The wait wasn’t long.
Zhang Jingsong lived up to his reputation of being a decisive director and pulled the trigger on cast decisions within the week. Calls were sent out to managers and a cast reading was scheduled for the next weekend. Wasn’t it too soon? Filming wasn’t even set to begin for another two months!
Xia Ruyun, having fallen back into her depressive lull over the week, received Gao Qian’s call in bed. “...?”
“Hello, I hope you’re doing well, Xia Ruyun,” Gao Qian’s voice came over the phone. “I’m just calling to inform you of the audition’s result. Just a few minutes ago, Zhang Jingsong let me know. He’d be delighted to have you act as Murong An in his project, ‘The Flames of Heaven’s Mandate.’ You’ve been selected for the role, Xia Ruyun.”
“... R-Really?” Xia Ruyun clenched onto the pillow with her free hand. “... Are you sure?”
“I am sure,” Gao Qian’s quiet laugh rang out. “You’ve done amazing, Xia Ruyun. Welcome back.”
Even after a few seconds of silence, Xia Ruyun could only cough as she felt her throat clog up and vision blur. Clinging onto her pillow, she dropped her phone onto the bed beside her while laughs began escaping her lips.
I... I really did it...
After Gao Qian said a few more encouraging words, she felt the floodgates loosen. Sobs escaped her mouth between laughs as she curled up in bed next to her phone.
“I accept! Gao Qian, please tell Director Zhang I accept! I’m willing, I’m excited, I’m ready!” Xia Ruyun dropped her restraints for a moment as words came pouring forth. Beyond a whisper, her speaking returned to its pre-incident volume for a brief flash.
Gao Qian, on the other end of the phone call, heard the melodious cadence of Xia Ruyun’s singing voice floating around the edges of her words. Even if it had been years since she had last heard it, the cadence alone gave her the confirmation she needed. The talent that caused people to squeal like masochistic pigs still slumbered within Xia Ruyun.
“Director Zhang is also asking for your availability. I believe he’s trying to push for filming to start sooner. What would you like me to answer with? I know you don’t have anything going on, but would you like to give yourself some time to rest?” Gao Qian took the opportunity to ask. She had already pulled up Zhang Jingsong’s email after all.
“Mn, just say I’m available anytime after the cast reading,” Xia Ruyun murmured as her energy began tapering off. With her anxieties washing back over her, she, without realizing it, clutched her phone just a little harder. “I’ve... I’ve been resting for the past three years already.”
“... Sounds good,” Gao Qian typed into her notes. “Rest well, you deserve it. I’ll come pick you up Saturday morning, okay?”
“Thank you,” Xia Ruyun laid back down in bed. After hanging up, she tossed her phone aside and pulled the blankets back over her. Smiling under the sheets, she couldn’t tell if the shaking of her hands was from nervousness or excitement. It was like the heavens were shocking her out of inactivity!
It did put her in an awkward position, though. Laying in bed didn’t evoke the same sense of freedom anymore... Stress now floated around the back of her mind. It made her stomach toss and turn whenever she wasn’t working.
To dodge her own feelings, Xia Ruyun rolled over in bed. Cocooned in her blankets like some sushi roll’s filling, she let out a long sigh while staring at her perpetually dark ceiling for a few seconds. Roiling in her own self-pity, she snuck a hand back out into the cold for a few seconds to grab her trusty pillow along with a few hot packs.
Once done activating her hot packs, she let herself fall into the sweet embrace of sleep. Stress? Stress could be stressed over... tomorrow.
---
And stress she did. Unable to control the feeling of her life slipping through her fingers like fine grains of sand, she ended up overcompensating in other parts of her day-to-day routine. She ordered several new outfits to have presentable clothes to wear even though her wardrobe already met all the current style trends. She—paradoxically—also started eating less to control her weight even though she was already, well, a fair bit underweight.
She needed control. She always needed to do something to keep the stress at bay.
To her fortune though, time flew by and, without her realizing, the week passed just as fast as the three weeks pre-audition. Rising at the crack of dawn, Xia Ruyun took her time preparing and dressing up for the full cast script reading session. Stress urged her forward, and she booked it downstairs the moment Gao Qian texted her to say she arrived.
