Incurable Chapter 33 Part 1

Chapter 33 (1/2)

He was not lying.

She could feel his hardness. He could not help wanting to be close to her. And the reason he had to endure it, in the end, was still because of her.

It was a loop—back and forth, round and round—only to arrive again at the same unsolved place.

If it were ever to be untied, it could only happen after they went back down the mountain.

They did not leave the mountain together.

After the rain stopped, Mu Wan returned to Qingyuan Temple with Liu Qianxiu. The moment they arrived, she received a call from Li Nan.

Last month, Gao Mei had recommended a drama to her. There had been one role in it that Mu Wan liked quite a lot, so she had asked Li Nan to keep an eye on it. This month, production officially entered preparation. The leads had already been finalized, and Mi Yu had accepted the role of second female lead.

There was a production dinner tonight. Li Nan wanted Mi Yu to bring Mu Wan along. If the director took a liking to her, getting that role would not be difficult. After all, the supporting cast still had not been finalized.

“Where are you right now?” Li Nan asked.

“Out of town,” Mu Wan replied.

“You need to come back,” Li Nan said. “You don’t have any work lined up after this, and this is a project you actually like. Be at the Tilting Nest production office before five. At eight, Mi Yu will take you with her to Qinghu Business Club.”

The mountain had just been washed by rain. Distant peaks still wore a veil of mist, blurred and dreamlike. Yet standing high above them all, one still felt that expansive clarity that came with seeing the mountains beneath one’s feet.

Mu Wan took a breath and said, “Got it.”

After hanging up, she stepped back into the temple grounds.

At the side hall entrance, Liu Qianxiu was leading the just-awakened Qingchan by the hand. One large figure, one small. Both turned to look at her.

Meeting Liu Qianxiu’s gaze, Mu Wan said, “I need to go back first.”

In truth, she did not want to part from him. But she could not let Mu Qing ruin her career this easily. If the roles already set for her had all been stripped away, then she could only start again with the roles that had not yet been cast.

“Are you leaving, Sister?” Qingchan asked, looking reluctant.

“Yes,” Mu Wan answered. “Sister has to go back and deal with work.”

Liu Qianxiu pressed his lips together slightly and looked at her for a long moment.

“I’ll take you,” he said.

Since Qingchan could not be left alone in the temple, Liu Qianxiu simply brought him along as well.

He drove Mu Wan back to the film base, then took Qingchan and returned to Qingyuan Temple.

The film base felt hotter than the mountain, even after the rain—stuffy in that sealed-in, airless way that made one irritable. Stepping back into it after her time at the temple, Mu Wan heard once again the noisy bustle of filming and somehow felt as if she had crossed into another life.

Mi Yu was currently filming a Republican-era drama called Tilting Nest. She had taken many projects this year. She had only just turned thirty-two a few days ago, and with her prime already beginning to shorten, she was still trying to make one final push—one last gamble on becoming truly famous.

Mu Wan had also originally been in Tilting Nest. Had her scenes not been cut, she would have been on set right now as well.

There were familiar faces in the production crew. Mu Wan greeted them one by one before making her way to Mi Yu.

Mi Yu was reading through her script. The corner of her eye flicked up when she saw Mu Wan approach, then her attention went right back to the pages in her hand.

When Mu Wan stopped beside her, Mi Yu caught a faint sandalwood scent drifting from her—clear, cooling, the kind that seemed to settle the mind.

“Did you go to a temple?” she asked. Compared with Taoism, Buddhism had a much deeper everyday presence in modern society.

Li Nan was not around. Mu Wan sat down beside Mi Yu and shook her head.

“No. I went to a Taoist temple.”

“You do have an easy life,” Mi Yu said with a half-laugh, her tone hard to read.

Even so, Mu Wan knew there was no mockery in it.

Mi Yu’s temper was not great, but she was not a bad person. If anything, she was all sharp tongue and soft heart. She could be merciless with her words, but so long as she had secured a role, she would usually help bring along junior artists from the same company if she could. A large share of Mu Wan’s acting jobs had come from Mi Yu taking her along.

Mi Yu hated being overshadowed. Mu Wan only wanted good supporting roles. Somehow, the two of them had reached a strange but workable balance.

Since Mu Wan had nothing else to do just then, she lifted her eyes to the script in Mi Yu’s hands and asked, “Want to run lines?”

Mi Yu glanced at her. After only one look, she handed the script over.

“Let’s do it. Start from Scene Three.”

