Chapter 331: Encounter

However, although Chen Siqi was willing, Xu Zijun didn't want to appear on camera.

When Li Pengfei told Lu Yan He, he also felt embarrassed.

Lu Yan He said: "I'll communicate with the *City Travel* side."

Lu Yan He actually understood a bit why Xu Zijun didn't want to appear on camera.

Just like before when Xu Zijun didn't want to take Li Pengfei to her sister's wedding, Xu Zijun might also not want her family to know how she is doing now.

Scruples.

Lu Yan He made a call to Xin Zixing to communicate about this matter.

Xin Zixing didn't want to give up this opportunity to follow and shoot.

It was rare that Lu Yan He could come to record an episode, and it was with his friends to the desert.

Xin Zixing thought for a while and said: "Yan He, look, can we do this? We will still follow and shoot as usual, but we will definitely shoot with you as the main focus, and we will try our best to avoid friends who don't want to appear on camera. In situations where we can't avoid it, we won't use her shots, so that she doesn't have to appear in the show."

Lu Yan He: "If we shoot like this, will it affect the effect of the show? Do I have to keep a distance from her so that you can shoot good material?"

"No, don't worry, you just follow your normal plan to play with your friends, we won't interfere at all," Xin Zixing said, "After your itinerary ends, we will then do some relevant interviews based on the material shot, and connect some places that cannot be connected through editing. I think, in this way, a better treatment should be done."

Hearing this, Lu Yan He, "As long as you are sure it won't affect the quality of the show, don't force it. My play has already wrapped up, and the next play won't start until August. The time in between is always very ample, and it can be shot."

Xin Zixing: "It's okay, Yan He, just leave these technical treatments to us. I also really want to shoot the desert once. Before, we have been spinning in the city."

Lu Yan He said okay.

Xin Zixing: "Since your time is ample later, why don't we go to more cities in the following time? We will shoot more material, and even if you enter the group again, we will still have films to broadcast."

Lu Yan He said: "Okay."

Sure enough, after Xu Zijun knew that her shots could be deleted and she didn't have to appear in the main film, she no longer minded the filming team following.

As for Linyu and Chen Qin, both were indifferent.

Instead, Chen Siqi was planning to bring the latest issue of *Jump Up* to appear on camera, not letting go of this promotional opportunity.

Lu Yan He pulled a group, pulled everyone in, and made a video call.

"Has anyone been to the desert before?" he asked.

Everyone said they hadn't been.

Lu Yan He: "What should we do then?"

Li Pengfei said: "It's okay, don't worry, I have already found a familiar guide, he will take us through the whole process. I have been to the protected area with him before, he is a very reliable person."

Lu Yan He: "Okay, then remember to tell him about the show filming in advance."

Li Pengfei: "I have already told him, he is very happy, he said he just wants to promote environmental protection and animal protection on the show."

Lu Yan He: "That's okay, no problem."

Lu Yan He had never gone out to play with everyone before. This was the first time, and there was an inexplicable excitement. 【331-30

Chen Ziyan could feel the happiness radiating from Lu Yan He.

Chen Ziyan couldn't help but smile and ask, "Are you that happy to be going out with your friends?"

"Never before, this is the first time," Lu Yan He said. "Besides, I've never been to a desert before; I can finally experience it for myself."

Chen Ziyan: "Is that so? Then you can have a good time. The Shangjing Desert is actually quite nice; it's well-developed and has hostels inside, so you won't be truly stranded."

Lu Yan He was astonished, "There are hostels inside the desert?"

"Yes, I've been there before. Someone built a few simple hostels inside. Of course, you could also have them set up tents for you, but in bad weather, tents don't work—they might even get blown away. It's safer to stay in a hostel," Chen Ziyan said. "That area is vast and sparsely populated; it really is suitable for you."

Hearing Chen Ziyan say this, Lu Yan He looked forward to this desert trip even more.

"By the way, Sister Ziyan, what did you come to see me about today?" It was only then that Lu Yan He remembered to ask Chen Ziyan.

Chen Ziyan knew that after he wrapped up filming, he had been busy with his own affairs, and she hadn't arranged any work for him in the near future, just wanting him to get some good rest.

Chen Ziyan coming to see him suddenly meant she likely had something serious to discuss.

Sure enough, Chen Ziyan nodded and said, "There is indeed something to discuss with you. One thing is the Hexi Film Festival. Arctic Light Video will announce our cooperation plan at the festival's event. They also want to announce the two projects, *Lost on Journey* and *My Own Swordsman*, together to make a splash. Of course, this requires you to cooperate and stand on stage; after all, you are the screenwriter for both shows."

