Back to the City
He had not been lying.
Mu Wan could feel his arousal.
He truly had been unable to stop himself from kissing her.
And the reason he had to restrain himself in the first place was still because of her.
It was a circle.
Round and round.
No matter how many turns it took, everything eventually returned to the same place, with no solution.
If they wanted to resolve it, they would have to wait until they left the mountain.
But in the end, they did not leave together.
Once the rain stopped, Mu Wan returned to Qingyuan Temple with Liu Qianxiu.
They had barely arrived when Li Nan called.
Last month, Gao Mei had recommended a drama to her.
There was a character Mu Wan liked, so she had asked Li Nan to keep an eye on the project.
This month, preparations for the new production had begun.
The leads had been cast.
Mi Yu had accepted the second female lead.
There was a production dinner tonight.
Li Nan wanted Mi Yu to bring Mu Wan along.
If the director liked her, getting the role should not be difficult. After all, most of the supporting cast had not yet been finalized.
“Where are you right now?” Li Nan asked.
“Out of town.”
“Come back.”
His tone left no room for argument.
“You don’t have any upcoming work now, and this is a project you actually like.”
Then he added,
“Be at the Fallen Nest set before five. At eight, Mi Yu will take you to Qinghu Business Club.”
The rain had just stopped.
Thin mist drifted around the distant mountains, blurring their outlines.
Standing high above everything, however, gave Mu Wan a strange sense of openness and clarity.
She took a deep breath.
“All right.”
After ending the call, Mu Wan walked back into the temple.
At the entrance to the side hall, Liu Qianxiu was leading a newly awakened Qingchan outside by the hand.
One tall.
One small.
Both looked toward her.
Mu Wan met Liu Qianxiu’s gaze.
“I have to go back for a while.”
She did not want to leave him.
But she had no more scheduled work.
She could not simply stand by and let Mu Qing destroy her career.
If every role that had already been assigned to her could be taken away, then she had no choice but to fight for roles that had not yet been cast.
“Sister, you’re leaving?”
Qingchan rubbed his eyes.
His voice was filled with reluctance.
“Mm.”
Mu Wan smiled.
“I have to go back and deal with something for work.”
Liu Qianxiu pressed his lips together.
He looked at her for a long moment.
“I’ll take you.”
They could not leave Qingchan alone at the temple.
So they brought him too.
Liu Qianxiu drove Mu Wan to the production base.
Then he and Qingchan turned around and returned to Qingyuan Temple.
The production base was considerably hotter than the mountain.
Even after the rain, the air remained heavy and airless.
Walking through the familiar sets again, surrounded by the noise and bustle of filming, Mu Wan felt strangely as though she had been away for much longer than she really had.
Mi Yu was currently filming a Republican-era drama called Fallen Nest.
She had accepted a large number of projects this year.
A few days ago, she had turned thirty-two.
Her prime years as an actress were growing shorter.
She wanted to make one final push.
One real breakthrough before the industry moved on.
Mu Wan had also been cast in Fallen Nest.
If her scenes had not been cut, she should have been working on this set too.
She knew several people on the production.
After greeting them one by one, Mu Wan walked over to Mi Yu.
Mi Yu was reading her script.
She glanced up when Mu Wan approached, then lowered her eyes again.
When Mu Wan stopped beside her, Mi Yu caught a faint scent of sandalwood.
Clean.
Cooling.
Calming.
“You went to a Buddhist temple?”
Compared with Daoism, Buddhism was far more visible in modern society.
Li Nan was not there.
Mu Wan sat beside Mi Yu and shook her head.
“No. A Daoist temple.”
“You’ve been enjoying yourself.”
Mi Yu gave a faint snort.
Her tone was difficult to read.
But Mu Wan knew there was no mockery in it.
Mi Yu certainly had a bad temper.
But she was not a bad person.
If anything, she had a sharp tongue and a soft heart.
Whenever she accepted a project, she often helped bring in artists from their own agency when she could.
A large portion of Mu Wan’s supporting roles had come through Mi Yu.
Mu Wan had no work this week or next.
Mi Yu had also been the first person to point out that someone might be targeting her.
Li Nan might technically be their manager, but Mi Yu rarely listened to him.
If Mu Wan had been invited to tonight’s production dinner, it was probably because Mi Yu herself had agreed to take her.
Mi Yu hated being overshadowed.
Mu Wan was perfectly content with supporting roles.
Somehow, the two women had reached a strange balance that worked.
Mu Wan had nothing else to do.
She watched Mi Yu studying the script.
“Sister Yu, want to run lines?”
Mi Yu looked sideways at her.
Only once.
Then she handed over the script.
“Fine. Start from Scene Three.”
Mi Yu had spent years playing second female leads, so she was particularly sensitive about who had been cast as the main leads.
Mu Wan did not ask.
When Mi Yu went to film, Mu Wan searched online herself.
Several entertainment accounts on Weibo were saying that the female lead would be Tang Qin, a recently popular young actress.
Before a production officially announced its cast, marketing accounts often began warming up audiences in advance.
Usually, the rumors were not entirely baseless.
Since the role apparently had nothing to do with Mu Qing, Mu Wan stopped thinking about it.
She locked her phone.
Mu Wan stayed on set with Mi Yu until seven.
After filming wrapped, she waited while Mi Yu removed her makeup and changed.
Then the two women got into a company van and headed for Qinghu Business Club.
They arrived neither early nor late.
Inside the private room, most people had only just taken their seats.
The director and producer naturally occupied the places of honor.
The male and female leads were meant to sit nearby.
The director, producer, and male lead were already there.
The female lead had not arrived.
Mi Yu deliberately left one seat empty and moved one place farther down.
Mu Wan sat beside her.
Mi Yu had remained a second-tier actress for years, but she had debuted early and acted in many productions.
She knew plenty of directors.
This particular director had worked with her before.
The moment she sat down, the two began exchanging pleasantries.
Naturally, Mu Wan came up in the conversation.
Whenever the topic turned to her, Mu Wan introduced herself properly.
She had always played supporting roles.
Even so, the director said he remembered seeing her before.
For a director to remember her at all was recognition.
He asked her a few questions about the character she was interested in.
Mu Wan had read the original novel.
She knew the role well and spoke easily about it.
The director nodded several times.
Mu Wan gradually relaxed.
The role was almost within reach.
The atmosphere around the table grew livelier.
Nearly everyone had arrived.
Yet dinner still had not begun.
The seat beside Mi Yu remained empty.
Clearly, everyone was waiting for the female lead.
But Tang Qin did not have enough seniority to make both the director and producer wait for her.
Mu Wan frowned slightly.
She took out her phone and opened Weibo.
She had only typed Tang Qin’s name into the search bar when someone outside the room announced,
“Miss Mu is here.”
Mu Wan’s finger stopped.
She lifted her head toward the door.
Mu Qing walked in.
— To be continued in Part 2 —
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Even if Mu Wan's mother became pregnant with her because of fortification, I don't think she deserves this much hostility from Yan Mei. She even passed down her hostility to the next generation (MW and MQ).
ReplyDeleteSure, it can tarnish her and her daughter's reputation if it were ever found out by the public. Some people also hate and was irritated with having to take someone else's child--even if it's their spouse's niece or nephew--in their family registration (named as their child). Not to mention, it's a child of someone they hated/disgusted with/looked down upon.
For MQ to put this much effort and go this far just to make MW beg her, it's almost like an obsession bordering to mental illness.