DISCLAIMER: We don’t own any of the stories published. We don’t know any Chinese language and this is our first time MTL-ing a novel, expect inaccuracies in the translations.

❌ NO SPOILERS. WE ARE MTL-ING THIS AT THE SAME TIME WE’RE READING IT ❌

Translated by: Jie Jie

Unedited. So there will be some typos and grammatical errors. Bear with me QAQ

Sorry for the delayed chapter~~

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Chapter 31 – You cry and give it a try^[1]RAW: 你哭一个试试看。Welp. Not sure.

Zhou Jinchen’s voice was cold and the questioning in his tone was also very obvious. Liu Longfei, who was suddenly attacked, couldn’t help but feel puzzled. He raised his right hand and dryly said, “That, I, I was greeting Xiao An…”

An Xumo, who was being blocked behind Zhou Jinchen was still not clear about the situation. Before he could speak, he heard the man in front of him say, “Since the greeting is already finished, asking Assistant Director Liu to please go back early so as to not delay the process of Group A’s audition.”

Having just been frightened by Zhou Jinchen, Liu Longfei state at this time was also a little dazed, “Ah? Ah…….Okay.”

Without waiting for him to respond, Zhou Jinchen turned around and left, taking An Xumo who was just as dazed behind him with him before he left.

An Xumo walked two steps before remembering to wave goodbye to Liu Longfei, who dazedly raised his hand and said goodbye to them. But not just far from the corner, Liu Longfei’s hand had just been lifted, and An Xumo, who has been carried away, had disappeared in his line of sight.

Liu Longfei stiffly lifted his right hand, and only after a long while did he react to put his hand down. He seriously recalled the few times he had spent time with Zhou Jinchen, and suspiciously thought to himself, hadn’t the two of them been polite and courteous before? How come this time Zhou Jinchen looked like he was inquiring about crimes.

Liu Longfei was a bit distressed. He really couldn’t remember when he had offended this new movie emperor.

In a similar confused state, An Xumo, who was carried away by Zhou Jinchen, held him by the back of his neck all the way to another corridor and turned to the corner to a place where Liu Longfei couldn’t see him. Zhou Jinchen withdrew his hand and let him follow him.

Zhou Jinchen’s intention was to use this action to warn Liu Longfei so that the evil Assistant Di2rector who threatened An Xumo would have something to fear. But he didn’t open his mouth to explain, so An Xumo naturally couldn’t guess the meaning. In addition to the fact that the man’s hand unconsciously tightening and the difference in height between the two, what was originally to be just a hold on the back became “carried away” on An Xumo.

It’s the same as picking up a cat by squeezing the back of its neck.

The two of them went all the way to the stairwell before Zhou Jinchen stopped. There are a total of four elevators in the building, and very few people would choose to take the stairs, making this an exceptionally quiet place.

Zhou Jinchen turned to look at An Xumo who was following behind him. The boy’s face was slightly flushed, he didn’t know that this was caused by him pinching the back of someone’s neck, and thought that An Xumo was scared by Liu Longfei. He opened his mouth and asked, “What did Liu Longfei just say to you?”

An Xumo got used to his conditioned reflexes. After listening to Zhou Jinchen’s words, he subconsciously wanted to answer. He was about to speak before remembering that this is Zhang Zhiwei’s arrangement, so revealing it like this may not be appropriate.

An Xumo thought, and he took a while to speak. Zhou Jinchen saw the situation and frowned again, “Did he threaten you?”

An Xumo was confused when he heard the words. He didn’t think that Zhou Jinchen would feel that assistant director Liu was threatening him. It was all a matter of where to follow. He shook his head incessantly, “No, no, there is no such thing.”

Zhou Jinchen raised his wrist and looked at the time, saying, “Lao Ma is already here. He will be involved in the next auditions for Group B. Don’t worry about anything else. It’s enough to perform well.”

Ma Mingcheng had been focusing on casting several major roles, he was already in his sixties. Last year, he also had a serious illness and just recovered from the beginning of the year. In previous shootings, Ma Mingcheng has always followed the entire audition process. But this time, the rest of the crew is worried about his health, and Ma Mingcheng’s son, Ma Zechi also came to the crew to help him. Ma Mingcheng agreed to the group audition plan.

Today’s auditions for the two groups, A and B are all supporting roles. Ma Mingcheng originally had no plans to come over. His plan today was to ask Zhou Jinchen and Lin Rui, the two main characters, to talk about the scenes. This is all because, during the talk, Zhou Jinchen’s words gave rise to new ideas, wanting to reconsider the positioning of a few supporting roles. That’s why Ma Mingcheng came to the audition after the talk.

