Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Her Light Nan Shu encountered her most dreaded task in her fourth scene for Chronicles of the Deep Abyss. Wire work. The feeling of weightlessness was unpleasant, and the risk factor for aerial stunts was high. So at eight in the morning, the director and the stunt coordinator put her through a series of pre-shoot training. This scene was one of the most intense action sequences in the entire film—high difficulty, with many aerial moves. The training alone took an entire morning. Nan Shu spent over two hours on the wires. When she came down, her legs were unsteady, and she had to lean against the wall for a good while before she could collect herself. Director Lu noticed Nan Shu's pale little face, completely drained of color. He walked up to her and said, "There are a lot of wide shots in this scene. If you can't manage it, we can use a stunt double, and you can step in for the close-ups." Nan Shu thanked Director Lu but still declined. "Director, don't worry. I just haven't done wire work in a long time. I'll be fine." The film itself had limited runtime, and Nan Shu's screen time was already sparse. She didn't want to miss a single shot. It's just wire work, after all. How cool was it to fly? Director Lu nodded approvingly and reminded Nan Shu of a few more precautions. At noon, Nan Shu skipped lunch and stayed on set to practice her moves. During that time, Liang Jiayi sent her messages of encouragement. In the afternoon, the director and crew filed in one by one. The last to arrive was the film's female lead—Nan Shu's scene partner—the rising star He Xiyue. He Xiyue had broken out two years ago with an idol drama and now commanded considerable status. So when she entered the set, she had three or four assistants trailing behind her—one carrying her bags, one touching up her makeup, and even one holding a small electric fan just for her. Quite the entourage. When Nan Shu saw He Xiyue come in, she put down her script, walked up, and gave a slight bow. "Hello, Teacher Xiyue. I'm Nan Shu. I hope you can give me some guidance later." He Xiyue's gaze fell coldly on Nan Shu's extended hand, her tone flat and indifferent. "I see." She didn't respond to Nan Shu's handshake. Nan Shu withdrew her hand awkwardly, but this kind of thing happened often on set—she was used to it by now. If anything, she could only blame herself for being too unknown. A crew member helped Nan Shu into the wire harness. As the director counted down from three, the first take of the scene officially began. "Lift—" The rope around Nan Shu's waist suddenly tightened, and her entire body was yanked into the air. She took a deep breath. The first section was her solo action sequence—she had practiced it many times over the past two days, and the series of moves was etched into her mind, flowing like water. The latter part was the scene between Nan Shu and He Xiyue. But when Nan Shu flew through the air and reached He Xiyue, He Xiyue stood frozen in place, not moving at all. Director: "Cut!" The crew slowly lowered the rope. After Nan Shu landed steadily, He Xiyue blinked at her innocently. "Did you mess up that move when you landed just now? Hmm, it kind of threw off my state." Nan Shu wasn't sure if she had actually made a mistake, so she could only apologize. "Sorry, Teacher Xiyue. Let's do it again." The director gave the crew the order, and the wires hoisted Nan Shu up again. But after many retakes, the scene still wouldn't pass. Nan Shu wasn't stupid. She immediately understood that He Xiyue was deliberately targeting her. The others on set could see it too, but no one dared say anything. He Xiyue had too much status now, and her excuses were flawless. All they could do was watch helplessly as Nan Shu was lifted by the wires again and again. By the end, Nan Shu's clothes were soaked through with sweat. Director Lu couldn't bear it anymore and shouted into his headset, "He Xiyue, are you doing this on purpose?" He Xiyue put on an innocent expression. "Director Lu, I'm just striving for perfection, okay?" Director Lu was an old fox in the entertainment industry. He barked, "One last take. If you can shoot it, shoot it. If not, get the hell out!" Maybe Director Lu's words had an effect—on the last take, He Xiyue didn't cause any more trouble. But Nan Shu, exhausted beyond her limits, fell from over a meter above the ground. The crew rushed over to help Nan Shu up and loosen her wire harness. Nan Shu's shins and ankles were scraped raw, stinging with a fiery pain. Gritting her teeth against the ache in her legs, she covered her mouth and ran to the restroom. A