Dating My Drama Queen Girlfriend On A Slow-Paced Variety Show - Chapter 14

By the time they headed back, Luo Mingzi’s basket held the most firewood. At a glance, it was clear she had worked incredibly hard such touching, diligent labor!

The trio, accompanied by the camera crew, slowly descended the mountain. It was already noon, the hottest part of the day, and all three were too tired and hot to speak. Li Yue reached out, intending to take the basket from Luo Mingzi, but Luo Mingzi grabbed Li Yue’s hand and gave a gentle shake of her head.

“I’m fine,” she whispered. “Go help Sister Xuezhen.”

Li Yue looked at Luo Mingzi, her gaze deepening slightly. You’d better be fine.

Luo Mingzi stuck out her tongue and hummed a tune as she went to pick some foxtail grass. However, she ended up shrieking in terror because the grass was covered in tiny bugs. Li Yue glanced at her, then took the basket off Wu Xuezhen’s back.

Wu Xuezhen said in surprise, “I can manage. Go help Mingzi, she doesn’t have much strength.”

Li Yue replied with a smile, “She wants to exercise.”

“I see.” Feeling a bit bashful, Wu Xuezhen handed the basket to Li Yue and thanked her.

“I’m getting old; I have to admit it,” Wu Xuezhen said, patting her back as she walked down the mountain side by side with Li Yue. Watching Luo Mingzi skip along ahead of them, Wu Xuezhen stole a glance at Li Yue. Seeing that Li Yue’s eyes were fixed on the girl in front, she couldn’t help but curl her lips into a smile.

Even while watching someone else, Li Yue didn’t forget to respond: “Not at all, Sister Xuezhen, you look very young.”

Wu Xuezhen teased, “Not calling me ‘Mom’ anymore?”

“I can if you want,” Li Yue laughed.

The noon breeze swept through the mountain valley, brushing away the stifling heat. The vast stretches of greenery unfolded like a scroll time seemed to slow down. Whether you walked fast or slow, the moment felt light and cozy.

Wu Xuezhen stretched and couldn’t help but say, “Moments like this are when I finally feel like I’m filming a ‘slow’ variety show.”

“It’s so comfortable.”

“Mm,” Li Yue agreed.

Up ahead, Luo Mingzi discovered something and said excitedly, “Li Yue, look! This flower is so pretty!” Li Yue walked over, plucked the wild flower Luo Mingzi admired, and handed it to her.

Luo Mingzi beamed, holding the flower up to the camera and whispering conspiratorially, “Li Yue picked it, not me. I’m reporting Li Yue for being a ‘ruthless flower-crusher’!”

Li Yue wasn’t just capable of crushing flowers, she could crush grass and people too. She leaned down, effortlessly plucked a stem of foxtail grass, and waved it in front of Luo Mingzi. Still remembering the bugs from earlier, Luo Mingzi’s face turned pale with fright, and she ran away shouting for help.

“Heh, coward,” Li Yue smirked, picking a few more blades of grass and beginning to weave them together.

With her long legs, she easily caught up to Wu Xuezhen. Wu Xuezhen leaned over to look at the messy tangle of grass in her hands and gave a look of pity. Li Yue let out a confused “Eh?” and said, “I remember you can weave these into rabbits.”

Wu Xuezhen burst into laughter, taking the grass from her hands. She teased, “I thought you were so capable and efficient at everything. I didn’t expect there’d be something you couldn’t do.”

Li Yue said helplessly, “I’ve never woven one before.”

“It’s okay, Mom will teach you,” Wu Xuezhen said. She tossed aside the grass Li Yue had mangled and gathered fresh blades. Before long, a little grass rabbit with two long ears appeared before Li Yue.

Li Yue’s eyes lit up. “Thank you!”

Her tone was more intense than anything she had said before. She held the grass rabbit up, looking at it from every angle, holding it against the sky and the mountains to take photos.

Seeing her so happy made Wu Xuezhen happy too, she truly looked at Li Yue as if she were her own daughter. In truth, if she and Pi Dajun had married and had children earlier, they would be about Li Yue’s age. But she and Pi Dajun had been busy with their careers, filming all over the country. They feared they wouldn’t be able to provide enough care for a child, so they delayed it, and eventually, the desire for children faded.

“Xiao Yue, where are you from?” Wu Xuezhen asked.

