Huayu, my cheat code is a bit strange.

Chapter 42 Filming Begins with Waiting (Please read on, recommend, and do whatever you want!)

Gu Xiao glanced at the tightly closed shed door, then at the anxious or numb waiting crowd around her, and chose to obey from the bottom of her heart.

He found an empty folding stool on the outskirts of the crowd, sat down, placed his backpack on his knees, and waited silently.

Occasionally, the shed door would open, and some people would walk in excitedly, while others would walk out expressionlessly.

Ten minutes, half an hour, an hour
Gu Xiao's initial trepidation gradually turned into anger, and eventually, like everyone else around her, she became completely numb.

Just as he was about to be driven to the brink of collapse by this endless waiting, a huge commotion finally came from inside the shed.

Gu Xiao's spirits lifted, and she subconsciously straightened her back.

However, hope was quickly dashed.

It wasn't an audition; instead, several staff members dressed in black cotton-padded coats set up a ladder and began replacing the main light near the door of the studio.

The huge tungsten filament bulb lit up, reflecting Gu Xiao's dejected expression.

He watched helplessly as those figures moved between the studio and the trucks parked to the side.

During this time, someone was seen carrying two large boxes of mineral water and a whole box of braised beef noodles off another truck.

The most glaring thing was a driver in the corner, brazenly using a plastic hose to siphon oil from the truck's fuel tank!

The surrounding staff seemed to ignore it, as if it were the most normal thing in the world!
Help!
Gu Xiao screamed silently in her heart, feeling as if her rationality was being ground to dust.

No wonder Huo Xuan said he didn't understand what a "professional actor" was.

This isn't about the actors; it's a roundabout way of talking about the entire production crew...

More than an hour passed before we knew it.

Just when Gu Xiao felt that her patience and rationality were about to run out, the shed door opened again.

This time, instead of an auditionee, a young female assistant wearing black-rimmed glasses and holding a folder appeared.

She glanced around at the waiting crowd outside and called out in a clear voice:
"Is Gu Xiao, Ouyang Yujian's auditionee, here?"

"exist!"

Gu Xiao jumped up from the folding stool almost instantly, her legs even staggering a little from sitting for so long.

The female assistant looked him up and down for a moment, her gaze lingering for a fleeting instant on his unusually youthful face. She seemed somewhat surprised, but quickly regained her professional demeanor and stepped aside to make way for him.

"Come in with me."

"OK, thanks."

Gu Xiao quickly composed herself and followed her female assistant into the studio.

……

……

The studio isn't very big; it's roughly the size of an elongated basketball court.

The mottled gray cement walls are covered with various electrical boxes and cables, and looking up, there are silver trusses with several sets of large, unlit film and television lights hanging from them.

Contrary to expectations of noise, the shed was eerily quiet.

Although the surrounding area was full of staff, there was not much discussion, and the occasional whispers were suppressed to a minimum.

An invisible pressure permeated the air, as if even breathing required conscious control.

Gu Xiao's gaze passed over the silent, busy figures and landed in the center of the shed.

The place was temporarily set up to resemble a study from the Republican era.

The deep red solid wood bookcase, the brass desk lamp, and the desk covered with green velvet—every detail exudes a meticulously restored sense of the era.

Inside the study, a man and a woman were rehearsing a scene. The man was wearing a crisp, dark-colored Zhongshan suit, while the woman wore an elegant printed cheongsam. The two were passionately acting out the script in their hands.

"You can't keep going like this! This family will fall apart!" The woman's voice trembled as she cried.

"I know what I'm doing! It's none of your business to tell me what to do!" The man swung his arm sharply, his tone forceful, and veins bulging on his forehead.

Every expression and every line they uttered carried intense dramatic tension, echoing in the silent studio.

Gu Xiao stood in the shadows at the entrance, momentarily stunned.

This was the first time he had watched a professional actor perform so closely, and the infectious power of their wholehearted immersion was completely different from the experience of watching a movie.

After observing for a while, Gu Xiao felt that she had secretly learned most of the techniques. Then, she looked past the performance area and towards the front.

There, several ordinary wooden tables were pieced together to form a makeshift long table, behind which sat four people.

The man in the center, wearing a dark brown leather jacket and slightly overweight, is producer You Jianming.

