SFR: Chapter 3

The system asked, “…Is it reliable?”

Xing Shi replied, “What else? You also said that we don’t know each other at all.”

The system looked through the information. “However, you are both from Z College. Perhaps you did something immoral, and he happened to see you. He didn’t recognize you at first glance but after a closer look… Okay, I’ve checked. That isn’t the case.”

Then it was probably as the host guessed. There was no other reason to explain why points were added and then subtracted.

It was excited.

In recent years, Fu Xiuning’s mood swings had become lower and lower. The increase or decrease in favorability had become less and less, not to mention changing so much in such a short period of time. It might be -10 now, but it was increased by 1 point before this.

For so many years, no host could make Fu Xiuning add points with just their face, none!

What did this mean?

If talking about Xing Shi, Fu Xiuning just had to let go of his prejudices against him, and he would be able to get extra points with this face. It was simply winning the first place prize!

It actively tried to redeem this prize. “If you come forward and reveal that you are a student of Z College, he will see that you are a junior and might not hate you so much.”

Xing Shi wondered, “Really? I don’t believe it.”

The system remembered that this person was stubborn and asked, “Then what do you want to do?”

Xing Shi said, “Cold salad.” (TL: Means dressing cold food with sauce, but also slang for ‘there’s not much you can do about it’)

The system was anxious. “What does cold salad mean?”

“It means that I can’t think after eating so much and need to slow down.”

The system: “……”

As everyone was talking, Feng Zifan and the others took the initiative to find Fu Xiuning and asked him in a friendly manner what his name was.

Xing Shi heard Fu Xiuning’s voice.

His tone was calm. Just like the feeling he gave people, it was gentle and noble.

“Fu Xiuning.”

Feng Zifan introduced the three people on their side. He pointed out that Xing Shi was internally selected and asked, “Brother, you were also internally selected, right?”

Fu Xiuning answered, “You can think of it like this.”

Feng Zifan suggested, “I see that you are alone. If you don’t mind, why don’t you join us?”

Fu Xiuning’s lips curled up slightly before he answered the question in an irrelevant manner, “I heard that three practice rooms have been opened. The classes should be divided into three groups and carried out at the same time.”

Feng Zifan’s expression was subtle for a moment. “Really?”

Fu Xiuning nodded before slowly going to the third floor.

This time, there were both male and female trainees. The boys were on the third floor, and the girls were on the fourth floor.

As Fu Xiuning said, there were three practice rooms on this floor with the class assignment signs hung outside. They entered one of them. Feng Zifan and Da Zhuang stayed for a few seconds before going to the bathroom. Only half of the four person group was left.

Xing Shi had been watching from the sidelines until now, and he felt a bit curious.

He looked at Fu Xiuning. “I heard that the re-examination was also divided into several rooms. The contestants lined up and entered whichever room was empty. Is the afternoon class division so random, allowing us to put together a group by ourselves? Or will the company give us a group list?”

Fu Xiuning smiled. “How should I know?”

Xing Shi asked the system and got the answer. There were groups that were just divided and randomly arranged.

He immediately laughed in his heart.

In the entertainment industry, connections were very important.

Feng Zifan and Da Zhuang made friends with him and used his internal selection status to bring in Fu Xiuning. It was nothing more than thinking that he and Fu Xiuning would easily debut, so they wanted to establish a good relationship in advance.

Fu Xiuning saw this and responded with the class division rules.

There were two factors that affected the results of the three practice rooms. One was the teacher, and the other was the group members.

The company could make three groups, so the evaluation requirements of each group teacher should be similar. This meant the only variable was the group members. If the average strength of a group was average, those who performed slightly better might get a high score when compared to the same group.

Feng Zifan and Da Zhuang knew that they couldn’t make it to the first class, but they still wanted to give it a try when the time came. Therefore, they didn’t want to be in the same group with these two outstanding ‘internally selected candidates’ and ran away quickly. They were probably collecting intelligence and forming groups, carefully selecting a practice room to wait for the class division. Unfortunately, this time wasn’t as free as the re-examination, and there were groups.

