“Why?”

“Can you understand? Who can understand?”

After leaving the main hall, Yan Man was still in a state of confusion: “Ye Lin chose me? Did I hear that wrong?”

No one answered her question. Only Simon lay in the front seat, laughing so hard he was nearly out of breath.

Yan Man: “I might as well buy you an oxygen machine so you don’t laugh yourself to death.”

“Not funny?” Simon could barely catch his breath, “You were just so confident saying that Ye Lin would rather die than choose you—”

“The next second, bam, he actually chose you. Well, surprises and unexpected twists, huh?”

Annoyed, Yan Man closed her eyes: “Ye Lin, if you’ve been kidnapped, just blink.”

What was even more absurd?

After she made her choice, the other two mentors, for some unknown reason, simply stepped aside—agreeing to let her join Ye Lin’s team.

And naturally, she became the first member of Ye Lin’s team.

Yan Man: “After the other mentors discussed, they directly let me join him. What’s going on? I was planning to join Sister Kong Lei’s group.”

“That part was truly wild, full of plot twists,” Simon said, “You didn’t see how the atmosphere in the studio exploded, and the barrage comments went crazy with laughter.”

Simon guessed: “I think there are quite a few factors. First, considering Ye Lin’s status, and since you’ve worked with him before, as long as he makes a move, all you young girls would choose him.”

“Those two mentors argued for so long, and finally, you choose Ye Lin. How embarrassing, right? At least abstaining would save some face.”

Yan Man: “What if I hadn’t planned to choose him?”

“How would they know?” Simon said, “And it’s Ye Lin’s first time on a variety show and his first selection. They had to give him some face.”

“And since Ye Lin chose you, what if you ended up not joining him, and the other mentors didn’t take good care of you? That would be a lot of pressure... and possibly criticism, given your popularity this round.”

“In terms of variety show sense, social dynamics, and ability, he is indeed the strongest... Combining all these factors, you naturally joined Ye Lin’s group.”

Yan Man sighed deeply and decided to look on the bright side.

“Alright, at least Ye Lin’s acting skills are good. I can learn a lot from him.”

“Not just that,” Simon said, “If given the choice, Ye Lin’s group would definitely be the first pick!”

“To say the least, his character building and emotional handling are peak-level in the industry. He’s a rare kind of actor whose techniques are outstanding, yet his performances appear very natural without any trace of acting.”

“And do you know he has a company? I estimate that coming here, he’s also thinking about selecting some actors for his company.”

Yan Man: “He has a company?”

No wonder Bi Tan called him Boss Ye during that car race.

Simon: “Even if you don’t join his company, just being in his group will get you a lot of exposure. Believe me, many things are enviable beyond words.”

Yan Man waved her hand and said she understood: “Then you guys stay here and watch. I’m going back.”

She couldn’t leave the camera for too long.

Returning from backstage to the recording room, it seemed like they had just finished another round of selections. She met A Zhao in the room.

Yan Man: “You’re in too?”

“Yes, I never expected Teacher Ye to choose me! What a surprise,” A Zhao said, “Doesn’t this mean I can… right now?”

She trailed off. Yan Man: “Right now what?”

“Nothing,” A Zhao reined in her smile and patted the sofa beside her, “I’m in the same group as Li Haoge. He advanced too. Goodness, it’s such a coincidence.”

Li Haoge? Who?

It wasn’t until this person pushed the door open that Yan Man suddenly realized—

Ah, that classmate from the same year.

After sitting for over an hour and watching everyone’s performances one by one, the actor selection part ended.

This was the first time Yan Man had seen so many performances concentrated in one place.

There were second-tier and third-tier actors, those who had gained fame from one drama and were on the rise, those who played controversial roles in big hit dramas, and even those who were relatively unknown but surprisingly had great acting skills.

The production team was quite thoughtful, wanting to push more quality actors to the forefront.

A Zhao: “This time it’s a hundred into sixty. Originally, each director was supposed to recruit twenty students, but Teacher Ye’s group only has seven. He’s really strong. The other groups are full, so he must have enough confidence in himself.”

Yan Man casually said: “Maybe he doesn’t like noise.”

A Zhao’s expression suddenly turned strange, blinking her eyes: “You understand him so well~”

Yan Man: “...”

I don’t, I didn’t, what’s with that expression of yours?

Just as Yan Man was about to explain, the door was pushed open.

Ye Lin walked in.

Probably his first variety show appearance, the styling team had changed his style. Over a white shirt, he wore a stiff black coat, like a duke walking out of a castle. From his shoulders down to the cuffs, a silver chain dangled.

