A few days later, in the evening, on the set of Sword Rain.
Jiang Nian, dressed as the Wheel-Turning King and having just finished filming, was openly enjoying Xu Xinyuan’s feeding service.
The reason things had come to this was that since that night, the rivalry between the two women had officially entered a white-hot stage.
It had started with delivering meals, then escalated to bringing him water during martial arts practice.
And now it had reached the point of buying expensive fruits.
They were getting more and more aggressive.
It no longer even looked like competition.
It was purely that they each had something to prove and didn’t want to lose to the other.
Jiang Nian couldn’t talk them out of it, and wouldn’t try.
Favoring one over the other—that was the cardinal sin when you were straddling two boats.
As long as they didn’t actually come to blows in the end, everything was acceptable.
And besides, in this whole affair, Jiang Nian was undoubtedly the one reaping the benefits.
In a situation like this, unless Jiang Nian had lost his mind, he would absolutely never get involved.
“Teacher Jiang, is it sweet?”
Xu Xinyuan asked as she held a washed strawberry up to Jiang Nian’s mouth.
Jiang Nian nodded. “Not bad. What kind of strawberry is this?”
“Pineapple strawberry. I had someone get me some out-of-season fruit. If you like them, I can have someone bring you more?”
“That’d be great. Get me five or six pounds to start. How much? I’ll transfer you the money.”
“Teacher Jiang, you’re being too formal. It’s just a bit of fruit—why transfer money? As long as you like eating them, I’d buy you a whole box without a problem.”
Xu Xinyuan said with a soft laugh.
At this, everyone else was already long used to it.
Because ever since Jiang Nian came back this time, his relationship with Xu Xinyuan had progressed rapidly—it was no secret on set anymore.
As long as it didn’t interfere with filming, they could do whatever they wanted, and no one would say anything.
Just as Jiang Nian and Xu Xinyuan were flirting—
“Teacher Jiang, I knew you’d be here.”
A light call came from nearby, catching Jiang Nian’s attention.
He looked over and saw Deng Shasha standing not far away, looking at him.
Jiang Nian raised an eyebrow. “Shasha, what are you doing here? Something up with the crew?”
Deng Shasha waved her hand. “Not really. We came looking for you, Teacher Jiang. You went to film Yearning Life before, right? Well, it premiered today, and everyone’s pretty curious, so we wanted to find you and watch it together.”
After all, they were all on the same crew. When someone filmed a variety show, it was only natural—and polite—to show some support.
And they were also curious to see what Jiang Nian would be like on a variety show.
Hearing this, Jiang Nian was a bit surprised. “That fast?”
From the time he finished filming until now, it had been just over a week at most.
And setting aside Huang Lei’s hospitalization and the promotional work—
The time left for the production team to film and edit couldn’t have been more than three days, at most.
“How desperate are they to make money?”
Jiang Nian grumbled internally, then thought for a moment and nodded at Deng Shasha. “Alright, let’s go take a look. But it’s only eight-thirty. I remember the crew’s been filming night scenes lately—is it really okay to do this?”
The Smiling, Proud Wanderer had a lot of night scenes.
If they only filmed one segment per day, it would be troublesome and inefficient.
After all, everyone was already exhausted from filming during the day—if they had to work overtime at night too, they really couldn’t guarantee they’d stay in top form.
So Huang Junwen and the others discussed it and decided to set aside one or two weeks for everyone to adjust their sleep schedules and film only night scenes, trying to get all the night scenes done during this period.
Today was the third day after adjusting their schedules.
And eight-thirty at night was basically their start time.
If at this hour they ran off to watch his variety show…
“Teacher Jiang, you don’t need to worry about that.”
“We already discussed it with Director Huang and got the time off.”
“Actually, the fact that we got time off so smoothly—we have you to thank for that. If you hadn’t acted so well and pushed our filming progress along so quickly, Director Huang probably wouldn’t have agreed. After we finish watching the show tonight, we can pull an all-nighter and play all night!”
Deng Shasha said playfully.
“I see.” Jiang Nian understood, then looked at Xu Xinyuan. “What about you? Want to come along?”
“I’ll pass. This is your crew’s event—it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to go. But tomorrow, I’d like Teacher Jiang to watch it with me. How about that?”
Xu Xinyuan knew her limits while also retreating to advance.
Jiang Nian smiled. “Sure, no problem. Then we’ll be off now.”
