Famous! Ch.19

Chapter 19: Continuing the Audition

Lu Xu had long heard the name Cheng Yun. In earlier years, Cheng Yun was widely regarded in the industry as a golden supporting actor. He had appeared in numerous hit dramas, but unfortunately, the dramas in which he played the lead rarely gained much recognition. He was often considered incapable of carrying an entire show.

However, his acting skills were unanimously praised within the circle, and he had won almost every major Best Supporting Actor award, including those in film categories.

While Lu Xu was studying the script, Cheng Yun was also reviewing his own.

Cheng Yun was fully aware of the significance of his presence here. For the role of Qin Zhao, the director had auditioned several actors. However, Lu Xu was the only one who managed to impress both the director and the screenwriter during the first round and earn an additional test.

If nothing unexpected happened, the role of Qin Zhao was as good as decided.

“Are you ready?” Screenwriter Qin Yu asked after half an hour had passed. “If you need more time, we can extend it.”

Lu Xu shook his head. “No need, I’m ready.”

“So am I,” Cheng Yun said, standing up and positioning himself across from Lu Xu.

The audition officially began.

In this scene, the Crown Prince’s removal from his position was prompted by his indulgence in allowing his subordinates to harm the Emperor, worsening the Emperor’s illness. Furthermore, a dragon robe was found in his palace.

However, the true source of the turmoil lay in the Emperor’s growing dissatisfaction with Qin Zhao. Among Qin Zhao’s brothers, there was one the Emperor favored more as a successor.

To secure the throne, one needed to be decisive and cunning, traits likened to that of a wolf. Despite holding the title of Crown Prince for years, Qin Zhao lacked the necessary boldness.

Father and son confronted each other in the palace hall. Qin Zhao, with his hair disheveled, had long lost the dignity of a Crown Prince.

“Look at you! What kind of state are you in? How could I have sired such a son?”

Cheng Yun, who had seemed cheerful and relaxed while seated behind the long table earlier, transformed completely into the severe and commanding character required for the scene.

After turning fifty, Cheng Yun appeared mostly in rural dramas and period dramas. However, a seasoned actor’s skill is undeniable. With just one line, the typical simplicity he portrayed in rural dramas vanished completely. At this moment, Cheng Yun exuded a regal majesty.

The disheveled former Crown Prince raised his head upon hearing those words.

This glance was nothing like his usual timidity. His pupils appeared piercingly white, his eyes fixed directly on the Emperor. There was no fear in his gaze—only a mocking defiance.

“When has Father ever treated me as a son?”

With just this one lift of his head, director Liu Chunfeng and screenwriter Qin Yu caught a spark of brilliance in Lu Xu’s performance.

Lu Xu nailed this moment.

This scene marked the most intense conflict between father and son in the entire drama. Cheng Yun’s polished acting seamlessly embodied imperial authority. His commanding performance was the kind that most young actors would struggle to match.

Yet Lu Xu, with a single glance, captured the essence of a former Crown Prince reduced to a prisoner.

At least in this moment, the screen was evenly divided between Cheng Yun and Lu Xu. Cheng Yun’s dominance didn’t overshadow Lu Xu; instead, the two created a sense of equal footing, evenly matched in intensity.

Next, the Emperor said, “I ordered the officials to honor you as the Crown Prince. The Grand Tutor of the First Rank taught you to read, and Duke Zhou taught you martial arts. Yet you possess neither literary talent nor martial skill and are born with a cowardly nature. I am deeply disappointed.”

The father and son locked eyes. The Emperor, now aged, no longer displayed the imperial dignity of the past. When he looked at Qin Zhao, his gaze was filled only with pain.

Qin Zhao, however, remained unmoved. Instead, the mockery in his eyes deepened.

“Your son was unfortunate to be born as the Crown Prince.”

“If I had known today’s outcome, I would rather never have been Crown Prince at all.”

Here, the image of a defeated man emerged.

At this moment, Qin Zhao did not break down hysterically, nor did he express regret for his mistakes. His gaze was cold and detached.

Before the fall, he had been anxious and restless. But now, he had become unexpectedly calm.

For forty years, Qin Zhao had lived in fear of this very moment.

Yet, when it finally arrived, he realized it wasn’t as terrifying as he had imagined.

The Emperor spoke again. “Over these forty years, loyal ministers and virtuous generals have urged me to replace you as Crown Prince. I’ve known all along that you couldn’t secure this empire, but I couldn’t bring myself to depose you. What I’ve always wanted was never a weak and incapable Crown Prince.”

At this moment, the Emperor’s tone softened, his words imbued with warmth.

