Acting Out of Character (GL) - Chapter 2

Chen Ge arrived at the company early the next morning. Before she even stepped through the door, she heard someone crying.

The wailing was utterly heart-wrenching, rising and falling dramatically enough that employees from another company at the far end of the corridor kept poking their heads out to look.

When Chen Ge entered the office, she saw Sister Si, the others, and everyone from the film and television department gathered around their colleague Xiao Mao.

Xiao Mao was the one howling like a ghost.

Chen Ge walked over and asked Sister Si, “What happened?”

Sister Si’s face was still flushed. She had just given Xiao Mao a furious scolding and had gotten so worked up that she had not yet calmed down.

She had no intention of saving Xiao Mao any dignity either. Everyone in the company needed to learn from this incident and make absolutely sure they never repeated her mistake.

Pointing at Xiao Mao, Sister Si said, “Go on, tell everyone why I yelled at you! Come on, say it yourself! Tell us so Chen Ge can broaden her horizons too.”

Xiao Mao had made such a racket that she had nearly deprived herself of oxygen, yet she had not shed a single tear. After being reprimanded like that, she grew irritated too.

“Wasn’t I just trying to fight for an opportunity for myself?! Who wouldn’t want to act in one of Teacher Luo’s films?”

Teacher Luo?

Chen Ge’s heart jumped. Was she talking about the Teacher Luo Chen Ge had in mind?

Sister Si let out an incredulous laugh. “Well, aren’t your ambitions lofty? You haven’t even learned how to walk, yet you already want to fly into the heavens? Of course everyone wants to act in Teacher Luo’s films. There’s nothing wrong with that. If you have the ability, the company will do its best to arrange it for you. But you? You didn’t say a word or even notify me. You ran straight to Teacher Luo and started putting on some goddamn performance!”

Chen Ge tried to calm Sister Si down. “Isn’t recommending yourself a good thing? It shows Xiao Mao is proactive about her career. Maybe when Teacher Luo saw how hard she was working for the role and how strongly she connected with it, she really gave her a chance.”

Sister Si let out a forceful “Ha!” and said, “Come on, Xiao Mao. Esteemed Ancestor Mao, Grandpa Mao, you tell them yourself. Reenact exactly what you told me when I picked you up this morning. Let everyone know what earth-shattering feat you accomplished.”

Sitting in a chair while the entire company watched her, Xiao Mao wiped at eyes that had produced barely two drops of tears, then sprang to her feet.

“Fine, I’ll say it! I’ll take responsibility for what I did! Luo Jingyi can’t possibly blacklist everyone at White Horse Film and Television just because I offended her, can she?!”

Chen Ge grew even more curious. What had Xiao Mao done for things to become this serious?

Xiao Mao was a young actress whom the film and television department had only signed at the beginning of the year. She had appeared in one web drama.

Although she had not played the lead, her character in the drama had been likable. Her acting was somewhat exaggerated, but she had still gained a group of fans.

Her fans probably spent every day showering her with praise under her Weibo posts until she became completely deluded. They had filled her head with the astonishing illusion that her acting skills had already reached an expert level, so she set her sights directly on award-winning screenwriter Luo Jingyi’s new film.

Previously, Xiao Mao had heard Sister Si mention that Luo Jingyi’s new film, A Minor’s Final Wish, was searching for a female lead.

Teacher Luo had looked through the current crop of rising young actresses in the industry but had not been satisfied with any of them. As a result, the female lead position had remained vacant. She insisted on waiting until she found the most suitable person before making a decision.

That was entirely consistent with Luo Jingyi’s usual style: striving for perfection.

Xiao Mao was extremely tempted. After reading the character biography, she felt that the female lead had practically been tailor-made for her. She was certain she could do it!

If Teacher Luo chose her, what could she possibly have to worry about in her acting career afterward?

Luo Jingyi was a legendary screenwriter in today’s film industry.

Ten years ago, she had been the star student of the dramatic literature and screenwriting department at one of the country’s top art universities. Ten years later, she had become the most influential award-winning screenwriter in the industry.

Teacher Luo was truly remarkable. Her arthouse films had won more awards than anyone could count, while her commercial films had accumulated more than ten billion yuan at the box office.

She was held in extremely high regard throughout the film industry. Even notoriously demanding film critics called her a rare, genius-level screenwriter.

Her previous film had dominated the entire National Day holiday season, allowing the investors, production team, distributors, cinemas, and everyone else involved to make a fortune.

Several major companies were currently asking her to write scripts for them—and they wanted only her scripts.

As long as she provided the screenplay, she could choose the director, actors, cinematographer, costume and makeup teams, and post-production crew however she pleased. The investors would approve whatever she wanted.

She was now carefully polishing A Minor’s Final Wish, and many companies were growing restless, eager to recommend their own artists for roles.

