Vase cannon fodder is pampered by the group again

Chapter 81.2

Editor: Princess

Shen Ci lowered his head and slowly walked across the beach, softly humming a song. The tune became hoarse and difficult through his dry throat, somewhat unpleasant.

But he didn’t care at all, stepping carefully with each footprint, the thin waves tickling his pale ankles like an itch, making him involuntarily look up toward the ocean, his eyes—

“Cut! The emotion in the actor’s eyes is wrong.” Min Shoubei called for a stop.

Shen Ci’s steps came to an abrupt halt, somewhat frustrated.

He indeed couldn’t get into the emotion, because he couldn’t understand why Wen Yu came to see the sea, or what kind of expression he should use to face the ocean.

His shoulder was patted, and Min Shoubei came over: “Let’s talk.”

Shen Ci responded and followed Min Shoubei’s steps with his head down, strolling on the beach.

Min Shoubei glanced at him: “Are you afraid of water?”

Shen Ci was startled: “A little…”

He’d been unwilling to touch water since childhood, and after being pushed into a swimming pool by Bai Ziwei and nearly drowning once, he became even more resistant.

As for the reason, he attributed it to being naturally afraid of water.

Min Shoubei looked away, taking out cigarettes from his pocket to light one, gazing distantly at the far sea.

The sound of surging waves filled their ears, and breathing in brought the salty sea breeze. Min Shoubei’s exhaled smoke scattered with the sea wind.

“These past few days during rehearsals of looking at the sea, I could tell your eyes looked quite afraid.”

Shen Ci: “…Sorry, I affected the filming.”

Min Shoubei patted his shoulder, naturally putting his arm around his thin son: “No need to apologize, this isn’t your fault.”

“I can probably guess why you’re afraid of water. It might be because your mother loved the sea most.”

Shen Ci frowned. What connection was there between his mother loving the sea and his fear?

Min Shoubei took a deep drag of his cigarette: “Let me explain slowly.”

“You should have noticed that the overall tone of this script is quite tragic. Ah Sheng’s so-called warm redemption was ultimately just self-righteous self-motivation. He’s not a savior.”

“Wen Yu… or rather, your mother, never had any change in her condition from beginning to end, but I still fell hopelessly in love with her. Pretty ridiculous, isn’t it?”

“After graduating high school, I still wanted to save her, so I accompanied her to art school. She wanted to study acting, so I tried studying directing. She had great acting talent, and I was passable too. Later I pursued her and we successfully married and had children.”

“After graduation we went to Country M and lived by the sea, because she liked it.”

“She said the sea was very gentle and would embrace anyone into its arms, no matter what kind of person they were.”

Hearing this, Shen Ci felt something was off. This sounded so much like wanting to commit suicide by drowning…

Min Shoubei ruffled Shen Ci’s hair: “But she only watched, never did anything unusual.”

“Later…” Min Shoubei’s cigarette was almost burnt out, but he seemed oblivious: “She brought you back to C Country, and you know what happened after that. After searching unsuccessfully, I returned to our home in Country M, but one day I accidentally discovered that she had stopped all her medication a month before leaving.”

Shen Ci frowned: “Mom… gave up?”

Min Shoubei threw away the cigarette butt that had burned his fingers, his eyes still fixed on the sea, not answering Shen Ci’s question.

“You’re afraid of the sea, and she loved the sea. I’ve been thinking about it for days and can basically find the reason now.”

Shen Ci fell silent, vaguely guessing the cause from his father’s words.

When his mother stopped taking medication and left with him that year, she must have attempted suicide by drowning, possibly even bringing young him along.

Perhaps hearing her infant son’s cries from choking on water, she felt compassion and ultimately gave up the plan to drown herself, but left her son who couldn’t remember with a fear of death carved into his bones.

If she returned to Country M for the child’s sake, she would definitely be stopped by Min Shoubei, so his mother could only leave him at the orphanage entrance before boarding a plane to another country alone.

Perhaps she wanted to end her life in some other beautiful country, but the plane crashed unexpectedly, and her soul remained forever in the sky.

In a special way, she reached the same ending.

Shen Ci suddenly felt touched, looking up at the blue sky with a few floating clouds. Maybe his mother was watching him gently.

If he asked, “Mom, why did you leave?”

Maybe his mother would say, “I’m satisfied. Baby, like me, please make the choices you like.”

“She deliberately used that kind of excuse to cause trouble and took you away… maybe she wanted to relax my vigilance?” Min Shoubei shook his head helplessly, then corners of his mouth curving up in a rare manner, but infinitely desolate: “There’s no way to ask anymore.”

“Dad…” Shen Ci reached out to hug Min Shoubei, unable to say any words of comfort.

Father and son stood quietly by the sea, letting the sea breeze blow, both their minds completely blank.

• When filming resumed, Shen Ci let his hair loose, the strands blown wildly by the wind.

Shen Ci casually turned around, humming as he walked along the coast, occasionally looking down to pick up starfish or shells at his feet and throw them back into the sea.

He hummed hoarsely, thinking of nothing, his eyes and mind filled only with this sea.

His emotions fluctuated with the rise and fall of the waves, his eyes flowing only for the wind that laughed as it swept past his ears. When he grew tired of walking, he naturally stopped.

Shen Ci stood still at the beach’s edge, his clear gaze simple and pure, filled only with gentleness. He turned toward the turbulent sea and opened his arms, closing his eyes.

In his heart, he greeted his mother.

“Cut! This take is good!”

Min Shoubei stopped filming, and the cameramen gave Shen Ci thumbs up from afar.

