The crew has to hold a meeting every morning, and since it was getting late, Xi Jia rushed over.
Yu An watched Xi Jia's hurried figure until it disappeared into the distance.
There was a simple meeting room on set. When Xi Jia went in, Jiang Qin was the only one missing. She glanced at Zhou Mingqian and then casually looked away.
Zhou Mingqian took in that look.
That woman's gentle demeanor yesterday was all an act. How could he believe her?
Chapter Thirty-Eight
"Why hasn't Jiang Qin arrived yet?" Zhou Mingqian glanced at his watch and asked.
Someone said, "You might not feel well."
Last night, Jiang Qin filmed night scenes until 2:30 AM. Director Zhou caught a chill and had a stomachache, and Jiang Qin also inhaled a lot of cold air, so she probably caught a cold and fell asleep.
Zhou Mingqian: "We're not waiting for her." He looked at Xiang Luo, "You can tell her about the meeting later."
Xiang Luo hummed in agreement.
Reluctantly, but not daring to refute Zhou Mingqian.
Zhou Mingqian gestured to Xi Jia, "Quickly print out the script you revised and give each of them a copy."
Xi Jia was stunned and looked at Zhou Mingqian with confusion.
She reviewed her notes from the day before yesterday and yesterday morning, and there were no changes to the script.
Could it be that Zhou Mingqian instructed her to revise the script a few days ago?
No, that's not right. She wouldn't put things off until the next day.
Seeing that Xi Jia was distracted and silent, Zhou Mingqian became angry.
With so many people present, Zhou Mingqian tried his best to suppress his anger: "Screenwriter Xi! Print out the revised script! If you really don't want to print it out, just send the electronic version to the group!"
He spoke slowly and deliberately.
Everyone could see that Zhou Mingqian was angry, and very angry.
Xi Jia knew she had forgotten, but still wanted to find out, "Director Zhou, when did you ask me to revise the script?" She genuinely wanted to know when Zhou Mingqian had given her the task.
She had no recollection of it, and it wasn't recorded in her notebook.
But these words took on a different meaning in Zhou Mingqian's ears, as if he were questioning: Director Zhou, when did you ask me to revise the script!
Zhou Mingqian scoffed coldly.
At this point, instead of reflecting on their actions, they're still making excuses and refusing to admit anything.
That's true. How can you expect a woman like that to have any moral bottom line?
Having a bottom line means you won't interfere in other people's marriages.
Fortunately, when he called Xi Jia yesterday, they were all in the conference room.
Teacher Shang had always had a good impression of Xi Jia. She was also good at judging people. Xi Jia was not the kind of girl who was arrogant and ignorant of her own limitations. There must be a special reason for this.
"Around six o'clock yesterday, Director Zhou called you. Were you drinking with friends and then forgot about it because you were drunk?"
Zhou Mingqian waved his hand, "Teacher Shang, you don't need to make excuses for her. She didn't forget; she deliberately embarrassed me!"
Last time, he said her lines were useless.
Today, she retaliated in this way.
She knew Mo Yushen was the investor in the show, yet she acted with impunity.
Teacher Shang wanted to say a few more words, but Zhou Mingqian gestured for her to stop, so she had to give up.
Xi Jia quickly took out her phone and found yesterday's call log. At 6:15, Zhou Mingqian called her, and the call lasted nine minutes and twenty-three seconds.
It seems he said quite a bit.
She hurriedly flipped through her notebook; it was around 1:00 AM last night, and she had been writing down what had happened that evening. But she hadn't remembered Zhou Mingqian's phone call at all.
Her memory has less than six hours left.
Xi Jia, disregarding her sadness, looked at Zhou Mingqian and said, "Director Zhou, I forgot."
"Oh."
Zhou Mingqian's single word contained all his sarcasm and disdain.
Clearly, they didn't believe her explanation.
Zhou Mingqian closed his meeting notebook and slammed it onto the table with a loud 'thud'.
Xiang Luo and the others looked at each other in bewilderment.
They showed no sympathy for Xi Jia; it was simply part of her job. They initially assumed she was working late into the night writing a script because she had dark circles under her eyes.
Looks like they've gone too far.
