Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Ye Mingzhao was genuinely more interested in the role of the antagonist.

Although Yu Mingze kept saying that the male lead of the drama was modeled after him, Ye Mingzhao knew the truth in his heart. The innocent, kind, and clever male lead that Yu Mingze saw was merely a façade that Ye Mingzhao had carefully maintained. He had been acting for over a decade and felt no need to keep up the act in front of the camera.

In contrast, Ye Mingzhao was more interested in the antagonist, a character who struggled in the slums but was desperate to climb up from the bottom by any means necessary.

The story begins with the male lead returning from a business trip abroad, only to discover that a taxi driver looks exactly like him. To surprise his fiancée, the male lead spontaneously decides to switch clothes with the taxi driver and asks him to impersonate him to meet his fiancée. If the taxi driver can successfully deceive the fiancée, the male lead promises to reward him with 20,000 yuan.

The two quickly switch clothes and roles, and the taxi driver, dressed as the male lead, goes to meet the fiancée. However, he unexpectedly stumbles upon the fiancée cheating with the male lead’s best friend and business partner. In a panic, a fight breaks out, and the taxi driver, playing the role of the male lead, is accidentally pushed to the ground. His head hits the corner of a table, and blood flows everywhere.

Seeing this, the fiancée and her lover decide to kill the taxi driver to cover up their crime. But just in time, the male lead’s parents arrive and discover their son lying on the ground. They rush him to the hospital.

Meanwhile, the male lead, who has swapped identities with the taxi driver, encounters trouble of his own. A group of debt collectors corners him, demanding money. The male lead, of course, wants nothing to do with this mess and tells the collectors that he is not the taxi driver. However, the collectors mistake his denial for an attempt to evade debt and beat him up. A blow to the back of his head leaves the male lead with amnesia.

On the other side, having grown tired of his old life, the taxi driver quietly slips out of his hospital room and, upon returning home, discovers that the male lead has lost his memory. The taxi driver suddenly has a sudden idea: he decides to impersonate the amnesiac male lead and return to his life as a wealthy heir.

This taxi driver was the character Ye Mingzhao wanted to portray.

Yu Mingze looked at Ye Mingzhao, clearly concerned. In his eyes, the antagonist’s personality was completely opposite to Ye Mingzhao’s. Ye Mingzhao was gentle, kind, righteous, insightful, uncompetitive, and always willing to help others, like a shining sun radiating warmth wherever he went.

The antagonist in the drama, on the other hand, was obsessive, dark, greedy, and maniacal, willing to do anything to achieve his goals. The more the story progressed, the more deranged he became.

“Have you not read the later parts of the script? This antagonist becomes really evil later on; you can’t pull it off,” Yu Mingze tried to dissuade him. “In the later stages of the plot, the antagonist goes so far as to hire people to kidnap the male lead’s parents to seize his family fortune. He even hints to the kidnappers to kill them, creating the false impression that the male lead’s parents were murdered by the kidnappers. He also collaborates with the male lead’s fiancée, attempting to kill him to cover his tracks…”

When Yu Mingze wrote this character, it was to contrast the male lead’s noble and innocent nature. He had portrayed the antagonist as vicious and insane, yet gave him a face that was as harmless as the male lead’s.

This highly contrasting and explosive role was intended for an experienced actor with solid acting skills. Ye Mingzhao had never acted before and wasn’t the type to play such a character. How could he possibly pull off the antagonist's twisted nature?

Moreover, even if he did a good job, playing such a role wouldn’t benefit Ye Mingzhao’s image. If mishandled, it might even backfire. Since his friend had already decided to pursue acting, Yu Mingze naturally wanted to help Ye Mingzhao make the best choice for his career.

Yu Mingze tried to convince Ye Mingzhao, but in vain. Ye Mingzhao only smiled gently. “...Just let me try, okay?”

---

*

Fresh off the plane, Yu Mingze and Ye Mingzhao rushed to the *Prince of Beggars* casting call.

