Master Ha Xing had concluded that Gu Wei was angry with him about the reunion.
As a good friend who knew when to apologise, he proceeded to make lunch for the both of them.
With the packets of ramen stacked to the brim on their shelves, Ha Xing guessed Gu Wei was in need of some home-cooked meal, and he would use this chance to get back into his roommate's good graces.
However, when had a plan ever progressed so smoothly in life?
The moment Ha Xing turned on the stove, Gu Wei zipped past him in full attire, and the door clicked shut in his wake.
Ha Xing had only been able to see the edge of his coat with how fast Gu Wei was, and before he could say anything, the person he was cooking for was gone.
Ha Xing didn't give up on his preparation either way.
He went on with it and left Gu Wei's portion in the fridge.
Meanwhile, Gu Wei arrived at his destination and noticed the company's name written in big blocks on top of the building for the first time.
He was always in a rush whenever he came, but it seemed today, he'd managed to slow down time.
The Happy Hour Ent. [HHE] was painted in gold that grew darker with every word, and the last three were almost completely black.
Gu Wei didn't have time to stare, so he entered through the revolver doors and proceeded to torture.
The day went the same as last time, albeit with a few differences.
Gu Wei had his notebook now, or, to be correct, Zhai Mei's portable notepad acted as a savior, and Gu Wei was finally able to take notes and share his thoughts.
The first thing he noticed was the strange way the female lead was portrayed.
They said she was a quiet person, but then she was the loudest in her family.
She struggled to voice her emotions, but then she was the first to confess to the male lead.
She relied on sign language to communicate, but scenes with her mouthing words overrode that with her using CSL.
It was like a character already existed, then they'd hurriedly painted the other tropes over just for the sake of it.
Did Fu Yuan know this was how the script was?
Not sure if he should point out the loopholes or not, Gu Wei dilly-dallied on this for the duration of the meeting and only talked when Miss Li had dismissed the lot.
Gu Wei's overview was met with silence, as most of his speech was, and he regretted the decision to say a thing immediately.
Miss Li's frown was deeper than usual.
"The job of screenwriter isn't yours, Mr. Gu. I don't see why you would have a problem with the script."
Sifting through the bulk of papers to find the mistakes, Gu Wei said.
"I don't have a problem with it. It's just… The lead's character seems to be contradicting itself. One moment, she's quiet. The next, she'd the loudest. And here…"
Gu Wei flipped to the page.
"Page 45, it says she hesitated with communicating her emotions out loud, but in the next scene, she's telling the male lead she likes him first."
Miss Li and the others opened the script to the same page.
Gu Wei got ready to face the scolding of his life when SB spoke up.
"Miss Li, Mr. Gu is right. Ever since I laid eyes on this script I saw all sorts of wrongness, like the ones Mr. Gu stated just now. But I didn't say anything because it was a short film with the tendency for few views and Miss Li kept emphasising we do the barest minimum."
The others agreed with the sentiment, surprising Gu Wei.
He jumped in to point out the script's numerous shortcomings with them, and the real discussion began.
What exactly was wrong with the script?
SB fervently fixed that with a simple explanation.
The story was focused on a character that would grow as the story progressed, hence the contradicting scenes, but the problem?
There was no defining factor. The female lead wants to grow. Fine.
She wants to be able to communicate her feelings without the restrictions of her mind and nature. Also fine.
Then what would push her to do such a thing? Her feelings for the male lead?
That was too fickle, not enough.
The problem with the script was the lack of structure, backstory, and personal factors that would push the character to grow.
With that understanding, the group of people looked to Miss Li with hopeful eyes, and when they were permitted with another scowl, sighed and went to work fixing the jumble of a story.
This was the first time Gu Wei had ever done something like this, and his hand flew across his notepad as they rearranged everything.
SB advised fixing the scenes instead of dipping all hands in it all at first, but then they realised they couldn't fix the scenes if the story wasn't intact.
