"Is Teacher Ji alright?" Lu Wei's gaze drifted to the corner. From the beginning, Ji Yan had remained motionless. Apart from rummaging through drawers and cabinets for a while, he had been sitting quietly, staring at a stack of letters in his hand.
Fang Yu chewed on potato chips: "He was like this after he took the cookies, could it be..."
"The cookies are poisonous?" Lu Wei asked seriously.
Xie Mingxuan, who was eating cookies, almost choked and had to gulp down a mouthful of water to catch his breath.
Ji Yan had his doubts. He was afraid that a letter couldn't prove anything, so he compared it with the album with the "blue" signature. The character "Wei" was not commonly used, so it didn't seem to make much difference. But the character "Ning"... Ji Yan picked out every "Ning" character from the letters he had received before. He found that the "Ning" in the letter was the same as the "Ning" in Ning Wei's signature, with the hook in the "Ding" not being very obvious.
He had a feeling that was both unexpected and yet expected.
Although he never knew what the other side of the letter looked like, he felt very comfortable talking to the other person. Thinking about it carefully, that feeling was very similar to how he was with Ning Wei.
Ji Yan simply took another piece of paper, wrote something casually, and sent it out.
The letter arrived at Ning Wei's side the next day.
Ji Yan talked about the same things as usual: music, the experiences and troubles he accumulated during the creative process, and his admiration for an "idol." Ning Wei knew very well that Ji Yan's idol was himself, but he never said it outright.
Even though the two had exchanged WeChat contacts and met many times, Ning Wei never revealed that they were writing letters.
But today, this letter is different from usual.
At the end of the letter, Ji Yan wrote a line—
"Can we meet? At the end of the month at XX Teahouse, No. 117 XX Street. I look forward to your reply."
Ning Wei pressed down on that line of text and stared at it for a long time, a rare look of hesitation on her face.
When he's agitated, he usually doesn't sit still. Instead, he walks back and forth in the studio, making Duan Yiran and Du Jian dizzy: "Da Ning, can you be normal for once?"
"No." Ning Wei's reply was only two words.
There was still some time until the end of the month, which gave Ji Yan plenty of time to reply, but Ning Wei was still hesitant. It wasn't until evening that he wrote a reply, and the answer was that he wouldn't go.
A day passed after the letter was sent, and Ji Yan still hadn't replied.
Both of them lived in City A. Although the distance between them was not close, letters usually arrived within a day, or at most two days.
Just as Ning Wei was waiting for Ji Yan to reply, his phone suddenly rang. It was a WeChat message from Ji Yan.
Ji Yan only sent five words, but they made Ning Wei's pupils suddenly contract.
"Why not go?"
Ning Wei replied to his message after a moment: "You know?"
Ji Yan sent over a picture: "Because Teacher Ning, you are too careless."
The picture clearly showed the letter that Ning Wei had kept somewhere.
Ji Yan asked, "Are you coming or not? Shall we make a date?"
He no longer held back when chatting with Ning Wei; the screen was filled with that arrogant panda.
"Come!"
After Ning Wei agreed, Ji Yan threw out another question. Ning Wei was about to open the bottle cap to drink water when she saw his question, and her expression immediately became blank.
"I've looked at the timeline, Ms. Ning, have you liked me for a long time?"
Ning Wei gripped his phone, having already typed "Yes," but he hesitated to send it.
Ji Yan added, "Just say you admire me," but Ning Wei suddenly stopped replying.
Ji Yan sighed silently.
After confirming that Ning Wei was his pen pal and fan, Ji Yan dug out the letters they had written. He discovered that in every letter, he expressed his admiration for Ning Wei and "Blue". If Ning Wei were a stranger, it would be fine, but unfortunately, he wrote the letters to her.
It's just a shameful play.
Actually, he had to muster up the courage to chat with Ning Wei. In any case, the pen pal thing is a bit awkward.
...
"Teacher Ji is lost in sorrow." — Fang Yu's words.
"Teacher Ji is going crazy." — This is Lu Wei's opinion.
"A bag of cookies sparked a murderous ambush." Fang Yu nudged Ji Yan. "Teacher Ji, you've been acting a bit strange lately."
"I'm torn."
“But you seem more like you’re constipated.” Fang Yu slapped Ji Yan on the back. “What are you worrying about? Just do what you’re supposed to do.”
"well."
Fortunately, the end of the month is almost here.
Recently, Ji Yan sent the song he wrote for Mi Lin to her. Apart from business activities, he was in a state of complete idleness, spending the rest of his time choosing scripts or worrying about why Ning Wei had written to him so early.
But he—didn't know!
Moreover, although the two are still chatting on WeChat recently, whenever the topic of writing letters comes up, he can tell that Ning Wei is trying to change the subject, because she is obviously not good at this kind of thing, and in the end, Ji Yan has to help smooth things over.
The atmosphere naturally became even more awkward.
"well."
If it weren't for the fact that they couldn't find any clues about Ji Yan's relationship, the other members of "Wings" would have even suspected that he was in a relationship.
"Ji Yan, remember to keep an eye out for the latest script."
