Chapter 21 Script Reading [Watching the feast in person, sitting together is a good match!]...
"Zhu Shengting," He Yan sat in the second seat on the left side of the long table. There was an empty seat on the right. He patted the empty chair and said, "Here."
He saw the man dressed in all black pause for a second when he heard his words, and then walked towards him without hesitation.
"Have Director Xia and the others arrived?" Zhu Shengting took off his mask and sat next to He Yan.
"Not yet. You should pray that they haven't arrived yet, otherwise you will be considered late." He Yan wrinkled his nose at him.
"Really?" Zhu Shengting glanced at his watch seriously. It was still five minutes before the agreed time. "Then it's a good thing I didn't act like a big shot."
He Yan was amused by his words, but still couldn't help rolling his eyes.
"He Yan, did you find out?" Zhu Shengting suddenly looked at him very seriously.
He Yan got goosebumps from being stared at by Zhu Shengting suddenly, and felt a little uncomfortable. "What did you find?"
"You roll your eyes at me less frequently." Zhu Shengting couldn't help laughing.
"You--" He Yan's ears suddenly turned red. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and decided to ignore him for the time being.
Today is their first day in Tongxiang, but the two of them are not on the same flight. As for why this arrangement was made, you have to ask Xu Zhi. Perhaps he thought it would be better not to be so high-profile at the beginning, after all, the cooperation has not been officially announced yet.
Zhu Shengting arrived three hours later than him, and He Yan had already taken a nap before coming to the group meeting.
But now that the meeting is about to be held, only he, Zhu Shengting, Xia Hui, Dong Xiao and other behind-the-scenes creators are present.
Gathering with other actors at dinner tonight.
Five minutes later, Xia Hui and her group arrived at the meeting room at the appointed time.
He Yan and Zhu Shengting quickly stood up and greeted the visitor when they saw him.
"Director Xia, Editor Dong." The two people said in unison.
Xia Hui glanced at the two people in front of her with a smile, then nodded at them and introduced them to two other unfamiliar female creators.
One of them has neat short hair, wears rimless glasses, and has a faint smile on his face. He is the chief producer Zhang Daoxi. The other one looks young and student-like. He is the deputy screenwriter Mao Zhiyu.
"Mr. Zhang, Editor Mao, nice to meet you."
Zhu Shengting and He Yan shook hands with the two of them respectively, and after saying hello, everyone sat down formally.
The assistant director had already helped turn on the computer and projector, and the PPT they had prepared for the meeting appeared on the big screen.
"First of all, you two probably don't know the title of our drama yet, right?" Xia Hui smiled and clicked on the PPT.
He Yan and Zhu Shengting really didn't know this. When they were given the script, no names were written on it. It was only written that it was a campus drama with two male protagonists.
He Yan had always been curious, but ever since the first dinner with Xia Hui and the others, he guessed that the name might not have been decided yet.
"The title of a play is incredibly important. After all, it's not only a face of the show, but it also has to have a good meaning and be closely related to the show," Xia Hui continued. "The reason I didn't tell you before is because we haven't officially decided on a name yet."
"When I was creating this story and completing it, I had no inspiration for a name. Perhaps the time has not come yet." Dong Xiao smiled indifferently.
"What about now?" He Yan asked.
Zhang Daoxi propped his chin on a pen, glanced at the two leading actors sitting opposite him, and said calmly, "Now, we need you to discuss this with us."
He Yan was slightly surprised. He didn't expect that the crew would give them such a great decision-making power. This was a treatment he had never had in any other crew before.
"You two can express your ideas freely, and we will seriously adopt them." Mao Zhiyu, who was sitting opposite Zhu Shengting, smiled sweetly, revealing a shallow dimple.
"Come on, friends, tell me what suggestions you have and I'll list them all on the whiteboard." Xia Hui clapped her hands, encouraging everyone present to come up with names.
"I've thought of calling it 'Summer Concert' before, because the story takes place in the summer, but the downside is that it's a bit ordinary, and it doesn't have enough meaning." Zhang Daoxi was the first to answer.
Despite what she said, Xia Hui still wrote the name she chose on the whiteboard.
"Go on." She pointed ahead.
"Actually, I am quite satisfied with the name "Tongxiang Dream". It is simple and introduces the place where the story takes place." As the creator of the story, Dong Xiao put forward his own ideas.
Xia Hui wrote down what she was told.
"'Twin Trees' is what I thought of before. The two protagonists grow up together like two twin trees, which is quite suitable." Mao Zhiyu said in a serious tone.
"Where are you two?" Xia Hui looked at the two people who hadn't expressed their thoughts just now, "Lin Guyu and Li Congye."
He Yan was stunned for a moment before realizing that Xia Hui was calling them by their character names. This made his heart skip a beat for no reason and he had a strange feeling.
"Hmm..." He Yan racked his brains. He was never good at naming things. "'Meet Him Around the Corner'?"
As soon as he said the name, everyone looked at him in unison, their eyes revealing a few words - are you serious?
He Yan's ears turned red. He really didn't know how to name something!
"Although the core of our plot is that the two male protagonists have more than just friendship, our title can't be so straightforward, okay, Xiao He?" Xia Hui couldn't help laughing.
"I understand." He Yan laughed awkwardly.
"What do you think, Xiao Zhu?" Dong Xiao asked Zhu Shengting.
Zhu Shengting clasped his hands together and placed them casually on the table. He licked his lips, his peripheral vision catching sight of He Yan, who was blinking at him. Half a second later, he spoke, "Can I call it 'When the Grain Rain Arrives'?"