The others don’t know the situation and only said that it was Lao Ma’s whim that changed the plan on the spur of the moment. When Ma Mingcheng was young, he was accustomed to doing things his own way and would go through a succession of trouble with two producers. It wasn’t until later on, when he got older and had a ghostly son^[2]clever/genius. I think I mentioned it before. whose talent was almost a replica of his, that he became calmer these days. No longer as cranky as before.

He is a sharp contrast with another director in the country, who was always rigid enough to not say anything. No one would be surprised if he did such a thing.

But in reality, it was Zhou Jinchen who single-handedly contributed to this matter. After he heard the news from Xin Zimai, although he said at that time that he could come directly to the post, in fact, the situation in the audition was actually not very easy to manipulate, so Zhou Jinchen turned around the corner and asked Lao Ma to check it.

Zhou Jinchen had already read the script, and he naturally knows that An Xumo was exactly the right person for the role. As long as Lao Ma is sitting on the battlefield, people who want to engage in moths will have no chance.^[3]Can also mean: As long as Lao Ma was in charge, there would be no opportunity for anyone who wanted to do something. The role of the male four will also fall smoothly on An Xumo’s head.

Since he didn’t disclose his relationship with An Xumo, Zhou Jinchen didn’t deliberately come to An Xumo to talk to him about these things. He thought nothing would go wrong if he came along, but he didn’t expect to encounter a situation where someone would directly threaten An Xumo.

Not to mention An Xumo, even Zhou Jinchen had never had much interaction with Liu Longfei before. In Zhou Jinchen’s view, there’s no reason for Liu Longfei to talk with An Xumo—unless Liu Longfei has been paid by another force that wants to fight for the male four candidate to put pressure on the other candidates in advance.

Zhou Jinchen’s preconceived misunderstanding, coupled with the fierce look on Liu Longfei’s face when he spoke to An Xumo, would give birth to this misunderstanding. It’s just that the time is now tight and he can’t afford to question An Xumo again before he changes the subject to mention the other candidate, so An Xumo can try to alleviate some psychological pressure and perform well in the audition.

Zhou Jinchen’s words were similar to what Liu Longfei had just told him. An Xumo naturally took these words as encouragement before the audition. He had no idea that Zhou Jinchen and Liu Longfei were actually standing on opposite sides. Both of them took Me Mingcheng as a guarantee that their “family” would not suffer.

Compared to Lao Ma, An Xumo actually cared more about another matter. He nodded his head in response to the man’s word and paused for a moment, then carefully asked, “Then, Brother Jinchen, will you also be at the audition later?”

Zhou Jinchen glanced at him and said, “I don’t have the need to watch the auditions at the moment. There is a special casting team on-site to take care of it.”

His current identity was still an actor. Since he tried to break away from the Zhou family’s control and cultivate his own power, these investment projects have not been exposed to the public so as not to attract the attention of the Zhou group.

An Xumo nodded, “En, I understand.”

Zhou Jinchen said, “I can’t help you when I’m there. But with your conditions, there’s no suspense in taking this role.”

An Xumo was stunned. He was actually thinking that he might be more nervous if his brother was there. But he didn’t expect that the other party would interpret it as him wanting to ask for help. An Xumo’s cheeks couldn’t help but heat up and his ears were so hot that he burned unbearably.

An Xumo’s lips opened and closed a few times, but in the end, he couldn’t say anything. Instead, Zhou Jinchen took another look at his watch and said, “You should prepare.”

When the two of them came out of the stairwell and went in different directions, only then did An Xumo let out a sigh of relief and pressed the back of his hand against the side of his feverish face.

Seventy-four days since the recording of 《Sunny Weekend》 until now, this was the amount of time that separated them before they saw each other again.

An Xumo’s heart couldn’t help but feel a little bit of annoyance in his heart. This time, he still didn’t seem to be doing too well.

An Xumo took a deep breath and slapped his cheeks with both hands, trying to cheer himself up. His next performance, however, directly determine when he and his brother would see each other again.

Within half an hour after An Xumo returned to the waiting area, the ten of them were called to another spacious room. The third round of auditions still went in order, but this time each person took significantly longer than the previous two rounds.

No one who entered the room came out, so those waiting outside were unable to find out what exactly was going on inside. As the number of people slowly decreased, after about another half an hour, An Xumo, who was in the sixth position in line, was called by name.

When An Xumo pushed the door in, he saw a long U-shaped conference table placed inside, with nearly ten people sitting at the table. The candidate who had come in earlier stood in the corner on the other side.