In the evening, Shen Ci filmed with a similar mindset.

But he casually changed the specific actions. This time Shen Ci chose to lie down, letting the waves wet his clothes as they flowed gently…

Similarly, the close-up shots of his expression were also one-takes.

Under Min Shoubei and the cinematographer’s direction, Shen Ci re-shot several long shots for editing backup.

Finally, the wrap-up scene ended perfectly.

Shen Ci lay quietly in the shallow seawater, his earlobes covered by the gentle, tickling water.

Closing his eyes, Shen Ci’s mind was empty. He should have been happy, but at this moment he felt somewhat lost.

This script was just three months of filming for him, but for his mother it was a lifetime.

It was ending just like this. Shen Ci felt an indescribable sadness in his heart, his eyes vacant as he looked at the sky.

Suddenly there was commotion nearby. People were applauding and cheering in the distance, seemingly calling his name. Shen Ci was pulled back to reality.

“Teacher Xiao Shen! You handled that segment so brilliantly!”

“Shen Ci! I really didn’t misjudge you!”

“Looking forward to working with you again next time, Xiao Shen!”

Shen Ci climbed up from the water to see that the actors from the crew had all come and were standing outside the set, calling to him with brilliant and genuine smiles.

Shen Ci looked around in a daze, then smiled belatedly, his curved eyes clear and sparkling.

The senior actors… all recognized him now.

That evening, Min Shoubei simply extended the beach rental for everyone to have a wrap party there.

He hired professional chefs to make barbecue and H-country specialty dishes. Everyone ate heartily with constant laughter and chatter. Even Min Shoubei put down his airs and joked around with everyone.

Shen Ci’s mood had long since recovered. He was making noise and horsing around, eating until half full.

“I’m going out for a bit.” He told his tablemates, taking his phone and walking a bit farther away where the noise was quieter.

Shen Ci smiled and dialed a video call.

The person he’d been thinking of soon appeared on the bright screen, and Shen Ci’s eyes curved into crescents.

“Little uncle!”

In the darkness, Shen Ci’s eyes sparkled brightly, reflecting the warm yellow lights not far away.

Lu Xiao in the phone had a faint smile, seemingly at home, and looking closer, it seemed familiar?

“Ah!” Shen Ci suddenly shouted: “Little uncle, you’re in my little apartment!”

Lu Xiao nodded with a smile: “Baby mentioned before that this afternoon would be the wrap-up scene. How did the filming go?”

Shen Ci looked around and, seeing no one nearby, said in a low voice: “It went so well!”

He smiled brilliantly, wanting to show off proudly but not wanting others to hear and feel uncomfortable.

“Is that so… my baby is very capable.”

Lu Xiao’s fingers caressed the screen, missing his soft cheeks, his voice low and hoarse: “When are you coming home?”

Shen Ci said excitedly: “Tomorrow! I’m going stir-crazy! When I get back I want to play with you first, then find Shuo Shuo and my big brother, and Brother Ning…”

Lu Xiao listened quietly to his chattering, the smile at the corners of his lips corners always gentle and warm.

Shen Ci simply sat down on the beach, facing the cool sea breeze, smiling contentedly as he chatted aimlessly with Lu Xiao.

“Baby, look up.”

Lu Xiao suddenly spoke, interrupting Shen Ci.

Shen Ci blinked in some confusion, obediently doing as told.

The night was already deep, with no stars tonight and even the moon blurry and dim. Why did Lu Xiao tell him to look up?

Just as he was about to ask in confusion, he saw the ink-black deep night sky suddenly broken by a bright light shooting upward, then the light trail’s highest point burst into brilliant fireworks in the darkness.

Shen Ci’s eyes widened suddenly, watching more and more points of light competing to shoot into the sky, joyfully exploding into one gorgeous firework after another, instantly making the entire night sky as brilliant as the Milky Way.

“Baby, happy wrap.”

Lu Xiao’s gentle, magnetic deep voice filled his ears, along with the cheers and applause of companions not far away…

Shen Ci’s beautiful pupils reflected countless points of light. He stared up in a daze for a while before smiling at Lu Xiao and giving a heavy “Mm” with a slight nasal tone.

---

With all filming complete, the crew gradually began their journey home to start the film’s post-production.

Shen Ci was eager to return home. Early the next morning, he dragged Lu An and Brother Zhang to the airport.

Lu Xiao’s subordinate bodyguards also left with them, a mighty procession in black suits helping Shen Ci carry his luggage. At the airport, Shen Ci was once again the center of attention, embarrassed enough to want to crawl into a crack in the ground.

Too chuuni…

“Hm?” Lu An’s steps suddenly stopped as he looked up in a certain direction, thoughtful.

Shen Ci looked at him strangely: “What’s wrong?”

Lu An said nothing, pointing distantly.

Looking past the sea of people, Shen Ci’s gaze locked onto the large advertising screen, which was… actually playing a CP edit of him and Lu Xiao?!

Shen Ci was dumbfounded, watching the pink video with perfect beat cuts, subtitled with cavity-inducing sweet songs that made him feel queasy.

Lu An calmly commented: “Pretty well edited.”.

Shen Ci’s mouth twitched: “You wouldn’t think that if you were the protagonist.”

The video was on loop, interspersed with Shen Ci’s solo portraits with beautifully formatted large text.

“Cub Shen Ci, the mamas welcome you home!”

“Mr. Lu welcomes you too! Please accept his pursuit!”

“Hurry up and have sweet romance with Mr. Lu. Give us sugar for the New Year!”

Shen Ci’s pupils shook with shock: ???