Chapter One: Unfulfilled Ambition

  Before Lin Xiao could respond, his expression immediately turned serious, but overall, it was a kind of solemnity that made people feel like they didn't dare to speak much.

  Lin Xiao's eyes lit up, and Wei Dongting was someone by the emperor's side, naturally carrying a sense of dignity like Kangxi. The other person's demeanor was just right. Even Chen Jialin nodded slightly.

  However, that's not enough. At the first meeting, he had already "investigated" his opponent and his acting skills just passed 200 marks, absolutely surpassing Lin Xiao in terms of acting skills alone.

  He quietly watched his opponent play.

  "The Emperor has a decree for you." Li Rui said in a deep voice.

  "Mr. Wei, please speak." Lin Xiao drank tea, this scene was Wei Dongting's secret meeting with Yin Cuo, ordering him to return to Beijing quickly, and before that, Yin Cuo had already received a secret report that the Emperor wanted to abolish the Crown Prince.

  At this moment, his mood is excited and enthusiastic. As for Wei Dongting, he, as a noble prince, looked down on him with disdain.

  When he said this, he pretended to unintentionally slightly twitched the corner of his mouth, a fleeting moment, and those who didn't know thought it was because the tea was too hot.

  Actors, for acting is like ordinary people eating. When a sound of "A" rises, the surrounding people all gathered around.

  "Not bad." Chen Jialin saw Lin Xiao's facial expression through the lens and couldn't help but admire it, feeling a little sore. A dull picture, because of a small action, became much more colorful, unfortunately, such a talent could not be used by him.

  Gao Lan Chun, Xue Zhong Rui and Yao Chang An didn't say a word, they watched with great interest.

  Xu Ziyao, who was sitting in the corner, also blinked her eyes.

  "There's some skill involved."

  Li Rui was taken aback for a moment, and he stood opposite Lin Xiao. The expression on the other person's face was clear to him. He deeply understood that the slight curl of the corner of his mouth earlier was enough to reveal his true feelings.

  Moreover, he felt that Lin Xiao was very natural, as if the one in front of him was a real brother. Of course, he didn't know this was the effect of "Yuan Rong".

  100 points for acting, intuitively, Li Rui began to pay attention to Lin Xiao's movements.

  "Not good." He was shocked in his heart "Was my momentum driven by him? Like this from the start? How can it be endured afterwards?!"

  He hastily rallied his spirits and solemnly said "The Emperor orders you to return to the capital immediately, without bringing any attendants."

  "I obey your order." Lin Xiao stood up and said, with only respect on his face.

  "Your Highness, since the imperial edict has been passed down, I bid you farewell." Li Rui advanced and made a bow with his sleeve, preparing to withdraw.

  The camera suddenly turned to Lin Xiao's face, and the fill light followed. This shot, although Li Ruijin was speaking, was a close-up of Lin Xiao.

  Chen Jialin stared intently at the camera lens, he shot this scene to express the subtle facial expressions of this silent war. Now it seems that Lin Xiao is more outstanding, while Li Ruijin is a bit disappointing, failing to convey the best feeling in the limited shots.

  "Mr. Wei, please wait a moment." The camera froze on Lin Xiao's face for a moment, his eyes flickered slightly, and then he leisurely tapped the table with his index finger, smiling and saying "Is Emperor Ama's body well?"

  "Not bad." Several old actors whispered in unison, even Manager Qian next to Chen Jialin was stunned, "Among the younger generation, he's one of the best."

  "Acting is not life, so there must be some exaggeration. If it were real, the smile would definitely be more subtle, but if we acted that way, it wouldn't be interesting. This expression is very good." Chen Jialin also praised.

  "Uh, okay. The script only has dialogue, so all the actions that should be there need to be filled in by ourselves, especially for this kind of subtle acting that reflects inner thoughts and feelings. It requires a lot of experience from the actors." Gaolan Chun spoke up for the first time "But isn't this kid just a newcomer?! Where did he get all these experiences from? Was he born to act?"

  "Haha, Old Gao, don't be jealous. With the new generation having someone like this, isn't it just right that we can take a rest?"

  Xu Ziyao didn't speak, his face was a bit gloomy, and he drank mineral water mouthful by mouthful. The whirring fan behind him couldn't relieve the heat in his mind.

  He knew that among the newcomers in this crew, Li Ruijin's only competitor was Lin Xiao. Unexpectedly, when it came to acting, the gap between them was obvious! The difference can be seen every minute!

  "Not good." His eyebrows furrowed together, this situation made Li Ruijin lose face, and it wouldn't be easy to get it back.

  There were few newcomers in the audience, but many more discerning old actors were there. What he could see, others could also see.

  Li Rui became slightly flustered.

  The sound of Lin Xiao knocking on the table seemed to knock into his heart, making him feel extremely annoyed. When his eyes met Lin Xiao's calm gaze, he felt like he couldn't look directly at him and could only shift his attention to his fingers, which made him increasingly irritated.

  "The emperor's body is strong." He said with a suppressed tone, fortunately he didn't say much here, he already had a feeling that if this continued, he would be completely led astray.

  "How dare you suppress my play!" He was furious in his heart and had to break free from this!

  He gritted his teeth and suddenly said, "The Emperor misses several of his brothers, so he has summoned them to return for a visit."

