CH 66

When Lian Qing was put down, his whole body was already covered in cold sweat.

Severe pain traveled along his meridian nerve endings from his back, causing his brain to scream in pain. His eyesight was blurry and he couldn’t distinguish if his wet back was from sweat or blood. A gust of cold wind blew by, causing a chill and making the pain in his back even worse.

He hazily let go of the martial arts substitute’s waist, then found himself surrounded by the director and others.

The surrounding noise was chaotic, and Lian Qing was dazed, feeling that his ears and brain were dominated by the arrogant and sharp noise, making it impossible for him to think. He couldn’t even hear what people around him were saying clearly, but felt that those jumbled sounds were like needles stabbing his brain, making it difficult to breathe.

Luckily, when Director Li saw that he was not well, he asked the others to step back and held Lian Qing against his shoulder, allowing him to catch his breath.

When the ambulance arrived, the doctor wanted to provide him with emergency treatment, but as soon as he touched Lian Qing’s back, he trembled and shook with pain.

The doctor had to say seriously: “Let’s take him to the hospital for treatment. It’s not easy to treat him without anesthesia.”

It was not until he was taken to the ambulance that Lian Qing’s mind cleared a bit. Seeing the director and screenwriter by his side, he grabbed Director Li’s hand and asked urgently, “Where’s my phone?”

The screenwriter handed him the phone and said, “Here it is.”

Lian Qing took it weakly, and dialed a number with a shaky voice. When the call was connected, he said with a weak voice, “Brother Chen, something unexpected happened to me here. Can you take care of my disciple and not take him to the shooting scene for now? Wait…wait until later, I will contact you again.”

On the other end of the phone, Chen Qi heard that his voice was not right and asked him what had happened. Lian Qing didn’t have much strength and just said that he was injured and not to let his disciple know.

After speaking, he directly handed the phone to his other assistant. The young man in his twenties took the phone, wiped his tears and explained the situation to Chen Qi. After speaking to Chen Qi, he called Cheng Lan and informed her of what had happened.

Lian Qing originally wanted him to call Yu Wenning, but after thinking about it, he still didn’t say anything. It was just an injury, and he didn’t want to make it sound like he was arranging his own funeral.

Oh, speaking of his last wishes, Lian Qing had thought about it a lot when he crashed into the cliff. First, he had not yet settled his disciple, second, he had not properly taken care of his master’s old age, and third…he had not told his elder brother that he loved him.

He felt that if he didn’t confess his love, he would die with regrets.

He thought powerlessly that he probably couldn’t kill his own desire for his elder brother. After this incident, he should try to test his elder brother and see if there was even a slight possibility between them. If there was…

The whole process was quite grueling – his body was both painful and cold, and he wanted to curl up to relieve the discomfort, but his back felt like it was being torn apart and was piercingly painful. He couldn’t even lie down flat or on his back, and even leaning against Director Li required him to be cautious so as not to accidentally tug on his sore spot.

When the ambulance arrived outside the hospital, he felt like he had been pulled out of the water, and even his undershirt was wet. However, he felt a bit more energetic, mainly because his back had become so numb from the pain that it was no longer torturous. Lian Qing could sit up straight without leaning on Director Li. However, he began to feel cold all over, and the chill seemed to penetrate his bones.

He realized that he may have lost a lot of blood. He couldn’t see what his back looked like, but he knew it must be terrible since not even the doctor or the director dared to touch it.

Lian Qing was extremely grateful that he had asked Chen Qi to take the child out to play before shooting this scene to prevent his younger disciple from worrying or getting scared. Otherwise, if the child had witnessed his injury, he would have cried a river.

While the nurse was opening the door, Director Li wiped the sweat off Lian Qing’s face and then bent down to carry him. The hospital’s stretcher was too small for Lian Qing to lie down on, so it was best to carry him in.

However, Lian Qing declined and whispered, “It’s okay, I’ll just sit on the stretcher and let them push me in. My back hurts when I bend over…”

It was a relief that his back had finally become numb from the pain, and if he moved too much, he would shiver in pain again.

Director Li was both distressed and helpless, and could only reply in a low voice.

Before getting out of the car, Lian Qing whispered in Director Li’s ear, “Director, the stunt double deliberately moved around too much. I shouted at her to stop, but she didn’t listen. When I held her, she resisted me and moved even more violently.”

Director Li’s face darkened, and he said in a low voice, “I know. I’ve already sent someone to investigate. Don’t worry, we have so many cameras on set that we should be able to find out the truth.”

When Lian Qing was hanging in the air, held up by the stunt double, he felt that something was not right. Even though the stunt double was timid, she had never lost her balance and panicked like this before.

Moreover, they had filmed this scene six times in total, but why did the stunt double not move erratically in the first five times when Lian  Qing did not catch her, but suddenly started to move around when Lian Qing caught her for the sixth time?

