CH 23

CHAPTER 23—Add to WeChat

Through Madam Shen, Xie Yu was finally able to add Shen Qi’s WeChat by that night.

Hearing the notification sound *Ding Dong*, he sat up immediately from his bed, and grabbed his light brain by his bedside.

The profile picture catching his eye was almost completely black.

Xie Yu clicked on the picture, but couldn’t figure out what the picture was, even after looking at it for a long time.

Looking at Shen Qi’s WeChat name—the name was quite normal, as he directly used his real name.

He thought that he should say hello to Shen Qi first, but before he finished editing a message, he saw the message sent by Shen Qi.

[Shen Qi: How are you?]

Xie Yu guessed many possibilities, but he didn’t expect Shen Qi to be so concise.

Forget about a hello, he just sent a question directly, which was basically equivalent to asking him why he added him.

This style of talking was probably not suitable for someone like himself.

Xie Yu thought for a while, and recalled that Li Wuqiang had clearly said that he had talked about him with Shen Qi, so he just cut straight to the point.

[Beiming Youyu: Good evening Director Shen, it’s Xie Yu. I wanted to say it’s a great honor to have the opportunity to audition for <Blood Wanted>.]

He didn’t want to be roundabout for too long, and make Shen Qi wait for him to get to the main point.

So after typing this message, he sent it out first, and immediately continued to type his following words.

However, Shen Qi replied very quickly.

This time, what was sent was not a text, but a memo message that was forwarded.

Xie Yu paused his typing, clicked on the link sent by Shen Qi, and when his light brain screen jumped to the memo software, he almost burst out laughing.

There were several lines on the interface—from the time and place to audition roles, they were all listed in an orderly manner.

It was exactly the same as the notification that Li Wuqiang forwarded to him earlier.

Xie Yu laughed, and felt that trying to chat with Shen Qi was a futile attempt.

He was twisting around and being roundabout, but Shen Qi just played straight. But this was also good—the working environment under Shen Qi would place a lot of focus on the work, and he would be efficient and professional.

He was just typing out a thank you when he saw that Shen Qi added a sentence.

[Shen Qi: Good luck with your audition.]

Xie Yu raised his eyebrows, and at the same time he was surprised that Shen Qi would say such a thing.

Then, he hurriedly expressed his intentions.

[Beiming Youyu: Director Shen, it’s like this—Before Mr. Li communicated with my team, he directly told you that my intentions were to audition for the role of He Fei. However, during the previous meeting, I became more interested in the role of Misai. After reading the new script, I really think this role will be a good challenge for me. I wonder if the crew can give me a chance to audition for Misai?]

When these words were typed out, Xie Yu didn’t know how Shen Qi would reply.

His approach was unethical. After all, changing the audition role temporarily was a trivial matter, but disrupting the work progress of the crew and other parties was a major matter.

There was no reply from Shen Qi for a long time, so Xie Yu tinkered with his light brain because he didn’t feel like going to sleep for a while yet.

Instead, he just got up from the bed and grabbed a water glass to drink some water.

*****

On the other side—on the Giant Cat Star, a tall young man was sitting on a sofa, holding his light brain, ignoring the friend application messages that kept popping up in his WeChat, and stayed on the chat interface with Xie Yu, hovering his finger above the input box.

He just typed “No”, and then backspaced to delete it.

Shen Qi had entered the film and television industry by accident, and had never seen Xie Yu’s works before.

His impression of Xie Yu and his performance was based on the film excerpts of a short few minutes released by the organizers before his acceptance of the Golden Toilet Award.

On the screen, the water god played by Xie Yu had an exaggerated and empty expression, and his lines were spoken as if he was reciting a poorly written poem.

When Shen Qi joined, he knew that Xie Yu would participate in the <Blood Wanted> project.

As for Tengfei who wanted to appoint him as the leading actor, he didn’t prevent them from giving their opinion, but he also never explicitly agreed to it.

Fortunately, Li Wuqiang was self-aware and understood various considerations, so he took a step back and came up with a proposal for an open audition.

