When will I be the queen

Chapter 457 Competition
Cai Cai's eyes are innocent and bright, while Cao Xin's mother's have a gloomy feel to them. It's normal for people in the entertainment industry to have eyes like Cao Xin's mother's.
Mei Zhang told Cai Cai not to worry about it, as it wasn't important. "Anyway, things have come to an end, so the reasons and causes don't matter anymore."

Cai Cai hummed in agreement, but still said, "If Cao Xin had said that he was calling Si Chen, and that it was Si Chen who said it, probably not so many people online would have said it was fake." Saying it was Cao Xin himself, or saying it was Si Chen, both seem very fake on their own, but adding the element of a phone call makes it seem very real. It also gives Cao Xin the image of a real person in the industry.

Si Chen called her and said that Cao Xin wouldn't reveal his identity. She didn't ask any further questions at the time, so Si Chen didn't continue.

Mei Zhang didn't want Cai Cai to feel indebted to Cao Xin for this matter, saying, "The person who spread the rumors is from his studio. Whoever makes the mess has to clean it up."

"." Your words are so crude.

Mei Zhang continued, "Cao Xin's team is managed by his parents, and he himself is also managed by his parents. This creates a chaotic hierarchical relationship in the workplace, and he cannot control his team well. Only when there is a lack of authority can such a thing, which is almost like betraying the boss, happen. It is certain that this is definitely not the first time something like this has happened in Cao Xin's team. It's just that this time it involves you and the Immortal Lord, and it has blown up and can no longer be hidden."

Rumors had been circulating within the industry for some time that Cao Xin's team was selling information, including Cao Xin's work plans.

This shocked Cai Cai. "This is even more outrageous than having haters in the team! Selling the boss's work plan. If the boss doesn't work, where will the team get their salaries and bonuses?"

"Because Cao Xin's team receives their salaries from Cao Xin's parents." Mei Zhang knew that Cai Cai hadn't grasped the true meaning of what he had just said about being managed by Cao Xin's parents.

"..." Cai Cai really couldn't understand why Cao Xin's parents would do this. "After I learned to read, I managed all my assets myself. Although I didn't manage them much, that's what being a professional means—working for whoever pays you. What Cao Xin's parents want to control is Cao Xin's property, isn't it?"

Mei Zhang didn't want to continue the topic. "Maybe."

The Immortal Lord brought the third round of casting information for the Ninth Princess. These are all candidates who can audition with Cai Cai, and the casting will be finalized after the auditions. After Hua Mei, Cai Cai will join the crew, aiming to film all her scenes in three months, followed by nine months for editing and production. If they work hard to edit while filming, it can air by the end of next year.

Cai Cai didn't expect it to be in such a rush. "Don't you need to advertise it?" It's not that easy to sell it at a high price.

Although the immortal knew that Cai Cai had no concept of her own brand effect, he did not expect her to be so clueless.

"For actors of our caliber, platforms will proactively inquire about our fees as soon as a project is launched. After that, we just need to consider all available platforms and sell to the one offering the best value for money. It's no exaggeration to say that trailers will be produced during production, and platforms will use them for advertising. The show can air the day after production is complete. Only when the show airs will there be greater profits and more money." Time is money, after all.

Cai Cai was surprised because the production teams she had worked with were not high-efficiency projects. "Empire" only aired a dozen or so episodes a year, and "Mist" aired a dozen or so episodes a year. Movies were considered quite efficient, but the filming, production, and broadcasting processes were completely different from those of TV series.

"There are so many exams in China!" The pressure is a bit much.

"There are a lot of people," the Immortal Lord told Cai Cai to look at the information. "First, circle the ones you feel a connection with at first glance. Auditions aren't like acting tests, because some people don't have much acting skill. The focus of auditions is on the chemistry between the two people, so feeling a connection with them is the bottom line." Everything was based on Cai Cai's preferences.

Cai Cai took the tablet. Goodness, there were 136 people in total, including the palace maids, and ten roles. All told, over a hundred wasn't actually that many. Aside from the six girls, the remaining 130 people would have to share nine roles.

