CH 36

April 12, 2021kaychandra

Chapter 36: Acting

Gongxi Qiao flipped through the thin page of the script in his hand and looked at the other male artists in the waiting room. They were all good-looking and famous first-and-second-tier stars, mostly first-tier, so it seemed that the movie financed by the Xi Group was quite attractive to the artists.

Today’s audition was only for the lead role, and there were more than 10 popular and powerful artists, which showed how fierce the competition was. Gongxi Qiao sat quietly in the corner and listened to the polite conversation of these first-and-second-tier artists, using it to analyze the current situation.

“Teachers[1], the audition has officially started. Please draw your number.” A staff member wearing a suit came in, holding a small box in his hand. Apparently to demonstrate fairness, the order of auditions was determined by drawing lots, a practice that looked much better than the previous ‘Young Minister’ where the order was based on popularity.

Gongxi Qiao’s lottery number wasn’t good, it was number 9 near the very end.

The ten or so people present were all respectable people in the circle, so after the lottery was drawn, no one played any tricks. They just went in for the audition according to the order.

When Zhao Yikun, who also came to the audition, saw Gongxi Qiao, he knew that he definitely didn’t have a chance this time. In fact, with his current fame, he wouldn’t have a chance to participate in this audition. In the end, he was forcefully inserted into the audition through his family’s connections. However, after seeing which competitors were present at the audition, he knew that he was accompanying the prince to study again this time.[2]

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After the first eight auditions, it was already late when a pleasantly smiling staff member walked in. “Mr. Gongxi, it’s your turn.”

“Thank you.” Gongxi Qiao handed the audition materials in his hand to Chen Ke, got up and smiled at Zhao Yikun as he passed by, and walked out of the waiting room with big strides.

“Just because you have a nice smile, that means you’re great huh?” Zhao Yikun muttered in a low voice. He looked at the remaining few people and was a little nervous.

Although he thought Gongxi Qiao was quite good in acting, the others were also very competitive, ah.

“Sun Xiang, do you think Gongxi Qiao can be chosen?” Zhao Yikun whispered to Sun Xiang, “What if he doesn’t get selected?”

Sun Xiang looked at Zhao Yikun wordlessly. Didn’t he find that person unpleasant? Wouldn’t it be better if he wasn’t chosen, what’s the point of worrying about it? Besides, all the people here were Gongxi Qiao’s seniors. It would be normal for him not to be chosen, and it would be a miracle if he was chosen.

The audition room was a large dance practice room, and when Gongxi Qiao walked in, he saw his own figure clearly reflected in the mirror. He greeted the auditioners politely as if he hadn’t noticed this.

The auditioners were also very polite, and after a few words of conversation, the audition officially began.

“What is cultivation?” He stood proudly among the mountains and his eyes looked towards his feet. There seemed to be many people standing there, yet as if nothing was there.

“Cultivators or mortals, they are all ants under the heavenly dao,” he sneered. There was a coldness that could not be melted deep in his eyes, “you think that cultivators are superior, but in reality you are just sitting in the well and watching the sky. In the eyes of the heavenly dao, you are no different from mortals.”

“Instead of being high and mighty in front of mortals, why not cultivate your own path?” He withdrew his sight and turned to look at the tumbling sea of clouds. There were thousands of emotions in his eyes, but in the end, these thousands of emotions only turned into peace, “I seek only to live this life without regrets.”

This audition seemed very simple, but the most important thing was the protagonist’s momentum and emotional drama. For a good actor, the corners of the eyes and eyebrows and even a single word were all part of the scene. Only poor quality performances relied on gestures to express emotions, so the ‘Cultivation’ crew let all the actors who auditioned perform this not-so-difficult segment.

All the actors who came to audition this time had some skills. Even if they did not amaze the crowd and failed, they were still considered to have not ruined the role.

But for Lin Yu, the screenwriter of ‘Cultivation’, these artists, although they performed well, were not the venerable immortal she wanted them to be. When writing the script, she threw in almost all her emotions, and when it was finished, she even felt that the characters were alive, and their joys and sorrows were real, just not in the same time and space as her.

These people were not her venerable immortal. The venerable immortal should be gorgeous and indifferent. He had eyes that saw through the world but were lonely, a pair of glistening white hands like jade, a beautiful body, and an otherworldly temperament.

The artists auditioning were outstanding in appearance and acting skills, but their eyes did not look like that, not at all.

When half of the auditioners had finished, Lin Yu had almost despaired. She even regretted having sold the script for money, because these people would only ruin her venerable immortal.

That was until the ninth auditioning artist appeared.

