Chapter 55

【Meet on Friday】usually has several game segments, and the first round is won through acting.

Improvise a scene on the spot, and whoever can draw the audience into the drama the most wins.

That in itself isn't hard.

The hard part is that people's hearts are biased.

A large portion of the live audience are fans, so getting them to score objectively and reasonably is quite difficult.

That's why there are four judges.

Not only that, because it's a live broadcast, two hundred off-site viewers will also be selected to participate in the scoring.

So the scoring criteria for the first segment are: the two hundred audience members on site, plus two hundred off-site, plus the four judges, each judge representing fifty votes.

That totals six hundred votes.

Whoever gets the most votes wins.

This segment only lasts three minutes. Contestants can bring a partner on stage or perform alone. As they left the stage to prepare, Xiao Cheng asked Kong Xiyan which scene she planned to perform and whether she needed him to costar.

Kong Xiyan thought it over and nodded.

She wanted to perform the wall-jumping scene.

Not only did she need Xiao Cheng, but she also needed the Crown Prince, Ling Yu, standing beside her.

After a brief rehearsal with the two of them, it was Gu Ling's turn to go up first.

Gu Ling performed a scene where she displayed her authority in the palace. She had brought Lin Liang back to the palace, and a maid accidentally leaked the news. When Gu Ling found her, the maid was kneeling in front of her, trembling, shouting, "Mercy, Princess, mercy!"

The maid had been tortured beyond recognition, her long hair disheveled, her body covered in bloodstains. Gu Ling sneered, "If I spare your life today, will you have the chance to take mine in the future?"

The maid hurriedly knocked her head on the floor, making dull thuds: "No, no! I wouldn't dare!"

Gu Ling waved her long sleeve. "Take her away!"

"Yes, Princess."

Two eunuchs then dragged the maid off, and her pleas for mercy could still be heard. Gu Ling merely raised her slender fingers to examine them, a cold laugh on her lips.

This scene didn't have much dialogue; it focused on emotional portrayal, demanding absolute coldness and ruthlessness.

Gu Ling unleashed her full presence, but in the back of her mind she remembered this was 【Meet on Friday】, not a film set. With so many pairs of eyes watching her, she found it hard to get into character, and if she couldn't get into it, the audience naturally found it even harder to be immersed.

After she left the stage, the judges whispered among themselves, and then Wu Qing went up.

Wu Qing was Gu Ling's trusted confidante. Though a maid, she was skilled in both literature and martial arts, and equally ruthless, having handled many thorny matters for Gu Ling. It wasn't until later, over the Lin Liang affair, that she broke with Gu Ling.

At this point, that hadn't happened yet.

She continued directly from Gu Ling's scene.

Perhaps because she was displeased seeing Kong Xiyan and Xiao Cheng together backstage, or because she slipped into character faster than Gu Ling, she came on stage with a grim face. The maid was still begging for mercy, but Wu Qing ignored the pleas, walked over, and pinched the maid's chin, smiling without showing teeth, her eyes dark and sinister: "Begging for mercy? Too late!"

She viciously snapped the maid's face to the side. It wasn't a real slap, but the audience audibly gasped, and even the host stood silently off to the side, waiting for her to speak.

Wu Qing's cold gaze swept over the two eunuchs behind the maid. She pressed her lips into a thin line and curled them into a semblance of a smile. "You all know what to do?"

The two eunuchs nodded hastily. Wu Qing lowered her eyes. "If you can't handle such a small matter, she'll be your fate!"

As she spoke, she slapped her hand hard against the maid's chest. The maid crumpled limply to the floor, blood seeping from the corner of her lips, a vivid red. Several audience members couldn't help but stand up to look.

As soon as the three minutes were up, Wu Qing stood up first and bowed deeply to the crowd. The maid who had just fallen was helped up by the two eunuchs, and they smiled before heading off.

Various murmurs rose from the audience.

"Incredible!"

"Damn, that acting was pretty good."

"Right, if she'd acted like this the whole time in the drama, she'd have been famous long ago!"

"What's the rush? The drama hasn't gotten to that part yet."

"But the villain she played was terrifying. I'm still shaking."

The host, seeing that the crowd had discussed enough, raised a hand to signal for quiet. Next, Xiao Cheng went up. He performed a scene where he confronted the Left Prime Minister, the two locked in sharp verbal combat. But perhaps the shock of Wu Qing's villainous performance was still too fresh, so their fight scene felt rather mundane by comparison.

Nothing new.

In fact, that scene had already aired in the drama, and fans who had watched it already knew the upcoming lines.

So it didn't draw as much attention as the previous performance.

Xiao Cheng didn't seem to mind much either, and after finishing, he went straight off stage.

Next in line should have been Kong Xiyan, but Tong Yue approached the program crew and arranged for her to go last.

Kong Xiyan understood Tong Yue's intention. She had been watching from the backstage the whole time; Wu Qing's improvisation was truly outstanding, which made Xiao Cheng's following performance seem ordinary. Now the set was still immersed in the ruthless atmosphere Wu Qing had created, so going up now wasn't the best timing.

That's why Tong Yue asked for her to go last.

Ling Yu smiled faintly and went up a step ahead of her.

He had debuted later, with fewer fans but loyal ones. Besides, he had no scandals, was easygoing, and had broad appeal with the general public.

On stage, he performed a lovesick scene.

In the drama, this segment was where Chu Qian had gone to Wei to find Lin Liang, and because of his status, he couldn't go, but by then he had already realized his feelings—wanting to leave her alone and yet unable to stop thinking about her.

Especially when the moon rose above the treetops, and he sat alone in the palace pavilion, feeling even more desolate.

