45 Real Men Wear Pink

When Yuan Ge arrived at Chow's Congee - aka Dragon Dreams Pictures - He found that everyone has arrived except Amélie Jiang. Fat Chow cheerfully hands each person a pink T-shirt that he has quietly ordered at some point, and forces everyone to wear it without exception.

"The font is so ugly!"

"That pink is sick!"

"And the style is so cheap and tacky!"

Yuan Ge has always had a high regard for his own artistic taste. When he sees this chavvish[1] T-shirt with "Dragon Dreams" printed in a childish "strawberry" font, he throws it back at Chow Mingrun at once, saying in disgust, "We're going to King Guan's for a proper audition, not to some countryside villages to sell your pickles! Wearing this? We'll be everyone's laughing stock!"

"Come on, I'm doing this to get us noticed! You guys don't understand how new media works nowadays. It's the era of video streaming and big data, you know. The audition today has 3,000 people attending and countless big media players, it's definitely the best opportunity for our company to get free publicity. Only when we stand out in the crowd, will we get eyeballs and attract some media coverage!"

"Fat Chow, you could have asked our opinion before placing the orders. The T-shirt is really ugly, even I can't stomach it!" Du Jinghai also has a disgusted look on his face.

"What does it matter? Trust me, it's the way to go! The secret to a successful audition - the uglier the better!" Chow Mingrun puts on his pink T-shirt with great enthusiasm, doing a catwalk and posing in front of them, and then forces the clothes into everyone's hands, "Everybody, put it on and let's go. Join me in shouting this slogan to boost morale - 'Dragon Dreams - On fire! On fire! On fire!'"

"On Fire-fire-fire …" The crowd followes him unenthusiastically.

Being forced to wear such a tasteless outfit has seriously undermined everyone's confidence in the audition. This is what you call a bad start. Yuan Ge says to himself, but he can't be bothered to refute Chow Mingrun's aesthetic and sophomoric arguments. As they all change into this company T-shirt and walk out of the congee bar, they are immediately met with the first group of onlookers of the day - regular customers and breakfasters drinking congee in front of the shop.

Because Dragon Dreams is "headquartered" on the first floor of Chow's Congee in South Luogu Lane, even its signboard is in the retro wine flag style, hanging side by side with the congee bar's signboard, its filming industry peers often mock the film company as a subsidiary of a small restaurant, and Chow Mingrun is often referred to as "the congee boss".

It is not entirely unfair to call him that. The ground floor of the small brick building still houses Chow Mingrun's wife's pickled vegetable shop. Although it is the flagship shop of a century-old business, the smell of pickled vegetables permeates the shop all year round, and a few wooden tables and chairs are set up outside the shop for customers who come to enjoy the "buy pickled vegetables and get a bowl of congee free" offer. As a result, the front of Dragon Dreams is always bustling with people, and the tables and chairs are always full all year round, attracted by the pickles and congee.

"Mr. Chow, are you going out for a charity event today? You're all dressed up in such festive clothes!"

Chow Mingrun always boasts that his wife's Chow's Pickles is the oldest and the number one pick of pickles in the country, and says that this flagship store has been here since the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty. Whether it is that old is uncertain, but what is certain is that the main group of congee drinkers at the door are all elderly people.

"Director Yuan, you look great in pink. Such a handsome boy, if you go on a blind date anywhere, girls will definitely fall in love with you!"

An old lady smiled and praised Yuan Ge, making him so embarrassed that he wants to be swallowed by the ground. Stephen and Waylon learned their lesson and hurriedly put on their coats on the pretext that it was cold outside. In the end, only Chow Mingrun and Chestnut are still wearing their pink T-shirts without a concern.

Yuan Ge sighs inwardly as he surveys the innocent faces of these young actors in the backdrop of this century-old congee shop. With hardly any resources, he should really count himself lucky to have recruited the few people he has now.

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[1] Chav, also "charver" and "scally" in parts of England, is a British pejorative term used to describe an anti-social lower-class youth dressed in sportswear. "Chavette" is a related term referring to female chavs, and the adjectives "chavvy", "chavvish", and "chavtastic" are used to describe things associated with chavs, such as fashion, slang, etc. Chavvish in this context is used to describe a tasteless, loud and in-your-face fashion style.