35: Preconceived selection criteria

A cheerful Li Qinghe left the campus of Hanoi National University of Education and rode his motorcycle to the area below A Ying's rented apartment.

As soon as he exited the school gate, his phone received several messages.

They were reminder messages from Pham Huyen My and Chen Fanxiangcao, asking him where he was.

Pham Huyen My had arrived at the film crew early in the morning and had already finished her makeup, changed into her filming attire, and was waiting for Li Qinghe's arrival.

The reason the director team and the financier scheduled Li Qinghe's interview for 10:30 AM was that from 8:30 AM onwards, various crew members recommended through different channels had been coming for interviews.

This was because the financier had promised that anyone from the crew who recommended a candidate who passed the interview would be rewarded with fifty million vietnamese dong.

This was equivalent to about thirteen thousand dragon country currency or two thousand US dollars.

Many people's monthly salaries were not even that much; with such a heavy reward, everyone in the crew leveraged their connections to find suitable candidates.

From early morning, a continuous stream of muscular men came to the film crew for interviews.

After changing into her costume, Pham Huyen My paced restlessly in the studio's dressing room, occasionally peeking at the set.

The muscular men who came for interviews all knew that if selected, they would be filming an advertisement with the newly crowned Vietnamese "Mei Jie," the sexy goddess.

Each of them gave their absolute best, hoping to be chosen by the director team.

Especially when a few of the muscular men saw the sexy Pham Huyen My come to the set and walk around during their interviews, they thought they had gained the goddess's favor and were so excited that nosebleeds burst out.

Pham Huyen My, for some reason, despite there being several good-looking and well-built candidates on site, just felt that something was missing.

Perhaps after seeing Li Qinghe, her heart unconsciously used him as a template.

Moreover, because he was her recommended candidate, in another sense, Li Qinghe was one of her own, and she deeply hoped that Li Qinghe would win.

The muscular men performing diligently in the studio were specifically asked during the selection process not to be like "Mountain of the Beast" giants, but to look handsome, with well-defined but not exaggerated muscles, yet possessing sufficient strength.

This directly led to most of the interviewed contestants performing unsatisfactorily in terms of strength.

Their displays of strength, which they believed to be full of masculine charm, showed the strongest one barely managing twice his body weight.

In fact, the director team and the financier's representative were also frowning; among the muscular men who came today, some had even studied in Thailand.

Aside from their passable muscle definition, their strength was completely lacking, yet they were still showing off their glutes with a limp wrist.

It was unclear if he intended to unseat Pham Huyen My and become the female lead of the advertisement himself.

A major reason for the director team and the financier's representative frowning was that they had actually been played by Pham Huyen My.

When Pham Huyen My recommended Li Qinghe, she also forwarded the videos he posted on YouTube to the email addresses of the director team and the financier's representative.

Watching the man in the video, with beautiful muscles like a Roman sculpture, doing pull-ups with two hundred kilograms of barbell plates like a god of war.

He deadlifted 500 kilograms with a bent barbell, and his combined deadlift, bench press, and squat total directly exceeded 1000 kilograms.

The scales in the hearts of the director team and the financier's representative had already tipped.

They couldn't help but use Li Qinghe's standards to evaluate these interviewees.

Under these circumstances, it would be truly hellish for anyone to surpass Li Qinghe.

"Boss Li, it's almost 10:20, and the candidate named Li Qinghe will be on stage soon."

The director of this commercial's crew smiled and leaned towards the impatient financier's representative to soothe his emotions.

"Hmm, alright. Director Li, you've also worked hard today. If this Li Qinghe is really as strong as he appears in the video, we won't need to see the others; just choose him directly."

The financier's representative glanced disdainfully at the muscular man currently performing a twerking dance on set and quietly made his decision.

"Uh, Boss Li, all these candidates have come. We still need to see all of them; if there's an even stronger one, we wouldn't want to miss out."

After a moment of Stunned for a moment, Director Li's mind raced, and he found a reason to persuade the financier's representative.

In reality, the true underlying reason was that even if it was just for show, the act had to be complete.

After all, these muscular men who came for interviews were all people brought in by the entire crew using their network of connections.

If they weren't appeased, it wouldn't matter much to the financier's representative, but if Director Li alienated other members of the crew because of this shoot, it would be difficult to mobilize industry resources in the future.

Because of a bad reputation in the industry, many key positions, such as cinematographers, lighting technicians, and prop masters, would not be willing to work with such a director.

Therefore, he had to fairly and impartially see all the interviewed candidates.

Even if he just went through the motions for the later ones, he still had to see them all.

Anyway, as long as Li Qinghe could demonstrate that overwhelming strength, no one else would have anything to say.

In the field of strength, weight data is the best proof.

Feeling unconvinced?

Sure, his deadlift is 500 kilograms. We'll give you a special condition and reduce some weight: deadlift 480 kilograms.

What? Can't lift it?

If you can't lift it, why are you jumping so high? The financier wants real, visible, overwhelming strength that requires no special effects.

However, the underlying reasons shouldn't be too clear to the financier, otherwise Director Li would be even more tightly controlled.

On this end, Director Li had just managed to fool the financier.

Below the building where the studio was located, Li Qinghe had already sped to the entrance on his motorcycle.

Seeing an empty spot by the door, Li Qinghe directly swung the tail of his motorcycle into the space, pulled out the key, and dismounted in one fluid motion.

His movements were crisp and decisive.

"Brother-in-law, is that Mr. Li? We need to go up quickly; your time is almost here."

In the lobby of the office building, a voice sounded in Li Qinghe's ear.

Li Qinghe turned around and saw a short-haired girl with ripped jeans, a short-sleeved shirt, and dyed grey hair approaching him.

Xiao Yun

"I'm Mei Jie's assistant, Yun. She asked me to wait for you here."

Li Qinghe nodded friendly to the girl: "Xiao Yun, please lead the way."

Led by Xiao Yun, the two took the elevator straight to the 15th floor.

As they exited the elevator, they saw several muscular men walking towards them listlessly.

Seeing Xiao Yun bringing Li Qinghe, they could tell from Li Qinghe's physique that he was also a candidate for the interview.

These muscular men, who had already been explicitly told they did not pass the interview, secretly resented seeing others succeed.

As everyone walked past Li Qinghe, they all let out a cold snort from their nostrils.

Watching these people snort as they walked past, Li Qinghe didn't mind. These people, who had already retreated without him even exerting himself, were not worth getting angry with.

Led by Xiao Yun, he arrived at a changing room, where he was to change into a pair of fitness shorts before going to the interview area.

Li Qinghe waited for Xiao Yun to turn her back, then quickly stripped off his clothes and changed into the fitness shorts.

Xiao Yun hadn't even left the changing room when she heard Li Qinghe call out from behind her: "Xiao Yun, I've changed. Where should I put my clothes?"

Xiao Yun froze for a moment, turned around, then froze again, followed by a clearly audible "gulp" sound in the changing room.

This was Xiao Yun heavily swallowing. She had no idea what kind of person Pham Huyen My had recommended; she had only glanced at the photo Pham Huyen My had screenshotted for her when she went down to the lobby.

In the photo, Li Qinghe was still wearing clothes, but the man in front of her, wearing only fitness shorts, had incredibly beautiful muscles—not at all exaggerated, like a lithe leopard, with smooth muscle lines full of wild power.

More importantly, this man was even more handsome than in the photo.