Audition

Liu Jiawei, serving as an interviewer, looked at Lu Heng encouragingly. He had seen Lu Heng perform with his own eyes and felt that Lu Heng would have no problem.

The other Best Actor, Wang Zhen, also wore an expression as though he were watching a good show. He had heard Liu Jiawei praise Lu Heng to the skies, but he reserved judgment on Liu Jiawei's words. After all, everyone in Hong Kong knew that Liu Jiawei was humble and loved supporting newcomers, so his praise always had to be taken with a grain of salt.

To make things easier for Lu Heng, Wang Zhen volunteered to act opposite him. He would play the old man injured when Fang's drug addiction flared up.

If an ordinary newcomer of fourteen or fifteen had a Best Actor helping with an audition, they would surely be overwhelmed with nervousness. But Lu Heng, who had worked with Wang Zhen many times in his previous life, was not particularly restrained or at a loss.

Lu Heng closed his eyes and began to consider his performance.

A drug craving flared up.

Unlike the ordinary literal understanding of those words, Lu Heng's memories from both lives had left him with an unforgettable impression of them.

His best friend, the person he had admired most, had been destroyed by drugs.

Recalling how Brother Sun had looked when his addiction struck, Lu Heng took a deep breath. His entire body visibly hunched over. The next second, Lu Heng opened his eyes—

"Give me the money." Lu Heng's entire body trembled at an eerie rhythm. His once-straight frame was now sickeningly bent, shuddering as he repeatedly sniffed. A vicious, desperate madness suddenly erupted in his eyes.

"Give me the money! I want money!"

Lu Heng twisted his neck crookedly and repeated through gritted teeth.

"Where's the money?!"

Lu Heng roared and sprang in front of Wang Zhen, grabbing him by the collar. "I said, hand over the money."

For a moment, Wang Zhen was slightly stunned by Lu Heng's almost frighteningly realistic performance. But Wang Zhen was, after all, a veteran actor who had once won the Golden Crow Award for Best Actor.

The instant Lu Heng lunged at him, Wang Zhen shrank his shoulders and hunched his back. The tall, handsome man immediately became a trembling, frail old man. He struggled to hold Lu Heng and mumbled, "Fang, Fang, listen to me. You can't keep taking drugs. You have to find a way—"

"Stop nagging me!" Lu Heng violently shoved his grandfather away and screamed himself hoarse, as if crazed. "All I want is money! Give me money! Give me drugs!"

During the struggle, the grandfather played by Wang Zhen accidentally struck his forehead against the corner of the table. Clutching his bleeding forehead, he collapsed to the floor in pain.

But Fang, in the throes of his addiction, did not notice at all. Trembling, he searched through every drawer and cabinet in the room, every place where money could be hidden. As he searched, he kept sniffing and yawning, his face covered in snot and tears, looking utterly wretched.

At last, Fang found a tiny bit of powder. Treating it like a treasure, he brought it to his nose and inhaled deeply several times. His whole body relaxed as he lay down on the floor, an expression of abnormal bliss appearing on his face.

Then he came to his senses.

He looked at his grandfather, still lying on the floor, staring at him in terror while clutching his forehead, and at his grandmother kneeling beside the old man and weeping softly. Suddenly, he froze.

In his grandparents' eyes, he saw himself at his most ugly and disgraceful.

To get drugs, he had injured the grandfather who had raised him since childhood.

He had become the beast he despised most!

Fang stared blankly at his grandparents. The madness in his eyes gradually subsided. He opened his eyes wide, his disbelief laid bare.

Fang suddenly let out a mournful howl. Grabbing his own hair, he repeatedly slammed himself against the wall, shielding his face with his arm.

The old man played by Wang Zhen trembled as he came forward, trying to stop Fang from hurting himself.

Fang shoved Wang Zhen away and scrambled up from the floor, fleeing out in panic.

With a loud bang, Fang, played by Lu Heng, kicked the door open and rushed out.

Everyone in the audition room was stunned as they stared at the door, which kept shaking after being kicked open with such force.

Author's note: Mini theater—

People in the audition room: Oh my god, this brat kicked the front door broken!

Mai Chengliang: Give him the role! Once filming is over and it's time to pay him, make him compensate for the door. I'm such a genius.

Lu Heng: Nobody told me that door was so expensive.

Wei Xiaogong: It's fine, it's just one door. We can afford to pay for it. I want the whole world to know that I've contracted this door! Kick it however you want! It's fine even if you use your head! ~(￣▽￣~)(~￣▽￣)~

Lu Heng: One of us definitely has! A! PROBLEM! →_→

Lu Heng was especially clever—he blew his nose and wiped away his tears outside before coming back in.

He had gotten too deeply into character during the audition, and a faint flush still lingered at the corners of Lu Heng's eyes and the tip of his nose. Director Mai Chengliang looked at him with great satisfaction, but the first thing he said was, "Can you understand Hong Kong dialect?"

During the audition just now, Wang Zhen had spoken Mandarin to accommodate Lu Heng's performance. But during the actual shoot, the entire crew certainly would not be so accommodating. Therefore, it would be best if Lu Heng could speak Hong Kong dialect during filming. At the very least, he had to be able to understand it.

Lu Heng was slightly taken aback, then immediately nodded. "I can understand it."

After filming so many Hong Kong martial arts movies in his previous life, how could he possibly not understand Hong Kong dialect? It was true, however, that he was not very good at speaking it. For one thing, most of the films he acted in were martial arts films, so there was no need for that much dialogue. For another, Lu Heng's box office results spoke for themselves. Even if he could not speak Hong Kong dialect, plenty of investors and producers still came looking for him to make movies. Everyone could understand Mandarin anyway. During filming, people generally spoke their own languages, and the final cut could be dubbed as needed.

Come to think of it, Lu Heng's talent for languages really was not very good. He had practiced for years before he barely managed to get rid of that strong northeastern accent in his Mandarin.

Back then, to break into Hollywood and secure the third male lead in Director Smith's new film, Huaxia Imperial Entertainment had hired Lu Heng so many English teachers and even sent him to Hollywood at company expense to experience life. Yet Lu Heng's English still retained an intensely local flavor, driving his management team and English teachers to the brink of collapse.