A few minutes later, Xiao Zhong hurried back to the meeting room, panting and asking, "Sister, why are you awake?"
Jiang Chuyi's face was pale, and her expression was very hopeless. "What did you do just now?"
Xiao Zhong took out a box of painkillers from his pocket and put them on the table. "I saw that you were feeling uncomfortable, so I thought about going back to your room to get some medicine for you."
Jiang Chuyi: “…”
Xiao Zhong didn't know what had just happened, so he looked around and asked, "What happened?"
Jiang Chuyi glanced at her and waved his hand, "It's okay."
At this time, Xin He, the director, and the screenwriter came in together. Seeing the people sitting in the conference room, the director asked with a smile: "Why are you all here so early?"
“We just arrived too.”
Er Er ran over in two or three steps, "Chu Yi, did you see the message I sent yesterday?"
Jiang Chuyi: "I went to bed early yesterday and only saw it when I woke up in the morning. What's wrong? Is there something wrong with the script?"
"It's not a big deal." Er Er said with a smile, "Forget it, I won't tell you yet, you'll know later."
After Xin He gave her assistant a few words, she walked to her seat and sat down, then said to Ji Kai, "The director just caught me and asked me how well I remembered my lines."
Ji Kai followed her words and asked: "So how do you remember it?"
"Almost. I have memorized them all."
As the two chatted, Xin He saw Ji Kai looked away and called out behind her, "Is Xiao Zong back?"
She stopped talking and turned to look.
When Xiao Zhong first heard it, he thought Ji Kai was calling him. He looked up in surprise, only to see Zong Ye coming over with two cups of coffee.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he seemed not to notice other people's gazes, and placed the coffee in front of Jiang Chuyi as if no one was around, "I don't know if you like sweet, so I bought two cups."
The conference room was inexplicably silent for a moment, and the atmosphere became a little strange.
The onlookers, including Er'er, maintained a calm expression on their faces, but their eyes were darting back and forth between Zong Ye and Jiang Chuyi, making it even more obvious that they were worried.
What's happening here
Xiao Zhong's mind was still not fully formed. He looked at Zongye absentmindedly and heard him say, "You pick one cup of half sugar or slightly sugar, and the rest is for me."
Wang Tan teased him: "You bought two more cups. Are you so thoughtful?"
Hearing this, Fu Cheng glanced coldly at the coffee on the table, not understanding what was wrong with Zong Ye.
Ji Kai smiled knowingly and asked Jiang Chuyi: "Hey, Teacher Jiang, do you think Xiao Zong's work is done well? Would you consider hiring another assistant?"
Although there were no outsiders here, they were some of the most popular members of a group that is very popular in China. They all spoke in a very unruly way and were not shy about teasing others.
In the eyes of outsiders, Jiang Chuyi is a quiet person, and no one would tease her. At this moment, the two of them sang the same tune, and she had to beg for mercy, "Stop making fun of me."
Jiang Chuyi put the hot water bottle on her knees aside and looked at him apologetically, "I'm sorry, Mr. Zong... I just fell asleep."
Zongye said in a natural tone: "Just call me Xiao Zong, which cup do you want?"
Jiang Chuyi: “…”
The people around him couldn't hold it in any longer and started laughing out loud.
Her face turned red, she lowered her head slightly, and whispered in a negotiating tone: "How about half sugar?"
Zongye nodded slightly and took another cup.
Xiao Zhong heard their conversation clearly and it was hard for him to adjust his mood. He took out his phone and bombarded Jiang Chuyi on WeChat: "Sister, I'm shocked. Why did Zong Ye buy you coffee? What did I miss!!!"
Jiang Chuyi clicked on the message, and a dozen screaming chicken emojis filled the screen.
Xiao Zhong: "!! Ah, can I go out for a few laps to calm down!! What the hell just happened!!!"
Just by looking at the jumbled text, you can feel her feeling of being so excited that she was almost suffocating.
People came in one after another, and Jiang Chuyi looked back.
Xiao Zhong was fidgeting, his face flushed red, as if he was going to ascend to heaven in the next second.
Jiang Chuyi put away her phone silently, feeling an indescribable feeling.
This behavior of Souya is quite strange.
She unconsciously rested her chin on her hand, held the coffee cup, and felt the warm touch from her fingertips.
Inexplicably I thought of the day we first met, when he was leaning against the wall to light a fire, and when someone confessed his love to him, he still looked perfunctory and indifferent.
Obviously looks bad.
*
The script reading session lasted until noon, and the director waved his hand and asked everyone to go eat first and continue in the afternoon.
There was a three-hour break on the way, and Er'er took Jiang Chuyi to look for food nearby.
Gao Ning has a flight to Milan tonight, so she came here specially to have the last meal with them. After ordering, Er Er handed the menu to Jiang Chuyi: "Take a look at what to eat?"
"Sister Screenwriter, please eat. Teacher Jiang has prepared lunch." Xiao Zhong took out the lunch box and placed it on the table.
Green and white boiled vegetables, a few pieces of chicken breast, and a layer of seasoned salad.
Er Er couldn't bear it: "Is this what we're eating for lunch?"