They all paused for a second.
Were they genuinely going to replan the whole damn script because a newbie hadn't been able to overlook things?
Also, they all weren't screenwriters, save for SB. Gu Wei felt guilty.
Ironically, Director JJ was the one who dismissed their thoughts, saying it was their responsibility.
The team got to work.
Miss Li sat in her chair at the head of the council with her feet propped on the desk, throwing ideas this way and that, most of which were nonsensical.
They bid her to stop in the end when she said the female lead could be the heir to a water dragon clan.
Gu Wei thought about the idea for a second before remembering they weren't making a fantasy film.
He almost threw a scrunched-up paper at her like Ha Xing.
Gu Wei had expected the planning to be bland as everything had been up until that point, but to his surprise, it was fun.
The seven of them were enjoying themselves as they jumped ideas around and built the character they had all been secretly envisioning in their mind's eye.
Pride welled up in Gu Wei's chest when he got complimented for his keen memory for recalling the smallest things. From a supporting character's name to a previously dismissed story idea.
Smoothing out the edges of his new notebook, Gu Wei hid his smile and silently thanked Zhai Mei for her good luck paper.
Gu Wei had his original notebook with him, but he was exchanging it with Zhai Mei's for the remainder of the campaign… film.
Gu Wei worked with his new co-workers, offering his thoughts when needed, and supporting any ideas that fitted the theme.
Slowly but surely this Sign Language Instructor was incorporating himself into the team of introverts.
By the time they managed to dislocate themselves from the high-backed chairs and trudge downstairs to the cafeteria, all seven brains were liquified.
Director JJ, who was always enthusiastic about food, just stared dazedly into space.
SB's glasses had been tossed into Gu Wei's tote bag alongside Miss Li's heels.
HB's sweater, which he'd taken off in the heat of discussion, and was now sporting a rumpled, thin T-shirt.
JC and GP were supporting each other with equally indisposed legs.
Meanwhile, Gu Wei… Gu Wei had slowed down considerably.
His hands used five seconds before they reached the floor number in the elevator, and another five passed before he managed to press down on it.
Gu Wei now understood why SB had left the script the way it was in the first place.
This was torture. Planning was torture.
Gu Wei now had high respect for writers, even the one that had originally written 'The Glow Of Hua Hua', their short film.
Miss Li managed to extract her black card and hand it to Gu Wei, who gazed at her for a good ten seconds before reaching for the card.
As usual, another ten seconds was used in the process of transferring the card to Gu Wei's hands.
The newbie ordered the food, which took a whole of ten minutes, and the team of 'The Glow Of Hua Hua' slumped on their respective foamy chairs.
On the ones they had occupied before, and nibbled on their food.
This was how Fu Yuan found the team of snails when she arrived.
She plopped next to Gu Wei the way she'd done on the first day.
"You guys… What's wrong? What happened? Why're you all looking like zombies? SB Jie, where's your glasses? HB-ah, what happened to your clothes? And Li Fan…"
Fu Yuan gaped at Miss Li's feet in Crocs, her expression that of someone seeing human anatomy for the first time.
"…Li Fan, your shoes…?"
SB moved her hands to answer Fu Yuan's question, the movement so slow you would think she was removing something from her person to show Fu Yuan.
Instead, she pointed a hand at Gu Wei, who replied with another slow-moving point at Miss Li.
They were shifting the blame.
SB blamed Gu Wei for their condition, while Gu Wei blamed Miss Li for overlooking the broken script in the first place.
Fu Yuan watched this interaction for a moment, then smacked Miss Li on the head with such strength it echoed.
The sound was so shocking that they all jumped in their seats and recovered their senses.
Fu Yuan's smack worked wonders, and Miss Li finally told Fu Yuan about the script problem, to which the actress replied, all the while eyeing them all like aliens.
"You do know we're filming next week, right?"
Gu Wei's eyes widened at this. Filming starts next week?!