NOVEL WEB Chapter 118-124
Chapter 118: You’re Not Worthy Enough For Me To Do Such a Thing (8)
Perhaps it was because of He Jichen’s presence that Ji Yi was so reserved when she started to act that it made her forget her lines and do a NG1.
But everything was fine since Ji Yi quickly pulled herself together. As she immersed herself in her role, her acting became more natural. Afterwards, her few scenes were practically done in one shot.
It was almost eleven in the evening when they finished shooting the night scenes. Ji Yi didn’t go back to the city but headed straight to the hotel the production team booked.
After she finished taking a shower, Ji Yi fell asleep. The next morning, Ji Yi realized that the wounds on her wrists were pouring with blood and were incredibly more swollen than before.
As long as she could persevere through today, she would finish filming for “The Palace”. Ji Yi didn’t want to leave a bad impression for Director Liang because of such small wounds, so she changed the bandages around her wrists. When the bleeding stopped, she put on the thick jade bracelet from the stylist and walked on set.
Besides having to go hide in the restrooms every so often to change her bloodstained bandages, her day on set went smoothly.
Even though they worked on the same shoot, she barely bumped into He Jichen. She only caught sight of him when he was in front of the monitor during shoots.
The final scene that day was Little Nine’s suicide in the rain due to a lost love.
The temperature was already low in the depths of winter in Beijing. The icy cold water raining down was enough to make any person shiver. In the afternoon when Ji Yi went into the restroom to change her bandages, the wound was already a little inflamed and started to hurt. After the icy rainwater poured down, the resulting piercing pain in her wrists made Ji Yi suddenly forget her lines, creating the first NG of the day.
Starting again from scratch, Ji Yi started her second take, but the pain in her wrists hadn’t subsided. Even though she forced herself to get into character, her performance was affected, so she couldn’t do her very best.
Director Liang and He Jichen sat in front of the monitor and replayed the scene they just shot.
“I think Little Nine can still try to look more tense. Shall we get a third take?” Director Liang wondered as he asked He Jichen sitting next to him.
He Jichen didn’t say a word but kept staring at the monitor. In the scene, just as Ji Yi stabbed her chest, the blood bag they prepared earlier ruptured. The blood sprayed out when she pulled the knife out of her chest and dropped it on the ground. The camera slid across her hand gripping the knife. He Jichen clearly saw that aside from the stains from the blood bag, there was a trickle of red slowly dripping from her thick jade bangle.
He could tell that it wasn’t red from the blood bag but from her own blood.
Are the wounds on her wrists that serious? But why didn’t she make a sound or tell the production team? Why did she choose to tolerate the stinging rain instead?
Before He Jichen’s mind settled, the director cried, “Get ready for the third…”
The final word “take” didn’t come out, because He Jichen, who had kept his silence until now, suddenly interrupted him with, “Pass it.”
He Jichen was well-known for being strict and having high standards. For him to abruptly say this, it left director Liang a little stunned.
He Jichen pretended like he hadn’t noticed the director’s reaction and continued to say with a neutral tone, “I’ve taken a look and there were no problems with Little Nine’s acting just now. With a little editing, it’ll be more than sufficient.”
Hearing He Jichen say this, Director Liang didn’t push his thoughts on the matter. He grabbed the mic and cried, “Pass!”
After the scene was over, it marked the end of that day’s filming.
Having completely finished filming, Ji Yi didn’t linger for long. She changed her clothes and called for a ride.
She got into the taxi and left the set a second later. Immediately after, an Audi car followed after her.
In the driver’s seat, He Jichen followed closely behind the taxi in front of him. After driving some distance, his eyes landed on the medicine he bought the day before and casually tossed onto the front passenger seat. He pursed his lips slightly, then turned the steering wheel and parked the car by the side of the road.
With an unwavering gaze, he stared as the taxi gradually drove away. When the taxi finally disappeared completely from sight, he opened the trunk of the car and grabbed a phone. Then he tapped on the screen for a bit and sent out a text.
- Short for ‘no good’. A popular term for ‘outtake’ or ‘blooper’.
Chapter 119: You’re Not Worthy Enough For Me To Do Such a Thing (9)
…
Ji Yi’s taxi hadn’t driven too far away from the set of “The Palace” when she received a text.
