Qu Yanting's studio is called "Smoke and Clouds on Paper", which is taken from a poem by Ji Yun, "Thousands of life's hard work is done, and the smoke and clouds on the paper are too much."
The studio is located in a villa area. For comfort and convenience, Qu Yanting used the vacant private property for office work, saving even the rent.
After the meeting in the morning, Qu Yanting was reviewing the manuscript in the room on the second floor. It was a book that needed to be edited.
Words are the most tormenting, unknowingly consume most of the day. Qu Yanting moved her cervical spine, walked out of the house with an empty cup in her hand, and walked to the railing of the spiral staircase to look at the living room on the first floor.
Including Yu Nan, a total of four people are busy. The other three, Yao Baiqing, Dong He, and Peng Yueran, are all screenwriters. Qu Yanting seldom engages in management, and usually does not require everyone to come to the studio to "sit on duty", and only recognizes the results of work.
Thinking of Ren Shu's concern, Qu Yanting stroked the railing and asked, "Yu Nan, is Qiao Bian here?"
The four raised their heads at the same time. Yu Nan reported in the car yesterday, and Qiao Bian personally mentioned it in the morning meeting, but he knew that Qu Yanting ignored all social activities, so he replied: "The film media summit will be held tonight, and Qiao Bian has gone to get his hair done." .”
Such activities depended on Qiao Zhi to attend on Qu Yanting's behalf, he nodded and had to hang Ren Shu for another night.
Outside the window, the sun was about to slant westward, so Qu Yanting collected his manuscript and took a step ahead of the evening rush hour. I drove here in the morning, the autumn and winter in the north are windy, and the car body is covered with a layer of dust.
The Bentley slid out of the garage. Qu Yanting enjoyed the feeling of driving very much. Sitting alone in the closed compartment with the steering wheel in hand, he felt at ease and at ease, and he could refuse calls on the grounds that "it is inconvenient to make calls while driving".
Qu Yanting went to wash the car first, then went home to bathe and feed the cat, cook and eat, the daily life process for many years. This was the day he dreamed of when he was young. It was enough to have enough food and clothing, and no one to bully him.
But now, he was waiting for the dishwasher to finish running in front of the cooking counter, just standing there, for one second, two seconds, in the slight sound, there was a trace of unspeakable emptiness.
It seems that after tasting delicious delicacies, I feel an inevitable gap after returning to simple tea and light meals.
Qu Yanting suppressed this feeling and went back to the study to continue reviewing manuscripts. Once faced with densely packed square characters, he could temporarily forget everything.
He was slender, sitting cross-legged in a large leather armchair, holding Commander Huang in his arms, and spent two hours concentrating on it.
The mobile phone in silent mode turned on the screen, and the caller ID showed "Teacher Zeng Zhen". Qu Yanting rubbed Commander Huang, a little hard, Commander Huang grinned and meowed.
After flashing for a moment, Qu Yanting picked it up and swipe to answer: "Teacher?"
Zeng Zhen was participating in the film media summit, and editor Qiao greeted him. After chatting for a while, he lowered his voice: "Xiao Ting, I heard you came back from Chongqing?"
Qu Yanting said "hmm", "I came back yesterday."
"Don't say a word." Zeng Zhen complained to him with a smile, and then regretfully said, "You just came back, and the teacher is about to enter the group."
The film project prepared at the beginning of the year, the commercial blockbuster that the director is good at, the cast alone is enough for the audience to discuss a few back and forth, and the film will start next week.
Qu Yanting said: "The teacher worked hard, and the startup went smoothly."
"Just talk about it?" Zeng Zhen brought up the old matter again, "You didn't catch up with Chongqing, and now you're back, just talking on the phone is not enough."
Qu Yanting understood that he could hide from the first day of the new year but not the fifteenth day. He reached out his hand to flip through his notepad, and found that tomorrow happened to be Saturday, so he said, "I invite you to have dinner with Master, can I have lunch tomorrow?"
After making an appointment, Qu Yanting picked a restaurant to reserve a table, and sent the address to Zeng Zhen and Wang Mingyu. The call lasted less than five minutes, but he felt more tired than staring at the manuscript for two hours.
After closing the document, Qu Yanting opened the browser and logged in to the website jointly established by the "Fir Tree Project" and Wenjia Foundation.
He is the initiator and funder behind the "Fir Tree Project". After several years of public welfare projects, many patients with mental illness have reported that they are usually not understood by others, have no one to talk to, and feel very lonely.
Qu Yanting had the idea of setting up a website, which was implemented last year. The model of the site is still being explored, and he goes online occasionally to get a feel for what parts need to be improved.
Enter the account number, the nickname is random, it is called "Little Social Horror Writer", and there is no chance to modify it, Qu Yanting feels ashamed every time he logs in.
Once online, he found he had volunteers.