It was too deliberate to be just fear or an accident. Before sending Lian Qing to the hospital, Director Li had already asked the assistant director to keep the stunt double behind and check the footage from all the cameras to see if they could find any clues.

Knowing that Director Li had already sent someone to investigate, Lian Qing finally relaxed a little. He didn’t have the time to think too much about it when his life was at stake, but once the pain subsided, he realized that something was amiss.

Recalling carefully, the woman seemed flustered on the surface but her eyes were actually calm. It was not until their legs entangled that her eyes truly became flustered. Perhaps it was only then, until they collided with the cliff, that the woman was truly in a panic.

Lian Qing quietly folded his legs and sighed. Hopefully, he was just overthinking things, otherwise he would be too unlucky. Originally, if he was alone, he would have only sustained some scratches and bruises at most. However, to save the woman, his entire back intimately made contact with the cliff wall, and it seemed like there were even stones embedded in his flesh, which was very painful! Right now, he could only keep his back straight, tense his nerves and skin. Otherwise, as long as he relaxed even slightly and his back arched a little, the pain would be so unbearable that it would make his scalp numb.

With the help of doctors and nurses, Lian Qing was successfully escorted into the hospital with his chest held high, his legs folded, and sitting in a meditative posture. Along the way, he received a lot of attention due to his strange posture and the elegant costume and long hair that he had not changed out of yet.

When some passersby saw this scene face-to-face, they couldn’t help but laugh, probably because the way he sat while being pushed into the hospital was too unique, and the fact that he was handsome yet expressionless made it seem like he was a dummy at first glance. It wasn’t until they saw his back that they understood why he had to enter the hospital in that posture.

A small number of young people recognized Lian Qing and whispered in excitement. However, when they saw Lian Qing being pushed over with large and small bloodstains mixed with gray soil on his straight back, the excited fans were as if they were choked by their throats, and their screams disappeared without a trace.

Several of Lian Qing’s fans followed him out of concern, and some people shouted his name, while others took out their phones to record the scene.

The hospital didn’t have any bodyguards, and the security guards were also limited. Director Li, the screenwriter, and the assistant naturally took on the roles of temporary bodyguards and blocked those fans. Fortunately, the fans quickly regained their composure and naturally didn’t approach again, instead, they helped to stop others, which made everyone feel a bit more at ease.

When Lian Qing heard someone calling him, he slightly turned his head and saw several men and women looking at him with worry. He guessed that the people who were so worried about him were probably his fans.

So he reluctantly stretched out a hand and waved gently at them. The pale, bloodless lips also faintly curved into a comforting smile. He said, “I’m okay, don’t worry.”

However, in reality, because he was weak and powerless, only the doctors and nurses who were pushing his bed could barely hear his voice. Fans who were a little far away could only guess what he was saying from his lip movements.

Several fans’ eyes turned red, and one of them couldn’t help but shout with a crying tone, “Little monk, you have to be okay!”

Lian Qing barely nodded and was soon pushed into a dedicated elevator by the doctors. The fans did not follow him but instead chose to wait for the ordinary elevator next to it.

When they found the emergency room door, Lian Qing had already been pushed in…

During the filming of this scene, he yelled “NG” five times. Two of them were because the wind was too strong when Lian Qing jumped down, causing his hair to fly and cover his face. Two of them were because the martial arts double had an unsightly posture, which resulted in poor visual effects when filmed.

However, the magnified and slightly blurry video at this moment tells him that the unsightly posture was actually premeditated by the woman.

In the intermittent videos, almost all of the martial arts double’s “NG” moments occurred when Lian Qing was about to reach her, and she suddenly moved, resulting in an unsightly posture that he noticed and caused him to call for a stop. There was also one “NG” moment where Liangqing’s wirework was too fast and the woman made some slight movements. However, because Lian Qing fell too fast, she did not continue the move.

It wasn’t until the sixth time, when everything was going smoothly during the descent and Lian Qing grabbed the double’s waist, that she suddenly made a large, sweeping movement with her foot. This caused both of them to lose their balance. Even as the wire team tried to stabilize them, the woman continued to move frantically and her hands were not still. She kept trying to push Lian Qing towards the cliff.

As a result, their wires got entangled and, under the woman’s more intense movements, they both crashed into the cliff.

Director Li watched with a cold sweat. This…this was clearly murder!

At this moment, the assistant director sent over another video. Director Li clicked on it and saw the woman in the video, her emotions in shambles, crying and pulling her hair, saying, “I didn’t mean to… I just wanted him to hit something and get hurt… Why did it suddenly turn out like this…?”

The video was short, and as soon as Director Li finished watching it, the assistant director called.

“Director Li, this woman has completely lost it. She said she intentionally wanted to push Liangqing towards the cliff to hurt him a bit. But then she accidentally fell with him too. She said she didn’t expect Liangqing to choose to save her at the critical moment, so she didn’t get hurt much, but Liangqing ended up getting injured all over his body… Maybe because of this, she was traumatized and has been crying since Liangqing was taken away.”

