Chapter 16: Is This the Important Part?

“Still upset?”

Shen Xici placed the breakfast he had brought back from downstairs on the table. He watched as Sheng Shaoyan silently went to the kitchen to get chopsticks. For some reason, it reminded him of a complaint he had heard from Lin Yueshu in his past life. She said that when she was giving a report in a meeting, if Mr. Sheng didn’t provide any feedback within ten seconds, the entire conference room would be filled with an ultra-low pressure, like the calm before a tornado. Her brain would automatically start searching for a detailed map of Africa, guessing which place, so desolate that even a cactus wouldn’t want to live there, she and her computer would be exiled to the next day.

Fortunately, he wasn’t this Mr. Sheng’s subordinate, and besides, he was the one paying the rent for this house.

With no psychological burden, he took the chopsticks Sheng Shaoyan handed him. Shen Xici pushed the drip coffee in front of Sheng Shaoyan and poked a spring roll with his own chopsticks a couple of times, waiting for it to cool. He tilted his head, deliberately looking up at the other person’s expression from below.

Sheng Shaoyan’s hand, holding the coffee, paused. His gaze swept past the dimples that formed by Shen Xici’s lips and he looked away. “…I’m not upset.”

Oh, got it. He was still very upset.

Putting himself in Sheng Shaoyan’s shoes, Shen Xici empathized. Maybe Sheng Shaoyan felt his friend had been offended? Plus, with his amnesia, his mind was a blank slate, with no memory of the messy relationships in their circle—the cheating, the sugar daddies, the explosive situations like divorcing a husband to marry a stepson. So, facing this sudden shock head-on, he still hadn’t recovered?

Shen Xici found a clue, organized his words, and began to tell a story: “Actually, Wen Yage isn’t a bad person at heart, nor is she as… unrestrained and wild as she appears. She just has a bit of a wicked sense of humor.”

Pretending not to see the accusatory look in Sheng Shaoyan’s eyes, as if to say, “How could you speak up for her,” Shen Xici continued.

“At nineteen, Wen Yage came to the capital with dreams of becoming famous, a ‘Jing piao’. At twenty, she met a man about ten years her senior, an obscure music producer in the industry. They fell madly in love, living together in a small flat in an urban village. Wen Yage cooked and cleaned every day. On weekends, she would buy a boxed meal with meat and vegetables, which was a lavish feast for them at the time. She would eat while listening to the producer play his guitar.

“Later, Wen Yage got an opportunity and starred in a small-budget art film. Unexpectedly, it was a huge hit, and soon, all kinds of scripts came knocking.

“At first, the music producer said the industry was too messy and he was worried about a young girl like Wen Yage. Then, he started quietly turning away directors who came to see her and throwing the scripts sent to her into the trash. He began to dote on her obsessively, trying to keep her in that small flat in the urban village.

“When Wen Yage found out, they had a huge fight. Afterward, Wen Yage started reading scripts on her own, meeting with producers, directors, and screenwriters. She left early and came back late from filming on set. Their arguments turned into a cold war.

“On the day Wen Yage’s second movie was released, she went home with a gift, thinking they could go out for a nice meal, have a good talk, and then watch the premiere together.

“She pushed open the unlocked door of their home, only to find another woman in the man’s bed. The man looked at her and said, ‘You’re back? I haven’t had dinner yet.’

“After they broke up, Wen Yage publicly stated to the media, ‘Love only slows down my money-making speed.’ All her subsequent boyfriends were short-term arrangements of mutual benefit. When she got tired of them, she’d break up, adopting a playful attitude toward life.”

After briefly telling the story, Shen Xici concluded, “Although she may have flaws in her character, like not taking relationships seriously and being improper at times, she’s not a bad person. The question she asked me yesterday was purely a joke. If she really had any intentions toward me, she wouldn’t have had that kind of attitude.”

There, that should be a clear enough explanation, right? Shen Xici thought.

Then he heard Sheng Shaoyan ask, “How do you know all this in such detail?”

Shen Xici: “…”

Is that the important part?

He couldn’t very well say that in his past life, a drunk Wen Yage had rambled on and on, telling him the story for over two hours. Shen Xici took a bite of the cooled-down spring roll and swallowed. “There’s a ton of gossip on set. Sometimes, even if you don’t want to listen, it gets passively poured into your ears.”

Catching the keyword, Sheng Shaoyan finally gave a light “mm” and picked up his drip coffee.

Shen Xici let out a sigh of relief. He shouldn’t be angry anymore, right?

With a “clink,” the coffee cup was placed on the glass tabletop. Sheng Shaoyan said, “I won’t do what that music producer did.”

Huh?

What strange point did he pull out of that?

He felt that if Sheng Shaoyan had gone to school in this country, he probably wouldn’t have scored well on the reading comprehension part of his language exams.

