Chapter 59 – Anchor Thrown

The bus scheduled for six in the morning meant they had to rise at half past five to get ready and take attendance. Jiang Heng was up by five and quietly got himself ready. At twenty past five, he went to rouse Shen Fubai, giving him ten minutes to wake up properly.

Shen Fubai turned over and buried his head in the blankets, his voice muffled. “I want to sleep.”

Jiang Heng sat on the bed and pulled at the covers. “You’ve slept all night, get up.”

Shen Fubai wrapped himself tighter. “No.”

Jiang Heng sighed. “Everyone needs to gather by forty past five.”

Shen Fubai, heavy with sleepiness, said, “We have time. I promise I’ll be ready within ten minutes. Let me sleep a little more.”

Jiang Heng saw through the pretense. In those ten minutes, three would be spent staring blankly.

Determined, Jiang Heng tugged at the blankets, dragging the Shen Fubai-infested cover down from the head of the bed like a sack.

It wasn’t a violent action, merely moving the blanket a short distance, but it did manage to rouse Shen Fubai.

His body was awake, but his spirit still lingered in the realm of dreams.

Shen Fubai sat up like a sleepwalker, his hazy peach blossom eyes half-lidded as he looked at Jiang Heng. His lazy morning voice was soft and cajoling. “Heng Heng, please. Just a little while longer.”

The trailing tone of his voice scratched at the heartstrings.

Jiang Heng: Surrender, I surrender. You win, you win.

“Five minutes,” Jiang Heng compromised.

Shen Fubai immediately closed his eyes and fell back down.

Jiang Heng tucked him in under the small blanket, stood up, and sighed, feeling the paternal worry of a father raising a son—

Five minutes later, the waking ceremony officially began.

…

The process of waking up won’t be elaborated on, suffice it to say it was filled with difficult struggles and painful decisions. It would make the listener weep and the viewer shed tears.

At forty past five, the entire production team gathered on the first floor. The inn didn’t provide breakfast, so Director Xu had someone buy steaming hot buns, fried dough sticks, and dumplings from nearby breakfast shops.

At fifty past five, Shen Fubai was shivering in the cold wind, freezing like an idiot dog.

He felt he was truly stupid. Why was he standing at the bus stop waiting for the bus before six o’clock in the morning, letting his bangs be blown about wildly in the wind? Shouldn’t this precious time be spent sleeping?

According to the weather forecast, the daytime temperature in this southern town would be slightly muggy, after all, it was summer vacation, no place could escape it. But at least it was cooler than Beijing, a good spot for escaping the heat.

But they didn’t know how cold it would be in the morning.

Actually, the temperature wasn’t that low, it was just the biting wind that sliced through, making their group of people waiting for vehicles in the wilderness look particularly desolate.

There wasn’t even a place to sit here. A simple stone stump, covered in moss, with insects crawling over it. Next to it was the curb, uncompleted, mostly pebbles, with no cars coming by for ages.

Before six o’clock, the sun hadn’t graced this godforsaken place yet, the sky was gray, plus the morning mountain mist, giving it a ghost movie vibe.

If not for the inn receptionist saying this was the bus stop, they would never have found the place.

Several actresses were touching up their makeup in front of small mirrors, covering up the dark circles caused by lack of sleep.

Shen Fubai was naturally beautiful, without dark circles, but his lazy appearance was obvious to anyone.

Another cold wind blew, Shen Fubai hunched his shoulders and rubbed his hands.

Seeing this, Jiang Heng quietly moved to his side, using his coat to conceal the fact that he took Shen Fubai’s hand.

The palm was warm.

Everyone else was chatting in twos and threes or busy with their own affairs, no one noticed them.

Yang Yingying glanced subtly under their coats, pausing for a moment.

“You’re looking at them?” Mu Yao asked, propping her chin up.

Yang Yingying casually withdrew her gaze. “They’re good-looking, aren’t they?”

Mu Yao laughed. “How about it, want to chase one?” Yang Yingying’s history of promiscuity wasn’t a secret in the entire circle.

Rumors from the outside world were speculative, but everyone inside knew more or less that they were true.

Yang Yingying curled her lips. “Do you believe that sooner or later, they’ll join me in becoming a family?”

Mu Yao: “…Ambitious.” She knew Yang Yingying was a flirt, but she didn’t know Yang Yingying was this flirtatious, actually thinking of taking both of them in and enjoying the blessings of having two partners.

Yang Yingying smiled but didn’t explain.

Mu Yao had no experience in love, how could she compare to the master of love, Yang Yingying? In a month’s time, she had gotten closer to Jiang Heng and Shen Fubai, enough to see some signs.

The parties involved didn’t want to talk about it, so she didn’t meddle—

Amidst everyone’s eager anticipation, a dilapidated bus finally approached with its headlights on, bumping over the uneven gravel road, coming from the other side.

The group hurriedly boarded the bus, no one wanted to freeze in the cold wind any longer.

The temperature inside the bus was much warmer, the driver was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man, wearing a hat, his hands rough and sallow as he gripped the steering wheel.

With so many people boarding, he didn’t say a word, once everyone was on and the door closed, he silently started the vehicle.

The assistant director sat in the back of the bus and called out, “Master, this place is so remote, do people usually come here?”

This city was called Liang Chuan, originally just an ordinary small town with no fame—calling it a town was more accurate. Wu Shan was even more remote. There was only one bus to there at six in the morning every day, miss it and you’d have to wait.

Otherwise, the crew wouldn’t have to get up early in the morning.

