The Empress In The Modern Era [Entertainment Industry GL] - Chapter 4

Yu Shilan received the answer “wait for notification,” but Assistant Director Wang’s definite nod had already counted as giving her a clear answer.

Her performance should have been pretty good.

After all, she had secretly practiced in front of the mirror countless times and had mulled it over in her heart hundreds of times. In truth, she was actually fairly confident in herself. Of course, she could not compare with actors who truly had good acting skills, but compared with the little newcomers outside, she should count as above average.

What she did not know was that with her appearance alone, along with that elegance and dignity in the way she walked, she had already conquered half of Director Meng Ping’s heart. And with her later performance, never mind that she had done quite well—even if she had been a little worse, Meng Ping would still have let her pass.

“How was it, Brother Meng? Not bad, right?” Assistant Director Wang asked Meng Ping with a smug look. In truth, she was also quite surprised, but Yu Shilan was someone she had brought in after all. If Yu Shilan performed well, it also gave her face.

When Meng Ping was with friends in private, he was actually not at all the strict person the outside world rumored him to be. In private, he was in fact very lively and spontaneous.

At this moment, he did not put on any deep, mysterious act either. He smiled and nodded. “She really is good. Wang Min, you’re impressive, quietly digging up a talent like this. Let’s settle on her. I happen to have something to do later, so I won’t watch the rest. You all can watch them. Besides her, we still need two maids for Shen Yifen. If you see anyone suitable later, just decide on them.”

Everyone nodded in agreement one after another, but another assistant director, Zhang Hui, stopped Meng Ping.

“Director Meng, there are still two people outside waiting to audition. One is Dai Qian, that fairly popular new actress recently. The other is called Wang Yun. She’s also acted in a few…”

Meng Ping raised his hand and cut off Zhang Hui’s words.

“Dai Qian?” He repeated the name, then asked Zhang Hui, “Is she the one from the Dai family?”

Seeing that Meng Ping knew Dai Qian, Zhang Hui hurriedly nodded happily.

But before he could speak, Meng Ping shook his head. “No need to watch. Even if she comes in to audition, she might not be as good as that Miss Yu just now. I’m not watching. You all watch. If she’s willing, you can leave her a spot as one of Shen Yifen’s maids.”

One of Shen Yifen’s maids—was he joking?

Even if this was a film by Meng Ping, Director Meng, those two maids could not even count as the fourth or fifth female roles. Maybe when it aired, they might not even get a proper front-facing shot. Would Dai Qian be willing to act in that?

Zhang Hui felt indignant in his heart, but Meng Ping had already strode away. He could not sway Meng Ping’s decision, and he did not have much ability himself, so he could only swallow that injustice back into his stomach.

But his heart was extremely gloomy.

He had been longing for Dai Qian for a long time. He had originally thought that if he could help her fight for this role, he would be able to get one step closer to her afterward. Now, great. Not only was there no chance, he feared he might even offend this young lady.

Although Dai Qian was not the most favored young lady of the Dai family, her surname was Dai. If he could get together with her, then at the very least, he could borrow the Dai family as a protective skin. Even if it was only a fox exploiting the tiger’s might, he did have real ability, so naturally, he would be able to make something of himself.

But now, sigh…

Zhang Hui no longer had any mood to keep watching. He sat there, leaned against the back of his chair, and closed his eyes.

Wang Min glanced at him and gave a cold laugh.

Outside the door, when Dai Qian saw Meng Ping come out, half her heart went cold. After waiting for almost ten minutes, two people had gone in and he still had not returned. Dai Qian’s heart went completely cold.

“Let’s go!” she threw out coldly, then turned and left.

Her assistant froze for a moment before catching up to her. “What’s wrong, Sister Qian? Aren’t you auditioning? It’s almost our turn. You already changed clothes, so why…”

After Yu Shilan had gone in, Dai Qian had still ended up swapping places with someone behind her, and had successfully borrowed a qipao that looked fairly decent. It was about to be her turn, yet she was not auditioning. The assistant truly could not understand.

Dai Qian kept a cold face and said nothing. Only after returning to the makeup room did she stab at her assistant, “If your eyesight isn’t good, then practice more. Didn’t you see that Meng Ping already left?”

Meng Ping was the chief director of this film. If he had left, did that not mean the roles below were unimportant?

She, Dai Qian, was a member of the Dai family, and now she could count as somewhat famous too. If she really went to act in some film as a tiny role that might not even show her face properly, even if it was Meng Ping’s film, it would be enough to make people laugh their teeth off.

Once the assistant figured it out, she did not dare speak. Dai Qian was angry right now; she did not dare act recklessly.

Only after quite a while did Dai Qian remember that the clothes on her body were borrowed. She went in, changed out of them, tossed them to her assistant, then combed her hair in front of the mirror.

But it did not matter. If she could not act in it, then Wang Yun could not either.

Wang Yun was still behind Dai Qian in the line. She had waited until it was almost her turn before coming out, so she did not know that Meng Ping had already left. But when she went inside and looked around, seeing that Meng Ping was absent, she, like Dai Qian, also guessed what was going on.

However, her background and Dai Qian’s could be said to be as different as heaven and earth. Because of that, she did not throw a tantrum and leave on the spot. Instead, she patiently and very seriously performed the section she had prepared for Shen Yifen.