Lu Yan He nodded and said, "No problem, that's fine. I'll just cooperate with their schedule."

"Mm, the second thing." Chen Ziyan smiled and asked, "Did you send the script for *Rouge* to Director Wang Zhong?"

Lu Yan He nodded and said, "I previously sent the scripts for *Rouge* and *Raise the Red Lantern* to Director Wang Zhong to look at. He said he could help me revise them. Why?"

Chen Ziyan: "Chen Ling was asking me about it earlier, asking if you guys had found a director for the *Rouge* script."

"Ah?" Lu Yan He said, "It's always been Sister Bige handling it. Wasn't she wanting to go to the Hexi Film Festival to see if there were any suitable opportunities?"

"I suspect Director Wang Zhong wants to direct this film," Chen Ziyan said. "You have to know, Director Wang Zhong has always liked these kinds of supernatural themes. The script you wrote is right up his alley."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yan He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Is he really willing to be the director? That would be great, of course."

Chen Ziyan: "Don't be in such a rush to agree. After all, he is a famous director now. If he comes on as director, who will have the final say on this project? You, Chen Bige, or Wang Zhong? There are many things to coordinate and communicate; it's not that simple."

Lu Yan He asked, "If Director Wang Zhong were to be the director, Sister Bige should be willing, right?"

"Bige would certainly be willing, but this isn't something that can be forced just because both sides are willing. In short, the bigger the star, the harder it is to cooperate. There are too many concerns and factors to consider for each party; it's hard for anyone to compromise for someone else," Chen Ziyan said. "Of course, this is all for later. We can sit down and chat first to see how much of a foundation there is for everyone to cooperate on this film."

Lu Yan He nodded, "That's true. I never thought Director Wang Zhong would be willing to direct a film like this. After all, while it's not that commercial, it's also not the kind of film with a lot of humanistic color. In a way, it has quite a bit of realistic critical significance."

"Does Wang Zhong's film lack critical significance?" Chen Ziyan said. "He just rarely films modern dramas. Your film is a modern drama, which is indeed rare for him. But looking at the script, although it has a modern background, it's 'eerie and gloomy,' not at all like a modern story."

Lu Yan He thought to himself, that's because the original work of this film has an "eerie and gloomy" atmosphere.

Chen Ziyan said: "Chen Ling said that Director Wang Zhong wants to chat with you about this later."

"Okay." Lu Yan He nodded.

Chen Ziyan: "The Jingtai side has been contacting us during this time; they are preparing to launch the second season of *Friends*."

"Then... let them launch it," Lu Yan He said. "That's a logical progression, but it has nothing to do with me."

Chen Ziyan: "Mm, I'm just letting you know. Once the second season officially launches, I expect the number of people coming to you for information will surge."

Lu Yan He smiled.

"They are preparing to air *Seventeen Layers* in July. Jiang Lan is booking your schedule with me in advance to promote this drama."

"No problem."

"You'll have to appear on Jingtai's programs too, you know."

"No problem," Lu Yan He said, "I just don't want to participate in *."

Chen Ziyan: "I thought you didn't even want to step foot into Jingtai." "I don't have that kind of ability right now, let's wait a bit longer," Lu Yan He smiled. "Sister Ziyan, keep it up, let's strive to have the confidence to not enter Jingtai's doors in the future."

Chen Ziyan: "That will be very, very difficult. One still needs to be realistic; they are, after all, an old-school behemoth."

Lu Yan He nodded.

That night, Lu Yan He held another livestream.

Before reading, Lu Yan He happily shared the news of his upcoming trip with everyone.

"I won't tell everyone where I'm going. I've been a bit tired lately, and it's not easy to finally have a chance to go out privately with friends," Lu Yan He said, his eyes shining as he spoke of it. "I won't be livestreaming then; I'll livestream again when I have time after I return."

The chat room was filled with strings of "66666" and comments like "I'll be sad if I don't see you for so long."

Ever since He Lan set up the relevant rules as she had planned, the people posting spam ads in the chat room were basically eliminated. If one appeared occasionally, He Lan would directly ban their posting rights—with the number reduced to single digits, it was much easier for He Lan to manage.

After finishing this, Lu Yan He began to read.

This time, he was reading a new book sent to him by Jiang Yin Publishing, a new book by Mingyin, a coming-of-age story about a class crisis triggered by a girl's disappearance—still a coming-of-age story.

The book hadn't been officially released yet; Jiang Yin sent Lu Yan He an advance reading copy.

