Page 6

Yu Mingze glanced at him. "Do your audition. Don't mind me."

With that, he walked over and sat beside Director Qi. After patiently waiting for the other man to finish performing, he lowered his voice and whispered, "Director Qi, let me introduce someone. He'll be auditioning for the second male lead later."

Yu Mingze was the screenwriter and producer of this drama. Director Qi frowned slightly at the prospect of him slipping someone into the cast, but it was hard to refuse him outright. He merely said, "Anyone you favor must be a good performer."

"Not at all!" Yu Mingze gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "I wanted him to play the male lead, but he insisted on the second male lead. Help me out later and give him a more difficult scene."

Director Qi looked at Yu Mingze in surprise.

The actor who had just auditioned also recognized Yu Mingze. He spoke excitedly, "Are you Mr. Yu? I especially love your Tales in the Wind and Lament Beneath the Moon. I was fortunate enough to come audition for Beggar Prince this time, and my greatest wish was to meet you. Could you give me an autograph?"

Yu Mingze was entirely preoccupied with how to dissuade Ye Mingzhao from playing the second male lead and had not paid attention to what the actor said. Hearing this, he only nodded perfunctorily and replied, "Thank you for liking my work. Next."

The excitement on the actor's face faltered slightly. Before the assistant standing nearby could ask him to leave, he added, "My name is Chu Qingyi. I'm a third-year student in the Finance Department at New Sea University. I came to audition for the male lead of Beggar Prince because I feel this character is somewhat similar to me..."

When Yu Mingze heard that the actor was a Finance student from New Sea University, he instinctively looked up at him. At that glance, Yu Mingze froze slightly. The young man before him had delicate features and an innocent air. He wore a white three-piece suit with a black bow tie at his neck. As he spoke, he even bore a slight resemblance to Ye Mingzhao—

Of course, only a slight resemblance. A closer look made it clear that he was nowhere near as exquisitely handsome as Ye Mingzhao, nor did he possess Ye Mingzhao's effortless poise. Even his suit looked like a cheap imitation tailored for a few hundred yuan.

At first glance, he did fit the description of Beggar Prince's male lead, but the resemblance did not hold up under scrutiny.

Yu Mingze frowned almost imperceptibly, suppressing the sudden sense of discord, and politely praised him. "It seems you put a lot of thought into this."

Before Chu Qingyi could modestly smile in response, Yu Mingze abruptly changed the subject. "But I'm more curious about one thing. Where did you see the script?"

Filming a television drama was different from posting a novel online. During production and before the work aired, the contents of the script had to be kept strictly confidential. This was to avoid unnecessary disputes before release and prevent losses to the production team. Therefore, one of the first things many principal creators did after receiving the script was sign a confidentiality agreement. In some cases, even actors could not get the complete script during filming.

That was the case even for people involved in the production, let alone an industry outsider with no background or work experience who had merely come to audition.

Yu Mingze was genuinely curious about who had leaked the script's contents to Chu Qingyi. Was that person trying to push Chu Qingyi into becoming the male lead?

They wanted to use his drama to elevate a newcomer, yet were keeping it from him?

As soon as he said that, Chu Qingyi's smile stiffened.

Chapter 5

Ye Mingzhao had been waiting outside for over half an hour when the audition room door opened. A delicate-looking young man walked out, his expression so gloomy it was like a typhoon had just swept through.

Ye Mingzhao noticed almost immediately that the man's outfit was somewhat similar to his own. However, Ye Mingzhao was only wearing a three-piece suit today, without a tie. Two buttons at his shirt collar were undone, revealing his elegant collarbones and a patch of cool, pale skin, lending him even more of a refined yet roguish charm than usual.

Chu Qingyi had clearly noticed Ye Mingzhao standing in the corridor as well. His steps paused slightly, and his gloomy expression swiftly brightened. The corners of his lips lifted as he called out to Ye Mingzhao with an admiring look, "Senior."

At the same moment, Ye Mingzhao curled his lips into a smile and replied warmly, "You are?"

