“No! In my heart, you are naturally the most beautiful, Mother Yaksha,” Ji Lanfeng replied with great sincerity.
Upon seeing him, Shen Liannuo furrowed her brows slightly. “You look rather familiar to me? I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before.”
Shen Liannuo was certain she had seen Ji Lanfeng before.
“Him?”
Meng Jingwei pointed at Ji Lanfeng. “He’s a popular actor, of course you’ve seen him. But only on television.”
“Oh~” Shen Liannuo nodded, her eyes lighting up with realization. “Right. No wonder he looked so familiar.”
“You’ve seen him now, and you’ll see him even more in the future,” Ji Lanfeng said, putting an arm around Meng Jingwei’s shoulders. He opened the door to the screening hall and addressed Shen Liannuo, “Miss Shen, come, let me show you inside.”
The three of them entered the screening hall together. They saw a slender and beautiful girl performing a scene where she was famished.
The judges glanced at Meng Jingwei a few times before returning their attention to the actor’s performance.
“You two, sit here and rest for a while. They’ll call you later,” Ji Lanfeng said, patting Meng Jingwei’s shoulder. He whispered, “Don’t be nervous. I’m here, I guarantee you’ll be fine.”
“Thanks.”
Meng Jingwei said gratefully.
“Don’t mention it. You thanking me will shorten my lifespan,” he quipped.
After speaking, Ji Lanfeng turned and walked to the judging panel, sitting down and beginning to watch with concentration.
At this moment, the actress finished her scene and stood before the judges, bowing respectfully, awaiting their feedback.
“Finished? What kind of performance was that?” A balding man in the center of the judging panel adjusted his glasses frame and pointed at her, reprimanding her sternly. “You’re playing a poor child who hasn’t eaten for two days. Even if it’s an imaginary scene, how can you, as a professional actor, fail to grasp the basics?”
“Overdone, lacking soul,” Ji Lanfeng stated concisely.
Another judge shook his head. “I only have two words for it: breaking character.”
Hearing their words, the actress’s eyes reddened with grievance, and tears streamed down her face.
The balding man immediately pointed at her. “See? Your state now is much more realistic, and you can drive emotions, and also move ours.”
The actress pursed her lips aggrievedly, feeling that the director was humiliating her. She retorted, “But I haven’t experienced being hungry for two days without eating, so I can’t act out that feeling. I tried my best.”
“What does acting mean? Acting, acting, it’s a form of performance. If you say you can’t act out the feeling without experiencing hunger, do those who play murderers have to commit murder to portray that feeling?”
The director was displeased. With a wave of his hand, he declared, “Out! Next!”
The actress, covering her face with her hands in distress, ran out of the screening hall, sobbing.
Witnessing this, Meng Jingwei felt her heart pounding with anxiety.
She was an actress with zero acting experience. Would she have no chance at all?
The person who just performed, a professional actress, didn’t pass the audition. Meng Jingwei felt she likely wouldn’t make it either.
“You, Meng Jingwei, is it?”
The director sitting in the middle beckoned Meng Jingwei over with a hook of his finger. “Come here.”
Meng Jingwei felt a sudden wave of nervousness. Shen Liannuo beside her gave her a ‘go for it’ gesture. “Don’t be nervous, you’ll definitely pass.”
“I hope so.”
She secretly let out a sigh of relief, stood up, and walked to the judges. “Hello, esteemed judges. My name is Meng Jingwei.”
The balding director leaned back in his chair and pointed at her. “You’re the ex-wife of Qing Muye, aren’t you?”
Mentioning her personal life, Meng Jingwei’s face showed obvious displeasure, but she still nodded politely. “Yes.”
“I’ve seen your scenes with Steve in ‘Star Voyage’. Although you lack acting skills, your combat prowess is excellent. Our historical drama needs a supporting female role, a personal female guard for the protagonist, with many fight scenes.”