Chapter 21

  Huh?

  The hamster was shocked, its paws covering its eyes opened a slit, and the black eyeballs looked through that slit at Director Jiang sitting not far away.

  Jiang Luocheng looked like he could only be described as calm and collected, from head to toe, his lips were always curled up in that very detestable smile.

  In stark contrast to Director Jiang's calm demeanor, the atmosphere in the entire office was heavy. Shao Xudong's face could be described as terrifying, while Xu Wenjie's hands were clenched tightly on his knees, looking at Jiang Luocheng with a face that seemed to struggle with self-doubt, his eyes red and puffy from holding back tears, anyone who saw him would feel pity...

  Jiang Luocheng was completely unmoved.

  Among the three shareholders, Xue Kai, who was usually easy to talk to, finally looked down on it and sighed in his heart, "We are all civilized people, do we have to do this?" He had no choice but to force himself to clear his throat and say, "You can't say that, Director Jiang. Recently, Xiao Jie has also been practicing hard, compared to the past two years, he may have made great progress too - if you deny him based on his previous performances, wouldn't that be unfair?"

  Xue Kai has a good temper and good relationships, previously Jiang Luo Cheng would give Yuan Zhen Ran movie scripts or TV drama scripts through Xue Kai's instructions. The two had some pleasant cooperation experiences, so when Xue Kai spoke, Jiang Luo Cheng was more or less willing to compromise. After frowning and hesitating for a while, he seemed to finally be willing to make concessions, waving his hand in annoyance and saying: "I knew you called me here today just for this matter, I wouldn't have come if I had known."

  Jiang Luocheng's words had a hidden meaning, Xue Kai sneered and laughed dryly, with cold sweat all over his head, thinking to himself "damn it, isn't this just dealing with the mess left behind by that old man, you're just one of many messy situations."

  So Director Jiang's intention is to give Old Shao a bit of face and let Xu Wenjie try it out?

  Jiang Luocheng stood up, adjusted his clothes, and glanced at Xu Wenjie who was staring at him with wide eyes. He slightly furrowed his brow, then said impatiently: "If you want to try, let him try. I'll arrange for someone this afternoon after 3 o'clock. Don't be late."

  Having said that, he left without looking back.

  After Jiang Luocheng left, Xu Wenjie and his agent hurriedly went downstairs to prepare - before that, Xu Wenjie had never thought that such a big pie would fall from the sky for him to pick up, so he didn't know anything about the script, role allocation, or what role he needed to play. Now there was only one morning plus lunchtime to prepare, and he wasn't some kind of powerful actor who could act on command like Jian Ran, this time he was also somewhat anxious with a burning sensation in his buttocks.

  Xu Wenjie had just left, and Shao Xudong followed suit. The office, which was still bustling with activity a moment ago, was now empty except for Fang Yu and Jiang Chuan. Although Jiang Luocheng finally relented and agreed to give Xu Wenjie a chance to try out the role of Jian Ran, everyone present knew how difficult it had been to secure this opportunity.

  Having watched such a good show for free, Fang Yu and a certain hamster both expressed their great satisfaction.

  Everyone else had left, and Fang Yu took Jiang Chuan to do the formal handover of work - as for Jin Ran's side, the company didn't say whether they would directly give up on him or what, Fang Yu was still his agent, if he woke up, Fang Yu would have to immediately return to their original work.

  "What about Jiang Chuan at that time?"

  "Will bringing two people at the same time exhaust you to death?"

  "Others won't," Fang Yu said with a serious face, "but if it's Zhen Ran and Jiang Chuan, they really will - yesterday Jiang Chuan actually went to like the comment on Weibo that said he and Zhen Ran had an affair."

  Luo Cheng, Xue Kai: "......"

  Jiang Chuan, who was sitting aside playing with the hamster, let go of his fingers that were pulling at the hamster's fur and raised his head to interrupt: "You didn't say not to."

  "Look, after I scolded him, he still dares to argue back with a straight face."

  Jiang Chuan lowered his head and found that the hamster was holding onto his fingers with its two paws, rubbing against his fingertips.

  Jiang Chuan raised an eyebrow: "A Fei."

  Hamster: "Squeak."

  "Color, color."