Li Yue was busy sending the photo to the “Little Puppy” avatar in her contact list. Hearing the question, she quickly replied, “I’m from Nanhai City, Hailin Province.”

“Did you grow up in the city?”

Li Yue nodded.

“Then we aren’t that far apart. I’m from Shangjing City, Jinglin Province, and your Uncle Dajun is from Mingdong City. When we get back, let’s exchange contact info. I’ll send you some local specialties sometime!” Wu Xuezhen said.

Li Yue smiled. “Thank you, Mom. Teacher Luo is also from Shangjing.”

Wu Xuezhen clapped her hands. “That’s right! I recognized her accent the first time we met.” Li Yue immediately began speaking to Wu Xuezhen in a Shangjing accent, making her howl with laughter.

The two of them actually arrived back later than Luo Mingzi. When they reached the small courtyard, Luo Mingzi was sitting on the threshold, watching expectantly. When she finally saw them, she jumped up and waved her arms happily.

Li Yue waved back.

Wu Xuezhen couldn’t help but laugh. “Look, doesn’t Mingzi look like a little puppy?” As soon as she said it, her heart skipped a beat, she worried it might be inappropriate and glanced hesitantly at the camera. Beside her, Li Yue nodded and said, “She certainly does.”

She beckoned to Luo Mingzi. Luo Mingzi came over with a skip and a hop, her face flushed from the exercise.

“Here,” Li Yue handed her the rabbit Wu Xuezhen had woven, smiling. “Mom made it.”

“Sister Xuezhen should have woven a puppy to keep you company. That way, we’d have two puppies in the house.” Li Yue wiggled the grass rabbit, its ears flopped back and forth, lightly brushing against the tip of Luo Mingzi’s nose.

It tickled.

Luo Mingzi covered her nose and gave a small huff. She snatched the grass rabbit and used its ears to brush against Li Yue’s face, saying defiantly, “On this vast prairie, one puppy is enough!”

Wu Xuezhen breathed a sigh of relief, laughed heartily, and ushered them both into the yard.

It was already 1:00 PM by the time they returned. Because workers were coming today to pave the road, the production crew provided lunch boxed meals for everyone, including the staff.

Guest stars Pi Dajun and You Yang were fast asleep on recliners under a tree, recharging their energy for the afternoon’s work. The three ladies tiptoed into the living room. Luo Mingzi tugged at her clothes and said, “I need to take a shower before I eat. I feel like I’m going to die from the stench!”

“It’s not that bad,” Wu Xuezhen said. “We came from the mountains; we’re carrying the scent of green hills and wild grass.” Luo Mingzi froze and murmured, “But now, whenever I think of mountains and grass, I think of bugs.”

Wu Xuezhen burst out, “Pfft!”

There was no helping that.

“Go on then,” she waved her off. At that moment, Li Yue who had vanished as soon as they walked in, emerged from a room adjacent to the living room. That small room served as a secondary kitchen, equipped with electrical appliances.

Li Yue was carrying a kettle. When Wu Xuezhen saw her, she quickly said, “Oh, Li Yue, you should rest. You haven’t stopped all morning.”

“I’m fine.” Li Yue glanced at Luo Mingzi. “Go shower.”

Luo Mingzi raised an arm high in a “flying” pose and said excitedly, “Going right now!” The two watched her pitter-patter upstairs. Wu Xuezhen couldn’t help but remark, “Mingzi is in such a great mood today. Having a best friend here really makes her more lively than before.”

Li Yue just smiled without a word. A staff member came to the courtyard to deliver lunch, stopping at the door. Li Yue went over to take the boxed meals, opened one, and frowned. The staff member quickly explained, “Today’s food was made by villagers from the nearby village. The vegetables were picked fresh from the fields and delivered as soon as they were cooked. They’ve been kept in an insulated box.”

“Artists have sensitive stomachs, so the meals for you teachers were prepared separately.”

In the June heat, the food could sit for a while, and farm style cooking over a wood fire usually had a nice aroma. However, there was a significant gap between these and restaurant-quality dishes. It was a “two dishes and one soup” meal, but in one of the dishes, it seemed too much dark soy sauce had been added, the color was very dark, and the wilted vegetable leaves looked like they were dejectedly saying hello to her.

