Chapter 1064: Wang Ling’s Acting Skills

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Wang Ling suspected that this script might have been written by Super Chen or a relative of the latter – even the scapegoat setting had been perfectly included inside the script, making it too real.

One had to go through an audition in order to get an actor ID tag, and the examiner would chose a theme. When Hero Guo brought Wang Ling in, the theme had already been decided on. There were six people in each group, and Wang Ling was in the second group. It was quite simple: everyone was required to act like they were suffering from facial paralysis. When the examiner cracked a joke, only those who didn’t laugh would pass.

Wang Ling felt that this assessment was simply tailor-made for him, and it basically wouldn’t be a problem at all.

After the first group of six went up, the examiner announced the theme for their group.

They had to act as if they were being blown about in a hurricane.

The first person pretended to be a tree; he raised his arms and let out “hu hu hu” sounds before falling to the ground.

One after another, the second, third, fourth and fifth individuals imitated him, which disappointed the examiner in charge of the audition. It was fine if it was just the first person, but it was meaningless for those that came after to copy him. Acting was an art which emphasized creativity.

Just as the examiner sighed, the other assessors turned their gazes to the last person. He was a fatty who looked to be over two hundred and sixty jin in weight, and who stood there unmoving, like a mountain.

The examiner: “Sir, what are you acting as?”

That fatty replied, “Shanghai Fortress 1.”

The examiner: “…Pass!”

Wang Ling and Hero Guo: “…”

Finally, it was Wang Ling’s turn as part of the second test group, and he entered the exam room with the other five examiners.

Looking at the others, he thought that they were probably a few years younger than he was, and they all looked very young – it wasn’t easy to make a living nowadays.

Over sixty percent of young people now chose to become live streamers, and basically stopped at nothing to become popular. To be an actor was somewhat tough, but at least it was an industry in which you could rely on your skills to make a living. Acting skills could continue to be polished over time, and one day, you might be chosen by some director and be given the chance to turn your life around. Hard work was hard work, but it was much better than relying on tricks to grab attention.

“Next, I’m going to tell you a joke, but I want you to hold back your laughter. This is the only assessment requirement for your group. As long as you don’t laugh, you pass,” said the chief examiner.

“Then, sir, will you laugh?” a bold youngster asked at that moment.

“Laugh? Of course not, we’re professionals. No matter how funny it is, we won’t laugh unless we can’t help it.” The chief examiner’s gaze swept over them before he read out the joke from a book. “Once upon a time, there was a temple, and in that temple lived a foolish monk 1… hahahaha…”

“…”

The examiner’s chair rocked back with his laughter and he directly fell off. When they saw this scene, the other assessors couldn’t help but frown.

“Isn’t Old Chen going a little overboard in his acting…”

“Mm, just a bit. But he can certainly act; no wonder he’s the chief examiner. Look, Old Chen’s twitching is so realistic. His entire body is shaking – there’s probably no one here who can shake all over like Old Chen, is there?”

“I’ve looked at the joke, and it isn’t funny at all. To be able to laugh like this in front of everyone, Old Chen is indeed a consummate actor!”

“Look… he seems to be frothing at the mouth…”

“He can even spew out froth – how brilliant! And did you see, he can even roll his eyes back! How detailed!”

“It certainly is detailed, and he even remembered to roll his eyes back. But there’s still one thing I don’t understand.”

“What?”

“It’s not hard to roll your eyes back, but as for his bloodshot eyes… how did he do that?”

“Damn… Old Chen isn’t acting! He’s really laughing! And he’s going to laugh himself into passing out!”

When the examiners said that, some of the examinees in the second group finally couldn’t take it anymore and burst out laughing. The chief examiner’s requirement for them was to not laugh when he read out the joke, but in the end, he passed out laughing himself… Was there any joke funnier than this?

Thus, of the six people in the second group, only Wang Ling remained expressionless.

The examinees in the second group really couldn’t be blamed – even those waiting in line outside the exam room laughed until their sides split because of this episode. Some of them laughed themselves breathless as they crouched down and clutched their stomachs.

Throughout it all, only Wang Ling’s expression wasn’t the least bit ruffled.

It could be said that he was the bona fide legendary poker face. Hero Guo was moved by Wang Ling’s composure; as expected, it had been the right decision to recommend Wang Ling to work here!

…

After ten minutes or so, the examiners gave the actor ID tag to Wang Ling, and he was the only one in the second group of examinees to get it.

When they gave him the ID tag, one of the assessors said to Wang Ling with an admiring expression, “Student, you were too awesome. We as examiners laughed until we almost passed out, while you were actually completely unmoved.”

“He’s like that at school, too.” Hero Guo put his arm over Wang Ling’s shoulders and couldn’t help feeling proud.

“So this guy is your classmate!” The assessor was cheerful. He didn’t know Wang Ling, but he knew Hero Guo. Quite a few of the directors here were his uncles, so Hero Guo usually wasn’t short of pocket money. If he didn’t have any, he just needed to come here and do some acting – sometimes, lying on the ground for a day could net him hundreds of HNY.

Hero Guo could be considered pretty lucky this time. It just so happened that an online film about No. 60 High had just started filming at the studio, and Hero Guo had been introduced to the crew as an extra. This role only had three lines, but three lines for an extra was already amazing – and the most important thing was that his face would be on camera! Hero Guo fantasized about kickstarting a career with this opportunity – how could he not be happy!

When that time came, he would be the second Lu Xufan! The second Wu Yuanxi 1!

“Let’s go, Wang Ling, I’ll take you to the film set.” Brimming with excitement, Dopey Guo finally led Wang Ling to the film set for Birth of the Demon Child Odd Zhuo.

This was Wang Ling’s first time on a film set, and the director was very charismatic as he directed the filming.

“Actors!”

“Lights!”

“ACTION!”

…

Hero Guo took Wang Ling around the place. It was actually the worst time for unrelated personnel to move about. A lot of newbie actors would accidentally walk into the camera frame, and a clip that hadn’t been easy to shoot would become useless.

But as an old hand, Dopey Guo knew the set like the back of his hand. He brought Wang Ling to the executive director, who looked Wang Ling up and down. “Is this the classmate you were talking about?”

“Yes, uncle!” Dopey Guo nodded.

“Not bad, his looks pass.” The executive director nodded his head.

“Then which scene will my classmate be acting in?”

“Let him try the next scene. There’s a fight scene where he just needs to play dead,” said the executive director.