CH 30

“This…” Director Chen’s operation was too sudden, and Ye Kehuan’s brain couldn’t fathom it for a while. After a long time, she just smiled, “Okay.”

How should she put it… She now felt very subtle about Jiang Laien. Every time she leaned close to her, her heart would be banging and her body would become a little stiff, so she was not sure whether she would be able to perform the scene well. But she would certainly not be stupid enough to argue with Director Chen in that regard. Because, Director Chen adding those elements really sounded interesting and reasonable.

“Yeah.” Chen Fei fiddled with the equipment in front of him and began to lead everyone to continue shooting.

Ye Kehuan and Jiang Laien took their assistants back to the cast dressing room and put on their own clothes.

Probably because it was really late, the two assistants couldn’t help but yawn slightly when they were packing up the costumes.

Ye Kehuan stood in front of the makeup mirror and pulled the zipper of her big down jacket to the top. She looked sideways at Jiang Laien, who was still wearing ghostly makeup. She reached out and picked up a box of eyeshadow trays on the table and opened it to play with. “Then shall we go back now?”

“Okay, but wait for me to remove my makeup first.” Jiang Laien put the down jacket on the chair, tied her hair, sat down at the dressing table, and then took some makeup remover wipes from her assistant. With her makeup as she was, if she walked out, she would scare people to death, and then she would get put on the social news.

“Well,” Ye Kehuan nodded, “then I’ll take off my makeup here, too.”

Her makeup was quite thick and ostentatious. After all, the role she played in the movie came off stage after a show.

The dressing room was a bit messy; it looked like a utility room, and at the same time, it was very quiet. After all, the director’s work was about to be finished. The young actors who were still waiting for their scenes had all put on their makeup and left. So in there there was only the two of them and their assistants, which made it quite relaxed.

After taking out the makeup remover wipes, Jiang Laien paused, then turned her head and looked at her assistant: “Yingying, you go back first.”

Yingying, who had just put a small mirror in Jiang Laien’s bag, raised her head. Her tired expression was wiped away in an instant, and there was a hint of joy in her eyes: “Oh, good!”

Ye Kehuan chuckled, and turned her head to look at her assistant: “Chao Mingqing, you can go back too. You have worked hard, go back and have a good rest.” 1

As for Chao Mingqing, she pulled the zipper of Ye Kehuan’s bag, smiled at Yingying, and then grabbed her own bag, and ran out with Yingying arm in arm, and they were discussing as they walked. Would you like to eat something later?

Jiang Laien looked sideways at the two girls leaving the dressing room. After a while, she turned her head to look at Ye Kehuan and pressed the makeup remover wipes in her hands: “They look so young, don’t they. Right?”

“Yeah, they are really young and energetic; I don’t even know when they got so close.” Ye Kehuan pulled off her fake eyelashes and looked over with a smile on the corner of her mouth. “They’re sticking together like glue in the blink of an eye.”

“Yeah, the two of them have a good relationship now. When they were free, they would gather together and chat together, laughing the whole time.” Jiang Laien finally got the makeup off her left hand. The makeup was quite thick, and it was not only on her face, but also on her neck, lower arms, and hands--mainly to highlight the characteristics of a ghost.

“Yeah.” Ye Kehuan kept smiling, nodded, and used a very bold technique to remove her makeup.

“Hey, it suddenly occurred to me that it was like that when it was time for us to study.” Jiang Laien lowered her eyes and looked at her hand over and over again. “Weren’t we the same way back then? Every time I started to leave class, you ran out arm in arm with me. Once school was over, we rushed towards the dining hall together.”

“Yes.” Ye Kehuan’s makeup had been removed, but she still took a wet wipe and pressed it on her face to make sure it was all gone. “We really made a lot of messes at the time. It’s something. I remember it was not very popular in the class to read novels, so we secretly circulated them. Then we fell into a pit when we stacked textbooks up in order to not be discovered by the teacher. So high it could only be to cover something up. In the end, we were found out, and then we were both picked up by the teacher and sent to detention.”

“Yeah,” Jiang Laien laughed. “Ah, I suddenly remember the barbecue restaurant at the back door of our school at that time. It can be said that the doorway was almost broken by us.”

“Liu Ji, right?” Ye Kehuan smiled heartily.

“Yes, because we went too many times, the boss knew us. If others went, the boss would habitually ask what they want to eat, but when we went, the boss will directly say, ‘Four skewers of grilled gluten and four skewers of dried tofu with four bunches of enoki mushrooms, right.’” Jiang Laien pressed the makeup remover wipes to her left eye.

