I really don't want to make bad movies!

After Jiang Xixi finished eating, she cleaned up her plate, took off her white apron and cafeteria work hat, and sat down again in front of Xia Ming.

She wore an ice-blue fitted shirt with a dark blue bow tie at the chest, matching the color of her short skirt.

A pair of long legs encased in white calf socks were crossed diagonally under the table, clad in small black leather shoes.

"Director, when do we start filming?"

The script was too simple; Jiang Xixi had already read most of it while eating.

The original 80-minute film was condensed by Xia Ming into 50 minutes. The characters didn't have much dialogue to begin with, and half of it consisted of cheap special effects.

"Just call me Xia Ming. Accept my friend request first, and I'll add you to the crew group chat."

"what?"

Jiang Xixi immediately took out her phone, opened QQ, and handed the phone to Xia Ming.

Which one is you?

Xia Ming took the phone and looked at it.

Goodness, hundreds of friend requests are piling up in the application list, and new ones are appearing every minute.

No wonder my friend requests have never been accepted.

Xia Ming found his QQ number among hundreds of applications, clicked "accept," and added a note.

Seeing that Jiang Xixi's friend list only had a few class-related groups and not many friends she chatted with privately, she didn't seem like the kind of person who would participate in a campus beauty pageant.

Xia Ming casually asked, "What made you decide to participate in the freshman smile contest?"

Jiang Xixi: "Yeah, Qiangqiang said there's a red envelope for participating, a hundred yuan."

"I'm selling your QQ number to this school wall."

Xia Ming knew something was wrong just by looking at the number of friend requests in Jiang Xixi's friend list; her QQ number must have been leaked.

"what?"

Jiang Xixi frowned and clicked on the homepage of the campus wall, not expecting there to be so many pitfalls inside.

When she first enrolled as a freshman, she was tricked by an upperclassman into taking a photo, supposedly to participate in the school's smile contest.

The result was an overwhelming flood of friend requests.

"It's okay, just add me. Don't accept the rest of the friend requests, otherwise your QQ number will spread more and more."

As Xia Ming spoke, he also pulled Wang Zhengchuan into the small group.

Jiang Xixi said "Oh," and looked down to see a friend request from someone named "Invincible Brother Chuan."

Without hesitation, she clicked "reject".

Xia Ming opened the group chat and tagged Wang Zhengchuan: [Recruit two more male actors from the acting department. They'll get 100 yuan per scene, all meals included. Meet at the entrance of Qingcaodi at 2 PM. Bring your Canon camera.]

Wang Zhengchuan: [No problem, send me the script.]

Transformers 5: Hornet.txt

Wang Zhengchuan: [What is this thing?]

Xia Ming: [It's not like I'm asking you to pay; just find someone, that's all.]

Wang Zhengchuan: [Wait a minute, you've got a lot of money.]

The main expenses for the short film project undertaken by freshmen were venue fees and equipment and costume rentals, and the actors were mostly classmates and friends.

If someone were to hire people with pay and meals included, they could recruit hundreds of people in less than a minute.

Sure enough, two new people joined the group shortly afterward.

Yang Kai from Class 3 of the Performing Arts Department, and Li Junlin from Class 5 of the Performing Arts Department.

With all the actors recruited, Xia Ming took Jiang Xixi directly to the Green Grassland.

……

"Green Grassland" is a shorthand term used by students to refer to the school's green space as a photography base.

To facilitate students' on-campus creative work, Jinghai Film and Television Academy has transformed a barren wasteland into an outdoor film and television base.

Most simple outdoor scenes, such as desert wastelands, Chinese-style garden landscapes, and grassland flower seas, can be realized on green grass.

At the entrance to the green grass area, there are also shops that rent out photography equipment and clothing. These are mostly owned by people with connections to school leaders, and they can earn a considerable income every year from renting out equipment.

Xia Ming and Jiang Xixi stood at the door for a while, and then they saw Wang Zhengchuan running from a distance, followed by two tall and thin students.

