CHAPTER 200: CHAPTER 200 THE GROUP PERFORMANCE PK OFFICIALLY BEGINS

"It’s been a long time, Teacher Wen Jiu. Everyone really misses you."

Brother Hua was clearly a fan of Wen Jiu. His voice involuntarily carried a hint of excitement as he spoke.

"I’d like to ask you a few questions, Teacher Wen Jiu. You’ve been out of the industry for two years now. What made you decide to make a comeback and appear in front of the public again?"

Brother Hua voiced the question that was on everyone’s mind.

Wen Jiu brought the microphone to her lips and casually said, "Finished reading my books and realized it’s hard to find a job. Thought about it and decided to go back to my old profession."

It was clearly a joke, but delivered in Wen Jiu’s gentle voice, it was easy to believe it might be true.

In the waiting room, the actors started whispering among themselves again.

"Oh come on, is Goddess Wen Jiu joking internationally here? She’s a Master’s graduate from the Finance Department at Tsinghua University. If *she* can’t find a job, what hope do the rest of us have?"

"Is the job market really this intense now? Although I love Goddess Wen Jiu, I sure don’t want her competing with me."

"Who do you think you are to even compare yourself to Goddess Wen Jiu as a competitor? Dream on."

Naturally, Brother Hua understood that Wen Jiu was joking, so he chuckled and followed up with another question, "Has Teacher Wen Jiu decided what your comeback piece will be?"

"No." Wen Jiu gently shook her head, and even such a simple gesture of denial carried elegance.

"I’m not coming back as an actress."

Wen Jiu’s one sentence sent ripples through the crowd, leaving Brother Hua momentarily stunned.

Qin Jiaxiang practically jumped out of his chair, pointing at Wen Jiu while shouting, "You’re not coming back to act, so why are you here?"

"Here to take your job." Wen Jiu looked steadily at Qin Jiaxiang, her eyes curved with a smile. Even as she delivered this jab, her words sounded so gentle.

Qin Jiaxiang rolled his eyes at her and said helplessly, "You still haven’t changed that damned attitude of yours."

After sparring with Qin Jiaxiang, Wen Jiu shifted her gaze slowly back to the host, answering his earlier question, "I’m preparing to start up a production company. Thought I’d see if I could discover some promising actors through the show."

Brother Hua sighed, "So the goddess is rejoining the industry to work behind the scenes. What a pity, the audience still longs to watch you act."

"I knew it, there’s no way Goddess Wen Jiu couldn’t find a job. Turns out she’s starting her own venture."

"Exceptional people always find ways to shine, no matter where they go."

While the actors in the waiting room were still whispering privately, Wen Jiu had already been invited by the host to take her exclusive seat as a Movie Critique.

The stage crew continued guiding the flow of the program, while in the waiting room, staff arrived to organize the actors into teams for the competition.

Initially, actors formed groups based on personal preferences. The remaining ones who hadn’t found teams were paired through a draw by the staff.

Upon hearing that the elimination rules were six teams narrowing down to four, those planning to team up with friends hesitated.

Even if they were eliminated, they didn’t want to start by knocking out friends. So everyone started looking to team up with unfamiliar faces.

Qin Kai and Shen Yi both refused to team up with Sang Ning. According to them, either of their acting skills could metaphorically "wipe Sang Ning across the floor." They felt there would be no advantage teaming up with her.

Sang Ning didn’t question Qin Kai’s acting skills — anyone who could be shortlisted for Best Actor nominations was undoubtedly exceptional.

But Shen Yi had a lot of nerve saying that about her. His acting was only slightly better than hers, not exaggerated enough to "wipe her across the floor."

Unlike Qin Kai and Shen Yi, Chu Xi was quite enthusiastic, even proactively suggesting teaming up with Sang Ning.

Qin Kai immediately intervened, "Xiao Xi, you’d better forget about it. Us members of the Wild Squad shouldn’t start by tearing each other apart. Your acting skills could crush Sangsang effortlessly."

Qin Kai’s initial impression of Sang Ning was that she was aloof and hard to get along with, but after 30 days of recording Wild Squad, he discovered she was just a cold-on-the-outside, warm-on-the-inside, occasionally goofy and slightly eccentric girl.

Over time, he naturally adjusted to interacting with her through playful bickering.

Predictably, Sang Ning didn’t throw a tantrum but feigned an annoyed expression, rolling her eyes at Qin Kai, "Brother Kai, that’ll do, huh? If you keep trampling on my self-esteem, I’ll kill you!"

Chu Xi, being complimented for having better acting skills than Sang Ning, was naturally overjoyed. Though inwardly pleased, she outwardly pretended to show concern, "Since Brother Kai said so, I’ll find someone else to team up with."

"Right, you *should* find someone else to team up with." Sang Ning quickly followed up, "Your acting tends to pull people out of the moment. You’d better go distract others—don’t come plaguing teammates here."

Chu Xi shot Sang Ning a glare, "Hmph, you’re just being stubborn!"

The Wild Squad’s four members were dispersed into four different teams.

Qingyue had also become more tactful since coming here. Seeing that Shen Yi didn’t care for him, he no longer shamelessly tried to approach him.

But he also showed no intention of teaming up with anyone else from Wild Squad, carefully avoiding them as well.

Ten minutes later, the actors had finished forming teams, and each team also determined their performance order through a draw.

The first group to perform included that irritating Lu Ye’s team.

On stage, every team member first took turns introducing themselves, then faced the big screen to choose the scene they’d be performing.

Representing the team, Lu Ye made the selection, and after Brother Hua called action, the big screen began to rapidly cycle through scene names.

Three, two, one. Stop.

When Lu Ye shouted to stop, the screen displayed the words "Zoo."

The actors exchanged glances and their expressions ranged from amusement to exasperation—what could one even perform at a zoo?

Lu Ye froze for a moment, racing through his brain to think of what might work.

But the rule of group performance was no prep time allowed; as soon as a scene was chosen, they had to dive straight into character.

"First group, please assume your positions. The performance officially begins!"

The stage crew made their announcement, and even if they were still clueless, everyone adjusted quickly to enter into character.

Two of them had coincidentally imagined the same roles—gorillas pounding their chests with puffed-up cheeks.

Their antics were so comically exaggerated that the audience burst into laughter immediately.

Even the mentors couldn’t bear to watch. Qin Jiaxiang turned his head and griped to Ma Liheng, "What are these young actors even thinking? What film crew would cast someone to play a gorilla?"

Apart from the two actors who refused to play human roles, the other performances, though a bit stiff, were at least somewhat normal.

One played a keeper, another was a ticket vendor, one portrayed a security guard, and Lu Ye played a visitor watching the animals.

Thanks to the two actors who refused to act as humans dragging down their scores, the other four actors managed to advance smoothly.

Back in the waiting area, while the actors yet to perform sympathized with the eliminated contestants, they also secretly lamented not having lucked into such simplistic teammates.

Everyone reached a consensus: the mentors were clearly more interested in seeing their emotional range as *humans*, not performances of animals or objects.