"Uh…" Wen Jiexi looked around and saw there were only the three of them she realized the woman was talking to her.
Da, da, da…..
He Yueyue quickly walked over to the three of them, "Hey, I am talking to you, newcomer! Shouldn't you come and help when you see your senior in trouble? Ye Zi, give her the newspapers and teach her a lesson on treating her seniors with respect."
"This…this…" Ye Zi was holding the newspapers with a few drops of mud on her delicate cheeks. It seems that He Yueyue walked too fast just now and without caring if her assistant was nearby which caused drops of mud to be splashed onto Ye Zi's face.
"What, are you not willing? As my assistant, you dare to be so disobedient, do you not want your job anymore?" He Yueyue frowned at Ye Zi's hesitant expression and said in a displeased tone.
"But Sister He….this…." Ye Zi looked over at Wen Jiexi awkwardly. She also knew that her boss was simply making unreasonable trouble. Every time He Yueyue went out she would make a mess and then in the end the one who had to clean it up and get scolded was her. Not to mention, the other party was innocent, how could she bully someone who is innocent without feeling guilty?
"This…senior, your words are rather strange. You say that the juniors should greet the seniors but why didn't you do the same when you see our Sister Xue? Aren't the seniors supposed to set an example for the younger generation? You can't ask someone to do something you don't even do yourself, can you?" Li Lingmeng retorted fearlessly. Wen Jiexi is the little princess of Wen family and their identities were not something to be trifled with either. What were they afraid of? This small artist that didn't even look good? The assistant beside her looks more beautiful than that artist herself!
"You…" He Yueyue glared at Li Lingmeng. She didn't expect that someone would dare to refuse her words. However, the reason she had decided to cause a mess wasn't because of a lack of respect but rather she wanted to get rid of her competitor. As a third-rate actress, she had barely been able to audition for this role after begging someone to get her a letter of recommendation from Director Peng. She had paid a great price, and she couldn't afford to fail. So seeing Wen Jiexi's appearance, she believed she had met a very powerful competoetro and so she must find a way to eliminate her. She had to take this opportunity to enter Director Peng's eyes, and become the second Su Chenyu in the entertainment circle!
Seeing that the two people in front of her were just two kids, she believed that they could not possibly fight back. As someone who has been in the industry for nearly two years, she had never seen these kids before and so she believed they were juniors she could bully easilier. However, based on Li Lingmeng's words, the woman beside them was none other than Xue Molin!
But then she thought, so what if she's Xue Molin? She is currently known as one of the most promising newcomers in Guanghua! Although half of her accomplishments were achieved because of the support of her backers, she believed that Director Peng will definitely praise her and then give her a chance to squeeze into the ranks of first-rate actors! In just two years she became a first-rate actor! That would be a big headline indeed.
And Xue Molin could be considered an old agent who just returned after two years of hiatus. Although she is still known as a gold-star agent, it was merely a title, nothing more. With her age, she should leave the entertainment industry soon. In this industry, a woman's age is their biggest weapon. While Xue Molin becomes old and wrinkled, she will reach the top and reach the peak of success! Maybe one day Xue Molin would have to respectfully call her Sister He.
He Yueyue, who played this beautiful fantasy in her mind, then smiled arrogantly at them. In her mind, she was walking on a red carpet, having surpassed Su Chenyu in fame to become the number one among the female stars in the entertainment industry. She did not notice, however, that the three of them were looking at her like they were looking at a fool.
"I never expected I would bump into a psycho the moment I arrived. You're craziness better not affect Jiexi's performance." Xue Molin sneered with her arms folded. Where had this idiot come from? Where all artists from Guanghua this stupid nowadays?
"Little Xi, maybe after this bout of bad luck, the rest of your day will be filled with good luck instead! Let;s go, we don't want to keep Director Peng waiting." Li Lingmeng hooked her arm around Wen Jiexi's arm.
"Let's go." Wen Jiexi nodded. She didn't want to argue with his crazy person who came out of nowhere. Obviously the other party just wanted a ration from her. It was better to just ignore these types of people.
"You-!" He Yueyue glared at the three of them. She never expected these people to just ignore her! Her eyeballs felt like they were going to fall out in anger.
Li Lingmeng: Who are you? Why would we give you any face? Who do you think you are?
"S-Sister He…." Ye Zi looked a little nervously at He Yueyue and then at Wen Jiexi and the others. It's better to keep the peace….but it was her boss that started the trouble in the first place!
