Rebirth of a Star - Chapter 157

Chapter 157 – Audition (3)

One minute passed.

Two minutes passed.

And then, ten minutes passed.

Everyone was looking at Fu Bainian, waiting for him to explain why he’d yelled stop midway. However, he’d maintained the same posture for a long time, and there was still no action. Even Chen Zetao, who was sitting beside him, started furrowing his brows.

“President Fu, you haven’t thought of a reason yet?” asked Lan Jinyao through gritted teeth.

Fu Bainian revealed an extremely evil smile and said, “No, I’ve already thought of one; your gaze earlier didn’t seem right.”

He was clearly looking for a needle in a haystack! However, Lan Jinyao had no way to refute him, so she fiercely glared at Fu Bainian and took several deep breaths to calm her agitated heart.

Chen Zetao couldn’t continue watching any longer, and pinched his brows as he said, “President Fu, there was nothing wrong with Chen Meimei’s gaze.”

Lan Jinyao was relieved upon hearing this. Fu Bainian was good at business-related subjects, but as for anything related to filming, Chen Zetao was the real expert. Now that Chen Zetao had spoken up, she would like to see what else Fu Bainian had to say.

What happened afterwards made Lan Jinyao realise that apart from being crafty, Fu Bainian was also a very thick-skinned person.

After remaining silent for two seconds, Fu Bainian uttered, “Maybe I was wrong. Director Chen is the real expert, so I’ll follow your judgment. You can continue!”

The little flame in Lan Jinyao’s heart went out upon hearing this.

She glanced at the script again and read her lines, “If you were taken away by the clouds, would you look at me from the sky? My dear love…”

The poetic sentences flowed out of her mouth and were painted into an elegant and touching picture scroll.

Lan Jinyao looked at a certain point in the empty room; her gaze laden with grief.

She’d never learnt stage play, but her aura impressed everyone present, and they were all immersed in her sorrow.

However, at this moment, Fu Bainian yelled again, “Stop! What you just did was wrong. In the script, there was no such action at all.”

When Fu Bainian made such a scene, everyone instantly understood that he didn’t like the actress, and they all thought: It seems that the relationship between the President and his wife is truly bad, just like the rumours.

Everyone was pondering about whether to directly eliminate the Madam or not.

Lan Jinyao was so angry that she was on the verge of vomiting blood. Fu Bainian was being too childish. She’d initially pondered about what tricks he’d use to eliminate her, but never did she expect him to make things difficult for her like this! This was going overboard!

Her previous life was all smooth sailing compared to how bumpy her current road was in this life.

Lan Jinyao clenched her hands into fists and tried her best not to accidentally swing them towards Fu Bainian’s face. She squeezed out a smile and said, “President Fu, I know that there are not so many movements in the script; I’m just improvising on the spot. If you don’t understand, you can ask Director Chen.”

Fu Bainian’s expression instantly sunk at the mention of Chen Zetao’s name.

However, just as everyone thought that Fu Bainian was about to lose his temper and prepared to duck away from the expected fire, Fu Bainian unexpectedly smiled and said, “Is that so? Then, you can continue!”

Lan Jinyao had gotten into character with great difficulty, but Fu Bainian’s interruption had cleanly destroyed her acting disposition. Lan Jinyao repeatedly clenched and loosened her fists; so much so that her bones were about to be crushed.

Asking her to go on? How could she?! Lan Jinyao knew very well that if she continued, Fu Bainian would certainly yell stop again. The auditions before were all very short, but hers had dragged on all thanks to Fu Bainian’s constant interruptions.

“President Fu, as for my previous performance, what did you think of it?”

Fu Bainian pondered for a moment and then bluntly said, “There was nothing great about it!”

For an actor, this was definitely a big insult. However, Fu Bainian was seemingly not aware of this as he was still sitting there with an indifferent look on his face.

Chen Zetao waved to Lan Jinyao and said, “Meimei, go out first!”

Lan Jinyao gritted her teeth and fiercely glared at Fu Bainian on her way out.

In the quiet office, Chen Zetao furrowed his eyebrows and said, “President Fu, I think you’re deliberately targeting Chen Meimei. Her performance just now was very much on point in terms of her manner of speech and her expressions. I don’t understand why you kept yelling stop.”

Upon hearing this, Fu Bainian coldly said, “You don’t need to know why. You just need to know that this time you can pick anyone for this role except Chen Meimei.”

Chen Zetao nearly choked on his words when he heard Fu Bainian’s icy tone, but he still retorted with a darkened expression, “This is unfair to Chen Meimei. I can see that Chen Meimei is the most suitable candidate, so I hope that you won’t let personal feelings affect your judgment.”

“It’s up to me to decide whether it’s fair or not!” Fu Bainian suddenly stood up and stared coldly at Chen Zetao. “In short, she can’t participate in this movie’s production.”

Lan Jinyao leaned against the door and listened to the movements inside. When she heard Fu Bainian coldly state that anyone could be picked except for her, she almost fainted from anger.

She could no longer suppress the anger in her stomach and kicked the door open as she yelled, “Fu Bainian, you’re going too far! On what grounds are you taking charge of my matters and making all the decisions for me?”

When Fu Bainian stared at her, the look in his eyes was extremely complicated, yet filled with persistence.

“No means no!”

Lan Jinyao sneered at him and asked, “Then, why did you bring me here? Why didn’t you just lock me up at home?”

She was so angry that her abdomen started to ache. Her face gradually turned pale, and she subconsciously covered her lower abdomen with her hands.

When Fu Bainian saw her movements, his expression instantly changed into one of worry one as he strode to her side. He put his arms around her and anxiously asked, “What’s wrong? Do you feel unwell anywhere?”

Lan Jinyao was in so much pain that she broke out in a cold sweat; even nodding was extremely difficult.

“Pain…” she muttered in a low voice.

Fu Bainian no longer insisted; he quickly picked Lan Jinyao up and ran out, reassuring her on the way. “Don’t worry; I’ll take you to the hospital now. Nothing will happen to you.”

Lan Jinyao’s tears couldn’t help but roll down her face.

“Fu Bainian, just let me have my way this once? I don’t want to be angry anymore, and I don’t want to…experience death again. That feeling is truly difficult to bear.”

Fu Bainian didn’t hesitate at all as he said, “Let’s go to the hospital first and hear what the doctor has to say. If the doctor allows you to do so, then I won’t object either.”

Lan Jinyao then weakly nodded.