Xia Mengmeng had done all this to keep filming on track and to buy herself some peace of mind, hoping the protective bells would keep her safe. The problem, however, lay precisely with those bells.
Fortunately, Yunxi saw what was off. When the female ghost used Xia Mengmeng's body to siphon vital essence, Yunxi struck and scattered it. The bells could not withstand her blow and shattered on the spot.
Yunxi also figured that the moment the bells broke, someone besides their owner would sense it. Xia Mengmeng was an ordinary person. She could not have done that by herself. Whoever had tampered with the bells would feel it too.
Facts proved her right. Xia Mengmeng turned out sharper than expected. She had noticed something wrong with herself and, with a single line, had her assistant block Yunxi. She was decisive.
Though she looked exhausted, Xia Mengmeng could not help a faint smile when she saw Yunxi, whose beauty shone even in a plain white dress. She stepped into the RV.
Behind her, the assistant Lan Lan was stunned all over again. People really were different. A simple, undecorated white dress looked high-end on the master. A face like that carried everything.
"Master, I am wrapped for the night. Xiao Ruixiang says he already contacted Master Yu. I am to go over as soon as I finish."
"Good. I will go as your assistant."
Lan Lan hesitated, then blurted, "Master, with your looks and bearing, no one will believe you are an assistant."
Yunxi pressed her lips into a smile. In front of the two of them, she brushed a hand over her cheek. With two soft gasps as accompaniment, her features shifted into a face about half similar to Lan Lan's. She smiled. "I am Lan Lan's cousin, filling in for a day."
"Oh. Mm. Alright."
They answered in unison.
Xia Mengmeng pressed a hand to her chest. She was certain now that she had met a true expert. If there had been any doubt before, there was none now.
Lan Lan respectfully took out a brand-new phone from her crossbody bag and offered it. "Master, this is new. SIMs must be real-name here, so I registered it with my ID."
"Alright. Thank you."
Yunxi was, for the moment, a person with no papers. She accepted gladly.
Xia Mengmeng hurried out of costume, changed into a red suit, twisted her long hair up, and skipped makeup. Even with a touch of overnight pallor, she headed to her car with Yunxi.
She had been silent on the drive. She could not be distracted while shooting, but now she set the car to auto-drive and glanced at Yunxi, who was studying the interior. "Master, do you think Ruixiang was deceived? Did Master Yu use him?"
Yunxi watched the far-more-advanced self-driving system and tilted her head. "A woman's sixth sense is keenest. You already sensed something, which is why you reacted to me the way you did. Now you are looking for reasons to convince yourself otherwise. Why force it?"
"I…"
She could not finish.
After a long breath she said, "We have been together seven years. We were already talking marriage. I decided that after we wed I would step back to better care for a family.
But whenever I bring it up, Ruixiang urges me to keep working, says he cannot bear to see me waste my talent or be trapped in household trivialities."
"Your income is higher than his." Yunxi hit the mark in one line.
Xia Mengmeng fell silent. She had known it, only refused to admit it.
"Women are too sentimental, men are more practical. In the end, you only move yourself." Yunxi truly did not understand why someone with looks, money, a career, and status would cling to a crooked tree.
Silence settled. Xia Mengmeng said no more. Yunxi had no taste for playing confidante. She was a master right now. She opened the phone to study the driving manual.
An hour later, Yunxi had the basics down. The car pulled up before an antique-style old residence. As the doors opened, Xia Mengmeng drew a deep breath and got out first. Yunxi followed and frowned at the house, which was shrouded in ghostly qi.
Xia Mengmeng rang the bell like a regular. The gate opened by itself. They crossed the courtyard and entered a gloomy main hall.
It was faux-ancient. Carved beams and painted pillars, antique chairs and tables, yet in unobtrusive spots the fingerprints of technology showed through. The mix felt awkward to Yunxi.
Two men were already inside. One wore a well-cut gray pinstripe suit. He hurried up to greet Xia Mengmeng, taking her hand and giving her a quick up-and-down as if checking her condition.
The one seated steadily had to be the Master Yu she had mentioned. He held a string of black beads that turned slowly in his hand. He wore a black traditional long coat and trousers, and his small, shrewd eyes measured Xia Mengmeng. As if noticing something, the beads paused between his fingers.
"Mengmeng, are you alright?"
"I was terrified. I forced myself to finish the scene and came straight here."
She looked worn to the bone.
Xiao Ruixiang helped her sit, then turned to Yunxi with a frown. "Where is Lan Lan? Who is this?"
"She is Lan Lan's cousin. She is covering today. Lan Lan had something urgent."
A glance from Ruixiang, then he let it go and turned to Master Yu at the head. "Master, please take a look at Mengmeng. What happened to her? After she wore your bells there were no more incidents. Why now?"
Master Yu cleared his throat. "Miss Xia, can you tell me how the bells broke?"
Xia Mengmeng looked at Yunxi. Yunxi stepped forward and recounted what had happened, but from Lan Lan's point of view, not her own.
Master Yu caught the key at once. "Where did the woman with the umbrella go?"
"I do not know."
"Why did you not stop her?"
"I did not dare."
Yunxi answered cleanly, without hedging.
Xiao Ruixiang frowned. "You are just coasting. You are nothing like Lan Lan. If it were her, she would have stopped that woman."
Yunxi considered and nodded. Lan Lan had stopped her, yes. But she muttered, "The set was terrifying. Even if you had been there, you might not have dared to block her either. What right do you have to scold me? I did not see you at night shoots with Sister Xia."
Mocked to his face, Xiao Ruixiang scowled and was about to speak when Master Yu raised a hand to stop him. From his pocket he produced a brown bell. "I forged this after your call. Wear it and you should not encounter the same thing again."
Yunxi stepped up, took the bell, glanced at it once, and crushed it between her fingers. As the fragments fell, all four in the hall heard a single, piercing scream.