Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Dong Jingxi and the others had such a drop in marks, and it was all because they were aggravated by Lu Man. Although Lu Man did not do anything, it still had something to do with her.
But she did not care about it at all. It was all Dong Jingxi and the rest giving themselves pressure, and that was quite troubling.
“It’s good to have competition, but as to when to compete, you must be clear. Even though you have passed the preliminaries this time, your results are so low. Does that look good? Your passing the preliminaries, it’s not because you guys were good, it was because the opponents were weak. If the opponents were a bit stronger, you all would be in a lot of danger!”
“If you want to compete with Lu Man, you can do so, I won’t stop you. I would even encourage this kind of competitiveness. But Lu Man was not in the same group as you all in the preliminaries, so why are you competing for results with her? During the preliminaries, you aren’t considered competitors. The competition is among those in your group. If in the next round, there is someone who draws the same group as Lu Man, then go and compete. But if you aren’t in the same group, there’s no need to look at her results.”
“Even if you are in the same group as her, I suggest that you guys compete with yourself and not with others. What you all need to do is to outdo yourselves, not Lu Man.”
Principal Liu did not dare to directly tell them that, if they wanted to set Lu Man as the target—he did not dare to say in the long term—but at least in the short term, they did not need to think about trying to outdo her.
This was the vital point in the competition, and Principal Liu did not want to hurt their confidence.
“I hope that in the second round, you all can have good results and not be like you were in the first round,” Principal Liu said.
Everyone agreed.
***
The second day after the first round ended, the participating students who had passed the preliminaries gathered at the National Drama Academy again and started their second time of drawing lots to separate into groups.
“There is a slight change in the competition rules for the second round,” Manager Hao said.
“In the second round, there will be five people in each group, but this time, it’s a competition where one person out of the five advances. There were 50 people who advanced in the first round, and the second round will be separated into groups of 10. Every day, there will be one group competing.”
“In the first round, everyone’s acting time was around 10 minutes. For the second round, the time is extended to around 20 minutes. Furthermore, it’ll not be like in the first round where you were only able to draw the scripts right before the competition. This time, everyone will draw lots for their scripts before their own competition. So you need to remember the time you all are competing and to come to the National Drama Academy to draw lots the day before.”
“Although the second round is a single-person competition, everyone will put on their own acting show. But what’s different from the first round is that the organizer of the competition will be providing you with guests to help you act. The guest cannot be chosen by you. It is a professional from the Han Corporation who will act alongside you.”
When everyone heard that, they got nervous.
For most of them, when they became famous, they had yet to have formal acting training, and a few had yet to officially film a show.
On hearing that, they instantly became not as confident.
If it were other students competing with them, they still had a lot of confidence.
But compared to those professional actors with experience…
Practically everyone had the same thoughts, hoping that they would draw someone whose acting skills were ordinary, and not someone talented.
At that time, if their acting skills were totally lacking comparatively, what could they do?
“Alright, let’s begin to draw lots to choose groups,” Hao Zhonghai said.
Among the 50 people who’d advanced, all the students from the National Film Academy were included, along with all the students from the National Drama Academy, seven people from Donghua Film Academy, eight people from Donghua Academy of Drama, six people from the National Media University, and three people each from Nan Hua Media University, Nan Hua Film Academy, and Nan Hua Academy of Drama.