After Zhu Shengting said this, everyone fell silent again, but this was different from the speechless silence when they heard He Yan come up with that name. Instead, everyone began to think about whether this name was appropriate.
Xia Hui crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, "Tell me the reason."
"First of all, one of the protagonists in the story is named Lin Guyu. The title of the play includes one of the central characters." Zhu Shengting tapped the table with his finger.
"Also, the day Lin Guyu and Li Cong first met was also Guyu."
"I support it!" Mao Zhiyu's expression was vivid. She liked this name very much and was very excited.
Xia Hui glanced at Dong Xiao. Dong Xiao thought for a moment, then smiled at Zhu Shengting and said, "It seems that it makes sense to ask you to make the decision. Young people's brains are indeed more useful than ours."
Zhang Daoxi, who had been looking rather serious, softened his expression. "Okay."
Xia Hui glanced at He Yan again, signaling him to express his opinion.
"I have no objection, this name is very good." He Yan replied.
He was speaking the truth. The name was indeed nice and had a meaning, but he couldn't come up with one anyway.
"Okay, that means it's passed unanimously." Xia Hui erased the other play titles written on the whiteboard and wrote a brand new one -
When the Grain Rain Comes.
After the meeting, He Yan said goodbye to them and prepared to go back to the room to rest because there would be a dinner party with the crew in two hours.
"A congratulatory banquet."
He Yan turned slightly, Zhu Shengting walked to his side and bowed slightly to him.
"What's wrong?" He Yan looked into the other person's eyes.
"Let me tell you a secret," Zhu Shengting said softly into He Yan's ear with a smile on his face, "Actually, I already thought of this name."
"Hmm?" He Yan paused for two seconds and looked up at him. "How did you know they would choose a name with us?"
"I don't know," Zhu Shengting stared at the pair of sparkling eyes and straightened his back, "but when it didn't have a name, I thought of this name. I didn't expect it to be an accident."
He Yan looked at the tall, sharp-featured man in front of him and could tell that he was in a good mood because of this matter, a bit like a middle school student who couldn't hide his emotions very well.
"In that case, congratulations."
*
At 6:30 in the evening, the crew's ice-breaking party officially began. The main creators sat at three tables, and He Yan and Zhu Shengting sat at the table with the leading actors. Everyone got to know each other briefly and then started eating.
"Hey, friends, have you received the notice? Our play has a name!" Shi Heng shouted excitedly while sitting in the box, looking very familiar.
The artists who were originally sitting in a circle didn't know each other very well and were a little reserved, but his action made them all lively.
"Director Xia posted it in our group. It's a good name." Zhao Qiushi said.
"Yeah," Shi Heng said cheerfully, "Teacher He, Teacher Zhu, what do you think?"
He Yan was eating his appetizer when he was suddenly called out. He quickly took a bite and put down his chopsticks. "I think so too."
Zhu Shengting picked up his wine glass and clinked it with Shi Heng from a distance, "Just call us by our full names, you're too polite."
Among all the actors present, he and He Yan were not the most famous. Although their status was more than enough compared to Shi Heng, Zhu Shengting still felt that he should change the way the other party addressed him and He Yan. He knew that He Yan must have thought the same.
"Okay, you are two months older than me, so I will call you Brother Ting, and the same goes for Brother Yan." Shi Heng felt that the two most popular leading actors were easy to get along with.
He Yan glanced at Zhu Shengting, smiled, raised his glass and greeted Shi Heng again.
"He's so lively." He Yan looked at Shi Heng chatting with others again and couldn't help but sigh that he really couldn't be so cheerful.
Zhu Shengting smiled beautifully, "It suits his role very well."
"It's a good performance as he plays himself." He Yan thought about what Shi Heng played, and it was indeed quite similar to his own personality.
However, for him, the role of Lin Guyu is still very challenging. It is not completely different from his personality, but it is not similar after all.
As for the character Li Congye...
Judging from He Yan's understanding of Zhu Shengting, they are not very similar.
He suddenly became curious and wondered if he would have a different opinion of Zhu Shengting after the filming started. He was quite looking forward to it.
Starting tomorrow, the crew will begin a five-day script reading, and tonight's dinner will also allow the leading actors to get familiar with the people they will be working with.
He Yan knew who the artists he would be working with were before filming began, but the other actors didn't seem too sure who the lead actors would be. So at the beginning, when everyone saw him and Zhu Shengting, there was a hint of surprise in their eyes. However, everyone was an experienced person and soon treated it as nothing happened. Yiyi greeted them both.
In addition to him and Zhu Shengting, who have relatively high traffic, the entire crew also has a popular new young actress named Qiao Tianlin. As her name suggests, she looks very quiet and gentle, and is very polite to others.
But after the meal, He Yan always felt that something was not right, because he found that Qiao Tianlin seemed to have been secretly looking at them since the beginning of the dinner. Her expression was not one of surprise, nor of speculation, but a strange blush on her face.
But it is also possible that he was wrong.
As for the person who was "caught", Qiao Tianlin, after finishing her meal gracefully and wiping her mouth, pretended to open her mobile phone accidentally, opened the WeChat chat box with her best friend, and quickly typed a line of words, with the corners of her mouth rising uncontrollably as she typed.
[Baby! The main actors in my new drama are really Zhu Shengting and He Yan. Seeing them sitting together makes them look so good together! I'm so excited! This drama was definitely the right one for me!]
After sending this message, she pretended to be calm, turned off her phone, and took a sip of her drink.
As the script reading began, the news online about Zhu Shengting and He Yan collaborating on a dual male lead drama intensified. At the same time, it was accompanied by a war of public opinion among major fans, and there was another hail of bullets.
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