After cracking the case of the icy female corpse, Jian Jing spent a very harmonious December.
She had classes two days a week, drank milk tea with Le Classmate, and talked about their feelings (Li Classmate never spoke to her again, thank goodness). She went home to write, walked the dog at night, and got some late night snacks along the way.
By Christmas, she had finished the first chapter of Demon 3.
Knight had gained two pounds and was even more majestic.
The movie version of Rose Gold was being urgently edited, aiming for a Valentine's Day release next year, while the TV drama Demon Doctor 2 had already been submitted for review and was also preparing to air during the Lunar New Year.
In the meantime, she went with Jiang BaiYan to see the movie he had filmed earlier in Ice City.
It was snowing and icy, with extremely beautiful scenery. It was about a father and son who were forest rangers. Jiang BaiYan played the son, and had less than 50 lines in the entire movie, communicating mostly through looks and expressions.
The concept was very profound, and the cinematography was gorgeous, but it was just too boring to watch.
She fell asleep directly.
After the screening ended, Jiang BaiYan shook her awake and silently gazed at her.
Jian Jing was slightly embarrassed and looked around, "It's over?"
There was not a soul around them.
He was dispirited, "It started half an hour ago, and half of them left halfway through. By the end there were only five or six left."
Jian Jing: "..." Even documentaries have narration, this was truly boring.
She picked up her cola and chose her words carefully, "The movie itself was very good, just too profound."
Jiang BaiYan let out a miserable groan and slumped his head onto her shoulder, "I filmed for three months."
His tone was extremely aggrieved.
"You acted very well," Jian Jing sincerely praised him.
Although she had fallen asleep halfway through, some of the scenes had left a deep impression on her - the pine trees covered in ice and snow, the clear blue sky, and his pure and innocent face perfectly conveyed a childlike heart.
It was hard to imagine that the person with such a guileless gaze on camera had guts as convoluted as a maze in real life.
In that sense, his acting skills were outstanding.
Jiang BaiYan dully said, "Thank you."
Jian Jing quickly ended the topic, "Let's go, I'll treat you to a meal as thanks for inviting me to the movie."
"You're actually thinking that I should be the one treating you," he mumbled, "I wasted two hours of your time for nothing."
Jian Jing disingenuously said, "No such thing."
Jiang BaiYan's face was the epitome of "I don't believe you."
However, although the movie was a bit boring and not to mainstream taste, the ratings kept soaring, and it was even going to participate in film festivals abroad.
Many peers made sour remarks, but Jiang BaiYan didn't take it to heart. He told Jian Jing, "It won't win any awards - the emotional expression is too subtle, foreigners will have a hard time understanding it."
In this aspect, Jian Jing believed his intuition. She couldn't help but feel curious, "What about Rose Gold then?"
"I haven't seen the final film yet," he blinked mischievously, "But I signed a profit-sharing agreement."
Reminded by him, Jian Jing recalled that when this movie was in pre-production, funding at Golden Crow was very tight (back then President Kang was focused on acquiring Dream Building), so she didn't even ask for any copyright fees.
"Great, if this movie flops, you, me, and President Kang can all share the losses," she said.
Jiang BaiYan made a funny grimace, "Maybe you'll make a huge sum of money from it."
"Seems like you're very confident," Jian Jing glanced at him and casually asked, "So, any thoughts after acting in this movie?"
Jiang BaiYan blinked and smiled, "Let's talk about that after we've seen the finished movie."
Jian Jing looked him over without pursuing the question further.
After that, Christmas and New Year's passed under sunny weather.
Jian Jing received a year-end gift package from Golden Crow - books that won major literary awards this year, a mini Christmas tree and a dozen Christmas stockings, plus a beautiful snow globe that showed falling snow.
She put the snow globe on her desk, the Christmas tree by the window sill, and put the stockings around Knight's neck, pretending they were a tie.
Knight: "Woof?"
"Cute," she affectionately ruffled the dog's head.
Knight lay down with his head on his paws.
She took a selfie and uploaded it to Weibo, wishing readers a Merry Christmas.
Then she received several hundred comments urging her to write...
[The author is playing with her dog instead of writing, we're going to starve to death!]
[Hungry, food!]
[When is Demon 3 coming out??]
[When will Rose Gold premiere? Don't make too many changes in the adaptation, I'm worried!]
[The drama version of Demon 2 should be coming soon too]
[I'm so worried the author will earn enough to retire early qaq]
[She'll be motivated to write more after buying some new couture!]
Jian Jing silently forked away from the interface.
2021 passed and 2022 arrived.
On New Year's Day, she slept in, played games, and walked the dog.
On the second day of the new year, she slept in, binged shows, and walked the dog.
On the third day of the new year, she slept in, boarded the dog at the boss's house, and packed her bags.
The wedding was to take place in a small town in Eastern Europe called Barna, which meant "ice and snow disaster" in the local language.
Jian Jing checked the local weather, which was... snow, heavy snow, blizzard.
She was utterly dumbfounded.
A winter wedding, she thought it would be some place with warm spring-like weather, but they were getting married during a blizzard - were the hosts insane? But on second thought, some places in Switzerland had year-round snow, yet were known for their unique scenery, so maybe this place was similar.
Better pack more clothes, or she'd freeze.
This was another excruciatingly long flight.
Worse than the Paris trip - the small town had no nearby airports. They had to first fly to the country's capital city, then transfer to the nearest airport - which, it must be said, was minuscule, just a row of bungalows that passed for an airport.
That wasn't even the end of it.
