Chapter 18: Capricious
Just unhappy, not self-destructive. Ji Junxin ate half a plate of the burnt scrambled eggs, and when her stomach wasn’t so uncomfortably hungry, she stopped. She peeled and ate an orange, which masked the bitter, burnt taste in her mouth. She considered dinner dealt with.
She didn’t know why, but after hearing Mi Hongdou’s words about detaching from a role, she felt like going home. Of course, the home she originally wanted to return to was her parents’ place… but Lu Gaoshi was used to dropping her off at the small apartment, and she didn’t know why she hadn’t corrected her. Even though this wasn’t where she wanted to go, in the end, it was fortunate that she came back here…
If she had known, she wouldn’t have come back. At the film set, even if it was bad, she could at least get a boxed meal from the crew… Ji Junxin tidied up the table, just as she picked up the plate to throw it away in the kitchen, her phone, which she had tossed aside, started ringing. She quickly dumped the leftovers into the trash can, closed the lid, and the burnt smell in the air seemed to lighten.
The name displayed on the phone was “Qiao Rubai.” Ji Junxin glanced at it, feeling a little disappointed, yet also slightly relieved. Yes, they were so busy, how could they suddenly call back? Ji Junxin didn’t like this sudden change in herself. She had long been accustomed to this busy way of interacting, she shouldn’t have any expectations. It was all because of what that little empress had said… Ji Junxin felt annoyed.
Qiao Rubai had just finished negotiating a project and was incredibly busy. She had thought that everything was arranged on the set and that it wouldn’t matter if she didn’t go for a few days. Who knew that less than a day later, something would go wrong again. “The location for the confinement scene has been found. It’s not in Shudian, but it’s not far, just in a nearby village, less than half an hour’s drive. The other investors want to do a test shoot tomorrow and check if the location is suitable.”
“My scene?” Ji Junxin hadn’t encountered a situation where a scene was filmed out of order so early in the production.
“Yes, the crew will go to the village to prepare tomorrow morning. In the afternoon, we’ll film your scene with Mi Hongdou, the one where you’ve just been confined, the environment is harsh, Miao Qianye is pregnant but worried and can’t eat, and she manages to find some wild vegetables to make fried rice for you and persuades you to eat.” Qiao Rubai was also very frustrated. She had a lot on her plate, and those people were creating more trouble for her. Did they think she didn’t know that what they really wanted to see wasn’t the location, but Mi Hongdou? From the moment she invited the unknown Mi Hongdou from the small-scale Mengguan to play the empress, those people hadn’t stopped scheming, trying to find ways to replace her. When she signed Mi Hongdou from Mengguan back then, she had watched her debut drama, “Divorce, So Be It.” Based on Mi Hongdou’s acting skills at that time, playing the empress was a bit challenging, but she could handle it. Partly out of a desire to compensate, and partly to place Mi Hongdou by Ji Junxin’s side early, Qiao Rubai had removed Qiong Yu’s own actress and brought Mi Hongdou in. It took a lot of effort to make it happen. The role of the empress wasn’t something those schemers could replace. However, judging from the well-filmed wedding scene and Director Pan’s evaluation of Mi Hongdou, it seemed that her adaptability was even better than she had anticipated. Those people’s schemes were doomed to fail. Still, they were troublesome. If it weren’t for the Qiao family’s business, which she hadn’t fully taken control of yet, how would she need others to invest in this movie?
It seemed that she wouldn’t need to continue filming with the extras tomorrow. Ji Junxin thought about the scene Qiao Rubai mentioned. Although it was brought forward, if she reviewed the script a couple of times tonight, there shouldn’t be any problems.
“Has the little empress been notified? Can her schedule be adjusted?” Ji Junxin hadn’t forgotten the hostility towards Mi Hongdou she sensed on the set of “Divorce, So Be It” that morning. In such circumstances, constantly switching between productions would be even more difficult for a newcomer.
“I’ve talked to them, there shouldn’t be any problems. What about you, do you have enough time to prepare?” Qiao Rubai flipped through the script. Ji Junxin didn’t have many lines in this scene, she just needed to act melancholic and eat. One night to get into character was definitely more than enough. Even so, Qiao Rubai habitually expressed her concern. “By the way, they said they’ll use shepherd’s purse for the wild vegetables. I don’t know how it will be cooked. Anyway, in the script, you’re depressed and have no appetite, you only need to eat a little. Do you have any problems with that?”