  Hamster: *silence*

  Luo Cheng let out a sigh, turned his face away with a look of distaste, and rubbed his brow: "Alright, if you need to bring two people at the same time, we'll pay you double wages."

  Fang Yu: "......"

  At almost lunchtime, Fang Yu led Jiang Chuan and the little assistant onto the artist's car that had been waiting outside for a long time. As soon as they sat down, he called out to the driver to head to the company where he had an audition with Jiang Luo Cheng in the afternoon - Jiang Chuan was taken aback: "What about lunch?"

  "Go eat with Director Jiang." Fang Yu said, "Originally the screen test had already ended and we were just waiting for filming and promotion to start. Now, in order to find a replacement for Jian Ran, we have to re-do the screen tests and promotional photos - although Jian Ran's unexpected departure makes everyone feel regretful, but essentially this has increased our workload. In this situation, does Jiang Luo Cheng even have the decency to give us a mouthful of food for lunch?"

  Jiang Chuan: “......”

  Square inch.

  Jiang Chuan is poor.

  The little assistant has no right to speak.

  So the lunch location was happily decided.

  ……

  The car arrived at the trial mirror place just in time for lunch.

  As soon as he got off the car, Fang Yu found that there were indeed many people who came to grab a meal today - probably no one expected that on the eve of Jiang Luocheng's new drama "Republic of China Strange Record" confirming the lead role, Yuan Jinran had an accident, and the actor for the male lead "Qiao Sheng" suddenly became vacant. As a result, those backup actors who originally heard that they were going to compete with Yuan Jinran and had no hope at all suddenly became active, and almost as soon as the production side announced that they might re-select actors, they rushed over from all directions without stopping.

  This is Jiang Luocheng's show.

  Although this guy is notoriously difficult to serve, he is also notorious for being ruthless in the process of directing. However, as long as you participate in one of his movies or TV dramas, even if you don't immediately become a big star, at least your status within the circle will still be upgraded - from second-tier to first-tier, and who knows, maybe even entering the big screen circle.

  Not for anything else, but because Jiang Luocheng pays more attention to shaping his character when directing.

  It's easy to export a work as an actor's representative work.

  I had expected this kind of scene, and while being unsurprised, I also managed to summarize it with a bit of humor. This is indeed the rhythm of "stepping on Yuan Jianran's corpse to rise to fame"...

  Fang Yu got off the car and went to talk about life with Director Jiang, leaving Jiang Chuan and the little assistant to fend for themselves. The two of them wandered around the building and eventually found the place where lunch boxes were distributed. When Fang Yu returned with Jiang Luocheng after discussing the afternoon's work schedule, he saw the little assistant squatting in a corner, devouring a lunch box, with another one placed beside him that seemed to be reserved for him. Jiang Chuan was sitting next to him, holding an identical lunch box, but not eating immediately.

  Aren't you hungry?

  Fang Yu walked over, patted the little assistant's head in praise, and then picked up his own lunchbox to open it - two dishes with meat and three without, including braised pork.

  "Damn it, with food so good, these TV drama people are just rich..."

  Fang Yu muttered to himself as he opened his chopsticks, poking at a piece of braised pork and just about to put it in his mouth. But then he caught sight of Jiang Chuan shaking his head silently out of the corner of his eye. Fang Yu was baffled by what this guy meant, when suddenly he saw Jiang Chuan pointing with his hand towards a certain direction down the corridor——

  The agent Fang raised his head subconsciously and found that Jiang Chuan was looking at a poster.

  The promotional poster for "Republic of China Mysterious Record".

  On the poster, Jiang Chuan plays Huai Jin wearing a Taoist robe, holding a peach wood sword in his hand. He looks at the camera with a serious expression, and although the poster cannot speak, the feeling of being straightforward and unyielding to the point of being somewhat wooden comes across strongly, giving off a sense of Daoist elegance; while in the lower right corner, the black-haired young man playing Cang Shu's Xiāo Shēng is dressed in a bookish attire from the Republican era, holding a book in his hand. The high collar of his suit is slightly open, revealing his slender white neck. His eyebrows are lightly furrowed, and his thin lips are slightly parted, with a faint look of melancholy on his handsome face...

  It's obviously this kind of expression.

  However, the corners of her eyes were slightly raised, revealing a hint of inexplicable charm.

