Chapter 43

Chapter 43

An Ye let out an "Eh?" and went straight into the bathroom. Her head and face were covered in mud, and the mud water heated by the props team smelled like chicken dung after being warmed up. Even someone as immersed in the role as she was couldn't help but break character for a couple of seconds.

"Don't use water that's too hot." Chi Tuo, without any pretense, followed her into the shower room and handed her a piece of chocolate.

Qi Wei, who had squeezed in beside them, seized the opportunity to ask, "Is the crew taking a break tomorrow?"

"Mm, the weather forecast says it'll be rain mixed with snow tomorrow." Lan Yifang replied cheerfully, "Since we’re shooting a summer scene, we definitely can’t shoot in snow."

"Then are we having a meeting in the RV later, or going back to your house?" Qi Wei asked An Ye.

An Ye poked her head out, chocolate in her mouth, her finger pointed at the RV, then furrowed her brows, pointed at her nose, and then pointed at Chi Tuo. She kept that half-blank, half-frowning expression as she went into the bathroom and closed the door.

Lan Yifang and Qi Wei simultaneously looked toward Chi Tuo.

Chi Tuo asked, "What’s wrong with her throat?"

Lan Yifang scratched her head, "An Jie said she was so tired that her soul almost left her body, so she didn’t want to speak."

Qi Wei asked, "Why did she point at you at the end?"

Chi Tuo shook his head and turned back toward the small kitchen.

Why else? When she passed by him just now, she sniffed the air, probably wanting to comment on his smoking...

It was strange that, with the heavy earthy smell on her own body, she could still smell his smoke.

Since they were having a meeting here, he casually grabbed an apple and an orange from the fridge.

An Ye was halfway through her shower when she smelled something strange outside. It was a scent somewhere between sweet and pungent, like sesame candy with chili powder sprinkled on top.

Originally, the RV's water heater was connected to an independent boiler outside, so no matter how she showered, it shouldn't have run out of hot water. Though she knew she had already cleaned herself off, she still felt like the lingering chicken dung smell followed her. She wanted to rinse for another half hour, but the overpowering scent pulled her attention. She took a couple of deep breaths and realized the chicken dung smell had faded. Hesitantly, she turned off the hot water and took another deep breath—indeed, it was much lighter.

"Xiao Lan, what are you cooking?" She came out, her hair wrapped in a towel, and saw Lan Yifang and Qi Wei sitting at the RV's dining table, each holding a small bowl.

Lan Yifang swallowed the sweet soup in her mouth and, in a mood lifted by the dessert, answered with an upbeat tone: "I didn’t cook it, Chi Tuo cooked it."

"It’s so good!" Lan Yifang raised the spoon with a tangyuan in it, "Ginger pepper cheese sesame tangyuan fruit soup!"

"Drink a bowl." Chi Tuo came out of the kitchen with another small bowl, "You’ve had a busy day, eat something so you don’t catch a cold."

At that moment, An Ye almost wanted to tease him, wondering how he became so considerate, but she swallowed the words back.

Ten years ago, Chi Tuo wasn't this considerate. He would cook for her, but it didn't feel like this.

He still had the same steady, reliable demeanor, but now it felt like that old reliability had weathered many storms.

"I thought you didn’t eat such high-calorie things." Qi Wei, surprised, watched as An Ye quietly sat down and ate a tangyuan after silently taking a few bites of the soup.

An Ye was one of the most disciplined stars Qi Wei had ever seen, with fixed workout times, a strict meal plan, and never any indulgence. Seeing cheese sesame tangyuan in her RV was already surprising, but even more surprising was that An Ye didn’t refuse the sweet soup Chi Tuo made.

"Two tangyuan is 300 calories." An Ye had only eaten two and sipped three mouthfuls of the soup. "With the soup, this meal won’t exceed 500 calories. I only ate a bowl of grass today, so even with this, I won’t exceed 900 calories."

Qi Wei: "..."

She silently gave a thumbs-up."An Jie eats some high-calorie food when she’s really tired from filming." Lan Yifang smiled and stood up to serve herself another bowl, "This is a secret, every time she buys it behind Yan Ge’s back."

