Honest Beta gets scammed

Li Qing walked towards the Twilight Nebula Building.

Following the room number Guan Li had given him, he quickly found the classroom where he was taking acting classes.

The classroom was large, and several people were already seated inside. Li Qing glanced at it and exclaimed inwardly, "My God!"

These people all seem to have built-in beauty filters; their skin is so white it looks like it's glowing, and their features are so exquisite they look like they were painted on.

In the past, Li Qing would have been greatly shocked, but now, having probably seen better things, he has developed resistance and can remain as still as a mountain.

While he was sizing up others, they were naturally sizing him up as well.

Since we all belong to the same company, we'll all be competing for the same opportunities in the future. Everyone here is a competitor, and when a newcomer joins, everyone naturally has to assess the threat they pose.

Several pairs of eyes swept over Li Qing, but seeing that although he was tall, his appearance was only considered handsome and not threatening at all, they all withdrew their gazes with little interest.

Li Qing didn't notice these undercurrents. As a newcomer, he didn't know anyone here and couldn't talk to anyone. But he didn't want to sit in the first row, so he stepped up the stairs and went straight to the corner of the last row to sit down. He felt safer in that spot.

After he sat down, several more handsome men and beautiful women came in one after another, filling the classroom to about half full.

Soon, a middle-aged female teacher walked in.

She glanced around the classroom, her face expressionless, and then got straight to the point, beginning the lesson.

Li Qing has had a problem since he was a child: he gets sleepy whenever he goes to class.

He wasn't exactly a bright person to begin with, so he didn't get into a proper high school and went straight to work. Now that he's back in the "classroom," Li Qing has realized that his old problem hasn't gotten better at all.

The teacher spoke on the podium for about half an hour, and Li Qing's eyelids began to droop, and her head started to nod.

Just as he was about to fall asleep, someone gently poked his arm twice.

Li Qing subconsciously turned his head to look.

A guy sat down next to me at some point. He was very handsome, with striking features, and looked like an Alpha.

Li Qing remembered him. This Alpha entered the classroom after him and had been sitting two rows in front of him. He didn't know how he moved to be next to him.

Seeing Li Qing looking over, the Alpha smiled brightly and lowered his voice: "Hello, my name is Zhuo Ye. I haven't seen you before. Are you new here?"

As the saying goes, one doesn't hit a smiling face. Since Zhuo Ye was so enthusiastic, Li Qing naturally wouldn't be cold and refuse to save face. He replied in a low voice, "Yes, my name is Li Qing. I just signed the contract yesterday."

"Just signed it?"

Zhuo Ye understood, his gaze sweeping over Li Qing's face discreetly before asking another question.

"Which school do you go to? I'm from Nanjing Academy of Drama."

Southern Opera?

Li Qing was stunned for a few seconds, and after thinking it over, he still didn't understand what "Southern Opera" was. However, after hearing Zhuo Ye mention the school, he roughly guessed that it must be a place that specifically trains actors, and the people who come out of this place are what is known as having formal training.

Having figured this out, Li Qing had nothing to hide and honestly confessed.

"I don't have formal training; I didn't go to university."

"No?" Zhuo Ye seemed somewhat surprised, raising an eyebrow. "Then how did you get in?"

"I was scouted by a talent agent."

"A talent scout?" Zhuo Ye's voice rose slightly. He scanned Li Qing up and down again, his gaze scrutinizing him, before pressing, "Which talent scout?"

Li Qing didn't notice the change in his expression and answered honestly.

"Jenny."

Jenny!

Upon hearing this name, Zhuo Ye's expression changed instantly, and the way he looked at Li Qing became much more subtle.

He quickly put on an even warmer smile and swiftly pulled out his phone.

"Let's exchange contact information! We'll be colleagues in the same company from now on. I haven't been here long, so it's a good opportunity to make friends."

Li Qing thought that made sense; when you're out and about, having more friends means having more options. So he took out his phone and added Zhuo Ye as a friend.

After adding him, Zhuo Ye clicked on his profile picture and saw a birthday cake with candles bearing the number "20".

"You're only 20?"

"Huh?" Li Qing was stunned for a moment before realizing that Zhuo Ye was referring to her WeChat profile picture. She quickly explained, "No, I'm twenty-eight this year, almost thirty."

"Twenty-eight?"

Zhuo Ye's expression froze upon hearing this.

He looked at Li Qing's face. He certainly didn't look twenty, but he definitely didn't look like he was almost thirty. At this age, he had no works and wasn't even from a professional acting background, yet he was signed by "Jenny" to Twilight Nebula.

Zhuo Ye's gaze toward Li Qing grew increasingly strange.

Throughout the class, he would occasionally strike up a conversation with Li Qing.

Thanks to him, Li Qing was wide awake for the second half of the class. When Zhuo Ye wasn't talking to him, he was able to listen to a few words of the acting teacher's lecture, so it wasn't a wasted trip.

And so, Li Qing's life returned to its usual routine of going back and forth between home and work.

I was running back and forth between the company dormitory and the company building, except this time, it was like going to class instead of going to work.

At first, Li Qing was quite anxious. He was just attending classes and not doing any work. He didn't have a proper job. If things continued like this, would he still be able to get paid this month?

Guan Li appeared at just the right time.

He was told that the company would give him a fixed salary of five thousand yuan per month as a living allowance during the training period, which finally put Li Qing's mind at ease.

Li Qing had no understanding of the entertainment industry or how brokerage companies operated, so she didn't think about whether this "paid schooling" job was reasonable. She just thought it was because the company had good benefits and that big companies were different.

Almost two months passed like this.

That afternoon after class, Li Qing stood in front of the vending machine, scanned the code, and ordered a bottle of mineral water.

With a "clatter," the mineral water fell into the dispensing slot below. Li Qing bent down, took it out, unscrewed the cap, and took a big gulp. The icy liquid slid down his throat into his stomach, dispelling the feeling of heat and allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief.

He screwed the bottle cap on and was about to turn and leave when he suddenly heard laughter coming from around the corner.

"...What a waste of my time. I thought the person Jenny personally recruited was some important figure, but it turns out he's just a country bumpkin."

"I told him back then that he didn't look like a rich kid, but you still insisted on going. Now look what happened."

"Tsk, he was wearing all QE brand designer clothes back then, who knew he was a poor guy. Damn, the counterfeits these days are so realistic..."

"Hahaha, are you stupid?"

Li Qing paused, recognizing one of the voices as Zhuo Ye's.

Another male voice chimed in: "Back then, you were always dragging her out to dinner. I thought you two had a really good relationship."

"Get lost! I was only trying to build a good relationship with him beforehand because of Jenny, but who knew he was just an empty shell. He's almost thirty and nothing at all. I don't know what Jenny saw in him."

Another burst of laughter followed.