CSGM - Chapter 79
Chapter 79: Powerless Fury
"We're friends, isn't it normal to look out for you a little?" Chu Xi tilted her head, stating it frankly as if it were a matter of course.
Seeing Ren Zhi remain silent, she added, "I'm not as in love with the entertainment industry as you are. Acting is enough work for me; releasing songs on top of that would be too tiring. Since you're willing, isn't it better to have you manage everything for me?"
Chu Xi shrugged, unconcerned.
It's just a few songs. No big deal, right?
This is considered 'so good'? Does Ren Zhi have no one to dote on her? What about all those suitors? Their pursuit must have been a complete waste of time.
Chu Xi mused to herself that if this was considered good, then Ren Zhi's suitors must not be very competent.
"No wonder you're not in a relationship..." she mumbled with a smile.
The topic had jumped too quickly. Ren Zhi frowned in confusion. "What did you say?"
"It seems other people don't treat you very well if this little thing from me has you so flattered."
Chu Xi pointed to herself, her expression one of disbelief.
"..." The corner of Ren Zhi's mouth twitched.
How could this be the same?
She had received countless flowers, chocolates, earrings, necklaces, and luxury gifts. Those were all romantic presents, perfectly conventional. How could they not be considered good?
It was just that Chu Xi had taken her by surprise today.
Chu Xi patted her shoulder and offered some heartfelt, sisterly advice. "You're right not to date. Don't let those people out there fool you. Who knows what they're really after."
After speaking, she even gave Ren Zhi a meaningful, head-to-toe glance.
Ren Zhi said, "I know."
At the same time, she let out a soft sigh.
So, she was the only one who had felt awkward for that brief moment.
It seemed Chu Xi truly saw her as a friend. It was she who... was too sensitive. Judging a straight girl through the lens of her gaydar—it was a truly bad habit.
After pushing aside her unnecessary and impure suspicions, Ren Zhi continued:
"Since you trust me, I'll go back and draft an agreement. Come sign it when you're free. From now on, you can consider yourself an original shareholder in my studio. Though... it probably won't be a huge amount."
She would have her studio calculate the accounts with Chu Xi properly.
Chu Xi replied casually, "Oh, okay."
Holding the eighteen masterpieces—enough for two full albums—Ren Zhi remained excited for a long time. She even played and sang a demo for her assistants' group chat, and their response was like a stone setting off a thousand ripples; they all showered the new songs with praise.
When Ren Zhi's new album was finally completed and released, it unsurprisingly dominated the music charts for a long time on the strength of several of its songs.
However, the remarkable success of "blowing up" the music scene with these songs was a story for later.
Seven days later, the second round of casting for the Three Kingdoms crew concluded. The role of the third-billing supporting actress, Lady Hu, was decided after a single audition, as there were few competitors.
However, for the actors competing for the male lead, Guan Hai, the first round of auditions had narrowed the field down to eight suitable candidates.
Chu Xi was among them.
This hardly seemed surprising, but Little Curly Hair was still dejected when she returned to the dorm room.
She had been eliminated from the running for the role of Lady Hu.
And the next role she was trying for, the Dancer, was one Chu Xi was also auditioning for, which basically meant her chances were nil.
"Looks like I'll just have to be an extra, sob..."
Chu Xi ruffled her curly hair and offered a serious word of comfort.
"Alright, don't be sad. It's better for you to accept this reality sooner rather than later."
To prevent her from getting hurt again when she failed to get the Dancer role.
Little Curly Hair looked up at her miserably. Is she really trying to comfort me?!
"Chu Xi, I wish I were as amazing as you. Even the male trainees can't beat you..."
Chu Xi remained noncommittal. What does she mean, 'even'? Isn't it perfectly normal for them to be no match for me?
Little Curly Hair believed with all her heart that Chu Xi would be fine. Even in a reverse role, crossing into male territory, she was sure to perform better than the other male trainees.
She was a staunch supporter of Chu Xi.
She had once been an atheist, right up until she came to the training camp and met Chu Xi.
Meanwhile, she was far from the only person who thought this way.
In the male trainees' dormitory, someone was tearing at his hair in frustration, pounding his head, and, growing more incensed by the second, finally slammed his fist into the wall.
"Aaaargh!" a trainee who had been eliminated from the lead role competition that day screamed, clutching his head. "How can I be so pathetic? Even Chu Xi acted better than me!"
He wasn't just talking about acting skills, but more about her affinity for the character.
He clearly had the advantage of being male, yet the acting instructor had still singled him out for lacking presence! He didn't have a shred of a great general's bearing or aura!
In comparison, Chu Xi's imposing aura and the heroic look in her eyes today had been far more stunning.
The key point was that in the previous round, Chu Xi had also passed the audition for the Dancer, a role that was as delicate as a willow in the wind, both gentle and aloof.
Can one person really play two characters with completely opposite temperaments so well? Why can't I even manage one?
"Forget it. Let's just accept our fate as background characters. I think we still need a lot more practice," said another trainee in the same room.
