The entertainment industry: My 99 future timelines!

Time leaps by like a lively flea, and several more days have passed in a flash.

The Huairou Film and Television Base on the last day of June.

It was already late at night, and most areas were shrouded in darkness, except for the "Midnight Bookstore" set, which was brightly lit.

This is the final scene of "Love Announcement," and also the starting point and echo of Du Minghao and Song Qing's story.

The story is set after the two have weathered storms and their relationship has stabilized. Du Minghao returns to the bookstore alone to commemorate their first encounter and to find inspiration for his new album.

He wanted to write a song for the night that changed his life.

The set design is even more exquisite than when filming the first encounter scene.

The texture of the bookshelves, the glow of the lamps, and even the "old books and coffee" scent that floats in the air, simulated with special fragrances, all strive for authenticity.

"Scene 223 of 'Love Announcement,' Shot 1, Preparation for Live Shooting!"

Shen Ao's voice came through the walkie-talkie.

The stage manager claps the clapperboard.

"Action!"

Li Xu (Du Minghao) is wearing a simple gray sweater and sits in the window seat where he first met Song Qing (Liu Yifei). In front of him are a blank musical staff and an open book, and he holds a pencil in his hand, lost in thought.

Lighting technician Liu Hu held his breath, manipulating the lights to cast a warm, yellowish beam of light from above, enveloping Li Xu's side and projecting a clear, slightly lonely silhouette onto the glass window behind him.

Outside the glass window, the background is a simulated late-night street scene with scattered lights, creating a tranquil contrast with the warmth inside.

At the same time, Wang Luyao manipulated the camera lens, slowly zooming in.

Behind the monitor, Liu Yifei, whose scenes were finished and whose filming was completely over, sat quietly, her eyes following Li Xu's every subtle movement through the monitor.

She watched as Li Xu picked up a pencil, drew a few musical notes on the paper, and then crossed them out in frustration.

Watching Li Xu mutter to himself, his eyes and expression subtly shifted with changing emotions.

Then, as time went by, Li Xu seemed to have found a certain feeling.

He closed his eyes slightly and tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

Then he opened his eyes, a hint of excitement on his face, picked up his pencil again and wrote quickly, pausing occasionally for a few seconds as if thinking, and then suddenly hummed a tune.

"Mmm~ Ah~ La~"

The sound engineer accurately and clearly recorded Li Xu's humming voice.

As Liu Yifei listened intently to Li Xu's sudden, soft humming in the extremely quiet film set, she felt her heartbeat subtly synchronize with his.

Li Xu at this moment.

The lighting, subtly adjusted by Liu Hu, cast small shadows on his cheeks. His nose was straight, his lips were slightly parted, and his expression was gentler than ever before.

Although equally focused.

But he is completely different from the calm, strict, and even somewhat fierce director he usually is on set.

That Li Xu was the one who set the order on set, the tyrant of light and shadow.

The Li Xu before us is a pure music creator, an artist driven by his inner melodies, radiating a fatal attraction.

"You truly give your all to what you love..."

Liu Yifei murmured to herself.

Thinking back to the notebook I found on Li Xu's desk a couple of days ago, filled with various song melody inspirations and lyrics notes.

A stirring emotion welled up within her.

She had witnessed his talent in directing and acting, and now she was slowly discovering that he also had talent in music. His talent was so outstanding that it was like an inexhaustible treasure trove.

As Liu Yifei was lost in thought, Wang Jing's deliberately lowered voice came from outside the set.

"Teacher Li Hong? What brings you here..."

"Just passing by."

"I heard you wrapped up filming tonight, so I thought I'd drop by. Producer Wang, is this an inconvenience?"

It's Wang Lihong.

Li Xu was immersed in his performance, but he also heard the noise from the outside world.

According to the script, Du Minghao is currently immersed in his own world.

Despite this minor mishap, Li Xu remained calm and simply made the necessary changes to the scene.

He frowned almost imperceptibly, stopped humming, raised his head, and looked in the direction from which Wang Lihong and Wang Jing's voices were coming from, his eyes showing a hint of bewilderment at being disturbed and a vague sense of irritation.

"Click!"

Shen Ao decisively called a halt. He glanced at Li Xu's expression and promptly picked up the walkie-talkie, saying:

"It's alright, Producer Wang. Teacher Wang won't bother us. We've just finished filming this scene."

Led by Wang Jing, Wang Lihong quickly walked in.

