Chapter 22: Eight Treasure Sweet Soup
Mi Hongdou, who had been expecting criticism from Ji Junxin, wasn’t just stunned after hearing what Ji Junxin said to Director Pan, she was practically petrified… This rollercoaster of emotions was too complex to describe.
To put it simply, it was like buying a two-dollar lottery ticket, hoping to win ten dollars. When checking the numbers, she was surprised to find, wow! She had actually won three hundred dollars! Before she could celebrate, she realized she had misread a number and hadn’t won anything, losing the two dollars she spent on the ticket. Dejected, she was about to leave and try again another day when she glanced at the ticket again. Hey! She had checked the wrong draw date! Checking again, she realized she had won the five million dollar grand prize!
Ji Junxin had no idea that the petrified Mi Hongdou was actually ecstatic. She thought Mi Hongdou was feeling down because the scene hadn’t been approved. “It’s okay… the scene was filmed very well. For the reshoot, you only need to use five or six out of ten of your skills, and it will be fine.” Ji Junxin didn’t have much experience comforting people, so her words felt inadequate. After speaking, she felt that it wasn’t what she wanted to convey.
She was even praised by her idol… Hearing the gentle comfort, Mi Hongdou’s frustration from the failed scene was thrown into the Pacific Ocean, no, into a black hole in the universe.
Being praised for messing up was a bit embarrassing. After struggling for a while, Mi Hongdou managed to squeeze out a sentence: “I… I’ll work hard next time!”
“Although this scene doesn’t quite fit the plot, the final result is really good. It would be a waste to just delete it. Why don’t we keep it for now? Maybe we can use it as behind-the-scenes footage and release it before or after the movie premiere. Right, let’s keep the eating scene too. It looked very appetizing. Sister Junxin, was the egg fried rice delicious?” Pan Xiang returned from somewhere, holding a bowl of eight treasure sweet soup, and nudged Ji Junxin playfully with her elbow.
“Cough… delicious…” Ji Junxin, her foodie nature exposed, was a little embarrassed, fidgeting slightly, her voice dropping to a mosquito’s hum. But the two words “delicious” were very clear.
The sudden, faint sound of someone gulping must have been a collective hallucination, haha…
“Putting aside the script, both scenes were well-filmed. Let’s keep them for now and see if we can use them later.” Director Pan, smoothing things over, glared at Pan Xiang. He knew that this girl hadn’t had any and was now teasing others. “By the way, Xiaomi, I see you’re very skilled with the traditional stove. Have you lived in the countryside before?”
Mi Hongdou was taken aback and couldn’t immediately respond to Director Pan’s attempt to change the subject. Country life? Naturally, she hadn’t experienced it. However, in her previous life, under the training of Ji Junxin’s various recipes, she was not only skilled with traditional stoves, but also a master at digging holes and roasting beggar’s chicken or stewing mutton.
“No, I haven’t. I just enjoy experimenting with cooking and have some understanding of various stoves and utensils.” She couldn’t reveal the truth about being forced to improve by a foodie, so Mi Hongdou could only modestly say that it was a personal hobby.
Then, paying close attention, she noticed that her words made Ji Junxin’s eyes light up.
“Sister Hongdou is so amazing! There are a few more cooking scenes for the Empress in the later part of the script. Remember to save a bowl for me!” Foodies always appear in groups. Pan Xiang’s eyes shone as she flipped through the script, slightly regretting that she hadn’t written more cooking scenes and details for the Empress.
“All you think about is food. If you had known Xiaomi could cook earlier, wouldn’t you have turned this drama into a food documentary?” Director Pan jokingly pointed at the bowl in Pan Xiang’s hand. “In this remote wilderness, where did you get this? Don’t tell me you brought it yourself. You’re eating it all by yourself, not sharing with anyone.”
The usually large rice bowl was filled with sweet soup. White fungus, longan, red dates, lotus seeds, goji berries, peanuts, and gorgon fruit, with a half-eaten egg nestled inside. The soup looked well-cooked.
“Speaking of this soup, it’s really…” Pan Xiang paused, finally finding the right words. “It’s really a pie from the sky.”
