Perfect Fiancé Chapter 35

Hey everybody! Welcome back to another chapter~ Sorry for the late release. It's my fault since I've been once more swept up with real life and falling sick three times in one month (gulp…)

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Alrighty, without further ado, it's… Chapter 35!

After the screenplay was finalised, what came next would be the selection process for the characters. Once some unimportant supporting roles were directly cherry-picked through the internal roster of actors from his family's production company, Lu Xi then had Qin An have some company staff and his own private studio staff send out audition invitations. The purpose of the auditions would be for the three main roles: the female lead, Tong Yao, the male lead, Cheng Yuan and the second male lead, Mu Cheng.

The tenth of August, the Shenhai branch of Sheng Ming Productions

Su Jin sat on one of the chairs behind a long table, and rather uncomfortably looked at the mirrors that surrounded the three walls of the room. She then asked, "why are the auditions being held in a dance studio?"

"Does it feel very strange?" Lu Xi swept a look around the surrounding mirrors.

"Of course it does." Su Jin's lips twitched, "why would anyone like to look at so many mirrors?"

"That's true." With a curl of his lips, Lu Xi continued, "in this sort of environment, most people would naturally feel ill at ease, however, what we are choosing today are actors. Moreover, it's for the most important three roles; for these actors, their acting skills are as important as their psychological qualities(1). Because of that, in this sort of environment, the first thing we should be able to tell as soon as they step into the room is likely going to be their psychological traits."

(1) 心理素质 (xīn lǐ sù zhì) – this refers to the measure of mental health based on some combination of personality/adaptability/motivation/mentality/behaviours of a person. What this means is the personality traits such as emotional stability, sensitivity, and imagination that people possess that cause them to behave in certain situations and react in certain ways as unique human beings. This is similar to the use of psychological tests in work interviews or research studies.

With such a lengthy and proper explanation thrown at her, Su Jin was somewhat baffled. Blinking blankly, she then instinctually asked in reply, "really?"

Sitting upright and still, Lu Xi nodded, "of course not."

"Oh, so it actually was…" Pausing what she was saying, Su Jin suddenly reacted, "wait, what did you just say?"

She raised her head and questioned.

"I said, of course, it isn't true." Lu Xi leaned against the back of the chair and with drooped eyes, looked at the girl beside him.

Flabbergasted, Su Jin even forgot to blink as she stared at him.

The young woman's dazed and blank look was distinctly pleasing for the man. He bent over slightly and at an equal height of eye contact, stared at those pair of beautiful phoenix eyes as his peach blossom eyes were filled with laughter.

"Have you been struck dumb?"

His voice, filled with faint laughter was deep, low and melodious.

Su Jin snapped back to her senses and was surprised by the enlarged face that was right in front of hers. Unhappily, she glared at the man and her body retreated as she leaned back against her own chair. With a raised eyebrow, she asked, "your Majesty, wouldst thou not gather with the winds arise yonder?"

"To soar fast up into high alt.i.tude?"(2) With a straight face, Lu Xi followed up with her line, "then, I'll be thanking Jin'er for your concern then."

(2) 阁下何不同风起, 扶摇直上九万里 (gé xià hé bù tóng fēng qǐ, fú yáo zhí shàng jiǔ wàn lǐ) – This entire phrase comes from a poem called 'In attendance to Li Yong' from one of the most famous Chinese poets of all time, Li Bai. He is an extremely influential figure with enduring popularity and acclaim from his own day till present in China and elsewhere. One of the reasons he appears in light novels often is due to his poems still being studied in school texts in China.

As mentioned above, the (poor but) direct translation is your Majesty/sire, wouldst thou not gather with the winds arise yonder to soar fast up into high alt.i.tude. The original poem was written during Li Bai's youth as a form of discontent to the provincial governor of Yuzhou, Li Yong. Li Yong was someone who tooted his own horn conceitedly and had quite an aloof att.i.tude towards the young generation. Dissatisfied with it,, this was Li Bai's way of dissing him in an extremely impolite poem.

Now, this phrase is used in Internet slang to refinedly say, "if you're so awesome, then why don't you die?"

Hearing Lu Xi's response, Su Jin was truly speechless. Weakly, she leaned against the back of the chair and looked at the distinctly handsome appearance of the man beside her, her gaze filled with helplessness and resentment.

