Chapter 116: Lin Xing Is Truly Audacious (Bonus Chapter, Seeking Subscriptions)

"I'm going to play Ding Heping??"

Kong Tian was momentarily stunned.

Lin Xing nodded gently: "Yes. This script was written by a new screenwriter, and the director is also a newcomer. It’s Panda Video's attempt, or rather, a trial run, in the suspense market..."

Lin Xing gave a brief overview of the situation regarding the script *Evil Kid*. In his view, there was absolutely no problem with Kong Tian playing the role of Ding Heping in *Evil Kid*. It was a complex, middle-aged man.

‘Complexity’ is not easy to act. Some actors try too hard and become annoying villains, while others stay on the surface and end up looking like pushovers. The character of Ding Heping was exactly like this.

He is the father of Ding Xi, one of the three children who serve as protagonists, but he is not a qualified father because he has already started a new family and remains completely indifferent to his own son. This is precisely what causes Ding Xi’s sensitive and insecure personality. Because Ding Heping has his own family, he is quite affectionate toward his daughter and wife. When Ding Xi watches his father’s family of three living happily together, he feels that his father’s love has been stolen from him.

In the script for *Evil Kid*, Ding Heping’s screen time is not insignificant, and there are several highlight scenes. To put it simply, someone like Ren Yi or Zheng Zhou would certainly look down on a project like *Evil Kid*, and even Guan Peng might not be interested right now. However, Kong Tian might not necessarily have such opportunities. There are plenty of actors in the industry who need a chance.

"But Brother Kong, we'll have to talk more specifically after your audition. I can only provide an introduction for you..." Lin Xing said with a smile, "But I believe in your ability."

"A-Xing, I won't say too much about being grateful." Kong Tian gripped the script tightly and said, "I will strive to be selected."

"There is one more thing..." Lin Xing wanted to say something, but he eventually waved it off. "Forget it, let's talk about the rest after you get the part."

"Hahaha, I know what you mean." Kong Tian laughed loudly. "Don't worry, I won't be too out of place."

Lin Xing also laughed: "Actually, I think you should just be yourself. As long as it's good for the show, other things are not important."

"A-Xing, if everyone in the crew thought like you do, how would I have been kicked out of a crew before??" Kong Tian shook his head. "Some people in the crew are just messing around."

"That’s why I said what I said before: you adapt your approach based on the script you encounter." Lin Xing said to Kong Tian, "But don't worry, Brother Kong, there will absolutely be no 'messing around' in the *Evil Kid* crew. If there is, I’ll be the one to speak up."

Lin Xing now had the confidence to say this. Things were different than they used to be. Furthermore, Sister Dao had written many of Lin Xing’s rights and interests in detail within the contract.

When it comes to the pitfalls of film crews, if you can imagine it, they can do it. Lin Xing was just lucky. He was a special guest in the *Only Waiting for You* crew and left after filming for less than seven days. Then there was the *Anti-Crime Wave* crew—needless to say, the entire crew was under Zuming’s absolute control; who would dare to act recklessly and court death there? After that was the *Portrait Detective* crew, which he had just finished filming. Although it was a small production, Ma Wen had put his heart and soul into the preparations and personally handled logistics during filming.

But this didn’t mean Lin Xing hadn't experienced the chaos of film crews. During his ten years of being out of favor, he hadn't been sitting idle. Sometimes, the productions he took on were so chaotic that people would almost come to blows. After all, the background actors had their own factions, and besides that, every department wanted to skim a little off the top. That’s why corruption is so rampant in many crews. Beyond that, there is the unprofessionalism of actors and the sloppy filming.

Lin Xing knew all of this, of course. But times change. Back then, Lin Xing had no standing to say anything. Just like Kong Tian, if you dared to act high and mighty one day, you’d be kicked out the next. But now, if Lin Xing really had something to say, people would have to listen. He was the biggest star in the entire crew.

Soon, the food delivery arrived. Time to eat. Lin Xing and Kong Tian chatted in-depth about the script while eating. Lin Xing also had a lot of homework to do for the role of Li Dong. Fortunately, he had experienced the life of a teacher before filming *Portrait Detective*; all he needed to do now was experience the life of a math teacher. Lin Xing wasn't worried about the lines, but he needed to handle the details of the character. If you’re playing a teacher in his thirties and you act like a fake, why should the audience believe you?

An hour later, Lin Xing left Kong Tian’s studio.

