Chapter 21: Protection
The night before, Mi Hongdou was already in bed, about to sleep, when she received a call from the “Imperial Secrets” crew about a change in the next day’s scene. Fortunately, it was just making wild vegetable fried rice, which was only a few lines in the script, not a difficult scene. However, the key was that she would be acting opposite Ji Junxin. Even though the script said that Miao Qianye just held the bowl on her lap, gazing into the distance without eating, for Mi Hongdou, this was the first time showcasing her skills in front of her idol. She had to do her best! As for considering the appropriate culinary skill level for an empress in the drama, that had long been overshadowed by the excitement she felt upon receiving the call.
This must be Qiao Rubai giving her another opportunity, right? Mi Hongdou mentally gave Qiao Rubai a thumbs-up, determined not to let down the good intentions of a fellow reborn person. She would definitely maximize her idol’s favorability towards her before Ji Junxin developed any interest in Zhang Zijing!
Just as Mi Hongdou was racking her brains, thinking about which wild vegetables were in season and would be fragrant when stir-fried with rice, another call came, changing the wild vegetable fried rice to egg fried rice. At this point, Mi Hongdou no longer had any doubts. Changing from wild vegetable fried rice to egg fried rice, this must be Qiao Rubai giving her an opportunity! Otherwise, why would she specifically choose egg fried rice, the dish most likely to increase Ji Junxin’s favorability?
In her previous life, Mi Hongdou had the good fortune to be friends with Ji Junxin for almost four years. Ji Junxin’s special fondness for egg fried rice naturally couldn’t be hidden from her. After Ji Junxin retired, her love for food increased proportionally. Mi Hongdou, as Ji Junxin’s hidden die-hard fan, naturally supported her wholeheartedly. So, when they got along well, they often went on food adventures together, and Mi Hongdou would tirelessly research ancient recipes that Ji Junxin liked, finding ways to recreate them for her.
However, the best-laid plans of foodies often go awry. Sometimes, ingredients would be sold out, or they would be in a remote location where the desired food wasn’t available, or sometimes, the recipes they tried would fail… At times like these, the disheartened Ji Junxin needed a bowl of egg fried rice to comfort her wounded soul.
It could be said that egg fried rice was the dish Mi Hongdou made the most and was most skilled at.
Now, hearing that the dish for the next day’s scene had been changed, Mi Hongdou could almost foresee herself showing off her skills in front of her idol and gaining her favor. She couldn’t be more grateful to Qiao Rubai!
So, after ending the call, Mi Hongdou, no longer sleepy, quickly got up and went straight to the hotel kitchen. Choose the rice, steam the rice! Authentic egg fried rice was best made with leftover, cold rice. Late at night, Mi Hongdou, her eyes shining, cooked rice in the kitchen.
Early in the morning on the day of filming, Mi Hongdou got up early again and went to the hotel kitchen to render a bowl of lard from fresh pork fat. It was a pity that the eggs in the hotel kitchen were all ordinary large eggs… Fortunately, there were many farms around the hotel. Before going to the set, Mi Hongdou went out and bought a few free-range eggs. With this, everything was ready, just waiting for the foodie.
Mi Hongdou specifically chose fragrant lard to fry the rice, believing that Ji Junxin would definitely take a bite after filming. Mi Hongdou was very confident in her egg fried rice, it would definitely win Ji Junxin’s favor. However, she didn’t expect Jiang Lingling to appear halfway. Mi Hongdou saw that Ji Junxin was interested in the rice, so naturally she helped to stop Jiang Lingling. But she didn’t expect that Ji Junxin, to keep the bowl of rice, would actually eat it on camera, in character.
After finishing the rice, Ji Junxin went to remove her makeup, satisfied. When Director Pan came to call Mi Hongdou, she was still a little dazed.
“Take a look.” Director Pan pulled Mi Hongdou aside and showed her the two scenes they had just filmed. “What do you think?”
