CSGM - Chapter 1
Chapter 1: She's Back
"Ding!"
The moment Chu Xi opened her eyes, she saw the bedroom she hadn't been in for seven years.
She was back.
And back with her was the System that haunted her like a ghost.
"Congratulations, Host, on returning to your original world!"
Hearing this voice, Chu Xi frowned in displeasure. "I've already completed the 99 transmigration missions. What are you still following me for?"
System: "Detecting that the average IQ in this world's entertainment industry is too low and requires the Host's salvation. An additional mission has been activated for the Host."
Chu Xi: "Get lost! I'm not joining the entertainment industry."
The words had barely left her mouth when a flood of memories rushed into her mind like a revolving lantern.
It turned out that while her soul was transmigrating to other worlds to complete missions, seven years had passed in this world!
In those seven years, times had changed. The person acting as her body's proxy had joined an agency and even signed a contract to become an actress.
Chu Xi: "?!%#%&@…!"
What's it like to hire someone to attend class for you, only to find out they got you elected to the class committee? Chu Xi had been invited to answer.
System: "Host, please do not worry. To ensure you have a pleasant mission experience, the Strongest Brain System has been activated for you! The System Mall has been opened in sync!"
Chu Xi: "So?"
Didn't the System know her own IQ was as high as 140? That was already in the genius range. Whose "strongest brain" could she possibly need?
"Host, this System Mall is officially curated! As long as the Host raises the IQ of an artist in the industry, the numerical value can be exchanged for talent abilities in the mall! The higher the level of the talent ability, the more powerful the Host's intellectual development will become!"
Chu Xi saw that the System Mall offered eight types of talents: reasoning, creativity, spatial, memory, observation, calculation, vision, and hearing, as well as a category for other talents.
Each talent was further divided into six levels: Primary, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, Master, and Supreme. This finally piqued her interest slightly.
After all, she was a veteran who had completed 99 transmigration missions. She knew that any ability she acquired would be hers to keep permanently in this world, regardless of whether the System was still with her or not.
"Hmm, it does seem somewhat useful," she said, still very calm. "Once I finish this mission, you'll stop pestering me, right?"
"Yes, Host! I absolutely, positively guarantee it!"
Chu Xi let out a cold sneer. The damn System said that every single time…
"Knock, knock, knock!"
A sudden, fierce knocking on the door pulled Chu Xi's thoughts back to reality.
After a glance through the peephole, she opened the door.
In that instant, a file came flying through the air, aimed straight for her face!
Fortunately, she dodged with nimble reflexes, and the stack of papers landed on her shoulder.
Her agent's sharp, piercing voice rang in her ears:
"What good are you? You've been in the industry for five years and you're still a complete flop! You money pit, do you have any idea how low your asking price is now? You've wasted all the resources the company invested in you for those few dramas! You're such an idiot, completely useless aside from your face!"
Chu Xi calmly took the file off her shoulder. In the memories she had just received, she hadn't seen the agency providing her proxy with any good resources. It was nothing more than a few bit parts in some web dramas.
"Auntie Lan, did you grace me with your presence just to throw a tantrum at my place?" Her flat, emotionless words were clearly tinged with a faint mockery.
Throwing a tantrum was a sign of incompetence, and the most useless behavior of all.
The woman before her was a veteran agent from Star Han Agency named Hu Lan. The younger staff at the company all called her Auntie Lan.
But when Chu Xi said it, her attitude was anything but that of a respectful junior.
Hu Lan never expected that Chu Xi, who was usually so meek and submissive around her, would dare to speak to her in such a rude tone today!
But whatever. Chu Xi was already a discarded pawn of Star Han Agency! Given her own status and position, there was no need to waste any more words on a flop like this!
Though she thought this, Hu Lan was still annoyed at not getting the last word.
"I came to your humble abode because I don't want your bad luck to dirty the company's floors! Take a good look at the notice in your hand. The company is officially terminating your contract as of today. When you're out, don't you dare say you were ever one of my people. I'd be too embarrassed!" As Hu Lan spoke, she scraped a finger across her cheek and rolled her eyes at Chu Xi.
Chu Xi glanced at the termination document, then raised her eyes to Hu Lan.
"Terminating with me?" she asked for confirmation.
Her emphasis was on "me," not "terminating."
However, Hu Lan completely missed this subtle detail.
She found Chu Xi utterly contemptible. To put it nicely, she was a pretty face; to put it bluntly, she was a dunce, and more importantly, she had no commercial value. She was a famous agent in the industry, and she didn't manage useless people who couldn't generate profit for her!
"What else?" She thought Chu Xi was asking this to beg her to stay, but that was impossible. "A flop like you isn't worthy of Star Han Agency, nor are you worthy of me. Managing you is a waste of my damn time! I'm announcing that you have now been kicked out of the company!"
"You'll regret this."
"Bang!"
