Seeing Director Jin again, it was still at that grand theater. The security at the entrance confirmed Li Ling's identity. She wore a "Temporary Visitor" badge around her neck and passed through two security checks and a facial recognition scan. A staff member beside her explained that this would be the main filming location for the movie, so security was quite strict. "The director is someone who values his privacy," the staff emphasized. Li Ling nodded, indicating her understanding. The staff continued to introduce the theater, mentioning that it had nearly a hundred years of history and had been abandoned for almost forty years. They had put a lot of effort into restoring it. Hearing about the extensive work, Li Ling couldn't help but ask, "Did you need permission from the local government to rent this theater?" The staff member laughed, as if she had asked a very amusing question. "The director bought this place. What do you think?" he said. Li Ling: "Oh." She suddenly remembered that Jin Jingyao, besides being a director, was also the youngest son of a Forbes-listed entrepreneur. Buying an abandoned theater in the mountains must have been as easy for him as buying a Lego set. "So, what do you think the director would buy for his lifesaver?" she asked optimistically. The staff member didn't catch her words: "What?" "Haha, nothing." Li Ling had already spotted Jin Jingyao from afar. She almost didn't recognize him. He was wearing a loose, somewhat dirty work uniform, standing on a very high scaffold, slightly tilting his head, and was intently inspecting something. The glaring lights pierced through thick cables, illuminating the young man's tall figure, like countless faintly visible threads holding up the entire stage. This scene was perfect, worthy of a movie poster, but no one present appreciated it. The height was too dangerous, and the director had just recovered from a serious illness, making the staff below look worried. At that moment, Jin Jingyao seemed to sense something and suddenly turned around. Li Ling was caught off guard, feeling a blinding white light piercing straight into her eyes. It seemed that Jin Jingyao wouldn't buy a gift for his lifesaver. He would only shine a light in her eyes. The young man, looking down from above, aimed the flashlight at her, watching how she awkwardly raised her hand to shield her face, almost stumbling, before he said, "Sorry." He didn't sound very sorry. Because his next sentence was, "You're two minutes late." Li Ling: "..." She wondered which was ruder: being two minutes late or randomly shining a flashlight in your savior's eyes. Despite cursing inwardly, she immediately asked with a concerned face how he was recovering. Jin Jingyao didn't answer her question. He stood high above, looking at her for a moment before coming down from the scaffold. His movements were steady, and his back was still straight, but he had indeed lost a lot of weight after his illness. His cheeks were deeply sunken, and his jawbone was sharp and hard, like a cold, pale chisel. This did not detract from his handsomeness; it only made him seem more unapproachable. When he looked straight into her eyes, she felt a dizzying sensation that almost took her breath away. Li Ling still didn't know why Jin Jingyao wanted to see her today. She hoped he was here to beg her to audition. Last time, he had a high fever, and then the theater lost power due to a rainstorm, scaring Li Ling half to death. Fortunately, his assistant Xiao Liu arrived quickly to handle the aftermath. The scene was chaotic for a while. From another staff member, Li Ling learned that during that period, Jin Jingyao had been sleepless and barely eating, locking himself in a room like a madman to revise the script. No wonder he fell ill so suddenly. "Wasn't the script finalized? Why the sudden changes?" a staff member asked Xiao Liu. Xiao Liu recalled, "One day, the director told me there would be a meeting in ten minutes, but he never showed up." Li Ling vaguely felt that this sentence sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had heard it before. She had always had a poor memory. Jin Jingyao, with a high fever and unconscious, was sent to a hospital in the provincial capital. It was said that his parents, who were abroad, were alarmed and ordered him to rest for at least a week. Li Ling sent messages to Xiao Liu every day, inquiring about the director's condition and hinting that she was so worried she couldn't eat or sleep. At the same time, because the crew's meals were too good, she had to run every day and casually took some morning run photos to post on Weibo. 9787532754335 liked every single one of them. Strangely, since the day Li Ling joined the crew, 9787532754335 had become very silent and never interacted with her again. Until the night Jin Jingyao had his accident. Frightened by the young director's sleep-talking, after sending him to the ambulance, Li Ling couldn't help but send a private message to 9787532754335, asking if he had watched all her dramas. Usually, 9787532754335 would reply instantly, but this time he took a day to respond. He coldly said, "I haven't watched a single one." Li Ling understood: He had watched every single one and really loved her. "Can you recite my lines?" she asked again. 9787532754335 immediately replied, "No." Li Ling: "Alright, that's really a pity because someone can recite my lines, even in their dreams." "What do you think that means?" she asked seriously. 9787532754335 was silent for a long time: "Maybe it means he had a nightmare?" Li Ling: "..." She almost forgot this fan wasn't quite normal. From that day on, 9787532754335 became active again. Not only did he like every post, but he also frequently sent private messages, commenting that she wasn't dressed warmly enough, her running posture was unhealthy, she hadn't warmed up properly, and the most outrageous was once pointing out that she wore her socks inside out. How to put it, maybe he was looking at her photos with reading glasses to see so clearly. One day, deeply moved, she finally confessed to him that she was actually waiting for a very important audition but hadn't received any results yet and was a bit nervous. 