"It's 10:44 now," Jenny Jane said as she settled into the visitor's chair opposite the desk, crossing her legs and resting one hand elegantly on the armrest. "One hour and forty-seven minutes until 12:30. Mr. Viglieri, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Lowering her voice, she crossed her legs again, a composed smile playing at her lips. Fixing Cesare Viglieri with an almost mocking gaze, she continued, "Now, you have one hour and forty-seven minutes to convince me that you're a good broker."
Cesare's demeanor remained utterly unmoved, as cold as ever. Only the tip of his nose rippled slightly, and his eyes flickered with an almost imperceptible shift. Yet Jenny knew she had successfully piqued his interest.
"Very well," Cesare said. "You've successfully captured my attention. Bonus points."
He drew out a blank folder, snapped it open, and offered a cold courtesy, inquiring symbolically, "May we formally begin now?"...
Three and a half months earlier, Los Angeles.
Jenny Jane—Chen Zhen—stared motionless at her reflection in the mirror, her expression solemn.
It was a very beautiful face.
At twenty, Jenny Jane was in the most beautiful phase of a woman's life. Unlike her peers in the distant East, she had mastered makeup since seventh grade. Six or seven years of practice had equipped her to enhance her features with finesse, adding the perfect finishing touch. Even without makeup, Jenny Jane remained undeniably beautiful.
Her features bore strong Germanic traits—a classic blonde with blue eyes, a high, straight nose, and deep, piercing eyes. her features were sculpted and her eyes bright emerald green. Paired with long, straight blonde hair, she was a sight to behold. Standing at five feet six inches (1.67 meters), with a figure that was absolutely not overweight by Caucasian standards, Jenny Jane certainly turned heads on the street. Even when trying to enter popular regional nightclubs, she could enjoy the beauty privilege of skipping the line.
By all accounts, she had no reason to wear such a grave expression. For a woman of her beauty, life simply couldn't be devoid of joy.
Yet she clearly looked unhappy now. Both her tightly pursed lips and tense shoulders betrayed her mood. Jenny Jane—or rather, Chen Zhen—was under immense pressure.
Her distress wasn't entirely unfounded.
She had traveled through time—from 2014 to 2001, from Beijing to Los Angeles, from an Asian to a Caucasian identity.
It was now the year 2001. Computers were just becoming commonplace, the internet was transforming daily life, and bulky mobile phones were gradually being replaced by sleek, compact handsets. Yet Steve Jobs hadn't yet unveiled the revolutionary iPhone, nor had the era-defining iPod hit the market—it wouldn't officially launch for several more months. Chen Zhen, arriving from 2014, found early 21st-century life somewhat unfamiliar. This was an era without Weibo, Twitter, or Facebook. The mainstream communication tools were ICQ and MSN—names now ancient relics in the rapidly evolving tech world. Had she not time-traveled back to early 21st-century America, Chen Zhen wouldn't even recall these terms, nor realize how profoundly her life had been transformed by technology, or how inconvenient life was in the early 2000s.
Of course, that wasn't her biggest problem now.
Her biggest problem was that she had gone to sleep in her Beijing home, only to wake up thirteen years earlier, reborn into the body of this white beauty and possessing all her memories.
Jenny Jane Jefferson, born 1981, Social Security number 422-11-6742, from a low-income family in Alabama. Her father was a repeat robbery offender sentenced to over a century in prison, incarcerated since Jenny Jane was six. Her mother abandoned the family and never contacted them. After her grandmother passed away, Jenny Jane entered the welfare system, growing up shuttled between multiple foster homes. Two years ago, she completed high school and moved to Los Angeles seeking acting opportunities, but without success. She currently works as a waitress in a restaurant.
Her recollections boil down to these few sentences. Chen Zhen ruthlessly filtered out all the rest—personal preferences, social connections—as useless information. In essence, like countless Beijing drifters in China's entertainment industry, Jenny Jane was just another common Hollywood drifter, hoping to carve out a niche in Hollywood with her beauty and youthful physique.
And now, trapped within Jenny Jane's body, Chen Zhen's profile reads as follows:
Chen Zhen, born 1982, ID number withheld, hailing from a middle-class family in Hangzhou. Both parents were civil servants. She entered the Acting Department of Beijing Film Academy through the college entrance exam. During her studies, she fell in love with the son of a wealthy businessman five years her senior. After graduation, they married and had a child. At the time of the time slip, her child was eight years old, and she was in the midst of divorcing her husband. Since her in-laws had gradually relinquished control, the company was inherited by her husband, while several properties remained under her name. Including real estate, she was projected to receive over thirty million yuan in assets.
At this juncture, their lives might not yet diverge significantly. Yet over the next decade, Jenny Jane would likely sink into destitution as a social outcast, while Chen Zhen would emerge as a financially secure, unattached wealthy woman. The abrupt shift from Chen Zhen to Jenny Jane represented a staggering fall. If suicide could restore her to her original body, she would have already stood atop the building.
Returning to her original body—this was Jenny Jane's, or rather present-day Chen Zhen's, most urgent need.
She hadn't attempted it because she knew suicide wouldn't bring her back.
For her rebirth wasn't without purpose—she'd been reborn with a mission.
Dominate Hollywood.
Just those five vague words. The moment she opened her eyes in Jenny Jane's body, Chen Zhen instinctively understood: the day she conquered Hollywood would be the day she could freely choose whether to return.
Setting aside the sheer difficulty of dominating Hollywood, Chen Zhen immediately recognized a logical contradiction upon regaining her senses—if she truly conquered Hollywood one day, wouldn't she become the ultimate winner in life? Why would she want to go back at that point?
The next question followed: If she was here now, did another Chen Zhen still exist in Hangzhou at the same time? What would happen if the two of them met? Where had Jenny Jane gone? Had she entered the body now inhabited by Chen Zhen?
Of course, there was no way to verify this now. First, contemplating the question gave her a physical headache. Second, even if she could endure the pain, she couldn't afford a flight to Beijing. Moreover, her penniless status likely meant she couldn't even obtain a Chinese visa.
Jenny Jane had graduated high school with mediocre academic credentials, scoring less than half on her SATs. Even if she'd gotten into college, she couldn't afford tuition. Graduating from a diploma mill like that, she'd struggle to land any decent job—probably earning less than a coffee shop waitress.
Chen Zhen herself had been a drama major. After graduating, she married into wealth and became a wealthy young mistress. All her skill points were invested in keeping her husband devoted and building her own stash, leaving her work ability essentially zero.
Now possessing both their memories and Chen Zhen's personality—let's still call her Jenny Jane—her immediate concern wasn't tracking down 'Chen Zhen' in China. Instead, she needed to at least make something of herself and live like a proper human being. Of course, within her grand scheme, she also intended to tentatively test whether she could dominate Hollywood and strive to return to her former life... Though she still wondered: if she truly conquered Hollywood, why bother going back at all?
After two days of restaurant service, Jenny Jane's determination to escape poverty burned fiercely. She longed to land a film deal immediately and launch her acting career—no matter how grueling an actor's life might be, it had to be better than standing on her feet for twelve hours straight in a restaurant.
The need to change her fate was urgent, demanding immediate action. Jenny Jane told her reflection in the mirror, took a deep breath, glanced at her watch, and turned to head out for her shift: her lunch break was over, and the afternoon shift had begun.
Yes, for now, she was nothing more than a waitress.