WAM CH42

The promotional press conference went remarkably smoothly.

Nanyang City was a famous water town with a mild climate, small bridges over flowing water, and an ancient charm steeped in history—quiet and reserved.

The reason Director Wang chose this place… was because it was his hometown.

Director Wang already looked quite aged.

Looking over from Shao Si’s angle, the wrinkles carved around the old man’s eyes ran deeper and deeper.

“When I first started making Undercover, I actually wanted it to be a final gift to myself.” Director Wang stood up from his seat and faced the reporters, his tone steady and slow. “This is the last time I will make a film, and it is my final work. I hope you will all like it.”

The moment these words fell, it caused an uproar among the media.

The main cast and crew members sitting on stage all stood up at this moment, looking at one another, not knowing what to say, clearly shocked by Director Wang’s announcement of ‘retirement’.

Shao Si stood beside him and said, “Director Wang…”

Director Wang smiled at him and handed the microphone to Shao Si: “Come, it’s your turn. Say a few words to everyone.”

Holding the microphone, it took Shao Si a long while to recover his voice.

By the time he finished dealing with the media and sat down again, out of the corner of his eye he caught Director Wang resting a hand against his lower lip, coughing softly.

He was no longer that green youngster from back then who, with a single backpack and a few dry rations, decisively left Nanyang City to embark on the path of filmmaking—going away for decades without looking back.

White hair had long since quietly climbed up his temples.

“Back in our day, we just had a dilapidated courtyard, the oldest projector, watching black-and-white silent films.” Shao Si always remembered a lunch break when Director Wang tirelessly shared stories of his childhood with everyone, his fingers trembling in the air, his face beaming with a deeply nostalgic smile. “It was so wonderful, a shiny new thing. I even forgot to eat the sweet potato I intentionally stuffed into my pocket to bring over. Kids big and small in the courtyard were all fooling around, and I was the only one sitting there, watching more earnestly than anyone else—actually, how could I possibly understand it back then? I didn’t understand a thing, but it was just so great. The people around me were all laughing, and I felt happy too. That actress’s hemline spun and spun inside the screen.”

By the time the press conference ended, it was already 3:00 PM.

As everyone took their leave, Shao Si chased after Director Wang and called out to him: “Was what you said earlier true? You plan to retire?”

Director Wang stopped in his tracks, remained silent for a moment, and then turned around, saying, “Yes.”

“Why?”

“I’m getting old, I can’t keep up anymore.” Director Wang smiled and patted Shao Si’s shoulder, saying, “Now I just want to rest, settle down in my hometown, raise some fish and cats, and go out for walks when I have nothing to do… There’s no special reason, don’t worry. The era now belongs to you young people; keep working hard.”

Shao Si was silent for a long while before ultimately saying, “Then please take good care of yourself. If you need anything, you can call me. You have my number, and I almost never turn my phone off.”

“Good, good, good.” Director Wang said three ‘good’s in a row.

“Director Wang, though, there’s something I want to ask you.” Shao Si hesitated twice, running excuses through his head, but ultimately asked outright, “There’s a senior named Ye Qing… you mentioned earlier that you knew him too. It’s like this: taking on Director Ou’s film this time, I looked up a lot of materials on traditional opera and found that this Mr. Ye was also an opera singer during his lifetime. His background is somewhat similar to the character’s setting in the script, so I wanted to find some video footage of him for reference, but the information about him online is scarce.”

Yes, the information was too scarce, which was also the reason Shao Si grew suspicious of this Ye Qing.

His life story looked far too clean. Even that earlier forum had to be restored just to catch a glimpse of a tiny portion of content.

It was as if…

As if someone had deliberately erased him after his death.

“I don’t want to deceive you,” Director Wang said, then added, “It’s just that regarding this matter, it’s better if you don’t know.”

Shao Si wanted to ask further, but Director Wang was set on avoiding the topic. Before leaving, however, he said something else instead.

“I hope you remember that this circle didn’t just become chaotic now; it has always been that chaotic—but we must never compromise with it, no matter what happens, we must never.”

Having seen Director Wang off, Li Guangzong sat in the passenger seat on the way back and reported: “We’re going straight back to the hotel now so you can rest properly. Warning you in advance, snack streets are strictly off-limits. Don’t go sneaking off behind my back again thinking that putting on sunglasses and wrapping a towel around your neck means the general public won’t recognize you. Even if you turned to ash, they’d still recognize you… Trying to outsmart them is genuinely courting death, do you hear me?”

Shao Si curled up in the back seat and let out a lukewarm “Mhm,” what Li Guangzong said basically going in one ear and out the other.

With his eyes half-closed, just as Shao Si was almost falling asleep, the phone pressed beneath him vibrated twice as a new text message arrived.

Li Guangzong casually asked, “What is that? Buzzing like crazy.”

Shao Si propped himself up on his arm, slightly lifting his waist to pull the phone out, saying, “Nothing, pyramid scheme.”

As Shao Si spoke, he unlocked the screen and tapped in:

—Ye Qing is buried in Nanyang City Ling’an Cemetery, located in Zone A, 117. The specific address of the cemetery is No. 168 Minhe Road.

—Friendly reminder: when I hacked into the cemetery’s surveillance system, I saw a familiar person on the monitor [Image].

