Early Rising for a Slacker (Bonus Chapter for 100 Favorites)

Chapter Twenty-Six

After dinner, they chatted with Old Man Chen for a while, mostly about the everyday affairs of elderly people.

Old Man Chen had not gone into the city much either. In the past, he usually went there to sell goods and supplement the household income. Back then, the roads were nowhere near as developed as they were now. A trip to the city meant crossing mountains and ridges, and they had to take shortcuts, or they would not make it back within a day.

"Things are much better now. The children have settled down in big cities, and my grandson got into a good university. They don't have to work as hard as we did," Old Man Chen said with a sigh.

He had suffered through hardship himself and knew just how difficult those days had been. Back when they were still part of the production brigade, his family was not even allowed to cook one of the pumpkins they had grown themselves.

He was considered one of the better-off people in the village now. He simply did not want to move to the city, so he stayed behind. Some elderly people in the village were genuinely poor, while their children worked elsewhere for meager wages.

Li Wenchuan frowned as he listened. Stroking his chin, he asked a few more questions. "Has the village always been like this? Is there no way to make a stable income?"

"We tried. We planted tangerines, but we couldn't do it on a large scale here, so it was abandoned later. We planted sweet potatoes too, but they never turned out very sweet..." Old Man Chen listed several more examples. They had all come in waves, but none had ever led anywhere.

It was getting late, so after a few more words, they said their goodbyes.

Before they left, Old Woman Chen came out and stuffed a huge bag of dried termite mushrooms into Li Wenchuan's hands. "Take them. We have plenty of these around here. They aren't worth much."

Li Wenchuan could only accept them gratefully. He had liked this kind of mushroom before too, but they had been difficult to preserve back then. Those transported from rural areas spoiled easily, so he had not had many chances to eat them.

Even now, termite mushrooms were hardly cheap. He had received so many at once without having anything to give in return.

All because the production crew would not let them use money.

Tang Jingran, full and satisfied, parted ways with the other two at the fork in the road. He had wanted to stay over tonight too. He would have been willing even to sleep on the floor, but the production crew would not allow it.

Tang Jingran: Trash production crew.

No matter how unhappy he was, he still had to return to his own lodging.

The moon hung high overhead, like a small gap cut into the dark night, casting its gentle glow upon the world. Without the city's dazzling lights reflecting everywhere, the stars shone brilliantly too. As they walked down the small path, they could faintly hear dogs barking.

"It's so quiet," Jiang Hansheng said.

"Yeah," Li Wenchuan agreed.

No matter how late it got, the city still had the sound of cars. The nights were never truly peaceful; everything was only partial, only brief silence.

"Tomorrow, we need to figure out how to replace the gas cylinder. The production crew definitely won't let us keep mooching meals," Li Wenchuan said, swatting his hand once as little mosquitoes buzzed around in the rural night.

Fortunately, they had lit several mosquito coils in the house before leaving. Tonight should not be too miserable.

Seeing that, Jiang Hansheng suggested, "Let's buy a couple of mosquito nets too. You can't kill all the mosquitoes."

"You even know about mosquito nets?" Li Wenchuan laughed.

"Not only do I know about mosquito nets, I can card cotton too. When I was filming a movie before, I thought it looked fun when I saw someone carding cotton, so I learned a few tricks from the master."

"That's impressive. When you retire, you could even rent a shop and make a living from it."

"Actually, when I was little, I wanted to own a little shop of my own. I'd run it myself—open when I wanted to open, close when I wanted to close. It would be so free and comfortable."

The two laughed as they chatted, their shadows stretching long beneath the moonlight.

The cameraman followed behind them without getting too close. The camera slowly shifted from their backs to the shadows moving across the ground, and suddenly the scene carried a peaceful, idyllic feeling.

When they got home, they said goodnight to each other. Before entering his room, Li Wenchuan seemed to remember something and turned back to call Jiang Hansheng. "Jiang Hansheng."