He leaned forward slightly, intently observing the performance in front of him, occasionally turning his head to whisper a few words to the young man sitting to his left.

The young man was wearing a gray wool sweater, with thick black eyebrows and a square face. His slightly plump face did not reveal much emotion. He was just staring intently at the performance area, occasionally nodding slightly, but spending most of his time observing the monitor next to him.

Gu Xiao understood and roughly guessed the young man's identity. Just as she was about to activate her spiritual vision to observe him more closely, her arm was suddenly gently tugged from the side. "Don't stand here."

The female assistant pointed to a plastic stool in the corner of the studio and said in a cold voice, "Go wait there."

Gu Xiao's expression was blank. "Are you serious?"

The female assistant was taken aback, seemingly not expecting to be asked a question in return. She raised her eyebrows slightly and said, "If you don't want to wait, you can just leave."

Gu Xiao glanced at her quietly, then walked silently to that secluded corner and sat down on a blue plastic stool.

This time, he didn't wait silently; he immediately activated his spiritual senses to gather information from his surroundings.

In an instant, countless subtle sounds flooded his mind like a tide, and were quickly categorized.

In the performance area, the sounds of male and female actors reciting their lines, the subtle metallic clanging of the lighting technicians adjusting their rigs, the rustling of the script supervisors writing on paper, and even the sound of someone quietly yawning from exhaustion in a corner, all seemed to be ringing in his ears.

Gu Xiao's attention was first drawn to the female assistant standing next to the photographer, whose complaints were clearly audible:
"He's never acted before, but he's got quite the airs. He's sitting there picking and choosing, like he's Andy Lau. This young guy doesn't understand manners at all. Does he really think he can act just because he's good-looking?"

After listening for a while and finding it was all similar junk information, he turned his attention to the real decision-makers in the studio.

You Jianming was having a quiet conversation with a composed young man beside him.

"Her figure is terrible, she's not good-looking either, and she wears the cheongsam poorly."

You Jianming's voice was undisguisedly critical.

"But she's a good actress and has a great presence on camera, so she can give it another try."

The young man responded calmly, attempting to persuade the other party.

You Jianming shook his head, his tone resolute.

"I'm filming a love story, so looks are the most important thing."

The young director frowned, seemingly not entirely agreeing, but ultimately said nothing more.

Gu Xiao silently withdrew her spiritual senses, understanding dawning on her.

……

……

Time passed quietly, and after another half hour, You Jianming finally raised his head, his gaze sweeping across the entire room before finally landing on the corner where Gu Xiao was.

"Gu Xiao".

You Jianming's voice sounded exceptionally clear in the empty photography studio.

"exist."

Gu Xiao calmly got up and walked towards the performance area without saying a word.

Looking at the still relaxed young man in the center of the light, You Jianming smiled with amusement. "Have you been waiting long?"

Gu Xiao nodded gently and said frankly, "A little."

The blunt answer caused the atmosphere to freeze momentarily.

The female assistant, who was not far away, glanced at him, slightly curled her lip, and made no attempt to hide her disdain.

Even the young man in the gray wool sweater next to You Jianming glanced at him upon hearing this.

Yu Jianming himself didn't take it to heart, and instead smiled and comforted her, saying, "Try to understand, that's how auditions are."

He leaned forward slightly and got to the point, "Have you read the scripts?"

"I've seen it." Gu Xiao nodded.

"Then let's get started."

This time, it was the young man in the gray sweater who spoke; his voice was hoarse from overuse.
"You'll be playing the scene where Ouyang Yujian first visits the Jin family and argues with Jin Yanxi. The audition teacher will take you through the scene, and you should pay attention to the lighting, camera angles, and markings."

"No need," Gu Xiao calmly interrupted him.

The young man's words abruptly stopped, as if he hadn't heard clearly, and he subconsciously asked, "What?"

Gu Xiao met his gaze and clearly repeated, "No need, just start acting."

His gaze swept almost imperceptibly over the female assistant who was about to step forward, and he said with a half-smile:

"I'm not Andy Lau, I don't have the right to take up too much of everyone's time. So..."

He turned to Yu Jianming and the director, his tone returning to its previous calm, "Let's begin."

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(End of this chapter)