"Hello!"
At this moment, a voice suddenly rang out from the side: "Are you two done yet?"
Jiang Que turned his head and saw that there were more than just the two of them lying on the open space. Ling An, Tang Yao, He Jingsheng and Lin Yan were lying around in a circle. Between them, Song Yecheng and Jiang Que were lying on a wrinkled sheet - the sheet from Song Yecheng's dormitory.
Recalling the fleeting soft feeling on the soles of his feet when he was falling just now, Jiang Que suddenly realized: it turned out that it was a net formed by the four of them pulling the bed sheets, which provided a cushion for the two of them.
This was also the arrangement Song Yecheng made during the few minutes he went downstairs - he first went to the dormitory on the second floor to get a climbing rope and bed sheets, then took the bed sheets and files to the window of the abandoned stairs and threw them to them, and asked them to come downstairs to meet him.
The sound of sirens in the distance was getting closer, and the red and blue police lights could be seen from afar through the base gate.
Song Yecheng climbed up from the ground and pulled Jiang Que up with him. Tang Yao, who was standing beside him, dusted off the files in her arms and handed them to him: "Here, it's back to its rightful owner."
In a moment, several police cars drove into the base campus and stopped near them. The door of the leading car opened, and a middle-aged man in a police uniform, resembling a leader, stepped out. He walked briskly toward them, "Thank you for your hard work, Officer Jiang."
Jiang Que saluted respectfully, and the other party returned the salute with a proper gesture. He then patted his shoulder approvingly, "This undercover mission was a complete success. The suspect has been successfully apprehended. You—"
He pointed at Jiang Que and turned to the others: "--And you all, you have made invaluable contributions. On behalf of the police, I would like to thank you for all your dedication and hard work."
The people around looked at each other and smiled, knowing in their hearts that these words should be the end of the story.
Sure enough, the next second, two rounds of crisp applause rang out from the sidelines: "OK—perfect!"
As soon as Chi Jinan finished speaking, all the staff on the sidelines cheered as if a mission was accomplished, and several guest assistants rushed over from the crowd with towels and water.
Douzi acted like he was there to pick up his son who had just returned from the front lines. He patted and touched Song Yecheng and Jiang Que all the time: "Are you two okay? Did you fall? Did you bump into anything? Oh my god, you're so brave! You made my blood pressure soar, I almost had a heart attack!"
Just then, Chi Jinan came over from the sidelines and said, "Thank you for your hard work, are you all okay?"
Everyone nodded in response. Ling An smiled and joked, "Boss Chi, this is a bit too big, isn't it?"
He raised his head and pointed towards the fourth floor, his eyes widening as he asked, "He dared to jump from such a high place, did you really dare to let him jump?"
Chi Jinan glanced at Song Yecheng and smiled teasingly, "You can't blame me for this. If you want to blame someone, you can only blame your brother Cheng for listing a bunch of acceptable extreme sports when he signed the contract - things like rappelling, skydiving, diving, bungee jumping. He's got certificates for all of those. Wouldn't it be a big loss if I didn't let him perform?"
Song Yecheng was listening, but he just smiled in his heart - Chi Jinan said it as if he didn't take it seriously, but in fact he didn't dare to be careless in his actions.
When he was rappelling just now, he saw that there were buffer nets on the second and third floors, and there was a pop-up inflatable cushion on the first floor. Even if he didn't ask the others to pull the sheets, or if there were any deviations during the rappelling process, these things would be enough to ensure their safety.
Not only that, even the "explosion" threatening them from behind did not pose any actual danger. Although it was not a post-production special effect, it was completely within human control. It was just a stunning visual show completed with the help of flames, debris, sound effects and eruptive impact airflow.
"Here, your cell phones." Chi Jinan pointed to the basket brought by the staff next to him, which contained the cell phones that were taken away by the white coats when they entered the building last night.
Several people reached out to take back their own, and at the same time, they took out the communicators they had taken last night from their pockets. But before they could return them, they heard Chi Jinan say, "No, no, take this back as a souvenir."
"Oh, so generous?" Song Yecheng raised his eyebrows and raised his chin towards his hands. "I have two here, take them both?"
The one in his hand was his original one, and the other was the one left by Duan Jingming at the base.
"Take it," Chi Jinan said with a sly smile, "it will be deducted from your wages anyway."
“…” Everyone looked at him speechlessly.
"Just kidding," Chi Jinan waved his hand quickly, "It's really a gift for you. Since you've come here anyway, you might as well bring some local specialties from the base. It won't be like going back empty-handed, right?"
