Rong Guang was taken aback by what was said.
She glanced at Chu Feiliang with some suspicion. Her intuition told her that this line didn’t seem to be from Ji Ying to Wen Mou, but perhaps… something Chu Feiliang wanted to say to her.
Rong Guang felt a little guilty.
Although she understood the reasoning and had genuinely taken Chu Feiliang’s advice, planning to be inseparable from her for a while so everyone would think they had a good relationship and that the rumors of a forced “unspoken rule” were false.
But when it came to scheduling, few actors had any control.
Rong Guang was about to wrap up filming. Her scenes during this period were particularly heavy, and all of them were major ones. Although she no longer had to film any martial arts scenes since Wen Mou had lost all her skills to feign death, all her remaining scenes were intense emotional ones opposite veteran actors.
She was mentally exhausted.
She was so tired she had no energy all day, utterly exhausted. After work, all she wanted to do was sleep; she barely had the strength to eat.
Naturally… she had been neglecting Chu Feiliang a little.
Come to think of it, the two of them hadn’t properly seen each other for two days.
Rong Guang pressed her lips together, a storm raging inside her, but it didn’t hinder her performance on the surface.
She lowered her eyes, let out a heavy sigh, and said, “Princess, you are clearly forcing my hand.”
“I am forcing you, so what?” Ji Ying let out a cold laugh, gripping Wen Mou’s wrist. Her eyes were red-rimmed, the blood vessels faintly visible. Though her expression was harsh, for some reason, it only evoked pity. “Feigning death to escape… I am merely a princess, yet you went to such great lengths, even going to Green Mountain Temple to ask the head monk for help. You wouldn’t even leave me a fake body as a memento…”
“Your obsession is too deep.” The exhaustion on Jiang Wenmou’s face was unconcealed, her lips pale. Gripped so tightly by Ji Ying, she could barely speak properly. “If I hadn’t feigned death, how… how would you have ever let me go?”
“That year, in a fit of rage that shook the capital, you led troops to surround the Prince of Lingnan’s manor and cut off four of the young heir’s fingers…” Jiang Wenmou said, then shut her eyes tightly. “How was I supposed to face that? To remain by your side as your weakness? Or to let your father, the Emperor, use me, use my hands to harm you? If he knew I was Jiang Wenmou, what would he do to you? Accuse you of colluding with the enemy and have you… have you executed on the spot?”
One sentence after another left Ji Ying speechless.
She lowered her head, much of her anger subsiding, but she still insisted, “Even so, you shouldn’t have…”
Jiang Wenmou gave a bitter smile. “It was my fault. Now I know I was wrong, so I came.”
Ji Ying’s head shot up instantly.
“You reap what you sow. Back then, I used death to escape from you; now, you use death to force me to appear…” Jiang Wenmou shook her head and said, “What goes around comes around. It truly is karma. In the end, this is still a sinful debt.”
Ji Ying clenched her jaw, saying nothing.
Jiang Wenmou caught her breath, her face pale, but she forced herself to say, “I came this time to discuss something with you.”
“I won’t listen.” Ji Ying’s face was expressionless as she held her hand tightly. “What happens after we discuss it? Will you feign death again?”
“You—” An unnatural flush rose on Jiang Wenmou’s face from anger. She pointed a trembling hand toward the army outside the city walls. “The enemy is at our gates, can’t you just—!”
Before she could finish, she suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Ji Ying’s pupils contracted instantly, and one hand was already reaching for her pulse.
The pulse was faint and weak, sometimes there and sometimes not, clearly the dying pulse of a patient who had been bedridden for years.
“This pulse of yours …” Ji Ying’s expression changed several times, her eyes so red they looked like they could drip blood.
“It’s just… just the price to be paid for feigning death.” Jiang Wenmou gave a bitter smile, wiped the blood from the corner of her lips, and gritted her teeth. Her voice was already faint and weak, but she persisted, “Stop being willful. I could indulge you in the past, but this concerns your life…”
She didn’t finish her sentence, ultimately collapsing into Ji Ying’s arms.
