When Li Fang and her family heard the news, their legs went limp. With everyone's help, they came over, their grief evident on their faces.
The people who came with them felt indignance on their behalf.
"Bai Qiang even claimed that Li Tao ran away and came to cause trouble at your house every day. He also extorted a large sum of money. In the end, it turned out that she died."
"Yeah, that's so pitiful."
Li Fang's face was numb from crying. She didn't want to hear this at all.
She hadn't seen the corpse and hadn't confirmed it yet. However, her intuition told her that it was her sister.
She had known that her sister wouldn't run away. She had had a bad feeling back then, but still, she had hoped that her sister had indeed run away to live somewhere else.
Now, she knew that was just her imagination.
They soon saw the corpse. Although it was decomposed, her family members immediately recognized the clothes as Li Tao's.
It was really Li Tao. The Li Family members cried until they collapsed. When they finished crying, they rushed to Bai Qiang's house and beat him up.
"Did you kill Li Tao, you evil person?!"
Bai Qiang struggled and denied that it was him. He claimed that he didn't know what was going on either.
When the police came, they also suspected him and asked him to cooperate with the investigation. Bai Qiang still wanted to deny it, but soon, he couldn't anymore.
They had found evidence.
Seeing that they had found evidence, Bai Qiang stopped pretending. He said, so what if he had beaten her to death? This was his wife!
Bai Qiang wasn't remorseful at all, nor did he feel any guilt.
"If my own wife is disobedient, I'll beat her to death. It's difficult for an innocent official to settle family affairs. Who can meddle in that? I buried her on a private hilly land, which is as good as burying her in the Bai Family's graveyard. What else do you want?"
Bai Qiang was very arrogant. In the end, the law told him that yes, they could meddle in that.
Bai Qiang was quickly convicted. The law told him that in this new society, anyone who beat someone to death had to pay with their life. Even if they'd killed their own wife.
His case caused a stir in the surrounding villages and became an illustrative case. Bai Qiang was given a heavy sentence. It was said that such crimes had to be severely punished in order to resolutely put an end to such matters in the future. The newspapers even wrote special reports about it.
Bai Qiang had been indignant at first and didn't feel that he was at fault until he found out that Li Tao had been pregnant.
After the forensic examination, Li Tao was discovered to be two months pregnant.
When Bai Qiang heard the news, he finally calmed down and came clean about the details of the crime.
Killing Li Tao had actually been an accident.
Bai Qiang used to really like Li Tao, but later on, everyone kept saying that he wasn't worthy of Li Tao. He had been feeling uncomfortable, and his pride as a man had made him grow to hate Li Tao.
After his parents had passed away, he'd started acting recklessly. He usually treated Li Tao very badly, stepping on her and belittling her. Also, he would often torture her in the bedroom, making her unable to get pregnant as a result.
Their lack of children then became Li Tao's fault, allowing Bai Qiang to completely gain the upper hand. However, he hadn't expected Li Tao to stand up again when she'd started earning money by working for Mu Jingzhe.
Everyone had started praising Li Tao again and asked Bai Qiang to work harder. When Bai Qiang had heard those harsh words once more, he had felt disgruntled even though Li Tao would give him all her salary. When Li Tao had asked him not to idle around again, Bai Qiang, who had drunk a bit of wine, had recklessly hit Li Tao and eventually beaten her to death.
After killing Li Tao, Bai Qiang hadn't turned himself in. He had come up with an idea—to say that Li Tao had run away with someone.
Many people in the countryside ran away. Some of them really ran away, but who knew what really happened to the rest? They might have been killed and buried. Anyway, it was fine as long as everyone believed it.
After a few years, some made-up news of her could be sent back to the village, and that way, she would 'live' forever. It was that simple.
Bai Qiang cleverly made use of this tactic and succeeded.
This success made Bai Qiang even more confident. He felt that he could take it a step further.
Life without a wife was truly hard. There was no one to cook, no one to earn money, no one to take care of him, and no one to vent on.
Seeing that his sister-in-law, Li Fang, could also earn money and was good-looking, Bai Qiang had finally set his sights on Li Fang.
He had planned everything. He would belittle Li Fang from the start so that she would have to work like an ox and take care of him in the future.
He had come up with a brilliant idea, but Li Fang had refused. Thus, he had extorted money from her. He had even thought of living off the Li Family for the rest of his life, but he hadn't expected Li Tao's corpse to be flushed out.
Li Tao's incident came to an end in a spectacular manner. This summer vacation was too eventful.
Because of Li Tao, Shao Nan started reading the law book again. Mu Jingzhe didn't stop him.
After a delay of a few days, Mu Jingzhe took the children to the county city's art school.
