Chapter 3. Auditon
"Failed?!" On the other end of the phone, a young person thundered, "I"ve already paid you!"
Aradekel unhappily said, "I haven"t received the money!"
The young person smiled coldly, "You didn"t even succeed. If you don"t have the ability, I"ll switch people! If that kid runs out of the country, will I be able to send requests through the Alliance?"
Aradekel was infuriated, Hua country people were truly too cunning, the mission"s target was no ordinary person, that was a beastman ah!. Originally going by the price of a normal human, he was already losing out, yet the employer even turned his back on him too. Then, sorry, this lord[1] won"t do this anymore!
"Then you go and find someone else!"。
Aradekel directly hung up, typing a series of characters on his laptop, entering a dynamic webpage and keying in a pa.s.sword before entering the Alliance"s webpage. He quickly located his own request, directly pressing the "Give Up" b.u.t.ton, in the process also giving the employer a bad review.
Aradekel let out a breath of resentment, before once again thinking back to the mystical lifeform he saw that night and then starting a thread in the forums.
Tree Hollow: When I was out on a mission, I came across a milky-white, transparent, circular membrane, it even gave off light, was viscous, highly toxic and as tall as five stories. Asking what the h.e.l.l is this?
Very quickly, someone replied to him.
【Where did you meet it? 】
Aradekel immediately answered.
【By the sea, at night. 】
That person replied to him.
【Oh, then you must have seen wrongly. 】
Aradekel almost smashed his keyboard.
Very soon, another person replied to him.
【Maybe it was a transparent octopus, did it have tentacles? 】
Aradekel joyfully replied.
【It does, it had many tentacles. 】
【Then it"s an octopus, a variant, transparent octopus. 】
Aradekel thought for a bit, variant octopus? Did octopi suck blood? He immediately answered his own question. It"s a variant octopus, that"s why it sucked blood.
This is a new bloodsucking species ah……
Aradekel calculated, if he were to report this to the Board of Elders, how much money would they give him?
Hua Ji cancelled his Hawaiian vacation the next day, flying back to his country.
Outside of the country was unsafe, it was still inside his country that was the best.
To let a jellyfish that lived in the sea ride an airplane, was rather cruel.
That was why Lord Jellyfish directly hibernated.
Just returning to the country, the company"s boss called him, saying he wanted to meet him face-to-face.
The country has three large entertainment companies that stand shoulder to shoulder at the peak. Hua Ji belongs to Wan Gu Entertainment, whose boss is an old tortoise that has lived for five hundred years.
Uncountable numbers of people who have done business with the old tortoise were itching to throttle him to death, because this fellow"s personality was always slow, yet also very shrewd!
However, to the stars working for the company, the shrewder the company"s boss was, the better.
Boss Wu looked to be extremely old, his hair was snow white, and he even wore presbyopic gla.s.ses, trembling like a leaf when sitting on the boss"s chair. Despite this, the hand running across the game controls was even faster than a young person"s.
When Hua Ji came in, he didn"t look up, one-shotting the opponent"s Soraka[1], achieving another arena victory.
He said in the party[2] chat, "Something urgent came up, I"ll leave for while."
After that, Boss Wu flipped open his notebook, looked towards Hua Ji and said, "I heard you brought back a senior?"
Hua Ji nodded his head, puffing out his chest in pride, "Doesn"t my robe look beautiful?"
Boss Wu cast a glance towards the robe on Hua Ji"s body, "The old bee"s newest work, however, I personally saw him offering this robe to the sect, if you want to die then feel free to wear it outside."
Hua Ji froze for a moment, before pointing at the robe he was wearing, "Boss, take a closer look?"
Boss Wu raised an eyebrow, squinted his eyes and looked closely for a long time. Suddenly, his face was filled with disbelief, "This is that senior?"
Hua Ji was extremely pleased with himself, "Not bad, this is the Lord Jellyfish that"s existed since the beginning of the Seastar era!"
Boss Wu said meaningfully, "You are sure this senior will temporarily remain by your side?"
Hua Ji arrogantly lifted his head, "Of course!"
