Zhang Cheng sat up straight and looked at the two people on the stage with all his attention.
Li Zhibai was silent with a complicated expression when he suddenly received a call from his superior.
âOfficer Liu⦠It seems that this time itâs as you wish. Itâs impossible to go to Landu tonight.â Li Zhibai looked at the caller ID and said to Bai Xinyan deliberately in a lively atmosphere. Bai Xinyan took advantage of the situation to get rid of the emotions just now and gave Li Zhibai a sideways look, âI wonât go without work.â
Li Zhibai made a soothing gesture toward him and answered the phone. After a few words, his expression gradually became serious, âExplosion? Are you sure it was man-made?â
What was said over there, Li Zhibai suddenly showed a shocked expression, opened his mouth, and said in a tight voice, âOfficer Liu, are you⦠sure?â
Bai Xinyan felt his abnormality and looked at Li Zhibai strangely. When the other party hung up the phone, he immediately asked, âWhat case?â
Li Zhibaiâs expression was a little dazed and the complexity was even more complicated than before. Seeing Bai Xinyanâs unaware but slightly concerned appearance, he seemed to struggle for a while. After a while, he closed his eyes and with a slight trembling in his voice, he said softly, âThere has been a man-made explosion on West Street. Two people have been killed and one injured. Officer Liu said⦠the method is the same as the explosion 16 years agoâ¦â
Bai Xinyanâs eyes widened suddenly. His face turned pale almost instantly.
The explosion 16 years ago was personally experienced by Lu Zifeng. He barely escaped the disaster, but his mother passed away. The murderer of that year hadnât yet been caught.
This was the biggest knot in Lu Zifengâs heart. Although he never mentioned it, it seemed that he had given up continuing the investigation, but in fact, it was just buried deep in his heart and wouldnât be easily discovered.
Zhu Ling knew this, so he was very hesitant to tell him about it and he was also very worried. After Li Zhibai finished speaking, he looked at Bai Xinyan with a worried look on his face.
Bai Xinyanâs face was pale. He remained motionless for a while, but his expression didnât change much. The thick lenses blocked his eyes, which quickly turned red, but the hand holding the book was involuntarily clenched tightly. It wasnât until his almost white knuckles from using force that he could see the turbulent ups and downs in his heart.
After he noticed his gaffe, he hurriedly lowered his head slightly to clear up his expression. He quickly calmed down again, let go of his hand, took a deep breath, and raised his head again. He put the book back on the table to avoid looking at Zhu Ling and said plainly, âSo do I need to avoid suspicion in this case?â
On the surface, Bai Xinyan didnât seem to be affected in any way. He was still calm, self-controlled, and rational, but his avoiding eyes and his uncontrollable trembling fingers could make people feel the inner restlessness. Even with a tone that didnât fluctuate, they all showed a taste that was deliberately concealed.
âGood!â Zhang Cheng couldnât help but praise in a low voice.
Bai Xinyanâs performance was very restrained and delicate. For TV dramas, this kind of acting that wasnât obvious enough might not be flattering, but he was very smart. Although the performance wasnât large, he showed those details just right. The audience for this audition was Zhang Cheng and others, so when he performed, he deliberately chose an angle they could see from their side to show the details and would guide the audience to notice. For example, with the slight trembling of his fingers, Bai Xinyan first put their eyes on his hands through a movement of putting a book, so that people could naturally discover the details that were easily overlooked.
Of course, it was possible to close up these details through the lens during the official shooting, but it had to be said that it was quite outstanding to have such expressiveness and performance awareness on the scene. These skills allowed his performance to be restrained but conveyed enough emotions and information. It was also a choice that perfectly fit the characterâs setting. Even if it wasnât very suitable for the acting skills of TV drama, it could be imagined that the effect wasnât worse than the relatively exaggerated performance method.
An actor who could find his own lens and guide the audience to pay attention to details would save a lot of trouble for the director and post-editing. And he had to say that Bai Xinyanâs performance seemed to have a very strong appeal. It was clear that the emotion in this paragraph was completely closed and Bai Xinyanâs performance was also very restrained, but for some reason, Zhang Cheng just felt that the atmosphere was very depressed. It was heavy, with suspicion and pain, as if he felt the same way as Lu Zifeng in the plot.
Zhang Cheng had seen a lot of good actors. There were many people who could bring the audience along with them when the plot was high. However, such an appeal would appear in a plot point that wasnât particularly intense. Zhang Cheng saw it for the first time so for a while, he put aside his picky and demanding personality and couldnât help but call for good.
But the few people who heard the sound of âGoodâ didnât show any surprise. After all, they also wanted to applaud, but they were preempted by Zhang Cheng.
Bai Xinyanâs indifferent expression contained a hint of tension. It seemed that he didnât care about this matter, but in front of familiar people, he still revealed a trace of true emotions.
Li Zhibai opened his mouth and wanted to say something to comfort the other party, but he couldnât find the right language. After a while, he said in a hoarse voice. ââ¦not sure yet, we have to wait for the notification.â Of course, he couldnât participate in the case, but Zhu Ling knew that Lu Zifeng definitely wanted to catch the murderer, so he had to wait for the notice.
