Tang Li didn’t return to her dorm, but headed straight to Yuanhai Road after leaving the administrative building.
When she stepped into Coastal Cafe, she immediately spotted Gao Wenlan seated there. In the late October of the north, the temperature was significantly lower than Shangbu. Wearing black wide-legged trousers, a cadmium green sweater, paired with a khaki scarf, Gao Wenlan’s elegantly crossed legs were sipping coffee and chatting jovially with two other middle-aged men.
Upon noticing Tang Li, Gao Wenlan immediately raised her hand to beckon.
As soon as Tang Li approached the table, she heard Gao Wenlan turn to a refined man in a deep grey suit wearing glasses and say, "This is the young lady; doesn’t she look prettier than in the video?"
The refined man nodded, his smile-laden eyes sizing up Tang Li: "I trust Teacher Xu Yuan’s judgment; if you think she’s suitable, there must be no mistake."
Tang Li didn’t understand their conversation.
But the title "Teacher Xu Yuan" mentioned by the man suddenly made her realize something, and her gaze shifted towards Gao Wenlan with a light smile on her face.
Xu Yuan was the author of the novel "Original Sin."
Gao Wenlan stood up and, with one arm, drew Tang Li closer to her back, introducing her to the two middle-aged men: "The one with glasses is President Zhang Hansheng from Jiahua Film and Television Company, and the other is Director Fan, Fan Xin, who is in charge of directing the TV adaptation of ’Original Sin.’"
Upon hearing this, the two men stood up to shake hands with Tang Li.
Tang Li didn’t know Zhang Hansheng but was familiar with Fan Xin.
If the Ruan Jiang she had seen at the "Original Sin" film audition venue was an award-winning director skilled in big-screen films, then the amiable-faced Director Fan before her had supported half of the domestic television industry, with the TV series he directed receiving very high acclaim, never scoring below 7 points on Douban.
No sooner had Gao Wenlan ushered Tang Li to sit down than Zhang Hansheng chuckled, "Miss Tang here looks quite different from the one in the audition video."
"..." Tang Li hadn’t comprehensively reacted yet.
Upon hearing the words "audition video," she raised her eyes to look at the man.
Watching her confused expression, Gao Wenlan took out a tablet from her bag, opened a short video, and asked Tang Li, "This girl with sea blue-grey hair, is you, right?"
Tang Li realized the video Gao Wenlan pointed at was the audition clip previously uploaded by alumni on the internet.
"I initially thought you couldn’t act, but when Director Fan showed me this video, I recognized you immediately. That day at my home, why didn’t you say you had auditioned for Ying Xuaner?"
Tang Li wanted to say, you never asked me.
Besides, at that time, she didn’t know Gao Wenlan was Xu Yuan.
Actually... even if she had known, she wouldn’t have said much; one cannot expect that arranging a few flowers would lead the original author to fight for a role for her.
At this moment, Fan Xin spoke, "This video was given to me by Ruan."
Prior online leaks about Ruan taking a liking to a newcomer for the role of Ying Xuaner were not rumors, only that Ruan’s suggestion was not adopted by the film company and investors.
The most important point—
The actress surnamed Li was financing her own way into the production.
Thus, with Ruan alone, his opposition was to no avail.
"For our TV version, we originally cast Xu Xu to play Ying Xuaner, but just a couple of days ago, she fell from a horse while shooting a historical drama, resulting in a fracture in her right lower leg," Fan Xin explained the situation briefly: "Ying Xuaner in the novel is a dancer; we can’t have someone in a wheelchair play her. I happen to know Ruan, and he immediately recommended you to me after learning about our crew’s dilemma."