Chapter 82
Chapter 82
“OK!”
With the director's order, Ji Ning's work in the crew came to an end.
"Congratulations to Teacher Ji on finishing the filming!"
There were lively cheers and applause all around. Ji Ning took the down jacket handed to her by the assistant and wrapped it tightly around herself. Then she accepted the flowers from the staff and said goodbye to them with a smile.
It was the dead of winter, and it was freezing cold outside late at night. Between breaths, a white mist filled my eyes.
Ji Ning trotted into the nanny car.
There was a striking Doraemon printed on the thermos cup, and Ji Ning moved the cup mouth to her chin.
Behind the curling hot air is a face that is so gorgeous that it seems aggressive. It’s a pity that the slightly cold gaze is not warmed at all, making the adorable Doraemon look a little out of place.
Ji Ning swiped the screen of her mobile phone with her right hand, nestling in her thick down jacket bored.
Weibo is full of boring entertainment gossip, either suspecting who is in love with whom, or some film and television drama marketing.
She is in this circle and has received enough gossip. She has no interest in reading second-hand and unreliable information again.
However, there was a trending search that was out of place and instantly caught her interest——
[Artists carve Doraemon and other cartoon characters out of wood]
She clicked on it and saw a summary of works from popular Weibo accounts.
As a rising star in the video industry, Shuiquliu's anime woodcarvings are beloved by many young people. From One Piece to Doraemon, from Black Cat Sheriff to Calabash Brothers, which of his works is your favorite?
The accompanying picture is the eighteen-square grid of the work.
Ji Ning was not a person who liked to watch anime, so she didn’t recognize many of the characters in it, but the Doraemon wooden carving pendant touched her heart at first sight.
It is only five centimeters in size, delicate and small, carved from pure wood without any coloring, but it exudes a pure beauty.
Ning Ning, her assistant, noticed her enlarging her artwork and jokingly said, "Sister Ning, when did you develop this hobby of collecting Doraemon whenever you see it?"
Ji Ning smiled and said, "I liked it when I was a kid, and it became a habit."
She handed the phone to Ningning and asked, "Can I buy this artist's work?"
Ning Ning glanced down and said, "What a coincidence! I actually know this artist. He's quite popular among young people. My brother is a die-hard fan of his, but he doesn't sell any of his works."
"Not selling? Why?"
"Maybe he's a bit aloof? My brother said that his WeChat is on his official account, you can add him directly, and if you get along well, he'll give it to you."
Ji Ning frowned: "It's so strange, is he planning something disgusting?"
Ji Ning has also met such people in this circle.
She was auditioning for a role at the time. The casting director looked kind and friendly. During the dinner, he said that they got along very well and invited her to a teahouse to discuss the role in detail.
Being a newbie who knew nothing, she went there at the instigation of the people around her. However, when she got to the box, she realized that the casting director had bad intentions.
Fortunately, she was not stupid. She recorded the audio in advance before smashing his head with the ashtray, so she did not suffer any loss.
So much so that now when I see people who seem generous and friendly, I become suspicious.
Ningning waved her hand and said, "No, my brother did receive one. On his son's one-month-old birthday, he posted a message on WeChat Moments and someone left him a message saying they were sending their son a wooden sculpture of Ultraman as a one-month-old gift. My brother was happier than his one-month-old child that day."
Ning Ning: "My brother said that he is very simple, and looks like a pure and foolish... but not stupid at all. He might just be a college student who really wants to make friends."
Ji Ning hesitated for a moment and searched for the other party’s official account.
The first time she added a stranger, she used a small WeChat account with an empty friend list.
Posting in the main WeChat Moments is restricted. After Ji Ning registered this account, she wanted to add a few close friends to use it for daily WeChat, but then she realized that she didn’t have many close friends, so she changed it into a dedicated account for logging in to play games.
Scan the QR code and add friends.
After a while, the friend request was approved and a husky avatar popped up on the screen.
【Hello, I will buy your Doraemon for 100,000. 】
No, no, it seems a bit disrespectful.
[Hello, I'm a college student. Can you give me that Doraemon? ]
No, no, that's too shameless.
