Chapter 99.2 - The Cycle of Karma, What Goes Around Comes Around (13.2)
Chapter 99.2 – The Cycle of Karma, What Goes Around Comes Around (13.2)
……This wasn’t in the script.
To be exact, there wasn’t meant to be a line here at all. After the hug, the director should have called “cut”.
Chi Xiaochi waited for a moment, however, no one seemed to have the intention of calling cut.
The camera was still facing them, and the lights were like glowing eyes, silently staring at the two of them from all sides, faithfully outlining them in light and shadows.
Yuan Benshan, who had no scenes, standing off to the side with the Tall lady, also sensed something was off.
A woman’s intuition was particularly useful in this moment. The latter picked up the script, and confirmed that for this scene, there was only one incredibly vague description in the script.
“Guan Qiaoqiao bumps into Song Chunyang at the corner, shrieks, then hugs him as she cries bitterly.”
After checking this, Tall lady sucked in a breath like she had a toothache.
What was this? Ad-lib?
How were they supposed to do this?
Could it be that the first NG was going to happen to this blind guy?
If he NG-ed, what would happen?
Gan Yu and Gan Tang were also amongst the crew downstairs. Seeing this, they simultaneously clenched their fists, ready to face any changes that might come.
As for Chi Xiaochi, who was in “Guan Qiaoqiao”’s embrace, both his hands were occupied with holding the barbeque rack. On the back of one hand was even a smidge of ground pepper that had gotten on there when he had been packing it up.
In the short span of a few moments, thousands of thoughts flashed through his mind.
According to the setting, the “Song Chunyang” he was acting as was of low status like “Guan Qiaoqiao”, a lackey constantly ordered around by the male lead, and the person himself couldn’t be considered very smart. Before his girlfriend committed suicide, he was utterly ignorant of all the insult she had been facing.
……But, was he really ignorant.
When reading the script, Chi Xiaochi had thought that this character seemed to be a little split. Comparing his cowering state from before to the master schemer of later, the change was really too quick.
Chi Xiaochi even suspected that “Song Chunyang” had known about what was happening.
He had perhaps known that his childhood friend and now girlfriend, “Guan Qiaoqiao”, was being bullied, but because he was from a poor family and his body was weak, he had no way to resist, only able to play dumb about his girlfriend’s bullying, and after the event, try his best to please the male and female lead’s group, showing his obedience through extremely lowly and obscure actions, hoping to indirectly protect his girlfriend through that.
And the “Guan Qiaoqiao” in the story should also have been able to see this.
In the flashback in the script, there was a line describing Guan Qiaoqiao’s emotions, hidden in a nook, if you didn’t look closely, it was indeed hard to notice.
Even if you did, however, you would have been confused by it.
The original line was “She looked at Song Chunyang with a gaze that was both pained, yet happy”.
In the beginning, seeing this line, Chi Xiaochi had found it strange. Now, in a flash of enlightenment, it suddenly became clear to him.
“Guan Qiaoqiao” saw both her boyfriend’s cowardice and hard work. The former made her feel pained, but the latter made her feel happy.
She had perhaps thought about leaving this man, but on second thought, found that “Song Chunyang” was doing this for her own good. Besides, high school was only three years, wouldn’t she be fine if she could just tough it out for three years?
.
As for the final tragic ending, probably no one had expected it.
……As if as long as he covered the wound, he wouldn’t be able to see it anymore.
This completely impromptu action was perfectly designed, making Gan Yu inwardly let out a cheer.
Even the “Guan Qiaoqiao” in front of him subconsciously tilted her head, seemingly by accident, yet seemingly out of appreciation.
Chi Xiaochi pulled her to stand upright in the corner. He asked, “Why were you so careless?”
……He didn’t ask her why she asked for help, only taking it as if she’d accidentally scratched herself, and in a moment of upset, had come to complain tearfully to her boyfriend, easily blocking off her means to continue talking about it.
After saying that, even he himself felt stupid and cowardly and ashamed, slightly avoiding her gaze.
The uncomfortable, helpless baseness of a nobody was effortlessly portrayed to the bone by him.
“Guan Qiaoqiao” stared at him blankly, but soon burst into a small, tearful smile. “I accidentally fell down just now.”
Chi Xiaochi smiled.
His smile displayed his approval of her “sensibleness” and his guilt, so it seemed a little stiff.
In the next second, he asked a little urgently, “You didn’t break anything, did you?”
Everything in this castle, including the shrubbery, was something the two poor people wouldn’t be able to pay for if they broke it.
He was genuinely worried about his girlfriend, but was also genuinely afraid of angering the male lead.
“Guan Qiaoqiao” actually had to comfort him, saying in a rough voice, “It’s alright. You should bring the stuff in quickly, go.”
She didn’t bring up just now’s jumping out the window, nor did she bring up the farce of the four corners game, so obedient that it made one’s heart go soft.
Chi Xiaochi went along with what she said, picking up the barbeque rack he had dumped on the ground in a hurry. “Come inside with me.”
“Guan Qiaoqiao” hunched her shoulders. She forced out a smile and said, “I’ll…… stand around here for a while, get some fresh air.”
Chi Xiaochi didn’t force her. “Then I’ll bring you some plasters in a bit.”
Chi Xiaochi took a few steps forward, carrying the barbeque rack, then turned back and called out to her.
“Guan Qiaoqiao”, “En?”
Chi Xiaochi dug out a Swiss fruit candy from his pocket, shucked off the paper wrapper, placed it in his palm, and handed it to her.
“Guan Qiaoqiao” took the candy and placed it in her mouth, smiling bitterly.
