CHAPTER 12

The recording of the show hadn't officially started but the lights had been prepared. They focused on the stage and the mentor seats.

Looking around from Shen Tingyan's perspective, he could only see a piece of darkness. But miraculously, in the piece of darkness, he suddenly saw two small light bulbs blinking.

It was the 60 watt kind.

Feng Wei on the side noticed his gaze and asked with a smile, "What are you looking at?"

"…It's nothing." Shen Tingyan moved his eyes away first.

In the midst of the noise, the chief director's voice came from the speakers. "There are still 10 minutes until recording. Those at the scene, please be quiet and don't talk."

Manpower was dispatched and the large theater soon fell silent.

Most of the 50 participants were nervous. The air conditioning in the studio was sufficient but their palms were still sweaty.

Chang Yun asked quietly, "Which play will be the first to appear?"

He sat in the third row and Xue Xiao was behind him.

Jin Xiaochen nodded to the first row. "They are all sitting there. It is that group of crying solo plays."

This one-man play was taken from a modern movie. The crying scene of the male protagonist in the movie had always been cited as a classic. It was a textbook yet unconventional performance.

Crying scenes had always been considered by many people to be the best proof of an actor's strength and some people here were no exception. As soon as the results of the first round of selection came out that day, a total of five people had chosen it and the degree of collision made them wail.

Chang Yun muttered, "If you call me on stage at this time, I definitely won't be able to cry."

Jiang Lianlian leaned back. "Then I'm different from you. I want to cry now."

Xue Xiao listened from the side and withdrew his gaze from the mentor seats in a dumbfounded manner.

At 8 o'clock sharp, the recording of the first round of the competition officially began.

The host Jiang Quan came to the stage to greet the audience. After reading the opening speech clearly and imposingly, he introduced the four mentors to the audience. At that time, the first contestant to take the stage had been called away and his trembling back was very tragic.

"Let's have the first contestant performing, actor Zhang Jiaqing."

There were exclamations from the audience as behind the stage, the scene of the first play was moved into place and stuck in a fixed position.

Zhang Jiaqing took the stage from the side.

He was wearing a cheap suit which was his custom for the show. He bowed to the audience before turning and striding toward the performance venue.

Then in the center of the stage, a huge screen slowly landed.

The actors performed in the back, the director directed the camera cuts in the background and the music and sound effects were all in place. Finally, the audience was present in real time with a coherent picture on the screen.

Similarly, if the wrong positioning led to a mismatch or the actor made mistakes in their performance, everything would be magnified in front of the audience in real time.

The remaining 49 participants were all holding their breath.

Zhang Jiaqing took the lead and it wasn't known how he would perform.

"Everyone is essentially in a competitive relationship but I still hope he will act better. Otherwise, the remaining people won't be able to control their mentality," Zhao Dong whispered to Xue Xiao.

Xue Xiao recalled it for a moment and said, "He is an artist who has already signed a contract with a company, right?"

Xue Xiao wasn't very familiar with this person but he remembered that all of the signed artists among the 50 participants graduated from an acting school background.

He had graduated from an acting school and had serious acting experience. It shouldn't be impossible for him to cry on stage, right?

It wouldn't be too embarrassing as long as he could cry.

At the same time, the people in the mentor seats weren't idle.

"There are always so many candidates and so many people who fall because of this." Su Shijin sighed.

Feng Wai leaned back, crossing Shen Tingyan to tease Su Shijin. "Teacher Su, you are waiting to watch the show?"

Su Shijin smiled. "Aren't we just watching the show?"

Shen Tingyan put down the performance catalog. He leaned back against the chair with his hands crossed over his chest, idly waiting for the beginning of the play.

Under the expectations of the audience, the subtitles were finally played on the big screen.

Since the first round of performances was a preliminary acting evaluation, the show didn't make the format too complicated. No makeup photos were taken and the opening was the name of the movie in black on a white background.

After a second, the subtitles disappeared and the colorful picture finally appeared.

The four mentors, the entire audience and the remaining 49 participants looked at it seriously.

The location was the lobby of the first floor of an office building and people were coming and going.

The protagonist, Zhang Jiaqing, slowly walked out from the depths in the corridor in front of the corridor. A cheap suit jacket was draped over his arm and he raised a hand to loosen his tie. His face was tired. He saw the chair and slowly walked over to sit down.

Xue Xiao was quite impressed with this scene of the movie.

The original work was a story where feelings and a career were intertwined. The story was a bit old-fashioned but the structure was very clear. In the beginning, the male protagonist was a 'waste man.' His career was in trouble. He had parents who cared about him and a wife who loved him, but he still felt his life was terrible. It was over and he wanted to kill himself.

