Heart has Ling Xi

Chapter 4 The Boom Couple

Ling Xi impressed the director with his extraordinary expressive eyes. The director even personally sent him to Wu Youpeng who was waiting outside. After hearing that Ling Xi really passed the director's test and obtained this pleasing and easy role, Wu Youpeng finally let go of the anxiety in his heart.

"Although I am not married yet, I can already empathize with the parents of college entrance examination candidates." Wu Youpeng patted his chest. They could get the chance to audition for this role thanks to Wu Youpeng's connection with the screenwriter. Now that the director had approved Ling Xi's acting skills, Ling Xi's life in the crew would be better in the coming days. "Come on, tell me, how did you convince the director? It's strange. I have raised you for so long, why don't I know that you still have the talent for acting?"

Ling Xi licked the popsicle he just bought and thought for a moment. "The director asked me to express a naive and guiltless look like a puppy..."

"Oh! You don't need to explain." Wu Youpeng waved his hand: "This kind of mentally retarded look is what you are best at."

The two squatted outside the door for a while. An Ruifeng and his agent Xu Zhiqiang were sent out politely by the director. The coffee position[1] was different, and so the treatment was completely different. When Ling Xi auditioned, his agent could only wait outside; but An Ruifeng's agent could always accompany him in, and he also had a separate seat for rest.

Seeing An Ruifeng come out, Ling Xi rushed over at once, and was particularly warm in inviting him to lunch, saying that it was to thank him for his righteous help yesterday.

Xu Zhiqiang's face was very ugly: The current 18th tier small artist was really outrageous! He dared to hold his thigh in front of his agent? He firmly wanted to separate the other side when An Ruifeng's eyes swept over gently. Xu Zhiqiang didn't know what the expression meant, so he hesitated for a moment and did not dare to make any other movements.

An Ruifeng looked at the excited young man in front of him, and saw that the enthusiasm in his eyes was the real thing. He suddenly understood why the master in "Jian Jue Tianxia" did the arduous and thankless task of enlightening[2] a dog as an apprentice, and also doted the most on that silly dog amongst all of the four apprentices.

So he smiled and suggested: "I just heard the director say that after the other actors have finished their auditions, the screenwriter will be asked to have a meal together. I don't think we should make a separate appointment. We should go with the director and the others."

Wu Youpeng was standing beside Ling Xi. Hearing this, his eyes lit up, and hurriedly said, "Then, that’s good[3]!" It seemed that An Ruifeng had a good impression of his family’s Ling Xi. He took care of him just two days after knowing him, and also took the initiative to take Ling Xi to the dinner party!

At this time, Ling Xi also realized that a big pie had fallen in front of him. What was the most important thing for mixing in this circle? Contacts! Ling Xi's looks and abilities could not be considered as outstanding. He couldn’t nitpick in the talented entertainment industry, and the management company did not put in extra efforts. After a few years, he had become more and more regressive. In fact, he was only twenty-six years old, and in the eyes of many people, he was considered "young". If he could form connections in the film and television circles this time, and get close to the director and screenwriter, would he be able to go further?

The more Ling Xi thought about it, the happier he was. If it wasn't for the wrong occasion, he wanted to throw himself at An Ruifeng and shout “benefactor”.

An Ruifeng had already spoken the words. No matter how unhappy Xu Zhiqiang felt, he could only admit his fate. The four of them chatted as they walked out, ready to go back to the nanny car to take a rest before the audition was over.

At this time, Ling Xi only had An Ruifeng's figure in his eyes. If the director saw his eyes at that moment, he would definitely praise him for "getting more into character than a moment ago." An Ruifeng was very good at chatting. He chose the fantastic and entertaining anecdotes he had encountered during shooting in various places in the past two years, and narrated them to Ling Xi at a moderate pace. As expected, Ling Xi's entire attention was focused on him.

The group was conversing, when suddenly a female voice rang out from the other side.

"Yo, my friend. Isn’t this the King of Songs from the two-yuan stores?"

The moment he heard someone reveal his “elegant moniker”, Ling Xi's eyebrows furrowed, and in a flash, his temperament changed from a soft and cute puppy who was easily bullied, into a pit bull with a predisposition to bite.

Ling Xi turned his head, squinted and watched the tall beauty clacking in high heels. The words that shot  from his mouth were very impolite: "Oh yes. Indeed, I can meet ‘friends’ wherever I go. It turned out to be the ‘Little Queen of ‘xi jian chui[4]’?"