Boss Wu carefully probed, "Then, can I have a couple words with the senior?"
Hua Ji momentarily felt weak, "He"s still resting, he said that as long as I don"t get too worked up or face danger, he would not wake up."
Lord Jellyfish was still airsick.
Boss Wu said, "Excellent. Originally, I was still hesitant, but since you"ve got a new bodyguard, this script is yours."
Hua Ji"s eyes shone and he happily received the script, "What book is it? Who"s the author? Is it safe?"
The last question was the most important.
"It is a large-scale period drama planned by Genesis Media, in total having 44 episodes. There is a pervert character with a beautiful and moving appearance, I feel that this role rather fits you."
Hua Ji: "……"
Boss Wu nonchalantly said, "This series is being created in honor of the newest maiden that has left the sect to travel, that"s why the executive producer is a cultivator sent by the sect, you are also familiar with him, he"s Li Shun Hua."
"WTF! It was him who hired a mercenary to find trouble for me!!" Hua Ji was furious, "If it wasn"t for me meeting Lord Jellyfish, I would have already become a fox-fur m.u.f.fler!!"
Boss Wu unperturbedly said, "It seems like the role is suitable, tomorrow you and Yan Hu Die go and audition for this."
Hua Ji doesn"t want to go anymore.
Once he saw the director"s name though, he was once again speechless.
This is Director Yu ah, he became famous for directing period dramas, his period television dramas were separated from vulgar thinking and tastes, even in a moment with a mix of love and hate, he still strived to keep them accurate to history[4], they were considered period dramas with the least amount of plot holes. He was also considered the most popular director within his age group.
Hua Ji mumbled, "If the number of scenes is small, then I won"t act."
"En, there"s quite a few, he"s the third male lead"s…… confidant, and also the good-for-nothing that breaks apart the third male lead and female lead." Boss Wu said while smiling, "I forgot to mention, Li Shun Hua is the second male lead."
Hua Ji was stunned.
"He didn"t manage to get the role of first male lead?"
"The first male lead is someone Director Yu often works with, specially invited to look after the maiden. Naturally he is won"t use Li Shun Hua that tactless and impulsive person." Boss Wu warned Hua Ji again, "Even though your role is somewhat perverted, he"s also very likeable, if properly portrayed will allow you to move forward another step. Take more care, understand?"
Hua Ji nodded his head, after all, Boss Wu is an old tortoise, he had amazing prediction abilities, he won"t go wrong if he listens to him.
He took the script home to properly prepare.
The next day, he attended the audition in high spirits.
There was a lot of people there to audition, however Boss Wu had already long organised everything. Yan Hu Die spoke a few words with the staff and Hua Ji was able to enter through the backdoor.
He waited in the corridor for a while, discovering that there were plenty of actors here for the interview, spotting quite a few familiar-looking third-rate celebrities. Of course, he himself was also one of them.
After a while, the staff told him that he could go in for the interview.
Hua Ji tidied up his clothes. Today he was wearing a suit that was body-hugging, narrow at the waist and broad at the shoulders, but was slightly loosened at the cuffs. The suit hem was also slightly longer than a typical suit"s. His hair was set with hair gel, faintly curled and making him look serious[3]. He had light make-up at the eyes and his lowered eyes[4] gave him a distinguished air.
Pushing open the door, the person sitting directly ahead was Director Yu. Director Yu was 40 plus years old this year, and wore a gray-coloured coat[5], looking to be somewhat jittery. Beside him sat a girl dressed in a white skirt. The girl looked very energetic, Hua Ji knew on first sight that this girl was the one that just left the sect, the drama"s female lead.
On the girl"s other side sat the a.s.shole Li Shun Hua, this fellow reclined against the back of the chair, looking at him with a smile that was not a smile.
To the side was seated the screenwriter and producer, but those people were unimportant.
Hua Ji inwardly clenched a fist, if he could settle the director and Li Shun Hua, the role was his!
When Hua Ji had just stopped walking, the maiden opened her eyes wide, blurting out, "Fox spirit!"