Mi Yu had played second female lead roles for years and was always sensitive about final casting. Mu Wan had not asked who the male and female leads were for this drama. While Mi Yu went off to film, Mu Wan searched it on her phone herself.

Several entertainment accounts on Weibo said that the female lead had been cast as Tang Qin, a rising young actress.

Before productions finalized casting, it was common for marketing accounts to begin building public interest in advance. Usually, it was not just empty noise.

Since Mu Qing did not seem to be involved, Mu Wan closed her phone and thought nothing more of it.

Dinner is neither too early nor too late. The private room had just settled into seating.

Naturally, the director and producer had the most prominent places, along with the male and female leads. The director, producer, and male lead were all already there.

The female lead, however, had not yet arrived.

The seat beside Mi Yu for the female lead remained empty.

Clearly, everyone was still waiting.

But with Tang Qin’s current standing, she should not have been important enough to keep both the director and producer waiting like this. Mu Wan’s brows drew together slightly. She took out her phone and opened Weibo again. She had only just typed “Tang Qin” into the search bar when someone outside the room said—

“Miss Mu has arrived.”

Mu Wan’s finger paused.

She lifted her head toward the door.

Mu Qing walked in.

At first, there was a flicker of hushed talk around the table. But once everyone saw Shen Cheng behind Mu Qing, understanding spread at once.

Mu Qing’s casting in Red Embroidery had already caused an uproar. Everyone knew she was the cinnabar mark on the heart of Young Master Shen from Shen Entertainment.

So what if the role had already been publicly announced as Tang Qin’s?

When Shen Entertainment wanted to take a role away, it took it.

No one had expected Shen Cheng to come in person. The director could not stay seated. He rose from the head of the table and said politely, “Young Master Shen, would you like to sit here?”

“No need,” Shen Cheng replied coolly. “I’ll sit with Mu Qing. Please, all of you, continue as usual.”

Shen Cheng was the only son of the Shen family, a real rich second-generation heir. His family owned entertainment and media businesses. The actresses under their company were countless, and his private life had always been famously wild and extravagant.

And now this reckless playboy had turned around and was indulging his beloved with unmistakable tenderness. It was hard not to envy.

He was actually good-looking—tall, lean, sharp-featured, his brows carrying the cold arrogance of someone born above consequences.

After Mu Qing sat down, Shen Cheng’s gaze lowered darkly toward Mi Yu. Mi Yu understood at once and stood up.

At the same time, everyone seated beneath Mi Yu also stood, each shifting down one place.

Once Shen Cheng took his seat, the rest of them sat again.

Throughout the entire scramble, Mu Qing’s expression never changed. She sat there with composed grace. Once Shen Cheng was settled, she leaned close and said something softly to him. Every glance and smile of hers resembled a white lily opening—pure, elegant, self-contained.

This was what a true white moonlight looked like. No wonder Shen Cheng kept her guarded at the very tip of his heart.

Mu Wan did not look directly at them, yet she could clearly feel that after Mu Qing finished speaking, Shen Cheng’s attention swept toward her.

Mu Wan’s expression did not shift. She raised her eyes and looked straight back, then smiled faintly.

The instant she met Shen Cheng’s gaze, Mu Qing turned toward him and called his name, drawing his attention back to herself.

One of Mu Wan’s brows lifted slightly.

She let out a soft laugh.

Dinner began. Glasses clinked. The room grew even noisier as everyone began taking turns offering toasts.

Nearly every actor present toasted the director.

Mu Wan drank two glasses on Mi Yu’s behalf.

She had only just finished substituting for Mi Yu when Mu Qing lifted her own wineglass. Before she could rise, Shen Cheng took it from her.

Setting the glass aside, he said, “You can’t drink.”

Mu Qing smiled and looked first at the glass, then at Shen Cheng, putting on a faintly troubled expression.

“That wouldn’t be polite. Everyone else has already toasted. I’m the female lead. If I don’t, it would be disrespectful to the director.”

The moment she said that, the director hurriedly waved both hands.

“No, no, no. Not necessary. It’s the thought that counts.”

Shen Cheng drank on her behalf, and the director, overwhelmed, quickly emptied his own glass too.

Once Shen Cheng set his drink down, Mu Qing murmured something to him. Shen Cheng smiled and lifted a hand to touch her hair.

Another wave of admiration spread through the room.

From beginning to end, Mu Qing never once gave Mu Wan so much as a look.

And yet her purpose—to flaunt herself in front of Mu Wan—had already been fully achieved.

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