Jiang Dao got up, walked to the door and stood side by side with Chu Yinlong.

“I don’t want to audition either, but I can’t refuse a job arranged by the company.” His face returned to his usual laziness, and there was a smile on the corner of his mouth. “But you know, I’m not easy to bully. If he really dares… ah, who knows who’ll be unlucky.”

Despite having said that, Chu Yinlong knew that Jiang Dao is not a man who will do anything to win, nor is he helpless. But there was still an inexplicable irritability burning in his heart that he couldn’t hold back.

“If you need, I can give you an excuse to refuse the audition.” In the end, Chu Yinlong suggested, “I have a movie in the pipeline recently. I can give you a role, and yes can use the schedule conflict to push the web drama away.”

Hearing this, Jiang Dao raised his eyebrows and squinted at him. “Why do I think you’re taking advantage of the situation?”

“Am I such a person in your eyes?” Chu Yinlong replied helplessly.

“Who knows…” Jiang Dao shrugged.

Chu Yinlong sighed and declined to comment.

The two stood side by side at the door and watched the rain for a while. Finally they saw the door of the main house next to them open.

“Awake? We’re gathering in the main house. The director and the others will come up later.” Qi Peng stood under the eaves and beckoned them over.

Due to the weather, only one close-up cameraman, an assistant, and a program director came to film this time. Most of the footage will be filmed by the cameras already installed in the house.

“Jiang Dao, your cell phone.” The assistant who came with them returned Jiang Dao’s cell phone. “Don’t worry, our staff repaired it, and your data is secure… Oh, your agent called you in the morning and asked you to call him back.”

“Thank you.” Jiang Dao took the phone, greeted Qi Peng, went out and hid under the eaves to call Zhu Yao back.

On the phone, Zhu Yao got straight to the point: “The company has recently obtained two web drama scripts, and one of them is very suitable for you. I communicated with Chu Yinlong’s assistant and helped you book a flight to Linshi. I’ll be there tomorrow to pick you up for the audition.”

Sure enough, it was this matter.

Jiang Dao lowered his eyelashes and made a low “um”.

“I took a look at the script, and the villain in it is quite suitable for you, so I won the audition opportunity for you.” Zhu Yao thought that Jiang Dao had doubts and explained, “Although it is not the male lead or second male lead, the villain is also considered a good role. Don’t resist.”

“The role doesn’t matter.” Jiang Dao decided to confirm and asked, “What type of drama? What’s the name? Who is the director?”

Zhu Yao’s tone was still flat: “It’s an idol costume drama, based on the novel “Demon in the Peach”. If nothing changes, the director is Li Cheng.”

It was Li Cheng.

Chu Yinlong didn’t lie to him.

Jiang Dao slowly exhaled, and after a few perfunctory words to Zhu Yao, hung up the phone.

Returning to the main room, he saw that the tables and chairs in the main hall had been removed, leaving an open space.

No matter what trouble his manager has brought him, he is currently recording a variety show and cannot bring his personal emotions into it. Regardless of whether the audition is a tiger’s den or dragon cave, he has to finish today’s work first.

Thinking like this, Jiang Dao hid all his emotions and walked back to the crowd facing Chu Yinlong.

Due to the weather, the original activity in the vegetable garden could not be done, so the recording team changed to a game of darts as a way to obtain ingredients for lunch. They brought a dart board with small notes of various ingredients on the board. Players only need to hit the corresponding grid to get the ingredients attached to the grid.

“Each guest has three darts each, and how many ingredients you can get depends on how steady your hands are.” The director said with a smile. “You can’t give your darts to others. Once we find out, we’ll deduct your ingredients.”

Hearing this, Cheng Zhiyi silently retracted the hand that was about to hand his darts to Qi Peng.

Qi Peng smiled and said, “It’s useless if you give it to me, I haven’t played darts. You have to give it to Brother Chu. He has the most stable hands.”

Cheng Zhiyi retorted angrily, “The director said that you can’t cheat, forget it.”

“Since Xiao Chu knows how to play, he should be last.” Hai Tang held the darts with a helpless expression on her face. “I have never played this before. It’s up to Xiao Chu to be the finale.”

Everyone has no objection to this.

So Qi Peng commanded: “Then Hai Tang, you come first, then Xiao Dao, me, Xiao Yi, Director Mu, An’an… and finally let Xiao Chu finish for us.”

Hearing that he was in the front, Jiang Dao didn’t refute, and silently took the darts from the show assistant and lined up behind Hai Tang.

Then everyone gathered together to discuss which ingredients they wanted the most. In the end, everyone agreed that the fish from the nearby lake must be taken. It was located in the center of the dartboard, and really deserves to be a main ingredient.

Outside, the rain showed no sign of stopping, and inside the house, a game of darts quickly started.

Hai Tang was the first to play, and clearly demonstrated what she meant by “have never played darts”. Let alone hitting the target, one of her darts didn’t even land on the board. It wasn’t due to a lack of strength, but the dart hit the board and fell down.

Qi Peng stepped forward and patted her on the shoulder. “It’s okay, your hands are used to create delicious food, leave the ingredients to us!”

Hai Tang smiled helplessly and retired.

Jiang Dao held the three darts, stood behind the rope pulled by the recording team, compared the distance from the target, and weighed the weight of the darts in his hand.

Then, he picked up a dart, took a glance at it, and threw it with force.

