He first nodded, agreeing with the feasibility of Zhou Junyi’s suggestion, and then expressed his hesitation: “But for whoever plays the second male role, this might not be fair to them.”
Zhou Junyi laughed: “That’s not difficult. Anyway, the second male lead always has accidents in the crew, which is common knowledge. Anyone coming to audition will be mentally prepared. How many haven’t been eliminated? We’ll call them in, explain the situation, and ask for their opinion, right?”
Coincidentally, two people were still waiting to audition: one named Chang Weiyu, and the other was Cheng Yin, who had just been discharged from the hospital after a head injury.
When he saw the con artist walking in with a bandage on his head to audition, even Luo Mingbai was moved. He genuinely thought Cheng Yin was an inspiring person – developing comprehensively in scamming, acting, singing, and clinging to others, with even an injury unable to stop his ambition.
Previously, for Luo Mingbai’s “□□” shameless request, Cheng Yin might have been thrown off rhythm, not knowing what persona to maintain in front of Luo Mingbai. So he didn’t reply, and after a day, he started chatting about other things.
As an extra in the crew, Cheng Yin’s chance to audition for the second male role was quite lucky. The crew, to compensate Cheng Yin and because he had been wearing armor without any close-up shots, exceptionally gave him this opportunity.
It was unclear whether Cheng Yin was primarily a con artist who also acted or an actor who occasionally conned people. In any case, he probably didn’t expect to see Luo Mingbai here, and after his initial surprise, his face showed unmistakable joy.
He didn’t know how Luo Mingbai had come to this crew, but seeing him sitting and conversing quietly with two directors, looking familiar, Cheng Yin suddenly felt that unintentional willow-planting might bear shade – networking always has benefits, and his opportunity had arrived.
He wasn’t particularly close to Luo Mingbai. Still, after so much time of communication and persona-building, he felt that at least in Luo Mingbai’s heart, his favorability was higher than the unfamiliar Chang Weiyu beside him.
So he gave Luo Mingbai a smile, and when he saw Luo Mingbai smile and nod back, Cheng Yin felt even more confident.
If Luo Mingbai could help in this selection and he could successfully become the second male lead, this person might be of greater use.
Feeling incredibly lucky, Cheng Yin was delighted.
When he heard they had discussed and decided to let him audition first, he became even more certain of his imminent success.
In comparison, Cheng Yin’s competitor Chang Weiyu appeared more silent. He quietly glanced at Cheng Yin and gave Cheng Yin the stage.
Cheng Yin, as a con artist, had remarkable acting skills. However, when Chang Weiyu took the stage, those who had just seen Luo Mingbai’s portrayal of Yue Huan showed somewhat strange expressions.
Zhou Junyi leaned close to Luo Mingbai and whispered: “This person… is imitating you.” He added, “But he is far behind you.”
Seeing someone mimicking his mannerisms felt strange, and Luo Mingbai’s expression stiffened momentarily before he laughed: “Though it’s a small cleverness, it’s still clever.”
His smiling face bore a meaningful gaze towards Chang Weiyu. Sunlight filtering through tree leaves’ cracks fell on his face, adding a somewhat deep quality that made Zhou Junyi momentarily lost in thought.
Luo Mingbai watched the performance and had already determined that Chang Weiyu was the second male lead performer he needed.
The previous incident with Director Deng suggested that whatever was causing trouble was likely present on-site. However, when Luo Mingbai himself played the second male Yue Huan, nothing unusual occurred.
He needed to find the reason, so during Cheng Yin and Chang Weiyu’s auditions, he focused most of his attention on subtle air current fluctuations.
He discovered that although no strange events occurred during both performances, there were indeed subtle murderous energy fluctuations in the air. However, Luo Mingbai could still detect that the murderous energy was more intense around Cheng Yin’s audition compared to Chang Weiyu’s.
It wasn’t that Luo Mingbai was arrogant, but both directors believed Luo Mingbai’s portrayal of Yue Huan was excellent. Thus, it could be deduced that Chang Weiyu, who deliberately imitated Luo Mingbai, was more fitting in his interpretation of Yue Huan compared to Cheng Yin.
Crude summary: the better the performance, the less likely one was to be in trouble.
After Cheng Yin finished his audition, he went out to await news. After Chang Weiyu’s performance, the two directors looked at each other, finding it difficult to decide.
From the directors’ perspective, Chang Weiyu was clearly more to their liking. But everyone could see he was imitating Luo Mingbai, and because the imitation was so good, it made him seem impressive.
So even if they wanted to use Chang Weiyu, they’d have to consider Luo Mingbai’s feelings.
Director Deng said: “Master Luo, which of these two do you think is more suitable?”
Luo Mingbai said: “Mr. Chang, I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
Luo Yingbai said, “You know why I’m here, right?”
Chanwei answered, “Yes, I just heard some people talking.”
Luo Yingbai made it clear: “So you know that my portrayal of Yue Huan somewhat meets the director’s standards, but I’m here to catch ghosts, not to act. So you think by imitating me, you have a better chance of getting this role, right?”
Chanwei discovered that Luo Yingbai’s personality seemed quite different from what he had imagined. He said, “On one hand, I really want to play this role, so I’ve been constantly learning and observing. Master Luo is my role model. On the other hand, when I was helping Director Deng change his water cup, I overheard your conversation and realized that Master Luo needs to catch ghosts and might need someone like me to cooperate. I want to help.”
Chanwei was good at speaking, but Luo Yingbai didn’t quite like him.
However, looking at his facial features, Luo Yingbai noticed that his eyebrows were connected, his eye distance was narrow, his earlobes were extremely small, but his forehead was very full. Such a person would have a turbulent fate and be prone to legal troubles, harm relatives, have a cunning and treacherous personality, be unforgiving, with the only good thing being his resilient life.
Simply put, if this unlucky role were to be played by him, it was hard to say who would be more unfortunate. From this perspective, he was actually quite suitable.
Luo Yingbai then said, “I’ll give you a final warning: playing this role will have certain risks, and you’ll often need to cooperate with me. You don’t mind all this?”
Chanwei solemnly replied, “You can get hit by a car just walking down the street. I want to seize this opportunity.”
And so, after many twists and turns, the fifth round of casting for the supporting male role of Yue Huan was finally settled. When the news of Chanwei’s selection spread, how angry and disappointed Cheng Yin was is another story. At that moment, Luo Yingbai had finally finished his work and was about to chat with Zhou Junyi before leaving.
Luo Yingbai said, “Brother Zhou, I’ll head out now.”
Next time I’m back, let’s grab a meal.”
His tone was casual, as always, making Zhou Junyi can’t help but smile.
Although their relationship wasn’t particularly close, Zhou Junyi didn’t know Luo Yingbai’s family background. He just felt that when they first met, he was still a struggling older student, and now he had become one of the top actors in the industry. Yet, Luo Yingbai’s attitude towards him hadn’t changed at all.
