Buy a house with 30,000 yuan and live in a small town

When Liu Wangxue and Ni Jia came back, everyone had already started eating.

The bottom-hung window was pushed open to a palm-wide gap, and inside the antique private room, two tables were filled with plates of red meat, and a cloisonné copper pot in the middle was bubbling with steam.

Jing Yujun was putting a piece of mutton into his bowl when he saw the door of the private room open. He hurriedly called out to the two of them, "Hurry up, hurry up. If you come a little later, it will all be gone. You haven't seen how much Lou Rui eats."

Lou Rui just put a mouthful of meat wrapped in dipping sauce into his mouth, raised his head and defended himself: "Wu Wu Wu Wu, Wu Wu Hu, umm..." I didn't, it was the director who said...

"If you want to eat it, just eat it well and talk about it after you finish eating." Jing Yujun glanced at him, dipped the meat slice on the chopsticks in the sauce, and put it into his mouth.

Lou Rui curled his lips.

Shen Xun and Ran Anyu also greeted Liu Wangxue and Ni Jia. Ran Anyu pointed to the cart next to them and said, "The condiments are all there. You can adjust them according to your taste."

Shen Xun placed a plate of mutton between the seats of Liu Wangxue and Ni Jia: "This plate of the best tenderloin is specially reserved for you."

Liu Wangxue and Ni Jia responded, took the bowl to prepare the dipping sauce, then came back and sat down to eat hot pot with everyone.

The so-called "clear soup with sesame sauce" is the key to hot pot mutton. The water in the pot is boiled water, with a little ginger and scallion, and a few mushrooms, wolfberries and dates. The soup is light and the mutton is fresh. The two are harmonious and compatible, which is also a kind of culinary wisdom.

There are not many parts of a sheep that are really suitable for hot pot. You have to choose the meat that is tender and lean but not dry, fat and not greasy. The mutton at Qingji is all hand-cut by the master chef. It is a technical job. The mutton is as thin as paper, as soft as cotton, as smooth as thread, and as beautiful as a flower. Just as Liu Wangxue saw on the mural, the mutton is cut so thin that it is translucent and cooked in a hot pot.

In addition, a lot of effort must be put into the dipping sauce. There are not many types of dipping sauces on the cart, only sesame paste, chives, fermented bean curd juice, shrimp oil, oyster sauce, chopped green onions, coriander, and fried chili peppers.

Xu Qingsong just sent a message to Liu Wangxue saying that sauces like sesame paste, fermented bean curd, shrimp oil, etc. are all made by Qingji themselves. They are exclusive secret recipes that cannot be bought anywhere else.

Xu Qingsong was particularly regretful: [I was planning to take you out to eat after returning, but I didn’t expect Director Jing, a foodie, to get there first]

Liu Wangxue comforted him: [It’s okay, when you come, we can find time to come over for a meal.]

Xu Qingsong: [It really doesn’t matter. There are so many delicious foods in Beijing. I’ll take you to other places. You can have three different meals a day.]

Then Xu Qingsong told her a recipe for a bowl of sauce: [Just follow my recipe, I guarantee you won’t want to put down your chopsticks]

Liu Wangxue followed Xu Qingsong's suggestion and prepared a bowl of thick and fragrant dipping sauce with sesame paste as the main ingredient. Ni Jia also followed suit and prepared a bowl for himself.

Hold the meat slices with chopsticks and gently shake them in boiling water until the red color fades and turns pink. Put them on a plate, dip them in the dipping sauce, and put them in your mouth. You will feel the great satisfaction of the delicious food.

If you get tired of eating meat, you can have two cloves of pickled garlic. Qingji’s pickled garlic is unique. When you pick up the pickled garlic cloves and hold them up to the light, they are amber and translucent. When you put them in your mouth and bite them, they are sour, sweet, crispy and refreshing, which is both appetizing and refreshing.

During the mutton hotpot meal, no one spoke much as their mouths were too busy to keep up.

Ran Anyu was saying that he needed to control his food intake because his metabolism was slow as he got older, but his chopsticks and mouth just couldn't stop moving.

After eating their fill of mutton, they rested for a while, and then everyone started chatting when it was time to eat the hot pot dishes.

The vegetarian dishes include cabbage, tofu and vermicelli. The clear soup becomes mutton soup after being used to cook the mutton. The vegetarian dishes are light and cooking them in the soup can absorb the freshness and fragrance of the mutton soup without destroying the original taste. Everyone couldn't help but eat a few more bites.

While eating and chatting, the topic at Liu Wangxue's table was the result of everyone's joint efforts, "The Moon Rises over Spring Stream". They talked about everything from casting to filming, and from filming to publicity, and then to the broadcast and its current popularity on the Internet.

