Because the magnitude of the earthquake wasnât high, the village didnât suffer any severe losses. Itâs just that some people who had trouble walking suffered minor injuries when they were running. Despite this, no one dared to take it lightly. The people in the village moved the mattresses, bedding and the like to the open space outside. Even if the weather was cold, they still planned on spending the night outside.
In places where people are sparsely populated and the buildings are mostly low, the damage caused by the earthquake is insignificant. But what they are most afraid of is that the earthquake could cause the village to be completely isolated from the outside world, and that no one would know what is going on at this time.
ZhouXiang also took out two sets of bedding from the room and put it on top of the bed pads, creating a cotton-padded mattress. . Then, he got under and closed his eyes.
Most people couldnât sleep. ZhouXiang kept hearing trembling voices around him that made him feel very agitated. He couldnât calm down. But he had filmed for an entire day and carried YanMingXiu on his back through the night. He was already very exhausted. Very soon, his deep exhaustion finally consumed his consciousness. He drowsily fell asleep.
After dawn, the light was too bright and too noisy all around. He quickly woke up. Everyone around him was busy. ZhouXiang squinted his eyes and saw a pair of legs walking toward him.
He swung his head and sat up, his nose was frozen stiff.
The production assistant came over and pushed him once, âGo back to the hotel, it should be fine now.â
ZhouXiang dazedly stood up, grabbed his bedding and headed back to the hotel with the rest of the crowd.
As soon as he got into the room, he saw YanMingXiu lying on the bed. It didnât look like he had awakened. WangYuDong was sitting in the chair by the bed watching news.
Seeing ZhouXiang come in, WangYuDong looked at him coldly, âGet out. Have the hotel get you another room.â
ZhouXiang did not say anything. He turned to leave.
"ZhouXiang," WangYuDongâs chilling voice sounded from behind, "Donât take yourself too seriously, you know exactly what you are."
ZhouXiang mockingly smiled at himself and left without turning back.
Of course he knows what he is. He didnât need other people to remind him.
He got a room that is a floor above YanMingXiu. When he got into the room, he turned on the TV. It was already past six in the morning. Many people still donât know that an earthquake happened but itâs already been reported on TV.
As it turned out, the epicenter of the earthquake actually occurred in the mountainous area along the border between Guizhou and Guangxi. The magnitude was 4.7 on the scale but due to the vast territory and dispersed personnel, there were no reports of major casualties and property losses. Experts from the Seismological Bureau are analyzing the scope of the earthquake and predicted that there may still be small aftershocks in the upcoming two to three days.
It seems that the earthquake didnât cause any huge losses so the crewâs filming plan should not change significantly. He didnât want to come back to this place a second time.
After watching the news, it was almost seven oâclock. He figured that ChenYing should be up so he decided to give her a call to inform her of his safety before she sees it in the news. Then he went to sleep. He was tossing and turning for an entire night and didnât sleep well so he was very tired. He slept until the afternoon when someone came to get him to continue with his filming.
The village had already returned to order in the afternoon. They used this few hours before sunset to film some of the content.
On this day, even when ZhouXiang returned to the room to rest, he still hasnât seen YanMingXiu.
For the next few days, YanMingXiu seemed to have stayed in his room the entire time, not coming out at all.
ZhouXiang was filming from morning to night each day. Not only did he have to endure the skepticism of his colleagues but also have to guard against TanYinâs tricks. The most annoying thing is that as long as WangYuDong is on the set, every single one of his scenes needed to be reshot seven to eight times. Even though he didnât have many scenes and the time that WangYuDong stays on set is not long, this happened once or twice every day. It is enough to make him so exhausted that he could hardly breathe.
Everyone could see that ZhouXiang had offended WangYuDong so they took the initiative to talk to him less and less.
ZhouXiang would not be depressed and dispirited over such matters. What really made him feel anxious was that he felt as though he had entered a strange circle... a strange circle of repeated experiences from his past life. Everything that is happening now is repeating the same mistakes from before. He looked on helplessly at the things that happened in his past life, reoccurring one by one in the present. Although the specifics are different, the general direction was all the same. He is being pushed by an invisible force onto his old path and couldnât even stop.
