After Reuniting with My Aloof Movie Queen Childhood Friend - Chapter 6.1

Ji Youyi didn’t bother with the situation further. She grabbed her lunch box and found a quiet corner to eat. Opening the lid, the aroma of food hit her. She took a deep, satisfied breath and started devouring it.

Li Zhulan, holding her script, silently sat down next to Ji Youyi, her eyes drawn to the hand moving the chopsticks at high speed. She had been a bit awkward when she first arrived, but seeing Ji Youyi eat like a whirlwind, the awkwardness vanished, replaced entirely by shock.

She had seen today’s lunch, shredded potatoes, cabbage, and processed meat. It looked completely unappetizing.

Why is Ji Youyi eating like a starving ghost?

In less than twenty seconds, the box was clean. Ji Youyi swallowed the last large bite and turned to Li Zhulan with a smile. “Hello?”

…She didn’t even chew, did she!

Li Zhulan snapped out of her daze, awkwardly adjusted her glasses, and introduced herself: “I-I’m Li Zhulan, the screenwriter for this drama.”

Ji Youyi nodded. “Mhm, I know. Go ahead, Teacher Li.”

“It’s like this,” Li Zhulan looked around and leaned closer to Ji Youyi, whispering, “Maybe no one told you, but the situation with our drama is a bit complicated.”

To put it bluntly, this web drama was a mess made to serve two masters.

The son of the CEO of “Zhi Zhi Sesame Paste” wanted to act. His father thought about it and decided to put a show together to film his “handsome” son, while also promoting the deliciousness and health benefits of their sesame paste.

Then there was Yeye Media. Their business hadn’t taken off in years. Seeing the popularity of historical idols, the boss decided to put a show together to send their prettiest little idol to be the female lead, show off her beauty, and promote their artist’s singing and dancing.

Like “a turtle meeting a green bean,” the two parties hit it off. Each put in 2.5 million, and thus, this pot of rotten dumplings called Life is Like the First Meeting was born.

Li Zhulan kept her voice extremely low: “So whatever you do, don’t offend those two sides. They are the investors. If they get angry, they’ll delete your scenes.”

For a writer, seeing the words they worked so hard to type being desecrated is painful. She had sat on set all morning and saw that Ji Youyi was the only one who could perfectly portray her character. Her individual shots had a completely different texture than everyone else’s, even though she played a terrible character, she made her feel alive. Li Zhulan didn’t want to cause trouble, but she couldn’t stand to see this one bit of solace crushed, so she nerved herself to warn Ji Youyi.

Ji Youyi didn’t care. “It’s fine. Let them delete it.”

This pot of dumplings was already destined to be a disaster.

This morning’s first scene was the “first meeting.” Right after the first take, the male lead said it wasn’t working, he felt the plot wasn’t “cool” enough and wanted a more “explosive” entrance. The female lead’s side also said no, they wanted her to debut with a “Startled Swan” dance to fully showcase her looks and figure, leaving the audience with the impression of a peerless beauty.

Then, filming stopped. A group of people argued for over an hour. Eventually, the male lead’s side won, and the first meeting was changed to a “hero saves the beauty” trope. The male lead, clearly raised on sesame paste, declared with a booming voice: “When the time comes, let me descend on a wire. It has to be cool! Explosively cool!”

Later, Ji Youyi heard that the filming schedule for this drama was only 20 days, but the order was to produce 36 episodes. Usually, a TV series takes 3 to 6 months to film, averaging 2 to 3 days per episode. If the production is high-quality, that time doubles.

Twenty days for 36 episodes is like rushing a whole semester’s worth of homework the night before school starts. You just fill in the blanks, nobody cares if it’s right.

Ji Youyi was just a small actress with zero pay, she didn’t even want to try to save it.

She closed her lunch box and prepared to leave. After two steps, she looked back. Li Zhulan was still sitting in the same spot, motionless, looking somewhat aggrieved.

Ji Youyi hesitated, then asked, “Have you eaten?”

“No.” Li Zhulan lowered her head and opened her script.

The script was very thick, with dense writing on almost every page. But more noticeable than the words were the large red “X” marks.

Printed words, crossed out. Accumulated inspiration, crossed out. First revision, second revision, third revision… all crossed out.

Ji Youyi pursed her lips. “I’ll go grab a box for you.”

“No need.” Li Zhulan shook her head. “I don’t feel like eating.” She had ordered delivery, but it hadn’t arrived yet. Only someone like Ji Youyi could stomach that terrible set lunch.

Ji Youyi thought to herself, This is bad. This girl can’t even eat, she must be feeling miserable.

She walked back and sat down again. “Actually, you can try not to have such a heavy sense of responsibility. You already handed in the draft. If they demand sudden changes and you can’t write them, they can’t really do anything to you. If the script doesn’t come out, filming stops, and the rent burns through their money. The producer will be more anxious than you. If you’re bold enough to stall, they’ll either find someone else to change it or just film according to the original script.”

Li Zhulan’s voice was very low. “But this is my first drama. I want to make it good.”

Ji Youyi felt a headache coming on. The little screenwriter was clearly new to the industry and was being stubborn. The crew was clearly beyond saving, the investors were eccentric, the director was slacking off, and the actors were either wooden or foolish. Even if she wrote the best script, they couldn’t film it!

Li Zhulan didn’t seem to want to continue the conversation. Her face was dark as she silently flipped through the script. She still remembered the excitement of writing the first word and the sense of fulfillment when she finished. But what followed was endless revision. The entire script had been overhauled over thirty times, it was unrecognizable. Amidst constant nagging and scolding, her focus had shifted to “changing it fast, don’t hold back the crew,” and she had gradually forgotten her original intention for the story.

Who exactly was Cao Qiu? What kind of life did she want? Li Zhulan no longer knew. The current protagonist felt like a stranger even to her.

Hot tears were about to spill over when a weight suddenly pressed down on her shoulder, interrupting her thoughts.

She turned her head and saw Ji Youyi with her arm hooked around her shoulder.

It was mid-March, and the cold wave was still lingering, the set was quite chilly. Ji Youyi sat in the shadows, still in her costume. But her smile was brilliant, as if she really were that little childhood friend from the script who had traveled far to the capital, bringing with her all the bright spring light of the south: “What you said makes sense. Fine then, I’ll think about it with you!”