Ji Buwang was worried sick. "You never came. I was ready to come looking for you."
"I was delayed by something." Mu Jingzhe looked at Ji Buwang. "Do you know where I live?"
Ji Buwang nodded honestly. "Yes, it's in the student book."
Mu Jingzhe: "Alright then."
After taking the children to learn a foreign language, Ji Buwang followed Mu Jingzhe around and stared at her without even blinking.
It had been a while since he had stared at her, and Mu Jingzhe wasn't used to it.
"Ji Buwang, can you control yourself a little?"
"I just haven't seen you in so many days. I want to make up for all those days."
"If you can see me, you might be able to see others too. Why don't you give it a try?"
Ji Buwang's eyes lit up. "I've thought of this issue too. I was able to see you after our heads bumped into each other, so I speculated that I might be able to see someone by bumping our heads together."
"And?"
"Uncle Li and I bumped our heads against each other twice, but it was useless. Uncle Li fainted from the collision and even said that he wanted to vomit. He refused to bump his head against mine again."
Ji Buwang rubbed his head and sighed. "That was quite a painful bump for me too. The swelling on my head only subsided in the past two days."
Mu Jingzhe: "…"
Uncle Li was too pitiful. Could he have suffered a concussion due to the collision?
Mu Jingzhe quickly tried to persuade him. "It seems that this method won't work. You'd better not bump your head against other people's heads in the future. Otherwise, you might hit your head or die before you get to see any faces."
Ji Buwang sighed. "Uncle Li said the same thing. He was afraid that I would fall into a coma again and told me not to bump heads with anyone."
"Remember to be obedient." Mu Jingzhe then felt curious. "How long were you unconscious for?"
"Four years." Ji Buwang smiled. "There was an accident. I have quite a history of accidents. Or perhaps I am a jinx. My parents died, but I survived.
"Last time, my brother died, and I was again the one who survived."
Ji Buwang's tone was very calm, but Mu Jingzhe could hear a lot of sorrow in it.
"Don't talk nonsense. What jinx? These are all feudal superstitions." Mu Jingzhe didn't expect Ji Buwang to be so pitiful and couldn't help but pat his arm.
At that moment, they were downstairs. Shao Xi, who was sitting by the window, happened to see them.
When he saw Mu Jingzhe and Ji Buwang so close and noticed that Mu Jingzhe had even taken the initiative to touch Ji Buwang, Shao Xi instantly tensed up and couldn't help but recall Shao Dong's words.
Did Mommy like Teacher Ji? Would she marry Teacher Ji in the future and have children with him?
A sense of dread washed over Shao Xi. Was he going to have new younger siblings so soon?
Shao Xi stared at Ji Buwang and pursed his lips as he gazed at his outstanding face.
Everything else aside, Teacher Ji was really quite good-looking. Many female teachers in the art school kept stealing glances at him, including the female parents.
Most importantly, he kept following Mommy around and was constantly staring at her. If this continued, would his mother really be snatched away?
This was the first time Shao Xi didn't pay attention in class. He wrote a line in his notebook and handed it to Shao Dong.
"Do you like Teacher Ji?"
When Shao Dong saw this question, he was very puzzled, as they weren't all that familiar with Ji Buwang. "Why do you ask? Pay attention and listen."
How could he be distracted during this class when they had paid money to attend it?
"What if Mom likes Teacher Ji and wants to marry him and have children with him?" Shao Xi asked again.
This time, Shao Dong was also a little distracted. He could only comfort Shao Xi first. "Don't think too much."
Elsewhere, Ji Buwang suddenly sneezed.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Thank you for asking."
"No need to thank me. Regulate your emotions yourself. Don't blame yourself for everything. If you're sad, just cry. Don't hold it in because you think you're a man and shouldn't cry, or you'll go crazy from holding it in."
Mu Jingzhe thought of the five kids and decided to advise him. One should cry when need be, or they would never be able to recover from it.
Ji Buwang grinned. "I've cried before. I'm actually much better now because I'm past the point of being sad."
Mu Jingzhe sighed. He had been unconscious for four years before waking up, and upon waking up, he had found out that his older brother was gone. It must have been a huge blow to him.
"You're here to take a breather, right? If you have relatives, you should go around and visit them. It'll pass. They must be very happy that you woke up."
Ji Buwang's smile faded. "I'm taking a breather. I still have family, but…"
Ji Buwang didn't continue and only shrugged. "My heart is a little dark now, so it's better if we don't meet for the time being. Besides, I won't see their faces even if I visit them."
The only face he could see was Mu Jingzhe's.
