I was slacking off on a dating reality show when the female guests treated me like a treasure chest.

Chapter 144 Departure from Haidu

Chen Nian had always been puzzled.

Xia Yao usually seems uninterested in playing the piano, but at this moment, she is browsing piano-related information on his computer.

Specifications of new pianos, newly released solo pieces by composers in the industry, and updates on international piano competitions—without exception.

The evening breeze from the balcony wafted in through the window, mingling with the cool air from the indoor air conditioner and relieving the stuffiness of the night.

Xia Yao sat cross-legged on the living room carpet, with an old laptop lying in front of her.

After browsing for a while, she closed more than a dozen piano information web pages. An unnamed document on her desktop caught her attention, and she casually clicked on it.

Upon reading the content, Xia Yao instantly became interested.

This was a movie script. The more she read, the more engrossed she became, and then she suddenly remembered that Chen Nian had casually told her this story during a break from recording a variety show; the story was called A Chinese Odyssey.

"Is it perfected?"

Xia Yao read the script in one go, her emotions surging for a long time, her eyes slightly warm, completely unexpected that the written version would be so touching.

She turned to Chen Nian, who was sitting casually to the side, and asked urgently, "Chen Nian, did you write this script? Are you planning to make it into a movie?"

Chen Nian felt a little shy when he saw her looking at his script. It was embarrassing to have someone look at his unfinished work.

"We do have plans to make a movie, but the timing isn't right yet." Chen Nian shrugged and frankly admitted, "To put it bluntly, we don't have the money."

"Approximately how much funding is needed?" Xia Yao pressed.

"The amount is too large; I simply cannot afford it at this stage, for example, one hundred million."

Xia Yao's eyes widened: "Is it that exaggerated? I have about ten million in liquid funds at my disposal. If it's ten times that, I can't do anything. It seems I can't help you."

Chen Nian was stunned on the spot and looked at Xia Yao in surprise. He only knew that Xia Yao came from a good family, but he never thought that she could easily take out tens of millions of cash flow, and her financial strength far exceeded his expectations.

"By the way, the lines here are a bit awkward," Xia Yao suddenly said.

Upon hearing this, Chen Nian leaned over to take a look and found it somewhat strange. After thinking for a while, he gave his answer.

In the following days, Xia Yao transformed into a devoted reader, relentlessly questioning the script about foreshadowing, character motivations, and deleted details.

Chen Nian simply put aside his distracting thoughts and began to discuss things in depth with her.

Previously, when he was polishing the script on his own, he couldn't quite grasp the nuances of many characters' lines and emotional transitions, and even after repeated revisions, he still felt they were stiff.

After talking with Xia Yao, his thoughts suddenly became clear.

Xia Yao's perspective as an observer perfectly compensated for his rigid thinking and provided many modification suggestions that fit the character.

At this moment, Chen Nian finally understood the significance of having an assistant for a professional screenwriter.

Solo creation is prone to falling into mental blind spots, while two-way communication and deliberation can indeed achieve twice the result with half the effort.

The two meticulously refined the characters' arcs, subplots, and dialogue details, and nearly two hours passed in the blink of an eye.

When the script progress was checked again, Chen Nian was surprised to find that the original draft, which was less than half complete, had been increased to 60% after the discussion.

The remaining 40% mainly focuses on fleshing out the supporting characters and repairing the logic of side plots.

The main characters, such as Supreme Treasure and Zixia, have been finalized, but the motivations of supporting characters, such as the Second Master, the Bull Demon King, and Princess Iron Fan, are still too weak and need to be refined and supplemented.

The two movies, which together last nearly four hours, required him to piece together many things little by little.

When they came to their senses, it was already past ten o'clock. After talking for so long, both of them were parched.

Chen Nian got up and took out two bottles of ice water from the refrigerator. After easing the atmosphere, he took the opportunity to ask Xia Yao about her future career plans.

Although Xia Yao's sudden settlement in Guangzhou was quite abrupt, she couldn't just live a life of leisure forever.

Xia Yao sighed helplessly, her tone blank: "I plan to take on some piano performances first, such as for shopping mall openings, city opening ceremonies, private banquets at high-end hotels, or even performances at bars."

Chen Nian rubbed his forehead, speechless: "You're a top-tier pianist of the new generation. If people find out you're performing in this kind of venue, what will become of your reputation?"

"Then what should I do?" Xia Yao blinked, looking completely bewildered.

"Let's see if there are any piano competitions in Guangzhou or the surrounding area recently," Chen Nian said.

"A piano competition? Yes." Xia Yao thought for a moment and replied, "Xingguang Music Academy, in conjunction with three art colleges in Guangzhou, held a city-level college student piano competition."

"I just checked, and it seems that unemployed people can also sign up for the competition."

"That's settled then, go sign up!" Chen Nian said quickly.

Xia Yao hesitated: "As a well-known player in the industry, wouldn't it be a bit like bullying a college student?"

Chen Nian rolled his eyes at her: "If the rules allow it, there's no problem. Others don't participate just out of politeness. You've already left your original circle, so there's no need for you to care about these things."

"It's a good opportunity to practice in the competition and win the championship directly."

He changed the subject, a sly glint in his eyes: "By the way, I can write an original piano piece just for you."

"real?"

"Check when the match starts."

Xia Yao immediately opened her computer to check the competition announcement, then looked up and replied, "There are still two weeks until the official competition. Isn't that enough time to compose a piano piece?"

"Leave it to me," Chen Qing chuckled. "Let's just give him a nuclear bomb to blow up the fishpond."

"A nuclear bomb to blow up a fishpond?" Xia Yao asked, puzzled.