Quiet through the entire ride, she just nodded as Gao Qian mentioned how the company and Zhang Jingsong wanted her to book a physical. Even more, Zhang Jingsong had gone so far as to hire a dietician for the cast.
Arriving, she patted Gao Qian on the shoulder as a show of thanks before entering the venue alone. Gao Qian had wanted to accompany her, but at the last second, one of her other clients had an emergency come up. So, after getting a profuse apology from her manager, she was attending alone. She didn’t mind, of course, but Gao Qian sure had come a long way...
From one client to now what... a lot? Gao Qian had climbed up the corporate ladder for sure!
As she walked out of the car though, a different thought flitted across her mind.
I regret wearing heels.
Sure, she had only chosen low heels, but every step against the pavement sent a mild ‘reminder’ up her leg of how out-of-practice she was. A little self-conscious, she kept her head down and slipped through the door into the venue.
Small.
Zhang Jingsong had rented a room small enough to pass for a studio apartment. The room, devoid of any furniture, was filled with a handful of actors, assistants, and managers milling around. Xia Ruyun, unwilling to socialize, just stood in the corner while scrolling on her phone. Her ears though, stayed open because... it never hurts to eavesdrop a little, right?
“Did you hear?”
“What?”
“He’s been saying this to everyone, don’t mind him.”
“Hey, it’s important news! Leave, maybe they want to hear it, okay? Do you want to hear it?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Well, now I’m not telling you. You’ll just have to find out. You’ll see soon enough.”
“Why are you like this Wu Linjie!? Who made you this way!? Did your mother raise you incorrectly!?”
“I can’t hear you, lalala~”
Snorting, Xia Ruyun peeked over her phone to see Wu Linjie walking away from the other actor while his manager massaged his eyebrows behind him. As a professional eavesdropper, she made sure to hide her presence while people-watching.
“Good morning, everyone,” Zhang Jingsong greeted as he walked in with a small team behind him. “Oh? Not everyone’s here? No worries. Everyone who’s here, let’s start off by gathering in a circle. An assistant is coming with some cushions so we can all sit down.”
“Director Zhang, here,” An assistant handed over a file folder. “The scripts.”
“Thank you,” Zhang Jingsong chuckled while setting the folder down on the table. Looking towards the actors, he flipped open the folder and began handing out scripts to those closest to him. “I’m also going to ask all the assistants and managers to please leave the room. I know you all care immensely for your clients, but I’d like to keep the contents of the show as secret as possible.”
Murmurs of confusion broke out throughout the room. Many of the managers, like Wu Linjie’s, planned on attending the shooting of the show anyway. Why couldn’t they sit in on the cast reading?
“It doesn’t hurt to minimize the spread. The less people who know, the less possibility of a leak. That’s not even mentioning how the room is overcrowded with so many people in it.” Zhang Jingsong shook his head. “Plus, I like to have it a little more intimate and private here for our first script reading. It lets the actors all bond for our upcoming show.”
Following his explanation, he motioned towards the door with a faint smile. “Please and thank you.” To set an example, he then turned to his assistants and motioned for everyone to leave except for the assistant director. “You all too.”
As the room broke out in murmurs once more—but ones of agreement this time—he nodded in satisfaction as the assistants and managers all began filing out of the room. The actors, meanwhile, all began picking up their scripts and forming a loose circle.
Just how it should be-
“Sorry I’m late, old friend!”
Zhang Jingsong’s smile cracked as a woman walked through the doors, interrupting with an apologetic cough. “Please forgive me this time. I ran into one of your assistants hauling a whole wagon of cushions by himself.”
Zhang Jingsong, well-acquainted with her from a previous movie, could only cough in embarrassment as his assistant bowed his head while peeking through the doorway. He had no retorts for the woman’s banter—he knew he knew he’d lose nothing but his own pride if they continued. The woman, on the other hand, broke out into a relieved, playful smile as he just smiled and waved her in with the cushions. “You know, Director Zhang, just what kind of heartless person would I be if I didn’t help your assistant?"
Laughing and sharing a half-hug with Zhang Jingsong as he shook his head in exasperation, she turned to the rest of the room. “Anyhow, cushions are here, everyone!”
Xia Ruyun, having perked up from the commotion, quivered and felt her eyes shake as hushed whispers broke out all throughout the room.
Li Feiling had arrived.