9787532754335 said, "Don't be nervous." The next day, Jin Jingyao was discharged from the hospital and asked to see her that afternoon. "Thank you for taking care of me that night," the young director said to her, his tone emotionless. Maybe it was because he had just recovered from a serious illness, so his voice sounded so light. Before Li Ling could say "You're welcome," he turned and left. Running so fast, was he in a hurry to reincarnate? A staff member walked over and handed her two pages of paper. "Hello, this is the script. The audition will start in an hour," the person said. Li Ling: ! She immediately smiled brightly and loudly said in the direction Jin Jingyao had left, "Okay, thank you, director!" His footsteps seemed to pause for a moment. Or maybe she was mistaken. - In Jin Jingyao's documentary, one thing is very clear.He indeed had almost obsessive demands regarding the quality of the film. Therefore, even for a screen test, actors had to go through the full makeup and hair process, with standards no different from an official shoot. However, Li Ling had been waiting in the makeup room for a long time, and no one had come in. She sat alone in front of the mirror and finally had to pick up the powder puff and brush herself. Fortunately, in her previous drama, the budget was often cut, and except for Qin Yi who had his own makeup artist, other minor actors had to do their own makeup and hair. She was quite familiar with this and her skills were quite proficient. Perhaps it was an illusion, but Li Ling often felt that someone was watching her. Yet, there was clearly no one else in the room. In the large makeup mirror, the woman in the reflection had long, slender eyebrows and eyes, but full lips. Her dark green hair was like a forest glistening after the rain, and the slightly upturned corners of her eyes were also shrouded in the mist of the rainy season. Light, shadow, and the mirror surface intertwined into a seemingly real and illusory golden hue, enveloping her thin silhouette. Her upper body leaned slightly forward, resting against the mirror, as if she were about to be swallowed by the bright mirror light. Behind the mirror, the heavy curtains were lifted and then fell again by a breeze from nowhere, revealing a sliver of light. After a while, Li Ling went to the restroom and heard someone outside saying, "Do you know the one who came for the audition today?" Another person chuckled, "Never heard of her, no idea where this small-time actress came from." "Aren't you guys following the gossip? Recently, a dirty cucumber got blacklisted, and then the director of that drama got dragged into it, the two of them have been at each other's throats for days..." "Oh, oh, oh, did that person come for an audition?" "Don't talk nonsense, he just submitted some materials through connections, didn't even get to the interview before being rejected." "What's that got to do with this actress?" "They're from the same crew," the other person said gloatingly, "The guy used to ride on Director Jin's coattails, then got blacklisted, and now the girl is doing the same, trying to ride on his coattails." "No wonder they're from the same crew, they both love to ride on coattails." "Isn't the director the one who despises such people the most?" "Want to bet? I bet the director will stop her in thirty seconds." Li Ling whispered, "I think she can last at least ten minutes." "Ten minutes? That's too long, isn't it?" "...Wait a minute, who said ten minutes?" She pushed the door open and went out. The few people at the door were still smoking, one of them almost dropped his cigarette. Li Ling looked at them sincerely and said, "Although it seems there are some misunderstandings about me, this audition is a very important opportunity for me. I will definitely perform well. Let's all do our best!" In the choking smoke, the expressions of the few people became somewhat stiff, as if they had forgotten how to smoke. Li Ling returned to the stage, glanced nonchalantly at the "No Smoking on Set" sign, and quietly told a staff member, "I just saw someone smoking outside the restroom." The other person looked furious, "I'll handle it immediately!" She smiled a smile that hid her achievements and fame, and returned to the makeup room to wait. She had only been away for a short while, and someone had already come in to clean up. The person seemed to have a severe case of OCD, putting all her scattered makeup products back in place, even reorganizing the lipsticks by color. The window was wide open, bringing in fresh air. A piece of paper was blown to her feet by the wind. Li Ling picked it up and found it was an unfinished painting. In the painting, a woman was sleeping in a floating river, her figure graceful and her waist slender, like an eternal rose in a glass bottle. The artist had vividly depicted the woman's stretched neck, slightly curled fingers, and even the faintly flowing long hair in the water. Everything was detailed to perfection. Only her face was a blank slate. She had no features. Li Ling was stunned for a moment, sensing something. She stood up, lifted the curtain of the dressing room, and discovered an old easel behind it, along with a half-used paintbrush. The handle of the brush still retained some warmth, and the paper was filled with images of the same woman. The woman was sitting in a wheelchair, leaning against a wall, sleeping in a bedroom... She appeared in different settings, striking various poses, as if she were a living person being observed by the artist. She was so vivid, passionate, serene, and beautiful. But her face was always a blank slate. Li Ling suddenly felt a slight dizziness, as if some unspeakable spell was hidden within those delicate brushstrokes. She didn't know who had left these paintings, whether they were props or something else. She wanted to keep looking, but the audition was about to start, and the staff called her back to the stage. Below, a crowd of people sat in darkness, staring at her expressionlessly. Among them was not Jin Jingyao. It seemed that the famous director Jin had many important matters and wouldn't be attending. The equipment was all set up, and the strong lights shone down, turning the walls a ghastly white, making it almost impossible for Li Ling to keep her eyes open. At that moment, she heard muffled footsteps, and the sound of a chair scraping against the floor. A man slowly walked onto the stage and reached out to pull the chair away. He was very tall, his shadow falling over her face, pressing down like a silent mountain. Jin Jingyao hadn't changed his clothes; he was still wearing that loose, faded work uniform. His sleeves were slightly rolled up, revealing his thin forearms. He looked at her calmly, his gaze like moonlight on a snowy mountain, cold and unreachable. Li Ling's mind went blank for a second—Director Jin had actually come to act with her in person.