Second Take On Romance - The A-List Actor Wants Me
Chapter 194 : Privilege Versus Hard Work

Chapter 194: Chapter 194 : Privilege Versus Hard Work

"Welcome to the Handsome Butler Coffee Shop!"

"Lovely ladies, which butler should have the honor of serving you?"

In the past year, generations of butlers graduated from the coffee shop, but some of them returned recently.

Jin Zhuo, Luo Chengshi, and Yang Zichen showed up within days from each other. While a reunion was usually delightful, this time it carried a bittersweet note. None of them would return if they had one job lining up after another.

"I think I might be suffering from some unlucky streak," Jin Zhuo, sprawled across the bar counter, muttered.

"Me too," Luo Chengshi remarked.

"Me three," Yang Zichen sighed. "Ever since I failed to land that one commercial, I can’t keep any more jobs."

"Well, that’s showbiz, alright. We know that much. Cheers, everyone," Luo Chengshi lifted his coffee cup, and his two co-workers followed his gesture with a commiserating groan.

"Speaking of which..." Yang Zichen frowned at Jin Zhuo, "Did you not take part in that audition for ’Eyes Of The Hunter’?"

Jin Zhuo bit into his lower lip. He ran his mouth last time when he told them about meeting Shen Jingwei at the audition venue.

"Ah, yes."

Both Luo Chengshi and Yang Zichen looked at him, their eyes brimming with hope.

"Well? How did it go? Why are you so silent about it?"

Jin Zhuo pulled a grimace at them.

"I never got a callback after finishing the second round..."

The other two groaned in unison.

"Are you sure, Brother Jin? Maybe they are just taking their time to select the ones who passed?"

"I am pretty sure. Heck, how many auditions have I completed?"

"Right, right..."

"..."

A burning question perched on everyone’s tongue, but they were too afraid to voice it out loud.

Until eventually Luo Chengshi could not take it anymore and asked, "So, uh, did Shen Jingwei receive a callback?"

Jin Zhuo bit into his lower lip again.

"I don’t know."

"Why didn’t you ask him?"

"You still have his WeChat contact, don’t you?"

"I do, but..." Jin Zhuo sighed. "I don’t know how to react if he receives a callback and I don’t."

Luo Chengshi and Yang Zichen exchanged looks. Although no ranking system existed in the Handsome Butler Coffee Shop, everyone knew that Jin Zhuo was a lot more popular than Shen Jingwei.

Many butlers came to believe that their success as a butler in the coffee shop would reflect their success in the entertainment industry.

Now that Shen Jingwei’s handsome face was seen across television multiple times a day and Jin Zhuo remained anonymous, they were not so sure about their initial belief anymore.

"Let’s just give him a call," Luo Chengshi decided. "Come on, I will use my phone."

"No, wait..."

Jin Zhuo was mentally unprepared for the truth.

"He is busy. He is a rising actor now, so... so we shouldn’t bother him."

"Even if he is the next Yan Renzhong, we are still brothers who worked together at one point in time. Surely he wouldn’t ignore us," Yang Zichen argued.

"Guys, I am sure that he is shooting a drama or a commercial right now. Let’s just give it a rest. Besides... whether or not he passed the second round doesn’t concern me at all."

Jin Zhuo’s head drooped in disappointment.

Luo Chengshi sighed.

Yang Zichen pursed his lips.

"Okay, then let’s check out Yunhuan Entertainment’s website," he suggested. "It has been a while since the second round of audition concluded. Maybe they already posted the official cast list."

Jin Zhuo looked like he had just swallowed a live frog. He was not ready to see the result, but he was also very curious about the lucky actor who passed the audition.

"Oh, look, I am right. The cast list is out," Yang Zichen remarked.

"Feng Jietang as Cao Huifang, the protagonist, pffft surprising."

That was all Yang Zichen said before he fell silent, still staring at his phone screen.

"What’s wrong?" Luo Chengshi and Jin Zhuo approached him, both of them burning with curiosity.

"Who landed the antagonist role?"

Once they saw who it was, they too fell silent.

It was Shen Jingwei.

Luo Chengshi was the first person to speak.

"Ah... well, Shen Jingwei is having a great run recently. No wonder he got selected. Brother Jin, don’t feel too bad, alright?"

"..."

Jin Zhuo stared at Shen Jingwei’s name for a long time, until Yang Zichen switched off his screen.

"It’s alright, come on. Let’s work hard on our next auditions."

The words of Yang Zichen and Luo Chengshi were lost in the cacophony of Jin Zhuo’s pounding heart. He wanted to be the bigger person and admitted his defeat with a smile, but he couldn’t.

Why?

First, it was the Jiang Muchen role, and then the Su Jiahong role.

Shen Jingwei. That Shen Jingwei, whose mediocre performance could not compare to him, kept outperforming him.

Why?

The answer was obvious.

It was because Shen Jingwei cultivated a close friendship with Feng Jietang, the protagonist and the number one actor under Yunhuan Entertainment. With Feng Jietang’s recommendation, what role could Shen Jingwei not get?

Jin Zhuo tightened his fingers into fists.

It was so unfair.

Why bother making so many people go through an audition if the winner was clear from the get-go?

For several nights in a row, Jin Zhuo could barely sleep a wink.

A toxic green bile of jealousy churned within him, a corrosive acid eating away at his sanity.

And because he couldn’t sleep, he decided to finally chat Shen Jingwei up.

"Hey, Brother Shen," he typed. "Are you still awake?"

It was 2 AM, so probably not.

He waited in agony for almost half an hour before Shen Jingwei finally replied.

"Hey, Brother Jin," Shen Jingwei wrote. "Just woke up. What’s up?"

"..."

Just woke up?

Oh well. Shen Jingwei’s sleeping schedule wasn’t important. Jin Zhuo pressed his lips into a thin line.

He started typing a long reply, but upon reading it, he realized that it was not something he should ask through a chat.

"Say, Shen Jingwei, it has been a while since we met. Why don’t we have a little reunion at the Handsome Butler Coffee Shop tomorrow?"