novelraw Chapter 95: Borrow Your Armor for a Quick Pic
Chapter 95: Borrow Your Armor for a Quick Pic
Liu Hanyu's line, which wasn't in the script at all, crashed heavily into the dead silence at the center of the soundstage.
The producer representing Evergreen Entertainment, sitting behind the long table, saw the excited flush instantly drain from his face, turning ashen.
He abruptly stood up from his chair.
"Teacher Liu! What are you doing?"
He pointed his finger straight at Liu Hanyu in the center of the stage.
"The audition must follow the script! You... you're improvising lines on the spot!"
This rebuke shattered the stagnant air.
Liu Hanyu, however, seemed not to hear it.
He remained kneeling on the ground, slowly lifting his head, his eyes locked onto the young man sitting in the main seat, who had resumed fiddling with the bronze wine cup.
"Soul... this is the soul of an actor..." he muttered to himself, as if explaining to the producer, or perhaps speaking to himself, "I couldn't control it... I was completely drawn in by him!"Peng Shaofeng's agent, having now reacted, immediately seized this opportunity to launch an attack.
"Director Wei! This is unfair!" He strode quickly to the long table, raising his voice to ensure every investor present could hear, "Auditions are about comparison within the same framework! This newcomer is completely disregarding convention, he disrupted the entire rhythm of the scene's performance. Look, even an experienced actor like Teacher Liu Hanyu was thrown off course by him!"
"This isn't an audition, it's sabotage!"
His words were righteous and severe, the spearhead pointed directly at Jiang Ci.
For a moment, a buzzing murmur filled the soundstage.
The investor representatives who didn't understand acting well began exchanging glances, whispering to each other.
"What's going on? Did the performance flop?"
"It seems like that veteran actor couldn't handle the scene and added his own lines."
"But the way I see it, it was that newcomer who forced him into it?"
They couldn't grasp the intricacies of acting, but they saw the result.
A long-established veteran actor was forced to his knees on the spot, improvising lines, by a young man in his early twenties using just one line.
This invisible, dominating control was frightening.
It had already surpassed their understanding of "acting."
Sun Zhou stood at the edge of the stage, his hands and feet ice-cold.
It's over.
With the labels of "not following the script" and "sabotage" pinned on him, could this audition still have a good outcome?
He anxiously looked at Jiang Ci, hoping he would stand up and explain a few words.
But Jiang Ci remained seated there.
He seemed completely isolated from the external noise, merely lowering his head, using his fingertips to feel the cool texture of the bronze wine cup.
He turned a deaf ear to the surrounding arguments and accusations.
This detached attitude further infuriated the Evergreen producer.
"Director Wei, look at his attitude! This is disrespectful to the audition, to everyone present here!"
"Our Shaofeng trained physically for months in advance for this audition, spent a fortune crafting the armor, pondering every movement, every line repeatedly. And him? What has he done?"
The Evergreen producer grew angrier as he spoke, spittle flying.
Peng Shaofeng stood at the edge of the stage area, an assistant helping him remove the heavy shoulder armor.
He didn't speak.
He looked at Jiang Ci sitting quietly in the main seat, then at Liu Hanyu kneeling on the ground, his expression agitated.
Finally, his gaze fell upon his own majestic, imposing set of heavy armor.
An unprecedented, complex emotion churned in his heart.
The "form" he had painstakingly practiced for months appeared so clumsy, so laughable, in the face of the other's overwhelming "soul."
He had always believed that Xiang Yu's tyranny lay in outward power, in the authority of life and death.
So he pursued muscles, pursued the quality of the armor, pursued the resonance of his voice.
He used every external means to shape a "Hegemonic King" shell.
But today, Jiang Ci showed him another possibility.
He utterly disdained competing with the heroes of the world because, in his eyes, the world was already his.
Liu Bang, Zhang Liang, Han Xin... those figures who left mighty reputations in the history books, in his eyes, were perhaps truly just clowns, ants he could casually crush when bored.
