Chapter 18: The Preliminary Selection Begins

Before she knew it, it was early summer again. After waving goodbye to her classmates, Li Sishi turned around and headed towards Happiness Jewelry Store.

After receiving the competition registration form from Chang Baoning, Li Sishi's smile became even warmer and more sincere: "Thank you, Sister Ning!"

"Why are you being so polite with me? You're practically my sister, aren't you?" Chang Baoning smiled, then asked with concern, "Do you want me to go with you to the auditions?"

"Hmm...no need, I can go by myself, I know the way." Li Sishi said playfully, and after eliciting an even bigger smile from Chang Baoning, she continued, "If I pass the audition, I plan to explain things to my family."

"Don't worry, you'll definitely pass." No matter how you looked at it, Chang Baoning felt that the TV station wouldn't let go of such a young, beautiful contestant who also had excellent academic performance.

Even though her excessively young age might put her at a disadvantage in the final top three selection, being a contestant who is clearly a hot favorite at first glance will guarantee her a certain level of popularity in all the early stages.

Conversely, this also guarantees that as long as the contestant doesn't encounter any major problems, they will be able to reach the final night without any major incidents.

After saying goodbye to Chang Baoning, Li Sishi put the registration form in her schoolbag and went home briskly.

She hadn't told anyone, not only her nominator Chang Baoning, about her plan to participate in this year's Miss Hong Kong pageant, but also her younger cousin Zhou Huichang, with whom she shared a room—not that she didn't trust Zhou Huichang's character, but rather that the siblings' names were just too "unconventional," and she was afraid of the worst-case scenario.

Anyway, she didn't need any assistants for the first round of auditions, and she could handle it all by herself.

Soon after sending out the application form, Li Sishi received a reply from Chang Baoning a few days later. Upon opening it, she found an invitation to attend the first round of interviews at Qingshuitan TV City on the weekend.

Following last year's real diamond robe button and the news that the top three winners would receive a total of about three million in prizes and cash from sponsors, the Miss Hong Kong pageant this year has undoubtedly reached a new peak in terms of popularity and attention.

Just like how, after Shu Ningning, the Miss Hong Kong winner in the 1970s, pioneered the trend of Miss Hong Kong marrying into wealthy families, the Miss Hong Kong pageant became the top choice for most girls in Hong Kong to strive for in the years that followed. For this tangible benefit, girls who were unwilling to be buried in mediocrity could work desperately for it.

As long as it's not really too much

Who among the grassroots would participate in a competition for the tens of thousands of yuan in prize money for the top three?

Isn't it all for the sake of gaining attention during the election, to stand out, or for the resources that come with being in the top three, as well as the high-value prizes or vouchers provided by sponsors?

Take Shu Ningning, who pioneered the trend of Miss Hong Kong marrying into a wealthy family. Newspapers and magazines described her as a Cinderella who married into a wealthy family, but in fact, the Shu family itself was also a well-off family, just not as wealthy as the Guo family she married into.

In the era before various self-media and other publicity channels, if a beautiful woman wanted to stand out or turn her beauty into assets, she would undoubtedly have to rely on media such as beauty pageants that could attract a lot of attention.

According to Chang Baoning, she found out that the number of people who signed up for the first round of interviews this year was much higher than in previous years, reaching nearly two thousand. Li Sishi then cooperated by making a surprised and worried expression.

The best thing about the acting skills of the licorice actor is that it is "natural" enough.

Unless you're a seasoned veteran actor who's been in the business for years, it's hard to tell if such a performance is genuine.

Chang Baoning, who retired from the entertainment industry to go into business after fulfilling her contract, would definitely have difficulty discerning Li Sishi's true intentions at this moment. Seeing Li Sishi's appearance, she relied on her experience to advise her: "But don't worry, although there are more applicants this year than in previous years, the staff will screen out more than half of the submitted applications at the beginning. In the first round of interviews, there should only be a few hundred people left."

"In other words, when you receive this invitation to the first round of interviews, you've already beaten hundreds or thousands of people..."

"Mmm!" Li Sishi continued to nod in agreement, appearing obedient and attentive.

"In short, the first round of interviews is just to see if you match the information on the application form. Someone like you who looks better in person than on camera doesn't really need to worry about anything. Just be natural and confident," Chang Baoning added.

Li Sishi continued to nod obediently: Most contestants would paste their best photo on the registration form. The most crucial point of this first round of interviews is whether the real person and the photo match.

Even if there are some differences, they shouldn't be too much—don't underestimate this. There were still many "photo frauds" in the 1990s. Although they weren't as prevalent as later beauty technology and software, as long as you were willing to spend time and money, you could still find someone to help you take a few presentable photos.

Thus, it was inevitable that in the first round of interviews, a large number of real people and their photos would be completely different except for being the same species—a situation that would "die in the light of day"...

What's even more terrifying is that even if the real person and the photo aren't that different, the paparazzi surrounding the first round of interviews are all like funhouse mirrors, constantly shouting "Beautiful lady, look over here, look over here," while simultaneously snapping a bunch of unflattering photos of you.

