10
A commotion suddenly arose from the front. Someone whispered, “That’s Director Zhang’s assistant, Assistant Liu. I recognize him, he’s always with Director Zhang.”
Everyone craned their necks curiously. Then they watched as Assistant Liu walked straight up to Jiang Mian and gave a slight bow. “Miss Jiang, please come with me.”
All eyes turned to Jiang Mian—envious, jealous, and resentful looks in equal measure. Jiang Mian was long accustomed to such attention. She followed Assistant Liu inside with complete composure.
After a moment of silence, the crowd erupted in noise.
“What does this mean? Has Director Zhang already chosen someone? I thought this was an open audition?”
“No way. If he’d already decided, he would have announced it.”
“If she’s being taken in by Director Zhang’s people, doesn’t that mean she gets to see Brother Qin up close?”
…
Inside the auditorium, there were two areas. One was open to the public, where many people crowded together just for a chance to catch a glimpse of Qin Jingrun. The other was a closed-off stage area, where Director Zhang was holding his auditions. Outside that area, a line had formed of people waiting to try out.
Assistant Liu led Jiang Mian directly to a spot in front of a short-haired girl—third in line.
She had been officially pulled in to cut the line. That way, no one could complain.
The short-haired girl was about to say, “How can you just cut in line?” when she saw it was Assistant Liu. She swallowed her words.
Assistant Liu nodded at Jiang Mian and quietly withdrew.
“You’re… Jiang Mian?” the short-haired girl hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
Jiang Mian was something of a minor celebrity at school. As soon as her name came out, the two girls ahead of her turned around as well, eyeing Jiang Mian appraisingly.
“Is there a problem?” Jiang Mian asked calmly, meeting their gazes.
Under her stare, the two girls turned back around. The short-haired girl flinched but pressed on: “Assistant Liu brought you here. Are you close with Director Zhang?”
Jiang Mian smiled at her. “You can ask Director Zhang himself.”
The short-haired girl fell silent.
Before long, the door ahead opened. A girl walked out with red eyes but an unusually excited expression. Someone in line who knew her asked, “How did it go?”
“They told me to wait for news,” the girl said. Her friend looked disappointed, usually that was a polite way of saying no. “Then why are you both crying and smiling?”
The girl clutched her heart. “I saw Brother Qin! He smiled at me so gently. Even if I don’t get selected, it was worth it.”
Jiang Mian: “…”
She was starting to suspect that most of these girls had come under the pretense of auditioning, when in reality, their true goal was to see Qin Jingrun.
Soon, it was Jiang Mian’s turn. She pushed open the door and walked in. The small stage stood before her. Below it was a row of chairs. Four people sat in the front row. One person sat in the second row—Qin Jingrun.
He was dressed simply in casual clothes, sitting quietly in his seat. When Jiang Mian’s gaze met his, he gave her a subtle wink.
“Where’s your resume?” The director in the center, Director Zhang looked at the photo on the resume in his hand. It clearly didn’t match the person standing before him. Assuming someone had broken the rules, he frowned, about to lose his temper.
Assistant Liu leaned in and whispered, “She’s the girl Brother Qin asked me to help cut in line for. Her name is Jiang Mian.”
When Jiang Mian was born, Qin Jingrun was already very famous. To keep Jiang Mian out of the public eye, he had guarded her existence closely. Fewer than five people in the entertainment industry knew he had a daughter.
Director Zhang had no idea about the father-daughter relationship between Jiang Mian and Qin Jingrun. But the fact that Qin Jingrun had asked for help meant there was some kind of connection. Naturally, he would do Qin Jingrun this favor.
Director Zhang sized up Jiang Mian discreetly. Few girls who got into film academy were unattractive. And as one of the industry’s most renowned directors, he had seen countless beauties. Rarely did anyone truly impress him.
The young girl standing quietly on stage, without saying a word, carried an indescribable presence. It felt less like the four of them below were judging her, and more like she was judging them.
Startled, Director Zhang straightened up slightly, a new seriousness in his eyes. He glanced back at Qin Jingrun and met his smiling eyes. Understanding dawned. He turned to Jiang Mian and said, “Three minutes to prepare.”
The assistant director handed Jiang Mian the audition scene. It was identical to the one her Film Emperor Dad had sent her.
A few minutes later, Jiang Mian wiped a single tear from the corner of her eye and said, “Director Zhang, I’m done.”
Director Zhang snapped back to reality. His first words were: “Jingrun, what do you think?”
Qin Jingrun clapped his hands, unable to suppress the smile tugging at his lips. He said with restraint, “Not bad. The young lady fully expressed the character’s emotions in that specific situation. Very good, indeed.”
Because of his film shoots, Qin Jingrun hadn’t seen his precious daughter in six months. Even video calls happened only once a month. He hadn’t expected to see her again and receive such a pleasant surprise.
Seeing how satisfied he was, Director Zhang lowered his voice. “Then let’s go with her.”
Remembering his daughter’s talk of fair competition, Qin Jingrun said, “This is your film. Don’t let my connection sway you. Choose who you truly think is the best fit.”
Director Zhang knew exactly what Qin Jingrun was doing—trying to avoid the appearance of favoritism. So, he said to Jiang Mian, “Go home and wait for news. We’ll let you know.”
