novelraw Chapter 94: A Line In, the Veteran Actor Adds a Scene On the Spot!
Chapter 94: A Line In, the Veteran Actor Adds a Scene On the Spot!
The applause was still echoing in the spacious studio.
Everyone's attention was still focused on Peng Shaofeng, clad in heavy armor like a war god descended to earth.
Yet, Jiang Ci moved.
He didn't pay any mind to that producer's loud declaration, nor did he look at anyone else.
He simply stood up from the chair in the corner and walked calmly into the center of the space.
The set was simple, with only a few antique low tables and a main seat prepared for Xiang Yu.
Peng Shaofeng's team didn't leave the set immediately after his scene ended.
Peng Shaofeng himself stood at the edge of the area, having removed his helmet, letting his assistant wipe his sweat. He wanted to see with his own eyes how this newcomer, whom Wei Song valued so highly, would perform.
Jiang Ci walked to the main seat.
He didn't make the loud, imposing sound Peng Shaofeng did when he sat down with great force.Jiang Ci's movements were light, not even producing any extra rustling of fabric.
He just sat down.
After sitting, he didn't immediately get into character or try to cultivate any sort of imperial aura.
He just very naturally picked up the bronze wine cup that was on the table as a prop.
It was a replica, but the craftsmanship was decent.
Jiang Ci brought it before him as if he had suddenly discovered an interesting toy.
His fingers began gently stroking the cold metal surface, over and over, tracing the carved cloud and thunder patterns.
He seemed completely immersed in his own world.
He showed not a hint of concern for the audition about to begin, nor for the important figures around him who held his fate in their hands.
This scene made the atmosphere in the room turn somewhat eerie.
Sun Zhou watched from the sidelines, his heart practically in his throat.
What is Ci-ge doing?!
Peng Shaofeng made an entrance with his own background music and lightning effects, but you… you're playing with antiques?
The producer who had just loudly cheered had a frozen smile on his face.
What is this?
Stage fright? Or is he just putting on an act?
Veteran actor Liu Hanyu stood on the other side. He needed to readjust his emotions and start again.
He took a deep breath, dispelling the oppressive feeling Peng Shaofeng's performance had instilled in him.
Then, he re-entered the role of Liu Bang.
Fearful, humble, his life hanging by a thread.
Holding the jade disc and jade dipper, he quickly stepped forward according to the script, preparing to kneel and beg for forgiveness before "Xiang Yu."
One step, two steps…
He reached the low table.
All the prepared emotions, all the lines, were already at the tip of his tongue.
Liu Hanyu just needed to look up, see Xiang Yu's face, and immediately drop to his knees with a "thump," beginning his classic plea for mercy.
However.
The young man sitting in the main seat didn't even lift his eyelids.
He was still looking down, intently playing with the wine cup in his hand.
All of Liu Hanyu's movements froze mid-air.
His knees, ready to bend, awkwardly stopped halfway.
All his prepared performance, all his emotions, were completely stuck because of the other party's utter "disregard."
What is this?
He felt he wasn't attending a life-or-death Hongmen Feast.
He felt like a clumsy servant who had barged into a ruler's private study, disturbing his solitary enjoyment.
And this ruler couldn't even be bothered to scold him.
The entire studio fell completely silent.
Everyone was thrown off by this bizarre rhythm.
This was in a completely different dimension from Peng Shaofeng's dramatically tense, swords-drawn performance.
Peng Shaofeng's performance was like holding a knife to your neck and asking if you were afraid.
But Jiang Ci's performance… he didn't even look at you.
He let you decide whether to slit your own throat.
Seconds ticked by.
A full ten seconds passed.
Just as Sun Zhou was about to rush forward in desperation, Jiang Ci finally moved.
He seemed to have finally grown tired of playing with the wine cup and casually placed it on the table, making a light clinking sound.
Finally, he slowly lifted his head.
His gaze finally fell upon Liu Hanyu, who was frozen in place.
That gaze was light.
Like simply brushing away a bothering speck of dust from a windowsill.
Then, he spoke.
"Ah…"
It wasn't the loud, majestic boom Peng Shaofeng had produced.
It was just a single syllable drawn out from his throat.
The tone was even, betraying no joy or anger, but the tail end carried a slight upward inflection.
It wasn't a question.
It was a kind of… laziness from just waking up, mixed with a hint of annoyance at being disturbed.
The subtext was: "Oh, so this person has arrived."
This single word "Ah" precisely punctured all the aura Liu Hanyu had instantly built up.
He felt like a balloon filled to bursting, instantly deflated.
All his strength, his performance design, his emotional buildup, were drained completely in that moment.
His legs went weak.
His knees could no longer support his body's weight.
"Thump!"
A dull sound.
Liu Hanyu's knees hit the cold floor heavily.
He truly, genuinely, knelt down.
Wei Song, sitting behind the long table, suddenly leaned forward. His hands, braced on the table, trembled slightly from the excessive force, his knuckles standing out starkly.
He stared fixedly at Jiang Ci in the center, his whole body trembling slightly.
It was excitement! It was exhilaration!
The confidence on Peng Shaofeng's face vanished completely for the first time.
It turned into shock and bewilderment.
He looked at that slender young man who, with just one word, had made a veteran actor "lose control" on the spot, his mind a complete blank.
How could this happen?
This isn't right!
The few producers looked at each other, completely unable to comprehend what had just happened.
They couldn't understand this kind of performance.
But they could feel that intangible, suffocating oppressive aura emanating from Jiang Ci.
It wasn't an oppression of strength, but… an oppression of hierarchy.
Amidst the dead silence of the entire room, Jiang Ci then leisurely uttered the second half of his sentence.
"…The King of Guanzhong has arrived."
His enunciation was clear, but without any cadence.
That flat, straightforward statement didn't sound like he was speaking to a rival contending for the world.
It was more like casually greeting some pet he kept in his backyard.
It contained only condescending indulgence and a sense of natural, absolute control.
The entire tone of the Hongmen Feast was completely overturned by this one sentence.
The so-called hidden daggers, the so-called undercurrents, became a joke in that moment.
There were no evenly matched opponents here.
There was only an absolute protagonist living in his own script, and a cannon fodder extra who didn't even qualify to pique his interest.
Jiang Ci didn't speak another line.
He just casually made a gesture with his hand toward the kneeling Liu Hanyu, a "granting a seat" gesture.
Then he lowered his head again, picked up that bronze wine cup once more, and continued studying its patterns.
He had already given his attitude.
The atmosphere in the entire studio gradually grew more bizarre.
People were all rendered speechless by this series of actions.
Liu Hanyu, kneeling on the ground, couldn't get up for a long time.
He looked up at that young man who had re-immersed himself in his own world, and his lips began to tremble uncontrollably.
What he was facing was the true Conqueror of Western Chu, the one who held dominion over his life and death.
Liu Hanyu opened his mouth, a dry, grating sound coming from his throat, and blurted out a line that wasn't in the script at all.
"Your subject… deserves death ten thousand times over."