Xi Jia asked, "Are the fillings different for dumplings with lace trims?"
"Same. He thinks it's fun."
Xi Jia took the rolling pin and did everything herself, from rolling out the dumpling wrappers to wrapping the dumplings. However, the dumpling wrappers were neither round nor thin, and the dumplings couldn't stand up; they all lay there limply.
After joking, Qin Sulan said, "This is obviously your bag; there's no need to mark it."
Xi Jia wrapped more than a dozen and placed them on the corner of the table.
She got up and went to the kitchen to find Yu An. "Yu An," she called softly at the kitchen door.
Yu An turned around.
Xi Jia beckoned to her with her finger.
Yu An wiped her hands on her apron and jogged out. "Sister Xi Jia, what's up?"
Xi Jia whispered, "When the dumplings are cooked, cook my frilled dumpling that won't stand up separately, and give me all of them."
Yu An made an 'OK' gesture.
Xi Jia gave Yu An a look, signaling him to get back to work.
She walked home with her hands in her pockets, humming the theme song from the TV series. She couldn't hear the song clearly, as it was drowned out by her tinnitus, but it didn't affect her happiness for the day at all.
There was a commotion at the entrance.
Xi Jia turned around and saw her mother, the driver, and the cake shop staff.
"Mother."
Because of her hearing loss, Xi Jia's normal volume was very loud to others, and the sound of her happy shouts echoed in the studio.
Everyone looked on.
Zhou Mingqian thought he was seeing things, so he pressed his nose and looked again. Sure enough, the middle-aged woman who came in was Mrs. Ji.
Xi Yelan hadn't seen Xi Jia for almost five months; they usually communicated by phone and video. She hugged her daughter and exclaimed, "How come you've lost so much weight?"
Xi Jia rubbed her chin against her mother's shoulder and said in a relaxed tone, "I'm on a diet."
Xi Yelan released Xi Jia and touched her cheek. "Mom made your favorite dishes for you today, eat more."
Mo Yushen and Qin Sulan both came over. Qin Sulan and Xi Yelan had contacted each other before, and both children had to pretend they didn't know each other, so they had no choice but to cooperate.
The two greeted each other like ordinary friends.
Qin Sulan asked, "Why did you order a cake?"
Xi Yelan: "Jiajia said that a little girl in the crew is having her birthday today."
Xi Jia called Yu An out and asked her where the cake was.
Yu An was stunned, opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
Xi Jia folded the birthday crown neatly and put it on Yu An's head, saying, "Happy birthday, may you become more and more beautiful."
Yu An's eyes suddenly reddened. It wasn't strange for others to remember her birthday, but for Xi Jia, it was incredibly difficult. She had to write her birthday in her notebook every single day.
"Don't cry, don't cry. It's the New Year, you can't shed tears."
Yu An forced back her tears. "Put it in the middle so I can see it at a glance. I'm going back to cook." As she turned around, she couldn't control herself and tears fell.
She had never cried since she could remember. Because no one would care if she cried, and no one would comfort her when she shed tears.
Later, no matter how difficult things got, she never cried. Even when she broke up with Wu Yang, which was so painful, she wouldn't allow herself to shed a single tear.
Today, I couldn't resist.
The crew only just found out it was Yu An's birthday.
Someone suggested giving Yu An a red envelope.
They created a group chat, and without giving much money, each person chipped in a few dollars to make a 999 yuan red envelope.
After the red envelope was transferred to Yu An, they started playing a game of grabbing red envelopes in the group.
Only Zhou Mingqian remained silent, rubbing his temples vigorously. Xi Jia's mother was Madam Ji. Therefore, Xi Jia was the third princess of the Ji family, and Mo Yushen's wife.
Zhou Mingqian got up to look for wine glasses, but there weren't any, so he took two paper cups, poured in some baijiu (Chinese liquor), held one in each hand, and clinked them together.
One toast to myself, one toast to idiots.
Then pour the liquor from the two paper cups into one cup, tilt your head back, and drink it all in one gulp.
Chapter Forty-Four
The first day of the Lunar New Year.
Zhou Mingqian is giving everyone a New Year's bonus: work starts at 11 a.m., so you can sleep in.
It's a new year again.
The snow stopped this morning, and the sky cleared up.
Zhou Mingqian couldn't sleep, and he didn't let anyone else have a moment's peace either. He started sending red envelopes in the group chat, sending them nonstop.
Yu An couldn't resist sending him a private message: "Director Zhou, is there something good happening?"
