What Should I Do If the Aloof Movie Queen Is Too in Love With Me? - Chapter 6

Zhoubei New Village is located on the outer ring of S City. The commute of over two hours to the city center makes its rental rooms high quality and low price.

 

But they weren’t exactly high quality.

 

Ten thousand yuan a year could only rent a single room of less than ten square meters.

 

There were no windows, no private bathroom, and the soundproofing was as thin as paper. Just as Ji Youyi closed the door, she heard the noisy television from her neighbor.

 

Since television fees cost money, she figured she was actually profiting by listening in.

 

The room never saw the sun; it was cold and damp, even more bone-chilling than the outside. The room had no air conditioning, so Ji Youyi wrapped the overcoat tightly around her and began to organize Little Ji’s home.

 

Little Ji was a very sensible girl. So sensible, in fact, that she even carefully chose the place to end her life, so as not to stain someone else’s rental room.

 

Before she left, she had cleaned the room thoroughly.

 

The floor was mopped, the cabinets wiped, and everything was sorted and stored by category. Items that could be resold were in one bag, and those that could be donated were in another.

 

Used items, including bedsheets and quilts, had been washed clean and folded neatly at the foot of the bed, emitting the fresh scent of laundry detergent.

 

Her personal documents and paper files were also organized into a file bag. A sticky note was left on the bag that read: “I don’t know if these are useful. If they aren’t, please burn them. Thank you.”

 

The handwriting was a bit childish and not particularly pretty, but it was clear that the writer had tried hard to write each stroke correctly.

 

But being sensible leads to no good end.

 

Being sensible means compromise and concession; it means accepting mockery, contempt, and being trampled upon.

 

Ji Youyi sat at the foot of the bed in silence for a while. She took off her coat, spread the quilt, and crawled inside. Her body, exhausted from the day, fell into a deep sleep almost the moment it touched the bed.

 

The rising and setting of the sun could not reach the four prison-like walls, but the encroaching chill crept into her dreams.

 

In her sleep, Ji Youyi frowned, hugging the quilt tightly and curling into a ball, but she couldn’t drive the cold away.

 

Until her cheek accidentally brushed against soft fur.

 

It was soft and sweet, like a gentle hand lightly smoothing her brow. Thus, the sleeping child reached out and hugged that warmth back.

 

The next day, as Ji Youyi looked at that cashmere overcoat—which she had wrapped around herself and gripped until it was wrinkled and deformed—she felt as if the sky had fallen.

 

This coat was given to her as charity by that rich, beautiful girl before she got out of the car yesterday.

 

It was an acknowledgment of her beggar-like behavior, a piece of evidence of the girl’s merit-building kindness, and more importantly, the beginning of their beautiful future friendship!

 

—Or, perhaps, a sum of money from the second-hand market, cough.

 

Ji Youyi looked at that fragile, heavy-duty luxury item and let out a long sigh.

 

Forget it. Ill-gotten gains are not a loss when they go. Congratulations to her on gaining an extra blanket.

 

She recklessly rolled up the clothes, stuffed them into her suitcase, and set off for the station.

 

She was going to film the drama the company had taken for her. The ticket was a bus ticket bought by that trash company. After more than six hours of jolting, Ji Youyi finally stepped onto the ground of D City with shaky legs.

 

With a pale face, she bought a cup of millet porridge at a shop near the station. She tilted her head and downed it in two gulps, suppressing the nausea, then lugged her suitcase toward a remote area.

 

When Wantao threw the script to her yesterday, they mentioned in passing that the crew provided meals but not accommodation, so she had to solve her own lodging.

 

Ji Youyi hadn’t been polite either. She stared at Li Niantao until he booked her ticket and demanded four hundred-yuan bills in cash before she was willing to leave.

 

Counting the remaining three hundred-odd yuan, Ji Youyi found the most pleasing-looking guesthouse near the Film City.

 

The guesthouse owner was a middle-aged woman who managed the shop alone. When Ji Youyi entered, she was leaning back behind the counter playing with her phone. The phone was playing a video with a volume so loud it was ear-piercing.

 

Relying on her basic skill of being sweet-mouthed and smiling, Ji Youyi secured a single room in three minutes. The auntie gave her a 50% discount, making it 10 yuan a day. She painfully pulled out a hundred-yuan bill and rented it for 10 days first.

 

After putting away her luggage, she had no time to rest and hurried to the hotel where the main creators stayed to participate in the script reading.

