Page 8

The debt of saving his life, compounded by the debt of raising him—after learning the truth, Chu Hengyi ultimately could not bear to hold the Chu family accountable. Even after the Ye family went bankrupt and collapsed, he continued living in loving harmony with the three members of the Chu family. He supported Chu Jianguo and his wife in their old age and saw them through their final days, becoming Chu Qingyi's greatest support as he rose to fame in the entertainment industry and married into a wealthy family.

What a moving, saintly fool!

Ye Mingzhao curled his lips in mockery. A fool who took a thief for his father actually had the nerve to seek revenge on the Ye family?

No matter how coldly the Ye family had treated him, they had still ensured that he was clothed and fed, and properly raised and educated him into a capable man.

Wasn't the only reason Chu Hengyi had the confidence to take revenge on the Ye family because he had spent ten years there before his rebirth, receiving the devoted guidance of every member of the Ye family? Yet after being reborn, he had exploited the Ye family's trust and lack of guard, ruthlessly selling their secrets to others?

Taking a thief for his father, unable to distinguish right from wrong. The original novel said that Chu Hengyi was a man of loyalty and sentiment, which was why, after being betrayed by the Ye family, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to treating the Chu family well.

But if Chu Hengyi had learned in advance that the reason he had ended up like that in his previous life was entirely the work of his wonderful father, would he still have been as filial, obedient, and tirelessly dutiful as the book described?

"This really is fascinating." The more Ye Mingzhao thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed. His gaze lingered tenderly on Chu Qingyi, whose face was pale and who looked ready to collapse or faint on the spot, but the face that surfaced in his mind was Chu Hengyi's dark expression.

Didn't he want revenge on him? To leave him with nothing, abandoned by everyone, his family destroyed and his loved ones dead? Didn't he want to see him lose the family he loved most, as well as the Ye Corporation, and be consumed by unbearable pain?

As it happened, he wanted exactly the same thing.

Ye Mingzhao smiled meaningfully. Since Chu Hengyi wanted so badly to play a game of eye for an eye with him, then of course he would play it to the very end!

He snapped his fingers at the wide-eyed Chu Qingyi and kindly reminded him, "Have you figured out what you're going to say?"

Without waiting for Chu Qingyi to respond, Ye Mingzhao said eagerly, "Wait for me here. Don't wander off. I'm going inside for an audition, and once I'm done with business, I'll take you back to the Ye family."

"Aren't you terribly worried about your Brother Hengyi? Tonight, I'll take you to see him. You can see for yourself whether he's living well with the Ye family, then tell him your Chu family's little secret to his face. Isn't that arrangement a wonderful surprise?"

Chapter 7

Although Yu Mingze, the creator himself, had repeatedly disparaged the role of the second male lead in Beggar Prince in front of Ye Mingzhao, in reality, this villainous role—beautiful, powerful, tragic, and offering plenty of room for performance—was highly sought after.

Ye Mingzhao waited in the hallway for more than two full hours before he was finally called into the audition room.

The moment he entered, Yu Mingze, seated among the interviewers, winked and gestured at him. "Begin."

He motioned for the assistant director to hand Ye Mingzhao the scene he would be auditioning for. "You have five minutes to prepare. I'll act opposite you myself!"

Ye Mingzhao had already read the entire script on the plane. Taking the two A4 sheets handed over by the assistant director, he carefully looked them over once, then nodded to the row of interviewers. "Teachers, I'm ready."

The scene Ye Mingzhao was auditioning for was the most intense major scene before the finale—after killing the male lead's parents, then silencing his fiancée and her lover, who knew the truth, the second male lead, Fu Shen, finally got his wish and took over the identity of the male lead, Gu Mingchao. Yet at the crucial moment when he was about to inherit the Gu family's assets, the male lead burst into the press conference for Gu Corporation's chairman appointment ceremony with the rest of the main cast and the police.

Before the media, the major shareholders, and the directors of Gu Corporation, the male lead not only exposed Fu Shen's true identity, but also revealed all the crimes Fu Shen had committed.

