Dating My Drama Queen Girlfriend On A Slow-Paced Variety Show - Chapter 7

The flight from Nanhai City to the filming location in Pantian City took four hours. Yu Bilan had booked an airport hotel in advance to let Li Yue rest before the production crew arrived at 8:00 AM. After a grueling day with only a short nap on the plane, Yu Bilan looked haggard.

Li Yue, however, was as energetic as a fresh sprig of bok choy crisp, vibrant, and so spirited she could be sold at a wet market for ten yuan a pound!

Right in front of Yu Bilan, the “Bok Choy” pulled a clay pot, a vacuum-sealed chicken, and various spices out of her suitcase.

“I’ll get the chicken stewing first. Sister Lan, you go to sleep,” Li Yue said while unpacking. “I saw a wet market nearby on the way here. The morning market should be opening soon; I’m going to go check it out.”

Yu Bilan: “…”

Ah, our Goddess Li is working so hard to showcase herself on this variety show!

As a manager, she couldn’t let herself be outdone! “I’ll watch the pot for you,” she declared confidently.

“Uh…” Li Yue glanced at Yu Bilan’s exquisitely maintained hands and offered a slight smile. “Sister Lan, just go to sleep.”

Yu Bilan: “…” I’m being snubbed by Goddess Li.

Watching Li Yue’s energetic silhouette as she hummed a tune while tidying up, Yu Bilan couldn’t help but touch her own face. Li Yue was 23 this year, ten years younger than her! Just a ten years difference, yet she was so resilient! Ugh, hateful time!

The Arrival of the Crew

The production crew of People in the Late Countryside arrived at the hotel in a hurry. Their original guest had bailed citing “illness,” but everyone in the industry knew the score. The entertainment circle is built on connections, they might gossip privately, but they wouldn’t burn bridges publicly, contracts would be settled as per protocol. However, it was a fact that Li Yue was filling in on extremely short notice. The crew felt both grateful and apologetic toward Li Yue’s team and arrived early to pick her up.

The appointment was for 8:00 AM. It was a two hour drive to the village, meaning they’d arrive around 10:00 AM. But the crew showed up at 6:00 AM to set up equipment and go over the process with the artist. They were truly terrified of another mishap and just wanted to get the artist in the car and go!

The assistant director in the passenger seat yawned, ruffled his hair, and rolled down the window for fresh air. Just as he poked his head out, he saw a tall figure approaching from a distance. She carried soy milk and deep-fried dough sticks in her left hand while pushing a trolley with her right.

The director’s attention was instantly seized. The woman was lithe with excellent proportions and a small face. Wearing a loose white shirt and light blue jeans, she strode along as if walking a runway.

But it wasn’t just her looks it was that aura, that spirit!

As the trolley wheels rumbled, the director’s mouth slowly fell open. He nudged the driver, who was resting his head on the steering wheel. “Is… is that Li Yue? Didn’t you recently become a fan of her songs? Look, is that her?”

With that one sentence, the photographers and segment directors all poked their heads out. Walking toward them, Li Yue noticed the strange vehicle. She paused, tilted her head, and after a moment of thought, walked over.

She had no choice; that camera was too obvious to ignore.

“Teacher Li Yue?” the segment director asked in surprise, taking a sharp breath. He slapped the photographer’s thigh. “Film! Film this now!”

Look! A cloud has drifted down from the sky!!

The “Immortal Cloud” stopped by the car, a gentle smile appearing on her face. “Hello. Are you the teachers from the People in the Late Countryside production crew? You arrived earlier than I expected.”

Two hours early… the chicken soup is only about seventy percent done.

Her clear, crisp voice landed directly in their ears. Someone in the car took a sharp breath, everyone was suddenly energized. Music is spiritual food, and a voice like this was a premium ingredient!

However, the crew was even more surprised than Li Yue. Their eyes traveled from her face down to the trolley at her feet. The folding shopping trolley was packed to the brim with vegetables! A bundle of green and white scallions poked out from the top, “greeting” the camera enthusiastically.

The camera trembled, jerked up to Li Yue’s face, then dropped back down.

Cloud! Scallions! Scallions! Cloud! Why the scallions?! Scallions: What about the other vegetables?

“You’re also earlier than we expected. Then…” The director hesitated, wondering if they should head to the village immediately, but feared Li Yue needed more rest after all, she had just come back from grocery shopping!

But why were you buying groceries?! You’re a star! You landed at 4:00 AM, and now you’re buying vegetables?!

Li Yue, who just wanted to eat, curled her lips into a smile. “Since you’re already here, should I put these in your car? I’ll go up and grab my luggage. Are we leaving now?”

The director nodded immediately, deeply moved. Heavens, she’s so considerate!

The “Domestic” Goddess

Staff members got out to mic her up. Li Yue showed a hint of bashfulness. Since the artist was gentle, the crew was gentle too. The director asked, “Teacher Li, you aren’t wearing any makeup at all. Is it okay to film?”

Li Yue leaned curiously toward the camera and asked shyly, “Is it ugly?”

Everyone, including the director, shook their heads instantly. “No!!”

Not ugly at all! Stunning! A cloud!

The driver, a new fan of Li Yue, poked his head out. “Teacher Li, do you know the internet calls you ‘Danyun’ (Light Cloud)?”

Li Yue found the description… hard to put into words. She didn’t feel like the word “light” or “faint” suited her at all, but whatever people could call her what they wanted. She didn’t mind much.