Shen Xici blinked and answered tentatively, “Okay, I believe you.”

The clouds parted, and the pressure in the air finally wasn’t so low.

At the crew’s base, Wen Yage had to walk the red carpet for the Golden Leaf Awards ceremony and had taken leave in advance. There were already videos on Weibo of fans greeting her at Ningcheng airport, with massive crowds and ear-splitting screams audible the moment you clicked play.

Everyone in the crew was very envious. Sui County was just too remote, surrounded by barren mountains. It took over an hour to drive to the nearest city, a place far from being bustling. It was clear everyone was tired of looking at mountains and trees. They were incredibly bored. Occasionally, a lost rabbit would wander onto the set, drawing a large crowd of onlookers.

The assistant director held a megaphone to console everyone: “Just hold on for another half a month, and we can wrap up filming! Let’s all keep up the hard work!”

The workers were long immune to such small promises. Lan Xiaoshan complained, “That’s less exciting than being told we can wrap up half an hour early today.”

Speaking of wrapping up early, a thought occurred to him. “Xu Lingjia went to Teacher Zhong Yue’s dressing room again. They say he went to ask for Teacher Zhong’s guidance on how to act in this afternoon’s scene. Brother Shen, what do you think? Teacher Zhong’s acting is so amazing, maybe he can really improve Xu Lingjia’s skills. If he passes in just a few takes, wouldn’t we all get to go home early?”

“That depends on Teacher Zhong’s performance,” Shen Xici said. He sprayed some alcohol on his earlobe, reattached his earring, and felt that something was strange.

Cliques were a serious thing in the entertainment industry. The headquarters of Jia Rui Media, where Xu Lingjia’s godmother Ye Mei was, was in Ningcheng, and most of the Xu family’s network was there too. Ming Yu Film and Television, where Zhong Yue worked, was mainly backed by capital from the Beijing circle. The two sides were worlds apart. At least in his past life, Xu Lingjia wasn’t very familiar with Zhong Yue, even by the time he left the crew, let alone asking for acting advice.

However, he recalled a report he had seen in his past life. Less than a week after finishing “The Mountain Range Line,” Zhong Yue had joined the cast of “Divine Capital Murder” without a break. Due to overwork, he fell ill and was hospitalized.

The fans were outraged, and under pressure, the management company had to come out and explain the situation to appease the worried and angry fans.

This gave the movie a lot of buzz from the very beginning of filming, and its box office results were also quite good. If Xu Lingjia was interested in that movie, getting to know Zhong Yue while they were on the same set was indeed a good way to do it.

The sound of the door opening interrupted his thoughts. Shen Xici turned around in surprise. “Team Leader Ji?”

After helping him with his makeup last time, the two had only exchanged polite greetings when they met. To this day, no one had guessed that the person who did his makeup then was Team Leader Ji.

Lao Ji closed the door behind him. “The director sent me this time. I have a proper mission.”

Shen Xici stood up and replied with a smile, “What mission?”

“In the scene you’re about to film, isn’t there a part where you draw a simple sketch of the mute boy’s sister with a tree branch? The director’s afraid you’ll draw it too ugly, so he had me bring you a template and supervise you to practice in advance.”

Shen Xici took the paper. On it was a drawing of a little girl’s head with two pigtails, big eyes, and a round face with a bit of baby fat.

He obediently picked up a branch and practiced on the ground. Lao Ji stood by with his arms crossed, giving pointers. “The face needs to be rounder. Yours is too crooked, looks like it was stung and swollen by a mountain bee. Do it again, do it again.”

Taking a step to the side, Shen Xici dipped the branch in water and drew again. Since there were only a few of them in the dressing room, he asked without reservation as he drew, “Team Leader Ji, your makeup skills are so good. Are you interested in—”

“No, no,” Lao Ji answered directly, then held out his hand for Shen Xici to see. “My hands are so rough. If I do makeup for those actresses, won’t I scare them? I’m afraid I’d hurt their eyelids just by dabbing eyeshadow with my finger. Besides, some high-status actresses are picky and don’t like male makeup artists doing their makeup, to avoid suspicion. Being a stylist is great. In this job, I’m the one who gets to be critical, no one else gets the chance to criticize me.”

Shen Xici still remembered the look on Lao Ji’s face in his past life when he said that he only realized what he wanted in life after he got old and fell on hard times, and that he would regret it for the rest of his life if he did nothing.

This time, because of his intervention, the lighting rig hadn’t fallen and injured Lao Ji’s leg, and Lao Ji hadn’t left the crew because of a limp.

He didn’t know if Lao Ji would still realize what he wanted to do at fifty, or if, because of his butterfly effect, he would only come to understand at sixty or even seventy, and then die with regret because he was too old.

