Zhao Mei pushed open the door of the familiar coffee shop and turned to the right to see Qiu Jiahe sitting on the sofa, waving at her: "Here, here! Beautiful!"
Sitting opposite Qiu Jiahe was a woman with a bun on her head, calmly sipping coffee. It was Ji Jinyao.
After Zhao Mei sat down, Ji Jinyao put down her coffee cup and took out a folder from her bag. "Here, take a look. These are the resources for the second female lead. Director Wen gave them to me out of respect. Otherwise, with the situation at our company, I wouldn't even have a chance to audition."
Zhao Mei took it and looked at it with Qiu Jiahe. In the folder was a not-too-long script with an undecided title, a few biographies of the second female lead, and an audition notice.
The script tells a story that takes place in a simple and unpretentious island town.
Awu, a young man who grew up in a small island town, has always longed for the world outside the island. Countless times, when he went out to sea to fish, he longed for the other side of the island.
Maomei, his childhood sweetheart who grew up with him, is extremely satisfied with living in this peaceful town. She does not approve of or understand Awu's desire to leave the town.
But out of love and reluctance for her childhood sweetheart, Maomei did not outwardly strongly support Awu's departure. She also knew that it would be difficult for Awu to leave. She just listened quietly every day to Awu, who came back from fishing with his father, and loudly discussed with her how to leave the town.
But the peaceful life was broken on this day. Awu, who went out to sea to fish as usual, brought back a strange woman in fashionable clothes. Awu saw her on the coastline when he got off the boat.
The simple-minded Awu didn't think much about it. With the intention of saving her, he took the woman home. After the woman woke up, she said that she had temporarily lost her memory, so Awu took her in.
She seemed to have never experienced life in a small fishing village, so she would always go out for a walk with the only person she was familiar with, Awu. She had a cheerful personality, bright facial features and a pure and innocent smile.
Maomei seemed to have become a stranger to Awu. They no longer went to the sea together, no longer went to the temple fair together, and never ate together again. All this made Maomei confused and helpless.
Maomei's parents also realized this. They didn't want to see their daughter, to whom she had devoted her youth, be with a woman from another place. This was intolerable in a large family society like a small town, so they went to find Awu's parents to argue.
But they were all one step too late. The woman who was rescued was called Kong Qian. She actually did not lose her memory at all. She fell off a cruise ship after drinking too much. Although she was already tired of the life of being insulted and discriminated against, she wanted to go back to the city rather than live in a small fishing village.
So when she was with Awu, she would always tell him about her experiences in the city, where there were brightly lit skyscrapers, bustling streets with heavy traffic, and countless opportunities and a bright future.
So Awu took advantage of the night and drove the abandoned small fishing boat that had been discarded by his family for a long time from the only dock in the town, carrying Kong Qian and heading to the city of his dreams. He didn't come back for a long time.
After Wu left, his parents searched all the nearby islands like crazy. They even took a boat to the coastal city they had never seen before, but they couldn't find it.
Dispirited and in extreme grief, they could only think that the dilapidated fishing boat had collapsed and perished.
Time passed quickly and would not stop for anyone's sorrow. Maomei grew up to be a big girl, but because of what happened at that time, it was not easy for her to find a partner in this small town, but she did not care.
After Awu left, she just silently comforted Awu's parents, and supported them because of their previous care for her. She also successfully expanded a small seafood processing workshop in the village. In the end, even the city that Awu once longed for had special people sent to discuss business with her.
Mao Mei simply set up a processing company in this small town and did business briskly. More and more young people who went out to work were called back to the town by their families, injecting fresh blood into Mao Mei's company, and the town became more and more vibrant.
One day, when Mao Mei was at the beach with her new employee, her uncle's little daughter, she received a call and hurried back to the company.
The two looked at each other from a distance. After ten years, the childhood sweethearts finally met again. Next to Awu was Kong Qian, whom he rescued, and she was holding a delicate and beautiful little girl in her hand.
After the three of them sat down, Awu talked about the difficulties and bitterness he had experienced over the years. After he finished speaking, he did not forget to pull Kong Qian aside and sincerely apologize to her.
But Maomei didn't really care. On the night that Awu left, she looked at the pitch-black sea and knew that this place was not the home for everyone after all.
In the end, she said nothing about her own affairs, but told Awu that the people she really needed to apologize to were his parents who were heartbroken because they thought he had passed away. After that, she sent the two of them away from the company.
Mao Mei watched the two people walking away, and the doubts in her heart were finally answered. She gazed at the blue sea with relief.
The script is not long and there are no so-called explosive points. It just tells the story of two young men and an outsider in a small town. However, the meaning contained in it made a drama actor like Qiu Jiahe, who is very sensitive to scripts, silent for a long time.
Zhao Mei held the script, pondered for a moment, and asked Ji Jinyao, "Is the Director Wen you're talking about Wen Chengwang?"
Seeing Ji Jinyao nod, Zhao Mei breathed a sigh of relief. Wen Chengwang is a very prestigious Chinese director internationally. Every few years he prepares a film to compete for international awards, and this script is his latest work.
Ji Jinyao looked at Qiu Jiahe, who was still immersed in the script, and said to Zhao Mei, "Our company may be rich, but we don't have people. Many resources won't come to you even if you have money. Only big directors like Director Wen who hold open auditions all year round have hope."
After saying that, he raised his chin towards Qiu Jiahe and said, "With Jiahe's spiritual energy, I feel like it's a sure thing."
Zhao Mei frowned worriedly and said, "As for the second female lead, I think she looks like a villain. Isn't that bad for Jiahe?"
"Although the second female lead might seem like a villain, the contrast between her innocent and naive early on when she loses her memory and her mature and materialistic self later on is quite captivating if we can pull it off well. She might even win Best Supporting Actress." Ji Jinyao is experienced and not in a rush at all. "Although the prerequisite is that her acting skills are good enough, in my experience, as long as Jiahe can pass Director Wen's audition, they're basically a sure thing."
After listening to Ji Jinyao's analysis, Zhao Mei reluctantly felt relieved: "That's fine, I believe in Jiahe's acting skills, so when and where is the audition?"
Ji Jinyao took out her phone and looked at it. "A week later, the location is a hotel banquet hall in the suburbs of the capital. By the time I get a script for the second female lead, it's already quite late for Director Wen's open auditions."
Zhao Mei nudged Qiu Jiahe beside her: "Jiahe, the audition is in a week, you should wake up."
Qiu Jiahe finally reacted and raised his head: "Only a week?!" Seeing Zhao Mei and Ji Jinyao nodding in tacit understanding, Qiu Jiahe's soul seemed to fly out of his mouth.
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