Accidental Mark

Chapter 61

The next afternoon, Cheng Xia followed his agent Zhou Yan to the audition site.

The audition was arranged in the conference room on the third floor of a hotel in Rong City. There were many people at the scene, including several familiar faces. There were many stars with a lot of topics recently. Zhou Yan was a bit nervous. She took Cheng Xia to the check-in office to sign in and get the number plate. Then she found a lounge to sit down in.

Zhou Yan just wanted to tell Cheng Xia not to be nervous when a tall alpha pushed open the door. Zhou Yan’s eyes widened and she thought she had seen the wrong person. “Pre… President Pei? Why are you here?”

Pei Shaoze answered casually, “I happened to be in this hotel today to talk about something. I came to see the situation while passing by.” He glanced at Cheng Xia and wondered in a gentle voice, “Are you prepared?”

Cheng Xia smiled and scratched his head. “It’s okay.”

Pei Shaoze told him, “I asked someone to investigate. A few alpha actors who came to audition today are quite popular. The first is Liu Yufei who has played in a criminal investigation drama but he isn’t good at crying. He has no advantage in playing the role of Xu Ziyang.”

“The second one is Zhang Chen who has tens of millions of fans. He should want to change from the idol path to the strength path. He wants to use this drama as a springboard. At the same time, he is talking about participating in an ancient costume big production drama. Therefore, he won’t devote himself to this criminal investigation online drama.”

“The third one is Liu Zhaoxuan who has cooperated with Director Zhu before. He has a tough style and has acted in many gun battles and police against criminals movies many times. His acting skills are good but he is 30 years old and lacks the sunshine and youthfulness of a fresh graduate…”

Beside them, Zhou Yan was stunned to hear it! President Pei’s channels and contacts were obviously much better than her who was a small agent. His homework was too comprehensive. It wasn’t known where he heard so much news but there was a clear picture of Cheng Xia’s rival.

Cheng Xia was also stunned. Unexpectedly, President Pei went to find all the opponents who threatened him…

Pei Shaoze finished and looked at Cheng Xia gently. “Your opponents today are very strong. Still, no matter if you win or lose, you have succeeded if your performance of Xu Ziyang leaves a strong impression in the mind of the director.”

Cheng Xia nodded. “I understand. Thank you, Bro… President Pei.”

He originally wanted to say ‘Brother’ but his agent was present. Cheng Xia hurriedly changed the word and almost bit his tongue. Pei Shaoze heard this error and smiled slightly as he handed Cheng Xia a bottle of water. “Sit down and drink some water. Sort out your thoughts and don’t think about anything. From now on, you’re Xu Ziyang.”

Cheng Xia took the water and sat in the corner. Pei Shaoze made a ‘don’t disturb him’ gesture to Zhou Yan. Zhou Yan simply went out to wait for the number to be called, leaving space for Pei Shaoze and Cheng Xia.

Once she left, Pei Shaoze sat next to Cheng Xia and gently rubbed his head. “Are you nervous?”

Cheng Xia smiled. “With you, I’m not nervous at all.”

Just now, he passed several high-traffic stars at the audition scene. Cheng Xia was indeed very worried. He always felt that his qualifications were too shallow to compare with these famous actors. Yet just now, Pei Shaoze analyzed his opponents one by one. ‘Know yourself and know your enemy.’ Cheng Xia was no longer nervous.

Compared with these famous actors, he had no idol burden and could act freely. In addition, he was so small and unknown that no one would say anything if he was eliminated. The actors who had tens of millions of fans would feel much worse than him if their audition didn’t succeed. So what was there to be afraid of?

Pei Shaoze gently held Cheng Xia’s hand. “Don’t worry, Director Zhu is a director with principles. It doesn’t matter how popular the other actors are. You just need to show a good performance today to impress him. Even if you aren’t selected this time, you will have a chance to compete for his dramas in the future.”

Cheng Xia’s hand was covered by the alpha’s hand and the warm feeling was passed along the skin to his heart. It was different to have his boyfriend accompany him in such a critical moment. He suddenly felt like his entire body was full of strength.

Just then, Zhou Yan knocked on the door. “Cheng Xia, it’s already number 76. Your turn will come soon. Get ready first.”

The hands that the two people were holding together quickly separated.

Cheng Xia got up to follow Zhou Yan. He had just arrived at the door when he turned back toward Pei Shaoze.

