On the dinner table, there was a hot pot with a half - tomato and half - spicy broth, in which grassland lamb was being cooked.
Next to the hot pot, there were various special dishes and slices of meat.
"Are you working on a new drama?" Luo Yize asked, his eyes fixed on the meat in the pot.
Qiao Yinuo nodded, then fished out a piece of lamb, dipped it in sesame paste, and said while chewing, "This time I'm going to change the style a bit, but it'll still be a romantic drama."
A faint smile curled up at the corner of Luo Yize's mouth. "You really like romantic dramas, don't you?"
Qiao Yinuo smiled and replied, "Yes. I used to love watching shows like *It Started with a Kiss*, *Meteor Garden*, *Summer's Desire*, and... and that one you starred in before called..."
"*When Clouds Rise*, right?"
As he spoke, Luo Yize took a sip of his latte.
"Right! That drama was so inspiring," Qiao Yinuo said with a smile.
It was a youth school - themed drama. Luo Yize played the young version of a swimming champion in it, who was also the heart - throb on campus in the sports school.
During her middle - school days, every day after finishing her homework, the first thing Qiao Yinuo did was turn on the TV, tune to Channel XX, and watch this inspiring school romantic drama.
"Gu Feifan."
She had watched all of Luo Yize's dramas. She remembered almost every character and every detail of the stories, more vividly than the *Yueyang Tower Essay*, *Memorial to the Throne*, and *Song of the Pipa* she had memorized in middle school.
Luo Yize asked her, "So, do you like this drama?"
"Like it? That's an understatement. It's a pity that he had such a mysterious background since childhood. The key is that his mother didn't get together with any other man. If it weren't for that incident, his swimming dream wouldn't have been shattered like that."
Qiao Yinuo began to deeply analyze the character.
As a screenwriter, it was a professional habit to analyze characters and storylines, and even integrate their own ideas during the discussion.
It was only after Qiao Yinuo finished speaking that she realized she had answered the wrong question.
"I'm really sorry. I just..."
"It's okay. Do you like the character I played?"
Qiao Yinuo pretended to be calm and took a sip of her latte. "I like it very much. Especially the scene where you said goodbye to your mother. It made me cry."
It was that scene that led to the hero's mother being jailed.
And that was why the hero was determined to clear his mother's name.
"Reach the end of the stream and sit watching clouds rise..." Qiao Yinuo involuntarily murmured the familiar line. "The title is really well - chosen."
After dinner, Qiao Yinuo and Luo Yize left together. Luo Yize suggested that she accompany him to the nearby Xiushui Street.
It was an ancient Xiushui Street. Its scale was comparable to that of 798 in Chaoyang District, Beijing. There was a small antique and novelty store in the southwest.
Who would have thought that just as they stepped into the novelty store, someone suddenly called Qiao Yinuo's name from behind.
Qiao Yinuo turned around, and to her surprise, it was Ah Hai.
"Hey, it's you?"
Qiao Yinuo was extremely reluctant. She wanted to treat this person, who was eager to see her fail and liked to poach others' opportunities, as a stranger.
She nudged Luo Yize and was about to avoid Ah Hai when she heard Ah Hai half - mockingly say, "You're really lucky to be with such a big star."
Qiao Yinuo's face suddenly changed. "What did you say?"
Ah Hai tried to ease the tension between former colleagues. "I'm just joking!"
Just joking? Didn't Qiao Yinuo know what kind of person Ah Hai was?
At work, he often gossiped about her behind her back, and there wasn't a single nice word.
Qiao Yinuo had long seen through this kind of two - faced person. Moreover, she had long suspected that it was Ah Hai who had spread the photo of her and Luo Yize taken in the bar. Who else could it be?