For the past few days, there had been no news of Mu Jingzhe. He had found it difficult to sit still, and his thoughts had run wild.
There were a few times when he'd almost looked for Mu Jingzhe. He'd only managed to stop himself after recalling her request that he did not do so. He couldn't help but recall Uncle Li's words.
If Mu Jingzhe got married in the future, would he have even less of a chance to see her?
At the thought of this, Ji Buwang felt uncomfortable all over. This was not only because he would never see Mu Jingzhe again but also because of the thought of her marrying someone else.
Just thinking about it made him find it difficult to accept.
After enduring this for a few days, what else did Ji Buwang not understand? He wasn't only after Mu Jingzhe's face. He seemed to have fallen for her.
He had fallen for Mu Jingzhe, who was raising five children.
Ji Buwang's thoughts were a mess as he looked at Mu Jingzhe. He was about to say something when his pager[1] rang.
"You can return the call," Mu Jingzhe said quickly.
Mu Jingzhe glanced at Ji Buwang's pager twice.
Compared to convenient modern phones, this thing was of little value and was even quite expensive. Mu Jingzhe had never thought of buying one before.
However, she would probably have to buy it in the future to make it more convenient for her to contact people and vice versa. After all, she was a businesswoman.
When Mu Jingzhe picked up the children in the afternoon, she could tell that they weren't in a good mood.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Mu Jingzhe hurriedly asked.
"Nothing." Shao Dong shook his head.
Although they said that everything was fine, they were all listless and they even stole glances at her, looking like they wanted to say something but stopped themselves.
There had to be something wrong with them. Mu Jingzhe stopped helplessly. "Tell me, what exactly happened? Don't hide it from me."
Shao Dong and Shao Xi looked at each other and hesitated. Xiao Wu looked at them and thought for a moment before holding Mu Jingzhe's hand and saying softly, "Mommy, they are worried that you like Teacher Ji. Do you like Teacher Ji?"
Mu Jingzhe's mind was filled with question marks. "Why are you suddenly asking this question? Why are you worried?"
"Mommy, answer me first. Do you like him or not? Will you marry him?"
Mu Jingzhe shook her head. "I think Teacher Ji is very good and has helped us a lot, but if you're talking about the kind of like that leads to marriage, then no."
Shao Xi visibly heaved a sigh of relief. It looked like a false alarm. For the time being, he wasn't in danger of having a younger brother or sister.
His reaction was too eye-catching, making it difficult for Mu Jingzhe to ignore it. "Shao Xi, is that what you're thinking? Why would you suddenly think to ask about this problem?"
"Nothing. I just saw that you guys are always together."
Just as the topic was about to be changed, Shao Nan suddenly said, "Mommy, you don't like Teacher Ji, but Teacher Ji seems to like you, right?"
Mu Jingzhe was exasperated. "What's wrong with you guys today? Did you hear someone say something? What's all this talk about liking or not liking him?" This wasn't good.
Shao Nan coughed. "I just feel that he likes you. We're afraid that he'll come to our door to propose marriage."
"No, don't make wild guesses. Otherwise, it would be really embarrassing if we guessed wrong. He's only like this because he can only see my face. That's all." Mu Jingzhe shook her head. "Don't talk nonsense anymore, okay?"
Shao Nan nodded, but he was still a little puzzled. "Mom, why are you so sure? Why do you think he definitely doesn't like you?"
"That's because… we can't overthink."
Actually, it was mainly because Mu Jingzhe had been embarrassed a few times when she was young. She had thought too highly of herself and had wrongly assumed that the guy had liked her. A total of three times. In the end, it had all been untrue.
The first time was when her interest in the opposite sex had first awakened. A boy who used to come to the orphanage with his parents for volunteer work had been taking good care of her. In addition, everyone had said that the boy treated her very well, so she'd thought that the boy liked her.
At the time, she'd felt all sorts of sweetness in her heart. She had even imagined them getting married and having children in the future. In the end, it turned out that the guy had only thought that she was pitiful and thus taken care of her. He was completely uninterested in her. It was all wishful thinking on her part.
Just like that, Mu Jingzhe's first love had come to an end.
Later on, when she had been in university, a fellow villager had often come to look for her. Every time he came, he would treat the people in her dormitory to a meal and would even give them fruit. He would also speak to her about his troubles. She'd thought that it wasn't wishful thinking on her part this time, but… it turned out that history had repeated itself.
That guy from her hometown had a crush on her roommate, and she was just a bridge between them. The fruit he had brought was also what her roommate liked.
However, she hadn't noticed it at the time. It was only after they got together that she was stunned.
The third time had happened after graduation. She'd been hired by the same company and department as two male colleagues, so they'd usually be together.