Li Yue only had to glance at the food to know that Luo Mingzi definitely wouldn’t be able to eat it.

Forget the food itself if Luo Mingzi found even a tiny flaw in the porcelain of the plate, she wouldn’t touch the dish with a single chopstick. In the first five episodes of the show, she had managed to starve herself thin purely out of pickiness.

Li Yue closed the lunch box, smiled at the staff member, and asked, “Can I use the kitchen inside?” She pointed to the kitchen where she had been boiling water.

The staff member nodded. Li Yue said thank you and crossed the yard to the other kitchen to grab some ingredients.

the assistant director who had picked up Li Yue that morning saw her preparing to cook after returning from the mountain and felt a bit anxious. After consulting with the main director, they ran to the living room to find Wu Xuezhen. They explained Li Yue’s situation as a last-minute replacement, suggesting they take a longer rest after lunch.

Only then did Wu Xuezhen learn that Li Yue had flown in during the early hours of the morning. Beyond her surprise, she couldn’t help but glance upstairs, a touched look appearing in her eyes.

“Alright, I understand,” Wu Xuezhen whispered to the assistant director. “We won’t go out this afternoon; we’ll stay at home.”

Li Yue searched the kitchen, grabbed a handful of greens and a few eggs, and headed to the small kitchen with a bag of noodles. In the yard, the two men on the recliners were sleeping soundly, the editors would likely add snoring bubbles in post-production.

When she returned to the living room, Wu Xuezhen was nowhere to be found. Li Yue didn’t mind. She heated the oil in a pan and tossed in a handful of chopped green onions, sending a delicious aroma through the air. By the time Wu Xuezhen returned clutching a handful of chocolates, Li Yue was pouring water into the seasoned pan. She leaned toward Li Yue with the chocolates and asked, “Want some chocolate to boost your energy?”

Li Yue shook her head with a smile.

Outside the window, a cameraman filming Li Yue cooking couldn’t help but whisper to Wu Xuezhen, “Mr. Li brought those chocolates herself this morning.” She had also brought candies to hand out to the staff.

Wu Xuezhen froze, then suddenly patted Li Yue’s shoulder, unable to resist saying, “Child, how can you be so thoughtful?”

“Who’s thoughtful?”

A head popped out from outside the small kitchen. Luo Mingzi had changed into clean clothes, her wet hair wrapped in a towel. She had come down without drying it. Li Yue glanced at her and said, “Go back out. Or do you want to shower again?”

“It’s fine, I brought way more clothes than you,” Luo Mingzi said with a bit of pride. She leaned in and whimpered softly, “I’m hungry.”

“Soon,” Li Yue said, shooing the two obstacles out of the kitchen.

Wu Xuezhen and Luo Mingzi exchanged looks. Wu Xuezhen handed her a chocolate. “Want one? Li Yue bought them.”

Li Yue bought them? Then I have to eat one.

Luo Mingzi picked the most beautifully wrapped chocolate from Wu Xuezhen’s palm, unwrapped it, popped it into her mouth, and peered into the kitchen. Li Yue’s “soon” truly meant soon. Before long, three bowls of noodles were placed on the table. Chopped green onions floated in the dark wooden bowls, fine noodles nestled intimately in the clear broth, decorated with fresh greens from the morning market. Each bowl was topped with a golden, fried poached egg.

Even though they had eaten noodles for breakfast, the three women having put in a hard morning’s labor, felt there was no problem with having another big bowl!

Wu Xuezhen noticed that the poached egg in Luo Mingzi’s bowl had been cut open. She sighed inwardly with a smile and asked Li Yue, “Xiao Yue, you and Mingzi are such good friends, why do you still call her ‘Teacher Luo’? It sounds so distant.”

“And you, Mingzi do you usually call her ‘Li Yue’ by her full name?”

Luo Mingzi’s eyes darted around, and she chuckled.

Li Yue replied, “We are at work, after all.”

“That’s not necessary, we aren’t in a strictly formal workplace,” Wu Xuezhen waved it off. Propping her chin on her hand with a smile, she asked, “Tell me, how do you two usually address each other?”

Li Yue blinked and looked at Luo Mingzi.

Luo Mingzi looked back. She let go of her bitten lip, a slight blush spreading across her clean, post-shower face. Her voice suddenly softened.

She said, “We usually call each other… Baby.”