fellow actor from the same production followed her up, patted her on the back to soothe her, and handed her a bottle of mineral water. Glancing at He Xiyue under the tent outside, she asked worriedly, "Nan Shu, did you have some kind of conflict with her?" Nan Shu took the water, rinsed her mouth, and forced down the nausea. The harness had been tied too tightly, and several times while flying through the air, it had squeezed her stomach until she nearly threw up. Nan Shu sighed. "I'd never even met her before." Back in the rest area, Nan Shu checked the injuries on her legs. Rolling up her pant leg, she found her ankle already red and swollen. Her eyes fixed on the bruise on her leg, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind. Nan Shu immediately pulled out her phone, logged onto her Weibo lurking account, and searched for He Xiyue's profile. She scrolled down a few posts and spotted a birthday greeting He Xiyue had sent to a female celebrity a month ago. The post also included a photo of the two of them together. And that other person was the former spokesperson for the public service ad Nan Shu had taken over—the female celebrity whose contract had been terminated for abusing cats and dogs. So that's how it was. Nan Shu suddenly understood, then felt a pang of grievance. She messaged Liang Jiayi to vent. Nan Shu: [The kind get walked all over ==] Liang Jiayi replied instantly: [Who bullied you! I'll go take them down!] Nan Shu typed out a long rant and sent it to Liang Jiayi, detailing the whole ordeal. Liang Jiayi: [Speaking of which, I came across a Weibo account a couple days ago—could it be He Xiyue's alt?] Liang Jiayi sent a few screenshots of a Weibo alt account, with several posts subtly implying that Nan Shu had obtained resources that weren't hers through improper means. The comments below, whether bots or real people, were all deliberately trashing Nan Shu. Nan Shu: [Probably is /heartbroken.jpg] Liang Jiayi: [I reported it as soon as I saw it. Completely baseless—why spread rumors like that,] Liang Jiayi: [My second uncle's first-grade cousin is more mature than her...] Liang Jiayi: [Wait for me, I'll flood her super topic on Weibo] Nan Shu laughed at that: [We've got to use legal and proper methods] Liang Jiayi remembered the injury Nan Shu had mentioned: [Take a photo of your ankle and send it to me. I'll ask our brother what medicine to get] Nan Shu snapped a photo and sent it to Liang Jiayi. Not long after, Liang Xubai sent her a voice message. Back at the hotel, she followed Liang Xubai's instructions, asked the front desk for an ice pack, and applied it for a while. The next day, when Nan Shu woke up, she found her ankle still swollen. Fortunately, she had no schedule today, so she could rest properly at the hotel. After lying in bed reading the script for a while, Nan Shu got up and prepared to go out and buy some food. Just as she stepped out of the hotel entrance, a familiar figure appeared in her sight—a man in a black coat, exuding a low pressure around him as he stood silently. Nan Shu froze. She never expected to see Xie Zeyan here. The first thought that popped into her head was: Xie Zeyan wouldn't have come all this way just for her, would he? "Why are you here?" Nan Shu quickly walked up and instinctively glanced at the back of Xie Zeyan's hand, sure enough, she saw that shocking wound. Why hadn't he even bandaged it up? Xie Zeyan replied, "Zong Yi's girlfriend is filming here. He asked me to come along and check it out." Nan Shu pouted in disappointment. Fine, Xie Zeyan was just passing through—she really had been overthinking it. She led Xie Zeyan to her room. As she entered the hotel, she felt inexplicably guilty and took him around through the back door. Xie Zeyan stared at her limping leg and asked, "What happened to your foot?" "I twisted it accidentally while on the wire." Nan Shu glanced at her badly swollen ankle, then looked up at Xie Zeyan. His expression was a bit stern, as if he was still angry with her. "Let me see." "No, no!" Nan Shu took a step back. "I showed it to Brother Xubai yesterday. He said it's nothing serious—just needs some spray." Xie Zeyan let out a cold laugh. Did that Liang Xubai even have eyes? Wasn't he supposed to be an orthopedic doctor? Even through a sock, Xie Zeyan could tell it was badly swollen—and he called that no problem? Xie Zeyan didn't see any medicine on the table, only a melted ice pack. He furrowed his brow and asked again, "You didn't apply the medicine?" Nan Shu shook her head, a hint of grievance creeping into her voice: "My foot hurt too much yesterday, so I didn't go buy it. The delivery fee