There was a male colleague who had always been very good to her and used to take care of her. However, Mu Jingzhe later realized that she had only been taken care of in passing. That male colleague had been so good to her because of another male colleague.
Mu Jingzhe, who had later found out the truth, had burst into tears. Who would have thought? She was the only girl left. She'd thought that she wouldn't make a mistake again, but who would have thought that there'd still be the option of a guy liking a guy?
These three bitter lessons had taught Mu Jingzhe that she shouldn't overthink or get carried away just because someone cast a few more looks at her and treated her a little better.
In order to change her bad habit of falling prey to wishful thinking, Mu Jingzhe had learned to never let her imagination run wild.
[1] a wireless telecommunication device that receives and displays alphanumeric or voice messages
The next day, when Mu Jingzhe took the children to the art school, she surprisingly ran into Tang Moling again.
Tang Moling stopped the car without hesitation. "I'll drive you guys there. Get in."
Mu Jingzhe was a little hesitant, but Tang Moling told Shao Dong, "Hop on. Haven't you realized that you've grown taller again? Besides, even though you're children, there are five of you, so it's tiring to take you there by bicycle."
"I'm not tired. I'm very strong," Mu Jingzhe quickly replied.
Shao Dong pursed his lips and immediately jumped off the bike. "Let's take Uncle Tang's car."
He thought for a moment and said, "When we earn money in the future, we can buy another bicycle. I can take my younger siblings there."
Shao Xi was even more ambitious. "In the future, let's just buy a car."
Tang Moling found it funny. "You guys sure are ambitious. Do you know how much a car costs?"
Shao Xi turned around and asked seriously, "How much?"
Shao Dong and the others also turned their heads and stared at him, waiting for him to reveal the amount.
It was as if they were really going to save up money to buy it.
Tang Moling: "The price differs based on the brand and quality. Let's take my car as an example. The price…"
It was indeed very expensive. At present, it was impossible for the children to buy one.
It would be a lie to say that they didn't suffer a blow, but they didn't give up just like that.
The five children's hearts were now occupied by this number. They quietly resolved to earn this amount of money in the future and were doing the math in their minds.
Shao Xi calculated his royalties, then looked at his hand. Surely he could earn this much if he wrote until his hand broke?
Little Bei secretly whispered to Shao Nan, "I'm not buying a television anymore. I want to keep the money to buy a car for Mommy."
Seeing them secretly whispering to each other, Mu Jingzhe asked curiously, "Little Bei, what are you whispering about?"
"I want to dance again. I want to film advertisements again. I want to earn a lot of money."
"There will be a chance." Mu Jingzhe laughed. "We'll buy a television then."
Little Bei wanted to say that she didn't want to buy a television anymore and instead would buy a car for Mommy, but when she saw Tang Moling, she was afraid that he would laugh at her, so she swallowed her words.
Tang Moling had mixed feelings when he saw the children, whom he had not seen for a while, change their form of address and call her 'Mommy'.
"Did anything happen recently? Were you frightened by what happened to Li Tao?"
"It was alright."
Tang Moling saw that she was still the same, polite but distant. She kept maintaining a certain distance from him, and he felt very upset.
Along the way, he couldn't help but keep finding topics to talk about with Mu Jingzhe.
Mu Jingzhe didn't take the initiative to find a topic to talk about, but she would answer politely when he asked.
Tang Moling had never done this before, for it was usually other people who racked their brains to find something to talk to him about. This was his first time trying to find topics to talk about, so he was really inexperienced and quickly ran out of things to say.
In the end, as a result of him forcibly trying to find a topic of conversation, he started talking about work.
It was now time for him to succeed his grandfather, so there were many problems that needed to be solved.
He should have returned to the city long ago, or even to the capital. However, his relationship matters had delayed him, and the problems still had to be solved.
Tang Moling was currently troubled by some HR issues and a few other problems. As he spoke, he poured out his troubles to her unknowingly. Immediately after telling her all that, Tang Moling regretted it.
Why was he saying all this? How was Mu Jingzhe supposed to answer? She also wouldn't know…
He still regretted it, but reality proved that Mu Jingzhe really knew a little.
Many girls would look for a clerical job after graduation, thus getting exposed to administrative and HR issues at work. Mu Jingzhe, who had extensive working experience, had also encountered these issues in her line of work before.
Hence, based on her experience, she succinctly gave her opinion on the issues he mentioned.
As for the issue of poor business at a brand-new mall, there were many marketing strategies one could use in the modern era. Mu Jingzhe had worked in marketing before, so she came up with a couple of suitable ideas based on the characteristics of this era.
