternoon, Jiang Lianlian took to the stage second.

Everyone encouraged her in a low voice. Jiang Lianlian took a deep breath, raised her head and showed a resolute momentum.

Someone murmured from the back row. “It is another hell solo show…”

All the solo shows in the morning were overturned, causing everyone to have a psychological shadow.

Chang Yun came over from behind and whispered to Xue Xiao in a low voice, “I really didn’t expect Lianlian to be so courageous and directly choose to do it alone at the start.”

Xue Xiao nodded. He was the same.

Jiang Lianlian’s reason for choosing a solo show was very simple. She had already signed a contract with a big company and played many supporting roles. Even so, she rejected dramas and cheekily ran to this show with the concept of ‘starting from zero’ to seize opportunities with amateurs. It was because her acting skills were too bad and she really needed to study well.

She was too embarrassed to drag down others with bad acting. She might as well choose a solo play for the first round of the competition and think about it carefully.

However, Xue Xiao had seen Jiang Lianlian’s rehearsal and felt that it wasn’t so bad. At the very least, Jiang Lianlian had the basic skills of acting. He didn’t know why this girl wasn’t optimistic about herself.

Sure enough, after taking the stage, Jiang Lianlian’s performance became the best solo play so far.

Guan Ruoying asked her doubtfully, “I have seen your past works. They aren’t as bad as you said yourself. Your performance today is also very good. Why do you have such an evaluation of yourself?”

Jiang Lianlian had just finished performing and her breathing hadn’t calmed down yet. She asked Guan Ruoying, “Then after tomorrow, will the teachers remember my name?”

The audience suddenly became noisy.

Offstage, Xue Xiao’s eyes moved slightly.

Guan Ruoying was surprised before she smiled at the other three mentors. “It seems that we have finally found a participant who is clearly aware of their flaws.”

Of course, she asked Jiang Lianlian like this just now because she couldn’t see a problem with Jiang Lianlian. Compared to the people who have already acted today, Jiang Lianlian definitely wasn’t ‘garbage.’

She had all the acting skills she should have and the emotions she should have. For the performance presented by Jiang Lianlian today, it was absolutely no problem to give it a score of 61.

But it was only 61 points.

Or if she was more emotional, she could score 69 points.

However, a higher score couldn’t be given. It was because Jiang Lianlian’s performance had no aura.

As she said, no one would remember her name tomorrow. It would be difficult for everyone to even recall her appearance.

Like many actors with basic acting skills, she had become a silhouette in the audience’s mind, a symbol—in an understated manner, it was a symbol of ‘can act’ without much deep meaning.

Jiang Lianlian pursed her lips and bowed deeply to the four mentors.

Su Shijin said, “Is your problem big? In fact, it is actually quite big. Sometimes, I’m not afraid that the actors don’t have sufficient acting skills. I am more afraid that their performance has too much technique. This is the most difficult thing to change.”

“But is your problem really big? In fact, it isn’t big. It is because there are so many actors who have problems without knowing it. Even among those who have acted today, some of them say they acted too badly. However, if I ask them where they act badly then most of them can’t say it.”

She ruthlessly pointed her pen at the actors’ seats.

Several people who had overturned on the stage in the morning bowed their heads in shame.

Su Shijin said to Jiang Lianlian, “It is good to know what you lack. If you have a clear goal, you will run very fast. You have to have confidence in yourself. Jiayou.”

“Thank you, Teacher.”

Once Jiang Lianlian left the stage, the scene on the stage slowly rolled away.

The scenery of the old play left and the scenery of the new play slowly appeared in front of everyone.

Some viewers recognized which play it was and cheered.

The host Jiang Quan raised the microphone and said, “The next play to be performed is Praying Mantis. Let us welcome the actors Fan Xue, Wang Minghai and Hu Lang!”

It was finally here!

Screams suddenly appeared in the venue and two people present became the focus of the cameraman.

One of them was Shen Tingyan at the mentor’s table.

Praying Mantis was a movie he had personally starred in and Fan Xue, who had the most attention of the 50 participants, would be playing the role he played.

The collision of these two people at the scene was what everyone was most looking forward to so far and was what the director team was eager to make a fuss about. Therefore, the expression on Shen Tingyan’s face at this time was naturally very important.

It was a pity that Shen Tingyan’s expression had been very flat since the end of the crying play in the morning and it was no different now.

