Two days later, just before the audition for the role of Yukishiro Tomoe in 'Rurouni Kenshin', Su Yan finally met the drama's director, Shi Peihua, for the first time.
She was an energetic, silver-haired woman in her sixties, thin and full of spirit.
After chatting with her for a bit, Su Yan found her to be extremely talkative and outgoing.
As soon as she laid eyes on Su Yan and Shinozaki Ikumi—the "two walking beauty filters"—her eyes lit up with curiosity.
She began enthusiastically asking about their backgrounds. And before long, the conversation took a sudden left turn.
"My son's not even forty yet..."
"My niece—distant side of the family—she's just in her thirties..."
Su Yan and Shinozaki were both caught completely off guard, their scalps tingling.
When Director Shi left to use the restroom, Su Yan quickly whispered:
"Is she... really reliable? Is she a director or a matchmaker?"
"I have no idea either!" Shinozaki wiped the sweat from her forehead. "She's an old friend of my mom's, and Mom said she's very skilled. But apparently, back in the day, she was too straightforward and rubbed a lot of higher-ups the wrong way. That's why she never got famous."
"Anyway, 'Rurouni Kenshin' is only four episodes long. The shoot won't take that long. What's there to be afraid of?"
Soon, Shi Peihua returned, and half an hour later, the audition candidates began arriving one after another.
As Su Yan, Shi Peihua, and Shinozaki Ikumi walked into the audition room, the aspiring actresses respectfully nodded to them.
But once the auditions officially began—
That friendly, gossipy old lady from before? She vanished without a trace.
Her gaze turned sharp.
This audition focused on two specific scenes:
The first—Tomoe's debut on a rainy night. Just one line of dialogue:
"You really do summon storms of blood and violence."
It was her first appearance. If that shot didn't leave an impression, the emotional weight of 'Rurouni Kenshin' would drop dramatically.
Su Yan still remembered how, the first time he saw that scene in the 'Trust & Betrayal' OVA, paired with the haunting soundtrack, he had been stunned for minutes.
The second scene was from the end of Episode 3, "The Previous Night at the Mountain Home". Tomoe follows behind Kenshin in a snowstorm. She slips on the icy path. Kenshin turns, reaches out to her, and in a calm voice—but with a gaze filled with resolve—says:
"I will protect you."
Tomoe's expression shifts—from inner struggle to total surrender.
She falls hopelessly in love with the man who killed her fiancé, captivated by his quiet kindness and the sorrow in his eyes.
Even as a man, Su Yan remembered being blown away by that moment. Kenshin was cool in the truest sense of the word.
There were barely any lines in that scene—but the performance had to be flawless.
Shi Peihua, who had read the 'Rurouni Kenshin' script more than ten times and could recite every character's lines from memory, could spot flaws in an actor's performance instantly—things that neither Su Yan nor Ikumi could detect.
And when she saw those flaws?
She didn't hold back. At all.
"Which school did you graduate from? That level of acting passed graduation?!"
"Playing an ice-cold beauty doesn't mean holding your face like a zombie."
"Even someone with too much Botox has more expressive range than you."
"Your acting is like a runaway train—and the brakes are broken."
"Are you mimicking a monkey? I don't see any sign of human intelligence or emotion."
"Can I ask—did you eat your script after microwaving it? How can you forget a one-line scene?!"
"Here comes the drama queen… ready to take off and fly."
If there were an Olympic sport for verbally destroying young people in ten seconds flat, this sixty-year-old woman would take gold.
Shinozaki Ikumi's expression remained calm—she had already been warned by her mother about Shi Peihua's no-nonsense style.
If she thought someone was bad, she said it. No sugarcoating.
It was the same on set and in the workplace.
Su Yan, watching the second actress leave the room in tears, hesitated before saying:
"Director Shi, aren't we being a little… harsh? Some of them are still students."
"Harsh?" Shi Peihua turned to him with a smile. "They're not here to audition for an extra role. This is for the female lead. If they can't handle a bit of critique at the acting level, they should just go home and sleep."
She looked at Su Yan seriously.
"And Su Yan, as for your 'Rurouni Kenshin'—I genuinely like it. In all my years of directing, I've never come across a script that moved me like this one. But if you're also going to act as Kenshin, you'd better be ready too."
Su Yan blinked, understanding immediately.
Her earlier kindness had been directed at Screenwriter Su Yan.
Because she respected the script.
But once filming started, she'd be dealing with Actor Su Yan. And if his acting was bad, she'd criticize him the same way.
They went through eleven actresses in a row without finding anyone who satisfied Shi Peihua.
But all three of them understood the situation.
The project had a tight budget. There was no time or money for a perfect casting search.
If they couldn't find a standout among these 20–30 candidates, they'd just have to pick the least bad.
Soon, the twelfth actress entered—her name was Gu Qingyuan. She looked visibly nervous.
