Dating My Drama Queen Girlfriend On A Slow-Paced Variety Show - Chapter 12

Director Liu dragged Li Yue’s manager over to collect the money.

When Yu Bilan heard the news, she couldn’t believe it.

What? Their great Teacher Li was willing to “pay to work” by bringing 100,000 yuan? Impossible! Their Teacher Li was a powerhouse of frugality who, after moving house, walked to and from work just to save two yuan on bus fare! Even after being reminded, she continued to walk under the pretext of “exercising.”

Do you have any idea how thrifty Teacher Li is? Aside from eating a “big meal” while watching your show, she usually gets by on noodles and porridge!

Yu Bilan simply didn’t believe it and stood in the hallway, peeking inside.

The small guest room, furnished only with a bed and a wardrobe, was packed with four women. Her Teacher Li was sitting at the head of the bed, her head bowed as she chuckled softly. Who wouldn’t be dazed by that smile?

Look, even Teacher Luo Ming was so dazed she had collapsed onto the bed.

“Hand it over!” Director Liu slapped her hands together loudly.

Luo Ming suddenly raised a hand to cover her forehead. “Ow, ow,” she moaned. “I ate too much this morning. Carb coma. Oh, I’m so dizzy, I can’t hear anyone talking. I need to sleep for a bit.”

She rolled over, hugged Li Yue’s blanket, closed her eyes, and started making “huhu” snoring sounds.

The corners of Li Yue’s mouth never wavered. She reached out and tucked the blanket further around Luo Ming.

Director Liu gave a cold laugh, hands on her hips. “What carb coma? I saw everything! You ate two big chicken drumsticks and an egg, and the noodles in your bowl weren’t even half of what was in Sister Wu’s bowl! Where’s the money?”

Wu Xuezhen also lay down, squeezing into the blanket, and said, “Ming is a carnivore, so it’s perfectly logical that she’d faint after eating just a little bit of carbs.”

How is that logical? Listen to this nonsense, the guests are rebelling against the production team!

Director Liu took a deep breath and finally fixed her gaze on the culprit. The culprit’s eyes were bright as she watched quietly her clear, soft features were like clouds descending from the sky or mountain greenery swaying in the wind. Looking into those clean eyes, who could say a single harsh word? The words at the tip of Director Liu’s tongue were swallowed back down. She sputtered for a moment before saying weakly, “This won’t do. 100,000 is cheating. Let’s negotiate.”

Luo Ming peeked with one eye, her lips curling up. She was about to say something when she saw a hand resting on the blanket.

Teacher Li Yue had a gentle and ethereal aura, yet she could cook a full table of delicious food. However, her hands matched her aura soft, fair, like finely carved works of art without a trace of the mundane. If one hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, it would be impossible to associate these hands with a kitchen stove.

Luo Ming opened her eyes wide, staring intently at Li Yue’s hand. In her mind, the image of Li Yue busy in the kitchen appeared again. The firewood under the stove had burned brightly, green smoke drifted from the chimney, and the sunlight traced the window frame, casting shadows upon her.

Falling upon her serious face.

“Mm.” Luo Ming’s heart tightened and began to race uncontrollably. Under Li Yue’s gaze, she suddenly grabbed the blanket and yanked it over her head, covering Li Yue’s hand as well.

“Eighty-twenty! We keep eighty, you take twenty!” she shouted.

Director Liu gasped. “Don’t think I won’t make a move just because you’re hiding in the blanket! The starting funds for the first episode were only 10,000!”

Wu Xuezhen burst out laughing. “If we keep 80,000, we can film eight more seasons!”

Director Liu: “…”

Sister, you’re making things difficult for me.

She looked at Li Yue again, thinking she was the easiest to talk to among the three. But when she looked, she saw Li Yue looking down, staring at the blanket.

Director Liu cleared her throat. “Teacher Li, why don’t you give me a number?”

Li Yue said, “Meet in the middle?”

Director Liu: “…”

She began to roll up her sleeves and shouted, “If we can’t talk, then we won’t talk! Confiscated! Everything is confiscated! If I can’t confiscate it, I’ll raise the price of instant noodles 10,000 yuan a bag! 10,000 yuan!”

This time, it was the person under the blanket who gasped.

Li Yue squeezed Luo Ming’s fingers and let go just before the blanket was whipped away by Director Liu. She stood up, straightened her clothes, and admitted her mistake. “It was my oversigh.. I shouldn’t have brought so much money. Director Liu, you name the amount.”

Director Liu thought, That’s more like it. She authoritatively held up one finger.

Yu Bilan emerged from the courtyard carefully cradling a thick paper bag and ran into Su Pei. Su Pei had heard about the incident, a slight smile appeared on her stern face as she asked, “How much did they leave? Two thousand?”

Yu Bilan shook her head and opened the bag to show Su Pei the “red bricks” (stacks of cash) inside.

Ninety-nine thousand. Not a single cent missing.

“I’ve never seen this much cash in my life.” Yu Bilan felt like her hands were burning. “I’ll borrow a car to go to town and deposit this.”

Since Luo Ming was filming in Panshan City for a long time, the company had sent a car. Su Pei called an assistant to accompany Yu Bilan and then went back to keep an eye on Luo Ming and Li Yue.

The smile vanished from the Great Manager Su’s face, which now practically had “everyone behave yourselves” written across it.