for buying medicine on Meituan here is also really expensive. I was just about to head out and get some." Xie Zeyan was silent for a long moment, his lips pressed into a straight line. Finally, he let out a scoff of exasperation, picked up his phone, and ordered several boxes of medicine. The air was thick with awkwardness. Nan Shu pretended to look down at her phone. Not long after, someone knocked on the door. Nan Shu assumed it was the medicine Xie Zeyan had ordered, but instead, she saw him holding a takeout bag. It was a few stir-fried dishes and rice. Xie Zeyan opened the containers, and the aroma wafted over. Nan Shu couldn't help but swallow. "How did you know I hadn't eaten?" Xie Zeyan said, "There were no takeout boxes in your room, and you weren't carrying anything when you came out just now." Pretty observant, huh. Nan Shu secretly curved her lips and picked up a piece of roast duck. "Have you had lunch yet?" "Ate before coming with Zong Yi." "Oh." So was Xie Zeyan not angry anymore? Nan Shu wasn't sure. Just as she was about to sneak a glance at him from the corner of her eye, she met the man's gaze directly and quickly lowered her head again. By the time they finished lunch, the medicine he'd ordered had arrived. Watching Xie Zeyan walk in carrying a full bag, Nan Shu was slightly surprised—he'd bought way too much. He pulled out a spray from the bag, read the instructions on the packaging, then tilted his chin toward Nan Shu, gesturing for her to sit on the edge of the bed. "Come sit closer." "Oh." Nan Shu obediently sat down, both hands propped on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor. "Do you need me to help you take them off?" The man's dark eyes watched her without blinking. The words were easy to let one's imagination run wild. Nan Shu's face grew even redder as she quickly rolled her socks down a couple of folds and reached for the spray in Xie Zeyan's hand. "I can do it myself." But she grabbed at nothing. Xie Zeyan raised his hand slightly, and she couldn't reach it anymore. Seeing how swollen Nan Shu's foot was, Xie Zeyan's dark eyes sank. "Liang Xubai said there's no problem with this?" Nan Shu tried to argue her way out. "It just looks bad. See, I can still walk... Hiss." The ice-cold liquid landed on her ankle without warning, and Nan Shu sucked in a sharp breath from the chill. Xie Zeyan put down the spray and handed over a bottle of medicinal oil instead. Nan Shu froze for a moment, then quickly took it, poured a little into her palm, and rubbed it into her ankle. The pain eased, replaced by a comfortable sensation of meridians being unblocked. Xie Zeyan tore open a medicated patch. "Your calf is swollen too." Before Nan Shu could get the words of refusal out, Xie Zeyan had already pressed the patch onto her leg. His touch was very light, his fingertips carefully restrained from making contact with her skin. Ripples spread through Nan Shu's heart, but her thoughts drifted back to the first year of high school... ... It was a bright and sunny March day when the student council went to Tianyun Mountain for a three-day, two-night team-building retreat. On the second night, Nan Shu set out alone from her tent toward the barbecue campsite. In the early spring night, the wind still carried a lingering chill, and the deserted mountain felt especially desolate. The wind rustled through the leaves, and a kitten's cry nearly made Nan Shu jump out of her skin on the spot. But soon, Nan Shu realized something was wrong. The kitten kept mewling without stopping. She followed the sound and, sure enough, found an injured kitten in the grass. The kitten had several wounds—some still bleeding, others already scabbed over. It huddled in the grass, trembling, and when it saw Nan Shu approach, it let out a fearful whimper and hobbled back a step. Nan Shu's heart ached terribly. She took off her jacket, wrapped it around the kitten, and gently coaxed it to let down its guard. Nan Shu planned to take the kitten back to the campsite first. The sky was gradually darkening, and visibility on the mountain was getting lower and lower. Nan Shu had always had mild night blindness. She couldn't see the path ahead clearly, and suddenly her foot stepped into empty air. Her body pitched forward uncontrollably, and she tumbled down a slope three or four meters high to the bottom of a pit. Pain brought tears streaming down her face. She saw that her jeans had been torn open, blood seeping steadily from the gash. At least the kitten was safely cradled in her arms. There was no one around, she wasn't familiar with the area, and on top of that, her leg was injured. Watching