Ding Jia didn't have much time to dwell on the bloodied woman after that. Within days, Lin Lin had her booked solid — meetings with sponsors renewing old endorsement deals, a string of video interviews about her recovery that she dutifully accepted, and somewhere in between, the small matter of choosing her actual comeback project.
In the end, she chose Shen Ru's horror film. Partly because she genuinely loved his work, and partly because she'd devoured the newly released series in three sleepless nights and decided, somewhat recklessly, that she wanted to be the one to bring its lead to life.
A week later, she arrived at her agency for a closed-door audition with the director and author.
"It's been a while, Director Gu." She shook hands with one of the most respected directors in the industry, a man whose praise was rare enough to be worth bragging about for years.
"I heard what happened to you. Didn't expect you back on your feet this fast. Are you sure you're not pushing yourself too hard, as usual?"
"Director Gu, it's a little unfair how well you know me."
"That's exactly why I'm warning you." He settled into his chair with the air of someone preparing a familiar lecture. "You just got out of the hospital, and now you're already running headfirst into another project."
"If I wanted to go back to the hospital, I wouldn't have finished an entire week of filming with a thirty-nine-degree fever last time."
"You did finish it — and then collapsed and got rushed to the emergency room two days later."
"That was my manager's fault."
"Because she knew exactly what you'd do once the fever broke." He smiled, victorious, clearly enjoying this far too much.
Their easy back-and-forth was interrupted by a clipped, "Sorry I'm late," from behind her.
"Great! You're finally here. Ms.Ding, let me introduce to you, Mr. Luo Yang, the book writer behind this amazing work." Director Gu blissfully introduced the two to each other.
Ding Jia turned around already smiling, and the smile froze halfway as recognition hit.
...Shen Ru was her neighbor. THE Shen Ru?!
She recovered in less than a second, decades of camera training paying off instantly, and greeted him with the same warm professionalism she'd give any director. The three of them settled in without further preamble.
"I understand Mr. Shen has final approval on casting, especially the female lead," she said. "Is there a particular scene you'd like me to perform?"
She'd had exactly three days to read the entire series, absorb the lore, and internalize a character she'd never even known existed before her coma. Not the most confidence-inspiring prep window for a role this important.
Director Gu nodded toward the author. "Mr. Shen negotiated full casting authority in exchange for the film rights. He sat in on every supporting role audition personally. For the lead, given how central she is, we agreed on a one-on-one audition instead."
Shen Ru — Luo Yang, across the hall from her, apparently — gave the smallest possible nod of confirmation.
"Then show me," he said, and paused long enough that she leaned in slightly. "...the most important scene in Illusions of Time."
That was it. No further elaboration. No scene number. No description. Just one sentence.
Ding Jia glanced at Director Gu, who looked entirely unsurprised by the vagueness. Clearly this was standard procedure for Shen Ru, a filter built specifically to weed out anyone who hadn't truly understood the story beneath the plot. Most effective in weeding out those who bribed their way in the auditions.
She took a slow breath and reached back through everything she'd absorbed about the book. Illusions of Time: The Alibi Series followed a girl raised in a mountain temple, gifted — or cursed — with the ability to see spirits and read echoes of the past, drawn into a centuries-old murder case involving one of the country's most infamous historical figures.
The mystery was compelling. But the real heart of the story, she'd realized somewhere around the second book, wasn't the case at all.
It was the girl herself — and everything the dead had slowly taken from her.
The most important scene, then. Could it be—?