Chapter 3: The Audition
“Failed?!” On the other end of the phone, a young man roared, “I paid good money for this!”
Aladku replied in annoyance, “I haven’t even gotten the money yet!”
The young man sneered, “You didn’t succeed anyway. If you don’t have the skills, I’ll find someone else! If that brat hadn’t run off abroad, would I have needed to place an order through the Alliance?”
Aladku was furious. The Huaguo people were truly too cunning. The mission target was no ordinary person—it was a beastfolk! He had already been shortchanged by charging the human rate, and now the employer actually had the nerve to complain about him. Well then, sorry, but this master was done!
“Then go find someone else!”
Aladeku hung up the phone directly, tapped away on his laptop for a while, entered a dynamic webpage, input the password to access the Alliance website, quickly found the order he had taken, clicked the abandon button without hesitation, and casually left a negative review for the employer.
After Aladeku vented his frustration, he recalled the magical creature he had seen that night and made a post on the forum.
Tree Hole: I encountered a milky-white, semi-transparent circular membrane while on a mission. It glows on its own, is slimy, highly toxic, and five stories tall. What the hell is this?
Soon, someone replied to him.
[Where did you meet him?]
Aradku said immediately.
[At the seaside, at night.]
That person replied to him.
[Oh, then you must have seen wrong.]
Aladku nearly smashed his keyboard.
Soon someone else replied to him.
[Or maybe it’s a transparent octopus, does it have tentacles?]
Aladku said joyfully.
[Yes, it has lots of tentacles.]
[Then it’s an octopus, a mutated transparent octopus.]
Aladeku thought it over. A mutated octopus? Do octopuses suck blood? He then made up an excuse to himself—it’s mutated, so of course it sucks blood.
This is a new blood-sucking species…
Aladeku calculated. If he reported this to the Council of Elders, how much would they pay him?
The next day, Hua Ji canceled his Hawaii vacation and flew back to the country.
It’s not safe abroad; it’s still better back home!
Making a jellyfish that lives in the sea take a plane is a bit cruel.
So the great jellyfish went straight into dormancy.
As soon as he returned to the country, his company boss called, saying he wanted to meet him in person.
In the domestic entertainment industry, three major companies stand side by side. Hua Ji belongs to Wangu Entertainment, and the company’s boss is an old turtle who has lived for five hundred years.
Countless people who have done business with the old turtle all wish they could strangle him, because this fellow is always half a beat slow in temperament, and yet he’s shrewd as can be!
But for the stars under Wangu Entertainment, the shrewder the company boss, the better.
Boss Wu already looked very old. His hair was graying, he wore reading glasses, and he sat trembling in his boss’s chair—yet he was grinding through games with hand speed faster than a young person’s.
When Hua Ji came in, he didn’t even look up, directly taking out the opponent’s healer with a single shot and securing another arena victory.
He said in the team chat: “Something urgent came up, I’ll be away for a bit.”
Then Boss Wu pushed the laptop aside and looked at Hua Ji, saying: “I heard you brought back a senior?”
Hua Ji nodded, proudly puffing out his chest: “Isn’t this robe of mine beautiful?”
Boss Wu glanced at the robe on Hua Ji and said, “Old Bee’s new work. But I saw him offer this outfit to the Daoist sect. If you want to die, then wear it out.”
Hua Ji froze for a moment, then pointed at the robe on his body. “Boss, take a closer look?”
Boss Wu raised one white eyebrow. He squinted and examined it carefully for a long while, then suddenly wore an expression of disbelief. “This is that senior?”
Hua Ji was immensely proud. “That’s right, this one is the great Jellyfish from the early starfish generation!”
Boss Wu said meaningfully, “Are you sure this senior is staying by your side for now?”
Hua Ji raised his head proudly, “Of course!”
Boss Wu probed tentatively, “Then can I say a few words to the senior?”
Hua Ji immediately faltered, “He’s still resting. I heard that as long as I don’t get too excited or run into danger, he won’t wake up.”
The great Jellyfish is still airsick.
Boss Wu said, “That’s great. I was still hesitating, but since you have a new bodyguard, this script is yours.”
Hua Ji’s eyes lit up. He happily took it. “What script? Whose script? Is it safe?”
The last question was especially important.
“It’s a large-scale period drama planned by Chuangshi Media, forty-four episodes in total. There’s a seductive psychopath in it—I think it suits you quite well.”
Hua Ji: “…”
Boss Wu said nonchalantly, “This production is meant to promote a young girl from the Daoist sect who’s just come out to travel the world, so the supervising producer is a cultivator sent by the Daoist sect. You’re familiar with him too—it’s Li Shunhua.”
“WTF! He’s the one who hired someone to come after me!!” Hua Ji was furious. “If I hadn’t run into Senior Jellyfish, I’d have become a fox fur scarf!!”
Boss Wu said calmly, “Take a look at the character setup. Tomorrow you and Yan Hudie go to the audition.”
Hua Ji didn’t want to go.
But when he saw the director’s name, he was rendered speechless again.
