After Being Reborn, I Became Explosively Popular Across the Entire Internet CHAPTER 111
Chapter 111: The Audition
A month later.
Today, An Qingyan was attending the audition for Jiu Zhou Zhuan. He was auditioning for the male lead, Shen Tinghan.
Lu Sheng and his agent, Gao Feifei, weren’t initially in favor of him acting.
There were many examples of idol singers becoming actors, but most were not from acting schools, their acting skills so poor that audiences couldn’t stand it, ruining their image.
An Qingyan was also an idol from a talent show. Singing and dancing were naturally no problem, but acting…
An untrained person who had never acted before; even if his image was suitable, without acting skills, the chances of passing the Jiu Zhou Zhuan audition were minimal.
After all, Jiu Zhou Zhuan was different from those quick-money idol dramas. It was a large-scale production; the company and team behind it were top-notch, and the director was very famous domestically, demanding high standards from the actors.
But An Qingyan wanted to try. He liked the drama and the character Shen Tinghan, and even if he didn’t pass the audition, he wouldn’t regret it.
He was no longer the nameless, 18th-tier small artist of his past life, who, even after trying every method to get an audition, was immediately rejected.
Lu Sheng could see the determination and persistence in An Qingyan’s eyes. Although he didn’t know why he was so insistent, he respected his decision. A young calf is not afraid of a tiger.
…
The car stopped in the audition venue’s parking lot.
To prevent her artist from being discouraged, Gao Feifei gave An Qingyan a pep talk in advance, “Don’t be nervous. This is your first audition, and this drama has very high requirements for actors. Not passing is normal.”
An Qingyan: “…”
He wasn’t actually nervous. He had done all the necessary preparation and felt confident.
Perhaps from spending so much time with Gu Fei, he had been subtly influenced. The young man’s expression was calm and composed, a faint smile on his lips. “Fei jie, I know. You’re the one who should not be so nervous.”
Gao Feifei: “…” Had she been nervous?
The audition was half an hour away. The staff politely led An Qingyan to the waiting room. Agents weren’t allowed in, so Gao Feifei gave him a few more words of encouragement before leaving.
There were three other handsome male actors in the waiting room, all auditioning for the male lead, like An Qingyan. He recognized them; they were all fairly well-known idols in the industry.
But the most famous among them was An Qingyan. The Mingri Xingchen program had boosted his popularity, and the subsequent paternity reveal incident had garnered national attention, almost buying a house on the Weibo hot searches.
After An Qingyan entered, he nodded slightly to greet the other three, “Hello.”
The young man’s demeanor was polite and courteous, a faint smile on his clean and handsome face, making people feel good about him. The other three’s gazes were fixed on his face.
They had only seen An Qingyan on screen before. Now seeing him in person, they realized he was even more stunning than he appeared on screen.
The An family’s newly returned young master; his boyfriend was a top idol. With this enviable background, even as a newcomer, they absolutely couldn’t offend him.
They never expected An Qingyan to participate in the audition as well. The three of them quickly greeted him politely.
“No need to be so polite. Have a seat.”
“There’s a seat here. Sit here.”
“Mm, thank you.”
The atmosphere in the waiting room was relatively harmonious, until someone else came in, swaggering in under the guidance of the staff, scanning the room before finally stopping on An Qingyan.
An Qingyan also looked up, a handsome and refined young man, with exquisite makeup. Even in the entertainment industry filled with handsome men and beautiful women, his appearance was top-tier.
An Qingyan knew exactly who he was.
Duan Ci. In his past life, he had been the one who ultimately passed the audition and became the male lead of Jiu Zhou Zhuan.
Duan Ci was more famous than the other three in the circle, with excellent resources, smoothly sailing his career since his debut. He had starred in several moderately successful dramas.
Seeing the other’s gaze on him, An Qingyan intended to greet him politely, but Duan Ci suddenly smiled, not very friendly, and spoke in an unfriendly tone:
“It’s you, Lin Qingyan… Oh, I should say An Qingyan now.” Duan Ci sat down next to An Qingyan, propping his chin, curiously looking at him. “How does it feel to become a phoenix?”
An Qingyan subtly frowned, a cold aura emanating from his clean and beautiful face. He slightly shifted his gaze, not intending to answer the other’s unreasonable question.
