At the audition scene, “Hmm, not bad,” a cheer came from beside me. I jumped, looked up to see the assistant director and the others smiling at me, and my face began to burn with embarrassment. I had completely forgotten where I was. “I’m sorry! I…” I lowered my head awkwardly, my face as red as a tomato.
“No need to apologize,” the assistant director smiled kindly. “Number 536, Xiang Xiaowu, you can leave now. Wait for the crew’s message at home; we’ll notify you as soon as you’re selected.” “Okay.”
“Wait, have you read ‘The Song of Eternal Youth’?”
“I heard it’s the best-selling book this year, but unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to read it,” I answered truthfully. But… should I have lied? Haha.
“Really? I happen to have a signed copy here; I’ll give it to you.” With that, he waved the book ‘The Song of Eternal Youth’ at me. I walked over, respectfully took it from him. “Thank you.” Then, I bowed to everyone and exited. As I closed the door, I wondered, is this… what auditions are like? I probably didn’t make it; they didn’t even need me to perform. But that assistant director is really interesting; he didn’t even ask what role I wanted to play. Sigh! I was hoping to be an extra to kill my boring summer vacation, but they won’t even give me that chance.
“Xiang Xiaowu, how did it go? Did you pass?” Xia Wei was walking in as I was walking out; we signed up together, our numbers were consecutive. She whispered to me as we passed each other. I shrugged helplessly. – I’m out of the game! Xia Wei, you’ve got to do your best, so I can bring you iced sour plum soup every day. I turned back to give Xia Wei a cheering gesture while walking, “Bang—!”
I felt like I had bumped into something. A girl and I collided hard. Everything went chaotic, and I fell heavily to the ground, my head hitting the terrazzo floor, buzzing with pain, feeling like every bone in my body had been shattered.
The female lead appears:
“Ah!”
“It hurts so much!”
“Oh my God!”
Before I could recover from the shock, a thunderous roar came from beside me, “Student number 536, what… what were you thinking? How could you be so careless? You actually knocked over our Bi Lian Shu! Do you… do you know she’s one of our future leading ladies… you…”
Without exaggeration, I was dazed by the barrage of scolding. I turned my head to see the person who had been calling out numbers, but she paid me no mind, shouted “Cheng Yi, come read the list,” and hurriedly rushed over to help the girl I had collided with. I sat on the ground, grimacing in pain, holding my buzzing head.
Bi Lian Shu, the lead actress, who is she?
Soon, I was stunned. I never thought that Bi Lian Shu, mentioned by the coordinator, was actually the overseas returnee beauty who had always been by Gu Nanxiang’s side. So she’s playing the lead! Ha! No wonder she had that talk with me in the café yesterday; I gave a wry smile to myself. – The world is indeed small and frightening; those you don’t want to meet always seem to cross your path.
My arm was scraped, hurting badly, my entire head occupied by pain. Bi Lian Shu was sitting on the ground, her face green with pain, moaning incessantly. The coordinator helped her to a chair nearby, asking repeatedly, “How are you? Is it serious? Do you need to go to the hospital?”
“It’s okay…” Bi Lian Shu looked up weakly at the coordinator.
“The TV drama is about to start shooting in a couple of days, are you sure it’s alright? Will it affect the filming? I think you should get checked at the hospital… or, let me call an ambulance.”
“Really, it’s fine. It’s my fault, I was in a hurry to discuss some script issues with the screenwriter, otherwise, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Sigh. You are the most diligent actress I’ve seen.” The coordinator smiled with genuine concern and humility, then asked carefully, “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes.” Bi Lian Shu, despite the pain, managed a gentle smile on her face, a truly gentle smile. I swear I’ve never seen such a kind and beautiful smile. In her near-perfect smile, I felt ashamed. I sat still on the ground, biting my lip to suppress any groans of pain; I had my own thoughts, I could be weak in front of anyone, but not in front of Bi Lian Shu.