"Right, Sister Dao, I just left Kong Tian's studio." Lin Xing called Sister Dao and explained the situation.

"That’s fine. Kong Tian is quite strong when it comes to acting coaching after all." Sister Dao nodded gently after hearing what Lin Xing said. She wasn't worried that Kong Tian would fail the audition. For one, it was Kong Tian, whose acting skills were exceptionally strong, and secondly, since Lin Xing personally introduced him, the *Evil Kid* crew would have to give Lin Xing some face, just like the *Portrait Detective* crew did. Of course, the prerequisite for giving face is that the actor you introduce doesn't drop the ball.

"I’ve already talked to Zheng Zhou’s side; they will confirm the recording time as soon as possible..." Sister Dao said, discussing the variety show. "We are only recording two episodes, charging a 'friendship rate,' but we can promote the drama *Portrait Detective* during the show, and they will help promote it voluntarily too..."

Currently, *Portrait Detective* had just finished filming, but the promotion for the show was indeed sparse. There was no helping it; A+ grade dramas simply didn't have much in the way of promotional resources. Since that was the case, Sister Dao thought she would take whatever opportunities she could.

"One more thing, did you agree to join the show *A Day Out with Mini*?" Sister Dao remembered a call she had just received and asked.

"Huh?" Lin Xing thought for a moment and said, "I mentioned it in passing when I was catching up with Mini last night."

"Mini just called and said they hope you can record one episode. She said you knew about it, but recording an episode is good for us too. They happen to be in the Imperial Capital, so I scheduled it for the day after tomorrow..." Sister Dao said with a smile, "You’ve been non-stop since you came back from Lushan, so I’m giving you a day off tomorrow. Consider recording *A Day Out with Mini* the day after as a way to relax..."

Lin Xing replied, "Alright. It has been a bit tiring these past two days. Don't book any other activities for me for the next week."

"Sure, let’s leave it at that for now." Sister Dao hung up the phone.

She was already very satisfied. Thinking back to Lin Xing’s previous "Buddha-like" attitude, and then considering his non-stop schedule since returning from Dafeng Mountain last year—he was so motivated that it even caught Sister Dao off guard.

"My current 'Buddha-like' attitude is to maintain a healthy body. In the end, an artist's career is a battle of physical stamina. Without a good body, even if the opportunity comes, I’m afraid I won't be able to grasp it." When Lin Xing said this back then, Sister Dao really thought he was just brushing her off. But now it seemed Lin Xing was serious.

Given the density of Lin Xing's schedule recently, and his cooperation—whether with the crew or for commercial work—he really never complained of fatigue. Now that Lin Xing said he was tired, he was likely truly tired.

After hanging up, Sister Dao thought for a moment and called Xiao Nan. "Xiao Nan, don't bother A-Xing tomorrow; let him rest. Wait until the day after when you go to record Mini's show..."

After giving a few instructions, Sister Dao notified Mini’s side about the time. Recording would be the day after tomorrow. She needed to review the specific process and filming location once Mini’s team drafted a plan.

Even if Lin Xing said nothing, there were people desperately trying to smear him, so this interview needed to be handled with caution. The practice of taking things out of context online was too severe, especially since Lin Xing was in a period of rapid development. It was perfectly normal for people to want to smear him or even take him down. Sister Dao couldn't be too careful.

The next day, Mini’s side sent over the interview process, the outline, and the questions to be asked so that Sister Dao could review and gatekeep. Any inappropriate questions would be avoided. For questions that needed to be emphasized or used to clarify rumors, Mini would discuss them more during the interview. The interview could not escape these frameworks.

For the whole day, Sister Dao coordinated with Mini’s team, confirmed the basic flow of the interview, and finalized the question templates.

"Xiao Nan, tomorrow at 6:00, take the makeup artist to A-Xing's place. Even though Mini’s side has makeup artists, it’s safer to use our own..." Sister Dao said, handing the interview script to Xiao Nan. "Give this script to Xingxing today; let him take a look. If he’s dissatisfied with anything, tell me immediately, and I’ll have Mini’s team change it."

"Got it." Xiao Nan took the script and said.

As for Lin Xing, he stayed at home all day. Even without work, he maintained his habit of waking up at 6:00, going for a run, and buying a *jianbing guozi* (a Chinese crepe) on the way—adding two eggs, a sausage, and a bag of spicy strips, as well as a cup of soy milk. Lin Xing used to like salty tofu pudding with fried dough sticks for breakfast, but he had switched to *jianbing guozi*.