This was their first meeting; he didn’t understand Duan Ci’s sudden hostility, but he had heard that Duan Ci was arrogant, willful, and difficult to get along with. It wasn’t surprising.
The other three didn’t speak either, all watching the show.
Duan Ci saw An Qingyan’s quiet and calm profile, noticing he didn’t intend to speak. His face immediately turned cold; no one had ever been so impolite to him.
He snorted softly, leaning against the sofa, legs crossed, playing with his fingers, casually saying, “Nowadays, anyone can act? Don’t you know your own limitations?”
Those words were sarcastic, and anyone with a brain could tell who he was referring to.
The waiting room was so quiet that the ticking of the clock on the wall could be heard. The young man’s soft voice, like a stream flowing through the mountains, echoed in everyone’s ears:
“Senior Duan, why would you say that about yourself?”
Everyone’s gaze focused on An Qingyan, including Duan Ci’s. The young man’s clean and handsome face still held a gentle smile, his clear peach blossom eyes filled with incomprehension.
As if genuinely asking a question.
In the past, An Qingyan might have endured it silently, but now he was no longer that helpless and submissive person. Although he didn’t know why Duan Ci was targeting him, he wouldn’t let himself be bullied anymore.
Duan Ci was furious.
“You think you can play Shen Tinghan? You should just go home and go to sleep. This role is mine.” He was practically pointing at An Qingyan’s nose.
An Qingyan was unconcerned, calmly saying, “Who knows?”
Duan Ci: “Overconfident.”
An Qingyan ignored him.
The audition time arrived. Duan Ci was the first to go in. He came out half an hour later, giving An Qingyan a disdainful look, his slightly raised face filled with confident certainty.
An Qingyan had watched the entire Jiu Zhou Zhuan drama in his past life, so he knew how Duan Ci performed. Being from a professional acting school, his acting skills were naturally much better than the emotionless male leads of assembly-line idol dramas. He was passable, but far from excellent.
Therefore, his acting was still criticized by many netizens, but his fans praised him to the heavens. Perhaps this was why he was so “confident.”
Ignoring Duan Ci’s provocation, An Qingyan had experienced the days of being reviled and slandered online. This provocation was nothing. He just focused on doing his job.
After waiting in the waiting room for about two hours, it was finally his turn. He was the last of the five to enter. He took a deep breath outside the door, then knocked and entered, politely greeting them.
Several people were sitting inside. The scene was intimidating. The director, a man in his thirties or forties, sat in the middle, his expression serious. The people beside him were probably the assistant director and screenwriter.
To be honest, they didn’t have high expectations for this last actor—or rather, not quite an actor yet, just a singer and dancer.
The final selection had essentially been made; this was just a formality.
If it weren’t for the original author believing that An Qingyan’s appearance and temperament fit Shen Tinghan’s persona, strongly recommending him, An Qingyan wouldn’t be here today.
It had to be said that this young man’s appearance and temperament truly matched the character from the original work.
A singer and dancer, never having received professional training, never having acted before—what good was just a pretty face? It could only attract little girls.
Generally, auditions would start with self-introduction, asking why they wanted the role, and their thoughts on the character, but these steps were skipped for An Qingyan.
The director directly handed him a folder, indifferently instructing, “There’s a scene here. Within half an hour, if you’re ready, start performing.”
There were no advance scripts for this audition. It was an impromptu performance of a given scene.
An Qingyan took the script. The staff member took him to a small room, allowing him to study it alone. There was only one scene, not many lines, but the performance was challenging.
Jiu Zhou Zhuan is a costume fantasy suspense drama, mainly about the protagonist, Shen Tinghan, who bears the hatred of his annihilated clan, encountering several people his age on his quest for truth, then joining forces, encountering various strange things along the way…
Shen Tinghan, as his name suggests, was described in the original work as handsome, refined, aloof, seemingly detached from the mundane world, exceptionally intelligent and resourceful, capable of strategic planning.
Heaven not only gave him a brilliant mind but also a frail and incomplete body. Shen Tinghan had always been unwell, even more so after an accident in his childhood that caused him to lose his sight, so his eyes were always covered with a white veil.
In short, Shen Tinghan was a strikingly handsome person, aloof in temperament and personality, yet cunning and scheming, a strategist, yet a frail and blind invalid.
This kind of character was very captivating.
An Qingyan liked him very much and wanted to interpret Shen Tinghan in his own way.
