Chapter 49 Part 1

Seven days passed in the blink of an eye. That day, Lin Hang personally drove Chu Yi to the audition site for Illusory Sea Mystery Collection Republic Era.

Coincidentally, he ran into Chu Dazhi and Chu Sihui there. At that moment, Chu Sihui showed none of her previous difficult attitude. Instead, she wore a full face of sweet smiles as she fawned over a young woman with chestnut-colored long wavy hair, sunglasses, and an air of exquisite refinement from head to toe.

“Yinling Sis, have some water.”

The girl looked at the cheap paper cup in her hand, took off her sunglasses, and furrowed her brows. “Where did you get this paper cup from? So many people have used it—don’t you find it dirty?”

Her words caused the large waiting room to fall into an eerie silence for a moment. Everyone was using those paper cups, so was this Eldest Daughter implying that they were all dirty?

That was when Chu Yi followed Lin Hang inside. He trailed half a step behind Lin Hang, but his height surpassed the agent’s by more than half a head. He was slender and tall, with handsome features that retained a sharp edge of masculinity.

Si Yinling’s eyes lit up at the sight of him, and she stared at him without stopping, clearly very interested.

Seeing her brother outshone, Chu Sihui glared hatefully at Chu Yi and gritted her teeth. “Yinling Sis, don’t be fooled by his appearance. He’s that ungrateful white-eyed wolf cousin I told you about before!”

It was clear that Chu Dazhi had already learned about Chu Yi’s changes and relayed them to Chu Sihui. No wonder the siblings showed no surprise upon seeing him.

Chu Yi rolled his eyes helplessly. Chu Sihui hadn’t bothered to lower her voice, so half the people in the room turned to look at him.

In particular, when they saw that Lin Hang had brought him in, the male actors auditioning for major supporting roles shot him looks of jealousy and scrutiny. Clearly, they all saw Chu Yi as their biggest rival in this audition.

Chu Sihui kept going. “You’ve seen what he looked like before—dark and ugly. Who knows where he got himself…”

Chu Sihui’s mouth moved, but to her horror, she couldn’t make a single sound, as if she had suddenly gone mute!

Chu Dazhi grew anxious when his sister stopped talking. He looked up and saw her face twisted in terror, her mouth agape but silent. If not for the other people moving around them, he would have thought he’d gone deaf.

“Sihui, what’s wrong? You… don’t scare me!” Chu Dazhi shot to his feet, grabbed his sister’s hand, then remembered something and whirled to glare at Chu Yi. “What did you do to her?”

Chu Yi remained utterly composed. “I’m so far from her—what could I have done? I think your sister’s tongue is too long and got tangled up!”

Laughter rippled through the room at his words. This girl was badmouthing her cousin in front of everyone, and at an important audition no less. Wasn’t she deliberately trying to sabotage his chance?

Moreover, everyone had seen her fawning over the Eldest Daughter earlier, acting so cautiously and obsequiously that strangers might mistake her for the Eldest Daughter’s maid. Her character was plain to see.

By contrast, her cousin carried himself with poise and even cracked a witty remark. Even those without competing roles instinctively sided with Chu Yi.

“It was obviously you!” Chu Dazhi spat in frustration.

While accompanying his father in the hospital, he had heard about how Chu Yi used some special methods to force his dad to hand over the Household Registration Book and ID Card.

Chu Sihui played along with muffled “mmph mmph mmph” sounds beside him, but the others just dismissed it as the siblings overacting.

Chu Yi was several meters away, and Lin Hang stood slightly in front of him. Why didn’t they accuse Lin Hang of blocking her mouth?

“This is the film crew’s audition waiting room, not your living room!” Lin Hang said. “You claim my artist did it—show some evidence, or it’s slander. I can have Xingyao’s legal department sue you. Consider yourselves warned.”

Chu Dazhi’s face flushed red. He turned to Si Yinling. “Yinling…”

Though Si Yinling felt a bit embarrassed, Chu Dazhi had amused her greatly lately. Plus, she had brought him here herself—Lin Hang slapping him down was like slapping her.

So Si Yinling stood up and shot Lin Hang a mocking half-smile. “Broker Lin, throwing your weight around, huh? As far as I know, this isn’t an Xingyao audition site, is it?”

“Miss Si.” Lin Hang switched to a smiling face, as if he had only just noticed her, and chatted casually with her as if nothing had happened.

Si Yinling gave Lin Hang some face and responded perfunctorily, all while eyeing Chu Yi flirtatiously.

Chu Yi ignored her completely. He strode past her straight to the siblings and lowered his voice. “I already warned you before not to mess with me. Becoming mute for a day is your lesson. Next time, it won’t be so easy.”

Chu Dazhi looked wary. “What do you want?!”

Chu Yi sighed in exasperation. “I don’t want anything. You go your way, I’ll go mine. But if you keep provoking me like today, I have plenty of ways to deal with you—and you don’t want to find out.”

Chu Dazhi stared at him for a moment. “Who are you? You… you’re not Chu Yi?”

The Chu Yi he knew was taciturn and obeyed their family without question, not even knowing how to rebel. A personality change alone wouldn’t explain it—where did these eerie, unpredictable skills come from?