He Zhen believes that love can cross thousands of mountains and rivers, can overcome all obstacles, but a few youngsters even younger than He Zhen still don’t know what love is!
Take Wang Shuang, for example.
Naive and clueless, he instinctively follows Li Mengjiao’s figure at the filming set, yet doesn’t understand why he does so.
The feelings of young boys and girls are like gazing through a paper window, the shadows cast in each other’s hearts vague and unclear. Only by tearing through that paper window can one understand their true feelings.
But is it really good to hastily tear through that paper window?
When affection begins to sprout but the paper window remains intact, that’s often the most beautiful and touching phase of a relationship.
Wang Shuang, chewing on his pen while wrestling with exam papers, occasionally sneaking glances at the filming set, truly makes Wen Ying unable to watch.
“Can you focus on your work at the filming set?”
“You’re all at the set too…”
Wang Shuang pointed at the script in Wen Ying’s hand.
Wen Ying, struggling to find inspiration, snorted, “We’re not the same!”
Revising a script naturally requires observing the set. The additional scene added earlier earned high praise from the director, who encouraged Wen Ying to include more similar small details. In the director’s words, this is called enriching character development, making the characters more three-dimensional.
“People in films and TV shows are often not real, but if crafted well, these ‘people’ can feel real!”
Add small details?
For the director’s praise, Wen Ying was racking her brains.
Inspiration is like waiting for a bus.
When you don’t want a taxi, empty ones zoom by; when you do want one, not a single car is in sight!
Wen Ying merely infused her feelings when facing Xie Qian into the interactions between the male and female leads.
Because real emotions were injected, the female lead felt more human?
Thinking about it this way, it’s not surprising.
When creating the female lead for *The Milky Way and You*, Wen Ying didn’t project herself into the character at all.
But for the male lead’s character, she drew from Yun Chen after his massive success in her past life… and Xie Qian.
Though Yun Chen and Xie Qian had no connection in her past life, they shared many similarities.
They’re good-looking and popular with girls.
They’re well-mannered because they come from good families.
Their very existence is the epitome of a heartthrob!
And more—well, no, there are many differences too. Xie Qian and Yun Chen are entirely different people. Yun Chen is the big star from Wen Ying’s memories, a signed artist with Tianjiao, the perfect candidate to play the male lead in *The Milky Way and You*.
But Yun Chen is not Xie Qian.
Xie Qian has long been more than just her heartthrob.
She couldn’t write more details about interacting with Yun Chen because she barely knew him.
But she could write about her interactions with Xie Qian… Wen Ying felt like she had an epiphany. They say art draws from life, and character development in scripts should too!
Just as inspiration struck, Xie Qian, having finished handling logistics company matters, arrived at the filming set. He spotted Wen Ying at once, and Wen Ying saw him too, beaming with a radiant smile.
So Xie Qian smiled back.
For a fleeting moment, Xie Qian almost couldn’t resist telling Wen Ying he was planning to take over a film company.
Not for any other reason, just to make the hamster’s smile even brighter!
His strong self-control suppressed the impulse.
It wasn’t time to say it yet.
The bait had been cast, but whether the fish would bite was still uncertain. For now, there was at least a 95% chance things would go as he planned, but until it was finalized, there were still variables. Mentioning it now and failing later would only disappoint the hamster!
“How’s the script revision going?”
Xie Qian remembered how the hamster was scratching her head in frustration when he left that morning. Her bright smile now suggested a breakthrough in creative inspiration.
“I’ve got some ideas, just about to write them down.”
Wen Ying grinned, “…and I have to thank you!”
Wen Ying was thanking Xie Qian for sparking her inspiration, but Xie Qian misunderstood, thinking she was thanking him for supervising.
Keeping an eye on the slacker had become Xie Qian’s routine, and he accepted it calmly.
“Good that you’ve got a start. Find a quieter place to write now, and show it to the director when you’re done. As long as the director approves, there’s no rush. Revise a bit, shoot a bit. Script revision isn’t something you finish in a day. Aren’t you also meeting your mum’s old classmate?”
“Yeah, I’m meeting Aunt Wu tonight!”
“Need someone to go with you?”
Xie Qian was considerate, but Wen Ying didn’t dare accept.
If she brought Xie Qian to meet Wu Chunqin, Manager Chen would know in no time.
Wen Ying came to Shanghai to revise scripts on set, not to start a romance!
“No need, no need, I’ll go alone.”
Her refusal was a bit flustered, and Xie Qian didn’t press.
As Wen Ying went to revise the script, Xie Qian’s gaze finally landed on Wang Shuang.
Wang Shuang, who had been watching the excitement for a while, felt a chill under Xie Qian’s stare and instinctively defended himself, “Xie God, what you said is pure truth. Revising a script isn’t a day’s work, and studying can’t be done in one go either. I’m really trying hard with practice questions…”
Xie Qian first acknowledged the slacker’s use of an idiom, then ruthlessly crushed Wang Shuang’s effort argument.
“If you’re not serious, studying 24 hours a day is useless.”
Scripts can be revised slowly, and studying can be gradual too.
That applies to Wen Ying, not Wang Shuang.
It’s not that Xie Qian wanted to be biased, but Wang Shuang woke up a bit late. With just over four months until the college entrance exam, unless Wang Shuang wanted to repeat a year, he had no right to slack off now!
Hmm.
Could that be Wang Shuang’s plan—to repeat a year and attend senior year with Li Mengjiao?
Under Xie Qian’s soul-piercing questioning, Wang Shuang fled in embarrassment, “Don’t underestimate me, I’m not repeating!”
Repeat for what?
Wang Shuang longed to escape the mountain of practice questions, to break free from high school life and enter university.
University has no pressure from the college entrance exam, no need to frantically grind through questions.
University is exciting and much freer.
Like Qin Yi and Qin Jiao, the siblings—one in Shanghai, one in Beijing—both living vibrant university lives.
Wang Shuang thought that once he got into university, he could be a producer if he wanted, even participate in company management as a Tianjiao shareholder. Life would be perfect.
For that goal, Wang Shuang had to sprint for this year’s college entrance exam!
Wen Ying seized her inspiration and revised the script with divine ease. Before heading out that evening, she had already submitted the revised version to the director.
The director reviewed Wen Ying’s new script, which added several nuanced, tension-filled interactions between the male and female leads. Though the paper window wasn’t torn, the scenes were filled with subtle sweetness. If the show’s ratings didn’t soar after airing, the director would publicly perform swallowing a camera!
The director was so excited that he secretly called Yuan Fenghui, “Little Wen has truly found her footing. You need to hold onto a screenwriter like her, don’t let others poach her. As long as her skills stay steady and don’t drop, Tianjiao’s shows in the future… you know what I mean!”
Yuan Fenghui understood, of course.
The director meant that as long as Wen Ying’s level didn’t falter, every Tianjiao show had a chance to be a hit.
*The Princess’s New Clothes* became a hit not just because of its plot but also due to Li Mengjiao and Yun Chen’s popularity at the time.
That wasn’t the screenwriter’s true skill.
The day a script can make any actor famous, regardless of their current fame, that’s when it’s a truly masterful script!