Then he looked at Deng Shasha. “By the way, Shasha, since everyone’s here, we can’t exactly watch it outdoors, right? Have you picked a spot?”
“Already booked. It’s a villa in the scenic area. After we finish watching, we can play billiards, have some drinks—consider it a little team-building.”
“Perfect. Wait for me to change clothes, and we’ll go.”
Jiang Nian said, then turned and walked into the makeup room nearby.
By the time he and Deng Shasha arrived at the villa—
The main cast of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer was basically all there.
The atmosphere was lively.
Huo Jianhua sat on the sofa, took a sip of beer, and said with a sigh: “Come to think of it, this seems like my first team-building since joining this crew. It really wasn’t easy!”
“You’re telling me. Glug glug—most days we’re so tired from filming we’re practically dead on our feet. At best we go back to the apartment and have a little drink by ourselves. We never even have time to go out and get together. This time I finally caught the chance—let loose! Tonight we’ve gotta really let loose!”
Han Dong downed a big gulp and said loudly.
As soon as he finished, Yuan Shanshan turned to look at Huang Junwen nearby and teased: “Director Huang, you hear that? Everyone’s complaining—too much pressure! Give us a break!”
At that, Huang Junwen just took a sip of his drink and smiled awkwardly. “Definitely, in the future, definitely. After we finish these two weeks of night scenes, things won’t be so intense after that. I’ll make sure everyone gets their own time then, how’s that?”
“Ugh, more empty promises. Director Huang, instead of saying all that, you’d be better off drinking three cups as penance. What do you all think?”
Yang Mingna, who played Ning Zhongze, wasn’t buying it and started stirring the pot.
Hearing this, everyone immediately chimed in, clamoring for Huang Junwen to drink three cups as penance.
Huang Junwen wasn’t annoyed.
He was a good sport and could take it. He directly pulled out some baijiu, poured three cups, and downed them all in one go.
This immediately pushed the already lively atmosphere to an even higher peak. People clapped continuously and cheered:
“As expected of Director Huang—a real heavy hitter, what guts!”
“Who says otherwise? Three cups of baijiu, didn’t even blink, downed them all in one breath. Director Huang, you’re the man!!”
“Director Huang’s got balls. Here, I’ll toast to you—I’ll down mine, you do as you like.”
“Hey now, you guys are going too far. Director Huang just downed three cups in a row, and you’re already pouring more? What if you get him drunk? Director Huang, ignore them. Here, you and me, let’s have one.”
“??? Alright, alright, you little—saying we shouldn’t pour for him, turns out you just wanted to hog him for yourself, huh.”
“Hahaha, isn’t it just because we’re happy? Speaking of which, Teacher Jiang isn’t here yet?”
“Not yet, but he should be soon.”
“True, though I wouldn’t say ‘soon’—more like he’s already here.”
Just as everyone was clinking glasses and chatting happily, a familiar voice suddenly cut in.
At this, everyone paused slightly and turned to look.
They saw Jiang Nian and Deng Shasha quietly appear among them.
Jiang Nian glanced at Huang Junwen, who had already downed several cups of baijiu in a short time, and couldn’t help but laugh: “So tell me—did you all come here to watch my variety show, or are you using the show as an excuse to get Director Huang drunk and take revenge?”
Huo Jianhua walked over with his beer, smiling. “Can’t it be both?”
“Then you guys are way too greedy. Where’s the liquor? Give me a bottle.”
Jiang Nian laughed and scolded, holding out his hand.
Huo Jianhua grabbed a can from the nearby table and pressed it into Jiang Nian’s hand.
Jiang Nian’s fingers exerted a bit of force, and with a light crack, he dented the aluminum can.
He tilted his head back, aligned it with his mouth, and pulled the tab.
The wheat juice came pouring out.
He finished it in one go, let out a burp, casually crushed the can into a ball, and tossed it into the trash bin nearby.
He looked around and asked: “Where are Sister Qiao’en and Rongrong? How come I don’t see them?”
At that, Huo Jianhua was just about to answer.
But just then, the two women’s voices came from nearby: “Teacher Jiang, you were looking for us?”
Jiang Nian looked over and saw the two women coming down the stairs together, followed by several servers carrying dishes.
“Whoa, you even prepared food.”
“Of course. A party without food—are we just supposed to drink until we’re waterlogged? Everyone, since Teacher Jiang’s here, let’s get started.” Chen Qiao’en took charge.
At that, everyone nodded and took their seats at the table. Yang Rong turned on the TV, and Yearning Life immediately appeared before their eyes.