Xing Shi glanced at Fu Xiuning.

The moment someone approached with ulterior motives, he saw through their intentions and got straight to the point, causing the other person to put aside their little thoughts and rush in to make a profit. As a result, their efforts were in vain—The personality of Xing Shi’s capture target was a bit bad.

Fu Xiuning met his gaze and took the initiative to ask, “What are you good at?”

Xing Shi replied, “Eating.”

Fu Xiuning’s expression didn’t change. “I mean singing and dancing.”

Xing Shi made an ‘oh’ sound before replying, “I’m not good at any of them.”

Fu Xiuning responded softly while waiting for the system to act according to his idea.

As expected, the system said, “How can you tell your boss that you aren’t good at anything? Can’t you talk?”

Xing Shi said, “This is the truth.”

“But you have me,” the system said. “We have a lottery program. Newbies can roll once for free. If you are lucky, you might get the skill points you need in the current situation. But it is only level one. If you want to upgrade it in the future, you have to use points in exchange.”

Fu Xiuning was very satisfied with this development.

He set up a media company because he realized that the prize pool of the ‘Newbie Lottery’ would change with his life.

In the fields with high professional requirements, the role of level one skills was limited. But in the entertainment industry, an artist could make money as long as their business ability reached the qualified level. Sometimes, the outside world praised some of the artists of June Culture for their singing or acting skills. This ‘spirituality’ was given by the level one skill points.

The biggest requirement of the agents he personally selected was to treat the host as animals and work them to death, making them go all out to make money for him until someone quit or used a dirty trick to trap him. Then he would clean them up.

The host this time was a trainee. The skill points were likely to be related to talent.

Fu Xiuning kept a peaceful face while waiting to formulate the future work direction for this new animal.

Xing Shi wanted to understand the mechanism of the system and said happily, “Okay, draw it.”

The system replied, “Okay.”

[The Newbie Lottery has been started. I wish you good luck.]

[Ding.]

[Congratulations to the host for winning the prize: Thank you for your patronage.]

Xing Shi: “……”

The system: “?”

Fu Xiuning: “?”

The two of them fell silent at the same time.

The system realized it late and collapsed. Its programs must be broken! No wonder why the first level punishment didn’t work!

Fu Xiuning lost an animal and was surprised. Was there really a ‘Thank you for your patronage’ in the newbie’s prize pool? He thought this would appear only after the host earned favorability points and could use the points to draw prizes.

Xing Shi was ready to win the big prize. He hadn’t expected it to be a participation prize.

He was surprised. “You… this isn’t a 100% winning prize?”

The system was dumbfounded. “…Yes.”

It scanned and disinfected the programs carefully, but still found no problems. Then it reported the error to the higher ups and received the following feedback: None of the prizes in the prize pool have a probability of 0, only a probability that is infinitely close to 0. Therefore, ‘Thank you for your patronage’ can be drawn.’ As for the ineffectiveness of the first level punishment, this should be due to individual differences. After testing, the program is running well and there are no bugs.

To sum it up in one sentence: He was unlucky.

The system remained silent for a long time before someone came to chat. Xing Shi casually pushed the person to Fu Xiuning, and Fu Xiuning dismissed the person with a few simple words. It was only then that the system perked up again. “Don’t just stand here. Talk to Fu Xiuning more and add him as a friend.”

Xing Shi watched the few people who came to chat all leave. “This batch of trainees isn’t good. They didn’t react at all when they heard Fu Xiuning’s name. Don’t they know he is the boss?”

The system explained, “It isn’t their fault. June Culture is a joint-stock company. Fu Xiuning holds the largest share, followed by the Best Actor Winner Qi Changyi.”

It briefly introduced Qi Changyi.

