47: dive bombing

Someone from Sakura University daring to lecture him? Li Xiuwu couldn't swallow that anger at all.

Arriving at the Courtyard House, Li Xiuwu went to the Central Courtyard.

"Jiji, Dingding, and Little Gray, you few are coming out with me." He said to the three birds in the tree; he had been training a pigeon during this period and would use Wang Guohui to test it.

"What for?" The Little Swallow, Dingding, hopped over, looking at Li Xiuwu curiously.

"Need some help with something."

"Okay." The little birds followed Li Xiuwu.

"Auntie, I'm leaving." He said to Liu Xiaoli.

"Be careful on the road."

Li Xiuwu rolled down the car window, and a swallow, a Sparrow, and a pigeon flew in through the window.

He drove back to the hotel where the auditions were being held; Wang Guohui hadn't left the hotel during the lunch break.

While he was staking out the place, a call from Liu Yifei came through.

"Did your audition go well?"

"There were some issues. I'll pick you up after school this afternoon."

"What happened?" Liu Yifei frowned; she had always been very confident in Li Xiuwu.

Li Xiuwu was handsome, had good acting skills, and a great personality. How could he not pass an audition? Was the director blind? She thought to herself.

"The role was pre-selected for someone else," Li Xiuwu explained.

"That's terrible, it's not fair at all." Hearing about the pre-selection, Liu Yifei was filled with righteous indignation.

"Alright, isn't this a normal thing? Last time I even got the role of Duan Yu pre-selected, and I managed to get over it, so don't be angry. I'll pick you up after school."

"Treating my kindness like a donkey's liver and lungs, hmph." Liu Yifei complained, then asked him, "If you aren't coming back, what are you doing?"

"Just some personal business, I'll be back soon." Li Xiuwu didn't tell Liu Yifei what he was going to do.

"Oh." Liu Yifei, being sensible, didn't continue to press him.

"Then don't forget to pick me up."

After hanging up, Li Xiuwu continued to wait.

In the car, the Sparrow and the pigeon chirped and discussed, "What do you think he wants us to do?"

"Poop." The pigeon pecked at its own feathers.

It was very confident, "He has made me poop on people's heads several times."

"Why not poop on their faces?" The little Sparrow chirped, tilting its head; it hopped onto the passenger seat headrest.

"Last time I dropped a load on a man's face, he chased me for three streets—three!" The little Sparrow proudly held its head high.

"Chirp." After saying this, the little Sparrow saw the admiring gazes of the pigeon and the swallow, and jumped onto Li Xiuwu's steering wheel.

"You want us to poop, right?"

Li Xiuwu looked at the three pairs of expectant eyes, "I want you to follow someone, but if you want to poop, that's fine too."

A Sparrow's intelligence is about the same as a child's; their thoughts are very simple.

"Poop, poop. Cover his whole head in it."

"I'm telling you, you have to dive, swoosh-bang, then you can hit the target accurately."

The three birds chirped and chattered, discussing how to get the poop onto a person's face.

Li Xiuwu felt a bit creeped out listening to them. He thought to himself that these birds had been corrupted, and he shouldn't offend these little guys in the future.

"Little Gray, come here." He spoke, and the pigeon that had been crouching in the back flew onto the steering wheel. Li Xiuwu attached a miniature camera to it.

Miniature cameras were very expensive in this era—two centimeters thick, three centimeters wide, and five centimeters long, using an SD card, costing two million each.

The pigeon, Little Gray, was one he had specially trained; he had picked the smartest one out of hundreds of pigeons.

He had finished training Little Gray but hadn't tested it yet; Wang Guohui just happened to walk right into his trap.

At 3:00 PM, the auditions finally ended, and many people walked out disappointed.

"Damn it, waited all day and didn't even get a chance to audition." A man who looked to be about thirty cursed and tore the character biography he had prepared into shreds.

"It's all actors from the academies; most of the roles were taken by those with internal recommendations."

"I thought the young version of Emperor Wu of Han would be played by Huang Xiaoming, but I didn't expect it to go to that person named Du Chun. Who is Du Chun? What works has he been in?"

"I know his dad is Du Zhiguo."

"And what does Liu Zhenbao do? Why does he get to play Li Gan?"

"Never heard of this guy."

Amidst various discussions, the auditioning actors all left.

After a while, he saw Jiang Tao come out alone, looking unhappy, and leave by car.

Another hour or so passed, and Wang Guohui and Hu Mei walked out together.

"That's the guy." Li Xiuwu pointed at Wang Guohui.

