V5: 214 – Audition
In the afternoon, the Qin Mian family did not go out. Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin were watching TV in the living room.
Lei Tie was sitting on the sofa with his legs folded and a notebook computer on his legs. He skillfully slid his right hand on the touch screen. He didn’t look like a person who had just learned how to use a notebook computer for three days. The look in his eyes staring intently at the screen was full of fascination.
Qin Mian came out of the kitchen with a plate of cut fruits, feeling inexplicably jealous of the notebook on the man’s knees. He walked over and sat on the armrest of the sofa, staring at the man without saying a word.
Lei Tie raised his head with a little smile in his eyes. He put the notebook on the coffee table, hugged his wife’s waist, gently gathered the person into his arms and sealed his lips.
Qin Mian’s eyes widened. He squinted at his two sons, making sure that their attention was still on the TV program before he relaxed, put his arms around the man’s shoulder, and responded attentively.
“Go to the bedroom?” Lei Tie’s hoarse voice gently blew into Qin Mian’s cochlea.
Qin Mian shuddered, gasped and shook his head. “It’s still daytime…” He said so, yet lingered on the man’s lips, sucking it hard before he sat down beside the man, acting as if nothing had happened. Their hot hands were still tightly clasped to relieve the impulse in their bodies.
“Daddy.” Lei Ruilin pulled Qin Ruiqi’s hand and went to Qin Mian.
“What’s the matter?” Qin Mian pulled out his hand, held out the fruit plate, and signaled his two sons to eat some fruits.
“Daddy, I want to act in a film. Gege also wants to.” Lei Ruilin pointed to the TV where a little boy was crying with grievance in the corner. He was very excited.
Qin Mian thought of the man who claimed to be a film director he met last time. “Why did you suddenly think of this?”
Lei Ruilin said, “It’s very fun to act in a film.”
Qin Mian asked his eldest son, “Ruiqi, are you also interested?”
Qin Ruiqi nodded, “If there’s an opportunity, I want to try it.”
Lei Tie searched for “Chen Yue” on the Internet. There were photos of the person he did meet in the park; in addition, he was a well-known film director in China. He had directed many popular films, among which “Borrowed Heart” released in 2011 was number one in the mainland box office’s chart, and was still at the top of the list.
Both Qin Mian and Lei Tie had the ability to protect their two children. Since the boys were interested in acting, there was no reason not to let them experience it.
“You can, but once you participate in a series of shooting activities, your study time will lessen. Your Old Daddy and I won’t ask you to be first and second in the exam, but we don’t want you to be the bottom of the class afterward.” Qin Mian’s words were mild but severe.
Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin looked at each other with confidence.
Qin Ruiqi took the lead in saying, “Daddy can be at ease.”
“Gege and I will supervise each other.” Lei Ruilin said immediately.
Qin Mian found Chen Yue’s business card and dialed it according to the phone number.
“Who is it?” The voice on the other side was a little agitated.
Qin Mian said, “Hello, Director Chen. We met in the park last time.”
“You are the little friend Lei Ruilin’s father!” Chen Yue asked in surprise, “Did you agree with what I said last time?”
Qin Mian did not deny that, “My son is interested to be filmed, but he has no experience in acting.”
“It doesn’t matter. He can learn.” Chen Yue decisively said, “I’m in S City now. There’s an audition session here. You should come over now.”
“The address is? Okay, goodbye.”
The family sorted things out and drove to the address given by Chen Yue. Lei Tie had gotten his driver’s license. Since he got the license, he was basically the chauffeur of the family when they went out.
Chen Yue was famous for his superb insight in the showbiz milieu. The candidates he settled on after the audition hardly were unfit. After seeing Lei Ruilin last time, the “Tuan Tuan” in Chen Yue’s mind was exactly Lei Ruilin. Anyone else who came to act as Tuan Tuan made him feel stress, not because their appearance was unfit but their temperament was. After leaving his business card to Lei Ruilin’s father that day, he didn’t receive the other party’s phone call. Under exasperation, he had to hold an audition again. Time was money, the investor couldn’t wait for him indefinitely. Fortunately, at the critical moment, he got to hear the good news nevertheless.
Zhang Qiong, the Assistant Director, and Sun Jianwen, the representative sent by the investor, noticed that Chen Yue was obviously excited after he received the phone call.
Zhang Qiong said, “Director Chen, what happy event did you chance upon? All the wrinkles come out to join in the fun.”
“You’ll see in a moment.” Chen Yue didn’t tell the truth. Lei Ruilin’s external image and personality were very suitable, but whether he had flexibility in acting or not, one could tell after his audition.
He took out his mobile phone and sent a text message to Assistant Xiao Zhou, asking him to insert Lei Ruilin’s name into the audition list.
Qin Mian, Lei Tie, Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin came to Huihong Building and went to the 18th floor. There were more than 30 young boys accompanied by adults in the large conference hall, all were seven to nine years old and excellent-looking. They were either standing or sitting; no one spoke. The atmosphere was quite tense.
When the adults saw Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin, they all felt a little bit of impending crisis. The temperament and appearance of the two children were excellent.
