Chapter 126: Hello, I am Li Shixin, a trainee who has been practicing for forty-five years!

Chapter 126: Hello, I am a trainee who has been practicing for forty-five years, Li Shixin!

"A contract?!"

"Buck up! Shixin, does getting a contract mean you’ve found a steady job? Does this mean you’ll finally be part of an organization?"

At the Children and Youth Center, a group of elderly fans were overwhelmed with joy upon hearing the news from Li Shixin.

In response to Old Man Liu Feng’s inquiry, Li Shixin chuckled. "That's right. With a contract, I won’t have to hunt for acting gigs on my own anymore; the company will handle all the arrangements. From now on, you’ll have many more chances to see me on television!"

"Oh my, that’s wonderful!"

The elderly fans were thrilled. Wu Ming, in particular, wore an expression identical to the one she had when Chen Antang was accepted into medical school—her jaw was practically hanging open!

However, after a moment of jubilation, the old woman suddenly realized something. "Shixin, once you sign the contract, does that mean you won't be in Rongdian anymore?"

As soon as Wu Ming brought this up, the rest of the group fell silent.

"That's right, Shixin. Where will you be working after you sign?"

Seeing the faces of the group fill with melancholy and worry, Li Shixin gave a warm laugh.

"Don't you worry. Even if I sign, I’ll still come back to our Rongdian. My little theater is still here—this is my own enterprise, how could I just walk away from it? You old folks are still here, so how could I not return? At most, I’ll be away while filming, and I'll come back as soon as I'm done. Besides... the people at Huaqi made it clear on the phone that this visit is just an evaluation. Whether they’ll actually sign me is still up in the air."

Hearing this, Wu Ming immediately became indignant. While she was reluctant to see him leave, she refused to accept the idea that he wouldn't get the contract. "Shixin, you must be confident! Think about it—if Huaqi won't sign an actor like you, what kind of person are they looking for? Don't you dare belittle yourself!"

"That's right! Shixin, stand tall! Damn it, just go with confidence. If they don't give you a contract, I'll fly to Shanghai tomorrow, lie down at their company entrance, and give them a piece of my mind! I want to see if there’s anyone in their company who acts better than you!"

Seeing Liu Feng—whose words were whistling through his missing teeth—getting ready to pull a "porcelain-bumping" stunt, Li Shixin quickly stopped him.

*Please, stop right there. With your physical condition, you don't even need to bump into porcelain; you’d trip over yourself just by standing still.*

*This kind of physical labor is something I can handle alone; you don’t need to get involved.*

After bidding farewell to the elderly fans, Li Shixin returned home. Living a solitary life, he didn't have much to pack. He informed Zhang Ying and Zhang Shuo, who had just returned from work, about the contract. He firmly rejected Zhang Ying’s insistence on escorting him, gave a few parting words to An Xiaoxiao—who was about to wrap up her filming—telling her to wait for his return in Rongdian, and then booked a flight to Shanghai for the following morning.

...

The long and arduous journey aside.

At nine o'clock on the third morning after receiving the call from the agency, Li Shixin finally arrived at Shanghai Airport.

Most large cultural corporations, especially the headquarters of publicly listed companies, were located here. In terms of the cultural industry, this place, which had been leading the trends since the old era, remained glorious today. While the film and television industry in Rongdian was well-developed, it was built on a foundational level and could not compare to the hub of industry leaders gathered in Shanghai.

At ten-thirty, Li Shixin took a bus to the Huaqi headquarters.

Looking at the twenty- or thirty-story building, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Good heavens."

Li Shixin had researched Huaqi previously—back when he was dealing with Liu Xin. In terms of status, Huaqi stood at the pinnacle of the domestic entertainment industry. However, their management had been mediocre over the past two years; several major productions they invested in over the last three years had failed to yield good returns, and their stock price had been steadily declining since the year before last.

Still, the foundation was there.

The building alone was likely worth several billion...

