Caught in Affairs with Superstar

Zhou Yun was utterly surprised by what Xiuxiu said.

She hadn’t expected Xiuxiu to feel exactly the same as she did.

What surprised Zhou Yun even more was how sharp Xiuxiu was.

After saying that, Xiuxiu went straight back into the room.

Zhou Yun stood there alone, dazed for quite a while.

It was Yu Zhiyang who came to look for her; seeing her just standing there, he asked in confusion why she was standing here by herself.

Zhou Yun shook her head and said it was nothing.

Yu Zhiyang said, "The director said he got two water fish for tonight and wants us to go over and eat water fish."

"Where are we eating?"

"Sister Restaurant," Yu Zhiyang said.

"We still have to go all the way into town? I’m too lazy to move," Zhou Yun said. "You go. I don’t feel like going. We’ll have to come back after eating anyway."

"We’re not coming back. The director said after dinner we’re having a meeting."

"A meeting? What kind of meeting?" Zhou Yun looked baffled. She hadn’t gotten any notice at all.

Yu Zhiyang said, "A script meeting."

They were about to start shooting; having a script meeting at night was normal.

It was just—did this film really need a script meeting?

Only a few sheets of paper, and barely any dialogue.

But since Wen Bing planned it that way, of course she still had to go.

Zhou Yun went to say a word to Xiuxiu’s mom, then followed Yu Zhiyang out.

They had no car, so Yu Zhiyang rode the motorcycle he was borrowing from the family he was staying with, taking Zhou Yun into town.

The setting sun hadn’t completely sunk below the ground; a red sun still hung halfway over the world.

The wind was cold, slicing at their faces like knives.

Zhou Yun regretted not wearing a scarf out to wrap around her face.

She could only hunch over and tuck in her neck, hiding herself behind Yu Zhiyang’s back.

By the time they reached town, it was already dark.

That’s autumn for you—it gets dark early.

Thinking about how later on they still had to shoot the scene of them swimming at the reservoir, Zhou Yun felt a shiver.

They went into the restaurant and straight to the private room.

Wen Bing and the others were already seated; seeing Zhou Yun, he smiled and said, "Alright, Xiao Yun and Little Yu are here, we can call the waiter to bring the dishes up."

Yu Zhiyang immediately said, "I’ll go."

He was the youngest in the group, and he always took the initiative with these little errands—never once acting like he was the leading man.

Wang Zilin had already risen to her feet; seeing this, she sat back down and didn’t insist on sharing the task with Yu Zhiyang.

A film with only two actors—just saying it out loud sounded unbelievable.

But Wen Bing seemed to like writing this kind of thing.

He really wasn’t that keen on writing ensemble scenes with lots of characters.

Even Female Assassin was like that—Zhou Yun on her own, like a lone ranger, running into different people and having different stories with them.

As soon as Yu Zhiyang went out, Yi Zhe said, "Little Yu really is diligent. He jumps at anything that needs doing, doesn’t act like a Celebrity at all."

Wang Zilin said, "You’re just picking on him because he’s young."

"What’s wrong with being young? Look how many teens there are now—on camera they bow deeper and more polished than anyone, off camera their noses are practically pointing at the sky," Yi Zhe said. "I’ve been around him these days, and I really do like the kid."

"Then I’ll ask you to put in a bit more effort and shoot the kid a little better," Wang Zilin said.

"Of course."

Zhou Yun noticed that whenever the two of them were in the same place, they always had to bicker at least a couple of lines.

They were clearly very close.

Zhou Yun asked Wen Bing, "Just now Yu Zhiyang told me that after dinner you’re having a script meeting?"

Wen Bing said, "Not exactly a script meeting—just roughly talking you through my shooting plan, so everyone has a sense of things in their heads."

Zhou Yun nodded. "That’s good."

"Mm, most of the crew this time are people I’ve worked with before. Everyone knows what I want. If we lay things out clearly at the start, the shoot will go more smoothly later."

Zhou Yun asked, "Can we really finish in twenty days this time?"

She was worried they wouldn’t.

"If we don’t, we’ll just stop for a bit. After you finish Killing Song and come back, we’ll set another time to shoot," Wen Bing said. "This film isn’t in any rush to be released or catch a release window anyway."

Zhou Yun said, "Alright. Just—if we do that, we won’t go over budget, right?"

"We won’t. I’ve kept a bit of the budget in reserve," Wen Bing said. "I don’t want to rush this film—we should be shooting it slowly."

Zhou Yun laughed.

"So basically you’re stringing Yao Yuanfeng along."

"Who’s stringing him along? It’s not like I’m asking him for more money. I just don’t feel like explaining so much to him. He was against making this from the start. If I told him we might not finish in one go and would have to do pickups, he’d be even more opposed. Once we’ve already started shooting, if we still need more later, he’s hardly going to clamp down and refuse."