The three female artists, who were heading up the mountain to gather firewood, came out in a change of clothes. Luo Ming sat dejectedly on the porch, listlessly tying her shoelaces.

Wu Xuezhen sat next to her, putting on her shoes. She glanced at Luo Ming and said, “Ming, if you wear white shoes up the mountain, they’ll be black by the time you come down.”

Luo Ming said coolly, “It is their destiny to face this tribulation.”

“…”

Wu Xuezhen laughed. “Haha.”

“You kid, you’re quite funny.” Because they had worked together to save 1,000 yuan, the relationship between the two seemed very good. She picked up a straw hat from the ground and plopped it onto Luo Ming’s head. “I’m going to see how those two guys are doing with their chores. Hurry up and put your shoes on so we can head up.”

Luo Ming was still listless. “Oh…”

She slowly continued tying her laces. One minute, two minutes.

Three minutes later, Li Yue came down from upstairs holding a pair of grey sneakers. A row of staff members sat under the low wall of the courtyard with various equipment pointed their way, while a woman stood with her arms crossed, watching coldly.

Li Yue paused in her tracks.

“Aah!” Luo Ming finally finished tying her laces. She fell back onto the wooden floor with her arms spread in exhaustion. Looking up, she saw Li Yue, who had arrived at some point. Her spirits lifted, and her lips curled into a smile.

“You’re down?”

Li Yue: “Mm.”

Luo Ming raised her hand and waved it around, pointing in a direction. “I forgot to take you to the backyard. You’ll see it when we go up the mountain. There’s a place for chopping wood, and sheds for chickens, ducks, and cows, though nothing is actually being raised in them.”

“I saw it,” Li Yue said.

Pushing open the window in her room provided a view of the backyard and the distant mountains. The yard was indeed large. The animal pens were a bit further away; if the owner were industrious, they could even carve out a small vegetable patch or plant some fruit trees.

After five episodes, the guests’ greatest modification to the backyard was that all the weeds had been cleared! It really hadn’t been easy!

Li Yue sat down to change her shoes and remarked casually, “The front yard has a lot of flowers planted.”

“The production team planted them. Uncle Dajun knows how to garden, otherwise they’d all be dead under our care.” Luo Ming scrambled up with difficulty. Looking at the thriving plants in the yard, she showed a look of envy. “In this place, they live a happier life than I do!”

From the corner of her eye, Li Yue glimpsed Luo Ming’s ankle. Pink socks wrapped around the joint, the contrast between the fabric and the pale skin was distinct. She was so thin that it seemed one could circle her ankle with just a thumb and forefinger. Li Yue lowered her gaze, pulled the grey sneakers over, and directly grasped Luo Ming’s leg to pull off her white sneakers.

Luo Ming didn’t resist at all, nor did she look surprised. She looked at Li Yue, narrowing her eyes. “Sneaking into my room? I caught you!”

Li Yue wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. She said slowly, “There was nowhere to step. No wonder you didn’t dare let anyone in.”

Nonsense!

Slander!

She was just in a hurry to get up today, so she hadn’t had time to tidy up!

Luo Ming rejected the accusation.

Li Yue’s long fingers pinched the shoelaces, wound them around her thumb and forefinger, crossed them, and pulled. A beautiful, neat bow appeared.

Luo Ming shook her foot, the bow on the shoe quivered. She said with a beaming smile, “How is it that I can never learn this trick!”

Li Yue set the white sneakers aside, hoisted her wooden basket onto her back, and said without looking back, “We’re having stir-fried chicken tonight. You can have all the chicken feet.”

Supplementing like with like (implying she needs to fix her “clumsy” feet).

“…”

An attack!

A cruel attack!

Luo Ming jumped up “indignantly” and pounced on Li Yue, hanging onto her. She grumbled, “Then I’m going to pick out the chicken heart and give it to you!”

Because you have no heart!

Teacher Li adjusted the position of her basket and tilted her head, raising an eyebrow. The bright sunlight fell, casting the shadow of her long lashes onto her face. At the corner of her upturned eyes, the sunlight sparkled, but the depth of her gaze was dark.

“Who’s eating it?” she asked softly.

Luo Ming suddenly froze. She poked out her lip and leaned in until their shoulders touched. She whispered, “Give it to Old Su!”

“Heh.” Li Yue chuckled and stood straight. Her gaze swept over Old Su as she said slowly, “If we don’t gather enough firewood on the mountain, you won’t even get chicken feet.”

Luo Ming gasped in horror. Grabbing her small basket, she followed, grumbling, “No way! Then I’ll just steal them from your bowl, hee-hee!”

Director Liu, who had been squatting in the yard fearing another “100,000 yuan incident,” massaged her legs. After a moment of thought, she said, “They have a really good relationship!” She had thought Hua Guan wanted Luo Ming to “carry” Li Yue, especially since they were alumni, marketing a friendship would be natural. But seeing that scene just now, who wouldn’t think they were best friends? Though… do best friends usually put shoes on for each other?

Director Liu pondered the atmosphere between the two guests. She looked up and asked, “Old Su, first, turn down your ‘air conditioning’ (cold aura). Let’s be real, can we air that segment from this morning? Give me a straight answer.”

The human coolant, Manager Su, narrowed her eyes. She stopped grinding her teeth and gave a contemptuous smile.

“Air it!”

If Li Yue isn’t afraid, why would Luo Ming be?

It’s just adding more fuel to the fire of her “black and red” reputation. Who’s backing down!

Heh.