Although they had lost quite a few first- and second-tier celebrities in recent years, Huaqi’s current roster of artists remained formidable. Furthermore, the group had many diversified sectors, including advertising, film and television, distribution, upstream literary platforms, and terminal cinema and online video platforms—their resources were quite abundant.

That was exactly what Li Shixin valued.

In a company like this, the competition might be fierce, but as long as you had the talent, you wouldn't have to worry about resources.

In his previous life, when he was an idol trainee, Li Shixin had realized one truth: in the entertainment industry, don't talk about how it's better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. Whether you are the head of a chicken or the tail of a phoenix, in this place where entertainment is the ultimate goal, both are just cannon fodder that will be extinguished with a single spark.

Ninety percent of the people who actually make it to the top are, damn it, the heads of phoenixes!

After wandering around the headquarters lobby, looking at the corporate image wall and the exhibition-style wall displaying their works to get a better understanding of Huaqi's current state, he headed to the front desk.

Following the information provided during the phone call, he contacted the responsible agent named Wang Mei, who had called him earlier.

After waiting for about ten minutes, a woman in her forties with short hair and an office suit walked up to the front desk. After meeting Li Shixin and exchanging greetings, she began to scrutinize him intensely.

Standing in the bustling headquarters lobby, being stared at by Wang Mei for a full three minutes, Li Shixin finally couldn't take it anymore. He wasn't unfamiliar with contract interviews—he had bounced between several companies when he was an idol trainee—but he had never seen anyone who looked like they wanted to scan his every pore with their eyes.

Seeing the expression on the woman's face, as if she were looking at an extraterrestrial, Li Shixin was completely bewildered. "My dear, is this interview just a pure interview, or are you trying to read my fortune by staring at my face?"

Hearing this, Wang Mei twitched her lips. "My apologies. Please, come this way."

Following her into a crowded elevator up to the seventh floor, Li Shixin navigated several turns before arriving at an interview hall.

Similar to his previous audition at Tianmeng Company, the large hall had only one table in the center. Three interviewers were currently questioning a young man.

On the side near the windows, a row of candidates waited for their turn. Some hugged guitars, others silently recited their lines; it was clear that they had been preparing for this interview for a long time.

Li Shixin took a deep look at the back of the woman who had brought him to the door and then turned away. He smacked his lips.

He felt that something wasn't right.

The contract process was wrong.

Generally, there are two types of artist signing processes. One is for well-known artists, such as those whose contracts with other companies have expired or newcomers who have already acted in projects—strictly speaking, he belonged to this category.

For these artists, signings are usually conducted individually. The agency’s team conducts an interview to understand the artist's background, listen to their self-assessment of their strengths, and discover their unique traits. Then, the company evaluates these factors against their own resources to decide whether to sign them.

The other type is for absolute newcomers.

In this case, the company uses talent scouts or independent agents to find potential "greenhorns." Based on their conditions, these candidates undergo several cycles of training or are directly absorbed into the company’s trainee pool. Then, they are selected and tested through unified auditions.

After the "great waves wash away the sand," the best seedlings remain.

That was the environment he was currently in.

The suspicious part was that he had never submitted a resume to Huaqi Entertainment. Receiving a notification out of the blue and arriving at this interview, he felt as if he had been forcibly squeezed into the process.

While Li Shixin was pondering, a young man with light makeup and such a fragile build that Li Shixin felt he could kick him over with one leg tapped his arm.

"Old man, are you here for the interview, too?"

Li Shixin chuckled and nodded. "Yes, I'm here for the interview."

Having confirmed that this was a competitor—and a wrinkled one at that—the young man looked Li Shixin up and down again and tilted his chin.

"Hello, I am Chen Shi, a trainee from the 17th batch of the Huaqi Star Factory, and I have been practicing for two years and a half!"

Seeing the young man raise his eyebrows with an air of confidence, Li Shixin chuckled and extended his right hand.

"Hello, I am Li Shixin, a trainee who has been practicing for forty-five years."

"..."

Chen Shi, the trainee who had been practicing for two years and a half, stood frozen in the wind.