After running and returning home, Lin Xing didn't leave the house again. He spent time until 5:00 PM reading the *Evil Kid* script, until he received a call from Xiao Nan.

"No need, just come over tomorrow." Lin Xing said after hearing Xiao Nan's intention, "Besides, if the interview follows the outline entirely, it will be too boring. I already told Sister Dao that there's no need to be so rigid about this."

Xiao Nan laughed bitterly, "Brother Xing, it’s not that Sister Dao wants to be rigid; we have to be cautious. Look at the abuse, the smears, and the people trying to stir up trouble about you on Weibo these past two days—there are just too many."

"Hey, isn't that just a form of heat?" Lin Xing said nonchalantly. "True passersby don't care about these things. We just need to do our own thing well."

Despite what he said, Xiao Nan still dutifully brought over the interview outline and script. Lin Xing looked at the outline and chuckled. Sister Dao was indeed milking every opportunity. Currently, Lin Xing only had one work released, *Portrait Detective*. Unlike other actors who had a backlog of works—some might have several works released in a single month—Lin Xing only had this one. So Sister Dao had to do everything possible to help him promote it.

The questions were all centered around the web series *Portrait Detective*. Besides that, they covered Lin Xing’s new variety show. Mini was a permanent guest on that show, so this was a mutual promotion.

The next day, at 6:00. Xiao Nan arrived with the makeup artist. Lin Xing was already up; since the appointment with Mini was at 7:00, there was plenty of time. He did some simple makeup—mostly a natural look for the camera.

At 7:00, Mini arrived at Lin Xing’s door right on time.

"Sister Mini, hello..." Lin Xing smiled and said to Mini, "How are we recording? Should we start from my house, or...?"

"We're mostly doing follow-along recording. Basically, whatever you want to do today, we’ll just follow you around..." Mini said with a smile, "Mostly just chatting with you..."

"That works perfectly." Lin Xing nodded gently, "I really don't have anything to do today."

The *Evil Kid* project was still in the preparation stage; they hadn't even started auditions yet, and it wasn't clear when filming would start. As for Zheng Zhou’s new variety show, needless to say, since Mini was here, what else was there to discuss? Other commercial work or pre-Spring Festival events were mostly turned down by Lin Xing. His main focus now was: rest. You must adjust well when it's time to rest, and you must not drop the ball when it's time to work.

And so, the interview began right at Lin Xing’s house. Since it was an interview, it was inevitable to talk about the key points of Lin Xing’s last year. They couldn't talk about Wu Yao’s scandal, so they focused on Lin Xing’s breakout moment participating in *Let’s Farm*.

"How did you think of taking this variety show at the time?" Mini asked with a smile.

"Actually, I had just returned from Dafeng Mountain. I spend some time at Dafeng Mountain every year. It was a coincidence that as soon as I got back, I received a call from Director Feng..." Lin Xing briefly explained the situation.

"I’ve been watching this show too. We all know it was very hard for you to record—getting the harvester license, sowing seeds, fertilizing, watering..." Before Mini could finish, Lin Xing interrupted her.

"Actually, we didn't feel it was hard at all when we were recording. If you ask everyone if they were tired, then yes, certainly. But to say it was 'hard'—that’s not really true..." Lin Xing laughed, "Especially after *Let’s Farm* gained some popularity, everyone’s mindset changed. After all, being able to get the audience's attention through this show—how can you call that bitter? Look, Duan Hai and Ding Yi didn't have much popularity before, but they got many opportunities thanks to this show. Guan Peng is the same; he got an audition for *School Dad, School Mom* through this show. Hong Fei got an audition for *Fishing Action* because of *Let’s Farm*. As for me, I got *Only Waiting for You* through *Let’s Farm*..."

Mini’s facial expression was becoming hard to control. They had indeed asked Sister Dao about this question, and Sister Dao had prepared a template answer: "We were a bit bitter, but as long as the audience likes the show, what does that matter?" These answers were basically all the same. But isn't that what interviews are like? However, Mini didn't expect Lin Xing to be so straightforward and honest.

But then, Mini felt a surge of joy. This meant that this episode would contain huge surprises. So, Mini took the opportunity to ask about the drama *Only Waiting for You*.

"We all know that everyone liked you as soon as *Only Waiting for You* started airing. Many even joked that Du Fei was the true 'overbearing CEO,' and some thought you played the 'overbearing CEO' quite well..." Mini asked with a smile, "So, what did this show bring you?"