He was dressed casually in a white T-shirt and jeans, his hair styled in a messy way, with a silver chain around his neck, but his "celebrity vibe" was undeniable.

Upon seeing Li Xu and the others, he first waved to Li Xu, then nodded to Liu Yifei and Shen Ao behind the monitor, smiling brightly: "Everyone, did I disturb you?"

"Teacher Wang, what brings you here? It's only been a few days, and you've already finished and perfected the music I commissioned?"

Li Xu slowly pulled himself out of the "Du Minghao" state and spoke with some confusion.

Although Wang Lihong is musically gifted, he had already calculated the progress based on their previous exchanges.

Logically speaking, unless she suddenly has a burst of inspiration, Wang Lihong is probably still working hard right now.

"No way, creating music doesn't happen that fast, unless you're a genius and I both have a burst of inspiration at the same time."

Wang Lihong laughed out loud. He took out a USB drive from his backpack, shook it, and handed it to Li Xu, saying:

"I suddenly had an idea for the arrangement, and I was afraid I'd forget it, so I quickly came to talk to you about it. By the way, I've finished making this demo."

"I asked Wang Jing, and since you're currently filming a bookstore scene, I thought I'd let you listen to it and get a feel for it."

As he spoke, his gaze fell on the notebook on the table in front of Li Xu, where Li Xu was scribbling and drawing. He smiled and said, "Director Li, are you... filming the bookstore scene you told me about?"

"Yes, it's also the last scene we filmed."

Li Xu nodded.

I didn't care why Wang Lihong also approached Wang Jing first. Wang Jing, the production manager, had a smooth personality and got along well with everyone. He was the head of the production team.

"The final scene?"

"Looks like I arrived at the right time."

"In my opinion, Director Li, since the interlude you asked me to write is exactly what this late-night bookstore scene needs, why don't we just give it a try?"

Wang Lihong was in high spirits.

"it is good."

Upon hearing this, Li Xu pondered for a few seconds before agreeing.

He took the player and USB drive, connected them to the small monitoring speakers that had been temporarily prepared on site, and at the same time signaled the lighting technician Liu Hu to dim the main light, leaving only a warm area of ​​light around him and by the window.

Soon, the gentle interlude music slowly flowed out from the small speaker.

Instantly, everyone fell silent.

The interlude, with its languid piano sounds, occasional strumming of strings, and the rustling of pages turning, sounds particularly evocative in the warm-lit "Midnight Bookstore" film set.

Liu Yifei closed her eyes and listened quietly.

In her mind, she thought of the scene in the script where Song Qing and Du Minghao first met in the bookstore late at night—Du Minghao was on one side of the bookshelf, and Song Qing was on the other side. Their eyes met briefly between the gaps in the books, and she felt as if she were immersed in the scene.

While Liu Yifei, Shen Ao, and others listened with rapt attention.

Listening to this song.

Li Xu felt that in this extremely peaceful and warm atmosphere, new musical inspiration seemed to be flowing into his mind.

He lowered his head, picked up his pen, and quickly jotted down his inspiration in the notebook in front of him.

Wang Lihong strolled closer, looking at the musical melodies and lyrics that kept leaping out from Li Xu's pen. His eyes slowly widened, his gaze filled with disbelief.

When the song ended, Li Xu also stopped writing.

Wang Lihong, with an air of familiarity, picked up the notebook in front of Li Xu, looked at the hastily written musical notes and lyrics, and began to hum softly:

"Wandering around, my boredom suddenly turned into a pleasant one."

"In front of the bookshelf, there was a half-profile, so pretty. She was lightly biting her lip, so engrossed in reading."

"...Distracted, I picked up a book, flipped through it a couple of times, and hesitated to speak."

This is a humming style with a rap-like quality.

Some incomplete parts were lightly sung by Wang Lihong with humming sounds, and his top-notch voice made the song sound incredibly beautiful.

Liu Yifei had already opened her eyes. She listened quietly to the scene, and unconsciously felt as if she could see that scene of their first encounter in the bookstore late at night again.

"Great! That's wonderful!"

After softly singing the incomplete song, Wang Lihong couldn't help but applaud first. He patted Li Xu on the shoulder, his eyes shining: "Director Li, I only gave you a broken demo, and you just listened to the song and filled it in right there on the spot? I feel a little uneasy taking your money."

Liu Yifei remained silent.

She simply stared at Li Xu's profile, at the lines of his nose outlined by the light, and suddenly recalled a monologue from the movie script, spoken by Song Qing after confirming her relationship with Du Minghao:

He sat bathed in light, so bright it was almost blinding, and I felt a pang of inferiority... an inferiority complex about whether I was worthy of him.