She was very beautiful. Pale skin, delicate features, waist-length hair, and sparkling eyes.
Among today's candidates, she was definitely in the top tier of looks.
"Hello, Writer Su, Producer Shinozaki, Director Shi. I'm Gu Qingyuan."
She bowed and smiled politely.
"You may begin," Su Yan said.
She took a deep breath. In the next moment, all nervousness vanished from her expression. Her gaze turned cold, quiet, and distant.
A few minutes later, she finished and left the room—still a little uneasy.
Su Yan and Ikumi looked to Shi Peihua.
She didn't say a word.
But that silence said everything.
Gu Qingyuan's acting was solid—so solid that Su Yan thought she even outshone Kasumi Arimura, who played Tomoe in the 'Rurouni Kenshin' live-action movie from his previous life.
For the three of them, this was a relief.
They hadn't found someone to exceed expectations—but they had definitely found someone who met them.
They kept auditioning.
When the 24th actress—Rika Aika—entered, all three of them visibly reacted.
She wasn't necessarily more beautiful than Gu Qingyuan.
But her features and temperament were a near-perfect match for Tomoe's character design.
Her first scene went smoothly—just one line, after all.
But during the second scene, the moment she began, Shi Peihua furrowed her brow.
The acting was… subtle.
Not bad. In fact, it was good compared to most of the others.
But next to Gu Qingyuan, it clearly fell short.
Half an hour later—
"Thank you. Please wait for our decision. We'll send you a message within three days," Ikumi said with a weary sigh, slumping into her chair.
The auditions were over.
"Su Yan-sensei, what do you think?" asked Shi Peihua. "Between Rika Aika and Gu Qingyuan—which one's better?"
"I…"
As someone who had loved anime in his past life, Su Yan naturally wanted to aim high when it came to adaptations.
Acting could be polished during filming.
And Rika Aika's appearance really did fit Tomoe perfectly. If her acting improved just a bit, the result could be explosive.
But how likely was that, really?
He never even won 100 yuan in the lottery in his past life. And now, after transmigrating, he didn't land in the body of some billionaire's son.
Was he seriously going to bet everything on a miracle?
He glanced at Shinozaki Ikumi.
Then exhaled softly.
"I think Gu Qingyuan is more suitable."
Shinozaki had put her entire future on the line to make 'Rurouni Kenshin' happen. There was no way Su Yan could risk everything on Aika's hypothetical acting breakthrough.
If she didn't improve, it would be Shinozaki's career that got ruined.
"I agree with Su Yan-sensei," Shi Peihua said after a moment.
"Acting is more important than surface-level resemblance. Besides, Gu Qingyuan's appearance isn't lacking at all—in fact, I find her prettier. Also, I looked into Rika Aika's resume. She graduated from an acting school in Tokyo three years ago and has been in nine different productions—always in background or eye-candy roles."
"If that's all she can do after all that time, then another month on our set won't change anything."
"So, it's settled?" Shinozaki asked. "Gu Qingyuan will play Yukishiro Tomoe?"
"Mm."
"I'm fine with it. Let's go with her," Su Yan added.
And with that, the cast for 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' was finally set.
Shinozaki stretched her arms, her blouse tightening slightly across her chest. Her pale, delicate face, however, was full of fire.
"It's June 9th today. 'Rurouni Kenshin's release date has already been finalized by the network—July 22nd. That gives us 44 days."
"July 22nd?" Director Shi asked. "Why not the first week of July?"
"I requested the later date," Ikumi said with a smile.
"For the summer season, SakuraNet will premiere six internally-produced web dramas. Plus, five more low-budget dramas from external studios will launch on the platform."
"All of them will be competing for promotional slots at the start of the month—and all of them are throwing money at SakuraNet to boost visibility. If 'Rurouni Kenshin' launches at the same time, we'll get no promotional support at all."
Shinozaki looked at them both.
"But if we wait until late July, we can avoid that traffic jam. I've already spoken with a few of my mom's friends—they've promised to help me secure promotion slots for 'Rurouni Kenshin' when the time comes."
"Besides, it's only four episodes. As long as it finishes airing within the summer season, it doesn't need to start at the beginning of the month like those ten-episode series."
"So," she extended her hand toward the two of them, "whatever this short, low-budget drama ends up achieving... it all depends on what we do in the next forty days."
Shi Peihua placed her hand on Shinozaki's.
"I didn't come out of retirement just to make a joke of myself, or to waste a favor I owed your mother. This show needs to make some noise this summer season."
They both turned to Su Yan.
It felt a little like a pre-battle oath ceremony.
Su Yan took a deep breath and placed his hand on theirs.
"I believe we can make a show that will shock everyone who looked down on us, who laughed at us."
"Let's set a goal—number one in average paid views and industry ratings on SakuraNet this summer season!"