The moment he appeared at the door, she froze. This person’s appearance was almost exactly like the venerable immortal she had imagined, except that this person had short hair and was wearing a tailored casual suit.

When the other person’s performance began, she looked into his eyes and was so excited that she almost crushed the auditioning artist’s profile in her hand. A voice in her heart kept screaming, “This is him, this is the man! Only this person!

In order to hide her feverish eyes, she kept her head down and did not speak after the other party finished their performance. She had already recognized this actor as her male lead in her heart. If the investor and director did not agree, she would rather cry and scream to get them to agree.

When this artist left the audition room, Lin Yu flipped through this artist’s profile and was a little stunned that this was the same Gongxi Qiao that young people had recently become so fond of. She originally thought that the alleged traffic jams and the appealing male actor in the ad were agency hype, and she had no good feelings about him. However, when she met the real person today, she realized that she had been looking at him with prejudice.

“Just him, he is the venerable immortal in my heart. As a screenwriter, no one else knows better than me what the venerable immortal should be like,” Lin Yu pushed the glasses up the bridge of her nose and got up.

“I won’t watch the following auditions.”

“Hey, Ms. Lin ……” Director Jiao got up and persuaded, “Why don’t you take another look?”

“No need,” Lin Yu shook her head. “I only like this one, there won’t be anyone more suitable than him.”

“This literati crap.” Seeing that Lin Yu had really left, Director Jiao looked helplessly at the others present. “This Gongxi Qiao’s performance was really very wonderful, and it also matched the character’s profile, what do you think?” In fact, not only Lin Yu, he was also very satisfied with Gongxi Qiao’s performance. Thinking about that performance just now, he was a bit impressed. As expected of an actor who could participate in the filming of ‘National Industry’ right after his debut, this young man did have the strength.

There were two people here who were senior management of the Xi Group. They didn’t know if the acting was good or not, but in their opinion, Gongxi Qiao’s performance was the most immortal-like and looked more ethereal than the previous ones. What’s more, their own boss and him were even close friends, so they voted for him without thinking.

“Then let’s make him a key consideration.” Director Jiao drew a big circle around Gongxi Qiao’s name, with some satisfaction showing under his eyes.

Gongxi Qiao led Chen Ke. When he walked into the parking lot, he saw a somewhat familiar person standing next to their car. He immediately frowned and stopped to look at Chen Ke, who also did not look good.

When Zheng Lei saw Gongxi Qiao appear, he hesitated a little before walking up quickly. “Qiao Shao.”

Seeing Zheng Lei’s depressed look, Chen Ke was worried that he was looking for trouble with Gongxi Qiao, so he immediately stopped in front of Gongxi Qiao. “Mr. Zheng, may I ask what you want with Xiao Qiao?”

“Brother Chen,” Zheng Lei saw Chen Ke reveal a protective gesture. He immediately took a stand three steps away from the two, and then looked at Gongxi Qiao with a pleading face.

“Qiao Shao, I know I’m wrong, please forgive me this time, I was just confused for a moment.”

Gongxi Qiao saw Zheng Lei’s lost appearance. He couldn’t see the glory of two months ago. He scanned all around with his eyes, and then looked at Zheng Lei with a worried face, “Brother Zheng, what’s wrong with you? Please take your time to say what’s going on, there’s no need to be like this.”

“It’s my fault for asking the water army to slander you before, I apologize to you!” He kneeled down in front of Gongxi Qiao with a thud and said, “Now that the circle has blocked me, I can’t receive films or notices. But my parents aren’t well and they need a lot of money for medical expenses every month, so I really have no choice.”

“Uncle and aunt are sick again? How much money do you need? I’ll pay it for you first, you don’t have to do this. There’s gold under a man’s knees[2], get up first.” Gongxi Qiao stretched out his hand and was about to help, but unexpectedly Zheng Lei hugged his knee.

“Qiao Shao, I was wrong, I was really wrong, spare me this time, I wouldn’t dare do it again.”

“Brother Zheng, what are you saying? What happened? Get up and speak,” Gongxi Qiao looked at Zheng Lei with a worried face, “I can help as much as I can with any difficulties, you don’t have to do this!”

Having said that, he turned to Chen Ke, “Brother Chen, you help me help Brother Zheng get up.”

“Thank you,” Zheng Lei thanked Gongxi Qiao with red eyes and slowly stood up and thanked him several times before saying, “How can I ask for your money? I’m sorry for this, I deserve to end up like this.” After saying that, he became a lost soul and went into a used car next to him and drove away.

Gongxi Qiao narrowed his eyes and looked at Zheng Lei’s car leaving the parking lot. He turned around and got into the car with Chen Ke.

