Chapter 36

     After a day’s rest at Wuyou Temple, Shi Xi recovered her vitality.

     The next day, she returned to the crew and went to the nearby ancient village to film.

     The ancient village is called Xiaosu, surrounded by continuous mountains. The buildings in the town are all hundreds of years old, and many crews come here to shoot.

     Xiaosu has beautiful scenery and even better food. After shooting for a few days here, Shi Xi and Tang Niannian have been a little reluctant to leave.

     Today is sunny and windy, and it feels comfortable even when filming outdoors.

     Just after shooting a chase scene, Shi Xi sat under a tree to drink water. Tang Niannian ran over with a cup of water and said mysteriously: “I just heard that Ruan Shu’s crew had an incredible incident last night.”

     Ruan Shu, the Golden Bear actress, is the most popular young actress recently. Ruan Shu’s crew also shot in Xiaosu. The houses rented by the two crews are very close. Shi Xi has run into her twice on the road, but there has been no other intersection so far.

     Tang Niannian is a social person. she mingled with the people from the neighboring crew very early on, so she was well-informed.

     Shi Xi put down her water cup: “How incredible is it?”

     Tang Niannian whispered: “Let me test you first. Xiaosu has a very famous folk art. Do you know what it is?”

     “Puppet show.” On the first day in Xiaosu, Shi Xi was dragged by Tang Niannian to visit all the fun places in Xiaosu Ancient Village. She was deeply impressed by the puppet show here.

     “That’s right,” Tang Niannian spoke more and more quietly, as if afraid of disturbing something: “A male actor in their crew, When he woke up this morning, he found himself holding a hideous puppet in his arms. His name was written in blood on the puppet’s face. He was almost scared to death and threw the puppet out reflexively. The puppet rolled down the roof…”

     Shi Xi caught the key point: “Roof? He slept on the roof last night?”

     Tang Niannian nodded repeatedly: “This is the weirder part. He himself has no impression of it.”

     It sounds a bit like Bai Man’s “sleepwalking” before. Shi Xi sorted out what Tang Niannian said and guessed: “After the puppet with the actor’s name fell to the ground, did he also fall?”

     “You can actually think of that. No wonder you’re a professional.” Tang Niannian covered her mouth in surprise, and lowered her voice: “But the puppet did not fall to the ground, its left hand just hung on the eaves, and then – the male actor also rolled down inexplicably, and just grabbed the eaves with his left hand, and was rescued by the prop master who got up early. I heard that his wrist was almost dislocated. “

     Shi Xi looked at the lake in the distance and said slowly: “He was lucky. If the puppet fell to the ground, it would not be as simple as dislocation. “

     Tang Niannian thought about it for a moment and shuddered: “It’s terrifying when you think about it.”

     This is really weird. Where did the puppet come from and what is its purpose?

     Shi Xi asked: “What do they plan to do when this happens?”

     Tang Niannian shook her head: “I didn’t find out about this, but Director Weng has been traveling around for so many years, and he must have more experience in dealing with these things than our director. I will pay attention to the progress after the filming is finished.”

     In the afternoon, Tang Niannian found out about the new progress, but this “progress” made her laugh and cry.

     “Xiao Shi, I never expected that the crew next door actually thought that the two crews’ dormitories were so close, and the reason why our crew didn’t get caught was because you calmed the scene.” Tang Niannian laughed after saying this: “They said you looked like a hermit monk, full of righteousness, and ghosts would not dare to act presumptuously when they saw you!”

     “…” Shi Xi also felt that it was a bit outrageous: “The crew next door has a big imagination. If they knew that the hotel we stayed in before was also haunted, they would not think so.”

     “That’s not the same,” Tang Niannian replied. “Back at the film city, you’d always change into casual clothes by the time you got back to the hotel. But here, things are simpler. You often have to do your makeup and take it off in the dorm, and you spend most of your time looking like a monk in retreat.”

     It actually sounds a bit reasonable. 

     Shi Xi took this as a joke and let it go after hearing it. She never expected that in the evening of that day, not long after she returned to the dormitory, Director Weng from the crew next door came to her in person.