Ji Ning edited and revised the idea several times before finally asking politely, "Teacher Shui, I really like that Doraemon pendant. Would you consider opening a purchase link later?"
A few minutes later, Shuiquliu politely replied: [Sorry, none of the works are for sale.]
Ji Ning was puzzled: [Why? ]
Manchurian ash: [Because there is no copyright.]
Ji Ning: "..."
Such a sincere answer.
She couldn't refute it.
Ji Ning hesitated for a moment, but ultimately didn't dare to ask the question.
Anyway, I have already added them as my friends, so there is no need to rush.
After the filming was finished, Ji Ning had a rare short period of free time.
She hardly ever went out, just stayed at home eating, sleeping and playing with her phone.
Ji Ning lay comfortably on the sofa in the living room. The winter sun shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows onto her, warm but not scorching.
An idol drama that she had randomly chosen was playing on TV, but she didn't pay attention to the content and just treated it as background music.
When she swiped down the phone screen, the new event PV just released by the official Weibo of Baowuji popped up on Weibo. Ji Ning then remembered that she had not played for several days because she was busy with work.
She updated the game, logged in with her WeChat account as usual, and performed her daily tasks with great interest.
One of the daily tasks requires cooperation with friends, but there are only three friends she knows in her game friend list, and none of them are online.
Ji Ning hesitated for a moment, exited to the main interface, and planned to add a few stranger friends to complete the task temporarily.
But I saw a reminder next to it that a WeChat friend was online.
Manchurian ash?
He actually plays this game too? ?
What a coincidence!
What can bring people closer together better than games?
Ji Ning sent a friend request to the other party without hesitation, and Shuiquliu quickly accepted it.
He asked her in text: [Turn on voice chat?]
Since it was a cooperative battle, text messages could not be sent during PK, so when Ji Ning played with friends, they almost always used voice chat.
But, she is a popular actress after all. What if the other party recognizes her voice?
Ji Ning hesitated before she remembered that the voice system could be set to change the voice.
She said okay, turned down the volume of the TV, and then selected the "mature uncle voice".
The other party tacitly chose "霸气蘌姐音".
There was no one else at home, and Ji Ning was too lazy to use headphones, so she just turned on the radio.
I thought that this kind of artist who devoted himself to studying wood carving might not be very good at gaming, but I didn't expect that this person was much better than me, but his equipment was too poor. It seemed that he relied on his hard work to upgrade, and he was reluctant to spend any money.
With perfect coordination, the PK battle was over quickly.
The voice is still connected.
The domineering sister suddenly blurted out: "Is your child crying?"
Ji Ning was stunned for a moment, then turned her head to look, only to find that it was a child in a TV show who accidentally dropped a cup and was crying loudly.
"No……"
Just as the words of explanation came to her lips, Ji Ning's mind suddenly flashed through the assistant's casual words -
"On his son's one-month-old birthday, he posted a message on WeChat Moments, and someone left him a message saying they wanted to give their son a wooden sculpture of Ultraman as a one-month-old gift."
Could it be that this person particularly likes children?
Ji Ning almost immediately picked up the remote control and pressed pause, fearing that he would hear the voices of other characters.
In society, people give themselves their own identities.
Although it's a bit immoral, but that's Doraemon!
"Yeah." Ji Ning used her acting skills to the fullest, her tone filled with helplessness and a bit of heartache, "My daughter's favorite Doraemon piggy bank accidentally broke. It's okay. I asked the nanny to take her back to her room. She'll be fine after crying for a while."
Shuiquliu probably believed it: "So when you asked me about Doraemon that day, did you want to give it to your daughter?"
"Right." Ji Ning thought for a moment and decided to give up. "She saw the Doraemon that Teacher Shui had made that day and said she wanted it as a birthday present. I divorced his father early, and I wanted to make it up to her as much as possible, but unfortunately..."
There was a moment of silence on the other end, and then he said generously, "Send me an address later and I'll send it to you."
So simple?
Ji Ning suddenly felt guilty for deceiving an honest person: "Um...Teacher Shui, no reward without merit, I think I'll just pay."
