After all the dishes were cooked and served, the people who had been doing the task returned one after another.
After a long day of work, the group was exhausted and hungry. They pounced on the table full of food like hungry wolves.
They watched longingly, but were too embarrassed to be the first to pick up their chopsticks.
"Hasn't Lu Yang returned yet?" Mo Heng glanced around and noticed that someone was missing.
Xia Xingduo wiped the mud off her hands. "I saw him just now when I was picking vegetables. He was setting up a shed in the vegetable garden on the east side, but he disappeared when I was almost finished picking. I thought he had already come back."
Just as a group of people were about to set off to look for someone, they saw a creature that looked like a human saunter in through the door.
He was covered in mud, barefoot, holding a pair of shoes in his left hand and leading a small yellow dog on a leash in his right.
The photographer behind him had half his leg covered in mud, and his expression was one of utter despair.
" Lu Yang!" Xia Xingduo stared in shock.
Lu Yang smiled awkwardly, revealing his eight cleanest teeth and two darting eyes.
The face was covered in mud, leaving only the outline of the features, and two withered leaves were still stuck in the hair.
Who would guess that this is the same actor who plays the domineering CEO in TV dramas, always impeccably dressed and with a sharp gaze?
The little yellow dog was quite well-behaved, sitting properly at his feet, tilting its head to look around at the people in the yard.
"Come in quickly and take a hot shower to clean up this child." He Jingzhao quickly got up, grabbed a towel, and handed it to him.
Lu Yang threw his shoes on the ground and wiped the mud off his face with his hand.
That's great, the mud is even now. He dashed back into the house, leaving muddy footprints as he ran.
Oh wow, it's a flat foot, the footprints are neat and tidy, and even the outline of the toes is clearly visible.
Song Shi'an glanced at the doorway. Wasn't this the Big Yellow he had seen at the village entrance when he came back earlier? The two of them made eye contact, and the Big Yellow dog immediately took off running towards him, its tail wagging like a propeller.
"Ah!" Xia Xingduo, who was afraid of dogs, jumped up in fright and grabbed Su Yan's arm to hide behind her.
Song Shi'an squatted down and reached out to pat Big Yellow's head.
Big Yellow immediately flipped over and lay on the ground, exposing its belly, its four legs kicking wildly in the air.
Everyone's eyes were drawn to him unconsciously. The afternoon sun was shining brightly, slanting down from above the courtyard wall and landing on his slightly hunched shoulders and the hand that was stroking the dog's head.
The oatmeal-colored knitted cardigan looked soft and warm in the sunlight, embodying all the best qualities in that moment.
" Shi'an, is this dog yours?" Mo Heng was the first to come to his senses.
"No." Song Shi'an shook his head, then scratched the back of Big Yellow's ear. "I don't know whose dog it is, but it has a very good temperament and doesn't seem like it would chase people away."
Everyone is more curious about how Lu Yang ended up like this, but only the cameraman who was filming him probably knows the answer.
The photographer was currently wiping mud off his lens, his face clearly saying, "Don't ask me anything, I don't want to say anything."
After taking a shower and changing his clothes, Lu Yang stood awkwardly by the bathroom door, feeling a little embarrassed to go out.
He's always wanted to have a dog, but he's so busy filming that he never has the time.
When I was setting up the shed, I saw Big Yellow squatting on the edge of the field, so I wanted to interact with it.
He chased, it fled; it couldn't escape even with wings. The dog was caught, but the man fell into the ditch...
The ditch was a drainage channel that the villagers had just dug a couple of days ago. The silt inside hadn't dried completely yet. When he slid down into it, he also pulled the cameraman who was filming him into the water.
The director was practically laughing his head off behind the screen.
The entire incident, from Lu Yang falling into the ditch to him walking back barefoot, was captured on camera.
This episode is packed with exciting content: a movie star gets chased by chickens, and a domineering CEO falls into a ditch—it's impossible for it not to be a hit.
The others knew Lu Yang's feelings at that moment, so they tacitly refrained from asking any further questions and simply left him a meal.
Then everyone started to enjoy the meal. The dishes looked good, smelled good, and tasted even better!!
The crew member watching them eat so extravagantly assumed it was all for the sake of the show, and he couldn't help but swallow hard.
He Jingzhao silently told herself that eating too much wouldn't look good on camera, but she kept eating. To hell with looking good on camera! She'd maintained that image for so many years, what was wrong with indulging once in a while!
Big Yellow was so anxious that it paced around the table several times.
Song Shi'an picked up two fatty pieces of his braised pork and tossed them into the air.
Big Yellow leaped up, opened its mouth wide, its face contorted in a ferocious grimace, and swallowed the whole thing, its tail wagging so hard it seemed to take flight.
The director was frantically giving subtle signals from behind the monitor: chat, talk—the meal was too quiet—but nobody paid any attention to his cues...
Four days passed in this way, spent eating, drinking, and doing tasks.
On the fifth day, they were to film Mother Song making fermented tofu. Song Shi'an wanted his Mother Song to look beautiful on camera; what woman doesn't love beauty?
Two or three days in advance, I asked Lin Fan to order the clothes. They were a comfortable, pastoral style, made of linen, a light beige cardigan paired with a dark brown long skirt.
After finishing her makeup, Mother Song looked at herself in the mirror with a slight sense of unease. The woman in the mirror had her hair tied in a low bun, her eyebrows and eyes were gentle, and although she didn't have much makeup, she had a serene oriental beauty.
Song Shi'an leaned against the door frame, looking at his Mother Song's dramatic transformation, and sighed softly, wondering how beautiful she must have been when she was young, and how Father Song had managed to win her over.
"Son, is this really okay?" Mother Song tugged at her sleeve a little embarrassedly.
"My mom is the most beautiful," Song Shi'an said with a smile. "Promoting our hometown is a good thing, of course I have to look my best on camera."
After a round of filming, Mother Song demonstrated the process of making fermented tofu in front of the camera, from grinding soybeans to adding coagulant to fermentation, she was skilled and composed in every step.
After the director yelled "Cut!", still wanting more, he turned to Song Shi'an and asked, "Does your mother have any plans to enter the entertainment industry?"
Song Shi'an just stared at the director, his eyes saying, "Try saying that again."
The director, feeling embarrassed by his gaze, took a half-step back and said, "Just kidding, just kidding. Being in your forties is the prime of life, isn't it?" He then quickly slipped away to oversee the post-production editing.
The week-long variety show came to an end. Everyone said goodbye at the village entrance. Xia Xingduo waved and said she would come again next time. Su Yan carried her suitcase and stuffed it into the trunk without saying anything.
Lu Yang clung to Big Yellow and refused to let go, so Mo Heng and He Jingzhao each grabbed one of his arms and dragged him into the car.
Big Yellow squatted at the village entrance, wagging its tail as it watched them leave, a hint of relief even in its expression.