After My Cross-dressing Cover Was Blown, the Movie Star Became My Accomplice - Chapter 14

Chapter 14

◎A Bit Like… Father?◎

The moment Mu Yao saw the faint red thread within the Yin energy, he immediately realized it was connected to the female ghost. He instinctively tucked the hair clip away.

Talk about a godsend. Yesterday, Rakshasa wiped away all traces of the ghost, leaving me with no way to continue the investigation. Now, this hair clip is the perfect lead.

I’ll return it as soon as I’m done. Auntie Zhou, let me borrow this for a bit.

Looking at Auntie Zhou’s receding figure, Mu Yao made a silent promise in his heart.

“Xiao Mu, Yanfei has mostly recovered. We can resume filming as soon as the Chief’s security personnel arrive.”

The director came over to inform Mu Yao, pointing toward Cheng Zeyi, who was currently speaking with Qu Fu in the distance.

“I just told Movie King Cheng that I’d take him to the hospital for a shot and to check the wound, but he said he wanted to wait until he finished helping you with the cooking. Sigh.”

He’s surprisingly committed to seeing things through.

Mu Yao blinked and nodded slightly. “Understood. I’ll keep an eye on his injury.”

“I trust your judgment. Thanks for jumping in to help earlier; otherwise, Xiao Qu might have been hurt too.” The director patted Mu Yao’s shoulder, his eyes full of praise. People who rushed forward in moments of crisis were all too rare.

“It was just an instinctive reaction. I didn’t think much of it.” Mu Yao rubbed his neck, feeling a bit embarrassed. His gaze inadvertently shifted to Bi Tu, who was talking to Kong Yanfei.

“By the way, was Teacher Bi Tu affected?”

In his memory, Mu Yao had been right next to Bi Tu, but Bi Tu hadn’t seemed to help at all.

“Ah, Teacher Bi is fine. His… his way of handling it was appropriate too.” The director wiped his face and spoke helplessly. Seeking benefit and avoiding harm is human nature. Bi Tu isn’t young; it’s understandable that his first instinct in such a situation was to hide.

“I see.” Mu Yao nodded. Since the director didn’t have anything to say about it, there was no need for him to say more.

The security personnel arranged by the Chief arrived quickly, and the crew resumed filming according to the original schedule. The only difference was that Kong Yanfei seemed a bit listless, forcing a smile as she chatted with Qu Fu.

Mu Yao and Cheng Zeyi were busy in the kitchen. Cheng Zeyi was in charge of the fire, and Mu Yao handled the ingredients; the two displayed a silent, rhythmic coordination. However, since they weren’t very familiar yet, there weren’t many topics to discuss. Mu Yao was also afraid of Cheng Zeyi noticing anything strange about him, so he kept his words to a minimum.

After a long while, Cheng Zeyi broke the silence.

“What happened today was very dangerous. Were you frightened?”

“Hmm? No, I’m okay.”

Mu Yao’s hand paused while processing the ingredients. He didn’t know if Cheng Zeyi was referring to him almost falling into the well or the incident where Kong Yanfei was startled by Auntie Zhou. Either way, both were quite dangerous. Of course, he had countermeasures for both!

Still, in either case, Cheng Zeyi’s help was timely. I should thank him.

“Thank you for your help today.”

Since there was a camera following them in the kitchen, Mu Yao kept his thanks vague to avoid exposing the incident of Auntie Zhou bursting in.

“It’s nothing. I was right beside you; helping you is only natural.”

Cheng Zeyi tossed some firewood into the stove. The flames leapt up, and his cheeks were inevitably smudged with a bit of black soot.

This Movie King is really down-to-earth. Hmm, he’s a bit like… Father?

For some reason, in Mu Yao’s eyes, Cheng Zeyi’s silhouette overlapped slightly with that of his deceased father. Of course, only slightly. When his father was alive, he had always stood by his side to guard him, protecting him with powerful arms when he was small. Since his father passed away, it had been a long time since anyone had protected him. Cheng Zeyi was the first person to do so since his father’s departure.

As the two began to chat, the atmosphere in the kitchen relaxed. In this mood, they finished preparing lunch. When they brought the quite professional-looking Sour Soup Fish and Spicy Chicken to the table, Kong Yanfei’s spirit was captured by the delicious food, and she seemed to return to her energetic girl self.

The recipe provided by the inn was very detailed; as long as one knew how to cook, the resulting dishes wouldn’t be bad. Everyone ate to their heart’s content, and Mu Yao’s culinary skills received praise from everyone.

“My, it seems Xiao Mu is the most skilled cook among us. If the crew has more cooking tasks, we can let Xiao Mu take the lead, and I can act as an assistant.” Bi Tu wiped his mouth, his slightly chubby cheeks quivering as his eyes crinkled into a smile.

Heh, I wouldn’t dare let you be the assistant. Mu Yao complained internally but didn’t respond.

“Mu Yao, thank you for your hard work. Like I said before, I’ll treat you to a meal when we get back.” Qu Fu glanced at Bi Tu, her heart filled with disdain for his hypocrisy. She still remembered that Kong Yanfei had looked to him for help first when she was grabbed, only for the man to dodge away. Kong Yanfei might be young and not hold a grudge, but she certainly did! You couldn’t believe a single word a person like that said!

Mu Yao nodded to Bi Tu on camera, then gave Qu Fu a faint smile. “Alright.”

Beside them, Cheng Zeyi was stunned for a moment by Mu Yao’s smile. His own lips curled up, and his expression grew even gentler.

After the meal, Cheng Zeyi was called away by the director. The director took him by car out of Xiantao Village to the city for a checkup. Meanwhile, the others took a short break before beginning their afternoon boat trip.

