Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

"I've been there before; the taste is just so-so," Pei Muchan shook her head in refusal, also searching for restaurant recommendations or new places on her phone.

"What about Auspicious Cloud Residence?"

"Doesn't sound like a place for eating; let's pick another one."

Xu Qingyan was speechless. "We've practically explored all the eateries around here. Finding something new is going to be tough." Experience more on My Virtual Library Empire

"Who says? There are plenty of places we haven't tried. Xinghai's restaurants open and close so fast," Pei Muchan said seriously, her pupils reflecting the moving screen of her phone.

"Besides, that place we tried a few months ago was good, heard they have new items."

"Then you decide today, I'll be your driver," Xu Qingyan, feeling lazy, lay on the table and looked at Pei Muchan with his face askew, inadvertently swallowing his saliva.

By some unlucky chance, this scene was caught by Pei Muchan across the table, and her eyes dodged away.

Body memory is a real thing; there's a subtle difference in physical distance and contact with someone you've been intimate with compared to someone you haven't.

Even though Pei Muchan and he hadn't gone that far, hadn't even really touched (barely), Xu Qingyan didn't mind the slowness, even enjoying it.

After all, whether it be Pei or Lin, or Xu Qingyan himself, all three were blank slates. Blank slates exploring each other naturally found it interesting.

Moreover, their concerns weren't entirely on romantic matters; their values were nearly identical. That's why they could come together and deepen their relationship step by step.

Plus, Xu Qingyan was a man with clear goals, never engaging in meaningless things. While not exactly a good person, he wasn't the type to love every new face he saw.

He had his own thoughts and knew very well no one would keep liking someone just because of songwriting or screenwriting alone; only a relationship of mutual benefit could last longer.

After the meal, Xu Qingyan and Pei Muchan each went their own way.

"Bye-bye." She stood by the elevator and waved, looking in a good mood.

Although Xu Qingyan didn't know why Pei Muchan was so happy, perhaps she enjoyed this everyday routine: the unremarkable companionship of having three meals a day, but it certainly wasn't a bad thing.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

The next day.

Xu Qingyan sat in front of the computer in peaceful serenity, a song under his hand. Pei Muchan also had a song on hand, so both could attend to other matters.

He wrote the Immortal Sword script leisurely, grateful for Pei Muchan's reminder. Otherwise, he would have forgotten; why bother with the sensitive subject of suspense if he could work on an IP?

Not to mention Love Apartment, despite being surefire popular if made. Even if it really did cause controversy, he'd have scholars to justify it after the fact, but... it was utterly unnecessary.

This IP had high risks, poor monetization, nothing like the Immortal Sword series. If all else failed, the tomb-robbing series would do; to his knowledge, there was hardly any drama with that theme on the market.

As he enjoyed his peaceful time, Gan Wenchang sent him a video call.

"Damn, what are you up to?"

"As you can see, just in the studio. What else could I be doing?" Xu Qingyan placed his phone aside. In that year, he had encountered all sorts of people, good and bad.

Zhou Mian had helped him through the toughest times, like his right and left hand. Gan Wenchang and Wei Wufeng were also of great aid, proving to be reliable friends.

"Aren't you shooting a film? Heard you wrapped up. How are the sales?" Gan Wenchang asked casually.

"Not bad, broke even," Xu Qingyan vaguely replied, knowing the other wasn't really interested, "How are things on your end? Heard your shooting progress is slow."

"Don't even mention it, ran into an idiot." Gan Wenchang looked frustrated.

"???? What?"

"Let me tell you, this production has never gone smoothly since we started. We planned to shoot simple scenes, but an actor got injured and was rushed to the hospital."

"You know what's the most annoying part? Some outsiders suddenly appeared from nowhere and started cursing at us, accusing us of ruining international relations, threatening to expose us."

"Damn it, it's this day and age, and we still have such bastards roaming around," Xu Qingyan said, somewhat shocked. Year after year, such oddballs, walking examples of 'five hundred thousand', still brazenly surfaced; society must be in a good state.

"No worries, the Sword Tomb folks will take care of such spineless folks with a good beating."

"They did, but think about what show this is," Gan Wenchang cracked a wry smile, "The cast is all Method actors, got too much into character, and the situation heated up. If it weren't for Director Ji holding them back, heads would have been smashed in. But it's trouble now; the police were called, several of the leading actors can't shoot these next two days."

"Not seriously, they fought that hard?" Xu Qingyan was surprised, "Can't be, aren't they all from the National Theatre Company? Even the old actors are that impulsive?"

"Heh, though they're 'old actors', they're actually only about twenty-seven or twenty-eight," Gan Wenchang explained, "You didn't hear what the other side said, couldn't hold them back."

"What did they say?"

Gan Wenchang: "Don't record this, OK? Those people cursed with every vile word."

Xu Qingyan's eyelids twitched, thinking that really was uncontrollable.

"What about him, what did he say?"

"What else could he say? He's bailing them out. Those bastards got beaten pretty bad. I think one even got a concussion and who knows when they can resume shooting."

After ending the video call, Xu Qingyan figured "My Regiment My Regiment" would only be online by the end of the year. They didn't operate like him, always watching the budget closely.

For those in the system, just finishing the shoot was a victory.

He was alone in the office; Pei Muchan had gone to the piano room to write songs.

That was her usual rhythm of life: occasionally dealing with the studio's day-to-day affairs, writing songs in her free time, or refining new ones, doing the arrangements.