On the other hand, Fan Xue came to the stage and didn’t dare to look at him at all. Fan Xue’s entire body seemed very stiff.

The other one who received attention was naturally Xue Xiao in the audience. As the opponent group, the camera also swept over Zhao Dong and Jin Xiaochen. However, the director team obviously knew who was more likely to stir up the topic.

Backstage, Old Gao frowned slightly. He secretly scolded some people who liked to make trouble.

He was a bit worried.

They had only known each other for a short time but he could tell that Xue Xiao was someone who liked to show his thoughts on his face. He couldn’t hide it at all.

Any trace of resentment or hostility on his face at this moment would be captured by the camera and become material for hype.

However, what was surprising was—

Xue Xiao in the camera was very calm or very focused.

For Fan Xue’s group, Xue Xiao’s concentration and seriousness were raised several levels compared to before. No one could pick any faults from his attitude at this time.

Old Gao covered his mouth and wondered whether this kid was smart enough to know that he should behave normally at this time or…

In the actors’ seats.

Ever since Fan Xue and the others came to the stage, Xue Xiao instinctively straightened his back.

The groups who chose the same repertoire had to perform on stage together. After Fan Xue’s performance, it would be their group’s turn.

However, Xue Xiao had simply forgotten to be nervous at this time.

He thought to himself, ‘Fan Xue’s group might have a lot of problems during rehearsals but after two days, these three people should’ve solved the problem well, right?’

Of course, he hated Fan Xue but he hoped that this person could perform well on stage.

In essence, Xue Xiao didn’t want this stage of performance to be tarnished by anyone.

……

There was no need to introduce themselves before the performance. After bowing to the audience and the mentors, the three actors walked to the back of the stage.

Fan Xue tried his best to adjust his breathing. Hu Lang and Wang Minghai walked on both sides of him and Hu Lang whispered, “We must act well and the acting scene later must be riveting, understood?”

Wang Minghai nodded solemnly.

Fan Xue gulped the moment he thought of Shen Tingyan.

He had heard before that Shen Tingyan had a very poisonous tongue but he hadn’t expected it to be to this extent. He was really a bit scared since morning.

But he couldn’t be stiff, he couldn’t be stiff… he hit himself on the arm.

He must not be humiliated like those actors in the morning!

The big screen fell in front of the stage.

The audience was attentive and many fans secretly looked forward to it.

The performance catalog distributed by the show to everyone said that Praying Mantis had a total of two groups performing.

Except for Fan Xue’s fans who knew some inside information through the support club, other ordinary viewers didn’t know who the three members of the other group would be. In fact, they basically didn’t know the other 49 participants.

They came to the scene today because they were curious about the show and for Shen Tingyan and the other three mentors. If they had to choose a participant they were looking forward to watching, it might only be Fan Xue.

After all, they only knew him.

Therefore, no matter whether they had watched Fan Xue’s drama or not or what they felt about his acting skills, these audience members subconsciously felt that Fan Xue’s Praying Mantis should be the most exciting performance in the first round of the competition!

On stage, the program team gave the actors and crew five minutes to prepare.

The moment the time came, the audience naturally quieted down. A pair of eyes watched the picture on the big screen light up expectantly.

On the paper-like white background, the ink-colored words ‘Praying Mantis’ appeared.

After a few moments, the black words disappeared and the play officially began.

An unfinished building, the second floor.

The actor Hu Lang played the policeman Li Xueming. He leaned against the railing and stared at the corpse of the kidnapper ‘underneath’ with a gloomy expression.

The camera was focused on him from an upward angle and his face was clearly visible.

The scene was noisy and his subordinate asked in a hoarse voice beside him, “Captain Li, what should we do now?”

Hu Lang tilted his head and spoke a command.

“What to do?! Go down and clean up!”

The moment this line came out, someone at the mentor’s table immediately frowned.

In the audience, Xue Xiao also frowned slightly.

The acting was a bit overdone.

Hu Lang might want to perform with the majesty of the leader of an action team but Li Xueming wasn’t the type of person to shout at his subordinates like this.

Wang Minghai played the reporter Zhang Yang. He walked over and handed over a cigarette with a tired expression. He said to Hu Lang, “I’ll go to see Chen Tao.”

Xue Xiao leaned back in the chair, expression puzzled.

