Global Film Emperor

Chapter 58 No Trouble at All (Please Add to Your Favorites!)
The conference room was filled with a group of handsome men and beautiful women, some familiar to Lu Ze, some strangers. Although everyone present was young and there was no rule against talking in the conference room, the room was still very quiet.

Lu Ze was very relaxed and not nervous at all. After all, he had a pretty good grasp of the character, if not completely. It was a romance drama, after all. Where would you find such a profound character? Besides, the company had given Lu Ze special treatment.

He had already discarded his old shoulder bag; the bag he bought for fifteen yuan was of poor quality, and the shoulder strap was already half broken. Since Lu Ze wasn't short of money, he bought a discounted Adidas backpack.

He took out his biography, autobiography, and script from his bag, then placed his stainless steel water cup and phone on the corner of the table. He read the script for a while and played with his phone for a while. His calm demeanor attracted the attention of many people.

"Number 48, has Lu Ze arrived? Come with me."

He reported for interviews relatively early today, perhaps because there weren't too many people being interviewed. He was ranked quite high up in the list, and the staff called him over almost two hours later.

He stuffed his things back into his backpack, slung it over his shoulder, opened the door, nodded politely to the staff, and walked a short distance down the corridor. He opened the door again, and Cheng Yuan and three others were sitting behind a table, their eyes turning to him.

"Xiao Lu, how's the preparation going?"

Cheng Yuan didn't pretend not to know Lu Ze. He held up his teacup and asked Lu Ze a question directly. The other three didn't show any strange expressions either, so it seemed that they all knew about Xin'er.

"Do your best."

Lu Ze smiled, walked to the table and shook hands with the four people. After receiving permission, he sat down, put down his schoolbag, and sat up straight with his hands naturally on his knees.

"Did Jinghan come with you today?"

"Yes, Aunt Han is sitting outside right now."

Cheng Yuan, who had been looking down, raised his eyebrows slightly upon hearing this, then lowered his head again, his hands still flipping through Lu Ze's resume, his smile undiminished: "Jing Han really takes good care of you. Who was the last one she kept like this? ...Never mind, I can't remember. Ready? Let's begin."

The smile on Lu Ze's face vanished instantly, replaced by a tired and gloomy expression. He placed his hands on his lap with his fingers interlaced, his two thumbs spinning incessantly.

"Why are you doing this?"

These were originally lines for the female lead, meant to be spoken by a sweet, innocent girl with a soft Wu dialect. But now they were being delivered by Cheng Yuan, a man in his fifties. To help Lu Ze adapt and get into character more quickly, he even chose a formal confession style, with a tone that was almost unbearable and gave people goosebumps.

"Why are you asking? What's it to you?"

"It has nothing to do with me? You and Yufei are my good friends! I don't want you to argue with her, and please think about me too, don't make things difficult for me, okay?"

Lu Ze twisted his neck slightly twice, and his two thumbs stopped rotating and pressed tightly together.

Cheng Yuan really liked this detail; it showed Guo Xiaofei's inner struggle. If they were actually filming on set, he would definitely have given Lu Ze's fingers a close-up.

"You said yourself that you're my friend, so please don't bring this up again. I don't want to answer you, okay? Why is it that whenever something happens between her and me, it's either you or Wang Qi who comes to me? Just because I'm dating Tang Yufei, does your group of girlfriends have to keep a close watch on me? And if there's any conflict, no matter who's right or wrong, you all come and criticize me?"

Lu Ze spoke at a steady pace, enunciating each word clearly. Although his tone was calm, his dissatisfaction and annoyance were evident. His delivery of lines earned the approval of the four.

"I didn't mean to criticize you, I did."

"Then who are you? Zheng Xin, do you have to meddle in every relationship in this world? I'll say something harsh today: I don't care if you're angry with me or not, but you're meddling way too much."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Ze stood up, picked up his schoolbag, slung it over his shoulder, and prepared to leave.

"Guo Xiaofei, why do you have to live such a tiring life! You didn't tell her, but you still burdened Yufei with that responsibility, don't you understand?"

This time, Lu Ze finally showed an expression, a hint of mockery appearing on his face. He turned around, staring at Cheng Yuan, his eyelids slightly drooping, his shoulders slumping, the weariness more pronounced. "Tired? Don't I know I'm tired? I'm not your family's young master Song, born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I... look at me!"