"You're welcome. I hope your daughter is happy every day."
After playing the game, the two of them became more familiar with each other. Ji Ning couldn't help but ask, "If you don't sell it and just give it away, how do you support yourself?"
The other end sighed: "It's not bad, I eat and live in school, it doesn't cost much."
"Are you still a student?"
"Well, I'm about to graduate from college."
Ji Ning felt even more guilty. She actually deceived a poor but hardworking, clear-minded and stupid college student.
She felt that she would have to sit up and scold herself in the middle of the night:
I am really not a human being!
In order to make up for this guilt, Ji Ning sent a message to Shuiquliu on the day she received Doraemon.
[I have a friend who is in the timber business. If you need anything in the future, you can contact him at any time and he will give it to you at the cheapest price.]
This time, Shuiquliu didn't refuse. He simply sent a "yes" and asked again: "Will you still play games tonight?"
Ji Ning had spent almost all the PK games with him these days, so she agreed without hesitation.
Ji Ning put down her phone, took a knife in her right hand and cut open the express box. She glanced across the box and paused slightly.
The shipping address is: [Fuchuan University xxxx]
He is actually a top student at Fu Jen Catholic University.
She carefully took out the pendant. Although it was a wood carving, it was very small and its hollow structure made it weightless.
Ji Ning picked a thin chain and hung it on the phone.
The phone screen suddenly lit up.
Ningning reminded her not to forget the dinner in the evening.
Ji Ning just remembered that there was such a thing.
She hated these occasions the most, but the organizer of this dinner was the director of her next movie, and she had no choice but to give him this honor.
But I just agreed to play games with Shuiquliu.
Ji Ning chose a compromise and sent another message to Shuiquliu: [I have a dinner party tonight and may be home a little late. Is it okay to play the game at 10 o'clock?]
Manchurian Ash: [Sure, I have something to do tonight.]
After receiving the reply, she took her phone and went to the bedroom to put on makeup.
At the end, the driver also arrived downstairs.
Ji Ning opened the door and got into the car, leaning back in the chair and closing her eyes as usual.
Ning Ning, looking at her phone, gently reminded, "Sister Ning, I heard that an important person will be attending the dinner tonight. Please pay attention to your expression when the time comes."
Ji Ning asked quietly, "What's wrong with my expression?"
"Let me recall it for you." Ning Ning counted off the memories on her fingers, "Last time during the crew's live broadcast, your cold face was captured while the male lead was speaking, so you were scolded for not getting along with him."
Ji Ning sneered: "That's indeed not harmonious. What nonsense they said is like they haven't read the script. I'm lucky I didn't roll my eyes."
"The last time you had dinner with the director, you gave them the cold shoulder. Coincidentally, we didn't take that drama, so people speculated that you offended the director and lost resources."
"That's because they kept talking about the actress's breasts. I was already giving him face by not slapping him on the spot."
Ning Ning sighed, "The one coming this time is our biggest investor, and I won't be here soon, so I can't remind you all the time. Even if we don't get along, don't give him the cold shoulder."
"I know." Ji Ning opened her eyes and glared at her with a smile, "You're such a worrywart."
"I'm not worrying about this for nothing, because I heard that this boss is exactly the type of man you hate the most."
Ji Ning asked casually: "Which category?"
"He's such a playboy, his ex-girlfriends line up all the way to the Forbidden City." Ning Ning fiddled with her phone for a while, inputting keywords, and quickly popped up a page of gossip. She handed the phone to Ji Ning, "You should have heard of him. The eldest son of the Shen family, his family is in real estate, and I don't know how he ended up investing in the film and television industry."
"Chen Yang?"
"Yes, but I heard that he has turned over a new leaf this year and there are no women around him at all."
Ji Ning snorted disdainfully.
"Why, if you put a rotten cucumber in the refrigerator, it won't rot anymore?"
Ji Ning had actually heard of Shen Yang a long time ago.
When he was studying in a private high school, Shen Yang was his senior. Although due to health reasons, he only stayed in school for one semester in three years, his family background and outstanding appearance could not be hindered. Even when he was not in school, his legend was still everywhere in the school.
