The number of people in the audition room continued to grow.
"The audition is about to begin. Those whose numbers are called, please come in." The staff member checked the time and opened the door to the inner room.
As soon as these words were uttered, the people waiting in the room hurriedly applied their make-up, tidied their hair and clothes, and the noise immediately stopped.
But no one moved.
However, a figure in a black T-shirt manoeuvred through the crowd and into the inner room.
The person took a seat at one of the three positions on the judging table in the audition room.
A nameplate on the table said 'Casting Director Zhang Chenhao'.
Those at the front saw it clearly.
The whole room was immediately filled with surprise and doubt.
"That was the casting director who just stood behind me?"
"Oh my God, he has been watching us in the waiting room?"
"Oh no, I think I just complained about waiting too long... Did he hear me?"
Everyone's faces went pale as they frantically tried to recall if they had made any mistakes just now.
However, Bao Ruanruan wasn't nervous at all.
She had stood in the corner, probably several metres away from the casting director.
She was also wearing a mask, so even if he saw her, he wouldn't be able to recognise her.
Bao Ruanruan was surprisingly relaxed.
But her number was soon called.
"?"
*
The staff member called in five people at once.
As the role was relatively minor, there was no need for individual auditions, so several people auditioned simultaneously in one round.
Bao Ruanruan was the last to enter the audition room, standing at the very back of the five people.
However, as soon as she stopped, Zhang Chenhao, the casting director sitting in the middle, pointed at her.
"Take off your mask."
Of course, you have to show your face at an audition.
Bao Ruanruan felt it was normal and turned her head slightly. Her fair fingers carefully wrapped around the elastic cord behind her ears and grasped it tightly. She removed the mask from the side without touching its outer surface.
She folded it neatly and placed it in a disposable plastic bag she had taken from her pocket.
Her actions were reminiscent of medical professionals, and her expression was stern as if she were dealing with highly infectious bacteria.
She wasn't the tallest of the five or the most strikingly dressed. But she caught the eye of the three casting judges behind the table, and their eyes involuntarily locked on her.
When the mask was removed, her small, make-up-free face shone like pure snow. Her eyes were bright, her teeth gleaming, and her lips slightly rosy. She radiated a sense of vulnerability. In the whole audition room, she was a crane in a flock of chickens1.
This entire process of taking off the mask, complemented by her delicate and flawless snow-white complexion, could easily be featured on the news, instructing the general public on the correct way to wear masks!
"Bao... Ruanruan?!" The director in charge of casting, Zhang Chenhao, observed her appearance and was struck by her beauty but quickly taken aback.
Surfing on his 12G Internet connection2, he recognised her immediately.
Zhang Chenhao promptly lowered his head and looked at the resume on the table.
Indeed, among the five documents, there was the name Bao Ruanruan.
Zhang Chenhao took a deep breath. Even earlier, while waiting outside, he found this girl quite unique. The pair of eyes exposed outside the mask had a beautiful sense of fragility but also a firm vitality. Furthermore, her delivery of the lines was filled with an unusual tenacity...
However, he never imagined that she would be Bao Ruanruan.
At the moment, her reputation in the industry was not very good.
Since the incident at the engagement ceremony of the president of the Lu Corporation, negative information about her had been widely spread.
Her poor acting skills in the past had also been exposed.
He had watched a few of her short videos, and her crying scenes were extremely embarrassing. In one scene where she was crying at a grave, her facial expressions were all over the place, which made him burst out laughing. What a waste of a beautiful face!
Zhang Chenhao massaged his temples, wondering if he had misjudged the situation in the waiting area.
He didn't want an actress with subpar acting skills, let alone someone with such a bad public image.
"Director Zhang."
Just as Zhang Chenhao was coming to a conclusion, his assistant handed him a note.
On it was a line of information in small print: Bao Ruanruan was recommended for the audition by a friend of the director.
Someone with connections!
Zhang Chenhao's favourability towards Bao Ruanruan instantly dropped to the lowest level.
Not only did she have poor acting skills, but she also used her connections to force the director to accept her. This was the kind of artist he despised the most.
His face darkened.
"Let's begin."
As soon as he finished speaking, the five crew members in the audition room each took a wooden stick wrapped in a soft cloth and went to the actresses who were auditioning.
This was an audition for the role of Maid No. 3, which was a minor role.
There were only four or five scenes for this character, which took place before the female protagonist entered the palace. In the final scene, while accompanying the female protagonist to the temple to burn incense, the maid encountered a bandit and bravely protected her, taking the fatal blow.
"The audition will focus on that scene where she blocks the sword."
Hearing this, the five girls glanced at each other with a sense of mutual fear.
But when their gaze landed on Bao Ruanruan, their feeling of fear was momentarily replaced by envy.
Everyone on the Internet knew that Bao Ruanruan had terrible acting skills and a questionable character, but they never expected that... she was so lovable in person.
Luckily, with her lack of talent and integrity, she was definitely not their competition!
"Action!"
The five crew members waved their wooden swords and thrust them towards the girls in front of them!
The three judges on the panel scanned them with sharp gazes, one by one!
One by one, the beautiful girls clutched their wounds with pained expressions and collapsed tragically...
"If you want to kill Miss, you'll have to step over my dead body first!"
Casting director Zhang Chenhao nodded in satisfaction. Their line delivery was good, and their acting was also quite fitting—
But as his gaze moved to the end of the group, his eyes suddenly twitched.
In the entire room, only Bao Ruanruan was still standing!
She seemed unwilling to fall, completely motionless!
Zhang Chenhao looked on dumbfounded.
Seconds passed in the room.
She still hadn't collapsed, as if she was a still JPG.
