59 A Clean Sweep

Silence.

The whole room falls completely silent after the powerful performance of these two men.

Yuan Ge gets up from the floor, stumbles a little with his hand on his chest, and is held by Arthur Guan's outstretched hand just in time to overcome a slight dizziness - that lame lunch prepared by Chow Mingrun is totally useless!

Yuan Ge smiles gratefully at Arthur, wipes the tears from his face, and his expression returns to normal; it's hard to imagine that only a second ago he was the same fragile, helpless and tearful Commander of the Great Ming. He extends his hand towards Arthur and says graciously, "Master Guan, thank you for your cooperation. I didn't expect you to be such a superb actor and have such good line skills!"

Arthur Guan's chest is heaving and his eyes are teary, obviously having been completely immersed in his role during the performance just now, and it was only when Yuan Ge complimented him that he realised he had forgotten himself. Seeing Yuan Ge's outstretched hand, he gives it a reluctant shake before turning around and marching back to his seat on the interview panel.

Liu Sang hurriedly hands him a handkerchief and proudly brags to Yuan Ge, "Our second master also studied acting at UCLA when he studied in America. If he didn't love movies, how could he come back to lead the restructuring of Guan's Pictures?"

He Yiru and Wang Xiaowen, who are sitting beside Arthur Guan, look at Yuan Ge with interest and a noticeably better attitude.

"We haven't revealed the details of this film to the media yet, so you shouldn't have known the plot of this scene in advance. To be able to write and direct the scene to such an extent and act it out so vividly, you Dragon Dreams really aren't short of talent."

* * *

When Yuan Ge returns to the second courtyard, he sees that everyone has finished their auditions, especially Chestnut and Stephen who are absolutely glowing. When they saw Yuan Ge come out, they both pounced on him with gusto and said excitedly, "Director, it looks like we've all passed the final round! King Guan wasn't there in person and it was said that the results would be announced later, but it still feels like we made it!"

Yuan Ge remembers what He Yiru and Wang Xiaowen had said, that there was no shortage of talent at Dragon Dreams Pictures, and it seemed that during the time he and Arthur Guan were doing the director's screen test, the auditions in the other rooms were going on normally, and the two young actors from his own team had performed quite well.

At this moment, Chow Mingrun also trots over, "Yuan Ge, how did it go? I was worried sick! What took you so long? King Guan didn't give you a hard time, did he? Why are you coughing and your eyes are all red?"

Yuan Ge deliberately puts on a deadpan face, "Thanks to your crappy pink T-shirt, the King himself complimented our dress sense and then gave me a good beating!"

"Huh? That bad? No wonder you're limping and coughing. Come, sit down and take a rest!"

Seeing Chow Mingrun's eager face desperate for some inside scoop, he can't help but break into a smile and said, "It's been a long day, but it's good to see that we've made some achievements. All three kids are doing well, and if they really wanted an assistant director, I think I might have gotten the job."

"Oh yeah!" Chow Mingrun shouts in delight, "I knew it! How could our Director Yuan Ge have fallen short when he went after a position? I bet you've got the lot at King Guan's group falling all over you. There's no telling how many roles we'll get for this film, even small supporting roles would be good enough."

Just as they are talking, Liu Sang, the chief assistant, walks into the second courtyard, informing everyone that today's auditions are over and the official results will be posted on King Guan Entertainment's company website.

With so many celebrity teams out at the same time, it's quite a hassle to exit the place. Thinking of the countless media outside the gates of the Guan family mansion waiting to dig up juicy gossips from the final round of auditionees to make eye-catching headlines, Yuan Ge has no desire to linger any longer.

"Fat Chow, I'm off now. I've got a demented child at home. I'll leave it to you to share the good news and the audition details with Amélie and Jinghai."

It is already dark, Yuan Ge, fearing that the little loony at home would get into trouble, wrapped his coat around him, walks out of the crowd and hurries back to Yandai Byway.