"I'm Chu Qingyi, a third-year student in the Finance Department at New Sea University." Chu Qingyi smiled shyly and deliberately reminded him, "I'm your junior. I also have an older brother named Chu Hengyi."

As he said this, a distinct smile suddenly surfaced on his delicate face. Even his tone carried an unmistakable trace of schadenfreude. "You've probably heard of him, right?"

Understanding dawned on Ye Mingzhao, and the smile on his face grew more genuine. "So you're the younger brother from Chu Hengyi's adoptive family. I heard you and Chu Hengyi are the same age. Which one of you was born earlier in the year?"

The question was practically a tongue twister. Chu Qingyi's smile stiffened slightly, uncertain whether Ye Mingzhao was deliberately mocking him. His smile faded as he said softly, "I don't know either. I've always called him Brother Hengyi."

Thinking of Chu Hengyi's nearly six-foot-three height, Ye Mingzhao nodded with a smile. "No wonder. He does look rather mature. The Chu family must have treated him very well, right?"

At Ye Mingzhao's words, Chu Qingyi's eyes suddenly reddened, and his voice caught slightly. "Has Brother Hengyi been well lately? We all miss him very much."

"...He's alive and well," Ye Mingzhao said, unable to hold back a laugh. He teased him with a playful expression, "Could you please not say you miss him in such a mournful, memorial-like tone?" It made him inexplicably want to bow three times.

Chu Hengyi's deadpan, lifeless face suddenly flashed through his mind, and Ye Mingzhao laughed even more heartily.

Ye Mingzhao's words lodged in Chu Qingyi's chest, making his eyes redden further. "Senior, please stop teasing me. Everyone in our family truly worries about Brother Hengyi."

"When we learned that Brother Hengyi was the Ye family's third young master who went missing all those years ago, our whole family was happy for him. The Ye family is so wealthy. Now that Brother Hengyi has returned to the Ye family, he'll surely live a good life."

"Yes!" Ye Mingzhao agreed generously. "It's just a pity they were reunited eighteen years too late."

At that, Ye Mingzhao looked at Chu Qingyi and finally asked the question he had been wondering about for a long time. "Why didn't your parents call the police when they found Chu Hengyi back then?"

They had found a child! Not a stray cat or dog. How could they not call the police and simply raise him themselves? The key was that they had not even raised him well!

Chu Qingyi's expression changed, and he looked as though he were on the verge of tears. "Why would you say that, Senior? Are you blaming my parents? Do the Ye family all think the same way?"

Chu Qingyi had asked that question intending to retreat in order to advance and shut Ye Mingzhao up. Yet Ye Mingzhao nodded with complete frankness. "Yes! With the Ye family's efforts to find him, if your esteemed parents had gone to the police the moment they found Chu Hengyi, he would have returned to the Ye family long ago. He wouldn't have suffered for so many years, and your Chu family could have received a substantial reward instead of struggling for all these years."

Ye Mingzhao sighed. "I heard he stopped going to school after graduating from middle school. To pay for his adoptive parents' medical treatment and support his younger brother's education, he even fought matches in underground boxing rings?"

Chu Qingyi looked uncomfortable. "Brother Hengyi really is very sensible. Our Chu family owes him far too much. But I cannot agree with what you just said, Senior. My parents adopted Brother Hengyi entirely out of kindness. They never intended to profit from him—"

"Don't be in such a hurry." Ye Mingzhao smiled and waved a hand. Chu Qingyi had assumed that Ye Mingzhao would comfort him, but Ye Mingzhao abruptly turned the conversation back around. "So why didn't your parents call the police back then?"

Chu Qingyi: "..."

Chu Qingyi could no longer maintain the smile on his face. He looked coldly at Ye Mingzhao, his gaze full of hostility. "Don't take things too far, Ye family. No matter what, Brother Hengyi was raised by my parents through great hardship. The Ye family may disregard my parents' kindness in raising him, but please don't make good people lose heart."