Zuo Ning’s scenes had pretty much all been filmed. The most difficult scenes about the earthquake’s aftermath had been settled and only a few scenes from the happy times before the earthquake needed to be reshot. Therefore although the dog was still in the film crew, he was very idle. The last time he filmed mostly outdoor scenes and even if there were indoor scenes, they were practically all filmed at the set owned by Lu family big brother’s company. Because the film crew was poorer this time, it was filmed at a rented set inside a studio village.
When Zuo Ning was in school, he and a few dorm mates planned to go to this studio village to hang out. At that time he had joked that he might get picked up by a director with a discerning eye and become an instant success. He didn’t expect that the director really came, but he was now no longer the Zuo Ning from before.
It was two bodyguards who brought him to the shoot today. The steward was accompanying Mother Lu back home preparing custom-made clothes. It seemed that there would be a very important banquet that she would need to attend with Lu Chenghe. So she attached the utmost importance in contacting Lu family’s contracted designer to drop in for a visit. That was why Zuo Ning was leisurely strolling around the studio.
This studio village was not the largest but it was the only one in Ping Niao city. Other than renting it out to film crews it also had areas specifically for tourists. To prevent being disturbed by tourists or bothered by fans, they wouldn’t randomly let people in as long as film crews were shooting. So Zuo Ning was able to walk all over the place. He had already been gently refused entrance to several areas where a film crew was in the middle of shooting. If they hadn’t seen the two big and tall men behind him holding the leash that no one wanted to mess with, he might have been directly driven out.
Zuo Ning went towards yet another site in the middle of shooting who had tactfully refused him entrance and gave it a glance. The crew inside seemed to be filming an ancient drama and had quite a few crowds attired in ancient costumes acting out walking back and forth on the street. He snorted and walked off. Since they didn’t welcome him, he wouldn’t enter!
The whole studio village was very big. It had ancient streetscapes, streetscapes from the period of the Republic of China, and even had some immortal fairy palace streetscapes. At the moment it didn’t have any mystical rising mists so it looked very common and ordinary. So much so that it even seemed somewhat cheap. When he had given everything a once over, Zuo Ning was preparing to return home when he heard a familiar voice.
Following that voice, he was greeted with the sight of a crowd of people encircling a site and taking pictures. A man and woman were clothed in an ancient dress with a very wuxia-like style. One of them was even someone he recognized, Chu Hang.
Zuo Ning called out to Chu Hang, “Woof!”
Chu Hang subconsciously turned his head and saw the two bodyguards as well as one very familiar little white dog. Seeing that the director was still looking at the background props, he smiled and walked over. The bodyguards knew that Little Pudding had once shot a movie with Chu Hang and since Little Pudding had also been the one to take initiative in getting closer to Chu Hang, they did not intervene. In any case, their assignment was just to follow Little Pudding and it would be fine as long as they ensured his safety.
Chu Hang pulled up his hem, and petted Little Pudding in a half-squat, “How come you are here, who brought you here? Or are you here to film a movie again?”
Seeing Little Pudding squint his eyes and smile at him Chu Hang also laughed with him and took hold of one of his paws, shaking it up and down, “Little Pudding is so amazing, shooting a movie again. I haven’t seen you for a few days and you’ve grown so much. Little Pudding is growing up into Big Pudding.”
People saw Chu Hang playing with a dog and a film crew member who was pretty close to him ran over, “So cute! What’s this little thing called? Come, shake.”
Zuo Ning also knew this pretty sister. She was a popular star whose laughter was particularly sweet. Her relationships with others weren’t bad. Because she acted online her reputation was very good. Zuo Ning also really liked her so he simply extended his paws and put it in her palm.
That little girl immediately cried out, “So intelligent, so adorable!”
Chu Hang was afraid that Cheng Han’s little brother wouldn’t like others teasing Little Pudding, so he didn’t continue squatting there. He patted the girl’s shoulder, “Let’s go, the director will fly into a rage if he can’t find us.”
The girl was someone who loved dogs and cats so she was a bit reluctant to part, turning back three times with every step. The director would soon finish arranging the set and she was not allowed to continue to play around so she could only follow Chu Hang.
Both of the dramas that Zuo Ning filmed were modern. Although he knew that those movies with people flying in ancient clothes involve being suspended in the air but it was the first time seeing people hanging in the air and flying.
Under a watchful crowd of people, a man and a woman were holding swords and standing on the roof of a thatched-roof shack. Zuo Ning felt that being able to act smoothly and read lines with so many people watching was really amazing. If it was him, he would stutter his lines. Luckily when he acted he never needed to recite any lines.
Zuo Ning watched a while and then felt a bit bored so he prepared to go back to his set. He still had a scene to shoot and it was better to not let the director look for a dog.
As he was preparing to leave, he heard a loud bang. Zuo Ning was not even able to react before he was picked up. He didn’t struggle when he realised it was the bodyguard who had carried him. Instead, he turned his head to look and saw that two people had fallen from the air onto the thatched roof below. The entire cast and crew panicked and a group of people rushed to save them.
Zuo Ning stared blankly, this accident happened too suddenly. No wonder it was risky to work in the air. The bodyguards were worried that it wasn’t safe here so they quickly carried Zuo Ning outside. Zuo Ning just looked at the crowd and only after a while realised, weren’t the actors suspended in the air Chu Hang and that pretty flower-like sister?!
For this kind of accident to happen in the studio and to have the two most popular actors injured meant that this was not a normal level of seriousness. If the injury wasn’t too serious it would be alright. But if it was serious, it was definitely going to be the headlines.
