Wei Xuan's acting skills have been honed and refined over many years, making them quite mature and sophisticated. Although, like many actors, there are traces of formulaic acting, they are not obvious.
After repeatedly observing and comparing, Shang Yechu believed her acting skills were slightly better than Wei Xuan's. But not by much.
Aim high and you'll get the middle; aim for the middle and you'll get the low. Given the production team's clear bias towards Wei Xuan, Shang Yechu's slightly better acting skills cannot be a decisive advantage.
To defeat Wei Xuan, it's not enough to just have decent acting skills; you need to be far, far better.
Shang Yechu spent a long time looking at Wei Xuan's works in 103's database. She observed, analyzed, and appreciated every smile, gesture, and word of Wei Xuan frame by frame, spending more than ten hours on it.
Emerging from the database of 103, Shang Yechu felt a headache coming on; this was the consequence of overloading her brain with too much information at once.
Shang Yechu lay back on the sofa, closing her eyes to rest while recalling scene after scene of Wei Xuan's past performances. The more she thought about it, the more uncertain she felt.
"Ding-dong—"
The doorbell rang. Before Shang Yechu could open the door, the apartment door was pushed open. Shang Yechu, who had intended to sit up, lay back down.
The visitor was Ji Juntao; she was the only one who had a key to Shang Yechu's house.
Upon entering, Ji Juntao frowned when he saw Shang Yechu still lying sprawled out.
"Why are you still sleeping? Your interview is in a week, how's your preparation going?"
Shang Yechu murmured with her eyes closed, "Do you want to see the results?"
Ji Juntao pushed Shang Yechu's legs aside and sat on the sofa: "What else? Guess what I'm here for today?"
Shang Yechu slowly crawled up and tossed the script to Ji Juntao, saying, "You choose a scene. I'll act it out."
The script was already worn out from being read so many times. Ji Juntao barely believed in Shang Yechu's hard work. He flipped through a few pages and picked a scene: "Episode 9, Scene 4."
The fourth scene of episode nine depicts Li Yiming stealing confidential information from Lu Huaizhang's office.
Ji Juntao is an amateur, but Shang Yechu is not. This kind of plot lacks emotional fluctuations and relies entirely on actions and details. Anyone can act it well, which is why it is the most difficult to act it well.
I don't know if Ji Siren did it on purpose.
Shang Yechu stood up, spun around for a moment to gather her emotions, and then said, "I'll begin."
Shang Yechu jogged to the door, straightened her clothes, and stopped before slowly walking forward. Her posture was upright, her steps even, and her demeanor composed and natural. Although she was in a spacious living room, she exuded the feeling of walking down a corridor.
Shang Yechu took a few steps, then suddenly turned her head slightly and nodded to the side, as if she had run into an acquaintance. Ji Juntao glanced at the script, which indeed stated, "Secretary Shi passed by, and Li made eye contact with him."
Shang Yechu continued walking forward, while glancing out of the corner of her eye at "Secretary Shi" who was passing by her.
Upon reaching Ji Juntao, Shang Yechu stopped, her eyes darting around almost imperceptibly, as if checking for anyone approaching. Once she was sure no one was around, she deftly pushed open the "door" in front of her.
Shang Yechu turned and entered the room, her expression extremely wary, her eyes constantly darting around. She quickly walked up to Ji Juntao, and using the decorative detachable collar around his neck as a drawer, she pulled it open with a "whoosh."
Ji Juntao was pulled so hard that he stumbled and almost fell headfirst into Shang Yechu's stomach.
Shang Yechu pulled out an empty document from Ji Juntao's fake collar and quickly began to browse through it. Throughout the process, Shang Yechu's face remained expressionless, only occasionally glancing sideways warily to see if anyone was approaching.
A dozen seconds later, Shang Yechu finished reading the document, neatly arranged it, and closed the drawer. She then quickly walked to the "door," listened intently for any sounds in the hallway, and only after confirming that no one was around did she slip out.
The entire process took less than three minutes. Shang Yechu's movements were extremely swift, efficient, and skillful, clearly those of a seasoned underground worker.
"How was it?" After the performance, Shang Yechu looked at Ji Juntao with anticipation.
Ji Juntao's lips moved, revealing an expression that was hard to describe.
Shang Yechu's heart skipped a beat: "Where is the mistake?"