Snowflakes had begun to drift down from the sky at some point, and before long, the ground was covered in a fluffy white layer.
Ji Ying’s gaze fell on Jiang Wenmou’s body, which was covered in a layer of white snow. She suddenly reached out, brushing all the snow off her, muttering, “This white is covering you up…”
When Wen Mou had died back then, the imperial physician had also covered her head with a white cloth.
Ji Ying finally cleared the snow from her face and head, then stood up, holding her.
The deputy general produced an umbrella from somewhere, glanced toward the city’s outskirts, and said, “Princess, let’s take Miss Wen Mou back to rest. I’ve sent someone to call for the army doctor.”
Ji Ying nodded, gave a sound of assent, and led her people down from the city wall.
The moment Rong Guang got down, she went to the sink and started gargling vigorously.
She turned around with a pained expression and looked at Chu Feiliang, who had followed her. “Why did the blood packet’s flavor suddenly change? I could even taste dregs in today’s blood packet…”
Chu Feiliang shook her head. “I just asked. The props department said it’s to show your character’s weakness, so the blood can’t be too clean. The color has to be dark, and they’re even trying to figure out how to make some blood clots for you.”
Rong Guang finally finished rinsing her mouth. Hearing this, her face scrunched up. “Blood clots? Am I supposed to be spitting out my internal organs…”
She glanced back.
Zhang Nanchuan was enthusiastically watching the playback, seemingly trying to find some inspiration from the scene they just shot that could help him break through with Jiang Wenmou and Ji Ying’s characters.
The two had just lifted their feet to head back when they heard hushed whispers coming from a nearby corner.
Rong Guang froze. Just as she was about to leave, Chu Feiliang covered her mouth and pulled her into a small compartment.
The compartment was cramped, looking like a place used for storing miscellaneous items. Only a small automatic fan on the ceiling let in a little light.
With her mouth covered, Rong Guang could only ask with her eyes, “What’s wrong?”
Chu Feiliang released her hand from Rong Guang’s mouth and placed a finger to her own lips. “Shh.”
Rong Guang blinked, tilting her head in confusion. “Huh?”
“Eavesdropping,” Chu Feiliang whispered into Rong Guang’s ear.
Rong Guang’s ear tingled. She didn’t need to look to know it was bright red. Ever since she was little, her whole body had been ridiculously sensitive; she was ticklish everywhere.
Rong Guang didn’t dare to overthink it. She nodded and whispered along, “Okay, eaves… eavesdropping.”
Outside, a few staff members were chatting together while washing their hands.
“Sigh, I can’t believe Teacher Chu is actually this kind of person.”
“Yeah, who would have thought.”
“Rong Guang is so pitiful. She can’t afford to offend her, and she can’t even hide.”
“Isn’t that the truth? I also heard she joined the cast in the first place because she likes Chu Feiliang. Because Chu Feiliang is her idol, she crossed over from her own field to act…”
“Wuwuwu, the sweet little thing chasing her idol for love, only to meet her first big boss after joining the cast, get framed, and be cursed at by so many people for so many days.”
“Yeah, it’s a good thing it was finally cleared up.”
“But who knew the hardships were still to come… Who would have thought Teacher Chu could do something like this?”
“Sigh, just because she’s unhappy about being neglected, she has to retaliate publicly, even bullying Rong Guang during filming. Were those lines really from the script? Didn’t Teacher Chu just make them up herself?”
“I think so too. Saying ‘How dare you come back’ and ‘I am forcing you.’ Listen to that, if that’s not a threat, what is!”
It was suddenly quiet outside for a moment.
All ten of Rong Guang’s toes were fighting a frantic battle inside her shoes. She had no idea how she was going to face Chu Feiliang in a moment.
But just when she thought it was over, she heard the people outside let out a collective long sigh.
Finally, one of the girls said, “Sigh, I never would have thought. The idol Rong Guang has liked for so many years is actually a devil who retaliates for personal reasons and uses her acting skills to bully her fan.”
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