Chapter 20 Disappointment

Chapter Summary: Textbook-Level Family Videos

The man who turned around had a neatly parted slicked-back hairstyle, a handsome and upright appearance, and obvious crow's feet at the corners of his eyes when he smiled, but he did not look old at all. Instead, he showed a unique charm of a mature man. He was wearing a black leather jacket with jeans, a very low-key outfit.

Mu Zhi remembered that this must be Liu Jiaxu, a big star invited by the program team.

A superstar of the highest caliber, an idol of generations.

He is also an idol of many artists in the industry.

Liu Jiaxu is a household name among those who follow entertainment news. At 60, he maintains a remarkably youthful appearance, looking no more than 50, his good looks undiminished. He's a true evergreen in the industry, having been a star for decades. Not only do he have many popular songs that remain popular today, but he also has starred in numerous classic films and television dramas, winning countless acting awards both domestically and internationally.

She started as an idol and later focused on becoming an actress.

"Hello, Teacher Liu!" the girls greeted timidly.

Liu Jiaxu very kindly invited them to find seats.

Noticing the girls' nervousness, he laughed and said, "Are you all afraid of me?"

Everyone quickly denied it, "No!"

Actually, I'm really scared! Senior figures have a very high status in the industry, and their achievements in the entertainment industry are something they look up to. When young fans meet their idols, some trainees even cry on the spot!

"Don't be afraid, I'm just an ordinary person, I eat and drink just like you."

Liu Jiaxu looked at the trainees sitting below the stage, pointed to himself, and said, "I was you all back then."

"Today I'm here to have a conversation with my past self. I know you're about to enter this industry. If you have any questions or are feeling lost, feel free to ask me. I hope my experiences and insights can offer you some guidance. Let's communicate like friends."

Liu Jiaxu's words immediately brought him closer to the trainees.

One trainee after another stood up to ask questions.

"Ms. Liu, have you ever thought about retiring from the entertainment industry? How did you manage to persevere?"

"Teacher Liu, I'm a fan of yours, and my mom is a fan too. Can we get your autograph?"

"Ms. Liu, you started out as a singer and later became an actress. How did you transition between these two roles? You achieved remarkable success in both fields. How did you determine which development path was more suitable for you?"

The last question was asked by Lü E.

Liu Jiaxu pondered for a moment, recalling the past: "When I was a singer, the record industry was booming, and sales were very good. Later, with the continuous progress and development of the times, electronic products became more and more advanced. One day, my manager said to me, 'There's a good role available. Would you like to take it?'"

At this point, she shook her head with a laugh, "My first thought was, acting? I don't know anything about it." Her Cantonese even slipped out. "The company thought I had a good image, the director thought I was okay, so I went anyway. To play the role well, I even hired an acting coach. After that film, I discovered acting and found it very interesting, and the career prospects in this industry are also very good..."

He shrugged and said that's why he's been an actor ever since.

Finally, he concluded, "You have many opportunities now. My advice as someone who's been through this is: whether you're a singer, actor, or appear on variety shows, ask yourself: what do you like? What are you most interested in? Once you decide what to do, do your best to do it well. We should have reverence for the industry we're in."

The trainees applauded enthusiastically, finding the information very helpful.

Then a younger sister boldly stood up and asked, "How can I determine if I'm suited to develop in a particular direction? For example, acting?"

To make the lesson less dry, Liu Jiaxu thought about the problem for a moment, looked at the trainees below the stage, and said he would call on one of them to come up.

Lu E was the only actress among the 12 trainees who participated in the show. She was also the first to bring up the issue of acting, and she couldn't help but feel secretly pleased, thinking that Andy Lau was going to call on her.

To everyone's surprise, Liu Jiaxu called out, "Mu Zhi?"

Mu Zhi, who was sitting in the back, was suddenly called upon: ?

He stood up blankly and, at Liu Jiaxu's prompting, walked onto the podium.

