After My Cross-dressing Cover Was Blown, the Movie Star Became My Accomplice - Chapter 12

Chapter 12

◎Are You My Nannan?◎

The tugging sensation on the rope combined with the feeling of his heels leaving the ground left Mu Yao momentarily caught off guard.

However, his crisis awareness had always been sharp and his reactions were quick. Just as he reached out to grab the rocks inside the well to save himself, a pair of arms suddenly circled his waist, and another force pulled him upward.

His feet touched the ground again, the feeling of suspension vanished, and the rope in his hands quickly disappeared into the depths of the well.

“Xiao Yao, are you alright?”

Cheng Zeyi’s voice came from right against his ear. Mu Yao’s back bumped into the man’s chest, and he could feel the rise and fall of his steady breathing.

“I—I’m fine.”

Mu Yao took a deep breath. He frowned, glanced at the mouth of the well, and stepped out of Cheng Zeyi’s embrace to turn and face him. Cheng Zeyi’s face was filled with urgency and worry; even after Mu Yao turned around, his brow remained tightly furrowed.

“What happened just now? It looked like you were being dragged into the well. Is there something down there?”

As Cheng Zeyi spoke, he moved to look into the well, but Mu Yao quickly pulled him back.

“No, it’s nothing. I just accidentally slipped.”

While holding Cheng Zeyi’s wrist, Mu Yao adjusted his collar and lightly tugged at his hair. Only after confirming there were no issues with his voice changer or wig did he feel safe enough to continue speaking.

“Thank you for saving me.”

Luckily you didn’t listen to me and stay away, otherwise, I’d be taking a lap in that well right now!

Mu Yao thought with relief, feeling for the first time that it was actually quite good that this Movie King followed his own path and stuck close.

“Slipped? That makes sense. The edge of the well is covered in moss, and it rained yesterday.”

Cheng Zeyi looked at the well. Seeing the obvious moss and the water stains left by yesterday’s heavy rain, he believed Mu Yao’s explanation.

“Don’t go near it again. I’ll go find the production crew to get some tools and fish the bucket out.”

“Okay. Thank you for the trouble, Teacher Cheng.”

“It’s no trouble at all.”

Cheng Zeyi smiled and turned to find the crew.

Mu Yao looked at the well in the distance, his expression gradually becoming grim. The ghostly figure he saw when he was being pulled into the well was indeed that young girl in red. This time, he had finally seen her face clearly—she looked to be about seven or eight years old, possessed an extremely heavy aura of Yin and resentment, and made no effort to hide the malice on her face.

This female ghost looks hard to deal with; she likely has several lives on her hands. Is that Rakshasa from the Supernatural Investigation Bureau here for her?

Rakshasa’s presence near the residential area last night definitely wasn’t a coincidence either. It’s very likely they followed clues left by the girl. I need to find a way to ask about rumors concerning children in this village.

Since the ghost had already threatened him directly, he couldn’t just stand by. Taking the initiative was the best choice.

While Mu Yao was lost in thought, Cheng Zeyi returned with someone to fish the bucket out of the well. In truth, Cheng Zeyi didn’t even need to look for them; the production crew had already planned to help. To capture shots of Cheng Zeyi, they had staff following him constantly. The camera operator who saw Mu Yao almost fall into the well had been terrified and immediately reported to the director, which is why help arrived so quickly.

Under the efforts of the staff, the bucket was retrieved. Perhaps due to the crowd, the ghost did not appear to cause trouble this time.

After pouring the water into the containers, the group gathered around Kong Yanfei to watch her carefully boil the wax. As the wax melted, blue patterns slowly emerged, appearing faintly in the water, looking ethereal and hazy.

Once the boiled fabric was lifted out and handed to Cheng Zeyi, he began the final pressing stage. Pressing was divided into two steps: wet pressing for initial smoothing and dry pressing to compact the fibers and polish the surface.

This wasn’t a job Cheng Zeyi could do alone, so the others helped out. To apply more force for the pressing, Cheng Zeyi took off his coat and stuffed it into Mu Yao’s arms, rolling up his sleeves to work vigorously. The muscles in his arms bunched up, and veins were visible beneath the skin.

Mu Yao watched Cheng Zeyi’s powerful arms from the side, suddenly remembering that those were the same arms that had just circled his waist to save him.

They really are a pair of arms that provide a sense of security… the kind that makes other men feel an instinctive urge to compete. Like me… mmm, my arms provide a lot of security too.

He couldn’t help but compare, a quiet competitive streak rising in his heart.

Finally, after dozens of presses, a continuous reflective layer appeared on the fabric. When spread flat, it could reflect the outline of a face like the surface of water. Touching it with a finger felt as cool and smooth as silk.

“I’m here to inspect the results.”

Just as Cheng Zeyi put down the tools, the guide walked over. He circled the fabric to inspect it, making everyone nervous for fear he would declare it a failure. For Mu Yao, the loss of cruise tickets didn’t matter, but the ingredients were a must—he did not want to go hungry while on the clock.

“This cloth…”

The guide stopped and gently lifted the dyed fabric. As soon as he spoke, the guests held their breath.

