Chapter 36
Despite Shi Sheng’s protests, she still brought the few ‘buds’ with her in the end.
The team was composed of four people, with two from each gender. This type of grouping was rarely seen since the opportunities for it were relatively fewer. This grouping had been considered for a long time by the company. These four were quite good, especially in the looks department.
After a period of training together, a tacit understanding between them had developed quite nicely so the company had agreed to this grouping in the end.
“Xiaowan, you’re here. Eh… Xiaowan brought some new people?” The director of the show went to greet Shi Sheng and when he saw the four ‘juicy’ youths, his eyes lit up.
These four weren’t your normal kind of pretty.
“En, brought them here to get some exposure.” Shi Sheng nodded as she introduced both sides, “This is Director Lin. And these are Han Ling, Fang Jinyu, Yan Ze and Jiang Ming.”
“Hello Director Lin.” The four cutely greeted him.
“Good, very good.” Director Lin nodded his head while laughing. He had just been worrying about having to find some pretty youths but here they were, being sent to his doorstep. ‘Jiang Wan is simply my lucky star! She sent me a pillow just as I was getting drowsy[1]!’
This programme was called 《Extreme World》 and was about challenging the tasks set by the programme’s crew. Though these tasks weren’t too hard, they were definitely wacky.
The first season hadn’t gotten too many views but the director gritted his teeth and went on to film a second season. He even spent a huge sum to invite several good-looking stars. This caused the second season of the programme to shoot to fame. This was currently the third season. Two weekly episodes had already been filmed so this was the third one.
This week’s episode required two young men, and the good-looking kind too. The participants had been arranged in advance but the director only just found out now that those people couldn’t make it in time. They were already about to leave, so where would he be able to find people to replace them on such short notice?
Even if they did have the time, it still wasn’t that easy to find people who fit the conditions. Although Shi Sheng had brought four people, all he needed to do was change the script a bit. Besides, those two young ladies were very pretty too!
“We’re going to be filming at Nanshan[2] this time. We’ll set off when everyone’s here.” Director Lin smiled as he looked at the four behind Shi Sheng. He was so satisfied his moustache was about to stick up {I doubt this is literal}. Director Lin arranged a car for Shi Sheng and the four youths before leaving in a hurry.
“Wan-jie… We’ve watched this programme before. Will it be hard to play?” Han Ling, who was the bravest of the four, sat next to Shi Sheng and asked apprehensively. The other three also looked nervously at Shi Sheng. They had been in training before so they hadn’t participated in any programmes yet.
“Of course it’s hard.” Shi Sheng nodded like it was to be expected. ‘After all, if it wasn’t, how would it get the viewership it currently enjoys?’
‘For the sake of being able to ace this programme, I(bbb) even went to go and read up guides- Though they were all useless.’
The four of them all had downcast expressions on their faces upon hearing that. Weren’t they going to lose face then?
“What are you guys worried about? At most you’ll be one of the quest characters, it’s not as if you’ll actually be challenging it or anything so don’t think too much.”
The four people “…” ‘Why do we feel like Wan-jie is making a jibe at us?’
The four didn’t dare to say anything so they quietly sat in the car. However, even after a long time, there were no signs of the group setting off.
Shi Sheng was a bit impatient by now so she rapped on the glass separating the back seats from the front ones. “Why haven’t we set off yet? Are you going to get more money by waiting?”
The driver’s lips twitched but he still took out his walkie-talkie to contact the people in the cars behind. After having received a reply, he relayed it to Shi Sheng, “Someone hasn’t arrived yet so we still have to wait.”
“Didn’t we say we were meeting at 10?” ‘I(bbb) ran all the way here so early. Now you’re telling me even after so long there’s still someone who hasn’t arrived.’
The programme’s crew had already set the time long ago. The gathering area was also somewhere that had specially chosen at an area where traffic wouldn’t slow people on the way there down, so why was there still someone who hadn’t arrived yet?
The driver was helpless. “It’s the Queen of Acting, Xia Xuan. Our programme had to spend quite a bit of effort in order to invite her.” Being late wasn’t all that big of a deal.
‘Xia Xuan? Fuck, do the people planning this programme have a grudge with me(bbb)?!’
“Xiaoming, where are your snacks? Sacrifice some for the sake of calming me down.” ‘I(bbb) was scared, you know.’
Black lines appeared on Jiang Ming’s head[3]. “Wan-jie, can you not call me Xiaoming?”
