Star Entertainment High-level: "I didn’t expect Ye Xian’s moldability to be so strong. We indeed didn’t follow the wrong person. Later, give him a higher score."
Jiang Wen heard everyone praising Ye Xian and felt proud as if he was listening to his own child being complimented. It wasn’t an exaggeration at all. Ye Xian was truly stunning today, so stunning that it made Jiang Wen glad he was a boy. If he were a girl, being this beautiful, she would definitely be targeted by men setting traps with hidden rules in the entertainment industry.
Zeng Minghui auditioned all afternoon, feeling irritated, especially during Shen Jinyou’s casting segment, where each arriving actor was either too old-looking, unattractive, or had a greasy demeanor; none resembled Shen Jinyou.
The role of Shen Jinyou is arguably more challenging to perform than the male lead, Gu Tianlin.
He has to go through three phases in his life: the first being naive and innocent at a rural home, the second dependent and obsessed with the female lead Xia Qingshao, and the third full of hatred for the Royal Family, awakening of his talent, and the paranoid and crazy state of not being able to have the female lead.
It’s exactly such a complex and bumpy character, yet endowed with the utmost beauty, to find an actor who could vividly bring his whole life to life and also be outstanding in appearance is really difficult.
But from the moment Ye Xian took the stage, Zeng Minghui saw hope.
At the very least, he achieved the basic stunning vitality and youthful spirit, seemingly pure as an untouched piece of white paper, far better than the previous auditioning actors.
Zeng Minghui’s tightly furrowed brows slightly relaxed, and his voice unconsciously became much softer, "Are you Ye Xian? I’ve seen your performance in ’Business World’, you did a great job as Young President Gu!"
"Thank you for the compliment, Director."
"Is the viewfinder ready?"
"Good, let’s start immediately! Action!"
As Zeng Minghui called for the start, the lights scattered across the stage immediately went out, converging into a bright spotlight focusing on Ye Xian.
For the first time in fourteen years, Shen Jinyou wore such glamorous clothes, feeling a bit restrained and shy, yet a bit eager to show off to his friends. Just as he was about to head out, he encountered the imposing Aunt Wang.
Aunt Wang had lost a bag of silver and couldn’t find it anywhere, fuming with anger. Seeing the usually patch-covered, poor boy Shen Jinyou wearing a lavish outfit today, her eyes widened, and she rolled up her sleeves and charged over, "You little rascal! Stop right there! Did you steal my silver?"
"No... It wasn’t me."
Shen Jinyou looked at her with a puzzled face and shook his head.
Because of his deaf-mute parents’ upbringing, his speech had always been a bit unclear, but each word he uttered was perfectly enunciated, clear and pleasing to ear.
"If not you, then who?" Aunt Wang, her face covered in bulging veins, gritted her teeth and picked up a stick as thick as a wrist, "I’ll teach you to lie! If it wasn’t you, how could you wear such fine clothes?!"
As she finished, she struck Shen Jinyou with the stick.
According to the audition script, this section could be improvised. Most actors would instinctively dodge the stick, but Ye Xian didn’t; he took the hit squarely, with only a slight frown on his face as he continued to shake his head, "No... it’s not me, my clothes were bought by my mother, with the money she earned from sewing..."
Before he could finish, Aunt Wang struck him again with the stick.
Shen Jinyou staggered, and his pristine embroidered bamboo robe was stained with dirt.
Zeng Minghui and the panel of judges below were shocked. Why didn’t Ye Xian dodge?
If it could be said he didn’t have time the first time, then what about the second time?
Zeng Minghui could see from the innocent eyes of Ye Xian, representing fourteen-year-old Shen Jinyou, the purest and most naive moment of his life; he didn’t understand the complexity of human nature or the hostility from others. In his mind, dodging would have been an admission of guilt.
There was another point, the beautiful garment now stained, the weak and enduring young man bearing the pain, showing the destruction of something beautiful to the audience, both arousing their sympathy and leading to the next part, his affection for the female lead.
Everyone deceives him, shames him, and berates him; only Xia Qingshao saves him, treats him, loves him. Thus, his dependency and obsession with Xia Qingshao, and his possessive attitude towards her when he is older, all become easily understandable.
It’s undeniable that Ye Xian has tremendous talent as an actor.
He can perfectly abandon himself within a short time, merging perfectly with his character.
Zeng Minghui nodded in satisfaction, while others were dismayed watching Ye Xian being beaten.
Pang Kai silently turned his face, looking at the person beside him, indeed seeing the CEO’s brows tightly furrowed, his eyes emitting a cold glint, staring at the actress playing Aunt Wang.
"CEO, all these fight scenes are fake, the actors have techniques for hitting, and Ye Xian is wearing protection, he’s not hurt at all, his pain is all acting."
Bo Tingshen’s lips were tightly pursed, his eyes cold, "Who allowed the auditioning actors to wear protection?"
Pang Kai: "..." Did the CEO feel sorry for Ye Xian being beaten, or did he wish Ye Xian had been beaten harder? He was puzzled.