Shang Yechu fell seriously ill.
She brought quite a few assistants with her to the island. But when people are feeling down, they often don't want to interact with outsiders. Shang Yechu asked her assistant to book her a room at a seaside hotel and then sent everyone else away.
For the past three days, Shang Yechu had been in a daze, lying on the hotel bed, just sleeping soundly. When she woke up, she would eat a little of the food the hotel brought, not caring whether it was hot or cold, spoiled or not, whether it was breakfast, lunch or dinner.
After being caught in the rain for too long, Shang Yechu developed a fever. She then swallowed a bunch of pills her assistant had bought. Whether out of fear of affecting her brain or for some other reason, she didn't take more than the prescribed dose, often reducing the usual two pills to just one. As a result, her illness became lingering, with the fever coming and going repeatedly.
Her brain was burning with hallucinations. During her illness, Shang Yechu often saw many blurry figures. Sometimes it was her grandmother, looking at her with worried and pitying eyes; sometimes it was Ji Juntao, nagging her incessantly; sometimes it was a man with indistinct features. Shang Yechu tried hard to see his face clearly, but she couldn't make it out. She only felt that the man exuded a chilling aura. But the person she most wanted to see never appeared even once.
Once, Shang Yechu felt a cold hand touch her forehead, and she was so happy that she almost fell off the bed. She wanted to open her eyes to see the owner of the hand, but her eyelids were stuck together as if glued, and she couldn't open them no matter what she did.
In desperation, Shang Yechu reached out and grasped the cold hand, crying out, "Don't go, please?"
The cold hand paused, seemingly genuinely swayed by Shang Yechu's words. Overjoyed, Shang Yechu closed her eyes and softly asked, "Have you caught a cold?"
Suddenly, that hand ruthlessly swatted Shang Yechu away. The force was so great, it seemed as if the hand was extremely displeased. Shang Yechu was startled, and her leaden eyelids finally relaxed a little.
She opened her eyes, but there was no one there. Everything that had just happened seemed to be just her imagination.
-------------
Shao Guangji had already sent over the relevant information about "The Heavenly Emperor" via email, and two weeks later, Shang Yechu was finally going to join the crew.
There are many things to do before joining a production team, especially since Shao Guangji is a perfectionist, so you need to prepare carefully before joining his team.
After lying in bed for three days, Shang Yechu finally struggled to get up from the mud, went to the shower room, and looked in the mirror.
When Shang Yechu looked at herself in the mirror, she was shocked: her eyes were sunken, her skin was dull and pale, and her hair was greasy and matted. She looked emaciated, as if she had just fled a famine.
Fortunately, Shang Yechu kept the doors and windows tightly closed for the past three days, with the curtains drawn all day, preventing any light from getting in. Otherwise, this appearance would have provided the paparazzi with a hundred unflattering photos.
If Ji Juntao saw her like this, he would skin her alive.
Shang Yechu gave a bitter smile, and the woman in the mirror also revealed a smile that was even uglier than crying.
The woman in the mirror shook her head, took off her clothes, and casually threw them on the ground.
The warm water rushed down, hitting her like rain, making it hard to breathe. Shang Yechu seemed oblivious, carefully washing her hair, eyes, and every inch of her skin.
After scrubbing and washing it three times inside and out, until even my skin was wrinkled from soaking, the gloom that had been lingering in my heart finally dissipated a little.
The hardest part of a relationship that is abruptly severed is often not the moment of ending, but the long-lasting, lingering pain afterward. It's a lingering, ambiguous, unclear, elusive, and difficult to let go of.
Shang Yechu was currently suffering from this torment. Whenever she paused for even a moment, Yang Huanyi's every smile and frown would clearly appear before her eyes.
Has she caught a cold and fever too? Will she cry like I have? How is her daughter? Did she get the role she wanted? Is she suffering because she's staying with Cao Shi? With so many movies to film, can her body handle it? Has she recovered from the postpartum damage? Will she want to come see me? Has she ever wavered for me? Will the Cao family's servants see that scene in the rain and tell Cao Shi everything? If Cao Shi finds out, will he be furious? If Cao Shi argues with her about this, will she... will she come back to me?
