When the TV station crew arrived at the university to film an interview, Qin Ting and her assistant Xiao Zhou were already making a desperate escape from the restroom.The Insta360 camera was still hanging crookedly around Qin Ting’s neck.No matter what happened, she absolutely could not let herself be caught on camera again today.Qin Ting had barely stepped one foot into the brutal entertainment industry before people started calling her a “resource actress”—someone who got opportunities through connections rather than talent.Even she agreed with that label.The only problem was… she had no idea whose connections had gotten her those opportunities.She wasn’t professionally trained as an actress. She had debuted by filming ridiculous, over-the-top short dramas, and ever since then, every project she touched had failed spectacularly.No matter how many trending topics she tried to ride, the moment she became the lead actress, the results were always the same.It was like a loach falling into a toilet.One flush, a few dizzying spins, and its existence disappeared completely.And yet, someone like her had somehow become the second female lead in director Qin Sheng’s new film—the movie he had spent years preparing, pouring enormous amounts of manpower and money into, hoping to win next year’s prestigious Zunying Award.If Qin Ting had been cast as the female lead, perhaps she wouldn’t have been criticized so brutally.The reason was simple.Director Qin Sheng was different from most other directors. In every film he submitted for awards, he placed extraordinary importance on the female second lead. In many of his stories, the male protagonist ended up with the female second lead.To ensure that the character he envisioned was portrayed perfectly, every actress he had chosen in the past had been exceptionally talented. Looking through their previous works, almost all of them had won Best Actress awards at least twice.When choosing actors, he also deliberately selected male and female leads whom he believed had perfect chemistry together.Every four years, the entertainment industry paid close attention to who would win the Zunying Award.But this time, people were even more curious about which actors Director Qin personally selected as the male lead and female second lead.One month ago, when the official Weibo account for the movie Sunny Days was registered, the most famous entertainment paparazzo in the industry posted an explosive update:Male lead: Zou Songpu.
Female second lead: Qin Ting.The moment the post went live, the internet exploded.#DirectorQinSunnyDays#, #WhoIsQinTing#, #ZouSongpu#, #BigSisterWhoAreYou#, #LookingForwardToPowerhouseActorZouSongpu#The word “Trending” beside these hashtags turned so dark red it looked almost black.They occupied the top positions on the hot search rankings.Half an hour later, nothing could load anymore.The servers crashed.Compared with Qin Ting, Zou Songpu was from a completely different world.He debuted as a child actor at the age of five. Over the years, the awards he had won were enough to fill an entire wall.At the beginning of this year, he won Best Actor again, becoming the youngest actor to receive the award for three consecutive terms.Unlike many former child stars, he never abandoned his education because of acting. During the college entrance examination, he ranked first and was admitted into the experimental class of one of Z University’s most prestigious majors.His personality was famously cold.After appearing on one variety show, he rarely spoke in public.However, his social media was another story. His nine-grid selfies and daily photo logs never stopped updating.Recently, he had repeatedly appeared on trending searches for things like helping strangers at airports, and his fanbase continued to grow.Qin Ting, on the other hand, was the complete opposite.Heaven and earth.According to Zou Songpu’s fans, even if she worked as an intern beside an assistant who worked for his assistant, she would probably still have to pay them.Before filming Sunny Days, Qin Ting had only acted in short dramas.Her other identity was a pet influencer.Several days every week, she livestreamed her cat’s daily life by attaching an Insta360 camera to a cat named Tingting, allowing viewers to experience a day from the cat’s first-person perspective.She herself never appeared on camera.After six months of careful operation, combined with her company’s constant promotion, Qin Ting’s account never became wildly popular, but several videos did trend.She made enough money to satisfy her occasional shopping urges.For example, she had just bought a new Dyson cordless vacuum cleaner and spent her free time vacuuming her own cat’s fur at home.On Saturday morning, Xiao Zhou rushed into Qin Ting’s apartment.She dragged Qin Ting out of bed, lifted her eye mask, and forced open her eyelids.Then she announced that the company president wanted her to attend an audition for Director Qin’s new movie.Qin Ting’s sleep-deprived brain completely stopped functioning.“Zhou…” Qin Ting pulled her eye mask down to her chin and pointed at her dark circles. “Has your sleepwalking gotten so serious that you can drive fifteen kilometers to my house while still keeping your eyes closed? Didn’t the police notice?”“I edited videos until four in the morning yesterday. Don’t mess with me. I still have a livestream today.”“Sis! It’s real!” Xiao Zhou grabbed her shoulders and shook her excitedly. “The boss personally told me. He said he used a huge connection to get your information in front of Director Qin.”“Director Qin is at Z University right now. They told you to get ready and go immediately.”“He even specifically requested that you wear a white short-sleeved shirt, pair it with any sports pants, and tie your hair into a high ponytail.”“Sis…”“You’re about to become famous!”Xiao Zhou shook her so hard Qin Ting felt dizzy.She quickly raised her hand to stop her, grabbed her phone, climbed out of bed, and rushed into the closet.She randomly picked out an outfit that matched the requirements.After a quick cleanup, she headed to the audition location.Qin Ting couldn’t understand it.None of her videos had ever reached extremely high popularity.Her follower growth had always been slow.Even with the novelty of her cat’s first-person livestreams, she was only considered average among pet influencers.So why would a director as famous as Qin Sheng choose someone like her?Had her boss started blindly trusting AI again?After using Doubao AI for fortune-telling, had he now progressed to letting AI invent her résumé?Although she thought this in her heart, she was still just a small employee who had to obey orders.Even if her boss told her that capybaras became capybaras because they were inspired by one-yuan coin-operated kiddie rides outside convenience stores, she would still have to say:“Absolutely, boss. This is a groundbreaking discovery in biology!”Besides…There was no harm in going.Z University was one of the country’s top talent factories for actors, although it was rarely open to outsiders.So before leaving, Qin Ting packed her thumb camera, cat carrier, harness, and a spare set of sports clothes.She figured that with her amateur-level acting skills, even if she really got an audition, it probably wouldn’t take long.Afterward, she could livestream around one of the country’s top universities.And that alone would probably attract more viewers.aa