Tao Ran was speechless. There were usually fewer taxis by this time so in order not to be late for the audition, Tao Ran took the bus. As soon as he entered the bus, he attracted the attention of all the other passengers. If he was just a handsome young man yesterday, today he was a handsome young man with fashionable clothes and a fashionable hairstyle. It was hard for people not to pay attention to such a good-looking man.
Tao Ran sat down on his seat. He had slept too late last night thinking about the problem, so he began to feel sleepy. He reminded Xiaomei, "Wake me up when we arrive at the station. If you dare to not wake me, you will die."
Xiaomei helplessly slapped its own forehead after hearing Tao Ran’s naive and impossible threat. The system finally bound a host who was not arrogant and manic, but it also happened to be that her IQ was below the horizontal line.
"Young man, young man?"
Tao Ran raised his head in a daze. "Are we at the station now?"
"I’ve arrived at my station." The aunt sitting next to Tao Ran smiled and said with satisfaction, “I am going to get off the bus so I can't lend you a shoulder anymore."
"..." Tao Ran was startled to see that his face was inches away from this aunt. He straightened up and hastily apologized.
Tao Ran heaved a sigh of relief after seeing the aunt get out of the bus while complaining that the system didn't know how to remind him when it saw that he was already leaning against the Aunt as he slept.
Xiaomei said innocently, "You said you wanted Xiaomei to remind you when you arrived at the station, but you didn't say that Xiaomei should remind you when you were leaning against that aunt. Host, it's really hard to serve you.”
Tao Ran didn't have time to argue. The man sitting in front turned to him and said, "Brother, you're going to be famous."
What's going on, who is he? Did he know that he was going to play the leading role in a film?
Tao Ran asked, "Why?"
The man said with a smile on his face, "Dude, when you were asleep on her shoulder, you were photographed dozens of times by that aunt."
Tao Ran: “...”
Crap, something's going to happen. Tao Ran got out of the bus and rushed into the Starlight building. Tony put his hands on his hips and said, "What's the matter with you? Why are you late? You’ve started acting big before even becoming famous?"
Tao Ran grabbed Tony's hand with a crying expression and said, "No, something big has happened. I may become famous soon."
Tony said, "It's normal to be famous when you're in a film directed by Guan Dao."
"No..." Tony was dumbfounded as Tao Ran described what happened on the bus.
Tony had been working as an agent for so many years and had helped many artists deal with scandals, but this was his first time seeing this kind of situation. Tony was stunned for a few seconds, then patted Tao Ran on the shoulder and said, "The priority is to get you a driver first. If you do this a few more times, your agent will definitely go to the hospital because of a heart attack.
Tony took Tao Ran to the audition site, and when he rushed to the entrance of the audition hall, he found that it was full of people. Tao Ran was taken aback. He whispered in Tony's ear, "Isn't it tiring to be excited in an audition for a character that has already been set?”
"There is no way I’ll be tired." Tony said with a serious face. "It is better than the news that a well-known director has “hidden rules” and a small fresh meat."
That being said, Tony then asked, "How much do you remember of the script I just showed you in the car?"
"I don't remember a lot of the lines, but I remember the plot." Tao Ran answered. "It’s a very nice novel."
"Your sister's novel!" Tony was successfully forced into swearing by Tao Ran. "That’s the script! The script!!"
At this moment, the door of the audition hall was pushed open, and a handsome young man came out with red eyes. Tony said with compassion, "How pitiful. Everyone here today, except you, will be ruthlessly destroyed."
Tao Ran suddenly felt guilty in his heart. All these people had been preparing for this audition for a long time and came today with expectations yet it was an audition with a fixed outcome. They were actually just a smokescreen. How pitiful.
"It's your turn." Tony gave him a push. "Get in there."
Tao Ran pushed the door and went in. The situation in the audition hall was similar to the day of the entrance audition. It was just that the examiners had changed from five people to a director with the producer and screenwriter seated beside him. Tao Ran saw at a glance that the producer was Long Qiu.
As soon as Tao Ran came in, the director examined him with scrutiny. Tao Ran bowed, "Good Morning."
Guan Dao smiled slightly. He was not happy about the actor's appointment by the producer, but Tao Ran’s image was good. It was perfectly in line with the image of the hero in the movie.
Guan Dao asked Tao Ran, "Can you sing opera?"
Tao Ran shook his head. "No."
Long Qiu interjected, "His specialty is singing. Although he can't sing opera, he has a foundation. This is not a problem."
Ugh, you have not forgotten the Little Apple, right?
Director Guan nodded. He didn't expect to find an actor who could sing, so he said, "I want to hear you sing, so you can sing two lines of a song for me and I will listen.”
Tao Ran looked at Long Qiu, and Long Qiu nodded. So Tao Ran began to sing: "Hey ~ ah!"
The director, screenwriter and producer all shook, but Tao Ran continued, "Look ahead... the black hole must be where the thief is…. Take me to kill him cleanly!"
“...”
The director was so shocked that he was dumbstruck for a while. He originally thought that Tao Ran would sing a well-known opera sounding as a celestial being, but he didn't expect that his mouth would scare people to death. He came to his senses and said, "Have you read the script? The lead male is a hero, not a new actor, you sound a bit too overbearing.”
