Chapter 358: 358 puzzled black person?

The other party glanced at Xiao Yue and replied, “Wait here for a while.”

The staff member went to the audition room, and after a minute, she came out with the documents and said to Xiao Yue, “Director Xu is not in a good mood, so keep it short.”

Xiao Yue nodded, then took the demure little artist with him and pushed open the door into the audition room.

At this time, several judges were sitting in front of the stage, all showing signs of impatience. Director Xu was even more unhappy with his arms crossed, looking at Xiao Yue and asking, “Do you know why I let you in? I just want to hear an explanation from you. I am definitely not going to cast An Lan, but I want to know the reason she hasn’t shown up until now!”

“Director Xu, please don’t be angry. It’s An Lan’s loss; she was really stuck in traffic, not intentionally failing to come,” Xiao Yue said. “I hope you can be magnanimous and not take offense at a clueless girl.”

“Stuck in traffic? Which part of Yancheng is jammed at this time? If you’re making up an excuse, at least make it a plausible one. Who do you take me for, a fool?” Director Xu seemed to have his ire fueled by Xiao Yue’s evasions.

“Director Xu… Actually, An Lan had another audition, which is why she was delayed. Could I trouble you to wait a few more minutes? Just a few minutes?”

Upon hearing Xiao Yue’s words, Director Xu skyrocketed from his seat, seething with rage, “This is preposterous! I sincerely invited her to audition for the second female lead, and she stood me up for another production? I’ll tell you this: I would cast a dog or cat before I cast her again. Furthermore, she can forget about getting any lead roles in historical dramas–absolutely not possible!”

“Director Xu…”

“Get out, I want you out!”

At this moment, the quiet girl who had been following behind Xiao Yue suddenly put down the script in her hand and said to the director, “Director Xu, I have read the script and studied the role. Could you give me a chance to try?”

Director Xu had not paid attention to the girl’s presence until now. When he heard her voice, he miraculously calmed down.

Director Xu looked the girl up and down, finding her quite simple, especially when contrasted with the ‘sly An Lan,’ she seemed particularly valuable. So, he said, “Since you’re here, go ahead and give it a try.”

Xiao Yue completed this series of setups and then walked out of the audition room.

He didn’t know whether the girl could succeed in her audition, but he felt the girl’s terrifying potential.

When she was silent, she gave off a very serene feeling, like an invisible person. However, once given a chance, she could rise to the occasion with overwhelming force.

Xiao Yue remembered that she seemed to be named Wen.

He checked the time, three in the afternoon.

He didn’t know whether An Lan had returned, but regardless, it was all too late.

Ten minutes later, the girl came out of the audition room and said to Xiao Yue, “They told me to go home and wait for a phone call.”

Immediately after, Director Xu came out from the audition room and said to the staff, “Get a few media outlets over here. I’ve been a director for so long and have never encountered such an arrogant artist. I need to have a good talk with the media.”

Xiao Yue knew who Director Xu was talking about…

All this had been arranged by Yan Ziqing, hoping An Lan wouldn’t be… too startled when she got off the plane.

…

Soon, word spread within the circle. Director Xu ranted on his social media that the artist An Lan was arrogant and completely unprofessional and that even if there were no female artists left in the entertainment industry, he would never invite An Lan to participate in any of his works.

Subsequently, quite a few in the industry learned about An Lan standing Director Xu up.

At this time, with the intentional concealment by a superstar, except for the “Senior Traveler” program team, probably no one knew that Shi Lan had not returned to the country yet.

After seeing the news, Tang Ze, director of “Smoke Beauty,” privately contacted Director Xu and said, “An Lan has been in my production for over three months, always punctual, never leaving early, with an extremely professional attitude and remarkable acting skills. How could something like this happen?”

Upon reading the message from his friend, Director Xu replied, “Nowadays, some artists let fame go to their heads, which isn’t uncommon, is it? Hmph, she had all of us judges waiting for her an entire afternoon–what kind of behavior is that?”

“No, no, Director Xu, there might be some misunderstanding here.”

Director Xu was somewhat stubborn and didn’t want to listen to persuasion at that moment, so he said, “I don’t care about any misunderstanding, what I saw is what I saw!”

Director Tang was frustrated, knowing this person was quick-tempered, so he didn’t say anything more.

He just felt it was a pity that An Lan’s acting skills, not valued by the film company, were truly being wasted.

…

When Shi Lan and Yan Shixiu got off the plane, it was already night in Yancheng. The planned marriage registration had to be postponed due to the civil affairs office closing for the day.

Finally back in familiar territory, Shi Lan finally took off her trench coat.

Yan Shixiu took the trench coat from her hands and carried it in the crook of his arm, then put his arm around Shi Lan’s shoulders, leading her to the stretched limousine arranged by Xun Yinghua.

At that moment, Shi Lan finally turned on her phone and saw several messages from Tang Ze and Xiao Yue.

After hearing about the incident with Director Xu, Tang Ze was mainly inquiring. He was so busy with Peak Entertainment’s affairs that he could hardly breathe, but he still couldn’t help worrying about Shi Lan.

As for Xiao Yue, the amount of information was just too much.

Shi Lan didn’t respond to Tang Ze but replied to Xiao Yue first. She called him directly and, once Xiao Yue answered, she asked, “Is it a good time?”

“I’m off work, nothing’s inconvenient. Have you just arrived?” Xiao Yue asked.

“What else?” Shi Lan countered, “If you’re going to do it, why even tell me?”

“If it wasn’t me doing it, someone else would.” Xiao Yue said, “Rather than that, isn’t it better for me to take control of the situation, who could understand it better than me?”

“Who else has Yan Ziqing pushed out as a new star?”

“I’ll send you the information.”

After a brief conversation, Shi Lan hung up the phone.

Basically, Yan Shixiu also knew about Yan Ziqing’s misdeeds.

Seeing Yan Shixiu frown, Shi Lan said, “It’s a minor issue, not worth getting angry over.”

“You handle it first, I’ll provide the supporting evidence,” Yan Shixiu suggested.

After all, many people knew he was acquainted with An Lan and that they had a ‘colliding’ relationship. Taking An Lan back to Yancheng as part of a business trip, nobody should say anything, right?

“Yan Shixiu, those who want to scheme against me haven’t been born yet,” Shi Lan said and then took out her phone to log into her account.

@An Lan: “Just got back from Moscow, confused black guy emoji?”

Yan Ziqing and Han Hao knew she would resist and had naturally prepared their statement, claiming that the company had already communicated that An Lan should return to Yancheng immediately after the shooting to not miss the audition, but she disregarded the company’s arrangement and didn’t take Director Li seriously.

At that point, some netizens who had heard the gossip started to comment.

@Sakura-: “An Lan couldn’t possibly make it in time, right?”

@www: “Don’t understand what happened? Can someone explain?”

@Afraid of Jiang Yuyan: “Today, a certain director implied in his circle of friends that An Lan lacked professional ethics for missing his audition. An Lan just posted on Weibo to respond to this, she’s just come back from Moscow and is also puzzled.”