However, Ji Ning only had one contact with him.
It was the day of the high school graduation ceremony.
Because she thought the principal's speech was too long, she asked the teacher to go to the bathroom, but actually went to the sports equipment storage room next door to play with her cell phone.
She no longer remembered what she was looking at at the time. She only remembered that when she was coughing and laughing, a sound suddenly came from behind the shelf she was leaning against.
"Do you need headphones? I have them."
Ji Ning was startled and turned around to find that Shen Yang was actually sleeping on the cushion.
The sunlight shone on his face, outlining his smooth facial features, but also making his skin look even paler. He was in a leisurely posture, one leg straight, the other leg arched, his arms tucked under his head, and he didn't even bother to open his eyes.
Ji Ning blurted out: "How could you escape the graduation ceremony?"
Shen Yang slowly opened his eyes, with a few big words written in his eyes: Ask yourself?
Okay, the eldest one won’t talk about the second one.
Ji Ning ignored him, muted her phone, and continued watching.
After a while, Shen Yang's voice came again.
"Does it look good?"
"It looks good." Ji Ning supported her chin, thinking that the two of them were sisters and should support each other, so she asked politely, "Do you want to go together?"
She had thought that a rich young man like Shen Yang would have little interest in TV dramas, but she didn't expect him to actually walk over and sit next to her.
He handed her a pair of headphones and said, "Put it on so the teacher doesn't hear it."
At that time, most people used wired headphones. Ji Ning glanced at him indifferently, took it, plugged it in, and put one of them on her left ear.
"Thank you."
The slightly noisy background music reached her ears more clearly. She did not hear whether Shen Yang said anything in response to her thanks.
There is about half an hour left before the graduation ceremony ends.
She and Shen Yang, two complete strangers who hadn't even introduced themselves, were in the storage room, shoulder to shoulder, wearing the same headphones, watching an entire episode together...
Eight years later, Ji Ning recalled the incident completely while staring at the scenery outside the window.
Oh yes, I think the movie I was watching at that time was "Wulin Waijia".
The episode where Li Dazui learns martial arts.
In a blink of an eye, eight years have passed.
Seeing Chen Yang again, Ji Ning didn't know for a moment whether to think of the pale-looking young man in the storage room, or the rich playboy with countless ex-girlfriends that everyone talked about.
Or perhaps, both impressions are not quite accurate.
In the box, Shen Yang sat in the main seat, dressed in a suit and tie, with a calm expression, looking mature and steady.
Neither weak nor dissolute.
As soon as Ji Ning entered the room, Director Liu enthusiastically pulled her towards Shen Yang: "This is the heroine of our movie, Ji Ning, Mr. Shen should have heard of it, right?"
Ji Ning smiled politely and extended her hand: “Mr. Shen, it’s our first meeting, please take care of me.”
Shen Yang glanced at her indifferently, his lips curled slightly, and he held her right hand, saying meaningfully, "Is this our first meeting?"
Ji Ning's heart skipped a beat.
Could it be that he still remembers it?
It shouldn't be.
The next second, he added thoughtfully, "I've seen Miss Ji many times on TV."
For some reason, Ji Ning secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Ji Ning was sitting with Director Liu between her and Shen Yang. The good thing was that she couldn't see him, but the bad thing was that she could clearly hear his conversation with Director Liu.
Sometimes, even when she was concentrating on eating, Director Liu would pull her over to join the conversation and say a few words.
After three rounds of drinks, the topic at the table gradually expanded from the movie itself to other things, sometimes it was the cold winter of the film and television industry, sometimes it was the investment prospects.
Director Liu walked over to the opposite side with a wine glass in his hand. Ji Ning glanced at Shen Yang out of the corner of her eye and found that he was looking down at his phone unscrupulously.
Ji Ning then secretly took out her cell phone and checked the time. It was already 9:50, but it looked like they had no intention of finishing.
It is very impolite to play games at a dinner party, but it is also impolite to stand others up at this time.
While Ji Ning was struggling, the person next to her stood up first. She heard someone ask Shen Yang, "Is there something wrong, Mr. Shen?"
