CH 61

At half past six in the morning, Lu Wan woke up on time. There was a slight movement from the bathroom on the right.

Her roommate was a fair-skinned girl with a somewhat classical temperament.

She got up earlier than her and was already washing up.

Lu Wan walked to the bathroom and saw that the other party was applying something on her face.

The two chatted for half an hour before going to bed last night and they got along quite well. Qiao Lan was a student majoring in film editing and directing, but her cultural achievements were also very good, and she has won many awards in essay competitions.

“Lu Wan, you just brought facial cleanser and moisturizer…… I envy you for having a good skin with minimal effort. Damn, you don’t have any dark circles under your eyes.” Qiao Lan sighed.

“I’m just lazy.”

Lu Wan went to sleep after applying moisturizer every night and would sometimes even forget to do it.

But she would occasionally put on hydrating mask…… with the whole family.

President Zhao would get Professor Lu to put on a facial mask on weekends. After all, men also needed to take care of themselves.

Lu Buyu relied on his face to eat, so naturally he couldn’t relax. He always took care of his skin very seriously. He was a man who owned 100 bottles of perfume alone.

After the other three covered their faces, she naturally accepted President Zhao’s invitation.

“Then do you want to try my skin care products and cosmetics?” Qiao Lan asked with a smile.

Girls, when they got together, they couldn’t help recommending and sharing things with each other, although this seemed to be Lu Wan’s blind spot.

Lu Wan: “Is it alright?”

Although she hasn’t done it before, she was quite interested.

“Absolutely. We’re going to be in the camera today. You can wash your face first and I’ll help you with makeup when I’m done.” Qiao Lan said.

Looking at Lu Wan’s face, she sharpened her sword as she really yearned to fiddle with her face! It’s easy to get the desired effect.

Twenty minutes later.

Qiao Lan asked Lu Wan to stand up and look in the mirror. She smiled and asked, “How is it? Not bad, right?”

The shape of Lu Wan’s eyebrows was very good and there’s basically no need to add color. Although she wasn’t very pale, her skin color was even and healthy. The base makeup was spared.

She was participating in this show as a high school student, so heavy makeup was naturally unsuitable. Qiao Lan used nude eyeshadow, then highlighter to highlight the area under her eyes, and applied a light layer of mascara.

Lu Wan’s eyes were very beautiful and this made them even prominent.

Finally, she applied blush lightly on the cheeks and the tip of the nose.

This process took five minutes.

Although it was light makeup, the whole person was full of vitality after putting it on.

Lu Wan looked in the mirror. Other people’s fingers could casually do whatever and make it look good. But when she gave Lu Buyu make-up…… it gave off a striking effect.

“Add a touch of color on the lips at the end.” Qiao Lan said.

Lu Wan hesitated, “There’s no need for lipstick.”

Qiao Lan blinked: “This is not lipstick, it’s colored lipbalm la.”

Under her gentle persuasion, she finally put on a complete light makeup for the other party.

This was her most satisfying work recently.

President Lu’s face was so smooth that she couldn’t help use the excuse of putting makeup to touch it twice more.

———

The hotel provides breakfast.

After the two were finished, they went straight to the dining hall.

It was the first time that Lu Wan put something on her face and she wasn’t used to it. Seeing that everyone along the way wasn’t looking at her with curious eyes, she gradually relaxed.

This time, there were high school students, college students, as well as many overseas returnees and working people joining the competition.

Many wanted to show their best side in front of the camera, so they dressed up carefully.

The hotel’s breakfast was sufficient but doesn’t taste that good.

After Lu Wan took the food, she heard Qiao Lan calling.

There were many friends of Qiao Lan among the contestants. She’d met before from other large and small competitions.

Those friends knew last night that she was sharing a room with Lu Wan and urged her to invite Lu Wan to have breakfast together.

Lu Wan sat down and greeted everyone.

Qiao Lan looked at the plate in the other person’s hand and said with a smile, “The breakfast here taste very ordinary, but if you take so much, there is always something you can find tolerable.”

Lu Wan smiled. “It doesn’t look very tasty either.”

Five minutes later, Lu Wan was munching……

Ten minutes later, Lu Wan was inhaling like a storm……

Twenty minutes later, Lu Wan took the milk and drank it in one gulp, finishing her breakfast. Everyone at table was petrified……

It’s not delicious, but you still eat so much? This is not convincing at all.

“That—, aren’t you afraid of getting fat by eating so much carbs?” a girl asked gingerly. Sigh. She finally got a word in.

“No, I exercise a lot. As long as you exercise every day, you can eat at ease.” Lu Wan explained.

“Oh, I hate exercise. Then I’d better eat carefully.”

The people at the table broke into laughter.

Lu Wan: “……”

After eating, everyone went back to their room to rest for a while.

