For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Jiang Chuyi was absent-minded for a long time, as if she understood what he meant. Her heart, which had been floating all night, finally settled down at this moment.
She said calmly, "Is she the girl you've had a crush on for many years?"
Zongye was silent for a moment, "Who said that?"
Jiang Chuyi: "Xin He told me."
He didn't answer this question, but changed the subject and asked her, "Have you packed your things?"
"I have put it away."
"Let's go."
"Huh?" Jiang Chuyi was confused.
Zongye glanced outside, picked up his coat, and opened his car door. "It's getting late. I'll take you there."
I didn't bring an umbrella when I went out, luckily the rain wasn't heavy.
The two walked side by side in the deserted neighborhood, their feet stepping on the thin layer of melted snow, making a slight crunching sound.
The night was very quiet.
After sending her downstairs, Zong Ye stopped.
Jiang Chuyi turned around and whispered, "Sorry to bother you, I'll go upstairs."
She was not tall, just reaching Souya's chin. When talking face to face, she needed to slightly raise her head.
Zongye nodded.
She held it in for the whole time, but couldn't help asking, "Did you try to contact that girl later?"
Zong Ye seemed lost in thought for a moment, then he nodded.
Did you try to contact them but got no response
Jiang Chuyi's heart sank, and he spoke carefully: "Zong Ye, I think, since that person is gone, you should stop waiting."
Zong Ye stared at her face, with an unfathomable silence in his eyes.
"I don't mean anything else. I just think people should look forward." Jiang Chuyi said slowly, "If you can't force something, don't ask for it."
"I know." Zong Ye still had that gentle and calm smile.
Having said all, Jiang Chuyi didn’t know what to say.
She walked up the stairs in two steps at a time, and when she opened the door, she seemed to realize something and turned her head.
Zong Ye was tall and slender. He still stood there, watching her go.
Although they were only a few steps apart, the look in his eyes gave her the illusion that there was a huge distance between them.
Jiang Chuyi waved at him again.
*
Jiang Chuyi stayed at home for a few more days until Gao Ning called her at noon one day.
The director of the drama she is currently discussing is coming to Shanghai today and plans to meet her in a cafe in Lujiazui.
This drama is a modern campus drama, adapted from a big IP "September Rain", a representative work of youth literature. Not only is the production team excellent, but the original author directly took charge of the screenwriting.
The director is called Li Ming, a well-known director in the industry and a well-known ace in the television circle, who has produced many best actresses and best actores.
Because it is a campus drama, it needs a bit of an original youthful feel. Jiang Chuyi removed most of her makeup before leaving, tied her ponytail high, and used concealer to cover the dark circles under her eyes. She only used her fingers to apply a little lipstick to make her light-colored lips rosy.
On the way to meet Li Ming, Gao Ning told her the current situation in detail.
As the main controller of the development project, iFlytek directly skipped the director and decided on the male lead. For this reason, the concession made by the other side was that as long as the male lead was not suppressed, they would not participate in other castings.
Without the involvement of capital, and without considering fame and traffic, the production team can choose the most suitable actors as they wish. This is a rare blessing for a 38th-tier celebrity.
The second female lead in this campus drama is an introverted top student. Her facial features cannot be glamorous, but must be attractive and gentle. Gao Ning guessed that Jiang Chuyi probably caught Li Ming's eye just because of her appearance.
Jiang Chuyi raised a question: "Didn't they say that this drama is a joint venture between Huarui and iFlytek? iFlytek has chosen the male lead, so Huarui has no objection?"
"Are you stupid?" Gao Ning said with a click of the tongue, "Don't you know how Xin He became famous?!"
Jiang Chuyi recalled.
Seeing that she was a dullard, Gao Ning said, "Xin He was promoted by Li Ming, what do you think? This drama is definitely for her! What can Hua Rui have any objection to!"
"Xin He?" Jiang Chuyi suddenly realized and continued laughing, "If I can get this drama, wouldn't it mean I can work with her again?"
"Oh, isn't it? But for the sake of your future, you should bear with it for now." Gao Ning also felt very aggrieved, but still tried to comfort her, "I'm a little depressed too. Why do you have to play a supporting role for Xin He again? The main reason is that the female lead dramas you can get now are at most acting with those male idols who have good looks but no acting skills. The cast is basically put together temporarily, and the production level is too poor! Once it is broadcast, it will be a black history, and no one will buy it except the fans. But this drama is different, it has a regular cast."
Jiang Chuyi questioned her soul: "Then why did you rush me to make a movie with Xibao?"
Gao Ning looked at her in disbelief, "Big sister, are you kidding me? How can Xibao compare to these little idols in terms of traffic? Even if he went to film Country Love with them, he would still make money!"
