Chapter 12

I’m dead.

These days, the computer has been in the other dorm, and Lin Nan simply hasn't brought it back.

Today, he finally remembered the few pages of Penguin account info he got from the Central Academy of Drama and prepared to add it.

As soon as he logged in, he saw a string of messages.

That poisonous woman Zhou just won't give up on trying to ruin me.

"The computer has been taken by Zhu, Luo Jin, and the others to watch movies these days; it’s not with me."

"Beauty, are you there?"

"Miss Wang?"

He sent a few messages in a row; it would be best if she replied, but if she couldn't, he would call later—the process had to be followed.

This girl usually looks like she keeps strangers at a distance, but once you get to know her, you realize her personality is actually great.

It’s just that your tone of voice is too aggressive, which easily leads to misunderstandings; at most, we’re currently half-step besties.

Sure enough, from morning until afternoon, she didn't reply with a single word.

Sigh, Lin Nan surrendered; why was it that when he held his phone, he just didn't dare to press the button?

Mother Liu said, "Hello."

Lin Nan knew the reason now.

"Ah, Auntie, this is Lin Nan. I was calling to ask how the crew is treating Qianqian. We are going to the Golden Horse Awards at the end of the year, and I wanted to ask if she has time to go together. Oh, oh, you're starting filming then? Then it’s nothing, Auntie, I won't disturb you anymore, goodbye."

Lin Nan really wanted to hang up the phone quickly, but he was lectured by Mother Liu; every sentence and every word was for Lin Nan's own good, with the implication being: don't disturb her daughter if there's nothing important.

He chickened out; Lin Nan covered his face, "Why did I chicken out?"

He opened the computer, looked at the message he sent in the morning, and Lin Nan added a line, "I called, and your mother answered. She said you are adapting to the crew's life and are very, very busy..."

Lin Nan was as tactful as possible; the bright and intelligent fairy should understand what he meant.

"Clack," he closed the computer, Lin Nan lay down on the bed, not wanting to think about anything else—annoying.

He didn't know how much time had passed when Lin Nan suddenly opened his eyes, got up, checked the performance department's class schedule, and walked out.

He found Zhou Yang in the physical training classroom, "Come out for a second."

Fortunately, it was break time, otherwise, it would have been hard for Lin Nan to bring it up.

"What's up?"

"What bad things did you say about me to Qianqian?"

Zhou Yang instantly beamed, "Hehe, I just said that your eyes were glued to people at the Central Academy of Drama, you were drooling all over the floor, and you were dying to transfer schools there, hahaha."

"You, you, you, you are simply a gossip..." Lin Nan pointed his finger at Zhou Yang; for a moment, he couldn't find a more polite word, and he couldn't bring himself to say anything too harsh.

Zhou Yang just glared, "Try pointing at me again," and as she said that, she puffed out her chest and pressed forward. Lin Nan was so scared he kept backing away—one advancing, one retreating.

Finally, Lin Nan was backed into a corner with nowhere left to go.

"Hehe, I found your weakness, didn't I? If you argue with me again in the future, I'll go say it again."

Zhou Yang laughed like a madam, turned her head, and walked into the classroom.

Lin Nan slapped his forehead; a lifetime of reputation ruined in an instant.

"Linzi," Zhu Yawen appeared, not knowing when he had arrived.

"Did you find out that jerk talked trash about you?"

"How did you know?" Lin Nan was curious.

"She told everyone in our class who would listen. I thought you knew. Who told you to be so popular at the Central Academy of Drama that day?" Zhu Yawen smiled, and Lin Nan knew this guy was happy to watch the drama.

"She didn't just tell the ones at school; she even sent messages to those who weren't there," Lin Nan said irritably.

"Oh, got it."

"You don't know squat. Let's go eat."

A dozen skewers of grilled meat, two cans of beer, the two ate and talked.

"You went to the directing department, so you don't have to go to morning classes every day," Zhu Yawen complained.

