109: Get a great deal

Heavens, her chance had come, but she was so excited just now that she forgot to ask who had recommended her.

A 'ding-dong' sound came from the phone as Wang Ning's text message arrived.

No. 28 Xingbei Road, Qingcheng Entertainment.

Seeing the company name, and to prevent herself from encountering a scammer, Zhao Xiaodao immediately searched for Qingcheng Entertainment online.

On Baidu Baike, all the information regarding Qingcheng Entertainment appeared.

Zhao Xiaodao browsed carefully; it was a legitimate company, and they were doing quite well. The currently hit drama 'destined lover' was produced by their company.

And the short dramas currently trending online—a large portion of them were actually produced by their company. Did they want her to act in short dramas?

Zhao Xiaodao continued browsing. There were posts online saying they were preparing an s+ project; it seemed they were quite capable.

Forget it, no matter what it was, as long as there was a chance, she had to seize it.

The next day, Zhao Xiaodao took the bus to Qingcheng Entertainment. Before arriving, she remained cautious, thinking that if the company seemed suspicious, she would run immediately. But she had overthought it; the company looked very legitimate.

There were many Staff Members, and while they were busy coming and going, everything was very orderly. After telling the front desk she had an appointment, the receptionist led her to the audition room.

Hearing that she had arrived, Wang Ning immediately invited the director, Xu Dalong, to come and see her together.

Zhao Xiaodao waited for three minutes before the door was pushed open. When Wang Ning and the other two entered the room, it gave Zhao Xiaodao a startle. Seeing the young girl was a bit nervous, Wang Ning spoke first: 'Hello, I'm the person who contacted you yesterday, Wang Ning, the Director of Qingcheng Entertainment.'

Hearing the familiar voice, Zhao Xiaodao nodded and shook his hand.

'Hello, Mr. Wang.'

Wang Ning continued the introductions: 'This is the director of our TV drama project, and the person next to him is the head of Feiyu Entertainment.'

After the greetings, Zhao Xiaodao felt a bit apprehensive. Didn't they say it was an audition? Why was she the only one here!

She looked left and right, confirming that there really was no one else, and her heart couldn't help but panic a little.

Just as she was feeling a bit at a loss, Wang Ning handed her a set of materials.

'Miss Zhao, take a look at the content here, and then try out the role.'

Seeing the materials handed to her, Zhao Xiaodao felt a bit more settled, then opened them to look at the character details.

There were three clips in total, but only one was from 'Zhu Xian'.

There wasn't much content on the paper; she couldn't see the context of the script, just a description of a scene and a few lines of dialogue. The rest was up to the actor's own improvisation.

Good actors write character biographies for their roles. Many characters in scripts don't have their past backgrounds shown, so at such times, it depends on the actor's own understanding.

This was what Xiao Dao was best at. She would write character biographies for all her roles, creating a reasonable past for them based on their current personality so that the characters she performed would be more full-bodied and lifelike.

Half an hour passed. Zhao Xiaodao's full attention was focused on the script in her hand. Seeing the time was about up, Wang Ning said:

'Miss Zhao, can we begin?'

Hearing Wang Ning's voice, Zhao Xiaodao put down the script, stood up, and walked in front of the camera in the room to begin her audition.

The three clips tested her acting skills and her fit with the characters in 'Zhu Xian'. The director and the others had seen many actors over the past few days, and beauties were certainly not in short supply.

Hearing that this person was recommended by the boss, everyone was curious, and their expectations were high.

However, when they first saw her today, they only felt she was a cute and likable girl and didn't have much of a reaction.

But as soon as this girl walked in front of the camera, her aura completely changed.

The director watched the lens, going from thinking she was just 'okay' to having his eyes light up.

'Good, that was really well acted. Her expressions are subtle, there's depth in her eyes, and she has a strong inner core. She's a good actor.'

Although Wang Ning and Xu Dalong were not as professional as the director, just feeling the actor's infectious energy was enough.

The three of them harmoniously reached a consensus: she was the female lead for 'Zhu Xian'.

In an instant, Wang Ning felt relieved; finally, the cast was complete.

Five minutes later, Xiao Dao finished her performance. She stood there uneasily; waiting for the result was the most nerve-wracking part.

Wang Ning stood up: 'Miss Zhao, congratulations on passing the audition. We invite you to be the female lead of our new project, 'Zhu Xian'.'

There was a sudden buzz in her head; Xiao Dao suspected she had misheard.

'Zhu Xian'? If she remembered correctly, she had seen last night that this was an s+ project.

The female lead? Heavens, she wasn't the third or fourth female lead!

They were letting her play the female lead directly!

Zhao Xiaodao spoke with a slight stutter: 'Are... are you sure?'

Zhao Xiaodao's reaction made Wang Ning laugh:

'We will send the contract to you later. If you're worried, find someone to look it over and bring it back tomorrow to sign.'

Wang Ning spent twenty minutes personally explaining the contents of the contract to Zhao Xiaodao.

Twenty minutes later, as she walked out holding the contract, Zhao Xiaodao was in a daze. She had become the female lead just like that?

This was the first time she had a role that required signing a contract. Previously, as an extra, the stage manager would just post an announcement in the group, and they would grab roles there; it had never been this formal.

Having never experienced this before, she couldn't afford to be careless. There were always many examples of actors being scammed around her. Zhao Xiaodao thought about it and immediately found a small law firm, paying a high price for a lawyer to help check if there were any traps in the contract.

The lawyer looked at it for a full hour while Zhao Xiaodao just waited there.

An hour later, the lawyer explained the contract's contents to Zhao Xiaodao, and it was no different from what Wang Ning had said: 'Miss Zhao, there are no problems with this contract.'

Hearing this, Zhao Xiaodao felt like she was going to go crazy with happiness. Her chance had truly come.

With the help of Su Jixing and Xu Dalong, the preparations for 'Zhu Xian' were complete. The next step was to start filming.

'destined lover' was Qingcheng Entertainment's own project. To get Lu Qingyu into the 'Zhu Xian' set as soon as possible, Su Jixing and Wang Ning discussed it and decided they could only sacrifice Lu Qingyu.

Lu Qingyu had great physical strength; as a young man full of energy, he usually had inexhaustible vigor, but these past few days he couldn't keep it up.

Starting work at six in the morning and wrapping up at two in the morning was considered early. While this situation wasn't impossible, it used to be just an occasional day. On the first day, during the lunch break, Su Jixing strongly urged Lu Qingyu to take a nap. Lu Qingyu hadn't had that habit for years, so how could he sleep? But by the sixth day, even he couldn't hold on anymore.

After he slept for twenty minutes at noon, Su Jixing timed it perfectly to call Lu Qingyu up.

'Brother Su, how many more days do we have to endure like this?'

Su Jixing replied, 'Soon, soon.'