"As you just said, it brought me recognition." Lin Xing said, "This show made some producers see me, made the industry pay attention to me, and made many viewers rediscover me."

Mini continued, "But I noticed you never mentioned this show in other settings; you even seemed to be avoiding it..."

"It’s not avoiding it; it’s that I feel the audience's praise for me was too generous." Lin Xing shook his head slightly and said, "I said as much when *Let’s Farm* ended: actors are only responsible for acting. But the lines are written by the screenwriter, the acting is guided by the director, and the effect presented is the result of the cooperation of various departments like makeup, lighting, and editing. How could I take all the praise myself? It’s not about fairness or unfairness; I just feel it’s not right. I’m grateful that the audience liked my performance, but I still think a character is a character, and an actor is an actor. Everyone can just like the character; there’s really no need to elevate the actor."

No matter how the outside world scolded *Only Waiting for You*—or cursed Chu Chen, Li Jingjing, or the director Kong Yi—Lin Xing only felt gratitude. When you are a nobody, why should others look up to you? Just because they didn't value you, you hate them, and then after you become famous, you trample on them? What would that make you? From beginning to end, Lin Xing didn't feel that the *Only Waiting for You* crew had treated him poorly, so he thanked the director, the screenwriter, and everyone in the crew on every occasion. Because of them, Lin Xing was recognized by everyone through Du Fei.

"So, you think if people like a character, they should just praise the character, and if they scold a character, they should just scold the character, and not elevate it to the actor, right?" Mini joked, "I hated Zhou Bo so much when I watched it. Did you think you would be scolded when you took this role?"

"I did." Lin Xing laughed, "But it’s wrong for an actor to be afraid of taking on certain roles just because they are afraid of being scolded."

Mini said, "So you played Zhou Bo to be as evil as possible?"

"Not really. I just felt that the character Zhou Bo should be a villain. Later, I discussed this character with Director Zu and Teacher Liao, and they all felt I was right." Lin Xing said.

For the next half hour, Mini felt that Lin Xing was really bold. She wondered how he dared to say some of these things. If Lin Xing was building a persona, this was a bit too reckless.

"Shall we go out for a walk?" After finishing a topic, Mini suggested to Lin Xing, "The sky in the Imperial Capital is quite nice today. Since you’re not working, let’s go around."

"Sure." Lin Xing said with a smile, "Today I’m following your one-day tour, Sister Mini, so I’ll do whatever you say."

"Alright, then I really have to thank you for being so cooperative." Mini said with a smile.

The two walked out of the residential complex while chatting.

"No need to stop them..." Lin Xing saw that some staff members were about to block the road and quickly said, "Really, no need to stop them. There aren't that many people." For Lin Xing, most passersby were very polite. They would never come up to bother you while you were filming, and more importantly, if you stop people who are just walking along, isn't that just asking for trouble?

Half an hour later, the recording was temporarily paused.

"Teacher Lin, can I take a picture with you?" In the park, a young person saw Lin Xing and walked over to ask.

"Sure." Lin Xing nodded gently.

Often, people like to follow the crowd. Sure enough, once one person came over for a photo, others followed. There were more and more people.

"Xiao Nan..." Lin Xing called out to Xiao Nan in the distance.

"Everyone, don't crowd. I’m about to record a show, so I really don't have much time. Here are some signed photos..." As he spoke, Lin Xing took the bag from Xiao Nan, which contained signed photos he had prepared in advance. He handed one to everyone. That finally brought things to an end.

"A-Xing, I’m truly impressed by you." Mini said as if seeing him for the first time, "You are the first person I've seen who voluntarily gives signed photos to fans."

"These aren't really fans; some people were just calling me Zhou Bo..." Lin Xing said with a smile, "Mainly because my signed photos were selling too expensively on Xianyu—thousands of yuan each. I thought I’d bring the price down. As long as I sign enough, my photos will be worthless."

"Everyone else wants their signed photos to be valuable because it shows status..."

"Sister Mini, I’m just an actor. What status do I need?" Lin Xing shook his head and said, "When I truly feel that I have 'status' or feel that I have 'class,' I’m probably not far from becoming greasy and falling from grace."

"You are truly clear-headed about the world." Mini sighed at the end.

Lin Xing thought to himself: this isn't being clear-headed. If you lived life once more, you’d be clear-headed too.