A writer has arrived in the Chinese entertainment industry.

Inside the conference room, Li Fei, Chen Zhixi, and two assistants were busy organizing artist information. Su Liu entered and was surprised to find Xiao Liu there as well. No wonder she wasn't at the company this morning; she'd come here instead.

Seeing Su Liu enter, Xiao Liu grinned slyly, "Teacher Su, you're here."

"Why aren't you at the company? What are you doing here?" Su Liu narrowed her eyes, her expression unfriendly. This girl has been getting more and more outrageous lately; next time, she'll definitely have Sister Wenxiu teach her a lesson.

Xiao Liu quickly took Dilraba's hand, raised her chin, and said confidently, "I came with Dilraba. She's the top female star in our company, she can't be without an assistant, can she?"

"What do you mean, 'number one sister'..." Dilraba blushed and waved her hand awkwardly, "Sister Liu, don't talk nonsense."

"Sister Liu..." Su Liu asked with a strange expression, "What kind of address is that?"

"It's Teacher Su who is it," Xiao Liu puffed out his chest, "I'm clearly several years older than you, but you call me 'Xiao Liu, Xiao Liu' every day, just like President An."

Xiao Liu was born in 90, four years older than Su Liu, but he has a youthful face and is less than 4 meters tall, so he looks like a child.

"Hmm, looks like I need to talk to Sister Wenxiu about how you're not working properly at the company and instead running off to play with Reba."

Xiao Liu immediately shut up and pulled Reba aside to whisper, "Reba, Teacher Su loves to tattle, you have to be careful of him in the future."

While Xiao Liu was frantically defaming his boss, Su Liu had already walked over to Li Fei and Chen Zhixi. Two neat stacks of documents were piled on the table, all from people who had auditioned that day. There were over eighty people in total, men and women.

Looks like I'll have to sit all day again! Su Liu thought to herself, I should have known better than to become a director. Wouldn't it be better to just stay home and make money comfortably?

"Should all of these people be tested?" He sat down between Li Fei and Chen Zhixi.

"Isn't this how public auditions are done?" Chen Zhixi said without looking up, looking at the documents in his hand page by page.

Li Fei sat to the side, legs crossed, eyes glued to his phone screen. "That's not necessary. Some people are obviously not good enough, so we can just filter them out directly and not call them in."

At this moment, a staff member came over and asked, "Mr. Li, may we begin?"

Li Fei looked at Chen Zhixi and asked, "How's it going? Are you ready?"

The latter picked up a stack of documents on the left and waved them around. "Okay, call them in. The first one is... Wu Jiayi."

He was a student from the Shanghai Theatre Academy whose name I'd never heard of.

Su Liu quickly sat up straight. He controlled his upper and lower eyelids to keep his eyes at a moderate size, which would make his gaze appear very unfocused and mysterious.

After the girl came in, she gave a brief self-introduction, and then Li Fei gave her a task, asking her to act out the scene in the script where the female lead witnesses the writer committing suicide and looks terrified.

As a student, her performance was only so-so. I don't know where she got the confidence to audition for the lead role.

Li Fei dismissed her with a simple "Wait for further notice."

Su Liu didn't recognize the others who came in afterward. Their acting was mediocre, and some of them were even stopped by Li Fei before they finished their performances.

Each person's audition time is less than three minutes on average, so it won't take long to audition all eighty people.

"Maschindler".

Su Liu heard a familiar name. Immediately afterwards, two people pushed open the door and walked in. One was a shy and quiet-looking young girl, and the other was now quite famous, named Jiang Wenli.

Seeing this, Li Fei stood up and said with a smile, "Wenli, why didn't you give us a heads-up before you came?"

"It's an audition, so people won't say I got in through connections." Jiang Wenli smiled and walked towards Su Liu, extending her hand. "This must be Director Su, right? He's young, promising, and handsome."

