FI CH30: A Grand Scene

Lin Su returned to the control room and sat back down in his seat. Ke Juexin, having watched the entire process from behind the screen, asked with trepidation, “Will there be any trouble?”

Lin Su said in a gentle voice, “Don’t worry, there most likely will be.”

Ke Juexin: “…….”

Lin Su added, “Tell the camera crew not to get too close. The staff are innocent.”

Ke Juexin listened with a heart pounding in his chest, opened his mouth, then said, “Alright,” and only issued the instruction to the staff. He turned to look at Lin Su with some surprise and explained, “It’s about time he learned a lesson.”

Xuenima: [It seems Xiao Ke has also been holding a grudge for a long time.]

“…” Lin Su thought: How did he also get classified into the “Xiao (Little)” generation by you?

Xuenima said arrogantly: [After all, he respectfully called me your dad.]

Lin Su had no desire to analyze its complex grammatical structure. Just then, He Zhenling spoke up. “Not going back to sleep?”

He turned his head. “It’s this exciting, and you can sleep?”

He Zhenling crossed his arms, lowered his eyes, and gave a soft laugh. “I’m not like you.”

Despite his words, he also remained seated and didn’t go back.

Ke Juexin quietly retracted his gaze. …Have they messed things up again?

…

On the screen, Bai Xuanrui had already left the previous location. With the director’s warning, the staff all trailed far behind. They were now walking on a quiet road, flanked by closed shops and abandoned factories. Bai Xuanrui walked a short distance, then turned to see the camera crew was very far away and couldn’t help but frown.

“Why are you so far away?”

The cameraman paused for a moment. “…This stretch of road has more atmosphere when filmed from a distance.”

Bai Xuanrui thought that made sense and turned back. “Fine.”

There was no one around. He was looking around for any props he could use to create an effect. Gradually, however, he felt his shoulders getting heavier and heavier, as if something was pressing down on him, making it difficult to walk. He just assumed he was tired from walking.

As he bent over to rest his hands on his knees, for a split second, he felt something brush past his ear, cool and chilling. A very faint laugh landed by his ear. “Hehe…”

Bai Xuanrui was suddenly startled! He swiped his hand past his ear and abruptly stood up and turned around.

There was no one around. The night was thick, and the staff were all seven or eight steps away.

He was still shaken.

Was it an illusion? Or a prank sound effect from the production team?

His heart was still pounding. Bai Xuanrui cursed inwardly that they didn’t even give him a heads-up for a prank, weren’t they afraid of really scaring him? He then quickly adjusted his expression and took the opportunity to create an effect, looking around in alarm.

“…Ah, what was that!”

Behind him, the staff exchanged puzzled glances. What now?

Behind the screen, Ke Juexin also frowned. “What is he doing?”

Lin Su glanced over. “Contributing footage, I suppose.”

Ke Juexin’s expression was hard to describe. “But he looks a bit… spirited.”

Xuenima praised: [Xiao Ke’s way of speaking really takes a winding path. No destruction, no construction.]

A hand pinched its little mouth shut.

After speaking, Ke Juexin had another realization. “…Wait, could it be that he’s actually encountered a ghost?”

He looked tentatively at the two people in front of him. He Zhenling’s profile was cold. Lin Su smiled at him but said nothing.

Ke Juexin’s heart skipped a beat.

Over there, Bai Xuanrui finished his “effect” and continued walking. They had already walked back into the production team’s set area. At the intersection, they happened to run into Ye Yuzhu.

The two made eye contact. Bai Xuanrui suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He took out the Fu character he had torn off and said with great enthusiasm, “How many have you found? I just found a hidden clue. Let’s trade one. We can cooperate.”

His abacus was clattering loudly in his mind. He had even already imagined the live comments and reviews, things like: A “blunder” clue was traded for a big one. Xiao Bai really scored on this one. An unexpected 0-for-1 trade, so funny…

However, after he finished speaking, Ye Yuzhu shot him a wary look and instantly moved several steps away. “No, thanks.”

She remembered Lin Su’s warning, turned her head, and walked away.

Bai Xuanrui was abruptly left standing there, awkwardly clutching the Fu character, forcing down his anger. What a useless, wannabe celebrity!

He gave a helpless smile to the camera, subtly badmouthing her. “Alright, it seems she wasn’t impressed with my clue.”

With that, he turned and walked forward.

On one side of the road ahead was a deserted storefront. Its wide glass window reflected the night like a mirror. Bai Xuanrui wanted to go over and fix his hair. As he walked up and turned his head, he saw a pair of feet dangling from his shoulders, red leather shoes swinging gently.

…

The hair on his entire body stood on end in an instant!

Bai Xuanrui shot back two steps and turned to point at the staff behind him. “Did… did you see that?”

The cameraman looked at the camera, then hesitantly at him. “…Uh, Brother Rui, are you creating an effect?”

“An effect my ass! Didn’t you all see it? There was something there!”

“…”

The staff looked at each other, and for a moment, no one stepped forward.

Seeing this, Bai Xuanrui cursed again in anger. Then, as if remembering something, he pulled the Fu character out of his pocket, threw it on the ground, stomped on it twice, quickly recoiled, and turned to ask, “By the way, where is that guy?”

“…Who?”

“The one from just now!”

Bai Xuanrui said, both scared and frightened, “Hurry up and call him over!”

The circle of staff exchanged glances, wanting to speak but hesitating. Then, one of them spoke as if exasperated. “Mr. Lin isn’t someone you can just summon and dismiss at will.”

