Three days later, Song Yimian followed Shen Huai to Dongjiang city, where the opera group of “Hong Ling” were staying.

During this period, Song Yimian thought a lot. He understood Shen Huai’s good intentions and finally decided to overcome his fears… He had not joined the crew and could naturally not see the script, so he could only make a short biography of the character he was auditioning for, based on the original work of “Red Actress”.

Song Yimian was now more and more accustomed to this way of preparation. Even when he was doing this preliminary work, he also constructed the character’s image in his mind and imagined his own way of performing it.

Acting was a profession that required a lot of imagination. Some people always claimed that actors needed a sense of belief. What was a sense of belief? An actor must first believe in his role. But most of the time, there was no way to give actors a suitable background on set. There were green screens and no physical performances. At that time, what an actor could rely on was the sense of belief in his own role.

An actor with talent could understand the character at the moment he faced them, shaping a complete three-dimensional character, and then rely on his own body to show it. But for Song Yimian, this was a very difficult thing. He needed longer to refine the character step by step, and then slowly immerse himself in it.

Chu Mei Bo appreciated his way of preparation, which made Song Yimian more confident. He had been studying this character for the past three days, and occasionally had a video call with Chu Mei Bo to discuss how to construct the character and how to perform it.

Chu Mei Bo also saw his progress and was very pleased.

She now understood the thoughts of those mother fans who called Ye Cang “cub”. It turned out that it was quick to develop!

Song Yimian successfully completed the audition, but the result would not be announced in a while. So he still had to wait for the outcome. In the past, Song Yimian would be very worried, but this time, he was unexpectedly calm. It was as if he had entered the examination hall before finishing his studies. He was naturally worried about how well he did on the test. But now he was like a senior high schooler who had just experienced some hardships. Even if he was about to face the college entrance examination, he was very confident about his own level and score.

After the audition, Song Yimian didn’t immediately leave. Shen Huai asked him to pretend to be an assistant and watch Chu Mei Bo’s second audition.

This was not so much an audition as the director adjusting the script and the shooting method according to the state of the actors.

The eyes of the big director were very sharp, and at this point the focus was on how the director instructed the actors. This was a very important learning experience for Song Yimian. Even if he was not selected, this trip would be rewarding for him.

So Song Yimian put on his mask and went to Chu Mei Bo’s dressing room together with Shen Huai and Ye Cang.

Yes, this audition was with full makeup and hair done.

Chu Mei Bo wore a well-fitting cheongsam, revealing long and white arms, her hair permed into large curls in a hand push wavy style. Her original willow eyebrows were trimmed thinner and the corners of her eyes were slightly extended, showing a kind of flirtatious charm, her red lips slightly hooked in a smile.

She sat in front of her make-up mirror, her eyelids slightly raised, and glanced at the people who came in.

All three of them froze.

In Song Yimian’s mind immediately appeared the description of Cheng Yanxin in “Red Actress”. The book described her as a woman who came straight out of a picture. Song Yimian had never understood what that meant, but after seeing Chu Mei Bo at this moment, he immediately knew it.

Shen Huai and Ye Cang almost thought they saw Gu Mei in her ghost state.

The little makeup artist covered her chest, folding her hands. “Sister Mei, can I take a couple of photos of you? Not to spread them out, just for myself.”

Hearing her words, Chu Mei Bo smiled a little and instantly changed from the cool and charming movie star to her familiar appearance.

Shen Huai turned around and said, “Let’s go to the studio first.”

Chu Mei Bo nodded. They walked out of the dressing room and bumped into Fu Cheng, who had already changed his clothes and had his makeup done.

Fu Cheng was dressed in a suit, his hair combed up, fixed with hair spray, with a pair of black framed round glasses put on his nose, which slightly obscured the sharpness between his eyebrows and his eyes. Just looking at his appearance, he looked exactly like a rich man from the period of the Republic of China.

Fu Cheng arrived yesterday and had dinner with the director and several major makers. Naturally, he knew that Chu Mei Bo was the one who played Cheng Yanxin. At that time he was shocked, he had already cooperated with Chu Mei Bo in “Travel with History” so he knew that she was a good actress, but her qualifications were still too shallow.

However, Fu Cheng had always been thoughtful. Even if he thought this way, he would never show it on his face. After all, he was familiar with Chu Mei Bo through their previous cooperation.

Fu Cheng understood in his heart that “Red Actress” had a main female role, but Zhou Hanchen’s role was also excellent, and his performance may not necessarily be worse than that of Cheng Yanxin. If Cheng Yanxin was played by a first-line or a second-line actress, he would naturally want to make place for the heroine. That being the case, it would be better for him to act with Chu Mei Bo, a little newcomer with some acting skills but no reputation. At least she wouldn’t steal his limelight.

Although Fu Cheng had signed a contract with Guanrui and gained countless resources, it was not easy to find a good script.

With this in mind, Fu Cheng no longer disliked Chu Mei Bo’s shallow qualifications. He also took the initiative to say hello as they walked to the studio.

Just then, the dressing room on the other side opened, and a man in a military uniform with a moustache above his lips walked out.

As soon as Fu Cheng saw his costume, he guessed his identity. Was this the actor who played Yokota?

