HuaYu: Starting with Photography to Navigate the Entertainment Industry

Qin Feifei's face darkened after hearing that Su Wan had received an audition notice.

When Xu Lang asked her that question, she didn't answer. She just rolled her eyes at him and walked straight into the airport.

Judging from his expression, Xu Lang knew the answer without even asking:

No notification received!

"Is it that sensitive?"

Xu Lang shook his head and smiled, then followed.

Xu Lang could understand Qin Feifei's feeling. It was like taking an exam and finding that people who were not as good as him had passed while he had not.

This feeling is indeed quite torturous.

Especially for veteran actresses like Qin Feifei, who have been "resting" for ten years and are eager to make a comeback, the more they want to prove themselves, the more anxious they become.

When they arrived at the waiting area, Qin Feifei didn't say a word. She stood alone by the wall, holding her phone and glancing at it every now and then, as if afraid of missing something.

Xu Lang understood her mindset, so he simply stayed far away. Otherwise, he might say something wrong and get himself into trouble, which would be a terrible mistake.

Once on the plane, as takeoff approached, the flight attendants had already told us several times to turn off our cell phones.

But Qin Feifei held her phone tightly in both hands and refused to turn it off.

Seeing this, Xu Lang reached out and grasped Qin Feifei's hand.

Qin Feifei's hands felt cold and damp to the touch, clearly caused by tension and anxiety.

Xu Lang squeezed her hand tightly, took the phone from her hand, and turned it off.

Then he took a small box out of his bag and handed it to Qin Feifei.

"Don't think about it anymore, just get some sleep. Maybe the moment you turn on your phone after you get off the plane, you'll receive an audition notification."

Qin Feifei didn't respond to that, but instead accepted the box Xu Lang handed her.

"What is this?"

"An eye mask, one that blocks out the light, will make sleeping more comfortable."

Hearing him say that, Qin Feifei's previously gloomy face softened a bit.

"I didn't expect you to be so thoughtful."

Qin Feifei opened the small box, took out the eye mask, and was about to put it on, but the next moment, her face, which had just calmed down a little, immediately darkened again, and she even blushed a little.

"Bang!"

Qin Feifei threw the eye mask and box to Xu Lang, muttering under her breath:

"Xu Lang, are you out of your mind?!"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Xu Lang held the blindfold and looked at Qin Feifei with a very aggrieved expression.

"Other people's light-blocking eye masks are made of silk or cotton, but look at yours, it's black leather with leopard print and a clasp at the back...you..."

Qin Feifei became increasingly angry as she spoke, and eventually couldn't continue, so she directly grabbed Xu Lang and pinched him.

Xu Lang held Qin Feifei's hand, saying as he spoke.

"What's wrong with this? It's much nicer than those cotton fabrics, and it cost me 198 yuan."

Qin Feifei was even angrier, and said in an annoyed tone,

"Are you here to sleep or to watch?!"

"We can do both without any problems!"

As he spoke, Xu Lang held up the blindfold to Qin Feifei's eyes, clicking his tongue in admiration.

"You'll definitely look good in it, come and try it on."

Qin Feifei glanced around and saw that people were staring at them. She was so embarrassed that she almost jumped off the plane.

"You...you get out of the way."

"There aren't any seats on either side."

Qin Feifei was truly exasperated by Xu Lang, and rolled her eyes in exasperation.

However, Xu Lang's antics dispelled her previous tension and anxiety.

The two bickered and teased each other the whole way, either physically fighting or arguing.

The two-hour flight from Beijing to Changsha wasn't boring at all.

4:30 PM.

The plane landed at Changsha Huanghua International Airport.

Upon exiting the plane, almost all passengers had their mobile phones on.

Xu Lang was no exception; as soon as he turned on his phone and connected to the internet, four or five messages popped up.

My ex-girlfriend sent me a picture of herself making the famous peace sign, with the background being Changsha Railway Station.

"Xu Lang, I've arrived in Changsha."

"Chen Tao has come to pick me up."

Xu Lang was too lazy to reply and simply moved on to the next message.

