WSSAPF chapter 3

Zhou Chulan quickly withdrew, just a fleeting touch.

“It’s still so hot, but your mouth is still sharp. Looks like you’re getting better.” He said indifferently, then turned and walked up to the loft.

The fever-reducing medicine gradually started to take effect, and a wave of drowsiness hit. Li Zhuoyao quickly fell asleep, dreaming deeply without any dreams, sleeping soundly.

When he woke up, it was already bright outside. He felt refreshed, the fever completely gone. Looking at the clock, it was already 8:20 AM.

Li Zhuoyao hurriedly changed into his own clothes and went out. His childhood friend Gao Jun was coming this morning; he was a house designer, and they needed to discuss the set design. The bamboo villa on the mountain, used for the guests participating in the recording, was almost finished, only lacking interior design and decoration.

“I have to go; there’s something to attend to.” Li Zhuoyao said while putting on his black windbreaker, sliding his arms into the sleeves, and zipping it up.

“Okay.” Zhou Chulan swept the courtyard with a broom, without looking up.

The light in Li Zhuoyao’s eyes dimmed for a second. He turned his head, saw the neatly arranged breakfast on the table, and walked quickly to the dining table. Pointing to a bowl of millet porridge, he said, “Is this my meal?”

“No one touched it; it’s yours,” Zhou Chulan said calmly.

Li Zhuoyao picked up the bowl of millet porridge and drank it, even though it was hot. Two minutes later, he finished the bowl of porridge and grabbed a boiled egg, peeled it as he walked, then stuffed it into his mouth, almost choking.

“Your tires are repaired, you can rest assured on the road.” Zhou Chulan nodded towards the black Sedan parked outside.

“Thank you.”

Just as he took a few steps out, Li Zhuoyao turned back. Two rushed returns made him break into a layer of sweat on his back.

“Is there anything else?”

“Let’s exchange WeChat. I’ll visit your business next time.”

He took out his phone, showing a full signal of network connection. “My internet speed is excellent today.”

Zhou Chulan casually opened his QR code, and Li Zhuoyao applied to add him. Until WeChat made a “ding” sound, and Zhou Chulan became the first person in his chat list, did he feel relieved.

“Then I’m leaving; see you next time.”

“Yeah.”

He walked to the door to start the car, realizing that the entire car’s interior was clean, as if it had been wiped. Turning around, Zhou Chulan had already entered the house.

Li Zhuoyao lowered his head and couldn’t help but smile. Stepping on the gas, the black Sedan sped away, raising a bit of dust on the road.

All the way, Li Zhuoyao’s heart was filled with an inexplicable feeling, which had been growing since the moment he first saw Zhou Chulan. However, his heart was like an empty snowy field, very confused.

“Seven years ago, in that accident, what did I forget?” he murmured, but there were no clues.

When Li Zhuoyao arrived at Xinrong Hotel, Gao Jun was already waiting for him at the front desk, and as soon as they met, he punched him in the shoulder.

“You brat, why are you only just arriving?”

Gao Jun and Li Zhuoyao had been classmates from elementary school to high school. After that, he went to Seoul for university, majoring in art and design. Li Zhuoyao went to Guangyue University. They only reconnected when Gao Jun returned to China two years ago.

“The finished product looks good. It seems the bamboo and wood structure is the way to go; it has character.”

Li Zhuoyao pulled Gao Jun into the hotel’s meeting room and showed him the PowerPoint presentation.

Xinrong Hotel was the most upscale hotel in the town, a four-star establishment funded by a Guangzhou businessman who had previously visited the area. Dushan was also paired with Guangzhou for assistance, and the streets were filled with red banners proclaiming “Guangdong and Guizhou are one family.”

This is also the reason why Li Zhuoyao chose Guizhou as the location for the variety show recording. If the word of mouth is good, it can also boost the local tourism income. Social responsibility had always been a principle that he, as a television professional for many years, had adhered to.

When his assistant Xie Jun tentatively mentioned his hometown Dushan and sent him some photos of the scenery, Li Zhuoyao, who had been scouting for nearly half a year without finding a satisfactory shooting location, suddenly brightened.

