Jiang BaiYan's private restaurant was also an old building with over two hundred years of history. Although it was inevitably decorated like an ancient costume drama set, setting aside the overdone furnishings, the architecture itself still exuded the charm of time.
Another plus was the cuisine.
Jiang BaiYan said this private kitchen was actually quite well-known nationwide among foodies, belonging to the category of places passed down by word of mouth among gourmands, but did not advertise to the general public.
Jian Jing inevitably felt the restaurant was a bit pretentious, but after tasting the food she immediately understood.
With the culinary level of this restaurant, they simply didn't need advertisements.
It really was delicious.
Jiang BaiYan was currently filming so except when required by the role, he strictly controlled his diet. Today was no exception.
He only ate some protein throughout, barely touching any carbs or meat. He ate the most vegetables.
Most of the time he was helping Jian Jing debone her food.
Fish had a lot of small bones. He used a small fork to remove the tiny bones, basically without damaging the texture of the fish meat, so when eaten it still retained the original mouthfeel of the dish.
After dissecting the fish, he put on gloves and swiftly began peeling shrimp, quickly piling up half a small bowl, while Jian Jing hadn't even finished half her fish.
Worried she felt pressured, after peeling the shrimp Jiang BaiYan didn't continue, instead slowly picking out a few stems of greens, chewing them thoroughly before swallowing. He even said, "I really love the veggie dishes here, they're as tasty as the meat."
Jian Jing looked at him sympathetically. "You'll be able to eat normally again after filming wraps."
"I told Agent Lin, from now on I'll only do one movie a year, one TV series a year," Jiang BaiYan reported his work plans. "That way I'll work at most half a year, the other half I can take it easier."
Jian Jing strongly agreed. "I think only working a few months a year sounds pretty good."
Jiang BaiYan naturally asked about Dream Wandering Girl, "When's it coming out? Can I get an advance look?"
"Sure," Jian Jing was very open about it, "should I send you the file?"
Jiang BaiYan pleaded, "Can I get the first signed copy of the actual book?"
She nodded. "They'll send me sample copies, I'll bring one for you then."
"Jian Jing is so nice," he diligently refilled her drink. "Take your time eating, I'm in no rush."
But Jian Jing still finished before 7:30.
Too full, she decided to just walk over to digest, doubling as exercise.
The sun had already set, blood red twilight glowed on the ancient rooftops, adding a hazy red veil that looked both gorgeous and eerie.
The set lights brightly illuminated the filming location rented by the crew.
The staff were taking the chance to hurriedly eat dinner while Director Li sat smoking, discreetly glancing at his watch.
7:28, right on time.
He was satisfied inwardly. Although Jiang BaiYan also took star privileges and didn't share the same hardships as the crew, he always performed his main job very well, taking his acting seriously without complaining about difficulties, doing multiple takes without throwing tantrums.
That was good enough.
"Director Li, I'm here," Jiang BaiYan greeted him all smiles. "What are we filming tonight?"
Director Li also put on a smile. "It might rain in a couple days, let's get the night scenes done early, Scene 18. Take a look."
Sister Chen handed over the script. Jiang BaiYan flipped through it, just moving up scenes originally scheduled for the next two days. He had previewed that section's lines already so it wasn't unfamiliar.
"Let me review again." He took the initiative to sit in a folding chair and start going over his lines.
Director Li glanced at Jian Jing wandering around. He seemed to recognize her but didn't say anything. As long as she wasn't some star bringing crowds of fans to massively disrupt filming, relatives and friends dropping by was normal human sentiment.
Moreover Jian Jing was a famous author, backed by the powerful Golden Crow Company, nobody wanted to get on her bad side over nothing.
He pretended not to see her.
With the supreme director not saying anything, nobody else would make thoughtless comments either, at most taking a couple extra peeks for gossip's sake.
Jian Jing asked Sister Chen, "So who's playing who here?"
Over the past couple years Sister Chen's attitude towards Jian Jing had changed again and again. Now she was even more attentive than to an actual boss. She immediately introduced who was who on the crew this time.
