Dating My Drama Queen Girlfriend On A Slow-Paced Variety Show - Chapter 47

[Flash Report! It’s official! It’s official! Li Yue’s social media platform has made an official announcement!]

[?]

[??]

[What official announcement? Coming out or an affair?]

[Upstairs, what are you talking about?]

[Stop arguing! It’s neither coming out nor an affair. It’s Li Yue’s new music variety show! “Inspiration Explosion” has a set date! Thursday at 12:00 PM, streaming officially on the Mingyue App!]

[Scared me to death! I thought Li Yue and Luo Mingzi broke up! (Relieved sigh)]

[? Wait, aren’t you a Luo Shen anti-fan? How could you…]

[Good, good, good! Seeing Huaguan taking good care of Li Yue’s career puts my mind at ease!]

[Ran over to check the promotional poster. They probably want to borrow the heat from the ‘Owl Crossing the Great River’ incident, the guest posters were also shot under a flyover, with Li Shen in the center position.]

[Li Shen on the poster is still the cool Li Shen. Love it!]

[Doesn’t this just charm a hundred Luo Mingzi’s to death?]

[I feel like the other guests are a bit ‘nugu’ (obscure), I’m a little worried…]

[They are all signed singers under Huaguan. During the previous trending searches, I looked up their works. Honestly, their songs are quite good. I don’t know why they haven’t made it big.]

[Waaaah, finally someone notices our Nugu Owls! Our Nugu Owls were hardworking at the start too, with plenty of variety resources. But our Nugu Owls offended a so-called industry big shot, the kind even Huaguan had to dodge to avoid the heat. Many of the shows they filmed were completely edited out.]

An old fan of the Owl Band spoke up tearfully: “Our Nugu Owl cubs are very different on and off stage. Off stage, they are shy, introverted, and quiet cubs, but they all have hearts that chase dreams. Please pay attention to our Owl Band!”

The crowd was profoundly shocked.

So the Owls who crossed the river were actually introverted and shy people in private? No wonder they only posted fruit emojis under Li Yue’s updates, too shy to even speak. This contrast is a bit cute! And they even crossed the river, they really work hard for their dreams! Everyone really wanted to see the official full version of the crossing and promised to support the show when it aired.

Beijing Grand Theatre

The actors, having just finished their table read, were in no rush to leave. Some sat by the screenwriter to discuss characters, others huddled together to talk about the plot, some laughed loudly in idle chatter, and one person raised their phone to send a voice message.

“Wei~~ Good evening, my ba..beeee…” Luo Mingzi “eeed” through eighteen mountain bends of vocal fry amidst the difficult to describe expressions of those around her.

Wu Xuezhen struggled to swallow her water; unfortunately, water occasionally wants to go up. Wu Xuezhen couldn’t suppress it and capped the bottle while coughing. After a long while, with a subtle look like a survivor of a catastrophe, she said, “That gave me a fright.”

The culprit patted her back with a shy smile.

A female actress sitting on the other side of Wu Xuezhen leaned in and said, “Any plans tonight? Want to go eat together? I recently discovered a very delicious private kitchen. I have the owner’s contact info, if we order now, we can eat as soon as we get there.”

The theater actors were long time friends who had collaborated on many works and had good relationships. Upon hearing this, they asked for the menu to order.

“Mingzi and I are going too,” Wu Xuezhen said.

Luo Mingzi nodded “mm-hmm” while her fingers tapped away at her phone. The people nearby “tsk-tsked,” sighing: Ah, love.

The sunset descended, lighting the sea into a shimmering red.

The staff of Inspiration Explosion also had red faces, red with “overheating.” The most beautiful word in the world, “off-duty,” could no longer move their heartstrings. Everyone silently packed their things and gathered themselves.

Especially the photographers.

For the first time, everyone realized that filming a show could be life threatening.

“Cough! Hard work, everyone! Huaguan is covering tonight’s dinner, we’ve prepared a banquet at the XX Hotel!” Yu Bilan shouted into Director Liu’s megaphone.

Beside her, “Braids,” covered in sand and leaves with a towel on her head, nodded solemnly: “Everyone, come to the feast!”

A feast is good! A feast is delicious!

The Owl Monkeys’ eyes sparkled, shining bright like daylight, so bright they couldn’t tell day from night as they thought about the feast.

“They… they are trying to send me off…” Director Liu slumped on the sand, her former high spirits gone. Before her “passing,” she said, “Master, don’t die, Master!”

Director Liu’s newly recruited apprentice threw herself onto her, weeping bitterly and shaking her wildly: “Master, what will I do if you’re gone! Don’t leave me alone to face these indescribable entities! Master..”

Director Liu wasn’t actually dead yet, but she was nearly flattened into a pancake.

