Chapter 62

Chapter 62

Though Yue Li was still a newcomer in the directing world, she was by no means lacking in connections — otherwise, the script never would have reached Shen Juanyi in the first place. After working with Director Zhang, he’d given her the highest praise, calling her “a breath of fresh air in the industry.” The old guard had been dominating the scene for too long — it was time for some new blood.

Want to Remember was funded through Director Zhang’s connections, backed by a major company, so financing wasn’t an issue. The production team was mostly assembled, but when she’d sent the script to Shen Juanyi, Yue Li was only testing the waters — she never actually expected it to work out.

She hadn’t dared tell her idol that he was actually her backup choice for the male lead.

Now, not only was the male lead a top-tier star, but the female lead was also heading toward top-tier status. She’d managed to pry two of the Three Mountains loose — it was both thrilling and nerve-wracking.

Her idol said he’d personally go talk to Zhao Yu about the script and told her to wait at ease for news. Yue Li trusted him completely and left happily.

On the way back, she called her team and told them they no longer needed to audition male leads.

When they heard it was Shen Juanyi, they thought their young director had developed delusions. It wasn’t until Shen Juanyi’s team contacted them to discuss salary and contracts that even the investors’ higher-ups were shaken.

Thanks to Shen Juanyi’s involvement, the film secured a significant additional round of investment.

The production side was overjoyed. After Shen Juanyi and Bi Zhou finalized his upcoming work schedule, he took the Want to Remember script and headed to Zhao Yu’s place.

He called Zhao Yu beforehand to ask if she was home.

She sounded like she was lying in bed, her voice sleepy and lazy: “Yeah, I’m home. And I haven’t eaten. What, are you gonna bring me that Tom Yum hotpot from Qingjia that I’m craving right now?”

Shen Juanyi: “…………”

She’d just said it offhandedly. That bastard had been harassing her nonstop lately, calling several times a day to ask what she was doing — and when she told him, he’d say, “Oh, nothing, just checking” — it was driving her crazy.

She’d been on break at home the past couple days, sleeping in and staying in bed scrolling through her phone. She’d just watched a mukbang video of someone eating at Qingjia’s Thai hotpot and was salivating over it when Shen Juanyi called.

He’d mumbled something on the other end, but she’d been on speakerphone watching videos and didn’t catch it. After hanging up, she lazed in bed a little longer before finally dragging herself up to wash up.

Hotpot was out of the question. She’d just make a salad and fry an egg.

Zhao Yu had just cracked the egg into the mold when the doorbell rang.

She shuffled over in her slippers and opened the door. Shen Juanyi stood outside, holding a packed Tom Yum hotpot, grinning at her.

The fragrant aroma hit her nostrils. Zhao Yu heard her stomach growl twice.

Shen Juanyi heard it too. He shoved the takeout into her arms, walked in, and closed the door behind him, swapping his shoes. “You’re on break and you’re still torturing yourself. It’s still hot — go eat.”

Zhao Yu pouted at him but secretly swallowed her saliva, then hurried to the dining table with the takeout.

By the time Shen Juanyi had changed his shoes and walked over, she’d already started eating — holding a spoon in one hand and chopsticks in the other, her face a picture of pure satisfaction. He’d already had lunch before coming, but watching her eat so heartily, he went to the kitchen to grab a bowl and chopsticks to try some.

The moment he sat down, Zhao Yu covered the container with her hands. “What are you doing?!”

Shen Juanyi: “…I bought a double portion!”

Zhao Yu: “Doesn’t matter! I’ve already eaten from it!”

Shen Juanyi looked mortified. “Since when are you so possessive over food? Aren’t you afraid of getting fat eating this much? Where’s your female celebrity self-awareness?”

Zhao Yu popped a fish ball into her mouth, completely unbothered. “I need to gain weight for my next role.”

Shen Juanyi blinked. “You’ve already signed your next project?”

Zhao Yu ate as she spoke. “Not yet. But Nan Nan sent over a few scripts yesterday. My favorite one has a female lead with a slightly chubby build, so I’m just getting a head start.”

Shen Juanyi patted his chest in relief. “Oh, good, good.”

Zhao Yu gave him a strange look. “What’s ‘good’?”

Shen Juanyi rested his chin on his arms, leaning across the table, and winked at her. “I got an amazing film script. Let’s do it together.”

Zhao Yu didn’t even hesitate. “No.”

Shen Juanyi shot upright. “You haven’t even looked at it and you’re already saying no — that’s so cold!”

Zhao Yu took her time eating her hotpot. “That’s just how cold I am. You got a script — go shoot it yourself. Why drag me into it? It’s not like I can’t get film roles.”

Shen Juanyi said with righteous confidence, “I’m just thinking of you — sharing whatever good stuff I find! I know exactly what scripts you’re getting — nothing but shallow, crowd-pleasing popcorn flicks. Besides box office, what else can they give you?”

Zhao Yu: “?”

This bastard was getting more and more arrogant — now he looked down on box office.

She put down her chopsticks. “Well then, tell me — what can your film give me, besides box office?”

Shen Juanyi pondered. “At the very least — a Golden Horse Best Actress award.”

Zhao Yu: “?”

Not just arrogant — delusional.

She couldn’t be bothered with him. While he chattered on, she finished her hotpot, cleaned up the trash, and asked, “When are you leaving? Take the trash down for me.”

