Chapter 11

Qi Linyuan was genuinely curious why Ji Yuchen had come again, but as soon as the clock struck nine, a staff member glared at him, forcing him to sit down in silence.

He didn’t sit for long, though. As the second group scheduled to record, it was only moments before his turn on stage arrived.

When the three judges saw him step onto the stage, they all straightened in their seats.

If only they hadn’t encountered this young man on this show. The thought crossed all three judges’ minds at once. If it weren’t for meeting him here, they could have given him more opportunities, and if he rose to prominence in the future, he would remember that it was they who helped him first.

Seeing the regret in their eyes, Qi Linyuan immediately guessed that the production team had already spoken with them.

He didn’t mind, but he was curious how the judges would react if his performance turned out to be different from what the show had anticipated.

Would they be surprised? Or frustrated? After all, this was already the fourth round. Regardless of the show’s reputation, the judges themselves still had good standing.

“Three, two…”

Qi Linyuan’s musings were abruptly cut short by the host’s countdown in his ear.

He immediately gathered his thoughts, and with the host’s final “action,” fully immersed himself in the role.

.

Wu Wu was born in a small courtyard near the General’s Manor in Baisha City.

Baisha City was a place perennially ravaged by war, and his name reflected his parents’ hopes for him.

Yet he did not grow into the strong, formidable man his parents wished for. Instead, he was born with a delicate face.

Though disappointed, his parents accepted it. Since the new general’s arrival, their lives had vastly improved.

They felt that even if Wu Wu didn’t become a towering man, as long as Baisha City remained peaceful, he could live a different life than they had.

They constantly reminded Wu Wu to be grateful—without the new general, they wouldn’t have what they did now. Wu Wu believed this at first, but as years passed and the city remained at peace, every time he and the neighborhood children met the general’s son, they always had to give way to him. This slowly festered into jealousy within Wu Wu.

Why should it be this way? Didn’t the General’s Manor say everyone was equal? Why did he have to defer to Xu Shaoyu?

Xu Shaoyu wasn’t as good-looking or as clever as he was—he only practiced with his spear in a dull, clumsy way. And yet, just because he was the general’s son, they all had to yield to him?

Thus, the seed of jealousy was sown. Even though it was their own parents, not the general’s, who made them yield, Wu Wu’s resentment landed squarely on the General’s Manor.

So years passed. War broke out again, and Baisha City was drawn into the chaos.

Xu Shaoyu donned armor and became the young general. Every time he returned victorious, Wu Wu’s parents would sigh in admiration, “The young general truly lives up to his father’s name—so formidable.” This only deepened Wu Wu’s resentment.

What was so formidable? If he was so capable, why did Baisha City suffer war at all? Wu Wu had heard there was no war in the central plains; clearly, it was the general’s incompetence.

This thought took root in Wu Wu’s heart. Every time soldiers following Xu Shaoyu failed to return from battle, he chalked it up to their own shortcomings—otherwise, why did Xu Shaoyu always survive?

As the fighting drew closer to Baisha City and their lives grew harder, his hatred for the General’s Manor intensified.

Why couldn’t they do better?

Wu Wu obsessed over this, and his hatred was exploited by a spy who had infiltrated the city. The spy listened to all his grievances and assured him he wasn’t wrong—that everything was the fault of those in the General’s Manor.

“If you could just get rid of Xu Shaoyu, it would end,” the spy said. “They caused all of this—they should pay for it.”

Wu Wu believed him. He took the poison the spy provided, slipped it into a waterskin, and gave it to Xu Shaoyu.

The latter, who had grown up with Wu Wu, suspected nothing and drank the poison without hesitation.

“It’s all your fault!” Wu Wu shouted as Xu Shaoyu, poisoned and taken away, left the western city gate leaderless. The enemy breached the gate and a small group of enemy soldiers poured into the city.

Wu Wu forced Xu Shaoyu to witness the slaughter of the townspeople. “If not for you, if not for your father, none of them would have died!”

Xu Shaoyu barely heard his words; his eyes were fixed on the devastation, his grip tight on his spear as he struggled in vain to rise and fight.

Seeing Xu Shaoyu’s desperate struggle, Wu Wu burst into wild laughter. “You deserve to die! I’m telling you, you deserve to die!”

