Dating My Drama Queen Girlfriend On A Slow-Paced Variety Show - Chapter 24

The Great River surged with a rushing roar. Merchant ships cruised across the water, their whistles blaring as they passed beneath the bridge.

Under the bridge, the gong players, drummers, and cymbalists all raised their hands to cover their ears at the same time.

Li Yue was tilting her head back to drink water when she looked down and met Luo Mingzi’s eyes. The top-tier star, sitting on a pink plastic stool, held a brass cymbal in each hand, pressed firmly against her ears.

“…”

Gulp.

Li Yue swallowed the water and said, “Hold that pose.”

She pulled her phone from her pocket and started snapping photos of Luo Mingzi. At that moment, several hands reached out stealthily from all directions. Li Yue raised an eyebrow, the “owls” from the Huaguan Music Department were looking at her with teary eyes, pulling peanuts, melon seeds, and longans out of their pockets.

Li Yue opened her own pocket, accepted the “tributes,” and said mercifully, “One photo.”

“Oh oh oh!” The owls hooted like monkeys, poking their heads sneakily into the frame. Luo Mingzi squinted with a smile, cooperating by tilting her head left and right while keeping her ears covered.

The group shed tears of emotion, weeping for joy.

Among the many pairs of watery, wide eyes, one pair looked particularly sincere in its grief. Luo Mingzi looked up and asked her with concern, “Did you not get the shot?”

“I can take a solo photo with you!”

The “owl-monkeys” who were busy editing photos suddenly snapped their heads up, their eyes flashing like lightning as they glared at the weeping woman with wariness and shock.

Oh, she wasn’t a monkey from the owl tribe. Never mind then.

The group went back to piecing their photos together.

The sobbing woman said in agony, “You guys… you guys better take good photos!”

One moment they were clashing gongs and drums, the next they were shaking bells and playing the drum kit, they even had to find time to fight and snatch bananas. They were a year and a half younger than a small-class kindergarten group. The intern director sobbed, “How am I supposed to edit this? How do I even edit this…”

Li Yue remained silent. She grabbed a handful of snacks from her pocket and handed them to Luo Mingzi, who then passed them to the director. The director watched the melon seeds in her hand while crying, then snorted and stuffed them all into her mouth.

Just then, a “beep-beep” sounded from the riverbank. Yu Bilan had returned with a car full of boxed lunches. As soon as the car door opened, the ears of the owl-monkeys twitched, and they charged toward the meal cart with a howl.

The director let out a high-pitched “ang-ying” cry. Watching those silhouettes racing under the sun, she grabbed Luo Mingzi’s sleeve and wailed, “I haven’t called for a dismissal yet!”

No respect for the intern director! Oppressing the intern director! The intern director has no dignity!

Luo Mingzi encouraged her: “You have to show some authority!”

“Suppress them!”

“To catch the bandits, first capture their king!” Luo Mingzi actively shared her filming experience. Suddenly, a slender arm reached out from the side, hooked around Luo Mingzi’s neck, and pulled her into a hug.

“Time to eat.” Li Yue led her toward the riverbank. Luo Mingzi waved her arms in her embrace, laughing loudly as she waved goodbye to the director.

The director cried even louder.

Teacher Luo, the one behind you is the King! She’s the most disobedient one!

Yu Bilan was making the monkeys line up while the staff members also gathered around. The director went to complain to Yu Bilan, but the monkeys had already snatched their food and scattered.

“What’s going on? I was only gone for two hours!” Yu Bilan felt something was very wrong. The intern director, seeing her as a savior, rushed over and said, “I can’t control them! I just can’t!”

It was too crazy! Even monkeys in a zoo were better behaved than this lot!

Yu Bilan very concernedly stuffed a lunch box into the little director’s arms and comforted her, “It’s fine. If anyone bullies you, tell me, and I’ll throw them into the sea!”

Intern Director: “…Actually, no one is bullying me.” It was just that these people were too unpredictable! Just now, they started a fight over a single lyric and were about to strip off their clothes and jump into the river, whoever swam to the opposite bank first would get to use their lyrics!

