Phoenix A has Gone Viral Across the Entire Internet! - Chapter 16

The preparations before the audition were tedious. The continuity supervisor had been running back and forth, busy for quite a while. In comparison, the process of coming over to find the actors for their auditions felt like a moment of rare leisure.

However, the moment Jiang Zhiwan looked up and responded, the supervisor was so genuinely stunned by her beauty that she stood frozen in place for a few seconds.

When she finally snapped out of it, the supervisor—a hardcore fan of the original novel Ju Qu—could not help but murmur, “Help… it’s like I’m seeing the character walk right out of the book.”

The resemblance was striking—uncannily so.

From the moment she changed into the cloud-patterned palace attire, Jiang Zhiwan seemed to instantly inhabit the role. Whether it was the spirit in her eyes or her overall aura, every detail overlapped perfectly with the image of Princess Yuanluo from the original work.

The supervisor could bet that among all the actors she had seen during these auditions, no one was more suitable for this role than her.

When Jiang Zhiwan actually stood before the camera and began her performance, it triggered the same silent realization in the hearts of many people on set.

Director Yu’s eye for selecting talent was truly extraordinary.

The scene assigned to Jiang Zhiwan for the audition was a confrontation between Yuanluo, the Third Princess of Mingyuan, and the Eldest Princess, Yuanqi, who had long despised her. This took place just before Yuanluo was to be sent to the State of Shang as a hostage.

Yuanqi had always been arrogant and overbearing. Emboldened by her mother the Queen’s support, she looked down on everyone except the King. Among the royal offspring of Mingyuan, the one she found most irritating was the Third Princess, Yuanluo, who always appeared calm and indifferent.

This grudge stemmed from a time at the Imperial Academy when the State Preceptor once praised Yuanluo, saying, “This girl’s vision is vast enough to embrace the mountains and the rivers.”

Such high praise should never have fallen upon someone who had spent over ten years living in the Cold Palace with her mother. Yuanqi was dissatisfied, but unable to refute the State Preceptor, she naturally directed her resentment toward Yuanluo. Consequently, she had spent the following years finding every possible way to make life difficult for her.

Although Yuanluo held the title of Third Princess, her mother’s family lacked influence, leaving her true status within the royal family precarious and historically low.

For instance, the hostage to be sent to the State of Shang should have been Yuanqi, the Eldest Princess with the best prospects for succession, to demonstrate sufficient sincerity. Yet, within just a few words between Yuanqi and several ministers, the King changed the candidate to Yuanluo.

After all, was the life of an insignificant Third Princess not far less valuable than the life of Mingyuan’s future ruler?

Still harboring jealousy over that “mountains and rivers” comment, Yuanqi was thrilled to finally ensure Yuanluo could never rise again. Before the departure, she specifically summoned Yuanluo to her Fengxing Palace to mock and humiliate her.

Since the actress for Yuanqi had not yet been finalized, the format of this scene became somewhat unique. It was an imaginary character performance, requiring Jiang Zhiwan to visualize Yuanqi’s presence, imagine her words and expressions, and react accordingly.

The difficulty was undeniably high, serving as a rigorous test of an actor’s versatile skills and ability to improvise.

Surprisingly, even under such pressure that would overwhelm an average actor, Jiang Zhiwan performed exceptionally well. This led Yu Wanhu, who was observing the performance behind the lens, to nod in approval, feeling that her intuition about this girl was correct.

As an actress, Jiang Zhiwan was far more outstanding than she had imagined.

After dealing with Yuanqi’s cold sarcasm and walking out of Fengxing Palace accompanied by her personal maid, Guiyuan, the expression on Yuanluo’s face remained largely unchanged—still that calm and indifferent facade.

In contrast, Guiyuan was not nearly as composed. Before they had even walked very far, she could not help but lower her voice and grumble about Yuanqi.

“You are clearly going to that State of Shang as a lousy hostage in her place, yet she still had to take a parting shot at our Princess? I’ve never seen anyone like her…”

“Guiyuan.”

After softly silencing Guiyuan’s following words, Yuanluo simply shook her head silently, signaling her not to show too much anger. They were still within the grounds of Fengxing Palace, and there was no telling how many eyes were watching them from the shadows.

As one of the female leads, the character traits given to Yuanluo in the script followed a deeply emotional, growth-oriented arc. The charm of the role lay in the contradictory changes occurring within her heart at various stages.

As the least favored princess of Mingyuan, Yuanluo understood perfectly what it meant to replace her elder sister as a hostage in the State of Shang: whether she lived or died from then on would depend entirely on her own luck and wit.

If her identity was never exposed, she might survive cautiously in the State of Shang for three years. But once the truth came out, nothing awaited her but death.

Yuanluo thought, How ironic. She had been a dispensable pawn since birth, and even now, she was being forced to squeeze out her final bit of value.

Rumor had it that the new Young Lord of Shang, Juqu, was bloodthirsty and capricious—a true tyrant. For the next three years, her power over life and death would be tied to this one person’s whim.

“Juqu…” Yuanluo lowered her eyes and softly whispered the tyrant’s name.

Once she stepped out of Mingyuan, her everything would become inextricably linked to this name.

“Good! Cut!”

“Very good, Zhiwan! Your emotional expression was spot on!”

After watching the entire performance, the producer, Li Mengying, appeared delighted. The segment just filmed wouldn’t even need editing; it could be saved directly as the final cut. With such a talented actress, filming Juqu would undoubtedly save a lot of energy.

Li Mengying could almost unilaterally decide that the role of Yuanluo belonged to Jiang Zhiwan, and only she should play it. However, the one who truly held the decision-making power was Director Yu, who had been sitting silently the entire time. Only after passing her expert judgment would it be considered official.

Fortunately, Yu Wanhu was also extremely satisfied with every aspect of Jiang Zhiwan. Giving her the role was now essentially a done deal.

However, in comparison, Jiang Yuanxing—who had auditioned for the role of Juqu before Jiang Zhiwan—was a bit lacking. If Yu Wanhu were to give an honest evaluation, it would be that the other’s acting was acceptable, but the feeling wasn’t quite right.

And when Yu Wanhu filmed, she prioritized “feeling” above all else. After some thought, she ultimately wrote “Pending” after Jiang Yuanxing’s name on the actor confirmation sheet.

Yu Wanhu’s logic was that if no one more suitable than Jiang Yuanxing appeared in the coming days, it wouldn’t be too late to finalize her then. Perhaps she could also schedule another time for Zhiwan to perform a scene with her to see how it went.

If one person’s performance lacked infectious emotion, perhaps adding a partner who could pull out that feeling would change the result.

After Yu Wanhu briefly communicated this situation to Jiang Zhiwan, the latter easily agreed. As for what she was actually thinking, no one knew.

Having lived through one life, Jiang Zhiwan naturally knew the extent of Jiang Yuanxing’s acting skills. Based on her true level, she only ranked in the upper-middle tier. In her previous life, it was only because Jiang Zhiwan had carried her through the scenes that she successfully finished the production.

Jiang Yuanxing’s performance had been mediocre, yet she had fully profited from the popularity of the character Juqu, coasting on that success for years to come.

If that were all, Jiang Zhiwan might have chosen to ignore it. But the woman was so shameless that after her misconduct was exposed, she chose to use the image of Juqu to “wash herself clean.”

Because of the special place Juqu held in her heart, Jiang Zhiwan could not remain indifferent.

In this life, she would not give Jiang Yuanxing another chance to behave like that. No one would ever desecrate the image of Juqu again.

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