Chapter 157: Unfounded Confidence

As a professional evaluation judge, Zhou Miao generally does not laugh... unless he simply cannot help it.

Zhou Miao rubbed his stiff facial muscles. "Uh, Zhang Lin, right? Why did you choose this song? To be honest, Nunchucks is quite difficult to sing, especially the enunciation and phrasing. If you can't nail the rhythm, it just sounds really foolish."

A completely collapsed Zhang Lin wore a devastated expression. "I sang it really well during practice earlier. I was just too nervous today."

Zhou Miao remained non-committal. As an artist, besides having solid skills, mental resilience and stress-resistance were equally crucial. Falling apart at a critical moment only proved that one was unsuited for this industry.

Zhou Miao exchanged glances with Zhao Li and An Qi, then gave Zhang Lin a score of zero.

Zhang Lin stepped down with a miserable expression. Getting a duck egg on the very first evaluation meant he was practically half a foot out the door at Rainbow Entertainment.

The moment the second trainee stepped onto the stage, Zhou Miao immediately furrowed his brow. Fishnet see-through top paired with a mink fur vest? What kind of underworld fashion was this?

If a woman dressed like this, it would be one thing, but this was a guy... right?

Zhou Miao lowered his head to flip through the paperwork. Indeed, it was a male. What made it even harder for him to accept was that the moment this "sister" took the stage, a bunch of people in the audience actually started screaming? Had they seen a ghost?

"Hello, esteemed judges. My name is Huang Xiao, and the song I will be performing today is An Qi's *Xiu Tai Mu*."

Hearing that syrupy, affected tone made Zhou Miao's fists clench. He raised a hand expressionlessly. "Please begin your performance."

*Xiu Tai Mu* was the first single An Qi released right after returning from South Korea, a standard Korean-style dance track. Without any strenuous choreography, Huang Xiao's singing was merely mediocre.

What irritated Zhou Miao the most was that throughout the performance, Huang Xiao kept shooting flirtatious winks at the audience, his slender waist swaying gently—extraordinarily coquettish... and utterly punchable.

Out of the corner of her eye, Zhao Li noticed Zhou Miao's clenched fists steadily rising and quickly reached over to push them down. "Stay calm, Brother Miao. It's not worth it."

Zhou Miao was still holding back, but the viewers on DouSha Live could no longer contain themselves.

"I'm gonna puke. Where did this weird mutant crawl out from?"

"Get lost! Disgusting freak!"

"Die, sissy boy!"

...

After finishing the song, Huang Xiao panted, wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, and fanned his face with his petite hand. Wearing a mink fur vest in this kind of weather was still a bit too early.

Out of appreciation for choosing her song, An Qi offered him a round of applause.

"I can tell you practiced with a lot of dedication, and your pitch was on point, but your breath support is far too unstable. And this was even without any dancing. You need to keep working hard."

With that, An Qi raised her scoring paddle: 70 points.

He was only 10 points shy of a passing grade! Huang Xiao let out a regretful sigh. Just as he was about to step down, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he asked expectantly, "Teacher, I remember there's an extra appearance bonus for the evaluations, right?"

The appearance bonus could be added to any single evaluation score, and each trainee could receive it only once. As for whether the appearance standards were met, it was up to the chief judge, Zhou Miao, to decide.

Zhou Miao scratched his nose. "Uh, as for the standards for this appearance bonus... guys can use me as a reference for looks, and girls can use the two beauties beside me. Do you think—"

Zhou Miao didn't want to spell it out too bluntly, as it might still be somewhat hurtful.

To his surprise, however, Huang Xiao exclaimed with a look of pleasant surprise, "Then I should meet the criteria!"

"Pfft—" Zhao Li couldn't help laughing out loud and quickly turned her back to avoid the camera.

An Qi covered her face with her hand, her shoulders shaking rhythmically, though it was impossible to tell whether she was crying or laughing.

The trainees in the audience and the viewers watching the live stream were already dying of laughter. Where on earth did this guy get such ungrounded self-confidence?

Zhou Miao fell silent, stroking his chin as he found himself momentarily at a loss for words.

Was this fellow inflating his own ego, or was he insulting his looks?

He couldn't figure it out, so he stopped trying.

"Get down!"

"You got it!"

During the interval before the next trainee took the stage, Zhou Miao sneaked a peek at the live stream's scrolling bullet comments.

"He's triggered, he's triggered."

"Zhou Miao flies into a rage out of embarrassment. Congratulations to this contestant for winning a complimentary scholarship gift package."

"Hahaha, he's definitely getting targeted now."

...

After reading the comments, Zhou Miao tapped the microphone. "Let me add a quick note regarding the appearance bonus: if I don't proactively announce that an appearance bonus is being awarded, it means the standards haven't been met. Please don't ask about it directly; it gets a bit awkward."

Zhao Li turned off her mic and asked softly, "Isn't the appearance bonus standard for male trainees set a bit too high?"

Hearing Zhao Li's question left Zhou Miao feeling utterly refreshed in both body and mind. His eyes crinkled into slits as he smiled. "High? Not really. I think my looks are just about average in the entertainment industry."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Li rolled her eyes playfully. This guy really couldn't handle a single compliment without getting full of himself.

On the other side, An Qi curled her lips. "Sycophant."

A real entertainment company evaluation was vastly different from those manufactured talent shows. In talent shows, sometimes for the sake of broadcast effects, trainees who missed a dance step would be covered by camera cuts or allowed to re-jump.

In a genuine corporate evaluation, however, you only got one chance. If you sang a wrong note, it was wrong—there were no second lives.

Netizens watching the stream cried out in excitement. Wasn't this infinitely more entertaining than those scripted, clownish talent shows?

Wherever Zhou Miao was, there was never a shortage of comedic moments, and Rainbow Entertainment's trainees truly possessed a bizarre array of peculiar characters.

Whenever these oddballs took the stage, Zhou Miao's expressions would turn side-splittingly funny—always looking like he had something to say but swallowed it, wanting to roast them yet mindful of his professional image, ultimately holding it all in until he looked thoroughly miserable.

In contrast, Zhao Li and An Qi, two female idols accustomed to professional facial expression management, appeared far more normal, maintaining friendly smiles throughout the process, at most adding a few understated nods of approval.

Netizens began placing bets on how much longer Zhou Miao could hold out without unleashing a rant.

To the netizens' disappointment, however, by 11:00 PM, when the first batch of over forty trainees had all completed their evaluations, Zhou Miao still hadn't broken character; he had stubbornly held it in.

"Something's fishy, brothers. Is this even him?!"

"The end of an era—Zhou Miao actually didn't roast a single person!"

"Zhou Miao, you've changed. You're no longer the person you used to be!"

...

With the first day of evaluations concluded, the trainees swarmed toward the cafeteria for dinner, while Zuo Qiu led Zhou Miao and the two women to a private dining room in a nearby restaurant for a private meal.

Zuo Qiu poured himself a full glass of wine and sighed with emotion. "Our Zhou Miao has truly grown up. He didn't roast anyone even once today."

Both women chuckled softly upon hearing this. Zhou Miao rolled his eyes. "I've never changed. If I were alone with those guys behind closed doors, I'd curse them out until their brains turned to mush."

"But this is a live broadcast. Hundreds of thousands, even millions of people are watching online. If I cursed them out publicly, it would mean not treating them like human beings."