Pei Shaoze nodded to him in encouragement. “Go ahead.” He wanted to see the situation but he was afraid that his presence would affect Cheng Xia’s performance. Pei Shaoze said, “I’ll wait here for you. After the audition, we’ll have a meal together.”

Cheng Xia grinned brightly. “Hmm!”

Pei Shaoze told Zhou Yan, “Zhou Yan, you should follow and greet Director Zhu.”

At this moment, the audition site.

An alpha actor shook the air with both hands, pretending that there was a dead person here. He cried out in pain while shaking this ‘person’. “Second Uncle, Second Uncle!”

Director Zhu calmly interrupted him. “Okay, thank you for participating in this audition.”

The young actor froze for a moment before bowing to Director Zhu with a red face. He turned and hurried out the door. He probably knew that he hadn’t acted well.

The screenwriter wearing glasses couldn’t help scolding it. “Fuck, this is a criminal investigation drama. He is a police officer yet he went in to shake the body and destroy the scene. Was his professionalism eaten by dogs? Can just anyone come for an audition?”

The deputy director was helpless. “His crying scene is also very fake. He wiped his eyes for so long yet they aren’t even red.”

Director Zhu made only one comment. “Too exaggerated.”

Director Zhu’s expression was already a bit ugly from watching the messy performances all day.

The deputy director came over to him and asked, “Old Zhu, what do you think about that Liu Yufei before?”

Director Zhu Zheng frowned. “His performance is fierce but his details are too poor.”

The screenwriter added, “For Zhang Chen, I feel that he is just here to test the waters. He didn’t make any serious preparations and isn’t familiar with the script. What about Liu Zhaoxuan? He has experience with us and his acting is good.”

Zhu Zheng turned the ballpoint pen around him in his hand while speaking calmly, “Liu Zhaoxuan’s acting skills are fine but he looks too tough. It isn’t a problem for him to play an experienced police officer but his temperament is too different for this type of youthful, new graduate… let’s look again.”

The deputy director called out, “Next, number 77.”

There was a knock on the door. A woman with her hair in a ponytail brought in a young man. She came to Director Zhu and said politely, “Hello, Director Zhu. I’m an agent of Tianxuan. This is Cheng Xia, a contracted artist of Tianxuan Entertainment.”

She put Cheng Xia’s information in front of the director with both hands before taking two steps back. She smiled and asked, “Cheng Xia might be a newcomer but he prepared seriously for the audition. Please criticize and correct any shortcomings in his performance later so I can have him learn more when he goes back.”

The agent’s attitude was very modest and she gave a good first impression.

The deputy director whispered to Zhu Zheng, “This is Cheng Xia. President Pei greeted me this morning. He said that he was sorry for the trouble caused to our crew by Shu Yue’s withdrawal so he asked Tianxuan to send a newcomer to the audition. Cheng Xia has just finished a school drama called ‘Folding Paper’ that will be released in the summer. In other words, Cheng Xia won’t be a small star without any works before the release of our drama.”

Director Zhu nodded to show he understood. Then he started to read the information handed over by the agent. There were too many actors auditioning that he couldn’t remember their information in advance. He mostly read it on the spot. He turned to the front page and saw that Cheng Xia’s gender had the words ‘omega male’ written. Zhu Zheng looked up at Cheng Xia. “Are you here to audition for the role of Lin Qi?”

The omega forensic doctor Lin Qi was gentle, calm, and wise. The case was finally solved due to the many subtle clues he found. Wasn’t Cheng Xia too far away from Lin Qi in terms of age and image? Shu Yue’s withdrawal from the circle had caused a great loss to the crew. Wasn’t President Pei too perfunctory when calling a newcomer to participate in the audition?

Director Zhu frowned with displeasure.

Cheng Xia stepped forward and politely replied, “Director Zhu, I’m here to audition for Xu Ziyang.”

Everyone, “……”

The scene suddenly fell into a strange silence.

Zhu Zheng also thought he heard incorrectly. He was silent for a few seconds before confirming it, “You’re an omega yet you came to audition for Xu Ziyang, the criminal investigations police officer?”

Cheng Xia spoke seriously. “Yes, I think actors should try different roles to improve their acting skills. I like Xu Ziyang’s personality very much and I will try my best to show his personality and psychological state. I hope Director Zhu can give me this opportunity to try it. If I don’t perform well then please correct me.”

Then he bowed politely to the director.