With the evidence conclusive, Fu Shen faced at least life imprisonment, or perhaps the even harsher death penalty. The life he had dreamed of was about to become reality, yet he had fallen heavily from heaven into hell. Even his blood relatives had sided with the male lead against him. Fu Shen could not understand it. Why were even his family unwilling to help him? Why did they even hinder him in order to help the male lead?

He had worked so hard for so long to become someone above others, only to be knocked back to square one at the very moment he was about to succeed. Betrayed by all, left with nothing.

Fu Shen fell into complete despair. Before everyone's eyes, he brazenly tore off the mask he had always worn and revealed his selfish, self-serving true face. In utter madness, he railed against the unfairness of fate, made every possible excuse for his crimes, then burst into tears when the cold handcuffs closed around his wrists, regretting and repenting. In the end, he was dragged away like a lump of mud.

It had to be said that Yu Mingze had truly gone to great lengths to dispel Ye Mingzhao's desire to play a villain.

A scene with such explosive intensity was a major challenge that even veteran actors with extensive experience would need to prepare thoroughly for.

Yet Yu Mingze had asked a complete newcomer with no experience to audition for such an important scene without any preparation at all. His intention to make things difficult could not have been more obvious.

The other interviewers all felt sympathy for Ye Mingzhao. Of course, they did not hold much hope for his performance either. They already knew Ye Mingzhao was merely an amateur with no acting experience. Under normal circumstances, someone like that might not even be able to make normal facial expressions the first time they faced a camera, much less perform as though no one else were present.

"Begin." The director scratched at his brow and listlessly picked up Ye Mingzhao's résumé to look through it. In truth, he had no intention of seriously watching Ye Mingzhao's performance, which would most likely be painful to witness.

Unexpectedly, the instant the director lowered his head, a low, unhurried voice—almost luxuriantly beautiful—caught his ear.

"What did I do wrong?" The soft, gentle voice brushed past everyone's ears like a venomous snake slithering through the grass, making goosebumps rise uncontrollably all over their bodies.

The interviewers abruptly looked up. The handsome, dashing man was still standing where he had been, his face maintaining an innocent, radiant smile. Only his eyes had turned deep and black, like an icy pool with no visible bottom, a faint gleam flashing through them and vanishing in an instant.

How could one describe the smile on his face? Its curve was perfect, flawless, yet it made their hearts race. Like a doll from a horrifying nursery rhyme, the more innocent it looked, the more terrifying it became; the sweeter it seemed, the more chilling it was.

"I shouldn't have softened my heart and let you go back then." Ye Mingzhao strolled forward, step by step approaching the line of interviewers. His black-pearl eyes stared directly into Yu Mingze's, reflecting an inorganic chill beneath the lights.

Ye Mingzhao slowly leaned forward from the waist, like a lover whispering—or a venomous snake flicking its tongue. His soft voice was silky and elegant. "I should have killed you outright, tied stones to your corpse, and thrown it into the high seas. Then you would never have had another chance to ruin my plans."

Yu Mingze's gaze met Ye Mingzhao's eyes, and his mind suddenly went blank.

When he said that the male lead of this drama had been written with Ye Mingzhao as the prototype, and when he firmly insisted that Ye Mingzhao could not play the calculating, sinister, ruthless second male lead, it was not because he looked down on Ye Mingzhao's acting ability. It was because, in his mind, Ye Mingzhao had always been elegant, gentle, intelligent, humble, kind, sincere, humorous, sly, innocent, and exceptionally understanding.

They had known each other for eighteen years. In Yu Mingze's heart, Ye Mingzhao's nature was pure white. His environment had always been so privileged, and the people he had encountered had always been so refined. Like a flower that had grown in a greenhouse all its life, how could he possibly understand that people like Fu Shen existed in this world—sinister, cunning, greedy, vicious people who constantly wanted to steal someone else's life in order to gain wealth and happiness?

No, more precisely, Yu Mingze was not worried about Ye Mingzhao's ability to understand. Ye Mingzhao was a graduate of New Sea University's finance department, a genius who had graduated from university at twenty. How could his reading comprehension possibly be a problem? It was simply that the industry had never lacked those "professionally trained actors" who could speak eloquently when analyzing a character and write polished character biographies and script analyses, only to act like complete garbage when actually asked to perform.