But, "only six girls?" Compared to the male candidates, isn't that too few? Just a tiny fraction.

"Six would be good enough." The Immortal Lord was also looking at the tablet in his hand. "Initially, there were only about thirty applicants. Most of them were still students or came from extra roles."

Cai Cai was a little taken aback. "Am I really that annoying?" People are even willing to give up work just to avoid acting with her. It's not this extreme even abroad.

"Foreign actresses and you are not the same race, so the comparison isn't that obvious," the immortal lord reiterated. "It's not that I dislike you. I just don't want to be in the same frame as you. The difference is still quite significant."

That's true. Cai Cai understands, but to put it bluntly, not wanting to be in the same frame as her means disliking her.

"I remember there were many stunning beauties in the last century, but they didn't get the same treatment as me, did they?" There are many photos of them together in movies and TV shows, and there are also many photos of them together in private. They are all in the same frame. There is no situation where they don't see each other.

The Immortal Lord was anxious to show Cai Cai the information, but Cai Cai insisted on nitpicking, "Because you're too young. If you were in your twenties, there would be plenty of people willing to act alongside you. Think about those great beauties who are under twenty, at the peak of their youth and beauty, how many photos of them together?" Even stills of them together are rare. Her extraordinary beauty combined with her undeniable youth is a killer combination. "When you're in your forties or fifties, the number of people wanting to take a photo with you could fill the entire main square of the capital."

"..." Cai Cai clutched her chest, "That hurts! You're so direct."
"This has little to do with personal feelings; to put it bluntly, it's about survival in the workplace. The workplace environment for actresses is inherently more difficult than that for actor actors. To maintain their youthful and beautiful appearance in the eyes of the audience, besides cosmetic surgery, they have to stay away from other forms of youthful beauty. Without comparison, whenever the audience sees them, they will always appear youthful and beautiful. You don't have this kind of anxiety now, partly because you're not aware of it, and partly because you really are youthful and beautiful."

As the old saying goes, no one stays eighteen forever, but there will always be someone who is eighteen. You are eighteen now, but someone else will be eighteen tomorrow. If the audience wants to see eighteen-year-olds, then there will always be a constant stream of unchanging, even eternally eighteen-year-olds in the industry.

“Very few people can dislike a beautiful woman, but when that beautiful woman becomes their source of wealth, then they can only dislike her.” The Immortal Lord understood this mentality very well.

Cai Cai, however, was curious, "Do you sometimes feel anxious because you're getting old?" She's not even thirty yet, but she's already considered old in the industry.

The immortal shook his head. "I'm not afraid of getting old, I'm afraid the audience will get tired of me."

Well, "Several times when I was at offline events, the crowd still rushed towards me, cheered for me, and raised their phones and cameras to me, but I heard people say more than once, 'Why is it him again?'"

How devastating were those words to the Immortal Lord? Upon first hearing them, he couldn't maintain his composure and immediately left the scene. For a month afterward, he couldn't sleep, constantly hearing the words, "Why him again?" It was the biggest nightmare of his life.

"They scream at me, but that doesn't stop them from getting tired of me. The audience's love is always both profound and harsh." Xianjun still feels deeply hurt by this statement. "I feel like I've been keeping a low profile, I've never followed the traffic route, I have so many honors, but I'm still disliked. This is even more realistic than the dislike from my peers." Xianjun looked at Cai Cai, "I've been in this industry, at the top, for too long. My peers feel like I'm blocking their way, that I should fall from grace and everything will flourish. But I really don't want to stay at the top forever, because the audience will keep saying, 'Why is it him again?' I want to be surpassed, replaced, faded into obscurity—these are all futures I've rehearsed repeatedly, but even now, I'm still at the top, and the audience still dislikes me, saying, 'Why is it him again?'"

Although Cai Cai knew that the Immortal Lord was not in Versailles and understood his pain, these words were still very irritating.

"Ultimately, it's because I'm too beautiful, because I've never aged. That's why I can stay at the top and always be disliked by the audience."

There's something even more infuriating.

