The film and television city starts from the courtyard

this day.

Zhao Shucheng was writing a novel, while A Qian was cleaning the room.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Qian quickly put down the mop and went to open the door, only to find Miki standing there.

"Mickey, what brings you here?"

Miki stormed in, plopped down on the floor, and said:

"Gu Xiaobai, I have a question for you."

Zhao Shucheng looked up at Mi Qi and said, "Okay, ask away."

"You're a writer, aren't you?"

"That's right, what's wrong?"

Miki said, "I just think writers are cultured and reasonable, unlike us, who are not very good at writing."

Ah Qian retorted, "Who said that? I can make sentences."

"Say it!"

"I've run into a problem that I can't quite figure out, so I wanted to ask you for advice."

Miki then shared her confusion. She had been having coffee with Zuo Yongbang yesterday, and suddenly, in a moment of madness, she blurted out:
"Hey, hey, hey, I have a question for you. I've wanted to ask you for a while, but I never had the chance. Anyway, I'm just killing time. How many women have you had in total?"

Zuo Yongbang looked around and said, "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean? We were just chatting. I'm just curious, whether it's normal or inappropriate interaction, how much would it add up to in total?"

Zuo Yongbang said somewhat impatiently, "Hey, who has time to calculate this? It's not like we're doing sales targets or getting commissions."

"Go ahead and tell me, what's wrong with telling me? It won't kill you."

Zuo Yongbang said, "What do you think?"

Miki guessed, "I think there are definitely more than ten, maybe twenty or thirty? Or some number in between?"

"How about this, I'll ask you first, you answer me, and then I'll tell you, okay?"

"I asked that first."

"So you have to tell me first, that's fair, isn't it?"

Zhao Shucheng looked at Mi Qi with amusement and asked, "So, what did you say?"

“I told you!” Miki nodded and said, “I really wanted to know her answer.”

"Four!"

Zuo Yongbang was taken aback, looked at Mi Qi, and said, "What?"

"Four, it's your turn, your answer."

"I'm not going to talk about it today, I'm a little tired."

After saying that, Zuo Yongbang got up and left, leaving Mi Qi unable to catch up.

Zhao Shucheng couldn't help but laugh, looking at Mi Qi, and said, "No, people say big breasts mean no brains, and you really live up to that saying! How can you answer something like that honestly?"

"Who said I answered truthfully? I even gave you a 30% discount."

Zhao Shucheng looked at Mi Qi and said, "You still think you're pretty proud of yourself, huh?"

"What's the matter?"

Ah Qian, however, started counting on her fingers the relationship between four and seven-fold, trying to figure out exactly how many there were.

"That's not the problem. The problem is that no matter how much of a discount I offer, I definitely won't make as much as Zuo Yongbang. Otherwise, I could jump out of this window."

Zhao Shucheng said, "Don't do that. If you jump, my house will be a haunted house, and I won't be able to sell it. Even if I can sell it, it will be at a rock-bottom price."

"No, is that the crux of the matter? Why is it that when I mentioned four things, he looked at me like that and then just walked away? He's a client director at a PR firm, meeting different girls every day. Before I met him, for four or five years, he must have been having a wild time. I'm not saying I'm any better, and I wasn't idle either. Before I met him, I didn't know you, you didn't belong to me, and we were still the same, staying by the side of a stranger, walking through streets that were gradually becoming familiar..."

"No, why did you suddenly start singing while you were talking?"

"Sorry, I just suddenly thought of these lyrics. But after I met Zuo Yongbang, I was very well-behaved, and I didn't do anything to wrong him. Why does he look at me like I'm a promiscuous woman? Even though he's more promiscuous than me, he looks at me like that. Why is he considered a womanizer, and I'm considered promiscuous? Why can he be so self-righteous, while I'm considered utterly wicked?"

Zhao Shucheng said, "This is a social problem, and we can't explain it in just a few words."

"But the key issue isn't there, you know?"

Zhao Shucheng and A Qian exchanged a glance, then looked at Mi Qi and asked, "Any other questions?"

