Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Actually, the atmosphere right now is quite fitting for audition practice. The room is so dark, and outside, it's chaotic. They've had a bit to drink, and the dizziness gives them a sense of unreality.

Especially for the character An Jiujiu is auditioning for.

It's just that performing in front of someone familiar—this is her first time doing it, and it's really embarrassing.

"Close your eyes," An Jiujiu instructed. "Ah, no, wait... Let me tell you about the character first, I need to gather my thoughts."

Shi Tuo got up to clear the beer cans, casually washing their bowls. "Go ahead, I'm listening."

An Jiujiu flipped through the audition script she had nearly memorized.

The script isn't long—only two scenes, and the rest is character background and some confidentiality agreements.

But...

"Weren't you telling me that Director Yang Zhengyi picks actors based on how well they fit the character?" An Jiujiu hesitated. "But the character I'm auditioning for, Lin Luo... She's a murderer, and not just one person..."

Shi Tuo turned around and grabbed the script. The candlelight flickered.

He had just finished washing the dishes, and his fingers were still cool after drying them. When he took the script, his hand brushed over An Jiujiu's, making her instinctively curl her hand into a fist in the dark.

With the alcohol, An Jiujiu felt the atmosphere was indeed strange tonight.

The heavy rain outside didn’t cool Wangcheng’s summer at all. With the windows closed and candles lit, even though both of them had just showered, they had already started sweating lightly.

Shi Tuo sat back at the table, reading the script under the candlelight.

An Jiujiu sat across from him, resting her chin in her hand, watching him.

She had always known that Shi Tuo was quite handsome. Both of them belonged to the type who often received love letters. Shi Tuo, with his good looks, tall build, decent athletic abilities, and good grades, was the kind of person who would always have someone secretly like him, even if he wasn't exactly the most outgoing.

She had briefly liked him too. During their teenage years, hormones always caused a few irrational feelings. She couldn't even remember when it started, just that it was a rainy weekend. Shi Tuo was waiting for her under the eaves to go out and buy something, and she couldn’t even remember what she was wearing. She just remembered that the way he looked up at her felt like a scene from a shoujo manga, with raindrops sparkling in the shape of stars.

But that really was just a moment. After speaking, reality set back in.

Like now, she briefly thought that the way Shi Tuo drank just now might stay with her for a long time.

That obvious Adam's apple! Like an adult!

"Are you asleep?" Shi Tuo raised his eyes, noticing she had been in the same position for a while.

"No." An Jiujiu lowered her hand and said, "I'm waiting for you to tell me why I could fit a murderer."

Director Yang Zhengyi's movies are known for their disturbing content. Although the audition script probably only covers about 1% of the storyline, that didn't stop Shi Tuo from easily understanding what An Jiujiu was saying.

Because Lin Luo, the character, is indeed a murderer. An Jiujiu, one of the candidates to play Lin Luo’s younger self, would only be acting in scenes from her youth.

The content was short, but not simple. There are only two scenes, and it's unclear whether the director wants the actors to research the character themselves or if the script isn't fully finished. These two scenes don’t give all the information.

The first scene is in the police station, where the protagonist Lin Luo, with her hair disheveled, rushes in and grabs a young policeman, speaking frantically and incoherently, saying she thinks her father has killed someone.

Only one line of dialogue.

The second scene is by the river outside the city, where Lin Luo waits for the police to pull the body from the water. She looks at the body of her childhood friend, Wang Can, marked with her name. At the scene, with people coming and going, she crouches and looks at the crawling insects on the body and softly says, "I still like you this way."

Only one line of dialogue.The two scenes aside, there was just a brief background summary, which was clear at a glance: Lin Luo killed her stepfather and childhood friend Wang Can, staged an alibi by calling the police, and when the police recovered Wang Can's body, she said her final goodbyes to him.

The content was short, but the information was immense.

Such a few lines, in the stifling, candle-lit night, sent a chill down one's spine.

Shi Tuo asked An Jiujiu, "Has the actress for adult Lin Luo been found?"

An Jiujiu nodded and leaned on the table, taking his phone to search for the information and show him: "The female lead was decided early on. When Director Yang Zhengyi contacted my mom, he said that the adult and teenage scenes would be roughly a 60|40 split. By the time she was a teenager, Lin Luo had already killed two people—don't know how it will turn out when she's an adult."

"It should be that the adult actress is a good fit for the role," Shi Tuo took the phone from her. "You’re a candidate because you resemble her a bit."

The actress playing adult Lin Luo is also a newcomer, named Qiao Wenzhu, 28 years old. She had previously acted in a very obscure web drama. She fits the delicate, attractive type, and shares some resemblance to An Jiujiu, about three or four similarities.

Shi Tuo then searched for a few photos of that actress: "Director must have chosen a teenage actress based on her look. In your photo, your features are a bit similar. If you were made up, you could look even more like her."

An Jiujiu leaned forward to look at Shi Tuo's phone, reaching out to zoom in and out on the photo.

"The compatibility refers to me and this actress?" An Jiujiu tilted her head. "Actually, I think she's prettier than me."

She finished the can of beer, feeling a little dizzy. Her head tilted left, then right.

A loud noise came from upstairs—seems like a household finally gave up on catching the water from the ceiling, and they dropped an aluminum basin to the floor, cursing loudly.

An Jiujiu was startled and quickly straightened her head.

Shi Tuo didn’t argue about who looked more beautiful in the photo. Instead, he patiently said, "You two have the same face shape, the curvature of your eyes is similar, and the angle of your nose is also a bit alike. Director Yang Zhengyi gave you this audition opportunity, it’s definitely related to these external features."

