Chapter 8 (1/2)
Part 1: The Muddy Set, The Detour, and The Weight of an Empire
The sky had only been clear for two days before the rain started again.
The plum rains of June and July fell in fine, dense threads, veiling the sky in a thick mist. Dark, low-hanging clouds made the whole world feel heavy and oppressed.
Splash.
Mu Wan hit the muddy ground hard, dirty water flying everywhere.
She let out a sharp hiss of pain, swore under her breath, and scrambled quickly back to her feet.
“Cut!” the director called.
That scene was done.
Mu Wan’s costume no longer looked anything like it had originally. It was soaked through and caked with filthy mud. When she had fallen just now, the muck had splashed across half her face, leaving only a small patch of her skin visible—pale, delicate, and set off by dark, bright eyes.
After thanking the assistant director, Mu Wan was done for the day. She dragged herself to the dressing room in her mud-soaked costume and changed.
There was nowhere to shower in the studio complex, so she went into the restroom and washed her face. She had just finished and was about to wipe herself dry when someone beside her handed over a tissue.
Mu Wan glanced sideways, smiled, and took it.
Gao Mei watched as Mu Wan wiped her face. One patch of her pale skin had turned red, probably irritated by the dirty mud. In Gao Mei’s eyes—usually narrowing into cheerful slits whenever she smiled—there was nothing now but sympathy and indignation.
“Mi Yu is too much,” she muttered in a low voice. “If she’s in a bad mood, why take it out on other people?”
Gao Mei was a friend Mu Wan had met while filming her very first drama after graduation. Like Mu Wan, she was a professional supporting actress. The difference was that Mu Wan was usually cast as the pretty decorative role, while Gao Mei was the comic relief. She was plump, with a round face, and when she smiled, her eyes disappeared into slits. She was cute in a soft, pillowy way, like a plump snow mochi. The two of them often ran into each other on the same sets, and when work wrapped, they would sometimes go out for food together.
This scene Mu Wan had just filmed was with Mi Yu.
It had been obvious the whole time that Mi Yu was in a foul mood. The scene had gone through four takes, and every single retake had been because of her. Because of Mi Yu’s mistakes, Mu Wan had thrown herself into the mud four separate times.
“What happened to her?” Mu Wan asked.
After wiping the water from her face, she smoothed on a layer of ointment for the irritation. It felt cool against the skin and smelled faintly of mint.
Though she and Mi Yu were from the same agency and often worked on the same productions, Mu Wan did not know her very well and rarely pried into her affairs.
“She got bumped,” Gao Mei said.
After years of playing supporting roles, Gao Mei had connections everywhere. Folding her arms, she leaned against the washroom counter and watched Mu Wan apply the ointment.
“Zhang Chengze had a drama lined up for her as the female lead. Then Shen Entertainment came in with funding and pushed a newcomer into the lead role instead. So naturally, Mi Yu got bumped down to second female lead.”
Mu Wan remembered that drama.
That was the one where she had attended the dinner and helped drink on Mi Yu’s behalf, only to be hauled back by Liu Qianxiu in the end. At the time, Shen Entertainment had pulled its funding, and Director Zhang had cursed them, saying Shen was nothing without the Liu family behind it. Because of that, Mi Yu had not been especially willing to take the role.
Now that Shen had reinvested, the director had accepted the newcomer they sent over as the female lead without hesitation. Even so, Mi Yu was still willing to take the second female lead role in the project.
That did not mean she was happy about it.
The entertainment industry really was that ruthless. Money ruled everything.
Once she had finished tidying herself up, Mu Wan commented, “With Shen’s money behind it, second female lead isn’t bad either.”
Seeing that Mu Wan was done, Gao Mei agreed, then asked, “You heading out now? Wait for me—we can grab some skewers tonight.”
“I’ve got something to do,” Mu Wan said. “My kitten’s in the pet hospital. I need to go see him.”
She planned to visit Zhongfen first, then go to Liu Qianxiu’s place to see Datou and Ertong.
The moment she said it aloud, a sense of urgency stirred sharply inside her. She grabbed her bag and was about to leave, but halfway out the door, she suddenly caught the frame and turned back to ask:
“If someone helped me with something, and also bought me dinner, and I want to get him a gift... what should I give him?”
Gao Mei looked at her. “What kind of help? A friend?”