Yet after several rounds of auditions, Luo Jingyi remained dissatisfied.

This was especially true of the female lead. She rejected every single person who came in. None of them met her standards.

In other productions, the producer and director had the final say. But on any production involving Teacher Luo, she was unquestionably at its center.

Whoever she said could stay, stayed. Whoever she told to get lost had better gallop away as fast as possible.

Luo Jingyi kept an extremely low profile and had never appeared in mainstream media, making her very mysterious to the public.

Her appearance and age were both unknown, but her foul temper was famous far and wide.

According to rumor, Luo Jingyi had an exceptionally bad temper.

She was a clean freak, impossibly particular, and demanded perfection in every detail of her work.

She tolerated even less carelessness in her daily life. Her schedule assistants reportedly fainted from exhaustion once a month, while she went through a dozen personal assistants every year.

Her latest personal assistant was said to have resigned last month, and no one had dared apply for the position since.

Luo Jingyi’s guiding principle in life was never to compromise herself or her work.

Because her status in the industry was so high, she had never bothered restraining her temper.

The people Teacher Luo hated most were the unprofessional.

When someone deserved to be scolded, she scolded them. When someone deserved to be cursed at, she cursed at them. She was never polite about it.

And yet Xiao Mao had marched straight into the company of this steadily rising Empress Dowager, who was treated like the center of the universe wherever she went, without even making an appointment, demanding that Luo Jingyi audition her.

Before nine that morning, Sister Si received a call from Xiao Mao. After hearing what she had done, Sister Si nearly exploded.

After listening to Xiao Mao cry and complain over the phone, Sister Si made no attempt to comfort her. Instead, she immediately unleashed a furious tirade.

“Are you insane?! You went to find Teacher Luo by yourself?! Who taught you to do that?! Do you still want a career in this industry? What happened afterward… Fuck, I knew it! What am I supposed to say about you? Huh? I can barely even be bothered to scold you anymore. Apart from making reckless decisions on your own, are you capable of doing anything else? Where are you now… Fine, stay there and don’t move. I’m coming to pick you up. Stop crying already! Find somewhere deserted and hide, all right? Don’t let anyone see you! Otherwise, you really will become famous!”

After hanging up, Sister Si urged the driver to hurry toward Yingdong Tower near the East Fourth Ring Road.

Once the car arrived, Sister Si searched all around Yingdong Tower. She finally found Xiao Mao, who had called her, hiding in an obscure corner.

Xiao Mao was wearing some hideous frog-green school uniform she had gotten from who knew where and was crouching in a dark corner. Sister Si nearly jumped in fright when she passed by.

“Ancestor, what are you doing?!”

“Didn’t you tell me to find somewhere no one would see me? There aren’t many people here.”

“…Fine, everything is my fault. Please get in the car, Your Highness!”

After dragging Xiao Mao into the car, Sister Si asked what exactly had happened.

Xiao Mao said, “Didn’t I want to fight for the female lead role in Teacher Luo’s new film? So I came over to give it a try.”

Sister Si said, “You came here by yourself dressed like this? Why didn’t you tell me? I could have arranged it for you!”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to arrange it. Before, when I wanted a role in that Director Chen’s production or whatever, didn’t you go back more than ten times and still fail? I thought I might as well come and try it myself.”

“I…” Sister Si raised her hand, silently recited Buddhist scriptures in her heart, and lowered it again.

“So you just charged in to see Teacher Luo like this? Without an appointment? Why would Teacher Luo even agree to meet you?”

“Her secretary told me to sit in the reception room and wait, but I wanted to surprise her. So I secretly slipped into Teacher Luo’s office. When she opened the door and discovered a scene from her own script appearing right in front of her, wouldn’t that be thrilling?”

“…You really did that?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you know Teacher Luo is famously difficult? She has repeatedly warned people never to disturb her private space, yet you actually dared barge directly into her office?!”

“I didn’t just enter her office. I sat in her chair and started crying! It’s a particularly brilliant scene from her new film!”

“…Where did you borrow the courage to do that? And then what happened?”

Even Sister Si felt frightened merely hearing about it.

She knew all too well what Xiao Mao’s crying scenes were like. Her voice became one long, piercing howl. Normally, getting her to sing a song was difficult, but whenever she performed a crying scene, she hit notes so high that even a lead vocalist could not stop her. It was pure demonic noise stabbing straight into the ears.

Xiao Mao said, “Then Teacher Luo came inside and saw me. She walked toward me, stared into my eyes, and said one word.”

“What word?”

“Get out.”

Xiao Mao and Sister Si had reenacted the entire incident from that morning like a comedy skit. Once they finished, all their colleagues burst into laughter.

Sister Si pointed at them. “Fine, go ahead and laugh. You have no idea how awful Teacher Luo’s temper is. She must be furious this time. Once she finds out you work at the same company as Xiao Mao, she might blacklist every last one of you!”