“Why did she do this? Was someone manipulating her?” Li’s voice was unusually cold.

“I probed her, and indeed, someone was manipulating her. But she said she didn’t know who it was. The person who contacted her was very good at keeping secrets. Even if we want to investigate, it will take a lot of time. She also admitted that she was given a lot of benefits. Just the money alone was in the seven figures, and that’s why she agreed to do it.”

“What about Zhao Rourou, what did she say about the stunt double?”

“This matter has little to do with her. The production manager found her in Hengdian, and Zhao Rourou rarely used her. They seem to have little contact outside of work. The woman also confessed that someone contacted her ten days ago and asked her to find an opportunity to cause an accident, causing Lian Qing to get hurt as much as possible. However, Zhao Rourou hasn’t been using her much these days, and they’ve been urging her to use her more urgently, which led to the woman taking action today.”

“If we hadn’t checked carefully, or if this woman hadn’t become emotionally unstable because of being saved by Lian Qing, then this matter would probably have been covered up as an ‘accident’.”

Director Li took a deep breath and felt his temples throb. He asked, “Did she confess so readily?”

“How could she? She was already emotionally tortured because Lian Qing saved her. I had to lie and deceive her to get her to gradually reveal the truth. But she said she didn’t know who was behind it. I checked her phone and found that the calls were from overseas numbers that were disguised and couldn’t be reached.”

The deputy director cautiously said, “Director Li, this… situation is too complicated. Should we hand this woman over to the police directly, or what should we do?”

“Let’s keep her for now,” Director Li paused mid-sentence, then said, “Don’t report to the police for now. I’ll tell you how to handle it later tonight.”

“Why? Director Li?”

“Because…” Director Li forced a bitter smile. “Our big boss is afraid of outsiders’ ideas.”

“You mean Mr. Yu?”

“Who else could it be?” Director Li sighed. “I won’t tell you for now. Watch over her and I’ll find you later.”

“Okay.”

After hanging up the phone, Director Li opened the call log and looked at the three big characters “Mr. Yu” written on it, feeling bitter in his heart. He wondered if this big shot would explode on the spot after learning that Little Monk was seriously injured for no reason.

While he was trying to build up his mental strength, his phone suddenly rang. Looking at the huge “Mr. Yu” on the screen, Director Li’s scalp went numb.

He took two deep breaths and answered the call.

“Director Li, can you tell me what happened?”

The chill in the voice could almost freeze him into an ice block through the fiber optic cable.

Director Li did not dare to be vague, and carefully explained the process of the incident, the unclear situation with Lian Qing, and the things they had found to Yu Wenning.

After finishing the story, Director Li emphasized only one sentence: The doctor said that Lian Qing’s life was not in danger, and then he did not speak again. There was silence on the other end of the phone for a long time, and suddenly there was a light laughter.

The laughter sounded like an evil ghost crawling out of hell, making Director Li shiver with fear and coldness.

“I see. Send me the location of your shooting and the address of the hospital. I’ll send someone to take care of it. Also, make sure you guard Lian Qing and don’t let anyone take him away before I arrive.”

Director Li’s pupils shrank slightly, and he quickly and clearly reported the location to him.

After Yu Wenning wrote it down, he said, “Director Li, someone may go to find Lian Qing later, please… make sure you guard him before I arrive and don’t let anyone take him away.”

Director Li’s pupils shrank slightly, and he dryly agreed. He already had a vague guess about this matter.

After hanging up the phone, he looked at the emergency room door far away and sighed with either more sighs or more depression.

How did this unlucky monk become friends with Yu Wenning! Now it’s good, no…

No wonder Mr. Yu hurriedly found him earlier and gave him a large amount of funding to take Lian Qing to make a film, and the more detailed and refined it was, the better. He even didn’t allow him to disclose any information about the drama to the public, so much so that he didn’t even invite the media to the commencement ceremony, only making excuses to deceive the crew and actors.

Considering some recent changes in the Yu Group, it seems that Mr. Yu not only wants to promote Lian Qing, but also wants to protect him, temporarily keeping his movements unknown to the outside world, so that others cannot harm him.

Perhaps Mr. Yu valued Lian Qing too much, to the extent that some people saw Lian Qing as his weakness. And Mr. Yu also knew this, which is why…

Unfortunately, no matter how careful one is, there will still be leaks.

Director Li rubbed his thinning hair and sighed deeply. He also had a responsibility for not doing a good job in keeping the confidentiality of the crew, which gave others a chance to take advantage of.

He picked up his phone and called the crew, telling them that someone might come over later and they should not try to stop them. He also asked the crew to bring in about ten strong workers. Mr. Yu said that someone might come to cause trouble later.

He just hoped that Lian Qing would be okay this time, and it would be better if no one came to cause trouble, otherwise…

Thinking of Mr. Yu’s laughter, which was not much better than a devil’s, Director Li felt a chill in his heart and body.