 

A script reading, as the name suggests, is when the cast and crew gather to read the script.

 

A good reading can improve the quality of the work, but clearly, today’s reading was just a formality.

 

The two leads were both late. After arriving, they posed for a few minutes to take multiple high-quality promotional photos from various angles, then started playing with their phones.

 

The only person in the entire crew who took the meeting seriously was the screenwriter. The screenwriter was named Li Zhulan, a young girl with a small hairclip in her short, tea-colored curly hair, wearing black square-rimmed glasses. Several times she stared at the leads wanting to speak but not daring to. She could only click her pen tip frantically, the “da-da-da” sound lost in the chatter and the “ka-ka” sound of people cracking melon seeds.

 

As for the director, the director was busy spitting out melon seed shells.

 

Ji Youyi took a look around and very sociably joined the ranks of melon seed crackers.

 

Melon seeds cost money to buy; this was hidden acting remuneration. Every extra bite was an extra cent earned!

 

After muddling through the script reading and hiding in the crowd to muddle through the opening ceremony the next day, the web drama “If Life Were Just Like First Sight” officially began filming.

 

This was a low-budget historical idol drama set against a backdrop of palace intrigue. It told the story of Cao Qiu, the daughter of the Prime Minister, who married the powerful official Zhang Song, only to be neglected, betrayed, and have her entire family killed. After being reborn to the time she first met the male lead, she resolved to take revenge.

 

Ji Youyi didn’t look at the specific details; she only knew that after the two tangled with each other until the end, the female lead happily married him again. The end.

 

Ji Youyi was deeply shocked, but fortunately, she didn’t need to understand it.

 

She only needed to play a villainous female supporting character in the drama.

 

As the male lead’s childhood sweetheart from their hometown, Ning Li went to the capital to seek refuge with him. She refused to leave his house and overtly or covertly tripped up the female lead. After gloriously completing the task of catalyzing the leads’ emotions, she was thrown out of the manor and died miserably on the street.

 

The character was very simple, stereotypical, and thin. It didn’t require extra effort from the actor; a caricature-like performance was enough.

 

Ji Youyi wasn’t a professional actor, but her acting skills were more than enough to crush the “traffic stars.”

 

She muddled through the morning. She never had an ‘NG’ take due to her own reasons, but after finishing the last scene of the morning, she was called over.

 

“Hey, you there.” Standing by the monitor was a man in a black suit, looking to be in his thirties. Ugly.

 

He tilted his chin at Ji Youyi, his eyes nearly rolling into the sky. “Come here.”

 

Ji Youyi took off her earrings with both hands, speaking neither warmly nor coldly: “What is it?”

 

“Do you even know how to act? Do you know what you’re even playing?” The man started cursing immediately. With every question, he slammed the display screen hard. His face became even uglier when contorted in anger.

 

Ji Youyi tilted her head to look.

 

The scene just filmed was a confrontation between her and the female lead. The screen showed the profiles of both her and the lead, each taking half, framed against a classical garden. Two beauties; it was much more pleasing to the eye.

 

“Is there a problem?” Ji Youyi asked.

 

“You’re still being stubborn? You say there’s no problem?”

 

The ugly man’s roar could be heard throughout the set. “Do you even know you’re a supporting character? Why should a supporting character have the same screen time as the lead? If you like grabbing the spotlight so much, why don’t you go be the lead? Do you even have the ability!”

 

Ji Youyi understood. This was someone from the female lead’s side who felt the crew hadn’t made the lead stand out, but didn’t dare scold the director, so they came to pick on the “soft persimmon.”

 

Well, she was really sorry—he had picked the wrong one.

 

Ji Youyi looked at the person sitting in the director’s chair watching the show and dragged him out: “Director Hu, was this your intention? Oh, you really shouldn’t have. When have I ever not cooperated with your arrangements? If you want to change something, just tell me directly. I’ll definitely be obedient. Why bother troubling the assistant director to relay the message?”

 

The corner of Director Hu’s eye twitched. He was probably thinking about how to smooth things over. “Uh, this… this isn’t the assistant director.”

 

“Oh, the DP then?” Ji Youyi replied fluently. “Director Hu, personally, I think if you have disagreements, it’s better to discuss them internally. I’m just a minor actor; there’s no need to consult my opinion. I’ll follow arrangements and can reshoot anytime. Otherwise, calling me over like this in public to question me… someone who doesn’t know better might think there’s bullying going on in our crew, right?”

