Chapter 103
The new filming location was in a mountain, and the mountain roads weren't easy to navigate. The road was bumpy, and Li Chu felt carsick and listless during the entire ride. So even when Mu Qinxi messaged her, she couldn't be bothered to look.
By the time they arrived, it was already dusk. The mountain air was fresh, and after Li Chu got out of the car and walked around for a bit, her dizziness gradually subsided.
The village head had already arranged rooms for them. Li Chu was staying at the village head's house, which was more spacious and cleaner than the other accommodations. Li Chu didn't refuse, and after her assistant settled her belongings, she greeted the village head's family.
The village head had two granddaughters of similar age. Dressed in local clothing, they peeked at the strangers from behind the door with curious eyes. The crew was setting up equipment, and people were bustling about. Li Chu grabbed a handful of fruit candies and gave them to the girls.
The village head's daughter-in-law gave Li Chu a shy smile and spoke to her daughters in the local dialect. The two little girls then stammered a "thank you" in broken Mandarin.
"You're welcome," Li Chu replied with a smile. Who wouldn't love cute little children?
The official shoot wouldn't start until the next day, so Li Chu decided to leave the house and explore the village. The village wasn't densely populated, with many empty houses. Those out and about were mostly elderly people, children, and older middle-aged individuals. People in their twenties were rarely seen.
In the script, the deceased, Zhang Qiulan's hometown, was even more impoverished and conservative. She was one of the few university students from the village, so when news of her death reached her hometown, everyone was deeply saddened.
It wasn't difficult for Rong Yun and her team to inquire about Zhang Qiulan. The village was small, and news traveled fast. Through the accounts of several villagers, Zhang Qiulan's life story was pieced together.
Zhang Qiulan was raised by her grandmother but wasn't treated well. When she was born, her great-grandmother, the grandmother's wife, passed away. The superstitious woman believed that the newborn's fate was too strong and had caused her wife's death.
Zhang Qiulan's parents left the village after she was born to earn money in the outside world. They knew about their mother's prejudice against their child, but they were helpless. They couldn't persuade the stubborn old woman and could only tell their daughter to endure it.
Zhang Qiulan grew up enduring this treatment and finally escaped this cage when she grew older. Yet, she committed suicide in her rented apartment at such a young age, leaving behind a love letter filled with subtle sorrow.
Playing with people's hearts might give some a sense of accomplishment , Li Chu thought absentmindedly, like the real culprit in this story, and like Mu Qinxi, who approached her with ulterior motives.
But just like the culprit only targeted young people, Mu Qinxi also knew that not everyone would fall for her tricks.
Li Chu took out her phone, glanced at Mu Qinxi's messages, and decided not to reply. Instead, she took a picture of the mountain at dusk and sent it to Ning Manqing, telling her that she had arrived. The setting sun dyed half of the mountain a charming orange-red. Li Chu quietly watched for a while before coming back to her senses.
As she walked back along the same path, she saw a young girl standing behind her. Around thirteen or fourteen years old, with delicate features and sun-kissed skin, she had deep-set eyes and wore local minority clothing, looking like a mountain spirit. She smiled brightly when she saw Li Chu looking at her.
Li Chu returned the smile and asked, "Are you young Cen Lan?"
In the storyline, after Rong Yun finished investigating Zhang Qiulan's side, she would go to Cen Lan's hometown. There would be some flashback scenes there, requiring a young Cen Lan to appear. At that point in the timeline, Cen Lan was thirteen years old. It was impossible for Ding Nandie to play the role. Director Wang had considered finding a child actor, but he was worried they wouldn't adapt to the mountain environment or portray the familiarity with the surroundings convincingly. So, in the end, he decided to ask a local girl to play the part.
Director Wang had told Li Chu that he had specifically found someone with a suitable personality, so it wouldn't be too difficult for the girl. Li Chu hadn't met the girl before, but she inexplicably felt that the person in front of her was the one.
"Yes, my name is Chai Yi. Are you the person I'll like in the future?" Chai Yi looked at Li Chu curiously, then scratched her head, feeling that she might have said something wrong. She quickly explained, "The person in the TV series, I mean."
"No, just good friends."
"Oh," Chai Yi's expression was a little disappointed. "You look sweet. If it were me, I would definitely like you."
The girl's first gender hadn't differentiated yet. In a world before gender differentiation, she had the right to admire any gender.
"Thank you for the compliment. Have a candy." Li Chu placed the last candy from her pocket into Chai Yi's palm.
Chai Yi wove a bracelet-sized garland as a return gift. Li Chu immediately wore it on her wrist. Chai Yi's smile widened, and she hummed a tune as she led Li Chu back to the village.
Because of her carsickness during the day, Li Chu didn't have much of an appetite in the evening. She had a cup of oatmeal for dinner, took a shower, and lay in bed. She hadn't taken her phone into the bathroom. When she came out, she found a missed call from Ning Manqing. She initiated a video call, sat cross-legged on the bed, and applied lotion while waiting for the call to connect.