"But there are plenty of people in the world who resemble others by three or four points. This is just a stepping stone. The person you need to fully adapt to is Lin Luo, not this actress."

An Jiujiu blinked and looked up.

The three red candles didn’t really improve visibility. Shi Tuo leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table to demonstrate the similarity in their facial features.

Their table was only one meter long, so they could only face each other, like two chicks pecking at rice.

An Jiujiu tilted her head, and her freshly washed long hair brushed over Shi Tuo’s outstretched arm, her forehead grazing his chin.

Shi Tuo froze, the hand holding the phone tensing with veins standing out in the dark.

He couldn’t immediately pull back, it would be too obvious.

Tonight was not a good night for any strange thoughts. His reason had been under control once, but that didn't mean it could hold up a second time.

"You..." His tone wasn’t great. "Can you move back a little?"

"The power's out, it's hot."

His voice carried a tone of disdain, as if she was carrying a heavy furnace on her.

An Jiujiu muttered, sitting back down in her chair. On the surface, it looked the same as every other time Shi Tuo complained about her getting too close—resentful and unwilling, her lips pouting.

In reality, she felt uneasy too.

Shi Tuo had just used her body wash in the shower, the sweet orange scent. The onesie was washed with her fabric softener, lavender-scented, mixed with the bitterness of the beer they had drunk earlier.

She wasn't usually sensitive to such things, but tonight, for some reason, it felt oddly nostalgic, reminding her of the way Shi Tuo looked under the sparkling raindrops all those years ago.

The dim candlelight became the perfect cover, hiding the youthful stirrings of the two teenagers."Clearly, you're the one who's hotter." To cover up her discomfort, An Jiujiu retorted.

Her retort came a bit late, and it sounded a little awkward.

But no one mentioned the incident again. Shi Tuo quickly brought the topic back: "Which scene do you want to try?"

"Scene two." An Jiujiu stood up, ran to her room, pulled out a yoga mat, and laid it on the living room floor. "You lie here."

She pointed to the marble floor next to the yoga mat: "This is the riverbank, and the yoga mat is the moat."

Shi Tuo cooperated well, lying on the marble floor in his fluorescent green bodysuit, following An Jiujiu's instructions and resting half of his body on the yoga mat.

"Left hand here." An Jiujiu pointed to the candy box she had placed on the yoga mat. "Right foot, spread it a little."

"Hey, don’t be so stiff."

Not sure if it was due to discomfort, An Jiujiu's requests were a bit too much before the rehearsal. She crouched there, insisting that Shi Tuo pose like the corpse she had found in the river scene—half in the water, half on the shore, one leg hanging limply, and the face turned towards the ceiling.

At first, Shi Tuo was very cooperative. The marble floor was cool, and as he lay down, the alcohol in his system faded a bit. The candlelight and lack of oxygen cleared his head a little, and the ambiguous feeling diminished significantly.

But An Jiujiu kept babbling.

"...Why are you wearing fluorescent green? It really doesn’t look like a corpse..."

Shi Tuo: "..."

With a blank expression, he pretended to be dead, sitting up and making eye contact with An Jiujiu, who was squatting.

An Jiujiu quickly apologized: "Oh, the fluorescent green is my fault."

Shi Tuo: "...Do you want to try scene one? I can play the cop."

An Jiujiu: "But I’ll laugh if I look into your eyes."

Shi Tuo pulled out the fluorescent green hat with the slanted eyes of the cat and showed it to her: "Will you still laugh if you look at this?"

An Jiujiu: "...At least you're closing your eyes."

Shi Tuo: "..."

He silently lay back down. After getting into position, he arranged himself according to the corpse photo An Jiujiu had provided. To avoid making her laugh, he folded the cat hat and tucked it behind his neck.

An Jiujiu was finally satisfied. She calmed down and motioned for Shi Tuo to close his eyes.

Shi Tuo’s Adam’s apple lightly moved up and down as he closed his eyes.

An Jiujiu remained quiet for a long time. She was probably trying to get into the mood. So, Shi Tuo stayed perfectly still, maintaining his corpse position with his eyes shut, afraid to ruin her mood.

The sensation was strange.

Half of his body lay on the yoga mat, and the other half on the marble floor. An Jiujiu squatted on the side with the marble floor. According to common sense, he should feel the marble side of his body colder.

That was indeed how it felt physically.

However, psychologically, the side of his body closest to An Jiujiu was gradually starting to heat up uncontrollably. He could feel every movement she made, even the slightest breath.

She was taking deep breaths. After a few breaths, she leaned down to get closer to him, her hair falling onto his arm. It felt a little cool and a little ticklish.

She must have been holding in her laughter because every time she got close, he could feel her immediately bounce back and start taking deep breaths again.Acting is hard. For someone like her, an outsider, she had dived in just to earn money, so that Wang Shanshan wouldn't have to work so hard. He wanted to be there for her every time.

The sound of the rain outside seemed to have softened, and it was already past ten. With the power out and no way to go outside, the people in the building had gradually stopped cursing and turned quiet. He could now clearly hear the sound of the water rising downstairs, splashed by the raindrops.

He didn't know how much time had passed, nor how long An Jiujiu had been practicing. Finally, she leaned over, her hair brushing across his face. Her finger gently touched his lips.

She said, "I still like you like this."

She whispered it in his ear at first, but then it seemed she couldn’t hold back a laugh. The last two words trembled, and the warm breath she exhaled spread from his earlobe all the way down his body.

After she finished speaking, she fell back and couldn't help but laugh.

She said, "Shi Tuo, your eyelashes have been moving this whole time, you're ruining the scene!"

Shi Tuo slowly opened his eyes, sat up, and with a wooden expression, shifted his body away from the candlelight.

Damn.

His face turned red.