Chapter 48 Those involved are often blinded by their own perspective; Mo Ningzhi seized the opportunity to get into the act and...
Mo Ningzhi cursed that he was crazy, turned around, and found Qin Weijin staring unfocusedly at the door, his gaze somewhat heavy. He walked over and waved his hand in front of Qin Weijin's eyes, "Don't worry about him, he's mentally ill, he's always been so annoying."
As the old saying goes, those involved are often confused, while bystanders see things clearly. Standing outside the situation, Qin Weijin watched Mo Ningzhi and Zhou Yaozheng's strange way of getting along and suddenly had an absurd idea.
Once certain guesses take shape, previously overlooked details begin to surface clearly, like scattered puzzle pieces being pulled together to slowly piece together a complete picture.
Qin Weijin glanced lightly to the side, then looked away. Since Mo Ningzhi didn't know, he wouldn't say anything more.
Qin Weijin slowly approached him, raised his hand and gently stroked his brow. "Don't frown. Aren't you tired after such a long flight?"
Mo Ningzhi's eyebrows didn't relax at all, but seeing that Qin Weijin seemed unaffected, he gradually relaxed as well. "I am a little tired, but I haven't eaten yet."
"Go take a shower first and relax." Qin Weijin gave him a push on the back, indicating that he should choose a room first. "I'll go order dinner."
Mo Ningzhi was pushed so much that she leaned back slightly, then raised her head and said, "You're ordering."
Seeing his dangerous posture, Qin Weijin applied a little force to his hand and said, "Hmm."
From this angle, Mo Ningzhi's eyes are very bright, with a rare cunning, and a gentle, subtle light seems to be hidden in them.
Mo Ningzhi's eyebrows twitched: "Then am I not a very competent assistant?"
Qin Weijin seemed to be in a good mood, raising an eyebrow. "You're not an assistant anymore, you're my boyfriend."
Mo Ningzhi raised her hand: "Then I'd like to have a stewed fish dish, any kind of fish will do."
Qin nodded to Jin: "Okay."
Mo Ningzhi has loved eating fish since he was a child. The housekeeper in his family would cook different kinds of fish every day, so there was always a fish dish on the table in front of him. He was very accepting of this kind of dish, whether it was fried, boiled, or stir-fried. But he hadn't had it for several days recently, and he was craving it.
So they skipped all the various local delicacies of Northwest China and just had to eat them all.
Mo Ningzhi pulled his suitcase into the smaller bedroom, and the smile on his face faded as soon as he entered.
He didn't shower; he simply grabbed his phone, walked to the window, looked at the fiery red sunset in the distance, and made a call a few minutes later.
"Ningzhi?" Zhou Suiyin's voice was full of surprise, after all, Mo Ningzhi almost never called her.
"Aunt Zhou." Mo Ningzhi's voice was very faint, revealing a sense of detachment.
Zhou Suiyin sensed something was wrong and became even more anxious. "What's wrong? I heard from your dad that your business trip to the Northwest didn't go well?"
“A little.” Mo Ningzhi rarely complained to others, but he made the call very smoothly. “Did you know that Zhou Yaozheng is here too?”
Zhou Suiyin exclaimed in surprise, "Really? I'm not quite sure, what... happened?"
Mo Ningzhi frowned involuntarily. "He came on the same flight as me, saying he was here on a business trip. We're staying at the same hotel now, and his room is right next to mine."
Mo Ningzhi never believed in coincidences, and even if they did, they wouldn't apply to Zhou Yaozheng. Therefore, their several encounters along the way were likely deliberate acts by Zhou Yaozheng. Mo Ningzhi was too lazy to even consider what schemes Zhou Yaozheng was up to; it was best to leave the problem to Zhou Suiyin. If Zhou Yaozheng was a wild, irrational horse, then Zhou Suiyin was the only one who could control him.
Sure enough, Zhou Suiyin's tone became a little anxious after hearing him finish speaking, "I'm sorry, Ningzhi, I didn't know he... Anyway, I'm sorry, I'll call him and make sure he doesn't do anything excessive to you."
The phone rang, and after a moment, Mo Tingzhou's voice came through, "What's wrong? Who is it?"
