A OO Love After Officially Announcing with the Best Actress - Chapter 35

Lin Ke and Zhu Mo were like two elementary school students, giggling in the corridor.

After the excitement passed, Zhu Mo pointed at the few pages in Lin Ke’s arms and asked, “What are you holding?”

Lin Ke spread out the A4 papers. “The script.”

Confused, Zhu Mo pulled Lin Ke away from the crowd and asked softly, “Do they give scripts for the lead role audition? For us, they only give it after we go in, and we only get ten minutes to prepare. At most, we can read the original novel before coming.”

Lin Ke looked blankly at Zhu Mo, then blankly at the script.

Lu Tu: “…”

“All right.” Lu Tu pulled Lin Ke and Zhu Mo apart. “Xiao Mo, let’s chat later. We’re going to the audition first.”

Zhu Mo made an OK gesture. Lu Tu dragged Lin Ke to another office.

The two stood outside Room 1211 and encouraged each other for a while. Lin Ke took a deep breath and slowly pushed open the door.

Room 1211 was simple. The room had a large empty space, with only a few tables and chairs, and one camera on each side.

Gu Bai was arguing with the screenwriter.

“Why can’t it be changed! This novel makes no damn sense!”

“Change this part for me! Change it! What kind of scene is this? In the first act, she flies up and saves the female lead? This is how you write drama?”

The screenwriter was being scolded bloody and could only say timidly, “Director, I wasn’t the one who wanted to change it… It was the investors…”

Gu Bai said, “I don’t shoot melodramatic garbage. Either delete this part, or you change directors.”

The screenwriter was so angry he almost vomited blood. Turning his head to wipe his sweat, he saw the door opened a crack.

Lu Tu kept pushing Lin Ke through the door. “Hurry up and go in…”

Lin Ke kept backing away. “They’re arguing inside!”

“Cough, cough!” The screenwriter cleared his throat and said loudly, “Come in.”

Lu Tu closed the door and signaled Lin Ke to sit first. Director Bai was a male alpha in his forties. The screenwriting team had two female alphas and two male betas. Beside them were two producers.

Several people sat in a row. The audition room looked like a magistrate’s court interrogating a criminal.

Lin Ke was a little restrained. Who would have thought that for a drama already established as a project, the script still had not been properly revised?

“Teacher Gu, and all teachers, hello.”

Lu Tu stepped forward generously to greet Gu Bai. “Director Gu, we’ve met once before.”

Gu Bai swept a glance over Lu Tu and rolled his eyes very obviously.

Lu Tu: “…”

Lin Ke: “…”

The screenwriter began tactically coughing, then explained, “This is Lin Ke, right? Don’t worry. By the time you join the crew, the script will definitely be revised. Our Director Gu doesn’t shoot flying pages, doesn’t shoot flying pages, hahaha.”

“Only trash dramas shoot flying pages!” Gu Bai said angrily.

The screenwriters all laughed dryly and stopped talking, letting Lin Ke start the audition directly.

Lin Ke wondered in confusion. She had not even passed the audition yet, so why were they already talking about what would happen after she joined the crew?

Lin Ke handed the script to Lu Tu. She immersed herself on the spot for twenty seconds, clearing the unnecessary clutter from her mind.

There were three scenes. The first was Luo Ying’s first appearance as a newcomer.

The setting was an inn on the way down the mountain. Luo Ying ordered a plate of beef and a few liang of strong shaodaozi liquor from the innkeeper. She ate and drank while clumsily concealing the jianghu air about her.

The chest-high ruqun was long and troublesome. Simple robes were much more comfortable to wear.

Luo Ying clicked her tongue and drank two mouthfuls of coarse liquor. Her nose and eyes wrinkled into a ball. Irritated, she propped her leg up on the stool, her skirt lifting high. The people around looked at her curiously, and she awkwardly put her leg back down.

This scene was not difficult. What it tested was the liveliness of the actor’s expression.

Gu Bai said, “Next scene.”

Lu Tu sat in the corner, her five fingers clenched nervously, sweating on Lin Ke’s behalf.