"Pfft—" the second girl who had fallen to the floor couldn't help but burst out laughing and quickly covered her mouth.
The other girls also noticed this scene and couldn't help but stifle their giggles.
Zhang Chenhao used to think that reciting lines like 123 and acting like one was in a sticker photo4 was bad acting. As it turned out... there was even worse than those!
When she was supposed to die, she even didn't want to die!
Even the fifth crew member grew impatient. He grabbed the wooden sword and thrust it forward with all his might. "You've been stabbed."
"No, I haven't." Bao Ruanruan pursed her pink lips, her determination unwavering.
Zhang Chenhao: "..."
A noob translator, きつね, translated this noob translation. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.site. If you read this in another location other than the site stated, it has been taken without the translator's permission. Please don't support this kind of act.
His eye twitched, and he stood up, intending to put an end to this absurd audition.
However, as he rose to his feet, his field of vision suddenly widened, and his expression of doubt froze.
To his astonishment, Bao Ruanruan was actually clutching the staff member's wooden sword. The fair and tender back of her hand bulged with prominent veins as she clenched her teeth.
The tip of the sword was only 0.02 centimetres away from her abdomen.
Zhang Chenhao: "!"
She really wasn't stabbed!
The male crew member's hand was sore from thrusting, and his face had also turned red.
He pulled back the hilt of the sword and swung it down horizontally!
Pa—
The sword didn't hit Bao Ruanruan's body, but instead was snatched away by her in one fell swoop!
She immediately plunged the sword back into his abdomen!
Staff member: "!"
Zhang Chenhao: "!!!"
The entire room fell silent.
Bao Ruanruan narrowed her eyes. "If you want to kill Miss, you'll have to step over your own dead body first!"
"………………"
Everyone was frozen.
Then laughter broke out, and the four actresses playing the dead maids couldn't help but look at Bao Ruanruan with mockery.
This is hilarious!
What a silly beauty, turning a maid who dies heroically into a strong maid!
She even changed the lines!
Is she here to perform stand-up comedy?
At first, they were a little jealous of Bao Ruanruan's outstanding appearance, making them secretly unhappy.
Now that they saw her making a fool of herself, they were instantly delighted.
No wonder, when she was signed by Huangtai, she was still a 108th-tier3 actress who had to stoop to their level to compete for maid roles with them.
This foolish beauty could only play a role after she cried and begged the wealthy young masters!
Several people sneered and chuckled, but the room fell into a prolonged silence before Zhang Chenhao's voice rang out.
"You should change roles. Try the scene of the evil concubine Mo Ruyu... Bao Ruanruan."
Suppressed laughter froze on the faces of the four girls auditioning for the role of the dead maid.
"Evil concubine?" Bao Ruanruan dropped the wooden sword, tilted her head, and frowned. "My agent told me to audition for the maid."
She seemed pretty reluctant.
The four girls were almost consumed by jealousy.
The evil concubine Mo Ruyu had far more scenes than the maid, who died after three acts!
"Does she live longer?" Bao Ruanruan blinked her eyes.
"......"
Zhang Chenhao regretted his words as soon as they slipped out.
Bao Ruanruan's personal life was controversial, and it would take a lot of effort on his part to convince the producers to give her roles with more screen time.
But—her disdainful and doubtful appearance aroused his persistence.
"She doesn't go offline until the tenth episode," Zhang Chenhao explained patiently.
"She died in the tenth episode?"
"No, she was thrown into the Cold Palace."
Zhang Chenhao felt a little disgusted.
She wasn't even satisfied with ten episodes?
Bao Ruanruan breathed a sigh of relief, and her smile instantly brightened. "Alright, I can accept being banished to the Cold Palace. I can even go to the Cold Palace in the first episode."
She has no outstanding work in her name, so what right does she have to choose a role with a lot of screen time and only go offline at the end?!
She's even willing to go to the Cold Palace in the first episode... huh?!
Zhang Chenhao was momentarily stunned and looked at her in confusion.
He saw her fair face with clear, watery eyes, long eyelashes, and a sincere expression.
Her smile was radiant like pure white pear blossoms blooming.
It was not as if she was pretending to be happy at all. She seemed so happy that she could even pack her bags and report to the Cold Palace right away.
?
??
Do you love going to the Cold Palace so much?
This was strange.
"The rest of you can leave."
Zhang Chenhao waved his hand at the remaining four girls, not sparing them a second glance.
The four girls: "..."
They were just... so annoyed.
Inside the nanny van, Chen Feng checked the time and sighed.
"There shouldn't be any problem, right... Big Brother Xue, you've already talked to the director, and the role of the little maid only has a few lines. Why has she been auditioning for so long?"
As he was muttering, a message popped up.
[Congratulations, Bao Ruanruan has been cast as the Evil Concubine Mo Ruyu. Please go to the studio for make-up and styling on the 18th of July...]
Chen Feng: "???"
Wait, wait a minute!
Wasn't she supposed to be a maid?
"What, does the Emperor have such peculiar tastes that he takes a maid into his harem and makes her an evil concubine?"
Xue Jing: "..."
"Big Brother Xue, be honest. Did you secretly invest in the drama and threaten the director?"
Xue Jing: "..."
I didn't.
Author's Note:
Ruanruan: "I'll live for ten more episodes today! Happy~"
Director: ......
Footnotes Full List
- Chinese idiom: to stand out from the crowd
- 12G网冲浪" (12G Internet surfing) means that he is familiar with online trends and may have seen Bao Ruanruan on the Internet
- low-ranking/D-list or C-list celebrity: not well-known and has not achieved mainstream success
- a level of acting where the actor just recites the lines without emotion and poses stiffly
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