Then, Jing Yujun changed the topic and asked Liu Wangxue: "How is your script going? Is it not finished yet?"

Shen Xun and Ran Anyu thought it was the script of "The 21st Case of Dazhao". They never played games and had only heard about it from people around them. It was not until New Year's Day that they knew how popular this game was. They downloaded it and played it, and were immediately attracted by the plot. With their intuition as actors over the years, they felt that this script would be a hit even if it was only used for filming. It was a pity that it was buried that year.

Shen Xun and Ran Anyu followed up with a question, and Liu Wangxue said, "The script has been revised."

Ran Anyu looked at Liu Wangxue, then at Jing Yujun, and asked, "Didn't they say Director Meng has agreed to direct? Why hasn't anyone in the industry heard about when the casting will start?"

Jing Yujun was very smart. He knew what was meant as soon as he heard it, and asked with a smile, "Which role do you two teachers have in mind?"

Shen Xun told him readily, and half-jokingly said, "An Yu and I played this game some time ago, and we really liked the roles of Prince Yu and Princess Yu in it. We also worked together in a historical drama in our early years, also playing the roles of the prince and princess. More than ten years have passed, and we always wanted to work together again, but we never had the chance. This is just a coincidence, so I wanted to ask our beloved director and dear screenwriter when the casting will be open, so that we can submit our resumes and audition."

Ran Anyu followed with a smile and said, "Let's see if we can continue our relationship with our strength."

Shen Xun and Ran Anyu are over 40 years old and have been in the industry for more than 20 years. They are both good actors who work hard. Liu Wangxue watched the dramas they starred in when she was a child. It's just that there are always new waves pushing the old waves, or the current rule in the circle that traffic is king, the cake is so big, and many old and good actors can only give way.

When Liu Wangxue heard that the two had roles in mind, she was so happy that she expressed a warm welcome and briefly talked about the preparatory work in the early stages: "President Du wants to keep improving, so the casting and filming of this drama will have to wait until at least next year."

Jing Yujun continued, "It's hard for us to tell you the exact time. It depends on the progress of the project. You don't know, my master couldn't put the script down after he got it, and he couldn't wait to start filming. Every time I went to his house, he kept repeating the same thing the most—" He imitated Meng Huadong's expression and tone: "Isn't our country a country of infrastructure? It's just a stage. Why does it take so long?"

The imitation made everyone at the table laugh.

Ran Anyu had once made a cameo appearance in a play by Meng Huadong, and immediately commented on Jing Yujun's acting: "The imitation is very lifelike, just like Meng the Old Man!"

After laughing, Liu Wangxue said to Shen Xun and Ran Anyu, "I don't know if you two have any time recently. I have a script on hand, which is almost finished. There are two roles in it. I think you two teachers can try them if you are interested." Shen Xun and Ran Anyu looked at each other and saw strong interest in each other's eyes. They asked Liu Wangxue in unison, "What roles?"

Liu Wangxue was about to answer when Jing Yujun raised his hand to interrupt her: "Let me guess, is it the couple in the third story?"

Liu Wangxue nodded: "Yes, that's right."

Jing Yujun then looked at Shen Xun and Ran Anyu with a different gaze, which he usually used in the crew, the unique gaze that the director had when examining the actors in the camera, and said, "If you were to perform these two roles, perhaps both of them would shine."

Shen and Ran immediately became more interested. Shen Xun smiled at Ran Anyu and said, "This way we can continue our past relationship in advance."

Jing Yujun also laughed, with some ill intentions: "How about listening to the outline of the story first and then deciding whether to continue?"

Liu Wangxue answered the doubts in their eyes: "This story should be a story of ill-fated love." Then he told them the general plot.

After Shen Xun and Ran Anyu heard this, they were speechless for a while. It was Ni Jia who spoke first: "I feel that this is a huge subversion of the screen image of the two teachers."

Isn't this subversive?

Shen Xun was born as a drama actor, with handsome and delicate features. His roles on the stage have always been related to elegant gentlemen. Later, he switched to film and television, and he could not escape such roles in costume dramas, either as a refined knight or a nobleman from aristocratic family. In modern dramas, he usually plays the role of a good son, a good husband, and a good father. He was born with this temperament, and he has been immersed in such roles for many years. Even when he is away from the camera, he gives people the feeling that he is as gentle as jade.

However, now Liu Wangxue and Jing Yujun told him that he could play a beast in human clothing, a domestic violence offender who is extremely perverted.

If emojis could be vividly interpreted by real people, Shen Xun's face at this moment would definitely be that little yellow face with eyes looking down, a polite smile, and a crack in the middle.

