Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Although Yu Mingze, the creator himself, spoke ill of the antagonist in *Prince of Beggars* in front of Ye Mingzhao, in reality, this villainous character, who was beautiful, strong, yet tragic, and had significant room for character development, was still highly sought after.

Ye Mingzhao waited in the corridor for over two hours before being called into the audition room.

As soon as he entered, Yu Mingze, who was sitting in the interviewer's seat, winked at Ye Mingzhao: "Begin."

He signaled the assistant director to hand Ye Mingzhao the scene he would be auditioning for: "You have five minutes to prepare. I'll be acting opposite you myself!"

Having already thoroughly read the entire script on the plane, Ye Mingzhao took the two A4 pages handed to him by the assistant director, reviewed them carefully, and nodded at the row of interviewers: "I'm ready."

The scene Ye Mingzhao was auditioning for was the most intense scene before the final episode—the crucial moment where the antagonist, Fu Shen, having killed the protagonist's parents and silenced his accomplice and her lover, finally succeeded in usurping the identity of the protagonist, Gu Mingchao. However, at the critical moment of inheriting the Gu family's assets, the protagonist, along with the main cast and the police, stormed into the press conference for the appointment ceremony of the Chairman of the Gu Group.

In front of the media, the major shareholders, and the board members of the Gu Group, the protagonist not only exposed Fu Shen's true identity but also revealed the crimes he had committed.

With irrefutable evidence, Fu Shen was set to face at least twenty years of life imprisonment, or even the more severe death penalty. Just as his dream life was about to become a reality, he fell from heaven to hell. Even his own blood relatives stood against him to aid the protagonist. Fu Shen couldn't understand why even his family wouldn't help him, and instead, helped the protagonist to hold him back.

He had worked so hard to rise above others, only to be stripped back to nothing just before success. Alone and abandoned by all, Fu Shen was utterly desperate, and in front of everyone, he tore off his mask and revealed his selfish true self. In a fit of madness, he raged against the injustice of fate, tried to justify his crimes, and broke down in tears when the cold handcuffs were placed on his wrists, filled with regret and remorse, before being dragged away like a pile of mud.

It must be said, Yu Mingze had gone to great lengths to discourage Ye Mingzhao from wanting to play this villain.

Such a high-intensity scene would be a challenging and demanding performance even for a seasoned veteran actor. Yet, Yu Mingze had a complete novice, with no experience, audition for such an important scene with no preparation. The intention to make things difficult was palpable.

The other interviewers felt sympathy for Ye Mingzhao and, of course, held no hope for his performance. After all, they already knew that Ye Mingzhao was a complete novice with no acting experience. In most cases, someone facing the camera for the first time might not even be able to maintain a normal expression, let alone act with complete abandon.

"Begin," the director said, scratching his eyebrow and flipping through Ye Mingzhao's resume with little interest, not intending to pay serious attention to what was likely to be an eye-watering performance.

To everyone's surprise, the moment the director lowered his head, a low, soothing, and even magnificent voice caught his ear.

"What have I done wrong?" The gentle and calm voice brushed over everyone's ears like a snake slithering through grass, sending chills down their spines.

The interviewers looked up in surprise to see the once handsome and charming man still maintaining an innocent and radiant smile on his face, but his eyes were deep, black, like an unfathomable icy pond, with a fleeting glimmer of light.

How should one describe the smile on his face? Perfect in its arc, flawless, yet it made one's heart race. It was like a doll from a horror nursery rhyme—the more innocent it appeared, the more terrifying it became, and the sweeter it was, the more it sent shivers down one's spine.

"I should have killed you without hesitation," Ye Mingzhao walked forward, step by step, approaching the row of interviewers. His black pearl-like eyes stared directly into Yu Mingzhao's eyes, the reflection of the light giving his gaze an inorganic coldness.

Ye Mingzhao's upper body leaned forward slowly, his voice soft like a lover's whisper, yet venomous like a snake's hiss: "I should have killed you, tied your body to a stone, and thrown it into the open sea, so you wouldn't have had the chance to ruin my plans."

Yu Mingze's eyes met Ye Mingzhao's, and his mind went blank.

He had said that the protagonist of this drama was based on Ye Mingzhao and firmly believed that Ye Mingzhao couldn't play the cunning, sinister, and ruthless antagonist, not because he doubted Ye Mingzhao's acting skills, but because in his perception, Ye Mingzhao had always been elegant, gentle, smart, humble, kind, sincere, humorous, cunning, innocent, and very understanding.

The two had known each other for eighteen years, and in Yu Mingze's heart, Ye Mingzhao's personality was pure white. The environment he lived in was so privileged, and the people he interacted with were so cultured, like a flower always grown in a greenhouse. How could he possibly understand that there were people like Fu Shen in the world—those who were sinister, cunning, greedy, ruthless, and always wanted to steal others' lives to create their own wealth and happiness?

