CHAPTER 806: CHAPTER 796: MILITARY DRAMA AUDITION

Those who came to participate in this audition mostly arrived quite ahead of time.

First, the audition location is too far from the city. If by any chance one is late, there’s absolutely no leniency in this audition.

Being late means the audition qualification is immediately canceled, leaving everyone no choice but to be punctual.

Secondly, everyone also wants to see the morning auditions, to mentally prepare themselves, right?

So at this moment, not only is Jiang Lingxi observing a group of male actors auditioning, but several female actors, also accompanied by agents and assistants, are watching them sweat it out from the edge of the field.

Every now and then, they steal glances towards Jiang Lingxi.

After all, in a military drama, the requirements for an actor’s appearance are secondary; the focus is on whether they can endure hardship and keep up with the physical demands.

If they can’t handle rolling in the mud without hesitation, or if their physical stamina isn’t up to par, then no amount of beauty is of any use.

Jiang Lingxi’s presence here took many by surprise.

Having the qualification to shoot this military drama, a clean background is one aspect, but actually, no top actresses would compete for such a role.

After all, based on past experiences, military dramas have little chance of becoming big hits, and filming them is far more exhausting compared to shooting other dramas.

With more glamorous scripts and roles available, why would anyone want to trudge through a military drama getting dirt all over themselves, not to mention it takes at least two or three months of effort?

Because of this, the past military dramas rarely feature top actresses, as they’re too busy filming beautiful contemporary or historical romantic dramas.

The military drama genre is basically the main battlefield for second- and third-tier actresses to fight on.

Yet this time, suddenly, a high-profile star like Jiang Lingxi, who undoubtedly has no shortage of good scripts, shows up, leaving everyone astonished.

The collective thought when seeing Jiang Lingxi was especially consistent: Why did she come?

Jiang Lingxi was not oblivious to the gazes around her, and even Tong Yue, standing beside her, noticed it.

In fact, Tong Yue was having second thoughts at this point.

When she watched military dramas before, she thought they were quite passionate, and recently, she came across such a good project airing during the summer break, so she impulsively told her artist about it.

Jiang Lingxi agreed readily; she’s not unfamiliar with military life, though that was in her past life in ancient times.

To be honest, she’s quite eager to see what a modern army is really like. When she sees related photos or videos online, they fill her with excitement.

Although this is just acting, it’s still somewhat connected, right?

So the two hit it off and came to the audition.

But no matter how passionate it felt while watching TV, being at the scene now, all it took was a short observation for Tong Yue to feel a little intimidated.

It’s far more exhausting than she imagined.

Moreover, looking around at the other female actors who came to audition, they are mostly beyond second or third tier, and some she doesn’t even recognize, which indicates they’re either newcomers or very low-profile.

Aside from her own artist, there’s not a single top actress!

It makes sense; top actresses don’t lack resources. Why would they come to crawl and roll in a military drama?

It was only at this point that she realized how hasty her initial decision was.

Thinking this, she couldn’t help but glance at Jiang Lingxi standing beside her, seeing her eagerly watching the shooting range not far away, showing no signs of wanting to back out of the competition, she swallowed the words she was about to say.

Her artist likes and is willing to shoot, so what can she as a manager say? Just let her shoot!

Lunchtime arrived in no time.

This military camp used for the audition and later filming was once a real military camp, though it was already abandoned.

Since it’s now being used for a TV drama, it has been refurbished, with a canteen in place.

The actors who came for the audition and their agents could all eat in the canteen.

Of course, there wouldn’t be any delicate stir-fries or special diet veggie salads, just large pots of food that required everyone to serve themselves with dinnerware.

However, the actors who came to this audition, male or female, are not the dainty eaters.

It’s a joke; shooting a military drama is physically demanding work, and if they only eat a few leaves of vegetables, they’d pass out halfway through filming.

So Tong Yue watched as Jiang Lingxi filled her plate with food, no less than that of the male actors at the next table, and said nothing.

On the contrary, she even urged, "It looks like the audition this afternoon is a physical challenge, eat more, if it’s not enough, get more."

Jiang Lingxi paused with her chopsticks over the vegetables, hearing this, "This is the first time I’ve heard you encourage me to eat more."

"Ahem, times have changed. Eat, eat!"

By three-thirty in the afternoon, with the clouds shading the scorching sun, the audition for the female actors began.

After all, it’s late June to early July weather, and the female actors auditioning aren’t real female soldiers, the director was considerate enough.

However, this consideration was limited.

First up was a group run for over ten female actors.

Jiang Lingxi squatted to tighten the laces on her running shoes.

Coming to this audition dressed in skirts and high heels would be truly foolish.

So everyone was in light, sweat-absorbing sportswear and running shoes.

Standing at the starting line, at the signal, they began running until they could no longer continue.

Running most effectively reflects one’s physical stamina and endurance, and this was just the first level of assessment.

After ten minutes, some had already fallen behind, gradually forming three groups.

Some still jogging comfortably, others slowing down, and yet others unable to continue, hands on knees, panting heavily.

The director, once a retired soldier, stood at the edge of the track with a notebook, occasionally taking notes on the actors’ performances.

After another ten minutes, the gap widened, and he simply blew the whistle, "Stop!"

He had a pretty good grasp of everyone’s situation; there’s no need to keep running.

Of course, the only one who could still keep running and not walking or speed walking was now alone.

He circled Jiang Lingxi’s name.

After a ten-minute break, it was time for the second project.

A mud pit big enough to cover hundreds of square meters, the muddy water almost reaching the knees after jumping in.

The male actors in the morning had to do ten push-ups to pass, the female actors here had it halved to five to pass.

Even with mental preparation before coming and after seeing the morning’s events, standing at the edge of the mud pit staring at the muddy slush made one hesitate with a hint of retreat.

While hesitating, "splash," someone jumped in.

Jiang Lingxi had watched how the male actors did push-ups in the morning; though she hadn’t done them before, imitating them was fairly simple for her.

Regarding the muddy slush, it’s just water mixed with mud, and since it’s artificial, not natural, it only has a bit of an earthy smell; dirtier environments have been experienced during military campaigns.

She held her breath, completing one push-up, then a second, a third...

Her gray sweat suit was soon soaked, stained yellow by the muddy water, even as it dripped down her face, keeping her expression calm with a determined look in her eyes.

Tong Yue watched intensely, clutching her heart in sympathy, yet a sense of indescribable pride surged through her.

"Splash," just as Jiang Lingxi was completing her last push-up, someone else gritted their teeth and jumped in...