Even the big and small internet celebrities of later generations, who were exposed to cameras, could be captured as bizarre creatures by the harsh and cruel lens of Hong Kong media. So it goes without saying that in the 1990s, when cameras were still expensive.

The term "lens distortion" is not a joke.

Some unscrupulous paparazzi with access to various channels will even juxtapose the carefully selected beautiful photos submitted by the contestants with the ugly photos they casually snapped, and post them together for comparison, writing several lengthy articles about "beautiful women only existing in photos."

If things go wrong, she might just be named "Most Courageous Contestant of the Year"...

The implication is clear: "You dare to run for office looking like that?!"

In this situation, contestants with prior beauty pageant experience usually have an advantage. Even if they didn't achieve good results in previous competitions, they can still withstand the test of being photographed by relying on their trained demeanor and facial expression management. By contrasting and damaging their performance, they can eliminate a large number of opponents who lack on-camera experience.

Li Sishi knew she could never be low-key, whether in her past or present life, so on the day of the first round of interviews on the weekend, she simply displayed the fearless spirit of a newborn calf and swaggered into the interview waiting room.

I don't know when these paparazzi arrived, but they were already crowding the waiting hall early in the morning. As soon as they saw a pretty contestant, they would swarm over to take pictures and ask questions, making the whole place incredibly noisy.

The noise subsided slightly and paused for a moment only after Li Sishi walked in from outside.

"Wow! This one is even prettier!" The paparazzi, always quick to seize an opportunity, immediately flocked to the scene at the sound of the alarm, raising all sorts of cameras and snapping pictures of Li Sishi, their flashes going off non-stop.

In this long-awaited, blinding flash of light, Li Sishi could vaguely see through the gaps in the human wall that the young-looking but mature-figured girl on the other side was looking at them with a resentful expression.

"Beautiful lady, your birthday is February 14th, 1976? That means you just turned 17 not long ago?"

"She's even younger than that 17-and-a-half-year-old from before..."

"Hey, don't be so ungrateful. That guy was only 17 and a half years old."

But her figure is at least that of a 27-and-a-half-year-old!

"Little sister, you're still so young. Do your family members agree to you running for office?"

"Hey beautiful, look over here—smile, hold this pose... Okay, perfect!"

Seeing that Li Sishi had stolen most of the paparazzi's attention, the girl who originally thought she was the youngest contestant in this year's competition bit her lip, turned around, tossed her big ponytail, and stormed off to another corner to wait for the next round of interviews.

Li Sishi watched her movements through the crowd, but her heart wasn't particularly stirred: to be honest, this girl with the ponytail was one of the few opponents she could remember.

Given that they are close in age, both are popular contenders for the top three in this year's competition, and both will be entering the entertainment industry in the future, it would be difficult for Li Sishi not to remember them.

Aside from failing to make it into the final five due to an accident, this girl with the ponytail also had a rather complicated career path. Unlike the other two contestants who were also popular and made it into the final five but failed to reach the top three, she received strong support from the TV station. Instead, she adopted a somewhat sensual but not entirely glamorous approach and spent some time working in the film industry.

However, given the prevailing social climate of the time, even if someone is not a "porn star" but merely a "sex symbol," they are still considered unacceptable in people's eyes.

What's rare is that as soon as she entered the waiting room, she ran into this "old friend" whose brain might be even less sharp than her own in her previous life. Li Sishi carefully compared them in her mind and felt that this ponytail girl named Wan Jiamei was easier to befriend than the others.

It's really a case of choosing the best among the worst. Although Wan Jiamei wasn't very bright or had a good temper when she was young, she was still better than the other contestants in this year's competition who left an impression on her.

In any case, she can't afford to offend that wealthy heiress who loves to stir up scandals, nor can she afford to offend that woman who, despite "whitewashing" her past, was still exposed by the all-powerful media and ultimately earned the title of "suspected gang leader's wife"...

Although these three, like her, were initially very popular but ultimately failed to achieve their goals, in terms of future development, the four of them are considered the top four with the best career prospects among this year's contestants.

"Next up, Li Sishi!"

Li Sishi responded and entered the interview room. This was Wan Jiamei, who had already finished her interview but was whispering to her female companion in the corner.

"Don't worry, you're a genuine Form 5 graduate and a model now, you're definitely better than her!" her female companion whispered to comfort her. "You'll definitely make it to the second round. You've worked with several second-tier singers and filmed their music videos... you have way more on-screen experience than them!"

"That's right, I can definitely do it!" Encouraged by her female companion, Wan Jiamei composed herself and then said, "By the way, I asked the owner of a music store I know to reserve a CD of Leo's latest single's music video for you. We'll go pick it up in a bit."

"Is it the newly released song 'Summer Promise'? That's great, thank you so much!" The female companion was extremely excited upon hearing this.

Wan Jiamei nodded, then took one last look at the interview room before leaving with a complicated expression.

Although there are many strong opponents this time, she is not just a filler or a second-rate player. Therefore, she will definitely go all out and do her best in the upcoming stages!