Shen Juanyi grabbed the script he’d left by the shoe cabinet and followed her to the sofa. “Just read it! If you don’t fall for this script after reading it, I’ll eat my words!”

Zhao Yu eyed him suspiciously, but under his eager gaze, she still took the script. “Want to Remember? That’s pretty artsy. Who’s the director?”

Shen Juanyi waved a grand hand. “That’s not important! Just read!”

Zhao Yu: “…………”

She was more and more convinced this bastard was messing with her.

Still, his enthusiasm piqued her curiosity. She sat cross-legged on the sofa and opened the script.

Late summer sunlight squeezed through the gap in the drawn curtains, casting a few thin beams across the armrest. Shen Juanyi wiggled his fingers through the light back and forth, then propped his head up to watch Zhao Yu read.

Her focused expression stirred an inexplicable sense of delight in him. The sofa was soft — he felt like he was sinking into it, floating in a weightless daze.

He didn’t know what flowers she’d planted on the balcony, but their mingled fragrances, thinned by the afternoon sun, wove into a multicolored web that drifted over his hair and face with the rhythm of the air conditioning.

It was so comfortable he wanted to sleep.

As he thought it, his eyelids did begin to droop. Like a drowsy golden retriever, he wobbled and slumped against her lap.

Zhao Yu had been absorbed in the script when the golden retriever head nudged her. Her body went rigid. She looked down and shoved at his head in exasperation: “Get off!”

Eyes closed, Shen Juanyi blindly grabbed a cushion from behind and stuffed it onto her lap, mumbling sleepily, “Sleep a bit… you keep reading…”

Zhao Yu glared down at him for a long moment — but in the end, she didn’t kick him away.

The golden afternoon of the script, with its wheat-heavy fields, seemed to overlap with this one. Page after page, Zhao Yu watched the boy take the girl’s hand, running from the fields to the cliffs, from the sea of flowers to the clouds.

When she turned the last page, her eyes lingered on the final line — and she let out a melancholy sigh.

She’d never liked tragedies — neither watching nor acting in them.

But this story wasn’t just a tragedy. The tenderness between the lines, the heart-fluttering innocence of youth, the wheat-laden fields — none of it could be summed up by the word “tragedy.”

Zhao Yu looked down at the golden retriever sleeping so contentedly on her lap.

That bastard might be unreliable and erratic in daily life, but he had good taste in scripts.

She and he faced the same challenge — transitioning to serious film. Commercial crowd-pleasers were safe and profitable; as long as the box office held, the future was secure. But a story that truly moved the heart — even knowing the box office might not be great — was impossible to let go.

Zhao Yu nudged the golden retriever head.

Shen Juanyi blinked open drowsy eyes and heard her ask: “Who’s the director? Do I need to audition?”

After all, the female lead’s character was quite different from her own; the disparity would demand more from her acting. A script that could reach Shen Juanyi was probably from some renowned director — and she wasn’t sure if she’d even make the cut.

Shen Juanyi sat up in a flash, grinning from ear to ear. “You’ll take it?”

Zhao Yu tilted her chin up slightly. “I’ll give it a try. Doesn’t mean I’ll get it.”

Shen Juanyi: “What audition? We’ll sign the contract directly. You already said yes — no backing out!”

Zhao Yu: “?”

Why did she feel like she’d been tricked???

It wasn’t until she met the director that Zhao Yu understood where that feeling came from.

This was indeed not a reassuring collaborator — after all, it was her first film, her transition piece, and her company took it very seriously. When Lin Zhinan saw that she hadn’t chosen one of the carefully selected scripts but instead went with an unknown newcomer director, she wanted to hack Shen Juanyi to pieces.

That bastard could ruin himself if he wanted — but why drag Yu Yu into it!

Zhao Yu had read the script. Though she was shocked when she met Yue Li, she didn’t immediately reject the collaboration. The three of them sat down and talked. After the conversation, Zhao Yu soothed both the company and Lin Zhinan and signed the contract.

Filming was scheduled to start in August.

Before that, industry gossip began circulating — that Shen Juanyi and Zhao Yu would co-star in a film together. That alone was shocking enough. Even more shocking was that after all the digging, people discovered the film was being directed by a newcomer.

When the scoop hit the internet, no one believed it.

What a joke. Yes, transitioning from traffic star to the big screen was a hurdle, but surely they wouldn’t stoop to a newcomer director with no prior work — right?

Besides, both fans and netizens understood that this wasn’t just their first film — it was their career transition. Success or failure hung in the balance — it wasn’t a game.

And the very idea of these two making a film together was absurd to begin with. First a joint concert, now a movie — what, were they throwing a party for the CP fans?

But not long after, the official schedules released by Zhao Yu’s and Shen Juanyi’s studios both listed “film production.”

Both starting filming at the same time, both shooting for three months — coincidence couldn’t explain that, could it???

Fans flooded the studios’ Weibo comments asking what films their idols were making.

Though the movie hadn’t been officially announced, sharp-eyed netizens discovered an official Weibo account with the handle “@MovieWantToRemember” in the follow lists of both Shen and Zhao.

The account had posted only one thing — a conceptual poster.

Golden wheat. Wind-swept fields. Two silhouettes stretching long shadows in the sunlight.

Every sign pointed to the same conclusion — the two top-tier stars were really making a film together!!!

Weibo exploded instantly.

The Sina programmer, rudely awakened from sleep: “Did Shen Juanyi and Zhao Yu just announce their relationship???”