The Immortal Lord remained calm. "I'm stating the facts." He undergoes comprehensive body measurements every year, especially of his face. His measurements now are less than five different from when he was twenty; his muscle structure hasn't changed at all—truly a gift from God. As for why not eighteen, it's because he completely stopped developing at twenty-one. He didn't lose his last baby tooth until he was twenty-three. Aesthetic judgment can be biased by subjective feelings, but accurate data won't.

That's true, but what you're saying...
Cai Cai didn't want to refute the Immortal Lord, but another fact was that no matter how consistent the data seemed, eighteen and twenty-eight years old were different. Due to hormones, men generally become more robust after twenty-five. After this, a man's best quality—youthfulness—disappears. A woman can try to maintain her youthful appearance until thirty, but a man's youthful appearance is futile no matter how hard he tries. The Immortal Lord's greatest advantage was his divine nature; at eighteen, he was an immortal drinking dew; at twenty-eight, he was an immortal drinking celestial wine.

The immortal lord successfully read his face, but he didn't care, because no matter what, he was beautiful and good-looking.

"So, why is it me again? Because it has to be me again. It can only be me again." Nightmares are nightmares, but they have no effect on the Immortal Lord. "Because I've always been young and beautiful, that's why it's always me." However, being seen in a certain way is a problem that must be solved, even more urgent than solving his aging. That's why, while transforming his image, the Immortal Lord is also looking for new avenues—starting to act with actresses. But before Cai Cai, he hadn't encountered an actress who could benefit him and give him an edge. Therefore, he wants to hold onto Cai Cai tightly.
He felt like he was looking in a mirror when he saw Cai Cai. Putting aside personality, just in terms of appearance, Cai Cai was like a gender-swapped version of him.

Of course, I wouldn't tell Cai Cai this.

"There are quite a few male celebrities who don't want to be in the same frame as me, but male actors are still men after all. Men are born with a kind of confidence because of social consciousness, and there are quite a few very confident actresses, but they can't be in the same frame as you for the sake of their work." Xianjun concluded, "The male celebrities who are in the same frame as me are basically those who don't have much conflict with me, because we are in different fields. The reason you can make friends with Lily and others is also because your work doesn't conflict much, that's how interpersonal relationships are."

Cai Cai was a little overwhelmed by the Immortal Lord's self-praise. Then she realized, when she's praising herself, I wonder if others feel the same way.
However, it cannot be denied that the Immortal Lord's domineering style of "I must stand at the top" still shocked Cai Cai.

Because her idea of ​​acting well means that any role, lead or supporting, big or small, small in scale, as long as it attracts her, she feels she can do it. She doesn't need to be a top-tier actress, doesn't need to monopolize scripts, and doesn't need to be picky about roles. If she finds something interesting, she'll act in it. Becoming famous is good, winning awards is even better. But winning awards and getting good roles aren't necessarily the same thing. So even if you become a top-tier artist, you might not get good roles or win awards. She completely ignores everything outside of acting; she just wants to be an actress.

The Immortal Lord is also a passionate actor, but his dedication to acting means striving to be a top-tier performer. He chooses scripts first, insists on playing absolute leading roles, and demands all the spotlight and attention be on him. The audience must either see him first or be the only one to notice him. Everything revolves around his creative vision and performance; he has complete control. For the sake of acting, he's willing to risk his entire fortune, reputation, and fame, becoming a financial backer, a producer, and managing himself. Even if questioned or coerced, he'll crush the competition with his acting skills, status, and reputation. Even if the audience grows tired of him, he won't back down; he'll continue to stand at the top, playing the best roles, winning the biggest awards, and receiving the loudest applause.

Cai Cai cannot accept her family investing in her, let alone gambling away her family fortune.

Thinking about it this way, Cai Cai felt that she treated acting as a profession, a lifelong profession, and that her profession was only a part of her life, not the whole thing. But Xianjun treated acting as his life; if he acted well, his life would be good.