The last delusion made Shang Yechu shudder, then a bitter smile appeared on her lips: Even if she came back to me, I couldn't give her what she wanted. In that case, what would be the point of her coming back?
After a period of wishful thinking and wild fantasies, Shang Yechu finally dried her hair, asked her assistant to bring her a clean set of clothes, disguised herself, and went out.
The assistant was worried about Shang Yechu's mental state and wanted to go with her, but Shang Yechu politely declined.
"You stay here, check out, and pack my things," Shang Yechu said in a muffled voice, wearing a mask. "We'll leave tonight."
After saying goodbye to her assistant, Shang Yechu wandered aimlessly around the island. People came and went, a diverse array of faces. Not a single one was the one Shang Yechu longed to see.
As she walked, Shang Yechu grew tired of the slow pace and decided to rent a vehicle to save her energy. At the rental shop, she thought of Yang Huanyi again. Yang Huanyi had once tried to teach her to ride a motorcycle, but Shang Yechu disliked the dangerous way of driving and refused. Yang Huanyi had jokingly said at the time, "When you travel around Taiwan in the future, do you expect me to give you a ride every time?"
At that moment, Shang Yechu was lying on the bed with her legs in the air, kicking the air as she replied, "Why would I go to Taiwan if I had nothing better to do? I've already taken pictures of Zhao Cheng's mansion. If you want to see them, I'll send them to you. Why would I bother going all the way here..."
Yang Huanyi remained silent for a while before finally saying, "What about receiving the award? The Golden Dome Award is held on Taiwan."
Shang Yechu kicked the air again: "Riding a motorcycle to an awards ceremony, are you waiting to be on the front page?"
Yang Huanyi looked embarrassed and ultimately remained silent.
As a result, Shang Yechu still hasn't learned to ride a motorcycle.
Shang Yechu didn't have a driver's license, so in the end, he had to hire a motorcycle. The driver was an elderly woman who didn't drive as recklessly as Yang Huanyi. The motorcycle crawled slowly, like a tortoise, all the way to the beach.
After paying the driver, Shang Yechu slowly strolled to the beach. It was late February, the off-season for the beach. This place was also remote, and now it was completely deserted.
The sea stretches to the horizon. A cool sea breeze blows, and the waves crash against the beach and the rocks, rolling and spitting out, like an old woman's rickshaw slowly making its work.
The sky was cloudless. In the distance, the sea and sky merged into one, the rainy season sky so pale it looked like blue paint diluted countless times, making the sea appear faded as well.
Shang Yechu stood on the beach for a long time, and suddenly began to take off his clothes one by one.
What are you going to do?
Shang Yechu did not answer. 103 continued, "If you intend to commit suicide for love before returning all the weight you owe, I will resurrect you on the spot and then double your debt."
Shang Yechu: "...Thank you. I really want to say that your words have given me the motivation to live."
Shang Yechu's tone didn't sound like someone who wanted to commit suicide. 103 returned to silence.
With her coat, shoes, and socks on the ground, Shang Yechu, wearing a close-fitting long-sleeved shirt and silk trousers, slowly walked towards the sea.
The seawater touched his skin, and Shang Yechu shivered from the cold. The seawater in February was icy cold; only someone with a brain full of water would go into the sea.
Shang Yechu recalled the time she and Yang Huanyi watched the sea together. Although it was December then, sometimes the seawater was warmed by the sun all day, and the temperature wasn't this cold. When her fingertips brushed the surface of the water and the seawater washed over her, it felt like soaking in her mother's amniotic fluid.
The seawater reached above his ankles, gradually soaking his trousers. A damp, cold chill enveloped him, making Shang Yechu's teeth chatter.
The brain is frantically sending alarms, warning its owner: This can't go on! This can't go on!
Shang Yechu gritted her teeth and continued walking into the sea.
The seawater was knee-deep, and her feet were already starting to go numb. Yang Huanyi's legs were swollen, and Shang Yechu had tried massaging her calves before. However, her technique was lacking, so it was better than nothing. During the massage, Shang Yechu noticed an unsightly scar on Yang Huanyi's knee and asked, "How did you get this?"
Yang Huanyi was intently enduring Shang Yechu's terrible massage skills when she heard this and casually said, "Once when we were filming an action scene, I scratched a wire."
