Mad Dragon gets out of prison and marries a beautiful CEO.

Chapter 113

The recording of the first episode of "Star Project" is scheduled for Thursday.

Chen Li did not go to the scene, but Sister Hong sent the location and passage directions half an hour before the recording started. Her meaning was clear: he didn't have to come, but if anything happened, he could be found in time.

At 2 p.m., the backstage corridor of the recording studio was crowded with staff and artist assistants.

Su Wan's dressing room was the second one on the left at the end of the corridor, with a printed name tag on the door.

She sat in front of the makeup mirror while the stylist touched up her makeup. A quiet face was reflected in the mirror, with heavier eye makeup than usual and a matte lip color that was a true red.

She wore a black cropped top and matching black trousers today, and her collarbone was clearly visible under the light.

The door to the dressing room was half open, and people kept passing by in the hallway outside.

Sister Hong brought in a cup of hot water and placed it beside her, saying softly:

"The Li family's and Xiaoran's have arrived. The two dressing rooms are next to each other, at the other end of the corridor. Be careful when you go in and out."

After all, we're in competition, and who knows, someone might trip me up.

Su Wan hummed in agreement, but didn't look up, continuing to have the stylist adjust the position of her earrings.

She acted a bit arrogantly, but Sister Hong, who had seen all sorts of people, was tolerant and forgiving of her behavior and didn't say anything.

After Sister Hong left, the stylist casually hinted at something:

When did you meet Sister Hong?

Su Wan asked in confusion, "Sister Hong?"

She naturally understood the stylist's well-intentioned reminder: she had been distracted and hadn't responded to Sister Hong's words in time, which gave off an arrogant impression. She would treat her to a meal later to clear up the misunderstanding.

"That agent from earlier, the one Xiaowen arranged for you to be her agent, I heard it was Mr. Zhou, the big boss behind it all, who brought her into the company," the stylist said, putting the earring in her ear. "Ms. Su, what do you think?"

"Hmm, it looks pretty good."

Su Wan looked down at herself from left and right, then nodded with a smile.

The recording wasn't scheduled to start forty minutes, but the atmosphere backstage was already changing.

The footsteps in the corridor grew louder, and the faint buzzing of walkie-talkies could be heard through a wall. Someone shouted from a distance, "Is the lighting team in position?"

Hongjie stood at the entrance of the dressing room, glancing down the corridor to the other end where people were coming and going, with staff in black uniforms constantly moving about.

At 3:30, two more people appeared at the door of Su Wan's dressing room.

Hongjie went out to take a look, and when she came back, she said in a low voice:

"The Lin family's artist came over with some people, saying she needs to touch up her makeup, but there aren't enough dressing rooms, so she wanted to borrow yours. I think she wanted to come in and check on you."

Su Wan was very polite this time. She glanced at Sister Hong in the mirror, then turned to look at her, a smile playing on her lips.

"Please tell her, Sister Hong, that I'm getting my makeup done right now and it's inconvenient. There's an empty studio at the end of the corridor that I can use."

Sister Hong was puzzled by her attitude and the fact that she got a phone call so quickly. Perhaps someone had reminded her not to admit that she was being stingy?

However, with Mr. Chen protecting me, it is indeed more comfortable and carefree than working in Shanghai.

Sister Hong went out to deliver a message and returned two minutes later, saying:

"She left, but before she left, she said something: 'We're all on the same stage, Sister Su, you don't need to be so formal.'"

"She called me Sister Su?"

Su Wan looked up from the mirror, a sharp glint in her eyes:

"She is three years younger than me and entered the industry later than me. She only got a second-tier brand endorsement last year. She got to where she is now because of Xiaoran Media."

"Even though she doesn't call me 'sister,' I can still consider her a rival in my heart."

"The fact that she calls me 'sister' shows that she knows she lacks confidence."

Sister Hong smiled, retreated to a folding chair in the corner, and sat down, sighing inwardly.

"The other party's lack of confidence stems from Mr. Chen's status and influence, not from you."

Recording began at four o'clock.

The studio lights were much brighter than I had imagined, and they shone on my face with a scorching heat.

More than 300 people sat in the audience. The camera was mounted on the track and moved slowly. Chen Guodong, wearing a headset, stared at the monitor in the director's seat, his expression unreadable.

The ten artists were seated in a pre-arranged formation on both sides of the curved stage. Su Wan's seat was on the left wing, slightly forward. Two seats to her right was the artist from Li Family Entertainment, and a row further on was the artist from Xiaoran Media.

The first round is a group appearance, where each person has a brief self-introduction and talent show segment.

Su Wan was the seventh person to be drawn, which wasn't the last one, but it was a bit late. The person in front of her was an artist from Xiaoran Media.

The lights dimmed for a moment and then came back on. The host on stage said a few words and then gestured for the sixth person to come up on stage.

Xiao Ran, the artist, performed a dance. The rhythm was tight and the movements were neat, but her facial expressions clearly relaxed in the second half, and her breathing was unstable at the end.

The applause from the audience was polite and even, without any particularly strong reactions.

Su Wan sat in the waiting position next to her, her hands folded on her knees, her face calm and quiet, revealing nothing of what she was thinking.

She's next.

When the lights came back on, she stood up and walked to the center of the stage, her steps neither fast nor slow.

She stood in the center of the stage, bowed slightly to the audience, her posture relaxed, her expression neither tense nor deliberately indifferent.

She didn't explain what she was going to perform next, but simply nodded to the sound engineer on the side of the stage.

When the intro started, some audience members recognized the melody, and a few low gasps of surprise spread from the middle of the audience.

Su Wan chose an old song from three years ago, originally sung by a veteran singer who had semi-retired. The high notes in this song were once known as being extremely difficult.

Because it requires singing a line of lyrics that spans three octaves in a row, without any breathing breaks in between.

She didn't lower the key or switch to falsetto; she sang it in the original key.

The high notes went straight from the ears to the chest, making people feel numb. The studio was so quiet for a moment that it was as if something had pressed down on it.

When the last line landed, the final note lingered for a perfect beat before ending, and the applause from the audience was louder than anyone before, the sound merging together like an entire wall rushing towards the stage.

Su Wan bent down slightly and walked back to her seat.

As she passed the seat of the artist from the Li family, she didn't stop, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other person's face; his lips were pressed together so tightly they were almost white, and his hand was on the armrest, his knuckles clenched tightly.

During the break after the first round, Sister Hong sneaked from backstage to the side of the stage, and while Su Wan went to rehydrate, she leaned over and whispered something:

Mr. Chen asked, "How is it?"

Su Wan unscrewed the bottle cap, took a sip of water, and turned her head to reply in a low voice:

"Please tell Mr. Chen, Sister Hong, that I stepped in front of them in the first round."

"You are welcome."

Sister Hong stepped back and took out her phone to send a message.

These words instantly dispelled the discomfort that had been nagging at Su Wan's heart. It seemed that Sister Hong wasn't a petty person after all, and she had been overthinking things.

Chen Li received the message while sitting in the Bihu Longting Tea House. His phone screen lit up briefly; it was a short message from Sister Hong:

"We passed the first round, and we beat two of their opponents."

After watching, he locked the screen, put his phone on the tea table, and continued watching the live stream on his computer screen.