Drifting on a String - Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Chen Piaopiao had acted in a short drama scene about a long-awaited reunion. The director at the time had asked her to gasp, widen her eyes, and drop the cup in her hand, letting it shatter.

Followed by a close-up of the glass shards trembling on the floor.

Only now did she realize that seeing someone from the past was like accidentally biting into an unripe plum.

Sour. Your whole mouth would pucker, and then you'd discreetly swallow, trying to force down the astringency.

Blinking just a couple of times, Chen Piaopiao nodded to the team. "Hello, everyone."

She glanced around. No cameras. So it really was just a script reading.

"Ah~" a young woman tilted her head, clasping her hands beside her face. "So pretty~~~"

The atmosphere instantly livened up. People pulled up chairs, and laughter broke out.

Tao Jin stood up, brushed off her pants, wiped her hands with a tissue, lowered the projection screen, and turned to check the equipment.

The person sitting next to her before was the head writer, Arick. She had short hair with bangs resting above her eyebrows—a rather avant-garde and distinctive face. The name wasn't a common English one; it seemed randomly put together, but it somehow suited her contradictory appearance.

She sat down next to Tao Jin and, with a drawl, glanced at Chen Piaopiao. "Hey, hey, hey."

Her voice was magnetic. Chen Piaopiao responded politely and naturally took the seat to her left.

She was a little nervous because the atmosphere was so relaxed. There was even a chubby guy in a T-shirt playing on his phone, which made Chen Piaopiao's carefully put-together appearance feel like a dried-out face mask, tight against her skin.

"Let me introduce everyone. This is our team for The Dreamer," Tao Jin said, looking up. Seeing that almost everyone was seated, she switched into work mode. "I'm the producer, Tao Jin."

Sunlight fell on the side of her face. She was smiling faintly.

Chen Piaopiao finally snapped out of her memories. That senior had grown up, after all. She said, "I'm the producer, Tao Jin," not "I'm Tao Jin."

"These are the members of my studio: Arick, in charge of text and devising; Tingting, our stage manager; A'Fay, who handles music composition; and Teacher Wu from the directing team." She looked down, glancing at the workflow. "And our lead actress, Chen Piaopiao, who will be with us for the entire script reading."

Chen Piaopiao put her sunglasses back in their case and handed it to her assistant.

The assistant opened her backpack, took out a notebook to prepare the meeting minutes, and accidentally pulled out a lighter along with it.

She quickly put it back.

It was a necessary tool for an assistant's job. Sometimes when they were filming in the middle of nowhere and couldn't find a paper shredder or a special marker to redact information, they would use a lighter to burn things like delivery slips or documents containing personal information.

The PowerPoint was quickly set up. Tao Jin didn't rush into the main topic, instead playing a song first: "As the World Caves In."

This was a work habit of theirs. A rich, languid voice drifted from the speakers. An undercurrent stirred in the relaxed atmosphere, turning the light into the shifting shadows of a stage.

The music volume was turned down, and everyone instinctively opened their laptops and scripts.

Amid the sound of turning pages, Tao Jin's gentle voice began: "Our play this time combines the devised theatre model, which is quite common in British theatre, with the foundation of a traditional theatrical work. It only took a few months to go from project approval to a finished text, and all the stage content will be adjusted at any time during the devising and rehearsal process. Therefore, everyone here will be very deeply involved in the creation of this play."

"That includes the directing team, the writing team, the acting team, the stage design team, and the music team."

Chen Piaopiao looked at the neatly arranged words on the script, mentally cataloging Tao Jin's voice.

A voice like the deep sea, carrying an all-encompassing echo. It was gentler and more composed than before, yet also more decisive and crisp.

"Piaopiao." Tao Jin suddenly called her name.

It was as if the voice had traveled through time.

"Yes?" Chen Piaopiao looked up, meeting Tao Jin's gaze.

Tao Jin's eyelashes fluttered as she said unhurriedly, "Over the next couple of days, you'll need to go back and watch Mantaray. It's a classic one-act play. One of the scenes in our show will use a similar creative format, where for about ten minutes, you'll be sitting on stage simulating a phone call that transitions into a self-introduction."

"Hmm…" She looked down, thinking. "However, our live music and lighting cues will be richer, and we'll present more scenes."

Mantaray… Which English letters were those again? The assistant thought, typing while glancing sideways at Chen Piaopiao.

Chen Piaopiao didn't know either.

"M-A-N-T-A-R-A-Y," Tao Jin spelled out softly, looking at the PowerPoint. Then she looked up at Chen Piaopiao and smiled. "You didn't do your homework."

Her tone was still gentle, but Tingting said nothing, and Arick sat up straight and cleared her throat twice.

Tao Jin was a little displeased. They could tell.

It was expected that an actor crossing over from another field would lack some professional knowledge, and Tao Jin was famously demanding of professionalism, so a breaking-in period was foreseeable. What was unusual was that Tao Jin was very tactful and had never pointed something like this out so directly, especially not during the very first script reading.

