They rushed over as quickly as possible, Director Ding and the crew were already waiting under the three-story building, and the atmosphere at the scene was incredibly oppressive.
Director Ding’s face was livid with rage, scolding Luo Yi and several others from a different hotel for arriving late.
Yang Xiao and the others noticed scratches on Director Ding’s face that looked like they were caused by fingernails, making it apparent that there had been unpleasant confrontations between the crew and the school, even leading to physical altercations.
"Director Ding, has there been any news about Xiang Xiaolin?" Yu Mi asked with concern.
To everyone’s surprise, Director Ding’s brow furrowed, as though he had found a scapegoat, "Do I need to explain to you whether there’s news? You’re just an extra with no ranking, just focus on your own role!"
Director Ding’s sudden burst of anger turned Yu Mi’s face deathly pale, and she didn’t dare to utter another word.
Seeing this, Song Yan stepped forward to diate, "Director Ding, don’t take it out on her. Besides, Xiang Xiaolin’s role is one of the better ones among the supporting actresses. If she could return soon, our next part of the shooting could go more smoothly."
To give Song Yan’s words more weight, Yang Xiao, as the lead actor, also spoke up on Song Yan’s behalf, inquiring between the lines about Xiang Xiaolin’s whereabouts.
Xiang Xiaolin’s disappearance wasn’t the sa as Luo Zhaoqing’s—Xiang Xiaolin had been taken away in an ambulance, such a big vehicle was bound to leave so clues.
More crucially, the incident had alard the police, and the authorities had beco involved. Director Ding had been taken away the previous night.
"Don’t talk about this, no one is allowed to ntion it again!" Director Ding said through clenched teeth, "Everyone in this town is in Ru Lin Middle School’s pocket: the police, the hospital, and those people, they all side with the school. A bunch of troublemakers, backwater troublemakers, they deserve to be poor all their lives!"
The female assistant standing to the side hurriedly gave Yang Xiao and Song Yan aningful glances, signaling them not to ask any further questions.
But Yang Xiao was unmoved, feigning surprise, "What’s happened here, Director Ding? You are our pillar, you mustn’t let your health be affected by your anger."
"These people actually colluded to deceive us, spouting lies without hesitation. They said there were only three ambulances in the hospital, but there was no trace of the one that took ours last night!"
As the saying goes, half an hour later, they inford us that it was not three ambulances after all. There was actually one more, but that one had already been scrapped not long ago, according to them, it had been caught in a landslide on the way to an ergency, resulting in a severe accident, with both people and vehicle tumbling down the cliff."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Yang Xiao felt a shock of alarm. The previous night, at the very last mont, the ambulance had stopped, and right there on the pitch-black road ahead, a sign had erged, clearly stating: "Severe accident ahead due to landslide, please detour."
Cold sweat dampened his back as Yang Xiao realized he had narrowly escaped death. Had he been just a bit later last night, and if the car had sped past the warning sign, the past accident might have repeated itself, and he would have plunged down the cliff along with that ghostly ambulance.
"What did the school say?" Song Yan asked.
"Ha," Director Ding scoffed, "what else could they say? They’ve cleared themselves completely, anyway. Whatever we ask, they say they don’t know; it’s none of their business."
"To forget pain when the wound heals, such ingratitude. Back in the day, they were as scared of Ms. Shengnan as mice are of cats. Ms. Shengnan was too lenient with them. If you ask , we shouldn’t have changed any nas; we should have depicted the truth as it was. They’re shaless, why should we leave them any dignity?" Director Ding grew angrier as he spoke.
"Changing nas refers to..." Yang Xiao felt the truth was near.
"I an the school’s na. After such a big scandal occurred, the school pleaded with Ms. Shengnan not to expose it. When they couldn’t bribe Ms. Shengnan, they lowered their demands, hoping the real school na wouldn’t be reported. They just picked a fake na to replace it," Director Ding said offhandedly.
Yang Xiao and Song Yan exchanged looks, everything suddenly becoming clear in their minds. No wonder the na of the school written on the script box didn’t match Ru Lin Middle School, and he had thought it strange at the ti. Given the school’s decent size, why would it use a crude wooden sign as its banner? So that was the truth.
The guesthouse owner’s ignorance of the real na Fu Lin Middle School was also explained.
Striking while the iron was hot, Yang Xiao wanted to extract more information from Director Ding, "The school actually tried to bribe Ms. Shengnan, how despicable!"
However, by then, Director Ding had cald down considerably and realized he had said too much. He didn’t continue the conversation, simply telling them to perform well and satisfy the audience, as that’s the most basic virtue of an actor.
The group went up to the second floor and returned to the classroom where they had been filming. The broken window had been repaired.
Director Ding stepped onto the podium and knocked on the blackboard forcefully, "Ladies and gentlen, today we’re shooting a tough scene that will definitely capture attention. The script was inspired on the spot and modified by , so there’s no detailed script to refer to. You’re free to improvise; let explain the gist of the scene."
"A despicable male teacher takes advantage of the empty classroom, tries to seduce a female student, and gets angry when he fails. As he attempts to assault her, the female student fights back fiercely. The noise attracts another male teacher who checks on the commotion. The girl thinks she has been saved at first, but, incredibly, the male teacher does nothing."
"No, that’s not right, not that he does nothing. The male teacher actually walks in, closes the door first, and then reveals a sinister smile. In the end, to cover up the truth, they strangle the female student to death. The murder weapon is... the weapon is their belts."
"Yes, belts, especially old and wide ones. Props departnt, take note, all the props for the predatory teachers and their accomplices must have a distinctly male characteristic!"
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