"You keep playing ball, I'm going to talk to my friend on the phone for a bit." Zhou Suiyin lowered her voice. It seemed that Mo Tingzhou had said something to her again on the other end, so Mo Ningzhi had no choice but to hang up the phone.
After complaining, although he didn't know the outcome, Mo Ningzhi felt half of the pent-up anger dissipate. He quickly took a shower, casually dried his head with a towel, and then went to find Qin Weijin in his slippers.
The big star was sitting quietly on the sofa in the living room, reading the script. Night had fallen, and it was dark outside the window. Qin Weijin had the script on his lap, with a pen between his fingers. The script had been marked with long and short lines and various symbols.
Celebrities need to spend a lot of time memorizing their lines, and Qin Weijin is no exception. Several times, even late at night, Mo Ningzhi noticed that there was light coming from his room.
He paused, not wanting to disturb them, and was about to retreat back to his room when Qin Weijin turned around as if he had radar, "Finished washing... why aren't you drying your hair?"
Mo Ningzhi simply walked over and said, "It's hot, so it's fine if you don't blow on it. Anyway, the air conditioning isn't on. Have you finished reciting?"
“Almost there.” Qin Weijin put down the script, looked up at him, paused for a moment, and said softly, “Come here.”
Mo Ningzhi picked up a towel to wipe the water droplets from her hair. When she walked over, she noticed that Qin Weijin had marked several places on the script with black crosses.
He glanced at it, not understanding what it meant: "The lines were mistyped?"
"No." Qin Weijin looked at him with a towel on his head, his profile peeking out from the edge, his lips slightly pursed, his skin fair and pink from just having showered, and his eyes fixed on the script beside his legs, like a cat staring at a fish.
"These scenes involving coroners examining corpses not only have a lot of technical jargon, but also require the dialogue to accurately and clearly express medical logic and information. This is also a time of inner struggle for Duan Yunfei, with intense emotions, so we need to think about it some more," Qin Weijin said slowly.
Mo Ningzhi nodded. He didn't really understand the script's wording and annotations. Many parts were written in a simplified way, with scene titles of only one or two words summarizing the time and place. There were also parentheses everywhere indicating the dialogue format and action descriptions.
Reading it through once is already quite strenuous, let alone memorizing it.
Being a celebrity isn't easy. —Mo Ningzhi
"Since you enjoy reading scripts so much, why don't you help me with my scripts?" Qin Weijin suddenly said.
"I don't know how," Mo Ningzhi said frankly.
Qin Weijin seemed to suddenly become interested and said, "I'll teach you."
In the extremely quiet environment, Qin Weijin's voice sounded even more captivating, and Mo Ningzhi, in a daze, was led to read the script along with him.
This scene is a minor climax in the plot of "The Strategist of the Nation." Duan Yunfei is sent to the Northwest to investigate a case of embezzlement of military funds, but just as he uncovers a clue, witnesses are found hanged one after another from the roof beams, bringing the case to a standstill. Everyone thinks it's an assassin silencing witnesses, but only Duan Yunfei suspects, based on the clues, that it's someone close to him. After some investigation, he focuses his attention on his good brother, Lu Changxing.
In order to identify the murderer, Duan Yunfei arranged to meet Lu Changxing at the autopsy room.
Qin Weijin said he encountered a problem memorizing words, and Mo Ningzhi subconsciously helped him solve it, even though it was a cross-industry and highly specialized field.
But after reading the script for a while, he became interested in the character of Lu Changxing.
Qin Weijin cleared his throat and began to speak: "Although the deceased's neck was broken, there were no bruises or marks on the skin. The hanged person's hyoid bone was shattered and his neck was cyanotic, which is contrary to the signs of the corpse. I have always found this strange. The witnesses were personally guarded by the Embroidered Uniform Guards, and no one entered or left the secret room..."
Before, I didn't find it particularly amazing when I looked at it from a distance, but now, listening to Qin Weijin read the lyrics with such intonation up close, Mo Ningzhi felt her ears go numb.
"So, it's you?" Qin Weijin said, "Lu Changxing."
Looking at the handsome features in front of him, Mo Ningzhi was stunned for a moment. The gentleness and calmness on his face disappeared, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed from a well-known superstar into a jade-faced imperial envoy burdened with a blood feud.
