Chapter 104: Chapter 104: Hurry up and sign the termination letter, come back to me!
Zhao Lang let out a light chuckle, “Young Master Jiang, don’t be nervous, I was just joking. You’re Daddy’s guests, how could I possibly come to settle scores with you?”
“That won’t do,” Jiang Yan said. “I, Jiang Yan, have roamed Jiang Lake for twenty years and have never left a debt unpaid. Just wait.”
Having said that, he scurried into Jiang Li’s room and soon returned with a pen and a piece of paper in his hands.
“Here’s the IOU. I’ve written it already. Just sign it, and you can present this IOU to me in the future. As long as it’s within my power, I will definitely honor it!”
Jiang Yan spoke with resounding conviction. Zhao Lang did not refuse and stretched out two slender fingers to pinch the note.
“I’ll accept it, then. It’s getting late; I’ll go call Daddy back for dinner. You rest here for a while.”
Having finished speaking, Zhao Lang turned and left the cabin.
Jiang Yan watched his retreating figure, and, with one hand rubbing an uninjured spot near his chin, he mused,
“This Daniu brother seems much more reliable than that Mr. He.”
When he turned around, he unexpectedly found Jiang Li, too, gazing thoughtfully at Zhao Lang’s departing silhouette.
Jiang Yan’s face darkened immediately, but considering the presence of cameras, he could only lower his voice and say,
“Hell, don’t tell me you’ve taken a fancy to that Zhao Daniu now? Although it’s great you’re no longer bothering Shang Shaojing, you can’t just fall for everyone you meet, right?”
Jiang Li still did not shift her gaze, but after a moment of silence, she slightly moved her lips.
“Don’t you find Uncle Zhao’s son very strange?”
Following her gaze, Jiang Yan looked again and, assuming a gossip-like demeanor, leaned closer to her.
“Have you noticed too? Have you figured something out? Could it be Uncle Zhao has been cuckolded?”
“I don’t know,” she shook her head, “I just feel there’s a lot of suspicious things about this person.”
“His agility is exceptional; to climb a tree so nimbly and jump down—there’s no way he would have had such a catastrophic fall with you.”
“And that ointment; the blood loss ingredient isn’t ordinary at all but is Cedar Blood instead. Given Uncle Zhao’s household situation, even if they had such medicinal herbs, they would think first to keep or sell it in the market, not give it away so readily to you.”
Even more baffling was the string of Buddha Beads he wore on his hand.
Those weren’t simple wooden beads but natural Blood Amber, which, due to its rich color, would appear almost black in reduced light.
The beads were lustrously round and appeared to be a natural creation.
Such Blood Amber Buddha Beads were not something a common family could afford.
She too, during her time in Daqi, had the fortune of seeing a string offered as a tribute by monks from another country.
Just that one string.
How could treasures only the Royal Family could afford end up in the hands of a villager?
Faced with Jiang Li’s analysis, Jiang Yan’s mouth hung open in surprise.
“Now I finally understand why they always say ‘a woman’s heart is a deep ocean of secrets’. Tsk-tsk, you’re far too sensitive. Daniu is just an ordinary young man. He doesn’t put on airs or act aloof; he’s much better than Shang Shaojing and He Yun.”
Jiang Li knew that further explanation to him was futile and simply uttered, “As you wish,” before entering the room and closing the door behind her.
Jiang Yan curled his lip.
“Such a temper; she won’t even let me speak.”
The setting sun was gradually sinking, and several guests had slowly completed the task of turning the soil, one by one returning to their accommodations.
Director Sun was rather considerate this time, seeing how everyone had worked hard all day, he didn’t trouble them further at dinner, directly handing out a boxed meal to each person.
——And took away one point.
He Yun was the first to leave the experimental fields.
Despite a whole day’s labor, his face was sunburned red, his shirt had long been soaked with sweat, and his limbs felt as if they’d been run over by a truck, aching and powerless.
Yet, deep down, he felt an authentic sense of relaxation and joy.
On this day, there was no illustrious Movie Emperor He Yun, just an ordinary farmer with his face turned towards the brown earth, his back towards the sky.
There were no cameras, no scripts, no crowds of adoring stars, just mountain breezes, birdsong, and the land.
Like a duckweed that had been floating for a long time, at last, it had found its place to land.
So much so that on his way back to his lodgings, he hummed a tune the whole way.
After taking a shower and changing into clean clothes, he felt even more pleasurably at ease.
But before he could carry this joy through to bedtime, he saw his personal PD quietly walk up to his window and knock on his door.
“Mr. He, have you rested yet?”
“Not yet, what’s up?”
“There’s a call from your studio, they need you to take it.”
He Yun’s heart sank, and after a long silence, he put down the towel he was holding and slowly exhaled, “Alright, I’m coming out.”
He got up slowly, as if taking on a cumbersome task, and moved to the door to take the phone.
The moment the ringtone sounded, he answered with a “Hello”.
Immediately, a woman’s voice came through from the other end.
“He Yun, what are you trying to do? Going on a show without telling me? And you had Xiao Wu send me on a vacation to Iceland on purpose? If I hadn’t secretly taken my phone and seen the trending search, I wouldn’t even know you’d gone to such a far place!”
“Didn’t I tell you? You’re a Golden Lion Award-winning Movie Emperor, how can you degrade yourself by going on such third-rate variety shows? And to mingle with that bunch of people?! Have you seen the trending searches these past few days? What have they said about you?!”
“Do you still have me in your eyes at all? You dare to hide such a big thing from me?!”
He Yun’s hand gripping the phone tightened slightly until his knuckles started to turn white, and then he finally spoke:
“I’m sorry, all of this was indeed solely my own doing, and please don’t blame Xiao Wu and the others… Mom.”
The middle-aged woman let out two cold laughs, “You still remember I’m your mom, huh?! I’m giving you one night, sign the contract termination and come back to me!”
He Yun bit his teeth, “But I don’t want to go back.”
“Why not?!” On the phone, the woman’s voice became sharper, somewhat hysterical.
It seemed like others were trying to calm her, but she pushed them all away.
“He Yun, can you stop being so willful? I had just secured a great film role for you, you promised me you’d do well, and then you ran off to this damn variety show, how do you expect me to explain to the others?!”
“But Mom…” He Yun squeezed his hand hard, his expression looking extraordinarily tired, “That director is not a good person at all, I don’t want to work with someone so insincere.”
“Then who do you want to work with? Those people in the program? Director Wang offered you a compensation that’s twice as high as your previous one, and his last film was even taken to international competitions. Do you understand the opportunity? As an actor, you should cherish your feathers, do you understand?!”
He Yun moved his phone aside and then collapsed onto the bed.
His limbs pressed tightly against the cotton beneath him, as if only in this way could he feel a trace of his physical existence.
“Mom, I’m tired, really tired, can you… just let me rest for a few days, just a few days…”