“This place looks good. Where is it?” Li Zhuoyao had flipped through the photos.

“Boss, this is in Guizhou, my hometown, Dushan County.”

The mountains in the photos were not very high, but the mountaintops were flat, providing a wide view. You could see a continuous range of mountains in the distance, and due to the altitude, mist often lingered here. On clear days, it would quickly dissipate, and there were many beautiful Chinese red pine trees on the mountain, their needles shining like horse manes in the sunlight.

“It has the kind of feeling I’ve been looking for. I’ll go there for location scouting in a few days.”

Later, he decided to make this place the shooting location. The local government was thrilled and started repairing the roads several months in advance. Because the mountain had not been developed, there was no road from the bottom to the top.

Initially, Xie Jun was supposed to accompany Li Zhuoyao, but his mother suddenly had appendicitis and was hospitalized, and it was the busy farming season at home with no one to take care of things. Li Zhuoyao granted him a few days of paid leave to take care of his mother in the hospital.

“Boss, I’m sorry. I’ll be back as soon as I finish my duties.”

Xie Jun was also a student at Guangyue University, several years junior to Li Zhuoyao. In the spring of 2019, Li Zhuoyao was invited back to his alma mater to give a lecture. At that time, he was already a somewhat well-known variety show director. After the lecture, just in time for dinner, he declined the special reception arranged by the school leaders and went directly to the campus canteen.

The canteen was next to his former university dormitory and was the canteen he frequented the most during his campus days. Not very hungry, Li Zhuoyao took a stroll and planned to buy some rice noodle rolls. Standing at the rice noodle roll window was a boy working part-time, dressed in white with a white cap, looking clean.

And there were a pair of determined eyes.

Li Zhuoyao felt that the eyes of the boy seemed familiar. But he couldn’t remember.

Seven years ago, he had experienced a robbery, was hit on the head by the criminals, suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, and woke up with memory loss. At first, he couldn’t even recognize his parents. Later, after a long process of memory recall therapy, he slowly remembered everything.

But he always felt a sense of emptiness, as if he had forgotten someone important.

However, Li Zhuoyao didn’t dare to be sure. After recovering, he returned to a normal life, everything went smoothly. He remembered acquaintances and made new friends. Life went on smoothly, step by step.

But for all these years, he hadn’t been in the mood for romance. His family was pressing him, arranging several blind dates for him, but he dodged them every time. He hadn’t told his parents about his sexual orientation, thinking it was troublesome. So he just avoided it each time.

These were the only two troubles in his otherwise smooth life.

It was only when he saw Xie Jun in the canteen that he felt a sense of déjà vu for the first time. Since then, he began to suspect that his memory might be missing something, perhaps someone he didn’t remember, someone with eyes like Xie Jun’s.

Later, he sponsored this boy named Xie Jun, who was from the same department as him. After graduating from university, the boy became his director’s assistant. Li Zhuoyao gradually started teaching him some knowledge about television programs.

This time, Xie Jun helped him a lot with the location.

“Thank you so much. A famous director like Li, choosing our place. And you happen to be from Guangzhou, which has been economically assisting our Dushan. Today is truly a close tie between Guangdong and Guizhou, closer than ever.”

The county mayor was simple and kept holding Li Zhuoyao’s hand, emotionally starting to talk about Dushan’s history. Towards the end, tears even welled up in his eyes.

“If there’s anything you need, we will definitely support it with all our strength.”

“Thank you, Mayor Zheng.”

Li Zhuoyao was deeply moved. He had an unprecedented focus on this program. From the concept to the script, to the selection of artists, and even the construction of the villa, he personally supervised and cared about every detail. Even the house designer was someone he personally brought in, convincing Gao Jun to join him.

“I think it’s good overall. There are a few areas in the setup that need special consideration.” Gao Jun looked at the scenery while taking notes in his notebook. After watching the PowerPoint presentation, he closed the notebook, put it in his backpack, and said, “Let’s go, let’s go up the mountain and take a look.”