Then he suddenly remembered something: "But the mission isn't over yet. We still need to shoot some more footage, and then do individual interviews with each person."
The "small fragments" he mentioned are parts that exist in the plot but do not completely belong to the main line, such as the content in Jiang Que's notebook where he went through the job training, found the files of the surrendered persons, and explored the secret passage last night.
Although these contents were presented in text form during the filming process, the final product is a TV program after all. When it is broadcast, the audience cannot follow the protagonist in front of the screen to do reading comprehension, so all the plots that can be presented in dynamic pictures must be filmed, and then inserted into the main line through post-editing to replace "memories" and static text clues.
As for the individual interviews, they are completely outside the plot. They are just for the guests to talk about their feelings and ideas, which can be regarded as a conclusion to the program.
It’s not a lot to say the least, but it’s quite a lot too. Moreover, most of it is fragmented and scattered, so it was almost midnight when all the filming was finished.
When everyone gathered again, Chi Jinan felt relieved: "OK, now we're done."
He looked at the group and suggested, "Let's go to the city for a late-night snack? I've already arranged a hotel. You can stay in the city for one night and go back tomorrow?"
This suggestion was the most reasonable one, but unexpectedly, Song Yecheng hesitated and declined as soon as he finished speaking: "Let's not have a midnight snack. We may have to go back tonight. We have a cat waiting at home. It has only been in its new environment for a few days. I am worried about it being far away."
The reason why he said this was because he heard Jiang Que mention "I wonder how Baimao is doing" during the break of reshoots. He probably was thinking about the little guy and definitely didn't want to stay for long.
This was indeed the case. When Jiang Que heard this, he immediately looked at him as if his heart was touched, his eyes full of recognition.
Song Yecheng smiled knowingly. He knew that Jiang Que was not a person who liked crowds. He had been surrounded by a group of people and forced to work for the past two days. He must have wanted to have some peace and quiet for a long time.
Chi Jinan didn't mind what he said. Instead, he seemed to understand very well: "Tsk, it's really not easy to be a poop scooper, huh? My pet is also the kind that will tear off the roof if you don't see it for three days. Sometimes I just want to tie it to my belt."
After saying that, he readily took out his phone and said, "Well, let me create a group for you guys, and I'll notify you in the group about the program later."
Song Yecheng nodded, and the few of them worked together to add the group and said goodbye to each other. Then they split into two groups. Douzi drove Song Yecheng and Jiang Que to the airport, and the rest of the group went to the city as planned.
Half an hour later, on the suburban highway.
It was already late at night and there were very few vehicles on the road. Under the bright street lights, a gray SUV was driving unimpeded.
Douzi had gotten up late this morning and was now energetically steering the wheel. He even called out to the people in the back seat, "Why don't you two get some sleep? I'll call you when we get to the airport."
Song Yecheng had just bought a plane ticket on his phone and was now looking down to confirm the order text message. After confirming that everything was correct, he finally turned off the screen, put the phone back in his pocket, leaned back on the chair, hummed exaggeratedly, and stretched out: "Hmm——"
"Tired?" Jiang Que immediately asked, then patted his legs, "How about lying down and resting for a while?"
Song Yecheng glanced at him, then turned around rudely and lay on his legs, staring into his eyes and said seriously: "It's not that I'm tired, it's just that it's very hard to endure."
Jiang Que didn't quite understand what he heard. He only saw Song Yecheng suddenly smirk, raised his index finger and hooked his chin: "When I see you, I want to kiss you, hug you and lift you up high. I'm almost suffocating myself by pretending to be a stranger."
Jiang Que was stunned for a moment, and when he looked up, he happened to see Douzi's smirk in the rearview mirror. His ears suddenly felt hot, and he quickly reached out to cover Douzi's mouth as if to make up for his loss.
Song Yecheng laughed so hard that he grabbed his wrist and pecked his palm. Then he pulled his hand away and bumped his lower abdomen with his cheek: "Hey, tell me the truth, are you involved in this script?"
This question was so unexpected to Jiang Que that he was stunned for a moment, and then asked in disbelief: "How did you know that?"
"Tsk," Song Yecheng's eyes were full of the smugness of "I knew it" and he raised his eyebrows teasingly, "Come on, I've read your books for so many years, how could I not feel your style?"
Ever since he saw that familiar line last night, Song Yecheng vaguely realized that many details in the script were very similar to Jiang Que's work. However, it was still being filmed at that time, so he didn't ask too much and had to put it off until now.