 

“No, no, nothing like that, how could that be.” Suddenly being slapped with such a heavy accusation, Director Hu hurriedly waved his hands in fear. With a worldly smile on his face, he frantically tried to settle the matter.

 

He introduced the man to Ji Youyi and gestured for them to shake hands. “This is Mr. Wang from Yeye Media, Wen Yang’s manager.” Wen Yang was the actress playing the female lead.

 

Ji Youyi threw the “water” right back: “Oh, I see. No wonder he doesn’t understand positioning, camera angles, storyboards, or scripts at all and only knows how to stare at the monitor. It turns out it’s an outsider trying to lead an insider.”

 

Only after she finished speaking did she suddenly cover her mouth and gasp in a panic, looking as if she had just realized she said something wrong. “Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that! I—I… Director Hu, you guys chat, I won’t disturb you.”

 

The man in the suit was so angry at her series of insinuations that the veins on his forehead bulged. He rushed over and pointed a finger at her: “Then what did you mean? Speak up! Stop right there!”

 

Seeing that a fight was about to break out, Director Hu was truly scared this time. He jumped up and blocked him: “Mr. Wang, it’s not worth it, it’s not worth it. She’s just a young girl! Ignorant!”

 

Ji Youyi stood far away, three steps back. While retreating, she used her thin hand to lightly pat her chest, revealing an expression of both fear and confusion. Her mouth added more fuel to the fire: “Heavens, how terrifying. How can someone vent personal emotions in a professional setting?”

 

After speaking, she slipped away in a flash, leaving the mess for the director to clean up.

 

This was what a director should do anyway.

 

The director is the person who controls the overall film production. If the client feels a supporting character has too much screen time, the director should take the lead in editing. If staff members have conflicting opinions during filming, the director should also be the one to make the final call immediately.

 

Allowing someone who doesn’t know a thing to disrupt the order of the set—isn’t that just nonsense?

 

Ji Youyi didn’t care about the situation over there anymore. After getting her lunch box, she found a quiet corner and sat down to eat.

 

Lifting the lid, the aroma of food wafted toward her. She took a satisfied deep breath and buried her head in eating.

 

Li Zhulan silently sat down next to Ji Youyi with her script, her gaze drawn to the hand holding chopsticks that was moving at high speed.

 

She had felt a bit awkward when she first arrived, but seeing Ji Youyi devouring the food like a whirlwind, the awkwardness vanished, leaving only shock.

 

She had just seen today’s lunch: shredded potatoes, cabbage, and processed meat. It looked very unappetizing.

 

But why could Ji Youyi eat like a starved ghost?

 

In less than twenty seconds, the lunch box was clean. Ji Youyi swallowed the last large mouthful and turned to curve her lips at Li Zhulan: “Hello?”

 

…She didn’t chew at all, did she!

 

Li Zhulan recovered from her shock, adjusted her glasses awkwardly, and chose to introduce herself first: “I—my name is Li Zhulan, the screenwriter for this drama.”

 

Ji Youyi nodded: “Mhm, I know. Go ahead, Teacher Li.”

 

“It’s—it’s like this,” Li Zhulan glanced around and leaned closer to Ji Youyi, whispering, “Maybe no one told you, but the situation with our drama is a bit complicated.”

 

To put it bluntly, this web drama was a plate of dumplings made just for the sake of the vinegar.

 

The son of the CEO of Zhizhi Zhima-hu Company wanted to act. His father thought about it and decided to assemble a drama to film his handsome son more, and incidentally promote the delicious and healthy nature of his family’s sesame paste.

 

Next door was Yeye Media. Their business hadn’t picked up for years. Seeing how popular historical idol dramas were, the boss decided to assemble a drama to send his most beautiful little idol to be the female lead, to film more of the idol’s beauty and incidentally promote his artist’s singing and dancing abilities.

 

Like a turtle looking at a green bean, they matched. The two companies hit it off and each chipped in 2.5 million yuan. That was how the rotten pot of dumplings called “If Life Were Just Like First Sight” came to be.

 

Li Zhulan’s voice was extremely low: “So you must not offend the people on those two sides. They are the investors. If they get angry, they will delete your scenes.”

 

For a screenwriter, watching the words they worked so hard to type being ruined is a very painful thing.

 

She had sat on the set all morning. Ji Youyi was the only one who could perfectly portray a character. Her solo shots had a completely different quality from the others—even though she was playing a terrible character, she looked vivid and lively, making for an excellent viewing experience.

