Entering the mountains
Xia Zhitang hurriedly pushed open the door of the temporary camera lounge: "Erniu is willing for us to follow and film."
Lin Jingming, who was reviewing the footage, stood up suddenly and said, "See, I told you that stories would just come to you on their own!"
After saying that, he hurriedly took out his cell phone to contact the county.
In the afternoon, he drove to the county with Xia Zhitang and a bag of ginseng fruit.
"Lin Jingming, you're good. The security guard even recognized you." Xia Zhitang joked as he looked at the security guard who came out from a distance and waved to say hello.
"He didn't recognize me, he just recognized the cigarettes I gave him!"
"Who did you learn this from?" Xia Zhitang was very surprised. It seemed that he was born with the ability to judge the scale of dealing with different people.
"My old man used to take me out for social events occasionally."
Xia Zhitang looked at Lin Jingming who parked the car on the side and got out to greet the old man and register, and was a little curious about what he was like when he was young.
The two went directly to Li Ke's office to discuss with him the weekend's mountain interview.
"How about this, don't tell anyone that you are filming at the girls' high school. Just say that you are doing a survey for the city TV station. I have said hello to the village chief, and you can follow me around then." Li Ke is about forty years old. He looks like the official that ordinary people imagine, and his words are tactful and smooth.
"After you're done shopping, you're free to do whatever you want and take photos of whatever you want," Li Ke said as he refilled their tea. "Just one thing: ladies, don't leave us alone."
He glanced at Xia Zhitang's bandaged hand and said, "You look so fragile and your hand is injured. You'd better be careful in this place where people are so tough."
Lin Jingming nodded seriously: "Understood, thank you for your help."
The two invited Li Ke to have lunch with them at noon, and only parted ways with Li Ke after listening to him talk about some precautions in the small restaurant.
When the two of them were discussing the filming schedule in Lin Jingming's room that night, Lin Jingming suddenly suggested, "Why don't you pretend to be a couple with me then?"
"Why?" Xia Zhitang looked up at Lin Jingming.
"The county has explicitly stated twice that women aren't allowed to travel alone. There must be reasons we're not aware of." Lin Jingming carefully assessed the risks. "We have to stay in the mountains on Saturday night. You and I can stay together. It's safer to stay with us."
Xia Zhitang had no reason to object. Although he grew up in the city, he had heard many stories about the mountains.
"We agreed on this, it's just a pretense." Xia Zhitang was cautious and decided to draw a clear line with Lin Jingming first, "No kissing me, and you have to be a good boy in bed and don't do anything naughty."
"You are judging others by your own standards." Lin Jingming defended himself dissatisfiedly.
Xia Zhitang squinted at him and said, "I'm a villain first and a gentleman later."
"Am I not gentleman enough?" Lin Jingming felt so wronged. He had been mocked by Cheng Shubai countless times as "Liuxia Hui" and "Plato".
"Gentleman, a very gentleman." Xia Zhitang said perfunctorily, "Okay, I'll give the shooting schedule to the cameraman."
Lin Jingming looked at Xia Zhitang's back and muttered softly: "Am I too good to you?"
"What?" Xia Zhitang thought Lin Jingming had something else to tell him, so he suddenly turned around and looked at him.
"fine."
Okay, that's fine. He still wants her to stay with him.
At around six o'clock in the morning, the camera crew had already appeared at the door of Erniu's dormitory.
The lights came on and the female students started to get up. After getting used to the camera, they were no longer paying any attention to it.
After a simple wash, Erniu started off with a cloth bag on her shoulder.
Li Ke was already waiting in front of the Wuling Hongguang at the school gate. Lin Jingming discussed with Li Ke for a few words, and Li Ke moved aside and let the driver of the Wuling Hong go ahead.
On Lin Jingming's side, his assistant also drove an SUV and followed Li Ke first.
Lin Jingming took a camera and followed Erniu through the dewy mountains.
From time to time, a quaint bus would stop on the cement road in the mountains, curiously asking what the camera crew was doing, and readily asking if they needed a ride, which was free.
Although Erniu was somewhat tempted, she knew what the filming team needed and shook her head to refuse.
Everyone followed Erniu all the way up the road, and they were so tired that they were sweating. Erniu felt a little sorry for them, so she took them to the flowing spring in the mountain stream, picked a leaf, rolled it into a container, filled it with a handful of clear spring water, and brought it to Xia Zhitang.
Xia Zhitang was a little hesitant looking at the crystal clear water. She was still used to drinking boiled hot water.
"This is a good idea. You hold it first and we'll take a close-up." Lin Jingming came over and directed the close-up, and then asked Erniu if she would come here to get water to drink every time she passed by on her way to school.
After the interruption, Erniu had forgotten about giving the spring water to Xia Zhitang.
The camera crew followed Erniu as she followed a small path that branched off from the winding road. Erniu suddenly ran to a bunch of red morning glories in surprise.
"Teacher Xia, this flower is sweeter than honey!" She picked one and sniffed it, her eyes shining with joy.
Xia Zhitang also picked one and tasted it: "It's so sweet! Lin Jingming, come over and try it!"
Many members of the camera crew had never seen this thing before, so they gathered around and picked one each to try.
