Ling Qianhe slept with Lin Muci for another night.
When Lin Muci woke up, she suddenly felt that she had been tricked by her younger brother Qianhe again.
This made Lin Muci a bit of a headache.
Even if she wasn't filming, she wouldn't be sticking to him day and night like this, right?
Filming had become a perk for Ling Qianhe.
The next morning, the director continued to discuss the plot with Lin Muci.
The director spoke.
"You're filming with Sister Lan today. Are you ready?"
The preparation for this movie had been very meticulous.
Even the supporting actors were seasoned veterans with incredible acting skills.
Only in this way could the best results be achieved.
Zhao Lan initially wanted to challenge the role of Meng Dongqing.
However, her age was not suitable for the character.
But she later read the script and agreed to cameo as the trafficked woman, Meng Pingping's biological mother.
This role was also very challenging.
It was best that Zhao Lan was willing to cameo without fussing over billing or screen time. She had now arrived on set and would be filming a scene with Lin Muci.
Lin Muci pushed open the door. The lighting was dim, and the surrounding cameras were well-hidden, fearing that the two of them might not be able to get into character. However, this was clearly unnecessary. As Zhao Lan looked up, her lips trembled, and she glanced at Lin Muci.
Big teardrops immediately fell.
She grabbed her wrist.
Her voice carried a profound heartache.
"Dongqing..."
Tears streamed down her face.
Her hair was disheveled, and the villagers called her a madwoman.
She was chained and locked by the bedside. The clothes she wore were barely covering her body, but the light in her eyes was clear. She was not crazy, she wasn't!
She reached out her hand to her.
Lin Muci walked forward and firmly grasped her hand.
She heard her voice.
As faint as a mosquito's hum.
"I'm not crazy..."
"I want to go home..."
"Please, take me home, won't you?"
Her eyes welled up with tears. She reached out and pressed her arm. She trembled, holding her, her every word as if weeping blood.
"Please..."
"I want to go home..."
"This is not my home..."
Her every word trembled. Lin Muci, holding her wrist, tried to free her from the chain, but her head suddenly slammed against the iron bed with a bang. Blood gushed out instantly, yet she seemed oblivious, raising her head with the last vestiges of her strength.
"Please..."
"I want to leave..."
Lin Muci remained silent, but the woman seemed to become even clearer. She said:
"I can't leave... Take him away, take him away!"
She looked up with longing.
"Promise me, okay?"
...
Someone on set was crying.
Humans are not plants; how can they be without feelings?
The staff members sobbed softly. After this scene was filmed, Lin Muci stood still. Zhao Lan hugged her shoulders and said:
"Alright, alright, this scene is over."
"Don't be too sad. We're just making a movie. It's not that painful."
As someone who had been through it, she naturally knew how best to comfort an actor.
Lin Muci shook her head. She licked her lips, which were pale and a little chapped. This wasn't done by the makeup artist; she had deliberately reduced her water intake and combined it with the painful emotions to achieve this effect.
She was silent for a moment and said:
"Let's keep filming."
"The more we film, the better."
She wanted to strike while the iron was hot.
The crew naturally obliged her.
Zhao Lan, playing the madwoman, fell ill. The villagers were anxious and angry. To conceal the truth, after seeing her die of illness, they hastily wrapped her in a straw mat and considered her life to be over.
Meng Dongqing took her child and fled the village, living a very difficult life.
She worked odd jobs.
Earned tuition fees.
Enrolled herself in exams.
Little by little, she stubbornly established a foothold in the city.
Her husband, the fool from the village, clamored to see her. The villagers deceived him, telling him that the person he liked had run off with another man, that they disdained him for being a fool and for the sequelae of polio he had suffered since childhood.
They thought he couldn't be considered a man.
On a rainy day, he cried heartbrokenly in the downpour.
The torrential rain soaked his body. He sobbed, clutching the cotton coat she had bought him, his sorrowful appearance as if he had lost the whole world.
"She won't leave... She's married to me."
"We're going to have many, many babies."
"How could she leave? You're all lying!"
"You're all lying to me, boohoo..."
He wailed loudly.
Lin Muci, watching him act, felt a pang of sympathy. This is what good actors do; they can deeply immerse the audience. He looked up at his old house with a dazed and unfocused expression. He whimpered and fell into a mud puddle.
His legs trembled uncontrollably.
"She won't dislike me!"
"Dongqing won't dislike Xiao Jun!"
He wasn't afraid of losing face at all.
The rainwater wet his short hair. He covered his face, and the mud seeped through his fingers little by little.
He cried his heart out.
A refined young man, yet a fool.
A fool who had lost his most beloved treasure.
"She won't like anyone else. She married me, how could she like someone else?"
"She must love me the most... woo woo woo..."
Everyone on set was somewhat astonished by his explosive performance. Zhao Lan felt heartbroken as she watched. Standing beside Lin Muci, she whispered:
"It seems that even if you marry Ling Qianhe in the future, you can't use the excuse of running away from home during arguments. Otherwise, his breakdown, which looks like the sky and earth are collapsing, is truly unbearable."
Zhao Lan sighed, then nodded and continued:
"But his acting is really..."
"There's no trace of acting. And he's such a popular top-tier idol; he truly doesn't have any idol baggage. I was curious how he would play the role of a fool when it was first mentioned."
"I just didn't expect him to completely embody the fool."
"He doesn't leave himself even a sliver of room for anything else—his stubbornness and loneliness are truly... unique. You won't find another male actor who is more eccentrically devoted to his craft."
"But acting is usually like this; without madness, there is no success."
Zhao Lan had seen many geniuses over the years.
But Ling Qianhe was indeed one of the juniors she had the highest hopes for.
"This kind of performance truly makes one's heart tremble."
"Don't you feel sorry for him?"
Lin Muci licked her lips.
"Of course, I feel sorry for him. But because it's for the movie, I can't show it."
She was also a professional actor.
She silently watched his breakdown and then said:
"In the plot, I have to heartlessly leave him. It's not that he's flawed, nor that I disdain him, but I have more important things to do. I have to leave the village, and I have to raise Meng Pingping."
"So I can only sacrifice him."
"Let him become a sacrifice."
"Some things, if they can't be helped, then they can't be helped."
The heroine can be merciful to everyone in the world, except this fool, to whom she must be cruel!