The trainee folding clothes on the lower bunk looked up. "Why should we accept it? This isn't fair to begin with."
The two on the upper bunk who had been talking exchanged a confused glance and looked down. "Leizi, what's wrong? Didn't you make it to the final round? You can do it!"
After all, there was still a one-in-eight chance in the final competition for the male lead. With eight people left, their roommate had managed to fight his way into the finals.
"If you get the lead role and become famous, don't forget about us, hehe," another said optimistically.
But the reality was not nearly as optimistic as they imagined.
"Haven't you guys figured it out yet? The director and the instructors clearly favor Chu Xi," the one folding clothes said, his hands never stopping. "I think they want her to play the male lead. So what are we even here for? She's obviously being too greedy, wanting to play both the male and female parts!"
Now realizing their roommate was angry, the two on the bunk and the one who had just returned through the door were all stunned.
The trainee who had just come back asked, puzzled, "Leizi, are you talking about Chu Xi?"
"Yes."
"There's no need for that, really. The director gave us a chance too. Chu Xi is just better, that's all. If she's got the skills, she should get the part."
"Well, her acting is a bit more mature than ours, but the final round is a mounted combat scene. You still have a chance, so don't get discouraged so soon."
"Exactly... The director told us before we even joined the camp that training didn't guarantee a role. I think it just comes down to fate."
His roommates all tried to reason with him.
"I don't want her to get the part! Playing a female role should be enough for her. What right does she have to snatch a male role too?" But who would have thought their words only made him angrier.
The other three were baffled. It was a fair competition, so how could it be considered "snatching"?
With their opinions clashing, the conversation eventually fizzled out.
Another week passed, and the final audition for the role of Guan Hai was a mounted combat scene.
Although the silver spear was a replica, it still weighed a solid fifteen jin. But for trainees who had already mastered their action choreography, wielding a spear on horseback was no longer a difficult task.
The eight trainees took up the silver spear one by one, mounted their horses, and performed their screen tests.
Chu Xi waited in line. As the trainee before her was finishing his performance, she walked over to the stables to lead out the big yellow horse that had been her companion for over four months.
As she took the reins, her gaze inadvertently fell into the feeding trough. She paused, her eyes tracing the length of the trough to the stable door before scanning the rest of the stall.
Interesting.
Chu Xi gave an enigmatic smile and stroked the big yellow horse's mane. She led it out of the stable, then suddenly released the reins and brought her whip down hard on the horse's rump with a sharp crack!
The horse immediately shot off, its hooves thundering.
The staff snapped out of their surprise and yelled, "Hey! Hey!" trying to chase the horse, but they couldn't catch it. Chu Xi's horse had bolted, disappearing in a flash.
Chu Xi stood her ground and spread her hands. "Sorry, I couldn't hold on to it."
But her screen test was next, and the director was calling for her. So, Chu Xi borrowed Little Curly Hair's horse.
When the final results were announced, Chu Xi, as expected, came in first. She had successfully secured the roles of both Guan Hai and the Dancer. Little Curly Hair came over, clapping, to congratulate her.
Chu Xi turned to her. "It was all thanks to your horse. I used it for my Guan Hai scene."
Little Curly Hair was confused. "Huh?"
As Chu Xi smiled, the director beckoned from nearby. "Chu Xi, where did your horse get to? Go find it, quick! Don't let it run too far!"
Chu Xi walked over and said calmly, "Let it run. It'll come back once the drug wears off."
The director and several instructors were stunned. "What did you say?"
"What drug?"
Chu Xi shrugged and turned to face the group of trainees still standing there after hearing the casting results. She pulled a broken blade of horse grass from her pocket and explained to the director:
"Someone drugged my horse today, but they spilled some of the powder, and I saw it. Now my big yellow is full of stimulants and needs to blow off some steam. It'll come back once it's run enough out on the pasture."
After speaking, she pointed to a dot in the far distance of the pasture.
It was a moving black dot, so small that it was nearly invisible against the background if you didn't look closely. Who could possibly tell that it was Chu Xi's horse?
"As long as I can see it, it's fine. It hasn't run far, don't worry. It still knows its way home."
No, no-
That wasn't the director's focus right now!
He slapped his thigh, shot to his feet, and roared, "Who drugged the horse?!"
The other instructors also frowned, looking at Chu Xi. They thought it was despicable that someone would resort to such a petty trick to sabotage the competition.
"Xiao Yang, go pull the surveillance footage," the director said to his assistant.
"No need," Chu Xi interrupted. "This area has a surveillance blind spot. Since he dared to drug the horse, he must have already found it."
The director was slightly surprised. "You know there's a blind spot?" Chu Xi's tone sounded very familiar with the subject.
Chu Xi: "..."
"Um... is it strange that I know?"
Chu Xi, who often used this path to sneak out for snacks, felt a pang of guilt.
She quickly changed the subject. "But it doesn't matter. It'll be easy to find out who did it. I just need a little time."
