An impatiently raised his head under his friend's urging, but after only one glance, he lowered his eyes and continued to write and draw on his own.

"An, are you really not going to take another look?" the friend couldn't help but mutter. "Don't you like her?"

An was getting a little annoyed by his nagging, so she said bluntly, "I don't like it."

He glanced at Shen Lian on the stage. His native language was not Chinese, and although his pronunciation was correct, his tone was somewhat slow: "Her appearance is like that of a craftsman, perfect but lifeless. But in my eyes, she is no different from a mannequin."

My friend stood there stunned for a moment before muttering, "It must be because you grew up abroad and your aesthetic sense is different from ours." How could Shen Lian not be beautiful?

However, some bystanders overheard their discussion, and one of them happened to be a fan of Chen Lian: "Damn, who does he think he is..." They were all sitting in the front row VIP seats, and the young master was about to go up and cause trouble when he saw his goddess being humiliated.

"Little rascal, calm down. Did you even see who it was before you went over to cause trouble?"

The person sitting next to him grabbed his head and said, "That's Ann, the famous Chinese director!" He debuted at the age of seventeen, directed his first film, and won the most prestigious director award in the country. Since then, he has won all kinds of director awards in the film industry by making one film every year.

How many celebrities in the entertainment industry would kneel down and still not be able to lick her boots?

"I'm afraid of a director?"

"Then take a look at who's sitting next to him." The person next to him whispered, "It's Mr. Mu from the municipal government. He said An's biological mother is Chinese, and his father has a very secret connection with the upper echelons of Y country. Otherwise, how could he have gotten so successful there just because he looks Chinese?"

Mr. Mu from the municipal government accompanied him... This is not a privilege that an ordinary director can enjoy.

The young master who had been clamoring to stand up for his goddess fell silent and continued to watch the performance on stage quietly...

...

After the host, Linlin, read the opening remarks, fifteen plays began to be performed on stage one after another.

The order of the performances was determined by drawing lots. Lu Zhiyu was the initiator of their group, so Bai Yan asked Lu Zhiyu to be the captain and draw lots on their behalf.

"Please, please, don't let it be the last one, and don't let it be the first one!" Lu Zhiyu prayed to God and Buddha in his heart.

He nervously opened the note in his hand, and his face immediately turned pale.

The last performance... the grand finale.

However, in such large-scale stage performances, the finale is not a good show at all; in fact, it's the worst. Assuming the waiting time and scoring for a play are kept under half an hour, their performance might take seven hours!

Not to mention the viewers in front of the screen, even the mentors and judges present are probably experiencing aesthetic fatigue.

Seeing Lu Zhiyu's grief-stricken appearance, Bai Yan patted Lu Zhiyu's shoulder comfortingly: "It's okay, it's the grand finale performance, the better the performance, the more screen time you'll get."

Lu Yuzhi wasn't as optimistic as her; she was dejected and sullen.

Because there were fifteen scenes to rehearse, the opening remarks didn't take long. Soon, the first group of actors went on stage to begin their performance. The two male actors on stage were both idols who had transitioned into acting, and they were quite popular.

However, his acting skills and popularity were inversely proportional, and the audience booed him from the very first four or five minutes.

In this opening atmosphere, the two actors stumbled through the rest of the performance, and the mentors didn't offer much feedback, giving them an average score of five or lower.

The opening was poor, and the directing team rushed the intermission, which made the actors who came on stage later extremely nervous. The first three performances were not particularly outstanding, but rather a series of disasters.

Many scenes became the subject of repeated jokes and ridicule in the live chat after the show aired.

Soon it was time for the fourth scene, a period drama set in the Republican era, starring Song Hansheng and Lulu.

The previous part of the story involved a patriotic young man played by Song Hansheng and a female college student played by Lulu protecting civilians during a battle.

In the story, a patriotic young man and his lover experience life and death together; their love amidst the flames of war is both beautiful and despairing.

Song Hansheng's cold and aloof appearance and Lulu's cute appearance have a great sense of being a couple. After the two appeared on stage, a group of viewers in the live chat were obsessed with shipping them.

[I hereby declare that Song Hansheng, our Crown Prince, is the god of heterosexual romance!]

Mu Nian, resting his chin on his hand, watched Song Hansheng on the stage. "Is this an idol drama? I've never watched it, but this kid from the Song family seems to have decent acting skills?"

An, standing to the side, curled his lips in a cold smile. As the director, he naturally knew that this play belonged to the classic war drama genre.

He shook his head; he wasn't very familiar with some Chinese characters, so he said, "The acting is very subversive." For example, he turned a war scene into an idol drama.

Mu Nian didn't understand, but since he knew Song Hansheng's father, he said, "Why don't you invite him to your new drama? He's a junior we know..."

An frowned as she looked at him, and Mu Nian found his gaze strange: "Didn't you praise his acting?"

"You too" is quite subversive.

But no matter what, Lulu and Song Hansheng's 'idol drama' was acceptable. Except for Teacher Zheng, who felt it didn't quite capture the essence and gave it five points, the other four gave it eight points or more.

Currently in first place overall.

An glanced at the score with disdain, then quickly lowered her head to doodle and write again, waiting for the next group to perform.

Mu Nian wasn't really interested in these kinds of acting variety shows; he was just there to keep An company. He hadn't had any inspiration or filmed a drama for two years.

Soon it was time for the next group of actors to come on stage. The actors were Fang Yaming and another boy. It was also a period drama set in the Republican era, depicting the joys and sorrows of a large family. An looked up and watched the whole play.

"Was this acting good?" Mu Nian couldn't tell.

An said, "This scene was rather bland, but she acted quite well." She was also the most talented actress he had seen so far.

Apart from Liu Yan and Shen Lian giving lower scores, the other mentors all gave eight points or higher. Unfortunately, Fang Yaming's audience support was still not high.

The rest of the show was rather boring.

The worst thing about a show isn't that it's bad, but that it's mediocre. A bad show at least gets criticized, but a boring show makes people not want to watch it at all.

An couldn't stand it anymore.

"Let's watch a little longer, let's watch a little longer," Mu Nian pleaded. "After it's over, I want to go backstage to find Chen Lian."

"These are the last few games."

At that time, Bai Yan, Lu Zhiyu, and Chen Chen were also putting on makeup. There were only three scenes left before it was their turn. Lu Zhiyu was a little nervous, so they decided to rehearse one more time.

Before they could even line up backstage, Song Hanzhen's group had already started.

Song Hanzhen was also in Liu Yan's team. Compared to their group's laissez-faire approach, Song Hanzhen's group was the one that was truly favored. Every time Lu Zhiyu saw Liu Yan personally guiding her lines, she would see him doing so.

"Welcome to the romantic love story 'Starlight' brought to us by actors Song Hanzhen, Zhou Yanchuan, and Xu Zhiyan!"

Lu Yuzhi stopped in his tracks, looking stunned. When he saw that Song Hanzhen and the others were actually performing "Starlight," he was both shocked and dumbfounded.

They performed "Starlight," so what did their group perform?