At dinner yesterday, this actor wasn’t there. He asked the director and the producer about the sidelines, but they all had strange expressions on their faces, saying that he would know along with the others after today’s audition.

Fu Cheng looked at the other party’s face and thought it looked familiar, but he could not remember where he had seen it.

Song Yimian, who was following Chu Mei Bo, took a step back with a white face.

 

–

 

When they arrived at the studio, Director Xie was waiting there. Seeing the appearances of the three of them, he smiled with satisfaction.

The appearance of an actor was very important. After all, if they didn’t even have the looks, how could they embody both the demeanor and the temper? In terms of appearance, all three of them were suitable for the original characters.

Director Xie asked the actors to adjust their lines first, and then walk again. When Director Xie felt that the situation was right, he started filming with the  camera.

This was Director Xie’s consistent shooting technique, which was also presented to the actors in advance.

Today was the audition for several leading actors. In addition to the crew members and actors, agents and assistants were also present. Shen Huai didn’t get too close, and Song Yimian stood obediently behind him, staring at the set.

The first scene took place between Chu Mei Bo and Fu Cheng. It was the same scene chosen for the first audition.

Both of them had a good command of their lines and passed in the first take.

Chu Mei Bo’s performance was as amazing as ever, and Fu Cheng’s act was also right, but Director Xie mashed his mouth, always feeling that it was not as good as it was during Chu Mei Bo and Guo Wenyuan’s last audition.

The two of them tried three scenes, and the results were very good, so Director Xie put aside his little confusion.

Chu Mei Bo and Fu Cheng went to one side to have some rest. The next scene was acted by Guo Wenyuan and Fu Cheng, while Chu Mei Bo went to fix her makeup.

Guo Wenyuan rose slowly from his chair, dusted off the hem of his clothes and with a stroke of his hands pulled the wrinkles flat. It was such a simple action, yet his whole body seemed to suddenly change.

Fu Cheng took a sip of his drink and when he happened to see this, he immediately froze.

After a long time, he heard the voice of the deputy director calling him. He quickly put down the water cup and adjusted his mood. Then he went to the other party.

But seeing each other head-on, the sense of familiarity became even stronger.

Fu Cheng wondered where on earth he had seen this man?

As the deputy director called start, Fu Cheng immediately reined himself in and immerse himself in the role.

In this scene, Cheng Yanxin’s identity was exposed, and she was locked up in the military headquarters. Zhou Hanchen sneaked into the club that Yokota often frequented, wanting to threaten Yokota with a gun to release Cheng Yanxin. He and Yokota had a verbal fight and he finally forced Yokota to release Cheng Yanxin.

Zhou Hanchen raised up his gun and aimed it steadily at Yokota’s head. In a cold voice, he said, “Let go of Cheng Yanxin, or I will shoot you!”

However, Yokota slowly picked up a sushi with his chopsticks and ate it contentedly, chewing it before swallowing it up, then he chuckled, “Kill me, and you will never escape.”

They were not shooting officially yet, so it was impossible to prepare sushi for this scene, therefore it was Guo Wenyuan’s imaginary performance.

Fu Cheng, who was pointing a gun at him, got worried. It was common knowledge that when evaluating an actor’s performance, eating was a very important part. It was not a simple thing to eat really naturally and with emotions.

But Guo Wenyuan did it.

Yokota was a cunning old man. He picked up sushi to eat not because he was not afraid, but because through this action he concealed his inner fear and thought of countermeasures at the same time.

His movements were very slow, but very stable, because he was afraid that being too impatient would let Zhou Hanchen figure it out. Although he was eating sushi, he had been observing Zhou Hanchen together with Yu Guang.

These short few seconds of the performance showed a lot of exquisite details.

This was what outsiders saw, but in Fu Cheng’s heart, he felt a familiar despair. 

Guo Wenyuan in front of him clearly looked completely different, but he still reminded him of his former teacher, Du Yuping.

Before entering Guanrui, Fu Cheng was an artist at Yihang Pictures. Like Du Yuping, he was dug up and trained by Yihang Pictures.

Probably because they were both employed by the same company, coupled with Fu Cheng’s talent, Du Yuping had been sparing no effort to teach him. The former Fu Cheng was also very grateful to Du Yuping, but he didn’t know when his gratitude gradually turned into jealousy and despair.

When he climbed higher and higher the entertainment hierarchy, he realized that Du Yuping was like a monster. He was like a mountain. The higher he climbed, the more he realized his horror.

The actor before him gave him the same feeling like Du Yuping. 

At this moment, their positions seemed to suddenly reverse. It was clearly Zhou Hanchen who was holding the gun, but his momentum was far less than Yokota’s, who was kneeling on the ground looking calm.

In other words, Zhou Hanchen was completely suppressed by Yokota.

Director Xie seemed to realize something and his expression gradually got more serious as he watched the performance of the two people.

The deputy director also saw the problem and whispered, “Director Xie, this … Is there something wrong with the state of these two?”

Unexpectedly, Director Xie didn’t pay attention to him. His brows tightened gradually and then relaxed again. “Interesting! Interesting!”

Edited by : LuLu

Proofreader: Taalia

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