Shi Hui

Biodata

Background / History

School Standing and Early Hostility

Shi Hui is known throughout Imperial Star Academy as a wealthy young lady surrounded by admirers. When she tells homeroom teacher Xu Yuan that Jiang Jinran has been insulting classmates, Xu Yuan accepts her account without hesitation. Jiang Jinran is subsequently punished by being sent to collect trash on the sports field 5.

Shi Hui and Huang Junran later encounter an unexplained danger in the academy’s arts building. The school treats the incident as an accident and leaves the building open, but Shi Hui becomes intensely afraid of returning there. The nature of their experience is not revealed 9 18.

Rigging the Hope Cup Selection

As arts representative, Shi Hui leads her classmates through several rounds of the Hope Cup Youth Drama Competition and into its national finals. Their environmental-protection play still needs someone to portray a tree, a role the students consider humiliating 12.

Shi Hui announces a supposedly random draw, invoking the principal’s authority and warning that refusal could cost the selected student end-of-term honors. In reality, she has already concealed a slip bearing Jiang Jinran’s name in her palm. She stages the draw to embarrass Jiang Jinran without openly targeting her or offending her more influential classmates 12.

When Jiang Jinran refuses, Shi Hui threatens disciplinary action and then claims she can give Ji Qingying a failing end-of-term assessment. Jiang Jinran eventually agrees to compete because of a separate, mysterious instruction—not because Shi Hui’s threats persuade her—and refuses to attend rehearsals until nearer the finals 13 14.

Rehearsals and the Stolen Recording

When repairs make the sports building unavailable, Shi Hui initially refuses to rehearse in the arts building and proposes using her house instead. Her teammates reject that alternative. She reluctantly agrees to return after Jiang Jinran offers to join the rehearsal there 18 19.

Shi Hui plays the heroine, whose environmental efforts restore a dying tree. However, she repeatedly struggles with the original song required by the script, particularly its high notes and vocal runs. After Jiang Jinran laughs at her singing, Shi Hui challenges her to perform the song herself. Jiang Jinran sings it effortlessly, leaving the room stunned 19 20.

Discovering that the rehearsal equipment captured Jiang Jinran’s performance clearly, Shi Hui proposes using the recording while she lip-syncs at the finals. She insists they conceal the plan until the performance, when Jiang Jinran will no longer be able to prevent it. The participating students and teachers knowingly accept the arrangement 20 26.

Exposure at the Finals

At the Central Theater, Shi Hui stops a makeup artist from applying Jiang Jinran’s makeup, arguing that a tree should look plain. She also objects when Jiang Jinran brings her own forest-themed costume, but yields when Jiang Jinran threatens not to perform 24 25.

Shi Hui lip-syncs to the stolen recording and receives enthusiastic applause. Believing a group award—and possibly Best Actress—to be within reach, she anticipates that the recognition could help her gain recommended admission to the Imperial Capital Film Academy 26.

Jiang Jinran disrupts that plan by adding an unscripted line and singing the same song live without accompaniment. The identical voices prompt questions from the audience and judges. Shi Hui maintains that she sang the original passage and offers rehearsal footage as evidence, but falters after one line when Jiang Chuji asks her to sing a cappella. Her actual voice makes the deception apparent 26 27 28.

Backstage, Shi Hui attempts to slap Jiang Jinran. Jiang Jinran dodges the blow, but Shi Hui’s nails scratch her cheek 28.

Handkerchief Accusation and Blackout

During the intermission, Shi Hui reports her expensive handkerchief missing and seizes one protruding from Jiang Jinran’s pocket. The handkerchief was actually a gift from Jiang Chuji. Insisting that Jiang Jinran could not afford an SIU item, Shi Hui accuses her of theft and calls the police 29 30.

An officer finds the surname Jiang engraved on the seized handkerchief. Surveillance footage then leads the police to Shi Hui’s own handkerchief beneath a sofa. Jiang Jinran identifies differences in its logo and engraving, exposing it as a high-quality counterfeit. The item had been a gift from Shi Hui’s mother; Shi Hui had believed it was genuine. The revelation damages her wealthy public image, while news that Jiang Jinran was cleared spreads online 30 31.

Imperial Star wins no group or acting awards, with Jiang Jinran becoming its only award recipient through the Best Style Award. During the group photograph, Shi Hui shoves her, causing her to fall onto the master lighting switch and black out the venue. When the lights return, Professor Li is missing, and the competition ends abruptly. No involvement by Shi Hui in his disappearance is established 31 32.

Appearance

Shi Hui is tall and slender, with very fair skin and delicate features. Her voice is described as gentle, like a spring breeze and light rain 5.

• Height: Slightly taller than Jiang Jinran, allowing her to look down at her during confrontations 13.
• Manner: Often stands straight and wears a serene smile, even while issuing threats 12 14.

Personality

Shi Hui hides hostility behind politeness and apparently reasonable arguments. She prefers covert targeting to open ostracism, disguising her rigged selection as a fair draw and framing participation as an obligation to the school. She is conscious of social rank: she avoids offending well-connected classmates while considering Jiang Jinran and the ordinarily born Ji Qingying safe targets 12 13.

Her ambition to become a star drives her willingness to take credit for another person’s singing. She initially shows considerable composure under public scrutiny, confidently offering supposed evidence even after the lip-syncing is questioned. That control breaks down when her schemes fail: she attacks Jiang Jinran after the singing exposure and shouts at her after the counterfeit handkerchief is revealed 20 26 27 28 31.

Relationships

• Jiang Jinran — Classmate and repeated target of humiliation, coercion, stolen credit, and false accusation. The original cause of Shi Hui’s hatred is not established 12 13 20 29.
• Ji Qingying — Classmate whose kindness toward Jiang Jinran makes her a source of leverage; Shi Hui threatens to fail her assessment to pressure Jiang Jinran 13.
• Huang Junran — Shares the unexplained dangerous encounter in the arts building with her 9 18.
• Xu Yuan — Homeroom teacher who readily accepts Shi Hui’s accusation against Jiang Jinran 5.
• Jiang Chuji — Celebrity she is excited to see at the finals; as a judge, he questions the disputed singing and directs her to perform a cappella 24 27.
• Mother — Gives Shi Hui the purported SIU handkerchief later exposed as counterfeit 30.