"Hmm?"

"If you..." Li Wenchuan paused. He felt Jiang Hansheng would understand what he meant. "Just call me." He shook the phone in his hand.

Jiang Hansheng gave a soft laugh. "Okay."

Early the next morning, after Li Wenchuan had more or less finished getting ready, he removed the clothes covering the camera inside the room and prepared to head out.

He never slept well in unfamiliar places. Perhaps it was a habit from his previous life: nights away from home held endless possibilities, and one careless mistake could cost him his life.

This morning, he had been unable to sleep once he heard the rooster crow. Summer dawned early, and he had stayed awake until the sun slowly climbed over the mountains. Only when that ray of sunlight spread across his bed did he finally get moving.

The production crew would soon start waking people up as well. Guests liking to sleep in was one thing, but they could not possibly film them sleeping for the show.

Just then, the cameraman came to wake Li Wenchuan. He had thought he might catch another handsome sleeping shot, only to find that Li Wenchuan was already dressed and ready. So they could only go wake Jiang Hansheng together, but when they turned around, the door opposite them opened too.

"Morning," Jiang Hansheng greeted.

"Morning. Let's go gather up. The director said we're meeting under the tree in the village center." As he spoke, he gave Jiang Hansheng a few extra glances.

Jiang Hansheng understood. "The mosquito coils worked well. The room was spotless."

"That's good."

The cameraman watched the two speak in riddles, his head filled with question marks. For a moment, he had no idea what plot development he had missed. Hadn't they just slept?

The two did not say much else and headed straight for their destination.

There was a huge willow tree in the center of the village, so thick that even two adults linking arms could not encircle it. When the roads had been built, they had deliberately gone around it. Several stone tables and benches had simply been placed beneath it, where old people could come to cool off and play chess.

By the time they arrived, someone was already there.

Su Mingwei was still in high school, so getting up early was routine for her. As for Xiao Yi, after getting married, he had insisted on making breakfast for his wife every day. Once they had a child, he made breakfast for the child too and took them to school. Years of habit were not to be underestimated.

"You two came so early too," Su Mingwei said. She had originally thought Li Wenchuan's group would sleep in a little longer.

After all, when she watched the preview, Li Wenchuan had clearly just crawled out of bed.

What she said carried a faint implication against Li Wenchuan. Jiang Hansheng would never drop the ball, but Li Wenchuan had always had a poor reputation. Who knew whether he might hold someone else back?

"There are quite a few chickens raised near the courtyard. Once the time comes, they start crowing one after another. More effective than an alarm clock," Li Wenchuan said, pretending to yawn.

He did not notice Jiang Hansheng looking at Su Mingwei. After staring at her for a while, Su Mingwei lowered her head.

Xiao Yi was a carefree sort. He only felt that the atmosphere had suddenly become hard to read, but before he could figure it out, that odd feeling had vanished completely. He simply called for the two to sit. "Don't all sit down. These stone benches are really cold in the early morning. Let's wait a little longer. The other two should be here soon."

But a quarter of an hour passed, then another, then another...

The morning chill had already faded, and the heat was gradually rising, yet those two still had not arrived.

"What's going on?" Even Xiao Yi was getting impatient.

Jiang Hansheng and Li Wenchuan exchanged a glance. Tang Jingran and Zhao Shiyao had been unhappy with each other yesterday. Could something have gone wrong again this morning?

Finally, someone arrived—but only Tang Jingran.

He looked thoroughly unhappy, as though he were ready to explode. "I'm really sorry for making everyone wait so long. Something came up and delayed us. If there's anything I can help with later, just let me know." It was not even his fault, yet he still had to apologize. The more Tang Jingran thought about it, the angrier he became.

"Whatever needs arranging, start now. Zhao Shiyao isn't coming."

A few days ago, he had still called her Sister Shiyao. Now he was calling her by name directly.

"What happened?" Jiang Hansheng asked.