Chapter 260: Final Evolution into Evil

Finding no answers in the books, Dong Dong Junmin suppressed his sleepiness and, before the library closed, borrowed another stack of business books to return to the dormitory, intending to continue reading them there.

Upon returning to the dormitory, his roommates saw him carrying another large stack of books, and their movements involuntarily quieted down; those playing games even turned off their audio.

A roommate whispered, "Has our school board director really decided to go down the commercial route?"

Another roommate playing on his phone replied, "The director is different from us. He has high-minded ideals in his heart; such a heavy project as inheriting intangible cultural heritage isn't something an ordinary person can handle."

Even the roommate playing games chimed in, "If it really doesn't work out, just close the online shop. Why be so tired? Since the semester started, the director hasn't even opened a game once."

Dong Dong Junmin splashed cold water on his face on the balcony to refresh himself, returned to the room, and sighed, "Stop mocking me, I heard everything."

The others looked at each other and said, "Are you really going to keep it open?"

"How about I throw some money at it to help you boost your sales?"

"An umbrella costs five hundred Liu Liu Yuan; it's too expensive. What's the point of spending money on that?"

Dong Dong Junmin hesitated for a moment and said, "Let me think about it some more. Besides, it doesn't cost anything to keep the online shop open."

Doing one thing is not difficult.

What is difficult is when you invest yourself for a long time without receiving any return; that kind of questioning—"have I failed?"—can crush a person's inner spirit.

Failure is not scary; losing one's confidence after being struck down is what's scary.

Dong Dong Junmin frantically crammed business knowledge, and as he read, his eyes closed, and he fell asleep amidst the pile of books.

The roommate playing games walked to the restroom, glanced at Dong Dong Junmin, and seeing his sleeping posture, couldn't help but shake his head. He specifically took a photo of him and commented:

"I wasn't even this hardworking when I was studying for the college entrance exam!"

"Director, stop sleeping, your online shop is trending!"

"Old Dong, get up quickly, Jin Li has reposted you. How do you know her?"

"Get up quickly!"

Dong Dong Junmin was shaken awake by his roommates. Just waking up, he was still a bit dazed and confused.

"What's trending?" he asked.

The roommate handed over his phone: "Your bamboo umbrella online shop! It was reposted by Jin Li on her blog last night, do you know that? How did you manage that?"

Dong Dong Junmin was stunned for a moment and took the phone to check.

He recognized all the characters, but why couldn't he understand the meaning when they were put together?

Received the goods? Received what goods?

He clicked on the photo to look, and—huh, that umbrella looked a bit familiar.

Seeing his blank expression, the roommate couldn't help but laugh: "This guy has slept himself silly!"

He took the initiative to help Dong Dong Junmin open the online shop's messaging software, and messages poured in with a constant "ding-ding-ding."

"Look, thousands of people are asking about your bamboo umbrellas. Why aren't you replying yet!"

The roommate patted him on the shoulder and said with admiration, "Can you handle it? Call me 'Dad' and I'll help you!"

Dong Dong Junmin rubbed his face hard until he was completely awake. He glared at his roommate and spat out a single word, sparing no breath: "Scram!"

He quickly stood up and ran to the washbasin, hurriedly tidied himself up, and threw himself into the work of customer service.

Right, he also needed to contact Master Zhuang. With so many people inquiring, even if only a third of them placed orders, it would be a huge number, and they didn't have that much stock of bamboo umbrellas.

Right, and Jin Li—how did she know about this shop? Could it be that she saw the advertisement he posted in the comments section of "Leisurely Slow Life"?

Thinking this, Dong Dong Junmin, still with foam on his lips, couldn't help but giggle foolishly.

Life is full of hope!

Anshan Film and Television City had been drizzling for the past few days, as if to welcome the hot and rainy summer.

Gu Cheng had just gotten off the plane, carrying the fatigue of having just woken up, and rushed to the set, only to be met by this misty drizzle.

He went to report to Director Yan first. He was supposed to be back on set at eight in the morning, but the flight was delayed and didn't take off until noon, so it was already afternoon by the time he returned.

Yan Yan Yan Yan Jianqiao didn't say anything, only saying, "Change into your costume and hurry up to film."

This scene being filmed was the part where Gu Niande argued with other students; Li Li Feifei was also in this scene, acting as a background board.

Perhaps because she had been taking revenge on her enemies recently, it stirred up memories of the past. Seeing Gu Niande, who resembled Gu Gu Xiude, she always thought of Gu Gu Xiude.

If he hadn't died, would his personality still be so vile?

If he hadn't died, would he have already achieved success in his career and started a family?

These questions echoing in her mind Match Match Match Match Match Made her feel as if she were looking at Gu Gu Xiude whenever she looked at Gu Niande.

The name Gu Niande was originally chosen with the meaning of missing Gu Gu Xiude.

"Action!"

Gu Niande listened to other students talking trash about the art teacher, Li Li Feifei, saying she was beautiful and had a good figure, and wondering what it would be like elsewhere.

