Rebirth of a star - Chapter 12

The winter of Beijing was cold and dry. The sky was still sparse, with little snow falling from time to time.

In the dormitory where Susu was located, there was a heater, but the electricity was limited. Susu had a fear from the fire at night, and dared not open it. On such a cold Saturday, Susu could not even sleep in the bedroom.

Teacher Zhou recommended her a role and asked her to go for an audition at 10 am.

Considering the traffic, Susu got up at 7 a.m. and shivered fiercely when she got out of bed. When she went to wash her face and brush her teeth, while opening the faucet, she only heard the pipe suddenly protruding noises, but the water did not appear. After a while, it  dropped a bit of broken ice.

Susu took the basin with water, then poured hot water into the thermos bottle, adjusted it and washed her face.

Just after washing her face and warming her hands, she changed her clothes and made her bed. Her hands cooled down again. Susu tried hard to stabilize them, but the frozen hands did not listen to her command.

Susu was very helpless, and finally put on a jacket, a pair of boots, and set off.

At this time of the morning, the taxis in the Imperial Capital were not as fast as the subway. Susu rushed to the subway station and bought a pancake along the way. Unexpectedly, a waiting aunt bought one and bought another, as she kept waiting there.

The pancake vendor apologized: “Excuse me, please wait a moment, right away, right away.”

As a result, one after another. After waiting for 6 to 7 people, Susu expressed her heartfelt admiration for the mother and the family’s appetite. She could not bear the chilly wind and was ready to leave.

The pancake vendor’s expectant eyes forced her to throw down a few coins and continue to wait for her pancakes.

Susu holding a pancake, took the subway, while anxiously watching the time as it was already 9:45. Susu had never been there before, and she couldn’t distinguish between the roads. Fortunately, the company she was supposed to audition in was big enough. Susu ran all the way. Finally, at 9:55, she rushed into the company’s door.

“Director Zhang?” The front desk lady raised her eyebrows.

“Which director would come so early? Ah, you can wait.”

Susu bowed her head and swept away the rest of the day. The front desk lady was talking about someone with great enthusiasm.

Susu looked down at the front desk lady who was chatting away.

She sat down in the lounge of the hall, took off her jacket, as the air conditioning was on. Occasionally, there were people who came and went inside the company, they seemed very busy, and they wore very little. There were still three or four girls sitting in the hall, some were on the phone, some were fixing their makeup, and some were reading novels. Even if the stars came and went, they all behaved very calmly. Only occasionally looking up, revealing the envy in their hearts.

No one noticed them. Obviously, there were too many girls who came to this building to fulfill their dreams and become stars.

Susu had only eaten one pancake in the morning. After a few hours, she began to get hungry. She hadn’t felt the hunger for a long time till then. The stomach swelled up like a little sun, burning and sad. The director had not come yet. Susu looked at her phone, it was already a little late. She was afraid that the director would come after the meeting, but she dared not leave.

Susu thought that if she wanted to go to the audition next time, she must bring enough dry food.

The other girls in the hall had some impatience on their faces, but none of them got up. The receptionist, who painted delicate makeup, came back from lunch, and saw them, stopped stunned, and blurted out, “You’re still there!”

“What do you think?” The girl who made a text message for a while jumped up from the sofa and vented her indignant anger at the front desk lady.

The front desk pouted her lip. She knew that among these girls, there may be a little star; even the status was of a little star was enough to crush her. She made a disdainful gesture and returned to her seat.

From the door came a tall, fat man with untidy hair. “Director Zhang,” the front desk lady quickly greeted him when she saw him.

“Well,” Director Zhang nodded expressionlessly, in a very ostentatious manner.

When the girls heard of Director Zhang’s arrival, they all settled down, sitting in a dignified manner, as if they didn’t wait from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at all.

Director Zhang went to his personal office and when he thought of something he suddenly turned back and told the receptionist, “I have an appointment with Zhuo Junwei at 3 o’clock today, don’t let people disturb me.”

The front desk laughed brilliantly, “Okay, I see, Director Zhang.”

Director Zhang walked into the office and the front desk receptionist came over to the girls.

“You should know, Director Zhang said, he had an appointment with Zhuo Junwei today. I have no time to help you audition. You should go back first. About the audition, I will inform you of the time again. I will give you a form later, and you can go back when you fill it out.” The front desk’s face turned hostile.

Zhuo Junwei was a new singer. This time, he helped him shoot a music video. In other words, director Zhang was only a third-rate director. Sadly, they were not even third-rated actors, and have not yet passed this threshold.

Susu took the form handed over from the front desk, silently filled in the name and contact information, and was the first one who walked out of the warm office building. The girl who was at odds with the lady at the front desk stared at the paper, and finally wrote down her name and contact number. She didn’t know that after she left, her resume form went into the shredder. So, never offend a woman.

The trajectory of life was always unpredictable.

The heroine of Zhuo Junwei, who was last used by Director Zhang, was actually the cousin of Zhuo Junwei, and she had mixed blood lineage. The stack of tables, which recorded the girls expectations, was placed casually on director Zhang’s desk.

“Lao Zhang,” when director Zhang was busy, the director Lin pushed the door of the office and walked in. An old colleague of more than 20 years who was almost familiar with wearing the same pair of trousers.

“Can’t you see I’m busy?” Director Zhang did not raise his head.

“Is there any actor who you can recommend to me? Eh, I really can’t stand it. The leader wanted to see a new face. The next day, he says that the new face isn’t popular. The popularity of people is too high, and the TV is turned on. Three sets, the same face.” Director Lin’s tears ran, and the leader’s blind command made him dizzy. All these two days only anger came from his lips.

“Actors, I don’t have any,” Director Zhang refused, as he was too lazy to bother.

“Really nothing?” Director Lin’s pitiful appearance was forced into misery.

Director Zhang looked up and saw the middle-aged man with a bitter look so close to him, that he was frightened and almost turned over with his chair. He calmed down and suddenly saw a pile of resume forms on his desk. He picked them up and threw them to Director Lin, “Hey, this is the girl who came to audition two days ago. It’s not bad. Pick it out for yourself. If it hadn’t been for Zhuo Junwei to let his cousin go, I think it would have been all right.”

Director Zhang wanted to send director Lin away and do his own thing conscientiously.

Director Lin was really happy while holding a stack of forms.

Director Zhang also settled down and kept working.

Susu did not know the entanglements. After a week’s delay, she received an audition notice.

Susu had prepared plum, chocolate and biscuits. She rushed to the Performing Arts company like a bear. Unexpectedly, Director Lin was so anxious that he didn’t keep them waiting at all. The girls who came to the audition were of course excellent in appearance. Director Lin pondered over it carefully and felt that Director Zhang’s vision was indeed old-fashioned.

Director Lin let everyone perform for a while. Two of the girls were not born for it, and they didn’t have any experience in acting. They were immediately brushed down. Susu and another girl were accepted to shoot Lin’s advertising film.

The so-called advertising film was actually a small film with a certain theme, playing the role of advertising.

The whole movie lasted 40 minutes, and they appeared only for a short period, depending on whether the director wanted  to cut a few scenes less.

The first role of Susu was of a little girl who had no lines to say, only having cold drinks on the side of the road. You could have cold drinks for free, and you could buy what you want, which was very good. However, in the winter, and especially during the cold days of Beijing, she wore a very summer look, drank a cold drink while showing it was very delicious. 

Susu’s performance on that day was praised by Lin’s director, completing her first role at the cost of a one-day hospitalization after a fever.

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