24: Tianshan Child Granny

The ambulance finally arrived and took Big Beard Zhang away.

The police arrived to investigate the situation. Their preliminary assessment was a rat bite, but they still recorded the incident.

The police interviewed the crew members and conducted brief inquiries with Li Xiuwu and Zhou Xiaowen, who had conflicts with Big Beard Zhang.

No one believed that anyone could control rats to bite people; they were simply following standard procedure.

Li Xiuwu recounted his movements from the afternoon through the evening.

The police left, but the crew members couldn't fall back asleep.

With rats crawling into tents to bite people, who would dare go back to sleep? What if they were bitten too? This was especially true for the actresses, whose faces were their livelihood.

Many people looked toward Liu Yifei, who was holding Little Lion in her arms.

“Little Lion, you'll protect your sister, right?” she said to Little Lion.

“Meow-woo,” Little Lion struggled.

“Xiuwu, you really had foresight bringing a cat into the crew.” Ye Erniang came over and looked at Little Lion.

“Who could have expected something like this to happen?” Li Xiuwu said helplessly.

“Luckily, it was Big Beard Zhang who got bitten,” one actress remarked. Everyone looked at her, and she shrank back slightly.

The women were silent. Indeed, it was lucky it was Big Beard Zhang; if it had been one of them, how could they have gone on?

Everyone was now huddled around the campfire, not daring to go back to sleep. No one had expected things to turn out this way.

“I can't stay up any longer; I'm going to sleep,” Li Xiuwu said as he returned to his tent.

A few careless people, after staying up for a while, ignored the potential danger and went back to their tents to sleep, but many others still didn't dare.

Just as Li Xiuwu entered his tent, Liu Xiaoli and the others followed him in.

“What are you all doing?”

“There are rats, and they bite,” Liu Yifei gestured exaggeratedly.

“How could we possibly dare to sleep?”

Even Liu Xiaoli was a bit shaken. Rats were scary enough, but rats that bit people were worse.

“You're in the RV, what's there to be afraid of? If you're really scared, take Little Lion with you,” Li Xiuwu told them.

“If we take Little Lion, what about you?” Liu Xiaoli asked.

“We'll just make do here for the night. Having Little Lion around makes us feel a bit more at ease.”

“A rat biting someone is a low-probability event,” Li Xiuwu said, speechless. He hadn't expected it to cause such an aftermath.

“Alright, I have some moisture-proof mats here. You can make do and get some rest.”

That night, Li Xiuwu didn't sleep soundly. His bed was occupied by Liu Yifei. In the latter half of the night, an exhausted Liu Yifei nearly fell onto the stove.

Li Xiuwu woke her up and let her get on the bed, and he let Shu Chang on the bed as well. Liu Xiaoli also leaned against the bedside and fell asleep in her clothes.

The next day, the Yu Min and Zhao Jian returned from the hospital.

Li Xiuwu received news that Big Beard Zhang had been bitten by the rat on his upper and lower lips and was being kept in isolation for observation.

The doctors needed to see if he had been infected with any diseases. Currently, he couldn't speak or eat, so he had to remain hospitalized.

Upon hearing this, people grew even more anxious. Seeing the state of things, Zhou Xiaowen, the Zhao Jian, and the Yu Min decided to stop filming for the day and arranged for vehicles to take everyone back to the hotel to recuperate.

Three days later, the crew resumed filming. No one dared to stay in tents anymore, so the crew had to arrange for daily shuttles to transport everyone back and forth.

Li Xiuwu hadn't expected things to turn out like this, but with Big Beard Zhang hospitalized, the production was back in Zhou Xiaowen's hands.

Even the police didn't believe it, so no one suspected that Big Beard Zhang had been targeted by someone.

Although Big Beard Zhang insisted he had been harmed by someone, the doctor diagnosed him with persecutory delusion brought on by shock.

As the crew entered the peak filming period, everyone's workload was heavy, and Li Xiuwu also felt the hardship of filming.

During breaks, Shu Chang often came to him to ask for help with her high school studies; she hadn't given up on her education.

