September.
Back-to-school season.
Su Xiaoling, dragging two large dark circles under her eyes, slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed to school.
A student's life, everyone has experienced it: a pen, a lamp, one night, a miracle.
However, Su Xiaoling was more formidable than most, for in addition to these, she also had her second aunt's stick.
"Wuwuwu... I don't want to go to school!"
Su Xiaoling cried and shouted all the way.
Her second aunt chased after her.
"This child has run wild all summer," Zhang Guizhi shook her head.
"Children are like that. Although Xiaolinger is a bit playful, her grades are still quite good," Su Yu couldn't help but chuckle.
This child's logical analysis ability was top-notch, but it wasn't applied in the right way.
"Never mind her. Xiaoyu, when are you leaving?" Zhang Guizhi asked.
The fourth episode of "Era Music King" was only a few days away, but Su Yu had something to attend to and had to leave early.
Now that Su Yu was heading for the world stage, his mother Zhang Guizhi was very proud. Moreover, this month, apart from going to Kyoto to participate in the show, Su Yu had spent all his other time at home with her. Zhang Guizhi could feel Su Yu's concern for her, and besides pride, she felt a lot of comfort.
"I'm leaving in a moment," Su Yu glanced at his phone. Lin Yanyu had booked his flight, and the time was almost up.
Because "Mushroom House" was concluding, Lin Yanyu couldn't go with him.
The signed books for Mailin had arrived a while ago. Lin Yanyu gave some to friends and then, during her trip to "Mushroom House," she also gave them out as a concluding gift.
The remaining ones, Su Yu had asked Xinghui to prepare for a fan appreciation event and gave them away through a lottery.
"Then I'll take you to the airport first, and then go to the store," Zhang Guizhi tidied herself up and prepared to go out.
Her noodle restaurant with her relatives had now become a chain. Thanks to the investment from Gong Shixiong Catering, a family business of Gong Juren, their professional team managed the operations, and Zhang Guizhi only needed to wait for the dividends.
Now she could earn money without worrying, but Zhang Guizhi still had a habit: the very first store she had always managed herself, and she would go to the store every day to check on it.
"Alright then." Su Yu knew Zhang Guizhi's personality and didn't refuse her offer to take him. He then went back to his room to pack his things.
...
This trip to Japan, besides participating in "Era Music King," was also to meet Morita Yui from Nivi Entertainment.
The filming of "Initial D" was nearing completion, with only a few professional shots left. Post-production and background music were also on the agenda.
A few days ago, the other party had called, saying they wanted their company's Miyamoto Ze to compose the score for the movie, and even stated that for an internal price, a theme song would only cost eighty million, which Su Yu had flatly refused.
What a joke! Su Yu was confident this movie would achieve great success at the film festival, and the score and theme song had already been prepared during the preliminary filming.
Not to mention that Miyamoto Ze was considered his enemy, even if he wasn't, Su Yu wouldn't let him earn this money.
Su Yu was confident, but Morita Yui was not. In her opinion, Miyamoto Ze was Japan's most famous producer, having written theme songs for many anime, most of which became world-famous classic songs. Plus, he was from her own company, so letting him write the songs was the best choice.
Su Yu didn't say much about this but arranged to meet tomorrow evening.
Upon hearing that Su Yu was going to Japan, Morita Yui was overjoyed.
"Jiangnan-kun, I'll book the best hotel and await your arrival!"
She would finally meet this most mysterious screenwriter from China tomorrow evening.
Morita Yui was incredibly excited and anticipatory.
She didn't know that Su Yu was Jiangnan, and she mistakenly believed she was finally going to meet this incredibly mysterious screenwriter, making her eagerly anticipate the evening's meeting.
Su Yu closed his eyes to rest as soon as he got on the plane.
This time, he wasn't going directly to the Japanese capital but to Gunma Prefecture, where the film crew was located.
Akina Mountain was nearly two hundred kilometers from the Japanese capital.
It took about two hours to drive.
So Su Yu wasn't in a hurry.
His plan was to visit Zhang Yang and the others at the film crew first, and then go to the Japanese capital tomorrow to meet Morita Yui.
...
Akina Mountain.
Since the rise of car racing culture in Japan in the early days, it had become a paradise for many amateur racing enthusiasts.
Due to its unique terrain and complex curves, it became a natural racetrack.
The film crew of "Initial D" had been filming here for over a month.
During this time, it had also attracted many racing enthusiasts to observe. For this movie, Gu Qianqian had used real-life performances for all the racing scenes to enhance the audience's experience.
Of course, Zhang Yang and the others definitely couldn't perform drifting and other high-difficulty maneuvers. All such shots were handled by professional race car drivers, and then the actors would fill in the close-ups.
This approach not only provided the audience with the most realistic visual experience but also made the film more professional.
The downside was that it was extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive.
Because racing is such that it's very difficult to capture a perfect shot, coupled with Akina Mountain's inherently challenging roads, the progress of shooting racing scenes was very slow.
Inside the temporary tent set up by the film crew.
Director Gu Qianqian stared intently at the monitor.
Beside her, Zhang Yang and Zhang Qingyun also looked rather grim.
Just then, a middle-aged man in a racing suit walked in, took off his helmet, and grinned at Gu Qianqian, "Qianqian-chan, wasn't I doing pretty well just now?"
He wasn't particularly tall, and due to his helmet, the sparse few strands of hair on his bald head seemed to be his last bastion of dignity, interwoven in disarray.
The translator behind him translated his words.
"Yamamoto Hitoshi, what exactly do you want?" Gu Qianqian's brows furrowed. She took off her monitoring earphones and said impatiently.
Today was the last day of filming, and also the most challenging.
The shot being filmed was the few water-drain gutter cornering scenes, which were extremely difficult and few people in Japan could perform.
Yamamoto Hitoshi was recognized as the number one driver on Akina Mountain, which was why Gu Qianqian had sought him out to film these scenes.
However, after filming all day today, every shot had a flaw.
"No, I was driving very carefully, but for some reason, my feel for it just wasn't very good today." Yamamoto Hitoshi sat down casually next to Gu Qianqian and placed his helmet on the ground.
"You want more money?" Gu Qianqian cut straight to the chase.
"No, no, no." Yamamoto Hitoshi held up a finger and shook it, then looked at Gu Qianqian and chuckled, "If Qianqian-chan is willing to have dinner with me, perhaps it will inspire my fighting spirit, and maybe I'll get it right in one take."
"You!" Gu Qianqian's expression immediately darkened upon hearing this!
"Qianqian-jie, this bastard is taking the money and not doing the job. Let's find someone else!" Zhang Yang, with his fiery temper, almost gave Yamamoto Hitoshi a good smack. However, thinking they were on someone else's territory, he restrained himself. "Ptooey! You look ugly and have such beautiful fantasies. With your receding hairline and stupid face, you think you're worthy of having dinner with my sister?"
He was brothers with Su Yu, and Gu Qianqian was Su Yu's sister, so he naturally called her that.
The Japanese translator was completely bewildered by Zhang Yang's outburst.
He could understand the first half of the sentence, but what did the latter half mean?