Recording starts at 2:00 pm and the program team had a bus pick up the contestants after two hours.

There were a total of 200 contestants initially, but today’s first recording would have three rounds of competition that would reduce the number of people to sixty.

More than two-thirds would leave.

Passing the program group’s interview shows that everyone has good strength, so the competition was huge at the beginning.

———

Lu Wan got off the bus and followed everyone forward.

Someone patted Lu Wan’s shoulder. She turned around and saw Chen Nianqing. She smiled and asked, “Are you nervous? Afraid of being eliminated in the first round ah?”

“Of course not. Be careful yourself.”

Lu Wan: “If I get eliminated, I’ll go eat mutton hot pot in the evening and go back the next day. You’ll be the only one left to win glory for our school.”

Chen Nianqing pursed his lips and said in a faint voice, “Then I still hope you don’t get eliminated. Why don’t you follow it through?”

The two talked all the way until Qiao Lan brought a group of girls to Lu Wan, and Chen Nianqing walked away consciously.

Qiao Lan looked at the boy’s back and couldn’t help but ask, “I heard that Chen Nianqing has always been a loner and unapproachable? You seem to have a good relationship with him ah.”

Lu Wan said dismissively, “It’s a false rumor. He looks like a cold guy on the surface, but he’s actually quite easy-going with friends.”

Qiao Lan: “……”

Oh, then that’s the question, how can they become friends with Student Chen?

———

In the recording studio, the waiting contestants were chatting and everyone was guessing what type of topics there would be. The entries on the first round were too low. Many contestants were already nervous.

Lu Wan’s phone vibrated. She took it out to take a look.

Professor Lu sent a WeChat message asking her to go out and said that there was something important.

Lu Wan came out of the studio and saw Lu Bainian standing at the end of the hallway.

She walked quickly towards the other party, wondering what Professor Lu was going to say.

Looking at his expression, it shouldn’t be something urgent.

Lu Wan approached and Lu Bainian pulled her to the next corridor. He mysteriously took out a…… Buddha’s head fruit[1].

“Wanwan, this fruit is very sweet. I brought it especially for you.”

Lu Wan: “……”

Old dad, you called me here…… just to say this?

Professor Lu: “It’s very sweet.”

Lu Wan reached out and took it. “Thanks, Dad.”

President Zhao bought her expensive clothes before and this time she finally put it on. After all, she has to tidy up for the show.

She was wearing a full length trouser with big pockets today.

Lu Wan didn’t bring a backpack, so she stuffed the Buddha’s head into her pocket. Except for the bulge, everything else was fine.

“Dad, since we’re recording a show, you should try not to look for me in private.”

Professor Lu spread his hands. “Okay, I’ll try my best.”

The father and daughter exchange a few more words, then they left the corridor together before parting ways.

———

The more Jiang Xuerong thought about it, the more her anger grew. This matter can’t be forgotten.

Of the 200 contestants this time, there happened to be someone she knew.

She didn’t know her at first, but when she came to the hotel yesterday, the other party came up to her for an autograph and said it that she was a fan.

It’s not about getting to know the other person.

Jiang Xuerong’s eyes were usually higher than her head, but at that time, it stayed level. With an energetic smile, she said that since she was a guest of the show and the other party was a contestant they should exchange contact information, so that they could communicate with each other in the future.

The girl agreed.

This morning, Jiang Xuerong sent her a message, asking the girl to pay more attention to Lu Wan, suspecting that she would break the competition rules.

As a contestant, Yu Na naturally didn’t want anything to happen. She felt that Jiang Xuerong must know some inside story to say this, and so she also somewhat believed it.

When Lu Wan went out, she followed her.

Then she saw the other party and one of the judges…… hid in the corridor and talked for ten minutes before coming out. When the two were parting ways, the judge instructed Lu Wan to put the thing away and don’t lose ‘it’.

Yu Na was extremely shocked. What was it? Could it be that in Lu Wan’s bulging pocket…… was the question for the first round?

Jiang Xuerong sent a message asking her what happened and she told the other party everything.

Seeing the message, Jiang Xuerong stood up from the chair in the lounge excitedly.

This time she finally caught her. Lu Wan and a judge have a secret transaction and exchanged the test questions through improper means.

When the matter was revealed, Lu Wan would be over. How could she be unhappy?

In this way, no matter how she tried to explain, Lu Wan’s reputation would be ruined, and Lu Buyu shouldn’t think of coming out unscathed.

When the public opinion was boiling, the ‘big brother helping his little sister talk’ would cause public anger, or he could also pretend to be dead and stay silent. Like this, how could he have the face to stir up the plastic brother-sister relationship in the future?

She wanted Lu Wan and that garbage professor to get out of the show team in shame! And this matter absolutely couldn’t be settled quietly and in private. The bigger the noise, the better.