Hearing a dull impact, the dart steadied on the target – unfortunately it was a bit far from the red heart, hitting the edge of the paper labeled with “garlic sprouts”.

Qi Peng was not disappointed, but immediately applauded: “Not bad, Xiao Dao! Come on, give it another shot!”

Jiang Dao smiled at him, picked up the second dart, and raised his hand without hesitation , threw it out –

Hit the red heart steadily… a square of “bacon” next to it.

Cheng Zhiyi: “Xiao Dao, awesome!”

An Zhe also smiled: “Yes, fried bacon with garlic sprouts, one dish is ready.”

Mu Zhixing looked at Jiang Dao with a smile, picked up his cup, and slowly took a sip.

After scanning the ingredients on the board again, Jiang Dao unconsciously turned the last dart in his hand, then raised his hand, threw it out, and stabbed the “egg” note lightly and skillfully.

On the side, Chu Yinlong said: “Eggs are good, they are versatile and can be put in any dish.”

Jiang Dao smiled back. “That’s good. Fortunately, I didn’t miss.”

Hearing this, Chu Yinlong’s eyes stayed on Jiang Dao’s face for a moment, and finally nodded.

Next, Qi Peng, Cheng Zhiyi, Mu Zhixing, and An Zhe took turns to play, and won two pig trotters, a box of tofu, plus several vegetables and fruits. The ingredients for lunch suddenly became rich. It’s a pity that none of them hit the bullseye in the middle and won the fish yet.

In the end, Chu Yinlong came on stage and lived up to expectations. The first dart hit the bullseye and won them a fish.

“King oyster mushroom!” Qi Peng shouted off the field.

Chu Yinlong raised his hand and threw his dart, hitting the paper with “king oyster mushroom”.

“The last… songhua egg1preserved duck egg. Songhua describes the whitish salt patterning on the egg when it’s made well? We have soft tofu, and can make a cold dish.”

Chu Yinlong nodded and took down the songhua egg effortlessly.

After the game of obtaining ingredients finished, there was nothing else to worry about this morning.

Seeing that the rain would continue for a while, everyone returned the tables and chairs, and discussed shooting contents for the show. Director Mu, Qi Peng, and Chu Yinlong are old acquaintances, and have also collaborated on many films. After chatting for a while, they began recalling the past, and the conversation finally fell on Chu Yinlong.

“It’s really scary to make a movie with him I tell you.” Mu Zhixing obviously suffered a lot. “He’s both an actor and director in his group, and sometimes he’ll force them to change the shot… I don’t know if you remember it or not – that scene of him skydiving at low altitude?”

“Is it the one in “Han Xiao”?” Qi Peng cooperated.

“Yes, that’s the one!” Mu Zhixing slapped the table. “Originally, we wanted to shoot in the studio and use special effects to add a cliff. But he didn’t. He insisted on shooting a real scene. You didn’t see it – at that time his assistant was about to cry… It was a cliff jump at low altitude, and a small mistake could kill anyone…”

“How’s it so easy to make mistakes?” Chu Yinlong retorted. “There is an expert to measure the height of the cliff, and the whole team helped me check the equipment, wind direction, and ensure safety… Besides, I have a skydiving certificate.”

“Tsk.” Mu Zhixing clicked his tongue. Pointing at Chu Yinlong, he turned to say to Jiang Dao, “Look at this kind of person. He even had the gall to scold you yesterday.”

Having nothing to say, Jiang Dao could only smile cooperatively.

Mu Zhixing didn’t expect him to say anything, and continued on his own: “This wasn’t the most surprising. When filming “Homecoming”, he almost lost his life.”

Qi Peng wasn’t aware either, and asked in surprise: “What’s going on?”

Mu Zhixing said: “He had to design complex and difficult moves, saying that it’ll look better in the film, jumping from the second floor to the roof of the car. The car wasn’t slow either, so when he jumped off, his feet slipped from the roof of the car. He rolled directly to the ground, next to a pile of bricks on the set, all of which smashed on him…”

“What!”

“Yikes—”

“My god…”

Everyone exchanged complicated looks.

Mu Zhixing reached out and tapped Chu Yinlong’s forehead. “Look carefully, there is a very shallow scar here that hasn’t disappeared. It was bleeding quite badly, tsk tsk.”

Chu Yinlong was speechless. “That was during my teenage years. Why bring it up after so long?”

“Because you haven’t changed!” Mu Zhixing stared back. “Sure, you are now independent, and have started directing, but who knows what you’ll do next… I heard that when you made your last movie, you broke your arm?”

Chu Yinlong: …

Jiang Dao listened silently, and his eyes couldn’t help falling on Chu Yinlong’s forehead.

After carefully studying it for a long time, when the other party turned his head, he saw that there was indeed an unclear scar there. As an actor, Chu Yinlong should have taken care of it well and even got skin surgery…

But even so, the scar was still not completely removed. It’s likely that the wound at that time should be very deep.

It turned out that acting isn’t as simple as he thought – competence requires more than just “pretending” to be someone else.

If it wasn’t for some belief in Chu Yinlong’s heart, probably no one would be able to persist after repeated injuries… Perhaps, acting really has some kind of charm that he hasn’t discovered yet.

 

It’s a trap Jiang Dao! Director Mu, Chu Yinlong and Qi Peng are talking about it on purpose to pit you!

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1preserved duck egg. Songhua describes the whitish salt patterning on the egg when it’s made well

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