CSGM - Chapter 58
Chapter 58: Assessment Notice
Little Curly Hair couldn't understand where Chu Xi's mystifying confidence came from.
Naturally, she didn't believe it either.
However, she didn't argue with the patient any further. She decided to treat it as Chu Xi's strong pride and kindly protect it by not pointing out the truth.
If Chu Xi really did end up at the bottom of the assessment the day after tomorrow and was eliminated, she wouldn't laugh at her for it.
She had only just found out that Chu Xi had been sick for the past few days…
After learning the truth, Little Curly Hair told the other four trainees in their dorm room.
One by one, they all cast looks of sympathy, comfort, and worry toward Chu Xi.
Chu Xi sat on her bed. "…"
That really wasn't necessary.
Statistically, one of the six of them in the dorm might indeed be eliminated in the first assessment, but it absolutely would not be her, Chu Xi.
They were truly worrying for nothing.
"Don't worry about me. If you don't want to be eliminated, you should focus on yourselves," Chu Xi advised them sincerely.
In response, they all offered Chu Xi some suggestions:
"The training rooms are open until midnight. You still have a chance to cram, Chu Xi. If you're better tomorrow, you should go practice."
"You could do it at noon, too. Ask a teacher for a makeup lesson, it might help! A lot of the trainees are learning terribly, so you don't need to be too discouraged!"
"Right, I'll let you copy my culture class notes. Hurry up and mark the key points to memorize!"
Little Curly Hair placed her textbook and notebook on Chu Xi's desk.
Chu Xi glanced at them and gave up on refuting the five's unfounded anxiety.
"Alright, I'm going to sleep."
When she woke up the next day, Chu Xi's low-grade fever had subsided. She was basically recovered.
But her five roommates had already "publicized" the fact that she had been sick with a fever for the past few days in the cafeteria, the lounge, and the restrooms.
"I'll tell you something, but don't tell anyone else…"
"We really shouldn't have talked about Chu Xi like that, it was a misunderstanding…"
"Do you know why she was wearing a mask and looked so listless the past few days? It turns out…"
Now that Chu Xi had recovered, she was indeed no longer wearing a mask.
So it wasn't because she was being cold and aloof!
Everyone had a sudden realization.
Quite a few trainees began to sympathize with Chu Xi.
Her luck was just too bad. Getting sick right after entering the training camp, and on top of that, facing an elimination-based assessment just a week later. Was she just not fated to be in this film's cast?
During lunch, a trainee sitting next to Chu Xi asked curiously, "Chu Xi, um… can I ask you something… Are you still participating in the assessment tomorrow?"
Chu Xi swallowed her food and said, as if it were a foregone conclusion, "Of course."
"You can't ask for a leave of absence?"
"Yeah, yeah, weren't you in no condition to attend class for the past few days? Didn't the director say you could take the test next time, or give you some extra points…?"
Chu Xi asked calmly in return, "Wouldn't that be unfair to all of you?"
The person who asked was taken aback.
Hey… that's true…
Letting Chu Xi skip a round didn't seem quite right, did it?
He stopped talking about it, just feeling a bit of regret and pity. "You've really had it rough…"
Chu Xi let out a soft laugh, and the other trainees didn't know what she was laughing about.
But some of the female trainees couldn't help but have selfish thoughts.
It would be good if Chu Xi were eliminated, they thought.
Chu Xi already put a lot of pressure on them. She had a great image and temperament, came with her own fame, and had a better acting foundation than them. They heard her interview score for getting into the camp was very high.
In short, she was a formidable rival!
Out of the 30 of them, only three would ultimately be chosen for female roles in the film. If Chu Xi was eliminated in the first week due to illness, they would have one less strong competitor to deal with.
To avoid being eliminated in the first round, they had been studying desperately all week. Even during breaks, the practice rooms were crammed with trainees putting in extra work.
There were even people memorizing music scores while eating breakfast; such sights were everywhere.
It was a pity that Chu Xi had dropped the ball in the first round, not paying attention in any of her classes.
—Actually, Chu Xi also found it quite funny. Why was everyone so certain that she hadn't learned anything from the classes?
Instead of wasting time and energy thinking about her, they would be better off using that time to practice diligently themselves.
She saw that some of their IQs were frighteningly low.
They shouldn't come crying when they get eliminated.
It wasn't just the trainees whose opinions of her did a one-eighty after hearing the truth; even the teachers felt a little worried and guilty.
Chu Xi was so quiet all day, how had they not noticed she was sick?
The performance teacher said regretfully, "Chu Xi, it turns out you were sick. Why didn't you say so sooner?"
Chu Xi said nonchalantly, "It was just a cold. I've recovered already."
The performance teacher frowned. "Can you handle the assessment tomorrow?"
Chu Xi: "No problem."
Seeing her determined look, the performance teacher didn't know what else to say and could only sigh softly. "I hope you perform well tomorrow…"
Please don't get eliminated in the first assessment, she thought. That would be such a shame.
The performance teacher even thought that if Chu Xi's results really weren't good, given her special circumstances, she should go talk to the director. They couldn't let a promising talent be sent away because of a small accident.
The culture teacher privately sent Chu Xi the materials from the past few classes for her to review.
Chu Xi was a sick student who had missed class because of a fever. This didn't count as giving her special treatment.
Chu Xi: "…Okay, thank you."
During dinner.
