Forced to Act out a Strange Script with a Rival - Chapter 15

Faced with the vague offer, Si Xiaoxiao naturally chose to refuse.

Begging her rival for help?

Of course, that was impossible!

The first reason she stayed in this circle was, of course, that being a celebrity brought in money fast. The second was that she could wear all kinds of beautiful dresses and have all sorts of lovely styles.

She had always treated her job like a dress-up game, with acting just one way to collect ‘outfits.’

It wasn’t a role she absolutely had to take.

Unless she truly reached a desperate point, her agent still had money she could borrow. She’d just borrow it; after all, too many debts are better than being broke.

Using the excuse that she still had a variety show to film, Si Xiaoxiao gave a vague reply, successfully brushing off Wen Xiuzhen for the time being.

Wen Xiuzhen could sense Si Xiaoxiao’s perfunctoriness, but her smile was cryptic: “Oh, that variety show? I have an investment in that too.”

“Huh?” Si Xiaoxiao blinked, not expecting Wen Xiuzhen to have such a grand plan.

Generally, variety shows wouldn’t accept private sponsorships. Even if someone was offering money, they had to follow a seniority system. Capital participating in advertising bids for the purpose of commercials was mutually beneficial, but private funding was indeed questionable.

Wen Xiuzhen hinted knowingly: “The next episode will have some adjustments. I hope you all have fun on the show.”

Afterwards, the group exchanged a few more words. Wen Xiuzhen took a phone call, said she had business to attend to, and left.

Si Xiaoxiao finished dinner with her teacher and chatted about daily life for a while.

As a female celebrity, she still had her own work to do and couldn’t stay with the elderly woman for too long. Soon, a call from her own agent summoned her away.

As she was leaving, Yan Yun’s smile was kind, but her eyes held a hint of sadness: “Next time, will you and A-man come together?”

Si Xiaoxiao hesitated, then nodded, saying, “There will be a chance.”

With only a week left until the next variety show recording, her agent, Yan Guan, specifically hired a vocal coach for Si Xiaoxiao.

He gave her a strict order: stay on this show for as long as possible. She absolutely had to last longer than her rival, Li Ting, on his acting variety show.

Only then could she generate buzz.

The reason for the fierce rivalry between Si Xiaoxiao and Li Ting was partly due to the poor relationship between their respective agents.

Si Xiaoxiao’s unprofessional move of being an actress who ran off to a singing variety show earned her a spot on the trending list but also gained her a wave of new fans.

Overall, having heat was a good thing.

At least it was for Si Xiaoxiao, whose popularity had recently been declining. Being eliminated too early would indeed be embarrassing.

Si Xiaoxiao was a fast learner, but she wasn’t very patient and often did things inconsistently.

The vocal coach couldn’t give her a solid foundation.

So, he could only teach her quick, showy techniques, making her performance seem decent enough.

After all, many poor-performing actors cross over to become singers, meaning the threshold for singers in the entertainment industry has never been too high. Adding one more Si Xiaoxiao didn’t make much difference.

To capitalize on the buzz, agent Yan Guan required Si Xiaoxiao to sing the CP song, The Twin Beauties of the Heroic Spirit, from the drama Bronze Sparrow Purgatory.

The song’s core was tragic. That year, it made countless people cry and became a massive hit.

Later, the song’s original singer soared to the status of a Music Queen, and for the next recording, she happened to be sitting in the mentor’s chair.

“Will I really not be scolded horribly by the original singer for singing in front of her?”

Si Xiaoxiao asked her agent with genuine sincerity. She knew her rushed, ‘crash-course’ skills were a bit rough and had a clear understanding of her own abilities.

Yan Guan, however, dropped a shocking bombshell: “She’s your fan. Don’t worry, just sing it. The original author will personally cover for you.”

Si Xiaoxiao, the subject of the news, was utterly astonished: “Huh? That major senior is my fan?? How did I not know! Wait, how do you know!!”

“I asked if you wanted to keep a rich woman company before, and you refused,” Yan Guan said, not lifting his head, his fingers furiously typing on the computer keyboard.

“This, this…” Si Xiaoxiao recalled the singer, who was proper and refined, and felt her worldview collapsing.

Could a person like this actually participate in ‘casting couch’ situations?

Yan Guan added: “It’s nothing. The harder you are to get, the more she values you. She won’t make things difficult for you.”

Si Xiaoxiao “whooshed” to her feet, panicking. In a delicate, petulant voice, she accused her agent: “But she might also resent me! Why didn’t you tell me at all!”

While selling herself was out of the question, she’d finally encountered a real fan, so she certainly needed to maintain a good relationship with them!

Yan Guan pushed up his glasses: “I later sold her your sexy photo album. She was very satisfied.”

“?” A question mark popped into Si Xiaoxiao’s mind.

Yan Guan’s tone was somewhat cold and merciless: “With a silly look like yours, the Music Queen would definitely stop being a fan if she met you. It’s better to sell her some photos.”

“You…” Si Xiaoxiao knew her agent was usually awful, but she never imagined he could be this awful. She seized on the main point, pressing, “Wait, why didn’t you tell me at all!”

Yan Guan sneered, serious and self-justified: “If I told you, wouldn’t I have to share the money with you?”

“…You’re a scum,” Si Xiaoxiao stammered in complaint.

There are countless beauties in the entertainment industry. Why Si Xiaoxiao, a small fry with no background, was able to consistently maintain a place in the surging tide, besides Teacher Yan’s care, was naturally due to the “help” of her top-tier scummy agent, Yan Guan.

