On his way back, Lu Ze was somewhat preoccupied. The script for auditions was quite thin and had been neatly folded and put into his bag. His two hands were firmly clutching the bag while his two legs would bend and sway before every turn. From the center of Hengdian, he walked to the suburbs and finally arrived at his home.
En-route, he purchased some food because he'd forgotten the leftover tiffin he'd brought back from the set. After drinking two beers, he slowly regained some spirit.
Slowly opening the script, he saw the name of the role he would be auditioning for, "Zhang Lixian."
The script didn't have a detailed description of Zhang Lixian's characteristics and personality and only had a brief account of his birthplace and backstory. Thereupon, he lost himself in the two hundred words of the script. He began to analyze the script with everything he had learned from the system, as well as understand the mindset of Zhang Lixian's character.
The conclusion he obtained was… an arrogant soldier.
He never took anything seriously and was a battle maniac. He liked to vent his dissatisfaction on others. An arrogant soldier… in other words… a spoiled brat!
Taking his gaze off the script, Lu Ze opened the search engine and searched, '
After browsing a bit, Lu Ze realized that this series ought to be the adaptation of this novel.
Lu Ze immersed himself in the novel to unpack the full contents of this script. Once he hit the free chapter limit, he unhesitatingly forked out a hundred yuan, purely to support the original work.
As he read, he began to feel joy and sadness alongside the experiences of the characters in the novel. He had no choice but to admit that the author had exceptional prose and story-telling. Only the sparks created by the collision of writing prowess and a good story could create such a masterpiece.
Reading through the night, Lu Ze finished the last chapter. At this moment, dawn had already broken, and he suddenly gained an understanding of the book. This was different from the previous war plays he had done. It had the elegance of ancient literature but was easy to read. On the surface, it seemed to be centered around the war, but in reality, its primary focus was on describing human nature. This was the hardest to achieve.
Zeng Long had already passed on his audition application to the production team. Four days later, he would have to go to Shanghai for the audition, which would decide his success or failure.
Lu Ze had just completed director Liu's shoot yesterday. So, he decided to drop all other jobs and focus on thoroughly understanding the book.
He picked up pen and paper and wrote an extension of the novel as well as the autobiography of Zhang Lixian in an attempt to immerse himself into the character deeply. In between, he would repeatedly act out the few dialogues according to the script.
It was a great work, so it was understandable that director Guo Mingde picked this up. Moreover, Lu Ze himself was quite approving, as he had become quite fond of this book. Thereupon, in these days, he strenuously wrote the autobiography in his narrow, gloomy room. As he trained like a madman, he found this feeling to be as sweet as syrup.
On the day of his departure, he cleaned up a bit, completely shaving off the beard he had not taken care of over the past few days. Standing straight before the mirror, he inspected himself. His face exuded vigor and sharpness!
Set off!
…
Sitting in the train for four hours, and then sitting in the subway for half an hour according to GPS, before finally walking 1.2 kilometers, he arrived at the audition venue — Xi Yuan International Exhibition Center, which was also the office of Orange Entertainment.
B Complex, 8th floor…
Entering the elevator, he headed to the twelfth floor with the stream of people. He raised his head and kept his eye on the panel, indicating the floor number. On the eighth floor, four more people got off the elevator with him. Three seemed like staff from their appearances.
Meanwhile, the fourth one… looked like him. Or it would be better to say… him of today.
"Here for the audition?"
"Here for the audition?"
"Right."
"Right."
The two simultaneously spoke and revealed good-natured smiles. They knew inwardly that the two of them were up for the same role and would be at war with each other today!
Pushing open the soundproof glass door, the two walked to the reception booth, where a pretty girl stood, looking at the two with a smile.
"Hello, we're here for today's audition," Lu Ze spoke. He did not just speak for himself but included his rival too. He felt that this would make him not appear petty.
The receptionist's voice was quite pleasing to hear while she looked at the two, "Sir, which role have you come to audition for? Have your names been reported?"
"Right, I'm Zheng Fenghe. Can you check it for me?"
"I'm Lu Ze."
The receptionist operated her computer for a moment before revealing a smile. "Alright! Please head to the left and enter the second door."
"Ok, thank you!"
The two didn't exchange any more words as they walked on the corridor. Standing before the second door's gate, Lu Ze was the one to knock the door.
"Come in."
Opening the door, they arrived in a huge meeting room with a hundred people already seated. A forty-year-old man was sitting at the front. He nodded and said, "Look for your name and get your slot number."
He then pointed to Lu Ze and Zhang Fenghe consecutively. "Yours is 118, and yours is 119. Alright, find yourself a seat and wait."
The two did not sit together. This was because Lu Ze felt that sitting together with a rival seemed a bit too over the top. The latter was evidently of the same thought. In reality, Lu Ze was extremely nervous, but perhaps everybody on the site was nervous. Upon careful inspection, he found that most of the people were already quite well-known. He found it hard to spot a person whom he didn't know apart from Zhang Fenghe.
"No. 36, No.36, come with me."
At the door, a woman was calling a name every five minutes. All the names called had one common occurrence. None of them came back.
After a while, Lu Ze relaxed somewhat. After all, his turn was still somewhat far off. He began to size up others. Some were busy with their phones while some were nervously mumbling to themselves, most likely reciting the script.
When the woman called the hundredth number, Lu Ze began to feel more and more pressure, and he also began to recite his dialogues. He stopped paying attention to others. Taking care of his affairs was the most important.
"No. 118, No.118, come with me!"
Lu Ze stood up, attracting many gazes from the surroundings. He did not mind them too much. He'd already entered the zone, feeling that he could do it!
Leaving the conference room, he followed behind the girl and arrived before the last door on the corridor. The girl opened the door, allowing him to enter.
As soon as he entered the room, the pressure on his back increased by multiple folds, making him feel the sweat on his back. This was because… Gu Mingde was sitting across him, stroking his chain while going through Lu Ze's file before his gaze fell on his body.