Huayu: This producer has no bottom line.

Chapter 40 You're Overthinking It

Friday evening, Yanjing West Railway Station.

Ren Pingsheng leaned against a pillar at the exit of the station.

The train was twenty minutes late. He looked down at the screenshots Zhang Yibo had sent him and replied to each one with his comments.

The remaining shots for the first episode have all been filmed, and the rough cut is almost complete. The pacing is still a bit off, so he'll have to go back and adjust it personally.

As the crowd surged out, he recognized Ni Ni at a glance.

A man in a black trench coat, dragging a suitcase, with a girl wearing a hat following behind him.

"Director Ren," Ni Ni walked over, his face flushed from the cold wind, "I'm sorry for the lateness."

"It's alright," Ren Pingsheng handed over the thermos. "It's sweet, it'll keep you warm on the way."

Ni Ni took it, paused slightly, and whispered a thank you.

The girl behind him casually leaned over and offered her hand.

"Hello Director Ren, I'm Zhou Zhanyan, Ni Ni's roommate. I'm here in Yanjing to broaden my horizons by hitching a ride with her."

Zhou Zhanyan spoke with a distinct northern Jiangsu accent, and his eyes were round and bright, completely different from Ni Ni's aloofness.

"Welcome. The hotel is booked. Let's go drop off our things first."

Ren Pingsheng took the suitcase and put it in the trunk. He had recently gotten his driver's license.

The three got into the car. Ni Ni sat in the passenger seat, while Zhou Zhanyan nestled in the back seat, looking around through the window.

"Is this your first time in Yanjing?"

"Yes, yes, yes, I've never had the chance," Zhou Zhanyan said, and once she started talking, she couldn't stop. "Before, Ni Ni said he was going to come to Yanjing to film a movie, so I shamelessly came along, since I didn't have classes on the weekend anyway."

"What filming? Just a cameo in a few scenes," Ni Ni corrected her.

"That's filming too. There are six of us in the dorm, and you were the first one to appear on camera."

Ni Ni ignored her and turned to look at Ren Pingsheng.

"By the way, Mr. Yang left for the United States the day before yesterday."

"Um?"

"Fiona said that President Yang met with the representatives from Dragon TV. This time, they didn't refuse, but they didn't agree on the spot either."

Ren Pingsheng nodded, one hand on the steering wheel.

The fact that Yang Yuancao could fly to the United States so quickly shows that Dragon TV was indeed interested. With the World Expo mission on their shoulders and P&G's financial backing, they had no reason to push her away.

But things are different at P&G's global headquarters; A.G. Lafley isn't someone you can win over with a PowerPoint presentation.

But that's a story for another time, and it has nothing to do with him for now.

"What about your job offer? Have you settled on it yet?"

Ni Ni took a sip of soy milk. "Fiona said that President Shi asked about my situation and told me not to worry and to continue working."

"Then it's a sure thing."

Zhou Zhanyan slammed his fist on the front seat from the back seat. "See, see! What did I tell you? After hearing what you told me that day, I knew this offer was mine!"

"Alright, Zhanyan, calm down for a bit."

"I'm just happy for you."

As the car merged into the Second Ring Road, Zhou Zhanyan finally quieted down for a few minutes, pressing his face against the window to look at the night view of Yanjing.

Ni Ni held the thermos between her thighs, then picked it up again after a while.

"Director Ren, there's something I've always wanted to ask you."

"explain."

Why did you specifically seek me out?

Ren Pingsheng did not answer immediately.

"Zhan Yan said that you and Senior Bai Ke tried out dozens of people at school, but you didn't want any of them, and you even came all the way to Shanghai to find me."

"I majored in broadcasting and have no acting experience whatsoever. I've never even participated in the school's drama club."

Her speech quickened, as if she had mustered her courage for a long time, "I am very grateful for your help, but... but I really am not confident about acting."

"What if I mess up my performance? Wouldn't that delay your progress and drag others down with it?"

After she finished speaking, she looked at Ren Pingsheng's profile and waited for his reply.

The light ahead was red, so the car stopped.

Are you nervous when you're in meetings at Procter & Gamble?

Ni Ni didn't expect him to ask that. "Nervous."

How nervous were you?

"My palms were sweating and my voice was trembling, but I couldn't let them see it."

Why?

"Once they realize that, they won't believe what I say."

"So in front of a room full of people who are older and higher up than you, you take the contents of a piece of paper and make them your own, so that everyone thinks it's your opinion."

The light turned green, and the car slowly started moving.

"What's this called?"

Ni Ni opened his mouth.

"That's called acting," Ren Pingsheng said, looking at the traffic ahead. "Some people are born actors, they just don't know it."

The car was quiet for a few seconds.