Yu Bilan glanced to the side. A group of people was sitting quietly on the steps eating, looking more well-behaved than the next. Yu Bilan sneered, then turned back to the director with a gentle expression: “Hahaha, I’m just saying. There are a few lunatics in there, but we still have Great Teacher Li. What did Li say?”

“Li… Teacher Li said to wait until after lunch to swim, fearing someone might get hungry halfway and sink to the bottom…” The intern director wailed. Listen to that, is that even human speech?

What! Those words actually came out of Li Yue’s mouth? Impossible! Yu Bilan didn’t believe it!

She looked over at Li Yue, who was eating head to head with Luo Mingzi.

Li Yue brushed the bangs away from Luo Mingzi’s forehead, felt it with her hand, and asked, “Hot? Your face is a bit red.”

“Not hot!” Luo Mingzi said. “I’m excited!”

This was too much fun. If she had known coming out with Li Yue would be this fun, she should have been fired earlier. Why didn’t Zhong Jiaquan steal her role sooner?! Excited, Luo Mingzi shoveled rice into her mouth from her small flowery bowl.

Li Yue rested her chin on her hand and watched her.

A girl with pigtails sitting on the step below held up her lunch box and shouted, “Delicious! I want another bowl!”

Yu Bilan crossed her arms and snorted, “Today’s meal is on Li, private chef catering! Even the bowls are different. One meal costs more than your net worth, so make sure you lick the bottom of those bowls clean!”

The pigtail girl shouted, “I licked mine very clean!”

Applying for a second helping! Because there was going to be a very intense battle in a bit!

Everyone chirped and clamored for food like beggars under an overpass. Just then, Li Yue’s phone rang. She put on her mask and hat and stood up to take the call. Shortly after, a delivery rider arrived and handed two large bags of items to Li Yue.

“It’s a bit heavy,” the rider warned. He glanced at the people under the bridge and asked curiously, “What are you filming? Influencers?”

“Yeah, a melodramatic short drama,” Li Yue said. “Thanks.”

“Oh.” The rider watched as this person with long, thin legs picked up the two incredibly heavy shopping bags and walked calmly down the steps. He felt her aura was a bit different, maybe she was an influencer too, but her face was completely covered. He couldn’t help but pull out his phone and snap a few photos.

Below the steps, a girl wearing the same style of hat as the delivery rider tilted her head back toward the camera and flashed a “peace” sign, her face partially hidden by a pink bowl. Others noticed the person above and began striking various bodybuilding poses.

The delivery rider: “…”

He didn’t know if the drama was “melodramatic” or not, but these people were definitely a bit unhinged. Terrified, he hopped on his scooter and sped away from the scene.

Li Yue walked down and set the two shopping bags on the ground. Letting out a breath of relief, she said, “Energy drinks and chocolate candies. Do we start in an hour?”

Yu Bilan thought to herself: Start what?

Li Yue didn’t answer. She unwrapped a piece of chocolate, took a bite, and returned to Luo Mingzi. Luo Mingzi showed her the empty bowl. Li Yue chuckled softly, reached out to stroke her cheek, and held the remaining half of the chocolate to her lips.

Luo Mingzi smiled and opened her mouth with an “ah-woo,” taking the chocolate and stealing a quick kiss on Li Yue’s finger in the process. Li Yue sat down calmly, and the two of them sat there together chewing their chocolate.

“Hehe.” Luo Mingzi also rested her chin on her hands and smiled.

After finishing their meal, everyone began to rest. The riverbank, which had been bustling all afternoon, finally quieted down.

Although they were in the outskirts, Nanhai City’s economy was developed and its population dense; the elevated bridge gradually began to congest with traffic. The days were getting longer at 6:00 PM, the sky was still bright. Near 6:30 PM, several motorboats roared toward them, docking nearby.

Yu Bilan put down her phone and asked in surprise, “Where did the yachts come from? Where are you all going?”

She watched as the people who had been “playing dead” on the ground for a long time all scrambled up, happily grabbing their gear and running toward the water. The intern director covered her face and screamed, “They’re really going into the river!”