"Saw him, saw him, I can't hold it anymore." The little Sparrow fluttered its wings and took flight.

Li Xiuwu quickly opened the car window. The Sparrow flew over rapidly.

"I support your approach; Jiang Tao's opinion isn't important. We don't need to change the roles that have already been decided."

Wang Guohui was discussing his disagreement with Jiang Tao with Hu Mei; after Du Chun's audition, Jiang Tao had firmly disagreed.

It wasn't that Jiang Tao insisted on using Li Xiuwu, but the key was that Du Chun's acting was too painful to watch—it couldn't even compare to Deng Chao or Huang Xiaoming.

A perfectly fine young Emperor Wu of Han, played like Ximen Qing visiting a brothel—an oily, lecherous character.

Just at this moment, a Sparrow swooped down toward Wang Guohui's face.

"What the hell?" He retreated in fear, shouting in panic.

"Ah, pfft, pfft, pfft." He felt a salty, foul taste in his mouth.

Hu Mei ran to the side, looking at Wang Guohui in shock; there was a streak of bird poop on his face.

"It was a Sparrow."

"Damn it, where did it go? I'm going to kill it!" Wang Guohui was furious; knowing what was in his mouth, he was trembling with rage.

Li Xiuwu felt a bit satisfied, but it wasn't enough.

He grabbed the pigeon, Little Gray, "This camera of mine is worth over two million; don't go breaking it for me."

"I know." Little Gray the pigeon nodded.

"Go ahead. If there are two people fighting on the bed tonight, take pictures."

Wang Guohui stood there cursing at the sky for a while, then took the water Hu Mei handed him to rinse his mouth and wash his face, leaving in a rage.

The Little Swallow and the pigeon flew in the sky, following the car he left in.

The little Sparrow flew into Li Xiuwu's car, showing off proudly, "Was I awesome or what?"

"Not bad, I'll reward you with five bugs. Keep following him; you three stay together and don't lose him."

Li Xiuwu stroked the top of the little Sparrow's head; his mood from the failed audition improved a lot.

Returning to the Beijing Film Academy, he didn't go to class but wandered around the campus instead.

His phone suddenly rang, "Li Xiuwu, I see you. Stand there and don't move."

Liu Yifei's voice came from the phone.

Li Xiuwu looked up and scanned the surroundings; in the direction of the classroom building, he saw the young girl running over.

"Wow, Li Xiuwu, you're actually skipping class!" She stood in front of Li Xiuwu with her hands on her hips, slightly out of breath, with fine beads of sweat on the tip of her nose.

"What skipping class? I asked for leave." Li Xiuwu denied it.

"You clearly finished your audition ages ago. You're back at school and not going to the classroom—what is that if not skipping class? You're still making excuses after being caught by me; just wait until I tell the teacher." She held her head high, looking at Li Xiuwu triumphantly.

"Unless you take me with you." She said with a bit of anticipation.

"Sure, today I'll take you to see the Beijing Film Academy campus." Li Xiuwu immediately agreed.

"Thinking about skipping class, she felt a little excited." Liu Yifei nodded.

The two of them walked side by side, strolling around the Beijing Film Academy.

"You two are Li Xiuwu and Liu Yifei." A man with an older appearance appeared in front of them.

"Hello, Teacher." Liu Yifei greeted him immediately.

"I'm not a teacher."

"Hello, Senior." Liu Yifei immediately corrected herself.

"I'm not a senior either. I'm a student in the 2002 Voice Acting Department, just like you. My name is Huang Bai." Huang Bai touched his face.

"Ah?" Liu Yifei looked at Huang Bai in surprise.

"I'm sorry." She apologized.

"It's fine, I am a bit older than you guys, and I look a bit mature for my age, so it's normal to be mistaken. I'm used to it." Huang Bai said nonchalantly.

"Are you skipping class too?" Li Xiuwu looked at Huang Bai. His 3-7 parted hairstyle was a bit greasy, and it looked like he hadn't washed it in days.

"Just got back from being an extra." He had a smile on his face; although his appearance wasn't great, he wasn't reserved.

"You're more proactive about acting than us in the Acting Department." Li Xiuwu teased.

"Just an extra role, only two lines, twelve words." Huang Bai spread his hands; with his appearance, having an extra role was good enough.

"Someone just told me today that good actors grow from small roles; I'll pass that on to you. Keep it up."

"Thank you." After thanking him, Huang Bai bid them farewell.

"I just got back, I won't disturb you guys, goodbye."

"Goodbye."