Chapter 122: Can You Even Act, You Ji?

Where did Xu Heng get so much money?

Ying Ziyun had been completely unaware of Xu Heng's sudden wealth; it was only when Dan Yuyue accidentally let it slip in the dormitory, combined with the news of Xu Heng wanting to film a movie flying everywhere, that she realized Xu Heng had quietly opened a company outside of school.

In Ying Ziyun's impression, Xu Heng had only sung and written a few songs; could a song really be sold for such a high price? Clearly, that was impossible.

Later, through the roommates working together to pry open Dan Yuyue's mouth, they learned that Xu Heng also played the stock market.

The money to open this company was all earned from stock trading.

But from Dan Yuyue, they also knew that Xu Heng should have been out of money, so where did the money for filming the movie come from?

Ten million! That was ten million!

Regarding this, Xu Heng explained that Ren Man had also invested five million, and he had only put up five million in capital, using the company as collateral for a bank loan.

A five-million loan, just to film a movie.

Xu Heng, have you gone crazy?

Dan Yuyue was startled and asked in disbelief.

Xu Heng shook his head and said, don't look at the five-million investment now, but once the movie is released, the profit it brings me could be tens of millions, or even over a hundred million.

"Then how much money can I get if I play a supporting role?" Dan Yuyue asked foolishly.

"Five thousand yuan; you're just playing an extra, how much money do you expect to get? You don't even have two lines." Xu Heng said to Wei Wenhan: "Give her the script for CICI."

Among the four missing supporting roles, the character CICI was quite suitable for her; the whole film only had a few shots of her, and she didn't need to make any expressions, so she could pass the scene with a little practice.

"This part is too small, isn't it? Is there anything with more room for performance?"

Dan Yuyue was not as interested in the character CICI as she was in Huang Xiaoxian.

A night owl, hanging out in nightclubs, having seen countless men—in what way was she like that?

Besides, CICI only had those two shots from beginning to end; how could she display the advantage of her beauty?

At this moment, Ying Ziyun interjected out of the blue: "Xu Heng is afraid that if he gives you too much room to perform, you'll perform his movie away; if we don't have that kind of acting skill, let's just honestly play extras."

"……"

Although what she said was quite hurtful, it actually made some sense, leaving Dan Yuyue unable to refute.

Ren Man at this time also noticed the inconspicuous Ying Ziyun in the corner and scrutinized her with a deep frown.

Dan Yuyue's looks hadn't surprised her, but upon seeing Ying Ziyun, she couldn't help but click her tongue.

A natural starlet, she was truly too beautiful, and she had a lot of charisma.

The moment she glanced sideways at Dan Yuyue, she looked exactly like those cold, sharp-tongued senior schoolgirls in certain anime who mock the loser male protagonist.

"Student, what is your name?"

"Dan Yuyue."

"I'm not asking you." Ren Man pointed at Ying Ziyun, "I'm asking this one."

Ying Ziyun was stunned for a moment and asked in confusion: "Director, are you sure you're asking me?"

Ren Man nodded: "Yes, I feel you are very suitable for a role in our script; are you interested in giving it a try?"

"Senior, what role could she be suitable for? There are no female roles left among the missing supporting parts, right?" Xu Heng asked with equal confusion.

Giving the extra CICI to Dan Yuyue to play, and leaving the Guangdong Zai role to Sheng Bo, the movie Love is Not Blind was only missing the male lead Wang Xiaojian and the important supporting role Da Laowang.

Regardless of which one it was, they were both male characters; Ying Ziyun did not fit in terms of gender.

Ren Man, however, smiled and said: "I want her to try cross-dressing for the role of Wang Yiyang (Wang Xiaojian)."

"Cross-dressing..."

Hearing this, Xu Heng's brows furrowed slightly.

Wang Xiaojian indeed had very high requirements for an ordinary actor; first, one must have exceptional acting skills to vividly portray a girl's tone and posture, and second, the male actor must have a slim build—when Wen Zhang played this role back then, he spent twenty days losing fifteen jin.

Just this requirement alone would likely be difficult for most male actors with no professional ethics to achieve.

But if it were changed to a female playing this role, it would be different; a female playing a female has no difficulty at all, at most it just places higher demands on the makeup artist.

It was not a bad unconventional idea, but the premise was that Ying Ziyun had to agree, and then the script details would also need to be changed.

Xu Heng and Ren Man exchanged a look, then pulled out the relatively thicker one from the stack of scripts.

"Ziyun, take a look; if you are willing, Senior would be very happy to cultivate your acting skills, and we will make changes to the script for you then." Xu Heng handed the Wang Xiaojian script to Ying Ziyun.

To tell the truth, Ying Ziyun hadn't understood the meaning behind the exchange between Xu Heng and Ren Man just now at all.

It wasn't until she finished reading the script in her hand that she knew why Xu Heng's expression had been so strange.

Their meaning was actually that they wanted her to play a man!

And a man with a feminine personality, extremely sharp-tongued, and skilled at sarcasm.

If it were the Ying Ziyun of the past, she probably wouldn't have played such a role even if offered tens of thousands in pay.

But times were different now; Ying Ziyun's personality had already changed significantly, and this was a movie invested in by Xu Heng.

If she acted well, would Xu Heng's attitude toward her improve? Perhaps...

Ying Ziyun only hesitated for two seconds before nodding and saying: "Okay, I'll try."

Ren Man smiled with satisfaction and let her perform a few scenes from the script on the spot.

Because she wasn't professionally trained like Liu Yiyan, Ying Ziyun's acting and line delivery skills could really be said to be very, very poor.

However, some of Wang Xiaojian's mannerisms and tone were imitated quite well; with some shaping, she could fully master this role.

Most importantly, Ying Ziyun was very beautiful; dressing as a man fit the script's description of Wang Xiaojian's appearance perfectly.

In Love is Not Blind, Wang Xiaojian's appearance was described by Xu Heng as: 【Relying on a delicate appearance, even the cleaning lady on our floor was infatuated with him】.

In his past life, Wen Zhang played the role quite effeminately in this movie, but he definitely couldn't be associated with being handsome or pretty, let alone being able to infatuate a cleaning lady.

At first, when Dan Yuyue learned that the role Xu Heng gave Ying Ziyun was a male character, she couldn't stop clutching her stomach and laughing out loud, saying that although my extra role is just an extra, at least I'm playing a normal character; Yunyun, how come you're going to do cross-dressing.

As a result, she later discovered that the thickness of their two scripts was somewhat different—Ying Ziyun had a dozen large pages, while she only had those two sheets of paper.

Only when she saw the "Male Lead No. 1" label on Ying Ziyun's script did she suddenly realize.

It turns out Ying Ziyun is playing the male lead, while she is truly just an extra.

"Damn it! This isn't fair! Why does Ziyun get to play the lead, but when it's my turn, you all say I'll ruin the box office?!"

"Senior Ren Man is the boss who invested five million and is also the film's director; she has the power to cast, so if she agrees to let you play the male lead, I have no objections."

Xu Heng casually found an excuse to brush her off.

In reality, he was thinking that if she could play the male lead, given her personality and ability, she would at most be fit to go to Shui Po Liang Shan and act as Black Whirlwind.