Lin Jingming looked at the bright red trumpet-like flowers and had an idea: "Don't just focus on picking the flowers, take another set of shots."
He directed everyone: "Erniu, stand here. The close-up camera will be over here. Here's another set of medium shots. The lights will be shot from above."
Xia Zhitang suddenly picked a flower and put it into Erniu's hand: "This flower suits you very well, it looks beautiful."
After spending half an hour taking a few shots as intended, everyone continued on their journey. By the time they met up with Li Ke and the others, the sun was already high in the sky.
Lin Jingming slumped in the car: "I haven't been this tired in a long time."
Xia Zhitang wet the towel and handed it to him: "Do you want to take more photos later?"
Lin Jingming took the towel and wiped his sweat: "We have to shoot, even if we are acting. Just one camera will follow, the others can take a break."
The off-road vehicle slowly drove through the winding mountain road, and the assistant was so nervous that sweat broke out on his forehead.
Fortunately, there were no passing vehicles that we needed to avoid, so we drove into the mountains safely.
The car turned a corner and we saw a village in the valley, with a group of small houses standing here and there along the flat terrain.
Wisps of smoke slowly rose up, and the sound of dogs barking could be heard one after another.
The closer we got to the village, the quieter Erniu became. She slowly lowered her head, her bangs covering most of her face, and the lively look in her eyes slowly faded.
Xia Zhitang looked at the changes in Erniu, and when he looked at the village in front of him again, he seemed to see the imperceptible gray under the sunlight.
Under the banyan tree at the entrance of the village, the village chief and his young son had been waiting here for a long time.
Li Ke got out of the car and greeted the village chief. He introduced Lin Jingming as a team of reporters from the city who came to shoot a film on rural themes, and asked the village chief to treat him well.
Lin Jingming nodded reservedly, with an arrogant look, which made Xia Zhitang look at him.
Since Lin Jingming had a non-admission attitude, others didn't need to say hello.
The village chief nodded and smiled. He noticed Erniu hiding behind the camera crew and suddenly became stern: "Erniu, why are you so disrespectful?"
"It's not related. We passed by the girls' high school for an interview and brought her back with us." Li Ke waved his hand indifferently.
The village chief smiled and explained, "This little girl is so naughty. It would be bad if she bumped into the equipment."
He turned around and glared at Erniu, who reluctantly walked out of the team and moved towards the village.
"Don't be so mean, we're going to visit her home today. She's a rare high school student in the village, so we need to take some pictures." Li Ke replied with a thick accent.
The village chief smiled and listed two other male high school students in the village and asked Li Ke if he wanted to take pictures. Lin Jingming nodded slightly, and Li Ke agreed.
The group first went to the accommodation arranged by the village chief to rest, and the assistant tactfully slipped a red envelope over.
The village chief pinched the thickness of the red envelope and smiled more sincerely.
He looked at Xia Zhitang with some embarrassment: "We didn't know there were women, and we didn't prepare enough rooms."
The village chief's son, who had been quiet all this time, suddenly said, "You can live in the room next to mine."
The village chief glared at his son. Before he could say anything, Lin Jingming put his arm around Xia Zhitang's shoulders and said, "She's in my room."
The village chief's son glanced at them, lowered his head and said nothing.
"So they are a couple. That's easy, that's easy." The village chief immediately took Lin Jingming to his room.
For the rest of the team, two people were placed in other people's homes.
Lin Jingming pulled Xia Zhitang into the room, checked the locks of the doors and windows and the bed, then took off his coat and lay on the bed, fanning himself with a fan.
"I'm so tired. I need to take a nap." He took out his cell phone and sent a message to everyone to take a break for an hour before gathering again, then fell on the pillow.
The two of them got up before dawn and have been filming until now. Although they are used to the work and rest schedule on the set, they are still very tired after walking down the mountain road for two or three hours.
Xia Zhitang was also a little exhausted, so he took out a mobile charger to charge his phone, set an alarm, and climbed onto the only small wooden bed in the whole room.
"Move closer." She pushed Lin Jingming.
"Why is this bed so small?" Lin Jingming complained as he shrank back inwards. "Put down the mosquito net. There are so many mosquitoes here, and they're so poisonous."
"Why do you have a different attitude towards the village chief?" Xia Zhitang asked Lin Jingming while getting off the mosquito net.
"In a poor and remote area, it's easier to get things done with a leader who can endorse you and give you a cool and authoritative look." Lin Jingming yawned as he spoke, "He really fell asleep."
He turned over to face the wall and fell asleep in a short while.
Xia Zhitang and Lin Jingming squeezed into a bed that was just over one meter wide. They originally just wanted to close their eyes and rest, but they fell asleep soon after.
The alarm clock rang, and Xia Zhitang subconsciously kicked the person sitting next to him: "It's so noisy, go turn off the alarm."
After a while, the person next door slowly got up and turned off the alarm clock.
Xia Zhitang turned over and wanted to continue sleeping, but his nose was pinched.
She opened her eyes sleepily: "What are you doing?"
"Behaving like a spoiled brat again?"
Lin Jingming's face was hanging above her. Xia Zhitang felt a sense of crisis as if she was being stared at by a wild beast. She subconsciously reached out to cover his mouth.
He was stunned for a moment, then found it funny and pinched her face: "Don't stay in bed."
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