Depressive Screenwriter

July 31st, Friday.

After a busy day, Xia Wenhao was in luck today. He completed his work smoothly, didn't have to work overtime, and left the company at six in the afternoon.

Normally, he would take the subway directly home, order takeout for dinner, catch up on Friday night dramas, and go straight to sleep.

But today, he went straight to the movie theater near his company.

Upon entering, it wasn't exactly packed, but compared to usual, the cinema was at least twice as crowded.

The promotional posters for the three blockbuster summer movies already released, "Gun Grave", "Firefly", and "Superpower Girlfriend", had been moved to the corner.

Today, the cinema mainly promoted the six new releases.

The romance movie "Cape", the youth movie "Art Student", the romance movie "The Garden of Words", the comedy movie "Otter", the fantasy movie "Tree Mystery", and the horror movie "Blood Mirror".

These six films were all medium-budget movies with investment plus promotion funds not exceeding 70 million. Judging by the investment alone, it wasn't a lot, but many first and second-tier movie stars participated or made friendly appearances. Moreover, the film industry market had been somewhat sluggish recently, and many movie fans were experiencing a "drama drought". Seeing six movies being released at the same time, they all came out to check things out.

However, Xia Wenhao's goal was clear.

7 PM, "The Garden of Words".

He had already bought the ticket in advance, exchanged it, and sat quietly in the theater seat, waiting for the movie to start.

Online, Su Yan's fans were all active at this time.

They were everywhere on various film and television forums, posting information related to "The Garden of Words".

"Twenty minutes until the screening."

"Excited!"

"No matter what the plot is, just having Su Yan and Gu Qingyuan is worth the price of admission!"

"A 9% screening share on the first day, ranking third among the movies released today. I hope the box office ranking of 'The Garden of Words' today can also be third!"

"Don't be so humble. Third in screenings doesn't necessarily mean third in box office. Maybe it will be second or first?"

"Tonight is very important. The box office is secondary. The most crucial things are the occupancy rate and word-of-mouth. As long as the occupancy rate and word-of-mouth are good enough, the screenings will increase tomorrow!"

Xia Wenhao scrolled through related information on his phone, his mood gradually becoming cheerful.

Many of Su Yan's fans also frequently followed movies. Su Yan's investment in this movie wasn't too big. Perhaps it was his first movie, and he didn't expect a very impressive box office result.

But the fans certainly didn't think so.

They might curse him on weekdays, but when it really came down to it, they definitely didn't want Su Yan to lose.

Soon, at 6:55 PM.

Xia Wenhao and a group of people waiting for "The Garden of Words" to start lined up to have their tickets checked and enter the theater.

As soon as he entered the theater, Xia Wenhao found himself sandwiched between two couples, and at least half of the seats in the theater were occupied, and...

Most of the people in the theater were couples.

As a single dog, Xia Wenhao felt a little uncomfortable.

What happened to Su Yan's fans all being single dogs?

What happened to his movies being highly likely to be depressing, and not recommended for couples to watch?

Why are there so many couples here?

His mentality was a little broken, and Xia Wenhao, sandwiched between two couples, began to feel uncomfortable.

But before Xia Wenhao could finish complaining in his heart, the lights in the theater went out. First, a bunch of cinema ads were shown, and then, after a pause, a huge screen displayed...

A beautiful, lush green picture appeared.

When Su Yan's voice-over sounded, Xia Wenhao felt relieved.

This was the feeling.

Don't think about anything else, focus on watching the show.

The camera kept switching.

A moving train.

Busy crowds.

The crowd in the car, the male protagonist Takao Akizuki's inner monologue.

And that Shinkai Makoto-style framing...

Xia Wenhao's mood gradually calmed down.

"I feel like the sky is within reach, so I like rainy days. Often on rainy mornings, I no longer transfer to the subway and turn around to walk out of the station."

While the high school teenager played by Su Yan's inner monologue sounded, he walked out of the station with an umbrella.

He came to a park with lush green trees, a huge artificial lake, and the misty rain and fog on the lake in June...

The camera pulled up, showing the scene of the teenager holding an umbrella walking towards the small pavilion deep in the park.

Xia Wenhao took a deep breath and opened his eyes wide.

So beautiful.

As expected of a movie, the picture quality is completely different from that of a TV series.

The teenager who came to the pavilion found that there was also a woman here.

A beautiful woman who came to the pavilion on a rainy day, drinking beer and eating chocolate.

Her expression was relaxed, with a faint smile, as if she was full of secrets.

Gu Qingyuan.

Xia Wenhao perked up.

Less than three minutes into the movie, the male and female protagonists had all appeared.

The two people sheltering from the rain in the pavilion, one holding a beer can and looking at the misty lake, not knowing what they were thinking.

The other took out a drawing board and drew shoe design drawings on the paper.