Zhou Mingqian pressed his nose with one hand and kept rubbing his stomach. "Do you know that they worked all night, setting up the set and arranging the props, all for today's scene? And you just casually said you forgot?"
"Xi Jia, you have a problem with me, fine, but please don't bring that into your work! If you want to do this job, do it properly; if you don't, then get out of here and don't hold everyone back!"
Xi Jia held the notebook and said, "I'm sorry."
Zhou Mingqian showed no expression; he couldn't sense the sincerity in Xi Jia's apology.
He pushed a stack of documents to Xiang Luo, saying, "One for each of you." Then he said to Teacher Shang, "I figured this out last night."
In order not to delay the filming, he wrote down the scenes and props based on the original work. As for the dialogue, his writing may not be as delicate as Xi Jia's.
Originally, he wanted to see Xi Jia's version first, and then compare it with his version; maybe that would spark something.
We don't need it now.
Zhou Mingqian continued speaking to Teacher Shang, "If there are no problems, let them familiarize themselves with the script. We'll start filming at eleven." He then got up and left.
The meeting room fell silent instantly.
Xi Jia also packed her things and left; she went to the lakeside.
The cold wind was biting.
There seemed to be a thin layer of ice on the lake surface.
A cold front has arrived these past few days, with outdoor temperatures dropping to around minus ten degrees Celsius.
Xi Jia placed her computer on a roadside bench, took several deep breaths, and gradually calmed down.
She messaged Teacher Shang, asking him to briefly recount what Zhou Mingqian had said to her on the phone yesterday.
Teacher Shang asked with concern, "Xi Jia, you really don't remember?"
Xi Jia: [I was drinking with friends yesterday, got drunk, and my memory is hazy.]
Teacher Shang sighed and quickly explained the scene that needed to be added today to Xi Jia in detail.
Xi Jia was grateful, and after thinking about it in her mind, she began to write.
After half an hour, my fingertips were numb from the cold.
Only in the freezing cold could she clear her mind and prevent the noise in her ears from bothering her.
At 10:20, the script for this scene was finished.
Xi Jia stood up and jumped around on the spot. Her hands and feet were ice cold and she could barely feel anything.
After relaxing for a moment, she squatted down and went through what she had just written again, especially the lines. She carefully considered them and found no problems.
She connected the printer and pressed the print button.
Today, while filming in the studio, Zhou Mingqian was giving acting instructions to an actor when the sound of a printer starting up behind him made him turn around.
One blank sheet of paper after another was printed out.
After discussing the scene with the actors, Zhou Mingqian sat down at the table and took a stack of papers from the printer. It was the script.
Xi Jia came in, her nose red from the cold.
Zhou Mingqian looked over.
When Xi Jia saw that he had the script, she didn't go over. Instead, she found a place to sit down and continued reading her notes.
Zhou Mingqian looked away, stared at the script for half a second, gathered his thoughts, and started reading again from the beginning. After reading one page, he walked towards the conference room.
The lead actors are discussing their lines.
"Don't memorize it yet." Zhou Mingqian handed over the script he was holding. "Use this version as the standard."
Zhou Mingqian didn't linger and returned to the film set.
There's a small detail in the props that Xi Jia just wrote about: pills in a paper bag.
In his version, the prop was a powder.
Based on the original text, the white pills in bags clearly evoke the era depicted in the book.
Yu An went to the city to buy medicine and won't be back for a while. Generally, those pills in paper bags are prescription drugs and need to be obtained from a hospital.
Last time he had a stomachache, Xi Jia sent him several kinds of medicine, including tablets, and also a very small hospital paper bag.
Zhou Mingqian sat in front of the monitor for a while, glancing at Xi Jia from time to time.
This woman's temper is just as good as her talent.
She wrote the props herself, but didn't even come to check if they were ready; she just sat there looking at her notebook.
Actually, asking Xi Jia to borrow props is the job of the props staff; he doesn't need to go and ask in person.
Zhou Mingqian glanced at the props manager, who was busy. They hadn't rested all night either.
"Xi Jia." Zhou Mingqian decided to take over some of the work for the props team.
No one responded to him.
Zhou Mingqian calmed his breathing, "Xi Jia." His voice involuntarily rose.
He stared blankly in Xi Jia's direction.