The Martial Artist Turned Movie Mogul
Chapter 574 - 573. Extremely anxious inside (in the middle of the night)

Chapter 574: 573. Extremely anxious inside (in the middle of the night)

Lu Xiangtong’s role in the drama wasn’t particularly large, especially compared to the two leads and several veteran actors who schemed throughout the narrative. She was called Female Lead No. 2 merely because there were only a few female actors used in the show.

The other roles were mostly palace maidens or similar, and they were even less worth mentioning.

Those around, upon hearing this introduction, took another look at the young girl before them.

She was indeed a young girl, and she looked very young—

As for the setup of props on set, that was a minor issue, Tang Shu only needed to communicate with the staff. But when it came to etiquette guidance, could she really properly instruct these experienced actors?

Hopefully, she wouldn’t be trembling while talking to them.

However...

Tang Shu smiled politely, standing confidently under the meaningful glances of the crowd, her black eyes calm and undisturbed, not showing any signs of excitement even when she saw the award-winning actors.

"Hello, teachers, I look forward to learning from you all in the future," she said.

The girl across from them nodded slightly, her posture relaxed and her presence overwhelming.

Hey!

The people around were immediately surprised.

"This young lady isn’t bad; she isn’t nervous at all!"

"Her gaze is clear; indeed, she’s good."

The actors complimented her one after another. They were all seasoned professionals in the industry and had a somewhat discerning eye; the young girl’s demeanor and conduct carried an air of confidence and respect for the rules.

Not far away, the rapid clicks of the Entertainment Reporter’s camera could be heard, and it didn’t take long before the journalists had written and uploaded articles to the internet.

With this, the "Corridor Pavilion" production officially entered the filming stage.

In the midst of the hustle and bustle, the midterm exam results for Medical University were posted on the campus official website.

Without surprise, Tang Shu once again secured the top rank in her grade.

This left her academic advisor, who thought she was not focused on her studies and was reluctant to approve her leave requests, feeling conflicted. On one hand, the advisor truly felt Tang Shu should attend every class, but on the other hand, she was torn due to Tang Shu’s outstanding grades.

"I hope you can maintain these results," Lecturer Chen begrudgingly handed the leave permit to Tang Shu in the office.

"Thank you, teacher, I will," Tang Shu replied.

After receiving the leave permit, Tang Shu’s life became more structured, having mastered most of the coursework at school, she directly linked up the drama production, the laboratory, and Professor Cao’s art restoration office.

Most of the time, she was running between these three points.

Of course, the majority of her time was still devoted to the production team.

***

In late April, the submission deadline for the second round of the National Painting and Calligraphy Competition arrived.

With the arrival of the last day, nearly two hundred competitors from the top five of each province collectively uploaded their works to the association’s official website.

Many participants started exchanging ideas privately and online after submitting their works.

"What’s the mechanism for the second round of the competition? Does anyone know?"

"It’s still online high-definition scoring, and this time it’s about selecting the top 100 for the next round; the competition is quite fierce—"

"A mid-competition cut, there are so many participants when you add up the top five from each province!"

"Although it feels like there’s a 50% chance of making it into the next round, but! The competitors are the top five from each province, so their strength is pretty scary too~~~"

"The closer we get to the end of the competition, the smaller the gap between participants becomes; it’s truly a fight for every point!"

"I wonder how the judges are arranged?"

No sooner had this question been raised than someone noticed that the association’s official website had posted the latest news.

[Regarding the Explanation of the Rules for the Second Round of the National Painting and Calligraphy Competition]

The title was straightforward.

Everyone excitedly clicked in, eager to understand how the scoring would be done first-hand.

"Participants’ works are randomly matched with five judges for individual scoring?"

"After scoring is completed, the final score is the average!"

"So, does that mean each of our works will have five original scores?"

"In other words, essentially each judge has to evaluate half of our works!"

"Hey hey, there’s an announcement in the bottom right corner!"

"Eh? Our works have already been matched to five judges? Does that mean we can now find out exactly which five professors they are?"

"That was fast!"

"It doesn’t matter if we look at the list of judges or not, after all there are ten judges in total, and each of us will be matched with five of them... wait a minute!"

"Damn, damn, damn, I just thought of the Great Demon King!"

"Grant and Withhold from him..."

"Is everyone’s historical low score!"

The last few comments were obviously from the five contestants from the capital because they had experienced the scoring and commenting process by Grant and Withhold, whose scores were indeed lower than the final ones.

At least, among those who posted video comments in the last round, Grant and Withhold’s score was the lowest.

They even dubbed him "Great Demon King" after a long discussion.

So, does this mean Grant and Withhold could drag down their average scores?!

"It’s over, I’m starting to tremble!"

"My heart is freaking out, sob sob sob~~~~"

Only the top five from the capital advanced to this round, and this bombshell sent everyone reeling, with each expressing their fear in the comments section.

"This is just like a lottery draw! Either go to Hell or ascend to Heaven!"

"I don’t want to bring up the Grant and Withhold award deep down, but! Emmmmm, his comments really did benefit me a lot."

"Absolutely, absolutely, I feel like I’ve made great improvements during the half-month of isolation after the last round."

"Me too, me too! But I still don’t want him to drag down my average score."

"I’m so torn——"

"I’ve never hated and liked someone so much at the same time!"

This remark set off a wave of laughter among those from the capital who had been eliminated in the previous round and were just logging on to the website to watch the excitement, as they began to tease in jest.

"Doesn’t this sound familiar? Where have I heard it before, bro?"

"Isn’t it just like those romantic scenes in idol dramas? The leads evaluate each other just like that~~~~"

"How does that saying go? ’The deeper the love, the deeper the hate’——"

"hhhhh~~~ Never expected that Teacher Grant and Withhold would have so many admirers."

"I’m dying, has this turned into a saga of love and hate?"

"I wasn’t feeling too good about being eliminated last round, but seeing you guys like this... sorry, I couldn’t help but laugh, hahaha!"

"Sorry, I couldn’t help it either, pfft—"

It wasn’t long after the association’s official website posted the news that the comments section was stacked like skyscrapers, bustling with activity from the capital’s crowd, both eliminated and not.

Meanwhile, some friends from Other Province who don’t usually browse social media were completely befuddled.

"What are you guys talking about? I saw the name ’Grant and Withhold’ in my Judges’ Area—what’s up with him?"