“I’ve heard my manager mention it. Thank you for the support,” Li Yue smiled. “Though I don’t feel it quite fits me.”

“It fits perfectly!” the director insisted. That stature, that temperament she was a chrysanthemum beneath the southern mountains, a white cloud atop a high peak! Refreshing to the soul!

Li Yue laughed. She pulled her trolley to the back of the car and, without waiting for the staff to help, bent over and lifted the heavy crate of vegetables into the trunk herself. Having seen too many artists who needed to be waited on hand and foot, the crew’s fondness for Li Yue skyrocketed at the sight of her taking initiative.

“You came so early, have you had breakfast?” Li Yue held up the bag of fried dough sticks. “Want some?”

The crew, who had indeed skipped breakfast, felt their throats twitch reflexively, but they shook their heads. It wasn’t that they didn’t want it, there were too many of them, and there wouldn’t be enough to go around.

Li Yue smiled and pointed toward the hotel. “Then I’ll go up first? When I come down, I’ll give you directions so you can buy some breakfast to eat in the car.”

Heavens! She’s so gentle! So thoughtful! The entire car of staff members turned into Li Yue fans in a split second. The photographer followed her up immediately.

The Chicken Soup Reveal

“Alright, my manager is also there,” Li Yue reminded them. The photographer gave an “OK” sign.

Li Yue entered the room and woke Yu Bilan. Yu Bilan hadn’t expected the crew to arrive so early and scrambled to hide out of sight. When the photographer entered, he was met with a seductive, mouth-watering, heavenly… aroma.

“One moment, I brewed some chicken soup,” Li Yue said.

The photographer’s jaw nearly hit the floor. He stared in shock at the clay pot on the kitchen stove. Is this why you booked a family-style hotel room??

It was one thing for a star to buy groceries at dawn! But what kind of star stews chicken soup at dawn?!

Chicken soup!

The photographer swallowed hard while filming Li Yue pouring the soup into a thermal flask and briskly scrubbing the pot. The woman fans called “Light Cloud” then pulled out a plastic bag from nowhere, wrapped the clay pot in it, and tucked it into her suitcase. She then pushed the suitcase which was largely occupied by a pot and walked out calmly carrying the thermal flask.

Photographer: “…” The cloud… the cloud hasn’t dissipated! Even with such “down to earth” behavior, Teacher Li still looked ethereal! As expected, people who can become stars truly have a unique temperament!

On the Road

As the car drove toward the outskirts of Pantian City, Li Yue watched the scenery. Just as the show’s opening narration always said: the glitz of the city gradually faded, and the distant mountains became clear. Vast stretches of farmland nestled at the foot of the mountains, hand in hand with dense forests.

When one cares, even the way two trees grow can be analyzed when one doesn’t, mountains and rivers look the same everywhere. Li Yue stared out the window, and the lens stared at her.

The photographer couldn’t help but think: She’s so quiet. She was just like the edited clips online. Without the shock of the morning’s chicken soup, she was back to being a cloud high up and cool.

The segment director cleared his throat and began to cue the process. “Teacher Li is a singer-songwriter. We heard that when you were writing Late Countryside, you went to the country for inspiration. Every place has its own local flavor. Do you have any thoughts on the scenery outside?”

The director’s eyes were bright, waiting for Li Yue to display her poetic talent.

Li Yue, whose head was currently full of recipes, paused for a long time before slowly saying, “It’s quite good.”

Director: “…Oh!”

Is she nervous? Why did she suddenly become so quiet? Is she the type with a slow reaction time, and only now realized she’s being filmed?

Li Yue smiled at the PD. The PD froze, her face turning inexplicably red. She immediately tossed any thoughts of “slow reactions” aside and buried her eyes in the script. Later, when the photographer asked why she was afraid to look at Li Yue, the director replied with a complicated expression: “I don’t know why, but when Teacher Li stares at me for a while, my heart starts racing! It’s even worse when she smiles. I don’t feel this way with other artists!”

The photographer was curious. “But you’re both women?” The director’s expression became even more complicated.

The Mention of Luo Ming

After they had enough footage, the director briefed Li Yue on the other guests. “The other teachers are actually quite nice, they won’t intentionally make things difficult. Even Teacher Luo… Teacher Luo Ming has a lively personality, but she’s actually very cute and speaks her mind. Most of the viral clips from previous episodes were thanks to her.”

That’s why she’s popular! the director thought. However, since the second episode, Luo Ming had suddenly become much more reserved. She hadn’t said anything shocking like she did in the first episode, which the crew lamented. They couldn’t exactly tell her to “please go wild again” they figured her team had probably given her a “talking to.”

But the director didn’t expect that upon hearing the description of Luo Ming, the “Light Cloud” would suddenly smile.

It wasn’t a polite, lukewarm smile. It was like a sea of clouds at sunset, suddenly infused with deep, vibrant colors. The warmth flowed from her brows to her eyes, staining her pupils and the corners of her lids. The high-altitude cloud suddenly had a temperature, the chrysanthemums under the southern mountain bloomed in an instant.

“Is that so?” Li Yue said softly, looking out the window with a smile.

The director’s heart skipped two beats. She couldn’t help but curl her lips into a smile too. She didn’t know why Li Yue was smiling, but she felt that her smile and tone were… somewhat lingering and tender.