The person in the photo was none other than the one he had asked the private detective to investigate last time…

Zhou Weiping.

Shao Si jolted a bit clearer and sat up, his long coat slipping down off his body: Is he still there?

—He should still be there right now, but whether he’ll still be there by the time you rush over, I can’t say for sure.

The car slowly pulled up to the hotel entrance.

Li Guangzong watched Shao Si go into his room and collapse onto the bed to sleep, only then comfortably tucking his laptop under his arm and returning to his own room to work.

Who would have thought his Daddy Shao was far braver than he imagined; just a few minutes after he left, Shao Si stealthily slipped out of the hotel.

“To Ling’an Cemetery.” The large scarf wrapped around Shao Si’s neck practically covered his entire face, leaving only a pair of clear, bright eyes exposed, making the taxi driver feel a chill down his spine. “Please hurry up, I have a very urgent matter.”

The trip over wasn’t far; Nanyang was a small place to begin with. Getting off, Shao Si didn’t even look at the meter price, directly pulling out a large bill: “Keep the change.”

“No way, it’s thirty-two yuan in total. A person has to be honest. Hold on, I’ll give you your change.”

Shao Si: “Really no need.”

The driver pulled a stern face: “Are you looking down on me?”

In the end, Shao Si got out of the car clutching a stack of small bills.

Zone A was located near the southern part of the cemetery, nestled against the mountains and overlooking the water—arguably the highest-priced area in the entire cemetery.

The sky was turning dark because the weather had turned overcast in the afternoon—the rainstorm from a few days ago hadn’t completely cleared out of this small city area, and the wind blew against the leaves, rustling softly.

A fine drizzle fell, quickly dampening Shao Si’s hair.

He had learned from the security guard earlier that plot 117 was very secluded, located at the top of the hill; one could see it by following the stone steps all the way up.

“Why would a normal person pick a place like this?” Halfway up the climb, Shao Si felt a bit tired and slowed his pace, panting lightly, talking to himself: “…And when will this rain stop?”

He hoped Zhou Weiping was still there.

“…Every year on the fourteenth of the fourth lunar month, it rains. Ah Qing, is it you crying?”

Nearing the top of the hill, Shao Si vaguely heard someone speaking.

He slowed his steps, carefully aiming every single footstep before stepping down, terrified of disturbing that voice.

The voice sounded a bit familiar, but because it was far away and the intonation was excessively gentle, Shao Si couldn’t tell for a moment whether it was Zhou Weiping’s voice.

After a pause, that person uttered another mindless sentence out of nowhere: “I love you.”

Familiar.

Extremely familiar.

But it was definitely not Zhou Weiping.

Shao Si took another step upward, and the scene before him unfolded little by little. He could finally see clearly…

…

However, Shao Si was silent for a long while, ultimately asking with an indifferent face: “Why are you guys here?”

Gu Yanzhou clearly hadn’t expected to run into him here either.

“Keep your voice down.” Gu Yanzhou held an umbrella. Underneath the umbrella, besides him, was another person—from the back, it was a woman with waist-length hair and a slender silhouette, who from beginning to end didn’t turn her head to look at Shao Si once.

She was simply focusing intently on the opposite side, watching the movements before Ye Qing’s tomb on the other side.

“How come you came? Didn’t bring an umbrella?” When Shao Si walked closer, Gu Yanzhou grabbed him and pulled him to his side, tilting the umbrella significantly in his direction to keep him from getting rained on as much as possible.

While saying thank you, Shao Si raised a hand to wipe away the water droplets that fell on his eyelids. Looking up again, he finally saw clearly that the woman beside him… was Ye Xuan.

The umbrella wasn’t large, and this hidden spot used for eavesdropping wasn’t spacious enough either; squeezing three people in was still a bit cramped.

He couldn’t squeeze toward Ye Xuan’s side—men and women shouldn’t have improper physical contact—so Shao Si had only one choice: continue staying in Gu Yanzhou’s arms.

Gu Yanzhou raised a hand to pat his head, helpfully smoothing down his half-damp hair as he went: “How did you end up running over here?”

“…If I said I came for a stroll, would you believe me?”

Gu Yanzhou: “Not a very good excuse.”

Shao Si ignored him, his eyes staring opposite without blinking: “Speaking of which though, why is Director Ou here too?”

Sitting before Ye Qing’s tomb, clutching a wine jar, taking a sip and pouring two mouthfuls onto the ground while constantly talking to himself—who else could it be but Director Ou?

Gu Yanzhou had come to pay respects at Director Wang’s request.

Although Director Wang said he was determined to retire and rest, at the root of it, his health had hit a snag. Director Wang hadn’t intended to tell anyone about this, but Gu Yanzhou was perceptive and managed to coax it out after probing several times.

“Can’t win against you. Since you already know, then do something for me,” Director Wang had said on the phone that day. “I’m heading to the hospital right after the promotional press conference. Yanzhou, go visit an old friend on my behalf.”

Who this old friend was, Gu Yanzhou wasn’t entirely clear.

He had simply bumped into Ye Xuan on the way up the mountain.

Listening to Gu Yanzhou’s explanation as he leaned in to whisper in his ear, Shao Si felt his ear tickle while thinking to himself: How coincidental can this matter be? We could literally fill up a mahjong table.