“Yes, once we just walked in, he just said that the roasted gluten is gone today, you should look at other things,” Ye Kehuan played with a small brush on the dressing table, squeezing her fingers on the soft bristles. “I’m so hungry. I want to eat barbecue.”

“I think so too.” Jiang Laien turned to look at her and nodded.

“Then I will check if there is a barbecue restaurant nearby? Anyway, Brother Haotian and Sister Lu Yan have to leave the crew the day after tomorrow. The director will film their scenes tomorrow. Our scene won’t be arranged until the evening, so we don’t need to get up early in the morning.” Ye Kehuan immediately picked up her phone.

“Okay, let’s take a look.” Jiang Laien smiled and continued to remove the very thick makeup.

Finally, Ye Kehuan found a barbecue restaurant that was close to their homestay there and within a walk of only two hundred meters. Looking at the app, everyone’s evaluation of it was pretty good, and their closing time was very late. The two decided to go there.

After walking down the street, Jiang Laien let out a sigh of relief. She just raised her foot to take another step, but instead her arm was pulled. In an instant, Jiang Laien stopped walking. In the next second, Ye Kehuan stood beside her.

“Huh?” Jiang Laien looked at her sideways.

Ye Kehuan used her other hand to pull on her collar, pressed the hat on her head again, and sorted out her mask, before coughing gently and looking at her: “We can also go back like Yingying and Mingqing did. Arm?”

After Jiang Laien looked at her for a long time, she suddenly laughed out loud.

“What, what…” Ye Kehuan looked a little awkward. “What are you laughing at…”

“Of course we can, little fool.” Jiang Laien tilted her head and looked at her.

“Then you are a big idiot.” Ye Kehuan murmured, feeling that the palm of her hand was faintly sweating.

“Okay, shall we go now?” Jiang Laien asked.

“Yeah!” Ye Kehuan nodded.

The sparse snow had stopped at that time. There were few pedestrians in the street at night, and there were also few vehicles. The warm yellow street lights drew the shadows of the two people diagonally, and time seemed to pass slowly. It was cold in winter, but nestling with each other was the best heating device that season.

After a while of the two following a map, they arrived. It was an old shop. Whether it was the signboard or the tables and chairs within, they looked quite flammable.

Shockingly, the boss was a pretty young woman, wearing a black cotton coat and smoky gray pencil pants, with a half-bald head combed. Her face was small and angular, her drooping eyelashes were distinct, and her left ear was plugged with headphones. Standing behind the grill at that moment, grilling a lot of meat skewers in a very skillful way, she looked quite cool.

After Ye Kehuan and Jiang Laien walked over and stood still, Ye Kehuan stretched out her hand: “Boss, four skewers of grilled gluten, four skewers of tofu, and four enoki mushrooms!”

After listening, the boss raised her head to show her narrow eyes, and glanced at her casually: “Is that all?”

“I still want to eat chicken wings.” Jiang Laien said.

“Then add two more chicken wings.” Ye Kehuan said.

“To go or eat here?” The boss sprinkled some cumin on the skewers, her tone light.

“Eat here.” Ye Kehuan looked at the store. There was no one inside, just a middle-aged diner in a suit and leather shoes.

“Good. Choose where you want to sit.” The boss nodded.

So Ye Kehuan took Jiang Laien and sat down at a table in the corner.

After sitting down, Ye Kehuan discovered that the well-dressed middle-aged diner in the store has a discordant face that was inconsistent with his clothes. He was red nosed while eating barbecue and drinking. He looked sad, but she had no way of knowing what happened. He covered his face with his hand as he ate, as if trying to suppress something.

Ye Kehuan didn’t know what happened to him, but she sighed softly.

At that time, the middle-aged diner suddenly said: “I don’t know why. I should be happy to see that Wanwan, who has been single for ten years, got married, but the truth is, I just can’t get happy. I’m not happy anymore. I’ll never stand up again…”

Ye Kehuan and Jiang Laien were stunned after listening. Was he crying to himself about something?

“Huh…” At that moment, the barbecue shop owner said lightly, “I know you are not happy. You have been crying in this place for one round after another.”

Ye Kehuan and Jiang Laien glanced at each other. It turned out that they were chatting, but when they came in, their chat was interrupted.

“Really?” The middle-aged diner picked up a bunch of chicken drumsticks.

“Whether you come to me to cry after working overtime everyday, you would know, huh?” The boss replied.

