Chapter 5

Song Xu was someone who couldn’t remain idle.

It wasn’t only because she genuinely enjoyed acting and wanted to accomplish something to prove herself. Part of the reason was that as long as she kept herself busy—so busy that, like Lu Lingze, her feet barely touched the ground—perhaps she wouldn’t have time to rehearse their fragile future, one that could scatter with the slightest breath, over and over in her mind.

She hadn’t remained idle during her days under hospital observation either. Every day, she studied the script outline she had obtained from Ying Ru. By the day she was discharged, the paper script in her hands was covered in circles, underlines, and annotations.

The audition notice arrived shortly afterward. Xiao Cen was originally supposed to accompany her, but for some unknown reason, the great Manager Ying had decided to take Song Xu to the audition personally.

While waiting at a traffic light, Ying Ru, who was accustomed to driving herself, glanced sideways at Song Xu reading the script in the passenger seat. Her feelings were complicated.

“Why did you suddenly sigh?” Hearing the sound from the woman, Song Xu looked up at her while turning a page. Her expression appeared quite relaxed. “Are you afraid I’ll fail the audition and embarrass you?”

“Not really. Even if someone loses face, it won’t be me,” Ying Ru casually replied, temporarily unsure how to explain what she was thinking.

She had known Song Xu for longer than Lu Lingze had been with her. In other words, Ying Ru’s willingness to represent Song Xu had absolutely nothing to do with the Lu family’s heiress. It was purely because she believed in Song Xu.

Even now, Ying Ru could still remember the first time she met Song Xu. An artist she represented at the time had landed her first female lead role and was so nervous the night before filming began that she couldn’t sleep. Worried, Ying Ru went to check on her and encountered Song Xu, who was playing a bit part in the production.

Song Xu had played the female lead’s guard. She had only five lines [bailiantales.com]in the entire scene, yet her vivid performance immediately made Ying Ru remember her.

Afterward, Ying Ru naturally took Song Xu under her wing and guided her step by step from nameless bit roles to becoming the third female lead. Her future had appeared boundlessly promising—

Truthfully, even now, Ying Ru regretted bringing Song Xu to that dinner gathering. If she hadn’t acted on a whim, Song Xu wouldn’t have reunited with Lu Lingze and wouldn’t have become a canary kept in her cage.

Yes, she admitted that Lu Lingze was generous and willing to spend lavishly. The resources she poured into Song Xu were better each time: famous directors, major productions, and major IPs. Every role was tailored to Song Xu’s comfort zone, and if any detail didn’t suit her, Lu Lingze could simply wave a hand and have the screenwriter create a new version specifically for her.

But what were the consequences? The roles had become severely formulaic and repetitive. Even though Song Xu’s acting skills had continued improving over the years and she had done her utmost to refine her craft, the framework remained rigidly fixed. How could audiences not grow tired after seeing it too many times?

It could be said that ever since Song Xu got together with Lu Lingze, the range of roles available to her had narrowed.

Nowadays, almost every script Song Xu accepted needed Lu Lingze’s approval: anything with kissing or bed scenes was unacceptable unless they used a body double or faked the angle. Either way, Song Xu couldn’t actually do it;

Anything requiring intimate promotional interactions with her costar was unacceptable. An onscreen couple was only an onscreen couple, and even during post-release fan service, they couldn’t get too close;

Anything involving fight scenes, scenes in the water, wirework, or other dangerous activities was unacceptable. What if she got hurt?

After rejecting everything on that list, only those same few types of roles remained for Song Xu.

Ying Ru had never believed Lu Lingze loved Song Xu very much. At least in stolen contenther opinion, restricting Song Xu’s choices at every turn under the banner of “I’m only thinking of what’s best for you” wasn’t love.

The contradiction was that Lu Lingze genuinely treated her well. No matter what script Song Xu filmed, Lu Lingze would invest in it and inhumanly lavish money on improving the production’s working conditions, terrified that Song Xu might suffer the slightest grievance.

