White Cat Detective had a total of 16 volumes published from 2013 to 2016. However, the publication time cannot be used as a reference. The key lies in when it was written.
Jian Jing asked Kang Mu Cheng for the draft completion time of all the volumes.
Volume 1 was started in 2012. After finishing the first 3 volumes, she casually submitted it to a publisher and was spotted by Kang Mu Cheng who then signed Goldfinch and officially published it.
In 2013, Volumes 4-9 were completed.
Before August 2014, Volumes 10-13 were submitted.
In 2016, Volumes 14-16 were published and White Cat ended.
Jian Jing confirmed with Kang Mu Cheng multiple times. On the day of the incident, the manuscript he went to collect was the content of Volumes 10-13.
With this, the dividing line became very obvious.
Both versions of Jian Jing wrote Volumes 1-9, which can be put aside for now. Volumes 10-13 were completed by this world's Jian Jing before the incident, including Volume 13 Pudding and Gemstone.
Volumes 14-16 were written after recovering from illness. There may be hidden clues or perhaps she had forgotten everything.
Jian Jing read through all seven stories.
There was nothing much to say about Volumes 10-13. The style was still light and dreamy, Bai Xiao Mao was brave, righteous and kind, too perfect to be a primary school student (...).
But starting from Volume 14, the breezy style gradually changed, and bloody descriptions that did not exist before appeared. The deaths of characters were no longer the background setting of the story, but became heavier and more gloomy, revealing the dark side of human nature.
The ending of Volume 16 was like a corner of the world's veil being torn open, glimpsing the truth for a moment.
Many reviewers believed that this was the essence of White Cat Detective, meaning that the dreamy childhood was gradually fading away, and the child had to face the cruelty of the adult world directly when growing up.
So Volume 16 was not an ending in terms of plot, the story had not ended, but there was no need to continue writing it.
The author had grown up, and Bai Xiao Mao's story came to an abrupt end.
She won the Best Newcomer Award in 2016 because of this.
Was the key to unlocking the medical record between Volumes 10-13 or 14-16?
Unexpectedly, Jian Jing remembered Jiang BaiYan and the Pudding and Gemstone he mentioned.
She tried the password again.
Still incorrect.
A big X was drawn with a red pen on the sixth row of the form. Jian Jing comforted herself that there were still more than a dozen options below, and one of them might be correct after trying them one by one.
However, a week later.
The entire form was crossed out in red.
Jian Jing began to doubt herself: What was I thinking when I was a teenager that made me choose such a complicated password? Was this really set by me? Could it have been hacked and modified by Scar Man?!
Of course not.
If they wanted to hide something, it would be better to just destroy the chip instead of going through the hassle of modifying the password.
In stark contrast to the investigation, her career was at its peak and everything was going smoothly.
Demon Doctor 1 entered the overseas market after translation, and the sales were surprisingly decent and matched foreign aesthetic preferences. The crew for Demon Doctor 2 had finished casting and would start filming soon. Apart from the publicly announced leads, other information was kept confidential. Many entertainment journalists squatted at the filming location trying every means to get spoilers, and Director Huang fought wits and courage with them, with constant complaints in the group chat.
The script for Rose Gold had been completed, and they were looking for actors. Director Mei called specifically to ask if she wanted to audition.
Jian Jing agreed.
Ever since finding out the subtle connection between the heroine and "herself", her feelings for the role were very different, and she could not sit idly by and let others decide who would play that character.
The audition was scheduled for Saturday at a hotel conference room.
The director, producer all had good past works. Goldfinch was a veteran company with ample funding. The IP of the bestselling novel that was still on the hot-selling list was sought after.
Although it could not be called a top project, it was still considered a major project of the year.
Minor roles and specific roles were pre-screened by the deputy director to roughly select candidates. The actors coming to audition today were mainly aiming for the male and female leads.
There were four people interviewing: Director Mei, producer, chief screenwriter, and Jian Jing.
Jian Jing was handed a stack of documents as soon as she arrived.
She casually flipped through them and basically recognized everyone, proving they were famous actors.
"So many people." Jian Jing was surprised. "Will they all come?"
The producer spoke to her gently, "It's been screened once already. Many people in the industry are optimistic about our project." He flattered her, "It's all thanks to Teacher Jian's work, the book sold so well, who wouldn't want to ride on its coattails."
Jian Jing smiled without taking it seriously, "This is my first time participating in an audition. Do you have any thoughts?"
Director Mei said, "Mainly to see if they are suitable."
"Acting skills and temperament are the most important in my opinion," the chief screenwriter interjected. "The actor doesn't have to be super good-looking, but they must match the role."
Jian Jing nodded in agreement.
With consensus reached, the audition officially began.
The process was not particularly interesting. The resumes were filled with flowery accomplishments, but the actors' actual ability did not necessarily match up. Some lived up to their reputation with excellent acting skills, while others were a complete disaster.
Jian Jing's spirit gradually withered, and she ended up resting her cheek in her hand, questioning life itself.
Why did he glare at me the entire time?
Why did she have to wink and shout at me?
Why did he look decent acting-wise but seem a bit old?
Why would someone nearing 30 still audition for a teenage girl's role?
Can this drama even be filmed? Will it lose money?
President Kang is so pitiful.
After half a day, only one girl who had acted in movies performed well, lively and spirited. The only problem was she was not pretty enough. Her facial features would not look refined and coordinated on the big screen.
