章 30: Chapter 29: Going to my first audition?!
The moment Wen Jiexi entered the classroom and found a seat to sit in, Bai Wei walked in. She watched as Bai Wei glanced around the classroom, a sneering expression flashing in her eyes before she set her things down and walked up to the front with a smile,
"Newcomers, it seems that two of your classmates have left this class."
Eh? Wen Jiexi looked around in surprise. Previously there were 11 other students with her, making twelve total, but not there were, including her, only 10 students remaining. One of them was a student who was badly criticized by the teacher and the other was one of the few whose performance was praised by the teacher. As for the girl who performed first yesterday, she was still here and sitting up front. Despite being frightened, she still persisted.
"I never knew that some people would think being a decoration was so easy. However, without proper connections, even that will be hard. Then there are the actors who become complacent after only one success. Remember, there will be a wide variety of roles for you to play in the future. Some you'll be good at and some you'll be bad at, but even if you succeed the first time does not mean you will succeed next time. Of course, you could always just choose only the roles you are good at and continue playing them continuously but let me be the first to say that by doing so you'll only be limiting your own acting career." Bai Wei lightly explained and then turned on the projector. She pointed at the screen,
"Acting requires a lot of knowledge. In addition to using actions to express emotions and behaviors, facial expressions are one of the most important aspects of portraying emotion. And the focus of every expression is the eyes. So today's lesson will be on crying. You all must be thinking, what should I do if I can't cry? Should I use eye drops? Heh, a successful actor can cry at any time, turn angry at the drop of a hat, and become their character. Imagine that you are the character you're playing. For example, like this…"
An orphan appeared on the screen and it was a picture of him crying tears of joy at finding his biological parents.
"You are not this orphan, but you can capture the essence of his character." After saying so, Bai Wei closed her eyes. When she opened them again, there were drops of water in her eyes not and yet a trace of excitement and joy could be seen in her wet eyes. She looked ahead as if she saw the thing that had made her cry, her mouth slightly trembling upwards. Then, in the next second, she closed and opened her eyes again and returned to her original state.
"It's important to delve deeply into your character's persona, but it is a taboo in acting to dive too deep into the character's psyche. Some stars may have great acting skills but when they become too caught up in a role, they will encounter problems when require to change roles or when the mood shifts to quickly." Bai Wei pointed at her own head as she warned in a serious tone. Then she issued handout to each person,
"These are the ten most common crying types in dramas. You will study this first and then I will go through each person one by one and randomly point at one of the types for you to perform. Afterward, I will give you suggestions on how to improve."
Wen Jiexi was suddenly glad that she had tried crying while practicing one of the many crying scenes yesterday. Her eyes still felt sour even now. If she had to cry, she can, but she was unable to cry in a way that would touch the audience deeply. She was still a long way from doing so. However, it seems that the teacher was just trying to feel out the newcomers last time as she was actually quite attentive to her job. Wen Jiexi was glad she didn't give up after watching Bai Wei's performance just now. Wen Jiexi could tell that this teacher was quite skilled and felt sorry for the other two students who chose to drop out. She felt that under this teacher's guidance, she would definitely be able to improve by leaps and bounds in this one month.
Later in the afternoon, Xue Molin escorted Wen Jiexi over to Master Zheng's area. When Master Zheng saw Wen Jiexi's red and swollen eyes he exclaimed loudly,
"Whaaa, Jiexi! This, you….did you get beat up by someone? Molin, this child is still young, you can't treat her like this."
"What the hell? In your eyes, do you think of me as someone who could do such a thing?" Xue Molin shouted with her hands on her hips.
"Actually…you are a violent person." Master Zheng rubbed his chin and nodded his head after coming to this conclusion.
"Go to hell! If it weren't for the fact that I've worked with you for ten years, I would've definitely judo flipped you by now." Xue Molin smiled through gritted teeth.
"Yes, yes, you're right. Please forgive little old me." Master Zheng shrugged nonchalantly and then walked over to Wen Jiexi.
"Little plum! Hurry up and grab some hot towels!"
"Oh!" Li Wen hurriedly ran out.
"Ah, Master Zheng, no need for that. We were just practicing crying in class earlier and I cried a little too hard." Wen Jiexi said quickly, but unfortunately, Li Wen had already rushed out.