"So noisy, so noisy! Get over there and stop them! They're so arrogant! Today, if I, He Yueyue don't teach them a lesson, then my name is not He Yueyue!" He Yueyue was furious, and directly slapped her assistant' face.
Because Ye Zi came from the countryside, she's always been honest and patient, not one to have a temper. So whenever He Yueyue wasn't happy, she would take her anger out on Ye Zi but Ye Zi never went back. If it were not because of the high salary, she probably would've quit long ago. Now she was being slapped for no reason. If it was in private, Ye Zi could still endure it silently, but in public she still had her dignity to keep!
She clutched her slowly swelling cheek, the handprint rather visible on her pale cheeks. It can be seen from this that He Yueyue did not pull her punches, she had slapped her assistant with all her strength. However, Ye Zi still did not follow her instructions and simply stood in place while hiding the tears in her eyes as a show of defiance. She stood in place, head down and refused to move forward.
Seeing the usually obedient person suddenly defy her, He Yueyue's anger exploded. One must know that He Yueyue's originally face is very ordinary. Throw her into a crowd of people and there would be nothing to distinguish her from the others. So what if she had some acting skills? In the entertainment circle, acting relies on beautiful looks as well. Only recently with the help of plastic surgery had she been able to finally break her limit and climb up to her current fame.
So as someone who used to have an ordinary face, the type of people she hated the most were beautiful people.
This little assistant in front of her is more beautiful than her and that made her mad. However, since this girl was her assistant, she could beat and scold these women as much as she wants. When she beat up that face that was more beautiful than her own, her heart felt a lot better. However, Wen Jiexi, Li Lingmeng, Xue Molin all had a type of beauty that she couldn't achieve no matter how much plastic surgery she had. That's why she felt even more angry when she looked at them! They are only famous because of their looks!
She gave Ye Zi a fierce look and decided to teach her a lesson later. She strode towards Wen Jiexi and the others with a dark face. Since they want to escape, then she'll have to personally stop them herself.
Unfortunately, He Yueyue had underestimated her ability. Those high-heeled shoes were truly too formidable. Who knows if she stepped on a pebble or a crack in the ground, but when she stepped into the ground, she suddenly fell forward and then face planted straight onto the ground.
Wen Jiexi: ….how tragic.
Li Lingmeng: Wow, karma's amazing.
Xue Molin: I really want to take photos and put it on the internet.
He Yueyue raised her face covered with mud, her expression slightly confused until a small piece of mud fell off her face. Her eyes widened and she jumped up like a crazy woman. She didn't seem to care about her high heels anymore and left them on the ground as she rushed back to her car. Ye Zi could only nod apologetically to Wen Jiexi and the others, then pulled the high heels from the mud before returning to the car.
"Pft-hahaha! I'm going to laugh myself to death!" Li Lingmeng covered her mouth, her mouth grinning wide. Someone like He Yueyue with a face powdered heavy with makeup, a high pitched face and an arrogant personality that believed the world should bow to her, definitely deserved to fall into the mud.
"She should at least get a reimbursement on her clothes…." Wen Jiexi's lips twisted and she wanted to laugh, but she felt that was rather cruel and held back her laughter.
He Yueyue had worn a white dress with a gold trim and other bright patterns covering. It seemed to be clothes selected specifically for this audition, but sadly it was ruined before it could even be seen by Director Peng. With one stupid accident, the entire outfit was ruined. And it's even worse if that was the only set of clothing she had. The entire outfit had been stained with mud so there was no way to get it out before the audition started.
"Don't worry about it, they'll take care of themselves and we'll take care of ourselves." Xue Molin looked at the time and frowned slightly. She didn't expect they would waste ten minutes on a fool. One must know that the ten minutes they spent could've been ten minutes spent finding her girlfriend. You think ten minutes is short? No, no, no, ten minutes is a long time. You can do a lot of ten minutes and that precious time was wasted by an idiot. Xue Molin frowned unhappily. She really wanted a kiss from her lover. Only then will she be happy again!
Wang Anyi: You can just stay there for all I care. I won't even stop if I pass by. Someone like you who takes advantage of others is the true bad guy here.
And so, the three of them entered the thatched hut. The inside was as old as the outside. There were a lot of people inside, but there were only a few benches and none of them were sitting on them. Looking at the rickety bench, it's no wonder that no one is sitting. It would probably collapse if you sit down and then cause you to embarrass yourself and lose your image.
"Wow…..there are some bigshots here…." Li Lingmeng whispered. Fortunately, most of the actors were too busy focused on the audition to hear the whispers of Li Lingmeng.