Jing Yujun has read the original version written for the game as well as the revised version for the drama. He is fully aware of how the characters in each story are fleshed out, and he also thinks that the name Liu Wangxue gave to the script, "Halo Effect", is very appropriate.

Jing Yujun persuaded Shen Xun: "Teacher Shen, this character is like this. His external personality is exactly like yours. Think about it, if you were to play this role, wouldn't the strong contrast come out at once? Because of the extreme contrast, wouldn't this character shine? Today's audiences always love to watch this."

Ni Jia and Lou Rui thought about what Jing Yujun said and nodded vigorously: "That's right, yes!"

Liu Wangxue continued, "That's what the so-called 'halo effect' is. It's very similar to the phrase 'a leaf blinds the eye'. The male lead's appearance is just this leaf. If you were to play the role, you would not only be able to fool the female lead in the early stages, but you would also be able to fool the audience."

Ran Anyu nudged Shen Xun with his elbow and advised, "Old Shen, just give it a try. This role is quite subversive and challenging. Maybe you, who are nearly 50 years old, can use this role to take your career to the next level!"

"What do you mean by nearly fifty? I'm only forty-three!" Shen Xun didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said to Liu Wangxue and Jing Yujun, "Let me think about it again, think about it." He was very conflicted, so he diverted everyone's attention and asked Ran Anyu, "Don't talk about me. What about you? The heroine in this story is a world away from your current screen image."

Ran Anyu didn't have too many concerns: "Don't forget, I started out as an actress in sad dramas. Although I haven't played the role of a fragile little white flower full of despair, who holds on to hope in despair for many years, I still have the ability to perform well."

Ran Anyu graduated from a professional school. When she was young, she was a beautiful young actress with a story-telling look in her eyes. Her famous work was a sad drama, and she played many similar roles later. During this period, she chose to retire because of marriage and childbirth. However, her marriage suffered a change a few years later, so she made a comeback. However, her era has passed, and after her comeback, she mostly took supporting roles in some movies and TV series.

However, the characters of the supporting roles she took on were all very consistent, all of them were career-oriented women with a royal sister style. If the lives of these characters were a dictionary, there would only be two words in it, "competitive" and "strategizing". She was affectionately praised by fans as a "ruthless career machine."

Finally, after finishing the sesame pancake, Shen Xun still didn't agree. However, Liu Wangxue couldn't have the final say on casting, and had to wait until the script was completed and discuss it with Meng Luoqiu. So he made an appointment with the two teachers to send the script to them first and then make the final decision.

The group sat in the private room and chatted for a while before calling the waiter to settle the bill. We were really full and too lazy to move for the time being, so we decided to stay a while longer to help digest the food.

Lou Rui still has some idol baggage: "Otherwise if I go out leaning against the wall and get photographed, it will be so embarrassing."

The waiter responded but didn't come over immediately, so everyone sat and waited again. After a while, the manager came with the foreman, followed by the waiter who just responded, and all three of them were holding gift boxes in their hands.

The manager first exchanged a few pleasantries with everyone and asked how the food was. Then he said to Jing Yujun, who was sitting at the main seat, "Your bill has been settled. These are the gift boxes our restaurant gives to our distinguished guests. They are the sauces you just ate, and the pickled garlic. They are all made in secret in the restaurant and are only given away, not sold."

Jing Yujun was confused and asked the manager, "No, this is my first time to eat here, how come I'm a VIP?"

No one present responded easily, so the manager looked at Liu Wangxue.

Liu Wangxue explained to Jing Yujun, "It's my boyfriend's master's uncle's shop." She felt a little embarrassed.

Jing Yujun pointed at her and smiled: "That's not very kind of you. You didn't even tell me in advance."

The other people at the table also made jokes about Liu Wangxue.

"Really not!" Liu Wangxue defended, "I really didn't know it before!"

After joking around for a while, everyone put on their clothes, picked up their bags, accepted the gift boxes distributed by the three managers, and said thank you.

The gift box was not prepared for Liu Wangxue. When sending everyone downstairs, the manager said to Liu Wangxue, "Boss Jiang said that you will be staying in Beijing for a few more days, so you don't need to carry it. We wanted to prepare it for you when you go back, but we were afraid that it would be inconvenient for you to carry it, so we asked Mr. Xu for the address and sent it to your home. Boss Jiang also said that these are not expensive things, but your parents didn't come with you this time, so we will send some back for them to taste. If they like it, please call us again and we will send more at any time. When you come to Beijing to play in the future, we will invite them to our store to eat."

Liu Wangxue accepted the kindness and said, "You are so polite. I am sorry to trouble you. I will thank my aunt when I see her again."

“No, no,” the manager smiled until his eyes narrowed into slits, “You’re welcome. It’s my duty.” (End of this chapter)