TFS Chapter 6

The Supervising Younger Brother wore a backwards baseball cap, holding a clapboard in his hand, “3…2…1… Invisible Intentions, Scene 3, action!”

Guan Linger, playing Qin Man, stood pacing back and forth in front of the Public Security Bureau. Her eyes were hollow and pale, her hair disheveled, looking like she was about to collapse. Facing the probing gazes of people coming and going from the police station, she repeatedly lowered her head to avoid their scrutiny.

Suddenly, a black business car stopped at the traffic lights not far from the police station. Sitting in the car was Lu Jie, playing Rui Yichen. He gestured to the driver, and the car slowly moved forward to Qin Man. The back window rolled down, and he spoke a few words to Qin Man.

The shattered pupils in Qin Man’s eyes changed little by little. The close-up shot zoomed in, her emotions shifting from confusion to anger, from anger to resistance, and from resistance to helpless compromise. After several turns, the electric car door slowly opened, and Qin Man finally got into the car herself.

The black car was about to drive away from the Public Security Bureau when a young uniformed criminal police officer walked out of the Public Security Bureau’s hall. This was the male lead of the series, Gao Liyang playing the criminal police officer Xie Wenhao. He looked around at the people and things around him, but couldn’t find the girl who was suspected to be a victim that the auxiliary police officer on duty at the door mentioned. He scratched his hair, his eyes showing confusion. The black business car flashed past him.

Director Shang Chao shouted into the walkie-talkie, “Cut! Not bad! Gao Liyang’s facial expression was right!”

The people on the set immediately broke character, discussing and talking to each other. Shang Chao strode over, preparing to explain to Gao Liyang and Lu Jie the emotional ups and downs and turning points of this scene. Gao Liyang was still stunned and lost in thought.

Guan Linger got out of the business car, and her assistant came forward to hand her a parasol and flower tea. She took the flower tea in her hand and also leaned forward, waving her hand in front of Gao Liyang’s eyes, teasing in a low voice, “Come back to life!”

Gao Liyang smiled shyly, still not out of character. He composed himself and said to Shang Chao, “Director, I have a small idea. Can we add a shot here of Xie Wenhao making eye contact with Qin Man in the car, to increase the tension of this scene where he is getting further and further away from the victim?”

Shang Chao was originally talking eloquently to Lu Jie, and was a little unhappy about being interrupted. But since the filming had just started not long ago, he didn’t want to conflict with the female lead appointed by the investor. He patiently asked, “What kind of shot do you want to add? Is it necessary?”

Gao Liyang’s eyes lit up. “Let me demonstrate it for you.”

Guan Linger was good at reading people’s expressions and also heard Shang Chao’s impatience. She originally wanted to interrupt and change the subject, but Gao Liyang had already involuntarily entered the role and started acting.

Xie Wenhao scratched his hair, and the next second he noticed the black business car parked at the entrance of the police station. He was about to walk forward, and his eyes seemed to capture a figure in the car, but because of the privacy film, he couldn’t see the scene inside clearly. He looked for two seconds, and Qin Man in the car also saw Xie Wenhao outside the window. Their eyes met. Just as Xie Wenhao was about to step closer, Rui Yichen had already taken Qin Man’s hand and began caressing it. At the same time, the business car drove away from Xie Wenhao’s sight…

Shang Chao’s original expression was quite disdainful. He was an old hand in the film industry and had seen too many actors, whether they were big stars or not, who always liked to talk about their principles and the rules of acting on set. He knew that Gao Liyang had never acted before, and was probably just another one who overestimated himself.

Although Shang Chao’s attitude was cold, as the director of this drama, he knew the script by heart. The personality traits of each character, and the changes they showed with the ups and downs of their fate, his pupils focused on the details that Gao Liyang added.