However, all eyes were on them the moment the three of them walked in. Most of them were looking at Xue Molin and then their eyes moved over to Wen Jiexi. From this one can tell that Xue Molin's status is really high in the entertainment circle. Most of the time people will look at the artist first and then the agent, but it was the complete opposite for Wen Jiexi.
Arranging Xue Molin to be her agent had been somewhat of a selfish move of her brother's now that she thought about it. Wen Jiexi scratched her nose awkwardly. Forget it, no matter how much I try to explain, I can't suppress the rumors anyways. Anyhow, she's more focused on one thing, where's Sister Su? Should she send her a message? But what if she is with the director and ends up disturbing her? Wuwuwu, complicated decisions indeed.
Most of the other actors actually do know who this newcomer, Wen Jiexi, is. Because of the praise from Su Chenyu, the Xianxia drama that she filmed in, and the intimacy between her and Su Chenyu in the previous variety show, so most of them knew her name by now. In fact, many of them were part of the 'Yuxi' CP fan club which was quickly established after the show was finished and countless memes were created. Although there were some complaints, most soon disappeared. After all, no one could defeat the waves of fans backing Goddess Su.
And they've all received data on this strong competitor of theirs. They all know that she does have some ability and a very earnest hard worker. Just look at her, despite the countless eyes watching her, she's still reading the script studiously while her face changes every minute! She must be practicing her facial expressions! Yes, if the younger generation was working so hard, then how can they not work hard? There's a saying that 'the rear waves of the Yangtze River drive on those before' and the front waves….are then pummeled to death onto the sandy shores! They don't want to become the front wave that dies! QAQ (T/N: the rear waves of the Yangtze River drive on those before = the new is constantly replacing the old. The author then adds about the front waves dying to symbolize that the older generation will be forgotten soon if they don't work hard.)
And so, the crowd suddenly turned silent and the quiet conversations stopped as each and every one of them began to frantically study their scripts.
Li Lingmeng: Aren't you guys misunderstanding something? This person is clearly just trying to decide whether or not she should go find her girlfriend? Don't you see how unfocused her eyes are when she looks at the script?
Xue Molin: Ah….where is my wifey! I haven't seen her in 5 days, 13 hours, 23 minutes and 6 seconds…..I miss her….
So when Director Peng walked in, the atmosphere he was greeted with was serious, quiet and….depressing. Even when someone noticed him, they would just raise their head for a quick look and then lower it again to continue studying their script. Then the person would think, 'Wait a minute, there seems to be something wrong…?' and then raise their head again. Only then would they finally recognize him, close their script and then smile embarrassedly at him.
Director Peng: Am I directing an audition or teaching a bunch of hard-working third year high school students? I feel complicated. (T/N: third-year high school students in China are constantly studying with a because of the big college entrance examinations at the end of the year.)
"Ahem…" Director Peng coughed several times before the crowd's attention finally landed onto him.
"Good morning, Director Peng."
"Ahem… Good morning, Mr. Peng."
"Hey, the director is here, show some respect, ok?" Li Lingmeng squeezed the soft flesh on Wen Jiexi's arm and said angrily.
"Huh? Oh, oh…." Wen Jiexi quickly adjusted her expression and turned her attention to the man in front of her.
"Thank you for participating in the audition for my new drama today. We'll be going in the order I posted on the list above. Are there any questions?" Director Peng asked. From an initial glance, Director Peng looked just like a kind old grandpa.
Wen Jiexi had expected Director Peng to be a cold, serious old man who constantly exudes an intimidating temperament. She never expected him to look like this! And when he laughed, she couldn't see a trace of the meticulous, strict man Sister Xue spoke of.
Bang!
At this moment, the door to the hut opened again and He Yueyue walked in. It seems that she had changed her clothes, replacing her exquisite white dresses with light sportswear. She seemed out of place in those clothes since it didn't fit her personality. At first, she had scanned the room and then started stomping aggressively over to Wen Jiexi when she saw her. However, when she was Director Peng standing in the center, she quickly stopped.
And since she was the only one who arrived late, her entrance just now had attracted everyone's attention and her ugly distorted face had also been seen by everyone. This made Director Peng frown slightly and caused He Yueyue's heart to freeze up in an instant. Although she was arrogant and smug because of her recent achievements, she was still not someone who could afford to provoke people better than herself, such as the powerful Director Peng.
