Chapter 14: I Won’t Attract Bees and Butterflies

Walking near the filming location, he could already hear the assistant director’s voice giving instructions to the extras through a loudspeaker. Shen Xici slowed his pace and said sincerely, “Thank you, Teacher Wen, for giving me this opportunity.”

“The opportunity wasn’t given by me. I just gave you a hand. Besides, you’ve already walked ninety-nine steps on your own. Whether I give you this hand or not is actually insignificant. You can find a way to get to the forefront yourself.”

Wen Yage held an unlit mint cigarette between her fingers, her red lips curled, her eyes as if they were constantly flirting. “I’m not a great person either. I’m just placing a few bets on you before you make it big. When you’re famous, remember to repay me.”

The end of her sentence was light and flirtatious, as always, making it impossible to tell if she was joking or seriously asking. But Shen Xici agreed. “I’ll try my best not to let Teacher Wen’s bet be in vain.”

Her smile deepened, and the hand holding the cigarette swayed like a poppy in the wind. “Alright, go and film. The director will scold you if you’re late.”

The filming location was in the village chief’s courtyard. Inside and out were filming equipment of all sizes. Tall lighting stands were set up, and the lighting crew had been adjusting the lights for over an hour.

Xu Lingjia lowered his head, signing an autograph for a new extra. Suddenly, he heard the extra ask, “Is that person also an actor? So good-looking!”

The tip of his pen went astray. Xu Lingjia suddenly had a bad feeling. He turned his face and saw Shen Xici entering the courtyard. Not only was he not half a minute late, but his makeup and styling were also complete.

At this moment, the anger that surged up almost made Xu Lingjia throw the pen. He clenched his fingers and, after a long while, managed to suppress his emotions. Xu Lingjia handed the pen back and smiled at the extra. “Tonight, on behalf of my godmother, I’m treating the staff who came for the live stream visit to dinner. You all remember to come along. You can order whatever you want to eat.”

The extra clutched the autograph book, surprised. “Can the extras also go? They all said—”

Xu Lingjia nodded. “Of course. You are also a member of the film crew.”

The extra was a young girl. She hugged the book tightly, her voice a little choked with sobs. “Jiajia, actually, I came here to be an extra just to see you. I really like you. I’ve liked you since I was very little. I watch every variety show you’re on. You’re so gentle, I really—”

Suppressing the impatience in his heart, Xu Lingjia interrupted the confession he had heard countless times and comforted her, “Don’t cry. It won’t look good on camera if your makeup is ruined by tears.”

As soon as Shen Xici arrived, he was called over by Director Wan Shan.

After looking Shen Xici up and down several times, Wan Shan nodded with satisfaction. “Not bad, you suit this outfit very well. When you act later, don’t be too deliberate. Just find the feeling from that set of ‘Son of the Mountain God’ photos.”

Seeing Shen Xici nod, he asked again, “Can you really play the tune?”

The composer was overjoyed to learn that Shen Xici could play a leaf. He rushed and managed to compose a piece of music for Shen Xici to play in today’s scene of sacrificing to the mountain god before entering the mountain.

He had just gotten the sheet music yesterday. Shen Xici had broken countless leaves while practicing, but he had managed to memorize it. “I can. The tune is not long, the melody is simple but very beautiful. However, the sound produced by a leaf has its limitations. I don’t know how the on-site sound recording will be.”

As long as the desired effect could be achieved, Wan Shan didn’t find it troublesome. “What’s the big deal? If the on-site sound recording is not good, then we’ll record it again in the recording studio later. You try it first.”

In the village chief’s courtyard, in the direction of the mountain range, a pile of stones nearly one person high was stacked. The surface of the stones was mottled, covered with some soil and moss, and a branch with green leaves was placed on top.

In front of the stone pile were five sacrificial offerings: wild fruit wine in a pottery jar, colorful pheasant feathers, green herbs, a bowl of steaming meat, and a piece of bright red cinnabar.

