Studio Superstar: Chapter 18 Part 1

Under the spotlight, Fan Xue was sweating and his brain was buzzing.

He didn’t expect anyone to see it…

That person was Shen Tingyan and he actually said it directly in front of the audience…

Fan Xue was so panicked that his hands and feet were trembling.

He really didn’t want to give up on himself like this. His mind had been clear when he was in the dressing room this morning.

He knew how humiliating it was to act badly and his agent reminded him to do his best.

But at that time, the three of them obviously didn’t act well. In a panic, a bad idea came to mind.

He regretted it after the performance. He hadn’t expected that Xue Xiao’s group of three would act so well later. Even if his agent stirred up public opinion so that those three wouldn’t have a good time, how miserable was he to be compared at this moment?

Fan Xue’s speechless appearance fell into everyone’s eyes and the answer was clear at a glance.

He was hit by Shen Tingyan’s words!

Xue Xiao was stunned. Su Shijin laughed in disbelief while his two teammates, Wang Minghai and Hu Lang, were stupid. The audience became noisy and there was even a small commotion among Fan Xue’s fans.

Poor acting was a problem of ability while deliberately acting poorly was a problem of attitude. He was a chicken thief! Was this fooling the audience?!

Seeing that the cart was about to be overturned again, Fan Xue thought vaguely, ‘I have to deny it, I have to deny it immediately!’

He raised his head sharply and said with a pale face, “I didn’t! I acted too badly but I didn’t mean it. Teacher Shen, you misunderstood!”

It wasn’t known if it was because he was sweaty but he couldn’t see the mentor’s seat clearly. He could only hear the man say flatly.

“Really?”

Fan Xue’s heart was beating wildly as he waited for Shen Tingyan’s later words. No matter what Shen Tingyan planned to say, he could explain it and fool the other person.

Then after Shen Tingyan threw out this word with an unclear meaning, he didn’t continue to speak!

This man didn’t give him a chance to defend himself at all!

Fan Xue was even more panicked in his heart. He looked around blankly and could only say dryly, “I… really, I didn’t mean to…”

This defense was too pale compared to his guilty and panicked face just now. Not only did it fail to help him but it had the opposite effect.

The noise in the audience suddenly became louder. The entire studio was in an uproar.

“This is outrageous!”

“He wants to set up a persona?”

“No way…”

“It is too disrespectful to the competition!”

Fan Xue gulped desperately and his hands started to tremble slightly.

He still wanted to speak but Wang Minghai next to him suddenly pulled him and reminded him with an indifferent expression, “Just shut up at this time. The more you explain, the uglier it is.”

Fan Xue frowned.

The host Jiang Quan was also stunned by this situation for a while. The chief director’s voice came from the headset. He listened for a moment and started to control the scene.

After that, the question and answer seemed to follow a pattern.

“Fan Xue, is what Teacher Shen just said true?”

Fan Xue shook his head again and again. “No, it really isn’t!”

“You mean that Teacher Shen misunderstood?”

“Yes, I know I acted too badly but my attitude is absolutely serious…”

……

At the mentor table, Shen Tingyan had an expression of idly watching the play. The others were either irritated or disgusted.

Did anyone believe what came out of Fan Xue’s mouth at this time?

Maybe some fans would believe it.

Even the show’s staff knew that this wave of on-site rollover wouldn’t fool anyone. Letting Jiang Quan control the field was just a formality to save Fan Xue.

Suddenly, Su Shijin stood up.

Everyone looked at her and Su Shijin said indifferently, “It will be a while. I will go to the toilet.”

This wasn’t giving them face at all. It was directly hitting the face of the show.

After she left the table, Feng Wei also got up and walked out of the studio without making a sound.

Guan Ruoying looked at a loss.

She could only stare at Shen Tingyan. If he also left then she would leave. She didn’t want to stay alone in this embarrassing place!

Shen Tingyan did stand up as she expected.

But before he stepped away, he said, “Xue Xiao, the three of you go down and rest.”

On the stage, Jin Xiaochen and Zhao Dong hesitantly glanced at the host Jiang Quan.

Xue Xiao hesitated for a moment. Then he bowed toward Shen Tingyan and walked off the stage.

He was quite obedient.

Shen Tingyan laughed. Then he turned around and left the studio.

……

The day’s recording didn’t end until 8 o’clock in the evening.

A confidentiality agreement had been signed with the audience in advance and electronic devices weren’t allowed to be brought in, but before the end, the chief director tiredly reminded the public not to leak today’s recording.

At 8: 30 in the evening, all the participants returned to the dormitory and the four mentors were called to a small meeting room.

On the way, Su Shijin said in a low voice, “If the show makes up their minds to support Fan Xue to the end, I might not really be able to survive until the end of the show.”

Guan Ruoying laughed. Surprisingly, Feng Wei was the one to answer Su Shijin.

He said slowly, “This is a competition show. Teacher Su, who do you think will have the right to decide later?”