Gu Niande stood up abruptly and swung his fist at that student.

"Damn! Gu Niande, what are you going crazy for!"

Gu Niande was held back by other students, saying nothing, only glaring at the student who had spoken rudely.

That student also looked confused, covering his mouth and saying, "What's wrong with you lately? You've become so strange. I didn't provoke you, did I?"

Gu Niande glared at him, sulking to himself, and didn't speak.

This student naturally didn't know that he was being hit for talking trash about the art teacher. After all, when Li Li Feifei came to class on the first day, they had talked about this art teacher in front of Gu Niande, and Gu Niande had still maintained a cynical and indifferent appearance.

Who knew that months later, Gu Niande and Li Li Feifei would become entangled.

The camera focused specifically on Gu Cheng's eyes, capturing his indignation, annoyance, and a hint of confusion at that moment.

Originally, Director Yan was going to shout "Cut," but Gu Cheng's sudden excellent performance Match Match Match Match Match Made him keep filming.

Jin Li couldn't wait for the "cut" and could only follow the script's plot.

Li Li Feifei stood at the doorway, her brows tightly knit as she scolded, "What are you doing? Don't you know class has started? Sit down quickly!"

Jin Li's voice woke Yan Yan Yan Yan Jianqiao up. He immediately shouted "Cut" and called Gu Cheng over.

Gu Cheng and Yan Yan Yan Yan Jianqiao watched the footage they had just filmed over and over again. Yan Yan Yan Yan Jianqiao specifically spoke to him about his eye acting.

"You filmed well this time. There's light in your eyes, and your emotional expression is full. The plot conflict isn't intense, but you brought Gu Niande to life."

Speaking of this, Yan Yan Yan Yan Jianqiao looked at Gu Cheng specifically, "Tell me honestly, you didn't go to the Hope Primary School for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, but to some acting crash course, right?"

Gu Cheng was speechless.

Jin Li, listening from the side, couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Director Yan, he only took one day off. Acting skills aren't that easy to improve; even emergency training wouldn't do it!"

Gu Cheng said to Jin Li: "That's why I don't even want to talk to him. Does he know how excessive his words are?"

Yan Yan Yan Yan Jianqiao gave a sheepish smile: "So isn't that why I'm asking you?"

He turned his head to look at the footage in the camera and said with some regret: "This scene was filmed very well. If you didn't cram for it, then you suddenly had a breakthrough. It's just that the breakthrough came a bit late; it's almost finished filming before you understood."

Gu Cheng immediately said: "Where were you dissatisfied before? I can reshoot them."

Jin Li also immediately echoed: "I'm also willing to work overtime."

Yan Yan Yan Yan Jianqiao asked tentatively: "Then why not reshoot Gu Niande's scenes?"

Not to mention Gu Cheng, even Jin Li looked at him speechlessly.

Yan Yan Yan Yan Jianqiao immediately said: "Haha, I'm joking, don't take it seriously.

You only need to reshoot some scenes with more intense emotions. The ones you filmed before were flat, and it was fine once I got used to it, but now that your emotions are in place, those intense scenes seem a bit dull."

At night, work ended, and the actors returned to their hotels.

Gu Cheng came over to find Jin Li to do test papers. The door to the room was left open, not afraid of being filmed, very open and aboveboard.

Before doing the test papers, Gu Cheng handed Jin Li a small pink pouch with four characters written on it—"Good Health"—and a cartoon pattern of a little kitten on the side.

Jin Li took it, opened it, and saw that there were no blessings inside, but a pinch of soil.

She asked: "Is this the soil from Hope Primary School?"

Gu Cheng: "Yeah, I specifically ran to the pond to dig it. It doesn't have any special meaning."

Although he said that, Jin Li still cherished it and immediately put the pink pouch away, thinking it was very meaningful as a souvenir.

This was her first time donating to a school.

Gu Cheng chatted about this ribbon-cutting trip, a hint of a smile flashing in his eyes: "Wang Wang Live is very serious about this opening ceremony.

They invited all the first-tier stars who participated in the auction, and almost all of them came. Many media reporters also came. I can see they are sincerely trying to do a good job with the school."

Jin Li nodded, "I saw the news yesterday too."

With Wang Wang Live making such a big scene, they would inevitably buy news articles. Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Jie even specifically sent her a WeChat message saying it was a pity she didn't go, otherwise she could have hitched a ride on the popularity.

But her popularity had been quite good lately, and there was no need to abandon the filming on set just to make a trip.

However, Jin Li saw more of the netizens' hot comments, all tagging Maozhao, saying they were about to have their home stolen.

Clearly, Maozhao was the first to do charity, so how did it end up with Wang Wang carrying it forward? They shouted for Maozhao to hurry up and step up.

Gu Cheng thought of something and continued: "Actually, this time, Wang Wang also arranged for two groups of students to meet with us. I feel it was quite inspiring for me."

Jin Li looked curious.

Gu Cheng said: "The first group were good students who could get scholarships. Their grades were good, but they didn't continue studying.