What!!

To Yu Bilan’s horror, four people, including the girl with the pigtails, were jumping and stretching on the bank as a warm-up. Meanwhile, Li Yue slung her guitar over her back, walked to the microphone, and tapped it. The drummer, bassist, and the other guitarist took their positions as well.

Luo Mingzi clapped her hands and said to Yu Bilan, “Li Yue is amazing! They wrote the show’s theme song this afternoon!”

Yu Bilan cried out, “The theme for today’s shoot was ‘Meeting You for the First Time’… Why are you taking your clothes off! Liu Jicai!!”

The girl with pigtails shed her jacket, revealing a swimsuit underneath. She raised a fist, thumped her chest, and told Yu Bilan, “I will bring the honor back to you!”

“Wow!” Luo Mingzi said. “There’s some tension there!”

Yu Bilan’s face turned red from anger. She lunged forward to grab her. “Honor my foot! I think you all just want to cause trouble!”

If you don’t cause trouble, things won’t get done.

Li Yue strummed the strings. In an instant, she pulled the heat from the sun down to the underside of the overpass. The photographer trembled. Luo Mingzi commanded, “Two of you on the boats, one stays here.”

The intern director was scared to death. She thought to herself that there really was no such thing as a free lunch, she thought this was her big break, but it turned out to be a ticket to hell. Please don’t do this! If it’s that serious, just have a fistfight! It’s just one lyric!

The four musicians fighting for their lyrics dodged Yu Bilan’s pursuit and, amidst the manager’s loud shouting, leaped into the water and swam toward the opposite shore.

The music roared on the bank, echoing under the bridge through the speakers. Trapped drivers looked out their windows in confusion, seeing only the sky and the calm surface of the river.

Luo Mingzi jumped up and down in excitement, feeling as if she had returned to the summers of her past. She took out her phone and started filming the band.

In the frame, Li Yue looked out over the river. She curled her lips into a smile at Luo Mingzi, leaned into the mic, and said in a low voice: “This song, ‘Do Bravely, Love Bravely,’ is dedicated to our good friends in the first episode of Inspiration Explosion. May we never fear being blocked, and may we all have a bright future.”

Yu Bilan one of the “blocks” in question, stared breathlessly at the four people in the river, her eyes looking like she wanted to commit murder. The young production staff were panicking, and the director had already lost all hope, crouching on the ground pretending she was an invisible blade of grass.

“This is our first formal performance. It’s for you watching now, and for all of you.” Li Yue took off her hat and tossed it on the ground. She tilted her head, her eyes deep. She revealed a state completely different from her previous stage persona, it was as if deep blues and reds had been splashed onto white clouds. It was a palette of intense, heavy colors. The so-called coldness and gentleness were torn away, leaving only explosion and heat.

The wild music soared. Li Yue opened her mouth and her voice, praised by critics as a rare, exquisite beauty, pierced through the accompaniment and shot straight toward the steel and concrete.

“What kind of stance do you want? You need to be resolute, you need to love bravely! Leap into the sea of clouds, leap into the rivers, lakes, and seas! Your dreams gallop beyond heaven and earth!”

Luo Mingzi laughed loudly, waving her hand while filming. Yu Bilan thought, God Li is going to make a huge scene! She suddenly rushed up, snatched the hat off the ground, and jammed it back onto Luo Mingzi’s head for double insurance.

“Mask!”

The music was like thunder, the singing pouring over them. The director scrambled up, excitedly directing everyone to film.

On the riverbank, people heading home stopped their cars in surprise, looking down at the crowd in the distance.

In the river, the yachts followed the four musicians swimming for their lives. Behind the churning water, the music floated.

“Don’t be defeated by reality! You can live a wonderful life! Love with all your might, my dreams fly over these rivers, lakes, and seas! Embrace with all your strength to feel the beat of loving you!”

Li Yue looked at Luo Mingzi in front of her. The girl under the brim of the hat had a brilliant smile, her voice joining hers at the same time.

“At this very moment, you see my most beautiful self.”

“I see your most beautiful self.”