It was from He Yuguang.
“Manman, tonight I’ll be flying to Beijing at eight. If you don’t have any plans, let’s meet at home.”
Ji Yi knew that the ‘home’ He Yuguang was referring to was the apartment he gave her keys to last month.
If it was anyone else, she’d be a little scared to be in the same room as them in the middle of the night, but she knew He Yuguang very well, so Ji Yi didn’t hesitate. She swiftly tapped her phone screen and replied: “Alright, Yuguang Ge.”
…
After about three minutes, a “ding!” came from inside the car.
He Jichen stared at a withered tree outside of the window. At the noise, he instinctively turned his head and looked over at the phone screen.
“Alright, Yuguang Ge.” Having clearly scanned those five words, he didn’t unlock the screen but casually tossed the phone into the back of the car.
Counting the first time when he used He Yuguang’s identity to trick Ji Yi into marrying him, this was the third time using it to get close to her.
The second time was a month ago. That day, he went to Yunnan with the production team to shoot “The Palace”. He found out from Tang Huahua’s daily texts that Ji Yi caught a cold because the weather was bad.
If he thought about it carefully, after getting married, they hadn’t seen each other for a month. With the habit he established four years ago, he visited Ji Yi secretly in Beijing on the eighteenth of every month. A month ago, the day after shooting “The Palace” in Yunnan was coincidentally the eighteenth, so he took an overnight flight back to Beijing.
That day, he didn’t even know why, but he missed Ji Yi more than usual, so he invited her out for a meal. He knew that He Jichen would never be able to invite her out, so he used his brother’s identity to do it and handed her the keys to the apartment he prepared at the same time.
That night he pretended to be “He Yuguang”, she was relaxed and carefree in front of him. She wasn’t reserved or rejected him, unlike how she was in front of the real him.
In actuality, to meet in that context was upsetting to him.
But he knew that if he used his own identity to meet with her, she would be the upset one.
When the two of them met, one of them was bound to be unhappy, so he would rather that person be himself.
He thought about taking care of the wounds on her wrists but didn’t want to make her unhappy, so he assumed his brother’s identity again.
–
It was already seven in the evening when Ji Yi returned to B-Film.
He Yuguang’s eight o’clock flight was going to land at around ten o’clock.
Ji Yi didn’t wait to eat with He Yuguang but instead, headed to the cafeteria to grab something with Tang Huahua.
Back at the dorms, Ji Yi packed two pieces of clean clothes then went to the college’s infirmary. She bought some ointment for the wounds on her wrists, hailed a taxi, and headed for He Yuguang’s apartment.
Chapter 120: You’re Not Worthy Enough For Me To Do Such a Thing (10)
Two consecutive days of filming with her injured wrists exhausted Ji Yi. When she arrived at the apartment, she took a hot shower and smeared ointment onto the wound. She huddled on the sofa, not wanting to move an inch.
She was really tired, so Ji Yi fell asleep on the sofa while waiting for He Yuguang.
She didn’t have a blanket. Though the heating was on, since she filmed two takes in the icy cold weather under the rain that afternoon, Ji Yi felt a burning sensation in her throat while in a sleepy haze. It made her mouth dry, and she was desperately thirsty.
Ji Yi knew she should go drink some water but she was so tired… so tired that she couldn’t open her eyes or move.
So she continued to lay there with a dry mouth as her body started to get cold sweats. Her breathing became labored, so much so that she eventually started to shiver uncontrollably. She moaned in pain as she tried her hardest to breathe but as she did so, her nose suddenly became sore, almost forcing tears to pour out.
Just as she was in so much pain that she was about to cry quietly to herself, she felt a hand cover her forehead. Then she fell into a warm embrace and felt her body sink into a soft bed.
Is someone here by my side?
In a haze, Ji Yi reached her hand out and fumbled around but couldn’t feel anything. Instead, she heard the sound of footsteps gradually moving further and further away.
Who is it? He came back, so why did he leave again? I’m in so much pain; why isn’t he helping me call a doctor?
Ji Yi wanted to move, but she couldn’t. Her body was cold one second and hot the next, and her body shivered like crazy.