Qu Yanting believes that this function belongs to "the vision is beautiful, but the reality is tasteless", and it is not enough for volunteers to rely on their enthusiasm, because most people's enthusiasm is exhausted quickly.
Qu Yanting didn't click on the message from the volunteers for a long time, so there is no need to guess. The first sentence is usually: Hello, I am volunteer XX.
I have experienced four or five volunteers, each of whom has an amiable attitude and is careful not to affect his emotions, so he is also cautious and polite, and he can't relax at all when he comes and goes.
Half an hour later, Qu Yanting was about to go offline, and finally clicked on Unread before leaving.
A dialog box popped up, and the displayed nickname was "Unlucky Little Singer".
Of course Qu Yanting didn't think that the other party was really a singer. He looked at the news on the screen, and couldn't help but lose strength in his hand rubbing the cat, causing Commander Huang to scream.
The unlucky little singer sent: Are you GG or MM
Qu Yanting was hysterical for a while, and replied: male.
There was a lot of time in the evening, the unlucky little singer was online, and replied in seconds: Are you a writer
Qu Yanting: Yes.
Unlucky Little Singer: My favorite writer is a man.
Qu Yanting: Oh.
Unlucky little singer: You are so cold.
"..." Qu Yanting always thought it was weird, but couldn't put it into words.
Unlucky little singer: As expected of social terror.
Qu Yanting couldn't continue the chat, so it wasn't very kind to go offline directly, so he just made up a reason: which male writer, I'll ask him to read his works.
Unlucky pop star: Nabokov.
Qu Yanting: ... Okay.
Unlucky little singer: I have been Baidu him these two days.
Qu Yanting: ...
Unlucky little singer: Wrong type, please read.
After logging out and exiting, Qu Yanting nestled in the chair. He remembered Lu Wen, followed by a string of lights and shadows of the mountain city. The next shooting task is very tight, and Two Hundred Five will definitely be very hard.
On Saturday, the sun was shining brightly, Qu Yanting slept for a while, and woke up at noon, wrapped in black from head to toe, and wearing an unsophisticated Panerai.
He was the host, he had to arrive earlier, and he drove across the small half of the district at high speed to meet the appointment.
The reserved restaurant is a private restaurant, a tree-lined road, and a small gray brick western-style building. Qu Yanting pulled over and turned off the engine, got out of the car wearing black super sunglasses, the sun was shining, and the fair skin was coated with gold.
The room facing the street on the second floor has a leisure terrace. Qu Yanting stepped on the reddish-brown floor, and his steps sank slightly. The boss is from Ningbo with a soft voice. He knows him and asked what wine to drink today.
The wine is stored in the restaurant. Qu Yanting hooked the car keys and said, "Give me the tea list first."
Qu Yanting watched absent-mindedly, pressing the embossed pattern of the tea menu with his fingertips, rubbing it until it was hot, but didn't decide what to drink. When the engine on the side of the street rang, he regained his senses and went to the terrace to look down.
Behind his Bentley, Zeng Zhen and Wang Mingyu got out of the car.
Qu Yanting returned to the room, heard footsteps overlapping and approaching, took a deep breath to welcome him out, and smiled just right on his face.
Zeng Zhen was in his fifties, tall, and kept a standard figure. When he saw Qu Yanting, he first called out kindly, raised his hand, pressed Qu Yanting's shoulder and squeezed it.
"Teacher, did you drive here?" Qu Yanting asked.
Zeng Zhen said, "Yes, you're not late, are you?"
Qu Yanting smiled and shook her head, turned away from Zeng Zhen's palm gently, went to help Wang Mingyu who was a few steps behind, and called out "Master".
"Yanting, you're back." Wang Mingyu wore a woolen shawl, her hair was pulled back loosely, and she looked like a normal person. When she laughed, there were deep wrinkles at the end of her eyes.
The dining table is long. When entering the room, Zeng Zhen walked over: "Xiao Ting, come and sit."
"Teacher, sit down first." Qu Yanting helped Wang Mingyu hang the bag, "You can't drink while driving. Teacher, see what kind of tea you want to drink."
Qu Yanting helped Wang Mingyu pull the chair in a gentlemanly manner, and then sat down next to him. On the table was a complicated set of plates, knives and forks, and a vase and candlestick in the middle.
After ordering, without the waiter being disturbed, Qu Yanting poured the tea himself and admitted his mistake: "This meal should have been arranged earlier."
"It's been a long time since we met," Wang Mingyu asked, "How is the crew in Chongqing?"
Qu Yanting replied: "It's okay." He said with an indifferent attitude, "I don't care about other things, I only follow the team to change the script, and a web drama with more than 30 episodes is not worth worrying too much about."
Zeng Zhen smiled and said: "If you really don't worry about it, you still run all the way there? What should you change? Wouldn't it be fine if you cut it after shooting?"