Lin Ke rose from the stool and quickly threw herself into the next scene.

Luo Ying bent down, grabbed at the empty ground, and patted the dust by her foot while secretly watching the people entering Tangkou today. When she raised her head, her expression abruptly changed. She glared fiercely at the enemy walking straight toward her.

Luo Ying smiled obsequiously. “Master, business isn’t good today. Give me some work.”

The person looked over her face suspiciously. Seeing Luo Ying’s tender young face, she did not look like a killer from Tangkou.

“Get lost!”

Luo Ying bowed and scraped as she backed away, then went to solicit the next customer. The next person pushed her aside mercilessly. Luo Ying stumbled and fell, drawing a wave of mocking laughter from those around her.

“You? You want to take killing jobs too?”

“Hahahahaha, don’t embarrass our Tangkou.”

Luo Ying fell on the ground, humiliation and anger crisscrossing her face. She grabbed a handful of dust and hid it in her palm. Staggering up, she raised her hand, and the dust fell into the eyes of the two killers closest to her.

“Ah—”

“Grab her!”

The scene descended into chaos. Luo Ying took advantage of the disorder to run away, laughing nonstop and shouting that it felt satisfying.

This was the scene before she left Tangkou and descended the mountain. Luo Ying was the lowest-ranked killer in Tangkou. Her skills were mediocre, and her body looked like that of a beggar who never had enough to eat. For more than ten years, she had always disguised herself as a man.

In the third scene, Luo Ying, as an assassin, received her first job. All the assassins sent to kill the marquis had returned in defeat. Tangkou’s master promised Luo Ying that as long as she killed the marquis, he would give her a tiled house and two shi of fine grain.

Luo Ying had one life-saving skill: disguise.

She disguised herself as a young male servant and infiltrated the marquis’s residence to assassinate the elderly marquis.

After taking off those clothes, she quickly disguised herself as a maid. Carrying a plate of food from the kitchen, she followed the meal-delivery group to serve the marquis.

The dish was poisoned. The first barrier was the servants tasting the food.

The poison was colorless and tasteless, and it still required a trigger to take effect. One by one, the servants withdrew. Luo Ying stared closely at the dish beside the table, her palms damp with sweat. The laughter and chatter of others seemed like sounds from beyond the sky.

The servants left one after another. Luo Ying walked to the doorway and casually tossed a sachet into the vase by the entrance. She let out a breath. The next second, she was suddenly stopped by the marquis’s wife.

“Cut!”

Gu Bai stared at Lin Ke. He neither commented nor elaborated, only saying, “We’ll inform you of the result within a week.”

Lin Ke had not yet come back to herself. Her eyes slowly shifted from shrewd and ruthless back to clean and clear. She returned to that harmless-looking self and said goodbye to the director, screenwriters, and producers.

Lu Tu greeted the director and screenwriters, then took Lin Ke out. Once they were outside, she looked at Lin Ke and said, “Didn’t expect that. You’ve improved a lot.”

Lin Ke scratched her head, rubbed the area around her eyes, and said, “My eyeballs almost couldn’t turn back.”

Lu Tu said, “This character is very different from the roles you acted before. You could totally audition for it with your own strength!”

The two took the elevator down toward the underground parking lot. In the polished mirror, Lu Tu realized she had slipped up and quickly covered her mouth, turning her head aside.

Lin Ke lowered her head and rushed out of the elevator.

Lu Tu chased after her. “Aiya—this, that… I was afraid you’d react like this, which is why I didn’t tell you right away!”

Lin Ke reached for the car door. It was locked. Lu Tu pressed the remote and quickly got into the driver’s seat at Lin Ke’s pace.

Lu Tu clicked her tongue. “Can you not act like a couple having a fight?”

Lin Ke abruptly turned her head. “I wouldn’t fight with my girlfriend like this!”

Lu Tu: “…This opportunity is rare. Do you know how many people are fighting for this script? The copyright belongs to Yuxing Company. They aren’t even promoting their own actors and chose an actor from another company instead…”

Lin Ke crossed her arms, clicked her tongue, and turned to look out the window.

