Cute Entertainment Circle - CH 58

Because the photos and videos given by the program group were too sufficient, there was no room for doubts, so Bai Xinyan’s video of playing with a tiger once again swept the Internet. After the strange force and cuteness, netizens gave him a new title – Fantastic Animal Tamer.

This was already the third time that Bai Xinyan had appeared on the Internet on a large scale. Obviously, no works had been released yet, but in just two months, he had already made three large-scale appearances in the circle. Almost everyone, who often read the news online and gossip on the internet, began to feel familiar with this cute young man.

Bai Xinyan’s fans then rose again, reaching 3 million easily. In terms of the number of fans, they were already stronger than many second-line stars. And if it was compared to the popularity of the Internet during this period, none of the first-line stars could beat him.

The big news that happened to the same person one after another naturally attracted the attention of many people. Therefore, before Bai Xinyan officially debuted, he already had several legendary labels, including natural strange power, martial arts master, animal taming talent, and site traffic constitution (流量体质). Each looked overbearing and the last one was the perfect talent that stars could only dream of.

However, Bai Xinyan himself didn’t take these seriously. He just cooperated with the program group to promote it on Weibo, saying that he was born with good animal affinity. Other than that, he was very low-key, so Zhang Kai turned it down all kinds of messy interviews and invitations and let him devote himself to the role of Lu Zifeng in 《Tracing the Source》.

《Career Story》 became more and more popular. It also announced a resident guest Ai Qiao, which brought some of the attention focused on Bai Xinyan back to the show and immediately made netizens’ appetites higher.

At the same time, it was time for the audition for 《Tracing the Source》. Although Bai Xinyan and Li Zhibai had already made an initial decision, they still went to the scene for a cutscene.

“You can discuss it first, pick a rival scene and try it out.” Director Zhang Cheng said in a neutral tone. He didn’t seem too warm to Bai Xinyan and Li Zhibai.

When Li Zhibai saw this, his heart tightened. He felt that Yu Anyan must have said something bad about him! In comparison, Bai Xinyan wasn’t nervous. He quickly thought of a scene and asked Li Zhibai how he felt.

“O, okay.” Seeing that Bai Xinyan was very calm, Li Zhibai let himself relax. Anyway, even if he didn’t try well, he wouldn’t change roles. To be honest, he had nothing to be nervous about.

“Director, let’s try the part where Zhu Ling and Lu Zifeng received news of the explosion,” Bai Xinyan said.

Zhang Cheng nodded slightly impatiently.

Regardless of Zhang Cheng’s unfriendly attitude, Bai Xinyan silently took out the prepared plain glasses and put them on.

Lu Zifeng’s setting was a genius with a cold personality. He was very powerful in network technology. At the same time, he also had a lot of research in criminal investigation and even psychology. He had strong observation and reasoning abilities. He had a cold personality and spent most of his time learning and applying knowledge. He didn’t like to communicate with people very much. In the original work, Lu Zifeng was wearing plain glasses, because he was a real handsome guy when his eyes were exposed, which would increase a lot of unnecessary exchanges and conversations. Lu Zifeng, who was too lazy to waste time on this, used a pair of glasses to successfully disguise himself as ordinary.

Bai Xinyan’s face was too cute, which conflicted with Lu Zifeng’s personality, but there was a little bit of inappropriateness, but there was no conflict after wearing glasses. The lens of the glasses was thicker, which completely blocked Bai Xinyan’s big and agile eyes, which made him look a lot less energetic. Although the lower half of his face could still be seen as beautiful and smart, he only needed to put on makeup and it would be very consistent with Lu Zifeng’s setting.

On the other side, Li Zhibai also moved his hands, unbuttoned two buttons on the collar of his shirt, tucked up his sleeves, and ruffled his hair a little. He suddenly changed from a serious state to a casual one.

Zhu Ling’s image was a playboy on the surface. As long as he changed only a few details, he could show the character’s personality.

After getting ready, the two quickly entered the state.

Bai Xinyan sat on the chair and flipped through the book. His posture was relatively relaxed. He browsed and turned the pages quickly. He didn’t show any particular expressions, but judging from his demeanour, it didn’t make people feel that he didn’t read it seriously. At this time, Li Zhibai pushed open the door and walked in. He walked to Bai Xinyan, put his hands on the table, leaned over, and said with a smile, “Xiao Fengzi, Lao He said that Landu has a fun activity today. Let’s go and have a look tonight?” (小枫子, Xiao Fengzi meant Little Mapple)

Bai Xinyan turned the page of the book expressionlessly and said indifferently, “No. Also, call me Xiao Fengzi again and I’ll disconnect your phone from the Internet.”

The expected answer, Li Zhibai showed a ‘sure’-looking expression. He was still not discouraged and moved the chair to sit opposite Bai Xinyan. The chair was sitting in the opposite direction, so Li Zhibai’s two long legs were very conspicuous. His hands were on the back of the chair and continued to persuade with a slightly condescending attitude, “Go to the old road and just stay with me. Sitting at home reading books, I’m afraid you will grow mushrooms.” As he said that, Li Zhibai fiddled with the things on Bai Xinyan’s table, looking very restless.

Bai Xinyan still didn’t give Li Zhibai a glance and said without hesitation, “You should be the one who grows the mushrooms, right? Don’t ask me to go to your house next time to help you clean it up. Just in time, you can collect the mushrooms and eat them with instant noodles.”