“I recently watched ‘Chasing the Light’, and I remember there was an episode where Mu Zhi had a talent show called #Tears in a Second#, right? Would you like to show it to us again on set?”

It seems this top-tier mentor did his homework beforehand.

Mu Zhi nodded and asked, "Are there any scene requirements?"

Liu Jiaxu raised an eyebrow and glanced at Mu Zhi, adding a touch of difficulty, "Tears of joy?"

"Okay." After Mu Zhi finished speaking, she started looking for the camera. Once she found the camera, she closed her eyes and covered her mouth with her hand to prepare her emotions.

Liu Jiaxu stood next to Mu Zhi, counting down the seconds while carefully observing the expressions on Mu Zhi's face.

The 3-second countdown had just ended when the countdown was announced.

The moment Mu Zhi opened her eyes, she took her hand away and burst out laughing. At the same time, tears welled up in her eyes. Her smile was vivid and natural, and her eyes were filled with glistening laughter.

The trainees sitting in the front row saw it clearly and were deeply moved. They couldn't help but laugh along, clapping and exclaiming, "Amazing!"

Liu Jiaxu also applauded in surprise and praised, "I can confirm from the performance just now that Mu Zhi is born to be an actress."

Do you like performing?

This time, Mu Zhi didn't hide anything and nodded solemnly: "I like it."

"I look forward to seeing your work on the big screen soon."

Liu Jiaxu's words encouraged Mu Zhi to consider developing her career as an actress, which drew envious looks from the other trainees.

Lu E was furious, but she clapped along reluctantly.

One important reason why Liu Jiaxu was able to be invited to the program "Chasing the Light" is that his movie "Black and White," which he starred in and invested in, will be released soon, and he has been busy with promotions recently.

At the end of the show's recording, he promoted his own movie and gave movie tickets to the trainees and staff.

The trainees were very supportive and all said they would go to see the movie to show their support.

The recording ended after 9 p.m.

Mu Zhi was kept on by Director Mei.

Mu Zhi speculated that it was related to the contract with the Owl platform.

Sure enough, Sister Mei said to Mu Zhi with a hint of disappointment, "Other trainees dream of this opportunity. Such a great platform and considerable resources were presented to you, and you actually didn't sign it, just handing it over to someone else!"

Mu Zhi could only shift the blame onto the company, "I'm sorry, Sister Mei, I have let you down, but I am just a newcomer under the company who has not yet debuted, and I have a contract with the company. I have no say. If the company tells me to go east, I can only go east."

If the Owl platform really thought highly of Muzhi, there were plenty of ways to get her away from Xinghe Culture. The fact that the two sides couldn't reach an agreement ultimately means they felt she wasn't worth it.

"Then you'd better take care of yourself."

Mu Zhi knew what kind of signal was being conveyed behind the four words "Take care of yourself".

They didn't sign a contract with the Owl platform, and there are still two episodes left.

I wonder if the production team has already prepared a plan on how to justify her not debuting...

The final segment of the ninth episode was recorded in Studio 1, and all four mentors were present.

The theme was watching the family video that the program team had instructed the contestants to prepare the day before yesterday.

Having lived in the "castle" for almost three months without their families around, and with the final debut night just around the corner, the production team thoughtfully arranged this segment to allow the contestants to feel the warmth, encouragement, and blessings from their families.

The first thing to go was Zhou Jingzhu's video, which everyone was very interested in.

Everyone was curious about what the business tycoon would say to his daughter who was participating in the talent show. However, Zhou Jingzhu's parents did not show up. Instead, her aunt recorded a video message of blessing. She was dressed in a dazzling array of jewelry and looked very young.

Judging from the scene in the video, the house is a large mansion.

A short two- or three-minute video can offer a glimpse into the trainees' family circumstances.

One after another, it was soon Mu Zhi's turn.

The agency will not sign high-risk artists. Xinghe Culture conducted a family investigation before signing Mu Zhi.

Shang Jian was aware of Mu Zhi's family situation.