After nearly a dozen hours (she wanted to cry for help) of flying, they would meet up with the groom's friend, who would drive them to the town of Barna.
When they came out of the airport, the weather was still decent, just very windy, with gusts blowing in their faces as if being slapped back and forth.
Jian Jing swallowed her torrent of feelings and shivered in her scarf.
"Hi!" A bear-like burly man strode up and asked in not very fluent English, "Are you Kang?"
Kang Mu Cheng nodded and shook his hand.
After introducing themselves, the big bear introduced himself as "George", a very generic foreign male name. He was a local of the town of Barna, hired by Castle Winterfell. He would be responsible for picking up and dropping off the wedding guests this time.
English wasn't the local official language here, but George spoke decently, at least well enough to be understood. "Although Barna is a small place, the scenery is extremely, extremely, extremely beautiful. You won't regret coming here."
His emphasis on "very-very-very" was amusing. Jian Jing couldn't help laughing out loud.
But at this time, she still didn't take this completely obscure town of Barna seriously.
A European country town, exotic flair, probably quite pretty, but to say "very-very-very"...Brother Bear was probably embellishing things.
She was very interested in Castle Winterfell though, and asked, "Did you say castle earlier? One of those castles?"
"Oh yeah yeah," Brother Bear had a wonderful rhythm to his accent as he replied in English, "That kind of castle. You girls will like that place." He paused, then corrected himself, "Well, now there's three of you."
Such flattery, Jian Jing couldn't resist laughing.
Brother Bear went on, "But Lei Ao is a good kid. Really, I'm very fond of him. I'm truly happy that he's found happiness."
He chatted volubly and soon described the groom's family background in detail.
Lei Ao's surname was a bit of a tongue twister, pronounced "Salvickluz". Since it was so hard to remember, his family was referred to as the "Sal" family.
They had over three hundred years of history in this region, and were counts enfeoffed by the former royal family, possessing a large territory. But as history evolved, the royals with actual power became figurehead constitutional monarchs, and the nobility retained only symbolic meaning.
The territory was naturally gone too.
Decades ago, Lei Ao's grandfather did business and made a fortune. He not only renovated the old castle, but also bought a large tract of land, becoming the largest real estate developer in the area.
It is said that one-third of the land in Barna town belongs to the Sal family. They are filthy rich.
The hospital, shopping mall, nursing home in the town are all funded by the Sal family. They are the uncrowned kings of Barna town.
Brother Bear is good at chatting. After driving for four hours, Si Yingjie and Kang Mu Cheng couldn't bear the fatigue of the journey and fell asleep, but Jian Jing became more spirited and took notes enthusiastically.
She humored him, making Brother Bear even more energetic. Originally he was going to take them directly to Castle Winterfell, but after arriving in town he changed his mind and strongly recommended they try the best pizza in town.
The plane arrived at around eight in the morning, and after several more hours of driving, everyone was starving, and they unanimously agreed.
Just looking at the exterior, the pizza shop was somewhat disappointing. The red roof tiles had faded, and the sign was also dim. But when they pushed open the sturdy door, an amazing aroma immediately wafted out.
Sausage, cheese, vegetables, the wonderful smell of the dough immediately awakened the taste buds of the three.
Si Yingjie shamelessly said, "I can eat a whole one by myself."
Jian Jing immediately ordered: "One jumbo pizza."
"You must try the grape lemonade the boss makes himself," Brother Bear strongly recommended.
Jian Jing readily agreed: "Okay, three more lemonades."
"Youth is so nice. I wish I could just eat and then go to sleep," Si Yingjie said, his waist and back aching, unable to muster any energy. "President Kang, us old bones really can't take it anymore."
Kang Mu Cheng didn't say anything, picked up a glass of lemonade the boss had brought over, took a small sip, and the cold rushed to his forehead, finally making him a little more awake.
At this time, the piping hot pizza had just come fresh out of the oven.
The four each took a slice, and with one bite the taste of the cheese, toppings, and dough blended in their mouths, rich and spicy, immediately setting their tongues ablaze.
"Cough," Kang Mu Cheng, who couldn't eat spicy food, coughed incessantly.
Jian Jing chuckled and quickly passed him water and napkins, asking, "Is there anything non-spicy, anything is fine."
The boss poked his head out with a look of "poor child can't eat spicy," and asked, "Chicken noodles?"
"No spicy," Jian Jing emphasized.
The boss shook his head and ducked back into the kitchen.
Kang Mu Cheng drank several gulps of icy water to finally quell the spiciness, and said to Jian Jing, "You should eat less too, it's too spicy."
"I'm fine," she said, taking a big bite, even enjoying the pain from the chili peppers. Paired with the chilled, refreshing grape lemonade, the sweet and sour taste was delicious too.
Enjoyable.
"Ding dong," the bell on the door rang as three people bundled up warmly squeezed into the shop.
"One jumbo pizza, extra cheese," the young man in front ordered familiarly, then turned around and rubbed his nose. "Uncle George, you're here too?"
"Luka," Brother Bear warmly greeted. "How come you're even later than me, aren't you closer?"
Luka complained angrily, "Don't even mention it. This lady had to go shopping in town, so what could I do?"
"You little brat, what's wrong with preparing more stuff in such a remote place?" the blonde woman retorted, hands on her hips, very aggressive.
Luka was very upset and ignored her, only asking Brother Bear, "Uncle George, is there still room in your car?"
"Two more seats," Brother Bear said. "What's up?"
A shadow flashed across Luka's face. "The castle...I don't like that place. You know how it makes me feel uncomfortable."
The room instantly fell silent.