Jiang Chuyi followed her sigh and said, "I'm losing weight because I'm filming recently."
Er Er clicked his tongue twice, "The female star is so miserable."
Halfway through the meal, a call came in and the phone screen kept flashing. Gao Ning picked it up, glanced at the contact name, and threw the phone to Jiang Chuyi like a hot potato, "Hurry up, answer it."
Jiang Chuyi was confused and called out, "Teacher."
"Why is it you? Where's Gao Ning?"
Jiang Chuyi turned on the hands-free mode and said, "I'm with her."
Gao Ning waved his hands quickly.
Qin Tong was silent for a few seconds, then raised his voice: "Gao Ning has nothing to do all day? You insisted on having her take care of you, now look at what kind of crappy jobs she found for you!"
The dining table suddenly became quiet, and Xiao Zhong and Er Er looked at each other awkwardly.
Jiang Chuyi quickly covered her phone and mouthed, "Teacher, do you know?"
Gao Ning didn't bother to be shy about anything: "It's because of that crappy post that I got scolded by the old man several times."
"I told you to act honestly and not to take shortcuts, but you didn't listen? You insisted on doing something that was not your responsibility, and in the end, it was used to hype it up. You deserve it!"
Jiang Chuyi turned off the speakerphone and wanted to explain.
Gao Ning was so angry that he put down his fork and reached out to grab the phone: "Didn't you teach me before that there is no distinction between high and low acting, and it's acting anywhere. Acting in commercial films is a bad job? It's a loss of face? Do you know how many people want to work with Xibao? Others beg for it but can't get it, so what's the big deal about being scolded?"
"Don't talk to the teacher like that." Jiang Chuyi glanced at her and reminded her, "Calm down, this is a public place."
Gao Ning held the phone angrily, pushed the chair away and stood up, retorting at a very fast speed: "We have different concepts and can't communicate. The times have changed a long time ago. Traffic is king, don't you know? You keep letting Chu Yi act in those old movies. She's getting more and more obscure. Isn't her path narrowed? Besides, the market is so small now. If you waste another two years, Chu Yi will be too old. By then, she won't be famous at all. Who would want to use her?"
After Gao Ning went out to answer the phone, the atmosphere at the dinner table suddenly became stagnant.
Although Xiao Zhong tried hard to find a topic, it was obviously useless. Just when he didn't know what to do, Jiang Chuyi said, "Go outside and see her."
Xiao Zhong nodded immediately: "Okay."
After everyone left, Jiang Chuyi smiled at Er Er and said, "You eat first, don't worry about them."
Er Er wanted to comfort her, but didn't know what to say. After hesitating for a long time, he said, "Well, Director Qin Tong is a senior whom I like very much. I like all his works, but..."
She paused and said quickly, "But I still want to explain to you that Catching Stars is not a traditional commercial film. Although it is unlikely to win any awards, we are very sincere when creating content."
"I know. I've read the script and I like this story very much." Jiang Chuyi explained, "There's been a lot of things going on online these days, and the teacher is angry. Don't take what he just said to heart."
Er Er waved his hands hastily: "How could that be? I just want to say that IM is very attentive this time. Before producing the script, our writing team held many meetings, including every member of West Storm. The script you see now, and everyone's story line, is actually expanded based on the ideas and opinions they provided."
Jiang Chuyi listened to her quietly.
"Let me give you an example. Do you remember the plot of your initial audition? It was about the wandering singer."
"Yes, I remember."
"This is a clip taken from Souya's storyline."
"What?"
"Before his debut, Souya sang on the street."
Jiang Chuyi was a little slow to react and was slightly surprised: "Didn't he debut a long time ago? How could he have such an experience?"
"I don't know the details. I just heard it from others. It may not have been that long. Souya joined IM as a trainee when he was very young, around 16 or 17 years old. His family was probably not well off, so he dropped out of school. I don't know the details."
Jiang Chuyi hesitated: "So, the prototype of this male protagonist is him?"
"That's not the case." Er Er blinked at her, "I'm going to keep this secret for now. I'll see if I have a chance to tell you in the future."
*
After lunch, Xiao Zhong accompanied Gao Ning back to the hotel.
While packing, Gao Ning suddenly asked, "I heard that Zong Ye bought coffee for Chu Yi this morning?"
Xiao Zhong replied sadly: "That's right."
Gao Ning didn't know what he was thinking about, and asked cautiously: "When did Chu Yi become so familiar with Zong Ye?"
Xiao Zhong thought for a moment and shook his head, "It's okay."
"Then why did he buy coffee for Chu Yi?"
Xiao Zhong explained to her the misunderstanding that happened in the morning.
Gao Ning pondered for a while, then his mind became active. He said to himself, "Isn't this just right? I was just thinking about hyping up a couple, and it seems like there's something to it."
Xiao Zhong was squatting on the ground playing with his phone when he suddenly screamed, "Oh my God!"
Gao Ning asked impatiently: "What are you yelling about again?"
Xiao Zhong handed the phone to Gao Ning with slightly shaking hands.
Gao Ning stopped what he was doing and took it to look at it. His expression gradually became serious.