After all, with Si Xiaoxiao’s blunt personality, she could easily offend people. A purely profit-driven “vampire” agent was extremely suitable for her.

However, it was also thanks to this agent that the straightforward Si Xiaoxiao was well-protected.

In summary, the song Si Xiaoxiao would sing in the next episode was set.

In the midst of the busyness, time always flew by. And in these past few days, that System hadn’t come online even once. It seemed avoiding contact with Li Ting was enough to prevent those strange missions.

To completely avoid being grabbed by the weird system again, Si Xiaoxiao didn’t do her makeup on-site. Instead, she applied it beforehand and then went to the venue, hoping to maximize the distance from Li Ting.

However, because her makeup was too gorgeous, fans spotted her while she was still in the car, causing a traffic jam.

She barely made it to the recording studio just in time. After a quick run-through of her stage blocking, she immediately went on stage.

This round was a battle royale, with contestants paired up for duels by drawing lots.

Originally, the losers were supposed to be eliminated, but the production team seemed to have temporarily changed the rules, saying there would be a punishment.

Si Xiaoxiao didn’t even have time to inquire about the punishment and went on stage with a dazed mind.

Yan Guan, though a terrible agent, was still well-informed and accurate with his news.

The person sitting in the center of the mentor’s chair for this recording was none other than the Music Queen mentioned earlier.

The Music Queen smiled kindly at Si Xiaoxiao, appearing very friendly, but the thought of her swimsuit photo being in the other woman’s hands made Si Xiaoxiao’s heart pound nervously.

Si Xiaoxiao had bad luck. She drew a very strong singer-songwriter.

However, although the male singer was good and quite popular, being middle-aged, he was inevitably getting bloated and slightly greasy.

So, during the trash-talk interaction segment before the singing, Si Xiaoxiao directly threw down the gauntlet: “A total annihilation based on looks.”

The statement was undeniably true.

She was wearing a very elaborate Lolita-style outfit today, with a dark color scheme that perfectly replicated a beautiful girl from a comic.

She looked good, but whether she sounded good was another matter.

Despite the doting love of the wealthy Music Queen, who praised her the entire time, the scoring mechanism of the show was a comprehensive score, which required removing the highest and lowest scores.

As a result, Si Xiaoxiao regrettably lost.

Losing did not mean elimination. At the end of this episode’s recording, the production team publicly announced:

“Due to limited program budget, we will be contacting the neighboring production team to jointly organize a unified training for the losers of this round.”

A singing variety show and an acting variety show mixing for training?

Huh?

Si Xiaoxiao finished the recording in a daze and immediately ran backstage to question the director team.

The director team was innocent, stating they had shown her the script beforehand, and she hadn’t raised any objections.

Si Xiaoxiao had rushed to the set just in time, so where would she have found the time to look at the punishment for losing?

Seeing Si Xiaoxiao momentarily speechless, the director spoke innocently: “Our program team has limited funds. Even the staff are borrowed from the neighboring team. Since we’re going to an outside location, of course everyone should share it.”

“Outside location?” Si Xiaoxiao didn’t expect the stingy production team to arrange an external shoot, considering the past two episodes were studio shoots that even charged for audience tickets.

The director nodded: “Just like in anime, a journey of experience and training to get stronger!”

Si Xiaoxiao frowned: “Let me see the script for the next episode.”

The director respectfully handed it over, explaining, “Teacher Xiaoxiao, we promise it will be exciting.”

Si Xiaoxiao opened it and immediately felt a headache, unable to help but complain: “Filming location: seaside on an island? Isn’t this where you shoot a romance variety show? What are you doing there with a singing variety show?”

The director also self-deprecatingly commented: “Ay, that’s what a chaotic project management is like. To be honest, I also wanted to film a romance variety show. They’re popular right now.”

“…” Si Xiaoxiao quickly flipped through several pages, looking at the complete romance variety show routine, forcibly suppressing the anger in her heart: “So, what does this have to do with singing!!”

Si Xiaoxiao’s angry, exasperated look was a bit intimidating.

Even the director, who was in complete control, couldn’t help but flinch a little, whispering: “Cultivating friendship and bonds! Collecting the song from the soul!”

“…”

Confirmed. It had absolutely nothing to do with singing. This guy just wanted to ride the coattails of a romance variety show and was messing around.

“You guys will go to Chongming Island with the bottom-ranked actors from the neighboring show for a few days. You don’t have to perform in the next episode anyway, so this trip is for filming the program’s paid spin-off. I’ve already thought of the spin-off’s name—it’s called ‘See You, Friends!'” The director’s eyes darted around slyly, speaking with a generous air.

Si Xiaoxiao’s eyelids twitched violently: “So, who was eliminated from that side?”

“It’s Li Ting, of course!” The director dropped the pretense, revealing his true motive.

Clearly, he was still obsessed with generating buzz from their rivalry and even wanted to create a paid spin-off to fleece the audience.

“Who in their right mind films a romance variety show after failing to advance!!”

Si Xiaoxiao was furious. This excuse was treating her like an idiot.

The director countered: “Hey, don’t talk nonsense. We’re not a romance variety show. It’s just that your destination happens to be the same, and your activities are coincidentally similar.”

“???”

The director became even more shameless: “By the way, what do you think of calling this romance variety show—I mean, spin-off—’See You, Friends’?”

May this world be destroyed!

Si Xiaoxiao was tired.

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