Audition

At the time, Chu Yilan was reading documents in his study when he heard three knocks at the door.

He did not need to guess who it was.

"Come in."

Shen Lian pushed the door open and produced a bunch of golden daisies from behind his back. "What do you think of this color?"

Chu Yilan did not answer.

Knowing his temperament, Shen Lian was not annoyed. He found a vase and arranged the flowers himself, then told Chu Yilan how things had gone that day. "Everything went smoothly. The audition is in three days, and I'll need about half a month to prepare before joining the production."

"Mm," Chu Yilan replied.

Shen Lian said softly, "Which means that in half a month, you won't get to see me for a long time."

Chu Yilan said nothing.

Amid the silence, Chu Yilan looked up, a little exasperated. "Shen Lian, what makes you think I'm so clingy?"

Shen Lian only smiled. "Fine, I'm the clingy one."

Man, remember what you just said!

Hu Kailan did not dare arrange any other work for Shen Lian, afraid it would distract him. Although he had swallowed his pride to secure the fourth male lead in Silent Words for Shen Lian, and Shen Lian had given him his word, he still worried that Shen Lian would ruin his reputation.

Jiang You kept sharing acting tips and short videos on WeChat, but Shen Lian remained unmoved. It seemed as though the whole world was anxious while he alone leisurely watered the flowers on the balcony.

Chu Yilan did not say anything outright, but he turned around and instructed his subordinates that, if necessary, they could invest in Silent Words...

In Chu Yilan's eyes, it was no big deal if Shen Lian was a little lazy or a lousy actor.

On the day of the audition, Jiang You drove over early.

She had already passed her interview and kept Hu Kailan's instructions firmly in mind.

"Oh, your whole vibe's changed?" Shen Lian teased after getting into the car. "You're starting to feel like a top-tier assistant."

Jiang You's face instantly reddened. "Stop flattering me, Shen."

Shen Lian had given Jiang You this opportunity. Xingkai was far better than Xingtu, and the people in her old group chat who had watched her troubles for entertainment were grinding their teeth with envy after learning she had followed Shen Lian to Xingkai. Jiang You was determined to prove herself!

The actors already chosen for the leading roles did not need to attend the audition, including Zheng Ge. The remaining roles with screen time and dialogue still needed to be vetted.

In fact, Shen Lian probably did not need to come either. Hu Kailan had insisted, hoping to put him under a little pressure so he would work hard.

Silent Words was a period drama with parallel storylines of political intrigue and the martial world. Its protagonist was the son of a chancellor, once unrivaled in his noble elegance. After his family was destroyed, he wandered the martial world to clear their name, growing as he evaded those hunting him. In the end, he returned to official service and became a celebrated statesman.

Shen Lian played the fourth male lead, a hound of the imperial court who hunted the protagonist.

Shen Lian said he liked the role's positioning very much.

Behind a long stretch of glass windows, the director and several screenwriters had watched so many auditions they had gone numb.

Sure enough, finding even one outstanding performer among a hundred supporting actors was already a good result. Between personal favors and investors, plenty of hopeless misfits were shoehorned into any production.

So when Shen Lian took his turn, director Dai Tong was rubbing his face. The other screenwriters looked equally listless, their eyes dull.

Shen Lian accepted the script with his usual calm. This was an on-the-spot performance: he was to act out the scene in which he first chased the protagonist to the edge of a cliff.

The expressions were all annotated, but an actor of average ability would struggle to convey the progression of emotions.

Shen Lian mounted the wooden prop horse.

One of the producers leaned back in his chair, intending to rest his eyes. He had suffered through an entire morning of this. Give him a break.

Hu Kailan arrived just in time and patted Jiang You's shoulder. "How's it going?"

Jiang You startled, then hurriedly answered when she saw who it was. "Hu, they're just about to start."

Hu Kailan nodded, watching the audition hall nervously. Shen Lian, just give a reasonably normal performance. That's all I ask.