She paused, then turned to look at Chi Tuo, who was a little slow on the uptake, with a puzzled look, and asked, "Eh?"

Qi Wei almost wanted to applaud this girl. So, she also followed suit and asked, "Eh?"

Chi Tuo, with the limited space in the RV and no extra chairs, leaned against the small kitchen counter, holding a bowl of sweet soup, ready to drink. Hearing the two "eh"s, he looked up.

An Ye happened to look up at him as well.

He smiled and said, "There’s only this much stuff in the fridge."

An Ye also smiled and added, "He’s used to it. He used to cook for me a lot when we were kids."

After saying that, they both naturally lowered their heads and continued drinking their sweet soup.

Chi Tuo had added a lot of pepper and ginger to the sweet soup, giving it a spicy flavor. An Ye drank three mouthfuls, and her stomach felt much warmer. This warmth made her body gradually regain sensation, as if Alin had returned to the mirror and returned the body to An Ye.

It also reminded her of some long-forgotten memories.

When they were in school, the tacit understanding they had built to avoid gossip seemed to still be alive and well, even after ten years.

Qi Wei’s expression was still full of gossip, while the more sincere Lan Yifang had already shifted her focus elsewhere. She quickly devoured two bowls of sweet soup and then stood up to start cleaning up.

An Ye took off the muddy costume that had been stained with the smell of dirt and handed it over to the stylist. Outside the RV, someone had called for a barbecue and was shouting for the remaining staff to join in. An Ye quietly said a few words to Lan Yifang, and Lan Yifang went out. A few minutes later, cheers could be heard outside.

The barbecue was paid for by the crew. Lan Yifang had gone out to add some milk tea and alcohol. An Ye had specifically asked her to buy a bottle of high-proof liquor that the props team leader liked and sent it over to the props team.

An Ye didn’t participate much in these lively activities, but she was always good at managing relationships.

Her acting was outstanding, she didn’t have any star airs, and in ten years, there were no major scandals. Her reputation in the industry was very simple—she was a talented, dedicated actress. Her commercial value and the awards she received were directly proportional to the success of her works. When her projects received positive feedback, her price would go up; when the feedback was lukewarm, she would be quieter that year.

But very few people would consider her to be past her prime. At most, they would think that the scripts she took this year didn't align with the market. After all, she had experienced several ups and downs and managed to come back each time with a new project.

She also had high national recognition—she was the type of celebrity who might not be called by name on the street but would definitely have her character name from her films shouted out. Her popularity with the public was high, and as she transitioned from a promising young actress to a major star, any acting type she had performed would be linked to her performance in some way. Many difficult female roles were envisioned with An Ye in mind, and most people would praise her rather than criticize.

She had worked incredibly hard these ten years. The pain of being pushed into mud and kicked by others during filming, she never complained about to anyone—because she didn’t have anyone to talk to.

Even when eating high-calorie food, she had to hide it from her manager. If she got too immersed in her roles and couldn’t separate from the character, people would think she had mental issues. Even her own mother worried that she might fall asleep with a knife and hurt someone, so they had to tie her up.

An Ye stood in front of the mirror, drying her hair. There was no expression on her face. Despite being exhausted, she still had to force herself to handle the situation with her manager, who was about to betray her.

Chi Tuo seemed busy as well. He had cleaned the pot and bowl from making the sweet soup and wiped down the small kitchen with a rag. Only then did he clear the sound of a body hitting the muddy ground in his mind. The difference between seeing it on the big screen and witnessing it in person was immense. The impact of seeing An Ye being beaten up hadn’t fully faded for him yet.

He had to keep himself busy with something to avoid going up close and checking on An Ye's current state. But when he saw An Ye frowning at herself in the mirror after drying her hair, all the things he had just been doing seemed pointless.

Lan Yifang was still eating barbecue and drinking outside, and Qi Wei was on the phone in the corner. So, Chi Tuo walked up, took something from An Ye's vanity that looked like ointment, and studied it for a while. He then softly asked her, "Do you want me to help you apply this?"

The question was a bit out of line.

