Chapter 76: CH 73

As one of the most famous and influential directors in China today, Chu Quan had almost a perverted desire to control the movies he wanted to make. No investors were allowed to dictate on his set, let alone forcing any artist to enter his crew.

He was able to do this, in addition to his own talents, because of the strong family background behind him which allowed him to do whatever he wanted.

Chu Quan only shot the films he wanted to make and used films to express his views on people and things. He could very well combine the two factors of art and business. The films he made with serious themes were both thought-provoking and made the audience willing to spend money to go to the cinema without feeling that the ticket price was not worth it.

Therefore, among so many directors in China, there was only one Chu Quan who could win the Edwardian Academy Award.

In today’s era when stars were measured by traffic, some big traffic figures didn’t treat the director with as much respect as they used to, and even pointed fingers at the director, telling him how to shoot the show, who would have more scenes, and there were always endless opinions, as if they were the directors.

With Chu Quan, this situation did not work at all.

If you have any comments, you can put it forward, and he will adopt the suggestion immediately, but you couldn’t play a big name in his crew.

Who dared to play big names? Director Chu was bigger than any celebrity and has a bigger temper than any celebrity. If you provoked him, he would ask you to clean out your baggage in minutes, believe it or not.

When one arrived at the realm of the Director Chu, it was the dragon who was holding on to him, and the tiger was lying on his stomach[1]. Lan Ce, who was so arrogantly looking down his nose at people just now, saw Chu Quan coming, and it immediately seemed as if he had been replaced by someone’s soul. He said hello to Director Chu respectfully.

Chu Quan glanced at Lan Ce faintly, ignored him, walked straight to Yu Siyang, patted his shoulder, and smiled: “You kid, originally refused to act in my youth film, which caused me to stop that project. Take a look, this time you’re not going around, and have to make my movie.”

Yu Siyang thought and thought, but he didn’t know how to answer Chu Quan, so he went with silence was golden.

“Director Chu, you really don’t know who carries which pot.” Luo Peng rolled his eyes in anger.

He didn’t believe that Brother Xiaofeng didn’t tell Director Chu about Xiaoyu’s situation. Director Chu really sprinkled salt on people’s wounds. At the beginning, Xiaoyu’s family situation was so good, and the child only wanted to be a student. What was meant by “harming him” and “Stopping that project”, this was simply retaliation, there was no reason to want to inflict crimes.

Chu Quan touched his nose awkwardly. Thinking of what he had just said, it was indeed a bit like bullying. He hurriedly apologized: “Sorry, I didn’t mean that. I am not very good at talking. Don’t take it to your heart.”

“It’s okay.” Yu Siyang smiled and shook his head.

Before coming, Wei Xiaofeng had told them that Chu Quan had a straightforward temperament, and even complained, “If it weren’t for his hard background, he would offend someone’s character with just his mouth, and he would be sacked and beaten by someone else.”

“That’s OK, when Lao Zhan arrives, you will try out with Teacher Lin first.” Chu Quan took the script in Yu Siyang’s hand, turned to one of the pages, and said, “This is the paragraph. It happens to be the three of you together. It would save trouble and time.”

Yu Siyang saw that Chu Quan was referring to a scene in which “Xie An and Xie Xuan played chess, while Xie Shi was watching.”

After a while, Zhan Heng came, just like repeating the scene when Lan Ce came just now. The artists of all tiers respectfully screamed “Hello, Brother Zhan.”

“Lao Zhan, come here.” Chu Quan saw Zhan Heng and beckoned to him happily.

Lao Zhan?

Yu Siyang and Luo Peng looked at each other, and at the same time saw a smile in each other’s eyes and thought why this name felt so funny.

“Yo, Lao Chu, and Xiaoyu are whispering.” Zhan Heng came over and waved with a smile, “Xiaoyu, I heard that you have a cold, are you okay now?”

Yu Siyang nodded and said, “Thank you, I’m ready.” He was all ready to make Dongpo pork tonight.

“Brother Zhan.” Lan Ce, who had been cold and not talking to others, also took the initiative to say hello to Zhan Heng.

Zhan Heng didn’t seem to have a good impression of Lan Ce, and he nodded coldly, but he didn’t want to say a word to the other party.

Lan Ce was older than Zhan Heng, and he made his debut earlier than Zhan Heng. In the early years, when Zhan Heng was not ordained, he was ridiculed by Lan Ce. Although he later retaliated, his attitude towards Lan Ce since then had always been so cold and indifferent.

No. Thirty years in Hedong and 30 years in Hexi, Zhan Heng did not have to embarrass Lan Ce now. As long as he showed a cold and dismissive appearance, it was enough for Lan Ce to bear the pot. If there was still a paparazzi hidden here, tomorrow’s headlines would have been “good-looking”[2].

Lan Ce felt embarrassed. He chopped Zhan Heng seventeen or eighteen times in his heart, but he had to put on his signature elegant smile on his face, especially when he watched Yu Siyang with this person After looking at him with a crazy look in his eyes, he also chopped Yu Siyang seventeen or eighteen times in his heart, trying to maintain his demeanour to sit aside and read the script and wait for the audition.

However, he was not as confident in today’s audition as when he came. He originally wanted to try the role of Xie Shi, but just learned that Zhan Heng would also try for Xie Shi. He only prepared specifically for the role of Xie Shi. If he changed the audition role now, it would definitely not be as good as the role that had been practiced for several days in advance.

“The Battle of Fei Shui” was a male-centric drama. In the film, male characters accounted for more than 90% of the screen time. Only a few female characters still played the role of soy sauce[3] in it. Chu Quan arranged the audition meeting within three days. The role-whether it was the protagonist or Xie Shi, all auditioned together, of course, he was the only one who could be so wilful.

