The manager was only satisfied after she agreed. When he hung up, he softly reminded her to put on makeup before the audition at 2 p. m. and not to be late.
Elisa agreed on the surface, but she couldn’t help but sneer inwardly. She thought, “Do they really think I’m a fool who needs to put on makeup for an audition?”
Moreover, the original owner’s makeup skills could only be described as atrocious. The company had positioned her as mature, charming, and elegant. At just over 20 years old, how mature could she be? Charming and elegant? Despite all her efforts to learn, she ended up being a far cry from it.
Nowadays, people liked to judge others by their appearance. “Aoife,” with her smoky makeup and bright red lipstick, covered her delicate features with heavy, greasy makeup. While she had a great figure, she lacked the imposing aura of a mature woman. Wearing backless, low-cut clothes only made her seem indecent, as if she were deliberately flaunting herself.
Elisa checked her wardrobe, found a white shirt and jeans, braided her hair, put on sunglasses and a mask, ensuring that she wouldn’t be recognized before leaving the house.
A small fire is fed by kindling, but a big fire depends on luck.
In the entertainment industry, this body had gained quite a bit of fame. However, her approach to fame was different from others. While others received flowers and light boards from fans, she was pushed out and recognized only to be insulted and pelted with rotten eggs.
Elisa called a ride-hailing car to the audition location. Leaning against the seat, she gazed lazily out of the window at the passing scenery.
Three years had passed so quickly. Outside the car window were tall buildings, new buses, and many shared bicycles on the streets.
Elisa got off early and bought bread and water from a bakery, eating as she walked, taking the opportunity to review the memories of the original owner.
“Aoife” had debuted and appeared in a campus idol-themed TV series. It didn’t require much acting skill, and she had gained some popularity among fans. The ratings on a certain site were also acceptable.
However, after the incident, the TV series turned into a slaughterhouse for haters. Its rating dropped from 6. 8 to 2. 5, and even the male actor who co-starred with her was affected.
Shaking off the memories, Elisa called her agent, “I’ve arrived.”
“Wait outside, I’ll have Xiao Xu come out to meet you.”
After waiting for a while outside, Elisa saw a girl with glasses running out. She rubbed her eyes, shook her head, and looked around, unable to find the person she was looking for. Just as she was about to take out her phone to make a call, she spotted someone waving at her from a distance.
Supporting her glasses, the girl with glasses walked over, and only when the woman who was waving took off her sunglasses did she recognize her.
“…Elisa?”
“What? Can’t recognize me?” Elisa looked at the girl in front of her with a smile. Iris was an assistant arranged by the company, and their relationship was relatively close. There were very few people who treated “Aoife” well.
How close were they? Probably close enough to borrow money without returning it.
“Elisa, how did you become like this?”
“Not good-looking?”
Iris quickly shook her head. It wasn’t that she wasn’t good-looking; she was too good-looking, stunning even. Elisa’s delicate features were previously overshadowed by heavy makeup. Now, without it, she was refreshing and clear. She was naturally beautiful, and her smile was like the melting taste of snow under the sun, melting people’s hearts. Her eyes were different from their usual bitterness, carrying a cold indifference, making people dare not look directly at her. In short, she was very imposing.
“You look good. I always said that Elisa looks better without makeup, but no one in the company believed me.”
Who doesn’t love compliments? Elisa reached out to touch the girl’s head, and Iris blushed instantly.
“Elisa, let me take you to get your audition number.”
Mr. Kentala’s play was a hot cake. Just the role of the third female lead was highly sought after. Elisa saw the long line of people and raised an eyebrow.
Iris took Elisa to find the staff, and they filled out the form and received an audition number.
It was just after lunch, a time when people were tired. At 1 p. m., the staff sat in chairs, half-dozing, their attention scattered, not recognizing Elisa at all.
Seeing a pleasant unfamiliar face, they thought she was a fresh graduate. Who wouldn’t like a beautiful woman? The staff cheerfully handed her the form andreminded her where to sign, even putting a glass of water within her reach.
The staff was focused on the signature section, and when they saw the name “Elisa” signed neatly, they were instantly shocked.
Is this really Elisa? Who are they trying to fool? Wasn’t Elisa that vulgar and cheap-looking woman? When did she become like this? Did she get plastic surgery?
After signing, Elisa put down the pen. “Is that all?”
The staff was too stunned to respond immediately. “Y-yes.”
“Give me the number tag.”
The staff handed over the number tag, still in shock. By the time they regained their senses, Elisa had already walked away.
He took out his phone and quickly typed into a group chat: “I just saw a beautiful woman auditioning for the role of the third female lead in ‘Revenge and Love.'”
“Isn’t it normal to see a beautiful woman at an audition? Which celebrity is it?”
“It’s not normal at all. The woman auditioning for the role of the third female lead is Elisa.”