The old village chief, leaning on a wooden staff with an amber luster, slowly stood in the center of the courtyard. The wooden staff was held high, and with a heavy “thud,” the tip of the staff slammed onto the ground, stirring up a cloud of fine dust.

Under the azure sky, he raised his head, his withered face full of wrinkles, and chanted in a high-pitched tone that others could not understand, much like a shaman in a primitive tribe communicating with heaven and earth.

At the same time, Shen Xici closed his eyes amidst the chanting, held a green leaf to his lips, and the clear and melodious sound of a leaf flute suddenly rose. The primitive and vast feeling, like a whirlpool, enveloped all the surrounding mountains, rivers, plants, and trees.

The coarse white robe was blown by the wind that came from the side. In that instant, the mute boy seemed to be about to ride the wind into the clouds, survey the forests and mountains, and leave the mortal world behind.

Pine torches, cut into long sections, were stacked together and ignited by a match thrown into them. Thick smoke rose, like a messenger, drifting towards the continuous mountains.

The members of the pursuit team and the undercover agent A Zheng stood by and watched the ceremony. The youngest, Xiao Lin, couldn’t help but rub his arms and said in a low voice, “Team leader, look, am I getting goosebumps? But it sounds so good. If I were the mountain god, I would definitely come over to see who is playing!”

The pursuit team leader, Zhang Xun, looked straight ahead, his booted foot tapping Xiao Lin’s shoe. “Shut up. Just respect the local traditional culture. Don’t be so superstitious, materialist warrior.”

The chanting and the sound of the leaf blowing slowly stopped. The old village chief’s dark and chapped fingers reached into the dish of cinnabar, stained his fingertips, and drew a slanted red mark on the mute boy’s cheekbone below his left eye.

The mute boy stepped forward, threw the leaf into the fire, picked up the pottery jar filled with wild fruit wine, and with a “bang,” smashed it on the ground, the water splashing everywhere.

By the time this scene was finished, an afternoon had almost passed. Shen Xici estimated that he had smashed the pottery jar at least sixteen or seventeen times, if not twenty. After smashing, he would start over, and after smashing, he would start over. He blew the leaf until his lips were numb, finally satisfying Director Wan Shan’s requirement to “film the shamanistic dance so that it doesn’t look like a shamanistic dance, with a touch of mystery in its primitiveness, a touch of art in its naturalness, and art but not pretentious.”

Holding a wet wipe, Shen Xici went behind the monitor to find Director Wan, who was bent over, looking at the footage.

“You’re here to ask about the sound recording?” Director Wan saw him coming and stood up straight with a smile. “The recording team said the recording was very good. After some post-processing, we probably won’t need to go to the recording studio to record it again, which saves a lot of trouble.”

“That’s great,” Shen Xici said, wiping the cinnabar from his face with a wet wipe and gesturing a few times. “I was thinking about the sound recording and tried to blow a little louder. I didn’t expect to run out of breath and almost broke off in the middle like a broken bellows.”

Director Wan laughed and pointed to the playback on the monitor for Shen Xici to see. “You see, it was worth almost breaking your breath. I have to praise you again. The idea of blowing the leaf was really great. Without this little design, this scene would be hard to achieve this aesthetic. And, compared to playing a flute or a whistle, blowing a leaf is more primitive, more ancient. In these great mountains, it can better show the contact and collision between man and nature.”

“Thank you, director. You’re praising me so much I’m a little ashamed,” Shen Xici said, also looking at the mute boy on the monitor and talking about his initial idea. “I was just thinking at the time that the mute boy grew up in the mountains, couldn’t sign, and only had random gestures and expressions. Something was missing. After thinking about it, I came up with the idea of blowing a leaf. I didn’t expect it to have such an effect.”

“You have filled the missing soul of the mute boy,” Director Wan Shan turned and patted Shen Xici’s shoulder, his expression pleased. “Go back, rest well, and have someone massage your arms. The pottery jar filled with water wasn’t light, was it? Don’t let your arms be unable to lift tomorrow!”