The second scene, where Ji Junxin ate the rice, was also filmed without onlookers. Mi Hongdou had watched from afar, only seeing Ji Junxin methodically eating the rice spoonful by spoonful. Unlike now, where the cameraman had given a close-up, capturing the slight upturn of the corners of her mouth as she ate…
She knew she would like it! Mi Hongdou was also very satisfied…
“…” Director Pan glanced at Mi Hongdou, whose face was beaming with happiness, and silently opened the script, pointing. “Why could a pampered empress, cooking for the first time, be so skilled?”
“Huh?” Mi Hongdou, still immersed in the satisfaction of winning her idol’s favor, was stunned. Oh right… something seemed wrong. Only now did Mi Hongdou realize that she hadn’t been immersed in the role, not from the moment she handed the bowl to Ji Junxin, but from last night, after receiving the call, she had been out of character the whole time.
So, there was no way for her to truly embody the empress… Director Pan’s words were like a bucket of cold water, waking Mi Hongdou up.
“Then, can’t we use the scene we filmed today?” A familiar voice came from behind Mi Hongdou and Director Pan. Mi Hongdou stiffly turned around. As expected, it was Ji Junxin, who hadn’t removed her makeup yet.
However, the problem now wasn’t why her idol, who was supposed to be changing clothes, had suddenly appeared, but… Her first scene with her idol, and she had messed up, messed up fundamentally. Mi Hongdou felt terrible… She was supposed to be increasing favorability, but now it was probably decreasing.
“We probably can’t use it. An empress, so skillfully using the stove and frying rice, it’s too out of place.” Director Pan said, looking around and lowering his voice again. “But, let’s consider it a pass today. Otherwise, those investors who came with Xiaoqiao will make a fuss. We’ll find some time to reshoot it later.”
Mi Hongdou secretly glanced at Ji Junxin. Her serious face showed a hint of displeasure… Had she really decreased her favorability? Just as Mi Hongdou was on the verge of tears, wanting to bang her head against a bowl of cold rice, Ji Junxin spoke: “But, I think it was filmed well. Even if she’s an empress, there can be empresses who can cook.”
Eh? Mi Hongdou, struggling on the brink of death, perked up her ears.
“But the audience might not think so. Besides, there’s no foreshadowing. The empress suddenly being so capable is too jarring.” Director Pan also thought the scene was well-filmed, it could even be broadcast on a cooking show. It was a pity that it didn’t fit the plot.
“But, the script mentions that the empress comes from a military family and loved to ride and hunt with her father and brothers since she was young, and only settled down after meeting Ji Yan, who was still a prince, when she entered the palace with her mother. Then, it’s also possible that the young empress wasn’t someone who only knew about music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Perhaps she had seen others cook before?” Ji Junxin took the script from Director Pan, flipped through it, and pointed to a line on a certain page.
Director Pan looked and laughed: “That’s the character’s background introduction. A newcomer might not know, but you should know. That’s written for the actors to help them understand the character. A movie has limited time, many things won’t be shown, so we can’t foreshadow or explain why the empress is a good cook.”
Ji Junxin was speechless… It wasn’t her first day filming, she understood what Director Pan was saying. But she had just followed them over and happened to see the replay of Mi Hongdou’s cooking scene. The smooth and skillful movements, the smoky stir-fry, it was like watching someone paint with bold strokes, full of charm and beauty, a refreshing sight. No wonder… even though she couldn’t see it from the courtyard earlier, the smell was so fragrant.
Thinking about the bowl of egg fried rice earlier, the seasoning was perfect, fragrant but not greasy, firm but not dry, simply delicious. After eating, and then seeing the process of Mi Hongdou making it, Ji Junxin couldn’t bear to see such a well-filmed scene go to waste. Ji Junxin had a feeling that if this scene was included in the movie, it would definitely gain Mi Hongdou countless fans. However, what Director Pan said made sense, and Ji Junxin couldn’t think of a way to refute it. She could only look at Mi Hongdou apologetically.
It was fine if she didn’t look, but upon looking, the person next to her seemed to be… frozen?
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