It’s known that Xie Yu has been a part of Tengfei for many years and that he also gave support for the <Blood Wanted> project from the beginning.

So as long as he auditioned and was suitable, Tengfei would give him priority no matter what.

What Shen Qi was worried about was actually not knowing whether Xie Yu could play this role well.

He didn’t care much about who Tengfei gave priority to, but seeing that there was an audition that could be used as a touchstone, and remembering Xie Yu’s words at the Golden Toilet Awards, he readily agreed.

After the awards ceremony, he had a good impression of Xie Yu.

But Shen Qi thought about the character setting of Misai in the script for a bit, and felt that Xie Yu’s words about wanting to change his role now, no matter how you looked at them, seemed like he was joking.

The role of Misai was very difficult, and the crew has not yet found a suitable candidate.

Xie Yu, according to Li Wuqiang’s introduction, has only acted with positive images in idol dramas and commercial dramas, but now he told him that he would try to be a villain.

Shen Qi couldn’t guess what Xie Yu was thinking, he just looked down at the chat interface, and typed out a sentence after a while.

[Shen Qi: Have you read the script? Tell me what you think.]

Xie Yu had long been prepared for a questioning from the Golden Laurel Awards’ Best Director, but he didn’t expect Shen Qi to be this direct.

But soon he realized that Shen Qi was giving him a chance to explain himself.

He had read the script for a whole day, and while reading it, he took notes on the role of Misai, and wrote them in his light brain’s memo.

So in this situation, he hurriedly found his notes, quickly sorted out the logic of his sentences, and directly sent the entire memo to Shen Qi.

[Beiming Youyu: Director Shen, this is my own understanding of Misai after having read the script. (text link)]

Shen Qi had already looked away when his younger siblings came up to bother him, and thought that Xie Yu wouldn’t reply so quickly, so he first helped Shen Liu who came over to comb his fur.

Shen Liu felt comfortable being groomed, and directly slumped onto his elder brother’s lap, purring.

Shen Qi didn’t like this, so after brushing his fur, he directly pushed his head away, signaling Shen Liu to get off him.

“You’re a boy, don’t act coquettish at every turn.” Shen Qi taught him a serious lesson, and just as he was about to pick up his light brain again, he saw the fifth child replacing Shen Liu.

His body, which was much bigger than Shen Liu’s, hopped onto his thighs. Then, he sat on him and snorted.

A gust of air swept over, bringing over the smell of canned fish.

Shen Qi frowned, guessing that Shen Wu had stolen food again.

He glanced at Shen Wu’s smooth and clean fur, but didn’t even want to stretch out his hands to stroke him.

He leaned back, resting against the back of the sofa, then raised his arms and looked at his light brain with a serious face.

He glanced at the sending time of Xie Yu’s last message, and clicked on the link at the end of the message.

The memo that popped up was densely packed with words.

Shen Qi read it through, and found what it was trying to convey through the few headlines listed along with serial numbers.

The memo was of Xie Yu’s understanding of the role of Misai in the new script.

He also wrote a short biography for the character, and analyzed the role of Misai in the plot, while also marking down a few tricky points.

Shen Qi could see that Xie Yu’s understanding of the character was very comprehensive, even if some places felt biased.

But overall, his comprehension of the role was already in place.

The text was very casual, and the wording used throughout the memo was very colloquial.

In some places, a lot of details were omitted as well.

However, it was obvious that Xie Yu was planning to just show this to him, rather than it being specially used to answer his questions.

This memo was probably Xie Yu’s own analysis work for himself.

Shen Qi read the paragraphs again, heaved a sigh of relief, and the impression of Xie Yu in his mind changed again.

When Xie Yu conveyed to him earlier that he wanted to try Misai, he inevitably felt that Xie Yu’s words were too sudden and done casually.

Worried that he didn’t know enough about Misai’s role, he took the initiative to guide Xie Yu to express his thoughts.

But, Xie Yu didn’t have to wait for him to ask before he thought about and analyzed the role.

Instead he could already come up with unique insights for the role, which meant that his request was not done on a whim.