Jiang BaiYan was the undisputed male lead, no further explanation needed. The second male lead was the one who brought fans back to his trailer, later splashed with dog's blood, surname Qu, 26 years old, film academy graduate, decent acting skills, quite popular, considered second-tier. He could be referred to as supporting male role Qu for short.
The female lead Ms. Bei was 32 years old. A current popular A-list actress, married. Her husband visited set earlier resulting in flirting with the actress playing Female Role #4, caught by the wife, leaving Ms. Bei in an awful mood lately.
Jian Jing didn't see Ms. Bei on set, Sister Chen said she didn't have scenes tonight and was resting in her room.
As per convention she could be called female lead Bei.
Female Role #2 had scenes later on and hadn't started filming yet, no details for now. There were also some familiar veteran actors in supporting roles who had done many spy dramas before, but all filming at Studio B located hours away by car.
Other than the actors, the only people who could get close to the stars and freely access the guesthouse were crew staff.
Some staff lived with the actors in the supposedly haunted guesthouse, others stayed at a hotel. Due to work they also frequently went between various locations, impossible to closely investigate and screen.
Jian Jing pretended to recognize someone, recalling some gossip.
"Didn't they say something was up with the second male lead, his contract got cancelled and filming postponed to take care of it?" She was puzzled.
Earlier Jiang BaiYan said he left temporarily to film a movie because word got out about an issue with the second male lead of this spy drama. Worried a scandal erupting mid-shoot could halt filming, the crew directly postponed production.
But now it seemed supporting male role Qu was perfectly fine?
Sister Chen nodded and whispered, "It got smoothed over, the boss personally spoke to the director wanting to give him a chance with this drama to rebuild his reputation, so..."
Jian Jing showed a speechless expression.
"Ms. Jian don't worry," after a moment memorizing lines Jiang BaiYan was done. He leaked inside news, "Although he's still Male Lead #2, his scenes got cut way down. The screenwriter gave all the key plots to Male Lead #3 instead, super unlucky, could cut him entirely without affecting the story."
He said, "Most of that guy's scenes are in the first half, competing with me for the female lead's affection, romance romance romance. Wouldn't change much without them."
Jian Jing: "......"
Aren't you quite the schemer yourselves.
Hearing this she was even more curious though. "What exactly happened with him?"
Jiang BaiYan opened his mouth about to explain, when a voice suddenly interrupted, "Little Bai, you're here so early?"
Jian Jing turned to see supporting male role Qu's face.
Truthfully, anyone good-looking enough to be a star would naturally stand out in a crowd. Supporting male role Qu gave off a stylish, cool handsomeness, strong brows and high nose, very three-dimensional features, extremely eye-catching among people.
"Finished eating so came right over," Jiang BaiYan greeted him all smiles, not the slightest awkwardness from gossiping about someone just now. "You have scenes tonight too?"
Obviously the script clearly wrote whether they had scenes together or not.
"Yeah." Supporting male role Qu nodded, gaze falling onto Jian Jing. "You're...Ms. Jian Jing? Very nice meeting you, you're even prettier in person than in photos."
He reached out wanting to shake Jian Jing's hand.
Jian Jing smiled politely, "I'm getting in the way of your filming, just passing through on vacation and dropping by to visit the set."
"Jian Jing is a good friend of mine." Jiang BaiYan said.
Supporting male role Qu smiled without pushing further, simply turning to leave instead.
"Jian Jing, this guy isn't a good person," Jiang BaiYan told her. "Don't let him fool you."
Jian Jing replied, "No worries, certainly won't be as easily fooled as by you."
Jiang BaiYan: "......"
"Bai Yan," Sister Chen reminded, "the makeup artist is here, you still need styling done."
"Going right now." He hurried off to get ready.
The Republican era clothing was similar enough to modern wear that not much adjustment was needed beyond changing into costume and simple makeup.
Spectating once or twice was fun but got old after too many times. After watching a short while Jian Jing told Sister Chen she was heading back to the guesthouse.
