Chapter 42

Dialects grow from their local land, deeply engraved with unique regional flavor.

In film and television works, no special exposition or setup is needed—when a character speaks, the flavor of the marketplace and the warmth of daily life immediately surge forth.

The local character, customs, lifestyle, and other cultural imprints carried by the dialect are also subtly activated.

Cheng Chen's hometown is in northern Hui Sheng, which borders He Province; the dialects of the two regions are not vastly different.

He only needs to pay attention to certain tones and intonations to speak authentic He Province dialect.

Xiao Qi, as a representative of migrant workers, grew up in a small village, moved to the big city, and lived isolated on construction sites—his speech naturally reveals dialect.

Cheng Chen has his own small technique for handling dialect lines—he doesn't speak the He Province dialect in a fully grounded way.

Instead, he speaks dialect while deliberately leaning toward Mandarin, forming a unique "He-Mandarin" accent.

Rural youths would certainly recognize this accent—those from the village who work away and return home speak exactly this way.

People in northern Hui Sheng call such people: "sao bu shu de yang."

This accent was deliberately chosen by Cheng Chen because, in the plot, Xiao Qi is now speaking to Mi Pangzi, a city dweller.

His line delivery accent shifts accordingly.

This is called attention to detail.

Kan Xuehua tore her gaze away from Cheng Chen, then slammed her hand on the table and pointed at him fiercely:

"No way? What do you mean no way? Let me tell you, you're inciting a mob! I can have you arrested right now!"

Facing the aggressive Mi Pangzi, Cheng Chen rose slowly, expressionless.

At this moment, he realized negotiation was impossible—he would never recover the two years' worth of blood and sweat wages from Mi Pangzi.

If you won't let me live in peace, then you won't leave this construction site whole either…

Cheng Chen's eyes revealed a ruthless glint; he glanced at Kan Xuehua.

That look!

Ruthless, decisive, ready to fight to the death!

Kan Xuehua, targeted by that gaze, instantly felt her heart pound and scalp tingle—as if this young man were about to beat her right then and there.

Sure enough…

Cheng Chen gave Kan Xuehua no time to prepare; he grabbed a stool and swung it hard against the table.

"Bang!"

Cheng Chen controlled his force, yet the stool leg still scraped the table's corner.

In the original script, Zhang Xiaoqi smashed Mi Pangzi's beer bottle with an iron rod.

Since there were no props, Cheng Chen had to improvise.

The people in the room jumped at the noise; Wang Ruijin frowned but said nothing.

But Li Chengru's eyes lit up—this silent explosion, especially the acting through the eyes, made it feel utterly real that he had chosen this path only out of desperation.

But since he chose it, he'd see it through to the end!

A common man's rage, blood splashing five paces!

His control over this performance was impressive—this young man was no ordinary talent either!

Li Chengru had thought Wang Xiaoyi, whom Wang Rui favored, was already impressive—but he hadn't expected there were even greater talents hidden behind.

He glanced at director Wang Rui, who still frowned silently, and thought: he must be struggling right now.

"Alright, that's enough."

Kan Xuehua glared at Cheng Chen—his look and action had terrified her badly.

Still, she admired this young man's acting—if not for Wang Rui's favored Wang Xiaoyi, perhaps…

Kan Xuehua also glanced at Wang Rui; seeing he said nothing, she smiled warmly at Cheng Chen:

"The audition's over. Go home and wait for notice. You left your contact info on your resume, right?"

Cheng Chen nodded, then turned to look at Wang Rui.

Though he didn't know exactly what relationship Wang Rui had with Wang Xiaoyi, seeing Wang Rui frown silently throughout,

Cheng Chen still felt uncertain.

So he spoke up:

"Director Wang, I heard the theme song for our drama hasn't been decided yet?"

Wang Rui finally spoke, nodding: "That's right—it's not decided."

It wasn't a secret—he and Li Chengru had asked the Producer Director to scout singers for the theme song, and they hadn't hidden it.

"I have a song here—would you care to listen?"

"You write songs?"

Li Chengru asked curiously beside him, but Assistant Director Kan Xuehua suddenly realized:

"You're Cheng Chen… the Cheng Chen who sang 'Wolf Loves Sheep'?"

"He's a singer? A famous one?"

Wang Rui's expression shifted, suddenly asking.

"Famous? His songs top every major music chart.

And recently, the music industry was in an uproar over his songs.

He's just low-key and refuses interviews—if he weren't, he'd have been famous long ago! At first I thought it was a coincidence, haha."

As Kan Xuehua explained to Wang Rui and Li Chengru, she gazed at Cheng Chen like a fangirl:

"Of all your songs, I love 'Fairytale' and 'Love Transfer' the most—I never imagined I'd meet you in person here, haha."

"It's my honor," Cheng Chen replied with a smile.

Wang Rui looked at Cheng Chen, frowning, and said:

"A singer comes to act..."

"I think he acted quite well," Li Chengru said with a smile.

Wang Rui could understand how Wang Xiaoyi felt—assigning one's own people to the crew was very common, let alone a director like Wang Rui.

But why reject a good actor and choose someone inferior instead?

This was something Li Chengru, who was also the overall planner, producer, and screenwriter, could not tolerate.

He had always possessed a streak of righteous stubbornness; otherwise, he wouldn't have become the actor known for playing police roles.

Wang Rui was momentarily speechless, then nodded silently and said, "He really is quite good."

"Director Wang, Teacher Li, and Director Kan, before we proceed, I'd like to clarify that my primary profession is actually as an actor.

Singing is just my hobby; I just finished shooting the new version of Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, where I portrayed Song Qingshu."

Cheng Chen said with a smile.

"Song Qingshu?"

Anyone who has read Jin Daxia's novels would certainly be familiar with this character, and the role carries substantial screen time.

Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre is a major production; Cheng Chen being entrusted with such a key role indirectly demonstrates his ability.

"But our Cop Drama is a modern story, and there are still some differences from costume dramas,"

Wang Rui spoke again.

Hearing this, Cheng Chen couldn't help but grow angry—was Wang Rui determined to use Wang Xiaoyi no matter what?

Every time I speak, he contradicts me—do you have to be so argumentative?

The atmosphere grew awkward...

"You just mentioned the theme song—do you have any ideas?"

Seeing things turning tense, Li Chengru stepped in to ease the tension and asked.

Cheng Chen nodded and said:

"After reading our script, I spontaneously composed a song—would you all care to listen?"

"A new song? I'm looking forward to it,"

Kan Xuehua quickly chimed in to defuse the tension.

Seeing Wang Rui's indifferent expression, Cheng Chen cleared his throat and began slowly:

"All, are brave, the wound on your forehead.

Your, differences, the mistakes you made.

All, need not be hidden, your worn-out doll.

Your, mask, your self.

They say you must carry light to tame every monster.

They say you must stitch up your wounds—no one loves a clown.

Why can't solitude be glorious..."