After being severely beaten by his wife's clothes hanger, the plot that reached the lowest point of depression finally started to move through this iconic bridge. The male protagonist started to forge again and stumbled on his career path again.

He started to acquire and possess things again, but as he possessed more and more, he wanted more and more. Here, the male protagonist completed the transformation from a 'waste man' to a 'greedy man.'

Of course, his life philosophy started to diverge from his wife and family and the plot also took another turn…

In this type of movie, the male protagonist fell hard when climbing to the highest point. This was very in line with the development of the dramatic structure.

The male protagonist of this movie also fell badly. He lost everything overnight and returned to his starting point. It was even worse this time because his parents had died of illness and his wife was disheartened by him.

He returned to the place where he wanted to commit suicide at the beginning. He stood there for a long time. However, this time his wife didn't come with a hanger. She just stood behind him and asked, "Do you still need me to hit you again?"

The male protagonist turned his head and had red eyes.

At this point, the movie looked a lot like a HE.

After experiencing ups and downs, he restarted his life. She was disheartened with him for a while but in the end, he chose his wife who stood by his side…

It seemed that as long as the male protagonist repented well, he could still return to the past days.

The male protagonist firmly believed so and did it.

He picked himself up again, put on a cheap suit, shaved his beard clean, groomed himself and started his business again as he had done in the beginning.

At the end of this period, he won a new business order. He happily told his wife the news but the response he received was a few short sentences.

"Congratulations, I knew you could do it."

"In addition, let's divorce."

The joy in his heart came to an abrupt end.

In fact, it wasn't unexpected.

His wife was a gentle person by nature. She would never leave when he was at his worst but once his feet were firmly back on the ground, those hands would let go without hesitation.

This was where the show began.

Zhang Jiaqing's face didn't have much collapse or pain. There was more exhaustion and emptiness.

After sitting down on the chair in the corridor, he first put his arms on the back of the chair and tilted his head up. It was as if he wanted to take a good, deep breath. Soon, he leaned his whole upper body forward, placed his elbows on his thighs and his hands in his hair.

Xue Xiao watched it seriously.

At this time, the male protagonist's heart should have mixed feelings.

On the one hand, he was bitter that he had lost his wife after all. On the other hand, he felt ridiculous that he was carefully pampered by his family but didn't know it in the past, letting himself destroy everything. However, he was more at a loss. His life obviously still had a chance to restart but he felt that he had lost his most precious thing.

Thus, he laughed and cried.

Xue Xiao's heart itched a bit.

Looking at this, he also wanted to go up and try it.

Zhang Jiaqing's performance was right. The male protagonist wouldn't collapse easily at this time. The snow mountain collapse in his heart was more like a feather, quiet and seemingly light, but it was actually huge and chaotic.

At this time, as long as he cried then all emotions would naturally be…

The next second, Zhang Jiaqing suddenly exerted force on his hands. The veins on the back of his hands bulged in a prominent manner. He opened his mouth wide and let out a silent cry.

Xue Xiao: "...?"

He leaned forward slightly and looked suspiciously at the big screen.

Zhang Jiaqing's mouth opened and closed. His face was flushed red and extremely distorted. His eyes were squeezed into a slit and his throat started to make a sound similar to a big inhalation and exhalation. It sounded like he had asthma.

Xue Xiao: "...??"

Someone behind him sighed. "This acting is really good."

Xue Xiao: "?!"

He subconsciously turned his head. On the right, Jiang Lianlian quickly pulled him and lowered her voice. "…The camera is filming!"

Xue Xiao: "..."

He turned his head and glanced at the cameraman squatting in front of the actors' seats.

On the screen, Zhang Jiaqing's performance was becoming more and more strange.

Rather than saying that he was performing a crying scene, it was better to say that he had a sudden illness. Xue Xiao's back started sweating and his body started to tense quietly.

He cautiously glanced at the mentor seats. No expression could be seen on Guan Ruoying and Feng Wei's faces. Su Shijin was wiping at her face and Shen Tingyan… had a look of interest?

Xue Xiao: "????"

He looked at the big screen again, trying to understand Zhang Jiaqing's inner world more deeply this time.

On the screen, the male protagonist suddenly raised his head. He pressed his hand against his thigh and shed two tears. His mouth had opened in a '口' shape and he looked like a fish that had accidentally jumped into shore and was dying in horror. It made people want to call 120 for him on the spot.

This wasn't the most excessive thing. The more excessive thing was that he probably wanted to cry, but he couldn't control his throat. His crying sounded more like a moan.

There was a gasping sound from the audience. Xue Xiao's whole face distorted like he was hit hard.

On his left, Zhao Doing quickly grabbed him, gritted his teeth and whispered, "Expression management, Xiao, expression management!"