"How long? Do you need any help?" the director asked.
He hadn't yet grasped what Chu Xi meant by "a little time."
But in the next moment, he found out.
"Two minutes," Chu Xi said, walking toward the group of trainees.
Just as her gaze swept over them, a male trainee with a dark expression stepped forward, his fists clenched.
He said angrily, "You don't have to look. I'm the one who drugged your horse! I used altrenogest! I wanted you to be eliminated!"
As he spoke, his chest heaved with ragged breaths. He was clearly furious.
Chu Xi looked at him curiously.
Is this what it looks like to be driven frantic by anger?
This person seemed young and hot-headed. His methods were amateurish, leaving flaws everywhere. It was clearly an impulsive act. The fact that he dared to step forward now meant he wasn't completely rotten to the core.
The other crew members, instructors, and trainees all stared at him in shock.
No one could have imagined he would do something like this; he was usually a decent guy.
Chu Xi asked, "Do you have a problem with me?"
The trainee who had administered the drug stood frozen in place, trembling with indignation, his voice practically a roar.
"Yes! Of course I have a problem with you! Why do you have to take everything? You already have one role, why did you have to snatch Guan Hai's too! You're so skilled, can't you leave a path for the rest of us? Opportunities here are already scarce, yet you have to take two for yourself!"
Chu Xi blinked, looking thoughtful.
So this is powerless fury.
"You're just relying on your good acting and experience to break the rules! I've been here for four months! I've trained for four months! And just because you had a sudden whim, the chance I might have had is gone! We're in the same training camp, so why is it that I worked harder and put in more effort, but in the end, I can't even compete with your reverse-role performance!"
"Just because you're a little better, you go around stealing everyone's livelihood! You should have said so earlier! If I'd known you were going for this role, I wouldn't have even come!"
"It's completely unfair to compare you to us! Even if you don't get a role, you can still go out and make money, but it's not the same for us! And in the end, you still took everything good here for yourself!"
He continued to accuse her, seething with anger, and his tirade silenced everyone else.
In a situation like this, no one knew what to say.
Accusation? Sympathy? Confusion? Rebuttal? Pity? Or regret?
Chu Xi rested her chin on her hand, watching him calmly.
Without her having to say a single word, the man talked himself to tears. After his furious outburst, his face crumpled, and he began to sob loudly, crying, "This place is so unfair!"
Youths, indeed.
Chu Xi saw he was only in his early twenties and now looked unbearably fragile.
She glanced over at Ren Zhi, who gave her a helpless shake of the head.
The director looked both angry and frustrated, while the other staff members looked awkward, unsure of what to say.
The competition in this industry is brutal. It's broken another one. Sigh.
Chu Xi turned back, glanced at the others, and said coolly, "It's over."
As she left, she said to the director, "You deal with it. I'm staying out of it."
Chu Xi didn't know what else there was to say. Natural selection, survival of the fittest. He's an adult, doesn't he get it? She had neither the obligation nor the charitable impulse to lecture anyone.
In the end, the director asked the trainee to leave the training camp. By unspoken agreement, no one ever mentioned the unpleasant little episode again.
There's always going to be a gap between people, isn't there?
Training before the start of filming continued as usual. Even if only roles as extras remained, some were still willing to stay until the very last moment, fulfilling the terms of their training agreement.
The remaining time seemed to fly by in a flash. Outside, the season of withered, falling leaves had arrived.
The training camp curriculum came to an end, and the instructors began to depart one by one.
On the final day, Chu Xi couldn't even eat her dinner, lost in thought—
How did time suddenly pass so quickly? How long has it been? Has it really been three months?
Why did it feel like in just the blink of an eye, she and Ren Zhi were about to be separated again?
Before Ren Zhi left, Chu Xi hurried to her room and knocked. She had intended to ask about Ren Zhi's upcoming schedule, but her timing was off—Ren Zhi was on the phone.
The call was quite long. Chu Xi lingered awkwardly in the entryway, pacing back and forth for what felt like ages. At least three minutes passed, and Ren Zhi was still on the phone.
She didn't dare step further inside. The problem was that her hearing was too good now; even without trying, she would overhear the voice on the other end of the line if she got any closer.
—She was an honest and upright person. She would absolutely not eavesdrop on Ren Zhi's conversation.
Inside the room, Ren Zhi's voice suddenly grew tense. "Who else is going?"
Hearing the change in tone, Chu Xi's ears immediately perked up.
She scratched behind her ear and, unable to suppress her concern, took a couple of steps further into the entryway.
Chu Xi heard another assistant's voice on the call say, "...and Xu Chaolong, the 'Second Master' of Shang Jing..."
After saying the name, the assistant hesitated for a long moment before asking, "Sister Zhi, are you still going? I'm afraid this dinner is a trap. You have to be careful..."
Ren Zhi let out a heavy sigh. Chu Xi could see the exhaustion on her face as she spoke her next words with utter helplessness.
"I have to go. Sister Zhen invited me, so of course I have to be there."
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