Shen Qi had always looked up to people who were serious and responsible with their work, and his previous doubts about Xie Yu dissipated at that moment.

After praising Xie Yu’s work ethic, he only remained worried about Xie Yu’s acting skills.

[Shen Qi: I’ve received the memo. It was okay.]

Xie Yu rarely showed others his personal notes, but when Shen Qi asked him questions, he suddenly wanted to show him.

Seeing that Shen Qi didn’t reply for a long time now, he felt that it was a bit reckless to do so.

Who knows what director Shen’s understanding of the role was.

If his understanding happens to be at odds with Shen Qi’s, won’t he be asking for trouble?

Just as he was about to type two more sentences to explain, he saw Shen Qi’s reply.

The simple “it was okay”, made Xie Yu laugh, and couldn’t help but start to think about the gold content of these three words. (TL: ‘gold content’ is a literal translation, but refers to the intrinsic value or meaningfulness of something)

When the director said this, did he approve of him, or was he afraid that he would make him lose face and was trying to be polite?

If it’s approval, will the satisfaction level reach the passing line…

Xie Yu wasn’t sure about Shen Qi’s attitude, so he couldn’t rush to ask, as if begging Shen Qi for the role.

At this time, he could only look at his light brain and hesitate.

Fortunately, a few minutes later, Shen Qi replied again.

[Shen Qi: Words don’t count, whether you deserve the role or not will depend on your acting.]

Xie Yu stared at the word “deserve”, and raised the corners of his mouth.

Shen Qi’s statement implicitly agreed to his request to change his audition role.

Xie Yu also found another meaning from this message.

Shen Qi sent this message after seeing his analysis of the role, which meant that the director at least agreed with his understanding of the role.

Shen Qi promising him an audition was a minor matter, but agreeing with his point of view was a major thing.

Now that Shen Qi gave a positive response, he seemed to have found reassurance.

He could dive into the role according to his own understanding, and act in the audition in the same direction as he had shown the director.

Xie Yu wanted to reply directly with a thank you, when he saw Shen Qi had sent a new reply.

[Shen Qi: In the fourth paragraph of the third act of the sixth episode, will the dialogue in the first three scenes be an effective demonstration? If you think it’s necessary, you can record it for a listen. (picture)]

Xie Yu was stunned. When he opened the attachment, he saw that all the highlighted paragraphs on it were Misai’s lines.

…What does Shen Qi mean by this—that he wants to test his lines before the audition?

Xie Yu had been apart of countless crews, but had only discussed specific acting methods with directors who were very close with him before an audition.

When Shen Qi spoke like this, he inevitably felt that Shen Qi still had scruples and needed to investigate him more closely.

Xie Yu couldn’t say anything back, so he could only type okay first while clearing his throat subconsciously, and immediately prepare to practice the lines marked by Shen Qi.

He could understand why Shen Qi specially gave him these lines.

These lines were in a scene in which Misai tears off his disguise in front of He Fei, and was a part where the character’s tone and atmosphere changes a lot.

He guessed that Shen Qi was fine staying up late and asking him to record these lines because he wanted to wait and see the effect of his acting.

Since Shen Qi didn’t mind waiting, he could only bite the bullet and record it.

With his light screen already switched to display the script, Xie Yu got off the bed, stood up straight, opened his throat, and silently recited the lines to find the feeling.

He had just clicked on the recording software, but before he could make a sound, he saw several new messages notifications.

Clicking on them, he saw that Shen Qi sent a lot of excerpts, all accompanied by screenshots, many of which had also been marked down by Xie Yu.

Xie Yu gasped and fell silent.

The workload Shen Qi gave to him, to be honest, he didn’t think he could finish the recording in one night.

Xie Yu licked his lips and then pursed them, not knowing what to think.

If he wasn’t aware of Shen Qi’s serious attitude towards his work, he would have almost thought that Shen Qi was playing with him.

[Shen Qi: The crew will not use dubbing, and we will not be depending on post-recordings. The on-site line skills must be paid attention to. The parts I picked out are not necessarily the contents that will be used in the audition. But maybe it can help you understand the role.]