Because the director did not have a completely private filming area, there were quite a lot of passersby who witnessed it. So naturally, the news could not be stopped. When Zuo Ning arrived at his own filming crew they had already heard about it.
The bodyguards worried that once the reporters got wind of the situation they would come and cause trouble in the studio city. So they let the director first film the parts with Little Pudding in it so they would get back home earlier.
When Zuo Ning arrived back home, he saw Lu Chenghe sitting on the sofa in the living room. Mother Lu was standing with a group of designers looking at some drawings. The moment Zuo Ning entered the room he went straight to Lu Chenghe, “Woof woof woof!” Big news! Chu Hang got injured! Falling from that kind of height, not sure whether dead or alive!
Lu Chenghe picked up the Little Pudding who had climbed on his leg. He rubbed his fur to comfort him, but still didn’t hear the woofing stop. He looked at the bodyguards, “What happened today?”
The bodyguard was originally planning on giving a brief report, but now that he was asked like this… Why did it feel Little Pudding went home and noisily told the parents what happened today at kindergarten, but because the parents couldn’t understand so instead turned towards the kindergarten caretakers to translate. They ridiculed the situation in their head, but they still needed to give their report.
When the bodyguard started to speak, Zuo Ning stopped barking. He just anxiously stared at Lu Chenghe. It was a daughter-in-law of this house, of course, he would care about family members.
Sure enough, after Lu Chenghe finished listening, he greeted mother Lu and directly went upstairs. Zuo Ning quickly followed behind.
Upon returning to the study, Lu Chenghe started calling someone. Zuo Ning jumped on the sofa and obediently didn’t make a fuss. If it was another type of breaking news, Lu Chenghe would have heard about it long ago. But he was never interested in news about the entertainment circle. If the one injured wasn’t Chu Hang, it was not certain whether he would care.
After Zuo Ning saw Lu Chenghe hang up and knit his brows, his heart immediately tightened, “Woof woof!” What’s happening? Is the situation very serious?
Lu Chenghe sat on the sofa and patted Little Pudding’s head but didn’t say a word. Being unable to get first-hand information made Zuo Ning very agitated but he was also unable to express it too distinctly, he could only suppress the feeling in his heart. Seeing that Lu Chenghe kept patting his head, he raised his head, opened his mouth a little, and caught hold of one of Lu Chenghe’s fingers.
Lu Chenghe bent down and eyed him, “Let go.”
Zuo Ning subconsciously rolled his tongue and licked before obediently letting go. It was just a little lick, why so fierce? Do you want to scare a dog to death?
Lu Chenghe curled two of his fingers and knocked on its head, “How many times do I have to say it for you to remember?”
Zuo Ning huffed twice and then lowered his paws to scratch the sofa cushions.
Lu Chenghe kneaded him a bit, “Were you scared today?”
Zuo Ning woofed once and sprawled over Lu Chenghe’s body while wagging his tail. How can he be scared by this little thing? Especially since the accident didn’t even involve him.
But before he could stick to Lu Chenghe for too long, mother Lu knocked once before directly opening the door. With a serious face, she asked, “Did you already know?”
Lu Chenghe patted Little Pudding’s back and had him obediently sit up before replying, “For this situation, it’s fine to let older brother take care of it. Don’t meddle mum.”
Mother Lu immediately frowned, “Meddle? I watched your older brother grow up. And now he’s like this, do you know how heartbroken your aunt is?”
Zuo Ning listened with wide eyes. What did this mean? Was big brother’s relationship exposed?
Lu Chenghe looked at his mother with a blank face, “Then do you want to stand on Aunt’s side and blame big brother for loving the wrong person? Allow him to give up on what he likes to marry a woman he doesn’t even love and carry on the ancestral line? Or will you support big brother chasing what he wants himself as long as he will be happy in the future?
Mother Lu immediately went silent.
Lu Chenghe continued, “If you want to care, then you should go comfort Aunt and talk her round. As for big brother’s feelings, you shouldn’t comment.”
Mother Lu couldn’t help but reply, “Do you know what your big brother did today?”
“If upon hearing that the person he loved was injured, he didn’t try to get a mountain peak to go to the ground then he wouldn’t be my big brother. I imagine that there wouldn’t be a single male in the Lu family that would do that. Even if the negotiation fails then it would only be losing some money. It is better than regret not doing anything.”
Mother Lu was once again unable to speak. Although the people who leave will bring about economic losses to the company, and even if it was about that sea route project which brought in billions in net profit annually when compared to disregarding a loved one’s injuries, it really was just losing a little bit of wealth.
If the person today was swapped to a female, this big sister would probably not call to cry but would happily share the fact that her son had finally fallen in love. But because it was a male, all sorts of problems sprung up.
Zuo Ning obediently laid over Lu Chenghe’s legs. Looks it that Lu family’s big brother really came out of the closet like this. Originally finding a male wife already made his parents unhappy, but now that he is even forsaking a company project because of that man, Zuo Ning was afraid his parents would be even more unhappy. He didn’t even know if those star-crossed mandarin ducks could walk until the end.
Maybe it was because the path had been opened by her son, but Mother Lu thought a bit more openly. And then again couldn’t help but worriedly say, “Then that child, how is his injury?”
Seeing that his mother was not completely repulsed, he finally smiled a bit, “His head was hit and he hasn’t woken up yet. But there’s not a big problem.”
Mother Lu then release a breath, “What is this situation?”
Zuo Ning also sighed in relief. Falling from such a height, the fact that it was not very serious was already very fortunate.