Huayu: From the Era of Ringtones to Becoming a Legend

Lu Jiuge glanced at the camera, then suddenly sneered at the screen and made a highly provocative gesture.

"Only by following your script can we accumulate enough negative faith points."

He smiled coldly to himself.

His recent goal is to exchange three million negative faith points for master-level business management skills.

In the entertainment industry, where capital reigns supreme, having good works and talent is far from enough. Only by mastering the core management skills can one gain a foothold in the competition between Chinese, Korean, and even global capital.

At the control room, Zhu Zhixiu saw this scene and slapped her thigh in excitement.

Li Zaixiu gave him a strict order: to capture negative material about Lu Jiuge.

He was worried that Lu Jiuge would keep a low profile, but he never expected her to be so arrogant.

"Keep a close eye on him!"

Zhu Zhixiu pointed at the screen and gave the order to the director:

"Don't miss a single expression!"

……

On the other side, the trainees sat neatly according to their number plates, whispering amongst themselves, all with barely concealed nervousness.

Soon, the host, microphone in hand, strode onto the stage, his voice booming and resonating throughout the hall through the speakers:

"The first round of auditions for Super Star Survival has officially begun!"

"Two players will be eliminated this round! The bottom two scorers in classes A through E will be directly demoted to class F!"

"Remember, Class F will always have a full roster of five, while Class A will ultimately only have one person left: that person will be the champion!"

After explaining the rules, the host glanced at the stage card and continued to stir up emotions:

"Next, let's give a warm round of applause to welcome the four top-tier mentors for Super Star Survival!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the lights focused on the judges' panel, and four figures stood up in turn, while more than a hundred contestants burst into enthusiastic applause.

Among the mentors, the first to stand up was Kim Jin-hyun from JYP.

This veteran K-pop producer has countless debut resources at his disposal, and he exudes authority just by sitting there.

The second is vocal coach Lim Yoon-a.

As a top female singer, she is known for her strict critiques. Everyone in the industry knows that getting a single word of approval from her is harder than getting ten GG endorsements.

When the third person stood up, the cheers from the entire audience reached their peak.

Wearing a simple white suit, exuding a cool and unique elegance, she is none other than Jun Ji-hyun, the national goddess of Korean entertainment.

Her crossover role as a dance instructor was already enough to generate buzz, but when she raised her hand to greet the audience with a gentle expression, she instantly captured the attention of all the trainees.

Lu Jiuge's gaze lingered on her for a moment, and his heart stirred slightly.

Jun Ji-hyun has always been free-spirited, not attached to any chaebol company, and not easily swayed by Lee Jae-soo.

This might be the only variable in his evaluation.

The last one, dressed in a custom-made black suit, with a cold expression and an unyielding fierceness in his eyes, was none other than Choi Myung-ho, the chief producer of SG Entertainment.

Lu Jiuge's gaze darkened.

coming.

The knife that Lee Jae-soo planted in the judges' panel has finally revealed its true nature.

The moment Cui Minghao sat down, his gaze swept across the room like a cold blade, finally settling on Lu Jiuge.

He had already received Li Zaixiu's death order:

No matter how Lu Jiuge performs, he must be given the lowest score, and every possible reason must be found to make things difficult for him, so that he can be permanently stuck in Class F.

Seeing Cui Minghao's undisguised glint in his eyes, all the contestants looked at Lu Jiuge with schadenfreude and mockery.

Of them, only Jiang Dasheng was worried about him.

Soon, the evaluation officially began.

The trainees took to the stage one by one according to their number plates. Most of the contestants before them were promoted by major entertainment companies. They had their own strengths in singing, dancing and rapping, and their stage performances were remarkable.

Kim Jin-hyun's comments were insightful, Im Yoon-ah nodded occasionally, and Jun Ji-hyun offered some gentle yet practical advice.

Even Cui Minghao treated the contestants promoted by these companies with great respect, and they frequently achieved high scores.

The lists for Class A and Class B were constantly being updated, making the trainees in the audience nervous. At the same time, everyone's eyes were intentionally or unintentionally glancing towards the corner.

They were waiting, waiting for Lu Jiuge to go on stage, waiting for him to embarrass himself, waiting for him to be publicly humiliated by Cui Minghao, waiting for him to become the biggest joke in this evaluation.

As the competition progressed into its second half, the judges became increasingly strict in their scoring, but that name still hadn't been chosen.

Jiang Dasheng sat next to Lu Jiuge, his palms already sweating, and whispered:

"Your turn is almost here."

Lu Jiuge nodded slightly, her expression calm, as if she were not the one about to go on stage.

Just then, the host picked up the list, cleared his throat, and read out the name that made the entire audience freeze instantly:

"Next up, Lu Jiuge!"

The three words, like a pebble thrown into a boiling lake, instantly plunged the entire testing hall into a deathly silence.

All the talking, cheering, and sighing abruptly ceased.

Hundreds of gazes, filled with mockery, expectation, disdain, and curiosity, shot toward the corner like countless cold arrows.

More than a dozen cameras rotated simultaneously, focusing on Lu Jiuge from every angle, their lenses locked on his figure, not even missing a blink of his eye.

The whispers from the audience, like fine needles, pierced everyone's ears:

"Here it comes! The plagiarist is finally taking the stage!"

"I'd like to see what he can sing!"

"Professor Cui must have prepared his explanation long ago; just wait and see him get yelled at until he cries!"

"Will mentor Jun Ji-hyun help him? I've seen her look at Lu Jiuge with a hint of admiration two or three times!"

"I doubt it. Although Jun Ji-hyun is a high-ranking mentor with a lot of influence in the Korean entertainment industry, she wouldn't risk offending SG Entertainment just because of one person!"

……

Ignoring the other contestants' chatter, Lu Jiuge walked straight to the stage.

Park Jae-hwan sat in the front row, a cold smile playing on his lips, arms crossed, waiting to see Lu Jiuge make a fool of herself.

Lu Jiuge walked straight to the center of the stage, held the microphone in one hand, and didn't even bother to bow.

He glanced across the judges' panel, taking in Choi Myung-ho's murderous intent, Jun Ji-hyun's curiosity, and Im Yoon-ah's doubts.

Park Jae-hwan, sitting in the front row, crossed his arms, his sneer barely holding on, waiting to see him make a fool of himself.

Lu Jiuge gripped the microphone without any prelude, without any build-up, and even her expression seemed nonchalant.

The next second, he opened his mouth, and the melody started, leaving the entire audience stunned.

He didn't sing the song he had prepared at all. Instead, he casually started singing "Gangnam Style" a cappella!

The trainees stared in disbelief, then burst into suppressed laughter.

Cui Minghao's expression changed drastically. He slammed his hand on the table, stood up abruptly, pointed at Lu Jiuge, and was furious.

"Nonsense! Absolutely nonsense!"

"This is the official competition stage! It's the crucial assessment that will determine who stays and who goes! How dare you be so presumptuous, not only not singing the song you were supposed to sing, but also using an old song to get by?"

"Do you really think your song is invincible?"

"Disrespect for the stage, disrespect for the mentors, and disrespect for all the contestants who prepared diligently!"

"A contestant like you should be the first to be eliminated!"

Cui Minghao became more and more excited as he spoke, even forgetting the instructions from the company president, Li Zaixiu, not to eliminate Lu Jiuge.