Chapter 188 - 170: Strange Audition + New Script

This audition was truly bizarre.

So bizarre that in the nearly twenty years Ni Bingyan had spent in the business, spanning two lifetimes, she had never seen or even heard of anything like it.

They didn’t provide a script beforehand, which Ni Bingyan assumed was for confidentiality. But when the day of the audition arrived, there was still no script.

That was fine, though. She had experienced that a few times and could accept it.

But after arriving at the company bright and early, the first order of business wasn’t to get a number and line up. Instead, it was—

"Come on, Bingbing, let’s go get your makeup removed first."

When she wasn’t working, Ni Bingyan preferred to go out bare-faced, but since she had an audition today, she had carefully applied some light makeup.

But upon reaching the designated thirteenth floor, she had barely stepped out of the elevator and gotten a look at who was there when a familiar staff member approached her with a friendly smile, immediately offering to take her to remove her makeup.

Recognizing the person as Li Wen, a veteran from the HR department known for her gentle and approachable nature, Ni Bingyan asked directly, "Sister Wen, the notice didn’t say we had to be bare-faced, did it?"

Some films aimed for a natural look and required actors to perform without makeup, so it was normal to ban it at auditions. But they would usually give advance notice.

Not saying anything beforehand, then asking people to remove their makeup after they’d arrived all dolled up—wasn’t that just a waste of time?

She had even skipped her morning workout to have time for her makeup.

Hearing her question, it was clear this wasn’t the first time Li Wen had had to answer it today. Her tone was full of resignation. "President Wu gave specific instructions. He said the ’nude makeup’ look is all the rage lately."

’He must be afraid of being fooled, so the most reliable method is to have everyone remove their makeup upon arrival, no matter what.’

Ni Bingyan had a regular schedule, a healthy diet, and was a sports enthusiast with naturally fair, cool-toned skin. Her complexion was excellent, so she wasn’t worried about this at all.

Once she understood the situation, she didn’t make things difficult for the other woman and followed her without another word.

After drying her face and coming out, she thought they would finally get down to business. But with a wave of her hand, Li Wen led her into the next room.

The room was partitioned by hanging curtains. Hearing the door open, another smiling staff member emerged from behind one, holding a measuring tape.

After a brief greeting with Li Wen, she beckoned Ni Bingyan behind the curtain.

Once inside, she was told to raise her arms and stand still while the staff member used the tape to measure her bust, waist, and hips, as well as her shoulder width, arm length, and leg length...

When she was done, the woman turned her back to Ni Bingyan and entered the data into a computer.

Ni Bingyan remained silent throughout the process, which made the cursing from the next partition sound particularly jarring:

"Are you fucking insane?! Measuring height for an audition? Isn’t it on my profile? And you want me to take off my shoes! I told you I’m wearing flats! Take ’em off? My ass!"

"If you don’t want to, then don’t. Next!"

The moment those cold words were spoken, the person stomped onto the scale.

’Looks like she knows what’s at stake with this audition, too.’

Ni Bingyan could hear everything clearly from behind the curtain, and she knew who that person was.

She’d long heard that this young mistress had a bad temper, but she never expected it to be this bad. ’Tsk.’

The three great unsolved mysteries of female celebrities: Have they had plastic surgery? How old are they really? And what is their actual height?

Setting aside the first two, for those who weren’t particularly tall, they wore high heels almost everywhere to improve their proportions. When not wearing heels, they’d use height-increasing insoles.

Forcing someone like that to be measured barefoot was like forcing a soldier to drop her armor and abandon her weapons right before battle.

No wonder she was cursing.

Once her measurements were done, the woman with the measuring tape called over to the height station, "Can she come over now?"

Hearing this, the young mistress, who had just been throwing a tantrum, was probably afraid of losing face if she ran into Ni Bingyan, so she quickly finished her measurement and left.

The staff member with the tape then smilingly pulled back the curtain and called Ni Bingyan over.

When she went over, she saw the staff member there, stone-faced, who said in a frigid tone, "Shoes off. Get on."

With the previous fiasco as a clear warning, Ni Bingyan certainly wasn’t going to look for trouble.

She was tall anyway and wasn’t afraid of being measured, so she took off her shoes and stepped right onto the scale.

The panel above her head was pressed down, and her height and weight were quickly recorded.

"What the hell! What is this? A criminal interrogation?"

The young mistress was cursing again in the next section. Ni Bingyan waited until she heard a door open and close before pulling back her own curtain and moving on.

This time, it was for photos: front, side, back...

’No wonder she was cursing even more furiously.’

For someone with that kind of temperament to make it in the entertainment industry, there was only one explanation: her family was loaded. The boss, giving face to her father, invited her to every good opportunity.

As for whether she could actually land the role on her own merit, that wasn’t something the boss needed to consider.

After all, the company was large and competition was fierce. If such an unhealthy trend took root, the talent would become difficult to manage.

Knowing that for a film of this caliber, the young mistress was just a filler candidate, Ni Bingyan didn’t pay her any mind.