Tao Ran nodded repeatedly, "What you said is true, but I only know this part of the song."
"It's okay, you can learn it." The director said. "You are a graduate of XX Film Academy? Act out a part in the script, just the ending part. It is the scene where after the heroine came back, she found out that the hero was crippled. He was hiding and unwilling to see the heroine."
Tao Ran stood there, a little dumbfounded. In the script, the man escaped into a dilapidated house, then shrunk into a corner, covering himself with rags. However, the auditorium had nothing but the director's desk so acting it out depended purely on imagination.
Tao Ran was nervous and his eyes subconsciously shifted to Long Qiu. Long Qiu and Tao Ran stared at each other for a few seconds, before she silently looked away. She felt that Tao Ran's eyes looked like a poor puppy who was abandoned.
Tao Ran called the system in his heart, "Xiaomei, Xiaomei, is there any function to enhance acting skills?"
"Lovely host, of course there are."
Tao Ran was overjoyed, "Great."
"However, due to insufficient host points, this feature cannot be unlocked."
“… Ughh!! What can you do for me?"
There was no other way for Tao Ran except to recall what the original owner learned in school and the original owner's understanding of the performance. His eyes suddenly changed, and his original helplessness turned into anxiety and pain with a hint of inferiority. He began to run around in the audition hall hunched over and dragging a leg, moving in a zigzag way.
The director’s back slightly straightened. The hero in the last part of the script was very poor. He lived in a slum. There were sheds and messy buildings everywhere, with not a single decent street in sight. When the hero ran in the alley, of course, he would have to run crookedly.
After running for a while, Tao Ran suddenly seemed to crash into something on one side, and then rushed to the corner of the wall. Sitting in the corner of the wall, he shrank into a ball, completely hiding his face, only the exposed hair was still trembling slightly. The director could feel himself being pulled into the act. He read the heroine’s last line. "I didn't expect you to be like this now."
Tao Ran's body shook, and then calmed down.
The director continued with the script, "I came to Nanjing to celebrate my father's birthday, and I will take my daughter back to Beijing tomorrow. Take this money and consider it as a favor from an old friend.”
In the script, the heroine left after saying this. The director stared at Tao Ran. Tao Ran moved slightly, his eyes quietly looking at the pile of money on the ground from the gap of his arms. Seeing that there was no one left, he raised his head, his eyes blank and filled with silence as if returning to the red corner of the stage where he was a magnificent person at the beginning, with the girls in the audience looking at him with their heads lifted up, full of love and adoration.
"Very Good!" The director clapped his hands and said, "Yes, it would be better if you could shed tears at this time."
Tao Ran also knew this would be better, but he couldn’t cry. If he could act that well and cry in that scene, he would have to ask the original owner’s soul to possess him and he couldn’t be too demanding.
Tao Ran performed well, and Long Qiu also didn’t lose face. After all, she recommended him. She looked at Tao Ran somewhat differently, as she didn't expect that someone who sang Little Apple like that had such acting skills.
When he came out of the hall, Tony pulled him aside and asked, "How did it go?"
"The director praised me." Tao Ran looked smug. "Don't worry, I didn’t embarrass you."
"That's good." Tony took out some foundation and makeup from his red bag and started applying it on his face. "You look so unreliable, my makeup was ruined from the tension."
Tao Ran suddenly remembered something and said to Tony, "Please give me the phone number of President Long."
Tony squinted. "You don't have her number? Aren't you in ‘that’ relationship with her?"
Tao Ran sweated for a moment before explaining, "I don't have it. In fact, I'm not interested in women."
Tony's eyes widened, then folded his hands across his chest and said, "Don't be so close, I'm still a little interested in women."
“...”
A week later, Tao Ran started filming with the group. Just like in the novel, the heroine was Cui Xiao. This drama was a big production, and newcomers like Cui Xiao and Tao Ran usually had no chance to play the lead role. Then again, who made Cui Xiao have Bai Shaohui throw money into the team, and Tao Ran have Long Qiu throw money into the team?
The hero and heroine of the movie were both brought into the group with money. According to normal practice, this production was already an obvious street movie. This director really had a lot of courage to play like this after years of hard work.
T/N:
“Hidden rules”: We’ll be seeing this frequently for a time while we advance through the chapters. Therefore, we decided to leave it in its original translation, so let me just give you a short info of this.
'Qian guize', is a chinese expression which literally means “hidden rules” were a set of unspoken rules of officialdom in ancient China. There are a variety of examples which fall to these 'hidden rules', like bribery, to corrupt, giving gifts to officials to pay them off etc.Though these “hidden rules” were viewed as illegal or immoral and conflicted with the official rules, all but a few abided by these ‘hidden rules’ in order to safeguard their interests. Those who ignored the ‘hidden rules’ were usually punished or disfavored.
(Source:Global Times: Don’t get confused by ‘hidden rules’ By Rocky Wen)
“Fresh meat”: A person or group of people who arouse one's interest. Basically a person’s love interest. In informal form, it could also mean a newcomer.