"Each has its own benefits."

"There's a crew at CCTV, *The Lotus Lantern* is looking for actors, and I want to find some time to go take a look."

"That show is finished?"

"It's an unimportant role, I'll be done in half a month," Zhu Yawen replied.

"If you want to go, then go. It's a costume mythological drama; CCTV never does things on a small scale, it’s definitely high quality. As for whether you get selected, that's up to you," Lin Nan knew this show.

The coolest Erlang Shen—it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they found the real deity himself. The silver armor was incredibly cool, as long as he didn't speak with a Qingdao accent.

"We've played supporting roles in movies, after all. You, as a director, don't have confidence in your own record-breaking movie?"

"You come with me, just to boost my morale."

"It's not a battle between two armies; do I need to beat a drum to cheer you on?"

However, Lin Nan still agreed to accompany Zhu Yawen. This TV series wouldn't start filming until next year, and they were only just starting to cast actors now, so there was no rush.

The paparazzi in the mainland were also slowly gaining momentum; the slapping incident on the *Peacock* crew had been exposed.

The students at the Film Academy had their fill of gossip. Everyone was a reserve member of this circle, and they knew a thing or two about certain things, but something fully exposed like this was still rare at this time.

It would become more and more common in the future; just wait and see.

The auditions for *The Lotus Lantern* were in Jingcheng, with plans to film in both Jingcheng and Hengdian.

Zhu Yawen had inquired about the audition location in advance and even prepared a resume; it was very thorough.

He called Lin Nan to leave. When they arrived, they even ran into a senior who had already graduated. Although they were from the same school, they could potentially become competitors.

A senior from the 99-class performance department; Lin Nan remembered that this was the Eight Crown Prince in the show.

This show was produced by a wholly-owned subsidiary of CCTV. There were two directors: Director Yu was from Hong Kong, and Director Zhao was from the Northwest, one of the right-hand men of Zhang the Bearded.

Lin Nan had attended quite a few seminars those days and had met this director; the position he usually held was either director or action director.

Zhang the Bearded's right-hand man was also known as the "civil and martial director." The "martial" referred to this man.

"Lin Nan, are you here to audition? I remember you're a film director."

"Teacher Zhao, I'm just accompanying my classmate," Lin Nan was surprised that the other party remembered him; he didn't think they had ever spoken.

"I was just saying, your movie is not bad; I've seen it. No wonder it could sell for 30 million."

"You flatter me. This is my classmate, Zhu Yawen, the male lead's second-in-command in my movie. I'm accompanying him to audition today," Lin Nan took the opportunity to introduce Zhu Yawen.

"Hello, Director Zhao..."

He left the rest to Lao Zhu; Lin Nan didn't say anything more. Being able to run into Director Zhao, a fellow townsman, was already lucky enough; Lin Nan couldn't help with anything else.

Zhu Yawen went in, and Lin Nan waited outside. On the other side, he actually saw some familiar faces.

Yan Danchen, wearing a costume, walked over, "Junior Lin Nan, oh no, I should call you Director Lin Nan. Why are you here? Auditioning or directing?"

Looking at the beauty in front of him, Lin Nan muttered to himself: those people always talk about Ceng Li from the 96-class next door, but isn't this senior from the 96-class in his own school good-looking? He would definitely find a chance to see that one another day and compare.

"Senior, you're joking. I'm here with Zhu Yawen. Are you preparing to audition too? You've already changed into your costume."

Lin Nan asked a question he already knew the answer to.

"Yeah, the director wants me to play Chang'e. Look at this outfit, is it okay?" As she said this, she spun around for Lin Nan and even winked.

"If you don't play Chang'e, Senior, who would? Just this outfit alone, you are Chang'e herself."

"What?"

Yan Danchen didn't understand and was about to ask, but Zhu Yawen came out, "Hello, Senior Yan."

"Hello, Junior."

"Come over here for a second, the two directors want to see you."

