Chapter 569: Why Don't We Open a Betting Pool

According to the show's rules, contestants who didn't get an S-card to advance directly can only stay on this stage if their final vote ranking lands them in the top eight.

After this episode, the show will only keep seventeen actors.

Of course, the next episode is even harsher — it cuts straight in half, leaving nine people.

That means only two to three slots per group.

Gotta say, it really does recreate the entertainment industry's ecosystem pretty faithfully.

In the entertainment industry, the number of actors who actually make it to the top seems considerable — audiences always feel like they can name a whole bunch of familiar celebrities.

But compared to the base, they're still a rare few.

Most people just bob along, up and down, down, down, down, down, down — and even an actor who lands a role that leaves a slight impression on the audience is already considered to be doing pretty well.

In the final stretch of recording this episode, while waiting for the voting results, the mentors had a discussion on this very topic.

It also served to pad out the show's footage.

Er Dongsheng even shared why he switched from being an actor to working behind the scenes back in the day.

"I was really handsome when I was young, just like—" His eyes swept across and landed on Bai Liang, and he pointed at him, "Just as handsome as him~"

The room naturally erupted in laughter, but Meng Jie quietly pursed her lips.

Hmph! She didn't believe a word of it~

"But being an actor gave me no sense of security. What I mean by security is the feeling of being able to take control of your own fate, and the nature of an actor's job is exactly the opposite — passively waiting."

Er Dongsheng sighed. He'd had luck as an actor, but only at the very start of his career; he'd never had the luck of picking a good script.

An actor needs a good role, and he'd never encountered one that could take him to the next level.

What makes a good role?

Take Chow Yun-fat — he was once called a "box office poison" until he played "Brother Ma" in A Better Tomorrow and "Shore Head" in An Autumn's Tale, and the audience took to him right away.

Er Dongsheng, meanwhile, made his name in martial arts films, only to coincide with the genre's decline.

"One month without a gig feels like a vacation, mood very relaxed; two months without a gig and you're still playing around, but something starts to feel off; three months in and still no one coming to hire you, and you really start to get nervous."

At this point the female Buffett chimed in with a few more lines, agreeing with Director Er — she'd had it tough back in the day too, blah blah blah blah.

This round of chicken soup really had everyone mesmerized, thinking even they had it this "tough."

But actually — Er Dongsheng came from a showbiz family, his acting career had a brilliant opening, and before he was even twenty he'd played "Third Young Master" in Chu Yuan's directed film The Sword of the Third Young Master, becoming an overnight sensation, after which he went on to star as the male lead in a slew of Shaw Brothers martial arts films.

Even after switching to behind-the-scenes work, Er Dongsheng started from a high point — his directorial debut, An Autumn's Tale... no, That's the Wrong Movie — his directorial debut, The Lunatics, gathered a constellation of stars and earned nominations for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

As for the female Buffett, her rags-to-riches story can only be told from before her sophomore year, because after sophomore year came My Fair Princess, the show that swept across the entire country.

So stories like these are best taken with a grain of salt — chicken soup can be poisonous sometimes.

"Ahem."

After the first two shared their respective "hardship stories," Director Chen cleared his throat twice and began to wrap up.

"That's just how showbiz is. The one thing this season of the show does best is recreate the ecosystem — roles are something you have to fight for."

After Chen Kaige said a few words, he suddenly felt something was off.

Huh~

Bai Liang, who'd been plenty talkative before — enough to set the pace on set — how come he'd suddenly gone quiet?

He wondered if Director Chen's brain had caught some kind of meme infection after shouting "Meng Jie."

He suddenly cued Bai Liang, tossing out a baffling line: "What was it like when you first debuted? You can share with everyone too~"

Bai Liang, who'd been quietly exchanging glances with Meng Jie, froze at the words. "Huh? I had it pretty smooth. Never really ran into any difficulties in this line of work — I just kept acting and ended up sitting here."

Damn—

Is this guy showing off?

At this point it was Er Dongsheng's gaze that looked the strangest. The luck he'd just mentioned — the luck of landing a role that takes you to the next level — even for a contestant with connections, like himself, was genuinely hard to come by; otherwise he wouldn't have switched to behind-the-scenes work.

But the Bai Liang in front of him was truly outrageous.

Er Dongsheng had studied this guy's debut career and found it absolutely off the charts.

One role after another that took him to the next level, one work after another — it just never stopped.

Even now you couldn't say it had stopped; it was just that he was genuinely running out of opponents, purely breaking through his own limits.

That kind of luck—

Seeing everyone insist he speak, Bai Liang suddenly had an epiphany!

Oh~ padding the runtime! Why didn't you say so earlier.

No wonder the mentors had been yammering on and on.

Alright! Then let me share the process of acting after debuting.

"At first I was doing a side gig with a friend, playing a small role with barely any lines."

There you go!

Everyone instinctively broke into smiles, because almost every actor started out that way — even the female Buffett.

Her very first drama was the Republic-era romance film A Soul Painting, starring Er Dongsheng and Gong Li, and she wasn't even a supporting role — she'd played a brothel girl with no lines.

But just as everyone was smiling, the expression on Meng Jie's face started to turn strange.

Because she knew this story — after all, that was where her story with Bai Liang began.

Sure enough, Bai Liang shifted his tone: "I was originally a big extra, but because of some accident, I ended up as the second male lead."

He actually didn't remember what number male lead his Lü Bu in Martial God Zhao Zilong was, but checking now, the role had definitely been bumped up to second male lead — so much so that in the spin-off it had even pushed out the first female lead, Lin Yin'er.

Thank goodness this drama was called Martial God Zhao Zilong; if it had been called some Three Kingdoms xx, the first male lead Lin Gengxin might've had to be bumped down too.

But that's showbiz for you — if Bai Liang had taken a role in one drama and then vanished, becoming untraceable in the industry, he might've gotten bumped down anyway.

And by now, hearing his words, everyone was a bit at a loss for what to say.

Translate, translate — what do you mean, because of a little accident you freaking became the second male lead?

Are you even speaking human language?!

The contestants, who had been wrapped up in the "not easy" atmosphere that Er Dong-sheng and the female Buffett had created, now looked at Bai Liang's breezy, composed expression and felt a strangely uneven sense of disparity inside.

As if watching this guy say with a perfectly calm face: Life, easy as turning over my hand!

Bai Liang wasn't actually trying to show off, he just didn't like playing the misery card.

Not to mention he'd genuinely never had it rough; even if he did have some sad past, he couldn't be bothered to share it on a show like this.

His wealth and status never involved the audience, so naturally there was no need to make them feel his sadness either.

If there's real sadness to share, better to share it with pretty young ladies — that way everyone can warm each other up and have a good time.

Seeing the atmosphere turning a bit off, Director Chen stepped forward. "So luck is very important, just like what Director Er was saying. Sometimes this aspect is actually the most important — what do you think?"

"Right! Luck is very important! I'm just lucky, there's always someone helping me out." As Bai Liang echoed the sentiment, he was wondering why this segment still hadn't ended. Meng Jie was already getting impatient!