  They were stunned. This time, it was not Lin Xiao who was stunned, but Chen Jialin and the others. Xu Ziyao's hand holding the script also tightened.

  "Has something gone wrong?" Yao Chang'an asked hesitantly, looking at Chen Jialin's face.

  Xue Zhongrui smiled and said, "Old Yao, don't say you didn't notice, this is a deliberate attempt to suppress the play. The two sides are not evenly matched, one side doesn't want to be led by momentum, and they're getting a bit anxious."

  "It's interesting." Yao Chang'an smiled as he watched the scene "Looks like these two have some history with each other."

  "Both of them are just trying to get ahead, Lin Xiao came here just to celebrate the holiday." Chen Jialin made a concluding remark, frowning and saying "But didn't you say so earlier? Not mentioning it before, not discussing it, changing at the last minute? Don't you take me seriously?"

  "It's a pity that one side is holding the Golden Hoop Rod and the other side is holding the Nine-Toothed Rake. No matter how hard they swing, they can't reach the Heavenly Palace." Xue Zhongrui said discontentedly, "If you're going to act, then act properly. If not, then learn more. On set, it's all about seeing the real thing, what's the point of making small moves?"

  "Are you talking about Lin Xiao?" Seeing the situation getting more and more out of hand, several old-timers spoke up, and Manager Qian hastily changed the subject.

  Xue Zhongrui gave him a glance and said calmly, "You know who I'm talking about. We may be old, but our eyes are still clear."

  Lin Xiao was stunned for less than half a second and immediately guessed what the other person was thinking. In terms of experience, Li Ruijin was far inferior to him.

  The other party also gritted their teeth and said that he had never thought that the gap between him and Lin Xiao was so big, and he didn't even last a few minutes in the play. He was completely led by the other party. He wanted to jump out of this feeling.

  He just hopes that by saying this sentence, the other party can end this play smoothly.

  But he was completely disappointed.

  "Heh heh." Lin Xiao suddenly laughed and walked closer to Li Ruijin.

  Li Ruijin's legs trembled slightly, his mind was confused, he took the lead himself, how would the other party respond? How could they be so confident?

  Lin Xiao walked up to him, with a smile on his face, looking at Li Rui's slightly stiff expression, and said word by word, "Are you missing us? Or is it the matter of Yun Yu that's troubling Your Majesty?"

  This sentence was like a spell, leaving Li Rui at a loss for words, but his intuition told him he had to respond!

  In less than two seconds, fine sweat had already appeared on his forehead.

  "CUT!" Just then, Chen Jialin suddenly shouted "stop", her face darkening as she said "Who told you to add lines arbitrarily?! Just follow the script! This isn't some emotional rollercoaster of a play! I thought we could get it done in one take, but you're doing this again?! Are you short on screen time or something?! Do you want to stand out or something?! Then just focus on acting properly!"

  "Ah!" Chen Jialin's words, Li Ruijin didn't hear in his ears, he lightly let out a breath, a feeling of surviving a disaster spread through his heart. Just now, he really felt a sense of oppression.

  He is not a newcomer and already knows this is the gap in acting skills.

  "Thanks for the big bus." Lin Xiao smiled at him and turned around to walk to the table.

  Li Ruijin didn't say a word, staring fixedly at the other person's back. His eyes were even reddening. With so many people being suppressed under their eyelids, his face had already lost enough.

  "Take a break." Chen Jialin said thoughtfully, turning to ask Gao Lanchun who was drinking tea and listening to the radio beside him, "What do you think?"

  "Not a good match." Gaolan Chun rubbed his chin, somewhat hesitant. "Obviously, the acting skills are uneven. One side completely overshadows the other, and Wei Dongting's character becomes a mere extra, just wanting to finish this act quickly. But with a hint of arrogance, he spoke more words than necessary."

  Xue Zhongrui also agreed, "This scene, to be harmonious, let Yin Zhen... what's his name? That actor, relax a bit with the acting skills, otherwise, someone by the emperor's side being covered up and being overly obedient, it's not quite right."

  He glanced at Chen Jialin and said, "Also, this actor Wei Dongting is from the production side, right? Letting him be overshadowed like this, it's not good for the crew either. That person over there has been looking unhappy since earlier."

  Following Xue Zhongrui's line of sight, Chen Jialin took a glance at Xu Ziyao, whose face was as calm as water, repeatedly playing with the mineral water bottle, which had been pinched into several dents.

  He sighed and beckoned Lin Xiao over with his hand, "Lin Xiao, come here."

  Lin Xiao nodded and walked up to the director's chair. Chen Jialin thought for a moment before speaking, "What did you think of the performance just now?"

  "It's okay." He replied, actually, he had just performed with all his might, and even wanted to call up the props in the system to completely crush Li Ruijin, unfortunately, at the critical moment, the director shouted "cut".

  Lin Xiao, film and television is not a one-man show. Chen Jialin said solemnly, "This approach of yours is called suppressing the play, putting great pressure on your opponent. Some unethical actors who want to sabotage someone with inferior acting skills will do this, often turning a scene that was originally brilliant into a mediocre one. This is not what any director wants to see."

  "Alright, Director Chen, I understand. I was just getting into character earlier." Lin Xiao nodded, he just wanted to teach Li Rui a lesson and also knew that the other had connections, didn't want to make things difficult for the crew.

  After this play, they didn't have much intersection, killing each other's pride, one revenge for another, it was time to stop.