The two both knew what had happened, but neither were willing to talk about it properly, because they both knew that nothing would come of it even if they did.
……What a miserable tacit understanding.
After feeding her the candy, Chi Xiaochi turned around, facing the camera, and walked towards the main entrance of the castle.
His lips were trembling slightly, but he didn’t even dare to feel a hint of hatred, his eyes only filled with heartache and sadness.
The “Song Chunyang” he was acting as was such a pure piece of trash that people would disdain even stepping on.
Highschool-aged youths often had some staunchness. Such cowardly, soft backboned losers like him who depended on pleasing others to survive were easily despised by their peers.
……Even his crying was so loathsome.
He silently shed his loathsome tears, the microexpressions on his face changing every second, detailed to the point of incredible realism.
Only when the director yelled out a “cut”, did the watching task-takers finally realise, it was actually a fucking act.
……They had actually become absorbed in the acting even under such circumstances.
Since just now, all the details and lines had been improvised. Even that Swiss candy had been casually shoved into Chi Xiaochi’s pocket while he was waiting to come onto the scene.
The most amazing thing was that this little blind guy was actually able to pick up “Guan Qiaoqiao”’s act without a script, deduce the entire plot without missing a thing, and then act it out flawlessly, passing in one take.
Chi Xiaochi stopped walking and raised a hand to wipe away his tears. He then turned around, but almost stumbled over the line markers laid out on the ground.
After the director had called out cut, Gan Yu and Yuan Benshan had started rushing over to him at the same time. Seeing him about to fall, Gan Yu’s reaction was quicker, catching the person in his arms before the other could.
Chi Xiaochi said in a small voice, “Legs weak.” Because he was too nervous.
Then, he added, “Want to vomit.” Because he’d been hugged just now.
……His reaction seemed very realistic in the others’ eyes.
It seemed like it wasn’t that his psychological quality was too good, it was that he could tough it out.
He hadn’t eaten anything that night, so no matter how much he retched he couldn’t vomit anything out. It was just that the gastric acid that came out with his retching was too hard on his throat. Gan Tang passed him a bottle of cold mineral water, while Gan Yu stood behind him, gently rubbing his shoulders. It really was the standard treatment of a star.
Gan Yu asked him, “Do you still feel unwell?”
Chi Xiaochi closed his eyes. “I’m fine.” He was used to vomiting.
It was just that in Yuan Benshan’s eyes, this entire scene was very worrisome.
He had been too slow, so he could only watch on as Chi Xiaochi fell into Gan Yu’s arms, and was taken care of by him. A rush of nervousness rose up in his heart.
He had already used the female ghost to kill Guan Qiaoqiao, but he hadn’t done it very beautifully, and didn’t know if there was any revenge waiting in the works for him. At present, his only protective talisman was Song Chunyang now.
However, this protective talisman had changed its clingy nature, and started acting all lovey-dovey with this surnamed Gan. How could Yuan Benshan be at ease?
It had always been Song Chunyang eagerly chasing after him in the past. Yuan Benshan had long since begun to take this for granted. Now that Song Chunyang had begun distancing himself, how could he not panic? He picked out a bottle of Song Chunyang’s favourite fruit juice from the drinks and was about to come over when he saw “Guan Qiaoqiao” walk over from the side and elegantly sit down next to his target.
……The moment Yuan Benshan saw that face, he would think of Guan Qiaoqiao’s poisonous gaze before he had locked that door. How could he dare come over?
“Guan Qiaoqiao” didn’t even look at Yuan Benshan.
She clearly felt a greater interest towards Chi Xiaochi.
She took the initiative to strike up a conversation. “How do you feel? Can you still act?”
Chi Xiaochi calmly opened his eyes.
After getting through a scene with her without facing any danger, Chi Xiaochi already had some idea of the score.
This production team had clearly been pulled up by “Guan Qiaoqiao”, and acted completely according to her wishes.
And her script, he feared, was completely unlike the ones they had.
One was a pretty good literary film, and the other was a piece of unrecyclable, disposable garbage.
Chi Xiaochi was also very direct, opening his mouth and asking, “Qiaoqiao, could I take a look at your script?”
“Guan Qiaoqiao” pointed at her heart. “I’ve memorised it all here.”
Chi Xiaochi: Oho, it’s over.
But he wasn’t too disappointed.
Chatting during his breaks on set was something he was used to doing, especially with the scriptwriter Elder Sun, they could talk on and on about a character until late into the night.
When he first started working together with him, Elder Sun would often say to others, deeply moved, July, this kid, was born to act.
After working together with him for a long time, Elder Sun changed his turn of phrase: July, this kid, it’s all good if he’s acting, but he’d best not do anything else, he creates trouble out of nothing the moment he does anything else.
Hah, men were all such fickle creatures.
Chi Xiaochi began chatting about the plot with “Guan Qiaoqiao”.
Even though the feeling of talking with a ghost was very strange, he firstly hadn’t stepped on any death flags, and secondly, he had the protection of stickers. Generally speaking, it wasn’t in vain.
Seeing Chi Xiaochi joking and cheerfully chatting with “Guan Qiaoqiao”, a lot of task-takers couldn’t help but sigh.
It’s so good to be blind, it really is that even standing before Mount Tai as it collapses, what you don’t see can’t bother you.
There were also one or two people who silently lamented, fuck, this blind guy doesn’t even pass up a female ghost.
But after exchanging a few whispers, Pigtail guy and Ponytail lady started straight at the side of “Guan Qiaoqiao”’s neck, thoughtful.
There, was a plaster, with a bit of blood that had still seeped through staining its edge.