First, there were no educational resources; going to school required walking two hours on mountain roads. Second, their families were poor and wanted them to go home to help.

I saw their thirst for learning."

He paused, "The other group of students were students with poor grades who didn't want to study.

Because they were still at the age of studying, after the Hope Primary School was built, the local area persuaded them to return.

After communicating with these students, I suddenly understood where Gu Niande's rebellion came from; it has similarities with these students.

They are all confused about the future, disgusted with learning, and have a family that is not good at communicating.

These students are all unattended; most are raised by their grandparents, or there are disabled people in the family, and life is not very good."

Jin Li was silent for a moment and said, "None of it is easy."

Gu Cheng: "Although Gu Niande has a much better family background than them and is still a middle school student, every child will have thoughts about their youth.

I put these feelings into the performance, started to dig into the traits of Gu Niande that I could understand, and after integrating them, the performance seemed to become simple."

Jin Li smiled: "So that's how it is. If we had known this method was useful, Director Yan would definitely have tried it sooner; it's too late to regret it now."

Gu Cheng thought for a moment and said, "It's a good thing for the crew that he isn't messing around."

After entering the crew, Jin Li also somewhat felt Yan Yan Yan Yan Jianqiao's casualness and unreliability.

She smiled: "You're right."

As Gu Cheng had a breakthrough, Yan Yan Yan Yan Jianqiao instead slowed down the filming speed and began to properly polish some important scenes.

However, no matter how much it slowed down, the crew's efficiency was still very high.

Time flew by and it was June. Jin Li had joined the crew after the Spring Festival in February, more than three months had passed, and the filming was nearing its end.

Everyone knew that filming was about to finish, and the crew became even more tense than before; no one wanted problems to occur in the final filming.

The anxiety from when they first started filming appeared on everyone.

Jin Li bore the pressure and went to perform the final two scenes.

The first scene was her inviting the enemy who caused everything—Lin Ba—to the rooftop of the teaching building where the incident happened back then.

Lin Ba had several opportunities to run into Li Li Feifei, but Li Li Feifei had dodged them or been shielded by others.

It was their first meeting in many years.

Lin Ba was very surprised to see Li Li Feifei: "Aren't you dead? How did you come back to life?"

From him, one could still see the shadow of his youth.

His mature appearance was just a disguise; once he encountered something, he was still that irritable Lin Ba who liked to fight to vent his anger.

Li Li Feifei looked at him coldly. The focus of this scene was on the eye acting, needing to express that tense sense of friction.

With a long-held wish about to be completed, when facing the enemy, the surging and complex emotions actually left her unable to speak.

Lin Ba was watched by her gaze and suddenly moved his eyes away, somewhat evasive.

He was a bit anxious and suddenly kicked the trash can on the rooftop heavily: "I knew Liu Fen was unreliable; I should have been the one watching to do that thing back then."

Li Li Feifei held back the tears in her eyes and asked calmly: "Do you want me dead that much? Gu Gu Xiude wasn't killed by me."

Lin Ba sneered: "Then what am I supposed to tell his parents? That he was killed by me?"

"It was clearly Gu Gu Xiude who rushed in to save you! Is it wrong to say he was killed by you? If he hadn't saved you, how could he possibly have died?"

Li Li Feifei hid the voice recorder in her hand: "If you hadn't kidnapped me and tried to teach me a lesson, how could the school have caught fire? You are the ultimate culprit."

Lin Ba said angrily: "Who the hell knew he would rush into the sea of fire to save you!"

Lin Ba took a step forward, and Li Li Feifei took a step back.

Her weakness was seen by Lin Ba, and a flash of madness crossed his eyes: "If you die, no one will ever discover the old events from back then..."

Li Li Feifei glared at him: "If I die, I'll drag someone down with me. I've recorded all the truth; once I die, someone will send it to the police!"

Lin Ba grinned hideously and quickly approached Li Li Feifei. In their struggle, they had reached the edge of the rooftop.

He grabbed Li Li Feifei's shoulders and said crazily: "Stop joking. If you could really do that, you would have done it long ago. Will the police believe the words of a living person, or the words of someone who is already dead?"

"Get down there!"

Li Li Feifei dared to call him to the rooftop because she had something to rely on; she had long been guarding against this move of his, taking a small stun gun from her waist and shocking Lin Ba.

But the effect of this stun gun was average, or rather, average against Lin Ba. In their pushing and shoving, the stun gun fell to the ground, and the voice recorder in Li Li Feifei's palm was also seen by Lin Ba.

Lin Ba rushed over to grab it, but because he was too nervous, he stepped on the stun gun on the ground, his foot slipped, his body leaned backward, and he actually fell off the rooftop!

Li Li Feifei subconsciously grabbed him, but under Lin Ba's hopeful gaze, she loosened her hand bit by bit.

She enjoyed Lin Ba's gaze, which was gradually becoming desperate, and sincerely hoped for his death.

At this moment, she completely became a villain, and her hands were stained with blood.