Chapter 20: The Next Scene
From the moment Mi Hongdou started heating the wok and melting the lard, Ji Junxin, who had only eaten a few bites of burnt scrambled eggs since last night, was captivated by the aroma. Yet, she had to follow the script and sit obediently in the courtyard, holding a cup and pretending to be deep in thought. With her back to the kitchen shed, she couldn’t see anything, so she strained her ears, listening to the sounds of cracking eggs, stirring, and the sizzling of the ingredients hitting the hot wok… Ji Junxin, surrounded by the aroma, imagined the progress of the egg fried rice in the wok while maintaining a vacant expression, occasionally lowering her head to take small sips of water. It was a pity that the script required Miao Qianye to sit in the courtyard, lost in her thoughts due to weakness and worry, until the young Empress brought her the steaming hot rice. Otherwise, she would have gone to the stove to watch. Maybe, next time, she could also make scrambled eggs without burning them, even without measuring cups, scales, and recipes.
Ji Junxin, savoring the aroma of food in the air, waited with great anticipation and a little regret. Finally, she received the key prop from Mi Hongdou, a bowl of beautiful golden rice with white egg, just as she had imagined. But before she could even hold the bowl steady, someone came to snatch it away. What was the meaning of this! The girl in front of her, judging by her appearance, although her makeup was a bit heavy, was probably only in her early twenties after removing it. Judging by her clothes, well, they were designer brands. It was just that her perfume was a bit strong, and up close, it slightly interfered with the aroma of the egg fried rice… Ji Junxin frowned and instinctively pulled the bowl closer as the girl reached out. She didn’t look like a beggar, so why was she asking for food?
“Miss, we’re filming here. Is there anything I can help you with?” A clear female voice rang out from behind the food-snatching girl.
The girl retracted her hand and turned sideways, revealing Jiang Duo, who was holding a thermos and had addressed her.
“Didn’t you finish filming and call cut? This prop is useless now. I want this bowl of rice, I don’t want the bowl itself.” The girl looked at Ji Junxin, then at Jiang Duo, her expression clearly saying, “I’m giving you face by asking you for something, and you’re still hesitating, how annoying.”
Ji Junxin and Jiang Duo made a living from acting, so how could they not understand that obvious disdain? But the point was, she was robbing them and was even annoyed that they weren’t cooperating, wasn’t she being too presumptuous! This person was too rude, Ji Junxin was a little angry. Of course, she wouldn’t admit that what made her most angry was that the person wanted to snatch the bowl of rice she really wanted to eat.
“May I know who you are?” Jiang Duo remained polite, but maintained her stance as she continued to talk to the food-snatching girl. Although she maintained a smile on her face, she was already cursing Lu Gaoshi in her mind. Lu Gaoshi had said that Ji Junxin was in a bad mood recently, and bringing food at this time would be the easiest way to befriend her. She had also said that with an outsider causing trouble for Ji Junxin on set, this was the perfect opportunity to gain favor, and she pushed Jiang Duo forward to save the day. While Jiang Duo was still hesitating, Lu Gaoshi pushed her forward, so she could only speak up. As she got closer, she saw that the girl was young, but her clothes were expensive, and even her perfume was two grades higher than hers. Most importantly, as soon as the girl spoke, she knew that she wasn’t easy to deal with. Jiang Duo always wanted to maintain an image of kindness and generosity, and she didn’t want to have a damaging argument with this tough girl on set. She wasn’t a big shot like Ji Junxin, who had Qiong Yu backing her, so she could only soften her tone.
Perhaps because Jiang Duo’s attitude was good, the girl haughtily raised her chin towards Qiao Rubai and the group of investors in the distance. “Don’t you know, many investors are here today for inspection?”
Jiang Duo was secretly annoyed. Lu Gaoshi was really unreliable, how could she have gotten her involved in this? The people who came today were all on the same level as Qiao Rubai. If this girl was really someone important’s someone… Jiang Duo stopped talking.
Seeing that Jiang Duo wasn’t responding, the girl nodded with satisfaction and reached out to Ji Junxin again: “Since the crew’s money comes from the investors, then there’s no problem with me taking this bowl of rice, right?”
Speechless! Ji Junxin, whose worldview had been shattered, still stubbornly clutched the bowl.