Li Xiuwu found Shu Chang to be very intelligent. Filming wasn't a problem for her, and she was quick to grasp anything in her studies.

“This look is way too ugly.” When Shu Chang came out after her costume fitting, Li Xiuwu saw her and pulled her to find Zhou Xiaowen.

“Look at the description of the Elder,” Li Xiuwu said, holding the script and the original text of demi-gods and semi-devils.

“‘Her appearance was delicate and lovely, her eyes were spirited. When she smiled, her jade-like face bloomed with spring, her cheeks flushed red, and her eyes rippled with light, glancing with charm.’”

“Teacher Zhou, look at Chang Chang's current styling again?”

“It is indeed lacking something,” Zhou Xiaowen said, looking at Shu Chang's appearance.

“I'll discuss it with the styling team.”

Zhou Xiaowen called the Yu Min over to discuss Shu Chang's look, with the costume, makeup, and art departments all participating.

The other actors had all taken their costume photos before joining the crew; only the Elder had been difficult to cast.

Shu Chang had only been with the crew for a few days, so the makeup department had designed the Tianshan Elder's look without sufficient planning or discussion.

Ultimately, with the combined efforts of the art and makeup departments, the crew redesigned her look.

“This is how the Elder should look.” Li Xiuwu and Liu Yifei looked at Shu Chang's new appearance.

Shu Chang's styling no longer featured a head full of sky-high braids; it had become a normal, somewhat youthful look that was very beautiful.

The Tianshan Elder was originally a very beautiful woman; she only showed her age when she and Li Qiushui perished together.

Shu Chang had a smile on her face. They were all young girls—who wouldn't want to look pretty?

As Shu Chang's scenes began, Li Xiuwu stood behind Zhou Xiaowen, watching the monitor.

Her first scene was being released from a bag by Xu Zhu.

Despite her young and pretty face, she carried an air of majestic authority.

“Good,” Zhou Xiaowen praised.

“This is pure talent,” the Zhao Jian remarked while also watching the monitor.

“Li Xiuwu's first shot was just as stunning. Young people these days really shouldn't be underestimated.”

“Each generation brings forth its own talents; there are plenty of actors with real skill,” Zhou Xiaowen said, in a very good mood as he watched Shu Chang's performance on the monitor.

In her scene with Gao Hu, she didn't lose out to him at all.

“Gao Hu is acting well too, he's just a bit more handsome than in the original book,” the Zhao Jian commented on Gao Hu's acting.

In the original book, Xu Zhu was incredibly ugly but kind and simple, with no desire for conflict. This personality could seem a bit foolish in the martial arts world, all of which Gao Hu portrayed well.

Zhou Xiaowen nodded; Gao Hu's acting was indeed quite good.

Listening from behind, Li Xiuwu recalled that Gao Hu was later blacklisted due to drug use.

He was known as the unluckiest guy in the entertainment industry.

However, the line that left the deepest impression on Li Xiuwu was: “Respectfully sending the Great Ming Emperor on his way.”

The image of him standing on Meishan, gazing at the Forbidden City amidst the flames of war, was deeply etched in Li Xiuwu's memory.

His artistic life was somewhat similar to that of Chongzhen.

Regardless of the reason, drug use deserved to be blacklisted.

“Shu Chang, you're amazing! Your acting is so good.” Once the scene ended, Liu Yifei went over and took Shu Chang's hand.

“It's nothing,” Shu Chang waved it off, not feeling like her acting was particularly incredible.

Seeing Shu Chang's reaction, Liu Yifei suddenly felt a bit dejected.

She had two good friends, Shu Chang and Li Xiuwu, and both were geniuses.

Liu Yifei suddenly squatted on the ground and started drawing circles.

“What's wrong?” Shu Chang asked, squatting down beside her.

“You both act so well, it makes me look like a fool.”

Li Xiuwu happened to walk over and heard Liu Yifei's words.

“Does it even need to 'make' you look like one? Aren't you one already?”

“Li Xiuwu, I'm going to kill you!” Hearing Li Xiuwu's words, Liu Yifei lunged straight at him.