Wang Yun was not tall. She belonged to the petite and delicate type. The scene she was auditioning with today was Shen Yifen’s scene before death. When it aired, it would probably only amount to about one minute of screen time. Even so, she still treated it seriously. She had chosen a white dress with mid-length sleeves. The makeup on her face was also very light, with a touch of sickliness added in.

She treated the steps as a bed, propping one elbow on the floor and making it look as if she were pushing herself up from the bed. Her figure was petite, while the white dress was a loose style. Combined with the sickly look on her face, lying on her side like this really gave her the sense of being too fragile to withstand the wind.

Her eyes looked ahead, yet her gaze was empty. Only as she kept looking did light slowly return to her eyes. She blinked, and a smile appeared in her eyes, shimmering like rippling water, as if they could speak.

“Gu Zhen.” She opened her mouth softly.

Before her was empty air, but in Shen Yifen’s eyes, Gu Zhen stood there. He had returned, alone.

“Gu Zhen, you’re back. Did you… succeed?” she asked.

Gu Zhen smiled at her. “We succeeded!”

“That’s good. That’s… cough, cough, cough…” Shen Yifen coughed violently. She coughed up streaks of blood and hurriedly hid the handkerchief away. But when she lifted her head again, Gu Zhen before her had disappeared.

Panic appeared in Shen Yifen’s eyes.

She anxiously looked left and right for a while before realizing that what she had seen just now was only a hallucination. Gu Zhen had not returned. Not only had he not returned, after he left, not even a single message had been sent back.

A bitter smile slowly appeared at the corner of Shen Yifen’s mouth.

“Gu Zhen, when will you come back?” she said softly. “I… I probably won’t be able to wait anymore…”

Yu Shilan was sitting in a seat close to the door. She was a little nearsighted, and from such a distance, she could not clearly see the face of the person in front. But from her lines and that chain of performances, Yu Shilan felt that this person’s acting really was quite good.

Since she had not seen what her own performance had looked like, Yu Shilan could not make a judgment. But she did feel that this girl could be considered a strong rival of hers.

Yu Shilan sighed and did not want to keep watching. She had originally been rather confident, but after watching only a few people, she had already discovered someone this impressive. If she kept watching, she guessed that little bit of confidence she had would be gone.

She quietly stood up and tiptoed out the door.

After Wang Yun finished performing, she also did not stay long. But after returning to the makeup room, she did not leave. She changed clothes, then put on a dazzlingly radiant makeup look. After waiting for about an hour and a half, the makeup room door was pushed open.

Wang Yun turned her head to look and immediately stood up to welcome him.

“Brother Zhang.” She smiled and linked her arm through Zhang Hui’s.

Zhang Hui answered with a chuckle. Because his arm was being held and he had no way to wrap it around Wang Yun’s waist, he used his other hand to gently pinch her cheek. “Not bad. After you came out just now, everyone inside was praising you.”

“Really?” Wang Yun said. “What did they say? Oh right, Brother Zhang, I saw Director Meng Ping had left. Then he doesn’t know the result of my audition either. How big is my chance of being chosen?”

Zhang Hui’s expression changed slightly.

Meng Ping had already settled on that newcomer Wang Min had found earlier.

After Wang Yun finished auditioning just now, he had praised her fiercely, and Wang Yun’s performance had indeed been fairly good. The judge sent by the investor had been quite approving too. But Wang Min had only said two sentences, and no one present echoed his words anymore.

One sentence was: Meng Ping had already chosen the actress for Shen Yifen. If Wang Yun was willing to act as a maid, then that would be possible.

The other was: although Wang Yun’s acting was good, her personal image did not quite fit.

But right now, he could not tell Wang Yun the truth.

Zhang Hui smiled and said, “Your chances are very high! Although Meng Ping wasn’t there, I was there, Assistant Director Wang Min was there, and the judge sent by the investor was also there. We all think very highly of you. Later, I’ll mention it to Meng Ping. Just wait for the good news!”

Although she knew his words were definitely mixed with water, since she had not been eliminated outright, Wang Yun was still very happy. She linked arms with Zhang Hui and sat down, then hurriedly poured him a glass of water and personally handed it to him.

“Thank you, Brother Zhang. Then I’ll wait for your good news,” she said.

Zhang Hui took the water, but took the opportunity to hold her hand as well. “Easy, easy. I say, Yunyun, how about we have lunch together? After lunch, we can go to my place. I’ll properly talk you through the role.”

Wang Yun smiled and said, “I’d love nothing more. I even dream of Brother Zhang talking me through a role. It’s just that today really happens to be unfortunate. I still have to rush to another audition this afternoon, so I’m afraid I won’t have time.”

Zhang Hui’s hand tightened. “Then just one meal? Brother will take you to eat Japanese food. We’ll go somewhere with private rooms.”

Wang Yun smiled and lowered her head. She twisted shyly, and just as Zhang Hui’s expression was turning cold, she opened her mouth.

“…All right.”

Only then did Zhang Hui smile in satisfaction. But before that smile could fully bloom, the makeup room door was shoved open with a bang.

“My little ancestor, why haven’t you come down yet? The audition time was moved up, did you forget—”

Wang Yun’s assistant, Tao Xiaomei, stared wide-mouthed at the two people in the room.