Ah, what's with the "a little pitiful" thing?
Cai Cai looked at the Immortal Lord with a face full of pity. "Luckily, you have good acting skills and are very talented. You've won quite a few Best Actor awards, otherwise..."
Even if the immortal lord could read faces, he couldn't discern the petty malice hidden behind Cai Cai's pitying facade. But that didn't stop him from glaring at her.
Fortunately, Cai Cai was unaware that the Immortal Lord was seeing her as a mirror image. After all, in the Immortal Lord's heart, Cai Cai was the one who was truly insane. Because his life offered few choices, almost none, while Cai Cai's life offered countless options.
After each of them had their own petty concerns, they started to look at the information seriously.

I want to see six girls, the youngest being twenty-seven and the oldest thirty-six.

Forehead.
Cai Cai really didn't want to be impolite or say anything mean, but at thirty-six, she could be a palace maid's mother, right? If she were to be a palace maid's older sister, even if she looked young, she wouldn't be able to stand up to the camera.

“Unless the palace maid is set to be the maid of the Ninth Princess’s mother, and continues to take care of the Ninth Princess after her mother’s death.” Cai Cai marked this point on the memo.

The Immortal Lord nodded; that was indeed his idea. "The premise is that the Ninth Princess's mother was a time-traveling woman, but she traveled back in time when the Ninth Princess was born, meaning she died. Therefore, the influence the Ninth Princess received from her mother was indirectly conveyed by the palace maids, including things like secret letters. This way, when the palace maids were murdered, the blow to the Ninth Princess would be even greater, further justifying the maids' sacrifice. It's similar to a mother protecting her child—tragic yet easy to empathize with."

Cai Cai noted it down. Yes, that's fine. If we choose older palace actresses, we can set it up that way.

"If we choose a younger one, we can set up the palace maid as being treated like a daughter by the Ninth Princess's mother. In this way, the palace maid would treat the Ninth Princess as a younger sister, the daughter of her benefactor, and also a close relative. This would further justify the palace maid's death." The Immortal Lord was quite cautious in dealing with the role of the palace maid, after all, she was the second most important female character in the entire series, besides the Ninth Princess.

They sent out interview invitations indiscriminately, but all the responses went unanswered. Even after sending invitations to several universities, they received no reply. It wasn't until several people called to say they couldn't answer, not because they didn't want to, but because they simply couldn't, and not because they disliked Cai Cai, but because they genuinely couldn't accept the offers.

Some people in the project felt that this was forcing Cai Cai into a female-female competition, but in fact, this female-female competition had nothing to do with it; it was simply about ensuring her own career prospects.

The Immortal Lord looked at Cai Cai, who was looking down and muttering to herself as she looked at her resume. This was a peerless beauty who had already made her mark on film history. She was not just a wooden block with a beautiful appearance. She was vibrant, innocent, noble, and sincere. Her talent and personality were rare in the world. She was an actress who had never been seen before and would hardly be seen again in the industry. No one could stop her from having a bright future, but she could also unknowingly cut off the future of many people.

"These are all actors in short dramas. Some are from professional backgrounds, and some are from extras. Their acting skills are all fine, and their appearances are all decent. They are more than capable of playing a loyal palace maid, but it won't be too difficult for them either. You need to choose the ones that catch your eye, and then you should be able to choose them by seeing how they look on camera."

After listening, Cai Cai nodded. "No wonder I don't recognize any of them." She hadn't watched the short drama yet.

"Over the years, short dramas have been trying to participate in the selection of mainstream awards. For awards like Star Sail, there is definitely no hope, but for other smaller ones, although they were previously very firm in their rejection, their attitude has become more ambiguous in the last two years. I estimate that the year after next or the year after that, short dramas will be able to enter the selection of mainstream awards."

The immortal looked at Cai Cai, "Do you understand what this means?"

"Are there more people taking away our jobs?" Cai Cai felt that there were simply more and more competitors, and the industry was getting bigger and bigger. Things that weren't considered part of the entertainment industry before were now included. Everyone was a practitioner in the entertainment industry.

The immortal lord was too lazy to take the joke, saying, "It means the audience will be even more severely fragmented."

Cai Cai paused for a moment. Yes, the audience is the key. What are actors most afraid of? Having no audience.