"Then why can't I stand up for myself when he treats me like that? Why do I feel guilty and insecure? Screenwriter Bai, you're educated, tell me why?"

Zhao Shucheng said, "Economic foundation determines social status. However, I have some things to attend to, so I'll be leaving now. Let me remind you of something: regardless of how many people you had before, tell Zuo Yongbang again that this world truly has no physical form; you now and in the future belong only to him. Goodbye!"

Seeing Gu Xiaobai leave like that, Miqi looked at Aqian with some confusion and asked, "Wait, what does Xiaobai mean? Why is it that the more women a man has, the more charming people think he is? Wow, Zuo Yongbang, is this your new girlfriend? Wow, you changed again, buddy, you're something else."

"Actually, women are sometimes the same way. For example, one of the girls in our dorm got a new boyfriend, and we're all envious of her."

"That's different. At most, your roommates might be a little envious. Why is it that every time I change boyfriends, people point and whisper behind my back, tsk tsk tsk, oh oh oh, what does that mean? We all grew up the same way, living in the same society, so why does everything change after I turn twenty?"

Miki was still a little angry and said, "Men become more charming as they get older, and women become more beautiful as they have more women. Women not only can't get old, because no one will want them when they get old, but they also can't have many choices before they get old. Once they have more, people will point fingers and gossip behind their backs. Why? I might as well just die."

Aqian said, "This might be related to the differences between men and women and social status. Xiaobai also told me before that men will always like young girls who are eighteen. But we don't need to get angry, we should just live our own lives."

"No, I must find out the reason. I want to see if there's any truth to it."

Aqian said, "Miki, I couldn't answer from your perspective, but you know my situation is different now. I'm basically living at Gu Xiaobai's house, eating his food, drinking his drinks, using his things, and even having to live under his roof. I can't stand up straight." "In the past, if Gu Xiaobai dared to boss me around, I would have slapped him long ago, but now I can only compromise."

Miki looked at Qian with confusion and asked, "What do you mean?"

"So, is it because you've been using Zuo Yongbang's money that you can't stand up straight and speak to him?"

Miki was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and felt that what Aqian said made sense. It seemed that ever since she followed Zuo Yongbang, she had no job and had to accompany him in fear every day. She could only speak carefully and did not even have the right to not tell the truth.

“I’ve made up my mind. I will no longer use Zuo Yongbang’s money. I will stand tall in front of Zuo Yongbang and fight for the right to have an equal dialogue.”

Aqian looked at Miki with some concern and said, "But if you don't use her money, how will you live? You said yourself that you live by swiping credit cards and you don't have a job."

“So what? At worst, I’ll go out and find another job. I don’t believe I can’t live without Zuo Yongbang.”

Zhao Shucheng first went to the publishing house to discuss the book's release with the editor before rushing to the location given by Mo Xiaomin.

When Zhao Shucheng arrived, he saw that Mo Xiaomin was already waiting by the lake.

"Sorry, I'm late."

"No, I just arrived a little while ago."

Zhao Shucheng said, "That won't do. I still have to formally apologize to you, since I've never made girls wait for me."

"Forget it, I knew you men were all unreliable."

"..."

Zhao Shucheng glanced at Mo Xiaomin, unsure whether he should retort. After thinking for a moment, he decided to keep quiet to avoid an unpleasant argument later.

Mo Xiaomin asked, "Where are we going?"

Zhao Shucheng said, "It's not time to eat yet, how about we go see a movie?"

"Isn't it tacky?"

Zhao Shucheng said, "How about we go to the amusement park? But it just snowed these past two days, so some of the rides probably won't be available."

Mo Xiaomin said, "I was planning to get a beauty treatment. I have a card that's about to expire, and there are still several hundred yuan in it. Why don't you come with me?"

Zhao Shucheng said, "Want to come along? I don't think I need to, since my face doesn't need any beauty treatments."

"Oh, just listen to me, you'll see once you try it."

Zhao Shucheng didn't expect Mo Xiaomin to pull him along like that. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to give it a try.

It must be said that beauty salons in this era offered fewer services and had fewer instruments compared to those in later times.