“You saw Elisa as a beautiful woman? Are you kidding? How could she look good?”
“It’s true. I’m starting to suspect that she had plastic surgery. Only after seeing her without makeup did I realize what it means to rely on one’s looks.”
“Come on, how could Elisa have any face?”
…
Another person came to get a number tag, so the staff reluctantly put down the phone. Regardless of the comments in the group chat, Elisa’s past would still haunt her, and with that face, it was no wonder she could entice people.
There were many people auditioning in Room 3. Elisa had arrived early, and there were already five people ahead of her, all wearing sunglasses and masks.
Iris leaned in close to Elisa and whispered, “Elisa, the person at the front of the line is Ariadne from Banana Entertainment.”
Ariadne had recently gained popularity after debuting with a girl group. She had both the looks and the body. Last year, she starred in a popular sweet romance web series.
Banana Entertainment might not have much else, but they had money. For this play, Banana Entertainment had invested two million dollars, so Ariadne was likely to self-finance her way into the production.
Behind Ariadne was Zhao Ran, Sun Yuanyuan, and two others whom Elisa couldn’t recognize. She had some mild face blindness, but she managed to recall these three after a bit of digging through her memories.
No one in the industry thought highly of Elisa. Besides her questionable character, her acting skills were mediocre at best. Her presence on a set was akin to a mouse ruining a pot of soup, so no director would consider her for an audition.
This time, she had the audition opportunity solely because of Lorelei’s “recommendation.” There were no free lunches in this world, and based on Lorelei’s past actions, she probably wanted to use Elisa as a pawn again.
Unfortunately, the once-fragile pawn had turned into a cactus. Not just anyone could touch her now.
Elisa’s audition was a last-minute arrangement. She hadn’t seen the original work, and her agent had informed her that the audition was impromptu to prevent any leaks.
Elisa found a seat and the same staff member who had given her the number tag came over with the script, silently placing it in front of her, his gaze fixed on her the entire time.
Elisa let him look, took the script, and said, “Thank you.”
The staff member left awkwardly.
“Elisa,” Iris suddenly looked smug, “that staff member kept staring at you. I’m sure he didn’t recognize you at first, just like me. Can you keep this up in the future?”
Elisa flipped through the script. “Haven’t I always been like this?”
Perhaps only she would fail to notice any significant change. Iris seriously doubted Elisa’s sense of aesthetics.
Seeing her engrossed in the script, Iris decided not to disturb her and took out her phone to silently browse through Twitter.
Elisa is a camera memory, able to remember some keywords in an instant, and then slowly piece together the paragraphs to fully memorize them.
The character of the third woman is not likable. In modern terms, she’s a two-faced person. Before entering the palace, she was originally the friend of the female lead, but due to greed and jealousy, she repeatedly schemed against the female lead. However, she didn’t have the female lead’s protective halo and was discovered by the emperor, thrown into prison, and tortured to death. Nowadays, in most TV dramas, there always has to be a character who is both bad and foolish to contrast with the kind and clever female lead.
This is the outline of the script. If she plays this role well, from another perspective, she will be the woman who advances her career. If she doesn’t perform well, she can expect to be criticized across the internet.
Elisa remembered not long ago when an actress was heavily criticized by fans for playing the role of a home-wrecker in a drama. They even edited her photos into black and white and posted them beneath her tweets. Although this also proved her good acting skills, being chased and criticized by fans also led to depression.
Let’s not talk about Elisa, who’s already been condemned across the internet. If she successfully takes on this role, when the TV drama airs, she might receive funeral wreaths, right?
A good director can make a good actor, and conversely, a good actor can also influence the director and screenwriter.
After Elisa repeatedly checked to make sure she had memorized the script, she put it down and began to summon her emotions. She hadn’t eaten all day, but her state of mind had never been better. It wouldn’t be difficult for her to achieve the result she wanted in her performance.
Iris squatted beside her, absorbed in scrolling through Twitter. Elisa casually glanced over, and her gaze instantly locked onto something.
“Who is he?” Even she didn’t know how shaky her voice was at the moment, carrying indescribable emotions within.
Iris, puzzled, looked up upon seeing Elisa staring at the photo on her phone screen and replied, “This is Louis, Louis. Elisa, what’s wrong with you? You do recognize him, right?”
A sharp, twisting pain shot through her heart. Her lowered eyelashes trembled, and Elisa cleared her throat, her gaze staring blankly at the photo on Iris’s phone.
Those sealed and distant memories resurfaced, occupying her mind briefly like fragile bubbles, momentarily shutting down her senses.
“Little crybaby, don’t cry. I’ll give you some candied haws.”
“Come on, let big brother carry you home.”
“Little crybaby, I’m sorry, I can’t carry you home this time…”
It turns out that the emotions engraved in her very marrow were something not even the gods could erase.