Chen Ge asked, “Teacher Luo practices collective punishment too?”

Sister Si shot her a sideways glance. “What do you think? I already told you that Teacher Luo hates people who can’t act but insist on performing blindly. Do you think I don’t know how possessed Xiao Mao looks when she acts? I don’t even need to see it myself. However much those screams just now sounded like a pig being slaughtered, that’s exactly how she sounded in front of Teacher Luo!”

Xiao Mao pouted.

“And Teacher Luo is a clean freak. Even if someone accidentally touches one of her personal belongings, she’ll definitely disinfect it. Yet you sat in her chair, crying and making a scene. If I were Teacher Luo, I’d take a detour whenever I saw anyone from the same company as this idiot!”

Xiao Mao still dared to argue. “That’s because you’re petty. How could Teacher Luo be the same as you?”

Sister Si said, “Do you believe I’ll beat you to death?”

Chen Ge hurriedly held Sister Si back, afraid she might truly tear Xiao Mao into several pieces. “Don’t be angry, Sister Si. We should take care of business first. Didn’t you call me here for a meeting? Let’s have the meeting first.”

As she spoke, Chen Ge gave Xiao Mao a meaningful look, signaling for her to take the opportunity to escape.

Sister Si still had a mountain of work that day and truly could not afford further delays. She tucked her notebook under one arm and pointed at Xiao Mao.

“Stay here and behave yourself! Do you hear me? If Teacher Luo really blacklists you, no one will be able to save you!”

Sister Si entered the conference room. Before following her inside, Chen Ge quietly asked Xiao Mao:

“You saw Teacher Luo in person? What was she like?”

Xiao Mao said, “An old witch.”

Chen Ge: “…”

By the time they entered the conference room, Sister Si had worked up a sweat from anger.

Chen Ge poured her a glass of water. Knowing Sister Si disliked cold drinks, she deliberately mixed in some hot water. After taking a sip of the lukewarm water, Sister Si finally recovered a little.

“Calm down. Don’t argue with a child and ruin your health,” Chen Ge advised.

Sister Si snorted. “What child? You’re only two months older than her! Yet you’re far less troublesome. Where’s Xiao Song? Xiao Song! Come in for the meeting!”

Song Ruyu called back, “Coming!” from outside. Sister Si then said to Chen Ge:

“For this web variety show, the company intends to create a promotional CP between you and Xiao Song.”

“A promotional CP?”

Afraid that Chen Ge, as an actress, might not understand fandom culture, Sister Si asked, “Do you know what promoting a CP means?”

“More or less. Pretending to be in love.”

“Mm, that’s basically it. But to make the sweet moments seem more genuine and get the fans more invested in shipping you, you’ll need established public personas and a fixed style of interaction.”

Chen Ge had not expected promoting a CP to be so particular. “Then what should I do?”

At that moment, Song Ruyu entered. She placed her high-quality counterfeit handbag on the table and tilted her head forward slightly. Her sunglasses naturally slid down, revealing her eyes.

“You just have to act like you’re secretly in love with me. That shouldn’t be difficult for a talented actress, right?”

“Secretly in love?” Chen Ge felt this role might still be somewhat challenging. “…I’ve never secretly loved a woman before.”

Sister Si laughed. “Have you ever secretly loved a man? It’s the same approach. You’re just changing the gender. Same-sex CPs are very popular right now.”

Chen Ge answered honestly, “I’ve been single since birth. Man or woman, openly or secretly, I’ve never been in love with anyone.”

Song Ruyu sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her neck. “Hey, what are you? An actress! You don’t need to experience everything personally before you can act it out, do you? Just hypnotize yourself. Convince yourself that you really like me, then pay plenty of attention to me in front of the cameras.”

Chen Ge felt slightly uncomfortable. She did not particularly like being physically close to other people, especially those she barely knew.

She instinctively shifted backward. “I’ll try it when the time comes.”

Sister Si said, “Xiao Song just returned from a talent show, so listen to her when it comes to promoting a CP. Once the legal department arrives, we’ll go through the contract with the production team. I won’t be joining you during filming. I truly need to run around and deal with Xiao Mao’s situation. Once the two of you arrive, look after each other. Director Feng is a good person. She’s young and also a woman, so you might even get along well.”

Xiao Song asked with great concern, “Why do you need to run around? Are you really trying to get Xiao Mao into Teacher Luo’s film?”

Sister Si snapped, “What virtue or ability do we possess that would allow us to dream about Teacher Luo’s film? Even if we piled together the acting skills and popularity of everyone in both our film department and idol department, Teacher Luo might not spare us half a glance, all right? You two have work now, but Xiao Mao still needs to be shoved into some production too. I’m still counting on my year-end bonus.”