She didn't quite understand that line at the time.

Now, she seems to understand.

Although she was a cool and aloof goddess in the eyes of the people, she unconsciously lost some confidence in the face of Li Xu's all-around talent.

"Holy shit!"

Shen Ao's exclamation broke the silence of the scene.

"Director Li, directing, acting, and now even music comes naturally to you—are we really the same species? No wonder Senior Yifei and Jingtian are both so fond of you..."

Shen Ao speaks quickly, blurting out most of what he wanted to say, but before he could finish, he realized something was wrong and stopped mid-sentence.

The set fell silent instantly.

Wang Lihong's eyes lit up instantly, and she leaned forward slightly, her face immediately filled with the joy of gossiping and eager to hear more.

Upon hearing Shen Ao's offhand remark, Liu Yifei slowly turned her head to look at him.

She still had the faint smile she had when she listened to the song, but her eyes were icy: "Director Shen."

"Hey, senior, what are you saying?" Shen Ao replied awkwardly.

"Explain yourself, what do you mean by 'all right'...right to whom?right to what?" Liu Yifei said with a cold snort.

"Sorry, sorry, Senior Yifei, I misspoke... Hehe, I'll keep quiet from now on."

Shen Ao, being thick-skinned, immediately smiled shamelessly upon hearing Liu Yifei's words, but his expression clearly said, "I'll do it again next time."

"Alright, let's get down to business."

"Teacher Li Hong, stop looking at me like that. There's no gossip to be had. This guy is just talking nonsense. You're a pop star, mind your image..."

After Shen Ao apologized, Li Xu also spoke up decisively.

He didn't care about Shen Ao and Liu Yifei's trivial matters, but at this moment, Wang Lihong's eyes were really burning with desire, and her face was full of gossip.

"Ahem...that's true. Yeah, let's get down to business."

Wang Lihong glanced discreetly at Liu Yifei's expression not far away, coughed lightly twice, forcibly suppressing her inner enthusiasm for gossip, and trying her best to maintain the dignity of a pop star.

Apart from his closest agents and assistants, no one outside the industry knows that he actually enjoys exploring gossip.

"What a pity... we only got halfway through this big reveal, and then we didn't finish... I won't be able to sleep tonight."

It felt like countless cat claws were crawling inside her, but Wang Lihong still maintained the composed demeanor of a pop star.

Stopped in his tracks, he magically pulled another USB drive from his backpack, somewhat listlessly saying:

"By the way, Director Li, did you hear that interlude from earlier?"

"We have some free time now, how about we listen to the theme song again? I've almost finished the demo, it just needs some final adjustments."

Li Xu readily accepted Wang Lihong's suggestion, since he had the time anyway and might as well get everything done in one go.

"Come, come, gentlemen, let me do it this time."

"That interlude was so good, this movie theme song must be even better. I have to handle this kind of good thing first."

Shen Ao quickly inserted the USB drive into the small speaker before anyone else could.

In an instant, an ethereal piano prelude, tinged with a touch of melancholy, flowed slowly through the quiet "Midnight Bookstore," like moonlight dripping into still water.

The moment the melody appeared, it immediately captivated everyone's ears.

Thanks to Wang Lihong's meticulous arrangement, this music is now far more refined than when it was first created by Li Xu and Wang Lihong a few days ago.

The skillful combination of various instruments greatly enhances the emotional impact of this song.

After the intro.

Wang Lihong's clear and narrative voice gradually joined in; he sang the demo guide, filled with rich emotion.

"It takes a butterfly several blinks to learn to fly."

The night sky is filled with stars, but a few will fall to the ground.

I fly, but you fall.

They were very close; I could even hear them breathing.

I'm sorry, I didn't hold on tight enough..."

When the chorus came on, Wang Lihong's emotions and voice rose even higher, making her voice incredibly captivating:

You don't know why I left you.

I insist that I cannot say I will let you cry.

Your tears fell like a torrential downpour.

Shattered into pieces, yet vividly etched in my mind.

……

There are many things you don't know.

Wang Lihong's singing skills are impeccable.

What's even more remarkable is that, in Li Xu's opinion, Wang Lihong almost perfectly captured Du Minghao's deep-seated, unspeakable pain.

The music echoed in the small, late-night bookstore set, complementing the tranquil atmosphere and the warm yellow light of the film set, making it a truly top-notch experience.