The filming lasted from afternoon until evening, during which Xie Yuyao wandered around the house at will.
Sometimes, she would gently twirl the peach blossom branches in the vase, her face and the peach blossoms reflecting each other's beauty.
Occasionally, he would tease the free-roaming kittens at the brigade headquarters, and the two got along warmly and harmoniously.
Occasionally, I would stop under the eaves and look up at the sky.
Finally, when I got tired, I just sat in front of the chair and spaced out.
As time passed, the sunlight gradually dimmed, leaving the hall with a desolate and chilly atmosphere.
Xie Yuyao's stunning profile, illuminated by the interplay of light and shadow, exuded a sense of loneliness and melancholy.
It's as if she's traveled back to the Republican era, a time of youthful beauty, yet locked away in a secluded courtyard, unknown to anyone.
Director Zhu didn't offer much guidance, leaving Xie Yuyao to improvise entirely. The hall was completely silent, save for the click of the shutter button by photographer Xiao Jiang.
With a creak, the courtyard gate was pushed open, and the team leader walked in: "It's almost time to finish work. Come back to film tomorrow."
It was agreed beforehand that filming could only take place during work hours. Before and after each workday, villagers would come back to collect/return their farm tools. Just thinking about all those crowds watching would put Xie Wazi under a lot of psychological pressure.
Moreover, with so many people around, they definitely wouldn't be able to take good pictures.
Even though Director Zhu and Xiao Jiang regretfully finished work and left, Xie Yuyao, dressed in bright colors, attracted a lot of attention as she walked back to the educated youth compound.
As soon as I entered the educated youth compound, the educated youth who had finished work surrounded me.
"Yaoyao, your dress is so beautiful! Where did you buy it? I've never seen it before."
"I heard that a famous director has approached you to make a movie, is that true?"
"What movie is it? We definitely have to go see it when it's released."
"Yaoyao, you're going to be a big star!"
......
Hsieh Yu-yao briefly described the afternoon's filming, saying, "It was just gathering material, not making a movie yet. Today was just a test shoot."
Back in the backyard, Yang Shumei invited Xie Yuyao to have dinner together, but Xie Yuyao declined when she saw Zhao Jianbin was there. She went back inside and ate a simple bowl of pork bone noodles.
At the beginning of last year, although Zhao Honghui left Qingshantun early, Yang Shumei still put the matter of separating the courtyards on the agenda. She did not want Zhao Honghui to have an inconvenient place to live after he returned and married Yaoyao.
Who would have thought that the backyard had already split into two families, and Zhao Honghui had disappeared without a trace, which caused the two sisters to break up.
Yang Shumei didn't know that Xie Yuyao wasn't as hardworking as she imagined, preparing three meals a day. She had her own space and lived alone, so she could often eat pre-prepared cooked food directly.
Just like tonight.
After dinner, Xie Yuyao slipped into the bamboo house in her spatial dimension. After resting for a while, she went straight into the bathtub for a soak. In the washroom, she thought about the filming process of the day.
As for taking photos, after doing it so many times, I can't say I like it anymore, but I wouldn't say I dislike it either.
She could sense that Director Zhu hadn't given up on the idea of her becoming the female lead, and she herself wasn't so determined anymore. But the thought of appearing on screen and becoming widely known made her scalp tingle.
Well, let's just take it one step at a time.
After taking a shower, Xie Yuyao slipped back to the educated youth compound, lay comfortably in bed, and blew out the light to go to sleep.
The moonlight outside the window was hazy, and she tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. In this dark environment, she felt an emptiness in her heart.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but her consciousness became hazy. In her dream, she saw a deep courtyard with a locked gate, and maids dressed in uniform gray dresses walking back and forth.
Against this oppressive and outdated backdrop, I, dressed in a bright cheongsam, lean against the window, my gaze empty and melancholic as I wait for someone who will never return.
Suddenly, the sound of horses' hooves came from afar, stopping at the gate. An officer, draped in a cloak, nimbly dismounted, his long military boots stepping onto the moss-covered steps—it was Zhao Honghui!
Xie Yuyao woke up with a start, only to realize it was just a dream.
Was he too immersed in the role?
Before tomorrow, during a break from daytime filming, Director Zhu told Xie Yuyao about his inspiration.
He wanted to film a series of stories about young ladies living in seclusion and military officers, because of the war, the officers had to leave their beloved girls and go to the battlefield.
After listening, Xie Yuyao secretly guessed that Director Zhu's story was probably about the movie he wanted her to play the female lead in. The plot, which was very similar to her current situation, made her somewhat engrossed in it and forget herself.
She has always tried to distract herself by doing other things, so as not to overthink or fall into the pain of missing him.
But today's shoot gave her a different feeling—the taste of longing.
She finally stopped running away and faced her own heart.
The dream I just had was a good omen; Zhao Honghui will surely return safely!
But she didn't know that Zhao Honghui had been missing for quite some time, and no one knew whether he was dead or alive, or where he was.
In fact, Zhao Honghui had successfully completed the reconnaissance mission assigned to him last summer and returned to the military base.
After he finished his report, the regimental commander, who was in charge, kept him behind. He was put in charge of staff work and would be sent to the front lines if necessary.
With the war still raging, Zhao Honghui remained at the command post to monitor the situation remotely, ready to be deployed at any time.
In order to completely destroy the secret laboratory and eliminate the enemy, the command dispatched its core forces.
To cover the evacuation of high command, the enemy used semi-finished biological and chemical weapons from a laboratory. Even though our army launched a surprise attack and gained the initiative, the enemy's use of inhumane weapons prevented us from advancing, and the battle became a stalemate.
As a strong support force, Zhao Honghui was once again sent to the front line.
His reinforcements were invincible, instantly turning the tide of the battle and cutting off their retreat route from the rear.
Faced with overwhelming encirclement and no way to escape, the enemy, harboring the idea of mutual destruction, activated the self-destruct program.
Hundreds of thousands of tons of explosives razed the experimental base to the ground, and the enormous blasting force triggered landslides and earthquakes.
Nature roared furiously, and the world was turned upside down in an instant.
Zhao Honghui noticed something amiss beforehand and ordered everyone to evacuate the laboratory immediately.
After an unknown amount of time, the roaring sounds caused by the avalanche and earthquake finally ceased, and the earth was shrouded in a white silence.
Those who survived immediately began a rescue operation, but several days later, Zhao Honghui, who was covering the rear, was still missing.
One surviving soldier said he saw Zhao Honghui with a severe head injury, his face covered in blood.
Another comrade said that Zhao Honghui was indeed thrown onto the ice by the avalanche waves and suffered a head injury.
When the rescue team arrived at the described location of the ice, they found that the ice had broken and many pieces of ice had been carried away by the current.
There are only two possibilities for Zhao Honghui's whereabouts: either he sank to the bottom of the river or he drifted away to a distant place.
The command headquarters firmly believed that the incredibly resilient man couldn't have died so easily, and they sent people to search the surrounding area and the lower reaches of the river...
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