Li Zhibai showed an embarrassed look of being exposed at the right time, but he quickly returned to his casual appearance, and said, “The mushrooms you mentioned are in the real sense, but the mushrooms I mentioned are metaphor, which needs to take seriously! You say you, a handsome little guy who is obviously a good guy, is dead to the point that no one wants to pay attention to you except me, and even the aunt in the community can’t remember you when she introduces you, how can this work!” Li Zhibai slapped Bai Xinyan’s book with a stern slap, stared at Bai Xinyan earnestly, and said emotionally, “If you go on like this, when will you be able to leave your virgin status. In a few years, you will run for the third time. You can’t still be a great magician by then?” (I don’t know exactly but it maybe refers to 30-sai made dotei da to mahoutsukai ni nareru rashii or Cherry Magic thirty years of virginity can make you a wizard…?)

Bai Xinyan was finally interrupted from reading. He paused, pushing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. He looked up at Li Zhibai and said in a cool tone, “Captain Zhu, if I remember correctly, it’s still working hours. This is the police office. Are you sure you want to discuss my sex life here?”

“…cough,” Li Zhibai was stabbed by the unstoppable chill in Bai Xinyan’s eyes through the lens. He immediately restrained himself, withdrew his hand, and changed the subject, “Actually, what I care about is your mental health. You see, you are already twenty-three, so you should try talking about a girlfriend, right? There are a lot of beauties in Landu tonight, so it would be a pity not to get in touch.”

Bai Xinyan lowered his head to read the book again and said rudely, “I’m twenty-three, not thirty-two. Besides, I’m not interested in beautiful women. I’d rather keep up my robot Plato with knowledge and IQ, thank you.”

“……” Li Zhibai was choked. He looked at Bai Xinyan for a moment but changed the way he used to be and sighed seriously. “Isn’t it good to find someone who can accompany you all the time? You have always been like this. If Uncle Lu and Auntie knew, how could they rest assured.” Li Zhibai no longer smiled but showed a genuine worry look.

“I’m living well now. I don’t lack anything, so I don’t have anything to worry about.” Bai Xinyan said seemingly indifferently, but after a pause, his tone couldn’t help but look a little more intense, which was different from the usual calm before. “Besides, what’s the use of looking for a girlfriend? Do you still expect to be with someone for the rest of your life? It’s better not to harm others as soon as possible.” At the end, he sneered softly and the arc of the corner of his mouth showed a bit of irony.

Lu Zifeng’s father was a criminal police officer, but his parents died one after another because of the danger brought by this job. Although he didn’t dislike this profession, he joined the team himself. However, when he thought of his parents’ tragedy, he definitely didn’t want to let himself repeat this kind of story again. For this reason, he even refused to get close to other people. Except for a Xiao Zhu Ling who he couldn’t avoid, there was no other person with whom he had a close relationship.

The death of Lu Zifeng’s parents was still a knot in his heart that he couldn’t solve. Zhu Ling wanted to help him get rid of it and let him live his own life, but it had been unsuccessful. Pulling Lu Zifeng out to play and persuading him to find a girlfriend were all Zhu Ling trying to make Lu Zifeng more popular. It was just the same this time, still didn’t work out.

Bai Xinyan’s emotions weren’t intense, but were always relatively tolerant. However, from the moment of sadness on his expression and the apparent absent-mindedness when he continued to read, people could feel the complexity of his heart.

Li Zhibai showed a complicated expression. He wanted to say something, but he opened his mouth and swallowed it. In the end, he only sighed softly.

Seeing this, Zhang Cheng’s expression was completely different from when he started. He didn’t expect two people to perform well in the audition, but he didn’t expect it to be a big surprise.

Although this performance didn’t have any fierce conflicts or breaking points, it could very well reflect the character’s image and personality. It wasn’t difficult to perform well according to the script, but Bai Xinyan and Li Zhibai’s performance wasn’t just that.

The script was actually relatively simple. It only provided the general content and framework but didn’t clearly mark every action and expression of the characters, which required the actors to think and play themselves. Of course, before each shooting, the director would also roughly talk about how to act according to the storyboard.

In this audition, Bai Xinyan and Li Zhibai completely relied on their own understanding to play freely, but they had shown the characters of the two male protagonists very well, especially the various small actions and details made by the two, which were very consistent with the characters and flows naturally. In terms of lines and expressions, although it seemed acting in an indifferent style and a sloppy style, with Zhang Cheng’s professionalism and eyesight, he could see the subtle differences in their every sentence and every expression.

Because the difference wasn’t obvious, the effect shown on the small screen might not be much different from the ordinary interpretation, but Zhang Cheng could see from this point that Bai Xinyan and Li Zhibai’s analyze and grasp of the characters were very in place. The expressiveness was also sufficient and even the acting was enough for the big screen.

Especially Bai Xinyan. His part of this scene was relatively dull from beginning to end. His expressions and movements weren’t as many as Li Zhibai’s. The thick glasses would also affect eye play. A person with a cold and high IQ, it was easy to act even if the person didn’t perform well, but even so, Bai Xinyan had created a popular Lu Zifeng in such a short period of time. It wasn’t the kind of character with a label, although it was cold, it was fresh. It really made people feel as if this character was “alive”.

Different from the absent-mindedness at the beginning, Zhang Cheng was completely absorbed and immersed in this performance.

The whole scene was almost over at this time, only the last short paragraph was left. And the last paragraph was an important emotional flashpoint, especially for the character Lu Zifeng.

Zhang Cheng couldn’t wait to see them, especially Bai Xinyan’s performance.