A "Little Singer King" and a "Little Queen", Ling Xi and Zhu Linlin were full of gunpowder every time they met. It was really an ill-fated relationship. Both of them contested in the same talent show eight years ago. Ling Xi sang well. Every time he sang, he got high scores from the mentors. On the other hand, Zhu Linlin's family was willing to spend money. So her popularity rating outside the stage remained high. By the time of the last battle of the Forbidden City[5], Zhu Linlin seized second place thanks to the number of SMS votes and beat Ling Xi. Fans of the two parties were in a feud. In the first two years of their debut, their fans would explode the other party’s web forum once a month...

After so many years, the first place in the talent show that year had disappeared without a trace. On the contrary, they survived in this circle. It was merely that they couldn’t get along with each other. Ling Xi's lyrical songs could only move the youngsters in the urban-rural fringe area, while Zhu Linlin's dynamic dance music was very popular among young girls in hair salons.

The poor relationship between the two was well-known. Many bored spectators on the gossip forum gave a name to the two enemies--"Boom[6] Couple", also known as "Ling Lin CP".

Ling Xi had nightmares for three consecutive nights after learning that he and Zhu Linlin had been “married”.

The only person in the audience who didn’t know about the friction between the two was An Ruifeng, but he didn’t need to ask. Xu Zhiqiang, who was next to him, rushed up and explained succinctly about the blood feud between Ling Xi and Zhu Lin. When Ling Xi became aware, Xu Zhiqiang, who had loose lips, had shaken out the shameful name "Ling Lin CP"!

In an instant, Ling Xi's brain had countless crowing roosters that exploded into the sky.

"An Ruifeng, you believe me!" Ling Xi felt that he had lost his face in front of new friends, and the original lofty (?) image no longer existed: "It is better for me to like men than Zhu Linlin!"

Zhu Linlin sneered: "Don't put gold on your face[7]. Even if I like men, I won’t like you."

An Ruifeng: ("▔□▔)/

Ling Xi: Σ(っ°Д °;)っ

Xu Zhiqiang: (⊙ o ⊙)

Wu Youpeng: (#°Д°)

Zhu Linlin’s agent: (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻ Oh my great aunt......

The six people fell into an awkward silence. Ling Xi unexpectedly felt more embarrassed than the party involved...

Ling Xi smiled stiffly, and changed the subject bluntly: "Zhu, Zhu Linlin, are you here to audition too?"

Zhu Linlin’s agent hurriedly answered: “No. The director had confirmed beforehand that Linlin would play one of the roles. She plays a fellow student of the male protagonist in the sect.” He turned his attention to An Ruifeng: “If I didn’t remember it incorrectly, the role of Master should be played by Mr. An, right?"

An Ruifeng nodded slightly: "Yes." He thought about the identities of the four apprentices in the drama. The eldest apprentice was 60 years old, the second apprentice was the male protagonist, and the four apprentice was a dog. So it seemed that there was only a vacancy left for the third apprentice, who was both male and female. "Is Miss Zhu acting as my third apprentice?"

Ling Xi also realized it after An Ruifeng mentioned this point. He said enthusiastically, "Later on, we will all be in the same crew. I will act as the fourth apprentice!--Oh, by the way, Zhu Linlin, are you acting as the ‘Male Third Apprentice’ or the ‘Female Third Apprentice’?"

Zhu Linlin stamped her foot: "Then you tell me. Are you acting as the ‘Male Fourth Apprentice’ or the ‘Dog Male Apprentice’?"

After only a few words, the two fought again...

An Ruifeng highly suspected that after joining the crew, it was possible for him to become a calm dog-training master.

Footnotes:

[1] Coffee position, a noun in the entertainment circle, is the status of a star in the entertainment circle, and a star with a status is called a big coffee . The higher the coffee position, the greater the influence and the higher the salary. Therefore, the coffee position is also a name that celebrities are keen to compete for.

[2] Literally meaning: ‘magic transformation performed by Daoist immortal’.

[3] The expression is similar to saying ‘In that case, will it be okay(to join)?’ It’s a rhetorical question.

[4] The HKT group of three artists from Vietnam , titi, kiet, and hung "Tian Tuan" became popular on the Internet, and they were called "washing, cutting and blowing trio" by netizens. The term refers to a person with a hairstyle that lacks aesthetic appeal. I will translate the nickname as “Little Queen of Punk Hairstyle.”

[5] Beijing, capital of China.

[6] Boom is a kind of online violence. It mainly refers to the continuous posting of insulting posts with no substance in the forum, to quickly obliterate someone’s post. It has turned into a way to vent dissatisfaction.

[7] To boast that you are great.