Xia Zhiyi sat by the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing Jingjing at the snow scene outside. Snowflakes fluttered down, reflecting in his beautiful eyes like pure white feathers.
He was lost in thought for a moment when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar figure quickly cross the street and walk to the door of the shop.
With a ringing sound, the door was pushed open from the outside, followed by the barista's energetic welcome from behind the counter.
Welcome! What would you like to drink?
At this time of day, the coffee shop was nearly empty. Xu Chen glanced around the shop and immediately spotted Xia Zhiyi sitting by the window. His gaze lingered for a moment on the table in front of Xia Zhiyi before he smiled at the barista and said, "One iced Americano, please."
The store is well-heated, so even drinking iced beverages won't make you feel uncomfortable.
"Here you are." Xia Zhiyi watched Xu Chen walk towards her, pulled down the scarf that was covering half of her face, and greeted him with a smile, "So fast, I thought I would have to wait a while."
Xu Chen glanced at the coffee in front of him; it had an adorable cat latte art design, perfectly shaped, and clearly hadn't been touched.
She asked, "Why aren't you drinking?"
Xia Zhiyi smiled, "The barista made it so cute, I couldn't bear to eat it."
Xu Chen glanced at him, not fooled by Xia Zhiyi's innocent face; such an explanation might fool others.
However, she was just asking casually and didn't care about the truth.
After sitting down opposite Xia Zhiyi, Xu Chen took a document from his bag and pushed it in front of Xia Zhiyi: "I received this this morning. Take a look and see if you're interested."
Xia Zhiyi initially thought that the important matter Xu Chen mentioned was the one Li Jing had just informed him about, but upon hearing Xu Chen's words and glancing at the words on the document cover, she raised an eyebrow.
"I've read the script, and it's really good. But Huanyu film and television company in charge of production, also invested in it, and they have a significant stake, so they should have a lot of say." Xu Chen frowned slightly when he mentioned Huanyu, and after a moment, he continued, "It's still early, so I haven't found out who the screenwriter is yet. I've never heard of him before."
"The director is a young director with some fame. He won an international award for his debut film, and his next two films were also quite successful. Some people even call him 'Director Mu.' However, as far as I know, he and Director Mu don't have any special relationship. At most, they are just senior and junior colleagues in the same industry."
"Furthermore, Director Mu specializes in television dramas, while this person has been making movies from the very beginning and has never been involved in television dramas."
There are still significant differences between TV series and movies in terms of both filming techniques and presentation.
"He's talented, a rising star. However, he's a director signed with Huanyu. I don't know if he was tricked into joining or for some other reason, but I haven't heard any negative news about him yet. But it's possible he's just keeping a low profile."
"I've always viewed people from Huanyu with the utmost suspicion and caution, otherwise I might easily fall into their trap," Xu Chen said, looking into Xia Zhiyi's eyes.
If someone who didn't know the situation heard these words, they would definitely think that Xu Chen's words were too arbitrary and suspicious.
Xia Zhiyi accepted it readily. "Okay, I understand."
"Let me take a look at the script first."
The fact that Xu Chen would still send the script to him despite his strong aversion to Huanyu couldn't possibly be because Xu Chen suddenly changed his mind and thought that even if they were enemies, there was nothing wrong with cooperating as long as it made money.
All I can say is that the script presented to Xia Zhiyi was truly excellent.
And that is indeed the case.
After Xia Zhiyi opened the script, the atmosphere between the two became very quiet.
Xia Zhiyi quickly became engrossed in the lines of text. Under normal circumstances, his reading speed could achieve a similar effect to "quantum reading," but at this moment, his eyes were captivated by the story composed of those lines and words, and his reading speed became slower and slower.
It wasn't a very thick document, but it took Xia Zhiyi almost an hour to finish reading it.
This is only a portion of the preview; after all, Xia Zhiyi hasn't landed the role yet, and even if the other party is generous, they wouldn't hand him the entire script.
After reading it, Xia Zhiyi slowly raised her head and met Xu Jin's calm gaze.
The two stared at each other in silence for a moment. After a long while, Xia Zhiyi slowly exhaled, picked up the now-cold coffee on the table, took a sip, and then said, "I'm very curious now, who is the screenwriter who wrote this script?"
Xu Chen smiled.
Xu Chen: "Really? Me too."
The two smiled at each other, and then Xia Zhiyi closed the document. His memory allowed him to easily input all the text into his brain, and even without the document, he could easily recall any detail he wanted to remember.
Xu Chen asked, "Although I don't know if Huanyu knows that they handed the script to me, or if it was Huanyu's decision to do so, the script is indeed good. As long as the production team doesn't make any changes and the actors don't make any mistakes, this movie has a bright future."
Xu Chen: "Are you interested?"
Xia Zhiyi: "Yes."
Xu Chen wasn't surprised to hear this, nodded, and asked, "Should we accept the role? When they sent the script over, they said the director thinks you're perfect for the male lead."
It was surprising that someone would actually approach them with a lead role at a time like this, and with such a good script, but...
Xia Zhiyi: "I'm very interested in this drama, but I won't take the role."
Xu Chen paused, unsure whether he should feel relieved or regretful, but he didn't offer any words of advice, simply nodding to indicate that he understood. "Okay, I understand, I will reply to them accordingly."
Unexpectedly, Xia Zhiyi raised her hand at this moment, smiling as she looked at Xu Chen: " Sister Chen, did they say what deadline they would give us a reply by?"
Xu Chen didn't quite understand why he asked that, but he still answered, "Yes, before New Year's Eve."
Xia Zhiyi nodded. "I understand. Then you can reply the day before New Year's Eve."
Xu Chen asked in surprise, "If you don't want to answer, why are you dragging it out like this?"
Xia Zhiyi smiled, but this time his smile held a hint of something intriguing, "I simply don't want to have anything to do with Huanyu."
Upon hearing this, Xu Chen paused slightly, then, as if struck by a thought, narrowed his eyes. "Then why not just not accept the role? It's a bit of a pity, but if we could find the screenwriter of this drama..."
Xia Zhiyi gently waved her hand, stopping Xu Chen from continuing. She leaned slightly closer to Xu Chen and lowered her voice, " Sister Chen, haven't you noticed anything lately?"
" Fu Chi and I are both very interested in Huanyu."
Xu Chen's pupils contracted slightly.