Chapter 458: Chapter 451: Nutcase?
He Chunfeng planned to shoot outdoor scenes for half a month, so there was plenty of time. Sisi found Liu Village for them to use as a shooting base because He Chunfeng wanted to capture the raw, authentic rural scenery.
To facilitate filming, He Chunfeng and the crew decided to stay in Liu Village. Sisi asked Mountain Almond Lady and her husband to take care of them. The couple agreed without hesitation. They arranged for He Chunfeng and Brother Li to stay at their house, while other actors and staff were housed in refined and clean homes in the village.
And just like that, Sisi’s house became empty again.
Miss He seemed pleased as she could have a whole bed to herself!
However, Sisi was quite dissatisfied. She really didn’t want to wait on this spoiled lady.
But this spoiled lady had no shame and insisted on staying at her house rather than going to a hotel. Unable to bring herself to kick her out, Sisi reluctantly served her three meals a day.
After one shopping trip with Sisi, Miss He refused to go out again. However, staying home all day watching TV wasn’t ideal either. Besides, there weren’t many TV channels and there were hardly any good programs during the day. After watching for five minutes, He Shishi scoffed, "This place is so poor, the TV shows are so lacking."
"If you think this place is poor, who asked you to come?" Although she was telling the truth, Sisi couldn’t stand listening to He Shishi’s complaints, so she snapped back.
He Shishi snorted angrily but said nothing more—probably realizing she couldn’t take advantage here.
"Hey, you could have stayed in Hong Kong, why come to such a poor place? Even Shanghai, Guangzhou, and the Capital City are better than here!"
He Shishi and Sisi were silent for a long time, unable to bear the stagnant atmosphere, He Shishi was the first to break the silence.
Sisi put down her scissors. With Miss He around disturbing her, she couldn’t concentrate on her cutting.
"My husband works here, so naturally I followed him."
Since the conversation was civilised, she responded politely. He Shishi sneered in response.
"Your taste in men is really poor though. Out of so many rich and powerful men to marry, you chose such a poor guy and even moved to this poor place to live. I really don’t get it."
Sisi scoffed, "Your man is rich and powerful, so why are you here in this poor place too?"
He Shishi turned pale and huffed angrily, turning away and refusing to speak to Sisi anymore. However, she felt a slight sting inside, knowing that the man He Sisi married might not be as rich as Li Zhaoji, but he wasn’t bad either. He was a high-ranking official in a large area!
And He Sisi’s husband treated her very well, not fickle at all, unlike Li Zhaoji, who had countless women on the side. His scent of other women’s perfume and lipstick was evident every day when he came home. The first few times, she quarreled with Li Zhaoji, but now she didn’t even want to quarrel anymore.
She was tired!
What really is happiness? What makes a marriage perfect?
Mom said only a man who is rich and powerful can make a woman happy and ensure a fulfilling marriage, but she wasn’t happy at all, and her marriage was far from fulfilling.
On the contrary was He Sisi. Although her man wasn’t as wealthy as the Li Family, she was genuinely happy and cheerful every day.
For the first time, He Shishi began to doubt the marital values instilled by her mother and started to question her own life.
How could Sisi have known her words would sting Miss He so much?
Why does Miss He look a bit melancholic?
Could it be that her words hurt her?
"Hey, you can’t be that fragile, right? Just a few words and you feel this bad?" Sisi couldn’t help asking.
Upon hearing this, He Shishi straightened her chest and summoned the aura of Miss He, retorting, "Which eye of yours saw me being fragile?"
Well, she was asking for it!
In the following days, the exceedingly bored He Shishi forcefully dragged Sisi to Liu Village to watch He Chunfeng filming. Although she hated the road to Liu Village, Miss He still happily trotted to Liu Village.
Sisi had no choice but to accompany He Shishi to Liu Village as a spectator every day, and of course, she would never admit that she was also very interested!
Every day, the villagers of Liu Village came to watch the filming. Everyone gathered and commented as if they were watching a magic mirror show, and many people from other villages even came to join the crowd, immensely curious about how these real people were being filmed into that little black box.
There was one person who almost reported daily, watching from morning till night, even more dedicated than the film crew members.
This was a man around forty years old, tall and slim, with a quiet and pale complexion, not very talkative, and had a demeanor quite out of sync with the local villagers, not seeming like one of them at all.
The man wore a blue overcoat patched up in several places, but it was immaculately clean. He didn’t wear a white towel on his head, and most importantly, it seemed like he didn’t have to work every day and was extremely leisurely and comfortable.
The neighboring villagers also didn’t like to talk to him, ignoring him upon encountering him. Everyone else was chatting lively, but this man stood aloof and solitary, forming a world of his own.
Sisi always felt there was something off about this man, but couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong. Clearly, the man wouldn’t say a word from morning till night and wouldn’t even move a bit.
"Auntie, who is that man?" Sisi quietly asked Mountain Almond Lady.
Following the direction of Sisi’s finger, Mountain Almond Lady glanced at the man and said sympathetically, "That’s Liu Chunshan, he is actually a college graduate from our village."
"College graduate? Then why doesn’t he work and just stays in the village all day?"
Sisi hadn’t expected this man to have such significant status; no wonder he had a demeanor that didn’t blend in with the villagers. But why was a college graduate from the 60s in such a sorry state?
"Alas, Liu Chunshan is also a man of hard fate. Finally having made it to college and got a job in the provincial city, we all thought Chunshan’s parents would finally enjoy good fortune. But less than a year later, Chunshan was denounced as part of the capitalist roaders, fiercely criticized. He was nearly killed."
"As Mountain Almond Lady spoke, she sighed, then continued, "During the past few years, he was rehabilitated and found a job, even got a wife. We all thought his troubles were over, but his good days didn’t last long before his wife died, and he returned to the village, coming back to recover from illness. The factory sends him a living allowance every month; it’s barely enough to scrape by."
Illness retreat?
He doesn’t seem like it?
"But he looks quite healthy, where is he sick?" Sisi asked again.
Mountain Almond Lady mysteriously said: "I’m not clear on the details of the illness, but I heard from my husband that Liu Chunshan’s mind is not very well, he can’t work."
"Mental illness?"
Sisi suddenly felt a shiver down her spine, as if a chill wind was sweeping through.