After the treatment, Zhao Shucheng felt that his skin had indeed improved, but he didn't know how long it would last.

Zhao Shucheng suddenly realized that it shouldn't be him accompanying Mo Xiaomin, but Mi Qi. After all, Mo Xiaomin was an employee of a cosmetics company, while Mi Qi frequently visited luxury stores, bought high-end cosmetics, and also came for beauty treatments; they must have a lot in common.

On the contrary, because he didn't understand these things very well, he could only cooperate with Mo Xiaomin but couldn't provide much emotional value.

Mo Xiaomin, unaware of Zhao Shucheng's thoughts, was also somewhat stunned upon seeing Zhao Shucheng after his beauty treatment.

Although she knew Zhao Shucheng was handsome, otherwise she wouldn't have sought revenge on her ex-boyfriend by contacting Zhao Shucheng. In fact, after meeting him again, she couldn't help but reconnect with him.

But Zhao Shucheng is now clearly more handsome than before, which makes her even more attracted to him.

Sometimes she wondered why she had given up the chance to take things further with Zhao Shucheng and instead got back together with her cheating boyfriend. Because of this, although she tried to get closer to Zhao Shucheng, perhaps because of what happened last time, he was always distant. Now, the two of them could only hold hands and have a meal together, but there was no real progress.

"Xiaobai, do you know what I've been doing every day when I get home lately?"

Zhao Shucheng asked, "What are you doing?"

“Watching TV. Although I used to enjoy watching TV dramas at home, I only paid attention to the plot and never to the behind-the-scenes staff. But these past two days, I've been trying to finish watching them and see who the behind-the-scenes staff are. After watching an episode and finding that you weren't in it, I would switch to another one, but I still haven't seen any of your works.”

Zhao Shucheng was taken aback for a moment after hearing this, then laughed and said, "You should have said so earlier. If you wanted to see my work as a screenwriter, you should have asked me. At least I could have given you the name of the TV series so you wouldn't have wasted time looking for it."

"That's different."

Zhao Shucheng said with a smile, "There's no difference. Besides, in the early days, I had just left the advertising company to work as a freelance writer, so it was basically impossible for me to be a main creator. Therefore, although I participated in some scripts, my name was not credited at all."

"It was only after I collaborated with more film and television companies and gradually achieved some success that I became a screenwriter and was able to produce something worthwhile. However, I only produce two or three works a year, while hundreds or thousands of works are produced in China every year, so it's not easy to find a suitable one."

Mo Xiaomin said, "Oh, I thought..."

"You don't think screenwriters are rare, do you? That's both true and false. After all, there aren't many famous screenwriters in the industry, but there are definitely many people working in this field."

As the two walked down the street, Zhao Shucheng suddenly asked, "You don't think I'm unreliable, do you? This job is so precarious, I don't even know where my next meal will come from?"

Mo Xiaomin said, "Of course not, quite the opposite. I admire you for never hiding your flaws."

As they were talking, Mo Xiaomin walked over to Zhao Shucheng, took his arm, and said, "I think you are very responsible and I feel very safe with you."

Zhao Shucheng chuckled after hearing this and said, "The reason you think that is because you don't know me very well. Do you know where I live? Do you know that I have a woman at home? She is my confidante, a woman I would rather lose than lose my girlfriend."

Mo Xiaomin laughed upon hearing this and said, "Even so, what does it matter? It's just the two of us dating. If you two were to have something going on, I don't think you'd need to wait for me to show up."

Suddenly remembering something, Mo Xiaomin asked, "The confidante you mentioned, is she the one you met at the mall that day who offered to give you her contact information?"

Zhao Shucheng nodded and said, "That's right, Wang Qianqian, Qian, was my neighbor when I was a child, and also my confidante in Shanghai."

Mo Xiaomin smiled and said, "If it's her, I don't think I'll mind. After all, she's just a close female friend, while I will become your girlfriend."

"It seems you're very confident, Xiao Min."

"Of course, I think it's also because I'm good-looking that you noticed me in the first place. Compared to Qian, I think I should fit your aesthetic more." (End of Chapter)