"It's fine, it's fine. As an artist, your face must be perfect at all times." Master Zheng said seriously with a wave of his hand, Then he patted the Xue Molin beside him,
"Don't look now, but Molin actually pays a lot of attention to maintaining her health. Even though she is more than thirty now, she still looks like a movie star- AWoooo!" Master Zheng wailed as Xue Molin smiled a fake smile and removed her high heels from on top of his foot.
"Well, I'm sorry that over thirty!" After saying so, she walked over to Wen Jiexi and started pinching and pulling the young girl's cheeks and said through gritted teeth,
"Just look at this skin! It's so tender and smooth and supple! As young as she can me! And I am just a thirty-something-year-old grandma!"
"Wuwuwu….that hurts…." Wen Jiexi was unjustly implicated in the crossfire. QAQ!
"Come, come. Let's test your physical fitness and endurance first! Time to go all out! We'll start with the treadmill first." Master Zheng patted the machine beside him and helped Wen Jiexi set it up. Meanwhile, Dango shouted loudly in Wen Jiexi's ear,
"Jiexi, there are a lot of blue missions that just appeared. How about we finish them all now?"
Accept all of them for me and then tell me what I need to do.
"Ok, ok, first is the treadmill! Run 10 kilometers! The reward is 1500 points~"
Alright.
"Next is the chest expansion exercise. Do it 300 times! The reward is 1000 points~"
Got it!
"Followed by 10,000 jumps from jump roping. The reward is 1500 points~"
Ok!
Wen Jiexi and Dango were very excited and started earning points like crazy. They had to stay here all afternoon anyway, might as well finish all the missions and the repeatable ones too! Other than adjusting between exercises or drinking water and wiping her seat, there was little to no pause in between. Let's go earn tens of thousands of points!
While that one person and one ghost were happily completing the missions, the other few people weren't as giddy. Master Zheng, Xue Molin, and even Li Wen who had come back after grabbing the hot towels had their mouths wide open.
"Master Zheng, this….is this normal?" Xue Molin asked dumbly.
"Don't ask me, I don't even know if I can do all this so fast. I originally only set it for her to rung three kilometers and yet she added another seven by herself. Then I expected her to only do fifty chest expansion exercises and yet she directly did six times as much….let's not even mention the rest. Molin, this newcomer….just what kind of trauma did she have to go through?" Master Zheng tightly gripped Xue Molin's shoulder and he didn't even shake her too hard as he looked at Xue Molin with a strange expression.
"Hey, hey, stop looking at me like I was the one to abuse this newcomer, alright? I only knew that Jiexi's skills were good, but I didn't know her physical fitness would be so good. I only met her three days ago and the information I had didn't say a thing about this. I am also very surprised, ok?" Xue Molin said and rolled her eyes.
"Ah? Then all I can say is….that there is no problem with her physical fitness. She only needs to improve her skills, spar with a few fighting partners, and learn the necessary basics in handling swords. You should also take her to try fighting in mid-air by hanging from a wire. For a Xianxia film, those things are necessary, right?." Master Zheng had learned from Xue Molin that Wen Jiexi wanted to take on a Xianxia role and Xue Molin had brought Wen Jiexi here to learn the skills needed.
However, no one answered his question and he saw that both Xue Molin and Li Wen were blankly looking in one direction. He couldn't help but follow their gaze and his chin almost fell off.
What they were watching was a Wen Jiexi lying down on a barbell bench and lifting her arms up and down. Her breathing was stable and her posture was the textbook example of perfect. However, there were two barbell weight places on either side of her pole and if Master Zheng was seeing this correctly, the weight set on the inside was 80 pounds and the weight set outside was 130 pounds. That was 210 pounds per side for a total of 420 pounds. They watched as the skinny little girl seemed to effortlessly lift that much with her thin arms and without even breaking a sweat!
Master Zheng + Xue Molin + Li Wen: This is not scientific!!! This is?!!!
And the person was not even aware of any of this as her attention was focused on Dango counting beside her,
"…38, 39, 40! Ok, you're good! Jiexi, there is another weight-lifting mission! Add on another 50 pounds!" Dango shouted!
Ok, I understand.
Xue Molin watched as Wen Jiexi actually increased the weight and she grabbed Master Zheng's arms in fright,
"Hey, hey, hey, Master Zheng! You wouldn't have replaced the weights with some fake replicas right? Is it because you knew Jiexi was coming and thought it would be fun to frighten me? Is it stainless steel? Tell me!"
