Chapter Text
“Contestant number 9527, Chen Feng? Chen Feng? Are you here?”
“I’m here.”
From the crowd, a clean and fresh-looking young man hurried out.
“Teacher, I’m here.”
The examiner looked him up and down, then nodded. “It’s your turn. Stand to the side and wait for a bit.”
After speaking, he unceremoniously pushed Chen Feng aside.
Chen Feng: “……”
Helpless.
Reality was just this cruel.
When you had neither fame nor ability, nobody would treat you politely.
Chen Feng was a transmigrator.
It had already been five years since he came to this world.
The original owner of the body had just graduated from university, graduating from Yanjing Film Academy, full of ambition and wanting to make a living in the entertainment industry.
But one dark and windy night, while showering in a cheap rental apartment, the water heater leaked electricity, and the original owner died just that pathetically.
After Chen Feng transmigrated over and fused with the original owner’s memories, he quickly accepted reality.
Just survive somehow.
In his previous life, he had already seen the glamour and splendor of the entertainment industry.
So he also wanted to give it a try.
But what was the result?
More than a year after graduation, he still couldn’t find even a single chance to show his face.
No money, no connections. He could only slowly try his luck among various production crews.
Playing extras, doing miscellaneous work.
This time, the second season of Xia Country’s wildly popular variety show What Is an Actor? had started open casting auditions.
So Chen Feng had tried every possible method and finally successfully signed up for the auditions.
This was also an opportunity.
If he could shine on this kind of variety program, perhaps he could take a shortcut and break into the entertainment industry.
Today was the first round of auditions.
The number of applicants at the Yanjing venue was simply terrifying.
One look at Chen Feng’s contestant number told the story: 9527.
How exaggerated was that?
Chen Feng felt nervous, but also expectant.
As one of the great transmigrator army, not having any transmigrator benefits was already embarrassing enough. If he still couldn’t live an exciting life, then he might as well just become a salted fish and lie flat.
The original owner had excellent grades in school.
The theoretical foundation was there.
Now it depended on whether he himself could turn those theories into the real thing.
Excited!
Jiayou!
Come on then.
“Contestant number 9528, Qu Dan? Is Qu Dan here?”
“I’m here, I’m here, teacher, over here!”
A girl squeezed out from the noisy crowd.
Short hair, round face.
Quite delicate-looking.
The girl happily rushed to the doorway. “Teacher, I’m here.”
The examiner looked at her twice and nodded. “Alright, you two come in with me. In a moment, you’ll do a scene together for the assessment.”
Chen Feng glanced at Qu Dan.
Qu Dan also glanced at Chen Feng.
Both their eyes lit up.
Good luck!
The guy was handsome and sunny, the girl sweet and pretty.
Perfect.
“Come on, enter—”
Before the examiner could finish speaking, several people suddenly squeezed through the outer edge of the crowd in the distance.
One of them, a greasy middle-aged man wearing glasses, called out smilingly from afar, “Old Meng, Old Meng, wait a second.”
The examiner froze.
Turning back for a look, he immediately smiled. “Teacher Huang?”
“Hehe, Old Meng, come here.”
After the bespectacled man came over, he directly pulled the examiner aside and quietly whispered a few words while pointing back at a young man who came with him.
Chen Feng’s heart trembled.
No way?
Someone cutting in line?
Beside him, Qu Dan also nervously bit her lip.
As expected.
Two minutes later.
The examiner walked back.
That young man came over too.
“Well…”
The examiner looked at the two résumés in his hand, then raised his head to look at Qu Dan. “Qu Dan, you… wait for the next batch, alright?”
“Oh.”
Qu Dan looked wronged.
But there was no helping it.
In a place like this, would a tiny audition contestant with no background have any right to speak?
The examiner ignored Qu Dan after that and beckoned to Chen Feng. “Come on, you two follow me inside.”
After speaking, he turned around and opened the door to the assessment room.
The young man who arrived later immediately followed with a grin, while ingratiatingly asking in a low voice, “Teacher Meng, is the assessment difficult?”
“Not difficult.”
“What are we performing?”
“You’ll know in a moment.”
“Teacher Meng, how many examiners are there? Besides you, is there anyone else?”
“There are two more. Zhao Zhilong, after you go in, talk less. Do whatever you’re told to do. Don’t say anything unnecessary.”
“Got it, Teacher Meng.”
The two entered.
Chen Feng slowly walked in behind them.
His heart kept sinking.
Zhao Zhilong?
Chen Feng found this guy familiar.
He seemed to be some small internet celebrity.
He became popular through cosplay, with more than three hundred thousand followers on DouM.
In this era where filters ran rampant, even people with average looks could become flashy handsome men after a bit of makeup.
Not to mention Zhao Zhilong was fairly photogenic to begin with.
At first glance, he was clearly someone with connections.
How did Chen Feng end up running into this?
Even auditions had backdoor deals?
If you were going to use connections, why not just pass the auditions directly and become a seeded contestant? Wouldn’t that be impressive?
Why even bother with an assessment?
At first glance, this was obviously someone who found a bit of influence, but not enough influence to completely bypass the process.
Chen Feng secretly sighed.
He had a bad feeling.
After the three entered the assessment room and shut the door, the soundproofing inside was fairly good.
In the spacious room, three sets of tables and chairs were placed at the front.
Right now, there wasn’t a single person sitting behind them. They were probably off drinking water or using the restroom.
Today’s assessments had already been going on for most of the day.
Honestly, it was exhausting.
After entering, the examiner gestured for Chen Feng and Zhao Zhilong to wait near the door while he hurried toward the back door.
Several stacks of folders were placed on a table beside the back door.
They were probably script samples for the assessments.
At that moment, Zhao Zhilong casually pulled out his phone, quickly opened his livestream, and walked over to the window nearby.
“Brothers, netizens, your streamer’s inside now.”
“Hurry up, send some gifts, send some rewards, let’s go, let’s go.”
“No joke, your streamer is definitely advancing.”
“Seriously, is this level of audition assessment even difficult?”
“Not advancing? Damn. If I don’t advance, I’ll livestream myself doing a handstand while shitting, alright?”
“Okay, it’s settled then.”
“Hurry and sponsor me a bit.”
“Haha, many thanks to the top sister on the leaderboard, thank you for the yacht, thank you for the yacht from top sister.”
“Everyone else hurry and send some gifts too.”
“Don’t worry, today will definitely be exciting.”
“My opponent?”
“Don’t worry about him, just some little loser.”
……
Chen Feng: “……”
He silently glanced at Zhao Zhilong by the window.
Who the hell was the little loser?
If not for the assessment, he definitely would’ve gone over and kicked him.
This guy was the typical foul-mouthed type.
Usually, foul-mouthed people could become internet celebrities.
A few minutes later, the examiner slowly returned.
Zhao Zhilong quickly turned off his phone and hurried over.
“Teacher Meng, are we starting?”
Zhao Zhilong’s face was filled with bootlicking eagerness.
The examiner handed the two of them their materials. “You have five minutes to read the script sample. Five minutes later, the assessment begins.”
“Ah? Five minutes?”
Zhao Zhilong was startled. “Such a short time?”
The examiner rolled his eyes. “You don’t have lines. Just look at the situation and character setup.”
“Alrighty.”
Zhao Zhilong quickly took his materials and opened them. His face instantly filled with delight. “Awesome. I’m playing a police officer, right?”
“Correct.”
The moment Chen Feng heard that, his heart skipped a beat.
He quickly opened the materials in his own hands.
Holy shit!
Several large words were written clearly inside the file.
Character role: Drug addict.