After seeing Shen Lian nod, a staff member called out loudly, "Scene one hundred and three. Action!"

Shen Lian's setup was actually rather ridiculous. He sat on a wooden prop horse with nothing in front of him, making for quite a comical sight.

But Shen Lian closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his entire demeanor had changed.

A sinister edge seeped from his eyes. Seeing the chancellor's son, once so illustrious, reduced to this state filled the young hound of the court with immense satisfaction.

Shen Lian even swayed twice. One screenwriter abruptly sat upright, realizing that he was mimicking the movement of a rider's body as a horse walked.

The screenwriter patted director Dai Tong's arm.

"Retribution?" Shen Lian delivered the line with mockery and excitement, like a vicious dog baring its fangs. "What is retribution? Your Lin Clan occupied lofty positions it never deserved. When your short-lived father headed the Court of Judicial Review, could he claim he had never wrongfully convicted a single person?"

The young man tipped his head back and laughed. The joy of finally exacting his long-awaited revenge flooded his eyes, without the slightest hint of a petty man gloating over his success.

Li Kuan, the character Shen Lian played, was sinister and ruthless, but he was no fool.

He had become a company commander in the Embroidered Uniform Guard at just twenty, holding a primary sixth-rank post. Naturally, he possessed considerable intelligence and strategic skill.

Shen Lian had studied the character and felt there was still plenty to explore. But he could not bring that up with the director-that would be presumptuous. He could only use this opportunity to act it out and see what the director chose to keep.

"Li Kuan" abruptly stopped smiling and stared ahead with a dark expression. There stood the protagonist, his enemy, a descendant of the guilty family whose blood he had spent more than a decade of sleepless nights longing to spill himself. He raised a hand and, in a low voice that seemed intent on severing his nightmares and shackles, said, "Kill them!"

At some point, director Dai Tong had risen to his feet. He watched Shen Lian with his arms folded and his brows tightly furrowed, yet excitement flickered in his eyes.

When the fighting ended, "Li Kuan's" expression suddenly changed. He dismounted and rushed to the cliff's edge. As he looked down, an impenetrable darkness filled his eyes. "Search! I want them alive, or I want their bodies!"

Finally, he slowly lifted his head and looked toward the people behind the glass. The chilling ferocity in his eyes made even the director shudder.

Li Kuan! This was Li Kuan!

With his lines finished, Shen Lian exhaled, gradually shedding the character's aura. Then he grinned at the director, once again looking as though he cared about nothing, yet was utterly dependable.

"That's Shen Lian?!" Dai Tong asked the assistant director.

That's Shen Lian??? Hu Kailan asked himself.

Jiang You was now an unabashed Shen Lian fan. "My Shen is incredible!"

Shen Lian emerged from the audition hall with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face. He was just about to say something when someone grabbed his arm.

"Shen Lian?" The man looked about twenty-four or twenty-five. His face was somewhat square, his complexion fair, and his features attractive, yet there was something vaguely unpleasant about him overall.

Wei Fanchen. Shen Lian placed him. He was another obscure minor actor, hardly worth mentioning, but he was also one of the hordes chasing after Zhou Tangsi.

They could rename this production "The Backup Lovers' Reunion," Shen Lian thought mockingly. Watching Zheng Ge get jealous every day must give Zhou Tangsi quite a sense of accomplishment, huh?

If you're sick, book a doctor's appointment.

Shen Lian lowered his eyes. "Let go."

Wei Fanchen froze, staring at Shen Lian, who seemed like an entirely different person from before.

Suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed through Shen Lian's temple. Unfamiliar images flashed through his mind: a mountain villa, a raging fire. Amid billowing smoke, he seemed to see, through the original owner's eyes, a figure fleeing in panic.

"Get lost!" Shen Lian's disgust peaked. He knocked Wei Fanchen away with one hand and pressed the other to his temple, staggering back two steps.

"Shen!"

"Shen Lian!"

Hu Kailan and Jiang You hurried forward.