CHAPTER 16 (PART 1)

The executives at Weiguang suppressed their confusion and put on a polite smile. “Isn’t this just how things are? In competition shows, there are always a few contestants whose paths are decided from the start.”

Zhao Qiuying frowned.

Yan Yucheng was the first to respond. He pressed a hand on the table, leaning forward slightly, his presence imposing as he looked down at the Weiguang executives. “I don’t care about the others. I only care about her.”

The moment those words fell, not only the Weiguang executives but even Zhao Qiuying and Sun, the former head of Sanjin Entertainment, turned their attention to him.

“Oh…” The Weiguang executive dragged out the syllable, then chuckled. “If you had said so earlier, I would’ve understood right away. Truth be told, we don’t really want to suppress Jiang Su’s votes either. Doing that would be an obvious case of cheating. But someone from Sanjin has to be eliminated in the fourth round… How about we swap her out for someone else?”

Seizing the opportunity, Sun quickly stood up, took out the contestant list, and pointed to a name.

“Swap her out!”

The Weiguang executive readily agreed. “Of course, we must show due respect to Young Master Yan.”

Zhao Qiuying, hearing this, swallowed back the words he originally wanted to say and instead simply remarked, “I hope the production team will be fair.”

“Of course, of course,” the executive nodded repeatedly and personally saw them out.

Yet, once they stepped out of the office, neither Zhao Qiuying nor Yan Yucheng made a move to leave.

They quietly studied each other.

Sun, still in pain, tugged at Yan Yucheng’s sleeve, pleading, “President Yan, Young Master Yan, I still have to show my face tomorrow…”

Only then did Yan Yucheng shift his gaze. “Oh, let’s go. I’ll personally take you to the hospital. Otherwise, people might say the Yan family mistreats its subordinates—don’t you think?”

Sun shuddered.

Zhao Qiuying stood there for a few seconds, then instinctively opened Jiang Su’s behind-the-scenes livestream.

The stream was empty.

She had gone out.

Zhao Qiuying couldn’t quite describe how he felt. He rubbed the screen of his phone before turning it off.

So, she wasn’t as helpless as he had imagined.

Yan Yucheng of Sanjin Entertainment was looking out for her.

Zhao Qiuying had never considered that one day, he could be completely unnecessary to someone.

He turned and left, only to run into his agent.

The agent immediately asked, “Where did you go? Did you really go to stand up for Miss Jiang?”

The heaviness on Zhao Qiuying’s face vanished in an instant. He even chuckled. “Does she need me to stand up for her?”

The agent was momentarily stunned, then nodded in agreement. “That’s true. With her current popularity, she’s practically Sanjin’s prized gem.”

Setting aside other concerns, even the agent had to admit Jiang Su’s immense value.

“Mm.” Zhao Qiuying responded lightly.

The agent breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. “Then you don’t have to worry about Miss Jiang anymore…”

Zhao Qiuying: “Mm. Instead of worrying about these small things, I should be doing something more useful for her.”

Agent: “???”

Meanwhile, Jiang Su left her room and spent the little money left on her card to buy a bunch of strange items.

[What is she doing? Making clay figurines?]

[Alchemy? A chaotic, fiery mess!]

[This hobby is… quite unique. The others are gaming together in their free time, but she’s doing this?]

Jiang Su ignored the chat.

The longer she spent in this world, the more she realized how many things from her original world simply didn’t exist here.

Like the small pill in her hand.

No one here would recognize what it was.

Once she finished making the pills, she coated them in chocolate and sealed them in a bag.

Then she headed downstairs.

At this time, the other trainees were still staring at the voting page on the platform.

“Lin Sifeng is too strong.”

“Mo’er has a lot of fans too!”

“Holy—!” Someone suddenly shot up from their seat. “Jiang Su’s votes—”

Hearing her name, Yu Xinyan immediately rushed over.

At first, she was worried that they were going to mock Jiang Su. But when she got closer, even she was dumbfounded.

33,245 votes.

Yu Xinyan counted carefully multiple times—it was definitely five digits.

Everyone was stunned.

“The platform just released an official statement,” someone muttered. “They said there was a bug earlier, but now it’s been corrected. They’re asking everyone not to worry…”

Their expressions shifted subtly, each lost in thought.

That explanation might fool casual onlookers, but it was clearly just a way to appease fans.

“She’s pulled ahead of Ding Xuan by over ten thousand votes. If this keeps up, she might catch up to Lin Sifeng and Mo’er soon…” As they spoke, they turned around—only to find Lin Sifeng and Li Mo’er standing right behind them. Their faces instantly froze in embarrassment.

Lin Sifeng, however, merely smiled graciously.

Wan Yue was also checking her own votes.

1,607.

