Chapter 174

Thump.

The entrance door swung open, and a graceful figure slowly approached the stage.

The contestants in the camp area looked curious.

On the screen was a woman in a long, sky-blue dress reaching her ankles, with a loose dark-colored belt tied around her waist. As she walked slowly, it only accentuated her slender waist even more.

Her jet-black hair was casually tied back, and from behind, her simple braided ponytail swayed with each step.

Even on a red carpet, this silhouette would not lose an ounce of elegance.

As the camera panned slowly, the audience finally caught a glimpse of the woman's face.

A perfect beauty with pointed features, lively fox-eyes, a petite nose, and rosy lips curved in a faint smile.

With such exquisite looks and graceful figure, this could only be—

"Ji Ruochu!"

As the host revealed her identity, viewers watching the TV instantly gasped in surprise.

Thump.

In the observation room, Jisishi was so startled that she knocked over the water bottle beside her, though fortunately the cap was tightly screwed on, preventing any spillage on the nearby guests.

Meanwhile, the online TV chat was flooded with exclamations of shock and surprise.

Not only that, the moment her name was announced, contestants in the camp behind the Glory Gate involuntarily stood up.

"Ji Ruochu? Is it really her?!"

"No wonder, my mentor said she was participating too, but I haven't seen her until now. I thought my mentor had heard wrong, but it turns out..." It turns out the first contestant gets a separate space!

"Ji Ruochu? Is she very good?"

One uninformed contestant asked.

"No, not good." Students from Peking University and Tsinghua University answered in unison, "Terrifying!"

Terrifying?

How terrifying?

They soon found out.

[Ji Ruochu, 20 years old, a graduate student pursuing a doctoral degree in Economics at Peking University, national gold medalist in XX year, obtained a perfect score and gold medal at the International Olympiad Competition in XX year.]

Gasps—

The mention of these two gold medals instantly caused a stir among the contestants present, even those who had studied abroad and were unfamiliar with her now paid full attention.

But no one expected Ji Ruochu's introduction to continue.

[At age six, she starred in the film 'Smooth Sailing', gaining fame as Qian Siqi. At fifteen, she appeared in 'Free Roaming 2'. At sixteen, she portrayed Xuan in the TV series 'Ask for Directions', winning Best New Actress. At seventeen...]

As the voiceover listed her accomplishments one by one, the contestants' expressions of shock only deepened, laced with a hint of something indescribable.

From initially "admiring the expert! Wary of the expert" to "Huh?" then "So that's what kind of expert you are" and finally—the expert sure had a lot of time.

In short, by the time Ji Ruochu stood center stage, the contestants had fallen into an awkward silence.

The geniuses: This feeling is... very disillusioning.

Meanwhile, the online chat:

[So... how to put it...]

[Kid, sometimes you don't have to be so honest. Some not-so-impressive achievements don't need to be listed to pad the resume.]

[No, are Ji's fans always this arrogant? She's acted in so many major productions and won awards that most actors can't even dream of, and you call that "not-so-impressive achievements?"]

[But in this context, it really... doesn't seem that impressive.]

[Hahaha... I'm dying of laughter here, my mom said she only understood Ji Ruochu's acting accomplishments at the end, congratulations Ji Ruochu kiddo, mom fan count +1.]

... "Ahem, Ji Ruochu, may I ask, is acting a way for you to relax outside of your studies?"

"Not to relax." Ji Ruochu pondered for a moment before replying, "More like an extracurricular hobby."

"Then... what made you decide to include the 'achievements of your extracurricular hobby' in your personal resume?"

The host was momentarily stumped before regaining composure to ask professionally.

"That..." It was only then that Ji Ruochu's expression faltered.

"The later parts were added by my dad. He said after seeing what others had written, he felt listing just those few things did me a disservice."

Host: ...

Contestants present: ...

Observation room: ...

Online viewers: ...

Well, that's Ji Mochen for you.

"Didn't you remind your father that the first three items alone were already far ahead of others?"

"No." Ji Ruochu coughed lightly, "I thought, with so many people here, there's no way they'd read through everyone's bio in full. The production team would surely just highlight the important parts, but..."

Online chat:

[In other words: Who knew you old fogeys would actually read it all verbatim.]

[Production team: My bad?]

[Hahaha, Ji Mochen, you really did it!]

[Oh my god, did you see the geniuses in the contestant area? The light in their eyes just "whoosh" vanished, how can this be so hilarious hahaha!]

[Is this the legendary "moment of disillusionment"?]

[Well done, Ji Ruochu, you just demolished a whole new kind of house.]

[Ji Mochen, you bastard! Our girl's big national TV debut was so impressive, and you just ruined the atmosphere like that!]

No need to doubt, that last comment was from a diehard fan of the Ji family.