After watching this scene full of the characters’ fate, he realized that he had been narrow-minded and had fallen into the trap of dogmatism based on experience. Guan Linger naturally also saw that Gao Liyang’s design was a state that was better than the previous scene. Before editing into the final film, it would make the audience sigh with regret for the missed connection between Qin Man and Xie Wenhao, and could completely mobilize the audience’s emotions. Thinking of this, an unspoken appreciation could not help but flow in her eyes.

“Just do it according to what you acted. Let’s go through it again!” Shang Chao affirmed and shouted to the other staff on the set.

Lu Jie subconsciously curled his lips. This meant that he had to rearrange his emotions and act again. In his eyes, Gao Liyang’s taciturn state had been constantly changing since the first day of filming. He didn’t expect him to be someone who liked to show off. Even if he had never had any film and television works before, he was lucky enough to get the leading male role. He was indeed not a simple character. Lu Jie’s eyes towards Gao Liyang also became more intriguing.

*

Shengshi Film Academy, large stepped classroom in the Xingjing Building.

Every year at the end of April, the upcoming long holiday occupies the hearts of students eager to return home. Even though the lecturer was still tirelessly talking about Marxism on the podium, the rows of students sitting below, their young faces, were all showing the drowsiness of spring, and some were playing with their mobile phones with their heads down.

The lecturer’s face remained unchanged, already immune to the listless state after the holiday.

Shi Man boredly flipped through her mobile phone photo album. The photos showed two smiling faces, one of which was her, and the other… Her fingertips slowly slid across the girl’s face. After thinking for a while, she tapped the share function and sent the photo as a color text message to a number with a note of Y in her phone book.

Until the end of class bell rang, and the sound of people outside the classroom was noisy, a female student in the back row waved her mobile phone excitedly, as if she was announcing some important news, attracting a group of people to watch.

Seeing that no one replied to her text message, Shi Man slowly walked over and joined them. The boy gesticulated with excitement and said, “A total of four people from our school have been selected, and they have already joined the group. Moreover, I heard that they are all main characters, so maybe they can become a big hit at once. Chu Wenli from our class is the female number two. Are you all 2G surfers? Don’t you read entertainment news?”

“Chu Wenli has played a lot of supporting roles. Just bragging…”

“Who are the others? Are there any from our department?”

The girl smiled, “We all know the other ones, too. They are all famous figures in the school. From our same grade, Lu Jie, Young Master Lu!”

A burst of sighs erupted in the crowd. “Lu Jie and Chu Wenli already have a CP vibe, so that’s normal!”

“Student president Guan Linger is the male number one!” the girl continued to pretend to be mysterious.

Shi Man’s heart sank. Chu Wenli, Lu Jie, Guan Linger… The last one would undoubtedly be Gao Liyang. Amidst the students’ uproar, she didn’t listen any further and turned around to walk out of the classroom. Compared to the heated discussion in the crowd, her figure was even more alone.

A middle-aged woman woke up from a hangover. The light and shadow projected through the cracks in the curtains happened to reflect on her face. As if feeling the warmth, she gradually opened her eyes.

The severe migraine made her endure the discomfort and put on her clothes. Every movement she made was a little slow. The house was filled with an unspeakable smell. Her lips moved, and she opened her mobile phone to check work information when she received a color text message. She subconsciously pressed the view button.

When the color text message picture was completely reflected in the woman’s eyes, she trembled her fingers, trying to enlarge the whole photo. The boy in the photo still had that familiar face. She couldn’t help but press the entire mobile phone into her heart, and her eyes became muddy. A line of candle tears flowed from the corner of her eye.

In this severe heartache, she knelt on the ground, as if performing some mysterious ritual, and her mouth was still constantly murmuring fragmented words, “Blood debt… blood… repaid…”

Since the boy passed away, she had fallen into a long period of silence and began living in a daze.

Past memories were like water, everything was like reincarnation, and it was ultimately impossible to recover spilled water. It was just that in every midnight dream, the girl’s helpless expression, her bright eyes, her tears, and her regrets, lingered in her mind for a long time, like a pair of shackles that she had personally created, eternally binding herself in them, using this seemingly mottled soul to be smashed to pieces for her.