Jiang Chuyi: "That makes sense."
"You see, the entertainment industry is so realistic. You just had a little flirtation with Zong Ye, got some traffic, and your resources are instantly different from before." Gao Ning sighed, "You are also stubborn. If the old man had..."
Jiang Chuyi: "Don't talk about the past."
Gao Ning looked at her expression and shut up. "Okay, be smart when you meet the director later."
Jiang Chuyi nodded, "I understand."
This time, Li Ming came with a young female director.
They seemed to have limited time, so they didn't exchange too many pleasantries with Jiang Chuyi and went straight to the point.
Li Ming sat on the sofa and examined Jiang Chuyi for a while. The female director flipped through her information and asked a question: "You were born in 1997, right? I remember you were acting in movies in the early years?"
"Yes."
“Which do you prefer to do movies or TV series than films?”
Jiang Chuyi sat there, unable to think of how to answer for a moment, and carefully considered the wording.
Li Ming poured her a cup of tea and said, "You can relax a little. Just think of it as a chat."
Jiang Chuyi thanked him and replied softly, "Actually, filming a TV series or a movie is the same to me. I just want to play my role well."
After a smile, Li Ming began to get to the point. "You should have a general understanding of the character Meng Yu in the past few days, right? Can you tell me about it?"
Jiang Chuyi nodded.
After she finished reading the novel a few days ago, she went online to search for various reviews of the second female lead in the novel, copied them down in her notebook, and wrote a short biography of the character.
After listening to her orderly speech, Li Ming and the female director both nodded.
Li Ming showed a look of approval in his eyes, and said to Gao Ning, "Chu Yi is the one who has a deeper understanding of the role among the people I interviewed in the past few days. She can concentrate on it, which is quite good."
Gao Ning was delighted, but remained calm and said with a smile, "You're welcome."
"Okay, let's discuss it when we get back and let you know the result in a few days."
"Okay, okay."
After sending them to the door, Li Ming suddenly remembered something and said to Jiang Chuyi, "Xiao He mentioned you to me these past two days, saying that you act very well. I rarely hear her praise others. Do you have a good relationship?"
Jiang Chuyi was stunned.
Gao Ning reacted quickly and continued, "Yes, they filmed a movie together some time ago."
Li Ming thought thoughtfully: "No wonder."
After the two of them left, Gao Ning looked as if the world was a mystery, and asked Jiang Chuyi in surprise: "Why did Xin He praise you to Director Li? She didn't even give you a hard time?"
Jiang Chuyi looked unfathomable, "She is a nice person to begin with. Think about how many bad things you said about her to me before."
Gao Ning: “…”
Jiang Chuyi's heart moved, and she suddenly realized that Gao Ning was able to get in touch with the joint venture between iFlytek and Huarui this time, and was able to meet the director in person before the audition. Perhaps Xin He really had some connections in the middle.
Gao Ning clicked his tongue twice, slapped himself lightly, and sighed, "As expected, you can't judge a person by his appearance. Huarui still has two good people. I take back all the insults I said to her before."
Jiang Chuyi smiled.
As the two were walking in, a surprised voice came from the side, tentatively asking: "—Chu Yi?"
Jiang Chuyi stopped and turned around, and found that it was a woman whose face was unfamiliar, but vaguely familiar.
She couldn't remember it for the moment, so she asked politely, "Hello, who are you?"
"It's really you, I'm Qiqi!" The woman looked a little excited, "Don't you remember me? We sat at the desks in front and behind each other in junior high school!"
"Qiqi..." Jiang Chuyi tried hard to recall.
Seeing this, Gao Ning said, "You guys chat first, I'll make a phone call."
Jiang Chuyi nodded.
As she recalled, she said to Qiqi apologetically, "I can't seem to remember it. I'm sorry. I didn't stay in school much in junior high school, and I can't recognize many of my classmates."
"It's okay, it's okay. After all, it's been almost ten years, and everyone has changed." Qi Qi understood this very well. "But you're a big star! I remember you very well."
Jiang Chuyi felt unworthy of her praise and said ashamedly: "It's just to make a living, where are you now?"
"My company is nearby." Qiqi pointed to her, "I came here with my colleagues."
After meeting my junior high school classmates again after many years, we found a table and sat down to chat for a while.
Jiang Chuyi flipped through the menu and asked Qiqi and her colleagues, "What would you like to drink? Can I buy you something to drink?"
"No, no, we've already bought coffee and we have to go back to work later." They all laughed and said with a bit of nostalgia, "You're still the same as you were in junior high school, beautiful and kind!"
Jiang Chuyi waved her hands repeatedly: "You are too polite."