Something isn’t right. I can’t stay here like this, or I might die from the pain… At that thought, Ji Yi started to struggle. Just as she tried to shuffle over to the side of the bed with much difficulty, she heard the sound of the door opening, then the sound of hurried footsteps. As her body sank onto the bed, someone sat down, propped her up and brought a cup of hot water to her lips.
She felt much better after drinking some water.
She felt someone lay her back down on the bed and pull the covers on top of her body.
But she was still cold—so cold that she wouldn’t stop trembling. In a daze, she vaguely sensed someone helping her drink water. Aside from that person, there was someone else in the room. That person said, “It’s nothing. It’s just a fever.” An ice-cold needle pierced the skin of her hand. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was sick, but the pain felt amplified and it hurt so much that tears squirted out. She instinctively tried to avoid the needle, but the person who fed her water held her down. Incapable of resisting, she let out a small cry, “It hurts, hurts so much…”
The person who fed her water didn’t say anything but used the other hand to stroke her hair. He was warm and full of comfort.
Chapter 121: Keeping the Whole World in the Dark About Loving You (1)
In that instant, the warm and comforting sensation of having someone taking care of Ji Yi suddenly overwhelmed her, making her sickly self feel miraculously calm.
After a good while, the needle was pulled out of her arm. Then Ji Yi heard the same person speak again, “Remember to have her take the medicine when she wakes up. I have business at the hospital to attend to, so I’m taking off. If there’s anything else you need, contact me…”
So the person who’s talking is a doctor… thought Ji Yi as she heard the sound of the doctor’s voice in her ears again: “… You don’t have to see me out. Stay here and take care of her.”
Following that, there were the sounds of someone packing things up, footsteps, and the door opening and closing.
The room was far quieter without the doctor there.
The person who fed her water was still gently stroking her hair.
Ji Yi wasn’t sure if it was the medicine kicking in or if it was because she was cared for so well, but the pain subsided and she stopped having wild thoughts. She quickly fell asleep.
…
This time, Ji Yi slept peacefully for a long time.
It was almost noon when she woke up. She stared out the window at the piercing sunshine with squinted eyes for a while, then suddenly snapped out of it.
She and He Yuguang were meant to meet at home, but she fell asleep waiting for him. Then it seemed that she had a fever and relied on someone to take care of her while she was groggy… All of a sudden, Ji Yi’s eyes snapped wide open to explore her surroundings.
There were a few packs of medicine, an empty glass, and a thermometer on the bedside table… When Ji Yi got up and removed her duvet, she realized the wounds on her wrists were taken care of again.
So everything that happened last night wasn’t an illusion…
Since this is He Yuguang’s place, the person who took care of me all night was Yuguang Ge?
As Ji Yi thought this, she got out of bed and walked out of the room.
The living room was completely empty. There was no one there.
He Yuguang isn’t at home?
Before the thought settled in Ji Yi’s mind, she heard the sound of the hood fan in the kitchen nearby.
She instinctively walked towards the open door to the kitchen and saw a guy standing in front of the sink, busy with something.
Before anything else, she glanced over at the guy’s wrist to see that there was nothing there, so she cried, “Yuguang Ge.”
The sound of the fan was a little loud. Since he was busy and had his back to her, he probably couldn’t hear her.
Ji Yi stood at the door, staring at the guy in a slight daze.
When did Yuguang He learn to cook?
When they were young, they practically saw each other every day. Since he was unwell, his family never allowed him into the kitchen, let alone cook…
Chapter 122: Keeping the Whole World in the Dark About Loving You (2)
In the kitchen, when He Jichen turned around to get a spoon, he saw Ji Yi standing at the door.
He moved his lips, preparing to say “You’re up” before he realized that in this very moment, he was supposed to be He Yuguang. He swiftly turned his head, turned down the heat for the congee, then walked over to Ji Yi.
Ji Yi snapped back to her senses and cried, “Yuguang Ge.”
He Jichen didn’t say anything but reached his hand out and touched Ji Yi’s forehead. When he was certain that her temperature was back to normal, he pulled out his phone from his pocket, typed some words, and handed the phone to Ji Yi. “Food is almost done. Go freshen up.”
Ji Yi shot him a smile and replied with a “Mm.” She stood there for a while before heading back to the bedroom.