Jiang Que smiled helplessly and admitted, "Yes. Chi Jinan bought this script from me a long time ago. I knew he was going to adapt it for a show, but I didn't expect it would be just the first episode. I was quite surprised when I got off the car last night."
"He didn't tell you in advance?" Song Yecheng said.
Jiang Que shook his head: "No, and I didn't expect that I would be assigned the role of a police officer."
He had been very surprised when he got off the car last night and heard Dr. Jin's introduction to the base. And when he entered the base and got his identity information, his surprise was even greater.
The role of the policeman is of great importance in the entire script. He thought that at least someone of Song Yecheng or Duan Jingming would take on the role, but he didn't expect that Chi Jinan would not only let him participate in his own script, but also give him such an important role.
Song Yecheng thought about it and said, "That's understandable. If the eight of us knew nothing about the script, there's no guarantee that the plot wouldn't develop in some strange direction. The police character has a dual identity, and you have a bird's-eye view. He probably wants you to take the helm and control the overall situation, right?"
Jiang Que nodded in agreement, but quickly explained, "But I don't have a completely God's perspective. Although the main plot of this story remains unchanged, many details, including the final ending, are actually unexpected to me."
Song Yecheng was stunned for a moment: "Did they change the ending?"
Jiang Que nodded and said, "He originally wanted a game book, where the guests could split into pairs to determine the winner. So in my original script, after learning there was a bomb in the building, the guests would split into four groups, with volunteers and instructors assigned to each. They would solve the puzzles and mechanisms on the bomb timer and find the exit. The first one to escape would win."
Song Yecheng's eyes rolled: "So... the control room part at the end was adapted?"
"Well," Jiang Que said, "I just learned about the changes from the director last night. Although this change can no longer determine the winner, from the perspective of story integrity, it is equivalent to adding an extra layer of twists and turns. The immersion of the guests and the audience should be even stronger."
Song Yecheng nodded in agreement, thinking that Chi Jinan might have considered more than just this -
This new ending is obviously to give him and Jiang Que separate scenes. After a little thought, you can know that Chi Jinan wants to "keep up with current affairs" and use the popularity of the recent exposure of their relationship to give the plot a wave of highlights. It can be said that he has grasped the audience's psychology perfectly.
Thinking of this, Song Yecheng couldn't help but laugh with emotion: "This show of his has taken advantage of everything, time, place, and people. No wonder he has been so successful in the television industry in the past two years, huh?"
Jiang Que smiled casually, not seeming to care much: "Anyway, the copyright has been sold to him, I will just cooperate with him in any adaptation he wants."
As he spoke, he pulled his hand out of Song Yecheng's palm, reached into his pocket and took out something, saying mysteriously, "I was going to wait until we get home to tell you, but since you've guessed it, I'll give it to you now."
He put the thing into Song Yecheng's hand. Song Yecheng looked down and found that it was actually a bank card.
"Although I haven't found a new book yet, this book has earned me some extra money, plus the money I got from this show, it's all included in it."
He didn't finish his words, but Song Yecheng understood instantly - he still remembered the "loss" of Yongquan Water and was trying to make some compensation.
Song Yecheng felt helpless in his heart, but on the surface he only stared at the card for two seconds, then raised his eyebrows cunningly and glanced at Jiang Que: "Hey, are you going to support me?"
Seeing that he didn't refuse, Jiang Que felt relieved and was happy to joke with him. He followed his words and said with a frown, "Is it okay?"
Without saying a word, Song Yecheng put the card into his chest pocket, then suddenly turned around and hugged his waist tightly, rubbing his belly with a shrill voice that was as coquettish as if possessed by a witch and made his scalp tingle, saying: "Thank you, husband~ Husband, you look so handsome when you take out the card~"
The driver in the front seat startled and tilted his hand, and the SUV twisted into an S shape on the flat road.
Meanwhile, downtown hotels.
They said they were just having a quick midnight snack, but after all, there were several celebrities traveling with them. In order to ensure privacy, Chi Jinan booked an entire floor in a familiar hotel. There happened to be a suite upstairs, which made it convenient for the guests to go upstairs and rest after dinner.
At this moment, the staff were still parking their cars in the hotel's front yard one after another, while Chi Jinan had already led several protagonists and assistants upstairs through a special passage and into the box.
After sitting down, Chi Jinan asked everyone to order food, while the others chatted casually and relaxedly.
Tang Yao took out her cell phone out of habit and found that the battery was only 1%. She quickly got up and asked her assistant for a charger, then went to an empty box next to her to charge her phone.
