Salted Fish Doesn’t Want To Work Hard Anymore - Chapter 1

“Next, Fang Lin.”

The door in front of him opened and closed.

The 25th floor meeting room of the Fair Hotel in S City, the scene of the first audition for the new drama “Gentle Moonlight”. The actors sat in the waiting area and waited before being called in, in order to audition.

This was a drama adapted from a novel that was a big hit two years ago. Although the drama was a bit cliché, it still attracted a lot of eyeballs from the inception of the project due to the popularity of the work and the importance of the producer.

It was already late, the main character’s audition had already ended, and the number of auditions for male lead number three only had a handful of people left.

The person whose name was called stood up from his position, compared to the two peers beside him who were still repeating their lines silently with tight expressions, he looked very relaxed, as if he wasn’t worried at all. In the eyes of a few people, he looked extremely confident.

What did he understand about the role that made him so sure?

Fang Lin naturally didn’t know the psychology of the onlookers, he walked in with a big smile and bowed to the people inside. The casting director held his information in his hand and made a gesture: “Let’s begin.”

The third male character’s name was Jing Chuan, he was the heroine’s childhood friend’s brother, the heroine Ji Haiyao also had some feelings for him, but unfortunately didn’t say it in the end, and left in a hurry. There were book fans who commented that he was a more facetious character in the whole book, his persona wasn’t specified, and he had no reasonable reason to like the heroine. The screenwriter had promised to make the story more fleshed out, and there was speculation that he would add some drama to Jing Chuan.

The vast majority of auditionees chose Clip A – after all, in the first audition without costumes and makeup, Clip A was more likely to show acting skills or personal strength.

So when Fang Lin started to perform clip B, which no one had selected today, the eyebrows of the director, who had been expressionless in the middle, twitched and he held his glasses with his right hand.

The plot of clip B was very simple, after five years of absence, Jing Chuan and the heroine met by chance, Ji Haiyao also stood next to a strange man. The book didn’t describe in detail what happened to Jing Chuan over the years, it only simply said that he had long since buried his feelings for her, and the heroine didn’t know Jing Chuan once liked her, like many times before, she spoke to him like he was her brother, Jing Chuan also smiled lightly and said, long time no see.

The scene wasn’t long, there was no big opening emotions, the lines were only a few.

Today, Fang Lin was dressed simply, his  hair was casually styled, the novel didn’t deliberately depict Jing Chuan’s appearance, but mentioned that he walked over with a clean and clear temperament, and didn’t give a sense of abruptness.

”Sister Yaoyao.” Fang Lin took the initiative to start, because there was no one to act with, he took two steps closer, then silently calculated the length of the lines of the female lead in his heart, and a few seconds later, he even bent down slightly, squinted his eyes, and waited for the heroine to tiptoe and gently pat his hair like she did many years ago, before he straightened up again, waved and smiled lightly at the air in front of him.

“- Long time no see, I’m back.”

Clip B was very short, so that was the last line.

He still had a smile on his lips, looking spontaneous and fearless, as if the past was really just like smoke on paper, he would remember, but wouldn’t be disturbed by it again.

The director politely told him to go back and wait for news.

Because he came out so quickly, when Fang Lin pushed the door and walked out, several other people couldn’t help but raise their eyes to look over.

He was as comfortable and calm as when he entered, politely greeted the rest of the people and said he was leaving first. His expression was the same, they didn’t know if he finished the scene quickly or he simply didn’t care about this one audition.

When he walked farther away, one of the star’s assistant looked at his back and whispered: “He is called …… Fang Lin, right? Is there any news about him? He seems so confident, and there’s even a feeling that the role is his.”

The star also whispered in response: “I don’t think so, I don’t remember much. If he was booked, he wouldn’t have come to try out for the Male lead number three role.”

“Yes.” The assistant nodded fervently, “I just got caught up in his aura and almost thought the role was his.”

”Less talk like that.” The star glanced at the assistant, and the other stopped speaking.

Fang Lin went out of the meeting room and called his agent Tao Le, the other said he was stuck in traffic and would arrive later. He was in no hurry, it just so happened that he hadn’t eaten, so he told him he would go to the hotel restaurant to eat something first.

Agent Tao Le didn’t mention the audition and said after a pause: “Okay, then you …… eat well, don’t think about your figure and eat only grass.”

Fang Lin hummed in reply, then Tao Le continued carefully, “Be in a better mood, don’t take the audition to heart.”

Hearing Tao Le say this, Fang Lin couldn’t help but laugh while walking through the cold corridor.

Hearing him laugh, Tao Le was startled, he thought the audition had stimulated Fang Lin, and quickly said: “Don’t think too much! What did Brother Xia say, have a simple mind!”

Fang Lin was a little helpless, but his smile didn’t go away, just like when he performed with Ji Haiyao in the audition room just now: “Don’t worry.”

He really didn’t take the audition to heart.

Because he already knew the ending…

Simply put, he was reborn.

–

Fang Lin wasn’t a trainee, but since he entered the industry, he had been working hard and diligently, but unfortunately, as an 18th tier actor, he didn’t even have the opportunity to be a “model” – after all, there were so many people in the industry, the resources were so little, not everyone could get what they wanted.

Technically speaking, he barely experienced being popular. At that time, in his junior year, he hadn’t yet had a very clear vision of his future, because of his good looks, he mistakenly entered the industry.

A year later, the company gave him a good drama in all aspects, and he got a role with a small amount of scenes.

Although the role was small, the character was very well portrayed, which caused the audience to remember his face, the popularity of the role was once compared to the male and female lead.