Jiang Chuyi sat in the lobby waiting for her phone to charge, then set off to the meeting room to prepare.
The director and two or three producers were standing together chatting with tea cups in their hands. Jiang Chuyi greeted them and sat down at her seat.
On the table was the half-read script I had read that morning.
Jiang Chuyi had nothing to do, and thought of the gossip that Er Er had told her. She picked up the notebook again and read through the plot.
She was reciting the lines silently in her heart when she heard an abrupt voice: "I wish Chuyi happy every day, we will love you forever..."
Jiang Chuyi paused and looked over sideways.
Zongye lowered his head, holding his phone, which displayed her Weibo account. The video currently playing was a collection of fan greetings from the fan club.
She was a little confused, what was she doing...
Noticing her gaze, Zongye paused for a moment, looked at her, and slowly pressed the volume button. "I just followed your Weibo and was just flipping through it. Do you mind?"
Jiang Chuyi: “…”
Faced with his calm and composed appearance, she was speechless for a while and shook her head.
I didn't even turn a page of the script in my hand for a long time.
She quickly recalled what she had posted on Weibo. She usually posted some daily business, selfies, and occasionally shared a few jokes...
As I was thinking about it, I realized belatedly that Zong Ye had taken the initiative to follow her on Weibo
While she was distracted, she heard the person next to her laugh.
Jiang Chuyi pretended to look into the distance while drinking water, taking the opportunity to peek at Zong Ye.
His profile was handsome, and he was scrolling down with his fingers, seeming to be in a leisurely mood. He was still reading her Weibo, looking very focused.
Why did I scroll through so many posts? I should have set it to be visible for half a year.
Glancing at his screen, Jiang Chuyi was slightly embarrassed, "Um, are you watching it on a large size?"
Zongye turned his head and looked back at her: "Huh? Yes."
"You just seemed..."
"Like what?"
Jiang Chuyi reminded gently: "Maybe I saw it wrong, it seems that your hand slipped."
"Slipping?"
She hesitated and made it clear to him, “You gave me a thumbs up.”
"I didn't slip."
Jiang Chuyi said with an "oh" and immediately said, "It's okay then, I must have seen it wrong."
As soon as he finished speaking, Souya said with a smile in his gentle and not-so-serious tone, "I ordered it specially."
Jiang Chuyi: “…”
Before she had time to think about it, Xiao Zhong suddenly rushed into the meeting room in a hurry and tried to pull her away, "Teacher Jiang, come out with me for a moment."
Jiang Chuyi saw that her expression was not right, so he closed the script and walked outside with her, "What's wrong?"
Xiao Zhong looked around and said to her in a low voice, "Teacher Jiang, your trumpet has been exposed!"
"My trumpet?"
Jiang Chuyi immediately took out her mobile phone and clicked on the trending search.
Maybe because she was used to being obscure, Jiang Chuyi would never have dreamed that one day she would experience what it meant to be punished by being on the hot search list.
All the top search terms are related to her.
Jiang Chuyi quickly logged into the exposed secondary account and reviewed it.
The private messages kept ringing, and she was almost about to quit.
"There's nothing wrong with this." Jiang Chuyi turned the pages and gradually felt relieved. "They can find it out if they dig it out."
She only posted some daily life on this account, occasionally a few photos of gatherings with friends, and more often she showed off her rabbit. She made a few videos complaining about how the rabbit's farts were very smelly, and that every time it pooped, it took her a long time to clean up, but it was very cute when it was eating grass. Some videos were accompanied by her own magical laughter.
"They are just rabbits."
Jiang Chuyi breathed a sigh of relief, then felt a little strange and asked the assistant, "When did I become so famous? Is a small account worth making a fuss about?"
"No, that's not it." Xiao Zhong stuttered, "The point, the point is..."
She was anxious, clicked on the relevant entry, and handed the phone to Jiang Chuyi, "Here, look!"
Jiang Chuyi glanced at it.
Three seconds later, his eyes widened.
This is a screenshot of a comment dug up by a fan:
@初一是好日: He is a relatively polite person, and his appearance is probably one of those in the entertainment industry where "I don't know how he grew up like this".
Of course, this is not the point. The most important thing is that a netizen named "Song Ye's Little Star" posted a few screenshots of the chat.
It was the late-night chat record between her and Jiang Chuyi’s second account a few months ago.
On this, the two of them were praising Souya crazily and exchanging their star-chasing experiences.
Jiang Chuyi was stunned.
She had been working honestly in the entertainment industry for many years and had a clean life, but overnight, she was labeled as a fan of Souya.
He is still the kind of true fan who would rather be crushed than not go to the airport to pick someone up.
Jiang Chuyi felt like she was having trouble breathing.
Under the worried gaze of her assistant, Jiang Chuyi, with shaking hands, clicked on the Weibo post of the protagonist who actually set off this storm:
@宗也: Thank you Mr. Jiang for the compliment. I grew up through my own efforts and didn't cause any trouble to others. Be careful when picking someone up at the airport next time. //@初一是好日: He is quite polite and his appearance is probably one of those "I don't know how he grew up like this" in the entertainment industry.
(End of this chapter)