The assistant director expertly pulled out a tissue and handed it to Xiao He. Xiao He thanked him and wiped away his tears while subtly observing the person at the table.
Director {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Ning's face remained expressionless, while Zhuang Hongyi's face held a half-smile. He deliberately looked away after meeting Xiao He's gaze, seemingly not intending to give Xiao He too much information.
Xiao He could only look away, anxiously awaiting their response.
To Xiao He's disappointment, Director Ning didn't say anything. He just scribbled something in his notebook and then gestured for Xiao He to leave.
Xiao He: Uh, aren't you going to say anything?
Xiao He didn't want to press for answers, lest he leave a bad impression, so he could only slowly follow the staff out again.
Upon reaching the waiting hall outside, Xiao He glanced at his watch and realized that he had only been inside for seven minutes, earning him the title of actor with the shortest on-site time—five minutes to prepare and two minutes to act, without wasting a single minute.
Xiao He: ...
No, he felt like he'd been inside for quite a while! He felt completely disoriented when he came out.
Only seven minutes have passed?
It wasn't just Xiao He who noticed this problem; the other actors on set also noticed it.
Immediately, most people excluded Xiao He from the list of dangerous opponents.
There was no way around it; given the time and Xiao He's age and abilities, everyone basically assumed that Xiao He was just there to go through the motions and audition for free.
It's common for people to "crash" auditions, so it's not surprising to most people.
Instead, more people focused their attention on Shu Han.
Everyone was quite surprised by Shu Han's sudden return to China without any warning, and after the surprise came apprehension. After all, Shu Han was once one of the top martial arts stars in China. Although he later went to Hollywood to develop his career, foreign films he starred in still occasionally entered the domestic market. Over the years, many people have not forgotten him. If he were to return to China, it would undoubtedly be very bad news for everyone present.
Those with better connections knew about the relationship between Shu Han and Liu Rulan, and even recalled who the final winner of the audition for "No Bait" was back then. They glanced at Xiao He sitting on one side and Shu Han sitting on the other with strange expressions, their feelings quite complicated.
However, Xiao He didn't care much about what the people present were thinking. He just sat in his chair, constantly reflecting on his audition performance.
Shu Han, on the other side, did not respond to the gazes of these people. He slowly sat down in his seat and pondered over the script in his hand.
Seeing this, everyone gradually turned their attention away.
Nearly two hours passed before all the auditions finally ended.
When the assistant director walked out of the audition room, everyone slowed their breathing. Instead of feeling tired or impatient from sitting for hours, they looked at the assistant director with anticipation.
The assistant director didn't keep anyone in suspense and directly announced to the people present, "The audition is now over, everyone can leave."
He then walked towards Shu Han, bent down, and said something to Shu Han.
Shu Han looked somewhat surprised, then nodded, stood up, and walked towards the audition room.
Everyone present looked disappointed, including Xiao He.
It seems that it still won't work.
In the end, Director Ning chose Shu Han.
Ultimately, is Teacher Shu more suitable for this role...?
Xiao He was somewhat disappointed, but not resentful. He simply stood up, casually shook his numb neck, and then prepared to slowly walk out with the others.
Before she had taken more than a few steps, the assistant director behind her caught up: "Teacher Xiao, please stay for a moment."
Xiao He paused slightly, then an expression of surprise involuntarily appeared on his face: "Me, me?"
"Yes."
The assistant director looked at Xiao He with a smile on his face: "Director Ning is very satisfied with you and Teacher Shu, so he wants to learn more about you."
Xiao He's heart pounded wildly.
"Okay, I understand."
He quickly walked with the assistant director toward the audition room.
This scene was witnessed by others, followed by sighs of varying sizes.
They originally thought that Shu Han had the longest audition time and would most likely be able to land the role of Shu Yuxiu. However, to their surprise, Xiao He, who they had the least confidence in and had the shortest audition time, also successfully entered the final audition stage.
This is truly unexpected.
"Young people these days are really something else."
An actor who had won the Best Supporting Actor award sighed deeply and slowly walked away with his hands behind his back.
The others shook their heads, accepting the fact with resignation.
In their view, this young man was definitely no match for Shu Han, but to make it to the end and compete with Shu Han was already quite an achievement.
Xiao He followed the assistant director back to the audition room and was the first to meet Shu Han's gaze in the center of the audition area.
He paused, walked to Shu Han's side, and quietly waited for Ning Jiaqi's next test.
Ning Jiaqi didn't intend to say anything unnecessary. He handed the script to the assistant director and said to Xiao He and Shu Han, "You two are very much in line with my vision of Shu Yuxiu, but Shu Yuxiu can only be one person. So I need to reconsider your performances. Now, based on your understanding of the script, you two will act out this scene and prove to me which one of you is the real Shu Yuxiu."
Xiao He quickly took the script and began to read it.
He was then somewhat surprised.
The plot of this script clearly connects to the sequel to the audition version they are currently seeing, which is the plot near the finale.
In the story, the protagonist, Seo Yu-soo, is arrested by the police for allegedly poisoning his wife and has been detained ever since.
That day, a group of people came from above. They were said to be an investigation team. They had received a letter of complaint from Shu Yuxiu's friend and came to investigate the truth of the matter and see if Shu Yuxiu had been framed and wronged.
The scene they are now acting out is the first time the main person in charge of the group meets Seo Yu-soo.
The dialogue in this scene is very simple, and the characters' reactions are largely left unsaid. Basically, there is only dialogue, and the related actions and expressions depend on the actors' on-the-spot reactions based on their understanding of the script and the character of Shu Yuxiu.
The main problem is that the conversation was too brief and didn't reveal much information. It was just a question-and-answer session between the person in charge and Shu Yuxiu, with one asking about Shu Yuxiu's situation and the other protesting that he was innocent and hoping the police would investigate thoroughly.
The two sides went back and forth, like they were playing a riddle...
Xiao He frowned, staring intently at the script, his brain starting to work frantically—something was wrong, nine out of ten things were wrong!
This conversation doesn't feel like an investigation into Shu Yuxiu's wrongful conviction; it feels more like... the spearhead is directly aimed at Shu Yuxiu himself!
What's the deal with Shu Yuxiu?
What secret is he hiding?
What might be a little strange right now is the mystery of Shu Yuxiu's inexplicable arrest, which is what makes Xiao He feel that the later development of the plot is somewhat abrupt.
Could it be that he really killed his wife, Qi Xinyue? But why was this never mentioned in the earlier parts of the story?
The entire plot revolves around Shu Yuxiu, which is just an old-fashioned male-oriented wish-fulfillment novel script. The male protagonist works hard, has some talent, starts from scratch, encounters a benefactor, and is surrounded by beautiful women, becoming a winner in life! Isn't this just a pure formula?
Moreover, in this story, Shu Yuxiu and his wife have a very good relationship, so Shu Yuxiu has absolutely no reason to kill Qi Xinyue...
But if we reason in reverse: assuming that he did indeed kill his wife Qi Xinyue, then could it be that Shu Yuxiu also killed Zhu Penglin back then?
Although Shu Yuxiu later became a good friend of Zhu Penglin, he also continued to be responsible for repairing Zhu Penglin's sports car!
If... we were to tamper with the sports car...
In an instant, Xiao He suddenly understood something.
A chill ran down his spine, bursting forth in his mind. An unbelievable thought entered his head, making his hair stand on end—
Shu Yuxiu is lying!