It was a pity that the popularity didn’t reach its peak when the drama was directly blocked because the lead actor was caught in a scandal, the drama also suffered, the rest of the content couldn’t be broadcast on the network, the situation that should have been gotten better was suddenly extinguished.

Fang Lin had just started enjoying the feeling of being liked, but since his popularity couldn’t support his value, he had to fall back to the waiting period of obscurity.

Therefore, he wasn’t busy on weekdays, from time to time, he cooperated with the company to do business, sent out photos, made guest appearances in variety shows, and occasionally took some supporting roles, to maintain his exposure – the company also bought him some fans at first, but probably because Fang Lin had no outstanding works, he couldn’t even get Verified on Weibo.

This was the second day after his rebirth.

He opened his eyes after an unknown amount of time had passed since the accident, and when he regained consciousness he found himself not in a hospital room nor in a morgue, but back several months ago, the day before he came to the audition.

At first Fang Lin thought he was dreaming, but he finally had to admit that this magical, non-scientific thing did happen.

He had really gotten a chance to come back to life again.

As of now, all the developments were no different from where he was headed before he was reborn.

At that time, he stayed up all night for the audition to figure out this role, which didn’t have a lot of parts, and chose Clip A that could show his range of emotions and acting skills, he practiced repeatedly, then sat nervously very early the next morning waiting.

The result was that the third male lead had already been chosen, they had just followed the procedures, he mobilized his emotions in the audition room, let himself weep, tremble, and then  remained in desperate silence, now looking back on all this, there was a kind of ridiculous heartache.

Later his contract expired, the company’s willingness to renew the contract was lacking, but at that time, Fang Lin still had the luxury of hoping that his stay in the industry would give him a new opportunity to insist on renewing the contract – the fact was no, after the majority of the year, he couldn’t even get small variety show cameos, not to mention receiving a drama.

In other words, he had put himself in a trap, and he was still completely confused.

Therefore, after waking up yesterday, Fang Lin only spent one night to completely think about it –

He didn’t want to live that life again.

He wasn’t ridiculing his efforts, he just didn’t want to be so tired, he wanted to try relaxing a little.

Knowing that he wouldn’t get the role, the first thing that Fang Lin did when he was reborn was to try to pigeonhole the audition directly. But last night when he told Tao Le about it, the other jumped up and said he had to try out for it. He couldn’t refuse him, Fang Lin recalled that Tao Le – he wanted him to become popular more than he did.

So he still came today. But he didn’t choose Clip A this time, and didn’t deliberately find the feeling.

Clip B had short lines, the last sentence “I’m back”, was for himself.

Yes, he was back.

This audition would be a farewell to his last life.

As for the company, the subsequent resources wouldn’t be given to him, the expiration of the contract would soon arrive, this time, there was no need for him to continue wasting time, early termination of the contract would be good.

Maybe it would be hard, but he didn’t want to make unnecessary efforts.

Fang Lin walked into the restaurant, he waited too long for the audition, now everything looked good, he first habitually walked to the salad area, and then saw a row of fresh seasonal vegetables and wavered.

He wasn’t not considered a person who didn’t gain weight by eating, so in his last life, despite his work schedule, he was still very disciplined in controlling his diet.

After thinking about it, Fang Lin threw away the little hesitation left and walked away without looking at it.

Sweet food was the most relaxing, the best way to feel happy.

Still, he didn’t eat too much and was ready to leave after Tao Le sent a message saying he had gotten off the bus.

As Fang Lin replied to Tao Le’s message, his fingertips lingered on the screen for a moment, remembering that there was a very popular milk tea nearby, he asked Tao Le to bring him a cup on the way.

Tao Le:?

Fang Lin also replied:?

Tao Le: You actually want to drink that. You’re not giving up sugar?

Fang Lin: Not for now.

Tao Le: Although you’ve been acting strange since yesterday, but I think it’s good.

Fang Lin jokingly replied: Because I dreamt yesterday that I died and came back to life, life is short, so I suddenly decided to be kinder to myself.

Tao Le: …… Oh.

Good thing? Indeed.

He finished the last piece of chocolate cake on his plate, his body and nerves were soothed properly by the sugar, only then did he stand up to leave.

Fang Lin got off the elevator and walked through the hotel lobby.

The time was estimated, there was about two minutes left, Tao Le would run towards him with a shout.

This included the lobby fragrance that smelled the same as that day, whispering and discussing about the little star that passed by with little popularity like him, a cover of “Leaving on a jet plane” by a female singer that was playing ……

Except for him, everything was no different from the day he remembered.

As he was thinking this, Fang Lin exhaled and reached out to push open the door…

In his field of vision, he suddenly bumped into a person who forgot about.

The man stood outside the door in a straight black suit, and the person beside him was about to bend down and hold out his hand to open the door for him. He was very tall, and from his bow tie to his leather shoes, everything looked sophisticated, his eyebrows were pronounced, his jaw line was clean and his left hand clutched a just lit cigarette.

The lingering smoke rose, the man noticed Fang Lin and withdrew his hand a little, not letting him inhale the smoke, although the action was careless, it still revealed his noble temperament.

The smoke moved due to his action, so the two looked at each other.

If everything that had just been said was the same as this day in his previous life, then the person standing in front of him at this moment was all that was expected and unexpected.

Just as he was about to brush past, Fang Lin suddenly heard the man speak.

“Fang Lin.” He called his name, his voice was low, and the smell of tobacco dispersed a little, it wasn’t too strong.

“The role you just auditioned for, do you want it?”