“It’s correct everywhere.” Ji Juntao sighed, took out his phone, tapped a few times, and called to Shang Yechu, “Come and see for yourself.”
Shang Yechu leaned closer to look at Ji Juntao's phone, and saw that the screen was playing a spy drama called "Code Name 312" starring Wei Xuan. Coincidentally, Shang Yechu had just watched this show as well.
Ji Juntao zoomed in on the plot, bringing it to a certain point. The scene showed Wei Xuan, who played 312, walking down the corridor.
Shang Yechu raised an eyelid.
In the video, 312 walks along, greeting colleagues, glancing around out of the corner of his eye in front of the office door, then slips into the office to look at documents...
His actions and demeanor were skillful and natural, clearly those of a seasoned veteran agent.
After watching the three-minute clip, Shang Yechu's eyelids twitched as if she had been stung by a poisonous bee.
"Does it look familiar?" Ji Juntao asked.
Shang Ye remained silent.
"Where is the mistake?" Ji Juntao asked.
Shang Yechu: "..."
Ji Juntao turned off his phone, pulled down his detached collar, and said in a calm tone, "From now on, should I call you Wei Chu, Ye Xuan, or just Little Wei Xuan?"
Shang Yechu covered her face with her hands and let out a long groan: "Ah...ah!"
Having watched Wei Xuan's works for so long, and become so engrossed in analyzing and studying them, Shang Yechu's brain memorized those details so thoroughly that, during her performance, she unconsciously began to imitate Wei Xuan!
Ji Juntao clapped his hands emotionlessly: "Let me praise you. You've surpassed your teacher. Wei Xuan won first place in the Wei Xuan impersonation contest because you were on the judging panel."
Enraged, Shang Yechu shoved Ji Juntao, causing him to fall onto the sofa.
Ji Juntao didn't pay any attention. He sat up, straightened his clothes, and said with a worried expression, "Don't tell me that this is the result of your practice."
Shang Yechu covered her eyes, unable to bear looking at Ji Juntao's grief-stricken face any longer. "I really want to tell you no."
Ji Juntao said with a headache, "This won't do—would it be better if it were a different scene?"
"I...don't know either." Shang Yechu's confidence had been shattered, and she herself was unsure of what to do.
Ji Juntao rubbed his neck and said wearily, "The company has recently hired a lot of new people, and I've been so busy that I haven't had time for you. I was originally confident in your acting skills—sigh, if I had known this would happen, I would have handed over those new small fry to the lower levels."
Shang Yechu was also extremely anxious: "The interview is in a week, what should we do?"
Ji Juntao offered a completely uninformed suggestion: "Shall I hire an acting coach for you to give you some intensive training?"
"No, no, no!" Shang Yechu hurriedly waved her hands, "Don't shoot me to death."
Different actors have different acting styles, requiring a long period of transition and adjustment. Forcing compatibility will only create more problems. Many actors hire acting coaches for special guidance in order to perform in a particularly important role, but the end result is that their performance is not as good as their previous work.
Ji Juntao, unwilling to give up, asked, "What are the chances that you can break through your limitations and transform yourself within a week?"
Shang Yechu remained silent.
Ji Juntao understood immediately, his disappointment almost overflowing on his face: "Your acting style right now is just a Pro version of Wei Xuan. Unless you agree to act for free... that's hopeless. Wei Xuan could do that too. 'The Mute Woman' made a lot of money. How about I try to bribe some people?"
"Forget it. Who can outspend Guanjun Century?" Shang Yechu immediately stopped Ji Juntao. "Besides, who would dare to make money off this kind of subject matter? They'd be asking for trouble."
“For such a large project, operation is the most important thing. It can’t be a flawless egg.” Ji Juntao was still unwilling to give up. “Forget it, don’t worry about these things. No one knows the outcome until the very last moment. Don’t relax yet, I’ll think of another way.”
Shang Yechu glanced at Ji Juntao.
Ji Juntao raised his hands in surrender and said, "I'll report to you what I'm going to do, okay?"
Shang Yechu then withdrew her gaze.
The matter was ultimately not resolved.
Shang Yechu's apartment has two bedrooms and one living room. Ji Juntao had been staying up all night for several days, so Shang Yechu sent her to sleep in the guest room.
Shang Yechu was left alone in the large living room. She fiddled with the mountain of documents piled up on her desk. After a long while, she finally made up her mind to consult with a few teachers.
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