Picking Chrysanthemums Beneath the Eastern Fence (continued)

"When I was little, my mom was gentler than she is now. After we separated from the family, although outsiders thought my mom's personality had changed drastically, I know she never changed. She always said I had no talent, but once I accidentally broke a bowl, and she didn't criticize me. She just told me to be more careful next time. From childhood to adulthood, she has never scolded me for such trivial things."

Si Ming recalled it for a moment, and it really was true. He sighed, "There's one thing I'm sure of: no matter how her attitude changed, she always loved you deeply."

"Yes," Liu Qingqing nodded, "I know."

Xie Xiaomei pulled the blanket up to cover half her face and said enviously, "It's so nice, Qingqing, you... have such a good mother."

Si Ming suddenly regretted it. Perhaps he shouldn't have said these things in front of Xie Xiaomei. Doing so was like deliberately showing off and reopening old wounds.

"Actually, is that what a 'mother' should be like?" Xie Xiaomei asked in a hollow voice.

Si Ming stepped forward, reached out and stroked Xie Xiaomei's forehead, and said, "Although I don't know what a mother should be like, at the very least, a mother shouldn't let her child be so afraid. This is absolutely not your fault."

"I see..."

After saying this softly, Xie Xiaomei's expression was complicated, but she couldn't resist the drowsiness and soon closed her eyes, her breathing becoming even.

Si Ming and Liu Qingqing exchanged a glance, then tiptoed out and quietly closed the door behind them.

As he descended the stairs, Si Ming remarked, "Should I say I've gained a younger sister, or a daughter? I feel a surge of protectiveness towards her. She's just a bit too big; it would be even better if she were smaller."

Liu Qingqing chopped him with her hand and protested, "I'm not that big."

"I mean it relatively. Compared to her current role, she is indeed a bit too tall. If she were twenty centimeters shorter, she would look more like a primary school student."

"A begonia addict?" Liu Qingqing gave her a disdainful look.

"Hey, hey, hey, that's slander! From a man's perspective, I have no interest in washboards. What I said just now was from a protector's standpoint."

"Prove it."

How can this be proven?

Si Ming thought to himself, "Could it be that you're planning to sacrifice yourself for the experiment, and we're about to enter an adult-themed scene?"

But then I thought, Liu Qingqing is now Blood Spirit Body that can freely shapeshift, not her original body. Wouldn't doing it with her be the same as doing it with a silicone doll? Except ordinary dolls have no mobility, can be manipulated at will, and don't react, while she's an intelligent silicone doll—so a more accurate description would be—an android?

Just as he was lost in thought, Liu Qingqing took out a disc. The cover featured a picture of a dignified-looking woman being humiliated. She said, "Let's watch it together."

"This disc wouldn't happen to belong to those illegal vendors from earlier in the day, would it? It's stolen goods, you'd better return it, otherwise it's also illegal," Si Ming said sternly.

Do you want to see it?

"Want."

Si Ming decisively took the disc and went to the living room to find a machine to play it.

To be honest, those vendors selling pornographic DVDs during the day were brainless. Selling uncensored pornographic DVDs would normally only result in a few days of detention and a fine of a few thousand yuan, but these guys used prohibited concealed weapons like thunderbolts, which seriously violated public order regulations. As a result, what was originally a trivial civil case turned into a criminal case, and they won't be able to get out for several years.

This situation is similar to how, in the Celestial Empire management officers confiscate the tools of street vendors, only for the vendors to pull out guns and threaten to shoot them – essentially, they are deliberately adding to their own criminal record.

Si Ming pressed the power button on the DVD player, about to insert the disc, when he glanced at the cover and saw the title was "The Female Divine Constable's Tale of Woe." He couldn't help but ask, "Why this kind of subject matter? Did you choose it on purpose?"

"Hmm, I always felt you liked this type."

Si Ming began to suspect that Hongdou might have leaked the information.

Then Liu Qingqing said, "And don't you think the woman on the cover looks a bit like the class monitor?"

Si Ming quickly took another look. Sure enough, there was a resemblance in their features, but other aspects were quite different. Whether it was their physique or limbs, martial arts experts were ultimately different from ordinary people, and their temperament was also very different. Although the other party deliberately put on that dignified and unyielding appearance, a fake is a fake, and it was obvious at a glance that it was all show and no substance.