Cheng Yun transitioned effortlessly between authority and gentleness.

But what met his warmth was the completely unfeeling expression on Qin Zhao’s face.

“Weak and incapable Crown Prince?” Qin Zhao repeated, his tone sharp.

The next moment, he laughed—a wild and unrestrained laughter, as though he found the statement particularly absurd. His laughter grew louder and more brazen.

Initially kneeling on the ground, Qin Zhao stood up abruptly upon hearing the Emperor’s words.

“Father, do you think I don’t know how Third Brother died?”

“You’re wrong. What you needed was a weak and incapable Crown Prince. He wasn’t a Crown Prince—he was your puppet.”

“He could be weak, but he could never be wise. He could never understand how to command others. He could never rally people to his side with a single call.” Qin Zhao stepped closer to his father, his voice icy. “Otherwise, on a dark and stormy night, how would you know whose men are in this very palace?”

“How could you sleep soundly?”

“The older you get, the more afraid you become—afraid that one day a son with great ability in both civil and military affairs will replace you, just as you replaced the Emperor Grandfather.”

In this moment, Lu Xu revealed the unfiltered malice in Qin Zhao’s eyes.

Though Qin Zhao was indeed rebellious, he wouldn’t bear the entire blame the Emperor sought to pin on him.

“Silence! You unfilial son!” the Emperor roared, his emotions shifting abruptly.

For Qin Zhao’s words had struck at the truth hidden in his heart.

“You needed a weak and incapable Crown Prince—a worthless one. As long as he existed, your other sons wouldn’t spill blood over the throne!”

“But the empire needs a wise and heroic Crown Prince, and that’s not me. When the time comes, you’ll need to get rid of me for his sake!”

After saying those words, Qin Zhao laughed again. “What’s the point of me saying all this? The ‘Crown’ in Crown Prince is like a man strapped to a torture device. Throughout thousands of years, when has there ever been a Crown Prince for forty years? And how many Crown Princes have ascended the throne peacefully?”

By now, he had calmed down completely.

The usual look of timidity on his face was entirely gone. In the moment Qin Zhao ceased being the Crown Prince, he took one step closer to living like a real person.

Under the lights, even his profile seemed to have gained a firmer resolve.

…

The audition continued to the very end, so gripping that screenwriter Qin Yu didn’t even notice when his pen slipped from his hand.

This historical drama depicted the grand and tumultuous life of an emperor, but this scene belonged entirely to Crown Prince Qin Zhao.

With only half an hour of preparation, Lu Xu managed to fully embody the Crown Prince described in the script.

The Crown Prince was weak, sometimes foolish, but not entirely ignorant.

Qin Yu glanced silently at Liu Chunfeng, raising one finger first, then adding another, shaking them slightly.

Liu Chunfeng responded with two fingers.

One finger signified that Lu Xu would only play the young Crown Prince. Two fingers meant that the role of the Crown Prince throughout the drama—from youth to adulthood—would be entirely his.

Screenwriter Qin Yu agreed with this decision.

Liu Chunfeng looked up at Lu Xu and said, “If you have anything to take care of, it’s best to handle it within the next month. When would it be convenient for you to sign the contract? Let’s set a time.”

Lu Xu was momentarily speechless.

The pace of this was astonishingly fast.

Still, he admitted the truth about his current situation—he was unemployed and available at any time to sign.

The production team was on a tight schedule, so that very afternoon, Lu Xu signed the contract with the crew. He received part of his payment upfront, with another portion to be paid during filming, and the final amount upon the completion of production.

Aside from signing the contract, Lu Xu also received a complete copy of the script. From the director and screenwriter’s remarks, it seemed the filming would begin soon. Most of the cast and crew were already in place, and the sets were nearly completed.

Before joining the crew, Lu Xu needed to thoroughly read and understand the script, delving deeply into his character.

This was Lu Xu’s second acting paycheck, and it was four to five times larger than what he earned from My Baby Prince. However, this drama had a longer filming schedule and more scenes for him to perform.

Glancing briefly at the script, Lu Xu noted that most of the Crown Prince’s scenes revolved around being outmaneuvered in strategic battles. It wasn’t overly complex.

…

Once the contract was signed, Director Liu Chunfeng let out a long sigh of relief. “Finally, it’s settled.”

“Finding the right actor isn’t easy,” Qin Yu remarked with a similar sense of relief. “At least we can start shooting now.”

The role of the Crown Prince had gone through numerous auditions, but none of the actors had satisfied the director’s vision. Some portrayed the Crown Prince as too handsome and heroic, while others overacted, making the character seem sleazy.

Qin Zhao was complex and dynamic—a multidimensional character, not a flat archetype.