It was sent by Wang Zhe. It was also a photo. The background of the photo was a huge bronze statue, surrounded by a bustling crowd, like a group photo.

Along with this photo came a sentence:

"Brother Lang, guess where I am?"

Upon seeing this photo, Xu Lang was immediately struck by a thought: Isn't this the bronze statue of Huang Xing?

He quickly edited the message and replied:

"You fucking came to Changsha?"

Soon, Wang Zhe sent back a message.

"Shouldn't you have said 'going to Changsha'? Why did you say 'coming to Changsha' instead?"

Holy crap, this kid spent a month at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, and his brain circuits have definitely changed. Shouldn't his focus be on the word "Changsha"?

Xu Lang turned around, took a picture of the background of Huanghua International Airport, sent it to Wang Zhe, and wrote:

"That's because I'm in Changsha right now, haha!"

Changsha, here I come!

Xu Lang stood at the airport entrance, about to open his arms and shout, when he saw Qin Feifei beside him grabbing him with a look of astonishment.

"Xu Lang, look! What's this?"

"what?"

Qin Feifei's voice carried a mix of panic and... surprise.

Seeing Qin Feifei looking at her phone, Xu Lang's heart skipped a beat, and he thought to himself:

"Could it be that I was right?"

Before he could even lean in, Qin Feifei held her phone up to him, excitedly talking as she spoke.

"Sure enough, there were two missed calls along the way, probably because the calls didn't go through. He also sent a text message. Take a look."

Xu Lang looked at the text message, which read:

"Hello Ms. Qin, I am Gu Changwei, the director of the film crew of 'Peacock'. I am calling to invite you to audition for the role of Gao Weihong, the female lead in the film. Please call back after you see this."

While Xu Lang was watching, Qin Feifei kept shaking Xu Lang's arm, excitedly saying...

"Xu Lang, did you see that? It's the female lead, and in a movie!"

Xu Lang, however, was somewhat shocked.

"Peacock? Gu Changwei?"

Xu Lang was familiar with both names, especially Gu Changwei, a representative figure of the fifth generation of Chinese directors, whose wife is Jiang Wenli.

I know Gu Changwei because he also studied photography and is considered a colleague of Xu Lang.

However, he later worked with Zhang Yimou and directed classic films such as "Red Sorghum" and "Farewell My Concubine".

Later, he became a director himself, and "Peacock" was his first film.

The film "Peacock" is an art film, which Xu Lang has also seen. The female lead is Zhang Jingchu. This film was also nominated for the Berlin Film Festival, so it can be considered an award-winning film from abroad.

The usually calm Qin Feifei was now like a little girl, so excited she didn't know what to do.

"Xu Lang, what should I do now?"

Xu Lang remembered that there was a rumor that a thousand people auditioned for Gu Changwei's film "Peacock".

"Sister Fei, calm down. It's just an audition. Don't get excited. Take a deep breath."

After ten years, Qin Feifei finally received an audition notice again. How could she not be excited?

Following Xu Lang's rhythm, Qin Feifei took a few deep breaths, and her emotions calmed down somewhat.

I picked up my phone, my hand still trembling slightly, and dialed the number back. The call was answered quickly.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Hello, Director Gu, right? This is Qin Feifei. I was on the plane and missed your call."

"Oh, Qin Feifei."

Gu Changwei thought for a moment, then said:

"I saw your photo in the Beijing Film Academy photography competition. I think your temperament is somewhat similar to the female lead in my movie. If you are interested, you can come and audition to see how it goes."

"Okay, I'm very interested."

Xu Lang, who was standing to the side, listened to Qin Feifei on the phone, but his mind was on Zhang Jing's situation.

"If I remember correctly, this Zhang Jing is known as the 'director harvester.' No matter which director she works with, she can always have a scandal with him, such as Gu Changwei, Wang Quan'an, Zhang Jiarui, Lu Chuan, and Feng Xiaogang."

As a result, he was blacklisted by the wives of directors, including Xu Fan, Jiang Wenli, and Qin Lan.

Is this the director's problem or the actors' problem?