Pointing his index finger back at his face, he displayed a variety of micro-expressions that could reveal a range of emotions: resentment, acceptance of fate, and sorrow for himself.

"From birth, I've been like a dog chasing me. I've been forced to run forward since I was a child. When I can't run anymore, I have to crawl on the ground! And when I can't crawl anymore, there are still people pushing me from behind. What a race of life! What a starting point! Don't I know that? Aren't I tired of being chased? I want to rest too. I only live once, and I want to see how beautiful the world is. Otherwise, I might just die tomorrow! I won't even be able to enjoy a single day of happiness. But what do I get? Money! Money!"

Lu Ze didn't use excessive force or roar. He simply pointed to his chest, raised his voice slightly, and his eyes reddened, but he didn't shed any tears.

She sniffed, a little snot in her nose, sighed, and turned her head away from looking at "Zheng Xin".

"In short, I don't think I've put any pressure on Yufei. I'm still a man, and I know I have to shoulder some things myself. I can't help her overthinking things. Your meddling will only make things worse. So, please stop interfering in my relationship with her, okay? That's all, I'm leaving."

The audition ended there. Lu Ze placed his bag steadily on the chair, sat back down, and took a deep breath. Guo Xiaofei was very similar to himself in the white-collar simulation course, but a bit more extreme. Overall, Lu Ze found him very relatable.

Exhaling, Lu Ze regained his composure, a smile returning to his face. He nodded slightly to the four people, indicating that his performance was over.

To be honest, Lu Ze's performance really surprised Cheng Yuan. He didn't know much about Lu Ze, but given Lu Ze's current abilities, as long as no one tries to insert themselves into his production team, and the competition is fair, Lu Ze is almost certain to get the role of Guo Xiaofei.

He initially thought Lu Ze was just a mediocre newcomer whose acting skills were mediocre. The company started investing in and promoting him, and it just so happened that the investment ended up in his hands. This kind of thing had happened before, but this time he realized he was wrong. This newcomer was quite talented.
The old man, who was in his fifties, still had a lot of work to do. He twirled the pen a couple of times, then made a mistake and dropped it onto the notebook with a thud.

"I'll contact Jinghan as soon as possible. Let's get the contract signed before the New Year so you can go home and have a good holiday. That's all for now, nothing else."

Compared to Zhang Lixian, Guo Xiaofei's role had many more scenes, but Lu Ze no longer felt the same excitement and agitation as before. He bowed slightly to the four people, picked up his bag, and left.

"How are you? Are you feeling good?"

When Shen Jinghan saw Lu Ze come out, he stood up and asked him, without any nervous expression on his face. Both of them were relaxed and at ease.

"It's over. Director Cheng said to sign the contract as soon as possible, but he didn't say anything else."

Shen Jinghan reached out and straightened Lu Ze's collar, smoothing a stray strand of hair, radiating a gentle and non-glaring maternal glow.

"Let's go. If you land this role, Auntie will treat you to something nice."

That afternoon, Shen Jinghan received a contract template from Tianhe Media in his email. The two studied it for a while in the company's small conference room. The terms and conditions were all normal, with no excessive demands. Lu Ze was even more eager to go with them for the later publicity cooperation.

As for the salary, it was 1.5 million yuan before tax. Lu Ze and Shen Jinghan had no objection to this price. For a 38-episode TV series, the average salary was more than 40,000 yuan per episode, which was not bad for a newcomer.

After calculating the tax deductions, the actual remuneration should be a little over 1.21 million after tax, rounded down to 1.2 million. After splitting with the company, 400,000 would end up in Lu Ze's hands.

Lu Ze didn't feel bad about the 800,000 yuan. After all, the company probably spent more than 800,000 yuan to pull strings, and compared to interpersonal relationships, money? It's worthless.

This is the company's initial investment. Newcomers don't get paid much, so losses are inevitable. They don't take a large cut, so they're just throwing money into the company.

The contract template was printed out, Lu Ze signed it, the company stamped it with its official seal, and then the company's administrative staff went to Tianhe Media to get their signature and seal, and then brought back a copy for safekeeping. The contract was then officially effective.

And so, Lu Ze's debut role was decided.

Everyone else is an escort! I'm begging! I'm begging for recommendations! I'm begging for favorites! I'm begging for donations!



(End of this chapter)