Lin Nan was very puzzled. Why do they want to see me? I'm not auditioning, and the directing team doesn't seem to be short of people either.

It really was a case of "plucking a feather from a passing goose"; Lin Nan was only accompanying Zhu Yawen to the audition, but ended up getting himself involved.

Zhu Yawen was auditioning for the male lead's good buddy, the Eight Crown Prince of the East Sea; there was only one competitor, that senior from the 99-class of the Film Academy.

Director Zhao set his sights on Lin Nan, who had accompanied Zhu Yawen, wanting him to make a guest appearance in a role.

"What, Nezha? Teacher Zhao, I haven't even graduated yet. Don't kid me, how is this a guest appearance?"

Although Lin Nan was confident he was more photogenic than the big-round-faced Nezha in the original show, this role was simply not a guest appearance, okay? Since when does a guest appearance last for many episodes?

"Then come to the directing team, add your name to the director list, multiple units are working simultaneously, just think of it as coming to play..."

A feint to the east and attack in the west? Can you two make that call?

Filming starts in February next year, and it would roughly take Lin Nan less than two months. The key was that Zhu Yawen kept winking at him; Lin Nan had been backstabbed.

He reluctantly agreed. The two directors were very happy; the crew had picked up a 30-million-dollar director for free, and besides the normal fees, all they had to do was give a supporting role to Zhu Yawen.

When they were auditioning Zhu Yawen, they had already set their sights on Lin Nan. One phone call back, and the higher-ups were actually very happy about it!

As for the contract, it would be sent to Lin Nan later.

On the way back, Lin Nan roasted Zhu Yawen the whole time, "You're really something. You even said I had no plans to film anything in the short term. Why don't you just fly to the sky?"

In fact, Lin Nan had also tacitly accepted it; he would just treat it as building a good relationship with CCTV.

They wanted his name, and wasn't this also a chance for him to practice? Although the threshold for filming a TV series was much lower than for a movie.

But this was *The Lotus Lantern*; it was destined to be a classic.

A few days later, the producer, China International Television Corporation, issued an announcement to the media, welcoming Director Lin Nan to join the crew of the mythological TV series *The Lotus Lantern* as one of the directors.

Below was a bunch of stuff about Lin Nan's resume, with special emphasis on *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*...

Lin Nan stretched the newspaper with both hands, his teeth aching.

This move was too fast; he had only signed the contract yesterday afternoon, and it was already in the papers today.

In the morning, I went to the cafeteria for a meal, only to be blocked by people asking if the production crew was still looking for actors.

What could I say? I’m just here to make up the numbers; I can’t make the call on casting.

Lin Nan also held a try-it-and-see attitude and asked Director Zhao a few questions; the leads were already set, leaving only the role of the Third Holy Mother and some bit parts.

Bit parts would do too; I rounded up a group of classmates to audition, which counts as fulfilling my promise.

For a time, Lin Nan had stirred up another wave of discussion.

The topic shifted to the film industry; Hong Jinbao had a falling out with Zhou Xingchi on the set of a kung fu film, and the paparazzi in Hong Kong are truly formidable, as they interviewed the former directly.

Hong is worthy of being called the Big Brother, as he directly mocked the latter for only treating himself as a human while everyone else is a dog.

Meanwhile, Huayi also announced the filming plan for Director Feng’s new movie, "No Thief"; the cast is undecided and currently auditioning, with production scheduled to start next year.

It seems the script finally had a breakthrough with the authorities.

Lin Nan had no heart to care about these things; he had received the finalized script for "Lotus Lantern," along with the list of the few actors who had been cast.

The first line was the actor for Liu Chenxiang, Cao Jun, who debuted as a child star.

The female lead, Shu Chang, plays the little fox; pure and cute, she is the first love of many young men.

The Second Master, Jiao Enjun, the most handsome Erlang True Monarch in history—how could he be a villain? Countless people finished this show just for him.