"Not bad, Teacher Jiang is very beautiful too." Su Liu extended his hand to shake hers. He was being polite, but in his heart he was thinking that this man had a knack for doing things. If he had directly used Li Fei's connections to put someone in the way, it might have caused his dissatisfaction. This approach, however, was just right.

After exchanging pleasantries, it was time for Ma Sichun's audition. Aside from the topic of witnessing suicide, Li Fei gave her an extra chance out of consideration for Jiang Wenli.

"Reba," Su Liu gestured, "come and rehearse a scene with her."

The test question was based on the female lead's signature trope: she vomits when she lies. Dilraba, playing a police officer, questioned her, while Ma Sichun had to portray the physiological rejection that occurs after lying.

After the two were ready, Su Liu said, "Let's begin."

Reba pretended to be chatting casually, but suddenly her eyes narrowed. "Mr. Lu's son-in-law, that Mr. Tang, is having an affair, isn't he?"

Ma Sichun's eyes darted away slightly as she hesitated before answering, "Mr. Tang? Cheating?"

"Yes, you just need to answer yes or no."

"no."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ma Sichun's abdomen heaved and he ran to the side, bent over, and dry heaved.

"Okay, let's stop."

As Su Liu's voice faded, Ma Sichun calmed his breathing and walked back.

"What did Teacher Jiang think of her performance?"

"It's alright," Jiang Wenli said modestly, "but I believe Si Chun would perform even better on set."

What she said is true. Ma Sichun's performance is much better than the previous ones. At least it has reached a passing standard, and it can certainly be improved once she gets into character on set.

Seeing Jiang Wenli's hesitant expression, Li Fei quickly interrupted her. "Wenli, you should go back first. I still have a lot of people behind me, so take a look at them first."

"Alright," Jiang Wenli stood up to say goodbye, "I hope Director Su can give Si Chun a chance."

Watching them leave, Su Liu asked Li Fei, who was standing beside him, "Mr. Li, you and Teacher Jiang have a pretty good relationship?"

Judging from their enthusiastic interactions, one might assume they had a close relationship. However, Li Fei surprisingly said, "It's alright. She's participated in projects for the group, and the group was responsible for the promotion and distribution of her directorial debut a couple of years ago."

Su Liu thought to herself, "This is really the entertainment industry. They look like sisters on the surface, but their hearts are full of business dealings."

"Next one."

The meeting room door was pushed open, and the girl Su Liu had met in the corridor earlier walked in.

Seeing Su Liu sitting in the middle, a look of surprise flashed across her eyes, and then she bowed politely.

"Hello teachers, hello director. My name is Mao Xiaotong, I am 26 years old, and I graduated from the Performance Department of the Central Academy of Drama."

"Huh? You acted in 'Empresses in the Palace'?" Chen Zhixi asked.

"Yes, I play the role of Consort Ying in it."

When it came to the audition, Mao Xiaotong, a graduate of the Central Academy of Drama, certainly had a solid foundation in acting, and she portrayed the fear quite well. But Li Fei shook his head.

"It lacks depth," Li Fei commented. "There's only panic and fear, but no sadness."

In the script, the writer is not only the female lead's employer but also her close friend. Therefore, seeing him commit suicide requires more than just shock.

"Mr. Li, I've noticed you're a bit hypocritical," Su Liu teased.

"What about me?"

"Double standards! Ma Sichun was just like her, so why didn't you nitpick then?"

Li Fei chuckled lightly, "Aren't you the same? You don't want to offend anyone, so you let her aunt judge for herself."

After exchanging a few words of laughter, Li Fei nodded to Mao Xiaotong, "Alright, we'll let you know when we have the results."

"Okay, thank you all. Goodbye, teachers." Mao Xiaotong said in a sweet voice as she politely left the stage.

Watching her retreating figure, Su Liu beckoned to Xiao Liu and whispered, "Go ask her if she has a management company. If not, sign her."