Director Mei was in no hurry to decide: "Let's see, there are still some people coming in the afternoon."
The crew had contacted some promising actors in advance to arrange time. But they might not necessarily get selected. Sometimes, more suitable candidates could be found among actors who showed up on their own.
Everyone was trying their luck.
Jian Jing was bored from sitting too long and made an excuse to get up and stretch her stiff waist and neck. Since there were people waiting outside, she did not want to cause trouble and went downstairs to buy ice cream.
Of course, it would be wrong to eat alone. Not only she was tortured by work, she specially bought a bag of ice cream to comfort the others who shared her pain.
But when she came back, there was someone on the stairwell.
An unhappy male voice said, "Don't even say hello when you see your brother, is this how you were taught?"
A familiar voice asked, "We have no relationship anymore."
"Think you can fly solo once you've grown your wings?" The other person was even more displeased and sneered coldly, "Without the Jiang family, could you be where you are today?"
"So what do you want?"
"Remember." The other person walked forward a step and glared, "You'll always be a bastard in front of me!"
Eh? Jian Jing almost doubted her ears. She had thought Lu Yucheng was arrogant enough already, but didn't expect there would be an even more arrogant rich young master. Indeed, everything was relative.
"Alright, I'll remember that." The threatened person answered very fluently, without any reluctance, as if he had said it countless times already.
The other became even more unreasonable: "Don't even think about making a move on Xiao You, or I'll make you pay."
"Okay." He agreed just as gently.
With no more threats to make, the other person left after throwing two more harsh words.
The other person also left after that.
Jian Jing slowly went upstairs and quickly identified the arrogant guy among those waiting. He was dressed casually, all designer brands, with sunglasses hanging on his chest. He had delicate fair skin, no calluses on his hands, and pristine shoes, clearly chauffeured around from a well-off family.
As she walked past him, a faint fragrance came from his elbow, a feminine scent, probably from a girl he had his arm around just now - most likely the "Xiao You" he mentioned. She didn't seem to be here for the audition but to accompany someone.
He was chatting with the producer, but there was no girl beside him.
Who was Xiao You?
"Teacher Jing Jing." Oh nevermind her for now. The pitiful one who had been scolded came to greet her. Jiang BaiYan's face was full of joy, showing no sign of just being insulted. "You're here too."
Jian Jing... Jian Jing felt great pity for him and gave him a cone of ice cream, "Do your best."
Jiang BaiYan glanced at the direction she came from and seemed to understand something. "Oh."
The producer called to her, "Teacher Jian, perfect timing, let's continue."
Jian Jing nodded silently, casting a surreptitious glance at the arrogant man. He seemed quite familiar with the producer, half earnest and half jokingly asking, "Can I observe for a bit?"
The producer hesitated briefly, looking to Jian Jing for any sign of objection. Seeing none, he agreed, joking only, "Looking is enough, right?"
The arrogant man smiled faintly, not rebutting.
Back in the conference room, Jian Jing saw Xiao You, the acquaintance with the stage name from when they had filmed Ghost House Daredevils together.
After the useless but necessary small talk, they closed the scripts and started the audition.
Director Mei had high hopes for her, choosing a rather difficult section: "Let's do the part where the girl convinces the hitman."
"Alright." Taking a deep breath, she began the performance.
The plot went like this: The girl got the gold and decided to hire a hitman for revenge. But the hitman was unwilling at first, wanting to stop before the police caught wind of him, lest he end up eating lead in the end.
Yet the girl convinced him in the end.
Standing in place, hands clasped nervously, speaking quickly with an expression of fear and anticipation: "I heard that if I pay, you can help resolve some troubles?"
Pausing two seconds, the hitman's line was: "You heard wrong."
"I don't think I'm mistaken." Raising her chin stubbornly, saying, "If you're unwilling, you can refuse."
Not waiting for an answer, she opened her bag, revealing a gold brick: "You can take a look at my sincerity first."
The hitman was silent for a moment: "I'm retired already."
"This is the deposit. If you can avenge me, I can give you more." Putting emphasis in her tone, "No one thinks money is too little, right?"
Director Mei hesitated briefly, making a gesture to pause and asking his assistant, "Has Jiang BaiYan arrived?"
The assistant replied, "He's here, outside."
"Call him in," Director Mei said. "Run through this scene together."
The arrogant man shot death glares.
But Jiang BaiYan didn't even glance at him, respectfully taking the script and quickly memorizing the lines.
Five minutes later, the two began acting.
With the male lead's cooperation, even without a set, relying solely on the actors' lines and performances, they could conjure up the appropriate atmosphere seven-tenths or eight-tenths there.
As expected of someone who debuted early, her acting skills were finely honed. The girl she played was passionate, clever, brave. Paired with her own youthful beauty, she stood out among the auditionees.
But Jian Jing was more focused on Jiang BaiYan.
The last time she saw him act was at the hot springs inn. Xie Wei then was emitting the last rays of his life's brilliance. Although faint, he outshone everyone.
Jiang BaiYan seemed to take a huge hit, even coming to tell her he could never compare again. But seeing him today, his acting skills had improved tremendously.
The hitman he played had a cold surface, but what leaked through in his manner was bewilderment, deep confusion, towards life, towards the road ahead.
So his refusal wasn't cold, even less murderous. His tone was very light and faint, as if he wasn't rejecting a request to kill, but rather a female classmate's date invitation.
Jian Jing looked at him, looked at him again. The scales in her heart had already tilted.
