The More Tragic I Act, the Stronger I Get — My Fans Beg Me to Stop Killing Off My Roles-Chapter 221: Rubber Duck vs. Titanic

He Jiongjiong, truly worthy of his title as a gold medal host, snapped out of his daze after two seconds and immediately reacted, forcefully smoothing things over.

"Xiao Jiang is just too dedicated to his craft! He's even in character while eating! Let's give him a round of applause for his commitment!"

He led the applause.

A smattering of claps followed, with Huang Yulei chiming in as well.

Looking at everyone's complicated reactions, Jiang Ci felt genuinely puzzled.

He simply thought that line of dialogue perfectly matched his current state of mind, something Ye Chen would definitely say.

Could this dish really be that problematic?

He was completely unaware that his one sentence had brought the conversation to a screeching halt.

Behind the monitor, the program director excitedly pumped his fist.

This unexpected "stroke of genius" sent the show's entertainment value skyrocketing.

The live stream's real-time viewer count on the backend showed an exaggerated peak, breaking through four hundred thousand concurrent viewers!

He made a decisive call, immediately signaling the staff through his earpiece to move on to the next segment.

"Hurry! Bring out the prop!"

Upon receiving the instruction, the staff immediately carried out an extravagantly decorated "Mystery Magic Box."

The wooden box was painted in a riot of colors, plastered with shiny stars and question marks.

Seeing this, He Jiongjiong immediately stood up, shifting everyone's attention away from the plate of stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork that was about to go cold.

"Alright, dinner time is over! Now, let's begin our evening's main event!"

He patted the giant box, producing a series of "thump, thump" sounds.

"'Classic Reenactment' impromptu performance live stream, starting now!"

He Jiongjiong began explaining the rules.

"The rules are simple. The challenger needs to draw, from this magic box, one 'Classic Movie Scene' card and one 'Bizarre Performance Prop.'"

"Then, using the prop they drew, they must perform an impromptu, creative reinterpretation of the movie scene!"

"This tests our actors' adaptability and imagination!"

As his words fell, everyone instinctively looked at the three "culprits" at the dinner table.

To break the awkwardness from earlier and for the sake of variety show entertainment, Huang Yulei was the first to propose.

"This... I think we should let Qingying go first?"

"As the acting ceiling here, she needs to set an example for us!"

This suggestion received unanimous agreement.

Su Qingying was nominated as the first challenger.

She stood up from her seat.

As a professional actress, she wasn't afraid of any challenge.

Her earlier lapse in composure at the dinner table had left her with a knot of frustration in her heart. She needed a stage to prove her professionalism once again.

With a serious expression, Su Qingying stepped forward. Under a gaze full of anticipation, she reached her hand into the first lottery slot of the magic box.

She pulled out a stiff card.

He Jiongjiong took it and displayed it for the camera.

On the card, written in artistic font, was a title — "Titanic" Bow Flying Scene.

"Wow! A classic among classics!" He Jiongjiong exclaimed in awe.

The bullet comments in the live stream instantly became lively.

"Starting off with a royal flush!"

"This scene is so demanding on atmosphere. I wonder how Sister Qingying will perform it."

Su Qingying's professional instincts were immediately engaged.

"Titanic," Jack and Rose.

The ship's bow, the sea breeze, the sunset, epic romance and the final tenderness before a tragic parting.

Her mind was already rapidly constructing the core of the performance.

She had to capture that feeling of breaking free from restraints, of embracing freedom.

She also had to portray the fragility and preciousness of the love between two small individuals against the backdrop of a grand tragedy.

She was confident.

Next, she reached her hand into the other, larger lottery slot.

Inside this one was the "bizarre prop" that would decide her fate tonight.

Her hand fumbled inside, touching something large, smooth, and elastic.

Su Qingying's heart skipped a beat, a sense of foreboding washing over her.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone present and the entire online live stream audience, she slowly dragged that thing out of the magic box.

The entire room fell silent.

It was a giant, bright yellow rubber duck, a full meter tall.

The duck's entire body was a glaring, bright yellow. Its huge eyes were drawn pitch black and perfectly round, and it had an equally enormous, flat orange beak.

Su Qingying placed it on the floor. Unstable due to its center of gravity, it wobbled adorably a couple of times.

He Jiongjiong, quick with his hands, stepped forward and squeezed the duck's belly.

"QUACK—!"

A loud, raucous, giant duck call resounded throughout the entire Mushroom House.

Su Qingying looked at the scene card in her hand, then down at the silly, cute duck by her feet.

In that moment, her internal actor theory system crashed.

Stanislavski's Method Acting theory told her to start from herself.

But her memory contained no experience of feeling epic romance while holding a giant duck.

How was she supposed to perform this?

She couldn't imagine how she was supposed to hold this goofy duck and portray that epic level of romance.

The camera, very understandingly, gave her a big close-up shot.

She pressed her lips tightly together, her entire body frozen in place, desperately trying to control her expression that was on the verge of breaking down.

The bullet comments in the live stream, after three seconds of complete silence, erupted in an explosion:

"Hahahahahaha! Is the production team evil? Is this something humans would do?"

"Look at Sister Qingying's expression! I feel like she wants to stab that duck!"

"I'm dying, I'm dying! My Ice Queen Best Actress! She's broken character more times today than in the past ten years combined!"

"I bet fifty cents Sister Qingying will refuse! This is simply impossible to perform!"

Inside, Su Qingying was waging a fierce war with herself.

Her professional integrity as an actress forbade her from refusing.

But the visual before her offered absolutely no artistic entry point.

The bow of the Titanic.

Holding a giant rubber duck.

Saying the line, "I'm flying, Jack"?

No.

The image was too bizarre.

She tried to deconstruct this problem from a professional angle.

Treat the duck as a symbol.

Symbolizing what? Symbolizing the childlike innocence deep within the heroine Rose's heart?

Holding the duck meant holding her past self?

This logic seemed plausible.

But when her gaze fell once again on the duck's silly, grinning beak that stretched to its ears...

This artistic concept she had just built instantly crumbled.

Try a different approach.

Treat the duck as the male lead, Jack.

Holding the duck meant holding Jack.

When the image of herself gazing lovingly at a rubber duck and saying "Jack" surfaced in her mind...

Su Qingying's body shuddered.

She felt her entire acting career was being challenged.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Just as Su Qingying was caught in this dilemma, almost frozen stiff on the spot...

A serious voice piped up from the side.

It was Jiang Ci.

He had been watching very seriously from the sidelines, also thinking about how to help.

Looking at the pained expression on Su Qingying's face, then at the innocent duck, he offered a suggestion he believed was perfectly reasonable.

"Teacher Su."

Jiang Ci's face was full of seriousness.

"You could imagine it as a swimming iceberg."