After she gave her suggestions, she glanced at Tang Moling curiously. In the book, Tang Moling was portrayed as a cool and arrogant big boss.
She hadn't expected him to encounter trouble in reality. When she thought about it carefully, though, it made sense. How could anyone be born to be a boss? Even a boss grew to be one step by step.
Mu Jingzhe sighed, while Tang Moling was completely amazed. How did Mu Jingzhe know everything?
Besides, although the method she'd suggested seemed simple, it might actually solve the problem if it was executed well.
It was rare for Tang Moling to speak in such a sincere tone. "I'll give it a try later. If it works, you'll have helped me a lot."
"It's nothing. All I did was say a few words." Mu Jingzhe waved her hand. She hadn't come up with this idea anyway; someone else had.
Along the way, there was no awkward silence because they were talking about this.
After taking Mu Jingzhe and the kids to the art school, Tang Moling got out of the car and watched them enter.
After a while, he was about to leave when he suddenly saw a figure walking past the school that felt strangely familiar.
He let out an 'eh', but when he took a closer look, that figure was gone.
"I must be seeing things. He can't possibly be here…" Tang Moling murmured to himself as he drove away.
In the art school, someone came out of the bathroom and happened to see Tang Moling's back view as he got in the car and left.
The figure paused, finding that back view familiar, but the car was soon gone, so he didn't pay it any mind.
After the foreign language class ended, Little Bei went to learn dancing and hosting, whilst Xiao Wu went to learn music. Only Shao Dong, Shao Xi, and Shao Nan had no other courses.
"Little Dong, Little Xi, Little Nan, take a look too. If you want to learn, you can. It's summer break now, so there's time."
Mu Jingzhe had only called Shao Bei and Shao Zhong Little Bei and Xiao Wu previously. Later on, after all five of them had started calling her 'Mommy', she had found out from Shao Nan that calling the three of them by their full names was actually also a form of differential treatment.
Mu Jingzhe was just used to calling them that, but she immediately corrected herself and uniformly called them Little (insert first name).
"We've taken a look at the list of courses, but we'd rather go to the library to read than study these things." Shao Xi was the first to speak.
"Yes." Shao Nan nodded.
"I'm more interested in chess, but I think the grandfathers at the county's cultural center are more impressive at chess. I'll go learn Chinese chess from them. I can learn it for free."
The county library was in the county cultural center. There was also an elderly activity center inside. Many retired elders would usually hang out there to play the erhu or the accordion, dance, or play Chinese chess.
Previously, when they had gone to the county library, the sharp Shao Dong had set his sights on them.
Mu Jingzhe said helplessly, "No, you really don't have to keep thinking about saving money. If you like it, you can learn it. Our family isn't that poor anymore."
"I really want to read."
"Me too."
"I just want to learn from the grandpas. They're pretty good."
The children wanted to buy a car, and their goal was to earn money.
Shao Xi wanted to submit some more manuscripts, while Shao Dong was thinking of ways to earn money.
Since they insisted, Mu Jingzhe had no choice but to follow them to the county cultural center.
Shao Xi and Shao Nan headed straight to the library, and Shao Dong really went to look for the old folks.
He didn't like to talk and he just watched obediently from the side;ines. The few grandpas didn't pay much attention to him at first, letting him stand there as he wished.
Later on, upon seeing that he hadn't left and was still watching, they couldn't help but ask a few questions. Then, Shao Dong said that he also wanted to learn.
The elderly folk had plenty of patience and time now, so they gladly obliged. The result was shocking after just one afternoon of chess lessons.
You're talented. Are you coming again tomorrow?"
"Yes, but I have to first attend a foreign language class in the morning, so I won't be here until late afternoon."
"Foreign languages, huh. If you want to learn Russian… Old Man Deng learned before and speaks it fluently. Let him teach you how to speak."
"Really?"
"Of course. We won't charge you for it either."
Mu Jingzhe hadn't expected Shao Dong to be so impressive. In just an afternoon, he had managed to infiltrate the grandpas' inner circle and had even found a free foreign language teacher.
"Then study hard." Mu Jingzhe patted Shao Dong's shoulder.
In novels, old grandpas and grannies would usually appear as Sweeper Monks[1]. They were always quite impressive.
Although Mu Jingzhe knew that they weren't all Sweeper Monks, many of these old men were very impressive. It should be fine for Shao Dong to learn from them.
"Mm." Shao Dong nodded vigorously.
Compared to interacting with his peers, who gave him curious or pitiful gazes whenever he spoke, he actually preferred to interact with these old grandpas.
They had seen a lot in their lives, so these old grandpas didn't pay much attention to his stutter.