Jiang Mian stepped out. To her surprise, Guan Xin had somehow made her way to the front of the line as well.
She raised an eyebrow but couldn’t be bothered to figure out how. As she walked out of the auditorium, she received a message from her Film Emperor Dad, telling her to come to the school’s faculty dormitory building, he was waiting for her there.
Afraid Jiang Mian wouldn’t come, her father added, “Baby, you must come,” followed by a pitiful emoji.
Thinking of the calm, composed Qin Jingrun she had just seen in the auditorium, and then looking at the soft, cutesy tone of his message, Jiang Mian didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh.
She tucked her phone away, recalled the direction of the faculty dormitory, and started walking. As she passed a corner, a hand suddenly reached out to grab her. Jiang Mian swiftly reversed her grip on the person’s wrist and twisted hard.
“Jiang Mian!” An angry, pained voice exploded above her head. She realized it was Gu Qiwen.
Jiang Mian: “…”
“What’s wrong with you?” Since no one else was around, Jiang Mian stared at Gu Qiwen, coldness flickering in her eyes.
Gu Qiwen looked utterly incredulous, unable to believe that Jiang Mian had subdued him. He struggled, and Jiang Mian let him go. She pulled a wet wipe from her bag and deliberately wiped her hand with it.
“Me liking you before? That was me being blind.” She considered throwing the wipe at him but thought better of it—after all, he was the male lead with protagonist halo. “I’m not bothering you anymore, so why do you keep bothering me?”
She raised an eyebrow, her gaze shifting. “Or what? Have you suddenly realized how great I am and want to dump Guan Xin to come after me?”
In the past, Gu Qiwen would have responded with harsh, sarcastic words. But now, looking at Jiang Mian’s eyes, he actually froze for a moment.
This face used to always appear with heavy, seductive makeup, domineering and arrogant, looking down on everyone—it had disgusted him. Yet no matter how overbearing she was, her eyes had always held a tender affection whenever she looked at him.
Now, that face had shed its former glamorous makeup. Bare-faced, it was unexpectedly pleasant to look at.
When she looked at him now, her eyes were cold from start to finish, carrying undisguised mockery. It made him angry, but also vaguely puzzled.
Jiang Mian—this woman really did seem different.
Jiang Mian said, “Oh my, Senior Gu, was I right? You do want to pursue me again? Then I’ll immediately broadcast this wonderful news across campus, and then—”
Gu Qiwen finally snapped out of it. The various thoughts that had crossed his mind made his face turn livid. “A woman like you—I feel sick just looking at you. If you want to do something, come at me. But if you dare lay a hand on Guan Guan again, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”
He believed that Jiang Mian’s participation in Director Zhang’s audition was deliberately meant to oppose Guan Xin, and that she would even use her family background to eliminate Guan Xin. So, he had come to warn her.
“Gu Qiwen, are you genuinely stupid or just pretending?” Jiang Mian truly couldn’t understand what the original Jiang Mian had ever seen in someone like him.
She supposed it could only be blamed on the original author. In the book’s narrative, no matter how badly Gu Qiwen treated her, the original Jiang Mian never got angry.
She said, “Let me warn you too. From now on, stay away from me, you and your Guan Xin. If you ever speak to me disrespectfully again, I guarantee you’ll regret it.”
Ever since arriving in this book world, she had resolved to stay far away from the male and female leads and live a new, ordinary mortal life. But they kept coming after her. Did they really think she had no temper?
In the cultivation world, Jiang Mian had reached the Mahayana stage in just fifty years. How many secret realms had she ventured through? Her high-level cultivation had been forged through life-and-death trials. She didn’t anger easily, nor did she kill lightly. But that didn’t mean she had no temper.
Before coming to this world, her last moment had been spent in a final battle with a great demon king.
She extended her fingertip and pressed it against Gu Qiwen’s chest. She drew a thread of true qi from her dantian and channeled it through her fingertip into his heart. His face instantly turned deathly pale. A sharp, twisting pain shot through his heart, leaving him unable to breathe.
Jiang Mian withdrew her hand and walked away lightly. A few minutes later, a small electric scooter pulled up beside her. “Mianmian, get on.”
Jiang Mian: “?”
The driver was wearing a helmet, so she couldn’t see his face.
He lowered his voice. “I’m Lin Xi. Brother Qin said it’s hot out and he didn’t want you to get tired, so he sent me to pick you up.”
Jiang Mian didn’t stand on ceremony. She sat down. “Did Dad just leave like that? What about all those people outside who came to see him?”
Lin Xi sounded puzzled. “Plenty of people want to see Brother Qin. Does that mean he has to stop and let them gawk at him every time?”
That was such a reasonable point that Jiang Mian couldn’t argue.
“Baby!” The moment Qin Jingrun opened the door, he pulled Jiang Mian inside and measured their heights. “You’ve grown taller. Last time we met, you weren’t even up to Daddy’s chin.”
Jiang Mian couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Her Film Emperor Dad turned her left and right, confirming that his precious daughter, whom he hadn’t seen in six months, had indeed grown taller and looked healthier than before. Only then did he release her with satisfaction.
A few seconds later, a shocked voice rang out: “Holy crap! Old Qin! Didn’t you tell me your precious daughter was only three years old? This is your three-year-old daughter?”
Jiang Mian: “???”
**