Zhou Zhanyan leaned against the back of the front seat with a wide grin, only to be glared at back by Ni Ni.

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself," Ren Pingsheng said in a more relaxed tone. "There aren't many lines in tomorrow's scene. The key is your presence. Just act like you're still working at P&G. Walk normally, look at people normally."

"Leave all the comedic parts to Dapeng and Baike. You just need to be the one who keeps all the men in the office distracted."

Ni Ni looked down at the paper cup in his hand and didn't say anything.

Ren Pingsheng knew what she was thinking.

It's perfectly normal for a girl who has been taught since childhood to aspire to work in a foreign company as a white-collar worker and follow an elite path to be suddenly pulled into filming a comedy web series to feel hesitant.

But he didn't intend to explain much.

Some things, the more you say, the more untrue they seem.

The car turned onto Dawang Road and soon arrived at the hotel.

Home Inn Express is a five-minute walk from the company; it's clean and inexpensive.

Ren Pingsheng helped them carry their luggage down and stood at the door.

"I'll pick you up at eight o'clock tomorrow morning."

"it is good."

Get some rest.

"Hmm," Ni Ni paused, pulling on the handle of his suitcase, "Brother Pingsheng, the soy milk is delicious today."

Ren Pingsheng waved his hand, got into the car, and drove away.

In the rearview mirror, Ni Ni stood at the hotel entrance for a few seconds before turning around and going inside.

……

The standard rooms at Home Inn are cramped, with a bedside table only about the width of a palm sandwiched between two beds.

As soon as Zhou Zhanyan entered the room, he kicked his shoes off and fell onto the bed. "Damn, we're finally here. This train ride is killing me."

Ni Ni placed his luggage against the wall, sat on another bed, and took out a charger to plug in his phone.

"If you're free tomorrow, you can sleep in at the hotel and don't need to come to the film set with me."

"Dream on," Zhou Zhanyan rolled over, lay face down on the pillow, and looked at her with his chin resting on the pillow. "I came all the way to Yanjing just to see you filming."

"There's nothing to see."

"Looking at you is secondary."

Zhou Zhanyan's eyes darted around, revealing an expression that suggested his gossip-loving nature had been activated.

"I mainly want to get a closer look at your brother Pingsheng."

Ni Ni paused for a moment as he unplugged the charging cable. "Observe what?"

"Don't you think this person is strange?" Zhou Zhanyan sat up, crossed his legs, as if he had finally found a place to pour out the words he had been holding back all the way.

"Twenty-three, two years older than us, but when you talk to him, don't you feel like you're not talking to someone your own age?"

Ni Ni plugged the charging cable into the socket. "He's an entrepreneur, he's experienced, isn't it normal for him to be more mature?"

"It's not a matter of maturity."

Zhou Zhanyan gestured to his name, "Maturity means speaking and acting with composure, but he's different. He has that feeling of knowing the answer."

"What do you mean?"

"No matter what you talk to him about, he acts like he already knows the outcome..."

Ni Ni didn't reply, but unscrewed the bottle of mineral water and took a sip.

"You said that the other day in the coffee shop, he listened to one of your phone calls and then wrote that Global Marketing Special Fund..."

Zhou Zhanyan's voice grew softer and softer as he spoke, as if he were confirming something unbelievable to himself.

"How does a director know all this? Did he find it on Baidu? Even if he could find it, why would he bother searching for it?"

"He used to work in news at Sohu, so he had a wide range of contacts."

"Come on," Zhou Zhanyan slapped the bed, "and what he said in the car earlier, 'Some people are born actors.' Ni Ni, think about that carefully. This is his first time working with you; he hasn't even seen what you look like in front of the camera. What makes him so sure?"

The room was quiet for a few seconds, with only the faint sound of the television in the next room.

"You're overthinking it," Ni Ni said, turning off the bedside lamp. "He's probably just the kind of person who encourages others."

"Oh."

Zhou Zhanyan burrowed under the covers, his voice muffled.

"Anyway, I think this guy is not simple. I'll keep an eye on him for you tomorrow, and you should also be careful."

Ni Ni lay in the darkness.

The light from her phone screen illuminated the ceiling as she opened her notes app and silently read through her lines for tomorrow.

After exiting, I opened the photo album again.

The photo of that coffee shop brochure is still there.

She zoomed in for a closer look. Ren Pingsheng's handwriting was messy, but it was well-organized, with each line as if it had been drafted in advance.

Who can write something like this just by scribbling it down?

Zhou Zhanyan's snoring had already started.

Ni Ni placed her phone face down next to her pillow and closed her eyes.

The wind outside the window rushed into the hallway, making a whistling sound.

Ren Pingsheng will come to pick her up at eight o'clock tomorrow morning.

Then she'll have to stand in front of the camera and pretend she's someone else.