“Yes…” The middle-aged diner smiled and pressed his heart with his hand. “Because, here, it really hurts.”

“You asked for it yourself, who can you blame?” The boss’s voice was still very weak.

“I asked for it?” The middle-aged diner looked at her.

“She’s been alone for ten years, and she’s been empty for ten years. In those ten years, you were as close as possible, but you never recognized what was in your heart and did nothing.” The boss put the grilled meat on the skewers.  Setting them on a plate, she leisurely walked to his table and put it in front of him. “She has been waiting for you for ten years. Did you expect her to wait for you for a lifetime? Wake up.”

After the boss finished talking, she went back to the grill and kept busy. The middle-aged diner continued to drink.

After listening to their conversation, Ye Kehuan inexplicably stretched out her hand to press her heart, then looked at the middle-aged diner, and then at the barbecue shop owner for a while.

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Laien asked at that moment.

Ye Kehuan looked at her suddenly, as if something was choking her throat, and finally shook her head: “Nothing…”

After eating the barbecue and returning to the hotel, Ye Kehuan finished changing her shoes and took out the new script from her bag. The scene that she saw at the barbecue shop earlier was like a movie scene in her mind. It took her a long time to wake up.

Shaking her head, Ye Kehuan put the script aside and entered the bathroom to start washing.

After washing up, Ye Kehuan picked up the script and lay on the bed, preparing to recite the new items in the part to be filmed the next day. She had to say that Director Chen was really an old ghost, and it was really fun to deal with him normally. Just…

When she saw the part of the bath, Ye Kehuan raised her hand and wiped it under her nose, and the words she heard in the barbecue shop sounded in her mind again.

In addition, she remembered how she felt when she kissed Jiang Laien in her dream.

“Damn…” Ye Kehuan put the script on her forehead, feeling like she was about to die.

“How can this be? Damn, damn, damn!” Ye Kehuan picked up the script and hit her forehead several times.

After finally getting rid of the messy thoughts in her mind, Ye Kehuan tried her best to memorize the script, and then she went to sleep with the lamp on.

The next day.

After Ye Kehuan woke up, although her time to come for filming was far away, she still put on a big down jacket and went to the crew to watch everyone acting early.

The crew was really not a place for idlers. Except for the well-dressed actors and actresses who looked good, the other staff… At first glance they seemed to have been devastated by the wind and frost.

After seeing Ye Kehuan coming, Chen Fei looked up at her while filming: “So early?”

“Came to study.” Ye Kehuan said with a smile.

Chen Fei nodded: “Good attitude.”

Ye Kehuan shook her head: “Thanks to the stars.”

Then Ye Kehuan watched Zhang Haotian act in earnest.

The movie actually told that Qi Luo was the first victim in a serial killer case, and Su He was the only person who could see her. Zhang Haotian, the policeman Lu Xun, was a close friend of Su He. He happened to be the policeman who handled the case, but he still had no clues until Su He met Qi Luo and got some clues from Qi Luo, so he and Su He used some clues provided by Qi Luo to investigate the case.

As a result, after checking, Su He and Lu Xun accidentally poked the snake, and the bad guys behind the scenes used various methods to make everyone think that they were actually the serial killers. But in the end, the real serial killer and his assistants were arrested. After the truth was revealed and their innocence was proved, Qi Luo’s grievances disappeared.

At that time, Zhang Haotian was filming a scene where he and his colleagues were arguing about the director of the investigation. He almost showed the essence of anger in his performance. When he pointed at someone’s forehead and shouted, “Thank you, please take me seriously”, everyone was a little bit confused. Someone went to check if he was really angry with that actor or just acting.

Zhang Haotian was really serious when filming. He didn’t need a substitute at all. He did everything by himself, and he always strived for perfection, which was awe-inspiring.

In the blink of an eye, it was night, and it was finally Ye Kehuan and Jiang Laien’s turn.

Jiang Laien with good makeup looked gloomy and dirty, because there was a lot of blood and mud on her clothes.

The scene was filmed from the Su He apartment.

After everything was ready, Chen Fei looked at them: “Action!”

In an instant, Ye Kehuan stood close to the door with her back, gulping, acting out her fear.

At that moment, a pale hand stretched out and poked her in the face.

“Damn!” Ye Kehuan looked sideways and found that there was blood on Jiang Laien’s forearm. She instantly hugged her bag and prepared to hide aside, “You, you, are you a ghost?”

Jiang Laien looked at her, nodding after a while.

After Ye Kehuan listened, she was ready to run away without saying a word.