"W-who would do such a thing?!! Even I'm not bored enough to do that! Sh*t, even wouldn't be able to lift more than 400!" Master Zheng exclaimed.
"Y-you, Little Plum was it, you go and take a look." Xue Molin patted Li Wen's back, pushing him forward.
"O-oh, ok." Li Wen recovered from his shock and quickly walked towards the bench that Wen Jiexi just evacuated. He lay down, grabbed the pole with both hands, inhaled, pushed and-! It wasn't moving? He extended as much strength as he could, his face flushed with exertion and the pole moved only a little.
"So, how is it, how is it?" Master Zheng and Xue Molin both crowded forward and whispered.
"I…can't lift it…cough, cough, cough." Li Wen said breathlessly and almost bit his tongue."
"Eh….don't force yourself, you should only lift as much as you can. Otherwise, you might hurt yourself." Wen Jiexi, who was wiping her sweat, appeared behind them during the commotion. She raised an eyebrow, walked over, and took a breath before lifting the pole up to rest on a side shelf.
"Huuu….." Li Wen massaged his arms, his body felt weak with exhaustion.
"You…don't you feel like it's too heavy?" Master Zheng asked, his body trembling a little.
"It's all good, I can still pick it up." Wen Jiexi casually waved a hand and then started pedaling on the exercise bike.
"I must show this to the president, this is too amazing." Xue Molin took out a phone and started recording.
After Wen Jiexi finished her first wave of missions, they had calmed down. It was good that Master Zheng had cleared out the gym because of Wen Jiexi coming today or else the crazy scene before them might have attracted a large crowd of unwanted spectators.
"Jiexi, the only 'weapon' you need to practice is the Hong Ling [1], and of course you need to learn the basics of sword-wielding. Master Zheng will teach you what you need to know and ah, as for your sparring partners, Master Zheng will arrange that for you as well. Make sure to work hard, these are the basics of being a stunt performer." Xue Molin said while patting Wen Jiexi's shoulder.
"Ok, I understand." Wen Jiexi noeede.
"Ok, then you should go home with Li Lingmeng today, I have somewhere to be. I need to tell the President something." Without waiting for a response, Xue Molin hurried out the door in her heels.
"….." Wen Jiexi looked down at the towel in her hands and then at her sweaty clothes. I definitely cannot go out looking like this?!!
"Jiexi, there is a women's changing room over there, they also have a laundry machine you can use." Master Zheng sighed, Xue Molin's fiery temperament hadn't changed at all even after being single for more than two years now. [2] He picked up the bag Xue Molin left behind and gave it to Wen Jiexi.
"Thank you, Master Zheng."
"Little girl, work hard. I think you'll go far." Master Zheng laughed and patted Wen Jiexi's head. He then grabbed Li Wen by the collar,
"Let's go, Little plum, it's time for you to build up some muscle. Otherwise, you'll get beaten up easily and become a laughingstock."
Wen Jiexi chuckled as she watched the two leave. It seems that the entertainment circle was not as malicious and dark as she thought it was, at least the people she met so far were good people.
"Hahahaha, Jiexi, we have made a big profit! Training four hours here is much better than training at home! I think we should drop by the company's gym every day." Looking at the 20,000 points they earned, Dango practically had drool coming out of its mouth.
Yeah, today we definitely reaped a big harvest. Furthermore, I'll be at the company more frequently during the next month and will have more opportunities to come here. Rest assured, Dango, I will complete that golden mission as soon as possible.
"Good!"
Wen Jiexi hung the towel around her neck and made her way towards the changing room.
Meanwhile, Xue Molin had kicked down the President's door again…..
"Xue Molin, you're here again?!" Wen Linshu almost spewed out his coffee. He always felt anxious when this person came knocking on his door. Every time she kicks my door when she walks in, just how have her heels not broken yet?! Just how strong are those heels?
"I here to share the latest scope on your family's young lady/" Xue Molin ignored Wen Linshu's glared and rolled her eyes as she sauntered over to him. She confidently sat down on the sofa across from him.
"Eh? Did something happen to Little Xi? Was she injured?" Wen Linshu stood up nervously and skittered over to Xue Molin with a worried frown on his face.