Hearing this, Bai Xinyan sneered softly and said, âOkay, itâs normal to avoid suspicion, but itâs not that they canât solve the case without me. And itâs not necessarily whether the same person committed the crime.â
Seeing this, Li Zhibai took a deep breath and said solemnly, âThe murderer will definitely be arrested and brought to justice, I promise.â Not only the murderer in this case but also the people who destroyed Lu Zifengâs family back then.
At this time, Li Zhibai was completely different from the playful look he had before. Although his face was still the one that attracted bees and butterflies, his expression and posture became more solemn and reliable. His temperament became more and more prominent, with ruthlessness and determination in his bones.
Bai Xinyan twitched the corner of his mouth and smiled, âOf course, I believe you.â
However, after the other party turned around and went out, he suddenly leaned back on the chair tiredly. He took off his glasses, revealing those eyes that were originally very good-looking, but now full of complicated emotions. He looked at the ceiling silently and stiffly for a while. His whole personâs posture was no longer as calm and powerful as before, but against the pale and delicate face, he looked rather fragile and helpless.
Those who saw it felt their hearts twitch.
It wasnât until Bai Xinyan opened his eyes and returned to his normal expression after the performance that the others came back to their senses.
At this time, Zhang Cheng was already looking at Bai Xinyan with pleasant eyes and he was no longer as cold as he was at the beginning.
In fact, since Bai Xinyan and Li Zhibai deliberately changed their images before they started, Zhang Cheng was relieved a lot. After all, it seemed that they were at least serious about this audition. But he didnât give much hope at the time. First, he wasnât optimistic about the acting skills of the two actors. Second, the scene they chose to perform wasnât very suitable. There was no intense plot. Most of them were daily conversations. To show good acting skills, you needed to be very meticulous and fit the character.
In terms of acting skills alone, Li Zhibai was barely enough. His acting skills werenât the best, but he wasnât bad. He was very popular. Zhang Cheng also guessed that ãTracing the Sourceã of Xinghuanâs investment was likely to choose him as the male lead, so he knew that he should accept the default.
However, Bai Xinyan was different. He was a pure newcomer, not from a professional background. He had only been trained in Xinghuan for less than two months. He was still on the road of reality show. He didnât look like having acting skills. Even though his popularity on the Internet had been high recently, his actual popularity and appeal were still far from those of established male stars. Zhang Cheng never imagined that Xinghuan, who had always been upbeat, would have to make him the male lead by default.
Originally, based on Zhang Chengâs pickiness, he would definitely not agree with Bai Xinyan to play Lu Zifeng, but Xinghuan asked He Wenhong to assure him that Bai Xinyanâs acting skills were actually very good. He showed him a video of the performance. Zhang Cheng reluctantly agreed.
But even so, Zhang Cheng only felt that Bai Xinyanâs acting skills were mostly at the level of Li Zhibaiâs. The so-called excellent performance must be exaggerated. Fortunately, Li Zhibaiâs acting skills were almost sufficient. With the approval of investors, he couldnât object to it anymore. He could only spend more time adjusting and teaching during filming.
However, the audition was beyond his expectations. It was Bai Xinyan who brought him a huge surprise! Only then did Zhang Cheng understand that what He Wenhong said was excellent wasnât an exaggeration, but was truly excellent! With Bai Xinyanâs acting skills, he was fully qualified to be the male lead of the TV drama he directed. Even Zhang Cheng felt that Bai Xinyan was no worse than some movie actors. In addition to age and image constraints, in terms of acting alone, he now had the strength to take home a trophy.
No wonder Xinghuan, who always relied on strength to speak, had appointed a new person to be the male lead. It turned out that Bai Xinyanâs strength was indeed qualified!
In addition to acting skills, it was said that Bai Xinyanâs popularity was also skyrocketing. His potential was huge at first glance. No wonder Xinghuan wanted to hold him.
Zhang Cheng thought so. He was very warm and kind to Bai Xinyan. When he was filming, he was strict and critical, but he was always good to young people with good acting skills, especially since he had a bad impression of Bai Xinyan at first. However, now after the reversal, the impact was even greater. The more he looked at Bai Xinyan, the more satisfied he became.
Li Zhibaiâs performance was also much stronger than what he had imagined. The two leading actors were good. Zhang Cheng had directly put half of his heart into the filming of the whole drama.
After the audition, the main members of the crew had another meal together. The atmosphere became more harmonious under the careful management. Li Zhibai had been worried that Zhang Cheng wouldnât like him because of Yu Anyan, but now he was finally relieved.
After the dinner, Bai Xinyan and Li Zhibai were originally sent back by their respective agents and assistants, but they received news that Bai Yin was coming to pick them up.
Bai Xinyan looked at the information on the phone and said to Li Zhibai, âIs my little uncle here to pick you up?â During this time, Li Zhibai and Bai Yin seemed to be very familiar with each other. They seemed to be continuing to engage in that stimulation therapy. When Bai Xinyan asked, the two were vague, but their relationship was obviously closer than before.
Bai Xinyan was happy to see this happen. Bai Yin focused on Li Zhibai, not just staring at him and Yin Heng all the time and disturbing his relationship.
Li Zhibaiâs expression suddenly became unnatural when he heard this. He said stiffly, âHe is your uncle. Of course, he will pick you up if he wants to come.â He forcibly ignored the message Bai Yin sent himself.
The two pushed each other, hoping that the other would be the target. Unfortunately, after Bai Yin arrived, the two were carried into the car by Bai Yin and neither could escape.