I Was Taken by the Female Lead After Transmigrating into a Book - Chapter 19

Time passed by, second by second.

Bai Feifei checked her phone. It had already been almost five minutes since the start time. Someone from the judges’ panel had left their seat and was anxiously pacing back and forth, making a phone call. But they were too far away to be heard, and they looked a little worked up.

“Didn’t they say Director Li is the most punctual person?”

Bai Feifei looked in the direction of the voice. It was a girl sitting not far from her, in a white skirt, her hair meticulously combed. Her posture made her look like a dance student.

Someone next to her chimed in in a small voice, “The news I heard also said that. Everyone says Director Li hates people who are late, and so does Ms. Huo Wu… Why didn’t either of them come today? Did something happen?”

“Even if something happened, they should at least let us know. There’s been no movement until now!” The girl in the white skirt’s face instantly changed. “I have a photo shoot scheduled for 9:30. Isn’t this wasting everyone’s time?”

But as the noise in the waiting area got louder and louder, the teachers on the judges’ panel still didn’t move. Some even took out their phones and were playing a puzzle game with the sound turned up so loud that they could hear it over there.

The girl in the white skirt quietly cursed.

Bai Feifei was stunned by the two loud, strong words. Her eyes widened as she looked at the girl in front of her, whose back looked so graceful, and she suddenly understood what “disillusionment” meant.

Just then, Fu Xiaoxiao came over, holding some medicine for the wound, as well as a clean gauze pad and a medical bandage.

“I’m here, I’m here, I’m here,” Fu Xiaoxiao said repeatedly, putting everything she had in her hands down in a pile. “Babe, move your leg.”

Bai Feifei tried to move, and then she directly rolled up her pants, which were a little loose, and used a hair clip from her hair to hold them in place. “It doesn’t hurt much anymore.”

“That’s not good enough. In this hot weather, what if it gets infected?” Fu Xiaoxiao mumbled in a low voice, and she quickly prepared the items.

As she took them out, she seemed to remember something. She took another chocolate bar from the side and handed it to Wu Qingying, who was still surrounded by a group of girls not far away, and shouted at her, “Twenty-eight! Twenty-eight!”

Wu Qingying was stunned for a moment, and then she belatedly looked at her number tag. She asked cautiously, “Are you calling me?”

“Yep,” Fu Xiaoxiao said, sitting down and leaning back. She squinted, taking aim. “Catch!”

Bai Feifei saw a coffee-colored chocolate bar arc through the air and land in Wu Qingying’s arms.

Wu Qingying looked at it, realized it was a chocolate bar, and immediately thanked Fu Xiaoxiao. “Thank you!”

Fu Xiaoxiao raised her two nimble eyebrows at her and began to quickly treat Bai Feifei’s wound.

“Babe, I think you have a chance,” Fu Xiaoxiao said. Her eyes lit up mischievously as she leaned close to Bai Feifei’s ear and whispered, “This medicine was given to me by your first-time partner’s agent.”

Bai Feifei: “…”

Fu Xiaoxiao saw her face change, and she lowered her voice even more, full of shock. “Wasn’t it your first time? You were so… exhausted you couldn’t get out of bed!”

Bai Feifei took a deep breath. “Shut up, you—how can it be something Sister Meng gave you? Did she see you?”

“I don’t know,” Fu Xiaoxiao recalled, gesturing to the situation at the time. “I was in a hurry to find the doctor and was asking people everywhere, and she just handed me this bag of stuff… Oh, right, she also gave me two bags of chocolate. There’s still one left. Want some? It’s chocolate, and it melts really fast.”

Bai Feifei opened her mouth, and she and Fu Xiaoxiao ate the chocolate, half and half.

This was a habit for them. They would always share delicious and fun things. Bai Feifei didn’t find it strange.

Bai Feifei looked at the judges’ panel again.

Li Ke and Huo Wu’s seats were still empty. Even the screenwriter was already sleeping on the table. The staff next to them were also listless, looking very unprofessional.

