Getting Through the First Round

"Number 1005, Sean Shen! Nine Koi Media!" Inside, the second courtyard starts calling numbers again.

"Here here here!" A tall, handsome young man trots cheerfully all the way into the corridor leading to the next courtyard, wearing the same style of advertising T-shirt as the Dragon Dreams crew, except the fancy colours and exaggerated fonts were even worse than what Chow Mingrun had picked. He is probably some unknown starlet signed by some obscure little studio.

"Sean-Shen, that's quite an unusual name." Chestnut said.

"Look how interesting and striking this youngster is! From his clothes to the way he trots about, he looks just like a fancy peacock. I knew I had made the right choice for our outfit today. With so many people coming to the audition, how can you get King Guan to give you a look without dressing so conspicuously? Look, every one of them is dressed more over the top than we are!"

As Chow Mingrun chatters on, most of the members of the few popular girl groups who has just entered walked out looking indignant.

"It seems that the film doesn't need so many women." Stephen concludes, but before his words have a chance to stick in everyone's mind, several boy bands have fallen to the same fate. For the half hour they watched, various pretty boys lined up, walked in on the red carpet looking confident and then walked out with their heads hung low.

"All I can say is that King Guan doesn't think much of idols, otherwise based on their looks alone, these people would have gotten their chance!" Waylon speaks with a touch of trepidation in his voice.

"If this second master Guan hasn't completely succumbed to commercial interests, and still remembers that KGE's predecessor, Beijing Film Studio, as the patriarch of the domestic entertainment industry, had created so many masterpieces, and can focus its consideration more on the actual level and strength of the actors, rather than just on popularity among the fans, then you guys don't have to worry too much. I believe in your talent in acting."

Seeing the popular internet traffic stars constantly being eliminated from the audition scene, Yuan Ge becomes somewhat curious about this legendary Arthur Guan. He wonders what Fat Chow means when he said that young Master Guan had asked to see him specifically, whether he really intended to recruit directors from outside KGE, and how the selection of directors would be conducted…

"Well, cheer up, everyone, and stop worrying about ourselves silly! While we are waiting, let's go and do something useful!"

Chow Mingrun looks around and feels confident that he has a good idea of what is going on in the courtyard. He takes out a stack of business cards from his briefcase and waves his hand with a smile, "As you can see, everyone here today is a big shot in the industry. Each of you take 50 of our company's business cards and go around handing them out. If you can get these people to scan the QR code and add us as contacts on TweeChat, that would be even better. We're a new company so we need to take a little initiative to get our names out there."

"Fat Chow, you are so low! I'm not gonna do this!"

Yuan Ge wants no part of his terribly bad idea and refuses without hesitation. The three young actors, however, wants to refuse, but they dare not show it in their actions because they don't want to piss off their boss, so they have no choice but to take the job reluctantly.

It didn't take long for Stephen to work out a sweat. He has to take off his jacket to reveal the humiliating pink advertising T-shirt. Chow Mingrun laughs out loud in his mind when he sees this. "You little brat, you want to outplay me? Just be a good boy and spread the name of Dragon Dreams for us!"

Waylon is also getting sweaty in the crowd and can't help but complain, "Boss, I'm all stinky here, how am I gonna make it to the audition later?"

Chow Mingrun points to the garden hose in the corner and says, "You're from a sporting background anyway, and have such a great body, why don't you just take a shower with that? Hmmm … The wet t-shirt look is sure to attract the attention of the bigwigs …"

Yuan Ge hurriedly interrupts, "Waylon, don't listen to Fat Chow's nonsense. It's not worth losing your dignity over it, and you might be arrested for hooliganism later!"

Chestnut is the only one who didn't complain. She brings out the same hard-working spirit that she had when she sold chestnuts on the street, and with her willingness and sweet talk, she handed out 200 business cards all by herself. She is so hot and sweaty that her hair is stuck in strands, but she didn't care about her image. Yuan Ge sees this and takes it to heart.

"Number 1325, Waylon Song! Dragon Dreams Pictures!"

Everyone goes up to Waylon to cheer him on, "Don't be nervous, buddy, just be yourself. You can do it!"

Having seen him enter the corridor leading to the next courtyard, they begin to wait anxiously, just as the other groups have done.

However, a long time passes and they still haven't seen Waylon come out. Chow Mingrun proclaims excitedly to the team, "It's a good thing he didn't come out! This means our Waylon has made it. He must have managed to get through the round!"

Soon, it was Stephen and Chestnut's turn, and both of them also passed the round without a hitch. Chow Mingrun pats Yuan Ge on the shoulder, couldn't help but congratulate himself once again for his great vision in signing up the right actors and happily accompanies Yuan Ge, the group leader, into the second courtyard.