The elderly were also fond of obedient children who liked to learn. He felt very comfortable around them.
Shao Dong and the others made arrangements for themselves.
Mu Jingzhe picked up Little Bei and Xiao Wu, planning to go back, but she was stopped by the school teacher. It turned out that a director had invited Little Bei to the audition for a television drama.
Little Bei's little mouth widened.
She had just said on the way there that she wanted to dance and shoot an advertisement, and almost right away, the opportunity had presented itself.
Although this wasn't dancing or shooting an advertisement, filming a television drama was awesome too.
Mu Jingzhe asked in surprise, "Really? Which director? What TV show?"
"I'm not sure about the details. We were informed by a school in the city. I heard that the director saw Shao Bei's costume-changing performance and thought that she was cute, so he wanted her to try to portray Little Nezha."
Mu Jingzhe was overjoyed. She hadn't expected such an opportunity to come from Little Bei's previous performance.
Therefore, no one knew when one's opportunity would come. However, if one worked hard, one would always have more chances.
"If you think it's a good idea, we can take her to the audition the day after tomorrow. I heard there are other little boys auditioning with her."
Little Nezha was a little boy, and Little Bei was the only little girl who had been invited to audition.
The teacher was giving Mu Jingzhe and Little Bei a heads-up, but Mu Jingzhe didn't say anything.
This was because she knew that a little girl could also portray Little Nezha. Wasn't there a little girl in the modern era who had portrayed Little Nezha? Furthermore, she'd acted quite well.
A little girl playing the role of a little boy or a little boy playing the role of a little girl was cross-gender acting, but this was actually nothing for children.
She had to grasp this opportunity. Mu Jingzhe decided to take Little Bei to give it a try the next day, in case the role was cast if they were late.
When Little Bei heard that she could act in a drama that would be aired on TV in the future, she was overjoyed. She really loved acting.
"Mommy, I'll definitely act well. I'll definitely act well."
Mu Jingzhe wanted to take Little Bei with her. This time, it wasn't suitable to bring all the children along, so she could only keep them here temporarily.
Fortunately, Shao Qiyang had a day off from work and could take them to the county so they could continue learning.
Fortunately, the audition was held in the city.
The filming location for the television drama was originally in a specific film studio complex. This time, it would be filmed in the city because there was a lake in the city that was suitable for filming.
It was only when they arrived that they learned the details.
This little Nezha was actually just a supporting role and didn't have many scenes. They had originally decided on an actor, but the little actor had suddenly lost his teeth, and both his front teeth were gone.
It was normal for a child to lose teeth. This couldn't be helped, so no one could be blamed for this.
However, a toothless Nezha definitely wouldn't do. They couldn't wait for his teeth to grow out either. That was why they had decided to find a temporary little replacement. Hence, they'd naturally found their way to the art school.
The art school had recommended a little boy that they felt was suitable. Then, they couldn't help but think of Little Bei's Little Nezha. They'd found the video and sent it to the director.
Upon seeing the video, the director had felt that it was quite good. That was why Little Bei had gotten the chance to audition.
Upon hearing this, Mu Jingzhe thought to herself that it seemed like she had made the right decision by bringing the little Nezha clothes Little Bei had worn previously.
During the audition, the boys who were auditioning for the Little Nezha part didn't think of Little Bei as their opponent. They thought that she was there to audition for another role.
When a bulky little boy saw pretty Little Bei, he even came over to talk to her with a chuckle.
Later on, when the audition started, Mu Jingzhe directly helped Little Bei put on the Nezha costume to increase her competitiveness. She wanted the director to see that Little Bei could really do a good job.
In the end, it was just as Mu Jingzhe had expected. If she hadn't put Little Bei into the Nezha costume, the director might have hesitated, but after that, Little Bei immediately gave off the vibe of a little Nezha. When the director saw this, he decided on the spot.
The moment he learned Little Bei was their competitor for the role of Little Nezha, that bulky-looking little boy was stunned. When he heard the results, he wailed.
It wasn't because he hadn't been cast but because his worldview had collapsed.
"Little Nezha is a girl. Boohoo. I even said I wanted to be a brave little boy, like Little Nezha…"
"No, Little Nezha is a boy." His mom felt embarrassed, helpless, and amused.
The little boy didn't believe her. "But she's a girl. She's Little Nezha now."
The little boy didn't know anything about cross-gender acting. He was especially sad and he couldn't stop crying even as his mother carried him away.
Mu Jingzhe could only apologize and proceed to discuss the details.
"If there's no problem, let's start filming immediately. The production team has prepared the costumes. When the time comes, we'll look at them together and see which costume looks the best."