No, to be more precise, Yu Mingze wasn't worried about Ye Mingzhao's ability to understand. After all, Ye Mingzhao was a graduate of the finance department at Xinhai University, a genius who had graduated at the age of 20. How could his reading comprehension be an issue? It's just that the industry wasn't short of trained actors who could talk fluently about analyzing characters and write character biographies and script analyses, but when it came to actual performance, they acted like a mess.

Even for Yu Mingze himself, although he was prolific in scriptwriting, in real life, his understanding of the character "Fu Shen" was also limited to the surface of the paper. His situation was the same as Ye Mingzhao's—both had lived in such privileged and wealthy environments that they couldn't understand why someone would want to hurt others, plunder, and erase their existence to create their own wealth.

So Yu Mingze was very worried that Ye Mingzhao, on a whim, would want to play the antagonist but fail due to insufficient acting skills and a personality mismatch with the character, leading to audience backlash. It might even affect Ye Mingzhao's future acting career.

That was until Yu Mingze saw Ye Mingzhao's performance at the start of the audition. The sweet yet crazy and evil smile he displayed, along with eyes colder and more inhuman than a snake's, made Yu Mingze's heart thump—with just one thought in his mind—

Fu Shen has come to life!

At this moment, the character who had only existed on paper suddenly stepped out of the script and stood alive before him.

Fu Shen suddenly tilted his head to glance at Yu Mingze, the malicious yet sweet smile on his face turning maniacal, as if an impenetrable mask was being torn apart by an invisible hand. Fu Shen's handsome face abruptly turned ferocious. “...Who are you to call me malicious? You privileged rich folks think you’re morally superior just because you were born into wealth? Bullshit!”

“If you were in my position, you’d be worse than me. You’re nothing but pampered pigs living in your fancy villas. Not one of you can outplay me! Haven’t you all been taken down by me?”

“I just didn’t want to be trampled on for my whole life, so I seized every opportunity to climb up. What’s wrong with that? If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for letting a wolf into your home. Why did you have to play that dumb switcheroo game? Your parents died because of your stupidity, not because of me.”

“Do you think I like being the bad guy? I schemed for three years, risked everything, and killed so many people, not because I wanted to do evil, but to prove myself. I want to tell everyone that my misfortune wasn’t because I wasn’t capable, but because the world is unfair!”

Just as he finished speaking, a jarring music sound suddenly filled the room. Yu Mingze fumbled to press the phone, looking apologetic as he glanced at Ye Mingzhao. “Sorry, it's Aze calling. I didn’t mean to interrupt your audition.”

In that moment, as if a dark presence had left him, the hostility and resentment in Ye Mingzhao’s demeanor vanished. His eyes softened and the corners of his mouth curled into a gentle smile. Once again, he became the courteous, elegant, and composed young master of the Ye family.

The panelists quietly watched Ye Mingzhao, astonished to find no trace of “Fu Shen” left in him. Right before their eyes, Ye Mingzhao became the noble, smart, and kind-hearted male lead, Gu Mingchao, just as written in the script.

It turned out that there were people who could switch personalities so seamlessly, without a hint of acting. All the interviewers were amazed and agreed: it didn’t seem like acting at all.

Meanwhile, Yu Mingze hung up the phone again, this time from his fiancé Zhou Yueze, and coughed to hide his embarrassment. He then seriously commented, “You acted very well. Can you share your understanding of the character Fu Shen?”

Ye Mingzhao smiled and nodded. “Fu Shen, as the name suggests, means possessed, a malevolent spirit who wants to replace the male lead, Gu Mingchao.”

Yu Mingze sighed, conflicted. He hadn’t expected Ye Mingzhao to portray Fu Shen so well, even better than some other actors who had auditioned for the role. But he genuinely didn’t want Ye Mingzhao to miss out on the role of the male lead, Gu Mingchao.

After all, Gu Mingchao was created based on Ye Mingzhao. Although Ye Mingzhao’s Fu Shen was impressive, if he had to choose, Yu Mingze still wanted Ye Mingzhao to play the male lead!

The director and the other interviewers observed Yu Mingze’s dilemma and then looked at Ye Mingzhao—

Although Yu Mingze hadn’t explicitly mentioned Ye Mingzhao’s identity, by observing their interaction, it was clear that their relationship was special. Yu Mingze kept saying the male lead was based on Ye Mingzhao and personally brought him in for the audition. If Ye Mingzhao’s performance had been lackluster, it would’ve been easier to handle, but he had perfectly portrayed Fu Shen’s madness and viciousness. He was arguably the most fitting actor for the role among the dozens who had auditioned.

Given this, they were happy to return the favor to Yu Mingze. The director smiled and suddenly spoke up. “Should we consider having Young Master Ye take on both roles?”