Volume One, Chapter Two: Is It Me You’re Dissatisfied With?

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Song Xiao saw Su Nianxi’s Weibo post and was so furious he nearly smashed his phone.

“Su! Nian! Xi!”

He immediately made another call. When Su Nianxi accidentally answered, he launched into a tirade: “So this is the game you’re playing? Since you want to cut ties with me, then you’d better follow through! And tomorrow’s variety show—don’t let me catch you shamelessly clinging to me again!”

Listening to him, Su Nianxi lazily dug at her ear. “Did you finally finish chopping for that bargain app’s discount? You’re so noisy.”

She switched her phone to silent, narrowed her eyes, and recalled this scene from the original novel.

Song Xiao and Ye Zhixia were appearing together on an acting competition variety show called Star Path Training Room.

The show featured six initial contestants and eighteen trainees in total. Every five episodes formed one stage, during which the trainees received guidance from four mentor judges and honed both their character and acting skills in a reality-show format.

After taking part in the program, the two of them gained tremendous popularity and instantly became major traffic stars.

The reason the show exploded in popularity and broke into the mainstream was that its director was the famous Mu Feng, known throughout the variety-show world as Director Mu.

The director was notorious for despising scripts. All his variety programs were presented through live broadcasts, placing the celebrities’ most genuine personalities before the audience.

As a result, many top stars who appeared on Director Mu’s shows suffered career crises because of one thing or another they did.

This season of Star Path Training Room continued the director’s usual style. In addition to real-time livestreaming, it also added a secret-guest segment.

In other words, apart from the officially announced Song–Ye pairing, the identities of all the other trainee guests would be revealed simultaneously during tomorrow’s livestream.

And as the original owner of the body was Song Xiao’s hopelessly infatuated pursuer, she had naturally been selected for the show as well.

In the original novel, however, she was removed from the cast at the last minute because the entire internet had turned against her.

But this time, Su Nianxi was determined to join the excitement.

Free publicity was still publicity.

Just as she was thinking this, the phone she had tossed aside began to buzz incessantly. Su Nianxi lowered her eyes and saw that the call was from the original owner’s manager, Wang Linshan.

“Su Nianxi! What on earth are you playing at? What do you mean by that post on Weibo?”

The moment Su Nianxi answered, Wang Linshan’s rapid-fire interrogation exploded in her ear.

The young woman rolled her eyes slightly and moved the phone farther away before replying languidly, “Exactly what you saw. Hasn’t the company always been afraid I’d become irrelevant? Well, tell me—do I have any attention now?”

Any attention? The trending topics bearing her full name were practically exploding!

“Is that what you call generating buzz? I think you simply don’t want to work in this industry anymore!” Wang Linshan laughed in exasperation and snorted. “Do you believe that after what you pulled today, the entire industry will blacklist you tomorrow? You may not care about your future, but I do!”

“Oh.” Su Nianxi yawned slowly, her tone languid. “Then why are you calling me?”

“You!” Wang Linshan was rendered speechless. After a long pause, she spoke reluctantly. “The production team called. Tomorrow’s acting show will be focusing on you. They want you to cooperate.”

“Now that’s more like it, Sister Wang. You’re still too young. That’s simply how the entertainment industry works.” Su Nianxi adopted a solemn, earnest tone, as though she were only a moment away from patting Wang Linshan on the shoulder. “Once you reach my age, you’ll understand.”

With that, Su Nianxi quietly hung up, leaving Wang Linshan standing there with her phone in hand, staring blankly ahead as she pondered the meaning behind those words.

If she remembered correctly, Su Nianxi was more than a decade younger than her, wasn’t she?

Then what was that familiar speech about “once you reach my age,” straight out of some senior official’s playbook?!

.

The following day, precisely at noon.

Star Path Training Room opened amid enormous anticipation.

Within ten short minutes, more than one hundred thousand viewers had crowded into the livestream.

“Here we go! The annual acting showcase of domestic entertainment!”

“I wonder who the trainees are this time. I’m dying to know!”

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“The director really knows how to have fun. Revealing everyone on the spot—I’m already excited!”

Comments flew across the livestream as the four mentors entered the venue in order.

All the mentors this season were at emperor- or empress-level status in the film industry. Their appearance alone pushed the show’s popularity to a new high.

“No way! Is that Emperor Shen? Doesn’t he usually refuse to appear on reality shows?”

“Aaaaaah! It’s Emperor Shen! He’s finally come out of seclusion!”

“This is fantastic. I want to hear Emperor Shen’s cutting critiques.”

The other mentors at the venue were equally astonished when they saw the handsome, upright figure.

The newly crowned Best Actress Lin Yue looked at him and curled her crimson lips into a faint smile. “Well, Brother Shen, what brings you to our little variety show? Didn’t you say before that you wanted to focus on your acting career?”

“I came to see just how disastrous domestic entertainment has become,” Shen Yizhou replied indifferently.

Lin Yue’s expression stiffened, but the comments section erupted with delight.

“First kill. Emperor Shen’s mouth is as venomous as ever.”

“Okay, the show already has enough entertainment value. Let’s hope the trainees’ hearts are strong enough.”

While the audience discussed the exchange, the PD prompted the staff, and a video lit up on the large screen in the room.

This was a newly added pre-interview segment. The faces of all the guests had been pixelated, and the mentors could only choose which trainee to reveal first based on the content of their interviews.

The questions were simple: What did the guests hope to learn from the show, and what did they think of the program’s advancement rules?

As expected, everyone in the video offered polite, conventional answers about improving their acting through the program and so on.

Until—

Shen Yizhou stared at the screen. His hand jerked, and he nearly flung away the pen he had been spinning between his fingers.

