Chapter 26

Living in harmony with neighbors and treating people kindly, Seeing Yan Li didn't charge money—he served the child a bowl of braised pork.

The neighbor across the way felt a bit embarrassed, so when returning the bowl, they specifically brought over a bag of fruit, leaving Seeing Yan Li with a favorable impression.

Mutual give-and-take is the way of getting along!

Those who only seek to take without giving are not worth maintaining long-term relationships with.

After telling Zhou Yi to clean and wash the dishes, Seeing Yan Li returned to his bedroom, studied ways to improve the next batch of braised pork, then shifted his focus to other intelligence analysis.

Running a braised meat shop or a ready-to-eat stall was merely a temporary measure or side business—Seeing Yan Li had no intention of making it his lifelong livelihood.

His true, legitimate main profession was acting; his current top priority remained securing a new film role.

Over these past few days, Seeing Yan Li had been preoccupied with this matter, and it had triggered several related pieces of intelligence, giving him some insight.

In Jingcheng, there were still a few projects where he had a chance to compete.

After all, Seeing Yan Li's personal image was strong, he was a graduate of Beijing Film Academy, and now he had the prestigious credit of having appeared in "Sui Tang Heroes," even though the drama hadn't aired yet—it still earned him extra respect.

Combined with the system's assistance, Seeing Yan Li planned to carefully court key figures and had a good chance of landing one or two roles.

Yet, compared to these uncertain projects, Seeing Yan Li had always kept in mind the future films mentioned in his monthly intelligence reports.

For instance, that series directed by Gao Qunshu: "Conquest."

Intelligence indicated that "Conquest" was the most popular crime drama of 2003, with some rankings even listing it among the top ten TV dramas of the year.

This achievement was far from ordinary—being linked with terms like "annual," "most popular," and "top ten" meant even a supporting role would bring immense benefits.

After all, aside from a handful of renowned productions, actors never knew whether their projects would become hits.

Worse still, many didn't even know if their shows would air at all—they simply took the pay, filmed, and left it to luck.

If you landed a hit, you rode the wave—that was called star fortune; if you didn't, you had no luck at all, and kept struggling in the industry.

For actors, landing one potentially hit drama was worth more than five or even ten ordinary ones.

If Seeing Yan Li didn't know the truth, fine—but now that he clearly knew "Conquest" was poised to explode, ignoring it to chase uncertain projects was like throwing away a watermelon to pick up a sesame seed.

After some thought, Seeing Yan Li made his final decision.

He would set aside all other projects and focus entirely on landing "Conquest," betting everything on this 2003 crime drama.

Thinking of this, Seeing Yan Li pulled out his phone and dialed the connection he'd already established.

"Liu Ge, it's Seeing Yan Li—yes, the one who had dinner with Brother Wang last time… I wanted to ask about that 'Conquest' you mentioned before…"

————

The next day, Seeing Yan Li took a taxi to Haidian and, through Liu Ge's introduction, met director Gao Qunshu of "Conquest."

Gao Qunshu was a short, stout man wearing sunglasses, with a serious, expressionless face.

Before arriving, Seeing Yan Li had done his homework—Director Gao specialized in crime-themed works, favored a documentary-style approach, and his signature work was the 2000 drama "Anshisan Sect."

Seeing Yan Li had watched that drama and remembered it vividly—its storytelling was straightforward, its realism strong, and it subtly explored human nature and the rule of law.

For a director who had created such a fine work, Seeing Yan Li adopted a humble posture, lavishly praising "Anshisan Sect," his words filled with admiration and reverence for Gao Qunshu.

Everyone loves to hear compliments—even Gao Qunshu, who had seen it all—couldn't help but form a favorable impression of the young man.

"I've reviewed your file—your conditions are good. But I'll be blunt: our production has limited funds and offers very low pay."

Gao Qunshu's first move was to lowball the salary—clearly, the production was struggling.

Seeing Yan Li wasn't surprised; whether from prior intelligence or newly triggered updates today, he knew this drama's funding was tight.

According to intelligence, Gao Qunshu was currently financing the project out of his own pocket.

The actors were either old crew members, friends he'd begged to join, or low-cost hires—all aimed at cost efficiency.

For this reason, the system had clearly prompted: lowering salary increases the chance of passing the audition.

So the moment Gao Qunshu lowered the offer, Seeing Yan Li immediately responded.

"The pay is no issue—I'm here for the chance to learn from Director Gao."

The moment Seeing Yan Li spoke, Gao Qunshu perked up.

Actors who don't care about pay are everywhere—outside Beijing Film Academy, you can grab a handful of them willing to take any role, obedient and quiet.

But most of them can only play extras or background props—they simply don't meet Gao Qunshu's standards.

The actors he does notice usually have real talent and thus more options.

Under these circumstances, offering too low a salary makes it hard to attract anyone.

After all, most actors film to earn money; TV dramas take months to shoot, and "Conquest"'s crew didn't look like it would become a hit—if the pay wasn't enough to cover basic expenses, anyone with another option would turn it down.

Seeing Yan Li had good looks, formal training, and prior experience playing major supporting roles—if he didn't care about pay, he was definitely worth serious consideration.

Gao Qunshu's previously stern, round face softened slightly, but he still required Seeing Yan Li to audition.

"No problem."

Seeing Yan Li agreed readily—he, like all formally trained actors, was very familiar with this kind of audition.

During training or exams, teachers often assigned roles or topics and asked students to perform, sometimes even increasing difficulty on the spot to test reaction, creativity, and expressiveness.

In contrast, the method used by Hu Mingkai on "Sui Tang Heroes"—judging roles purely by appearance—had once made Seeing Yan Li uncomfortable.

The script was ready; Gao Qunshu had Seeing Yan Li audition for several roles in quick succession.

A young policeman, a thug named Liu Huawen, a killer named Da Peng, a businessman named Wu Tian—he even performed two scenes for the suspected lead, Liu Huaqiang.

As Gao Qunshu watched Seeing Yan Li's performance, his brow would furrow, then relax again.

To be honest, Seeing Yan Li's performance wasn't bad—but it didn't leave him awestruck either.

Still, that was understandable: Seeing Yan Li had just graduated—if his acting skills were already so dazzling that even Gao Qunshu was impressed, Beijing Film Academy's teachers would have already recommended him for films, not left him auditioning at a small production like this.

Gao Qunshu asked Seeing Yan Li to pause for a break and quickly weighed which role in the drama suited him best.

Liu Huaqiang?

No—his acting was still too raw, and his appearance and age didn't quite fit.

The young policeman and Liu Huawen were too minor—giving them to Seeing Yan Li would be a waste.

Da Peng, he had someone in mind—Zhang Li, who had collaborated with Anshisan Sect on The Thirteen Murder Cases, looked more like the ruthless killer he envisioned.

Then it's Wu Tian left!

Gao Qunshu sized up Seeing Yan Li and thought he was well-suited for the role.

In the drama, Wu Tian is cold-hearted and shrewd, Liu Huaqiang's enemy, a successful young merchant; most importantly, the backstory states Wu Tian rose to power by clinging to an older woman—Seeing Yan Li's appearance and build are highly convincing for this.

But after speaking with Seeing Yan Li and letting him read the script, he realized Seeing Yan Li preferred the gun-toting, bang-bang-bang killer Da Peng…

(End of Chapter)