Hua Ji smiled, "h.e.l.lo ladies and gentlemen, I am Hua Ji from Wan Gu Entertainment, here to audition for the role of the fox spirit, ah, no, for the role of Feng Hui Xue!"
The corner of Director Yu"s mouth hooked up, and he smiled.
"Do you know Feng Hui Xue"s setting?"
Hua Ji nodded his head, "I do, he"s a fox spirit."
Director Yu supplemented, "He is a fox spirit whose attempts to break up the third male lead and female lead failed, in the end being skinned by his master and made into a m.u.f.fler, given to the female lead."
The maiden in the white skirt beside him once again smiled brightly.
Hua Ji"s heart felt rather stifled.
Li Shun Hua unhurriedly said, "What? Is it too difficult?"
Hua Ji smiled coldly, "I feel that I can try it out."
Director Yu pa.s.sed a piece of paper to Hua Ji, "This is the chosen scene."
The chosen scene"s contents were very simple, it was the scene where Feng Hui Xue was indirectly speaking malicious words behind the female lead"s back, yet was dismissed and even questioned by the third male lead.
Director Yu[6] let Li Shun Hua test Hua Ji. Li Shun Hua would pretend to be the third male lead, today wearing a Zhongshan suit[7], his body filled with an imposing manner.
He clasped his hands behind his back, suddenly turning around, anger bursting out, "What did you say?!"
Hua Ji instantly got into character, his body curved, like a weak willow in Fufeng[8], his entire person"s loftiness softening by a few points.
When Director Yu saw this scene, his eyes brightened and he sat up straight.
Hua Ji turned his face to the ground, his pale skin coupled with his skinny cheekbones sketching out a beautiful yet haggard silhouette. He lowered his head, long eyelashes trembling like the wings of a cicada, lips instantly being suffused with green.
His voice that was shattered like fine rain burst out, "Master…… You[9], don"t believe me?"
The word "master" carried a few strands of charm, the final syllable was lilting, letting the bodies of those who heard it involuntarily become limp.
The maiden in the white skirt sucked in a cold breath, muttering in her heart, truly is a fox spirit.
Hua Ji blinked his eyes, attempting to squeeze out a few tears.
He thought of when he was a child and had barely managed to steal a chicken leg after much difficulty but it was stolen by who-knows-which wolf, and instantly felt sorrow rising up.
Maybe it was due to his sorrow being too intense, but the Lord Jellyfish on his head was jolted awake. He lazily let out a big yawn, directly facing Li Shun Hua"s startled gaze.
"Is it him who made you cry?" Lord Jellyfish became happy, "Then I"ll eat him!"
The chicken leg in his head became Lord Jellyfish.
Hua Ji: NO!!!!!
TN: This was h.e.l.l to translate, mostly because of all the character descriptions and also because of the ancient setting. I now know why so many people hate translating xianxia x^x
[1] ‘One-shotting’ is gaming slang for killing an opponent in one hit. Soraka refers to the League of Legends character, which is weird since the Chinese says ‘wet nurse’ but apparently that’s what she’s called in China.
[2] Again, for non-gamers, a ‘party’ is a group of people you team up with in-game.
[3] 在夹杂爱恨情仇的时候也会极力向观众科普一些古代常识 – I really have no idea what this means, if anyone can help, please comment.
[4] 有些挽起的感觉 – Again, this phrase is strange, unless it’s some slang, because it means something like ‘giving off a slight air of being bent/rolled up’ but can also mean mourning for the dead. I translated it as ‘serious’ but it may be grossly inaccurate.
[5] 低眉敛目 – Hard to describe, basically they look like this:
[6] Looks like this :
[7] I think the author typoed here, since 遇到 was written instead of 喻导. Both are written as Yu Dao, but the first means ‘meeting’ or ‘to meet (someone)’ while the second is Director Yu’s name. The second makes more sense.
[8] This:
[9] A reference to 红楼梦 or Dreams of the Red Chamber, one of China’s four great cla.s.sics.
[10] He uses the respectful ‘you’ here, just thought it’d be interesting to share.