There were people coming and going outside, and it didn't seem appropriate to leave her phone here. She thought she would just charge it 20% first, so she sat on the sofa next to her and browsed Weibo while waiting.
There was nothing new on Weibo. A quick glance at the hot searches revealed only promotional or meme-inspired tags. Tang Yao swiped through them a few times before losing interest. She exited the interface and clicked back into WeChat.
Her unread messages have remained at 99+ for a long time. It’s not that she ignores them intentionally, but when she was a supporting actress in her early years, she joined a lot of messy crew groups and never quit. She is too lazy to block them, so it’s quite interesting to lurk in and take a peek at their screens occasionally.
At this moment, the top of the message bar was indeed filled with those groups. Tang Yao saw that the program group that Chi Jinan had just created was squeezed to the bottom, so she quickly clicked in and set it to be pinned to the top.
After exiting the interface, she found a small red circle in the address book. When she clicked it, she found that it was Ling An's friend request.
Tang Yao was stunned for a moment, clicked "accept" and then seemed to suddenly think of something. She hurried back to the group and opened the member list.
There were only three people in this group whom she had added as friends: Chi Jinan, Song Yecheng and He Jingsheng. She had never worked with the others before, so she was not very familiar with them and had never thought about adding them as friends.
But now Ling An took the initiative to add her, which made her realize that she seemed to be too slow in dealing with people - they had already cooperated now, so as a junior in the circle, shouldn't she also take the initiative to say hello to her seniors?
Thinking about it, she clicked on the avatars of the remaining people one by one and took a look: Duan Jingming's avatar was a sweet photo of him and his wife, and he looked like a good family man; Jin Fuhan's avatar was a recording studio, probably his dubbing studio; Lin Yan's avatar was a bit literary, a piece of letter paper with an English poem written on it; and Jiang Que's avatar... looked like a mug?
Tang Yao clicked on the large picture out of curiosity, but didn't see anything special, so she pouted and retracted the picture.
At this moment, she glanced down and suddenly discovered something——
What was displayed under Jiang Que’s information was not the “Add to Contacts” that should be displayed for strangers, but... “Send Message”?
Tang Yao was stunned for a moment, wondering if this wasn't an option that only appeared for friends? But she hadn't even sent a request yet, and she had never added him before.
She almost doubted whether her memory was disturbed. She clicked on the "Send Message" option incredulously, and then the next second, she was stunned in front of the screen.
At the same time, in the next box.
He Jingsheng was chatting with Duan Jingming about the eight major cuisines when his phone suddenly rang in his pocket. He fished it out and looked around in surprise before answering the call in confusion: "Hello? Where have you been?"
"Come out for a moment." Tang Yao said concisely from the opposite side.
"Come out?" Although He Jingsheng was confused, he still greeted Duan Jingming politely, stood up and walked out obediently, "Where are you?"
"Next door," Tang Yao said, "8807."
He Jingsheng walked out of the door, turned right and walked a few steps to the next room. He looked inside and saw that the box was pitch black and even the lights were not on. Only the faint fluorescence of a mobile phone was on in the innermost corner, dimly illuminating Tang Yao's outline.
"Oh my god, are you acting in a horror movie here?"
He Jingsheng made a joking comment as he walked in, but couldn't help but tease him halfway through: "You say you're a pure and innocent young actress, but you're having a secret meeting with me in the dark in the middle of the night. Aren't you afraid that it'll be on the hot search list tomorrow?"
"Go away, stop talking nonsense."
Tang Yao waited for him to come closer, pulled his sleeve and asked him to sit on the sofa, then sat upright and said, "Let me ask you something."
"uh-huh?"
Tang Yao asked, "Do you have Teacher Bai's WeChat?"
He Jingsheng was stunned, then almost laughed: "...isn't this nonsense?"
Tang Yao held up her phone: "Is this the one in the group?"
The phone screen showed Jiang Que's WeChat profile page. He Jingsheng glanced at it and said, "Yes."
"Has he been using this number all along?" Tang Yao confirmed.
"What else?" He Jingsheng blinked, feeling quite baffled. "It's not like he has an assistant or anything."
Tang Yao choked: "...That's not what I meant."
Although He Jingsheng didn't understand, he couldn't help but feel strange after hearing her series of questions: "What's wrong? What's wrong with this number?"
Tang Yao hesitated for a long time, as if she didn't know how to explain. After a long time, she finally seemed to have found a breakthrough.
She raised her eyes to look at He Jingsheng, her brows slightly furrowed, her eyes full of solemnity——
"Do you still remember...the trending search between me and Song Yecheng?"
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