“Achoo.”
Jinyun Xiandu, the cast and crew of “The Smiling, Proud Wanderer.”
Jiang Nian suddenly sneezed and rubbed his nose, wondering who was talking about him behind his back.
After reaching the level of a first-rate martial artist, his body of a mountain lord had already made him immune to all poisons and illnesses.
But at the same time, it also made him incredibly sensitive.
Except this sensitivity wasn’t physical.
It was mental—his sixth sense.
He could detect the ill intent radiating from others.
He could also sense certain inexplicable fluctuations in the unseen world.
But Jiang Nian didn’t dwell on it.
After all, there was no point in overthinking things that had no rhyme or reason.
Worrying himself sick over it just wasn’t worth it.
However—
“Did this makeup get drawn crooked?”
Looking at his face in the mirror, where the makeup had clearly gone askew because of his sneeze, Jiang Nian spoke up.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry, so sorry.”
“Teacher Jiang, my hand slipped and I drew it crooked. I’ll redo it for you right away.”
The makeup artist said hurriedly, incredibly nervous.
Seeing her like that, Jiang Nian let out a soft laugh. “Don’t be nervous. I’m just giving you some feedback, nothing more.”
After all, the makeup only ended up like this because he sneezed.
No matter how much of a jerk Jiang Nian could be, he wasn’t about to shift the blame onto someone else at a time like this. What kind of behavior would that be?
Hearing this, the makeup artist just nodded.
But from her expression and body language, it wasn’t hard to tell that his words hadn’t helped much—she was still very stiff.
Seeing this, Jiang Nian didn’t say anything more. He just told her to continue, then turned his gaze to the mirror in front of him.
Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, more than three weeks had passed, and it was now the end of March.
Ever since that day Jiang Nian had taken Xu Xinyuan to the hospital.
Xu Xinyuan seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth.
There had been no news of her for a long time. Even when Jiang Nian went to the “Reign of Assassins” set to film, he hadn’t seen her.
This made Jiang Nian feel very strange.
He thought Xu Xinyuan had just caught a cold and had a fever—surely she wouldn’t stay in the hospital this long.
Out of concern for his colleague, Jiang Nian went to find Wu Yusen and asked.
From him, he learned that Xu Xinyuan had been discharged from the hospital more than two weeks ago.
But after being discharged, she had taken a leave of absence. No one knew where she had gone, and there had been no word from her since.
This was normal.
Celebrities were like that, after all.
She might stay with one crew for a while, then in a couple of days, she’d be off somewhere else.
“As long as she hasn’t died from illness, it’s fine.”
With that figured out, Jiang Nian stopped paying attention.
He just went about his days—practicing martial arts, filming, reading books, and teasing the young girls on set.
Setting aside the fact that Zhang Linyu still hadn’t found him a suitable script.
Overall, Jiang Nian had been living pretty comfortably and relaxed during this period.
And it was in the midst of this kind of life that—
At nine o’clock at night, in the small town at the foot of the mountain, lights shone brightly.
The cast and crew of “The Smiling, Proud Wanderer” gathered here, drums beating and gongs clanging, preparing to film one of the most important scenes in the entire story—Pingzhi’s self-castration!
If they were following the chronological order of the plot.
They had only been filming for a little over a month—there was no way they should have reached this point yet.
Because after Lin Pingzhi’s self-castration, the story was nearing its end.
But the thing was, film crews never shoot in episode order—they shoot by scene.
Which meant that the self-castration scene, which logically shouldn’t be happening yet, had been moved up.
Jiang Nian didn’t have any particular issue with this.
After all, for him, this kind of thing wasn’t exactly “all benefits and no drawbacks.”
It was more like—it had absolutely zero impact on him whatsoever.
Acting was acting, no matter how you sliced it.
He couldn’t care less.
Jiang Nian finished his makeup and arrived on set.
They were currently filming a scene between Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze.
But the set was filled with laughter.
The reason for this was simple—the script was just too damn funny.
“Senior Brother, you should stop while you still can and quit practicing!”
Having learned that Yue Buqun had been secretly practicing the “Bixie Sword Manual” behind her back, Ning Zhongze earnestly tried to persuade him.
Hearing this, Yue Buqun’s face filled with disbelief. “You—how do you know I’ve been practicing the Bixie Sword Technique? You’ve been spying on me!”
His voice trembled, as if he felt betrayed by the entire world.
Combined with the soulful, effeminate way he raised his pinky finger—
“Pfft hahaha, sorry Director, I’m so sorry, but I really couldn’t hold it in. Who came up with this scene? It’s genius!”
“I can’t, I can’t—my stomach hurts from laughing. Just for this one scene alone, I feel like the screenwriter deserves a Best Screenwriter award. It’s too wild!”
“Teacher Huang, how did you manage to keep a straight face? You’re way too good at holding it in!”
“Seconded. If you covered his face, I would never have guessed this was the same upright and righteous Huashan Sect Leader from before. Why are you wearing Pinru’s clothes?”
“To be fair, I feel like it’s still not quite seductive enough. Too flat. If he could add a little singsong tone—’You~ spied~ on me~~’—that would be just right.”