The culture teacher sent a message: 【Have you looked at the materials?】
Chu Xi: 【Finished.】
The culture teacher stared at her phone on the other end. "…"
WeChat didn't even show that Chu Xi had received the file she sent…
Forget it. Chu Xi had indeed missed too many classes. It wasn't something that could be made up in a day. It was up to fate now.
Before the evening class began, the production team posted the items for tomorrow's assessment next to the class schedule.
There were four categories in total: Performance, Musical Instrument (Tang drums for men, guzheng for women), Archery, and a Written Culture Test.
Each category was worth 100 points, and the trainees would be ranked by their total score. The bottom sixth of the trainees, those deemed to have little talent after the test—
—would have to leave the training camp after this assessment.
The trainees crowded around the assessment notice, murmuring anxiously amongst themselves.
"We have to play the guzheng? I'm done for, I'm tone-deaf and I haven't even memorized the score!"
"The written test won't cover the Taiping Jing, will it? Hiss—"
"Of all the physical training, the first assessment is archery!!!"
"I hope my performance score is higher this time. Bodhisattva, please help me."
…
Chu Xi glanced at the notice through a gap between people's heads.
Performance? Not difficult.
Guzheng? Easy.
Archery? Simple.
Written culture test? A giveaway.
Alright, nothing to see here. Time to go back to the dorm and rest.
When she returned to her room, it was quiet. She was the only one there. The other five were probably, like the past few days, either secretly meeting with food delivery drivers or working hard in the various practice rooms.
No one wanted to be eliminated. The competition was fierce.
This environment…
Chu Xi couldn't help but think of Ren Zhi again.
Ren Zhi was the one suited to live here day in and day out. She might even become some kind of spiritual leader.
Heh…
A smile unconsciously appeared on her face as the corners of her lips turned up.
Just then, her eyes fell upon her desk, where the textbook and notebook Little Curly Hair had lent her still sat.
Chu Xi picked up the History of the Late Eastern Han textbook and flipped through it.
Then she discovered that Little Curly Hair was quite hard of hearing.
The culture teacher had said, "The Partisan Prohibitions have long accumulated; if they conspire with the Yellow Turbans, it will be too late for regrets." But the note she had written was, "The nine solid mechanisms should be secured; if they conspire with the Yellow Turbans, they will be rescued at noon."
She had no historical foundation or comprehension skills whatsoever. She hadn't even heard of the "Disaster of the Partisan Prohibitions."
And for "Zhang Mancheng attacked and killed the Nanyang Prefect, Chu Gong, in response to Zhang Jiao," the note she had written was "Zhang Man successfully killed the Nanyang Prefect, leaving the palace to respond to Zhang Jiao."
Zhang Mancheng… attacked and killed…
Zhang Man… successfully killed…
Chu Xi couldn't help but laugh.
Flipping another page, another note read, "In the cold, they dare not wear clothes; in hunger, they dare not eat. The people have ??, yet no one relieves them."
The place with the question marks was a note she hadn't fully heard or written down.
Those two words should be sī è (this calamity).
Chu Xi remembered the culture teacher saying it just like that—
In the cold, they dare not wear clothes; in hunger, they dare not eat. The people suffer this calamity, yet no one relieves them.
She took a red ink pen and filled it in on Little Curly Hair's textbook.
She also went back and corrected the nonsense she had written earlier.
All in all, Chu Xi spent nearly twenty minutes correcting errors across more than a dozen pages of the textbook and in another notebook.
She seriously wondered if this person, having memorized a pile of incorrect facts, would fail the written test tomorrow.
After the evening class ended, Little Curly Hair returned, clutching half a carton of milk left over from her extra meal. She sipped it mouthful by mouthful, cherishing it as if it were a treasure, afraid that one more sip would produce the hissing sound of an empty carton.
The food they ate every day now was just insane!
Insanely nutritious and restrictive. Her appetite was protesting!
Just as Little Curly Hair shook the milk carton to check its contents, Chu Xi said to her, "I put your textbook and notebook back. I corrected the mistakes, so you should review it again."
Little Curly Hair looked up at her on the bed. "Huh? What?"
Chu Xi's patience was thin. The second time, she only said, "See for yourself."
Little Curly Hair dazedly opened her textbook. When she saw the red ink marks added to every page, her mouth fell wide open…
How could Chu Xi be so awful! Scribbling all over her book!
Ah, this sentence… why does it feel like Chu Xi's correction is right?
This one too… what was written in red ink seemed more like the teacher's original words. She had been in a daze when she heard it, but the few words Chu Xi changed actually made it click for her.
What? This person's name is Zhang Mancheng? Not Zhang Man?
She quickly took out her phone to search—
His name really was Zhang Mancheng!
Oh! She had misheard!
Chu Xi had even helped her complete the sentences she hadn't managed to write down in time.
Little Curly Hair gradually realized that Chu Xi had helped her correct her mistakes. She was both excited and grateful, and also a little scared to think she had almost muddled through with so many errors!
Chu Xi was just too nice!
Just as she looked up at Chu Xi again with a grateful smile, her expression suddenly froze—
Wait!
Little Curly Hair seemed to remember something important!
Hadn't Chu Xi been slacking off in class for the past few days? Wasn't she sick and sleeping through the lectures?!
Huh?!
How did Chu Xi know all the notes she hadn't managed to get down? How did she correct all the places she got wrong, and even write down the correct versions?
"Chu-Chu Xi…" Little Curly Hair stared at Chu Xi in disbelief, so shocked that her teeth and tongue got tied up.
The other two roommates who had returned noticed them and curiously asked why Little Curly Hair was looking at Chu Xi like that.
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