A delicate coldness, wrapped with a hint of mystery and aloofness.

A Zhao suddenly lowered her head to look for something.

Yan Man: “What are you looking for?”

“Paper to wipe my nosebleed. Damn, he’s so handsome, I can’t handle it.”

“...”

Ye Lin sat down on the chair. For some reason, the previously hot room suddenly felt much cooler.

For a moment, none of the students dared to speak.

Except Yan Man, because she was attentively listening to what was being said next door.

Each mentor had a separate classroom, and since they were close, once this room quieted down, she could hear the sounds from the neighboring rooms.

The other rooms were lively and noisy. After listening for a while, Yan Man felt a tickle in her throat.

She cleared her throat a few times, which was particularly clear in the quiet room.

Her demeanor looked like a leader about to give a speech. Everyone looked at her. After a brief silence, even Ye Lin lifted his eyelids: “What do you want to say?”

“No,” she said, “Just clearing my throat because it felt uncomfortable.”

“...”

A Zhao quietly raised her hand: “Teacher, do you have anything to say?”

Ye Lin: “No.”

As if waiting for that response, A Zhao quickly asked: “Then can we ask you some questions?”

“Go ahead.”

Yan Man suspected he had a condition where speaking more than one word would land him in jail.

A Zhao started with a preamble: “It’s just... Teacher, why did you choose me and Li Haoge? After all, our performances weren’t great, and we acted in your representative work.”

Ye Lin hummed: “Your performance was too ugly; I need to redeem the reputation of this play.”

“...”

Teacher! You don’t have to be so blunt!!

A Zhao took a deep breath, deciding not to dwell on it, then looked up again: “Teacher, then why did you choose Yan Man?”

The live broadcast camera had been focused on them for a long time, and the barrage comments were crystal clear.

[A Zhao: The gaze of a CP fan.]

[A Zhao: Ignore everything else, I’m determined to ship today!]

[I understand now, that unfinished sentence A Zhao had earlier—it was ‘then I can immediately start shipping CP.’ Wow, there’s a traitor among the actors!]

After a pause, Ye Lin said: “Why I chose her, don’t you all know?”

A Zhao: “...”

It seemed they did know.

Li Haoge: “Because she performed so well that all the mentors wanted to choose her.”

“Teacher, teacher, answer one of my questions. There’s a part in your original version of this play that deeply moved me, but I couldn’t pull it off when I acted it. What should I do?”

Ye Lin: “Because you want to become me.”

Li Haoge was startled.

The man lowered his eyes: “Acting requires understanding one principle: in remakes or reboots, if you want to become someone else, you’ll never perform better than the original.”

“As an actor performing this scene, you have your advantages. Therefore, your only thought should be to enter the character and firmly believe that you are him.”

These words thoroughly enlightened Li Haoge, who nodded thoughtfully, still savoring them.

The barrage comments were also quite touched:

[Today, my husband is exuding charm through his professional abilities =3=]

[I still remember when ‘Lost Path’ was remade. Many people didn’t hold high hopes, saying his second movie would flop. In the end, both versions were listed as classics and won numerous awards, slapping faces left and right.]

[His and Yan Man’s shared advantage is their exceptional ability to immerse themselves in characters.]

[I was just appreciating this, and now you’re giving me more CP content?]

[Looking forward fiercely to their variety show collaboration.]

…

After selecting the actors, the variety show finished recording at around nine in the evening, and the live broadcast cameras were completely turned off.

Yan Man walked onto her luxury van and suddenly had an epiphany.

In fact, Ye Lin was like her—a very clear-headed person.

Choosing her was simply due to the competition rules. Mentors should select quality actors, and he acknowledged her abilities, not her as a person, without any ulterior motives.

Add to that, Shi Nan Hong liked her, and Teacher Shi was his mentor. Perhaps Ye Lin received some hints.

Once she understood this, her previous doubts were resolved, and some things fell into place naturally.

Anyway, with the situation having developed this far, there was no need to be rivals. She would just go along with everyone else.

After this realization, the world seemed brighter.

Yan Man leaned back on the chair and watched the previous seasons of the show.

While waiting for the ad to finish, Simon handed her his phone.

“Look at this, I’m dying of laughter.”

Yan Man: “What?”

“I searched ‘This Is Acting’ in real-time, and one of your fans is promoting you. The copy is pretty funny.”

Yan Man looked down, and nine pictures of her appeared on the screen.