What a load of rubbish!
His lack of common sense has carried over into the new year. He's remained a coward until now. He prides himself on his high emotional intelligence, but on New Year's Eve, he was defeated by Xi Jia.
Yu An, worried that his phone might get a virus, reminded him: "Director Zhou, you've already sent over 10,000."
Zhou Mingqian replied to Yu An: 【I have plenty of money.】
Yu An: "..."
Yu An had also seen a lot of gossip about Zhou Mingqian online. Some netizens found out that Zhou Mingqian was the only son of a jewelry tycoon.
However, this has not been confirmed.
Yu An never pries into her boss's private affairs, and simply posted a thank you emoji. She had just snatched several hundred yuan.
Now that she was no longer sleepy, Yu An got up to look at her birthday presents. Xi Jia and Aunt Xi had bought her a lot of gifts, including clothes, skincare products, and more.
Last night she received a birthday greeting from an unknown number, which she didn't reply to. It must have been from Wu Yang; besides him, no one else knew that her birthday was that day.
Time has passed, and things have changed.
As she blew out the candles, she made a wish that Xi Jia would recover.
Zhou Mingqian originally wanted to chat with his ungrateful assistant for a bit, but then his mother called, nagging just like last year.
"Director Zhou, are you planning to remain single this year?"
"..."
"You're over thirty. Are you really planning to spend the rest of your life with surveillance cameras?"
"Aren't there any pretty girls in your film crew?"
Zhou Mingqian listened quietly as his mother spoke for several minutes.
After being nagged for a while, Zhou Mingqian hung up the phone and continued sending red envelopes.
Jiang Qin was woken up by the noise in the group chat. Instead of grabbing the red envelope, she sent Cheng Weiming a New Year's greeting.
Cheng Weiming called, "Not filming?"
"We only filmed it at noon."
Jiang Qin got up, drew back the curtains, and saw the sunlight shining on the snow, which was particularly dazzling. She turned her back to the window and basked in the sun.
"What are you busy with?" she asked Cheng Weiming casually.
"I'm going to pay New Year's visits later," Cheng Weiming replied, seemingly unrelated to the question. He was looking at a photo in his wallet, which he had just taken out, put back, and closed.
Jiang Qin crossed her arms and remained silent for a moment. "I've been on set for so long, and you haven't come to visit me once."
Cheng Weiming: "Busy at the end of the year."
This excuse is pointless. Even when he was busy, he would always visit the set. Jiang Qin: "I don't want the three of us to drift apart like this."
Cheng Weiming smiled and said, "Are you getting too caught up in the role? When did you become so sentimental? Several cases are scheduled for trial at the end of the year, I'm so busy I don't even have time to go home, let alone visit you on set. I'll come see you in a few days."
Jiang Qin decided to trust him for the time being.
During this time, Cheng Weiming and Mo Yushen haven't made plans to eat together, and they haven't even gotten together for the New Year. She doesn't know what's going on. She doesn't dare ask Mo Yushen, afraid that he'll notice something's wrong.
The problem most likely lies with Cheng Weimo; Cheng Weimo is unwilling to go out to eat together.
"Mo Yushen has already arrived at the film set. Do you know what's going on with the Mo family?"
Cheng Weimo: "Don't worry, Secretary Ding and I have been busy with his matter."
Jiang Qin felt reassured. She didn't understand business matters, so she didn't ask further. She then told Cheng Weiming about a scene from yesterday morning.
The character she played and the character Xiang Luo played were childhood friends, best friends for over twenty years, but their friendship ended because of a man, and they spent the rest of their lives filled with hatred and resentment.
Cheng Weiming just said she was too immersed in the role, but that's not true.
She was lying in the snow at the time, and she didn't want the pain in her heart to happen to either Cheng Weiming or Mo Yushen.
"Xi Jia's condition is getting worse. I hope that you and Mo Yushen can still be the same as before, without any resentment. The three of us will soon have known each other for thirty years."
Cheng Weiming: "Jiang Qin, when will you finish filming that movie?"
Jiang Qin: "The end of March, what's wrong?"
Cheng Weiming said, "I'll take you out to play then; you're too immersed in the role."
Jiang Qin denied it, "Bullshit!" and hung up the phone.
She turned and looked out the window.
The new year seems to be no different from last year.
It's nine o'clock.
People downstairs are building a snowman and having a snowball fight.
Xi Jia hadn't gotten up yet. She had set her alarm for eight o'clock, but Mo Yushen had turned it off when she went to sleep last night.