Most of the people on the set had already left. Lan Xiaoshan was holding his phone. Seeing Shen Xici return, he quickly ran up to him and carefully lowered his voice. “Brother Shen! Look, look! The topic of Starsea’s ‘Mountain Range Line’ set visit live stream is all about you! Not only that, look at the hot search. Teacher Wen and Teacher Zhong Yue, as well as Xu Lingjia, have a total of five topics on it, and you have one yourself, Brother Shen!”

Shen Xici took the phone that was handed to him. On the hot search list, #Son of the Mountain God# had already climbed to the eleventh spot.

“I observed a little. Most of the people who retweeted the bird-watching grandpa’s Weibo were passersby. This time, the live stream visit was basically all fans of Teacher Zhong, Teacher Wen, and Xu Lingjia. At first, it seemed that no one realized that you were the person in that set of photos, Brother Shen. Later, under the topic of ‘Son of the Mountain God,’ it was like the two sides converged. One was wondering how the Son of the Mountain God photographed by the bird-watching grandpa appeared in the live stream, and the other was saying how the person in the live stream was in the bird-watching grandpa’s camera.”

The more Lan Xiaoshan spoke, the more excited he became, his eyes full of happiness. “The most important thing is that many people went to the official Weibo of the film crew to ask about you, Brother Shen!”

After speaking, he became worried again and hesitated to speak. “Brother Shen, the popularity is indeed very good now, but this morning, the producer’s side said they would withdraw the photos of the bird-watching grandpa and not let you appear in the live stream, Brother Shen. Are we… are we considered to have offended the producer? What if the producer’s side asks the director to delete scenes and shots?”

Lan Xiaoshan had seen many such situations when he was on film crews before. Even if a character had two pages of lines and filmed them with great effort, by the time the movie was released, not a single shot would be left.

No matter how well it was filmed, how highlighted it was, if it was cut, it was cut.

“Probably not.”

Shen Xici had asked Lao Ji to do his makeup as a gamble, betting that Director Wan would withstand the pressure and not delete the role of the mute boy and his scenes.

Besides Jia Rui Media, Director Wan had also invested a lot of money in this film. He was not without a say. When he went to see Director Wan just now, he confirmed again that Director Wan did indeed favor and appreciate the role of the mute boy, which was why he had designed so many wonderful storyboards for the mute boy before the filming started.

Seeing Shen Xici lost in thought, Sheng Shaoyan, who had been following by his side, spoke up. “Don’t worry too much. From the public information, Jia Rui Media is not a one-man show by producer Ye Mei. Ye Mei is the general manager of the film and television business department. Within their group, there is a person named Cui Yunwei who is at the same level as her. Three months ago, Jia Rui Media’s CCO, or Chief Content Officer, resigned. This position has been vacant, and both of them are definitely eyeing this position. Ye Mei wants to promote Xu Lingjia to increase her competitive chips and say, so Cui Yunwei will definitely not promote Xu Lingjia. The appearance of someone who can suppress Xu Lingjia and cause trouble for Ye Mei is something Cui Yunwei would be very happy to see.”

Lan Xiaoshan’s eyes widened. “Brother Shao, how do you know so much? Did you work at Jia Rui Media before?”

Sheng Shaoyan didn’t answer.

However, he felt that he definitely hadn’t worked there. He had just casually checked some information about Jia Rui Media. The chaotic equity structure, the massive brain drain, the messy financial reports, and looking at Ye Mei as a high-level executive, her nepotistic and abusive style of conduct and her eye for people, Sheng Shaoyan assumed that if he were at Jia Rui Media, it would be hard not to fire Ye Mei and clean up the group from top to bottom.

Seeing the obvious disgust in Sheng Shaoyan’s eyes, Shen Xici answered Lan Xiaoshan, “Your Brother Shao has never worked at Jia Rui Media. He probably just searched for this information online.”

“Ah? We were obviously using the same internet this afternoon. How come I didn’t find this?”