the sky darken bit by bit and the temperature drop, Nan Shu thought in despair: I'm not going to have to spend the night at the bottom of this pit, am I? The student council had many members, and she didn't have much presence among them. If one of them went missing, maybe no one would even notice. She sat at the bottom of the pit hugging her knees for a while, but Nan Shu didn't want to just sit and wait for death. She looked around and spotted a few thick branches. She stumbled to her feet, picked one up, then held the kitten and limped forward to scout the way. After walking about five or six minutes, a beam of flashlight light suddenly appeared ahead. Nan Shu's heart leapt into her throat. In this desolate wilderness, the odds of running into a bad person were high. The circle of light grew larger and larger. Nan Shu shrank into a corner, not daring to move, until she could make out the person's face—and only then did she realize it was Xie Zeyan. Xie Zeyan was wearing a black windbreaker, a stark contrast to his cool, pale complexion, almost blending into the night. His hair back then was shorter than it was now, revealing the youthful, still slightly boyish brow bone of an adolescent—clean and fresh. He approached with the flashlight raised, and a pleasant, faint fragrance brushed past Nan Shu's nose. "How did you twist your foot?" he asked. Nan Shu lowered her eyes and murmured softly, "I couldn't see the path clearly and accidentally fell." "Let me take a look." He raised the flashlight, aiming it at her ankle. Nan Shu nervously swallowed. Xie Zeyan turned around, his back to her, and crouched down. The youth's voice was clear and crisp: "Get on. I'll carry you." Nan Shu's heart suddenly raced. She was just about to refuse when she heard Xie Zeyan say, "If any one of you gets hurt, the school will blame me. So you'd better get on." Nan Shu thought about it. Ah, that was true. If anything happened to anyone during this retreat, Xie Zeyan, as the student council president, would be the one held accountable. She carefully climbed onto Xie Zeyan's back. She was light, so carrying her was no burden to him at all. She didn't dare hook her arms around his neck, and her free hand had nowhere to rest. "Hold on tight," Xie Zeyan reminded her. Only then did Nan Shu carefully place her hands on Xie Zeyan's shoulders, her chin resting lightly against him. The youth's shoulders were broad, thick, and firm, his scorching body heat seeping through the layers of fabric—it felt very safe. "I'm sorry for causing you trouble." She was very apologetic. Xie Zeyan could have been sitting there eating barbecue. He probably thought she was a nuisance too, right? What she didn't know was that he had spotted her absence in the crowd with a single glance, then ran over without looking back. He had nearly turned the entire mountain upside down searching for her. He prided himself on being someone who took everything in stride, but this time alone, his heart raced faster than it ever had. He had never been this panicked before. "It's alright." Xie Zeyan's voice was as light as a breeze—gone as quickly as it came, then swept back again. "Does it still hurt?" "Not much anymore. You can put me down once we get up there." As she spoke, her warm breath escaped softly, her voice gentle and tender. Xie Zeyan said nothing, carrying her up the slope on his back. She remembered how thick the night was that evening, and how beautiful the starry sky looked. Lying on Xie Zeyan's back, she couldn't help but tilt her head up and murmur in awe, "There are so many stars tonight." In the city center of Jingjia, it was rare to see such a pristine starry sky. The boy beneath her also looked up, gazing at the sea of stars, and suddenly asked, "Want to see them?" "Hm?" She didn't quite understand what he meant at first. "Want to stop and watch the stars for a while?" Nan Shu curved her lips into a smile. The kitten in her arms wriggled restlessly. "Yes." Xie Zeyan gently set her down, and that night she sat on the hillside for a long time, the young man quietly seated behind her. That was one of the few moments in her high school memories that belonged only to the two of them. Even though neither of them spoke, she thought that perhaps Xie Zeyan didn't even know her name back then. Gazing at the stars filling the sky, she made a wish upon the brightest one. She wished for her grandparents to always be healthy, for her mother to be happy in the other world, and for herself to get into her dream university. And she wished that the boy she liked would forever remain like a beam of light. Even if that light didn't shine on her alone.