Chapter 12: Hot for a while

Cheng Xiang is an ordinary college student. He paid attention to the art examination of China Arts University because he liked Song Lei, a potential rising star, very much.

Now that the art exam is over, he of course wants to know how Song Lei performed and whether she easily won first place as she said in a previous interview.

Although there are always Song Lei's haters who like to say that Song Lei is outspoken and young and frivolous, Cheng Xiang really likes Song Lei's confidence.

In previous years' art exams, there were also child stars like Song Lei who debuted at a young age. However, none of them dared to say that they would definitely get first place. Instead, they kept a low profile and were humble.

Cheng Xiang felt that these people were too hypocritical. Child stars who debuted early had a huge advantage in taking the art exams, so why did they insist that they were just ordinary candidates?

Coincidentally, before Cheng Xiang could actively search for information about the Huayi Arts Examination, the "Daily Headlines" on his phone pushed a message to him:

"A shocking upset occurred in the Huayi Arts Examination, Song Lei was completely defeated by her!"

Since Cheng Xiang likes to use "Daily Headlines" to read various news and gossips in the entertainment industry, and especially pays attention to Song Lei, as soon as there is the latest news about Song Lei, big data will be pushed directly to him.

After seeing this headline news, Cheng Xiang couldn't believe it. Song Lei was completely defeated?

It was obvious that there were no other celebrity candidates participating in Huayi’s art exam this year. Who did she lose to?

Cheng Xiang couldn't wait to click on the push notification, and then saw such an article. In the article, in addition to Song Lei, there was also a picture of Gu Qingge. These were obviously taken by the media present during her art exam re-examination.

Gu Qingge's outfit was quite ordinary, just a long black down jacket, jeans, and a pure white turtleneck sweater inside the down jacket.

The picture of her that was captured showed her taking off her down jacket, wearing a pure white slim sweater, and singing "Little Love Song" with a microphone.

The expression on her face was focused and devoted, and her upper body in a slim sweater had perfect curves and was incredibly charming.

When Cheng Xiang saw Gu Qingge in the picture, no matter how much he liked Song Lei, he had to admit that if they only considered appearance and figure, Song Lei was indeed the loser.

There is no way. Top art schools like Huayi have strict regulations for art exams, which means that candidates can only wear light makeup at most, and it is best to take the exam without makeup. Boys and girls are not allowed to have bangs on their foreheads, and girls with long hair must tie their hair into a ponytail or a bun.

The purpose of such regulations in art examinations is to allow examiners to more accurately distinguish the body shape and appearance of candidates. After all, today's makeup techniques are so amazing.

Gu Qingge took the exam with her hair tied in a ponytail, her forehead exposed, and no makeup on. Now, in the photos of her captured by the media, her appearance is far less stunning than her in real life.

Song Lei was even worse off than Gu Qingge, because her previous photos were almost all posed and retouched. Even her selfies had beauty filters and there was no female artist who looked bad in such photos.

As a result, this time, the self-media that published this article clearly wanted to get the traffic, or wait for Song Lei to spend money on public relations.

Anyway, this photo of Song Lei, taken at the art exam site, shows her with a bun and exposed forehead. Her appearance can only be considered average, which makes old fans like Cheng Xiang a little disappointed.

Cheng Xiang could only comfort himself. He wasn't just a superficial fan of Song Lei's looks. He was a fan of her genuine and confident character, her outstanding acting skills, and her unique temperament...

No matter how beautiful you are, if you don’t have talent or ability, you are just a vase.

When Cheng Xiang secretly decided that Gu Qingge was a vase, he was stunned after reading the article.

What?

This Gu Qingge actually recited a modern poem of his own in the preliminary art exam?

Today, this modern poem entitled "To the Oak" has also gained recognition in the current poetry world?

In the next art exam interview, she continued to sing her original songs, and with her superb singing skills, she turned the exam room into her own concert venue?

So where on earth did this fairy girl Gu Qingge come from?

This article is so bad that it includes the links to Song Lei and Gu Qingge's art exam videos in the article. Click on them and you can see their performances, proving that Song Lei was a complete failure!

After watching the video of Gu Qingge singing "Little Love Song", Cheng Xiang was shocked.

You have such singing skills, songwriting ability, and good looks, why don't you just debut as a singer? Why the hell did you apply to the acting department of Huayi?

Girl, it's boring to bully the weak, okay? How much psychological trauma will this leave on the other candidates in the same class?

After reading the article, Cheng Xiang wanted to refresh the comments, but to his dismay, after refreshing, the article had already been PRed.

It can only be said that the team behind Song Lei reacted very quickly. This is the power of capital. "Qingtian Entertainment", one of the four major companies, will not allow the potential star Song Lei to be stepped on by a complete amateur like this.

If the public develops a stereotype that "Song Lei is not as good as those outside the circle", then how can her value be raised? In the future, when she is evaluated as an artist, even if she is rated as a fifth-tier star, people will criticize her because she is not as good as that outsider named Gu Qingge...

Later, Cheng Xiang discovered that all the videos about Song Lei's Huayi art exam on the Internet had disappeared, and they were replaced by videos of Song Lei taking the Zhongyi art exam and getting first place in her major.

In the short film about Song Lei's art exam broadcast by Pingjing TV, there was no mention of Huayi's art exam at all, making it seem as if Song Lei did not take part in Huayi's art exam.

Perhaps only Song Lei’s haters would remember this incident and make fun of it whenever they have nothing to do.

Gu Qingge's art exam video was indeed popular on the Internet for a while, but it only lasted for a while.

Everyone praised her beauty and talent in the comments, and even skillfully gave her the title of "Huayi School Belle", even though she is still a senior high school student.

But because Gu Qingge has not signed a contract with any entertainment agency, there are naturally no resources to promote her behind the scenes. She is not even in the top ten trending searches on Weibo. If the public relations team behind Song Lei was slower, then there might still be a chance.

In addition, Gu Qingge does not have a certified Weibo account or accounts on major social media platforms, so he cannot attract traffic or gather fans.

So as time went by, new hot topics and gossip emerged in the entertainment industry, and the news about Gu Qingge gradually faded away.

After all, Gu Qingge hasn't officially debuted yet and is not even considered an artist. This makes people want to be her fans, but they don't know what to do.

Gu Qingge herself didn't care about the false fame on the Internet at all, because she was happily receiving the reward after completing the task.

Next, new main quests and side quests will also appear.