Li Zhuoyao drove with Gao Jun towards the mountain. The weather was very good today, with a feeling of summer in the air. The sky was exceptionally clear, and there were a few ancient trees in the mountainous area, looking like they could pierce the sky.

“What a good place, where did you find it?” Gao Jun marveled at the scenery along the way.

“My assistant, Xiao Xie, is from here.”

“You mean the university student you sponsored, Xie Jun? Has he graduated?”

“He graduated a year ago.”

“So, did you find that person? The one you always say Xie has a similar personality to.”

“No. Honestly, I’m not sure if that person even exists.” Li Zhuoyao looked into the distance, where the view was filled with winding mountain roads.

Gao Jun sighed, took out a cigarette, lit it, and then flicked the ashes out of the car window, and the ashes scattered with the wind.

“In my opinion, you can’t deceive yourself. That person must exist. Don’t you forget, even I had to run to the hospital later to visit you, talking to you little by little. That’s when you slowly started remembering.”

“Yeah, let’s talk about it later. We’re almost there.”

The villa had a bamboo and wood structure, and as soon as you entered, there was a natural and ecological fragrance. On the left, there was a large floor-to-ceiling window, through which you could see the sunset outside. The living room, kitchen, and dining room were all connected, and there was a large fireplace in the middle.

“The house is good, but it lacks some local characteristics.”

Gao Jun walked around the house, pointing at the empty walls.

“This is in Qiannan, right? It would be great if we could buy some things from the Buyi and Miao ethnic groups.”

He also touched a few wooden pillars in the room.

“Binding some wheat, chili, or other local crops along here would be suitable, especially the unique crops from this area.”

Every point Gao Jun made, Li Zhuoyao noted. By the time they finished discussing the entire decoration of the villa, it was already evening.

“Let’s go down. It’s getting late. I’ll buy some things, and you can add some local specialties.”

“Sure, I’ll look for some.”

“Find a reliable local person to ask.”

Suddenly, the face of Zhou Chulan appeared on Li Zhuoyao’s face, and he couldn’t help but smile.

“Hurry down. Why are you standing here silly?”

“Let’s go.”

They descended the mountain and returned to the hotel just in time for dinner, enjoying a satisfying meal.

After dinner, the weather was not as hot as it was at noon, and the breeze that blew over was refreshing. Li Zhuoyao stood on the balcony, smoking a cigarette while looking at the scenery outside. The rising smoke rings dispersed, revealing the clear night sky filled with stars.

In the city, you couldn’t see so many stars. Such a beautiful starry sky and galaxy were exclusive to the rural scenery.

The cigarette he smoked was also a local brand, called “Guiyan,” a 22 yuan per pack “Blue Love” series with an all-blue packaging. Initially, it was a bit harsh, but once you got used to it, it was enjoyable. Li Zhuoyao quite liked this brand, planning to buy a couple of packs to take home.

He took out his phone, opened Zhou Chulan’s Moments. Zhou Chulan’s profile picture was entirely black, and the Moments were visible for six months, with only a few updates, mainly about the rise in oil prices and advertisements for gas station promotions.

“Hey,  I’d like to ask for your help.”

Li Zhuoyao typed these words but felt they were inappropriate and deleted them one by one.

“The crew built a villa on the mountain as a recording location. The designer says the interior decoration lacks local characteristics. Can you help take a look?”

He typed this line in one go, then nervously stared at the phone screen.

After about fifteen minutes, seeing the screen displaying “the other party is typing,” Li Zhuoyao’s heart moved. He held the phone in front of him to carefully read Zhou Chulan’s reply, and just then, the message popped up.

A very short sentence.

“I’ll introduce a friend to you. You’ll ask him.”

The next message was a business card he pushed over, and the person’s nickname was “Mu Chen Design · Dushan.”

“I don’t want a studio like this; it’s not reliable.”

“He’s quite professional.” Zhou Chulan assured.

Li Zhuoyao felt a bit annoyed, directly picked up the phone and made a WeChat call.

Zhou Chulan didn’t answer. Li Zhuoyao thought he was being ignored again.

The ringtone lasted for quite a while, long enough for Li Zhuoyao to think it would automatically hang up, but then, a familiar voice came from the receiver.