Studio Superstar: Chapter 40 Part 1

Shen Tingyan suddenly issued a card. The other three mentors were caught off guard by him.

Su Shijin immediately realized. “Teacher Shen jumped the gun. Jiang Quan hasn’t even started yet. Director Yu, the special guest, hasn’t commented!”

Yu Shanhe sat to the side, smiled, and waved his hand. He gestured that they could do it casually. He could talk whenever he wanted.

Su Shijin stood up. “Then I will also send it, Xue Xiao!”

The second mentor appeared! Su Shijin also wanted to issue a card to Xue Xiao!

The audience was excited.

Feng Wei stood up slowly. “Xue Xiao, I also want to send it.

Guan Ruoying smiled helplessly and was the fourth person to stand up. “The pressure of competition is too great.”

All four mentors wanted to issue cards to Xue Xiao!

He was the first one!

The participants were shocked, and the audience’s screams and cheers almost reached the ceiling.

On the left and right, Dou Mingjian and Huang Xiaolin patted Xue Xiao’s shoulder in surprise. They were happy for him. “Xue, this time you’ve made it.”

Xue Xiao felt a bit dizzy.

To say whether he wanted to receive the cards or not… he definitely wanted it.

However, until just now, he hadn’t thought carefully about how many cards he could get and which mentor’s cards he could get.

For him, it was enough as long as he could advance to the next round. Of course, it would be even better if he could get Shen Tingyan’s card…

This scene was completely beyond his expectations.

Jiang Quan was a bit hesitant. After all, according to the process, he should wait until the mentors finished their comments and Yu Shanhe finished his comments before the cards were issued. Now this situation… he listened to the headset.

Then he said, “Since the mentors can’t wait, we will issue the cards first before letting Director Yu speak. I want to ask Director Yu to wait for a while. Xue Xiao, please step forward and accept the invitation cards of the mentors—”

In an instant, all the cameras and audience members focused on Xue Xiao. Everyone looked at him expectantly.

Xue Xiao shook his head.

At this moment, he felt the dull feeling of his blood boiling.

His heart started to beat faster, blood rushed rapidly through the blood vessels, his hands and feet felt numb and hot, and his nerves seemed to be trembling slightly with excitement.

His Adam’s apple moved. He made up his mind and walked toward the mentor’s seats under the bright lights.

The light here shone a bit brighter than on stage.

Xue Xiao raised his head, looked at Guan Ruoying, and said with a hoarse laugh, “Teacher Guan.”

Guan Ruoying handed him the card with both hands and encouraged him. “Your live performance this time is better than any rehearsal. This card is what you deserve. Come on, Xue Xiao.”

The beautifully designed card fell into his hand.

The cardboard looked light, but it actually felt heavy when held in her hand. The slight coolness quickly turned into warmth between his fingers.

Xue Xiao smiled and said happily, “Thank you, Teacher Guan!”

…Then he shyly went to Feng Wei’s side.

Feng Wei joked, “I know that you like Teacher Shen more, but when choosing the next round of plays, please consider my group.”

Xue Xiao: “!”

Su Shijin exploded again. “Are you starting the canvassing now? Isn’t the play selection in the evening?”

Feng Wei said cheerfully, “I am just saying. Teacher Su, don’t worry.”

Xue Xiao couldn’t help it. He said with a red face, “Thank you, Director Feng.”

…Then he came to Shen Tingyan’s side excitedly.

Shen Tingyan simply handed the card to him. Xue Xiao accepted it, and his face was filled with unconcealed happiness. “…Thank you, Teacher Shen!”

He lowered his head and stroked the printed words ‘Shen Tingyan’ on the card. His heart was happy. However, Shen Tingyan was still looking at him across the table with an indiscernible gaze.

He didn’t say any competition-related or encouraging words like Guan Ruoying or Feng Wei.

Instead, he said out of nowhere, Xue Xiao, please take off your makeup during lunch break.”

Xue Xiao was stunned and couldn’t react. “Huh?”

Remover? Why suddenly talk about this?

Shen Tingyan said softly, “Take off your makeup and start eating well when you go back today. Don’t lose weight any longer.”

Xue Xiao was stunned.

The light on stage was hot.

The heat made his mind swell a bit. For a moment, he couldn’t understand something deep in Shen Tingyan’s light-colored eyes.

It wasn’t until Su Shijin asked them if they had finished whispering that Xue Xiao’s mind returned, and he stepped to the side.

Then he thought about it and turned around. He covered the microphone at his collar and whispered to Shen Tingyan, “Teacher Shen, I’m not Lu Yu. I’m not sick.”

Shen Tingyan’s eyes darkened.

“Don’t worry, I will eat well after I go back. I will gain weight soon.”

The young man’s expression was very sincere, and his tone was full of obedience, as if he knew what Shen Tingyan cared about. Therefore, the young man gently comforted him.