The teenager and the woman were inadvertently watching each other out of the corner of their eyes.

"This person seems familiar."

The teenager thought so in his heart.

Xia Wenhao immediately remembered this monologue. Generally speaking, this kind of inexplicable words in the early stage of a movie might be foreshadowing.

Saying that they seemed familiar, it proved that they must have met before, but they had forgotten.

"Maybe it's from a previous life! In a previous life, Tomoe Yukishiro and Kenshin Himura met, and now they have a sense of familiarity."

The girl next to her whispered to her boyfriend.

Xia Wenhao didn't think it was noisy when he heard it, but instead felt that it would be great if it were true.

The eraser used by the teenager to draw fell on the ground, and the woman bent down to pick it up and handed it to the teenager with a smile.

After this incident, the silence between the two was broken.

The male protagonist, Takao Akizuki, asked the woman if they had met before.

But the woman drank beer, put a chocolate in her mouth, and first said that she had not met.

But then she seriously paid attention to the male protagonist's drawing behavior. At a certain moment, a look of realization seemed to appear on her face.

She picked up her bag and stood up.

Outside the pavilion, the heavy rain was continuous, and lightning flashed across the sky.

"Perhaps, we have really met."

The woman said with a meaningful smile on her face.

"Faint thunder rumbles, the sky is overcast, but I hope for wind and rain to come and keep you here!"

The woman left with an umbrella, recited a short poem, and left.

Seeing this, a group of people in the theater had entered the state.

It seems to be a completely different style from ordinary romance movies!

Xia Wenhao opened his eyes wide.

Originally, judging from the trailer, he thought it was a campus romance because he found that the male protagonist was a student.

Unexpectedly, the male protagonist was actually a student who skipped class and went to the park pavilion to draw shoe design drawings whenever it rained.

This is too relaxed!

Are high school students in Sakura Island so happy?

In the mainland, this kind of behavior would require parents to be called!

And this short poem... the movie's style has suddenly gone up.

Was it created by the old thief Su Yan?

He really has talent!

The movie continued to play.

It began to introduce the family situation of the male protagonist, Takao Akizuki.

A single-parent family, the mother is still pursuing love at an old age, willful but cute.

There is a calm older brother who is already working.

As for the male protagonist, he is also not interested in his studies, focusing on shoe design, and preparing to move towards the path of a handmade shoe maker after graduation.

After returning home, he also asked his brother about the meaning of that short poem.

Go to school on sunny days.

But, on rainy days, skip class.

Another rainy day...

The teenager came to that park again, came to that pavilion, and met that woman.

Once acquainted, twice familiar.

The two chatted.

One skipped class on a rainy day, the other skipped work.

This time, after the two separated again, the woman said with a smile.

"Goodbye, maybe we will meet again, on a rainy day."

Seeing this, Xia Wenhao already liked the setting of this movie in his heart.

The rhythm is very slow, but it is very comfortable.

Whether it is the male protagonist's personality or the female protagonist, they are different from the conventional romance movies in Xia Country.

And the woman's words are like an agreement between the two.

Meet on rainy days.

Not knowing each other's identity, name, or family situation, just a woman and a teenager who like to skip work and class, and a rainy day meeting agreement.

It happened to be June, the plum rain season arrived.

This is simply the encounter with a beauty that a teenager in puberty is most looking forward to!

Xia Wenhao felt itchy watching it.

This kind of oncoming youthful atmosphere, sure enough, is only so obvious in Su Yan's works.

More than 80% of the movie's shots are of overcast skies and the rainy season. The depressing scenes should have brought Xia Wenhao and the movie's male protagonist, Takao Akizuki, a sense of expectation.

Because when it rains, you can see her.

Gradually, Akizuki told the woman about his life ambitions and his dream of becoming a shoemaker.

Gradually, the teenager was attracted to the woman.

"Every morning when I wake up, I pray for rainy days. She is so far away to me. In my opinion, she seems to represent all the secrets in this world... Only two things are clear. To her, fifteen-year-old me is just a child! Next, only shoemaking can take me to where I truly belong."

On the other side, the movie screen switched to the heroine.

She stood in front of the subway looking at the train door, but she was slow to take that step, but turned around and continued to come to the park, came to that pavilion.

Xia Wenhao was touched in his heart when he saw this.

Although there was not a single line that explicitly stated it, he could read the meaning in the woman's eyes.

I don't want to go to work...

It's not that I'm tired of work, but that I'm tired of the working environment...

Judging from the previous plot, she is not socially awkward, so the reason is very simple.

The place where I work probably has people I hate.

Unconsciously, the two couples on the left and right sides of Xia Wenhao who liked to discuss the plot also gradually stopped discussing.

Thank you for the snow cigars inserted in the pipe, and the super-electromagnetic fireworks and light music rewards, thank you boss!