Ji Yan simply put aside the fact that Ning Wei was his pen pal and started reading the script.
He didn't really know how other actors chose their scripts. He had very few actors in his circle of friends, just Zhang Jingyi and He Qing. But each actor had a different perspective on choosing scripts. Some valued the cast, while others cared about the script itself. Ji Yan felt that, just as Lu Wei had suggested, he should choose a script he liked to act in, which was obviously the simplest way.
Ji Yan has two scripts in hand. One is a sci-fi blockbuster invested by Chenguang Pictures, whose investment cost alone may break the record for Chinese-language films. The director is the famous Luo Yi, whose work "One Me" swept the Changkong Awards this year.
This movie has a very interesting angle, and if nothing unexpected happens, it should do well after its release. However, the reason why Ji Yan hesitated was that the movie left him with very little room to perform. According to the production team, he was supposed to play the lead role, but from the information Ji Yan had received, the lead role was essentially just a tool, and the shining parts of the movie were all played by the male supporting character.
Of course, the male supporting role will inevitably be played by a famous superstar.
The benefits of taking on this film are also obvious. Luo Yi's new film is clearly aiming for high box office returns. As long as Ji Yan participates in it, he may be able to earn the title of a leading man with billions in box office revenue.
There is another notebook that remains largely unknown.
This film comes from Ji Yan's film and television support program. He previously used the Ji family's funds to support it. The script passed the selection process and can obtain filming funds, but the funds themselves are limited, so naturally they cannot come up with a large amount of hundreds of millions. However, the quality of the script itself is up to standard, otherwise it would not have been selected by Ye Ying and then sent to Ji Yan.
This is a low-budget suspense film with several plot twists in the script, and in a sense, it's a film where everyone is a villain.
If Ji Yan chooses this role, it will likely push the limits of his acting career.
However, the film also has obvious shortcomings. Director Lu Ming is a graduate of the directing department of Beijing Film Academy, and screenwriter Fan Cong is his junior from the screenwriting department of Beijing Film Academy. Neither of them has experience in making films, having only made a few short films. In addition to a shortage of funds, their team has not cooperated with any cinemas, which will make the filming and subsequent release process quite troublesome.
Moreover, this type of film is often polarized in the market. Suspense films will not have a wide audience like big productions. The audience itself is limited. Even if the box office is good, the upper limit is probably only the same as "Decipher" which was released at the same time as "Young Love Poems" last year. And if the story is not exciting enough, the audience's evaluation will inevitably include the word "idiotic".
But Ji Yan actually preferred this suspense film, and he shared his thoughts with his agent.
Ye Ying wasn't surprised at all: "I knew you would choose this."
Ji Yan wasn't exactly the type to take unconventional approaches, but between the two scripts, he felt that Lu Ming's suspense film offered more room for development. Ji Yan wasn't interested in playing a mere plot device as the male lead, nor did he feel the need to carry the reputation of a multi-billion dollar male lead. He had acted in movies that grossed billions before, and he preferred a character like He Tang to a vaguely defined male lead.
"This one will do." Ji Yan said without hesitation. "If I don't have enough money, I can invest some more."
“I went to communicate with Lu Ming. When he contacted me, he said that the actors were basically not yet confirmed.”
In fact, Lu Ming sent the script over tentatively because he felt that one of the roles was really suitable for Ji Yan to play. However, Lu Ming did not expect to get a reply from Ji Yan. After all, his script was too disadvantageous. Not to mention that Ji Yan had been nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor at the Chang Kong Awards, no actor with even a little bit of fame in the industry would be willing to take the role.
Ye Ying acted quickly, and Lu Ming replied just as quickly. As Ye Ying said, Lu Ming had only confirmed two main actors so far: Ji Yan and Lu Ming's classmate from Beijing Film Academy. However, things had changed recently. His classmate had been called in to play the fourth male lead in an idol drama, and Lu Ming could only offer a small fee. So, the other party's agent urged him to turn down Lu Ming's invitation.
Ji Yan sent the news about the new film to He Qing and asked if he was interested.
He Qing quickly replied, "No problem."
"The pay won't be too high, I'm letting you know in advance."
"I find the script quite interesting," He Qing said. "At its lowest, it should be comparable to Director Zhu's films, right?"
Ji Yan: "...That's right."
Zhu Shuguang's stinginess is world-class.
The cast for this new film was assembled much faster than Ji Yan had imagined. In the entertainment industry, there are no secrets that stay hidden forever. After news of Ji Yan's participation spread, Lu Ming's classmate immediately expressed his desire to continue acting. Most of the invitations Lu Ming had previously extended had received replies, with most indicating that they could participate. Even those who couldn't participate expressed their willingness to collaborate with Lu Ming in the future.
...
The new film has been tentatively scheduled, and filming is expected to begin in the second half of the year. Ji Yan is now still struggling with the idea of meeting Ning Wei.
Actually, he was quite happy. In reality, the person he admired also admired him. He felt that Ning Wei was indeed worthy of his admiration, and he also felt that it was great that his efforts were seen.
That day, Ning Wei told him on WeChat that he was about to set off.
Ji Yan also went out.
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