[Shen Qi: There is still a week left.]

[Shen Qi: It’s getting late, go to bed early.]

At this point, Xie Yu understood that Shen Qi was reminding him of things to pay attention to.

So, he hastily thanked Shen Qi on WeChat, and seeing his reminder for him to rest, he didn’t want to continue to disturb him.

So to wrap things up, he said goodbye to Shen Qi and ended the conversation.

After getting the chance to audition for Misai, Xie Yu was full of energy again.

He could prepare for the role wholeheartedly now that he got confirmation that he could try for Misai’s role.

He wrote down the numerous excerpts that Shen Qi marked, and planned to focus on practicing these few lines after the main scene involving Misai.

After finishing all this, Xie Yu was just about to quit WeChat, when he caught sight of Shen Qi’s profile picture again.

He couldn’t help poking into his circle of friends, wanting to see what kind of person Shen Qi was.

As a result, he found that Shen Qi’s friends list was empty, and only a few landscape photos without text were displayed.

He laughed, thinking that Director Shen was also quite a boring person.

After these last few days of continuous travel, Xie Yu’s body couldn’t hold on even if he wanted to continue working at this time.

Xie Yu had no choice but to shut down his light brain and force himself to sleep.

He didn’t know if it was because of the family-like environment or because the crew finally gave him the chance to audition for the role he liked—but after relaxing, Xie Yu slept soundly and didn’t wake up until dawn.

*****

Before he was fully awake, he smelled the aroma of food.

The sour tang that tantalizes one’s appetite was mixed in with the aroma of sauces, followed by the rich aroma of meat, which enticed Xie Yu to turn over and get out of bed immediately.

After washing, he followed the scent to the living room, and saw Mother Xie in the kitchen, standing by a pot.

She saw that her son had gotten up, and smiled very gently.

“Did you sleep well last night?” Mother Xie teased with kindness in her smile, “Are you hungry? I cooked some noodles. Your dad made meat pies with sauce this morning. I’ll pack a big piece for you later.”

Xie Yu scratched his head in embarrassment, leaned closer to Mother Xie, and saw the pot of meat next to the noodle pot.

He thought Mother Xie was talking about meatloaf, but in Xie Yu’s point of view, it looked more like minced meat pie.

The sauce-colored cooked meat was finely chopped and steamed together to form a cake.

Xie Yu recalled that in the original’s memory, Xie’s noodle restaurant was not famous for its noodles, but for its various seasoned meats.

In addition to braised pork slices and braised pork cubes, the most famous was its delicate and mellow meat pies.

The thin noodles that were about to be cooked were put into a soup bowl, sprinkled with seasoned side dishes, and given a spoonful of thick minced meat, which could all be eaten with chopsticks.

And while it was still hot, you’d eat it by mixing the noodles and minced meat together, then drink the soup—which left one sweating lightly and making a perfect morning.

“A little more, Mom.” Xie Yu watched Mother Xie’s movements and added in a low voice.

Mother Xie smiled and scooped another spoonful indulgently.

Xie Yu watched Mother Xie’s movements, but he didn’t want to stand by the side like an idler, so he asked her if she had eaten.

She nodded and said that she had already eaten, and that his father and sister had also eaten, and had headed out to the noodle shop very early.

After hearing this, Xie Yu touched his nose and realized that he was the laziest one.

“Mom, I already have a job in the near future. I will be filming near home if I successfully get the part. If it’s close by, I’ll live at home.” Xie Yu smiled and said as he walked towards the table with a large open noodle bowl.

After putting down the bowl and not rushing to eat, he leaned back to get a bib from his mother.

“Go ahead and eat.” Mother Xie continued to say, “It’s the best news you’ve given us. You haven’t been home for many years. How happy your father was that you brought Xiao Chan back as well. He woke up before dawn to work, and remembering that you and Xiao Chan love to eat meat noodles, he didn’t forget to remind me to make it for you before heading out.”

Xie Yu, who had not experienced love from family for many years, was deeply touched by such loving parents.

He nodded obediently, sucking on the noodles, satisfied.