  In the play, Mouse Spirit is gentle and indecisive, weak in character, loves poisonous snakes, has a sharp tongue but a soft heart, innocent and naive yet exuding an aura of a refined and charming demon who has cultivated human form, perfectly portrayed with just one poster.

  The two protagonists in the poster have a red wedding hall and peach blossoms behind them. The old-fashioned wedding hall with bright red as the main tone is blurred, but the candles burning in the center of the hall and the red auspicious characters are particularly clear. According to the plot development, the mouse spirit's fiancée was mistakenly killed by the little Taoist priest at their wedding, so the huge auspicious character is stained with blood, and the flying red ribbons are wrapped around Jiang Chuan and Jin Ran's wrists holding wooden swords and books, as if hinting at the inexplicable bond between the two characters after that tragic night.

  It turned out that the photos of Jian Ran and Jiang Chuan from their previous audition in the studio had been made into crystal frames and placed in the corridor of the production company.

  I believe that if it weren't for the incident, this poster would probably be used as the main promotional poster for "The Chronicles of the Republic". On the poster, Jiang Chuan's portrayal of a young Taoist priest exudes an unyielding and ascetic aura, which perfectly complements the gentle and hesitant yet purely enchanting quality that Jian Ran embodies with his eyebrows and eyes.

  Such a poster, if put up, will probably cause another stir.

  What a pity...

  Fang Yu put down his lunchbox and suddenly lost his appetite.

  On the other hand, I was quite surprised - after trying out the mirror, because he didn't want to say another word to Jiang Luocheng, he hastily left without even looking at the hard copy effect. Unexpectedly, something happened that day, but the hard copy poster was still hung up, and... the effect was actually so good.

  Those actors who came to try out for the role of "Qiao Sheng" would involuntarily stop and carefully study his expression, posture... when they passed by this poster.

  The hamster sat in its owner's pocket, rubbed its face, and felt a mix of emotions, not quite understanding what Jiang Luocheng meant.

  At this time, Fang Yu also slightly straightened up and looked at the actors who came to audition for the role of "Qiao Sheng", some of whom were well-known domestic actors, all of whom had been active on screen for many years. At this moment, they too did not dare to slack off, but were all working hard to guess the character of "Qiao Sheng" and hoping to seize the opportunity to perform.

  However, Fang Yu suddenly felt that this role had not yet started to be selected, and all the people present had already lost to this silent and motionless poster.

  At this thought, Fang Yu's heart felt a little uncomfortable again, and he quickly touched the new stubble on his chin that hadn't had time to shave off as cover. The agent didn't dare look at the poster that easily evoked many emotions again, and turned his head to look at Jiang Chuan beside him, only to discover that the latter was also staring blankly at the poster, a pair of bright blue eyes turning into deep, mysterious blue, the open lunchbox in his hand long cold and unnoticed.

  "Square leftover."

  "What's up?"

  "Who wrote the script for this TV series?"

  "What? ... It's also Jiang Luocheng, he wrote and directed it himself." Fang Yu was stunned for a moment, then replied without any sense of crisis, "Everyone thinks highly of his storytelling ability and character creation, so even before the drama was promoted, those actors were already scrambling to get in... I heard that after the celebration party for 'The Sound of Time Passing', Jiang Luocheng secretly started writing this play. At that time, not many people knew about it, and I was also wondering what he was doing, suddenly wanting to make a TV series when his movies were doing well..."

  "This TV series can't be played by others."

  "Huh?"

  "This script was written for Yuan Jinyan, and the role of Qiao Sheng can't be played by anyone else. Even if someone else plays it, it won't feel right." Jiang Chuan straightened up a bit and turned to ask Fang Yu, "You said earlier that Yuan Jinyan wanted to sleep with me, does he like men? Did he have something going on with Jiang Luocheng?"

  Fang Yu: "......"

  In the stunned silence of Boss Fang's agent, the little assistant sprayed the rice in her mouth out like a scattering flower.

  Author's note: Ladies and gentlemen, please hold on tight, next up is the now-plant-like Tom Su, who will dazzle you with his extraordinary performance.

  [9:00 Report] In response to the call of a large number of OCD patients, I've made some oral modifications and fixed a bug. Isn't this a pseudo-update?