“A pie?” Director Pan glanced at the soup. “Do you think with your insight, you can still be a screenwriter? Why don’t you go home and do your homework?”
“Aiya, it’s just a metaphor, a metaphor, do you understand?” Pan Xiang stamped her foot. “Fine, it’s soup from the sky. Just now, I saw President Qiao and the actress who plays Concubine Zhu, what’s her name, oh whatever. I saw President Qiao and her over there. She was holding a thermos, and President Qiao was standing next to her, eating something, bowl after bowl, non-stop. I was curious, so I went closer to take a look. President Qiao invited me to have some soup…”
“So you just drank it? Didn’t you bring a bowl for your grandpa?” Director Pan, who hadn’t had his wife’s loving lunchbox today, was a little unhappy.
“…” Pan Xiang looked at her unhappy grandfather, then at the two people next to her who were trying not to laugh. “Fine, I’ll tell you. President Qiao said that Sister Junxin had already eaten a lot of egg fried rice, so I shouldn’t give her any soup. She originally asked me to leave after finishing the soup, but I wanted to show off. She even made me take a bite of the egg before letting me go. She said that if I didn’t, Sister Junxin might act pitiful, and I would give her the soup. And, before I got this bowl, President Qiao had already drunk several bowls. This was the last one.”
It seemed like there was a lot of information to unpack… Compared to Ji Junxin, who was blushing with embarrassment, Mi Hongdou, frowning, was clearly thinking more deeply.
“By the way, is there something going on with President Qiao recently? Even if it’s just soup, bowl after bowl, it seemed like she drank too much.” Actually, Pan Xiang felt that when she approached and Qiao Rubai invited her to have soup, there was a look of… relief on her face. Was she seeing things?
Concubine Zhu? Jiang Duo? Since when were Qiao Rubai and her so friendly? Weren’t they supposed to be wary of best friends… Mi Hongdou frowned.
Poor Qiao Rubai, who was currently guarding against the “best friend” threat, finally finished the thermos and sent Jiang Duo away, clutching her waist. This foodie’s romantic tribulations weren’t easy to block. Qiao Rubai smiled wryly and pinched her recently expanding waist. She was so envious of those who could eat whatever they wanted without gaining weight!
“You’re talking about Jiang Duo?” Ji Junxin clearly wasn’t thinking as deeply as Mi Hongdou. “She spoke up for me earlier. I should go and thank her.”
Hmm? Mi Hongdou didn’t have time to think about the relationship between Qiao Rubai and Jiang Duo. She turned her head and said seriously, “Director Pan, when will the reshoot be? Are we still filming the egg fried rice scene? Or the original wild vegetable fried rice scene?”
As expected, the topic successfully stopped the foodie in her tracks.
“Well, it depends on whether we go back to the original set to finish filming there before coming back, or just continue filming here.” Director Pan seriously considered the question. Both options had their pros and cons. “As for what to film…” Director Pan looked at Ji Junxin.
“…” Ji Junxin quickly winked at Director Pan.
Director Pan smiled: “Let’s still film the egg fried rice scene. You only need to use three or four out of ten of your skills this time.”
Ji Junxin blushed slightly, relieved. It seemed that the little empress didn’t know about her capriciously changing the script. However, Mi Hongdou’s mentioning the reshoot made Ji Junxin feel that this NG also had its benefits. She could eat egg fried rice again. Ji Junxin felt a little guilty for having such a thought. So, Jiang Duo, and the fact that Mi Hongdou would only need to use a fraction of her skills for the reshoot, were all overshadowed by her anticipation for the egg fried rice.
Unfortunately, Mi Hongdou’s gaze was drawn to a somewhat familiar figure in the crowd in the distance, and she didn’t notice the expectant look in Ji Junxin’s eyes.
Was it her? Why was she here? Mi Hongdou couldn’t resist the urge to go closer and see if it was the person she was thinking of.
At the same time, the girl who was being watched by Mi Hongdou, unaware, took out her phone and dialed: “Mom, I think I saw that Mi Hongdou…”
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