Chapter 273 IF Scenario—What if Zhou Pingchuan were the one who traveled through time (2)
"He doesn't know what's good for him!"
"So what if he's tall and handsome? What's so great about that! When I was getting the most looks award every month, he was still buried in his books at school!"
"If he really can't stand me, he can come and confront me. Why put on this indifferent act, like he's cosplaying a domineering CEO from a novel? What a show-off!"
"Besides, I apologized to him!"
In the dormitory, Xia Mian was like an animal with stereotypical behaviors, pacing back and forth around the table.
Sun Jie cautiously interrupted Xia Mian: "Young Master Xia, how did you apologize?"
"I bought him the latest iPhone, it's much better than his crappy knock-off!"
Sun Jie: "And then?"
Xia Mian: "And then he didn't want it!"
"So after you bought the new phone and gave it to him, you didn't apologize?" Sun Jie deduced.
aestivation:"......"
Seeing the young master's discomfitured expression, Sun Jie knew he had guessed correctly.
He had a bit of a headache, not knowing how to tell Xia Mian that money can't buy everything.
“Young Master Xia,” he pondered for a moment, “when it comes to admitting mistakes, attitude seems more important than compensation. Why don’t you give him a proper apology and give it a try?”
Xia Mian choked up: "...It was wrong of me to rev the engine and scare him, but he didn't hold his phone properly, causing it to fall to the ground, so he's also responsible, right?"
Xia Mian raised her head and snorted coldly: "I'm not saying sorry!"
The entertainment company is full of young men in their teens and twenties, who train all day long in a terribly boring way. So, if there's even the slightest bit of news around them, it will be known to everyone within two hours.
No one knows who leaked the news, but within a single afternoon, the story of Xia Mian going to the vocal music department to find Zhou Pingchuan had become the talk of the town.
The story was not bad, but what was even more infuriating was that after several twists and turns, the plot suddenly became "Xia Mian confessed her love to Zhou Pingchuan with gifts but was rejected".
Xia Mian flew into a rage upon hearing the news.
I'm a man, why would I need to confess my feelings to another man?
Even if he really liked men, he would never date someone like Zhou Pingchuan who was just a show-off!
Whether it was the setback from her apology or the hurtful rumors, Xia Mian and Zhou Pingchuan started to avoid each other. Fortunately, Zhou Pingchuan joined the company later and took basic courses, so he didn't run into Xia Mian, and the two didn't have any conflicts.
A month later, a film crew came to the capital to cast actors, and Xia Mian's agent, Lao Zhao, called him over, saying he would take him to an audition.
Xia Mian skipped and hopped downstairs, only to find out upon getting into the car that there was another person in the back seat besides him.
"...Brother Zhao, what do you mean?" Xia Mian angrily questioned her manager.
"I have a good relationship with the director, so I can bring more people to the audition. I asked Pingchuan to come along, so what's wrong with that?"
"Nothing much. Just drop me off on the side of the road. I'm not trying anymore." Xia Mian rolled her eyes.
Then I heard someone next to me say, "Childish."
"???"
Xia Mian was shocked: "Zhou Pingchuan, who are you calling childish?!"
Zhou Pingchuan turned to the other side and remained silent.
"I'm asking you, who are you calling childish?"
Zhou Pingchuan: "..."
Zhao Wei was driven to the brink of despair by the argument, but luckily, he had brought both of them into the company and knew their personalities well: "Xia, there are many actors from other companies auditioning this time, not just you two. What's the point of arguing with Zhou? Can you drive everyone away from the audition? So, from now on, I don't care how you behave in the company, but once you leave the company, you're all family. You need to support and help each other. Zhou, the same goes for you, understand?"
Zhou Pingchuan hummed in agreement.
Having reached this level, what else can be done? Xia Mian had no choice but to give up, cross her arms over her chest, and close her eyes to pretend to sleep.
Out of sight, out of mind.
This drama is a big production, and the director has a good reputation in the industry. As Lao Zhao said, there was a huge crowd of people auditioning, probably fifty or sixty people.
Auditioning actors need to pass three stages. The first stage is a consideration of height, weight and appearance. The second stage is to test the actors' performance on the spot. The third stage is to test their improvisation skills, which means the director asks the actors to act out what they want to see.
Xia Mian and Zhou Pingchuan passed the first and second rounds smoothly, eliminating 80% of the actors. The third round required a personal interview by the director, who was on his way, so the casting director let the actors rest for a while.
Xia Mian was a little sleepy and decided to go out to buy a cup of coffee. When she returned to the locker room with her coffee, she saw Zhou Pingchuan grabbing the bald man's arm with his left hand and holding his clothes with his right.
Xia Mian looked closely and saw that it was his coat.
Perhaps seeing someone coming, the bald man struggled a few times, but Zhou Pingchuan didn't stop him and let him go.
"Oops, I accidentally saw you and a man arguing in the locker room, sorry about that," Xia Mian said sarcastically after finally catching Zhou Pingchuan red-handed and the bald man had escaped. "But even if you two are flirting, why are you taking my clothes? Are you trying to play some weird game?"
To make the auditions easier, the casting director put number stickers on the actors. Xia Mian felt embarrassed to wear them out, so she took them off in the dressing room before buying coffee.
As he spoke, he took the clothes back from Zhou Pingchuan, and the moment he touched the fabric, he couldn't help but sneeze twice in a row: "Achoo—what's that smell? It's so pungent, achoo—"
Zhou Pingchuan said something completely unrelated: "It should be pepper powder."
But Xia Mian instantly understood that someone had secretly sprinkled pepper on his clothes while he was out.
Even though it's a minor role, being chosen is better than not getting any role at all. Sprinkling pepper isn't a crime; at worst, it'll just cause people to sneeze and underperform, enough to eliminate several competitors.
So Zhou Pingchuan was just... helping him.
Xia Mian felt a mix of emotions.
He hated Zhou Pingchuan so much, yet Zhou Pingchuan was doing everything he could to help him.
Zhou Pingchuan could have turned a blind eye and waited for the other side to eliminate a powerful opponent, which would have been beneficial for him as well.
But now is not the time to talk about these things. Xia Mian picked up her coat and ran to the waiting room, grabbed the bald man from before, and demanded two thousand yuan for cleaning fees.
God knows this dress originally cost 80,000! If he weren't afraid of ruining Old Zhao's reputation, he would have made the other party pay for the entire dress!
Let him do bad things. Bad people deserve to be punished, humph!
The final stage ended in the early hours of the morning.
The casting director told everyone to go back and wait for further notice. Old Zhao glanced at his watch and said, "The dorms are locked by now, right? Xia, why don't you go home and stay the night?"
“Going back at this time will easily wake up my family,” Xia Mian said while yawning. “I’ll go to a hotel.”
"What about Pingchuan?" Old Zhao asked tentatively. "Would he come home with me for the night?"
Zhou Pingchuan's home is in a neighboring prefecture-level city, about an hour away by public transportation. In the middle of the night, there are no more buses or trains to get back.
Zhou Pingchuan frowned, clearly not wanting to go home with Lao Zhao.
While I was hesitating, the person next to me suddenly said, "Come with me. I have a suite in the hotel. You're going to stay here by yourself anyway, so why not come together? There are enough rooms."
Zhou Pingchuan looked down at him for a few seconds, then nodded slightly: "Okay."
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