Caught in Affairs with Superstar

Walking between the fields and paths, Zhou Yun felt a different kind of air than in the city, soothing and calm.

That night, they ate at someone else’s house.

The fish had just been caught; it was boiled into a big, thick pot, the soup milky white, the aroma overwhelming.

The vegetables had just been picked; after a quick stir-fry, they were still crisp in the mouth.

Zhou Yun hadn’t been to the countryside for years.

The countryside had long since changed; it was no longer that remote and underdeveloped place she remembered.

Zhou Yun drank two bowls of fish soup; the heat brought beads of sweat to the tip of her nose.

This dinner was cooked by the owner of the house.

After they finished eating, the group drove back.

At night the mountain road was pitch-black; the streetlights could only illuminate a small patch of ground.

In the distance, the mountain silhouettes were reduced to a vague outline.

Now and then, scattered lights dotted the darkness.

Zhou Yun sat in the car, gazing into the distance.

She stared blankly at the dark shapes.

After Wen Bing finished replying to someone’s messages and turned his head, he saw Zhou Yun turned toward the window, her profile facing him.

There were no lights on in the car, no illumination.

But because they were sitting close, Wen Bing could just make out Zhou Yun’s face.

Back when he first met Zhou Yun, Wen Bing had thought that while her face was indeed beautiful, it lacked a sense of story.

He no longer thought that now.

"What are you thinking about?" Wen Bing asked aloud.

Zhou Yun came back to herself, gave a faint, absent-minded smile, and said, "Oh, nothing much, I was just thinking that it’s been a long time since I felt this kind of deserted quiet."

Wen Bing nodded and said, "I’m from the countryside."

Zhou Yun was stunned and looked at him in surprise.

"Of course, strictly speaking, it’s not the kind of countryside a lot of people imagine; it was actually a small town," Wen Bing said. "My family didn’t farm, but many of our neighbors did. My family ran a small shop, and we had a vegetable patch in the backyard and kept a few chickens. I went to the city in high school, for high school and then university, then work, and I never stayed there for long again. But I often dream of that place, dream of some things from my childhood."

Zhou Yun listened quietly.

She knew this was actually one of the reasons why Wen Bing wanted to make this kind of film.

Everyone has a hometown in their heart that they can’t go back to.

In the script, why does that person go to the countryside to seek inner peace?

Is it because somewhere deep inside, Wen Bing too has thought about going back to the countryside to search for inner peace?

Wen Bing went on: "When I was a kid in school, all I could think about was going out into a bigger world. Now that I’ve reached a bigger world, I’ve started to miss that tiny town. It feels like life is a circle: you go round and round, and the place you set off from is actually where your heart returns in the end."

Zhou Yun said, "It seems like everyone is like that."

Wen Bing asked, "What about you?"

Zhou Yun fell silent for a moment, then smiled lightly and said, "There’s nothing special about me. I just had a very ordinary upbringing, and there’s no past I particularly want to go back to."

Wen Bing thought of what he had heard before.

He glanced at her, as if he was going to say something, then held back.

In the end, that question still never left his mouth.

What Wen Bing had in mind was Zhou Yun’s past.

In fact, a lot of people in the industry talked about how Zhou Yun’s background was too vague.

And they had never heard her mention anything about her parents or family.

Wen Bing had known Zhou Yun for this long; when he heard this rumor and thought about it, he realized he himself had never heard Zhou Yun talk about her parents.

Never.

Just now, Wen Bing had wanted to ask Zhou Yun about it, but when the words reached his lips, he gave up.

Since Zhou Yun hadn’t brought it up of her own accord, what was the point of asking?

It wasn’t important.

Wen Bing respected the things each person did not want to talk about.

...

Yao Yuanfeng was having dinner with He Yong.

After the two of them had a few drinks, the conversation loosened up.

Yao Yuanfeng, baffled, said, "This is really something. I mean, take a script like that with no plot to speak of, and just because Wen Bing went to her, she said yes and that was that. I just really want to ask her, then why is it that all the scripts I took to her before, she didn’t take to a single one of them?"

He Yong smiled and said, "There’s nothing you can do. She’s been like this ever since she joined the company. As long as she’s not willing, no matter how much you talk, she won’t listen. She always feels like we’re trying to use her, that it’s no good for her. Back then, when we wanted her to do Eighth Heartbeat, she was so resistant, flat-out refused. Heh, a trashy film—so what if it’s trash? Didn’t that show end up being a hit? If it hadn’t blown up, would Song Chi’s Heart Inquiry have dared to cast an actress who’d barely done any acting as the second female lead?"