What about his pride, then?

Lu Xi blinked, his pride? In front of his future little wife, whatever would that be?

"Boss." Qin An pushed the door as he stepped in. Instinctively, he felt that the atmosphere around the room was a little off, still, he immediately recalled the bustling crowd of beautiful beauties gathered outside for similar reasons. Right away, he questioned, "everyone is more or less here, should we begin?"

The morning's screen test was for Tong Yao.

Lu Xi slanted a look towards Su Jin, showing an inquiring expression on his mien.

"Let's begin then." Su Jin sat upright and proper as she gave Qin An a nod.

One by one, the pretty women with snowy complexions walked into the room. Looking at the two people sitting behind the long table, they were all rather surprised.

Since they were able to be here, they were definitely the cream of the crop that had been hand-picked by the various agencies. Therefore, they would naturally not have shown this sort of sentiment on their faces. Rather, extremely courteously, they greeted the two and then began their performances.

Paying little attention to those performances, Su Jin turned her head slightly to look at the man beside her.

With a proper seated posture and his hands crossed and placed onto the table, his white dress shirt contoured the upright and straightened back. With a slight raise of his chin, he showed an almost perfect side view of his face as his gaze landed directly on the woman who was currently acting. His sharp eyebrows were slightly wrinkled and exuded a somewhat examining glint.

So as it turns out, in front of outsiders, he who was working actually had this sort of appearance.

"Miss Zhou, thank you for partic.i.p.ating. When we have come to a decision, we will contact you about the results. Please patiently await our answer in two days."

Now that the audition had ended, the edge of Lu Xi's lip curled into a polite and distant smile as he spoke gently.

"Alright, thank you, Director Lu." In a similar fashion, the auditionee politely bid her farewell as she turned to leave the dance studio.

Su Jin looked upon the man adorned in a white dress shirt with a shallow and light smile on his face and lightly nodded. Only now with this appearance did Lu Xi give off the aura of the male lead of a novel.

When the door closed, Lu Xi abruptly turned his head towards Su Jin.

Alluring peach blossom eyes stared straight into hers as the hint of the smile became slightly softer in comparison to the distant smile from before.

"With how Jin'er is looking at me-" His eyebrow arched as he leaned a little closer, speaking lowly, "have you fallen in love with me?"

His tepid breath fell on her collarbone as Su Jin leaned away and together with her chair, shifted a little further away from him.

Indeed, this shamelessly roguish appearance was the true face of Lu Xi.

"Cough…"

A light cough was heard from the door. Su Jin was startled and with a raised glance, looked towards the sound.

The person standing at the doorway had a delicate and pretty appearance, yet, that pair of eyes was extremely beautiful.

They bore an extremely uncanny resemblance to Su Jin's own phoenix eyes.

Momentarily, the two people were both stunned on the spot.

What Mu Qing was startled about was Su Jin's beauty, but what Su Jin was most astonished about was the resemblance between this girl and herself.

To be exact, it was not Su Jin, but Su Jiner.

Her appearance was only similar to some degree, however, her mannerisms were as much as seventy percent accurate.

"Mu Qing?" Lu Xi's voice broke through the silence.

Mu Qing recomposed herself and nodded as she smiled lightly, "I am Mu Qing, h.e.l.lo Director Lu."

What followed after was the repeat of similar streams of conversation like the auditions before. Although Mu Qing was a newcomer in the field, her acting was remarkable. It was not the best yet, but for a television drama, it was sufficient.

And of course, the audition ended with the mechanical reiteration of returning and awaiting a reply.

Once Mu Qing left, Su Jin turned to look at Lu Xi.

"How was she?" Seeing her gaze, Lu Xi asked.

Su Jin nodded as her eyes were brightly lit up.

Seeing this, Lu Xi nodded. His expression seemed thoughtful yet he did not say anything.

The screen tests continued but after Mu Qing, no one who appeared was able to rouse Su Jin's interest again.

After lunch, what would follow would be the selection of actors for the roles of Cheng Yuan and Mu Cheng.

