Chapter 25: New Character

The next day, Chen Nuo flew to Shanghai all by himself.

Because Qi Yuntian had suddenly come down with appendicitis, he was admitted to the hospital that very day.

In a phone call before boarding the plane, Qi Yuntian complained bitterly that the doctors at the hospital had shaved him clean without his consent, which had made him so angry he cursed them out. As a result, he was severely lectured by Li Er, and now he was being guarded by Li Er every step of the way, making his days feel like years.

"I can't stay in Jingcheng for even one more day. I must go to the great Shanghai to clear my head so I can mend my broken heart. Why don't you call my mom and tell her that you need me there, so she'll let me out~"

"Heh, goodbye." Chen Nuo hung up the phone directly.

After two in the afternoon, Chen Nuo arrived at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport.

The place he was going to was a small town in the suburbs, a film shooting base built by the Zhenzheng Prefecture at the end of the last century. Chen Nuo couldn't figure out the traffic in the great Shanghai, so he bit the bullet and took a taxi from the airport, which cost nearly 200 yuan to reach his destination.

After arriving in the town, Chen Nuo learned that it was divided into eastern and western parts. The east side was the film base, while the west side was a long-famous old street with black tiles and white walls, small bridges and flowing water—a typical Jiangnan town in the Ming and Qing style.

Furthermore, there were many houses for rent in this town, so there was no need to worry about finding a place to stay.

Through an agent, Chen Nuo quickly found a monthly rental. It had two beds, a wardrobe, and all sorts of appliances; it would be ready for Qi Yuntian to stay in when he came.

This era was not like the later Magic City; renting for a month plus the agent fee was only 1500, giving Chen Nuo the thrill of having found a great bargain.

The house was right by the Songjiang River, on the second floor of a small building. The owners were a couple in their sixties whose son and daughter had both gone to the city of SH to develop their careers, leaving a few rooms empty in the house, which they then put up for rent.

When Chen Nuo carried his suitcase into the house, the old lady wanted to help. Chen Nuo didn't dare let the elderly woman do any work and hurriedly declined. The old lady grinned, her eyes squinting into slits, and said in a mouthful of Shanghai dialect: "!#@#!@￥#@￥@￥!￥#%#……*"

"Heh, alright, alright." Chen Nuo replied with a smile.

The old man laughed along from the side and said, "She doesn't speak Mandarin. You don't understand what she's saying, do you??"

Chen Nuo nodded and said honestly, "Yeah, I don't understand."

"She said, young man, you look good; do you want to stay and be our Shanghai son-in-law?"

After this little interlude, the old couple seemed to really treat Chen Nuo as their Shanghai son-in-law, even inviting him to eat with them that evening to taste authentic Shanghai cuisine.

Chen Nuo happily agreed.

After going to his room and tidying up his things, he sat on the bed and opened the script. The cover of the script was a bit wrinkled; those were the claw marks Pan Yue had left yesterday.

In fact, Chen Nuo had lied to Pan Yue; the script he received was not the complete version, only a general outline of the story and his own scenes. As for the breach of contract fee, it certainly wasn't 500,000; only someone without a brain would believe that.

Chen Nuo had actually already read the script for *If You Are the One* last night, but he hadn't understood it. In his previous life, he had only heard of it but never watched the film, and he didn't even know if it had been a box-office hit or a flop in the end.

However, since he had already accepted the role, he could only do his best to perform it now.

But he didn't understand what purpose the character he was playing, Monty, actually served in the movie.

Was he just a background extra? Someone doing push-ups, or just passing by?

It seemed that in this story, he just sang a few songs, danced a little, acted cool, said a few lines to Zhou Xun, exchanged a couple of sentences with Zhang Xue, and chatted with Jin Chengwu; other than that, there was nothing.

Calling him a "tool" would be giving him too much credit; even if his character were deleted entirely, it wouldn't hinder the plot development in the slightest.

So why did Chen Kexin set up such a character?

He couldn't find an entry point at all.

This character was completely different from the "mute" one before. The script for the mute had visuals; it was continuous, and he could see the scenes progressing one after another. He could even draw them out.

But in this film, Monty was like a ghost, weaving through the corners of every story, appearing suddenly and disappearing without warning.

At times he held a notebook, appearing in Zhou Xun's room as a reporter; at other times he appeared on the midnight streets, accompanying Zhang Xue to eat a bowl of beef noodles. Sometimes he played a taxi driver, watching the tears and sorrows of Jin Chengwu with cold eyes.

He had no purpose or mission in the movie.

He was not the main thread.

He was just a punctuation mark, turning or connecting between sentences.

He was an observer, a recorder, not a participant or someone within the drama.

This made Chen Nuo very distressed, as he didn't know how to get started.

Fortunately, that evening, after he had enjoyed a meal of sweet and sour pork ribs and crab roe with the old couple and returned to his room, Zhang Yi, whom he hadn't been in touch with for a long time, called him.

(End of chapter)