Tonight’s Yan-Ye Interaction: [I was originally the young master of a prominent family, but I was framed by cunning villains! My family abandoned me! My sect expelled me! They even severed my spiritual veins! Reborn into this life, today’s live stream of ‘This Is Acting’! Membership is twenty dollars a month, everyone v me 200 dollars, I want to watch for ten months.]

The format was quite common, probably copied from somewhere. Yan Man initially took it as a joke. After a while, she seemed to notice something.

“This person’s ID is pretty funny,” she reached out to pull the curtain, nonchalantly, “You wouldn’t know it’s our CP fan if you didn’t know better—if we had any.”

Simon was confused for a moment.

“This is your CP fan.”

……

…………

Her elbow suddenly jerked, and the curtain made a clattering sound.

Yan Man thought she had misheard.

She turned around, finding it hard to believe: “Say that again, our... what?”

“CP fan,” Simon repeated clearly, “You, Yan Man and Ye Lin’s CP fan.”

Yan Man incredulously asked: “How could we have such a thing?”

“It’s just... they think you’re a good match, so they ship you. Do you need a reason to ship a CP?” Simon said, “I haven’t looked into the details much, but recently it’s been pretty popular.”

Yan Man: “Recently pretty popular??”

“Yes, your CP fan increase ranks first recently.”

“No wonder my artist is number one even when forming CPs.”

This “number one” was quite witty, and Yan Man couldn’t tell if it was a double entendre.

She said: “Are they all posting in the super topic?”

“Yes.”

“Let me take a look.”

Upon entering the super topic, she found a hot post.

Did you ship Yan-Ye today?: [Hahahaha capturing an online slap in the face, does your face hurt? Are you alright? [Image]]

Yan Man clicked on it, and the image showed a comment under that BE video.

Ten minutes ago, someone who had just seen the video angrily commented: [Still BE? Really? Do you need to explain? Who doesn’t know you two are fake, did you throw yourself at him?]

The comment used second person, making Yan Man’s heart skip a beat, thinking her account might have been exposed.

Could it be that they knew this account belonged to her?

Fortunately, after reading carefully for a long time, she realized this person was just venting through words on the screen. No one knew she personally edited those videos.

Because within five minutes of leaving that comment, the person angrily left another: [Shit, I’m dying from shipping.]

The comments below were even more interesting:

[Hahahaha sis, I know you’re doubting life right now, but it’s okay, we’ve all been through this stage.]

[Yeah, I once voted ‘not even dogs would ship Yan-Ye’.]

[Before watching the video: Who the hell would ship this ghostly CP? After watching the video: Is there anything more real than this in the world?]

Everyone summarized: [In short, face-palming, very face-palming.]

Yan Man should have had many emotions, but after being scared like that, her mind was only filled with relief—

Thankfully no one discovered that she, the person involved, personally edited those videos.

If she got exposed, she wouldn’t be able to show her face anymore.

Yan Man sighed with relief, leaned back on the recliner, feeling everything was absurd: “When I wanted them to ship us, they didn’t. Now that I don’t want them to, they go crazy shipping.”

Finally, she concluded: “This generation of viewers is really rebellious.”

After a night’s sleep, Yan Man received the script for the next episode.

Two days to prepare, then rehearsals began.

Rehearsals took a while because there were many crews, so there were three days.

She rested at the hotel, studied the script, took acting classes, and the day passed quickly.

At noon on Tuesday, all the actors gathered again.

For this rehearsal, the mentors would also arrive on-site for full guidance.

Ye Lin’s scenes in the crew were almost finished, so he managed to squeeze out some time from his tight schedule.

They waited in the room, rehearsing their lines. Soon, the door was pushed open.

He was probably too rushed to remove his makeup.

It seemed he had just finished a fight scene; his nose and cheekbones were made up with wounds, and there was a bit of blood at the corner of his mouth.

As usual, he wore a long-sleeved shirt, with traces of double eyelids at the corners of his eyes.

A Zhao excitedly looked at Yan Man: “War-damaged handsome guy! I love it, what about you?”

Yan Man: “...”

For some reason, I feel like you’re trying to get me to talk.

“War-damaged handsome guy” tapped the blackboard indifferently and dropped four words:

“Check your lines.”

With that, the room immediately tensed up.

Li Haoge spoke first: “Ah? Checking already? I haven’t finished memorizing!”

Ye Lin frowned slightly.

“How many lines haven’t you memorized?”

“Isn’t it fine to memorize before filming? There are still a few hours for rehearsals.” Li Haoge said, “I only have one part left…”

Ye Lin stood leaning against the doorframe, looking down, his expression unreadable.