Although she had bitten his belt before, they both still acted quite like adults when sober. Of course, that weird argument from that day didn’t count.

However, An Ye tilted her head and thought about her current feelings. She wasn’t opposed to it.

She had exhausted her physical strength tonight. She had filmed two intense scenes where she violently attacked nurses and doctors during the day, and her night scenes were all with Zhao Linjun. Every scene with him ended badly for her. Zhao Linjun was an excellent actor, and both of them got so deeply immersed in the role that they were merciless when they tore at each other. The injuries left her battered and bruised.

With the wild emotional swings and the repeated violent scenes, Yang Zhengyi wanted to see her portray Alin’s hostility towards the world after becoming numb. She knew rationally that she could hardly keep up physically.

That’s why she had taken Zhao Linjun's kick in the final scene. But because her body had frozen up, the effect wasn’t what it should have been, and she ended up taking that kick in vain.Before she entered the RV, she felt like she was floating, completely emotionless. Everything in front of her kept going dark, and she no longer had the energy to get out of character. She thought about just sinking down, holding onto Alin's soul, and stuffing the already wrinkled and battered An Ye into a corner.

But if others saw her like this, they would think she was a madwoman.

So, the words Chi Tuo said, about how she was much better than ten years ago, only applied to him—not to her.

She didn't dare tell Chi Tuo that she wasn’t doing well.

She hated herself so much that every time, she had to use all her strength to pull An Ye out from the various souls she'd played. If it weren’t for the fear that she might really go crazy and end up tied to a bed by her own mother, she honestly would want to throw herself into the trash and clean herself out completely.

So, she wanted to play a normal person—someone who could have normal family, love, and friendship—fill that role, and completely erase An Ye, clearing everything out.

That way, even if she didn’t get out of character, no one would say she wasn’t normal.

She wanted to bury An Ye, give this shell a new soul with a beautiful life.

And it was under these chaotic circumstances that she opened the RV door, and then saw Chi Tuo.

He smelled of smoke and handed her a piece of chocolate.

He had made a sweet soup with a long name and a strange taste, but it was so warming to drink, high in calories.

He asked if she wanted help applying medicine, and her first instinct was to glance at Qi Wei, who was on the phone in the corner.

An Ye looked at Chi Tuo and thought that she was quite intriguing.

So, she nodded and tilted half of her face toward him.

This was a special anti-allergy ointment given to her by the doctor. The side of her face covered in mud had already started to show faint red spots, and her neck, arms, and the side of her ears were beginning to turn red as well.

"Apply it to the red areas, just rub it in." An Ye casually pushed some hair back, "My scalp itches too. Not sure if it’s frostbite or an allergy."

"Mm." Chi Tuo replied softly, turning his back on Qi Wei to block her view of them. He squeezed out a bit of the transparent ointment and started applying it to An Ye's ear, "Your ear hole is red."

"It often gets red." An Ye tilted her neck and rested her head on the vanity, "It didn’t inflame when I got it pierced, but now it flares up every few days. How about you?"

"I had inflammation at first, but it hasn’t flared up since." Chi Tuo said, his finger lightly brushing An Ye's neck, "This red spot looks like a bug bite. Is it itchy?"

An Ye paused.

This conversation felt a bit strange.

They had never been this intimate before.

She glanced sideways at Chi Tuo.

Chi Tuo was focused on applying the medicine, looking so serious as if his previous question wasn’t strange at all.

"...It’s not itchy." An Ye, thrown off by his stern demeanor, responded very seriously, "The props team handled the mud water, so it shouldn’t have bugs."

Chi Tuo scratched her face lightly with his finger and asked again, "Not itchy?"

An Ye: "...Not itchy."

She felt like she had forgotten something.

"Do you have any red spots inside your clothes?" Another question, but it wasn’t from Chi Tuo.

...An Ye suddenly sat up straight.

She had forgotten that there was someone else in the RV, Qi Wei, who she suspected had entered the entertainment industry because of her love for gossip.

Qi Wei was squatting close to them, her face full of eager interest.

"I haven’t studied much." Qi Wei said, "I’ve really never seen childhood friends like you two."