Chapter 288: What brand of pig feed do you usually eat?_2
Ding dong.
Pei Muchan sent a message, "The moon's birthday is in two days, coming back for a get-together?"
The moment Xu Qingyan saw the message, he froze for a moment.
"A birthday party?"
"No, just a simple gathering." Pei Muchan replied quickly, "You know about her parents situation, so this year we're not planning on a birthday banquet."
"Oh, I know, sure."
Xu Qingyan agreed, and then took out his chat history with Shen Jinyue. He had been too busy lately and had forgotten to reply to her message; the conversation had stopped six days prior.
"Your birthday the day after tomorrow?"
Buzz! Shen Jinyue replied instantly.
"Hmmph! Who asks like that so directly?"
"Fine, I'll ask more tactfully." Xu Qingyan typed, "Report your birth date and time, I'll find someone to do your fortune-telling, see your rising sign."
Shen Jinyue: "????"
"Are the two things you mentioned the same?"
"Pretty much, I'm just asking casually." Xu Qingyan clack clack clacked away, "You know me, not usually fussed over details."
"So, there's a question I've always wanted to ask you, but I'm afraid to."
"What question?" Shen Jinyue sent an emoticon of speechlessness, "If it's about a gift, whatever you want to give is fine, I won't dislike it."
Xu Qingyan replied, "No, it's just a bit private... hard to say, after all, this kind of question..."
"Yikes, pervert!"
After a while, Shen Jinyue still replied.
"Just ask."
"Ah... You won't blow your top, will you? Or screenshot, record it and post it online, call the police or something." Xu Qingyan laughed while typing.
"Hmm, I'll think about it, if it's too perverted I'll..." Shen Jinyue threw a boxing emoticon, "punch you."
"So, shall I ask?"
"Go ahead."
"I just wanted to ask what brand of pig feed you usually eat? I just want to prepare a little."
Shen Jinyue: "...."
After teasing Shen Jinyue, Xu Qingyan laughed heartily and turned his attention back to work. The editing work in post-production was also quite tedious and required the director to be present.
Editing largely depended on the director's vision, with assistance and opinions from the co-producer Xu Qingyan. In fact, any disputed scenes were usually discussed and resolved between Xu Qingyan and Wei Wufeng.
Since the sitcom had few special effects and Xu Qingyan often made cuts, the content was fairly lean. Therefore, the post-production workload wasn't too heavy, but deciding where to make the cuts became the issue.
Scenes that Wei Wufeng wanted to retain, Xu Qingyan felt were so-so. Scenes Xu Qingyan thought were decent, Wei Wufeng couldn't stand and left his seat several times.
"Damn, do you have any taste at all?"
"You're such a bumpkin, talking about taste. That scene is worth keeping." Most of the time Xu Qingyan listened to Wei Wufeng, but with classic scenes, he would still argue his point.
Wei Wufeng looked at Xu Qingyan skeptically.
"Really?"
"Bet on it, write it down. If the audience doesn't like this scene, I'll wash my hair standing on my head." Xu Qingyan swore confidently, pointing to a particular scene involving Li Da Mouth.
"Fine, we'll keep it."
Two days later, Xu Qingyan took some time to celebrate Shen Jinyue's birthday.
Actually, there was no special reason, they had always maintained a good relationship. In between, Shen Jinyue had indeed helped him a lot, and it was only right, both emotionally and rationally, to go.
Shen Jinyue's birthday banquet wasn't big, just a few acquaintances. The Zhou Mian siblings, Pei Muchan, and Xu Qingyan, all together made up five people.
Originally Lin Wanzhou and Qi Ting could have come back, but due to work reasons, they had to postpone.
"Ting Ting is so busy, never has the time." Shen Jinyue knew that Pei Muchan and Lin Wanzhou didn't get along well, and didn't bring up Lin Wanzhou directly, instead, she mentioned Qi Ting.
"That's how it is for singers, busy at times, idle at others." Xu Qingyan smoothly joined the conversation, "By the way, I brought you a bag of pig feed, not sure if you'd like it."
Sure enough, Shen Jinyue immediately got all fired up, rattling on with her complaints to Pei Muchan about Xu Qingyan deliberately teasing her, crushing her self-esteem.
Hearing this, Xu Qingyan's eyebrows twitched. Crushing her self-esteem, now that she'd come up with that, this person must have some issues, if she kept going there'd certainly be trouble.
"That... I'll go get something, it's outside."
Having said that, he walked outside and soon came back with a large cake. The cake was chosen by Pei Muchan, costing nearly a thousand.
The rich ladies had no concept of expense; as long as it was well-made and tasty, it was fine.
"Wow! Such a beautiful cake!" Shen Jinyue clapped her hands together.
The cake indeed was beautiful. Considering there weren't many people, it had three layers in total. Extravagantly costly, they put on whatever looked good without a moment's hesitation.
"Happy Birthday, Moon." Pei Muchan smiled and gave Shen Jinyue a necklace that looked quite expensive.
Xu Qingyan didn't give an overly expensive gift; he had to consider the spending power of the Zhou siblings. Giving something too costly wouldn't be appropriate, as it might make others feel uncomfortable.
"What's this?" Shen Jinyue asked curiously.
"A children's watch, just right for your intelligence level." Xu Qingyan always had a sharp tongue.
"It's you who has the intelligence of a child! I'm smart, I got into university on my own!" Shen Jinyue puffed up, bragging slightly, "Hmph, I'm well aware of your educational background."
"Meh, not as high as mine."
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"Tsk, so what if you know." Xu Qingyan said, "Universities here in Xinghai, they require high scores back where I'm from; we're just not on the same starting line."
"Hmph!"
At the dinner table, the two of them played and joked, livening up the atmosphere.
Zhou Lili and Zhou Mian were talkative people to begin with; with a word from you and me, the conversation flowed. The birthday gathering for five felt as vibrant as if there were a dozen people.