“How does it feel working with a newcomer?” Liu Chunfeng and Qin Yu turned to Cheng Yun.

Cheng Yun rubbed his nose thoughtfully. “I can’t believe he’s not professionally trained.”

The opportunity for Lu Xu to audition was something Liu Chunfeng insisted on. When Qin Yu and Cheng Yun first saw Lu Xu’s résumé, they doubted he could handle the intricacies of Qin Zhao’s character. Still, since Liu Chunfeng was willing to give Lu Xu a shot, they agreed to go along with it.

And the result?

He turned out to be the perfect actor for the role.

Both Liu Chunfeng and Qin Yu were impressed by Lu Xu’s performance, but Cheng Yun, as his scene partner, felt it even more keenly. Lu Xu’s portrayal was remarkably impactful.

During their scenes together, the emotional resonance of Lu Xu’s performance created a palpable tension, challenging Cheng Yun’s own portrayal of the Emperor.

This sense of confrontation was something Cheng Yun rarely experienced when acting alongside younger performers.

“Being professionally trained doesn’t necessarily mean you can act,” Liu Chunfeng remarked. “Acting has never had a fixed standard.”

Regardless, Liu Chunfeng was very satisfied with the outcome of the day. With the actor for the role finally decided, he felt a weight lifted off his shoulders.

*

After returning home, Lu Xu continued studying the script.

Though the time before entering the crew seemed ample, upon closer calculation, it wasn’t that far away.

After reading through the entire script, Lu Xu wrote a brief character analysis, followed by notes on specific details worth paying attention to.

Memorizing lines, being a fundamental skill for actors, wasn’t even worth mentioning—it was a given.

The notes he was taking now would likely evolve once filming began, but this was an essential step for familiarizing himself with the script.

Just as Lu Xu finished his first read-through of the script, he received a notification from My Baby Prince production team: the series had reached its finale.

In truth, My Baby Prince was a short web series. However, due to its popularity, Chenxi Film extended the story by cutting and re-editing the previously filmed footage into two additional episodes.

With revenue hitting six-figure sums daily, they were keen to milk it for as long as possible.

The industry had already calculated how much Chenxi Film profited from the show. Since being moved to a prime-time slot, My Baby Prince’s popularity had never dropped below 10,000. The finale alone, amid a barrage of bullet comments screaming, “I hate fake-orthopaedics tropes,” reached an unprecedented popularity score of 13,000+, setting a new record for Chenxi Film.

The two main leads, Yang Shu and Xia Xuewen, had already secured new projects. Yang Shu joined the cast of a big-budget production as the second male lead, while Xia Xuewen landed the female lead role in a lighthearted youth romance.

As for Lu Xu, there hadn’t been any official news yet. However, among the drama’s fans, he was the breakout star, garnering the most new followers.

To the show’s audience, it was a given that Lu Xu would land an impressive role soon.

After all, Yu Wei was such a heartwarming character!

Yu Wei’s role had already made people adore him, but Lu Xu himself was even more lovable than Yu Wei.

After My Baby Prince finale aired, several new threads discussing the actors’ future prospects appeared on drama forums for days.

This summer, My Baby Prince was undoubtedly the breakout hit, overshadowing The Watchers and propelling young actors like Yang Shu, Xia Xuewen, and Ji Zhan into the spotlight.

However, the most discussed actor remained Lu Xu.

[What kind of role will Lu Xu take on next? I hope it’s another brooding, beautiful youth. He’s the epitome of that type.]

[Beautiful youth, sure, but is Lu Xu really brooding?]

[He went through so much during his time in Verse. Ugh, I still feel so sorry for him! Even though all the dirt on Verse got exposed, Gu Sinian is still getting lead roles, and Xie Qingyang and Meng Qin have solid resources. Meanwhile, Lu Xu’s situation is… bleak.]

[+1, +1, +1.]

The forum was filled with waves of sympathy for Lu Xu. However, some users began quietly pointing out a different perspective:

[Are you serious? No one knows Lu Xu auditioned for Gu Sinian’s second male lead but didn’t get it?]

[LOL, and people are still fantasizing about Lu Xu’s prospects. Why do you think he hasn’t posted on Weibo recently? He got booted and slunk off—too embarrassed to show his face.]

[A non-professional actor + former idol + sheer dumb luck to land a role in a trash drama. What kind of career do you expect for someone like that?]

These posts stirred the pot, with supporters rallying to defend Lu Xu while detractors dismissed him as a fleeting phenomenon.

Despite the noise, Lu Xu himself stayed silent, seemingly unaffected by the debates surrounding him.

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