The director didn't want to waste even a day. This was different from what Mu Jingzhe had expected. She had thought that they would have to go back and wait to be notified.
However, since the director had said so, she naturally couldn't refuse. If there was something they hadn't packed in the luggage, she could just buy it. Anyway, from the sound of it, filming would end in four to five days.
Mu Jingzhe contacted Shao Qiyang and thought of a way to send a message to Li Zhaodi, asking her to help take care of the children.
After Shao Qiyang and Li Zhaodi got the message, they discussed how to take care of the kids. When Shao Qiyang went off to work, he would bring the kids over. After they ate at Li Zhaodi's place, he would then take them to the art school. Finally, when he got off work, he would come and pick them up.
Mu Jingzhe and Little Bei also started filming on the set. They had said that they would start filming right away, but actually, they wanted Little Bei to first get used to it and see what filming was like.
This was also Little Bei's first time entering a production team. The end result and the filming process were very different, and Little Bei would ask Mu Jingzhe whenever she came across something she didn't understand.
"Mommy, why does the director film the same scenes over and over again?"
"That's how a lot of acting is done. Sometimes it's because the actor doesn't perform well, sometimes it's because the scene has to be filmed from different angles…"
The filming process was actually different from what she had imagined. It was very dry, complicated, and repetitive. It sounded very glamorous, but the actual filming process was different from what she had imagined.
It was the same even in the modern era, when the conditions were much better. Furthermore, in this era, the conditions were much tougher.
[1] a person with formidable skills who chose to conceal them
Mu Jingzhe tried her best to help Little Bei adapt. She pointed out the camera to her and taught her the theory of where to look at and so on.
Little Bei exclaimed, "Mommy, you're amazing! You even know all that."
Mu Jingzhe shook her head. She had done all sorts of jobs just to pay for her living expenses and tuition fees.
She had even gone to work in Beijing and Hengdian before. She had acted as an extra, and because she was strong, she'd even worked as a stunt double.
Hence, she wasn't that unfamiliar with the production set.
In the evening, when the production crew members who were in charge of costumes and styling had time, they were prepared to help Little Bei try on the makeup so the director could have a look.
Mu Jingzhe helped out the entire time. Initially, the stylist was a little annoyed that Mu Jingzhe was following them around, as they were busy enough as it is.
But soon… her attitude changed because Mu Jingzhe was very polite to her. Furthermore, she was quite impressive. She knew all the professional terms and she helped, doing an amazing job helping with the styling and makeup.
"Little Bei's mom, you know so much. Have you learned this before?"
"More or less." Mu Jingzhe didn't deny it. "In the future, if you can't manage by yourself, just let me know if you need anything. I'm here. I'll help you."
"That's great."
Now that she had built a good relationship with the people in charge of costumes, it would make everything easier.
In that era, many costumes were actually limited. If they were prepared according to the production crew's instructions, the costume might not fit Little Bei perfectly, so she wouldn't look so good in it. Besides, the clothes weren't that clean.
If Mu Jingzhe wasn't on good terms with the costume team, she would only watch helplessly as Little Bei put on the clothes assigned to her, which weren't even as pretty as her previous outfit.
Now that Mu Jingzhe had communicated with them, the things she had brought were put to good use. Little Bei's appearance was enhanced, and she was even allowed to alter the clothes to fit Little Bei and even bring them back to wash them.
That night, Mu Jingzhe took the props and clothes back to wash them carefully. The next day, she altered the clothes so they fit Little Bei again. Little Bei looked clean and energetic in them, making the director feel very satisfied.
The preparations for the start of the filming process officially started. Considering that this was Little Bei's first time acting, the first scene was not complicated. The director had wanted to rehearse a few more times, but Little Bei was much better after two tries and could even accurately find the camera.
"Not bad, not bad. Let's officially start shooting."
Little Bei didn't disappoint, and one take was all it took. The director was in a good mood and taught her seriously. Little Bei's improvement was obvious.
The first day was a little bumpy, but it went by smoothly. The next day, the difficult stuff surfaced. Little Bei had to film wire-flying[1] scenes.
It was unavoidable that little Nezha would fly around and fight.
"Little Bei, shout out if you're in pain, understand?"
It was said that it was very tiring and painful to film a fight scene, especially when it required hanging from a wire. Even adults couldn't take it, let alone children. Mu Jingzhe was very worried.
"It's okay, Mommy. Don't worry. I'll be careful."
It hurt. It was really painful and uncomfortable.
However, knowing that she had to go through this, Little Bei wasn't afraid. She wasn't afraid of getting tired at all.
In just three days, compared to the other children, the sensible and capable Little Bei instantly earned the adoration of the entire production crew.
