"Ding-a-ling—" Another sound.
Nan Xian quickly pinpointed the source of the sound. She turned around to confirm, only to find the cameraman staring at her with a bewildered expression.
"You really didn't hear the bell?"
The cameraman shook his head blankly.
Suddenly, a strange feeling crept into Nan Xian's heart, her palms became sweaty, and her throat tightened.
But the ringtone seemed to have a magical power that drew her in. Her heart was pounding as if it were about to jump out of her throat, and her feet were involuntarily drawn closer to it.
The cameraman was puzzled, but he still followed her closely.
"Ring—ring—"
The sound of the bell grew clearer, and she heard the babbling of flowing water again.
Gently parting the tall, dense grass, the light brightened, and the sight before her made her heart clench instantly—
Gillian sat in the middle of the shallow stream, holding a copper bell strung with a red rope in her hand, which jingled and clattered as it was shaken.
At her feet, a dozen snakes with different patterns swam and frolicked. One of them, a small red and black snake, straightened up and wrapped its body around her wrist, its tongue flicking out continuously.
As Nan Xian watched this scene, she felt her blood freeze for a moment, and a chill ran from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.
She instinctively covered her mouth, suppressing the scream that was about to escape her lips.
A "thump" sound came from behind.
The cameraman was so frightened he fainted.
The bell stopped ringing abruptly, and Gillian turned to look in their direction.
Nan Xian's eyes met hers, and seeing her gaze suddenly turn sharp, she snapped back to reality, turned around, and ran away.
Gillian shouted something behind her, seemingly in dialect. Nanxian didn't have time to understand before she felt her foot trip on something.
As she fell to the ground, she caught a glimpse of the small red and black snake baring its fangs at her out of the corner of her eye.
**
"sister!"
"Sis! Wake up!"
Nan Xian suddenly opened her eyes, sat up abruptly, and stared blankly at Ding He standing by the bed.
Ding He was startled by her appearance and waved her hand in front of her, "Sis... snap out of it!"
Where am I?
"Huh? In the room? Sis, what's wrong?"
Nan Xian mechanically rolled her eyes and scanned the area, then suddenly reached out and grabbed Ding He's arm.
Hot.
It's a living person.
She slowly came to her senses, looked at Ding He's terrified expression, forced a smile, and reassured her:
"I had a nightmare and thought I was still dreaming."
"Oh... then I'll go get you breakfast..." Ding He gripped her arm and went out looking bewildered.
Nan Xian got up and drew back the curtains, feeling the sunlight fall on her, and the chill in her heart finally dissipated.
She let out a long sigh of relief, trying to comfort herself:
It was just a dream, after all. How could a human possibly control a snake? It's utterly a fantasy...
Her gaze inadvertently fell on the bruises on her arm, and her smile instantly froze.
My gaze shifted downwards again, and I noticed not only bruises on my arms, but also several bruises of varying sizes on my calves.
In her dream, she fell down.
The location of the bump matches the location of the bruise.
"How could this be..." She trembled uncontrollably, rubbing the bruises with her fingers over and over again. The sharp pain forced her to realize—
Something did happen last night.
"Knock knock," the cameraman's voice rang out, "Teacher Nan Xian, may I come in?"
Her eyes suddenly lit up: That's right, the cameraman saw that scene last night too! He might even have filmed it!
"Please come in!"
The cameraman carried the equipment in, his serious face revealing nothing unusual.
Nan Xian's brow twitched. She stared at him for a few seconds before tentatively asking, "Last night...did I complete my special mission?"
The cameraman paused for a second, then asked, "Didn't you say you hadn't accepted the mission?"
Nan Xian squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath to calm her panic.
"Yes, I forgot, I'm sorry."
After putting on makeup, Nan Xian changed into a long-sleeved shirt to cover the bruises and silently went out.
I had just arrived at the stilted house and was confirming today's activities with the assistant director—
"jingle."
Nan Xian froze and looked up.
Gillian Chung stood on the second-floor veranda, tilting her head to look this way.
A small red and black snake was gently flicking its tongue near her neck.
*
Nan Xian's nerves were on edge all morning.
For some reason, she always felt a gaze secretly watching her, and a hissing sound would suddenly ring in her ears, making it impossible for her to concentrate on recording.
She unsurprisingly lost the game segment in the morning. During a break in the recording, Yu Lin came over and offered to give her the clues he had won, but Nan Xian did not agree.
For her, winning or losing the game is no longer important.
She just wanted to know what exactly happened last night, and why she was the only one who heard the bell and remembered what happened last night.
Also, what exactly is Gillian Chung's identity, and could she be a threat to me?
Nan Xian began searching for information about Gu techniques online, but unfortunately, the online information in 2012 was far less comprehensive than it would be later. Most of the search results were just hearsay and fabricated stories, with very little of it actually being useful.
Disappointed, she exited the search and accidentally tapped into WeChat, only to discover that [.h] had sent her more than a dozen messages the night before.
I bought Nan Nan a new collar today, with his name printed on it. Does it look nice?
[Image X6]
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