Injured? I'm afraid someone like her might injure the person trying to hurt her instead. Xue Molin mumbled in her heart and then handed the phone over to Wen Linshu.
"See for yourself."
"Huh?" Wen Linshu clicked on the video.
Xue Molin propped her head in her hands as she quietly watched the person's face change from surprise to trepidation, trepidation to horror, horror to shock, and then finally to speechlessness. Hahahaha.
"You can't fool me with this CGI crap." After watching the entire video, Wen Linshu gave Xue Molin a gaze full of doubt.
"Do you think I'm that bored? To do all this?" Xue Molin pouted. She had questioned Master Zheng earlier and now she was being questioned about the authenticity of the video. Was this karma?
"Fine, I'll believe that is Little Xi." Wen Linshu wearily rubbed his knitted eyebrows. He felt that he couldn't understand this little baby sister of his more and more as time went on. Nevertheless, he will still support her wholeheartedly,
"Keep in mind what I said before. Whatever little Xi wants, she shall have. If she wants to learn anything, do not try to stop her."
"Yes, yes, oh great President! Your extremely biased treatment shall continue!" Xue Molin took back her phone and teased.
"I'm not biased!" Wen Linshu immediately retorted with a frown.
"Eh, who knows~" Xue Molin shrugged and swaggered away under Wen Linchu's heated glare. When she left, she made a phone call to an unknown someone,
"Hey, it's me. Did you do what I asked? Yes, about that role….is that so? They really only want one person….did they say what their criteria were? Under 25? That's so strict, but I guess the character's actor can't be too old. Looks like a lot of people will be eliminated and the people left will either be lucky or true talents…En, I will be taking someone with me…..rig the audition? Hmph, no need. Have you not seen whose in charge of this newcomer? You think I'll allow someone under me too…yes, just follow the normal process…..En…..one month, right? Well, tell me if anything changes or if any roles are taken. Please let me know first, alright, I'm hanging up now."
Xue Molin twirls the phone in her hand, not caring that it was the latest model and would cost tens of thousands of dollars to replace it if it broke. She rubbed her chin in thought. If Jiexi wants this role, she's still going to need a lot of effort. Alright, alright, let's begin the devilish training!
Sitting in the taxi with Li Lingmeng, Wen Jiexi suddenly sneezed.
"What's wrong, did you catch a cold?" Li Lingmeng's gaze left the documents in her hand to look worriedly at Wen Jiexi.
"I'm fine, I just have an ominous feeling…" Wen Jiexi hugged her trembling body. She had a sudden feeling that someone was planning something malicious to do to her. It's just an illusion, right?
What Wen Jiexi didn't know was that her feelings would soon come true. Under the rigorous and deadly one-month training Xue Molin arranged, she walked through the fiery pits of hell before the day of the audition finally came.
"Jiexi, you've reached level-3 as a contractor. Don't you want to exchange some points for an elementary acting skill book?" Dango glanced at the contractor in question who had already completed her golden mission over ten days ago. Afterward, she had earned points like crazy but Dango didn't expect that Wen Jiexi would immediately exchange her points for better boxing/martial arts skill and some basic sword skills.
Currently, Wen Jiexi's shadow boxing, karate, and Judo skill have all reached the black belt level, in other words, the master level. She even learned the Taekwondo black belt level and some sword skills too, spending at least 20, 000 points. However, this was all thanks to Xue Molin's devilish training as the harsher the training, the better the rewards. Now, she still had 8, 750 points to spare which was plenty enough for the first level of acting skill books.
"No, I want to rely on my own efforts to see what I can achieve. Although it will be convenient for me to buy the book, it just won't feel the same if I win the role through my own hard work." Wen Jiexi said as she smoothed out her clothing.
'Then you don't want to buy it?" Dango asked hesitantly.
"Not exactly, just for the time being. This audition is my trial by fire, a challenge I must face. My martial arts skills have already been boosted by the system, I don't want my acting to be the same." Wen Jiexi smiled bitterly.
"Jiexi, I believe you can do it!" Dango patted its chest confidently. After seeing Wen Jiexi's efforts this past month, Dango wholeheartedly believed in her.
'Thanks." Wen Jiexi smiled.
'Jiexi, it's time to leave!" Li Lingmeng yelled from downstairs.
'Let's go." Wen Jiexi grabbed her bag and script before running down the stairs.
