Chapter 92
In the school season of September, Bo Muyu’s other script, Dust World, was about to start filming.
Jiang Yingzong’s son, Jiang Yixuan, had been admitted to a prestigious university. Before he enrolled, the Jiang family held a banquet at home and invited Bo Mingliang’s family. Bo Muyu personally called Old Master Jiang to apologize, saying that she was too busy with work to get away.
Before the filming of Dust World began, Bo Muyu applied to Su Man to join the crew for the entire duration.
“Are you sure?” Su Man frowned. “The filming period for this drama is likely to be longer than God of War. Your birthday is at the end of the month.”
Bo Muyu did not hesitate and nodded. “I’ve already thought it through. I can learn a lot by joining the crew. I want to stay with the crew for the whole time this time.”
Her birthday.
She remembered that last year, Jiang Chenyin had taken her to see a meteor shower and had promised her that she would never distance herself from her or neglect her for anyone. Thinking back now, she only felt as if many years had passed.
Jiang Chenyin had not distanced herself from her, neglected her, or abandoned her for others, because the person who had pushed her away was herself.
“Xiaoyu…” Su Man hesitated, then sighed. “Is something on your mind? You’ve been very strange lately, more and more reticent, and you’re working as if your life depends on it. What’s the reason?”
Bo Muyu was taken aback for a moment and met Su Man’s concerned gaze.
This was the first time since she had rejected Su Man’s confession that Su Man had said so much to her that was unrelated to work. During this time, they had both intentionally avoided each other. If it weren’t for the need to communicate, Su Man would not have looked for her, let alone brought the topic to personal matters.
She quickly reacted, shook her head, and smiled faintly. “I’m fine. Thank you for your concern, Senior.”
Su Man looked at her for a few seconds, her tone carrying a hint of the same care as in the past. “If you have anything on your mind, you can still talk to me. I never wanted to distance myself from you because you rejected me last time.”
Bo Muyu paused, then said, “Senior, I know what I’m doing. But I’m still very grateful to you. I know you’re concerned about me.”
From the day she had rejected Su Man, she had been unable to be too cruel to her. Although she did not regret her decision, she absolutely could not say any harsh words. Because Su Man was essentially similar to her. She did not pester her when she couldn’t have her, but chose to suppress her own emotions.
This was the complete opposite of Yang Qian and Shao Sinan, who had hurt Jiang Chenyin.
“Alright. I’ll also be with the crew for this filming. You can come to me anytime if you need me,” Su Man said, not saying any more, and approved her application, also reminding her of a few things.
In late September, Bo Muyu and Su Man followed the film crew to the film studio. She had informed her parents that she would be at the film studio for at least a few months and could not come back. Bo Mingliang and Ye Xialan had her stay at home for a few days before she left.
She did not inform anyone else individually, only posting a picture of the Dust World script folder on her social media, with a note saying that she was joining the crew.
On the plane, Su Man sat beside Bo Muyu, her gaze occasionally falling on her.
Su Man found that Bo Muyu had been reading the script not long after they had boarded, but after a while, she had closed the folder, her gaze lingering on it for a long time, her expression carrying an indescribable sadness, and also a rare gentleness.
Su Man had wanted to ask her several times, but every time the words were on the tip of her tongue, she had swallowed them, and could only sigh in her heart, watching her fingers stroke the character “dust” on the file.
The filming conditions for Dust World this time were harsh, even more so than during the filming of God of War. Su Man’s requirements were very strict, and the filming had to be done on location. After they arrived at the film studio, they held a start-of-filming ceremony, and then Bo Muyu threw herself into her work with Su Man.
Every day, she followed Su Man on the set, discussing the filming of each scene with the director’s team. When she had a little free time, she would go back to the rest area to write a new script, and would only go back to the hotel to rest at night.
She didn’t dare to let herself be idle. Whenever it was quiet, she would always feel very empty, but also very full. That gentle, watery woman was always there.
A week after arriving at the crew, the weather here turned gloomy. In the evening, when Bo Muyu and Su Man returned to the hotel, it started to rain, accompanied by thunder.
The lights in the room were on, and it was very quiet. Bo Muyu sat on the sofa with a coat draped over her, her face a little pale.
She was waiting for the next clap of thunder.
Every time it thundered and rained when she was a child, she had the protection of her parents and the care of Jiang Chenyin. She was very afraid of thunder, but at those times, she was not. After she went to university, she had been waiting for the person in her heart to come back, back to her side, to still protect her when the thunder rumbled.
She had waited. After Jiang Chenyin came back, she had not been distant with her at all. The thunderstorm last year was the first rain with thunder since she had come back. She had hidden in the hallway, trying to avoid the thunder. She had tried every means to endure it on her own, and in the end, she had heard Jiang Chenyin’s anxious voice.
Just then, a muffled clap of thunder came from outside the window. Bo Muyu bit her lip, pulled the coat draped over her tighter, and ran over, closing the window with a “thud” just before the next, louder clap of thunder.
The next second, she saw lightning flash across the sky, but this time, she could not hear the frightening thunder.
She stared at the hand that had closed the window in a daze, then suddenly laughed, but a few seconds later, she fell silent. She could protect herself now, because there was no one by her side.
There would no longer be a person who would rush back from so far away just to close the window for her. There would no longer be a person who didn’t even have time to change her shoes, who didn’t even notice that her clothes were wet, and who only cared about apologizing to her. Such a person would not be there anymore.
Bo Muyu thought of the hazy scene from that time, clutched her heart, both sweet and painful.
She turned to go back to the sofa, but at that moment, there was a knock on the door. It was Su Man.