The driver didn’t answer right away, after a long while, a hoarse voice came from under the hat, thick with a local accent. “Occasionally. There are a few villages inside. But the villagers rarely go out, and outsiders rarely come in.”

There were small villages in Wu Shan, which wasn’t surprising to everyone. They were going to shoot a film, not survive in the mountains, they would definitely need to stay at the villagers’ homes, they couldn’t possibly live in caves.

There were inns in the town. However, it took two hours to travel from Wu Shan to the town, the production team certainly didn’t have the time to commute daily.

A staff member curiously asked, “Then who are these occasional visitors?” Aside from locals and people like them who could find any obscure location for filming, it was unlikely anyone else would come to this place.

The driver said, “Young people working outside. But they rarely return home throughout the year, usually, this bus runs empty.” He adjusted his cap, “An empty bus has to run too. It’s a route regulation.”

Everyone imagined the driver having to drive an empty bus through the deserted mountains every morning in the fog… They all felt admiration.

This was a brave soul.

The driver didn’t speak again on the way, and no one asked anything, they all quietly watched the scenery along the way outside—a silent mountain, a pile of weeds, flocks of birds flying by occasionally.

A large portion of the journey was mountain roads. The conditions were extremely poor, not even a mountain road, just a dirt road. Roughly developed along the mountain wall, with no guardrails on the other side, below was a cliff.

Shen Fubai looked down through the window and hastily averted his gaze, then saw the fog ahead, visibility less than three meters, yet the driver still drove recklessly.

Shen Fubai: “…”

He was worried about a car crash.

The driver had driven this road countless times, he could probably do it blindfolded, he should have more faith in the driver. Shen Fubai thought so.

With a loud bang!

Everyone in the bus jumped.

The driver calmly got out to check, then returned to the bus, calm as ever. “A sharp rock on the road punctured the tire. No big deal, minor issue, I’m familiar with the tire repair guy and the tow truck. Let me make a call.”

Everyone on the bus: “…”

This driver was pretty experienced, judging from his calm handling of the accident, it was clear he had encountered mishaps before—

The sun rose, piercing through the clouds with golden rays, dispelling the fog.

Behind them was a long stretch of mountain road, ahead was a very long, very long stretch of mountain road.

To the left was the embrace of the great mountain, to the right was the gaze of the abyss.

Shen Fubai was sitting by the window on the right side, looking up was sunshine, looking down was death.

What a profound philosophy of life.

In such an atmosphere, someone with a rich imagination could easily start to think wildly.

Shen Fubai played with Jiang Heng’s slender fingers. “I’m a bit scared.”

Jiang Heng looked down at him. “What’s wrong?”

Shen Fubai asked, “Have you read any novels?”

Jiang Heng: “…Read a little.” Two gigabytes.

Jiang Heng covered up his slip by explaining, “You know, as an actor, when shooting some i works, I have to read the original work.” An ocean of literary works, waiting for you to claim.

Shen Fubai said seriously, “Generally speaking, this kind of public bus breakdown in the wilderness event means that we will soon enter an infinite horror arc, or get entangled in a conspiracy.”

Jiang Heng: “Don’t be like that, I’m scared.”

Shen Fubai whispered, “We might also transmigrate into a novel.”

… If it were someone else, Jiang Heng would have said, “Wake up your brain, young man, don’t be too influenced by novels.”

But this was Shen Fubai, so Jiang Heng applied double standards, he said, “You have to believe that even if we transmigrate into a novel, we’ll get a romance script.”

Shen Fubai: “What if we get a horror script?”

Jiang Heng: “Then I’ll turn it into a romance script.”

Fair enough, this was very Jiang Heng—

After the driver made the call, he announced to the passengers in the bus, “Sorry everyone, for this unexpected incident. We can’t go into the mountains today, my bus needs a tow to change the tire. Here’s what I suggest, I’ll call a few vans, to send you back the same way. As for the money… I’ll refund the bus fare, the vans are not under my jurisdiction, so you’ll have to pay for that.”

“Money isn’t a problem,” Shen Fubai said. “But Master Wang, since you’re calling the vans anyway, you might as well take us straight into the mountains, no need to return.”

Driver: “How do you know my surname is Wang?”

Shen Fubai: “Your drift driving earlier had the style of a king.”

Jiang Heng: “It’s written on your ID card.”

Bus drivers’ identification cards were placed at the front of the bus, Jiang Heng and Shen Fubai were seated in the front row, with good vision, it was easy to see.

“Alright then,” the driver said. “But the roads inside are complicated, the van drivers aren’t familiar with the terrain, this road is quite dangerous too, they can’t take you in. Why don’t you just not go? Looking at you guys, you seem like tourists, from the seaside? There’s really nothing to see in the mountains. This place isn’t a scenic spot.”

Those living in the mountains wanted to see the sea, those living by the sea wanted to see the mountains. Running from a place they were tired of to a place others were tired of, then taking a few photos to post on social media, that was the meaning of travel for most people.

To say they were here to enjoy life was a stretch, it was more like they were here to experience life—

This was the second person telling them not to go into the mountains.

The inn receptionist was one, the current driver was another.

Two possibilities.

One, there was a secret in the mountains, something that couldn’t see the light of day.

Two, there was nothing in the mountains, indeed very boring.

Shen Fubai told Jiang Heng about the two guesses and then asked, “Which do you think it is?”

“Go and find out,” Jiang Heng replied as if he hadn’t answered at all. “Regardless, we are definitely going into the mountains to shoot.”