Therefore she had adjusted and dialed back her attitude quickly, but it was already too late. The crowd's impression of her had already plummeted and she knew it too as she glared fiercely at Wen Jiexi.
It's all because of her! She made me look bad! It's probably because she's jealous of my beauty! Thinking like this, He Yueyue's eyes flashed with a hint of resentment.
Ah, another person has come to die in front of Director Peng. Several artists who had participated in the dramas filmed by Director Peng before took one look at He Yueyue's expression and sneered. The other party was merely a little girl who's been in the industry for less than two years. She could barely be considered a third-rate actress. Just who does she think she is?
In the entertainment circle, there were many who may become a sensation in a day but only a few maintain that popularity for long term. In about ten artists, there will only be one who stays. And this woman is obviously not one of those lucky few. She can't even hide her feelings properly. Unless she has a very significant background, it will be very hard for her to succeed in this cut-throat industry.
For Director Peng, what he hated the most were actors who caused trouble with teethers. He believed this in-fighting would affect the quality of his film. When he invites actors to work with him, what he is hoping for is for the other party to concentrate on the filming instead of trying to latch onto his thigh. To him, it is not only disrespectful, it also meant the other person did not care about his film. Therefore, he will never tolerate these types of actors.
So the moment when this woman came in, she was immediately disqualified. Director Peng did not need to look at her acting skills. For no matter how good your acting is, if your character is horrible, you have no right to act.
"Since everyone is here, let's not waste anymore time. We'll begin now. First…" Director Peng stood up and walked out, and then a middle-aged man walked in. He seemed to be Director Peng's assistant or the assistant director of the show. He held a list in his hands and started calling out the numbers.
"Aren't the roles going to be separated? Are we auditioning several roles at once instead?" Wen Jiexi asked Li Lingmeng in a low voice.
"It seems so. Since Director Peng is very familiar with the script, as long as you start performing, he'll know what role you want. Of course, you may not get the one you choose, but maybe Director Peng might suggest that you try another role that is better suited for your temperament. If he thinks your acting is okay, then there is a high chance of you passing the audition. So there is not only one opportunity to succeed. As long as you perform well and showcase your ability, you can definitely get in!" "Li Lingmeng explained.
"Then couldn't someone just…..pick one part and then crazily practice that one section?" Wen Jiexi mumbled quietly.
"How can it be so simple? Director Peng will choose several passages for the actor to play and sometimes maybe even combine them. Alright, no time for guessing games, you should choose the first segment you want to perform instead.' Xue Mo Lin rubbed Wen Jiexi's head and said.
"Oh…." Wen Jiexi nodded and then flipped open the script in her hands again. However, a voice filled with frigid irony and scorching satire interrupted her thoughts, (T/N: 冷嘲热讽 to mock/ridicule)
"Aiya, it's impossible for you to get in anyways. It'll just be a waste of time. It's better if you leave as soon as possible or you'll end up embarrassing yourself later."
All three of them turned their head to see He Yueyue beside them. Although she was looking at the script in her hands, it was obvious that her eyes were not on the script, but on Wen Jiexi. And with the words just now, plus the sneer on her lips, it wasn't difficult to tell who said those words just now.
Compared to the silence earlier, the current atmosphere was filled with quiet chatter of people helping each other practice their parts. However, He Yueyue's voice was clearly heard by many of the people around them.
Wen Jiexi couldn't help but frown slightly. Is this person a little mad in the head? Why did she keep trying to attack her? Did she look like someone easy to bully in the eyes of other people?
"Ignore her." Li Lingmeng handed a water bottle to Wen Jiexi and said. Then she waved at the window near Wen Jiexi and just happened to be in He Yueyue's blindspot. Underneath that window were several members of the crew. They seemed to be observing them and some of them recorded something on their papers when He Yueyue spoke earlier.
So she lowered her head and ignored He Yueyue's provocations.
Unfortunately, it seemed that He Yueyue would not give up and continued to mock her while wearing a 'I am doing this for your own good' expression, "Some people think that by being beautiful they can take a shortcut to success. But everyone knows that in the end that is worth nothing. As a senior, I have seen this play out so many times. I advise you to go home early and sleep instead. Otherwise, the more well-known you become…the more miserable your fate will be. You should…."
"Shut up." A low and magnetic male voice sounded. It was only two words, but those two words made one feel chilly with fear.
They looked up and across from them was a handsome-looking 30-year-old man with a frosty, iceberg face. His eyes were looking at Wen Jiexi and the others…no, more accurately, he was glaring impatiently at the petty He Yueyue.