Stuck in the middle—not quite last place, but not far from it either.

It was like a public execution.

Wan Yue bit her lip and said, “Ding Xuan doesn’t care. She’s not even in the building today—she went to shoot an MV.”

As soon as she said this, it immediately drew everyone’s attention.

“Ding Xuan is that impressive? She already has work lined up?”

“Yeah, apparently, a senior from the same agency personally invited her.”

“Damn, I’m jealous!”

Watching everyone’s excitement, Wan Yue felt a sense of pride. But just as she turned away, she received a call from the director.

The director sighed on the other end, “Your performance on the show hasn’t been great…”

Wan Yue panicked, and that fleeting sense of pride vanished instantly. She opened her mouth, wanting to defend herself, maybe even make a firm pledge…

The director continued, “By the fourth episode, that should be about it.”

Then, he hung up.

Wan Yue’s face went completely pale in an instant, and her hands trembled as she clutched her phone.

When she returned to the common area, she was met with excited gasps.

“Wow, the numbers are still rising!”

“Does Jiang Su really have that many fans?”

“Of course! She even got dragged by gossip accounts yesterday. They accused her of subtly mocking Film Queen Dong… If I had fans like that, I’d be over the moon.”

“Yeah, Film Queen Dong has been famous for so long—what does she know about all this? It’s easy to talk from a high horse.”

“Shhh…”

“What shhh? I bet you haven’t heard this piece of gossip.”

“Damn, do you really dare to say it?”

“What’s there to be afraid of? There aren’t any cameras here.” The girl who spoke had a hint of disdain on her face. She never told anyone, but her family was quite wealthy. Others might hesitate to speak, but she wasn’t afraid.

She paused before continuing, “Dong has a manager named Wang Qin, who’s pretty powerful in the industry. Every artist she’s managed ended up marrying into a wealthy family. And before they got married? They were juggling multiple men—producers, big-name directors, rich heirs… I even heard they have some kind of ‘man-hunting manual’ internally. Dong has been retired for years, and now she’s suddenly making a comeback? You really think she wants to act again? No, she just failed at marrying rich. If she were smart, she’d focus on her career—maybe she’d be able to regain some of her former glory. But I bet she’s still scheming, trying to find another way to marry into wealth.”

After hearing this, everyone fell silent.

Some were secretly tempted, wishing they had someone like Wang Qin to guide them. Others, however, immediately lost the admiration they once had for Film Queen Dong.

Lin Sifeng interjected, “That’s not entirely accurate.”

“What’s wrong?”

“If Dong really wanted to marry into wealth, she would’ve done it long ago.”

“Lin Sifeng, do you know some inside story?”

“I only heard a little from some seniors. They told me, whatever I do, I must never offend Film Queen Dong—because she has Mr. Cheng behind her.”

“Oh, isn’t that rumor all over the internet? She’s trying to marry Mr. Cheng, right?”

“It’s not that simple. Supposedly, the reason Film Queen Dong is in poor health now is because, back in her youth, she did something to help Mr. Cheng…”

Lin Sifeng spoke with such detail that everyone exchanged uneasy glances, unsure of what to believe anymore.

The girl who first spoke only shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, that’s just how things are. Just take it as gossip.”

The others chuckled and let the topic drop.

Sharing scandalous rumors about big-name figures in private had, strangely enough, brought them closer together, easing the tension and competition between them.

So that’s how it is?

Jiang Su approached and briefly paused in her steps.

The information she received was mostly from the original host’s perspective, meaning there were still many things she couldn’t see clearly.

The original host believed that Film Queen Dong was Cheng Yue’s untouchable love from the past, but now it seemed more like Dong was desperately trying to use whatever feelings remained to secure a marriage with Cheng Yue.

And then, Dong discovered that the original host looked strikingly like her.

That must be why I saw shock and hostility in her eyes.

Jiang Su made a mental note of this.

“Jiang Su, you’re here?” Li Mo’er was the first to notice her.

The others turned at the sound of her voice. “Jiang Su, come check your votes!”

“We were just gossiping—did you hear any of it?” one of the girls asked nervously, as if worried Jiang Su would spread what they said.

Jiang Su nodded. “I heard it.”

“Do you have any gossip? Share something with us.” The girl quickly followed up.

Jiang Su walked over and sat down. “Hmm… I guess I do.”

“What is it?” The group immediately perked up, crowding around her. Even their excitement about the vote count took a backseat—gossip was, after all, a universal guilty pleasure.

With a calm expression, Jiang Su said softly, “I hate Film Queen Dong.”

“……”

The room fell into stunned silence. Everyone’s eyes widened in shock. That was… incredibly bold!

Jiang Su paused before adding, “I also hate Cheng Yue.”

Everyone snapped back to their senses.