 

She originally didn’t want to cause trouble, but she really didn’t want this one bit of solace to be strangled to death, so she could only brace herself to remind Ji Youyi.

 

Ji Youyi didn’t care: “It’s fine. Let them delete it.”

 

This pot of dumplings was already destined to be a mess.

 

The first scene of the morning filmed the first encounter.

 

Right after the first take, Ji Youyi heard the male lead say it wouldn’t do. He felt the plot wasn’t handsome enough and wanted a mind-blowing way to enter.

 

The female lead’s side also said it wouldn’t do. They wanted the lead to appear by dancing the “Jinghong Dance” to fully display her beauty and figure, leaving the audience with a first impression of a peerless beauty.

 

Then filming stopped. A group of people argued for over an hour. Eventually, the male lead’s side won, and the first encounter was changed to a hero saving the beauty.

 

The male lead, truly someone raised on sesame paste, declared with a booming voice: “When the time comes, let me descend on a wire. It has to be handsome! Mind-blowingly handsome!”

 

Later, Ji Youyi found out that the filming duration for this drama was only 20 days, but the order was to film 36 episodes.

 

One should know that the normal filming cycle for a TV series is 3 to 6 months, with an average of 2 to 3 days per episode. If the production is more refined, the time would double.

 

Filming 36 episodes in 20 days is like catching up on winter vacation homework the night before school starts; just fill in the words and be done with it, don’t worry if it’s right.

 

Ji Youyi was just a minor actor, and since she was filming for zero pay, she didn’t even want to try to save it.

 

She covered her lunch box and planned to leave. After taking two steps out, she turned around. Li Zhulan was still sitting in her original spot, motionless, looking stunned and a bit wronged.

 

Ji Youyi hesitated and asked: “Have you eaten?”

 

“No.” Li Zhulan lowered her head and opened the script.

 

The script was very thick. Almost every page was densely packed with words, and more prominent than the words were large red “X” marks.

 

Printed type, crossed out. Accumulated inspiration, crossed out. First revision, second revision, third revision… all crossed out.

 

Ji Youyi pursed her lips: “I’ll go get a box for you.”

 

“No need.” Li Zhulan shook her head. “I don’t want to eat.”

 

The takeout she ordered hadn’t arrived yet. Only someone like Ji Youyi could eat such terrible box lunches.

 

Ji Youyi thought to herself: This is bad. This girl can’t even eat; just how upset is she?

 

She walked back and sat down again: “Actually, you can try not to have such a heavy sense of responsibility. The draft was submitted long ago. If they demand changes at the last minute and you can’t write them, they can’t do anything to you. If the script doesn’t come out, filming pauses, and the rental fees burn away. The producer will be more anxious than you. As long as you boldly procrastinate, they will either find someone else to help you change it or just film according to the original script.”

 

Li Zhulan’s voice was very low: “But this is my first drama. I want to make it well.”

 

Ji Youyi’s head ached.

 

This little screenwriter clearly just entered the industry to be this stubborn.

 

The crew was obviously beyond saving. The investors were weird, the director had given up, and the actors were either stiff or stupid. Even if her script was written perfectly, it couldn’t be filmed well!

 

Li Zhulan didn’t seem to want to talk. Her face was dark as she silently flipped through the script.

 

She still remembered the excitement when she wrote the first word and the fulfillment when she finished. But what followed was repeated revision.

 

The entire script had been majorly revised over thirty times and was already unrecognizable.

 

Amidst repeated urgings and scoldings, her focus had shifted to “revise quickly, revise quickly, don’t drag the crew down,” and she had gradually forgotten her original intention for writing this story.

 

What kind of person was Cao Qiu really? What kind of life did she want? Li Zhulan no longer knew. Even she felt unfamiliar with the current protagonist.

 

Tears were about to surge from her eyes when a weight suddenly pressed down on her shoulder, interrupting Li Zhulan’s thoughts.

 

She turned her head and saw Ji Youyi raising her arm to hook around her shoulder.

 

In mid-March, the cold wave was still lingering, and the set was a bit cold. Ji Youyi sat in the shadows, still in her costume from filming.

 

But her smile was brilliant, as if she truly were the childhood sweetheart in the script who had traveled far to the capital, bringing all the bright spring light of Jiangnan: “What you said makes sense. Fine then, I’ll think about it with you!”