At the bottom of the stairs, Xue Molin and Li Lingmeng were already waiting for her. The moment she came down, Xue Molin gently lifted Wen Jiexi's chin and studied her before smiling with satisfaction,
"Good, very good. Young people with good skin only need to use some skin products, no need to put on any makeup, or else it will damage your skin. Now that everything is ready, let's go."
Parked outside this time was not Xue Molin's car but a white limousine instead.
"The car and chauffeur was arranged by the company. The chauffeur is called Old Wang and he will be your exclusive driver for this event." Xue Molin explained and patted the car.
"Hello, nice to meet you. Please take care of me." The window rolled down and an old man greeted them in a straightforward manner.
'Hello."
"Please take care of me as well."
Xue Molin pulled the door open,
"Get in."
The inside of the limousine was quite spacious. In addition to the large space, there were three soft chairs in the back that you can lie back in. There was even a white table inside, so you wouldn't have a problem when writing down notes.
The passenger seats were separated from the driver's section and there was even a TV in the middle. Under the TV was a cabinet for storing things and bookshelves on both sides filled with books. Overall, the decoration and design were top notch.
"Wow, so this is our company's car." Li Lingmeng marveled as she said in one of the chairs.
"Other than newcomers and celebrities who have a little reputation, most other stars used their own cars. However, this car is also the latest model and I had to talk with the president for a long time before we got it." Xue Molin said as she leaned her seat back.
Actually, it was the President who nagged her for better accommodations….he even wanted to put a fridge in the limousine. What did he think this car was used for? To go on camping trips? Why not just add the bathroom and kitchen directly! However, Xue Molin did not dare to say this at the time because she felt that Wen Linshu really would've done something stupid like that.
"If you're hungry, you should eat something before we get there. Jiexi, you should familiarize yourself with the script again. Don't be too nervous when you go in, just pretend you're practicing like usual. Li Lingmeng, you just make sure to stay by Jiexi's side and don't run around too much." Xue Molin advised and then took out some fruit jelly from the cabinet. The jelly is rather filling and the calories aren't high, so it was an appropriate snack to eat beforehand.
Five minutes later, they arrived at their destination. Since the show was prepared by a Xingle director and team, naturally the audition would be held in the company as well but in the basement downstairs.
After they got out of the limousine, they attracted several pairs of eyes. Strange and new faces entered and left the company's doors. Xue Molin ignored the stares and directly dragged the two of them to the audition.
"Today the drama, "The Immortal Meets The Demon"will have auditions for five different roles. They are all roles for characters like the third supporting male lead or third supporting female lead. That includes the Right Protector as well. There will be many companies participating today, but of course, our company will be providing the most people. Anyhow, this friendly competition should lead to some good results."
They followed the crowd of people into the basement and the basement was divided into five rooms. All the rooms had placards on them that had the character's name on it. The crowd separated into their respective rooms. An interesting observation, however, was that the Right Protector was the only character without a name.
In the drama, the Right Protector is mute so the leader only called her the Right Protector. Her subordinates would call her either 'My Lady' or 'My Lord' and the mortals called her the Mute Miracle Doctor. Therefore, no one actually knew what her name was.
"Alright, go on in." Xue Molin opened the door for the Right Protector audition room.
"Sister Xue, you're not coming with us?" Wen Jiexi asked.
"There might be some problems if I go in." Xue Molin replied with a raised eyebrow.
Wen Jiexi noticed that many eyes from the crowd were staring at her and immediately remembered about Xue Molin's status as a first-tier agent. There might be rumors of her going through the back door if she gets the role with Xue Molin beside her. She could only nod towards Xue Molin before pulling Li Lingmeng with her into the room.
T/N notes:
[1] Hong Ling: technically it's a type of red silk, but in Xianxia it's a magical red silk that does a lot of damage.
[2] The direct translation would be closer to [the period during which something is lacking]. In this case, it was a period where Xue Molin was without a girlfriend.
Sidenote: I swear I didn't realize that after conversion it would turn out to be 420 pounds (lol). Anyhow, an average bodybuilder can lift up to around 400 pounds, but the weightlifters on Olympic teams (people who literally train every moment to lift weights) can easily lift 500 pounds! They can even go into the 1000s! But remember, Wen Jiexi is lying down on one of those barbell benches while lifting that much! That's harder than dead-lifting!
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