Gu Jiahui quietly glanced at Ai Xiao.
Ai Xiao became even more anxious and blurted out a few incoherent words.
Soon, Gu Jiahui interrupted her.
Wearing glasses, his eyes behind the lenses revealed a cold expression in front of ordinary employees for the first time: "Didn’t you write a character analysis?"
Ai Xiao stammered, "I... didn’t write it. I was planning to..."
She initially wanted to lie, saying she wrote it and left it in her room, but considering they all lived in this hotel, and the rooms were upstairs, President Gu could just have her assistant fetch it, and the lie would quickly fall apart.
Therefore, there was no need.
She planned to improvise on the spot.
Gu Jiahui, with a stern face, waved his hand, "I don’t want to hear you make up stories. Memorize the script. If you can’t, I’ll have the company replace you."
Ai Xiao’s face turned as pale as paper in an instant.
Gu Jiahui turned to the director: "Let’s hear the character analysis of the female lead from the director."
The director cleared his throat.
He briefly explained the character analysis of the female lead on behalf of Ai Xiao.
Then it was Sheng Tang’s turn.
The character Sheng Tang played, the second female lead, was Li Lan, the sister of the female lead. She was the most complex character in the story, both pitiable and detestable.
When the director asked her to analyze, Sheng Tang spoke confidently.
"Li Lan is two years younger than her sister Li Hong and has been particularly intelligent since childhood. She was born into a high-educated family. In those special times, such a background meant ’bad origins,’ far less esteemed than that of poor peasants.
Her sense of superiority was crushed early on. During the days when her father was confined to a cowshed, she witnessed many tragedies involving her mother, yet she helped her mother hide them from her kind-hearted sister.
Eventually, unable to endure the torment, her mother committed suicide in front of her. The trauma she experienced was far greater than that of her sister, planting many seeds of darkness in her young heart.
Later, the situation changed slightly. Her father was released, became an accountant in the countryside, gained personal freedom, and brought her and her sister to live with him.
Li Lan, being the younger sister, should have been protected by her elder sister. However, her sister had not endured as many hardships and ugliness as she had, and was not as strong as she was.
Living with her father, she also noticed that he favored her intelligent and kind-hearted sister more, which deepened the darkness inside her.
While deeply loving her sister and father and longing to have a family again, she was also very fond of the male lead Huang Gen Sheng, seeing him as her protector.
Her feelings for the male lead were more akin to sibling-like dependence rather than romantic love. Therefore, she was not jealous of the male lead and her sister; instead, she treated him like family.
She could have led a good life, living ignorantly in the countryside. But the news of the resumption of college entrance exams disrupted her mind. She wanted to return to school and regain the glory of her youth.
Though her sister, father, and Huang Gen Sheng were still kind to her, her sense of security did not come from any of them. Having witnessed the tragic changes in her family, Li Lan had no real sense of security; she sought achievement.
Thus, she schemed against her sister bit by bit, making her sister fight for the opportunity to take the college entrance exams. Then, feigning supernatural wrath, she drove her sister to death, used their similar appearance to take the exam in her place, and finally got admitted to a university."
Sheng Tang was used to delivering lines, so her tone was very steady, and her articulation was exceptionally clear, even clearer than the director and the male lead, Qian Zhe Lin.
In the script, the character Li Lan had only lines and a simple character introduction.
As for her inner self, the script didn’t explicitly portray it. The deeper reasons needed to be explored by herself.
Sheng Tang analyzed Li Lan’s complex emotions bit by bit based on her lines.
When she finished speaking, the director couldn’t help but applaud her.