The audition venue was set up on stage. Following the staff's instructions, Xiao He stepped onto the stage and immediately noticed four people sitting in the first row of the audience seats.
These four individuals were director Wen Hongyuan, screenwriter Tan Yuan, producer Ma Qianyou, and the male lead of their drama, Zhang Mo.
Director Wen Hongyuan and screenwriter Tan Yuan were a famous husband-wife duo in the industry—one responsible for writing scripts, the other for directing, creating a perfect complementary partnership. Their works were highly renowned in the industry, with one early palace intrigue drama even becoming a classic for a generation. The script for "Starry Radiance" was the result of Tan Yuan's two-year effort.
As for producer Ma Qianyou, he was somewhat of a laughingstock. Most of the gossip Lin Yipeng had mentioned earlier revolved around him. First, pressured by investors, he forced a pretty-but-talentless actor into the role of the fourth male lead, earning director Wen Hongyuan's strong disapproval. Then, when the investor's wife came looking, Ma Qianyou discovered the actor had slept his way to the top and hastily kicked him out while the investor was too busy dealing with personal drama.
Later, Ma Qianyou consulted a fortune teller about the crew's luck, only to encounter an actor who supposedly brought him bad fortune. He immediately fired the actor and invited the fortune teller to his home to check the feng shui and offer wealth advice. In the end, he lost both newly cast actors and was scammed out of over a hundred thousand yuan.
After learning about these incidents, Xiao He couldn't help but feel that Ma Qianyou was the real jinx of this production.
"Hello everyone, I'm Xiao He."
Facing the four of them, Xiao He bowed calmly and introduced himself.
Meeting Xiao He's gaze, Tan Yuan's eyes lit up first, and she nudged Wen Hongyuan with her elbow: "It's Mu Ze!"
Wen Hongyuan also seemed surprised: "The young man you mentioned before?"
"Yes, exactly. I never thought we'd meet like this," Tan Yuan nodded, then mused, "So his name is Xiao He."
Wen Hongyuan teased her: "You watched him for so long without even remembering his name?"
Tan Yuan gave him a playful glare: "I wasn't thinking about that at the time."
Despite being a highly acclaimed screenwriter in the industry with many original scripts to her name, Tan Yuan was an avid drama fan herself. The character Mu Ze was one of the most memorable roles she'd seen in recent shows.
However, since they'd already cast someone else, Tan Yuan never considered having Mu Ze play the villain in their drama. Now, seeing him in person... she had to admit, their auras were quite similar.
But Tan Yuan was worried about this Mu Ze—no, Xiao He. She feared he might overact when portraying Meng Zetian.
Because Mu Ze and Meng Zetian were different. Mu Ze had a neurotic, crazy, and morbid quality, while Meng Zetian was ruthlessly cunning yet fully aware of his actions. One was an "artist" lost in his own world, unable to distinguish right from wrong, only doing what he believed was correct. The other was a "traitor" who clearly understood morality but still chose to aid evil.
These fundamental differences separated the two character types entirely.
Tan Yuan felt both anticipation and regret. This Xiao He... was still too young, his acting likely insufficient.
Wen Hongyuan glanced at Tan Yuan, whose thoughts were written all over her face, and shook his head inwardly. He then pulled out a script excerpt and handed it to his assistant: "Have him perform this."
The assistant took the script and quickly passed it to Xiao He.
Perhaps because he'd seen some of Xiao He's performance as Mu Ze, Wen Hongyuan deliberately avoided scenes where Meng Zetian was aggressive and dominant. Instead, he chose the scene where Meng Zetian, facing execution, delivers a self-justifying "confession" to the second male lead—one of the most challenging scenes in the entire script.
In this scene, Meng Zetian and the second male lead Bai Mingchuan confront each other, with Meng Zetian at a disadvantage about to be executed as a traitor. To survive and deceive Bai Mingchuan, Meng Zetian plays the victim, even kneeling to apologize, detailing his helplessness and pain, crafting elaborate excuses that nearly fool Bai Mingchuan. Fortunately, the male lead Li Shuo arrives just in time to shoot Meng Zetian, otherwise Bai Mingchuan might have been killed instead.
This scene required portraying Meng Zetian's fear of death and desperate struggle to survive, while also revealing his hypocrisy and cunning—acting while acting, showing traces of mockery and murderous intent beneath cowardly, pleading eyes.
For an actor, this was undoubtedly a tremendous challenge.
Reading the scene, Xiao He smiled bitterly to himself. This was truly putting his acting skills to the test.
"Ready?" Wen Hongyuan asked after about five minutes.
"Ready," Xiao He replied, steeling himself before closing his eyes.
"Then begin."
As Wen Hongyuan spoke, the young man on stage reopened his eyes—now filled with feigned fear yet deep-seated resentment, fully embodying Meng Zetian.
Just meeting those eyes made Wen Hongyuan straighten in his seat, intrigued. This kid... had something special!
...
Meanwhile, Chen Yulin, who had already finished his audition, sat in his company's van brimming with confidence. Glancing at his manager, his smile still in place, he asked casually, "That's all who came today?"
While others had been discreetly watching Chen Yulin, he'd also been observing the other auditionees. Seeing they were all minor nobodies, he'd completely relaxed.
In terms of acting skills, he believed himself quite capable. In terms of popularity, he was today's most famous attendee. Unless the director was blind, they'd surely choose him.
His manager nodded: "The audition was arranged hastily. Only a few could adjust their schedules to come—none as strong as us."
Chen Yulin smirked lazily and yawned: "Then let's go back and prepare for filming."
Manager: "Right!"
But as they began planning the shooting schedule, the manager received a call from producer Ma Qianyou.
"Hello, Producer Ma."
The manager initially thought it was confirmation of Chen Yulin's casting, but instead received devastating news.
"What? Already decided? Not selected?"
The manager's shocked tone immediately wiped the smile from Chen Yulin's face.
"May I ask who got it?"
"Xiao He? Who's that?"
"Okay, thank you, Producer Ma."
After hanging up, Chen Yulin demanded: "Who is this Xiao He?"
The manager shook his head grimly: "Not sure, seems to be some unknown newcomer."
"Damn it—" Chen Yulin cursed under his breath.
Their quiet assistant timidly raised a hand: "I... I think I know him."
Both turned their attention to the assistant.
"He... he's the actor who played Mu Ze," the assistant said carefully, watching their expressions. "That serial killer character that went viral on Bilibili recently."
"What? Some nobody—" Chen Yulin laughed bitterly. "Fine, fine. I'll remember him—Xiao He!"