This was Director Yu, renowned for his period dramas. His costume television series rose above lowbrow entertainment—while weaving in love and vendettas, he also made a point of educating viewers about ancient customs and knowledge. His works had the fewest plot holes among period dramas, and he was the most popular director, with the broadest appeal across all age groups.
Hua Ji muttered, “If there aren’t many scenes, I won’t take the role.”
“Mhm, quite a lot, actually. He’s the third male lead’s… trusted subordinate—basically the troublemaker who keeps meddling between the third male lead and the female lead.” Boss Wu smiled. “Oh, I forgot to mention—Li Shunhua is the second male lead.”
Hua Ji was stunned.
“He didn’t even get the first male lead for himself?”
“The male lead is Director Yu’s go-to leading man. He was specifically invited to mentor the young girl, so naturally we couldn’t use that half-baked Li Shunhua.” Boss Wu instructed Hua Ji: “Although your character is a bit of a pervert, he’s very likable. If you play him well, it can push you to the next level. Put your heart into it, understand?”
Hua Ji nodded. Boss Wu was an old turtle—he had the supernatural ability of foresight. Listening to him was never wrong.
He took the script home and prepared thoroughly.
The next day, he went to the audition full of energy.
There were quite a lot of people auditioning, but Boss Wu had already smoothed things over in advance. After Yan Hudie exchanged a few words with the staff, Hua Ji entered through the back door.
He waited in the hallway for a while and noticed there were quite a lot of actors who had come to audition. He spotted quite a few familiar third-rate minor celebrities—though of course, he himself was one of them.
After a while, a staff member notified him to go in for the audition.
Hua Ji straightened his clothes. Today he was wearing a fitted, cinched-waist suit with broad shoulders, though the cuffs were slightly loosened, and the hem of the jacket was a bit longer than a typical suit. His hair was set with hairspray, slightly curled with a somewhat swept-up feel. His eye and brow makeup was extremely light, and with his lowered brows and downcast eyes, he exuded a natural elegance.
Pushing the door open and stepping inside, directly ahead sat Director Yu. Director Yu was over forty this year, wearing a gray mandarin-style jacket, looking somewhat irritable. Beside him sat a young girl in a white dress—she looked quite spirited. One glance was enough for Hua Ji to know that this girl was a novice who had just come down from the mountains of the Daoist sect, and she was the female lead of this drama.
On the other side of the girl sat that annoying pest Li Shunhua. The brat was leaning slanted against the chair back, watching him with a half-smile.
The screenwriter and the producer were also seated nearby, but none of those people mattered anymore.
Hua Ji clenched his fist secretly. Once he dealt with the director and Li Shunhua, the role would be his!
Hua Ji had just steadied herself when the little girl’s eyes went wide, and she blurted out, “Fox spirit!”
Hua Ji smiled. “Hello, everyone. I’m Hua Ji from Wangu Entertainment, here to audition for the fox spirit—ah, no, I mean the role of Feng Huixue!”
Director Yu’s mouth twitched, and he laughed.
“Do you know Feng Huixue’s backstory?”
Hua Ji nodded. “I know, a fox spirit.”
Director Yu added, “A fox spirit who failed to break up a couple, and in the end got skinned by her master and made into a scarf to give to the female lead.”
The little girl in the white dress beside them burst out laughing again.
Hua Ji felt a little depressed.
Li Shunhua said slowly, “What? Is there a problem?”
Hua Ji sneered, “I think we can give it a try.”
Director Yu handed Hua Ji a piece of paper. “This is the selected scene.”
The content of the selected scene was simple—it was a segment where Feng Huixue tactfully spoke ill of the female lead, only to be ignored and even questioned by the third male lead.
When Li Shunhua was asked to test Hua Ji, Li Shunhua pretended to play the third male lead. Today he wore a Zhongshan suit, exuding an air of authority.
He stood with his hands behind his back, then suddenly turned around, furious: “What did you say?!”
Hua Ji immediately got into character. His figure tilted, like a delicate willow swaying in the wind, and his entire aura softened by three parts.
Director Yu’s eyes lit up at this scene, and he sat up straight.
Hua Ji slightly turned his face, his pale complexion combined with his gaunt cheeks outlining a silhouette of stunning yet haggard beauty. He lowered his head, his long eyelashes trembling gently like cicada wings, his lips turning faintly blue in an instant.
His voice shattered like fine rain breaking apart: “Master… do you not believe me?”
The word “Master” carried a trace of seduction, the tail end of it curling and swirling, making anyone who heard it feel an involuntary tingle spread through their entire body.
The little girl in the white dress drew in a sharp breath, secretly muttering to herself: As expected of a fox spirit.
Hua Ji blinked, trying to force out tears.
He thought about the chicken leg he had barely managed to steal as a child, only for some wolf to snatch it away, and immediately felt a wave of sorrow.
Perhaps the grief was too overwhelming, because the jellyfish on top of his head was instantly startled awake. He lazily yawned, and found himself staring right into Li Shunhua’s horrified eyes.
“Did he make you cry?” The jellyfish was delighted. “Then let me eat him!”
The chicken leg in his head turned into Jellyfish Dada.
Hua Ji: NO!!!!!