Jiang Qian’s expression turned ugly, and she hollered angrily. “You’re too much!”
Pretending to jump in fright to have been shouted at, Li Beinian said, “I’m so sorry. I… I thought only people in their 30s or 40s would be this gossipy and nasty with words…”
She was calling Jiang Qian a gossip and nosy parker!
A few actresses around started whispering and giggling when they heard Li Beinian’s remarks.
Jiang Qian’s expression turned stormy. Just as she was about to speak again, the door to the audition room opened.
Everyone fell silent and turned to look in that direction.
A man in the late 30s or 40s walked out. His shoulder-length hair was peppered with silver strands, and his glasses made him look rather artistic.
“Director Ma,” someone recognized him and called out immediately.
Director Ma nodded and asked, “Are all of you here for the audition?”
“Yes,” everyone replied in unison.
“Great. We’ll let five of you in at a time. Five of you will be playing opposite each other for the audition. Non-actors may step back.”
Immediately, Cheng Su and Bai Yuan retreated, together with the personal assistants.
Director Ma looked around and randomly pointed to a few of them, saying, “The few of you, come with me.”
Li Beinian had been selected, so she followed him into the room.
Li Xueqing and Jiang Qian were also included in this group. The other two were the actresses who were just in cahoots with Jiang Qian as they were arguing.
When Bai Yuan and Cheng Su noted this, they naturally felt rather nervous.
Cheng Su asked anxiously, “Are they going to gang up against Sister Nian?”
Bai Yuan frowned and said, “Probably. But given her capability, it should be fine.”
“But… the five are playing opposite each other and need to coordinate. If she were to be targeted…”
Things didn’t look good.
Bai Yuan became nervous now that he was alerted. He stared at the door and started thinking.
…
True enough, it was like what was rumored.
When they entered the room, they were given a stack of scripts to choose from.
Director Ma instructed, “Five scripts, five roles. Each of you has only one line to deliver. This is to test your ability to think on your feet.”
The scripts were labeled A to E. Li Beinian selected the script labeled C.
When she opened it, she saw a single paragraph printed on it.
ABC were three people at a gathering. Suddenly, they heard a gunshot. A was shot dead, B started crying from the fright, and D came running in with the gun. C rescued B, and, eventually, D was subdued by E.
The lines:
A (Drunk): Drink to your heart’s content, it’s on me!
B (Crying and frightened): Arghhhh!
C (Calm): Run, hurry!
D (Hysterical): Hand over the stuff!
E (Unhurried): You’re under arrest.
All of them were stunned.
No one had expected such a wayward script.
They compared notes and confirmed that indeed, they had been given the same scene, the same script.
Only, they had different roles.
“How do I deal with this? I’m shot the moment the scene opens!” one of the women wailed. “How unlucky am I!”
“I’m no better… I’m really bad at crying scenes. My god, to cry from fright—that’s tough!”
Li Beinian was secretly relieved that she hadn’t picked the script B.
Crying scenes weren’t her strength as well. Even if this live play frightened her to tears, she wouldn’t have been able to cry.
The role for script A was too small, there was no room to show her acting skills.
And the role for script E was the last to appear. It had to fight with role D and then would finally be subdued. That would be testing the actor’s physical movements.
Out of all the five roles, role D would have had to display the strongest emotions, and it would have been the best role.
Role C, on the other hand, was in the gathering. The role would have had her good friend gunned down, but yet had to calmly rescue B?
Li Beinian frowned as she studied the script.
Was this a freaking bug?
How could a normal person keep calm under such a situation!
Jiang Qian asked, “I’m E, who got script D?”
“I did,” Li Xueqing raised her hand, at the same time looking at Li Beinian rather gleefully. “So, you must have gotten script C?”