It's unclear how Shang Jian managed to contact the original owner's parents, but he managed to get the family of three to record a heartwarming video of blessings. In the video, the original owner's 12-year-old brother, Little Fatty, kept calling her "sister," and the parents kept saying things like, "We've been working very hard to raise Mu Zhi, and we believe she'll be successful when she grows up."

The camera was rolling, and Mu Zhi could only smile, keeping the corners of her mouth slightly upturned.

The recording of the video was entirely left to the agent, Shang Jian, without any intervention; he simply wanted to assess the team's capabilities.

Now that I've finished watching it, I'm extremely disappointed.

This video is highly inadequate. The original owner's relationship with her family was not good; the harmonious family atmosphere created in the video is fake, which will convey the wrong message to the audience and sow the seeds of future trouble for Mu Zhi.

Is this all Xinghe Culture is capable of? Mu Zhi frowned.

Xia Xinyan's family video was the grand finale, and it was textbook-worthy.

In Mu Zhi's opinion, this was also the highest-quality video of the night.

In previous interviews, Xia Xinyan revealed that her parents had passed away and she was raised by her grandmother. She frankly stated that she came to the show because she wanted to become a successful person and her dream was to buy her grandmother a big house so that her grandmother could enjoy a good life.

In the video, Xia Xinyan's grandmother appeared. An elderly woman with gray hair and a cane, with a kind face, was picking up eggs in the chicken coop. She spoke in a local dialect about how well-behaved, hardworking, and filial Xia Xinyan was from a young age.

He was very open-minded and said he didn't want to keep his child by his side, and supported Xia Xinyan to leave the mountain village and go to the big city to do what she liked.

In the video, at Xia Xinyan's maternal grandmother's house, the village chief brought a large group of villagers to the scene, excitedly expressing that they were thrilled to see Xia Xinyan on television. They said she was the first person from their village to appear on TV, adding, "She's successful, and we're all proud of her."

Speaking in broken Mandarin, everyone shouted in unison:

"Xinyan, you must debut."

Finally, the old lady smiled broadly and waved to the camera, saying, "My dear girl, Grandma has saved up a lot of eggs for you to eat when you come back."

Xia Xinyan burst into tears, and several other trainees also cried.

The video features touching family affection, simple rural sentiments, and also shows the inspiring figure of an ordinary person living at the bottom of society who longs to leave his small mountain village and realize his dreams.

Over a decade ago, talent shows were all the rage, providing a stage for many ordinary people to pursue their dreams and change their fate. Even now, fans of those shows jokingly compare the contestants' hardships, with the top 12 revealing their family backgrounds – almost every one of them had their own struggles, coming from impoverished backgrounds and facing financial difficulties.

Back then, fan voting was also incredibly intense. Sending their idols to debut was not only about supporting their dreams, but also about changing their impoverished fate.

Nowadays, many rich kids, celebrity kids, internet celebrities, and returning contestants have appeared on the talent show stage, and the debut spots have become a game between capital.

There were very few ordinary people among them.

Xia Xinyan's video is very touching and evokes a lot of sympathy. Her ordinary background will likely spark a wave of discussion among netizens after the show airs, with the hashtag #OrdinaryPeopleParticipatingInTalentShows#.

Xia Xinyan's popularity is bound to soar again.

If it weren't for Xia Xinyan's inability to distinguish between chives and daffodil leaves, her clumsy vegetable-cutting skills, and her inability to make dumplings during the recording at the farm, Mu Zhi would also have been moved by the affection between Xia Xinyan and her grandmother.

Now, what Mu Zhi sees is that although Xia Xinyan's family is not well-off, she was spoiled and grew up. She is not good at farm work and must have gone to school at a very young age. She also spent four years as a trainee overseas... Xia Xinyan's grandmother is alone at home, eagerly waiting for her granddaughter.

However, that's not the main point.

Through this video, Mu Zhi finally confirmed one thing.