Grace Carter energetically rolled up her sleeves, turned to face the basket, raised the basketball high in her hands, paused for a moment, then turned back with a flushed face and said, “But I don’t know how. Can you teach me how to throw the ball?”

　　“Uh…”

　　Brian Clark looked at her silly expression, smiled and shook his head, then helped her adjust her hand position while explaining, “Your right hand should be at three ninety-degree angles, your left hand is the supporting hand, used to protect the ball. I’ll count to three, and then you use your right hand to throw it out.”

　　“Okay, okay.”

　　Grace Carter nodded and carefully aimed at the basket.

　　“All right.”

　　“Three!”

　　“Two!”

　　“One!”

　　“Throw!”

　　The basketball traced a parabola through the air, finally hitting the front rim and bouncing out.

　　Grace Carter shrank her neck and gave an embarrassed smile.

　　“For your first time, that was already pretty good. Try again!”

　　Brian Clark bent down to pick up the basketball from the floor and helped her get back into the correct position.

　　“Ready!”

　　“Throw!”

　　The basketball hit the backboard.

　　“Again!”

　　After repeating this seven or eight times, the basket was almost smoking from all the hits, but not a single ball went in.

　　Brian Clark looked at the frustrated Grace Carter tapping her forehead and pursed his lips.

　　She really doesn’t have any athletic talent at all.

　　“Wait, don’t shoot yet. Watch me first.”

　　Brian Clark snatched the basketball from her hands, nudged her aside with his hip, stood in her spot, and dribbled the ball a few times before raising it.

　　Let me show you the power of “Daxing Ray Allen.”

　　With a gentle flick of his wrist, the basketball drew a beautiful arc in the air…

　　“Bang!”

　　The basketball hit the front rim.

　　A little accident—he hadn’t touched a ball in a long time, so his hands were a bit rusty.

　　Brian Clark rubbed his hands, took the basketball that Grace Carter handed over, shrugged to relax his shoulders, and shot again.

　　The basketball hit the backboard.

　　Impossible, this is absolutely impossible!

　　“Bang!”

　　“Bang!”

　　“Bang!”

　　After bricking seven or eight shots, Brian Clark glanced at Grace Carter, who had just picked up the ball and was running back, panting, and with his hands in his pockets, said slowly, “See? That’s exactly what you were doing just now.”

　　Grace Carter looked at the basketball in her hands, then at the basket, recalled the scene, and widened her eyes as she nodded.

　　It really is the same!

　　The spot where the ball hit was exactly the same as mine just now. That’s so accurate—how did he do it?

　　【Ding!】

　　【Detected that the host made their partner feel “admiration.” “Rap” proficiency +2 points!】

　　【Current: Rap C (1/10).】

　　Brian Clark: “???”

　　Are you kidding me? That works too?

　　……

　　……

　　Director’s office.

　　“Mr. Grant.”

　　“Come in, Little Ryan, have a seat.”

　　Chief director Eric Grant poured a cup of tea for mentor Ryan Cooper, who had just entered the room. After sitting back down, he flipped through a thick stack of contestant profiles and asked with a smile, “So? Did any of today’s contestants catch your eye?”

　　The main reason Ryan Cooper came to the show as a mentor was to discover some outstanding contestants to recruit for his music company, and he had made this clear before joining.

　　Eric Grant was more than happy to help him out. After all, Ryan Cooper would inherit his father’s business empire in the future, and befriending him would be very advantageous.

　　Ryan Cooper took a sip of tea and smacked his lips in slight dissatisfaction. “The better contestants had already signed with companies before the show. The ones who haven’t signed are honestly pretty average.”

　　Eric Grant felt a bit awkward, smiled and said, “Let’s see how the next round goes. It’s their first time on stage and it’s live, so a lot of them are nervous. It’s normal for them not to perform at their best.”

　　“Hmm…”

　　Ryan Cooper changed the subject, “There’s one I’m quite optimistic about—she’s good-looking and very talented. If we promote her, it should work out well. Her partner’s songwriting is decent, but the singing is too…”

　　“You mean that group called ‘Feng Qi Wutong,’ right?”

　　Before Ryan Cooper could finish, Eric Grant already had the answer in his mind. That group left a strong impression in this episode.

　　Ryan Cooper nodded, “Yeah, that’s the one.”

　　“Haha.”

　　Eric Grant laughed after hearing this. “That’s not easy. A fine bird chooses a good tree. If she joins your music company, she’ll get great resources. So this ‘wutong tree’ must be a rotten log, huh!”

Chapter 12: You Have This Ringtone Too?

　　Two days later.

　　Sunday, 8 p.m.

　　After several rounds of trending searches, the day finally arrived for the highly anticipated variety show “The Birth of the Group” to air its edited version for the first time this year.

　　During the two days of waiting for the broadcast, the director’s team was anxious, the contestants were anxious, and almost everyone was glued to the Penguin Video app, with the bullet comments open, waiting to be the first to watch the show.

　　The computer room prepared by the production team was already packed by the afternoon. Contestants who couldn’t get a computer sat in the hallway, nervously staring at the big projection screen, and no one was chatting.

　　……

　　……

　　Little Scott is a female high school student. She’s in her first year, so the academic pressure isn’t too heavy yet. She managed to negotiate with her parents for two hours of TV time every weekend.