"Look at what the teacher said," Qu Yanting joked, "If this is exposed, public opinion will definitely question the professionalism of the famous director."
Wang Mingyu said: "You don't need to pay attention to him, how can they understand the difficulties of screenwriters when they are directors. The audience don't know what was filmed and what was edited. They are always the first to scold the screenwriter if it doesn't look good."
Zeng Zhen was overwhelmed by being flanked back and forth, so he hurriedly changed the subject: "Xiao Ting, the teacher's new film is about to start, how many days do you want to stay with the group?"
Qu Yanting said regretfully: "During this time, the studio has accumulated a lot of things, and I really can't find time."
"Things are always busy." Zeng Zhenyou said to him, "This film has invited a top production team from the United States. It is a rare opportunity. Teacher wants to show you."
Qu Yanting refused to coax: "Isn't it common for the teacher's film to cooperate with a top team? There must be opportunities in the future."
At this moment, the plate of cold appetizers was served, which was a dish of black fish roe that Zeng Zhen ordered. He couldn't resist Qu Yanting, so he bowed his head and started to eat. Wang Mingyu glanced at the plate, still drinking tea.
Qu Yanting remembered that Wang Mingyu didn't eat fish roe and shrimp roe, so he didn't eat it with him. When the next dish was on the table, he first added vegetables to Wang Mingyu with a serving spoon, and the meal began in earnest.
One dish of prawns was very delicious. Zeng Zhen said, "It's better than last night's summit dinner."
Wang Mingyu subconsciously asked, "What summit?"
With a fork poking at the beef, Qu Yanting replied: "Movie Media Summit."
On the way, Wang Mingyu went to the bathroom, only Qu Yanting and Zeng Zhen were left on the dining table, facing each other diagonally, and from the corner of their eyes, they could sense each other's posture. Zeng Zhen put down the tableware and leaned back on the back of the chair.
Through the swaying petals on the table, Qu Yanting felt Zeng Zhen's gaze. He wiped his mouth and took the initiative to raise the topic: "What has Master been up to lately?"
"I don't know." Zeng Zhen replied, "Everyone is busy, doesn't she even know I'm attending the event?"
The phone rang, and Zeng Zhen picked it up without hesitation, saying "Hello", which sounded condescending, in line with his temperament and identity. Inside they called "Teacher Zeng" with a very happy attitude.
"Today?" Zeng Zhen said, "I'm eating outside."
Qu Yanting could vaguely hear the sound, but didn't care, and picked up the knife and fork to cut the beef again.
Zeng Zhen was full of arrogance the whole time, and after a few words, it was agreed: "Then you wait first, I'll go over after dinner."
After hanging up the line, Wang Mingyu just came back, and Qu Yanting chewed the beef cubes without mentioning anything.
The meal was almost finished, and before leaving, Zeng Zhen casually announced while putting on his coat: "I'm not going home anymore, I have something to go out for."
Wang Mingyu didn't respond at all, and didn't care about anything, she just asked, "Are you driving away?"
Zeng Zhen grabbed the car keys: "Xiao Ting, please take your master home."
Coming out of the small mansion, Qu Yanting opened the car door for Wang Mingyu. He circled around and sat in the driver's seat, started the engine, turned the car around and turned onto the motorway. Zeng Zhen's car in the rearview mirror drove away in the opposite direction.
Feeling sleepy after eating, Wang Mingyu was lazily wrapped in a shawl.
Qu Yanting turned up the temperature and said, "Master, looking at you is a bit tired."
This year has entered the winter, and Wang Mingyu has already started preparing for the opening drama of CCTV next year. There are many screenwriters, but the chief screenwriter is the most troublesome. She said: "I still have a notebook here, I can't take care of it, I will show it to you when I get home."
Qu Yanting agreed without asking in detail, waiting for the red light at the intersection, he unscrewed the bottle of water and handed it to the other party: "Master, pay attention to rest."
Wang Mingyu caught it, and suddenly smiled: "Talk this to your teacher."
Qu Yanting didn't react: "Well, the teacher is busy too."
"Of course he's busy." Wang Mingyu seemed to be talking about an innocuous gossip, "The new love is hot, so I ran to have fun after eating, and I'm not afraid of flashing my fifty-year-old waist."
Qu Yanting was slightly embarrassed and didn't know how to answer.
Wang Mingyu said to herself: "He's a little fresh meat, very popular, he can serve and coax people, isn't this going to be in his new movie?"
The red light turned green, and Qu Yanting stepped on the accelerator and slid across the intersection. He didn't pay much attention to entertainment news, and he didn't know much about the traffic stars, so his impression was a little vague: "Looks like the surname is Jin?"
"Hmm." Wang Mingyu hummed softly.
After a while, she mocked: "What kind of atmosphere, there are so many homosexuals."
Qu Yanting looked out the window in a vain manner, gripped the steering wheel tightly, and said nothing.