I slept early Friday night because I had work to do at Film City on the weekend (Xiao Qin conveyed Auntie Ren’s message to me). I will act in a role where I don’t need to know how to speak English —— a deaf and mute evil monk. His main role is to pillage villages then get sent flying with a kick from the main female protagonist, played by Ai Mi.
I got up Sat.u.r.day morning before dawn and dressed in preparation to head to Dong Shan Lake for morning practice. I’ll take the subway to Film City for work after I get back.
The main reason Xiao Qin did not come with me was because when Auntie Ren called home to check on her on Thursday, she was not home and her phone was off. Naturally, Auntie Ren gave her daughter a scolding and forbade her from spending time alone with me on the weekend as punishment. Xiao Qin was bound to the pa.s.senger seat of the car today morning by Auntie Ren and pulled along to film city.
I felt my mind had become clear without the chattering of a girl bothering me as if I had almost reached enlightenment.
Right when I reached outside, I felt a slight breeze of wind hit my face. It also carried along with it a white unknown object.
Even if the object came fast and suddenly, it was a piece of cake to avoid.
I bent my front leg and stretched my back leg. I was able to dodge the incoming white concealed weapon with a simple movement of my head.
The corners of my mouth rose into a slight smile, but it quickly disappeared —— because you only feel emptiness after a victory! I stared at the object: It wasn’t a concealed weapon, but a common willow flower petal!
f.u.c.k, why am I being r.e.t.a.r.ded like Xiao Qin and dodging flower petals! I even used such an exaggerated martial arts posture! I would be so embarra.s.sed if I was seen!
I quickly glanced left and right. n.o.body was around except a man standing behind a tree pretending to read the newspaper. His eyes behind his sungla.s.ses kept glancing towards me.
Huh? Isn’t this the private detective who was following me near Dong Shan Lake? I can’t believe he still hasn’t learned his lesson from last time and now he’s monitoring me outside of my home? How persistent!
I took large strides towards him without thinking. I wanted to know how much Ai ShuQiao paid him and how much information he gathered.
Of course, the video of gramps being ‘b.u.mped’ by the private detective was still saved on my phone and I even made a backup on my computer. If he doesn’t cooperate, I’ll cooperate with gramps and report him.
Who would have expected this Mouri Kogoro-like detective became easily frightened after being messed with by us? Right when I took a step towards him, he hastily squeezed into a small parked black gar and slammed on the gas to escape.
Heh, perfect. I pulled out my phone and took a picture of the rear of his car. Let’s see where you can escape to when I have your license plate.
Did Ai ShuQiao hire this detective to make me laugh? He hasn’t even been able to gather much intelligence but we were able to gather information that could be used against him!
Gramps was waiting for me on the lakeside as usual. The only difference was I received a phone call from Peng TouSi when I haven’t even practiced for 10 minutes.
“Lin, something happened, you don’t have to come on set today.”
Eh? Although I have to act as an antagonist for Yankees, I’m mainly going for the wages! It’s still a bit of a shock when you suddenly tell me I don’t have to go anymore!
“No, it’s not because of you, there’s nothing wrong with your role. It’s because the male protagonist, Kyle, was injured. We had to reorganize some of the scenes, so your part doesn’t come up today.”
Ah, so that’s the reason. But shouldn’t Auntie Ren be the one to pa.s.s the message to me?
Well, it wasn’t hard to understand if I thought about it a bit. Auntie Ren is a bit annoyed with me, so she tries to minimize the amount of time she has to speak with me. Usually, she would tell Xiao Qin to inform me, but Xiao Qin was probably afraid I wouldn’t go to Film City if I found out, so she kept it a secret from me on purpose so I would go look for her.
Hmph, keep dreaming! If you told me the truth I might have went to keep you company (while checking up on Ai Mi). But I’m definitely not going since you kept it a secret from me!
“How did Kyle get injured? Did an accident happen during filming?”
I asked.
After Peng TouSi told me what happened, I felt Kyle deserved it and he didn’t deserve any sympathy.
Although Kyle was the male protagonist of ‘The Legend of the Magic Cauldron’ and Ai Mi was the female protagonist, they did not have a good relationship off-screen. The main reason was that Ai Mi acted indifferent towards Kyle and treated him like he was air.
In the current stage of the story, there are not many intersections between the male and the female protagonist. But once the female protagonist officially plays a bigger role with the male protagonist it would be bad if her indifference causes an issue. That’s why Kyle has been working hard to improve their relationship.
But there is one truth, morons are all helpless. Kyle actually believed he can use his male charms to make Ai Mi like him.
Thus on Friday night, after they finished one scene, Kyle dressed himself up in a thick cowboy jacket and rode onto the set on an electric motorcycle. He planned to show off in front of Ai Mi by drifting, steering with one hand and saluting with the other, then he used his half-cooked Chinese to say, “Beautiful! Look over here…”
He flipped and crashed before he could even finish his sentence. He rolled onto the lawn right beside the set while being gazed with contempt from Ai Mi, and he was also hit by his own bike.
Fortunately, he had a st.u.r.dy body and his bones were not damaged. But he still had to get IV treatment and treat the injuries on his face. That means all scheduled work had to be pushed back. In order to save time, the director decided to film the scenes with only minor/background characters first, so even my scene was delayed.
Hmph, good that he only hurt himself. As an older brother, I wouldn’t have forgiven him if he hurt Ai Mi!
Peng TouSi also told me Ai Mi’s scenes were also pushed back, so she has no arrangements today for the first time ever. She asked me to spend some time with her today.
“Okay.” I agreed, “Where does she want to go? An amus.e.m.e.nt park? Marine World? A park? I could accompany her anywhere!”
Peng TouSi hesitated a bit, “Miss Ai Mi’er wants you to go shopping with her…”
Shopping…? Also known as the one activity males hate the most, they are always asked a bunch of useless questions like ‘how do I look?’ or ‘is this one better?’. It makes you just as sleepy when compared to a lecture!
“Which mall? Does she want to go downtown?”
I feel like an ordinary mall wouldn’t even have what Ai Mi wants to buy, for example, gold clothes for dogs…
“Uh… Miss Ai Mi’er thinks the high-cla.s.s malls in this city aren’t high-cla.s.s enough. She said she should visit some low-cla.s.s malls to increase her knowledge. She said Henderson Mall had a lot of low-cla.s.s stuff the last time she checked…”
Henderson Mall is already very high-cla.s.s in the eyes of poor students like us! Last time, Xiao Qin also bought her bras there!
“… But, her condition is that you’re the only one who can accompany her. The bodyguards can only wait outside, what do you think? Do you think you can keep her safe?”
I feel like he was making a big fuss over a minor issue.
“It’s not like Dong Shan city is Baghdad, why would it be chaotic? The mall also has security, then with my protection added on, there definitely won’t be any problems! I can accompany her for the whole day. You can drop her off outside of the mall, I’ll be there soon!”
Peng TouSi expressed his grat.i.tude and agreed to meet outside Henderson mall at 9 a.m.
I put away my cellphone and gramps asked what ‘scenes’ was I talking about. He seems to have a certain opinion on martial art films and also martial arts actors.
“Hmph, martial arts is used for real fighting, what’s the fun in watching fighting techniques? Martial art films are all scams! It’s even worse when the actors actually know martial arts!”
After a period of cursing, he added: “There’s also another s.h.i.tty position called a d.a.m.n martial arts director. Their only job is to teach amateurs how to fake fight, ptooey! What a disgrace to our ancestors!”