She had even eaten burnt scrambled eggs, what other problems could there be? Ji Junxin was about to say “no problem” when she suddenly remembered her frustration from earlier, when, spurred by Mi Hongdou’s words, she had made a series of bad decisions, ending up with no takeout and only burnt rice to eat. Although it was her own overthinking and she couldn’t blame the little empress, still…
“I don’t want wild vegetable fried rice, I want egg fried rice…” As soon as the words left her mouth, Ji Junxin was shocked by her own capriciousness.
“No…” Distractedly flipping through documents, Qiao Rubai assumed Ji Junxin would say “no problem.” She was about to reply when she snapped back to reality, realizing something was amiss. “Egg fried rice?”
The faint, lingering burnt smell still hung in the air. How did those words slip out… Ji Junxin was a little confused…
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. Qiao Rubai, who had been reborn, always felt that it was her negligence in her previous life that led to Ji Junxin being hurt by that wolf Jiang Duo. Subconsciously, there was a desire to compensate, a feeling she wasn’t even aware of. “Okay, egg fried rice it is… You rest early, I’ll call Mi Hongdou.” Assuming that the little foodie simply didn’t want to eat wild vegetable fried rice, Qiao Rubai agreed without hesitation. It was just eggs, she had money, she could be capricious, fry them!
Huh? Ji Junxin put down the phone. The script had been changed just like that? But she hadn’t meant to… It wasn’t because she had eaten terrible scrambled eggs today that she said such a capricious thing.
So, how many stupid things had she done today? Driving back, making those phone calls, burning the rice, and even changing the script… It was enough. Ji Junxin threw herself onto the sofa, grabbed a pillow, and covered her face. Why was she so stupid today…
Stupid or not, how stupid, she still had to drive for more than five hours the next day to go back to filming. What was it called? Oh, right, the mistakes you make, you have to bear the consequences even if you cry.
Most of the rural houses now were two, three, or even four-story buildings. Some wealthier and well-planned villages, from afar, looked like rows of neatly arranged small villas. Shudian, as a famous filming base, was also a unique tourist attraction. Naturally, it had boosted the surrounding catering, accommodation, and other related industries. The village that the “Imperial Secrets” crew went to had many families who built small buildings and ran homestays and farm stays. Such a village, naturally, couldn’t be used for filming historical dramas. Their destination was a wasteland at the foot of the mountain outside the village. Although it was called wasteland, there were still a few houses there, just dilapidated and obviously abandoned for a long time. It was far enough from the village, and there were no farmlands around, it was truly desolate. In the later part of the script, the empress and Miao Qianye would lead the harem to gradually rebuild the estate. From this perspective, this place was quite suitable.
Although they were prisoners, the empress’s status was still there at the beginning, so she would naturally live in the best house in the estate. Since they all looked dilapidated, the biggest one was the best.
When Ji Junxin arrived, several thatched huts had been sparsely erected around the few dilapidated houses on the wasteland. There weren’t enough houses, so the thatched huts were for the less favored concubines and the few eunuchs and maids. However, there was only one simple scene today, between the empress and Miao Qianye, and the crew members were preparing inside the largest dilapidated house. Ji Junxin looked around, didn’t see Mi Hongdou, but saw Qiao Rubai with an expressionless face, talking to a few investors, seemingly not very happy.
It wasn’t just Qiao Rubai, who had just come from an important project, who was unhappy. Director Pan, who was directing the camera crew with a dark expression, was also unhappy.
In Director Pan’s opinion, filming should be a gradual process. After the script was revised, it was mainly divided into several large sections: the palace, the estate, and the battlefield. They had just started filming the palace section, and he didn’t know what those investors were thinking, dragging them here now. The actors had just found the feeling of palace luxury, and now they had to act as if they were suffering. Later, they would have to return to the palace luxury again. It wouldn’t be good if it affected their performance. Director Pan thought that after filming this test shoot, if he wasn’t satisfied, he would just reshoot it when they were filming the estate section. He didn’t want to argue with those people about things like an actor’s feelings, something they wouldn’t understand.
However, when he saw Ji Junxin, Director Pan’s eyes lit up. That slightly pale face, full of fatigue and unhappiness, was perfect! As expected of a popular actress, she was so accurate in getting into character! Suddenly, he felt a little more confident about this hastily arranged scene.
Before Director Pan’s happiness could fully bloom, he saw Mi Hongdou coming out of a makeshift changing room made of cloth. Her hair was tied up, a little messy, with a strand hanging down from the side of her ear. She was wearing a beige dress with a subtle pattern, her sleeves slightly rolled up, and she was carefully holding a dilapidated porcelain bowl. Wasn’t this the thoughtful little empress who had managed to find something to make for Miao Qianye to nourish her pregnancy? Director Pan’s mood improved even more. It seemed that this test shoot wasn’t so bad after all.
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