Fine. If the saying “your money goes where your love lies” was true, then Lu Lingze truly loved Song Xu to death.

Although the one thing she lacked least was money.

At this thought, Ying Ru couldn’t stop herself from taking another deep breath, forcibly pressing the frustration in her heart down her windpipe and into her lungs.

Song Xu attempted to divert her attention and casually asked, “Speaking of which, why did you personally come to drive me today? Don’t you have anyone else to manage?”

Ying Ru slowly turned the steering wheel to the right, making the green pomelo-leaf ornament hanging in the car sway. “My task today is to bring all of you here to audition.”

“‘All of us’?” Song Xu seized on the plural, one slender, thick eyebrow rising.

“Mm. Almost all the artists under me came to audition. There’s also someone auditioning for the same role as you, but she came on her own, so I didn’t need to pick her up,” Ying Ru said honestly. “Either way, I can’t have come for nothing. At least one of you has to bring a role back for me today.”

Song Xu pursed her lips. “Hey, do you really have that little faith in me?”

“I genuinely don’t have much faith in you. After all, you’ve never played this kind of character before, and it’s stolen contentbeen several years since you last auditioned personally.”

Besides, if Song Xu passed, Ying Ru would still have to find a way to deal with Lu Lingze. Either way she turned, she would end up with shit on her hands.

“…I thought you would at least praise me a little.”

The woman scoffed, sunlight reflecting off her thin brown-framed glasses. “Once you pass Director Zou’s audition, I’ll praise you as much as you want.”

Song Xu’s smile deepened. “All right.”

The eye-catching red Mercedes pulled out of the traffic and came to a steady stop at the designated parking area. The two of them unfastened their seat belts almost simultaneously, then got out and locked the doors in one fluid motion.

Song Xu and Ying Ru walked side by side, encountering numerous celebrities with excellent looks and bearing along the way. Judging from appearances, they had all come to audition.

Ying Ru brought Song Xu into the casting studio. After telling her to find an empty seat, Ying Ru went inside to obtain her audition number. Song Xu obediently agreed, then turned toward the sea of people before her and sighed inwardly.

As expected of a production by Director Zou—Zou Yuran. This was the first time she had seen so many people attend an audition—

Especially considering that this was already the fifth session. Among the four rounds held over the previous two days, not a single person had matched the “Zhu He” in Zou Yuran’s mind.

Zou Yuran was a legendary woman in her own right. She abandoned medicine for the arts, then suddenly left halfway through graduate school to become a screenwriter and director. During the five years since her debut, she had written and directed four works. Aside from the one that had yet to be released, every one had earned an excellent reputation. Her upcoming film, Fleeing Dusk, was even aiming for international awards.

Moreover, Zou Yuran had her own principles: she didn’t allow anyone to buy their way into her production through investment. There was no such thing as a “privileged celebrity” with her.

No matter who they were, anyone who wanted to act in one of her scripts had to come and audition honestly. Before the auditions, she would also screen out some people with scandals or those likely to create scandals in the future, afraid that a single rat dropping might ruin her entire pot of good porridge.

Fortunately, Director Zou’s definition of “scandal” was relatively lenient. At the very least, she hadn’t eliminated Song Xu for having a “patron.”

But overall, this audition posed an enormous challenge for Song Xu.

Walking through the crowd, Song Xu ignored the discussions around her and the indistinct gazes drifting toward her. She found herself a corner, sat down, and reviewed the script.

Unfortunately, her hearing was still a little too sharp. Among the deliberately hushed gossip, Song Xu clearly caught her own name. She pretended not to hear and lowered her head, focusing all her attention on the script whose edges had grown warm in her grip.

After an unknown amount of time, the surrounding noise suddenly quieted considerably. A shadow fell across the black words on the white pages. Song Xu looked up and discovered someone standing before her.

It was even someone she knew, whom she had just seen at the banquet several days earlier.

“What a coincidence. You’re auditioning for Zhu He too.” Out of politeness, Song Xu still greeted Zhong Shuting.

