Liao Qing sized up Bai Yun, who was still standing there. She was refreshing and completely different from the people she had seen in the show just now. To be honest, she had not seen such an impactful scene in a long time. She had seen one when she was a teacher in school—Chu Jiang back when he was a student.
At that time, even though he was inexperienced at acting, his empathy and explosive power were extremely strong.
The school naturally favored such students and spent a lot of effort to nurture them. Chu Jiang did not disappoint and ascended to the throne of the Best Actor.
Now, she saw such explosive power again. Perhaps because of the similarity between Bai Yun and Chu Jiang, she felt that Bai Yun might be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with him in the future.
The judges had mixed opinions about this performance. Those who criticized Bai Yun's acting skills were just old pedants who believed that such acting skills had not been systematically trained and were too superficial. They were also of the opinion that the performance would lose its authenticity if the tension was too strong.
Liao Qing never agreed with the thoughts of this group of people, but she did not want to waste her energy arguing either. These people would always think that one would not know how to act unless they were from a famous school.
There were also some who wanted to arrange for certain trainees to get an S grade. But unfortunately, those trainees were disappointing and none of their performances were worth watching.
However, there were many people who shared the same opinion as Liao Qing and felt that they should give the only S to Bai Yun. Caught in a deadlock, the two sides argued so loudly that it made people's heads hurt.
Liao Qing raised her hand to stop the meaningless argument. "Why don't we add another round?"
She slowly leaned back in her chair. "As far as we're concerned, there are only a few we're impressed with. Why don't we each pick a script now, then let them draw lots and improvise?"
Although Liao Qing did not do much acting herself, she had brought up many outstanding students in the entertainment circle. Even Chu Jiang would call her Teacher Liao when he saw her. Hence, everyone naturally agreed when she suggested this.
Liao Qing nodded with a smile, fine lines spreading from the corners of her eyes. "Then I recommend Bai Yun."
When Bai Yun heard someone say her name, she looked up and saw an elegant woman who looked to be in her thirties sitting in the middle seat among the judges. Bai Yun suspected that she might not be as young as her appearance suggested, because when she smiled gently, her wrinkles were very obvious. Furthermore, one could not determine the age of a person in the entertainment industry solely by their appearance.
For some reason, that woman seemed to be looking at her with admiration and, perhaps, a hint of affection.
At this moment, the round man sitting in the middle stood up and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Everyone, everyone's grade has mostly been decided. Those who got an A, please step forward."
Bai Yun rolled her eyes in puzzlement, for she hadn't been given a grade yet.
Just as Bai Yun was about to open her mouth, she met Liao Qing's gentle gaze. The latter smiled at her and shook her head. For some reason, she felt that this woman was really trustworthy. At her signal, Bai Yun shut her mouth.
After the Grade A trainees stood in a line, the round man with a big belly looked at Bai Yun. "And Bai Yun."
In the silent rehearsal room, everyone's gaze fell on Bai Yun.
The round man coughed lightly and said in an official tone, "These trainees are all very outstanding and each has their own unique take on their role. I believe everyone has gotten a satisfactory result at this graduation ceremony, but…"
After a long pause, he said with a smile, "We still have an S grade. To decide who this S will go to, we've decided to give an extra test."
The rehearsal room started to get noisy, and all eyes were on the few trainees standing in the rehearsal room. Some were envious, while some were jealous.
Only then did Bai Yun understand Liao Qing's intention. This being the game of capitalists, the judges would try their best to make sure the S grade went to the candidate whose victory aligned with their self-interests, rather than the most outstanding trainee.
The man went on to announce the rules. Each person would draw lots to select a script and character, and there would be ten minutes to prepare before the improvisation began. After he finished announcing the rules, each trainee stepped forward to draw lots.
Bai Yun drew the lot to perform first, and it was a historical period drama. Coincidentally, it was a television drama that Chu Jiang had once acted in. The background was that Qin Zheng, who was played by Chu Jiang, could not bear to see a harsh and incompetent emperor ruling the country. He endured it all and consolidated his power in the royal court. Ultimately, he overthrew tyranny and successfully usurped the throne.