“He’s helping look after the kittens,” Mu Wan said after thinking for a second. “Not exactly a friend. We’ve only dealt with each other a couple of times.”
Looking after kittens was not the kind of errand that made Gao Mei think of a man, so she immediately began offering ideas.
“Buy flowers. Fresh, pretty—hey, what happened to your leg?”
Only then did Gao Mei notice that Mu Wan’s knee had been scraped open. A little blood had seeped out, vivid and startling against her long, pale leg.
The wound itched a little. Mu Wan lowered her head for a glance and didn’t think much of it.
“I scraped it filming just now. It doesn’t hurt. I’m going.”
Then she left.
She went first to the pet hospital to see Zhongfen. After a day of treatment, the kitten was already much livelier. The vet told Mu Wan that Zhongfen could be discharged tomorrow.
“Your boyfriend didn’t come with you today?” the vet asked with a smile as they came out of the observation room.
Clearly, it wasn’t only the neighbor from across the hall who had misunderstood her relationship with Liu Qianxiu.
Mu Wan turned back and smiled at the vet. “Do we really look that well matched?”
“Yeah,” the vet answered automatically. “You two make a really striking couple.”
Only after saying it did he realize something was off. If they were actually a couple, Mu Wan would not have asked that question. He straightened slightly, looking apologetic and a little disappointed. “So you’re not? Sorry.”
Last night, after Mu Wan and Liu Qianxiu left, the clinic staff had discussed it for quite a while. The man was refined and imposing, the woman bright and beautiful. They really were a stunning pair.
Mu Wan just smiled at the vet and walked out.
She did not go far. At a nearby flower shop, she bought a bouquet in shades of indigo, with roses, lilies, and orchids woven through it. At the center stood two birds-of-paradise. The whole arrangement was elegant, yet vibrant.
Holding the flowers, Mu Wan stepped outside and hailed a cab.
The moment she got in, the driver glanced back at the bouquet and praised it at once. “Smells wonderful. From your boyfriend?”
“No,” Mu Wan said, adjusting the flowers in her arms. Fragrance filled the space around her. She lifted her head, eyes bright. “For my boyfriend.”
The driver laughed. “That’s nice.”
Then, inwardly admiring young love blooming like flowers, he glanced again at the delicate pale face half-hidden behind the bouquet and asked, “Where does your boyfriend live?”
Playing along with the joke, Mu Wan gave him the address.
The moment he heard Nanfeng Apartments, the driver switched off his empty-car light and signaled.
“Miss, let’s take Qiyun Road instead. I just came from Zhongshan Road—too many cars. The whole road is jammed.”
It was a little after six in the evening, right in the middle of rush hour. The rain had stopped for now, though the sky remained dark and threatening, as if preparing for another downpour. Taking Qiyun Road to Nanfeng would mean a longer detour.
Looking at the heavy sky and the traffic streaming past, Mu Wan asked, “Why is it so bad over there? That road’s usually fine, isn’t it?”
Zhongshan Road was somewhat out of the way, which in the increasingly congested city of Xia usually made it one of the less crowded routes.
“Today is the third anniversary memorial for the previous Liu family head,” the driver said, thinking back to the spectacle he had just seen. “The road past the Liu family cemetery is packed with luxury cars, and they even sent traffic police to direct everything.”
It had looked like a movie set. Rows of luxury cars lined both sides of the road, opening the way. Several more drove in the center, ahead.
Their bodies were black and gleaming, looking like obsidian against the endless gloom of the rainy season.
All of this belonged to the Liu family—and not even close to all of it. At the very center of that heavily protected procession sat the head of the Liu family. As his car moved silently along the road, the entire scene carried a solemn, almost ceremonial grandeur.
Families like that had wealth too vast to count. People born into it would never have to struggle just to survive, and probably never know real worry in their lifetimes.
The thought was enough to make anyone envious.
Earlier, during a meal break on set, Gao Mei had even shown Mu Wan the discussions on Weibo. Traffic control had been imposed because of the Liu family memorial. The formal event had ended around three in the afternoon, yet the roads still had not fully cleared.
A true old-money family was like a bottomless abyss. Its roots and branches were beyond anything ordinary households could compare to.
“All right,” Mu Wan said. “Let’s go by Qiyun Road.”
Then she took out her phone and called Liu Qianxiu.
Foi bem a invejosa que virou atriz 🙄
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