“Brother Rui, you just told him not to boss you around. How are we supposed to go and ask him now?”

Once the floodgates were open, someone else added with hidden dissatisfaction, “Besides, he’s Mr. He’s family’s ‘Little Sir’. He’s not like us staff members who can just be yelled at and it’s over.”

Bai Xuanrui froze on the spot, his face burning with shame. He dug his fingertips into his palms in humiliation.

After a pause, he forced himself to ask, “Is there really nothing in the camera shot?”

The cameraman took a look. “Really, there’s nothing.”

Bai Xuanrui took a deep breath. “…Forget it. It must be too dark, I saw it wrong. Keep filming! There’s nothing there, who are you trying to scare…”

He turned around as he spoke.

This time, the entire glass window was reflected in his eyes.

A pair of legs were clearly draped over his shoulders. Above them was a child’s face. The child was riding on his shoulders, holding his head. Their eyes met in the reflection, and the child slowly grinned at him. “Heh, hehe…”

“Ahhh—”

Bai Xuanrui whipped his head around and charged straight at the staff behind him.

The people around him were startled and instinctively moved back. There was already some distance between them. Bai Xuanrui failed to plunge into the crowd. A weight settled on his shoulders, and then his legs gave out and he fell to the ground with a thud!

Dust and dirt flew into his face. He lay on the ground, desperately pushing and hitting at something around him, screaming for help.

“Ah! Someone, come here, quick!”

Ye Yuzhu, who hadn’t gone far, heard the commotion and turned her head. “[vocal]!”

—It really blew up!

…

In the control room, Ke Juexin jumped to his feet and said to the staff, “Quick, find some strong people and hold him down!”

Then he looked at Lin Su and He Zhenling. “What’s wrong with him? Is he really possessed?”

Lin Su watched from behind the screen, even grabbing some of the crew’s sunflower seeds to snack on. “It’s nothing. A child is just playing a prank on him.”

His words made the hair on Ke Juexin’s arms stand on end.

Lin Su then shook his head magnanimously. “She’s just a child. We’re all adults here. Why should we stoop to a child’s level?”

Ke Juexin: “…….”

Ke Juexin was a little panicked. “Then what should we do? A lesson is one thing, but we can’t have a real incident happen on our show, can we? Ai… how am I going to explain this to the TV station!”

Lin Su didn’t speak, but it was He Zhenling who spoke up. His voice was as flat as if he were stating a fact. “Explain what? Isn’t this the ‘show effect’ he was creating?”

Ke Juexin was stunned, then it was as if he had been enlightened. So the blame could be shifted like that!

He nodded and said, “That’s true,” then called for staff to go out with him to check the situation.

The control room emptied out by more than half in a rush. Only Lin Su and He Zhenling remained, sitting and watching behind the screens.

Lin Su said, “You’ve learned to be bad, Xiao He.”

As he spoke, he casually handed him a handful of sunflower seeds.

He Zhenling acted as if nothing had happened. “What did I do?”

Lin Su didn’t reply and cheerfully turned back to the screen. Xuenima saw through it: [He made you happy again.]

A hand pinched it. “You’re too blunt.”

…

On the other side of the screen, several strong cameramen had already run over. The camera was still rolling, and the shot zoomed in. Bai Xuanrui’s face was being twisted by something, uncontrollably forming a comical expression. In his flailing, he slapped himself across the face. Slap!

The crisp sound carried far.

It wasn’t too late yet. The commotion had also attracted the nearby villagers, who gathered around with faces eager for gossip. Even the dogs from the head of the village had come.

For a time, cameras from all angles were focused on him, a 360-degree view from near and far, high and low. In the midst of the grand scene, Bai Xuanrui lay in the center, screaming and thrashing, surrounded by layers of staff. Outside the inner circle, an ever-growing crowd of onlookers gathered.

The villagers craned their necks to get a better look.

“What’s going on here? Are they filming a show?”

“Doesn’t look like it. Something must have happened. He’s possessed.”

“He must have broken a taboo. Aiyo, I told these people they have to respect the gods and ancestors…”

On the edge of the site, Ye Yuzhu had also called Chen Keqing over to watch. The two of them ate their melon without a shred of sympathy.

“Hey, look at that.”

“What a complete floor routine.”

The discussions and lights from all around were focused on Bai Xuanrui. He was a complete mess, both embarrassed and terrified, and he started cursing without a filter.

“This broken village… this ghost place!”

The crowd of villagers stopped talking: ?

Then they quietly opened their phone cameras.

…

In front of the screen, Lin Su turned to He Zhenling. “See, I told you comedy skits could use aerial photography.”

He Zhenling commented, “I’m very curious about your definition of ‘skit’.”

Lin Su said profoundly, “Skits shouldn’t be defined, just like life.”

“…”

Before they could delve deeper into the discussion, Ke Juexin finally arrived and had the restrained Bai Xuanrui taken away from the scene.

Seeing this, Lin Su blinked and suddenly interrupted the topic. “I think I’ve become sleepy at just the right time.”

He Zhenling stood up. “It is time to go back to sleep.”

After they spoke, they left on their own.

Over there, as soon as they had settled the man down, Ke Juexin turned and told a staff member, “Quick, go ask Mr. He and his beloved to come over.”

The staff member searched around and ran back. “They seem to have both gone back, Director Ke!”

Ke Juexin: “…”

Author’s Note:
Lin Su: Ah, so sleepy. zzzZZZ…
Xuenima: Da! Turn on the lights.

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