After she freshened up and returned, the food was already sitting neatly on the dining table.
Since He Yuguang couldn’t speak, Ji Yi practically never spoke during meals ever since they started eating together when they were young. Till this day, she still kept the same habit.
The dining room was unusually quiet. Besides the crisp sound of the chopsticks touching the bowls, there was barely any other noise.
After the meal, Ji Yi got up and was just about to clean up when “He Yuguang” stopped her. He typed a string of words into his phone: “You don’t need to tidy up. I hired a worker to come over; they’ll be here soon.”
He Jichen showed the phone to Ji Yi then pulled it back and deleted the previous message. He started to write another message: “Go get some rest first, then take the medicine.”
…
Even though Ji Yi no longer had a high temperature, she hadn’t completely recovered from her cold, so she obediently took the medicine as instructed. It kicked in quickly so she felt drowsy and fell asleep again.
When she woke up, it was already evening.
Ji Yi stepped out of the bedroom, but instead of seeing He Yugugang, she stumbled on the worker he hired.
The worker saw her come out and immediately smiled, “Miss, you’re up?”
Ji Yi let out a “mm,” then scanned her surroundings.
The worker probably guessed what she was looking for, so before she could speak, the worker said, “Miss, mister is not at home. He left in the afternoon, but before he left, he told me he had some business to attend to, so he had to step out. He won’t be having dinner at home, but please wait for him.”
Ji Yi let out an “Oh” to signal that she understood but she didn’t say anything further.
…
After dinner, Ji Yi, who stayed at home the entire day, went downstairs and took a walk around the neighborhood. When she came back and changed into a pair of slippers at the entrance, Ji Yi saw He Yuguang’s shoes.
Having changed into slippers, Ji Yi walked into the living room to coincidentally find the worker coming out of the kitchen with a cup of hot tea. Ji Yi asked, “Has Yuguang Ge come back?”
The worker replied, “Yes. He’s in the study.”
Ji Yi’s eyes were drawn to the tray in the worker’s hands. Remembering that she hadn’t thanked He Yuguang since she woke up, she then said, “Give it to me.”
The worker hurriedly handed Ji Yi the tray.
Ji Yi waited for the worker to enter the kitchen before she turned around and headed for the study.
Since He Yuguang couldn’t speak, Ji Yi politely knocked on the door and pushed it open. She glanced over at “He Yuguang” and cried, “Yuguang Ge.”
“He Yuguang” sat behind the big, wide desk and stared unwaveringly at the computer screen with no response as though he hadn’t heard Ji Yi.
Ji Yi thought he was concentrating hard on important work, so she didn’t say anything to disturb him. She quietly walked over and put down the hot tea while incidentally catching a glimpse of He Yuguang’s computer screen from the corner of her eye.
Chapter 123: Keeping the Whole World in the Dark About Loving You (2)
He was watching a video. From the video resolution and color, she could tell the video was considerably old.
The background in the video looked familiar. Ji Yi instinctively averted her gaze, but before she did, she saw where the video was shot. The girl in the red clothes caught her attention.
She didn’t manage to take a good look at her face, but just a glance was enough for Ji Yi to figure out that the young girl in the red clothes was her younger self.
So “He Yuguang” isn’t busy with work, but he’s watching videos of me when I was younger… What’s more, it’s been so many years. Has he been keeping these old videos all this time?
Ji Yi’s heart skipped two beats.
When she was about to calm down and take a closer look, “He Yuguang” finally sensed someone standing beside him. He turned his head slightly as his line of sight landed on her face. He looked evidently tense and suddenly raised his hand to reflexively cover the computer screen.
He Jichen wasn’t certain if Ji Yi saw the video he saved of her younger self, so he felt slightly flustered. After a second, he was back to normal and looked at the cup of tea Ji Yi just put down. He grabbed his phone as though nothing happened, typed a few words, and put the phone in front of Ji Yi. “Manman, how come you’re in here?”
Ji Yi could tell that “He Yuguang” was hiding the video he was just watching. She didn’t want to expose him, so she simply smiled and replied, “I took a walk and came back home. I coincidentally saw Ayi1 make you a cup of tea, so I thought I might as well bring it to you.”