Of course, she's just a leading lady in a romantic comedy, so we can't expect too much from her acting skills. As long as the action scenes are real, that's fine.

Besides, even the actresses on TV dramas might not be as dedicated as her; at least she never uses a stunt double.

But then again, what's going on here? Watching adult films with a girl you like is one thing, but watching adult films featuring a girl who looks like another girl you like? What kind of bizarre situation is this?

Si Ming's feelings were somewhat complicated, but he was mostly looking forward to it. He put the disc into the disc player, turned down the volume, and then sat down on the sofa with great interest, waiting for the movie to start.

After a brief prelude, the first scene that appears is inside a brothel, where a beautiful woman is playing the zither. A group of men around her are captivated by her beauty. Then the madam appears and announces that the woman playing the zither is the most beautiful courtesan, and that she will be selling her virginity tonight, with the highest bidder winning. The men then place their bids, and finally, a fat, burly man wins the bid. The wealthy man eagerly pulls the courtesan into a room, looking like a ravenous lecher.

"Are we getting to the main point so soon?" Si Ming rubbed his hands together excitedly, but he was also a little puzzled. "But what does this have to do with the Divine Constable?"

Then he understood why the title said "Goddess Detective." After the courtesan got to the bed, she suddenly captured the wealthy man, then removed her human skin mask, revealing herself to be the humiliated female protagonist on the cover. From her, he learned that this wealthy man had a powerful background, even connected to the prime minister in the imperial court. Coincidentally, he was involved in the theft of 100,000 taels of disaster relief funds, which was why she used this special method to capture him and interrogate him.

"Hey, this movie's pretty good. The main plot, characters, and suspense are all there right away. It's a very successful opening... Wait a minute, isn't this supposed to be a royal movie?"

A sense of foreboding arose in Si Ming's heart as he continued reading. The female protagonist learned from the wealthy man that the disaster relief funds had been embezzled by a notorious traitor in the court and were hidden in the Flying Sword Manor. The manor was heavily guarded, and the manor lord possessed extraordinary Swordsmanship and was a Nascent Spirit Transformation cultivator, making him no easy opponent. This trope of the protagonist encountering a formidable enemy in his first battle is quite common. For example, in sports comics, the protagonist often faces a strong opponent in his very first league match. Such an arrangement instantly piques the audience's interest.

As the plot progressed, Si Ming's dissatisfaction grew, not because the movie was bad, but because it was so captivating that it held his attention and made him eagerly anticipate what would happen next.

"Are you kidding me? This is supposed to be a royal drama, why make the plot so exciting? I don't want this kind of dramatic twists and turns, I want the kind of dramatic scenes where a man and a woman are embracing!"

Next, through meticulous planning, the female protagonist first had her companions disguised as servants to find out the location of the hidden gold. Then, using a feint, she stole the Flying Immortal Divine Sword from the manor, drawing away the manor owner and his henchmen, causing chaos in the manor. Afterward, she seized the opportunity to retrieve the gold. However, just as she was about to hand it over, she was pursued by soldiers and falsely accused of stealing the gold, landing her in prison. Her superior also appeared in the prison, insisting that she was the thief who stole the gold.

Finally, the much-anticipated plot unfolds: the female constable is framed, humiliated by a group of prison guards, subjected to a brutal sexual assault, and even forced to use her back door—a truly tragic situation.

However, Si Ming was looking forward to the next development of the story. He knew that a desperate counterattack was about to take place, just like the "suppression and rebound" trope common in online novels. Therefore, he couldn't wait for this part to pass and wanted to see how the female protagonist would turn the situation around. He had completely lost his previous lustful desire.

"... I've finished watching it. If you remove that humiliation scene, it's a commercial film that scores 90 points. In terms of plot, it's miles ahead of 'The Spirit Transformation Grandmasters Battle a Million Zombies.' To make an adult film like this, the director is a real genius!"

Si Ming was in a state of both satisfaction and emptiness. Although he had enjoyed watching the film, it wasn't the kind of enjoyment he wanted. So he couldn't help but pick up the disc case to see who the director was.

"The director, screenwriter, and producer are all the same person, whose name is... Beneath the Eastern Fence?"

Si Ming recalled the 18+ scenes that didn't leave much of an impression, and suddenly realized, "No wonder he went to the female lead's anus twice in a row, so she likes roller skating."