A wealthy family recognizes my relatives? But I am already a billionaire.

Chapter 171 The turmoil continues

Xu Youyou couldn't help but doubt her life.

After meeting so many strange-looking people one after another, she felt that she was not here to be a judge at an audition, but to witness the diversity of species.

We auditioned seven candidates in succession, but not a single one made it to the waiting list.

Until the eighth contestant came on stage.

"Hello, judges. My name is Shu Yunling. Today I will be auditioning for the role of Shi Xiangyun." The little girl with a long face and big eyes looks very smart and beautiful.

Xu Youyou felt as if it was suddenly dawn. The reason was simple: this girl was so beautiful. She lowered her head to look through the girl's resume. She was a student in a professional school and was currently a freshman at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. She had no experience in filming TV dramas.

Xu Youyou didn't let the little girl start performing immediately, but looked at Professor Wu.

Professor Wu has spent most of his life studying "Dream of the Red Chamber". What is well known to outsiders is that he admires and loves Shi Xiangyun the most. No one has more say than him on this role.

"Little girl, please tell me about your understanding of the role." Professor Wu said gently.

Shu Yunling said, "Hello, judges. I've read "Dream of the Red Chamber" and I think Shi Xiangyun is open-minded and optimistic, heroic yet charming and naive..."

Looking at Shu Yunling talking eloquently, everyone couldn't help but nod. Compared with those incomprehensible people before her, at least she had read the original work carefully.

Ouyang Ouyang asked Shu Yunling to try out a play. The little girl had not acted much and seemed a little immature. It was really not good.

Shu Yunling also felt terrible after the performance, with a look of anxiety on her little face.

"Youyou, I want her to try out the role of Baoqin." Professor Wu whispered.

Xu Youyou knew that Professor Wu was being polite to her, so she immediately said, "Uncle Wu, if you think she is more suitable for Baoqin, just say it."

Shu Yunling got another excerpt from Xue Baoqin's script.

The audition results are still not particularly good, but acting skills can be honed slowly. It is rare to find a contestant who meets Xue Baoqin's description.

Xu Youyou gave her a pass, and the other judges' choices were similar to hers.

"Congratulations on passing this round of screening." Xu Youyou said with a smile.

The little girl almost jumped up with joy: "Thank you, thank you to all the judges, and thank you Teacher Xiao Song."

Xu Youyou couldn't help but laugh again: "Teacher Xiao Song, this is still your fan."

Song Zhibai smiled perfunctorily. Of the eight contestants who came in, seven said they were his fans.

Several contestants came in one after another, and Xu Youyou felt that they all looked familiar. They seemed to be either internet celebrities or actors who already had works. The actor who just finished the audition also had the title of "Queen of Short Plays". She couldn't help but ask Xie Ran.

Xie Ran's explanation is quite reasonable: "I asked people to put the more famous contestants at the front, so that our variety show will not be abandoned by the audience after just a few minutes."

Xu Youyou had no objection to this arrangement. After all, Xie Ran was a businessman and always wanted to maximize profits.

"Do the contestants know about filming the variety show? Many of them are famous. I'm afraid they will make a fuss if they don't advance this time." Xu Youyou said.

Xie Ran nodded and said, "I had someone clearly state this in bold black font in the invitation letter inviting them to the offline audition. By coming here, they've chosen to accept this."

Xu Youyou breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that there was no dispute.

However, once the video clips of the scene that day were leaked, they immediately became a hot topic online.

Whether it is Zheng Shuying or Liu Ye, neither of them is an unknown actor and they have already accumulated a group of fans. It is totally unacceptable for their fans that actors of this status go to auditions but ultimately return empty-handed.

"It's fine if my sister can't be Lin Daiyu, but they actually use Xiaohong to insult others. Don't these people know what kind of celebrity our sister is?"

"That's right. My sister is so beautiful, and she was asked to play Xiren? Is she wrong? Isn't Lin Daiyu a petty person? I think compared to Lin Daiyu, the guy named Xu on the judges' panel is even more petty!"

"Who exactly is this Xu? Why is she so young sitting at the head of the judges' panel? Even Director Ouyang and Song Zhibai have to coax her when they talk to her?"

"She's so young and already sitting in this position. Who knows what she's up to?"

Although fans of several actors and internet celebrities have made efforts, there are also many internet trolls who are trying their best to take advantage of the situation and throw dirty water on Xu Youyou.

With this pace, even Song Zhibai's fans started to get confused. They began to feel that Xu Youyou was holding her brother back and that her brother should play Jia Baoyu instead of Liu Xianglian.

Xie Ran noticed this trend immediately, and then announced the identities of the judges on the company's official Weibo.

Others, including Song Zhibai, can be said to be related practitioners, and only Xu Youyou and Xie Ran can be considered as leadership.

No matter how shameless the fans are, they dare not get angry at the official Weibo and ask them to fire the boss Xu Youyou.

The official blog post included a paragraph following the announcement: "The company has a complete and clear plan for each artist. The company's artists do not seek the absolute leading role, but do their best to do their job as actors and complete every suitable role."

What this means is that, in the company's view, the role of Liu Xianglian is highly compatible with Song Zhibai.

Song Zhibai also echoed the sentiment on his Weibo account, posting a video of himself internally auditioning for the role. The role he wanted to play from the very beginning was Liu Xianglian.

Throughout the incident, he spoke eloquently about his understanding of the role, and his glittering appearance clearly showed that he did it voluntarily rather than being forced by anyone.

"To be honest, I didn't think Song Zhibai, this top star, was that great before, but now with this move, I suddenly feel that his vision is indeed different from other young actors and actresses."

"Yes, now other popular stars have already started to encourage fans to fight for the ranking since they joined the group, for fear that they will suffer losses. Song Zhibai never does such a thing. In his eyes, there is only the role, not the ranking."

Things got to this point, and soon the official media took the initiative to speak out, ending the farce with the sentence "Actors should compete for acting skills rather than for extras."

This brought the audition back into the public eye, and many people flocked to the leisurely short drama platform to watch the audition.

Firstly, they wanted to see whether the role selection was truly objective and fair, and secondly, they hoped that the crew really wanted to make a good film of Dream of the Red Chamber.

This means that the TV series has attracted a lot of traffic and attention before it even started filming.

Xu Youyou couldn't help but look at Xie Ran: "Did you plan this a long time ago?"