There were no tasks for the afternoon. They only needed to take their cruise vouchers to the village pier, board the boat, and enjoy the surrounding scenery. For the upcoming relaxation, both Qu Fu and Kong Yanfei had adjusted their moods, their eyes full of anticipation.

Bi Tu, however, was being distanced by Qu Fu and Kong Yanfei because of his earlier avoidance. But he didn’t seem to care; if they wouldn’t talk to him, he could talk to the camera, frequently telling amusing stories to the lens. Of course, he didn’t leave out Mu Yao, who was trying to minimize his presence, occasionally tossing a word or two his way. Mu Yao wanted to stay away but was forced to deal with it, plastering on an awkward, fake smile.

Xiantao Village was located on a riverbank, and the village boat tours were one of the main attractions. Riding the boat allowed one to tour the scenery on both banks while seeing just how vital the river was to the villagers’ lives. Some villagers still maintained primitive habits, washing clothes by the river, rinsing ore, or drying homemade dyed fabrics. A thick atmosphere of daily life could be felt along the banks.

As they left the village behind, the view changed to the mountain scenery on both sides. Ore caves of various sizes appeared in the mountains, dark and deep, looking very mysterious.

The Village Chief also boarded the boat to explain the surrounding scenery to them. Just as he finished explaining the connection between the caves and the village, the boat arrived in front of an ancient Mountain God Temple. Looking at the temple in the distance, the Chief began to recount the local legends of the Mountain God in detail.

The temple was built against a grayish-white limestone cliff. Tangled vines crawled over the cliff face, with bits of the grayish-white rock peeking through the gaps. The green and white intertwined into a net, providing a mysterious background for the temple. In front of the temple was a short flight of stairs that stretched downward until they were hidden by the shade of the forest.

The temple followed the local stilt-house architectural style. One could see pillars that had been heavily eroded by time, though the villagers had clearly been maintaining and repairing it; even from the distance of the boat, one could see the alternating colors of old and new wood repairs.

As the Chief spoke, Mu Yao leaned against the side of the cabin, his gaze inevitably falling on the temple in the mountains. In a daze, he seemed to see a red, illusory figure waving at him. At first, he thought he had seen it wrong, or perhaps a villager happened to be at the temple to offer sacrifices and was waving at the boat.

It wasn’t until he noticed that the people around him weren’t discussing the person waving in the temple, but were instead focused on a small monkey occasionally jumping through the trees, that he realized the illusory figure in the temple was not a living person!

He suddenly stood up straight, his eyes locked onto that spectral figure in the Mountain God Temple. Although the boat was far away, the ethereal red line and the fluttering hem of the dress reminded him: that was the red-clothed girl who had attacked him this morning!

The girl noticed that Mu Yao had discovered her. A red silk thread drifted out from Mu Yao’s pocket. The red thread fluttered gently in the air, performing a light pirouette, and then it crooked toward Mu Yao as if issuing an invitation.

At this moment, Mu Yao was certain that the red thread on the hair clip was closely related to the ghost!

Perhaps this hair clip was something this girl used when she was alive. In that case, Auntie Zhou’s daughter is indeed dead and has become a malevolent spirit. What exactly did she go through?

Mu Yao watched the red thread in the air, his eyes fixed on the distant temple.

“Brother Mu Yao, what are you looking at?” Kong Yanfei walked over, asking curiously.

“Looking at the temple in the distance. Why aren’t you calling me ‘Sister’ anymore?”

Ever since Cheng Zeyi joined the crew, Kong Yanfei had switched to calling him “Sister,” and he had grown accustomed to the title. Being suddenly called “Brother” again felt a bit unfamiliar.

“Well, Movie King Brother isn’t here! If he’s not around, me calling you ‘Brother’ won’t affect anything! Hehe!” Kong Yanfei said with a smile, appearing to have completely recovered.

“True, it doesn’t affect anything. You were just looking at the scenery with Qu Fu, why’d you run over here?”

“Besides the temple, only the monkeys are worth looking at, and I got bored after a while. So I came over. Oh, I came over to thank you, Brother Mu Yao. Thanks for the help earlier; you really provide a sense of security!” Kong Yanfei watched a small monkey jumping in the trees and pouted slightly. At first, it was fresh, but then it became boring. She had asked the Chief about the next itinerary and then ran over to chat with Mu Yao and thank him.

“Also, I asked about our next arrangements. Since it rained yesterday afternoon, there was a beach attraction we didn’t go to. The boat stop happens to be near there, and the crew is taking us there.”

“The beach? What’s there to do?” Mu Yao asked curiously. He pushed the matter of the ghost to the back of his mind for now and began chatting with Kong Yanfei about the beach.

“I don’t know, they were being secretive and didn’t tell me. But they said Movie King Brother should be back by evening. We’ll be at the beach then, and they want to do a live stream. Ugh, I don’t like live streams. Once the stream starts, I won’t be able to call you ‘Brother’ anymore; I’ll have to call you ‘Sister’ again!” Kong Yanfei shook her head; she still preferred calling him “Brother.”

“Bear with it. For the task, for the reward! Hmm, and maybe to see the shocked expression on your Movie King Brother’s face?” Mu Yao felt helpless at the mention of a live stream. Hiding his gender under a live lens was quite difficult. He instinctively adjusted the voice changer at his collar.

Following Mu Yao’s lead, Kong Yanfei began to imagine what kind of shocked expression Cheng Zeyi would have. At that thought, she became very expectant, her eyes shining.

“Movie King Brother’s shocked expression… Yes! I’ll work hard to cooperate!!”