“Cough… I leave you… to…” Her weak finger trembled as it rose, pointing toward the other directors and editors she had snatched from Late Night. Her finger was like the brush in the hands of the King of Hell, whoever she pointed at died. Wherever it went, people scrambled to avoid it.

They were all young and had beautiful futures ahead, they couldn’t die here!

“Master!”

The tragic wailing echoed across the beach, making Yu Bilan shudder. She immediately applied for more funds from the company, intending to treat the crew to several more days of meals. The glory of Huaguan’s music department was within reach, no one must perish halfway!

The monkeys sauntered over and sat by Yu Bilan, dusting themselves off, scratching sand out of their hair, blowing leaves off their skin, and wringing water out of their clothes.

One monkey asked: “Hey, friend, want some salt?”

After asking, he suddenly grabbed his friend’s head and forced him to “eat” his salty shirt.

“Awoooo!” The captured monkey transformed into a crab, flailing wildly in the other’s arms, kicking up a low-altitude sandstorm.

“Set sail with the sand!”

With dinner imminent, everyone was in high spirits, throwing celebratory sand into the sunset.

A vein popped on Yu Bilan’s forehead as she barked, “Silence!”

The monkeys immediately reverted to their original forms, becoming cool and brooding Owls.

“What do you think you’re doing!” Yu Bilan scolded in a low voice. “I told you this is your first time working with such a top-tier team, keep it in check! Do you want to be edited out like before?!”

The Owls said coolly: “Very restrained.”

They didn’t even cross the sea!

“Shut up!” Yu Bilan was fuming.

Director Liu was helped over by her apprentice to stop the violence. Her face bore the smile of someone about to ascend, having seen through the mortal world. She said leisurely, “It’s fine, it’s fine. We had a great time filming; everyone should just be themselves…”

As long as a good show could be made, let the staff and directors be exhausted. What’s a little death? Directors are born to die. Life is no joy, death is no fear; a director’s death is either as heavy as Mount Tai or occurs on Monkey Mountain.

It’s fine, it’s fine.

Yu Bilan put on a flattering smile, supporting her from the other side. “Come, come, Sister Liu, let’s go eat. This way. Come, lift your leg. Yes! Good girl.”

Braids, feeling restless, suggested: “Let’s just carry Director Liu to the car.”

She’d take the left leg!

Director Liu’s legs went weak instantly. “No need to trouble you honored guests! I’ll walk myself, walk myself!”

Suddenly she didn’t want to die anymore. She immediately changed the subject, “Where is Li God?”

The Owls’ eyes widened instantly.

God! Where is God?

God was carrying her shoes in her left hand, her pants rolled up to her calves, walking barefoot through the waves in the sunset. The waves crashed over, kissing her toes.

The red sunset fell on her profile, casting deep shadows from her long lashes and the bridge of her nose. Her face, arms, and calves were also dusted with white sand, dyed the color of the setting sun.

The transparent grains of sand refracted shimmering light.

The photographers, who had been packing their gear, couldn’t help themselves. They hoisted their cameras and snapped away at the silhouette of Li Yue walking alone on the beach.

Art is born in a moment!

The “artistic” Li Yue didn’t feel like she was being photographed, her attention was entirely on her phone. She held the phone to her ear, listened to the voice message Luo Mingzi sent once more, raised a brow, a question mark appearing in her pupils, and replied.

“Is your voice hoarse?”

It sounded full of energy, not like she was sick. A sick Luo Mingzi was even more clingy than usual.

Luo Mingzi replied as if she were staring at her phone 24/7. First, a meme of a dog raising a thick eyebrow in disdain, then the “eee” voice continued: “This is called vocal fry (bubble voice).”

Li Yue: Oh.

“Sounds like your brain is bubbling.”

Luo’s voice stopped bubbling and snapped hoarsely: “How dare you!”

Ding ding ding ding ding.

A string of memes featuring a dog beating someone up flooded in.

Li Yue chuckled and replied with a meme of a dog lying down in surrender.

“So what happened to your voice?” Li Yue said. “Rehearsing is hard work, don’t forget to drink water.”

Luo Mingzi stopped the fry and whispered to Li Yue: “I have a reputation to uphold. The director and screenwriter were very worried about me, they took me very seriously during the table read! I performed exceptionally well too. I read one line with several different emotions. Everyone was very satisfied with me!”

Her tone sounded very proud: “The director said I actually have a lot of talent for acting, it just hadn’t been discovered before.”

“Mm.” Li Yue agreed. “Luo-god will succeed in whatever she wants to do.”

Luo Mingzi, who was walking arm in arm with “Mama Wu,” turned red. She looked away, pressed her phone to her lips, and whispered softly.

“The person I want, I will get too.”