The room wasn’t very quiet, and an old man with glasses next to the table was listening to the person next to him with a slightly more serious look on his face. An Xumo immediately recognized his identity, this person was the Chief Director of the film, Ma Mingcheng.

The center of the U-shaped conference table can be used for walking, but due to the lack of space, the candidate still had to stand in the open space not far from the table. An Xumo stood in the designated position, after bowing and asking, the cameraman beside him moved the camera over to focus on him.

An Xumo stood waiting for instructions, he didn’t make any extra movements. But when Lao Ma turned his head when he was finished speaking, he just saw An Xumo standing there, his original serious expression became more solemn and even his eyebrows widened.

However, Lao Ma did not speak and everything must be done according to the process. A middle-aged man with a black shirt said, “You perform this situation first: Let’s say you came back from dance practice and you’re happy to meet up with a friend to go play on your day off.”

In fact, the moment he walked in the door, An Xumo felt uneasy in his heart and his mind has been buzzing. His practice in his previous acting class was not satisfactory. In addition, this audition was about whether or not he would be able to film with his brother. This pressure quickly solidified, sinking all over one’s shoulders.

The request given by the black shirt is not difficult, but An Xumo has neither friends nor days off, so An Xumo was left in his own imagination for the entire performance.

There were no pairs of partners in the room, and the candidates all had to complete solo performances. The black shirt shouted to begin, and An Xumo began his first performance in full view of the crowd.

He first raised his hand to cover the back of his neck and turned around. After expressing his exhaustion, he put on a happy expression and said to his side, “Do you have any plans for tomorrow?”

The room had been completely quiet when An Xumo performed. Although he was used to the attention focused on him, dancing in front of a crowd was a completely different feeling than performing in public. While An Xumo showed obvious nervousness to the point of affecting his state, he was actually completely filled with embarrassment.

The smile on his face is exactly the kind of professional smile you’d find on stage in front of an audience, and the plot design, which has room for freedom of expression is uninspiring. The only desirable thing was that he spoke fluently and the rhythm wasn’t too messy, but other than that, it was impossible to find anything else to excel at.

By the time An Xumo finished his performance, there really wasn’t much reaction from the crowd in the room. The black shirt on the side quickly proposed a second performance assumption, “When you were practicing dancing….”

Before the black shirt had finished his words, Lao Ma, who was sitting at the table suddenly spoke up, “Try crying one.”

Not only the interrupted black shirt, everyone in the room was stunned. Even the other candidates who were originally standing safely in the corner no longer covered up their concealed glances and took a good look at An Xumo, who was standing in front of the conference table.

This was the first time since this set of auditions that Lao Ma had taken the initiative to speak up.

An Xumo didn’t expect Lao Ma to interrupt midway, he hesitated for a moment and asked, “Just, just cry? Are there any other situational assumptions….?”

Lao Ma looked at him, “No, just cry it out.”

This kind of test is actually quite common. After all, for actors, this kind of emotional control is the most basic quality. But in fact, it was easier said than done. Even if it was a really powerful actor, they might not necessarily be able to turn their emotions around in just a short period of time under the full glare of the public.

When this request was made, the others originally thought that Lao Ma was intentionally making things difficult for this candidate, but then he added, “Don’t mind the time, cry it out.”

When he said this, An Xumo himself didn’t feel anything yet, but the others in the room felt slightly more subtle.

Letting someone cry but not counting the time…..This wasn’t a harsh request, and it even made sense to have special treatment.

After all, everyone had a limited amount of time to audition, but Lao Ma was now willing to spend this time waiting for this candidate. This situation seemed a bit special anyhow.

An Xumo didn’t know what the other people were thinking, but he had been taught how to show strong emotions like crying and panic by his acting class teacher. Although it didn’t work out so well in the end, there was one trick An Xumo remembered from his teacher—

Thinking back to one of his most recent experiences of emotional change, replaying the emotion at that time, or further intensifying it, and then turn that intense emotion into the feeling you needed.

Coincidentally, even though it was a small matter that only he cared about that time, An Xumo did burn his ears red just now in a stairwell not far away.

He took a long deep breath, first letting himself ignore the surrounding environment as much as possible. Since his debut, An Xumo’s reaction to the surrounding eyes has been much smaller. He quickly isolated the disturbance around him and imagines himself back in the stairwell with no one else.

An Xumo was slow to react to the misunderstandings and malice of the bystanders but was only sensitive to Zhou Jinchen’s emotions alone. The other party didn’t actually say anything heavy at that time, but An Xumo himself felt as if he had left a bad impression on his brother.