Chen Nian didn't elaborate, but after thinking for a moment, he said, "I'm going to Haidu in the next couple of days to find Zhou Yu and record a single for her. I have enough time for that."

"I need to be at the studio for the next couple of days, so you can do whatever you want on your own."

"You're going to Zhou Yu's place? Shall I go to Haidu with you?" Xia Yao blinked and suggested.

"No way." Chen Nian refused outright. "If you go, I have a feeling that the work progress will be delayed. Whenever you two get together, nothing worthwhile ever happens."

Xia Yao rolled her eyes at him, then let out a long yawn: "It's getting late, that's all for tonight. I'm going back to sleep. See you tomorrow."

"Okay, get some rest."

After Xia Yao left, Chen Nian closed the door, completed his evening strength training as usual, and went to bed after washing up.

After a long day of running around, he was already exhausted, both physically and mentally.

The next morning, Chen Nian got up early for a run, returned to his apartment at nine o'clock to have breakfast, and then drove to his music studio.

"Having a car really makes a difference!"

Upon arriving at the studio, Li Qing and Jing Ting were sitting at the front desk organizing supplies. When they saw Chen Nian, they instinctively looked behind him, but not seeing Xia Yao, they politely greeted him, "Good morning, Brother Nian."

"Good morning." Chen Nian nodded slightly and went straight upstairs.

Xia Jie was checking cooperation documents at her workstation on the first floor. Chen Nian didn't disturb her and went to his private office on the second floor by himself.

Leaning back in the large boss's chair, Chen Nian felt a genuine sense of emotion. This was the first time he had sat in the office as a boss, and the feeling of leisure and freedom far surpassed that of when he was working for someone else.

Afterwards, he came out of his office, looked around at the empty rooms on the second floor, and made a plan in his mind.

The next step is for Li Qing and Jing Ting to contact the renovation team to convert another office into a separate office for Lin Ran's use.

He had made up his mind from the beginning that he would bring Lin Zai into his studio sooner or later; it was just that the time was not yet ripe.

Chen Nian spent the entire morning in the office dealing with trivial matters and relaxing, enjoying the pleasure of slacking off.

It wasn't until noon that Xia Yao called, and he drove back to his apartment to meet her for lunch.

Taking advantage of the two days of free time and having a car again, Xia Yao didn't let Chen Nian off the hook, dragging him all over Guangzhou's attractions, including the zoo, theme parks, and popular cultural and creative blocks, taking photos and checking in every day.

In the six-person chat group, almost all the posts were travel photos shared by Xia Yao.

Liu Ting, Tang Xi, Zhou Yu and several others took turns sending private messages to Chen Nian, all clamoring to switch jobs and come work for him, making Chen Nian tremble with fear.

He knew these people's personalities all too well; if you dared to take their jokes, they would actually book tickets and come over.

On Thursday evening, Chen Nian saw that there were almost no problems at the studio. With Li Qing and Jing Ting there, they could handle anything that was lacking perfectly. It was about time to leave.

He planned to complete the piano piece for Xia Yao during his business trip to Haidu.

While packing his luggage, Chen Nian glanced at Xia Yao, who was watching a TV series on the sofa, and suddenly asked, "You haven't contacted Su Xiao lately?"

Upon hearing this, Xia Yao looked up at Chen Nian, her face blank: "I had completely forgotten if you hadn't mentioned it."

"5

""

As she spoke, she immediately dialed Su Xiao's number.

Chen Nian complained helplessly, "You rented a place here, but you spend all your time here, never staying in your own room even once. It's outrageous."

"Please, it's lonely being alone. You're right next door, so it's perfectly normal for me to come over and visit," Xia Yao replied slowly, then went to the balcony to answer the phone.

At this moment, Su Xiao is away from home participating in a commercial performance. Ever since she learned that Xia Yao has settled in Guangzhou and lives next door to Chen Nian, she feels that she should move soon too.

Tonight, Lin finished an early shift and bought a lot of cocktails before coming to Chen Nian's place.

Chen Nian was already used to this kind of scene.

Anyway, they've all started using this place as a party venue.

The three of them drank until late at night, and in the end, he was responsible for taking the two of them back to their respective rooms, one slightly tipsy and the other drunk.

"Sigh, they love to eat and drink. Come to think of it, of these guys, Tang Xi is probably the only one who doesn't drink much, right?" Chen Nian muttered, closing Lin Zai's door and going back to his own room.

Silent night...

The next morning, Chen Nian woke up and called Zhou Yu to let her know. Then at noon, he asked Xia Yao to take him to the airport.

"Remember, don't linger. I'm still waiting for your piano piece," Xia Yao reminded her.

"You still won the championship even without my piano piece, didn't you?" Chen Nian said quietly.

"That won't do. You were the one who said you wanted to use a nuclear bomb to blow up the fishpond." Xia Yao thought for a moment and said, "Five days, you should be back in five days."

Chen Nian nodded slightly, five days would be enough, and turned to walk into the airport.

"Why do I feel like I'm being watched when I go to Haidu?"

At that time, Zhou Yu encountered a problem. She had accepted a script, and just before filming was about to begin, one of the important supporting actors was in a car accident, and the entire crew had to wait.

Just then, she received a call from Chen Nian, who told her that he would be arriving in Haidu that day, and she remembered the time they had agreed to meet.

"Got it!"

Zhou Yu's eyes lit up. She thought of something and got up to find the director. She gave him a suggestion: since they had to wait for the other party, she had someone she could use immediately.

Upon hearing this, Director Qian asked, "Who is it? They're waiting for this role, otherwise filming can't begin."

""

"Chen Nian, a male guest who filmed Heartbeat Beat with me."

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