Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore

Chapter 653: History Always Has Its Regrets; Countless Treasures Remain Abroad

Xiao He left the audition room through another door.

Shu Han had been waiting for Xiao He in the hallway the whole time.

“How did it go?”

He observed Xiao He’s expression first before asking.

“Not bad. I could tell Director Chou didn’t like me much, but the other panel judges seemed pretty satisfied.”

Xiao He shrugged and told the truth.

“Looks like none of us had it easy.”

Shu Han let out a long sigh. “Director Chou might have been gentler with you. After my audition, he grilled me relentlessly with tons of questions.”

And every single one of them was incredibly sharp.

Thinking back to how Director Chou had fired off a series of questions about the skills listed on his resume, Xiao He smiled bitterly to himself.
Yeah, it was obvious Director Chou had wanted to pick a fight back then, but after flipping through everything, he couldn’t find any real issues, so he ended up asking those questions anyway.

As for Brother Shu… his luck probably wasn’t as good.

Sure enough, Shu Han continued, “He asked me why I originally went abroad. Then he asked if I had achieved anything after going overseas. Finally, he asked why I came back if I was already planning to stay abroad.”

Hearing this, cold sweat broke out on Xiao He’s forehead.

Damn, those were some seriously aggressive questions.

Total death questions.

“So as soon as I walked out, I knew I probably had no chance.”

Shu Han sighed, then shook his head, before patting Xiao He on the shoulder. “You’re the only one with any hope now. But hanging around here won’t do us any good either. Let’s just head back and wait for news.”

Xiao He didn’t say anything, just nodded helplessly.

So the two of them headed downstairs together.

But when they reached the ground floor, Xiao He spotted that authentic calligraphy script again.

He stopped in his tracks, carefully examining the handwriting on it.

Even though he could now mimic the exact same script, the genuine article—personally penned by the author and spanning years—still carried that unique historical charm, holding a meaning all its own.

The only pity was that it was locked away behind cold glass, gazing out at all the later generations from afar.

Shu Han stopped too.

“I heard this authentic piece fetched a fortune at auction back then.” Shu Han stared at the carefully preserved scroll and let out another long sigh. “When it first appeared at an overseas auction, it caused a huge stir. Lots of Chinese businessmen rushed to bid on it, hoping to bring it back to the motherland.”

Xiao He fell silent for a moment, then raised an eyebrow, sensing something off. “But in the end, it stayed overseas.”

In the end, Yun Ziqi’s grandfather won the bid, and it had been kept in his overseas property ever since.

“Hmm, I think I know a bit about this.”

Shu Han thought back and then said, “At the end of the bidding, it was basically all Chinese people competing. I don’t know how they negotiated, but in the end, it was won by an overseas Chinese.”

An overseas Chinese wasn’t the same as a Chinese national; they were foreigners who had already emigrated.

So after all the twists and turns, the authentic script still remained abroad, as part of this overseas Chinese collector’s private collection.

No one expected it would actually show up back in the country now.

But it probably wouldn’t stay long. Once the production team was done here, once it had fulfilled its purpose, it would be shipped back overseas again.

It was pretty ironic when you thought about it.

Its origin was China, but its final resting place no longer belonged to China.

Xiao He didn’t say anything. He just stared at the authentic script for a long time, feeling a faint sense of regret deep inside.

Countless antiques were still lost overseas over the years, hidden away in someone’s private vault or museum.

This was just one of them.

“Sigh.”

Xiao He turned around and looked at Shu Han. “I think I’ll wait here for a while. During the audition, one of the consultant teachers really liked me and wanted to add me as a contact. I’ll hang around a bit longer to see if I can chat with him in person after the auditions are over.”

Adding someone as a contact afterward just wasn’t as good as doing it face to face.

Besides, by then, the other competitors would have finished their auditions too, so he could also discreetly ask Elder Qian about the final results.

“Whoa, I didn’t know you had that kind of luck.”

Shu Han sucked in a breath. “Alright then, I’ll go book a private room first. I’ll wait for you to come celebrate later.”

Xiao He smiled helplessly. “It’s not like we’ll know the results that fast. Don’t pop the champagne too early—that’s basically a jinx.”

“Haha, alright, alright, my bad.”

Shu Han laughed heartily, genuinely happy for Xiao He. He waved his hand and cheerfully headed out of the art center.

After Shu Han left, Xiao He continued wandering around the art center.

But he had to admit, his brain wasn’t exactly packed with artistic cells.

Especially on this middle floor, with its dimly lit painting exhibition room. Every oil painting here looked like random splashes of paint and lines, and the deathly yellow light overhead had this creepy flicker to it. Forget trying to take a selfie under those paintings—just standing there and looking up to appreciate them made Xiao He’s eyes sting.

He paused in front of the dim lighting, squinting hard to try and grasp the hidden meaning of the painting, but ultimately failed.

Xiao He felt like he might be wasting the most important half-hour of his life.

Oh wait, no—he’d actually been staring for half an hour already…

Xiao He mentally scolded himself as he turned back.

This time, at a familiar corner, he spotted a stranger.

The person was thin, with shoulder-length hair. He didn’t look like some celebrity, more like a staff member or an artist from the art center.

From Xiao He’s angle, he could clearly see the stranger gently touching the glass case containing the authentic script with extreme care—even though there was a pane of glass in between.

That kind of reverence and obsession was something Xiao He couldn’t even fake.

He observed from the side for a while, didn’t sense any dangerous energy coming from the other person, so he didn’t bother him and just found a spot to sit and rest.

About an hour later, today’s auditions officially ended.

During that time, aside from Xiao He, who had come out the earliest, the next one to emerge was Yun Ziqi.

And the last one to come out, unsurprisingly, was that sudden appearance, Yang Heng.

Their expressions were all very calm; Xiao He couldn’t read anything from their faces.

When they saw Xiao He still waiting on-site, they looked a bit surprised, but they maintained their composure, nodded slightly at him, and left.

It was Yang Heng, who came out last, who actively walked over to Xiao He.

“Honestly, I’m really curious about the final ranking now.”

Yang Heng said bluntly. “Before I came here, my fourth uncle told me you’d be a very strong opponent.”

Xiao He thanked him. “Thanks to Director Yang for thinking so highly of me. You’re a very strong opponent too. I really like your work, *Green Mountain*.”

*Green Mountain* was a stage play about a young general, and the real-life model for the character was Emperor Chen.

It was only when Xiao He was digging through information that he remembered why Yang Heng looked familiar—because in those historical blogger analyses he had watched, many of the video clips were taken from Yang Heng’s stage performances.

No wonder Yang Heng was here; the young Emperor Chen was his forte.

Yang Heng chuckled lightly, not at all bothered that Xiao He had only just looked up his representative works online. Instead, he invited, “When you have time later, come find me at the theater. I think a guy who can pull off *Twelve Mirrors* can’t be that bad when it comes to actually performing on stage together, right?”

“Huh?”

Xiao He was genuinely shocked, even a bit unsure. “If I’m not mistaken, you’re inviting me to perform with you guys?”

Yang Heng nodded. “That’s right.”

Xiao He fell silent for a moment.

The National Theater had extremely high standards. Not just anyone could get in; even getting a formal position was incredibly difficult. But if someone participated as a guest actor, the principal actor could recommend them for an official performance.

That’s why being invited to perform at the National Theater was a huge recognition in the industry.

Xiao He never expected that, after just one meeting, the other party would be willing to extend such an invitation.

But since the opportunity was right in front of him, he definitely couldn’t miss it!

“Sure.”

Xiao He agreed without hesitation.