“Ew, whose pet fox got loose? Smells so strong. So seductive—trying to lure in some wild man?”
“Pfft pfft pfft, you’re the one seducing! I’m just throwing out a brick to attract jade, throwing out a brick to attract jade, okay!”
“Yeah yeah yeah, you’re right, my mind was in the gutter.”
“. ”
People chattered and jeered.
But it was mainly the girls.
After all, they were the type who loved to join in the fun and gossip.
When this happened—man, it was like the sky was about to fall.
Seeing them like this, Director Huang Junwen was speechless.
He could only be grateful that this scene was already done.
Otherwise, with the girls causing such a ruckus, this take would have been completely ruined.
As for Huang Wenhao, listening to the girls’ teasing, he seemed a bit flustered and embarrassed.
After all, whether it was his acting style or his personal style, he was the calm and reserved type.
Joking around carelessly with people—especially with girls—honestly, he wasn’t quite used to it.
Not to mention the fact that he had just performed such a racy scene.
Which left him standing there dumbfounded, scratching his head, unable to get a single word out.
Just then—
“I could hear you guys chattering from way over there.”
“Picking on Teacher Huang again, huh!”
Jiang Nian walked over, stood in front of the girls, and bailed Huang Wenhao out.
Seeing this, Huang Wenhao shot Jiang Nian a grateful look. “Thanks.”
“Pfft, no need to thank me, Teacher Huang. If you ask me, you just spoil them too much, letting them get so out of line.”
Jiang Nian said casually.
Hearing this, Deng Sha immediately made a face at Jiang Nian. “None of your business. Teacher Huang just likes spoiling us. What, Teacher Jiang, are you jealous?”
“Jealous my ass. Who’d be bored enough to be jealous over something like this?” Jiang Nian rolled his eyes. “Little nun, I think you’re getting more and more out of hand.”
“So what? Out of hand, out of hand.”
Deng Sha had gotten familiar with Jiang Nian by now—mischievous and full of pranks.
Seeing her playful look, Jiang Nian couldn’t help but smile, but on the surface, he still pretended to be annoyed. He raised his hand. “Oh, so you dare to be out of line? You’re really asking for it. Come here, let me show you what happens.”
Deng Sha immediately shrank her neck and hid behind Chen Qiaoen, complaining:
“Sister Qiaoen, look at him, he’s bullying me again. You have to stand up for me!”
Having said that, she put on a pitiful, aggrieved look.
Chen Qiaoen couldn’t help but laugh.
She reached out and stroked Deng Sha’s hair, saying gently, “Shasha, you—you’re such a case of ‘bad at it but love to play.’ Every time you provoke Teacher Jiang, and every time you end up trembling with fear.”
“So what? Is that not allowed? Anyway, Sister Qiaoen, you have to help me. He’s your man—if you don’t keep him in line, who else will?”
Deng Sha said with her hands on her hips, utterly shameless.
Hearing this, a flicker of panic flashed through Chen Qiaoen’s eyes. She gave Deng Sha a light smack. “What nonsense are you spouting? What do you mean ‘my man’? Stop playing matchmaker.”
She sounded utterly disdainful, but after saying it, she couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Jiang Nian.
Looking every bit like a young girl in love.
As for Jiang Nian’s reaction—that was neither here nor there.
But Yang Rong, who was standing beside Chen Qiaoen, suddenly froze with the smile on her face, feeling a lump in her chest.
Although she knew that between her and Jiang Nian, everything was perfectly innocent—there was essentially nothing going on.
But… she just felt awful.
Because in this drama, she was the one who had been officially designated as Jiang Nian’s “wife.”
So why was everyone paying attention to Chen Qiaoen and Jiang Nian?
You had to know, on the very first day of joining the crew, Jiang Nian had already made his feelings known to her.
Even if it was mostly just teasing, if people were going to gossip, then by order of first come, first served, they should have finished talking about her and Jiang Nian before moving on to Chen Qiaoen and Jiang Nian!
Why was it that she, who came first, had become the latecomer?
Yang Rong was full of resentment.
This huge disparity made her feel incredibly unbalanced inside.
So much so that when she looked at Jiang Nian again, her gaze had changed.
Jiang Nian noticed this, but didn’t pay it any mind.
Because starting last week, Yang Rong had been looking at him like this frequently.
At first, Jiang Nian thought it was a bit odd.
But as time went on, he noticed that Yang Rong kept looking at him like that without ever making any further moves, so he gradually got used to it.
If the kid likes to look, let the kid look.
What’s the big deal? Was it going to make him lose a few pounds?
Jiang Nian tossed the matter to the back of his mind and turned to look at Huang Junwen. “Director Huang, it’s my turn to act now, right?”
Huang Junwen nodded.
Jiang Nian rubbed his hands together. “Good. I’ve got to say, I’ve been itching to get to this scene.”
Having played a normal person for so long, Jiang Nian was starting to feel a bit out of sorts.
Now he was finally returning to his true calling—playing a eunuch.
This made Jiang Nian feel a little excited inside.
“Finally, I can act in my natural element—ah, no, I mean, I’ve finally reached the field where I excel!”