Qi Changyi started as an idol and was a top star. Later, he switched to the film and television industry and successfully won awards. His position was very stable. Once his contract with his old company expired, he created June Culture along with his friends. This went on the hot search. Due to the overwhelming publicity from fans, passersby thought he was the boss.

Even if some of the trainees looked up the company information out of curiosity, it was unlikely they would remember a strange name. If there were some people who remembered it, they were unlikely to associate Fu Xiuning, who looked like a ‘future top star’, with the boss.

Xing Shi said ‘oh’ after hearing the explanation and went to the bathroom.

He came back and found that the doors of the three practice rooms were full of people because the staff members had come to post the group lists.

Perhaps it was fate. The practice room he was assigned to happened to be the one from before. In addition, Feng Zifan was in this group.

Xing Shi happened to see him, and the two of them entered the room together.

Fu Xiuning was still standing there. He saw them coming over and asked with a smile, “Did you meet in the bathroom?”

Xing Shi secretly thought that this person was very mean. After all, they were trainees of his own company. Was it necessary to play tricks on them like this?

Feng Zifan always felt that he was seen through by the other person. He laughed dryly and said they were just chatting outside. Then he started to drive the person away. “I see that you aren’t on the list at the door. You should be in another practice room.”

Fu Xiuning said, “There is no rush.”

Feng Zifan didn’t say anything else. He lowered his head to play with his mobile phone.

Soon, a staff member and two teachers came in. The practice room was instantly quiet.

The two teachers were responsible for vocal music and dance. One of them said, “Okay, students, we are now…”

Then she saw Fu Xiuning and paused, not knowing whether she should greet him or not.

Fu Xiuning met her gaze and nodded. “Don’t mind me, I’m just taking a look.”

The staff member also saw him. Seeing that he wasn’t covering it up, the staff member moved a chair to give to him. Fu Xiuning stopped him in time, took the initiative to find a place to sit down, and said, “Continue.”

The trainees were confused. They heard the staff calling him ‘Chief Fu.’ Some of them secretly searched for the senior leaders of June Culture on their phones and found the truth.

Feng Zifan was also among them. He stared at a name on the company information, shocked and regretful. He whispered to Xing Shi, “Did you know…”

Xing Shi interrupted in advance. “He didn’t say it.”

Feng Zifan saw the teacher’s eyes sweeping over him, so he closed his mouth and tried to calm himself down.

“…This time, it is just a rough division of classes,” the teacher said. “There will be a unified assessment in a month. All teachers will score together and divide the classes again. Therefore, don’t be discouraged if you don’t perform well this time. You will have a chance as long as you work hard.”

She finished explaining the rules and started calling out numbers.

There were 16 people in Xing Shi’s group, and he was number 5.

Everyone looked at him when his name was called.

First of all, he had an outstanding appearance. Secondly, he had been standing with Fu Xiuning before. Once the latter’s identity was exposed, he became more eye-catching, and people had all types of guesses.

The two teachers had already noticed this handsome guy. They saw that number five was him, and their eyes lit up.

Xing Shi walked to the center of the field. “I will sing.”

The teacher said kindly, “Okay.”

Xing Shi was calm and composed. He sang a song from the magic world for them.

During the years of transmigrating to another world, he was only concerned with survival and had no time to learn talents. However, he could sing after listening to a song many times. Every time he sang, he could cause a crowd to wail. The effect was very good.

The moment the song ended, the teachers and staff member almost cried on the spot. The system crashed several times while trying to make him shut up. Feng Zifan was stunned, and the other trainees were a mess.

Fu Xiuning was still calm. He looked at the person on the field quietly. He was gentle and quiet, with beautiful features. His temperament and demeanor were as outstanding as a precious work of art. This made the people secretly observing him admire him very much.

They thought, ‘He is worthy of being a boss. He has seen all types of scenes, but he is steady!’

Only Xing Shi and the system knew that his heart wasn’t calm—

[Ding.]

[Currently favorability value: -15.]