The mentors or the audience?

All in all, the decision couldn’t entirely be in the hands of the show’s staff.

It was true that the audience would inevitably include Fan Xue’s fans but did the audience of the show only consist of Fan Xue’s fans? Could Fan Xue’s fans control the direction of the show?

It was impossible.

Therefore, it wasn’t a question of whether they would be condemned by God or not. It simply wasn’t possible.

Feng Wei shook his head and sighed.

Shen Tingyan was one step behind the three of them. Old Gao followed him and lowered his voice to speak.

“You scared our staff members to death today. You know, I was really numb at that time. I might not like that Fan Xue and I didn’t want to do this show for people like him, but…”

Shen Tingyan just felt chattering in his ears.

He interrupted the old man’s chatter with a casual tone. “Scared to death? What is there to be scared to death about? Doesn’t your leader like to stir up topics? Is he not happy with such a big topic today?”

Fortunately, Director Zhang wasn’t present or he would probably vomit out a catty of blood at the moment.

Old Gao wiped his face. “Happiness doesn’t exist. Today’s entire paragraph might be cut out.”

Shen Tingyan sneered, seemingly not caring.

Old Gao wondered, “Do you hate that Fan Xue a bit?”

Shen Tingyan replied, “Do you think I look like I know him?”

Old Gao: “……”

Shen Tingyan looked over at him. “You have always thought that they changed your idea into a mess. If they really support Fan Xue according to the script and make everyone his foil, this show can be regarded as completely over.”

“Now in such a situation, they should be the ones panicking. Why are you panicking?”

Old Gao was stunned.

Shen Tingyan said casually, “Are you afraid that things will be too big to end? Old Gao, sometimes you are too cautious.”

After saying this, Old Gao stopped while Shen Tingyan walked away.

The small meeting room was full of cameras and they had to record a short piece of content. It was grading the participants who performed all day today.

Director Zhang was waiting for them inside and was full of smiles when he saw the four of them.

There was no way. These four mentors were very big. Today, he saw that he made them unhappy and he had to serve them again.

Director Zhang said earnestly, “Four teachers, please sit. The grading form is on the table. We will review the students who appeared on the stage today in turn. I will ask the four of you to score according to your own standards.”

—

Xue Xiao and the others went straight to the cafeteria to eat when they returned to the dormitory building.

Chang Yun looked around. “Fan Xue’s entire dormitory didn’t come.”

He was the second last to perform on stage today. Due to Fan Xue’s episode, he didn’t even get nervous and performed quite well after going on stage.

Jiang Lianlian gossiped with them. “When we came back just now, the atmosphere of their group was very subtle. I suspect they are quarreling after closing the bedroom door.”

Wang Minghai and Hu Lang’s performance today wasn’t good but Fan Xue deliberately acted badly. Wasn’t this pulling them down even more when they had already fallen into the mud, so that they turned directly into little clay people?!

Anyone who encountered this type of situation would want to shout that it was bad luck.

Xue Xiao didn’t speak the whole time. After eating, he said, “I’ll go first. I’ll go to the top floor to get some air.”

At 9 o’clock in the evening, it was already dark.

The top floor of the dormitory building was the rooftop and there was only a small lamp near the air.

The small lamp swayed slightly with the evening breeze and the faint light also swayed. It set up a mood.

The script was rolled up and stuffed into his trouser pocket. Xue Xiao walked to the railing at the edge of the roof and lay down, looking at the path below in a daze.

The phone vibrated twice. He took it out to take a look. Zhang Chengyu had sent him a WeChat message today to ask: “How was the competition today?”

Xue Xiao replied, “It wasn’t bad.”

Then he typed a few words before deleting them and typing them. He kept hesitating.

Zhang Chengyu saw that it kept displaying ‘the other person is typing’ and asked: “What’s wrong? What are you struggling with?”

Xue Xiao sighed and replied, “It’s nothing. I just think the entertainment industry is… quite flowery.”

The words ‘quite flowery’ made Zhang Chengyu burst out laughing.

Xue Xiao really felt that Fan Xue ‘played in a flowery manner.’

If he couldn’t act well, he simply acted badly to make it more convenient to turn things around and counterattack later. But if he was thinking about such things while performing, how could he act well?

Xue Xiao was angry at first but he later felt speechless.

Zhang Chengyu knew that Xue Xiao couldn’t disclose the content of the show and only said, “It is inevitable that there will be this type of thing in the entertainment industry. You will get used to it after watching more.”

“Don’t be affected and just act well. By the way, how did Shen Tingyan comment on you today?”

Speaking of this, Xue Xiao finally pulled himself together.

In fact, without Fan Xue’s episode, he felt that today would’ve been quite complete.

He had a conversation with Shen Tingyan.

Shen Tingyan praised him. Of course, there was criticism but this type of criticism was far from ‘harsh’ for Xue Xiao.

He even felt that Shen Tingyan was quite gentle.