"Go to the bathroom."
Shen Yang said this and left the box without looking back.
Yes, why didn't she think of it.
Ji Ning immediately stood up, said something to Director Liu, and left the box under the pretext of going to the bathroom. However, she did not walk to the end of the corridor, but went into the lounge at the stairs.
After locking the door, she leaned back comfortably on the sofa.
Without the noise and smell of alcohol, the surroundings seemed much quieter.
Ji Ning took out her phone and muttered to herself, "I'm so annoyed. Where does all this nonsense come from?"
A voice of agreement, accompanied by laughter, suddenly came from behind the screen.
"that is."
Ji Ning was so scared that she almost dropped the phone in her hand. After regaining her composure, she stood up and walked around to the other side of the screen.
When she saw the person lying leisurely on the sofa, Ji Ning opened her eyes wide and blurted out: "Why is it you again?!"
"Again?" Shen Yang raised his eyes slightly, perfectly grasping the key words, with an expression of sudden enlightenment on his face, "So you haven't forgotten? Then why did you pretend not to know me just now?"
Ji Ning was speechless for a moment, and said confidently: "If I know you just by meeting you once, then the number of people I know may be more than the total number of people in the neighboring countries."
I looked down at my phone and it was almost ten o'clock.
She was too lazy to talk nonsense with Shen Yang.
"You play yours, I play mine, and let's not disturb each other."
Shen Yang nodded indifferently.
Ji Ning returned to the sofa on the other side and sat down. She opened the game and saw that Shuiquliu was also online, probably waiting for her.
She sent a text message to the other party: [Sorry, there are people around, so I can’t use the voice chat today.]
Manchurian Ash: [It's okay.]
A PK match only lasted ten minutes. Ji Ning put on her headphones and finished the match quietly, while also completing other daily tasks.
After finishing the game, she felt it was about time to go back. When she stood up, she saw Shen Yang from next door also coming out from behind the screen.
The two of them were silent and returned to the box one after the other.
Director Liu glanced at them, not daring to question Shen Yang, and pointed his spearhead at Ji Ning.
"Why does it take so long to go to the bathroom?"
"I--" The reason Ji Ning instinctively thought of was: I am constipated.
But she didn't expect Shen Yang to be the first to explain for her: "Miss Ji was in the lounge to touch up her makeup for a while."
“…” How could she not have thought that there could be such a reason.
It was indeed more elegant than she thought.
But why would he explain for her? What if it caused misunderstandings?
Fortunately, Director Liu was drunk and not very sober, so he didn't ask any more questions.
After the dinner, everyone left.
Ji Ning held her windbreaker close to her body, texted the driver, and walked shiveringly to the door to wait for the car.
The driver quickly replied: [We will definitely be there within a minute! ]
Ji Ning didn't quite believe it.
After all, when she went out a few days ago, she asked the driver how long it would take to get there, and the driver gave the same answer. Later, in this minute, he met an old lady who needed help crossing the road, a little girl who was lost and needed to be taken to the police station, and a policeman who needed to borrow his car to chase a fugitive.
But apart from playing games, Ji Ning is usually a person with a relatively stable mentality. Even at this time, she didn't say much, but just tried to make the best of a bad situation and stood behind the sheltered column to check her Moments for a while.
The cold wind whistled, blowing up her clothes. A familiar black car appeared in her peripheral vision, which was very similar to the one the company had assigned to her.
The car slowly stopped in front of her with its lights on. Although it didn't honk, the windows were lowered, obviously waiting for her.
Ji Ning was surprised for a moment, opened the back door and got in. While fastening her seat belt, she did not forget to praise the driver.
"Brother Wang, except for the times when you are unreliable, you are really quite reliable."
A polite reply came slowly from the driver's seat.
"Thanks."
“But my last name is not Wang.”
If someone loves watching "Wulin Wai Zhuan" like me, then you might understand why it's the episode where Li Dazui learns martial arts, hahahahaha (it's related to a classic line from Tong Zhanggui). It doesn't matter if you don't understand, I'll explain it later~
ps: I will update every other day these days, that is, on even-numbered days.
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