Lu Tu gave an “oh” and simply stopped explaining, directly throwing the blame away. “Film Queen Lin said not to tell you. When you get back to Water Town, go find her.”

Sure enough, Lin Ke closed her eyes in frustration and banged her forehead against the car window a few times.

Lu Tu secretly waited to watch the fun. “Stop torturing yourself. Go back and fight with Film Queen Lin.”

Lin Ke turned and glared angrily at Lu Tu. “Then since you’d already hidden it from me this long, why didn’t you hide it until the end!”

Lu Tu gripped the steering wheel. Hearing this, she almost stepped on the gas and drove the car into the wall. “…So basically, you can get angry at me? You don’t dare talk back to Film Queen Lin, huh!”

Lin Ke sneered. “Heh. What do you understand? Can couples solve problems by fighting?”

Lu Tu drove out of the underground parking lot. “Then what do you two use to solve problems?”

Lin Ke’s lips made a pop sound. “Couples quarrel at the head of the bed and make up at the foot of the bed.”

Lu Tu: “…”

The journey was full of traffic and towering buildings. Among them was an office building with Shanmu’s nameplate hanging inside.

Since they only returned to the company once every few months, Lu Tu brought Lin Ke back for a meeting. The main topic was still the company’s future plans for Lin Ke.

Being cast in Shen Feng’s film was an unexpected gain. Those rough, poorly made web dramas could no longer be touched. Even for TV dramas, only refined productions would do.

After her value rose, her endorsements and brands would also have to rise accordingly. The company would naturally value Lin Ke more as well.

Lu Tu was in the office for the meeting, helping Lin Ke fight for some second- and third-tier endorsement opportunities. Lin Ke did not know how the negotiations were going inside, so she wandered around the company for a while.

On the twelfth floor, there were several dance studios. Every two rooms had been combined for trainees to use.

Female alphas and male alphas—if this were before, Lin Ke would have already pressed herself against the glass doors and refused to leave. Now, looking at them, she felt they were always missing something.

Could she have been bewitched by Lin Bingran?

Lin Ke curled up in a beanbag chair in the rest area, sitting crookedly as her thumb rubbed over her phone screen.

“Lin Ke came back. Why didn’t I see her?” Two celebrities walked toward the rest area, looking around as they walked.

Another person said, “Is she in the office for a meeting?”

“She really has good fortune. She got mixed up with Lin Bingran, and now all the company’s resources have to make way for her. Just watch, that DG magazine hard cover will be hers too…”

“People really have different fates.”

“Who knew a film queen’s orientation would be crooked?”

“Maybe Lin Ke offered herself up. Don’t we both know what she’s like? Is she prettier than you?”

“Pfft! What are you saying! You’re also very pretty!”

Lin Ke poked her head out from behind the sofa, her gaze resentful as she watched the two male omegas disappear around the corner.

She knew that once she and Lin Bingran went public, even if she did not want to gain any benefit or fame from Lin Bingran, those things were already impossible to separate from her.

When hyping a CP, the popular side was destined to be leeched off by the less popular side. The less popular one would become like sticky candy in fans’ and outsiders’ mouths, stuck to the other person and impossible to shake off.

You want to break free? But even the clients would proactively include your lover in their evaluation criteria.

Married people were unsuitable for certain projects. People in relationships were unsuitable for certain kinds of hype. Even when filming a drama, the client would also consider your family background.

Even if she became popular, five or ten years later, others would still remember that Lin Ke became popular because of Lin Bingran. Without Lin Bingran, Lin Ke might be nothing.

If she did not become popular, it would be even worse. They would say she lacked ability, that she was useless mud even Lin Bingran could not prop up, and that even walls would despise supporting her.

During the audition just now, Lin Ke knew she had not acted badly. But how much distance there was between “not bad” and “good,” she could not say.

She definitely could not compare with Lin Bingran. What she wanted was… at the very least, the height to stand shoulder to shoulder with Lin Bingran.

Lu Tu stayed in the meeting until afternoon. During that time, she messaged Lin Ke and told her to go to the cafeteria to eat. Lin Ke did not go. She skipped the meal and ran off to find the company’s line coach to practice lines.

