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Before cooking, she wandered around with her phone, taking pictures and videos, and sent them to the four-person group chat with Ling Yao, assuring the director’s team not to spread them around.

After a short break, she started wandering around the vegetable garden, considering what to eat,

It’s still a bit cold in Beijing in March, but here it’s already about twenty degrees. The reason it felt a bit chilly when first arriving on the island might be because of standing in the wind.

Compared to the scarcity of vegetables in Beijing, many green vegetables in the yard here are already ready to eat, except for things like cucumbers, eggplants, and tomatoes, which may need a few more days before they’re edible. The green beans can be picked, and the vegetables in the plastic greenhouse are even more abundant, including watermelons, strawberries, and muskmelons. There are also mulberry trees, blueberries, apple trees, and peach trees planted in the yard. Outside the walls are climbing roses, all green, not yet blooming, but it is an extremely beautiful spring sight.

Reminded by the staff, she took the fish basket they prepared, put in some bait, went to the port, and found three or four places to throw the fish cages into the sea. If lucky, maybe by noon tomorrow, there would be fresh seafood to eat.

By the time she got home, the sky was almost dark. Seeing there were green vegetables, coriander, and dried kelp in the yard, she made some dough, rolled it out with a rolling pin, applied a layer of oil, and let it rest to absorb the moisture.

Then she opened the round lid under the coal stove, added water in the pot, and when the water boiled, she pulled the well-rested dough into threads and put it to cook on the water’s surface.

When the noodles were almost cooked, she added the soaked kelp, washed green vegetables into the pot to cook with the noodles, and finally, when taking them out of the pot, she added the marinated coriander and chopped scallion, gave it a big stir, and the simple version of hand-pulled noodles was done.

Even though she was alone, she made a big pot and invited the staff to eat. Her skilled technique left everyone awestruck and full of praise.

After dinner and washing up, there was a segment of a personal interview. She sat in the yard, and when the camera was on her, the director asked her.

"Are you from Yunan Province?"

"My ancestors are, Mom used to cook a lot when I was a kid, so I have the impression. During the pandemic at home, I tinkered around and learned a lot of local specialty dishes, which I often make and enjoy the process a lot, haha, just not too fond of washing dishes."

Hua Yan’s speech carried a strong Beijing accent, something she picked up growing up in Beijing, though she might not be aware of it herself. But the director’s team, spoiling the mood, asked a bold question: "Do you hate your father?"

Hua Yan looked calmly at the camera: "In those years when I needed him the most, I hated him, and not just him, also my grandparents. I often wondered why they didn’t raise me. Later, when I realized I could live well on my own, I stopped hating. However, not hating doesn’t mean forgiving. Before he let go of my hand, he asked me to call him Dad, and I did. His family didn’t accept his ashes, so I took them in because my mom loved him, so I buried him and my mom together, but I didn’t carve his name on the gravestone because he doesn’t deserve it."

"How do you view the online comments about you? How did you get through this low period?"

"They say what they want to say, I can pretend not to hear or see, because those vicious words would ruin my mood for the whole day, so I selectively disconnect from the internet. After all, this is my family’s business, they haven’t gone through what I’ve been through, so they have no right to judge in front of me. I am who I am; I won’t deny my innermost thoughts because of your opinions."

"I haven’t had a low period, from last year to this year, I’ve been living well. It doesn’t matter how others treat me, I have to maintain a correct mindset myself. If there are no works in film and television, then I study for the graduate school entrance examination, and I even got admitted. Losing this circle, I can create another one. In short, as long as I have the ability, I am not afraid of being eliminated by society. Women, after all, it’s better to be strong and independent. Aren’t modern women all like this?"

"Why did you choose to study screenwriting for your postgraduate studies instead of a piano major, which is unrelated to your specialty?"

Hua Yan just smiled: "Actually, it is related, it’s just that you don’t know it."

The conversation ended here, unwilling to say more—what’s the meaning, you can figure it out yourself.

The confidence radiating between her brows surprised the production team, something they hadn’t anticipated. The last question can be said to be very sensitive.

"Everyone is curious, what exactly is the relationship between you and Ling Yao?"