“Yes. I didn’t expect you to come either.” Zhong Shuting tugged at the corner of her lips, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “How unusual. I thought you only accepted roles delivered directly to your doorstep.”

Hearing this, Song Xu couldn’t help frowning.

Did she always speak to people in such a passive-aggressive manner?

But Song Xu quickly reflected on herself.

Mm. She had never offended Zhong Shuting. In fact, they practically didn’t know each other. Therefore, Zhong Shuting was the one with the problem.

At this thought, Song Xu’s gaze toward her softened considerably.

How pitiful. If even Song Xu irritated her, her mind must be as narrow as the eye of a needle. If she encountered a younger, prettier, more capable junior who became more successful than her someday, wouldn’t she be tormented to death?

She probably wouldn’t even be able to keep up with all the sarcastic remarks she wanted to make.

Noticing the change in Song Xu’s gaze, Zhong Shuting’s smile stiffened, and she silently rolled her eyes.

She genuinely couldn’t understand why Song Xu was so lucky. It was already enough that the Lu family’s heiress had taken an interest in her after her debut, but several days ago, she had even escaped Zhong Shuting’s trap with ease.

That day, Zhong Shuting had deliberately arranged for [bailiantales.com]someone to collide with Song Xu so she could lure her into the changing room, where a paparazzo she had prepared would photograph her and give Zhong Shuting leverage over her.

Not only had no photographs been taken, but the corridor had also been sealed off afterward, and Song Xu had disappeared. Zhong Shuting nervously asked the staff what had happened, but they refused to tell her.

Fortunately, the paparazzo she hired had hidden outside the villa. If they had been hiding inside, Zhong Shuting would have been finished as well.

At this thought, Zhong Shuting continued provoking her irritably. “There’s an old saying: a person’s greatest virtue is knowing their own limitations. I genuinely don’t understand why you came here to waste your time auditioning for a role you already know you can’t possibly get.”

“Didn’t your manager stop you? You aren’t suited to this character at all.”

Having finished reviewing her lines, Song Xu put away the script and raised her head to meet Zhong Shuting’s gaze without evasion. Her eyes and tone were equally sincere. “You really talk a lot. Don’t you have anything of your own to do?”

Zhong Shuting could no longer maintain the false smile on her face. Her almond-shaped eyes widened as she glared at Song Xu, but before she could retort, she suddenly sensed a disturbance among the people around them.

Both women instinctively looked in the same direction.

In the distance, a group of bodyguards in suits approached against the light, led by a staff member. Song Xu recognized this person. They had emerged from the audition room not long ago—it turned out they had gone to receive someone.

But when Song Xu clearly saw the woman surrounded at the center of the group, her pupils abruptly contracted beneath her long lashes.

She was a woman with flowing long hair. Her dark chestnut hair cascaded [unauthorized copy]softly over her shoulders, and her entire body exuded an aristocratic elegance. Even without makeup, her exquisite, radiant face was flawless, her beauty breathtaking.

But her most distinctive feature was the lavender-purple irises within those peach-blossom eyes.

Apart from pheromone strength and the mental power contained within them, another distinction between S-grade Alphas and Omegas and those of other grades was that they possessed colored irises uncommon among people of their ancestry.

Although the mass production of colored contact lenses had made it difficult to distinguish them by this feature alone, for some reason, Song Xu simply felt that the purple in the woman’s eyes was her natural color.

“So the rumors outside were actually true…”

Zhong Shuting’s murmur reached Song Xu’s ears. Song Xu instinctively wanted to ask who the woman was, but an exclamation from someone beside her interrupted her.

Returning to her senses, Song Xu watched the woman walk past her. The ivory-white skirt swayed as she moved, scattering moonlight along her path.

Song Xu finally understood why the girl beside her had screamed.

The woman had looked in their direction, and her full, nude-colored lips curved slightly upward. For that single instant, it was as though the moon goddess had bestowed her favor upon them, enveloping everyone in pure, gentle light.

Song Xu’s heart skipped a beat, then began pounding violently as though trying to make up for it.