He was playing a man who wanted to become the Hegemonic King.
And Jiang Ci, he was playing the Hegemonic King himself.
"Enough."
A cool, clear voice, not loud, instantly suppressed all the clamor.
It was Wei Song.
He slowly stood up, placing both hands on the table, sweeping his gaze over each person present one by one.
"What is fairness?"
He looked at the indignant producer, "Putting a professional boxer and an ordinary person in the same ring with boxing gloves, is that called fairness?"
The producer was stunned by his question.
Wei Song continued, "Acting is not a math problem; there's no standard answer. The script is the skeleton."
"And what an actor must do is give that skeleton flesh and blood and soul. If an actor can use his soul to bring the script's skeleton to life, even make it grow fuller flesh, that is his skill."
His words left Peng Shaofeng's agent speechless.
"As for disrupting the rhythm..." The corner of Wei Song's mouth lifted slightly, "I think, at the Hongmen Feast, Xiang Yu was the only rhythm."
These words undoubtedly gave Jiang Ci the highest affirmation.
The Evergreen producer flushed red, still wanting to say something.
Just then, a heavy footstep interrupted everyone's argument.
It was Peng Shaofeng.
He had already removed his arm armor and helmet, wearing only the inner martial attire, striding with large steps into the center of the stage.
The clamor ceased abruptly.
Everyone's attention was drawn to him.
Ignoring his agent and that producer, he walked straight to Jiang Ci.
Jiang Ci finally reacted, lifting his head to look at this tall, powerfully built man with a strong aura who had walked up to him.
Peng Shaofeng didn't look at him.
He surveyed the entire room, finally fixing his gaze on Wei Song.
His voice was resonant, carrying a kind of forthrightness unique to martial artists.
"There's no need to compete."
Three words, firm and resounding.
The entire soundstage erupted in an uproar!
"Shaofeng! You..." His agent was so anxious he nearly jumped up, wanting to rush over and pull him back.
Peng Shaofeng, however, raised his hand, making a gesture to stop him.
His demeanor no longer held the earlier gravity and complexity, replaced instead by a kind of enlightened relief.
He looked at Wei Song, speaking word by word.
"What I performed was a fierce general."
Then, he turned his head, looking at Jiang Ci who still sat in the main seat.
"And he performed a monarch."
"The one seated at the Hongmen Feast was a monarch."
This statement was more impactful than Liu Hanyu's earlier loss of control or Wei Song's staunch support.
This was an admission from the most direct competitor.
The entire soundstage fell silent, not a sound to be heard.
Sun Zhou's mouth hung open, feeling his brain could no longer process everything happening before his eyes.
Just like that, he won?
Acknowledged as the winner by his opponent on the spot?
After speaking, Peng Shaofeng turned around, extending his hand towards Jiang Ci.
His movement was open and aboveboard, without a trace of unwillingness or resentment.
"You won."
His voice still carried appreciation.
"The role of Xiang Yu is yours."
Jiang Ci finally completely withdrew from that "I-see-no-one" state of Xiang Yu.
Looking at the hand extended by the man before him and that face filled with sincerity, he was slightly taken aback for a moment.
He stood up and grasped Peng Shaofeng's extended hand.
That hand was broad and powerful, the palm covered with thick calluses from years of fitness training.
"Thank you."
Jiang Ci's reply was equally very sincere.
Everyone present thought this would be a classic scene of heroes appreciating heroes, a new king defeating an old king, mutual admiration and respect.
A gratified smile had already appeared on Wei Song's face.
Liu Hanyu, helped up by someone from the ground, also looked approvingly at these two equally outstanding young men.
However, Jiang Ci's next sentence instantly steered the atmosphere of the entire room in a direction no one could have predicted.
Holding Peng Shaofeng's hand, shaking it up and down, he then asked in a tone mixed with curiosity and envy, very sincerely:
"But, that set of armor of yours is really cool."
"Can I borrow it later to wear and take a photo?"