The afternoon screen tests were not as successful as the morning's. From start to finish, the actor for the role of the male lead, Cheng Yuan, could not be decided on. Even the appearance of Film Emperor Zhuo Junan was unable to make Su Jin satisfied.

His appearance was fine and his acting was good, yet against all reason, the feeling just was seemed off.

Once Zhuo Junan bid his leave and left, Lu Xi shot her an inquiring glance. At this, Su Jin furrowed her brows and shook her head.

"Boss." Qin An pushed the door and entered, "Zhuo Junan was the final person auditioning for Cheng Yuan."

"The last one, already?" Lu Xi raised an eyebrow and looked at the discouraged expression of the young lady beside him. Reaching out, he caressed her long tresses as he consoled her, "maybe later we can find a suitable person within the group of men auditioning for the role of Mu Cheng?"

Su Jin raised her eyes and looked at him. Then, she leaned against the table and gave a sigh. If they were unable to find someone suitable among the people who had come to audition for Cheng Yuan, then what more could they say about the people aiming for the role of Mu Cheng?

"Lu Xi, honestly speaking, do you think that my specifications are too rigorous? To insist on even the feel of the person to fit the role." Su Jin suddenly raised her head in doubt.

"What arbitrary thoughts are you thinking about!" Lu Xi raised a hand to rap on the girl's bright and clean forehead, "what is wrong with constantly improving and refining something?"

"Oh." Su Jin gently rubbed the rapped part of her brow and turned to Qin An and spoke, "then let's continue, the next one."

Even if they found one fortuitously by sheer dumb luck, one would still have to make that chance happen, right? (3)

(3) 瞎猫碰死耗子 (xiā māo pèng sǐ hào zi) – this phrase depicts a blind cat (xiā māo) that is trying its best to hopefully find a dead rat. While in English, this refers to sheer dumb luck, in the Chinese context, it refers 'blind luck'.

Then, Su Jin, who had held onto that hopeful desire, found that there was truly such a thing as sheer dumb luck in this world.

The man who had entered was dressed in a fitted dress shirt and jeans. The contrast between what Lu Xi wore was not too wide. However, in comparison, what he exuded was a temperament that was as different as night and day.

If Lu Xi could be described as gentle as jade, then this person would be considered as steady and magnanimous.

Although his facial features were not particularly outstanding, yet as a whole, they gave off a vibe of an extremely steady temperament. In the eyes of the author, almost in a flash, what came to Su Jin's mind was the resemblance to Cheng Yuan, who was almost like a brother figure who silently cared for Tong Yao.

Bai Haoqi, Su Jin lowered her head to look at his particulars, thirty-six years old and a B-list actor. And while he appeared in numerous works and most of them became famous, on the contrary, he himself did not become thus.

He was previously a stage actor? Su Jin's eyes lit up. Then his acting skills and background in character study should be satisfactory. As she thought of this, she raised a glance and blinked at Lu Xi.

After he waited for the man to leave, Lu Xi arched an eyebrow and shot Su Jin a smile. "His acting is not bad."

"I think so too." Su Jin's lips stretched into a jubilant smile.

"In fact, once I saw him in person, I suddenly understood why all his past films became popular but he did not." Su Jin lightly sighed with a rather rueful expression on her face, "some men are like wine. They must go through a number of years to age and only then, will they emit an intoxicating presence that can penetrate deeply into the heart and minds of the people."

Men? Wine? Years to age?

Lu Xi's peach blossom eyes narrowed and his drooping eyes closely focused upon the face of the rueful girl before him.

"To praise a man so highly in front of your own fiance, Jin'er, aren't you afraid that I could become angry enough to make life difficult for him?"

His voice was low and seemingly menacing in tone. When it reached her ears, its implications were actually somewhat touching.

Su Jin looked at the pair of alluring peach blossom eyes before her and suddenly, a question burst forth, "what do you like about me?" She recalled the gorgeously dressed beauties from the morning's session and unconsciously stroked her own cheeks, "is it because of this face?"

Face? Lu Xi lightly laughed.

"Have you heard that saying before?"

"Hm?"

"Bedazzled by the looks, beguiled by the personality and faithful to-"

As his hand reached out, his slender fingertips gently caressed the girl's tender cheeks.

"-the soul."

Translated by Iris

Edited by Ely, Th.o.r.n.yan