23: My mouth was bitten raw

There was no filming all afternoon, and an invisible atmosphere of high pressure permeated the crew.

Some veterans of the crew clocked out as usual, unconcerned; in a closed environment like a film crew, conflicts were common anyway.

And this was without any actors from Hong Kong and Taiwan; if there were, the infighting would be even more lively.

At dinner time, Liu Xiaoli, Liu Yifei, and Shu Chang came to Li Xiuwu's tent.

Liu Yifei was still angry.

Li Xiuwu teased her. "Who upset the Fairy Sister? Your pout is so long you could hang an oil jar on it."

"You're still laughing? You're the one being targeted," Liu Yifei rolled her eyes at him.

She sniffed and smelled the scent of hot pot. "Well, here we are worrying about you, while you've been eating hot pot by yourself in your tent all afternoon."

"I'm so badly injured, I need to nourish myself," Li Xiuwu patted his leg.

"Serves you right. I want some too."

Li Xiuwu's tent was very large, and with the stove lit, it was very warm inside.

Liu Yifei took off her red down jacket and tossed it onto Li Xiuwu's bed.

She found the pot as if no one else were there and placed it on the stove.

"Mom, Chang Chang, come and help," Liu Yifei called out to Liu Xiaoli and Shu Chang.

"Xiuwu, we'll have a bite here with you," Liu Xiaoli said to Li Xiuwu.

"Sure. I've mostly digested what I had for lunch, so it's about time for dinner anyway."

The water in the pot boiled, and the few of them picked up their chopsticks and began to eat merrily.

Inside Big Beard Zhang's tent, many people were also chatting and laughing.

"Director Zhang, your move was brilliant, truly brilliant. If the Beijing Film Academy wants to protect Li Xiuwu, Zhou Xiaowen will have to relinquish power and stop making trouble."

A Costume Supervisor gave a thumbs up.

"It's not just that. That kid is too arrogant. He thinks just because he was the top scholar of the college entrance examination, he can do whatever he wants. Now that he's in the entertainment industry, he still has to answer to us."

Big Beard Zhang laughed. He was very pleased. Once the footage of today's outburst was released before the TV series aired, it would spark another massive wave of public opinion.

As for what impact it would have on the actor, what did Big Beard Zhang care? As long as his show made money, that was all that mattered.

"Yu Min, why aren't you speaking?" Big Beard Zhang was happy, but he noticed his right-hand man, the Drama Director Yu Min, had been drinking in silence.

Yu Min looked up, and everyone's gaze fell upon his face.

He hesitated for a moment before speaking. "I feel that kid has an extraordinary bearing. He's generous with his money, and the way he speaks and acts is quite remarkable. I'm afraid he's not simple."

"His acting is also very good, and he's very photogenic. His future achievements will be limitless."

He didn't finish his sentence, took a sip of wine, and didn't continue.

But everyone there was shrewd; how could they not hear the implication? He was reminding Big Beard Zhang that there was no need to offend Li Xiuwu.

A strange light flickered in everyone's eyes. Over this period, they had all had more or less contact with Li Xiuwu.

He owned a car worth seven hundred thousand yuan. One must realize that in this era, many people's entire net worth, including their houses, didn't add up to seven hundred thousand.

Among them, few even owned a car, let alone could afford to spend seven hundred thousand on one.

"Hahaha, the media cleared up his background long ago. His parents were just ordinary workers before they passed away, and they didn't leave him any money when they died."

"That car of his looks brand new. He probably bought it with the reward money from his high school and the Beijing Film Academy."

"What can a person like that achieve? Someone with no basic financial management skills who spends money as soon as he has it," Big Beard Zhang remarked.

Director Zhang's words made sense. Upon reflection, the others thought it was indeed possible.

Li Xiuwu was a top scholar with a perfect score. His high school had given him a reward, which was said to be quite a lot.

The Beijing Film Academy would have to give him one too, and it would have to be more than what Tsinghua and Peking University offered. It should be enough for a car.

Everyone thought, seven hundred thousand yuan... a top scholar is truly valuable. If only their own children could score that well.

Yu Min opened his mouth but didn't say anything more.

When he was filming the scenes in Dali, Li Xiuwu had been spending money lavishly in Yunnan.

Forget it, there was no point mentioning it; Big Beard Zhang wouldn't listen anyway.