The line coach listened carefully as Lin Ke read a page of script and said, “Not bad. Looks like filming movies really trains people.”

Lin Ke smiled embarrassedly. “I practice reading aloud now.”

The line coach smiled, set down the script, and took a bottle of mineral water for Lin Ke. Then he asked about Lin Bingran.

Lin Ke lowered her eyes. “Oh, her… we’re pretty good.”

The line coach said, “Since you’re already together, enjoy the process of being in love properly.”

The line coach was seventy this year, and even now, he still performed in some stage plays. He was an old senior with both virtue and artistry.

Lin Ke looked at him and unconsciously asked, “…If a relationship has no visible result, why continue?”

The line coach was slightly surprised. “You want to marry her?”

Lin Ke was shocked. Her face and ears reddened as she denied it. “No, no, no. That’s not it. Of course it’s not marriage! It hasn’t been long at all… How did you interpret it that way?”

“What result do you want?” the line coach asked leisurely.

Lin Ke picked at the plastic label on the water bottle and murmured, “I don’t know either… I never thought I’d meet her now. Now isn’t the right time yet.”

“You feel the timing is wrong?”

Lin Ke said dryly, “Mm. Right now, I’m still… too immature…”

The line coach laughed loudly and tapped Lin Ke’s forehead with the paper tube made from the rolled-up script. “Are you talking about Lin Bingran? I’ve heard others say she likes younger ones. If not for this incident, when would you think the so-called right timing had arrived?”

“If you’re older, maybe you won’t have a chance anymore.”

Lin Ke: “…”

Lu Tu called and asked where Lin Ke had run off to.

Lin Ke curled her fingertips. Before answering the call, she had originally been about to dial another number.

Lu Tu found Lin Ke, and the two waited for the elevator together to leave the company. “All right. Things are more or less handled. We’ll go eat, then go back and sleep. Tomorrow, we return to set.”

Lin Ke said, “Oh.”

Lu Tu said, “Ai, where are you going now?”

Lin Ke turned back. “To make a call!”

Lu Tu: “…You’re calling Film Queen Lin? Don’t fight. I already told the company you got the role in Old Tang.”

“The result hasn’t come out yet!” Lin Ke almost roared at Lu Tu.

Lu Tu said, “Old Tang can perfectly follow Wind Chime. If I didn’t say that, the company would have arranged for you to go on a variety show!”

Lin Ke said gloomily, “I know.”

Lu Tu complained, “Can’t you let me worry less?”

Lin Ke went to the side and dialed the phone. As soon as it connected, she rushed to say to the other side without context, “I already know what you did. As repayment, I’ll also confess something to you.”

Lin Bingran was quiet for two seconds before slowly asking, “What is it?”

Lin Bingran’s voice was tight and sticky.

Lin Ke suddenly covered the receiver, looked left and right, her ears bright red, and lowered her voice to ask, “…What are you doing?”

Lin Bingran scratched the back of her neck. Her gland was hot and swollen, and hearing Lin Ke’s voice made it even more restless. “I’m in heat. The chief director kindly gave me one day off.”

Lin Ke: “…”

Lin Ke hung up the phone and charged back toward Lu Tu with great momentum.

Lu Tu was waiting for the elevator and had also booked the restaurant they would eat at later. Suddenly, her collar was yanked. She raised her head speechlessly. “Are you going crazy?”

Lin Ke pressed her lips together. “We’re going back now.”

Lu Tu said, “Huh? But I already booked the restaurant! It’s rare we get to come out. Don’t you want to eat something good?”

Lin Ke kept pressing the elevator button. The button was nearly stabbed useless by her. Face and ears red, she said, “…I’m more dedicated. My heart is with the crew.”

Lu Tu said, “You don’t look like it…”

Author’s Note:

Little Lin: Going back to make up at the foot of the bed.

P.S. Something sudden happened!!!!! I can’t add an extra update today. I’ll move it to tomorrow!!!

Wuwuwuwu, it’s my fault. Forgive me~