Chu Xi said only those four words before closing the door, file in hand.
She didn't even spare Hu Lan another glance.
Hu Lan's eyes widened as she stared at the door that had nearly slammed into her nose. It took her a long moment to recover from the shock.
Why was Chu Xi's reaction so different from what she'd imagined? How dare Chu Xi speak to her like that?
The Chu Xi from seven years ago wouldn't have dared.
But the past was the past. Now, she was the real Chu Xi.
She felt no lingering attachment to her former agency. She rolled up the termination notice and casually tossed it into a drawer, then opened her phone.
On it was a group text message sent just today from the production team of Our Restaurant:
【This program will officially begin its live broadcast tomorrow at 10 AM. All members, please arrive at the Huitian Theater one hour in advance! Please reply upon receipt.】
Chu Xi: 【Received.】
This was a variety show the agency had arranged for Chu Xi before her contract was terminated. Because it didn't have much of a following and was being live-streamed, many in the industry considered it a bad gig. No one else wanted it, so it fell to her.
Oh, but Chu Xi didn't care if the show had a following or not. She wasn't going for the fame.
She was going simply to find a few lucky artists at random and help them raise their IQs.
Unfortunately, in everyone else's eyes, Chu Xi was the one who needed her IQ raised…
The next day, Chu Xi leisurely made her way to the Huitian Theater. The Our Restaurant production team was already busy with preparations.
When the Director's Assistant saw Chu Xi's name on the program list, he couldn't help but wipe away a cold sweat.
This artist… she was a flop, but whenever video sites posted "hilarious compilations of 'Nine-Year Education Leaky Fish' in the entertainment industry" or "a look at low-IQ moments in showbiz," her face was bound to appear… It was truly hard to describe!
For instance, in an interview, she claimed to love mathematics and often studied the works of Nobel Prize winners in mathematics to learn! Respect, but there's no Nobel Prize in Mathematics, okay? Where did she find these winners?
Then there was the time on set when she misread her script, pronouncing "jǔsàng" (dejected) as "qiě sàng" and "guāzào" (noisy) as "shézào." On a variety show, when asked what a triangle with an angle greater than 90 degrees was called, she answered, "a quadrilateral." Netizens dug into her past, suspecting that her middle school diploma was fake and that she had at most an elementary school education!
Even though Chu Xi had a clean, handsome, and dashing face, netizens who couldn't stand her airhead brain still flamed her whenever they could.
The main complaint was that the barrier to entry in the entertainment industry was too low. Any illiterate person could become an actor. They doubted she could even understand a script.
Sighing, the assistant worried about this very problem.
A large tent was set up outside the theater, and Chu Xi was there, watching a circus magician's street performance, looking completely unhurried.
Seeing her, the assistant rushed over, pulled her inside, and stomped his foot in exasperation.
"Why are you still wasting time out there? You should have come over as soon as you arrived!"
"What's the rush?" Chu Xi looked around. No other artists had arrived, and besides, she had timed it perfectly.
"Isn't there still forty minutes left?" she said.
"That time is for everyone else. You're different!" the assistant said, his tone a bit scolding.
He handed Chu Xi a script with the rules. "These are the rules the director will explain after we go live. Read them first so you don't get confused during the show. I've already added pinyin for some of the words you might not know. Take a look, and ask me if there's anything you don't understand."
Unexpectedly, Chu Xi didn't even take the script. She glanced at it and said directly, "I don't need to read it."
Not read it? He was giving her special treatment, and she was refusing it?
But the assistant was thinking of the show's quality, so he pressed on. "The show will be live later. If you don't understand the rules, we can't stop to explain them to you individually. We can't let the show's flow be affected by one person. You should first…"
Chu Xi turned her head, her cold gaze falling on him sideways. "When I said I don't need it, I meant it's unnecessary. I'll understand."
Her hair was shoulder-length, and her features were sharp and handsome. She possessed sharp brows and starry eyes, a rare combination for an actress that didn't sacrifice beauty. The detached coldness in her eyes made the assistant freeze for a moment.
For some reason, Chu Xi seemed inexplicably hard to provoke. The assistant muttered, "ungrateful," and said no more.
On the set, the various production teams continued to bustle about, setting up cameras, scenery, and props.
Chu Xi found a stool and sat down. After a while, she finally saw the second member of the show arrive—the Golden Melody Queen, Li Xiling.
She was a senior who had debuted thirty years ago, with countless popular works to her name. She walked like a proud black swan, followed by two assistants.
Not long after Li Xiling, the third member arrived at the Huitian Theater—actor Xiao Han, dressed in a suit with waxed hair, making a confident entrance.
Chu Xi's gaze lingered on the two of them.
Of course, this was definitely not because she was interested in either of them, but because she was surprised to find that as the artists walked past her, she could read their IQ scores.
Name: Li Xiling.
IQ: 95.
Name: Xiao Han.
IQ: 102.
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