His shouting finally drew the attention of a soldier, who, recognizing his general, didn’t hesitate—he drove a spear straight into Wu Wu’s chest.

Wu Wu never expected this. His eyes widened in disbelief as he fell.

Xu Shaoyu glanced at his body, his eyes flashing with hatred, grievance, and sorrow—emotions that quickly faded, replaced by a single command: “Take me back. We must kill every enemy who breached the city.”

.

The scene performed by Qi Linyuan and Lu Luo began with Wu Wu’s poisoning and ended with the young general’s departure; the earlier motivations were added by Qi Linyuan to flesh out the character.

From the moment the performance began, the studio fell utterly silent. When it ended, the silence lingered, most people watching Qi Linyuan with complex expressions, saying nothing.

Unlike previous rounds where he lingered in character, Qi Linyuan immediately got up, smiled shyly, and bowed.

That smile—despite the same costume and same face—immediately distinguished him from Wu Wu in everyone’s eyes.

One judge, unable to hold back, asked, “What were you thinking as you acted?”

Qi Linyuan considered for a moment. “‘Why isn’t this beast dead yet?’”

The judge was left both amused and exasperated; the other judges felt the same.

Looking at Qi Linyuan, they couldn’t hide the admiration in their eyes.

He was truly remarkable—his acting was superb, and his ability to turn the situation around was equally impressive.

Whether by design or not, that smile and that answer severed any connection between him and the character for the audience, making it clear that the role belonged to the performance, not to him.

The judges exchanged glances. From a fair perspective, Qi Linyuan was the clear winner of this round, but… well…

“We need to discuss,” the three judges quickly agreed, requesting a pause from the production team.

The director, realizing there was a problem, agreed without hesitation.

Afterward, he glanced at He Ransheng, then at Lu Luo, and finally at Qi Linyuan.

Oh, what a mess! They’d promised everything was foolproof, that viewers wouldn’t object—so how did it come to this?

Seeing their reactions, Qi Linyuan knew his performance had been outstanding, and relaxed.

But when he caught Ji Yuchen’s scrutinizing gaze, his composure vanished, and he instinctively returned to a state of alert.

He wanted to swear to Ji Yuchen that he was truly an innocent, grateful, harmless young actor, with nothing ungrateful or heartless about him—honestly!

“You fooled us.”

As Qi Linyuan was fretting over whether he’d have a chance to explain himself to Ji Yuchen, a voice sounded in his ear.

He looked up to see Lu Luo already standing beside him.

“You fooled us,” Lu Luo repeated.

Qi Linyuan noticed the microphones weren’t picking up—clearly, the director had turned off the studio’s audio to avoid any accidents—so he didn’t ignore Lu Luo. Instead, he smiled and said, “You set a trap to eliminate me. I fooled you back. That’s fair, isn’t it?”

If it had been He Ransheng on stage, he might have exploded with, “Who do you think you are, to compare yourself to us?” But it was Lu Luo.

Lu Luo was silent for a moment, then, surprisingly, didn’t refute him. “But you shouldn’t have done it. If you’d accepted it, this would have ended when the episode aired. But now, it won’t be so simple.”

Qi Linyuan was unfazed. “The future can wait. Honestly, with talent like yours, it’s a waste to resort to backstage schemes instead of focusing on acting.”

His sincerity made Lu Luo fall silent again.

He knew he’d acted well—the shock of betrayal by a childhood friend, the grief and helpless struggle as the townsfolk were slaughtered, even the final complex feelings toward Wu Wu. He’d nailed every beat, perhaps even better than the original script.

Had his opponent been any other contestant, he would have won the round without dispute—but his opponent was Qi Linyuan.

The moment “Wu Wu” spoke, Lu Luo had felt a chill run through him, as if all of “Xu Shaoyu’s” rage had been ignited by this man.

Reluctant as he was to admit it, without Qi Linyuan’s Wu Wu, his own Xu Shaoyu would never have achieved such an effect.

Unable to fault Qi Linyuan’s performance, he studied him for a long time before finally saying, “You fooled everyone. That innocent, unaffected persona from previous rounds was all an act, wasn’t it?”

Qi Linyuan had no intention of admitting this. Looking at Lu Luo, he smiled in exactly the same way he had during previous rounds when speaking on stage. “Of course not! How could I possibly have that level of acting skill? That wouldn’t make sense, would it?”