Chapter 85: This Time It's A Little Different

Gao Yuanyuan has a happy family.

Her husband is a very talented young screenwriter, and the two have a very cute daughter; she loves her husband deeply, and for his sake, she did not hesitate to quit her job as a piano teacher to focus on raising their cute little daughter at home.

Gao Yuanyuan thought life would go on like this until the end of time.

Until one day, the bad news arrived: her beloved husband actually had a little mistress on the side, the young daughter of a certain underworld boss.

The underworld boss issued a bounty, determined to finish off the bastard who had deceived his daughter's feelings.

From that day on, her husband was neither seen alive nor dead.

Her younger brother told her that the scumbag must be dead, saying he had likely been stuffed into a sack and thrown into the sea long ago.

Fearing retaliation, Gao Yuanyuan took her daughter and decided to return to her husband's hometown of Guantang to live, still harboring a faint hope that she might be able to wait for her missing husband in Guantang.

On the hurried drive to Guantang, the car broke down on the road.

She called a nearby repair shop; the owner came over to take a look and found it was just out of gas—perhaps she had been in too much of a rush when she left and hadn't noticed.

The repair shop owner towed the car back and asked her on the way what she was doing in Guantang.

She said she was coming to settle in Guantang and wanted to open a piano training class there.

The repair shop owner enthusiastically helped her find a storefront and busied himself helping her out; he was a good man.

Gao Yuanyuan found a kindergarten for her daughter, tried to make friends with the neighbors, and gave renovation advice to a clothing store owner she didn't even know.

While getting a haircut, she inadvertently overheard the clothing store owner gossiping in the barbershop; it was like a bucket of cold water poured over her head, making Gao Yuanyuan realize that in the eyes of others, she was nothing more than a neurotic, problematic woman.

In order to fit in, Gao Yuanyuan told a lie, disguising herself as a very glamorous and successful person, even going around looking at land, saying she was preparing to buy property and set up a business.

And so, quite naturally, she, this "successful person," easily integrated into the local area.

Just as she was singing with her new friends, enjoying the wanton release after long-suppressed repression, the lie brought an even more severe tragedy: her daughter was kidnapped.

She had no money to pay the ransom, and her daughter was brutally murdered.

Desperate and helpless, she chose to escape once again, joining Christianity in an attempt to redeem her soul.

Everything seemed to be looking up; moved by divine grace, she decided to go to prison to tell the murderer in person that she had decided to forgive him.

But in prison, the murderer proudly said that he, too, had converted to God and had already received God's forgiveness.

Like a bolt from the blue, Gao Yuanyuan felt the whole world had lost its luster—how could God, how dare He, how could He forgive the murderer of her daughter without even consulting her opinion?

Why?

What right did He have to do that?

Is this the equality of all living things in the eyes of the so-called God?

Her faith collapsed, and her spirit broke.

……

"Why?"

Gao Yuanyuan shouted, opened her eyes, her face covered in tears, her expression filled with indignation, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling.

After a long while, she moved her fingers slightly, closed her eyes, opened them again, and closed them once more.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, she whispered to herself, "I... have no husband, no daughter..."

Then, her speech accelerated, "I have no husband, no daughter, no husband, no daughter... ugh..."

With a sob, she could no longer suppress the sorrow in her heart, covering her face with her hands, "Ugh... ugh..."

After crying for ten minutes, Gao Yuanyuan lowered her hands, slowly got off the bed, stumbled slightly, nearly falling, and walked slowly to the bathroom.

She cupped a handful of bone-chilling cold water and splashed it forcefully onto her face, then looked at herself in the mirror, whispering in a slightly hoarse voice, "Gao Yuanyuan, you have no husband, no daughter; you... you might be a bit too deep into the role..."

Then, she frowned slightly; why was it him? Could it be because he tormented her all day yesterday, and she was driven to a breakdown by him, so she couldn't help but hate him in her heart, making him the scumbag husband in her dream?

As if venting, Gao Yuanyuan clenched her fists and swung them twice, saying silently, "Go to hell, Cao Yang, you dead scumbag!"

……

The next day, filming continued.

After arriving, Gao Yuanyuan looked at Cao Yang with a complex expression; she knew she had no reason to blame him, but she couldn't help but offer a gentle greeting in her heart, "Pah, go to hell, scumbag!"

"Morning, Director Cao."

Gao Yuanyuan's voice was still slightly hoarse, but her tone was very gentle.

"Morning, Yuanyuan, are... are you alright?"

Cao Yang looked at Gao Yuanyuan with a complex expression; this was the woman—he had already tried his best to mess with her, nearly driving her to a breakdown, and yet the trash system still made him invest three "role-immersion" experiences in one go before it was satisfied!

The trash system is really fucking excessive; it wouldn't work unless he added three at once.

Pah, what garbage!

Cao Yang observed Gao Yuanyuan for a while longer; on the surface, she seemed fine, unlike Li Xiaoran back then, who really had trouble distinguishing between the play and reality.

It seemed Gao Yuanyuan's breakdown yesterday might have just been emotional, not the same as the near-mental collapse Li Xiaoran had experienced.

!

An assistant came over to give a reminder that the scheduled time was almost up.

"Attention everyone, filming in ten minutes."

Cao Yang said, holding the walkie-talkie.

And so, the set immediately entered work mode; the machines underwent final adjustments, the stylist hurried to see if touch-ups were needed, and the lighting was given a final check—everything was orderly.

"Mr. Gu, the same as yesterday?" Ning Hao asked.

Gu Changwei slapped Ning Hao on the head, "Same as my ass, get to work, Director Cao ordered it, normal filming."

"Alrighty."

Ning Hao chuckled and hurried to prepare with another assistant.

It was the same shot that had tortured Gao Yuanyuan for nearly a day yesterday; after the clapperboard was marked, with a "snap," it clapped in front of the lens.

Before filming, Gao Yuanyuan was still a bit nervous, afraid of being tortured to death again.

When the clapperboard struck and filming began, she seemed to have already experienced this; familiar with the process, she naturally held the phone with a hint of arrogance while maintaining a very gentle tone, looking left and right.

"Where? How would I know where this is? There's a road sign here, it says four kilometers to Guantang..."

"Cut!"

Cao Yang shouted, then wore a smile on his face, "That's a wrap."

The crew was silent for a moment, then, as if unable to believe it, the shot that had been so torturous yesterday had passed... just like that?

Yes, it passed.

Cao Yang suppressed his smile and said with feigned seriousness, "What are you all staring at? Prepare the next set of shots."

Then the crew seemed to come back to life, all returning to work, though many couldn't help but mutter, was it a coincidence? Just luck?

The clapperboard struck, and the second shot of the day began filming.

Gao Yuanyuan talked on the phone while reaching out to hail a car, running over hurriedly to ask the driver where they were.

Everything was natural, without the slightest hint of being forced; it was another one-take.

Was it still a coincidence?

Perhaps this wasn't enough to show off her acting skills; in the afternoon, there was a shot that really required acting, still by the side of this road, in the grassy patch not far away.

(End of chapter)