But at that moment, Jiang Laien spoke again, her voice extremely soft, like wings fluttering in the air: “Am I scaring you? Sorry, don’t be afraid of me, OK?”

Ye Kehuan shrank: “Who are you trying to fool? Who the **** can’t be afraid of this kind of thing?!”

“I’m sorry,” Jiang Laien said softly.

“Then can’t you not follow me? I’m afraid of ghosts, and I didn’t harm you!” Ye Kehuan said.

“I know you are a good person.” Jiang Laien’s face had a pitiful expression, “but no one can see me or touch me. Only you can. Therefore, I want to ask you for a favor.”

“Why, why, are you busy?” Ye Kehuan asked.

“Come with me and help me find out,” Jiang Laien moved closer to her, “the person who killed me.”

“This…” Ye Kehuan rubbed her head. “Where do I have this ability? I can’t, you find someone else!”

After Ye Kehuan finished speaking, Jiang Laien slowly lowered her head, and then tears gradually fell from her face, and she cried silently.

At that moment, she didn’t know whether it was because she was too involved in the role or Jiang Laien’s acting skills were too good. Ye Kehuan was also a little confused. She just knew that her heart was hit instantly and her whole body became uncomfortable.

“You, don’t cry.” Ye Kehuan said.

“Please,“ Jiang Laien looked at her, wetting her white lips, “Please.”

In the end, after Ye Kehuan scratched her head in embarrassment, she frowned and said, “It’s alright, I promise you!”

“Ka--” Chen Fei showed a satisfied look on his face.

Before Ye Kehuan was able to get out of the role too much, Chen Fei saw that she was still in a good state, so he went on to take another one without stopping.

The next one was Su He tidying up for Qi Luo.

After shooting, Ye Kehuan quickly entered a good state again, raised her hand, touched the button of the room light, and looked at Jiang Laien: “Can I turn on the light? I have to ask, are you afraid of light?”

“It’s okay if it’s not the sun.” Jiang Laien said softly.

“Then I’ll get it.” After Ye Kehuan finished speaking, she pressed the button and walked forward two steps, then opened the refrigerator, took out a bowl of instant noodles from inside, soaked them, and sat on the sofa to prepare to eat.

At that time, Jiang Laien stood in front of her again and looked at the bowl of instant noodles motionlessly.

“What?” Ye Kehuan looked at her. “Do you want to eat too?”

Jiang Laien nodded.

“It’s weird that ghosts would even want to eat.” Ye Kehuan muttered and stood up and walked towards the refrigerator. “What do you want to eat?”

“Instant noodles are good,” Jiang Laien turned her head, “I haven’t eaten human food for a long time.”

Ye Kehuan, who had just opened the door of the refrigerator, stopped there instantly, glanced at her sideways, took out the instant noodles from the refrigerator, paused with her fingers, took out a box of lunch meat, an egg, a handful of vegetables, and closed the refrigerator door. She shook the things in the air: “You wait a moment.”

After a while, Ye Kehuan brought a bowl of noodles to the coffee table in front of the sofa, and put it in front of Jiang Laien: “Eat.

“Yeah.” Jiang Laien nodded, took the chopsticks, pinched a bunch, and ate slowly.

…

Watching them from afar, Chen Fei smiled, satisfied, and nodded.

Not bad. He always wanted to shoot a pure ghost. Jiang Laien played it well. Ye Kehuan also fit her role very well. Basically nothing was NG.

The scenes for entering the house were filmed, the scenes that promised help were filmed, the scenes for making food and eating were filmed, and all that was left was for the ghost to take a shower and change clothes, and deal with the wounds on her arms and forehead.

Ye Kehuan panicked in front of the group at that moment. Jiang Laien turned her head slightly and looked at her.

“Um, director, why is she doing that?” Ye Kehuan asked hurriedly.

“Take off your clothes and wash,” Chen Fei looked at her, “Isn’t that what the script said?”

“Um… I…”  Ye Kehuan opened her mouth, “Okay…”

The author has something to say: I can’t see it when I see someone say a comment. If I don’t see the comment, I become lazy or something…

But I can see it!

The translator has something to say: Check the MTL if you want, these really aren’t me… But I also wouldn’t mind more comments. Thanks for the thanks.

1 - This person's name is never translated properly. It is either Mingqing, Ming and Qing, or Ming and Qing Dynasties. So, I decided to make it Chao Mingqing. Assuming the given name is as it's written when Kehuan refers to her, Chao means Dynasty, so Chao Mingqing.