Chapter 1383 Fan Baobao's Worry

Yu Feihong ultimately agreed to Zhao Fusheng's request.

Whether out of personal friendship or the professional ethics of a signed artist, Yu Feihong knew clearly that as the de facto leading lady of Future Film and Television, she needed to appear in this drama.

After all, the outside world was now buzzing with rumors that Lurk was Future Film and Television's ambitious project.

At this moment, as Zhao Fusheng's sworn sister, Yu Feihong naturally had to support her younger brother.

Zhao Fusheng was well aware of this, but his consideration was that this drama was destined to be a hit on the small screen. Since that was the case, rather than letting others benefit, it was better to let his closest sister take the role.

People are like that—they tend to divide relationships by closeness. For instance, Zhao Fusheng's relationship with Yu Feihong was certainly better than with Shen Aojun, who originally played the role. Naturally, Zhao Fusheng would prioritize his own sister.

Yu Feihong had other things to attend to, so they agreed to meet at the company the next day. Zhao Fusheng then returned home.

"How did it go? What about Sister Feihong?"

As soon as Zhao Fusheng entered, Fan Baobao asked curiously.

She knew that Zhao Fusheng had dined with Zhao Baogang and others today, and that the dinner had been arranged under Yu Feihong's name. She had originally thought Yu Feihong would come back with Zhao Fusheng.

"Sister Feihong has things to do; we'll meet at the company tomorrow," Zhao Fusheng said to Fan Baobao. "If you have time, come along too."

"Me?" Fan Baobao was puzzled. "What would I do there?"

She was genuinely confused. She rarely went to Future Film and Television; whenever something came up, either her assistant Yang Panpan or Ye Jing would call.

There was no help for it—her status was too special. Fan Baobao herself knew that her presence anywhere under the Future Group umbrella was a torment for those company executives.

Boss's wife?

Signed artist?

This shift in identity was undoubtedly quite awkward for many people.

To avoid causing trouble for others, Fan Baobao simply rarely went to the company.

Zhao Fusheng knew this too, so he usually didn't ask Fan Baobao to go to Future Film and Television or Future Group. After all, with his status, her presence would indeed be a hassle for many.

But this time, Zhao Fusheng actually took the initiative to ask Fan Baobao to go to Future Film and Television, which surprised her.

"The casting for Lurk is basically settled," Zhao Fusheng explained calmly. "The male lead is Sun Honglei. You can go take a look then."

Ah?

Fan Baobao was stunned for a moment, then recalled Sun Honglei's face, and her expression instantly became complicated.

There was no help for it—his screen image from Conquer was too iconic. Now, whenever anyone saw Sun Honglei or heard his name, they immediately thought of the three characters Liu Huaqiang.

This was certainly a good thing, showing that his character image was deeply ingrained in people's minds, but it was also a bad thing. Because Sun Honglei was first and foremost an actor. When an actor's image is fixed by a particular role, he has only two choices: either strive desperately to break through his acting limits, shedding that image to become a famous actor known by his own name rather than as the actor who played a certain famous role; or sink completely into becoming a typecast actor.

The most obvious example was a certain middle-aged uncle who called himself an intellectual. You could look at most of his roles—whether in Surgeon or The Disguiser, including The First Half of My Life—the character images were basically fixed, and he couldn't bring anything new to them.

"What, you think his image doesn't fit?" Zhao Fusheng smiled and asked Fan Baobao.

Fan Baobao's reaction had already betrayed her thoughts; Zhao Fusheng couldn't help but notice.

She gave a wry smile and nodded honestly: "Honey, I'm not doubting your decision, but I just feel that Sun Honglei's image is too far from Yu Zecheng in the novel script."

Forced by Zhao Fusheng, she had read the entire Lurk novel and had long obtained the script, starting to analyze the psychology of the female lead, Cuiping. She had already written nearly ten thousand words of character biography, so she naturally knew what kind of image Yu Zecheng had.

To be honest, no matter how hard she racked her brains, Fan Baobao couldn't understand how the fierce Liu Huaqiang and the low-key, introverted Yu Zecheng could be perfectly interpreted by Sun Honglei.

After all, this was a drama her husband had chosen for her. Fan Baobao didn't say it aloud, but her expectations for Lurk were very high. Now, seeing this situation, she suddenly felt hesitant.

In a drama, especially a spy thriller like Lurk, the male lead's role was extremely important. If they chose an unsuitable or poorly skilled actor for the lead, it would be a disaster.

The more Fan Baobao thought about it, the more worried she became, and her expression gradually turned serious.

"Silly girl, what are you overthinking?"

Zhao Fusheng gave Fan Baobao an exasperated glare and patted her shoulder: "Relax, relax. Do you think I wouldn't have thought of the problems you can imagine?"

Then Zhao Fusheng said, "Tomorrow is just an audition for him to come over and let you all see how it goes before making a decision."

Fan Baobao nodded skeptically. In fact, she knew that the reason Zhao Fusheng agreed to give up this role was partly because Sun Honglei might be the Yu Zecheng he had in mind, and partly because her own status was too low to get big-name male actors to play opposite her.

This was no joke. Stockpiling a bunch of Best Actors for a drama wasn't necessarily the way to boost a female actress. For example, if there were too many Best Actors, they might get carried away and show off their acting skills. Then the one who suffered would be the actress playing opposite them. If her acting skills weren't up to par, she would be overshadowed in no time.

That would be truly embarrassing.

After all, the most tragic thing for any actor was to be led by the rhythm of the other actor during a performance, even losing basic acting ability.

Fan Baobao didn't want to one day have people see her work and label her a vase.

This was the ultimate goal of every beautiful actress. When they first entered the entertainment industry, they were well aware of their positioning as vases, meant to adorn the industry and make it more attractive.

But at the same time, these actresses would get the returns they wanted from the entertainment industry.

Every sip and bite, every gain and loss, only they knew the warmth and coldness, and they had to taste the bitterness and joy themselves.

…

…

The next day, when Sun Honglei appeared at Future Film and Television, even Ye Jing was dumbfounded.

"What, are you kidding me?"

Ignoring the presence of Zhao Baogang and others, Ye Jing immediately pulled Zhao Fusheng aside, lowered his voice, and with a very serious expression, asked bluntly: "Do you think Sun Honglei's image suits Yu Zecheng?"

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback, looking utterly confused. He thought to himself, what's wrong with you all? Everyone thinks Sun Honglei is unsuitable. But in his previous life, when he watched the Lurk TV series, Sun Honglei acted very well.

Thinking carefully, he suddenly understood and laughed, saying to Ye Jing: "I get it. Don't worry, don't worry. I'll find a way to solve the problem right now."

With that, he turned and looked toward the door: "Get me a pair of glasses."

Glasses?

Everyone was baffled, but since the boss had given the order, the subordinates naturally dared not delay. Soon, a pair of glasses was brought out.

"These are my spare ones," said Ye Jing's assistant, respectfully handing the glasses to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng nodded, turned, and walked over to Sun Honglei.

"Chairman Zhao…"

Sun Honglei greeted Zhao Fusheng with a wry smile. From the reactions of everyone when he entered, he knew that his previous image was too problematic, causing everyone to doubt his suitability for Yu Zecheng.

Now that Zhao Fusheng was coming over, he thought Zhao Fusheng was going to back out and send him away.

But the next moment, a single sentence from Zhao Fusheng left Sun Honglei frozen in place.