The commotion in the courtyard wasn’t loud, so the girl had been there for a while before finally attracting the attention of those in the distance. Well, mainly Qiao Rubai’s attention. Her “anti-Jiang Duo radar” was always on. Qiao Rubai, who had been busy dealing with the other investors, immediately sensed something when her radar detected Jiang Duo next to Ji Junxin. She excused herself and strode towards the courtyard. As Qiao Rubai approached, she saw Mi Hongdou, who was much closer, rushing towards the three-person standoff.
Just the time it took to drink some water, and they were already surrounded. The place where Mi Hongdou was drinking water wasn’t far from the courtyard. Although there were some obstacles, she could still hear most of the conversation outside. She had just taken a sip of water when Director Pan came over and pulled her aside to talk. Mi Hongdou’s attention was still on the situation outside, so she didn’t quite hear what Director Pan was saying. She just felt that the arrogant voice outside sounded familiar.
Coming out, she saw that it was indeed an old acquaintance. Oh, no, they should still be strangers at this point. But this Jiang Lingling, really, no matter when, she was always memorable. No wonder she felt like something was missing after joining the crew. This person should have been one of the concubines in the drama. But, with Qiao Rubai being reborn and the script changed so much, it wasn’t strange that Jiang Lingling wasn’t in the cast.
Compared to the often capricious and arrogant, but actually not bad Jiang Lingling, it was Jiang Duo, standing next to Ji Junxin, who Mi Hongdou truly disliked. Hmph, best friend? With her, the ultimate die-hard fan, what need was there for a caring best friend? Mi Hongdou angrily joined the fray.
“The rice, I steamed it last night. The eggs, I bought them at noon. The lard, I rendered it this morning. The firewood… my assistant, Bai Tang, collected it.” Except for the last sentence, everything else was true. The hotel conditions were limited, so to let Ji Junxin eat this bowl of rice, Mi Hongdou had put in a lot of effort to gather the ingredients since receiving the call last night. “Although the investors funded the crew, this bowl of rice wasn’t bought with the crew’s money.”
In her previous life, Mi Hongdou had interacted with Jiang Lingling. Although this girl was capricious and arrogant, she wasn’t a bad person. At least, she wouldn’t do anything like robbery. Her demanding attitude now was probably, as she said, because in her view, the investors had funded the production, so taking a bowl of rice wasn’t a big deal. Of course, this logic and behavior were strange in themselves, but Jiang Lingling’s thinking was always strange.
As expected, after Mi Hongdou spoke, Jiang Lingling wasn’t so arrogant anymore and shut her mouth.
Ji Junxin’s grip on the bowl loosened, and she breathed a sigh of relief. But soon, she was shocked by the girl in front of her.
“I’m sorry, I misunderstood.” Jiang Lingling’s expression was sincere as she took out fifty yuan from her pocket. “Since it wasn’t bought with the crew’s money, then I’ll buy it.”
Her expression was serious! Ji Junxin felt a jolt… She looked at Mi Hongdou stiffly. At this time, she should probably return the bowl to Mi Hongdou, right? She slowly raised her hand. After all, with the owner present, she couldn’t just keep the rice. No, wait, she could buy it too! Ji Junxin’s slowly rising hand stopped. “I…”
Before Ji Junxin could make her offer, Mi Hongdou decisively interrupted her: “Sorry, this rice is an important prop, it’s not for sale.”
When Mi Hongdou accompanied Ji Junxin on her food adventures, they had encountered situations where there was only one chicken left, or where a restaurant only accepted reservations and they had to buy the reservation slot from someone else. Ji Junxin’s expression just now was clearly that of someone who was about to bid, no matter how high the price! Mi Hongdou knew her too well! Although she was touched that the egg fried rice she made was considered valuable enough for Ji Junxin to bid on, the point was that Jiang Lingling wasn’t someone who would give up easily. It was better to discourage her from the start. Anyway, whether the prop was important or not, they knew, but Jiang Lingling didn’t. Mi Hongdou lied without batting an eye and secretly winked at Ji Junxin.
“Really?” Jiang Lingling looked suspiciously at the two of them.