     In the temporary reception room, Director Wang, as the middleman, cheerfully introduced Director Weng to Shi Xi: “Xiao Shi, you must know Director Weng, so I won’t say much. Director Weng came here today to ask you for a small favor.”

     Director Weng is a middle-aged man with a stern look. His voice is quite kind and his eyes are gentle: “Xiao Shi, I heard from Director Wang that you have been a ghost-hunting anchor and have friends in the metaphysics circle, so I’ll be frank.”

     “You should have heard about our crew. The professionals I invited to solve the problem will not arrive until tomorrow afternoon. I would like to ask you to calm the situation and stabilize everyone’s emotions. You shouldn’t be afraid, right?”

     Shi Xi was a little confused: “Director Weng, I’m really not afraid, but how do you want me to calm the situation?” Go to the set to sit in charge and scare ghosts?

     Director Weng came prepared: “You come to my crew to guest star in two scenes. The first scene will be filmed tonight. We can finish work before nine o’clock in the evening.”

     Shi Xi: “!”

     This is a director who has won countless international awards! She’s imagined a famous director inviting her to play a role… uh, but she never thought a famous director would ask her to be the one who keep, the place, in order!.

     Director Wang encouraged Shi Xi: “Xiao Xiao, it’s a good thing to learn from Director Weng, so go ahead and do it.”

     Director Weng looked into Shi Xi’s eyes and said, “Actually, this is the screenwriter’s idea. She said that she wanted to add a new role to the movie since she first saw you. After hearing that you can take charge today, she no longer hesitated and revised the script in one go, and asked me to come and invite you. What do you think? Do you need to discuss this with your agent?”

     Shi Xi thought, there’s no need to discuss this. If Lin Wenyi knew that she could appear in Director Weng’s movie, she would probably set off fireworks to celebrate.

   【New Task: Cameo Movie;

     Details: Successfully complete the cameo shooting of the martial arts movie “Sword Shining in the Frost”;

     Reward: Acting Talent +5%;

     Punishment: Loss of Sense of Smell (two weeks). 】

     Now there was no need to discuss, Shi Xi agreed to Director Weng and sent a message to Lin Wenyi.

     After the two directors finished chatting, Shi Xi followed Director Weng to the set of “Sword Shining on Frost”.

     Director Weng took Shi Xi to meet the screenwriter. The screenwriter of “Sword Shining on Frost” was named Lin, who was good at writing martial arts scripts. He was also chivalrous and tied his long hair with a hairpin. When he saw Shi Xi, his phoenix eyes curved up: “Finally we meet, Xiao Shi.”

     Shi Xi greeted him obediently: “Hello, screenwriter Lin.”

     Screenwriter Lin handed her a thin script: “I’m going to change the play temporarily, so I don’t give you much time. If you don’t understand anything, just ask.”

     “I do have a question to ask now, but it has nothing to do with the script,” Shi Xi rolled up the script and raised her head: “Where is the actor who was possessed by evil spirits now?”

     Director Weng replied: “He was a little frightened, so I gave him a day off. Resting in the room.”

     “Where is the puppet?” Shi Xi asked again: “How did you deal with it?”

     “I didn’t dare to throw it away rashly, so I put it in the utility room, and planned to wait for professionals to come to deal with it,” Director Weng frowned: “I asked the village chief to come this morning, and he said he had never seen such a strange puppet, it didn’t look like the puppet made locally by Xiao Su, and he also said that such a thing had never happened in the village, maybe the actor was just sleepwalking.”

     Shi Xi: “Can I go to the utility room to take a look?”

     Director Weng thought that she was also half a professional, and nodded: “I’ll take you there.”

     Pushing open the door of the utility room, a musty smell came out.

      After seeing the situation inside, Director Weng’s face changed drastically, and his voice trembled: “This…what’s going on!”

     There was no hideous puppet in the utility room, only crooked blood words all over the wall.

“The master is very angry,

the master is very angry,

the master is very angry...“