“Hmm, memorizing lines before filming, then when do you study the character?”

Li Haoge: “...”

Such a casually spoken sentence, yet everyone unconsciously sat up straight and became nervous.

Realizing the change in his aura, Li Haoge didn’t dare to utter another word.

The man’s voice remained indifferent, but his presence was strong: “Do you think reciting lines is just about memorizing?”

“In any good performance, the lines come naturally after the actor becomes the character. If you can’t form a linguistic memory and spend all your time recalling what to say, how can you perform well?”

“I hope you all think carefully about whether you came here to act or just to complete a task.” Ye Lin said, “If it’s to complete a task, there’s no need to join my team.”

The room fell silent for a long time. Yan Man thought she finally understood why he achieved such success in acting.

Someone who always holds himself to the highest standards, how could he possibly perform poorly?

After a long while, Li Haoge said: “I understand, sorry teacher, I will definitely memorize my lines properly.”

The room became busy again as everyone picked up their scripts and continued memorizing unfinished lines.

Yan Man got up to fetch water.

Perhaps her actions starkly contrasted with others, drawing Ye Lin’s gaze.

After a moment’s thought, she said: “I’ve memorized mine.”

“Hmm.”

She looked at Ye Lin, and Ye Lin looked at her.

She looked at Ye Lin because she talked too much; her mouth instinctively wanted to speak, but her brain was trying hard to restrain it.

As for why Ye Lin was looking at her, she felt maybe he misunderstood that she wanted some praise, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

In the end, Yan Man decided to explain: “I’m getting water because I’ve talked too much, not because I don’t want to act seriously.”

“...”

In the corner nearby, A Zhao covered her rising cheekbones.

Li Haoge glanced at her: “Why do you keep laughing mysteriously?”

A Zhao suppressed her excitement, restraining her madness: “Do you know what love is?”

Li Haoge: “...”

Maybe I don’t.

After drinking water, Yan Man sat back down, refining small details of certain lines for her character.

Li Haoge leaned over and asked her: “What are you doing?”

Yan Man: “Some lines don’t flow well, so I’m tweaking them a bit to make them smoother.”

“What about here?” Li Haoge pointed to a spot, “You wrote a lot here.”

“Analyzing the character’s inner thoughts. The script only has her lines, but without enough psychological activity to support it, it’s hard to immerse oneself in the role.”

Li Haoge looked at her, then at her script, “Oh.”

Yan Man was bent over, patiently answering his questions, the overhead light casting a spotlight on the tip of her nose.

A strand of hair slid down behind her ear.

Li Haoge lost himself in thought. The beauty that looked meticulously carved on camera was even more stunning in real life.

Possessed by some mysterious force, Li Haoge asked her: “Can I shoot with you next time too?”

Yan Man raised her head, puzzled: “Have you finished memorizing your lines for this session?”

“...”

There weren’t many actors in each script, at most five, so their seven people would be divided into two scripts.

Li Haoge was afraid of not being grouped with her and started talking to her, as if trying to bond.

Not long after, an actor beside Yan Man stood up.

“Teacher, we’ve rehearsed everything. Can we perform it for you?”

Ye Lin nodded, and the actors took their positions in the middle of the room.

He sat on the leather sofa, wrist relaxed, hand slightly covering below his nose, his brows slightly furrowed.

Until this group finished performing, his brows hadn’t unfurrowed.

Ye Lin: “There are many problems. I’ll mention a few key ones.”

“Okay, teacher.”

“The breathing is off, the pauses are wrong, the delivery is too floating, not sticking to the character.”

“The character is an athlete, but your overall state is too relaxed, lacking athletic sense.”

After he finished speaking, the actor opposite was perplexed.

“…Then how do we solve it? Should I rephrase the sentences?”

“No,” the man offered a solution based on rich experience, “Run around the corridor, recite the lines while running. That’s the feeling the character should have.”

That person suddenly realized: “Right! Why didn’t I think of that!”

Ye Lin raised his eyes: “None of you have good breath control. If your energy isn’t enough, the audience won’t receive the signal.”

“If you have issues, go out and run together.”

After saying this, three or four actors stood up.

Everyone filed out of the classroom neatly, except for Li Haoge, who looked up and then lowered his head, continuing to talk densely with Yan Man.

Ye Lin: “Li Haoge.”

Unexpectedly called upon, Li Haoge was startled: “What is it, teacher?”

Looking around, besides him, there were no other males in the classroom.

Ye Lin: “Your breathing issues are the worst.”

“…”

“Still not going out? What are you waiting for?”