Xiaoming was the most commonly used name in textbooks everywhere. You wouldn’t be able to count them all if you tried. He was clearly this clever, yet why did he end up with a name like this[4]?
“Got it, Xiaoming.”
Jiang Ming, “…”
Jiang Ming felt uncomfortable from the pitying gazes his teammates sent him.
After handing over a snack to Shi Sheng, he retreated to one side as he resolved to be a part of the background. The car was filled with the sounds of crunching from Shi Sheng munching on potato chips.
In the end, it evolved from one person munching on potato chips to five people gathering in a circle and munching on potato chips. Fortunately, Jiang Ming was a foodie so he brought plenty of food with him.
They hadn’t encountered Shi Sheng too often before. All they knew about her was that she was the person Director Tang was managing personally and her status in the company was very high.
The rumours in the company said that she wasn’t easy to get along with but once they got to know her, they felt like she was much easier to get along with than other artists- Once you put aside her acidic remarks and bluntness, that is.
In this snack sharing session, the four felt much closer to Shi Sheng than before.
Director Lin came over for a bit. Seeing them eating snacks while playing Landlord[5], they didn’t seem to mind the delay that much. Director Lin left feeling rather pleased. ‘Quite a few people in the back have already kicked up a fuss. These five are much more agreeable!’
By the time Xia Xuan had reached, it was already nearing noon. She even brought over a group of reporters with her. With this delay, it was already 1pm by the time they set out.
#Queen Of Acting Xia Xuan Joins Extreme World#
This Weibo post was immediately circulated around.
The entire programme’s crew seemed to be revolving around Xia Xuan now. When Shi Sheng brought the four debuting artists down with her, Xia Xuan’s surroundings were surrounded by people while her area was nearly completely empty.
Han Ling looked over before crying out in injustice, “Wan-jie, Xia Xuan not only made us late, she even made the programme’s crew attend to her, isn’t that too much?!”
Fang Yinyu nodded as well. Jiang Ming and Yan Ze exchanged a glance and didn’t express any opinion on the matter.
“You have to be lowkey.” Shi Sheng drank the milk offered up by Jiang Ming before speaking in an unclear voice, “Later when you guys are following the programme crew, pay a bit more attention.”
???
‘What do we have to pay attention to?’
Shi Sheng smiled mysteriously before beginning to walk towards the foot of the mountain.
As compensation for having to wait for Xia Xuan, Director Lin had told Shi Sheng the itinerary for today. Today, they were going to be filming the celebrities here climbing the mountain. Whoever reached the peak first would get first dibs on their lodging as well as an extravagant dinner.
So, while the other artists were still waiting with Xia Xuan, Shi Sheng had already started climbing the mountain. The cameraman, seeing that someone was beginning, immediately started working.
Director Lin hadn’t broken the rules because all these had been written in the handbooks handed out to everyone. As long as they paid attention, they would know that filming could commence as soon as they reached their destination. And the people who grabbed the opportunities earliest would get the best resources.
Though, hardly anyone ever looked through it seriously.
“Xiao-ge[6], are you tired?” Shi Sheng was walking backwards as she looked at the camera while she asked the cameraman with a smile. The cameraman wasn’t allowed to speak so he could only shake his head.
“That’s good.”
The cameraman cast a confused stare at Shi Sheng.
“Then I’ll start to run now. If you can’t catch up, it’s not my fault.”
The cameraman “…” ‘Don’t be like this! Do you see how big this camera is? How do you expect me to run after you ON A MOUNTAIN with this?!’
The cameraman didn’t have time to raise his objections when Shi Sheng started running towards the mountain. Her speed was very quick, she managed to cover quite a bit of distance in a short amount of time.
‘*sobbing* So those colleagues of mine weren’t lying…
This celebrity is the most work…
Can I request a re-do?’
[1] This means she gave him exactly what he needed.
[2] Common place name in China. It means South Mountain. Here’s the Wikipedia page for the list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanshan
[3] This is a manhwa reference I think? Where people who are exasperated have black lines on their heads.
[4] This last bit was added by me because the raws didn’t go into much explanation on it and it would sound awkward if I left it. Since Xiaoming or ‘小明’ is used by textbooks everywhere, and said textbooks are usually used to educate children, these Xiaomings aren’t usually very smart.
[5] It’s a board game. I’ve never actually played it or know what it’s about but I’m inferring from the title it’s like Monopoly?
[6] It says ‘小哥’ here which literally means little big brother. But that sounds awkward so I’m leaving it in pinyin.