The young assistant had never witnessed such a scene and was scared to death. Her hands hovered over the keyboard, unsure if she should even keep typing, and she opened her mouth, about to apologize.

But Tao Jin smoothed it over in a warm voice. "It's fine. A small issue."

She curved her lips into a slight smile and continued, "There aren't many actors on stage for the entire play, which is why only one actor is attending the reading. Besides the female lead and a few supporting characters who appear in various life scenes, there is one male lead who mainly appears in the first half of the play. Additionally, towards the end of the play, a 'mirror' will be designed on stage. Tingting."

"Here!" Tingting raised her hand, pretending to be a primary school student.

Tao Jin laughed. "Not a real mirror, just a frame. Inside will be another actor, playing the female lead's reflection. She won't speak, but will use her body to express the lead's inner world."

Her gaze fell, landing on Chen Piaopiao again. "She's your understudy."

Understudy means…

"If your condition isn't good, she will replace you at any time."

The young assistant sucked in a sharp breath. The main and the understudy would be on stage at the same time.

"When a role involves a large number of lines, vocal condition is very important. So, don't smoke," Tao Jin said softly, clicking to the next slide.

"I don't smoke."

Chen Piaopiao and Tao Jin finally had their first real conversation. She looked at Tao Jin, but Tao Jin wasn't looking at her.

"And don't eat spicy food," Tao Jin added, blinking thoughtfully.

Chen Piaopiao loved spicy food.

"Got it."

Chen Piaopiao's heart clenched.

Tao Jin's two sentences were aimed at different people. One was for the Chen Piaopiao of the past three years, after they had separated. The other was for the Chen Piaopiao from when they were still together.

—I know you love spicy food, but I don't know if you've started smoking since we broke up.

She could only guess based on the lighter that had accidentally fallen out just now.

Proximity between people is defined by "knowing," and distance by "not knowing."

There was a stretch of blank time after that. Neither of them spoke. Tao Jin silently flipped through the script, while Chen Piaopiao stared at the meeting minutes her assistant was writing.

The rare pause in the meeting room was like a "silent scene" in a play, using a brief moment of quiet to test the audience's endurance while increasing the stage's tension.

This half-minute between Chen Piaopiao and Tao Jin was increasing the tension of memory and testing the endurance of reality.

Perhaps seeing an ex always comes with a moment of speechlessness, like a mourning for the past. It was just that Chen Piaopiao and Tao Jin had placed this necessary part of their reunion after their professional exchange.

Half a minute later, the slide changed, and her face was once again placid.

Tao Jin explained things meticulously and professionally, while the other colleagues chimed in casually. The whole creative and collaborative process was very comfortable. Chen Piaopiao thought, Next time, I won't bring my assistant. She seems rather out of place. Besides, if I type the notes myself, I'll have something to do during certain unexpected moments.

By the time the meeting ended, it was already past lunchtime. The colleagues wearily packed up their things, dragging and kicking their chairs—habits not much different from their school days.

Arick stood up and asked Tao Jin, who was organizing her materials, "Dinner tonight?"

"For what?"

"To celebrate the team forming. A welcome dinner."

"There's no budget for that." Tao Jin leaned against the table, tilting her head.

"You might as well carry an abacus around with you," Arick poked her. "My treat, alright?"

"I'm not going. I'm tired," Tao Jin said softly.

Chen Piaopiao tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Her assistant asked if she wanted to put on her sunglasses. Chen Piaopiao glanced out the window and said no, the sun was gone.

"Aiya, let me give you a massage." Arick draped an arm over Tao Jin's shoulder, gave her a couple of perfunctory squeezes, and with that, the matter was settled. She immediately turned to call out to the others who hadn't left yet, "Let's go! Barbecue and drinks!"

They were all young people, so of course they loved a lively gathering. The young assistant looked at Chen Piaopiao.

Arick asked, "Does the female celebrity eat?"

"Pfft," Fay laughed out loud and threw a tissue at her. "What the hell, 'female celebrity.'"

Chen Piaopiao glanced at Tao Jin. Arick's arm was still around Tao Jin's neck, but Tao Jin's lips twitched. It looked like she was smiling, but maybe not.

"What?" Arick said matter-of-factly, holding the tissue in one hand. "Some female celebrities just don't eat."

She lowered her voice. "That one from the team next door, she counts her grains of rice."

She turned her hand over, palm up, and held it in front of her chest, as if in disbelief. "Thirty grains per meal."

"For real?" Tingting craned her neck.

With the meeting over, the professional thespians shed their skins, reverting to their chattering, gossipy true selves.

Arick raised her eyebrows. "Ask Tao Jin."

"I don't know. I don't gossip," Tao Jin said breezily.

Arick found her boring and turned to ask Chen Piaopiao, "So? Are you eating?"

"Yes," Chen Piaopiao agreed. After a slight pause, she added, "But I can't eat anything spicy."

The producer had given her instructions.

Tao Jin blinked, her gaze fixed on the floor.

"We'll order non-spicy for you. Let's go." Arick linked arms with Tao Jin and led the way out.

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