Jiang Xuerong thought hard about it. As long as Lu Wan was exposed to the public, the other contestants wouldn’t be willing to take things lying down.

Weren’t those people smart? They would definitely rush to tear her up.

Yu Na wasn’t really sure she believed it. Even if they meet in private, it doesn’t mean that there was a transaction.

Lu Wan looked quite decent.

Jiang Xuerong’s tone was firm and she was shaken, so she promised to cooperate with the other party to testify when the time comes, but she would only say what she saw and wouldn’t embellish things……

She just wanted fairness.

———

The show officially started recording at 2:00 pm.

There were no audience in the early stage of this program. The whole room had been set up with more than 200 tables.

Everyone was seated according to their number. Lu Wan was at 64 and Chen Nianqing next to her was at 63.

Two hundred contestants in a battle royale. Only one hundred people could break through.

The first challenge was ‘Numerical Huarong Road’, which tests the contestants’ comprehensive ability.

The game was very simple. The ‘Numerical Huarong Road’ was composed by numbers1 to 15. The order of these numbers was in disarray and the contestants must quickly restore it to the normal sequence.

Once they completed arranging the numbers, the contestants has to tap the button on the table and the program group would automatically rank them according to speed.

The last hundred would be eliminated.

This game was very common and ordinary people could finish it in five to ten minutes.

However, it was still difficult to find the fastest arrangement in the shortest possible time.

In addition, there were competitors all around them, and for the sake of fairness, there were supervisors at each table.

Someone was staring at them, and every second a contestant would tap the button after finishing, so the pressure in the contestants’ minds could be imagined.

Lu Wan has played this game before. On the tablet computer of the barbecue joint owner’s son, there was a Numerical Huarong Road.

But it was much simpler, with numbers only from 1 to 8. It’s a puzzle game for elementary school students.

If the gradeschooler couldn’t put the numbers back in place for a long time, he would ask Lu Wan for help.

After all, Lu Wan has the greatest brain in the entire barbecue joint. The gradeschooler knew that it’s no use to find his parents.

The countdown ended and at the sound of “start”, silence filled the entire room with the sound of fingers rubbing against the screen as exception.

Lu Wan moved the numbers while choosing the fastest one among the countless solutions in her mind.

She seemed to have found it.

The people around were still burying their heads and struggling, and they were shocked when they heard the two simultaneous sound of tapping. How could someone be so fast?

Although it was surprising, no one looked up because the game was still in progress.

If they were distracted even for a second, they might be eliminated.

After Lu Wan stepped out, she looked up at the big screen overhead.

Her name came first with 9 seconds.

Chen Nianqing followed with also 9 seconds.

Lu Wan was slightly startled. Student Chen was really something ah. He’s probably only a fraction of a second slower than her.

Generally speaking, in this game, younger people were dominating. Most of the contestants who qualified were young people who were no more than twenty years old or around that age.

By the end of fifty-eight seconds, the names of one hundred people appeared on the big screen.

A low beep announces the end of the game and the people who still hadn’t finished were eliminated.

This game also has a certain element of luck. Maybe what you got was easier to restore, or you just found the best solution by accident.

There were even popular candidates to win the championship that…… stopped in this round of the game.

But no matter what, if you lose, you lose.

Many people turned their attention to Lu Wan, who won the first place. Thanks to that variety show, many people knew her.

And with such a height, it was difficult to keep a low profile.

Qiao Lan was astonished. “That’s awesome, President Lu. How did you do it?”

To win the first place in this game, even if there was some luck, there was no doubt about her strength.

Others also praised in their hearts that this person was really good. The top student persona did not collapse. She really knew her stuff.

A lot of people would leave in this first round so the program team announced a half-hour break before continuing on.

Many players performed badly and have to leave without warning. They said goodbye to their friends who would stay behind. Even if they were feeling discontented, there was nothing else they could do.

Others came to congratulate Lu Wan and asked her how she did it so quickly.

Lu Wan: “No, I’m just lucky. Everyone is amazing.”

One should stay humble when praised.

It suddenly became lively at the forefront. Lu Wan looked up and saw Jiang Xuerong walking towards her.

She was a little surprised. Didn’t the judges and guests go backstage to rest? This person seems like she did not come with good intentions. It probably wasn’t to have a friendly exchange with the contestants.

Wait. She’s actually coming to me…… But there shouldn’t be any conflict between us, right?

Neither spoke.

Jiang Xuerong stopped in front of Lu Wan. She looked at the person before her and said angrily, “If you only want to pass the first round, I can understand, after all, you may be afraid of losing face. But isn’t it too much to take the first place?”

Heh. You’re surely greedier than me.

……A question mark slowly appeared in Lu Wan’s head.

References