Unfortunately, just a few seconds after connecting, the video call froze. Li Chu couldn't hear Ning Manqing's voice or see her face, so she had to hang up. Li Chu sent three crying emojis, which took a while to send. Just as they went through, her phone rang, showing an incoming call from Ning Manqing.
"Xiao Chu, can you hear me clearly?"
The familiar voice came from the other end of the phone, accompanied by a slight static, instantly smoothing Li Chu's irritability caused by the muggy weather and poor internet connection.
"Yes, I can. The internet here is much worse than I thought."
Li Chu had originally thought that even if the internet in the mountains wasn't great, it wouldn't be too bad. But clearly, she had been too optimistic. Fortunately, the call quality was fine.
Li Chu chatted with Ning Manqing while applying skincare products. She spoke slowly to avoid any misunderstandings due to sudden signal drops.
Ning Manqing wasn't a talkative person. During their conversation, it was mostly Li Chu talking and Ning Manqing listening.
"Are you still busy? If so, let's hang up so you can continue working." Li Chu glanced at the call duration. They had been talking for half an hour, and Ning Manqing still hadn't finished her work at this hour.
"No, I'm busy, but having you on the phone makes me more efficient."
"Won't I distract you?"
Li Chu was a little embarrassed by her girlfriend's sweet words. She wasn't very good at multitasking, but she thought that if Ning Manqing quietly accompanied her while she was busy, she would also feel very happy.
"I might not be able to see you for the next two weeks, so it's nice to hear your voice. I'll be more focused."
"Then I won't hang up. I'll put on a face mask and look over my lines. We can hang up before bed."
"Okay."
Ning Manqing responded with a soft chuckle and touched the Bluetooth earpiece as if she were touching Li Chu on the other end of the call through the signal.
The living conditions in the mountains weren't ideal, not in terms of being harsh, but because there were many mosquitoes in the summer. Even though Qian Duoduo had sprayed mosquito repellent and lit mosquito coils in Li Chu's room, and Li Chu had also applied ointment, she still woke up the next day with two mosquito bites on her legs.
Li Chu scratched them and then went to the set, enduring the itch.
In the storyline, the police were pursuing two lines of investigation in this serial case. Rong Yun took Xiao Lu to Zhang Qiulan's and Cen Lan's hometowns to investigate, while the deputy team leader focused on Zhang Qiulan's belongings and social connections, searching for possible clues. The deputy team investigated Zhang Qiulan's phone records and computer, interviewed her friends, and found some clues.
Rong Yun went to Cen Lan's hometown and discovered something unusual. Cen Lan had once described her hometown adventures to Rong Yun and told her that if they had the chance, they could go to the tree near her house together and dig up the daughter's wine her father had buried, along with the treasure chest she had hidden next to it.
No one lived in Cen Lan's house anymore. Rong Yun opened the old gate and went to the tree, only to find obvious digging marks under it. She immediately dug up the area, but there was no wine or chest.
An eighty or ninety-year-old woman lived next to Cen Lan's house. Her eyesight was failing, and she mumbled that it seemed someone had been there, but she didn't know who or when.
Rong Yun thought that the person who knew Cen Lan's secret must be someone close to her, but she didn't know if the person who took Cen Lan's things was the same person who killed her.
These scenes didn't actually require half a month to film. The ending of the TV series was also being filmed concurrently.
More than half a month later, Li Chu left the mountains. Apart from the poor signal, the filming environment in the mountains wasn't too bad. After the first two days of being bitten by mosquitoes, Li Chu didn't have that problem anymore. Because after Ning Manqing learned about it, she specifically sent over a new ointment that was very effective in repelling insects. Li Chu shared it with other members of the crew, and it received unanimous praise.
After returning, Li Chu endured another bumpy ride, boarded the plane in a daze, and started to catch up on sleep.
Back on set, Li Chu wasn't bothered by Mu Qinxi anymore. Perhaps because she hadn't replied to Mu Qinxi's messages for over two weeks, Mu Qinxi tactfully stopped contacting her. This was good. Although a little drama in life was nice, Li Chu felt it was best to minimize contact with people who disrupted her good mood.
Unfortunately, this superficial calm didn't last long. On the third day after her return, Li Chu received another message from Mu Qinxi. She sent three pictures of dresses and one of matching jewelry.
【Mu Qinxi】: Teacher Li, sorry to bother you, but I don't have any friends to consult right now. I thought of you since you have good taste, so I'm taking the liberty of messaging you.
【Mu Qinxi】: I have a very important dinner tonight, and I'm wearing this set of jewelry, but I don't know which dress would match better, so I wanted to ask you.
Li Chu didn't want to reply when she saw this. She didn't want to help Mu Qinxi choose and tell her which outfit looked better.
【Mu Qinxi】: There's a girl from the same industry whom I admire very much at the dinner. You know her too, she's a good friend of yours. What do you think Ning Manqing would prefer?
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