At this time the crew were all still on set. The guesthouse was deathly silent, only one room had lights on, should be female lead Bei's place.
She followed the smell of paint to the room Jiang BaiYan previously stayed in.
Flipping on the lights revealed pinkish-white walls.
She carefully inspected every nook and cranny, disappointed to find the owner had been extremely diligent. Nearly the entire room was scrubbed sparkling clean, tables and windowsills wiped spotless, the bedding all replaced with brand new sets. Not a single trace remained of the supposed ghost encounter.
With no choice she could only check against Jiang BaiYan's photos.
But...those were selfies.
Although only half of his face was captured in the photo, it looked like an unintentional selfie, but there was no doubt that it was a selfie, otherwise why would he use a front-facing camera?
So, limited information.
Jian Jing could barely judge that the bloody handprints were mainly concentrated in front of the door, covering the entire wall. There were few on the other walls, including the one next to the window.
In addition, none of the handprints had fingerprints. The sizes were similar, but the positions of the five fingers were different. It was obvious that they were not imprinted directly using some kind of tool, but rather smeared by someone using their own hands.
No matter how you looked at it, it was a fake ghost story. The system did not prompt either.
Jian Jing wandered around for a while longer, but still did not find anything abnormal. She regretfully went back to the hotel to rest.
The next day, the crew stopped working for half a day, and the exorcism activity began.
It was a ceremony that was both public and private. It was public in that everyone knew about the exorcism. Even if many people did not know about the previous incidents, doing some superstitious activities in the old house during filming had an extremely reassuring effect.
It was private because the entire ceremony did not allow too many people to participate.
The master said that with too many people around, the strong yang energy would scare away the ghosts and monsters and prevent them from appearing, making it impossible to truly exorcise them.
Whether you believed it or not, since he said so, the crew could not insist otherwise. Naturally, they agreed that only a few main creative staff could attend.
As Jiang BaiYan's friend, Jian Jing had the good fortune to observe it happen.
The master was in his fifties, wearing gorgeous Taoist robes. His outfit looked very professional, giving the impression that he was quite capable. Jian Jing curiously asked, "Does he have a certificate?"
"Master Long is from Hong Kong and holds Malaysian citizenship," Director Li introduced. "The Taoists in China don't do this anymore. We could only invite someone from overseas."
Jian Jing nodded, indicating that she was learning: "Has he done this before? Were the results good?"
Director Li said solemnly, "What Master Long specializes in is exorcising little ghosts and inviting fox fairies. I've seen it once before. He is really quite psychic."
Jian Jing made a gesture showing she was listening attentively.
Director Li told a secret story.
He had a friend who married into a wealthy Hong Kong family. In recent years, she enjoyed a comfortable life. But after getting pregnant, her husband's family business plummeted almost into bankruptcy. She sought deities and Buddha everywhere. By chance one day, she met Master Long.
The master said she was being harassed by a little ghost and asked if her husband had ever raised a little ghost in Thailand.
She did as he said and asked her husband. He was quite surprised and asked how she came to know about it. So she introduced Master Long to him. Master Long said that he had once promised to treat that ghost like his own child, but now that his wife was pregnant, the ghost wanted revenge.
The husband asked what should be done. The master said, either you give up your unborn child or give up the ghost.
Men care deeply about continuing their family line. Naturally, he chose to expel the little ghost.
The exact process was unclear. In any case, after the exorcism, the husband's family got a chance to catch their breath and slowly recovered.
There was another piece of gossip. He said a certain female Taiwanese celebrity, with Master Long's help, invited a fox fairy to possess her. Not only did her career take off, but she also had a group of wealthy suitors pursuing her and eventually married into a wealthy family, making others extremely envious.
However, no matter how seriously Director Li spoke, such rumors were too outrageous to believe.
Jian Jing was still doubtful. She tentatively approached Master Long.
As soon as Master Long saw her, he was shocked and exclaimed, "You are actually still alive?"
