Jade pretended to look for a long time before smiling at the nanny, "I’ll look some more."
With two claps, the nanny applauded, and that group of girls left, with another group coming up.
The newly arrived girls were dressed in trendy costumes, such as scholar outfits, bunny costumes, fox attire, cat suits, and so on, each complete with lifelike artificial animal tails trailing behind them.
Jade swallowed hard as she watched them, thinking to herself, "What kind of a world has been shattered to this extent..."
The nanny, looking confident and proud, asked her, "Young Master, how do you group?"
Jade managed to squeeze out a smile, "Good, all good. I’ll look some more, hehe, just a little more."
—"I’ll look some more, just a little more"—these words were repeated N times and the nanny’s clapping resounded N times until, finally, the two of them saw the last batch of girls.
Before the girls even entered, the nanny was already looking at Jade with a strange expression, suspecting that Jade was there to pick faults.
Thus, with a quick glance, the nanny suddenly said, "The last group of girls is quite special. Wait here for a moment, I’ll go check if they’re ready."
Jade naturally agreed without objection.
The scene ended there.
Everyone rested for a few minutes before starting to shoot the next scene tirelessly. No one dared slack off, especially the other actors in the crew who grew to admire He Jinxia more when they knew she was performing despite her illness. They were even stricter with themselves.
He Jinxia’s acting had been recognized at the Berlin Film Festival; her skills were top-notch. With such a hard-working person on set, how could those who were yet to make a name for themselves afford to act like divas?
Who was more precious? ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NoveI-Fire.ɴet
The actors in the crew were quite self-aware.
Under this atmosphere, the shooting for the day went very smoothly.
During her break, He Jinxia sucked on a throat lozenge. Seeing that it was almost time to film, she immediately chewed it up, swallowed with a gulp of water, and posed in place, waiting for the shooting to start.
"Scene 69, Take one, Action!"
This time, the shoot was about the nanny switching girls outside the scene.
Since the nanny suspected that Jade had come to cause trouble, she went out and replaced the final batch of girls with the brothel’s guard team.
The guard team was composed of fierce women, each skilled in martial arts, with even louder voices, and a bit on the heavier side. The stature of the girls in the guard team was almost twice that of the brothel’s usual inhabitants.
The brothel declared this guard team to the outside world as the "Women’s Army"!
The director trained the camera on the nanny, who was quietly instructing the maid, "Call the guard team to come out and replace the girls inside."
The maid nodded earnestly and immediately ran off.
On the spot, the last batch of girls looked at each other, their faces flashing with worry.
One girl couldn’t help but ask, "Nanny, is the young master inside here to cause trouble?"
With her hands on her hips, the nanny scoffed, a sharp glint in her eye, "Even if she’s here to cause trouble, I’ll make sure she can’t leave unscathed. Leave the silver behind; why would our girls be gawked at without compensation!"
The girls echoed in agreement, "Exactly, exactly!"
The actress playing the nanny was a seasoned performer, with over 20 years of experience. Due to age and her slowly changing appearance, she gradually went from leading roles to supporting roles, and eventually to more peripheral characters.
This might sound somewhat plaintive, but the seasoned performer had a good attitude. She committed to each role with care and outstanding acting skills, so botched takes were virtually non-existent.
Soon enough, the seasoned actor’s scene was finished, and the set transitioned, with the camera once again moving back inside, to the location where Yuxin was waiting.
The nanny was the first to enter, knocking on the door and clearing her throat with a "cough, cough." Yuxin, who had just picked up a cup of tea to drink, heard the noises and couldn’t help but look up.
With a beaming smile, the nanny said, "Young Master, these are the last batch of girls from our brothel, each one prime merchandise. You should take a good look and see if there’s anyone you fancy."
Before Yuxin could say anything, the next second, a group of sturdy, rotund "ladies" came walking in.
Yuxin’s eyes widened, and with a "pfft—" the tea in her mouth sprayed out.
"Cough, cough, cough..." After a good while of coughing and beating her chest and throat, Yuxin finally got her breath back.
The corners of the nanny’s mouth curved into a smirk as she approached and asked, "Young Master, what do you think of these girls?"
Are these girls? They’re clearly men from the outside! Moreover, slightly overweight men at that. And now these men were dressed in women’s clothing, in all colors of the rainbow, standing before her and striking seductive poses.
Oh my, this was even more of an eyesore.
The nanny asked again, "Young Master, how do you find this batch of girls? Is there one that catches your eye?"
As she spoke, the "ladies" on the set turned to Yuxin with smiles and waved their handkerchiefs—
"Young Master, choose me, huh!"
"Young Master, I’m the prettiest one!"
"Young Master, I have the kindest heart."
Yuxin’s expression stiffened, and she forced a smile, saying, "I, I..."
The nanny looked at her suspiciously, "Young Master, I can guarantee that not one girl on Beauty Street is left out. If you don’t fancy even one, could it be that you don’t like girls or are you—a troublemaker!"
Yuxin shook slightly, seemingly startled, and quickly said, "No, no, I’m not here to make trouble, absolutely not, it’s just..."
Yuxin’s eyes darted around, a spark of inspiration flashed in her mind, and she clapped her hands, exclaiming, "It’s just that I fancy men, not women!"
The nanny’s eyes sharpened, and she leaned in close to Yuxin’s face, confronting her, "You’re lying. Everyone here likes women; there are no men at all. How could you fancy men?"
Because of the rules of the Mirror World, all the natives inside were women. To allow women to freely fall in love, their personalities were as varied as they come—some were rugged, some fierce, some carefree, while others were gentle, demure, and scholarly, to name just a few.
As for reproduction, the Mirror World had different rules from the outside world.
When people in the Mirror World died, their souls were preserved. Through the power of the rules, a newborn would be generated accordingly within the world and randomly placed in the home of a coupled family.
The people of the Mirror World referred to this as a heaven-sent baby, considered a very fortunate event.
Intimidated by the nanny’s shouting, Yuxin abruptly stood up, neck stiff with defiance, "I’m not lying. I really do fancy men."
The nanny: "You’ve never seen a man before, how would you know what men are like?"