After turning Sheng Shaoyan’s words over in his mind a few times, the more Lan Xiaoshan thought about it, the more he felt that his Brother Shao’s analysis was too reasonable. The heart that had been hanging for the whole afternoon finally settled down. He looked up and happened to see Shen Xici’s sleeves filled with wind as he walked ahead. He slapped his forehead. “Oh no, Brother Shen. I was in such a hurry after you finished your makeup that I forgot to bring your clothes over!”

For the sake of the on-camera effect, the mute boy’s coarse white robe was only a thin layer of cloth. Although the climate near Sui County was not cold or hot all year round, the temperature difference in the mountains was large, and it cooled down significantly as evening approached.

Shen Xici was about to say it was fine, that he could change his clothes after walking a short distance, when a thin jacket suddenly landed on his shoulders, carrying a lingering body temperature.

This jacket was the one he had chosen for Sheng Shaoyan before they went out this morning, a loose-fitting black washed denim jacket.

Their height difference was not large. Thinking that Sheng Shaoyan would only be staying here for a month, in order to save on a clothing budget, Shen Xici didn’t buy many clothes for Sheng Shaoyan and directly assigned him the right to use his own loose-fitting clothes.

Thinking that Sheng Shaoyan’s clothes were his own clothes anyway, Shen Xici pulled the jacket without any hesitation and smiled at Sheng Shaoyan, “Thanks, A’Shao!”

Lan Xiaoshan fell two steps behind and, looking at this scene, seriously reflected—could it be that his previous way of getting clothes was all wrong?

At this moment, two “click” sounds were heard in the wind. Shen Xici keenly realized what it was, immediately looked at Sheng Shaoyan, first confirmed that his black baseball cap and mask were worn tightly, and then looked towards the source of the sound.

Noticing Shen Xici’s subconscious reaction, Sheng Shaoyan consciously pulled down the brim of his hat.

Two girls stood in the distance, holding cameras. Lan Xiaoshan looked around and saw that both of them had blue work permits hanging around their necks. “Brother Shen, they should be fans who came with the set visit. Should I go and have a look?”

Fans? Sheng Shaoyan spoke up first. “You guys go back and change your clothes first. I’ll go and have a look.”

Shen Xici did not object, only reminding him, “Don’t take off your mask.”

Sheng Shaoyan nodded. “Don’t worry.”

He wouldn’t attract bees and butterflies.

The two girls held their cameras, looking at the photos they had just taken and discussing in a low voice, “Is this tall, long-legged guy Shen Xici’s manager? It’s so unfair. How can a manager have such long legs! How are others supposed to live!”

“I bet this manager is definitely a handsome guy! You don’t need to see the face to identify a handsome guy!”

“But he’s really very attentive to Shen Xici. I just saw through the camera that his gaze was almost always on Shen Xici!”

“Really? He’s coming, he’s coming! Shh!”

Sheng Shaoyan wore a dark-colored shirt, his black baseball cap pulled down very low. He didn’t make any extra movements, but it was as if he naturally had a sense of oppression that made everyone obey his will.

After getting closer, he extended his hand, and the two girls obediently placed their cameras on it, a little guilty. “You’re Shen Xici’s manager, right? You can check. I just came here with a friend for fun. I didn’t take any other random photos, only of Shen Xici, about twenty-something. I just saw you walking together and couldn’t help but take two more. If you think there’s anything inappropriate, I can cooperate and delete them.”

Taking the camera, Sheng Shaoyan pressed the button and carefully looked through them one by one. Indeed, he had only taken photos of Shen Xici. There was Shen Xici walking on the road with his makeup and styling done, Shen Xici walking back after filming, and Shen Xici turning back to smile at him.

His gaze lingered on the last photo for a while. Sheng Shaoyan returned the camera to the curly-haired girl. “You don’t have to delete any of them.”

The curly-haired girl’s eyes lit up. “Really! Thank you!”

Thinking that there was still some money left from the five hundred yuan Shen Xici had transferred to him, Sheng Shaoyan asked, “Do you sell photocards of these photos you’ve taken? I want ten sets.”