*

At 8:15 PM on June 20, 2021, Director Yuan Guobin made a special detour to the Criminal Investigation Brigade before getting off work. As soon as he pushed open the door of the Criminal Investigation Brigade’s office, he saw that it was dark inside. A young man holding a murder weapon appeared on the screen in front. To enhance the tense rhythm, the sound system transmitted occasional clear footsteps and the sound of thunder and lightning outside the window.

Yuan Guobin cleared his throat. No one in the darkness turned around to look at the light at the door. Someone nudged the person next to them to turn on the lights. Chen Can saw the director’s tense face as soon as the lights were turned on. He scratched his head slightly, “Director Yuan, why are you here?”

Yuan Guobin looked him up and down and then looked at everyone in the hall. “Is there any progress?”

Zhang Shun, who was closest to the screen, had just adjusted to the dim light and stood up. “Director Yuan, we are watching that drama. There are also several murder cases outside.”

Director Yuan nodded, and Zhang Shun hurriedly made an inviting gesture. “This way, let’s talk in my office.”

After the two left in a hurry, Chen Can laughed and said, “Director Yuan walks without making a sound!”

Shen Qing glared at him, “Pay attention! Did you write down the key points of the murderer’s technique?”

Chi Zijian picked up the A4 paper Chen Can had recorded and grinned, “Oh, let me read it to you. Officer Chen only wrote down one sentence: The sea cannot be measured…”

The tense atmosphere was momentarily relieved, and everyone continued to bury their heads and watch “Invisible Intentions.”

Inside the Criminal Investigation Brigade Captain’s office, the blinds in Zhang Shun’s office were always tightly sealed, making it impossible to see the situation inside from the outside.

“The golden period for solving the case is coming soon, and I always feel uneasy. Are there any other crew members who have lost contact? We must control the number of casualties in the shortest possible time.” Yuan Guobin sat on the sofa, frowning. Zhang Shun handed him a cigarette and lit it for him.

Zhang Shun said, “We have required key personnel to ensure that they contact us at least once every 24 hours, so don’t worry. What I am more worried about now is the press conference for this malicious incident.”

Yuan Guobin took a puff of cigarette and slowly exhaled, “Do we have a murderer’s sketch?”

“The profiler is working on it. They have made several collages, but the information we have is insufficient. No more clues about the murderer were left at the scene. After watching the drama later, I will go to Yan Haoyu’s crime scene again. We can only determine that it was a vendetta. There are now three directions. Is the contemporary competitor of the crew a suspect? The life and death circles of several people outside the crew, is the dead closely divided and lightly clicked people. There is also a direction…”

He hesitated slightly, and Yuan Guobin asked, “If you have any ideas, just say it. During the detection stage, you always have to try and make mistakes.”

Zhang Shun agreed with Director Yuan’s words in his heart, “Is there any other implicit information in this drama that we haven’t yet captured yet?”

Yuan Guobin fell silent. After a long while, he flicked the cigarette ash, “You said last time that there were four students from Shengshi Film Academy. This direction also needs to be investigated further.”

“I know, the main thing is manpower… There are too few people involved, and the amount of social investigation work far exceeds the previous cases.” Zhang Shun looked at Yuan Guobin’s expression. Yuan Guobin was short-tempered. He raised his voice a little and shouted, “What time is it? If you lack people, hurry up and submit a report! I’ll go mobilize troops! I just want you to guarantee that at the press conference, we can have something to appease the public! Solve the case as soon as possible! Bring the murderer to justice!”

“Yes!” Zhang Shun quickly got up.

People fear the darkness because of habit. Darkness will make you lose your dependence on seeing things and be in an unknown vortex. But even in a strong situation, there are always some figures of people going against the current like a warm current in the heart, delivering the fire of hope to the victims in this light shadow.

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