Chapter 42 - 42 41 Not Utterly Foolish

Chapter 42: Chapter 41 Not Utterly Foolish Chapter 42: Chapter 41 Not Utterly Foolish Wang Che: “Of course I want it, if you give it to me! Haha, just kidding. Remember to take your medicine on time so you can recover sooner.”

“By the way, you know we’re starting to film soon, right? We haven’t fallen behind in our training these days even without you guys. But I did record the audio and even took notes. Do you want them?”

Wenyan: “Clever as you are—JPG, I really need that stuff. I’ll treat you to milk tea.”

“No need.”

“How can that be? I’d feel so embarrassed, reaping the benefits of your hard work for nothing.”

“Hehe, if you really feel embarrassed, then how about you let me interview you? Everyone is dying of curiosity—how have you guys been getting by these days? Where are you staying, what are you eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Please, satisfy this burning gossip thirst of mine.”

Wenyan sent a sweating emoji: “Is the entire crew gossiping about this now?”

“Of course they are. And you wouldn’t believe how many people are envious of you.”

“… Are they envious of this?” Image—JPG, Image—JPG

Wenyan sent Wang Che photos of the car completely buried by rocks and the landslide, as well as pictures of blisters on her feet.

Wang Che immediately exclaimed, “Holy shit, you two are like the chosen ones. If you had been in the car at that time, you’d have been done for.”

Wenyan: “Smirking—JPG, envious, huh?”

Wang Che: “Not envious, not envious!”

Wenyan: “I might as well send you our living conditions too.”

Wang Che: “Yes, yes, send it over—I’m waiting.”

Wenyan immediately picked a photo from her album and sent it.

Then came her edited text message.

“See this? Super luxurious, a private villa. Teacher Shen is living in the one on the left all by himself, and I’m staying with the landlady in the one on the right.”

Then she sent several photos of meals.

She explained, “These home-cooked dishes were made by the kind granny who took us in. To treat us, she even specifically killed a free-range chicken.”

“Though Teacher Shen and I would feel bad just freeloading, so we helped granny out too. See these corn cobs? We had to strip the kernels to feed the chickens, ducks, and geese. We’ve been pretty busy these days.”

Wang Che waited and waited, and although Wenyan didn’t send any follow-ups, his phone kept vibrating non-stop.

When he checked, it turned out Wenyan had accidentally sent the messages meant for him to the film crew’s group chat.

Seeing Wenyan talking to herself, other members in the group guessed she had sent it to the wrong place.

Worried Wenyan would be embarrassed, Wang Che quickly said in the group chat, “I was wondering why you suddenly disappeared from the chat. So you took a wrong turn. Aren’t those the photos I asked for?”

After sending that, he immediately messaged Wenyan privately.

Wang Che: “You sent it to the wrong place, that’s our training group chat.”

Wenyan: “I know. Let’s just explain it once and for all, to save everyone’s curiosity.”

Meanwhile, the group chat stewed with activity.

“I heard your car got buried under rocks, is that true?”

The car Shen Jinghe drove that day belonged to the film crew.

The assistant director was also in the group chat and immediately posted a crying emoji upon reading the message.

“Yes, it’s totaled. There goes the budget, up in flames. But at least everyone is safe, it was a close call, a small price to pay for averting disaster.”

Someone @’ed Wenyan: “How’s the taste of the free-range chicken? If it’s good, I want to buy a few from the villagers.”

Wenyan: “Delicious, extremely delicious, plus granny’s homemade cured meat—simply to die for.” Image—JPG

“Ahh, stop tantalizing us late at night, I’m gonna cry!”

–

The messages in the group kept pouring in, quickly reaching 99+.

Director Zhou Junye browsed through the messages and suddenly asked Shen Jinghe beside him.

“Is it true? Did you really go husking corn for someone just for a few meals?”

Shen Jinghe set aside the script in his hands and slightly furrowed his attractive eyebrows.

“What are you looking at? Who sent it?”

“Messages from the group, sent by Wenyan.”

“Group?” Shen Jinghe leaned closer to Zhou Junye while glancing at his silent phone like a docile chicken, “What group? How come I don’t know about it?”

“Oh, it’s a group created during the training class. It was set up by a bunch of new actors; they don’t have your number. Even if they did, they probably wouldn’t dare to add you rashly.”

“Let me see.”

“Mhm.”

Zhou Junye adjusted the phone’s position, scrolling through the messages with Shen Jinghe and saying, “This Wenyan is quite interesting. She probably knows that everyone is gossiping about you guys. So she hurried to distance herself from you.

These two detached villas have already said it all, plus this corn husking thing. She says you’re very busy, which implies you barely interact in private, shutting everybody’s mouth.

I think her sending the message to the wrong place was a cover, but making a clarification was true; she’s quite clever.”

Although Shen Jinghe didn’t say anything, he agreed with Zhou Junye’s assessment in his heart.

“By the way,” Zhou Junye suddenly asked Shen Jinghe again, “Do you know the background of this Wenyan?”

Shen Jinghe reluctantly shook his head: “I don’t know. You’re the one who recruited her, so logically, you should know more than I do.”

“It’s really strange. There’s someone who invested 5 million just for me and specifically asked me to look after her, but they never mentioned anything about increasing her role, just to improve her living standards. Isn’t this a case of a fool and his money soon parted?”

Shen Jinghe snorted internally, thinking the old man was indeed a fool easily parted with his money.

However, he quickly furrowed his eyebrows: “You’re not really planning to spend all this money on improving her living conditions, are you?”

“Of course not, I’m not stupid. This money will definitely be spent on the Costume and Props Department and post-production. After all, they invested in my movie, not in her as a person.”

“That’s good, you’re not completely foolish then.”

“But don’t you find it strange?”

“There are plenty of strange things.”

“That’s true, like your family background, it’s always been a mystery, even I can’t figure it out. But isn’t there really no one with the surname Wen in your elite circles?”

“No.”

Wenyan had been given the Shen surname as soon as she was adopted.

But evidently, she was using the name Wenyan for her role in this film.

–

The training soon ended.

“Lost Voice” officially started filming.

The first group scene involved quite a few local actors.

Everyone found the filming process novel and were highly motivated.

As a result, the set was very lively, especially at mealtime.

However, Wenyan’s group had always been NG, so they had not yet wrapped up.

As Group A had already eaten their fill, the extras in Group B grew anxious.

One of the elderly extras said he had health issues and couldn’t go hungry and asked the assistant director if he could eat first.

The assistant director had a bit of a temper and was already annoyed that these old men and women were holding up the schedule. His tone was a bit rough when he spoke.

After all, the elderly man wasn’t reliant on being an extra for a living; he couldn’t tolerate such disrespect. At his age, being scolded like a grandson, he flatly quit on the spot.