Lei Ruilin was a little excited, but kept his equanimity and calmly sat in the chair.
Qin Ruiqi was clear that the director took a liking to his Didi. This time, he mainly followed to get experience.
A little boy in the company of his parents entered a room and then came out looking a little depressed.
A bespectacled middle-aged man pushed his glasses up on his nose bridge as he looked around the crowd, “Is Lei Ruilin here?”
“Here.” Lei Ruilin stood up and gave him a smile.
“It’s your turn.”
“Thank you.” Lei Ruilin thanked him politely.
When the middle-aged man saw that he and another boy were twins, his eyes stayed for a few more seconds.
Qin Mian stepped forward, “Hello, we’re his family. Can we go in together?”
“Of course.” The middle-aged man nodded.
As soon as Qin Mian’s family of four went in, Chen Yue, Zhang Qiong, and Sun Jianwen were all spontaneously impressed. The appearance and temperament of this family were so outstanding that any one of them could become popular in the entertainment industry. Simply put, they wouldn’t give other celebrities a way to survive.
Chen Yue stared at Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin for a while before he could tell which one was Lei Ruilin. Although the two brothers looked identical, their temperament was obviously different; Qin Ruiqi was cold, while Lei Ruilin was warm.
Qin Mian nodded to Chen Yue and stood aside with Lei Tie and Qin Ruilin.
Lei Ruilin boldly went to the middle, facing Chen Yue and the other two people, “Three uncles, my name is Lei Ruilin, eight years old. I came here to audition.”
Zhang Qiong nodded to himself, seeing that the boy with a calm bearing and quick-witted eyes had the feeling of Tuan Tuan up to 70%.
Chen Yue first told Lei Ruilin, “Little friend, you act a scene for us first. The role you’re playing is called Tuan Tuan. There’s a scene in the script where a villain comes to the door and tries to take a very important chip from your Gege, but your Gege has a gunshot wound. You need to draw the opponent’s attention to yourself.”
He asked Assistant Xiao Zhou and another staff member Xiao Liu to cooperate with Lei Ruilin and asked Lei Ruilin gently, “Can you start?”
After Lei Ruilin politely invited Xiao Zhou, who acted as his Gege, to stand in front of Chen Yue’s group of three, he nodded to Chen Yue, “Ready.”
Such a young child surprisingly had such a strong sense of camera shot. Chen Yue and Zhang Yuan looked at each other in pleasant surprise and signaled Xiao Liu.
Xiao Liu made a movement of kicking the door open with one foot and said to Xiao Zhou arrogantly, “Chen Kai, be sensible and hand in the microchip, otherwise, I’ll humiliate you!”
Lei Ruilin’s expression abruptly changed and he promptly hid behind Xiao Zhou. Immediately after, he seemed to realize that this reaction made him appear to be guilty of conscience. He leaned out half of his head from the back of Xiao Zhou’s body, held his hands under his belly, and clamped his legs, making a posture of urgent need to urinate. He said to Xiao Zhou in a low voice, “Gege, I need to pee.”
Xiao Zhou was stunned.
Lei Ruilin, however, did not wait for his reaction; he glanced at Xiao Liu guardedly and quickly forced his way out.
Xiao Liu subconsciously chased after him in a few steps before he returned to his senses and stopped.
Zhang Yuan couldn’t hold back from clapping his hands, “Good!”
“He’s the one. You don’t have a problem, do you?” Chen Yue smiled and looked back and forth at Zhang Qiong and Sun Jianwen with eyes that allowed no question.
Zhang Qiong and Sun Jianwen both shook their heads. They were very satisfied with Lei Ruilin’s performance and believed in Chen Yue’s insight.
Lei Ruilin’s role as Tuan Tuan had thus been decided.
Xiao Zhou came to Qin Mian with a folder, “Hello. Because Lei Ruilin isn’t yet an adult, his guardian needs to sign the contract. Which of you is Lei Ruilin’s guardian?”
Qin Mian took out his and Lei Tie’s credentials and handed them to him, “We both are.”
Xiao Zhou looked at the credentials and nodded.
“Take a look at the contract and sign on the last page if there are no problems.”
Qin Mian carefully read all the clauses and readily signed on the three contracts.
Xiao Zhou gave him the script, “This is the script. Let the child get familiar with it. We’ll contact you when we start shooting.”
Only until they got inside the car did Lei Ruilin cheer happily.
“I can be in a film!”
Qin Mian handed the contract to him with a smile, “See if you can understand it. Ruiqi, you can also have a look. If you have a chance to act in a film or TV drama in the future, it can be used as a reference.”
The two brothers looked at the contents of the contract head to head.
Qin Mian and Lei Tie had a discussion, “Our son’s performance is good today. Why don’t we eat out in the evening?”
Lei Tie said, “[They’re] Not as good as your cooking.”
Qin Mian felt proud of himself, “Really?”
“Hm.” Lei Tie nodded.
Qin Mian was invigorated in both body and mind, “Okay, go home, I’ll cook.”
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