On-screen, a woman in a red dress was lounging diagonally in an executive chair. Her features could not be seen clearly, but her unruly, languid attitude carried a hint of roguishness.

“What do I hope to gain?” The woman in the video toyed idly with the fountain pen in her hand, speaking as casually as if she were remarking that the weather was nice.

“I’ve heard there are countless handsome men in domestic entertainment, and half of them are on variety shows. Naturally, I’m here to flirt with handsome men. This is going to be broadcast, right? Then let me state my requirements: preferably over six foot two, double eyelids, pale cool-toned skin, and ideally someone with ancestry from sixteen different nations…”

There was too much more to say, so the production team could not resist blurring the rest. Still, it was not difficult to guess what sort of nonsense she had continued spouting.

The viewers in the comments section were already laughing themselves sick.

“Dear, if you wanted a dating show, you should have turned left out the door. Did you sign up for the wrong program?”

“You have to admit, this girl has a way with words. The first half even rhymed.”

“Wait, who is this female celebrity? She’s being that direct—is she planning to retire from the industry tomorrow?”

“Pfft, is nobody going to say it? Sister, your standards are exactly what I would have said myself. But what does ‘ancestry from sixteen nations’ even mean? Does he also need a name like Crystal Butterfly Dream of the Glazed Radiance, J. Q., Ice Crystal?”

The next question left the viewers even more stunned.

“This season uses live on-site scoring. Would this one-on-one format put you under much pressure?” the staff member asked, bracing himself.

“This is enough to make you feel pressured? If you took the IELTS speaking test, wouldn’t you explode on the spot?” The woman stared at the interviewer in disbelief, her tone full of astonishment.

“Um… do you have any suggestions?” The staff member fell silent.

“Why not change it?” She shifted into a more comfortable position, revealing an elegant line of shoulder and neck. “Let’s use the ancient Greek method of ostracism. For example, anyone whose average score is below passing gets officially announced as leaving the industry as soon as the show ends. Fair and reasonable. After all, forcing the audience to look at a face with absolutely no acting ability is already hard enough to judge.”

“Wait, she’s genuinely speaking for us. Sister, are you actually an undercover agent sent by the viewers?”

“Hahahaha, what the hell is ostracism? Dead history suddenly coming back to attack me. Sister, you’re not suited to be a trainee. You belong in the mentor’s seat, delivering savage critiques.”

“As long as she dares to say it, that’s enough. Not many people go this insane from the very beginning. I’m betting she’ll be a breakout star!”

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“Am I the only one who thinks her voice sounds familiar? She sounds like the woman who caused a scene on yesterday’s trending list.”

“Impossible. What kind of person is Director Mu? He’d invite anyone before he invited that Su Bitch. As if she’s worthy.”

The viewers were happily feasting on the gossip, but the atmosphere at the venue had fallen into complete silence.

The mentors all wore dark expressions as they watched the footage. Mu Feng silently wiped away a bead of sweat as he studied their reactions.

When he had signed the contracts with the guests, he had indeed been aiming for entertainment value.

But this kind of entertainment… was not quite what he had imagined.

Of them all, only Shen Yizhou’s expression remained unchanged.

He narrowed his eyes at this walking disaster and, after a long moment, spoke with a tone that revealed nothing of his thoughts.

“Her. Let her in.”

The instant he finished speaking, the livestream cut to the area outside the venue.

At the same time, inside the first business van, Ye Zhixia admired her flawless makeup in the mirror before finally setting down the compact in her hand.

“Big Sister PD, I’ll be the first one out!” she said with a sweet smile. Her pure-white evening gown made her look even fresher and more ethereal.

Yet just as she was about to open the door and step out, the PD in the front seat suddenly turned around and interrupted her.

“Zhixia, wait a little longer. Someone is going out first.”

“What?” Ye Zhixia’s expression stiffened for an instant. She clenched her fists, forcing herself to regain her composure. “Sister, what’s going on? Didn’t yesterday’s arrangements say that Brother Xiao and I would be the first to appear?”

“Something changed on-site. I’m sorry, Zhixia. It was the director’s decision.” The PD smiled helplessly, then turned around and gave a few instructions to the staff through her earpiece.

Ye Zhixia bit her lip, her eyelashes trembling slightly.

Who was it? Who had disrupted the plan?

She had specifically rented a haute couture gown today so she could stand out, and now someone was trying to steal her spotlight!

After hesitating for a moment, she could not resist picking up the tablet beside her and opening the program’s livestream.

On the screen, a tall figure in a red dress stepped out of a business van.

To preserve the mystery, the production team did not reveal the woman’s identity immediately. Instead, they followed her from behind as she entered the venue.

She walked in slender high heels, the train of her long red dress drifting behind her with every movement, like a clear, cold, dazzling red rose.

The brilliant lights traced the perfect curves of her shoulders and back. Even from behind, one could sense the aura around her that warned all strangers to keep their distance.

“I want all her information within ten seconds!”

“Where did this overlooked treasure come from? Her aura is incredible! I thought she was some supermodel. No wonder she dares to demand someone over six foot two with ancestry from sixteen nations.”

“She’s gorgeous! Sister, step on me!”

“I thought she was crazy, but it turns out she’s so beautiful that she’s driven me crazy!”

In an instant, the comments section was flooded with reactions to the woman on-screen.

As the discussion continued, the woman in red had already reached the room’s entrance.

She pushed the door open lazily, lifted her eyelids, and looked at the several stunned people inside.

“Su Nianxi, trainee number six. Greetings, mentors.”

Without waiting for anyone to react, she turned her head toward the camera broadcasting the livestream. Her tone was cool and arrogant.

“Good morning, little haters. Your big sister Nian is here. Satisfied?”

“What?!”

The comments section erupted.

Damn it, satisfied their asses!

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