Ling Yu raised his cup toward the hanging moon, tilted his head back, and downed the wine in one go. The lights shone fully on him; his Adam's apple bobbed, carrying a profound sorrow.

The audience fell silent, as if drawn into the atmosphere he had created.

Under the moonlight, the Crown Prince drank alone, cup after cup. Gazing at the empty wooden stool before him, his eyes softened with tenderness. Suddenly, he set down the cup, reached forward, and his fingers touched nothing but air as he murmured, "Qianqian."

Ding.

Time was up.

Ling Yu rose with a smile as crew members came to clear the props. Many audience members were already red-eyed. Unlike Wu Qing's ruthless scene just before, Ling Yu's was tenderer.

But it was also more moving.

After he left the stage, Tong Yue looked at Kong Xiyan and said, "Don't be nervous. This is just a game; we don't have to win."

Kong Xiyan pressed her lips into a smile and nodded. "Okay."

She looked perfectly obedient.

Seeing her like this, Tong Yue furrowed her brows.

She was still worried about Kong Xiyan's condition—after all, she hadn't been on stage for three years, and it was live. Besides, her recent demeanor had been gentle and mild, with none of Chu Qian's fierceness.

This wasn't a film set, after all. Sometimes, whether you can slip into the atmosphere is a matter of an instant.

That's why she was concerned.

But she overlooked one thing.

This was Kong Xiyan.

Since her debut three years ago, she had been hailed as an acting prodigy, a young woman at the peak.

Her acting seemed innate; it needed no polishing to shine.

Kong Xiyan stood high on the city wall, more than two meters up, with foam mats laid below. A few audience members whispered, "The wall jump!"

"It's the wall-jumping scene!"

Everyone's eyes locked onto Kong Xiyan.

Kong Xiyan kept her expression calm, head slightly lowered. Around her stood the Crown Prince and a line of soldiers holding bows and arrows, clad in armor. They stood in a row, like arrows on the string, waiting only for the command.

The entire stage was heavy with tension.

Suddenly, the eunuch standing beside the Crown Prince shouted, "It's General Lin! That's General Lin!"

His voice was too shrill, carrying from the stage to everyone's ears in an instant. Kong Xiyan lifted her eyes slightly, her expression cold, her gaze like hanging pearls. Her voice was chilly yet pierced straight to the heart: "He is not General Lin."

"He is the traitor who drinks our Wu people's blood! Eats our Wu people's flesh! Treads on our Wu people's corpses! Uses our Wu kingdom's land to curry favor with the ruler of Wei!"

"He is ungrateful! Ruthless! Blinded by greed! Unworthy of being called human!"

Kong Xiyan's voice grew louder and louder. At this moment, she was the exalted Crown Princess, condemning a treacherous minister. Each accusation fell with weight, spoken with deep pain, and the deepest ache was in her own heart.

She still loved this man.

Below the wall, Xiao Cheng looked up and was instantly transfixed. Kong Xiyan wore a yellow silk dress, her long hair flowing over her shoulders, her figure swaying in the wind. Her gaze at him was complex.

There was hatred, regret, and love she couldn't hide.

With a single glance, he couldn't look away.

Standing high above, Kong Xiyan looked down, her eyes meeting Xiao Cheng's. She curved her lips into a relieved smile and said, "Such a heartless, beastly man—and yet I was the one who pulled him from a pile of corpses."

"How utterly ridiculous."

A hint of mockery lingered on her lips as she continued, "I was blind, trusting the wrong person!"

"I have failed Wu! Failed His Majesty! Failed His Highness the Crown Prince!"

Ling Yu stood beside her. "It wasn't you—"

Kong Xiyan turned, pressing a finger to Ling Yu's lips. Lifting her eyes at the same time, her meticulously made-up face added a trace of helplessness to her smile, and her voice was hoarse, as if bleeding: "Your Highness, take care."

Without waiting for the Crown Prince's reaction, she leaped. It was resolute, without hesitation, with no lingering. Her figure fell like a butterfly, fluttering gracefully down. The Crown Prince reached out to grab her but only brushed against a few strands of her hair.

A roar burst from the stage: "Chu Qian!"

It was Lin Liang's shout!

But by then, Chu Qian had already jumped off the city wall, her life extinguished.

Ding.

Time was up.

The audience was still lost in Kong Xiyan's wall-jumping scene, not yet recovered. It wasn't until the stage had emptied completely that the host came back up: "That was amazing!"

"The performances just now were truly spectacular!"

"It really leaves you wanting more—don't you think?"

The audience, caught up in her enthusiasm, responded quickly.

Kong Xiyan returned backstage. When she had jumped, her wrist had grazed the edge slightly, and it still hurt. She touched it, her delicate brows knitting. Seeing that her expression wasn't right, Fu Qiu quickly asked, "Miss Kong, what's wrong?"

Kong Xiyan shook her head. "It's nothing."

Fu Qiu didn't believe her and grabbed her wrist. "Did you bump it just now?"

"Miss Kong, you're too daring, jumping like that. You don't know—my heart nearly stopped! I was scared to death!"

Kong Xiyan pulled her hand back, turning to look at her. "I'm really fine."

Fu Qiu pouted. "Everyone's saying you were too reckless."

Reckless?

Kong Xiyan shook her head.

It wasn't recklessness.

It was just the desire to win.

It just felt like that necklace would suit Chi Wanzhao very well.

Not to mention she had helped her on set before, but even later when she went to Changning to unlock her heart, Kong Xiyan never got the chance to properly thank her. So she wanted to win it back and give it to her.