“The color is a bit off, but the wax patterns are very good, and the pressing was done well. Although it doesn’t reach the highest standard of Mountain God Color fabric, for beginners, your work is considered a pass. This is the first time outsiders have made the fabric this year; the Mountain God should be able to understand a few flaws in the color.”

Seeing the guide nod, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The youngest, Kong Yanfei, jumped for joy. The dye in her hair hadn’t been fully cleaned yet, and her slightly blue hair bounced in the air as she threw herself into Qu Fu’s arms.

“That’s great, Sister Qu Fu! We succeeded, lunch is saved!”

“Yeah, if we succeeded, it doesn’t matter that I turned into a smoke-faced starlet.” Qu Fu laughed too, not forgetting how the task had ruined her look.

“Ooh, thank goodness! I won’t have to resort to acting like a stubborn old man and throwing a tantrum!” Bi Tu patted his chest with an expression of narrow escape, putting his hands together in a prayer of thanks.

Mmm, very standard form—except you’re covered in Yin energy, so the Buddha probably won’t answer. Mu Yao complained silently, though his expression relaxed significantly.

Cheng Zeyi came to Mu Yao’s side, took his coat back, and put it on. He also looked very relaxed. “We’ll be taking the ingredients back to cook in a bit. Xiao Yao, what do you want to eat?”

What do I want to eat? Is that even up to me?

Mu Yao struggled to control the twitching of his lips, finding the question a bit nonsensical. Did he even have a choice? He would eat whatever the production crew provided!

“We’ll see what ingredients they give us.” Mu Yao complained internally, but his answer was blunt. He wasn’t one for beating around the bush.

“True.” Cheng Zeyi nodded; he was just casually raising a topic to get closer to Mu Yao.

Shortly after, the cruise vouchers and ingredients were delivered. The thin vouchers were in an envelope, while the ingredients were local staples. Looking at the bright red chili peppers, the lively carp, and the rooster tied to a bamboo pole and kicking about, they all felt a massive headache coming on.

They really want us to start cooking from scratch by processing the ingredients ourselves! That was the collective thought in their minds.

Returning to the inn with their lively, strange, and yet familiar assortment of ingredients, the group didn’t rush to cook. Instead, they all dove into their rooms to clean themselves up. Even though Qu Fu had cleaned the soot off her face, she still wanted a proper wash, feeling like she smelled of charcoal. Bi Tu didn’t want to keep a face stained with dye, and his hands needed a thorough scrubbing. Kong Yanfei was the same; although blue hair was a unique look, the spilled dye was uneven, and she didn’t like it. Cheng Zeyi had dye on his hands and had worked up a sweat during the pressing.

While Mu Yao wasn’t as miserable as the others, he felt he should go back and tidy up; being an outlier didn’t suit being recorded on camera.

When everyone finally emerged from their rooms, they faced the headache-inducing ingredients. A cookbook had been placed next to them—a courtesy from the inn to help the guests understand how to use the ingredients.

Cheng Zeyi was the first to pick it up and read. As he browsed, he shared the contents with everyone.

“The ingredients from the task can be used to make specialty Sour Soup Fish and Spicy Chicken. To make it easier for us, we can use pre-fermented red sour soup base. The main seasonings are litsea cubeba, fresh peppercorns, fish mint, ginger, and garlic.”

“Uh, what is fish mint?” Cheng Zeyi looked into the seasoning basket, trying to find it.

“It should be this.” Mu Yao was curious about the Sour Soup Fish method and walked over to the seasonings. He plucked a few green leaves from the pile; he guessed that was the fish mint.

“Looks like it. It looks like mint and smells quite fragrant.” Qu Fu also came over and leaned down to sniff, feeling that a dish made with this seasoning should be delicious.

Having researched the seasonings for the fish, they moved on to the Spicy Chicken. After reading the recipe once, they looked at each other in silence.

“Ahem, let this old man rest today. My hands aren’t even fully clean yet, so I won’t mess with the food.” Bi Tu raised his hands; he had tried very hard to wash them, but they were still stained. He had no choice but to drop out of the cooking duty.

“I… I also…” Qu Fu brushed a stray hair from her temple and spoke sheepishly. “I just glanced at the kitchen; they use an old-fashioned charcoal stove over there. I don’t want to touch a stove again for a while. Sorry.”

Kong Yanfei raised her hand and generously stated she could help. “I can do it! I often help with cooking at home. I can wash and chop vegetables!”

“No, you can’t!”

As soon as she finished, the others shook their heads. They couldn’t let the little champion handle the fire and cooking!

“I’ll do it. I happen to know how to cook.” Seeing fewer and fewer people available, Mu Yao felt he had to step up, so he agreed directly.

“I’ll help you. While I can’t handle the ingredients, I can start the fire. You know, I’m quite good at starting fires.” Cheng Zeyi volunteered, confident in his fire-making skills.

“Alright then, let’s do it together.” Thinking of Cheng Zeyi’s previous help, Mu Yao didn’t refuse.

Just as the two were about to head to the kitchen, an uninvited guest suddenly burst into the inn. It was a crazed-looking woman with disheveled hair matted together and hands covered in mud. She charged straight into the inn, rushed toward the small Kong Yanfei, and grabbed her arm, screaming:

“Nannan, my Nannan! Are you my Nannan?”