The words ‘I will gain weight soon’ finally made Shen Tingyan smile.

He smiled, and Xue Xiao smiled as well.

Shen Tingyan seemed to have finally relaxed a bit. He put his hands in his trouser pockets and said, “…Then hurry and fatten up quickly.”

After saying this, he sat down lazily with the corners of his lips curved up. Xue Xiao kept looking at him with a smile before walking to Su Shijin’s side.

Su Shijin lamented, “Hey, I volunteered to be a spare tire for the first time in my life.”

“……” Xue Xiao said, “Teacher Su, please don’t say such things!”

Xue Xiao’s cards were finished, and there were three people left. The results of this group were destined to increase the pressure of the remaining participants.

Dou Mingjian got three cards. Only Guan Ruoying didn’t issue one.

She said, “I want to give it, but there are no roles suitable for you in my two sets of players for the next round. Alas.”

Dou Mingjian joked, “It’s okay, Teacher Guan. I have received your wishes.”

Gu Ling got three cards. Only Shen Tingyan didn’t give him one.

The man sat there lazily and didn’t say a word… no one with normal emotional intelligence would cue him at this time.

Huang Xiaolin also got a card. It was from Guan Ruoying.

In this way, one group had a total of 11 cards. The remaining participants talked loudly among themselves, and everyone was visibly tense.

But this was a competition. The strong would get more opportunities. The people performing later had to increase their strength, or they would be left behind in the blink of an eye.

It was only then that Jiang Quan invited Yu Shanhe to speak.

Yu Shanhe’s speech today had always been very modest, without excessive criticism or praise. It was just like his style in recent years.

For Huang Xiaolin, Dou Mingjian, and Gu Ling, he first raised some questions about their performance and praised them. Then when he arrived at Xue Xiao, he was suddenly silent for two seconds.

The two subtle seconds left everyone in suspense. The eyes of the audience started to wander between the two of them again.

Yu Shanhe said, “Xue Xiao, you are a very good actor. It isn’t just your acting skills but also your sincerity toward the performance and the audience… I once told you that I have seen many actors like you. What I didn’t tell you at the time was that they are all beyond my reach now.”

The audience was amazed.

Yu Shanhe didn’t take this opportunity to stir up trouble. In addition, he even said almost self-deprecating words?

“One day, you will become such an actor… you will become the protagonist.”

Then he put down the microphone.

Xue Xiao was calm.

As the audience applauded, he bowed to Yu Shanhe.

—

The last group in the morning was Jiang Lianlian’s group.

Jiang Lianlian was a fighter.

Usually, she looked innocent and loved to eat melons without trouble. She seemed to be the type of person who couldn’t afford hardships, but she actually had an extremely tough temperament and was full of resilience.

She wasn’t easily knocked down or discouraged. She also didn’t like to admit defeat.

This week, she sat in class no less than Xue Xiao and often fell in deep thought. If she couldn’t understand anything, she would ask Xue Xiao and the others for help. She wasn’t polite at all.

It paid off.

This time, she finally performed with vitality and spirituality on the stage.

The character no longer had just old-fashioned manners and demeanor. She might be the type of ordinary person that everyone usually encountered in life, but she was definitely one of the billions of unique people in the world.

She got Su Shijin’s invitation card.

At nearly 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the recording was suspended, and the whole audience took a break.

—

The participants rushed to the cafeteria to eat. The staff, like the audience, casually ate some boxed lunches distributed on-site.

At the end of a corridor with few people, the window opened a crack. Heat crept in through the crack.

Shen Tingyan leaned against the wall and chewed on a cigarette. Old Gao was explaining to him about Yu Shanhe.

“Now I am almost responsible for all the work. If I let the popularity of the show go away now, even without Zhang Luyang, there will be Wang Luyang and Li Luyang later!”

“I have to be proactive and keep things under my control.”

“I really considered it carefully before inviting Yu Shanhe. What Yu Shanhe did to Xue Xiao was unethical, but he doesn’t like to act like a monster and is quite low-key. I also communicated with him beforehand. I told him that he wasn’t allowed to use Xue Xiao and the show for malicious hype.”

Shen Tingyan laughed sarcastically.

“…You are laughing.” Old Gao was depressed. “I don’t think Xue Xiao himself is so repulsive to it.”

Shen Tingyan asked coldly, “Then he still has to thank you?”

Old Gao: “……”

Shen Tingyan reminded him, “Take it easy. Don’t accidentally become the person you hate.”

“…I have. I have a measure of propriety.” Old Gao gritted his teeth.

Shen Tingyan took two more puffs of the cigarette. Old Gao looked at his face and muttered, “I see that you are in a bad mood today.”

Shen Tingyan glanced at him. His face was asking, ‘How did you see it?’

“It is all over your body.” Old Gao looked at him. “You don’t look very happy today.”

Shen Tingyan didn’t bother to pay attention to him.