Wang Minghai’s problem was still the same as during the rehearsal. He probably tried his best to perform the smooth and sophisticated temperament of the original work but how did he perform it?

He just slightly hunched his back and his expression… couldn’t be described. There was the feeling of pretending to be deep.

It might be slightly weakened compared to rehearsal but the sense of violation was still very strong. This made people feel awkward to watch it.

The plot progressed smoothly and the camera quickly shifted to Wang Minghai and Fan Xue.

Wang Minghai untied the rope around Fan Xue’s feet and the legs in his vision suddenly stopped shaking. He laughed and said, “You finally calmed down? I see that you are usually so courageous but you actually aren’t very good.”

All of the audience members held their breaths to prepare for that classic scene. The camera also turned and hit Fan Xue’s face.

As a result, this person… this person was in a daze?!

There was a slight uproar from the audience.

Xue Xiao started to clench his fists.

This scene in the original work was where everyone would be frightened by Shen Tingyan’s eyes!

Chen Tao could hear the whispers of Li Xueming and his subordinates and knew he was about to be discovered. The twisted excitement of waiting for the game to reach its climax was terrifying.

However, Fan Xue looked at Hu Lang’s back like a dull, melon-eating person!

Forget the ordinary audience members. Even Fan Xue’s fans could feel that something was wrong with this type of performance. They were no longer as excited as they were at the beginning and all of them cautiously restrained themselves.

Then the action scene began but the scene became very chaotic.

Fan Xue ‘stabbed’ the assistant, grabbed Wang Minghai’s collar and pulled crookedly. However, it seemed like he couldn’t pick him up at once. Wang Minghai stood up by himself and ‘stuffed’ himself into Fan Xue’s hands.

It wasn’t known what Fan Xue was thinking but he actually stopped and sneered at Hu Lang.

How could he sneer?

Let’s not talk about how Chen Tao had time to sneer here. Why did Li Xueming stand over there stupidly and watch Chen Tao sneer at him?

In addition, why was it a sneer? Even if Chen Tao wanted to smile, it should be a sly, provocative smile. He didn’t hate Li Xueming and he even ‘liked’ Li Xueming very much!

Xue Xiao raised his fist. As he watched, he unknowingly gnawed on the knuckles of his thumb with his teeth. His brow was twisted together.

The scene going upstairs was even more outrageous.

Fan Xue pulled Wang Minghai and the two of them stumbled.

Either Fan Xue accidentally stepped on Wang Minghai’s trousers and the two of them almost fell on the stairs together or Wang Minghai tripped on the stairs and almost caused Fan Xue to roll down.

Xue Xiao didn’t understand. How could it be like this when going up the stairs?

Why were they rushing so hard? If they rushed up a bit more normally then they wouldn’t be in such a mess!

In the back, Hu Lang saw the two of them going up the stairs so fiercely and roughly and he hesitated over whether to chase or not.

All three of them sensed that the car was about to be overturned and he showed signs of panic and collapse.

Fan Xue was visibly sweating.

……

The whole studio was as quiet as a cemetery except for the place where filming was taking place in the back.

In the mentor seats, Guan Ruoying, Feng Wei and Su Shijin cast inquiring looks at Shen Tingyan.

There were many people in the audience peeking at Shen Tingyan’s face.

The man looked at the big screen with an indifferent expression.

When Fan Xue yelled again and fell on the stairs, he closed his eyes.

Everyone: It is suffocating. I am going to suffocate too!

A second later, Shen Tingyan slowly opened his eyes.

Everyone: I can breathe, I can breathe again!

On the big screen, Fan Xue and Wang Minghai finally went up to the third floor in an embarrassing manner. However, they were so tired that they stopped in place and gasped.

Everyone: I’m going to suffocate again! I’m going to die, I’m really going to die!

Shen Tingyan changed his sitting posture.

He felt a bit of pain in his eyes. For the sake of his eye health, he took his eyes off the big screen.

He looked below the stage in a bored manner and somehow caught sight of a small puffer fish that was rapidly bulging up at a glance.

That’s right. This time, it wasn’t a small light bulb. It was a small pufferfish.

Or to be precise, it was a small spiny fish.

Not only was he swollen from anger but there were also thorns that opened fiercely. It was quite scary.

Shen Tingyan raised an eyebrow slightly. He crossed his arms over his chest and suddenly looked like he was in a good mood.