He had always regarded Zhou Jinchen as motivation, direction, and hope. More precisely, his brother is An Xumo’s sun. He liked his brother’s light, and his brother brought him warmth. But also, in the same way, the sun would shine all things in a clear view, so An Xumo is eager to get closer but is also nervous when the other person looks at him.

Even the small misunderstanding that was not even worth mentioning just now would embarrass An Xumo. What if, if…….

What if my brother found out he likes him?

In this situation, Zhou Jinchen had just been promoted movie emperor, but An Xumo was still an idol who had only just debuted. His feelings were destined to be lined with various coats, just like Han Ming was scolded last time, shamelessly rubbing people’s enthusiasm, and using the romance for profit.

What would Zhou Jinchen think if he knew how An Xumo liked him?

“Brother, will you be there?”

“I can’t help you even if I’m there.”

— “Brother, will you let me like you?”

— “It’s impossible for me to make you hype with this kind of thing.”

I don’t think so brother, I won’t get you in trouble……

An Xumo stood muddled until someone shook his arm a few times and he barely regained his consciousness from the icy pool of despair.

The person who approached him and called him was black shirt. An Xumo panicked and reached out to wipe his face, that’s when he heard Lao Ma’s voice, “Where’s number six’s resume? Show me. How was his ballet dance?”

Because of the lack of focus just now, An Xumo didn’t hear Lao Ma’s comment about him crying out. When he reacted, Lao Ma had already flipped through his information from the thick pile and was holding his glasses, reading carefully.

The black shirt on the side handed over a tissue, and An Xumo quickly thanked him. He hadn’t finished wiping his tears when he heard Lao Ma say, “How many people are left? Call them all together.”

An Xumo stood to the side to slowly calm down. He would have gone to stand in the corner with the other candidates, but the black shirt didn’t let him pass. After the remaining four people outside came in, Lao Ma had them make a few actions in sequence, then waved his hand and said, “Alright, you guys go back first.”

The first few candidates who came in and didn’t leave were also a bit confused. Black shirt was very keen and said directly to them, “You guys also go back first. We will notify you of the specific results in two days.”

After the candidates in the room left, only then didLao Ma put An Xumo’s resume on the table. He held his glasses to look at An Xumo, who still had red eyes, and said, “You have never studied acting, right?”

An Xumo said softly, “Took a few lessons……”

“Hmph,” Lao Ma lightly snorted, “Same as not attending.”

An Xumo slightly shining,^[4]RAW: 安许莫微晒 not really sure with the trans QAQ help.but he didn’t feel that Lao Ma said anything wrong.

Seeing that he didn’t show any expression of dissatisfaction, Lao Ma said, “But you look pretty smart, you can still give it a try with a lesson.”

An Xumo was stunned, “…..Thank you, Lao Ma.”

“Don’t thank me,” Lao Ma waved his hand. “What I see is not your performance, but your demeanor.”

He picked up a piece of paper, printed on it was the casting keywords for male four. Lao Ma said, “You’re not very good at acting, but you look like you fit the role. The character’s nickname is Swan, you know? He needs to have a fragile sense of arrogance. You have these two words in you^[5]two words in the raw. and they are easy to catch out.”

An Xumo vaguely realized something, and he couldn’t help but expect.

But Lao Ma waved his hand off, “You also go back and wait for the notice.”

An Xumo was stunned again, but the black shirt beside him patted him with a smile and said, “Go on, I’ll call you in two days.”

An Xumo hurriedly thanked everyone, before turning around and planning to go out.

Before he reached the door, he heard Lao Ma behind him ask the person next to him, “Where’s the script? I remembered the one with the character changes. Didn’t I just go through it, haven’t I found it yet?”

Another voice said, “That script is at Lin Rui’s, he just said that he will send it over immediately.”

Lao Ma said, “Hurry up, ah, I guess I have to change the male four…”

Before Lao Ma’s words were finished, the door was pulled open from the outside. An Xumo who was planning to push the door out didn’t have the time to stop his steps and even crashed into the arms of the visitor.

An Xumo, who had just finished crying, was hit like this. The tip of his nose which had turned red felt even sorer. He barely opened his watery eyes and looked up. He was about to apologize, but his voice choked in his throat.

Lin Rui’s voice sounded from the door, “Lao Ma, I’ve brought the script you wanted…..Hey, Jinchen, why did you stop?”

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Jie Jie(1/17/22): I’ll be editing “Ma Lao” into “Lao Ma” on the other chapters soon. I’m only able to do it in this chapter for now.