Zhu Zheng found the young man in front of him very interesting. An omega actually wanted to try a difficult role like an alpha criminal investigations police officer. There were also actors in the circle who wanted to play the part of an omega. Previously, there was an alpha with a rather enchanting personality. He played the role of an omega and got a lot of fans. Zhu Zheng didn’t mind the identity or gender of the actors. As long as they could perform the character in his mind then they were a good actor.

Moreover, Cheng Xia’s appearance was sunny and handsome while his eyes were clear and bright. This was in line with the temperament of a fresh graduate like Xu Ziyang.

Director Zhu nodded. “Okay, you start. Do Act 7.”

Act 7 was the scene where Xu Ziyang returned home and found that his uncle’s family of four had died tragically.

Cheng Xia took a deep breath, closed his eyes to adjust his mood, and started the performance from when he arrived at the door.

He first made the action of ‘taking out the key to open the door.’ Once he opened the door, he changed into slippers and cried out, “Second Uncle, I’m back!” This detail was stronger than the actors who rushed straight in through the door. Zhu Zheng sat up straight and stared carefully at Cheng Xia.

Cheng Xia looked around like he was wondering why no one responded. He leaned over and put his shoes into the shoe cabinet next to him. There were no props at the scene but his actions made people understand what he was doing.

He put the shoes away and entered the house in slippers. He soon realized that something was wrong. There was the strong smell of blood! Cheng Xia sniffed, frowned slightly, and sped up his pace immediately. He ran to the bedroom door in a few steps.

The bloody scene in the room made his pupils shrink. Cheng Xia couldn’t believe it as he stared at the bloody body on the bed. His entire body was shaking controllably as he called out in a trembling voice, “Second Uncle, Second Aunt!”

He went to walk in and checked the situation. Then after taking a step forward, he seemed to realize that this was the scene of a murder. As a graduate of the police academy, he didn’t have any gloves, foot covers, or testing equipment. If he rushed into the room then he was likely to damage the evidence at the scene!

His outstretched foot immediately retracted and he turned to look at the opposite two bedrooms. The bedroom doors were open. His cousin’s sheets were red with blood and he was in a gruesome state of death. Looking further to the next bedroom, his other cousin lay in a pool of blood with a long trail of blood on the floor. She had struggled to crawl away only to be brutally cut in half by the murderer.

Cheng Xia’s eyes moved up and down, to the left and right as he showed the horror of Xu Ziyang finding his dead relatives.

“Xiao Mo, Xiao Yun?”

“What the hell happened? Didn’t we have a good meal last night?!”

Cheng Xia suddenly screamed. He reached out to hit his own head hard because he thought he was hallucinating. A moment later, he closed his eyes and opened them again. There was still blood around him and all the people closest to him in this world had fallen into a pool of blood!

Cheng Xia started to crack. He found it difficult to accept this fact. He was short of breath and his eyes instantly turned red. He gritted his teeth and clenched his hands tightly before slowly exiting the scene of the crime. Then he crouched at the front door, his entire body shaking uncontrollably.

The tears of the young man constantly fell like an opened tap. In an instant, his face was covered with tears and he didn’t care about wiping them. The tears flowed down his cheek and to his neck, soon wetting his collar.

He seemed to come back to herself. He wiped his face and took out his phone from his pocket. His fingers trembled and he could barely hold it. He opened the address book and called a number. “G-Group Leader, I am Xu Ziyang. A homicide happened in Room 301, Unit 1, Building 7 of the Dongfu Jiayuan Community, No. 17 Renmin Road in the Binjiang District. I am at the scene. Please have the police come as soon as possible.”

“…There are four victims. A 45-year-old middle-aged couple and their son and daughter. The entire family was killed…”

The young man’s voice was trembling and choked up but he clearly gave the address and explained the scene. After repeatedly confirming the address with the group leader, he hung up and started to sob with his head in his arms. His suppressed cries were like the wailing of a wounded beast. It was clear that he didn’t roar but people really felt his pain, despair, and anger.

Director Zhu stared intently at the young man crying there. He held his ballpoint pen with a bit of force and almost broke it. He didn’t know how long it took until Cheng Xia stopped crying. He reached out and wiped away his tears.

His colleagues on the police force were coming. He couldn’t lose face in front of everyone. He also wanted to catch this sick murderer with his colleagues and get justice for his uncle’s family who died miserably!

There was a trace of firmness in the young man’s eyes. He quickly wiped his tears, took a deep breath, and adjusted his emotions. Then he turned to open the door and said as calmly as possible, “Group Leader Liu, this is the scene of the murder.”

Proofreader: Cat