Although Yearning had been teasing for days beforehand.
Everyone knew it was a farmhouse-style variety show.
But that didn’t stop them from being curious about it.
After all, in this era, variety shows were relatively scarce in variety.
There were basically only four types: challenge, comedy, interview, and singing competition.
Now suddenly a farmhouse-style variety show they’d never heard of had popped up.
Naturally, it grabbed everyone’s attention.
At the same time, the relatively fresh pacing made them couldn’t help but exclaim:
“This show’s kind of interesting.”
“Right? Good grief, they’ve got Teacher He and Dahua farming right from the start—super down-to-earth.”
“Yeah, this production team’s got ideas. Other variety shows aim for the audience, but this one’s aiming for the top stars!”
“Aiming for the top stars? What makes you say that?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Lately there’s been a lot of hostility online—people feel the gap between those top stars and ordinary people is too big, so they chase after them and criticize them every day. Now they’ve made a show like this, with down-to-earth as its main theme. At a time like this, all those top stars who’ve been criticized just need to go on this show, and the online opinion will be solved just like that, won’t it?”
“Oh damn, now that you mention it, that does seem to be the case. But what does that have to do with us? The only ones on our crew who could count as top stars are Teacher Jiang and Teacher Huo.”
As they spoke, people turned their heads.
Noticing their gazes landing on him—
Huo Jianhua, who was eating, paused, then waved his hand modestly. “You’re all too kind. I’m no top star. At best, I’m just a bit famous in period dramas—nothing special.”
“Haha, Teacher Huo is as modest as ever.”
Deng Shasha laughed, then looked at Jiang Nian. “Speaking of which, Teacher Jiang, the show’s been on for over ten minutes—how come you haven’t appeared yet?”
At that, Jiang Nian took a sip of his drink and rolled his eyes. “What’s the rush? It just started. If you can’t sit still, go play somewhere. I’ll call you when my scene comes up.”
“Aiyah, I was just curious and asking. After all, you’re in this show—of course I want to see you as soon as possible.”
Deng Shasha explained.
Jiang Nian didn’t respond, because he hadn’t seen the final cut either and didn’t know when he’d appear.
But based on what he’d done that day—
Even when he did appear, he figured there wouldn’t be much screen time.
After all, when he was filming, he was either roasting Huang Lei or on his way to roasting Huang Lei.
Unless the production team had lost their minds, they absolutely wouldn’t include those shots.
“But whatever. Just treat it as team-building—as long as everyone’s happy.”
Jiang Nian thought to himself.
Then he picked up a couple of bites of food and quietly listened to everyone’s conversation as he watched.
And it was amid everyone’s chatter—
That Jiang Nian finally appeared.
Different from how things had actually played out.
In reality, Jiang Nian and Yang Mi had been the first to arrive at the Mushroom House and interact with He Jiong and Huang Lei.
But in this edited version of Yearning, the first to arrive were Song Dandan and her son.
And Jiang Nian and Yang Mi only showed up “the next day,” late to the party.
Seeing Jiang Nian appear—
Almost instantly.
The previously harmonious barrage of comments suddenly changed style.
“Yuhuatian,” “Hubby love me,” “The Factory Chief is invincible”—comments like these flooded the screen.
Everyone stared blankly, then burst out laughing.
“Teacher Jiang, looks like your Yuhuatian really left a deep impression. It’s been so long, and the hype still hasn’t died down!”
“Yeah, when those comments popped up I was so confused—I was thinking, I’m watching a variety show, how’d it suddenly switch to Flying Swords of Dragon Gate?”
“Huh? Variety show? Wasn’t I watching a fan meeting for the superstar Jiang Nian this whole time? I even bought my light stick—where the hell did I end up?”
“Go on, get out of here—the more you talk, the more ridiculous it gets.”
Seeing them getting more and more absurd, Jiang Nian没好气地打断了他们的胡侃。
At that, everyone laughed and continued watching.
But as they watched, they quickly noticed something was off.
That is, before Jiang Nian appeared, Yearning Life had been very gentle and slice-of-life.
But after Jiang Nian appeared, the show… how did it turn into a fantasy variety show?
Who could tell them why Jiang Nian was clearly swinging a tree branch, yet it stirred up a fierce wind?
And who could tell them how this tree branch managed to slice through stone?
The bewilderment on everyone’s faces was practically turning into something tangible.
At this moment, there was only one thought in their minds: “What the hell is going on?!”