“I’m not suggesting you become a makeup artist.”

Lao Ji was puzzled. “Then what are you trying to say?”

“A makeup brand,” Shen Xici said, sketching on the ground with the water-dipped branch. “Like using an eyebrow pencil to outline the brow shape, using a brush to apply highlighter and shadow, spreading foundation and eyeshadow on the skin, and then, letting a person show a completely different look under the camera.”

With these few simple descriptions, a hint of reminiscence appeared in Lao Ji’s eyes. He came back to his senses and sighed with a smile, “Creating a makeup brand, making cosmetics and tools, how could it be that easy? You really think too highly of your Uncle Ji!”

Shen Xici wasn’t really trying to persuade Lao Ji to do anything; it was enough to just plant a seed in his mind. “It’s not hard just to think about it. If Uncle Ji really does create a brand in the future, I’ll volunteer to be the brand promotion ambassador, as long as Uncle Ji doesn’t mind my low status.”

Lao Ji was somewhat dismissive in his heart. He had seen so many actors come and go, rise and fall in the crew over the years. He could tell to some extent who would become famous, who wouldn’t, and who could stand at the pinnacle of the entertainment industry.

He had quietly replaced the sandbags on the lighting rig, not saying a word, not seeking gratitude or reward. After he did his makeup, when someone asked, Shen Xici always said he did it himself, completely absolving him of any involvement. To this day, no one had come to trouble him.

Putting aside appearance and acting skills, just in terms of character, Shen Xici, at his young age, was already superior to many.

A young kid’s good intentions shouldn’t be let down. Lao Ji waved his hand. “If it really happens, why be a brand promotion ambassador? You should be the exclusive spokesperson!”

Shen Xici’s eyes curved with a smile. “Then it’s a deal.”

He didn’t know how the crew found it, but this time the filming location was next to a small pond in the mountains. The water was as clear as crystal ingots, the veins of the sunken leaves at the bottom were distinct, and the fish swimming inside seemed to be suspended in mid-air. A small stream flowed down the rugged rock face with a tinkling sound, and a few rocks stood beside it, creating a natural charm.

The mute boy led the pursuit team through the mountain forest, stopping from time to time to determine the direction. When a bird’s song was heard, the mute boy casually plucked a leaf from a nearby branch and blew three crisp notes, just like a bird call.

Hearing a real bird chirp in response, the youngest member, Xiao Lin, said with novelty, “Hey, you’re amazing, you can actually talk to birds! Can you ask them if they’ve had breakfast?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the team leader next to him slapped him on the head. Xiao Lin quickly shrank his shoulders and dodged to the side.

The mute boy looked at them and smiled, then blew the leaf twice more. After waiting a moment, he made a gesture to Xiao Lin.

“They ate?” Xiao Lin giggled foolishly, then quickened his pace to catch up and hint to the team leader, “Boss, look, even the birds have eaten. Shouldn’t we eat too?”

“Birds can fly too, why don’t you just take off from where you are? All you know is eating!” Although he said that, seeing a pond ahead, Team Leader Zhang Xun still led the group to a stop by the water and took out their food.

Xiao Lin happily bit into the flatbread in his hand. Seeing the mute boy squatting by the pond, not even touching the bread beside him, he also moved over and nudged him with his arm. “Hey, what are you doing?”

The mute boy didn’t react, just stared intently at the rock face. As the dry branch moved stroke by stroke, the image of a little girl slowly appeared on the dry stone.

“Is this your sister? She looks so cute. When she runs, do her two pigtails sway back and forth?”

The mute boy nodded at Xiao Lin, then turned his head to look at the portrait on the stone. The smile on his lips faded a little, and the light in his eyes was like starlight flickering in the wind, making one feel like he was smiling, yet also about to cry.

“Cut! Shen Xici, that look is very moving, very on point. Let’s get a close-up from another angle.”

Twenty minutes later, after the director had filmed from several angles, he finally called a stop. Shen Xici’s legs were numb from squatting. He used Sheng Shaoyan’s outstretched hand for support and limped to a nearby rock to sit down.

After the makeup artist came over and fixed his hair, Lan Xiaoshan handed him a bottle of mineral water. “Brother Shen, here.”

Over this period, he had become very familiar with Shen Xici’s habits. Shen Xici always drank room-temperature mineral water, so he didn’t need to specifically brew herbal tea like other assistants.

The mineral water was taken, and he then sprayed a layer of mosquito repellent on Shen Xici.

“For—”

Lan Xiaoshan immediately cut him off. “Don’t worry, I already sprayed Brother Shao all over just now!”

Shen Xici was puzzled. “How did you know I was going to ask about that?”

Lan Xiaoshan was also confused. “What else?”

If not about Brother Shao, what else could it be?