"I'm not being polite." Qiqi's expression suddenly became serious, "I really think you are not only beautiful, but also very kind. I have remembered this for many years."
Many people praised her for her beauty, but few said she was kind, so this word seemed particularly sincere. Jiang Chuyi felt warm in her heart, "Thank you."
Qiqi's colleague testified, "Really, Qiqi often talked about you to us at work."
Qi Qi immediately explained: "I'm not showing off to them that I have a celebrity classmate. Although I'm really proud of it, I really keep mentioning you because I think you're a really nice person."
Jiang Chuyi felt a little embarrassed by her constant praise, "I'm not as good as you say, but thank you anyway. Hearing these words will make me feel better for many days."
"I'm really grateful to you." Qiqi said with a serious expression, "I was always bullied in class before, but you were the only one who was willing to talk to me and even shared some tiramisu with me."
Jiang Chuyi was stunned, "Really?"
She really had no impression of this kind of thing.
"Yes, you came to school secretly and brought a lot of desserts, saying that your family didn't allow you to eat them." Qi Qi sighed, "When we were in junior high school, school violence was quite serious. You didn't go to school much, so you don't know."
She mentioned another person, "I remember there was a short kid in our class who was bullied a lot. Everyone isolated him. I don't know why you told the teacher that you wanted to sit next to him in the second semester of the third year of junior high school."
The years in junior high school were the years when Jiang Chuyi filmed the most. She was very busy and often traveled all over the country. Sometimes she went to the mountains and forests with Qin Tong to film, and stayed there for half a year, which delayed her studies so much that she even forgot who her homeroom teacher was. As for her classmates, she was even less familiar with them. She didn't recognize all of them until graduation.
But Jiang Chuyi still had a little impression of the person Qiqi mentioned. It seemed that he was always targeted because his family conditions were not good and he had offended a troublemaker in the class.
"Is his last name Li or Lin?"
Jiang Chuyi can no longer recall what that man looked like. She only remembers that Qing Dynasty dramas were popular all over the country at that time, and people liked to call him a eunuch nickname, Xiao Linzi. All that was left in the vague memory fragments was a skinny figure. He wore big, thick black-framed glasses, always walked with his head down, and was a very taciturn boy.
She was a little curious, "How is he now? Are you still in touch?"
"I have lost contact with those guys from junior high school a long time ago."
Jiang Chuyi nodded and didn't ask any more questions.
The two chatted for a while, then left each other WeChat messages and said goodbye.
*
Gao Ning has been in high spirits recently because of good things happening to her. Even in the winter, she feels the sun is shining brightly when she walks on the street.
Jiang Chuyi asked: "Do you want to go back to the company?"
"Yes." The meaning of Li Ming's words just now was very clear. This pie was about to be successful. Gao Ning was in a good mood and said generously: "You will be given two more days of leave. When the filming of the Western Storm movie is finished, maybe you can join the crew seamlessly."
Jiang Chuyi nodded.
"You should try harder. No TV station invited us to be on the New Year's Eve show this year, but maybe we will be invited next year."
At this point, Jiang Chuyi remembered, "Oh, Brother Jin told me a few days ago that Xingcheng TV plans to invite teachers to be guests and ask me to go with them."
Gao Ning chuckled, "The old man is finally willing to leave the seclusion? Alas, you are indeed his most beloved disciple."
In recent years, Star City TV has basically led the seven TV stations in terms of ratings. Not only does it have a lot of variety shows, it also spends a lot of money on the New Year's Eve party, inviting all the big names who are in the limelight.
Especially because of the cooperation with IM, "Western Storm" has basically been the finale program of their countdown in the past two years, and they have exclusive rights, which has directly increased the ratings to the maximum, and the traffic popularity is almost beyond the reach of other TV stations.
On the way home, Jiang Chuyi was thinking about accompanying Qin Tong to the New Year's Eve party in Xingcheng. If Xibao was also the finale guest this year, wouldn't she be able to see Zongye again
When I think about it this way, I don’t know why, but I feel quite excited.
Maybe because she has seen too many clips on Douyin in the past two days, Jiang Chuyi wants to watch their performance live.
As she thought about this, she suddenly calmed down.
Why do I want to see Zongye
Jiang Chuyi suddenly got an idea.
I wonder if I have any bad thoughts towards Zongye...
She pounded her head hard to shake the water out of her brain, and repeatedly warned herself in her heart.
It's better for people to be realistic. Zong Ye is very famous now, but he is not someone who can reach her reach.
Besides, there is still someone in Zongye's heart that he can't let go of.
Thinking of this, Jiang Chuyi felt a little lost for some reason.
She suddenly thought, it would be great if he couldn't wait for that person.
(End of this chapter)