The entire corridor was packed with actors coming to audition. Yu Mingze led Ye Mingzhao to the door, where the young assistant, who had been slouching and yawning by the door, hastily straightened up. “Mr. Yu.”

Yu Mingze asked, “Is everyone here?”

The assistant nodded and was about to say something when Yu Mingze pointed to the room and asked, “Has it started?”

The assistant quickly replied, “It just started. They’re auditioning the male lead right now.”

Yu Mingze turned to Ye Mingzhao and whispered, “Wait for me outside for a moment.”

With that, Yu Mingze pushed the door open and entered. A row of people sat in the room—the main creative team of *Prince of Beggars*. An actor was in the middle of auditioning and paused mid-performance, clearly thrown off by Yu Mingze’s arrival.

Yu Mingze glanced at him. “Continue with your performance. Don’t mind me.”

He then walked over to Director Qi and sat down. After patiently waiting for the performance to finish, he leaned toward Director Qi and whispered, “Director Qi, let me introduce someone to you. He’s going to audition for the role of the second male lead.”

As the producer and screenwriter of the drama, Yu Mingze had the authority to bring someone into the cast. Director Qi frowned slightly but couldn’t refuse. “If you recommend him, he must have potential,” he said.

“Not really!” Yu Mingze chuckled and shook his head. “I wanted him to play the male lead, but he insists on playing the second male lead. Later, could you give him a challenging scene to try out?”

Director Qi looked at Yu Mingze in surprise.

The male actor who had just finished his audition also recognized Yu Mingze and spoke excitedly, "Are you Mr. Yu? I’m a huge fan of *Breezy Past* and *Elegy Under the Moon* that you wrote. My biggest wish upon coming to the audition for *Prince of Beggars* was to meet you, Mr. Yu. Can I get your autograph?"

Yu Mingze was completely preoccupied with figuring out how to dissuade Ye Mingzhao from playing the second male lead and hadn’t paid attention to what the auditioning actor said. Without really paying attention, Yu Mingze gave a quick nod and dismissed him with, "Thanks for your support. Next."

The excitement on the actor’s face faltered slightly. Before the assistant standing nearby could shoo him away, the actor spoke again, "My name is Chu Qingyi. I’m a third-year student in the finance department at Xinhai University. I came to audition for the male lead of *Prince of Beggars* because I feel the character is somewhat similar to me..."

Upon hearing that the actor was a student from the finance department at Xinhai University, Yu Mingze instinctively looked up at him. What he saw gave Yu Mingze a slight shock. The young man had a delicate appearance and a pure aura about him, dressed in a white three-piece suit with a black bow tie. There was a slight resemblance to Ye Mingzhao when he spoke—

Of course, the resemblance was only superficial. A closer look revealed that he wasn’t nearly as handsome or confident as Ye Mingzhao. Even his suit seemed to be a cheap imitation, likely costing only a few hundred dollars.

At first glance, he seemed to fit the role, but a closer look revealed otherwise.

Yu Mingze subtly frowned, trying to suppress the feeling of unease, and politely complimented, "It looks like you’ve put some thought into this."

Before Chu Qingyi could respond with a modest smile, Yu Mingze shifted the conversation, "But I’m curious—how did you get your hands on the script?"

Making a TV series isn’t like posting a novel online. During production, until the broadcast, the script’s content is strictly confidential. This is to avoid unnecessary disputes before release that could cause losses to the production team. Therefore, one of the first things crew members do upon accessing the script is sign a non-disclosure agreement. In some cases, even the actors don’t get the full script until their scenes are being shot.

If even the cast has to follow these rules, it’s hard to imagine how a newcomer with no industry experience got access to the script.

So Yu Mingze was genuinely curious—who had leaked the script to Chu Qingyi? And was the intention to promote him as the male lead?

Was someone trying to push a newcomer into the lead role without letting him know?

The moment he said that, Chu Qingyi’s smile froze.