Next up, it was Lucy Stone’s turn to go on stage.

The first two minutes were a scene between the two of them.

Bella Green stood in the wings, watching their performance, the look in her eyes growing a few shades colder.

The curve at the corner of her mouth was icy and sarcastic.

Just now, when the three of them were backstage, they hadn’t run through the scene even once.

And before she went over, the two of them had only been sitting there reading the script.

But the two people now on stage didn’t look like they were acting together for the first time.

Forget everything else—just Lucy Stone’s precise blocking and interaction with the lines the moment she stepped on stage.

It was too precise—so precise it was like she’d rehearsed it countless times.

After all, the three of them had never rehearsed in private, so naturally there was no stage blocking either.

Yet Lucy Stone could so accurately anticipate where Joanne Jordan’s next step would land and exactly when her next line would come.

This little scheme was a bit too obvious...

As the saying goes, laymen watch the spectacle, experts watch the craft.

The mentors and the media judges in the audience could naturally see it.

But they wouldn’t suspect anything; they would just assume the two of them had already worked together in private, which was why they were so in sync.

But in reality, the only ones who had rehearsed together were Joanne Jordan and Lucy Stone.

Bella Green hadn’t worked with them at all from beginning to end.

So when this performance was over, the two of them would both do very well, and only Bella, acting it for the first time, would lack experience and keep making mistakes.

By then, it wouldn’t just be Joanne; the public would say she wasn’t even as good as a random newbie.

What a lovely little plan they’d cooked up.

Bella let out a soft laugh and shook her head. What a shame—this calculation seemed to be off...

Watching their part of the scene, Bella knew her cue was coming up.

On stage, a man and a woman were wrapped in each other’s arms, Joanne Jordan’s lips curved in a coquettish smile that could turn a man’s bones to jelly.

Lucy Stone had her head lowered, her brows and eyes full of tenderness.

At that moment, Bella Green stepped onto the stage in ten-centimeter heels.

Her straight, upright posture paired with that white suit set gave her an overwhelming presence.

Her cool red lips held not the slightest hint of a smile, her brows and eyes frosty, radiating a keep-your-distance chill and arrogance.

She strode toward the couple locked in an embrace.

Suddenly, before anyone could react, Bella yanked Joanne Jordan’s arm toward her, raised her hand, and swung a slap hard across Joanne’s face.

The crisp sound of that slap stunned not only the two people on stage.

Even the mentors and the audience below the stage were stunned.

This...

Was that a sound effect? It sounded so real!

On stage, Joanne Jordan was completely dazed by the blow, staring at Bella Green in utter disbelief.

There was indeed a slap written into the script for her.

But she had asked for it to be removed.

How could she possibly let Bella Green slap her?

Even a fake slap was unacceptable to her.

So she’d negotiated with the acting coach, saying that fake slaps looked too fake and they might as well cut the whole bit.

So at the last minute, they changed the fight scene into the two of them breaking apart in shock, with Bella Green hurling insults instead.

But Bella was playing completely out of bounds—she didn’t even pretend to hit her and just slapped her outright.

It wasn’t that hard, but the sting on her face was telling her very clearly—

Bella Green really had hit her, and had actually slapped her across the face!

Joanne Jordan was shaking with rage; if it weren’t for the cameras, she would’ve hit back already.

After a few seconds of silence, reason finally won out, dragging her back into character: finish this scene first, then settle the score with Bella Green.

All at once, the woman who’d just been slapped suddenly threw herself into the man’s arms.