On Friday, Jiang Yue flew to Xiangcheng with Jiang Kaiwen.
The production team's car dropped them off at the broadcasting building. On the door of the backstage dressing room, a sign read “《The Grand Game》 Cast and Crew.”
When Jiang Yue pushed the door open and walked in, Zhao Songcheng, Su Yao, and Zhang Yu had already arrived. They were sitting in front of the vanity mirrors, getting their hair and makeup done.
Zhang Yu was surrounded by the most people. His assistants were all busy with their respective tasks. He was looking down, flipping through the script, and only raised his head when he heard the noise at the door.
Zhang Yu smiled and said, “Brother Jiang, now that you've started your own studio, you must have to oversee your schedule, business deals, and public relations all by yourself, right? A brand-new team that was just put together is bound to be much harder than being signed to an agency like us.”
Jiang Yue sat down on an empty sofa.
Jiang Kaiwen took a bottle of water out of his bag, unscrewed the cap, and handed it over.
He took the water and looked at Zhang Yu.
“There is some pressure, but the benefit is that I can choose my own scripts and review my own contracts. At least for every document, I know exactly who signed it and whose official seal is on it.”
As soon as these words came out, the smile on Zhang Yu's face faded a bit, and he lowered his head to flip through his script again.
Just then, a staff member pushed in a clothing rack. “Teachers, these are the outfits for the opening. We have prepared separate dressing rooms for you.”
Jiang Yue took his deep purple robe with subtle patterns and walked into the dressing room.
This outfit was the original costume sent over by 《The Grand Game》 crew. Once the gold-trimmed belt was fastened, his shoulder and waistlines perfectly accentuated his silhouette.
Fifteen minutes later, the dressing room door slid open.
When he stepped out, the makeup artist's powder puff froze in mid-air.
Jiang Yue stood at the door in his purple robe, his sleeves draping down and a jade belt securing his robes. Before he even spoke a word, he had already slipped right back into the state of Chu Yan.
Zhao Songcheng stared for a moment longer, then said with a smile, “Jiang Yue, seeing you in this outfit makes me feel like I'm back on set again.”
Su Yao took out her phone. “Teachers, since we're all dressed up and ready, how about we take a group photo and post it on Weibo to build up some hype?”
Jiang Yue didn't decline.
Zhao Songcheng nodded and stepped over.
Zhang Yu also put down his script and aimed a smile at the camera.
A few minutes later, Jiang Kaiwen returned from outside and lowered his voice. “Brother, I just went to sign the schedule. The staff took me through the prop passage. The executive director is currently double-checking the third-round positions with the prop team.”
Jiang Yue looked up. “What about it?”
“The Star Family brought in an external helper, a main dancer from a recently debuted boy group named Lin Hao.”
Jiang Kaiwen spoke faster. “He has a background in gymnastics and is highly competitive. For the third round's physical challenge, they repeatedly confirmed your and his positions. I also heard them mention something about a teaser clip.”
Jiang Yue rolled up his script and held it in his hand. “Do you think the production team wants to see me win, or do they want to see him win?”
Jiang Kaiwen gave his assessment. “Honestly, neither probably matters to them. What they want is material they can edit into the teaser.”
Jiang Yue didn't reply further. This matched his own judgment.
At 7:30 PM, the recording entered its countdown.
The screams from outside the studio echoed through the walls and into the backstage area.
A staff member ran over holding a walkie-talkie. “Teachers from 《The Grand Game》 cast, get ready to go on stage! The lifts are in position!”
Jiang Yue smoothed his cuffs and followed behind Zhao Songcheng into the passage.
The four of them stood firm on the lift.
The executive director's countdown came from nearby: “Three, two, one.”
On stage, the host's voice rang out: “Tonight, besides the cast of 《The Grand Game》, we have also invited a super strong external helper!”
The lift rose.
As the stage lights beamed down, the audience seats lit up as well.
Zhao Songcheng, dressed in a black brocade robe, was the first to wave to the crowd.
Su Yao stood elegantly in a long teal dress.
Zhang Yu held a folding fan, wearing a practiced smile aimed directly at the main camera.
Jiang Yue stood on the far left, his deep purple patterned robe draping down to his feet. Once clad in ancient attire, the casual aura of a modern person completely vanished from him. His eyes, posture, and bearing made him look exactly like someone who had just walked out of the wind and snow of an ancient dynasty.
In the audience, a few girls in the front row noticed Jiang Yue and began whispering among themselves.
“Holy crap, look at his posture.”
“He's so handsome! They're all in historical costumes, but he looks so much more like a genuine ancient person.”