His relationship with Li Xiuwu was currently decent, so he would give him a heads-up tomorrow.

Li Xiuwu intended for them to stay, so the few of them chatted while eating slowly. Before they knew it, it was eleven at night.

Liu Yifei and Shu Chang were still listening with great interest as Li Xiuwu told them about how he had blackmailed Wang Jinsong for a role.

Liu Yifei and Shu Chang were very envious. A top scholar was truly impressive; before even enrolling, he dared to blackmail a teacher into getting him a role.

Not only that, but the school also had to provide scholarships, living allowances, and various other forms of support. He even just had to say the word if he didn't want to live on campus.

"Why wasn't I the top scholar?" Liu Yifei blurted out.

Hearing this, Liu Xiaoli rolled her eyes. "You only studied abroad. If you had studied in China, I don't know if you could even have gotten into university."

She was dampening her daughter's spirits. Her daughter's grades weren't bad, but she definitely wouldn't have made it into the league of Tsinghua and Peking University.

Liu Yifei glared at her mother in dissatisfaction.

"Li Xiuwu, could you tutor me in my studies?" Shu Chang asked.

She was only in her second year of high school, a crucial time for studying. She had hired a tutor while filming, but the tutor focused more on foreign languages. She felt she had many unanswered questions in math and physics.

"Sure, you can ask me anything," Li Xiuwu nodded. He had almost forgotten there was a little straight-A student here.

Liu Yifei yawned, and Liu Xiaoli checked the time. "It's already eleven. We should go get some rest."

"It is late. Go on then. Who knows what will happen tomorrow," Li Xiuwu said.

Li Xiuwu saw them off. Liu Xiaoli had rented an RV, and they were sleeping in it.

After watching them leave, Li Xiuwu opened a cardboard box. Inside, a gray-furred mouse was eating peanuts.

"Go on. Once you've bitten him, you can leave," Li Xiuwu said to the mouse, pointing toward that tent.

"Squeak, squeak." The little mouse nodded and ran toward the central tent.

Big Beard Zhang was happy, thinking he had found a way to control Zhou Xiaowen and could also get revenge on Li Xiuwu for his disrespect.

"Aaaah!" In the middle of the night, a scream woke the entire crew.

"Ah, boohoo... Help! Someone, call an ambulance!" A miserable cry rang out.

Big Beard Zhang crawled out of his tent, his face covered in blood and his big beard dyed red. Under the swaying lights of the night, he looked terrifying.

Everyone was a bit afraid to step forward, not knowing what had happened.

"Director Zhang, calm down." Zhao Jian stepped forward decisively, called over a few Stunt Performers, and pinned Big Beard Zhang down, finally bringing him under control.

Everyone looked and saw that his upper and lower lips were mangled. They didn't know how he had been injured.

"Director Yu, call the police." Zhao Jian said upon seeing the situation. This looked like intentional harm.

In the middle of the night and out in the wild, this was a serious matter. Everyone came over to watch.

Li Xiuwu also came over to see how badly Big Beard Zhang was injured.

Liu Yifei and the others, who had just returned to the RV and hadn't rested yet, heard the commotion and ran out as well.

"How did this happen? How did he get hurt like this?" people discussed.

"Must be revenge," someone said, their gaze instinctively drifting toward Li Xiuwu, while others looked toward Zhou Xiaowen.

These two had direct conflicts with Big Beard Zhang today.

"It looks like he was bitten by something. It looks gruesome, but it's actually just a few small puncture wounds," said someone with experience in injuries.

Amidst the chatter, Liu Yifei came to Li Xiuwu's side. Seeing Big Beard Zhang covered in blood, she instinctively grabbed Li Xiuwu's hand.

Li Xiuwu looked down at her and held her hand back.

The set nurse performed an examination and instinctively took a deep breath.

"Doctor Wang, what's the situation?" The key members of the crew had all arrived and were watching anxiously.

Zhou Xiaowen stood to the side, worried. Conflict was one thing, but if something happened to the crew, it would always have a negative impact.

"He was bitten by a mouse," Doctor Wang said slowly.

"A mouse!" everyone exclaimed, and the entire crew went into an uproar.

There were mice, and they were crawling into tents to bite people. Everyone was terrified; what if one bit them during the night?