Ji Junxin, receiving the hint, suddenly found her backbone: “Yes! This is an important prop. We need to use it right away!” When Ji Junxin arrived earlier, she had seen that the dilapidated bowl Mi Hongdou was holding when she came out of the changing room wasn’t big. Regardless of whether it originally contained oil or rice, it was clearly not enough to make another bowl. If she gave this bowl to someone else, she might not have another chance to eat it. And she wasn’t close enough to Mi Hongdou to ask her to cook for her again. Thinking this, Ji Junxin made up her mind. “We need to use it to film the next scene!” She said, clutching the bowl and quickly running towards Director Pan.
She didn’t know what Ji Junxin said to Director Pan. Soon, the onlookers were cleared out, the cameras started rolling, and only Ji Junxin, no, Miao Qianye, holding the bowl, was left in the courtyard.
One mouthful, two mouthfuls, three mouthfuls… In the shot, Ji Junxin silently finished the entire bowl of rice, not even leaving a single grain.
“Isn’t that wrong? In my script, didn’t it say that after Miao Qianye took the bowl, she just put it on her lap, without any appetite to eat?” Pan Xiang arrived a little late, just in time to see Ji Junxin eating. She flipped through the script, found that she hadn’t remembered it wrong, and quickly asked Director Pan if he had added the scene on the spot.
“Shhh…” Director Pan lowered his voice. “She didn’t want to give up the bowl of rice, so she asked me to add a scene of her eating to discourage the person who wanted to buy it from her.” Ji Junxin was kind and easy to work with, and Director Pan was very satisfied with her. Directors liked obedient actors who didn’t cause NGs. This small favor was nothing.
So capricious! Shocking!
Pan Xiang sniffed the lingering aroma in the air. This kind of behavior of eating alone was too capricious! Could they still be friends!
Director Pan pulled Pan Xiang, who was still craving the food, aside and showed her the footage of the young Empress cooking. Her craving instantly turned into drool… Director Pan, amused and exasperated, asked, “Didn’t you notice anything?”
“It looks delicious! Was there only one bowl? Ji Junxin ate it all? Ji Junxin actually ate it all!” Pan Xiang said with annoyance. “It’s all because of the traffic jam today. If I had arrived earlier, I could have at least had a couple of bites!”
Pan Xiang, immersed in her food fantasy, was knocked on the head.
“Do you still remember that you’re the screenwriter? Didn’t you notice anything wrong?” Director Pan was speechless. Who did this child inherit her traits from?
“Um…” Pan Xiang took out the wrinkled script from her bag, which was crammed with snacks, and flipped through it. “What’s wrong? Eh?”
Because the script for “Imperial Secrets” had undergone major revisions a month ago, time was tight, and Pan Xiang, who had been brought in at the last minute, hadn’t had time to write everything in detail. She was a writer with a rich imagination, but not a very experienced screenwriter. Pan Xiang had many details and connections in mind, but she couldn’t always perfectly present them in the script. So, after revising the script, she had been staying on set, to add details during filming.
Like this scene, there was no detailed description of the Empress making fried rice. In Pan Xiang’s view, an actor filming a cooking scene with a large wok for the first time would always end up covered in soot and flustered. Then, they could have the post-production team edit it to fit the scene of the Empress cooking a full meal for the first time, finally managing to make a bowl of rice. All the busyness and clumsiness were to highlight the importance she placed on Miao Qianye and her unborn child. As for the later cooking scenes, with the passage of time, the Empress would gradually improve. They could ask the crew members for guidance then. This time, it was a test shoot, and the crew members had only briefly explained how to use a traditional stove to Mi Hongdou the night before, without any actual practice.
As a result, they didn’t expect Mi Hongdou to perform so well, making delicious egg fried rice with such fluidity that it stunned the crew members. Director Pan knew the investors’ intentions today. Mi Hongdou’s performance didn’t match the image of the Empress cooking for the first time, but it looked great on camera, stunning not only the crew members but also the investors. It was just one scene. This scene could be reshot later, but Director Pan didn’t want to replace the actor. So, today, he let the take pass without any NGs.
After hearing Director Pan’s explanation, Pan Xiang nodded repeatedly. In this short clip, Mi Hongdou’s culinary skills impressed her. She could totally film a cooking show. Director Pan and Pan Xiang both believed that Mi Hongdou’s misinterpretation of the scene was partly due to Pan Xiang’s lack of detailed description in the script, and partly because Mi Hongdou was a newcomer.
However, Mi Hongdou, who was no longer a newcomer, hadn’t misinterprered the scene for those reasons…
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