"Xiao Ming!" Wang Zhengchuan, who was a bit chubby, was out of breath after running all the way. He raised his hand to introduce the two people behind him.

"This is Yang Kai." He pointed to a boy wearing glasses with pimples on his face.

"His name is Li Junlin." He pointed to another boy with a buzz cut.

"He is our director, his name is Xia Ming."

Xia Ming skipped the formalities and asked directly, "Have you read the script?"

Seeing the two nod, Xia Ming glanced at their figures and appearances and assigned them roles.

"Yang Kai, you play Jason. In the film, you're a tech geek who can make bumblebees by hand—no, hornets."

"I?"

Yang Kai is just a freshman, and he didn't expect to get into character so quickly.

He seemed a little taken aback and stammered, "Director, I've only read the script once; I haven't studied the character development or background."

"It's alright." Xia Ming waved his hand dismissively. "Just memorize your lines before filming starts."

"Oh, this..."

Yang Kai was speechless. The shabby script was already abstract enough, but he didn't expect the director to be even more casual.

He looked at Jiang Xixi who was standing to the side.

The two were in the same class, and on the first day of class, he was stunned by Jiang Xixi's beauty.

However, he couldn't get accepted as a friend after adding her several times. He even asked Jiang Xixi's roommate to help him make a connection, but to no avail. He never expected to run into her here.

"You're here to film Transformers... Kongon too?"

Jiang Xixi glanced at him and nodded.

"Li Junlin, you'll be playing Jack. It might require a lot of travel, and it'll be a bit physically demanding. Is that alright?"

Li Junlin seemed much more efficient, nodding without hesitation while holding his phone and looking at the script.

Wang Zhengchuan stepped forward, pulled Xia Ming aside, and asked in a low voice, "Brother, are you really going to film this brain-dead script? Did you write it?"

Xia Ming hummed in agreement and asked in return, "Is there a problem?"

"By the way, you're playing a police officer, so you have a bit more lines. How about I help out with lighting when I'm not filming? I'll give you an extra fifty yuan in pay for that, okay?"

Upon hearing that he could also make money, Wang Zhengchuan's doubts vanished instantly, but he still whispered, "Don't blame me for not warning you, nobody will watch this stuff if it's filmed! When your pride is hurt, I won't have time to drink with you!"

Xia Ming smiled slightly. Although Wang Zhengchuan didn't think highly of him, at least he was thinking of his own interests.

"It's okay, I'll treat you to drinks then."

Wang Zhengchuan was speechless. He put his arm around Xia Ming's shoulder and said, "If people laugh at you, I'll be there for you! You pay for the drinks, and I'll cover the barbecue!"

"Alright, time to turn it on."

Just as Xia Ming was about to start filming, Yang Kai suddenly interrupted, "Director... Xia, I think we should change the script and film it?"

Xia Ming frowned: "What's wrong?"

Yang Kai opened a document on his phone and showed it to the people present.

"This script was written by one of my seniors from the arts department. It's better than the Transformers we're going to film now, both in terms of plot depth and the complexity of the character relationships."

"Moreover, her scripts explore human nature and reflect on social phenomena, so the film will receive better reviews."

Xia Ming glanced at it briefly; it was a classic melodramatic drama script, featuring the love stories of several men and women, including embracing and shouting in the rain.

"I'm not saying I'll get first place, but I should at least be in the top ten."

Yang Kai patted his chest, looking very confident: "Moreover, my acting skills will definitely be able to express the male lead's pain and struggle, and resonate with the audience."

As he spoke, he would occasionally glance at Jiang Xixi beside him.

Xia Ming only replied with one sentence: "Are you going to film or not? If not, I'll find someone else."

Yang Kai hurriedly looked at Jiang Xixi and asked, "Xixi, are you really going to film Transformers? Take a look at my script first!"

Jiang Xixi didn't even look at it before pushing Yang Kai's phone back: "I'm the female lead in Director Xia's film."

"Take a picture! I'll take a picture!"

Seeing that Jiang Xixi had no intention of leaving the group, Yang Kai immediately raised his hand: "We're filming Transformers."