Chapter 33  Yang Mi: “How is this not considered exercise?”

In the nearly two months since wrapping up Love Is Not Blind, Qu Yiming had been focusing not only on overseeing the film’s post-production edits, but also on two key initiatives:

The first was instructing the company’s copyright department to continue acquiring adaptation rights for novels—titles like My Sunshine, Love O2O, The Wandering Earth, The Three-Body Problem, and Joy of Life—future blockbuster IPs in the making.

The second was hiring seven talented screenwriters. Qu Yiming provided them with core ideas and rough outlines, and had them refine scripts for The Young Marshal and Love O2O.

The Young Marshal script was already in its final stages. Once Uncle Benshan was confirmed for the role of the old marshal, the project could officially launch.

As for film scripts, Qu Yiming still preferred to write those himself. After all, films were his foundation—and if he could avoid making flops, he would.

While waiting for Yang Mi to arrive, Qu Yiming mentally reviewed what he had accomplished over the past two months and what still lay ahead.

The year was almost over. Apart from the release of Love Is Not Blind and the Spring Festival Gala project, there wasn’t much left to tackle for now. This year could rest as it was.

As for next year—Zhang Tian’ai would have one lead role in a movie, Yang Mi would get both a lead role in a movie and a TV series. That would be enough to keep the two of them busy (and paid) for the entire year.

As for the other artists under his company—Jin Chen and Li Yitong were still in school—no rush to push them into the spotlight.

Zhang Ruoyun? He’d keep playing supporting male roles for now.

Xin Zhilei—obedient and promising—was due for a push. She would be given a lead role in a movie. With that lineup, the company would need to launch at least three film projects and two TV series in the coming year.

He’d need to recruit a few directors to help spread out the workload. Qu Yiming mentally reviewed which directors might be ripe for the picking.

Guo Fan and Wen Muye…

These two were the ones who stood out in Qu Yiming’s memory. Guo Fan had opened the doors to Chinese sci-fi cinema with The Wandering Earth series, and had also directed a coming-of-age film, My Old Classmate.

Wen Muye was best known for Dying to Survive.

Where were these two hiding out nowadays?

Ding-dong~

Just as he was thinking, the doorbell broke Qu Yiming’s train of thought.

He got up from the sofa, walked over, and peeked through the peephole. Outside, Yang Mi was glancing around suspiciously, disguised in the full three-piece stealth kit–face mask, sunglasses, and cap.

Creak—

“Come in,” Qu Yiming said, opening the door and ushering her inside.

“Ugh, it’s so hot I’m melting!” Yang Mi exclaimed.

Yang Mi took off the trio of accessories covering her face, then removed her coat. A full strappy dress appeared before Qu Yiming’s eyes.

After fully revealing her “hardware configuration,” Yang Mi asked in a sweet and coquettish voice, pretending not to know, “Director Qu, you said you wanted to discuss the script—what script are we discussing exactly?”

“You know exactly what,” Qu Yiming replied.

Then he added, “What do you want for dinner tonight? I’ll cook.”

“Ah~” Yang Mi exclaimed in surprise, “Director Qu, you can cook?!”

“Of course. There’s no such thing as a Northeastern man who can’t cook.” In his previous life, Qu Yiming wasn’t from the northeast, but he once dated a Northeastern girl who forced him to master the essential husbandly skill of cooking.

After mastering this skill, Qu Yiming’s speed at changing girlfriends skyrocketed. In that sense, Qu Yiming still had some fond memories of that Northeastern girlfriend.

“Then let’s have Northeastern cuisine. I haven’t really had much of it,” Yang Mi thought for a moment and said.

“OK,” Qu Yiming replied and turned toward the kitchen.

Yang Mi asked, “Need any help?”

“No need. The best chefs hate people interfering in the kitchen. There are magazines and comics in the living room, or you can watch TV to kill time. Drinks are in the fridge, and snacks are on the coffee table—help yourself,” Qu Yiming said while tying on an apron.

All those supplies had been stocked before Xin Zhilei joined the crew—he and Xin had stocked them together.

“Oh, got it! Then I’ll help myself!”

Yang Mi casually picked up a volume of Gintama, grabbed a few bags of chips, and sat on the sofa to read. For some reason, once she entered the house, she immediately relaxed—as if she were at home.

Maybe it was because she already knew what was going to happen, or maybe it was because she realized Qu Yiming wasn’t as domineering as he’d been during negotiations—he was actually quite gentle. Or maybe it was the cozy decor of the house.

Reading her favorite manga, enjoying snacks freely, and occasionally sneaking glances at the busy “Chef Qu” in the kitchen…

Yang Mi suddenly felt, inexplicably, like she and Qu Yiming were a newlywed couple? Her cheeks flushed slightly with heat.

Ah, dating is pretty nice. Why even get married?

I wonder if I have a place in Director Qu’s heart. I probably do, right? He did say earlier he had a good feeling about me.

Yang Mi let her mind wander.

“Dinner’s ready!”

Time passed, and Qu Yiming, still in the kitchen, called out.

“Coming, coming!”

Yang Mi ran barefoot to the kitchen to help bring the dishes. At that moment, it really felt like home. Sweet and sour pork, stir-fried pork strips, Northeastern stew, sautéed potatoes with eggplant and green pepper, and stir-fried tofu with green chili—five simple dishes.

“I didn’t go to the supermarket today. Next time you come over, I’ll make you stewed chicken with mushrooms,” Qu Yiming said.

Looking at the delicious dishes on the table, Yang Mi said greedily, “Forget the stewed chicken for now, Director Qu—can we eat already?”

“Dig in.”

“Yay!”

Yang Mi looked like she weighed no more than 90 pounds, but surprisingly, she could really eat—a true foodie.

In the middle of eating, Yang Mi suddenly remembered something. She quickly swallowed her food and said to Qu Yiming, “Director Qu, you can’t tell my agent how much I ate, okay?” She had to watch her weight, after all.

“No worries. During our exercise tonight, I’ll help you burn it off…”

…

Whether or not she actually lost any weight was unclear. But she definitely ended up drenched in sweat from exhaustion. There was exercise, and there was sweating…

So maybe it counts as losing weight?

Yang Mi, in a hazy daze, thought to herself.