“Did you record that part clearly just now?” He slowly rolled up the car window and said to Xiao Yao in the back of the car, “Save the video well.” Zheng Lei’s behavior of pretending to be pathetic even if you beat him to death was really suspicious, so he couldn’t be blamed for being too careful.

“Mm-hmm.” Xiao Yao nodded vigorously. She was just taking her things to the car in advance. Who knew that just when she put her things in and was ready to go back, she saw the despondent Zheng Lei approaching the car. As a dutiful artist assistant, she was careful not to let the other party find out, but hid in an unnoticeable corner. Then shortly after Zheng Lei appeared, two more people with cell phones secretly hid in the corner on the other side, as if waiting for something to happen in general.

Noticing that something was wrong with this situation, she also pulled out her cell phone and took a video of the subsequent scene.

“That’s good.” Gongxi Qiao said to Chen Ke in the driver’s seat, “Brother Chen, please drive me to the Xi Group’s headquarters.”

Chen Ke looked back at him and didn’t say anything more, just started the car in silence.

“Boss, this business proposal ……”

“This cooperation proposal is temporarily beneficial to our Xi Group, but from the perspective of long-term interests, I will not agree to such a proposal that may disrupt the market,” Xi Qing’s eyes swept over the people present and tossed the business plan aside.

“The reason the Xi family has been able to stand for a hundred years is because we remember the kind of people we are. We don’t lack profits, so don’t mention this matter again.”

The people in the audience saw Xi Qing’s seriousness and did not dare to open their mouths freely. They were not unaware of the negative impact this project with huge profits would have, but what did other people’s interests have to do with them?

“Wherever you stand, you have to bear the responsibility,” Xi Qing’s tone wasn’t very good. “Our Xi Group will not accept this overseas company’s cooperation in the future.”

When the meeting was over, Special Assistant Gou looked at Xi Qing who was flipping through the documents, “Boss, if we reject this cooperation proposal, this company may cooperate with the Bai family. Will this have an impact on us?”

“If the Bai family has such ambitions, they will find their own death,” Xi Qing put down the pen in his hand, raised his wrist to check the time and rubbed his forehead, “It’s getting late, go back to rest.”

Special assistant Gou looked out the window which had darkened and was a little worried. “Boss, you don’t look too good, did you not rest well?”

Although there were many people from the side branches of the Xi family, the main family line was left with one boss. He guarded such a big Xi Group, but when he returned to his villa, he didn’t even have someone for warmth and comfort. The boss was an extremely self-disciplined person. He was less than thirty years old, but he was living the life of a sixty-year-old, so his life was too boring.

“It’s nothing. There are bodyguards guarding outside, you can go back,” Xi Qing leaned back in his chair, then rotated it in one direction, looking out the window at the lights of thousands of families, with a coldness in his dark pupils.

Special assistant Gou gently retreated, nodded towards the bodyguard guarding the outside, and left helplessly.

“The Bai family ……” Xi Qing tapped the pen in his right hand against his left palm, his eyes slightly narrowed.

The phone suddenly rang. He picked up the phone and looked at it. The coldness on his face instantly disappeared and he pressed the answer button. “Xiao Qiao?”

Gongxi Qiao stood below the Xi Group’s office building, looking up at the high-end building in front of him, carefully pressing his hat on top of his head to keep it from falling off. “It’s almost ten o’clock, and you still want to work? Come on down, I’ll treat you to a snack.”

Receiving the other party’s affirmative answer, Gongxi Qiao hung up the phone in satisfaction, then stood behind the large bonsai and waited for Xi Qing to come downstairs.

The security guard at the entrance of the Xi Group looked suspiciously at the young man at the entrance. He was well dressed, but he was wearing a baseball hat at night, not to mention large black-framed sunglasses, and was about one meter eight in height and hiding behind a potted plant. Why was he so suspicious?

As a dutiful security guard, he thought about it. He decided to see who this person was. What if he was a gangster?

Having just taken a step, a black shadow suddenly emerged from behind him. He froze and looked at the man who had passed him and felt that the man’s back was somewhat familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere.

It seemed …… To be the big boss?

Xi Qing saw Gongxi Qiao wearing a baseball hat with black-framed sunglasses. The corners of his mouth were unnaturally pursed, “Why did you come over?”

The bodyguard drove the car over and opened the door for the two of them. Gongxi Qiao sat in the car before taking off his hat and glasses, “I happened to have some business this afternoon, so I stopped by to see you. What, am I disturbing you?”

Xi Qing shook his head silently.

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