Now, more and more authors were coming to cooperate with Lu Yan He, and more and more authors were publishing articles in *Jump Up*, but Liu Jiazhen and Mingyin were relatively special existences.

They were the first to know Lu Yan He and the first to befriend him.

When Lu Yan He needed their help, they all unhesitatingly provided manuscripts for the first issue of *Jump Up*.

For this reason, although neither of them had signed a contract with the *Jump Up* company, Chen Siqi had always treated them as the most prioritized authors for *Jump Up*, giving them the best treatment.

Mingyin's novel was not serialized in *Jump Up*, but Chen Siqi made a trial reading booklet for the first three chapters of her novel, which was distributed with the latest issue of *Jump Up* to help her with related promotion.

She was the first author to enjoy this kind of treatment.

That was also why Lu Yan He was reading this book in the livestream room that night.

This was Lu Yan He's last livestream before setting off for Shangjing.

The next day, Lu Yan He took his packed suitcase and set off with Linyu for Shangjing.

Zou Dong accompanied them.

Of course, Xin Zixing also brought her team along.

This group was quite large, and it was hard not to attract attention.

However, Lu Yan He was used to it, while Linyu was a bit unaccustomed, immediately taking out a mask to put on.

She said: "I didn't even wear makeup today, why are they filming from the moment we set off?"

Lu Yan He said: "That's how they are, filming as much material as possible so that there's more room to work with when editing later."

Linyu said: "Fine, after all, I'm also a loyal fan of *City Travelogue*, so I won't say anything."

They arrived in Shangjing and went to the meeting point to join everyone.

The meeting point was a local restaurant.

The two of them were the first to arrive; Li Pengfei would arrive in two hours, while Chen Qin and Xu Zijun would arrive in four hours, and Chen Siqi would be the latest, arriving in five hours.

Lu Yan He and Linyu left their things at the restaurant, had a simple meal, and started strolling around the small town of Shangjing.

Their main goal was to enter the desert, but since they were free for now, strolling around the main urban area was quite nice.

This place was very different from most of the cities they had seen.

"It really is sparsely populated and quite desolate."

Although the Shangjing Desert is a very famous desert, not many people actually come here to play.

Walking on the road, there were only a few people in sight, occasionally catching a glimpse of someone from afar.

Only in places like restaurants and convenience stores would you see some people gathered together.

Linyu searched online and said: "It says there is a very famous ancient temple in Shangjing. Should we go take a look? They say that ancient temple has a history of five hundred years."

Lu Yan He was very interested in such old buildings, so he nodded immediately and went with Linyu.

Unexpectedly, he ran into Sister Qiu Ling there, as well as Professor Zhou Shuyu, whom he had met once before.

Zhou Shuyu was wearing a sun hat, dressed like an off-roader, carrying a large backpack, and was carefully examining a stone tablet at the entrance of the ancient temple.

Qiu Ling stood behind him, using her phone to film the deep blue, clear sky above.

"Sister Qiu Ling!" Lu Yan He called out in surprise.

Both Qiu Ling and Zhou Shuyu turned their heads in surprise.

Lu Yan He walked over, his face full of surprise, "This is too coincidental! We actually ran into each other here!"

Qiu Ling also looked at him with equal surprise, saying: "Are you here to play too?"

"Mm, I arranged a desert trip with Li Pengfei and the others; they are all my high school classmates," Lu Yan He said. "This is Linyu, our grade's top student, now studying at Yuming University."

Qiu Ling nodded at Linyu and said: "I know you, the top student from Little Lu's class."

Linyu said "Hello, sister," but her expression was inexplicably strange, and she then called out "Professor Zhou" to Zhou Shuyu.

Zhou Shuyu showed a surprised expression upon seeing Linyu, "Linyu."

Lu Yan He and Qiu Ling were stunned.

This world is quite small.

You know me, I know him, he knows her.

The few of them looked at each other.

Zhou Shuyu noticed the production team filming them from behind, paused, and asked Lu Yan He: "Are you filming a program?"

Lu Yan He immediately explained.

Upon hearing that they were the filming team for *City Travelogue*, Zhou Shuyu looked enlightened, nodded, and said: "I've watched this program and quite like it. It's rare to see this kind of program. So you and Linyu are high school classmates."

He looked at Qiu Ling again, "When we saw him last time, why didn't you tell me you knew him too?"

Qiu Ling smiled and said: "It's just that I didn't want to explain why I know a celebrity."

Lu Yan He said: "Sister Qiu Ling sent me two banners for my act of bravery."

Zhou Shuyu looked enlightened.