He Jichen gave a gentle nod, took his phone back and continued to type: “Do you feel a little better?”
“Lots better.”
Even though Ji Yi replied like that, He Jichen still got up and reached his hand out to feel her forehead. After he confirmed that she didn’t have a high temperature, he then went back and grabbed his phone. He continued to type: “Have you taken your medicine?”
“Not yet…” Ji Yi paused and said, “…I’ll go take it now.”
He Jichen nodded gently but didn’t type anything.
Ji Yi suddenly remembered that she wanted to thank him. “Yuguang Ge, thank you for last night.”
He Jichen knew Ji Yi was talking about when he took care of her all night long when she couldn’t wake up from her fever… Oh, no, she probably thinks it was He Yuguang… He Jichen lowered his eyes to cover up the loneliness in his eyes. The next second, he plastered on He Yuguang’s smile from the video and gently curved his lips. With a warm smile, he gradually shook his head as if to say “you don’t have to thank me.”
The study was silent for a moment. After a while, Ji Yi pointed at the door. “Then Yuguang Ge, continue with what you were doing. I’ll take off first to take my medicine.”
He Jichen nodded and saw Ji Yi out with his eyes. He waited for her to close the door then diverted his eyes back to the computer again.
- [Honorific] Aunt, non-blood related, older women
Chapter 124: Keeping the Whole World in the Dark About Loving You (4)
He Jichen had an entire hard drive of videos. They were videos recorded in the He family home and were recorded for He Yuguang to remember him by after he left.
Since Ji Yi spent so much time with He Yuguang, a lot of videos featured her in them.
He copied those videos long ago. In the quiet evenings, when his yearning for her was unbearable, he watched them to satisfy his desires.
But now, he watched these videos to learn to flawlessly impersonate He Yuguang.
–
When Ji Yi came out of the study, the worker already completed all her duties and had left.
Ji Yi was the only one in the living room. After taking her medicine, she watched TV for a while, then went back to the bedroom when she felt bored. She grabbed her phone that was charging on the nightstand. With one glance, Ji Yi saw some messages from Tang Huahua: “Ah ah ah… have you guys heard? My favorite Cheng Weiwan story “Three Thousand Lunatics” has finally started shooting its TV series! Do you guys even know how popular this book is? It’s Cheng Weiwan’s masterpiece! It’s definitely one of his classics; it’s been a best-seller for ten years. To this day, the book is an undefeated legend in the publishing world!”
Ji Yi didn’t really like to read, so she didn’t really know about “Three Thousand Lunatics”, but she knew Cheng Weiwan.
Many of her works had been made into TV adaptations, which created quite a few waves of new actors. The past two years, the entertainment industry called her “The Creator”—as long as actors signed onto her shows, no matter if it was the leading role or a supporting role, they’d become overnight sensations.
After Ji Yi woke up from her coma, aside from the director for “Encounter”, she also paid close attention to Cheng Weiwan. She never imagined that after waiting so long, Cheng Weiwan finally started shooting something new!
Ji Yi didn’t respond in the Wechat group but headed straight to the internet and searched for the news Tang Huahua shared.
During dinner, she was still browsing through the top searches on Weibo for gossip on some celebrities. In the short span of time when she didn’t look at her phone, the threads for “Cheng Weiwan” and “Three Thousand Lunatics” jumped up to first place on Weibo’s top searches.
Just as Tang Huahua said on Wechat, this book was really popular; fans were already discussing it on Weibo. Some begged for them not to film, another person asked who the leading actress and actor were. There were even fans who started a poll to guess who’d be the most suitable actors for each character.
Ji Yi read all the related Weibo posts, but in the end, she was only able to find a little information about it. She learned that the producer for the TV series was called “YC” from New Entertainment.
Ji Yi researched the company on Baidu.1 The company launched earlier that year and hadn’t produced anything till now.
What was even stranger was the company’s contact information wasn’t online, which meant that even if she wanted to star in the TV adaptation of “Three Thousand Lunatics”, she couldn’t even get in contact with the right people…
As Ji Yi swiped on her phone and browsed Weibo, she secretly cursed inside.
Suddenly, the bedroom door was pushed open. “He Yuguang” came walking in, carrying a medical kit.
- Popular search engine in China