He is a little scared.
He is a person who has died once. He is afraid of death. He is afraid that if he was to continue on, the end result would be the same as his previous life...
Could it be that he had gotten a new life only to repeat the mistakes of his previous life? Then what is the point?
ZhouXiang wanted to stop all of this from happening but finds himself helpless in doing so. He could no longer control the course of events from happening.
ââ
Two days later, he finally saw YanMingXiu. According to the itinerary, ZhouXiangâs scenes in the mountains are almost complete. He will be going back with YanMingXiu.
YanMingXiu had very few scenes that will be ending in a day or two. Because his condition wasnât good, his progression was very slow. No one dares to rush him. The directorâs demand for him was not high; YanMingXiu only needed to expose his face.
Their filming spot is not in the same place. ZhouXiang glanced at YanMingXiu from very far away. YanMingXiu also happened to turn his head and saw him. At the moment when their eyes met, ZhouXiang felt his heart sink. YanMingXiuâs eyes are deep and heavy, like a bottomless pit, which makes people feel depressed when they look into it. He couldnât tell what it was, only that his heart felt distressed.
After YanMingXiu glanced at him, he turned around. ZhouXiang also stiffly turned around.
The crew had a car prepared for them. They will be leaving next day while the others will continue to stay to complete filming the rest of the mountain scenes.
After Zhou Xiang finished packing his luggage that night, he planned on going to bed. At this time, the phone in the hotel room rang.
He looked at the caller ID; it was from YanMingXiuâs room.
He hesitated a bit before picking up, âHello.â
âCome over right now.â After saying that, YanMingXiu hung up.
ZhouXiang sighed, got dressed and went downstairs.
He still had one of YanMingXiuâs room card. He hesitated but still knocked on the door first.
YanMingXiu voiced, âCome in.â
ZhouXiang opened the door and walked into the room.
YanMingXiu was sitting on the bed, his face looking very pale with his lips appearing abnormally gray. He looked as if he was still sick. This is the worst ZhouXiang has seen him look.
YanMingXiu pointed to the chair, âSit down.â
ZhouXiang sat down.
Although YanMingXiuâs expression didnât look good, his sight was still sharp. Those eyes that could melt any womenâs heart is now concentrated, staring at ZhouXiang without hesitation as he slowly spoke, âWhy were you so sure that a stuntman was use in that movie of WangYuDongâs?"
Sure enough, it is about this.
ZhouXiang responded softly, "I was only guessing.â
"Donât think that I will be convinced with this kind of excuse. When WangYuDong criticized you in your presence, you didnât even dare to utter a single word. This kind of unreasonable thing, how could you dare casually say it? Furthermore, you were spot on. You must know something."
Of course ZhouXiang knew. Because he is the actual person involved. But unfortunately, he couldnât say this.
He could only respond with, âIâve heard some rumors before, adding on those actions are really not something WangYuDong could do.â
YanMingXiu narrowed his eyes, âZhouXiang, I think that youâre being untruthful to me on many things. If one day, I find out that youâre hiding something important from me, I wonât let you off.â
ZhouXiang couldnât look straight into his deep eyes... eyes that seemed to be piercing through him.
YanMingXiu asked again, âIâm going to ask you a question, think carefully before you respond.â
ZhouXiang nodded.
âYou and that (older) ZhouXiang have too many similarities. Youâre both about the same size, having similar experiences; both entered President Wangâs company, both working under CaiWei, both doing the same type of work and most importantly, the date of ZhouXiangâs accident is exactly the same date as yours.â
ZhouXiangâs breathing quickened and his heart pounded erratically. He didnât know why YanMingXiu would suddenly turn the topic from WangYuDong to him.
YanMingXiuâs voice is a bit sharp, âI wanted to ask, why is this?!â
End of the Chapter