“He caught my eye instantly. He really feels different from the others.”
The five hosts of the Star Family took the stage.
The main host, He Chao, kicked off the show with a smile, leading the guests to introduce themselves one by one.
When it was Jiang Yue's turn, he picked up the microphone.
“Hello, everyone. I am Jiang Yue, and I play Chu Yan in 《The Grand Game》.”
After saying that single sentence, he lowered his microphone.
Jiang Yue knew exactly who the camera should focus on tonight.
Zhao Songcheng was the male lead, and Zhang Yu had his company backing him up. There was no need for Jiang Yue to steal the spotlight at the opening.
When it was his turn, the camera would naturally pan over to him.
Once the opening segment was recorded, everyone returned backstage to change into athletic team uniforms.
Following the tradition of 《Star Weekend》, this episode split the participants into two teams for game matchups.
The Red Team consisted of Jiang Yue, Zhao Songcheng, Su Yao, Zhang Yu, and the host Sun Peng.
The Blue Team was led by He Chao, with the other three hosts and the special guest helper, Lin Hao, standing opposite them.
He Chao held his script and announced the rules: “We have three games tonight, with each victory earning one point. The losing team at the end must post a high-definition, goofy, ugly photo specified by the crew on their Weibo accounts for twenty-four hours.”
The audience immediately started cheering and jeering, and someone in the back row was already shouting for them to post the ugly photos.
The first game was Charades.
The chemistry among the Blue Team hosts was undeniable. As soon as He Chao raised his hand, the host Qian Bin could already guess most of it.
On the Red Team's side, Zhang Yu was highly active in jumping in, using large gestures and showing a strong sense of screen presence.
However, Zhang Yu lacked chemistry with them. Several times, Zhao Songcheng and the others were right on the verge of guessing the word, only to be thrown off by the extra movements Zhang Yu suddenly threw in.
Zhang Yu stepped back and acted embarrassed, saying, “My bad, everyone. I just really wanted to win.”
Watching this scene, Jiang Yue couldn't help but feel that the acting Zhang Yu displayed in daily life was actually much more natural than when he was formally shooting a scene.
If he had this level of performance while filming, Director Xu would have saved quite a few hairs back then.
Still, his fans probably ate this up.
Sure enough, in the audience, fans holding up signs with Zhang Yu's name had already started shouting to comfort him, saying it was fine. One could even faintly hear people calling him cute and adorable.
After two rounds, the Blue Team predictably won the first game with an eight-to-five lead.
The game boards were taken down, and the chairs were rearranged into two rows.
The second game was an advanced version of Who's the Undercover, testing the guests' acting skills and psychological resilience.
This was a classic tradition of 《Star Weekend》. The production team would arrange segments based on the guests' strengths. If you pulled it off, it became a highlight; if you didn't, it would be edited into a joke.
He Chao explained the rules: “The theme of this round is Storytelling. One person among the card-drawing team will get a Blank Card, making them the undercover. The opposing team has two opportunities to ask questions, and they win if they find the undercover. We'll swap in the second round.”
In the first round, the Red Team drew cards.
Jiang Yue received the last card and flipped it over.
Blank Card.
He placed the card back face-down on the small table, pressing his finger against the corner, his expression unchanging.
The production team wouldn't leave the guests completely in the dark. The fact that Jiang Kaiwen could overhear the third-round positions proved that there were pre-planned highlights for tonight.
The guests had all received their respective scripts, which outlined the flow and rules of the games, though they wouldn't outright script the final outcome.
Jiang Yue suspected that the undercover role had been deliberately assigned to him by the production team, but it didn't do him any harm either.
Since the outcome wasn't set in stone, when the camera panned to someone, whether they could handle it depended entirely on their own capability.
In this game, spinning a story as the undercover wasn't difficult for him. The hard part was having the camera shoved right in his face while battle-hardened hosts pressed him with follow-up questions.
This footage would be broadcast during prime time tomorrow night.
If they lost this round too, even if they played beautifully in the third game, they wouldn't be able to turn the overall match around.
Jiang Yue wasn't afraid of posting a goofy photo of himself, but the main episodes of 《The Grand Game》 had yet to air.
For many casual viewers, this would be their first time seeing Chu Yan on a popular national variety show. He couldn't let their first impression be a silly photo or a compilation of him failing.
He summoned the system panel. The prestige points he had accumulated from his recent livestreams, behind-the-scenes clips, and trending searches were still saved up, and they were more than enough.
Initiate High-Tier Draw, twenty consecutive pulls.
Twenty thousand prestige points deducted.
Rate on N.U.