She turned her head to look again. There were still a few people in the waiting area with good posture, but most people were slumping in their chairs in pairs or groups, with tired expressions on their faces. After all, summer was exhausting.

Just then, a commotion suddenly came from a distance. The sound gradually got closer and became clearer.

“They’re here! They’re here!”

“The director is here! Sister Huo Wu is here too!”

Bai Feifei looked in the direction of the voice that said “Sister Huo Wu.” Everyone had an excited look on their faces, and it was impossible to tell who had said those words.

Huo Wu walked through the suppressed screams. Her eyes didn’t stray in the slightest. She tilted her head and was saying something to Ji Meng. Her face in profile looked calm, yet it was hard to look away.

Bai Feifei paused and nudged Fu Xiaoxiao’s arm. “I’ve never called her ‘Sister.'”

“Then find a chance and call her that in front of her face,” Fu Xiaoxiao said directly. “Isn’t that better than all these people talking into thin air?”

Bai Feifei felt that what she said made a lot of sense.

Huo Wu and Li Ke both took their seats, and the venue gradually became as quiet as if someone had pressed a mute button.

Because the venue was big enough and there were a lot of people, a microphone was handed to Li Ke as soon as he sat down. At the same time, a huge white screen was lowered not far away, and then all the curtains on the windows were lowered, and the surrounding area was immediately plunged into darkness.

Because there was a transition in time, it didn’t cause a huge commotion, but many people were still very curious about the screen.

The screen was still on the standby screen, with nothing on it. Bai Feifei looked around and realized something. She leaned close to Fu Xiaoxiao’s ear and said, “Pay attention in a bit. The camera is on. Be happy, okay?”

“I know,” Fu Xiaoxiao said, and her eyes curved into a smile. “When have I ever not been happy?”

… Just two days ago.

She was crying and hiccuping, and she said she couldn’t live anymore.

The timing wasn’t right, so Bai Feifei didn’t expose her for now. She saved it for future material.

Li Ke tapped the microphone twice, and a slightly low male voice sounded with a hint of a B City accent. “Thank you for waiting, everyone. There was a small accident. Ms. Huo and I had a temporary discussion, and today’s audition rules have been changed.”

The whole room was in an uproar.

Bai Feifei was also curious. She knew this was probably related to the reason they were late, and also to the screen not far away, but she couldn’t guess the reason.

Li Ke’s voice continued. He held the microphone in one hand and leaned back, looking relaxed. “The audition will be completely public. No video recording or photos are allowed. If we catch you, you’ll be immediately removed from the list. Someone will come over to collect your phones in a bit. We hope you will all cooperate.”

As soon as he said that, many people put away their phones and turned them off.

Bai Feifei and Fu Xiaoxiao did the same, handing their phones to the staff member who happened to be walking in the front row.

Fu Xiaoxiao looked at her phone with longing and said pitifully, “Big brother, what about the food I ordered…”

The staff member had probably never met someone so naive who would order takeout in this kind of situation. He was stunned for two seconds before he said, “People who are not participating can use their phones normally in the room in the back, but they can’t leave the room while using them.”

Fu Xiaoxiao smiled brightly. “Thank you, big brother!”

The staff member also gave her a bright smile and happily left, continuing to collect the next person’s phone.

Bai Feifei was amused by Fu Xiaoxiao’s natural ability to get along with people and pinched her face.

Fu Xiaoxiao leaned close to Bai Feifei again and whispered, “I feel like someone is spying on me, but I can’t catch who it is. It’s so creepy. I’m getting goosebumps.”

Bai Feifei looked at the more than two hundred actresses who were all focused on the judges’ panel. She remembered Fu Xiaoxiao’s slow-witted nature and said, “Maybe your intuition is wrong?”

Fu Xiaoxiao agreed immediately. “Maybe.”

She then turned her head and forgot what she had just been thinking. She hummed a song as she tidied up the remaining medicine on her seat.

Li Ke continued, “Do you see the screen in front of you?”