Meeting his restrained gaze, Mo Ningzhi felt as if he had truly become the traitor Lu Changxing. He tilted his head and smiled, "Brother suspects me?"
"The witness's neck was broken cleanly, like the tendon-splitting technique you taught me, but don't forget..." Qin Weijin's voice suddenly lowered a few degrees, "People inhale before they die, and the Soul-Locking Sand sticks to their nasal cavity... That's something unique to the Lu family."
"And then?" For a moment, Mo Ningzhi felt that Lu Changxing was sometimes very similar to himself. As long as he showed his wicked side, he was the second Lu Changxing: "You would rather believe the dust on a dead man's nose than believe the knife I took for you ten years ago?"
Even the cold smile on his lips had a hint of madness.
Qin Weijin's gaze lingered on his eyes for a moment: "I only believe what I see in front of me."
Mo Ningzhi tilted her head, her voice suddenly hoarse, and laughed cruelly and fearlessly: "Then are you going to arrest me?"
Qin Weijin was stunned, his gaze momentarily filled with confusion and amazement. In this situation where no one knew, he briefly snapped out of his reverie for a few seconds.
Mo Ningzhi seized the opportunity to get into character, leaned close to his ear and whispered, placing one hand on his chest: "Brother, you are a man of deep affection. This heart can only continue to beat because of me. Over the years, you have lost most of your fortune to the Lu family. If I were the murderer, wouldn't the arrow I took for you back then be enough to earn you mercy?"
“…Okay.” Qin Weijin said in a low voice.
Mo Ningzhi: "???"
You misspoke; that's not how it's written in the script.
Just as he was about to look down at the script, his chin was gently pinched. Qin Weijin smiled and gently touched the corner of his mouth, tenderly and affectionately, "You really can surprise me, you acted very well."
Mo Ningzhi pursed her lips: "It wasn't really acting."
This bastard's fearless side is more like his true nature.
“You have a great grasp of character traits, which is very important for actors. Now I finally understand why Hou Qing is so fixated on you.” Qin Weijin lowered his head and kissed him again.
Mo Ningzhi tilted her chin up and raised her hand to stop him: "You and Lu Changxing also have a kissing scene?"
Qin Weijin paused for a second, then laughed: "Of course not, what would that be?"
The drama "The Strategist" is a serious story. Although Duan Yunfei ultimately ascended to the pinnacle of power alone, the princess can be considered the official love interest in a certain sense. How could the script possibly add romantic subplots randomly?
Mo Ningzhi gently pushed him away and stepped back a little: "Then you're not allowed to kiss me."
Qin Weijin's eyes were deep and unfathomable, and his gaze slowly slid down from his eyes.
Mo Ningzhi stiffened, then smiled and stood up: "I won't disturb you from memorizing your lines. Good luck."
At this point, Mo Ningzhi finally remembered his business. He pulled off the towel on his head, picked up his phone to check when dinner would be delivered, and learned that it would take another ten minutes. So he went back to his room, dragged his suitcase out, took out his camera, set it up, and prepared to take it to the film set for a photoshoot the next day.
During this time, he took several photos of the night view outside the window, selected two that he was satisfied with, and posted them on his Weibo side account.
When I switched back to the desktop, I saw Xiao Guo's WeChat message.
[Ningzhi, don't open the door casually later. I saw Yang Lian asking about Jin Ge's room number. The receptionist didn't dare to tell me, but I'm worried she might have other ways. There are surveillance cameras everywhere; it's hard to say what might happen.]
Mo Ningzhi replied "I understand" and gave up his idea of playing with the camera. After wandering around for a while, his hair was almost dry. He casually ran his fingers through it and heard the doorbell ring as soon as he stepped out of the room.
Qin Weijin picked up his mask and was about to get up.
Mo Ningzhi recalled what Xiao Guo had just said, and her expression softened. "I'll do it."
Qin Weijin didn't hesitate, said "okay," lowered his head, picked up his pen and made a temporary mark on the script so he could continue reading later.
Mo Ningzhi looked out through the peephole and saw a food delivery guy standing in the middle, with someone else next to him, but she couldn't see them clearly.
Mo Ningzhi hesitated for a few seconds before opening the door.
When I looked up, I saw three people standing at the door.
Zhou Yaozheng, the food delivery guy, and Yang Lian.
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