Chapter 24: Having a Backer
With the TV station as his backer, Hu Xiaoxiao began to taste the sweetness.
The following reports mentioned Zhao Yanhong’s good deeds, reporting that she celebrated the birthday of the children in the orphanage. The photos were very warm and loving.
When she arrived at the TV station, Hu Xiaoxiao had already received the results and she had successfully entered the top 24.
After the top 24, there will be a semi-final.
In the semi-finals, 8 contestants will be eliminated, and only 16 contestants will enter the finals.
The semi-final program will last for an hour and popular stars will be invited to participate. Popular artists from the station will also be present to support the show. It is not only the semi-final of Miss Hong Kong, but also a way to help the TV station promote the actors and the TV series that are currently being broadcast or are about to be broadcast.
The voting for the semi-finals will be fair and transparent, with one hundred audience members from all walks of life voting on site. The eight contestants with the lowest votes will be eliminated.
Hu Xiaoxiao went to get the performance for the semi-finals, and on the way he saw Linda and Athena walking by in a hurry.
Linda walked in front with a very unhappy look on her face, while Athena lowered her head and her expression could not be seen.
After going upstairs and entering the office, Linda sat down and said to Athena, "Close the door."
Athena turned around, closed the office door, turned back again, bit her lip, and looked at Linda stubbornly.
"The reports were all fabricated by paparazzi. I didn't hit that old lady at all. She was the one who tried to snatch my cardboard box. I was taking a cardboard box to adopt a stray cat, and she grabbed it without giving me any explanation. I refused to give it to her, and after a struggle, she slipped and fell."
The more Athena thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt. "When I saw her fall, I stopped fighting. I comforted her and took her to the hospital. If those paparazzi had been following me and taking pictures, they wouldn't have known that I took the old lady to the hospital and even paid for her medical expenses!"
"What's the point of telling me this? Those paparazzi have already reported you!" Linda slammed Entertainment Weekly on the table and pointed at the headline.
"Now all the citizens of Hong Kong know that you, Athena, Lin Qianyou, are vicious and even hit an old lady. Do you believe that if this news continues to spread, the public will come to the TV station to complain about you and directly disqualify you from participating? Do you still want to compete? There will be no place for you in the entire Baogang from now on!"
Athena thought for a moment and said, "How about I go find Granny to help clarify this."
"You're going?" Linda laughed in anger. "That old woman, she even stole a cardboard box. If you go to her, won't that be like walking into a tiger's mouth? Tell her she can blackmail you to her heart's content?
If she wants money to help you, how much are you going to give her? Ten thousand or a hundred thousand? If paparazzi take pictures of you giving her money, they'll say you bribed the old lady to change her confession. You'll never be able to clear your name even if you jump into the Yellow River."
"Then what do you think we should do?" Athena had never dealt with people who would pester her. The people she had met since she was a child were all polite and reasonable.
Linda looked at Athena with dismay for a long moment, then closed her eyes. After a long pause, she said, "I can help you this time, but remember, this is only this time. If it happens again, you should quit. You're not cut out for this line of work."
Athena looked up at Linda with tears in her eyes and said sincerely, "Sister Linda, thank you for helping me. I will remember this lesson and your kindness. I will never make such a big mistake again."
Linda was still furious. "You knew you were competing in the Miss Hong Kong pageant, and it was such a crucial moment, with the whole of Hong Kong watching, why didn't you pay more attention? Be more cautious? There were so many contestants, and how could you be the only one to get into trouble?"
Linda picked up one of the newspapers, flipped it open, pointed at the article, and said, "Look how eye-catching Zhao Yanhong is! Why don't you learn from her?"
Athena took a look. She had been following the reports about Miss Hong Kong and knew about Zhao Yanhong's title of the kindest Miss Hong Kong in history.
She said disdainfully, "It's just a show."
"What's wrong with acting? Didn't you enter the entertainment industry just to act? In this industry, you have to be able to act not only on stage, but also off stage. If you can't act, a crisis is enough to ruin your future."
After Linda's teachings and criticisms, Athena finally came to her senses, but she felt more lost than ever before.
These losses include the injustice and grievance after being plotted against by paparazzi, the blow of realizing the dark side of the world for the first time, and the helplessness of having to succumb to reality.
In the training room, all the beauties have arrived and are rehearsing.
Seeing Athena coming, many beauties came to comfort her.
We have been training together for so long, and we all know what kind of person Athena is.
Of course, there are also one or two people who say comforting words on the surface, but with a sarcastic tone in their words.
Athena felt even more depressed, but she had to endure the grievance and join in the rehearsal.
On the day of the semi-finals, their first performance was to dance as a backup dancer for the popular young actor Lu Xinghe.
Lu Xinghe is the second male lead in the next urban drama "Business Storm" to be broadcasted by Treasure Hong Kong TV. The male lead is Treasure Hong Kong TV's Best Actor, a veteran and powerful actor, and a station-stabilizing figure.
Lu Xinghe has a fair and handsome appearance, and his smile is very friendly, which makes him very popular among the housewives.
The drama "Business Storm" can be said to be promoting Lu Xinghe and making him the successor to the ratings king.
So before the show was aired, TRT Hong Kong started to build up momentum, capitalizing on the popularity of the Miss Hong Kong semi-finals and letting Lu Xinghe sing the opening song.
While Lu Xinghe was singing, the 24 beauties danced with him and interacted with him in turn. Each beauty had a dance routine with Lu Xinghe, which allowed the audience to better showcase each beauty's appearance and temperament.
Lu Xinghe has no filming recently, so he came early to rehearse with the beauties.
The beauties had previously rehearsed with their dance teacher, and their performance went quite smoothly at first when they danced with Lu Xinghe.
In the part where Hu Xiaoxiao and Lu Xinghe danced together, she held Lu Xinghe's hand and turned three circles in a row, then posed facing the audience, and then made a fake push action, pushing Lu Xinghe to the next contestant.
The next beauty came up and danced with Lu Xinghe.
"You dance very well." When Lu Xinghe was dancing with Hu Xiaoxiao, his eyes lit up when he saw her dancing posture and he exclaimed in admiration.
"Thank you." After expressing his gratitude, Hu Xiaoxiao walked to the next position and performed the next dance seriously.
It was Athena's turn. Because she was worried and uneasy, she stepped on Lu Xinghe several times while dancing with him, causing Lu Xinghe to hold his feet and grit his teeth in pain.
"I'm sorry!" Athena was panicked and stood on the stage at a loss.
Lu Xinghe waved his hand and comforted her, "It's okay, you didn't mean it."
Seeing Lu Xinghe's brows furrowed in pain, Athena felt even more guilty and uneasy, and hated herself for being useless.
Seeing that everyone stopped and looked at her, she was obviously delaying everyone's rehearsal. Athena wanted to dance again, but in the end she couldn't help but covered her face and ran out.
Seeing that the situation was a bit tense, Lu Xinghe took the initiative to step forward and said to everyone, "You guys continue rehearsing, I'll go check on her."
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