“Senior, come in,” Bo Muyu said, stepping aside.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” Su Man said with an apologetic smile. Her hair was down, and she had the scent of shower gel on her.
Bo Muyu poured a cup of tea for Su Man, sat down with her on the sofa, and asked, “Senior, why are you here so late?”
Su Man smiled, a little embarrassed. “I didn’t want to bother you, but it’s thundering now, and I can’t seem to sleep even with the windows and curtains closed. So I wanted to see if you were resting, and to chat with you.”
Bo Muyu smiled and said, “It’s no bother, but I’m very surprised that you’re afraid of thunder, Senior.”
“I’m not really afraid,” Su Man said, leaning back into the sofa and glancing at the window that Bo Muyu had closed. She sighed, “I just can’t sleep, and it just so happens to be a thunderstorm, which is even more annoying.”
Bo Muyu nodded, and the two of them were silent for a moment.
Su Man suddenly let out a faint sigh. “Xiaoyu, in a couple of days, it will be your twenty-third birthday.”
“Mmm, I know,” Bo Muyu said with a slight smile.
“Are you going back?”
Bo Muyu immediately shook her head. “No. I’ve already said I’m staying with the crew for the whole time. If I go back now, people will laugh at me. They’ll think I can’t even be away from home for my birthday.”
She didn’t want to go back, because her birthday no longer had any meaning for her. She hadn’t cared much about her birthday since she had grown up. If it weren’t for the fact that she had been hoping for a surprise from Jiang Chenyin in the past few years, that she would come back on her birthday, she would not have had any expectations for this birthday at all.
As for now, Jiang Chenyin probably wouldn’t want to see her. With such thoughts, how could she want to see her?
“Alright then. I’ll give you half a day off on your birthday, and we can all get together in the evening,” Su Man said, seeing her insistence, and did not persuade her any further.
“Okay. I can sleep for a few more hours with half a day off,” Bo Muyu said with a happy smile, her eyes as clear as in the past.
But Su Man could clearly feel that she was not happy. Her smile was a little empty, not like before when she was still a little dazed, but her eyes would seem to have starlight in them whenever she smiled.
The current Bo Muyu seemed to have put on an even thicker armor. Outsiders could only see that her career was going smoothly and that she was too busy to get away, including the Jiang family.
On the night Jiang Chenyin returned to Qinzhou from the film studio, she had dinner at the old Jiang residence. After dinner, she sat in the dining room and listened to the women of the family chat about their daily lives.
Because she had heard Bo Muyu’s name.
Sun Ruowei was cracking melon seeds and said, “That child, Xiaoyu, is really doing well now. Not only did she become a screenwriting supervisor after just one year of work, but now her second movie has started filming. Every time Xialan sees me, she has to praise her first.”
Xu Zijun smiled along. “That’s right. But Xiaoyu is much busier than before. We haven’t seen her much for a long time. She couldn’t even come to Yixuan’s school promotion banquet a while ago.”
Old Madam Jiang was both happy and worried. “We should ask her over one day. I want to see if this child has lost weight. Why is she so busy?”
“Mom, Xiaoyu is a screenwriting supervisor now,” Sun Ruowei laughed and explained to Old Madam Jiang, “She has a whole bunch of screenwriters under her. She’s usually very busy, and now she’s personally with the crew. It’s not easy to see her.”
“Is that so…” Old Madam Jiang was a little disappointed, but then she immediately smiled. “Let Liu’er pick her up. She’ll definitely come to see Liu’er as soon as she has time.”
Jiang Chenyin was in a daze, her gaze wandering.
Sun Ruowei reached out with her foot and touched hers. “Liu’er, she’s calling you.”
“Hmm?” Jiang Chenyin came back to her senses and curved her lips at Old Madam Jiang. “Mom, what’s wrong?”
“I said, you should pick up Xiaoyu when she comes back to Qinzhou. Your dad and I miss her a little.”
Jiang Chenyin lowered her eyes, reached for her cup, and found that it was empty. She had to put it back and replied softly, “Mmm, I know.”
Seeing this, Xu Zijun couldn’t help but tease, “Liu’er is sad. Xiaoyu will be away for a few months. When she goes back to her room later, Xiaoyu’s call will probably come right away.”
Sun Ruowei continued to crack melon seeds and said, “Oh, Eldest Sister-in-law, show me that promotional photo of God of War again. I didn’t get a good look last time. I just remember that the male lead is quite handsome…”
As they continued to chat, Jiang Chenyin suddenly couldn’t sit still any longer and made an excuse to go back to her room.
The lights in the room were not on. She sat quietly on the edge of the bed, her whole person seeming very empty, and even she herself felt an emptiness in her heart.
From the time Bo Muyu had turned and run away, from the time she had held back her sorrow and not allowed herself to turn around, and from the moment she had strode away, her heart had been aching with emptiness.
She had not received any notification from anyone that Bo Muyu had left Qinzhou with the crew. Since that day, she had not had any contact with Bo Muyu. It was as if this person had never existed in her life, but she clearly felt a cold, empty hole in her heart.
This was an emotion she had never experienced before, different from the panic and fear she had experienced in the past, and also different from the disappointment of realizing that Bo Muyu would not be so dependent on her as she grew up.
The image of her not turning around that day and Bo Muyu running away in sorrow, on that day, it was as if all the pain in her body had been activated, and all the beauty she had tasted in the past had been uprooted.
Their long-standing mutual affection, their intimate tacit understanding, and the memories of Bo Muyu showing her reliance on her after she had grown up, had all turned into sourness and pain.
She had never been more clearly aware that this was an indelible and deep-seated feeling, painful and long-lasting.