Mu Jingzhe wasn't bad at socializing either. While taking care of Little Bei, she also helped some actors with their costumes and makeup.
These were things she was used to doing. The effect was excellent, and that helped improve her relationship with everyone.
The director even joked about giving her a salary.
The mother-and-daughter duo had a good relationship with the production crew and complemented each other.
Five days later, the filming process was completed. When they were about to leave, everyone was quite reluctant to part.
The director praised Little Bei quite a bit, especially about the fact that she could cry really well.
"She's excellent in the crying scenes. This child cries on command. Not only does she look pretty crying, but she also makes the audience's hearts ache. In the future, I'll definitely look for her when I have a suitable role for her. If the opportunity arises, I'll also recommend her for some shows."
The director was very sincere.
Filming scenes involving animals and children was the most troublesome. Crying scenes involving children were even more troublesome. One had to ask the kid's parents to help and tell them that their parents didn't want them anymore. Only then would they cry.
There was no need to resort to this with Little Bei. She would cry on command, and in the exact way you asked her. Also, her tears felt genuine.
The director felt that this was talent, but he didn't know that it wasn't just talent. It was also because Little Bei had suffered through enough at a young age and had enough scars in her heart.
He only saw her looking blissful by Mu Jingzhe's side, but he didn't know that young Little Bei had scars in her heart.
Mu Jingzhe stroked Little Bei's head, her heart aching for her. When Little Bei started crying during the filming process, she also started crying like a dog.
In the end, even when Little Bei stopped crying, her eyes were still red.
Little Bei would become a movie queen in the future. This felt very real to her now.
This child indeed knew how to act and was very good at influencing people's emotions. The other people in the production team also cried upon seeing her acting. In the past two days, many more people had started giving Little Bei sweets. No one could bear to part with them when it was time to leave.
"Thank you, Director. Thank you so much."
Mu Jingzhe knew how precious the director's words were. They had just entered this industry, and she didn't have any connections in this field. If the director could help put in a few words and recommend her, it would be an opportunity that many people would kill for.
Before leaving, Mu Jingzhe distributed the specialties sent by Shao Qiyang.
There were some hair ornaments, some small gifts for the female crew members, some walnuts, and some dried fruit.
The dried fruit had been made by Mu Jingzhe previously. There were many fruit trees planted in Great Eastern Village, and every family planted them. There were plums, peaches, apples, and plums, just to name a few.
However, no one could finish that much. Many of the fruits were left to rot just like that, and even if they were sold outside, they wouldn't fetch much money.
Mu Jingzhe felt that it was a pity. In the end, she had tried making dried fruit, thinking that if she succeeded, she could sell these.
Although she was a little inexperienced, she still succeeded in making them.
There were very few snacks in this day and age, so these things were really suitable as gifts.
After everyone received the snacks, they all said that they would help if they could.
Regardless of whether it was genuine or not, some people must have taken it to heart. Maybe Little Bei had left a certain impression on them. This way, she would have more opportunities going forward.
Little Bei had been born for this line of work, and she liked it too. At the moment, there was a limit to what Mu Jingzhe could do. She could only try her best to do more so that Little Bei's path would be smoother.
It was already afternoon when she brought Little Bei back to the county. Mu Jingzhe went to the art school first.
Xiao Wu was in piano class, and Ji Buwang was sitting beside him. In high spirits, the two of them improvised a duet.
When it ended, Xiao Wu and Ji Buwang clapped happily.
After clapping, Xiao Wu looked at Ji Buwang's long fingers and then at his own. He secretly encouraged himself.
A bit longer. They could grow a bit longer.
"Don't worry, they'll grow longer. Your hands were born to play the piano."
Xiao Wu was the one who interacted with Ji Buwang the most. The two of them had hit it off. Ji Buwang was in a jovial mood as he gazed at Xiao Wu. "Rest and eat some sweets."
Ji Buwang took a few pieces of soft candy out of his pocket. Xiao Wu reached out to take them, and so did Ji Buwang, who was laughing. In the end, the two of them reached for the same one.
"Our taste is quite similar." Ji Buwang let Xiao Wu have it.
Ji Buwang sat on the piano, while Xiao Wu sat on the chair. The two of them swayed their legs and squinted their eyes as they enjoyed their break.
When Mu Jingzhe arrived, they had just finished eating the candy and were continuing their practice. Even though there was quite a big age difference between the adult-and-child duo, there was no barrier in their communication. The two curly-haired guys—an adult and a child—looked harmonious sitting there together.
Mu Jingzhe couldn't bear to disturb them.
[1] suspending an actor from high-tension wires to simulate the action of flying or falling