“Yes—”

“Next, your audition scenes will be shown directly to everyone on the big screen,” Li Ke smiled, ignoring the noise below. He added, “If anyone is uncomfortable with this, you can leave now.”

No one in the audience moved.

Bai Feifei also looked around and felt a little nervous.

When she first learned that this drama was directed by Li Ke, she knew it wouldn’t be easy. But she had never had a face-to-face meeting with Director Li Ke before. Furthermore, the evaluation of Li Ke in the book was limited to words. She only knew that he was a director with a bad temper who was prone to cursing, but his professional skills were unusually high. As for anything else, not much was written.

She would have to interact with him to know the specifics.

Although she was a newcomer, she had no shortcuts and could only work harder.

Li Ke waited for a while and nodded in satisfaction. “Since that’s the case, I’ll assume no one wants to leave early. Next, we will distribute random audition cards with topics. You can freely choose to form groups and create a story to present as a group, or you can choose to do it alone. Of course, if you want to invite some helpers, that’s not impossible either.”

As soon as he said that, everyone was even more surprised. Many people also looked frustrated—the location of the audition was only revealed the day before it started. Moreover, this kind of situation had never happened before in an audition, let alone having outside help. No one was prepared.

This didn’t feel like an audition. It was more like a public competition, an impromptu performance with no preparation. For them, the difficulty was a little too high.

“To ensure fairness, everyone’s preparation time will be counted from the moment they sign up. You have half an hour to prepare. We will then call your numbers in order. If you’re not ready, you can postpone it and let others go first.” When Li Ke said this, he suddenly smiled and quieted everyone in the waiting area. “Don’t be nervous. Director Li is a good person.”

Bai Feifei watched Huo Wu turn her head as if she couldn’t bear to look at Li Ke’s current appearance.

Her eyes lit up, and her back straightened instantly—Huo Wu was looking at her!

Their eyes seemed to meet for a moment. Bai Feifei didn’t dare to wave. She could only sway her body back and forth to show her excitement. Huo Wu’s gaze lingered on her knee for a moment and then moved away.

Bai Feifei noticed Huo Wu’s gaze and said happily, “She cares about me!”

Fu Xiaoxiao looked confused. “What?”

Bai Feifei was happy and pinched Fu Xiaoxiao’s arm twice. In the summer, people’s skin was cool, and her arm was soft, which was fun to pinch.

The young girls below were amused by Li Ke’s words, and a chorus of laughter immediately rang out.

However, Li Ke’s next sentence made everyone stop laughing. The atmosphere in the entire venue instantly dropped to a freezing point.

“But before that, I have to make one thing clear,” Li Ke smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “My team doesn’t tolerate any filth, nor does it cater to privileged brats or arrogant fools who think they are better than everyone else.”

Bai Feifei had a premonition that something was about to happen. She exchanged a glance with Fu Xiaoxiao, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, but her eyes were on Huo Wu.

Huo Wu’s expression was calm. She wrote something on a piece of paper and turned a few pages.

“Numbers one to five,” Li Ke said. “You’re eliminated.”

Everyone was immediately stunned and couldn’t help but look at the first row—everyone had reached a consensus to sit according to the number tags they had been given.

Numbers one to five were in the front, and they were the most watched.

One of them was the girl in the white skirt that Bai Feifei had noticed earlier.

Her face was pale at this moment. Bai Feifei was close enough to even see their slightly trembling bodies. The other girls around her looked similar.

Fu Xiaoxiao gasped and didn’t dare to speak. She wrote on Bai Feifei’s palm: These kids’ outfits are worth a small apartment in Yanshi. This director is amazing. He just rejected them without even looking.

This was something the two of them used to play when they were little. It wasn’t hard for Bai Feifei to decipher. She paused for a moment, squeezed Fu Xiaoxiao’s hand, and motioned for her to focus.

Fu Xiaoxiao immediately quieted down and continued to watch with wide, blinking eyes.

The girl in the white skirt seemed to be the “leader” of this group of people.

Only about ten seconds had passed in the venue. She heard the girl in the white skirt, with a pale face, say in a loud voice, “Why?!”