Clothes soaked with seawater, clinging to you, are more uncomfortable than being naked and soaking in icy water.
A sea breeze swept by, and Shang Yechu almost thought she had entered an ice cellar.
My legs and feet were almost numb; to go any further would be tantamount to suicide.
In movies and TV series, the sea is a popular battleground for lovers to commit suicide. But Shang Yechu, heartbroken, walked dozens of steps in the sea and, apart from thinking "I'm freezing to death," didn't even entertain the slightest thought of dying.
Dying for love, such a romantic way of dying, was destined not to belong to Shang Yechu. This ocean could only ever reach Shang Yechu's knees.
As Shang Yechu soaked in the cold water, she suddenly recalled a memory from her past life. She was filming a scene in the sea. Shang Yechu had already learned to swim, but she couldn't move freely in the water like a swimming champion, and had to do several takes.
During the final reshoot, Shang Yechu suddenly suffered a leg cramp in the water. But that cheap, low-budget production crew, trying to cut corners everywhere, hadn't even provided a lifeguard for such a dangerous scene as the sea. The crew members looked at Shang Yechu struggling in the water, exchanging bewildered glances; not one dared to jump in and rescue her.
Finally, a passerby who happened to be swimming in the nearby waters rescued Shang Yechu. The passerby pulled Shang Yechu from the water to the shore and comforted the terrified, crying chubby girl with several words of reassurance. In contrast, her colleagues from the film crew, who spent every day with her, could only stand by and watch helplessly.
A wave of numbness washed over her legs, and Shang Yechu suddenly realized: This time, I don't need anyone to save me.
The moment this thought arose, Shang Yechu's heart suddenly opened up, and she felt as if the sky was high and the earth was vast, and freedom was everywhere. She could choose to die here, or she could choose to be reborn here; she had the right to choose. The two lives were, after all, different.
Shang Yechu suddenly turned around, the movement so large that it stirred up a large wave in the sea. With her legs, which were numb from the cold, she waded towards the shore, her steps uneven.
Suddenly, Shang Yechu narrowed his eyes.
Suddenly, a figure appeared on the shore. Standing stiffly on the bank, it was unclear what he was doing.
Shang Yechu frowned. She clearly remembered that there hadn't been a soul around here just moments before. Where did this ghostly figure come from? What kind of auspicious day is this? Are people lining up to jump into the sea?
Shang Yechu walked quickly and soon returned to the shore. The figure stood not far from Shang Yechu, its gaze fixed precisely on her.
Shang Yechu felt a chill run down her spine. In broad daylight, a person had suddenly appeared on the beach, staring intently at her...
A sharp pain shot through her leg, and Shang Yechu, ignoring the sudden appearance of the figure, plopped down on the dry sand. Her pants were already wet below the knees. She measured them, bent her knees, lowered her head, and bit a hole in each leg.
He dug his fingers into the hole he had bitten with his teeth, and with a forceful pull—rip! The silk trousers were torn open horizontally by Shang Yechu's brute force.
Shang Yechu ripped off her two soaking wet trouser legs and tossed them aside. She dried her calves, then stood up and put on her outer trousers, finally feeling a bit warmer. Her calves were still throbbing and aching slightly. Shang Yechu stood up and slowly walked a few laps on the sand.
Throughout the entire process, the suddenly appearing figure in the sand kept looking in Shang Yechu's direction, making Shang Yechu feel extremely uncomfortable.
Ye Chu is a celebrity, after all. Doing these things at the beach could easily lead to some scandalous rumors. Unsure how much this person had seen, Ye Chu hesitated for a moment, then decided to talk to this uninvited guest, offer him some money, and keep him quiet.
Shang Yechu limped toward the figure, and upon closer inspection, he was slightly surprised.
The unexpected visitor to the beach was tall and handsome. However, for some reason, his handsomeness was completely unremarkable, leaving no impression whatsoever. Shang Yechu possessed an exceptional memory, yet when she closed her eyes and tried to recall the man's appearance, she couldn't remember any of his facial features.
Shang Yechu blinked. Was it just her imagination? When she looked at him from a distance, he seemed to look a little different... It was probably just a different angle.
The visitor on the beach watched Shang Yechu silently. Shang Yechu stood before him, hesitated for a moment, and suddenly felt something was amiss.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