After Lin Houzhong, who played the role of Xie An, arrived, Chu Quan asked his assistants to arrange the order and let them enter the audition one by one.

Xu Mumu and the other two artists under Zhang Ting also came to the audition together. When they saw Yu Siyang, the two originally planned to greet him. It was Xu Mumu who caught them. They happened to see Lan Ce embarrassing Yu Siyang. They couldn’t help but be thankful that they didn’t rush over to say hello just then, so they didn’t get involved.

But seeing that later Chu Quan and Zhan Heng both took the initiative to speak to Yu Siyang, and their attitude towards Lan Ce was not very enthusiastic, the two of them regretted it again, and they were ready to go over and say hello again.

This time Xu Mumu didn’t stop these two people. He stopped them just now but didn’t want them to anger Lan Ce. Yu Siyang now had the capital to compete with such predecessors. What was their little transparency? Recklessness will only lead to them becoming cannon fodder.

Seeing that they were both under Sister Ting’s hands, he stopped them for a while, but if this person wanted to die, no one could stop him.

Before the two had time to get close to Yu Siyang, they saw Yu Siyang follow Lin Houzhong and Zhan Heng in the first batch of auditions.

Not to mention the two of them, among the over 100 people waiting for the audition, each one was all surprised.

Why could a newcomer audition with Lin Houzhong and Zhan Heng?

Yu Siyang took the lead to try out the scene of “Xie An Gambling Villa” with Lin Houzhong and Zhan Heng.

The audition room was very simple and empty. Chu Quan and his team’s deputy director, photographer, and screenwriter were sitting behind a long table. The assistant helped move a few chairs, but Lin Houzhong declined it.

“It looks like there is no such chair in the Jin Dynasty.” Lin Houzhong smiled.

“The Jin Dynasty had a small bench, evolved from the Hu bed.” Yu Siyang said.

Lin Houzhong was a little surprised. He didn’t expect this young actor to study the historical background of the film. He even knew a little bit about the sitting equipment at the time, which was rare.

“In this case, let’s sit on the floor.” Lin Houzhong suggested: “I am older, and I can’t stand for a long time.”

Yu Siyang nodded and took the lead to sit cross-legged on the ground.

Lin Houzhong smiled and sat down opposite him.

Zhan Heng sat and protested: “I’m wearing new clothes. They got dirty as soon as I put them on. There will be no new clothes to wear in the future.” What’s important was that Xiaofeng bought this suit for him. It was originally for today. He wanted to show off their affection when he wore it, but he didn’t have time to show off, and the clothes were soiled first, which was simply depressing.

Yu Siyang ignored him and got immersed in the character’s emotions.

“Father, Fu Jian has a strong army which is known to be one million. We only have one hundred thousand troops. How can we win?” Xie Xuan was extremely disturbed when he was on the march, so he came to his father Xie An to ask the plan.

In contrast to Xie Xuan’s anxiety, Xie An was extraordinarily calm and said without panic: “Don’t worry, I already have a plan in my heart.”

After saying this, Xie An stopped talking.

Xie Xuan was immediately anxious. He had already planned, why didn’t he tell him?

He wanted to ask again. It was obvious that his father still had a calm look. He opened his mouth and stopped talking, but he didn’t dare to ask any more. He just turned his gaze to Xie Shi on the side.

Xie Shi received his nephew’s gaze and smiled at his brother: “Brother, what’s the plan? Why don’t you say it, it would be good for my heart.”

Xie An laughed loudly, stood up, and asked the boy to go to the villa with him and his brother. He said to his son: “You two will go to the mountain villa with me today.” After that, he asked the child to tell his relatives and friends to go to the mountain villa to play together.

Xie Xuan and Xie Shi looked at each other and were puzzled.

The enemy was near, so why was father/brother not in a hurry? He still had the mind to go out and play.

But reluctantly, since Xie An was very happy, the two had no choice but to go with him.

There was a Go gambling villa at the end of this paragraph, but Chu Quan had already called to stop, so that the three of them didn’t have to perform anymore and decided on the role of the three.

In fact, this drama mainly allowed Yu Siyang to try out. Zhan Heng and Lin Houzhong had already been ticked off in Chu Quan’s heart, but he still didn’t know much about Yu Siyang’s acting skills, as he only had one movie released, and there was not much to refer. So, the three of them were asked to accompany for a scene together.

Both Zhan Heng and Lin Houzhong came to study with him.

However, Yu Siyang’s acting skills surprised Chu Quan. He didn’t expect him to speculate that the character’s psychology was in place. The character of Xie Xuan, no one else would have to try again.

Yu Siyang made a lot of effort for the script of “The Battle of Fei Shui”, and also found a lot of historical materials for reference, and together with Nong Yuan, he modelled the character of Xie Xuan. Therefore, he got into Xie Xuan’s character. Although the character was very difficult, but he felt that he should be able to get a return for such a great effort.

“Hey, Brother Luo, let’s go to my house for dinner.” Yu Siyang was very happy, and said to Luo Peng when he came out, “I will make Dongpo pork tonight.”

The meatless and unhappy Luo Peng’s eyes lit up and he nodded and nodded again. Nodding, in front of Dongpo’s pork, he had completely forgotten to ask Yu Siyang about the audition.

Zhan Heng heard it, and immediately asked: “Xiaoyu, do me and Xiofeng have a share in it as well?”

Yu Siyang: “…”

Luo Peng: “…”

Even at this time, he could take the opportunity to show off his affection. Zhan Brother, this is going to heaven.