What kind of living hell is this? Goddess Ji Pan, what on earth were you thinking to insist on sitting there? Isn’t it better to sit with a bunch of us humans?

 

When The Record of Upholding Integrity was officially announced, Zhong Jiudao did not pay any attention to it.

There were too many things he needed to deal with at this stage, and he had to handle them one by one. For the time being, he had no time to worry about the quality of the film invested in by the Zhong family or what its final box office would be.

Moreover, Zhong Jiudao was in no mood to care about the box office or reputation of another film. After all, whether The Record of Upholding Integrity succeeded or not, his directorial debut, Fallen Home, had already achieved a great victory.

For a film with an investment of only two million, reaching a box office of 150 million after just five days in cinemas was an enormous success. Even if it were taken out of cinemas right now, Zhong Jiudao’s share of the box office revenue would already be enough for him to make another high-quality film.

With such a huge success, Director Zhong finally took out the little money he had left and rented the smallest theatre at a nearby cinema for the midnight screening. He invited the entire creative team to watch the movie together.

“Money, money, money!” Qian Duoqun was the first to arrive. The moment he saw Zhong Jiudao, he gave him a huge hug and enthusiastically pounded Zhong Jiudao on the back several times. He was so excited that he could no longer manage any polite words. The first thing out of his mouth was simply the three words “money, money, money,” revealing just how overjoyed he was.

Zhong Jiudao: “…”

He knew that Qian Duoqun was happy, but he had not expected Lao Qian to be so happy that he would not even bother hiding it.

Qian Duoqun kept occasionally touching the eyeball perched on his shoulder and said excitedly, “You’re going to become famous, and I’m going to be rich! Hahahahahaha!”

The saying “money can make even ghosts turn a millstone,” (NT: idiom meaning that money can make people do almost anything) really opened Zhong Jiudao’s eyes today. Making ghosts turn millstones was nothing. Money could even make Qian Duoqun and the Eyeball Ghost live together in harmony. Just look at Qian Duoqun’s face right now! If he picked up the Eyeball Ghost and kissed it the next second, Zhong Jiudao would not be surprised!

Sure enough, even the righteous Eyeball Ghost could not withstand Qian Duoqun’s enthusiasm. The pair of eyeballs timidly rolled down from Qian Duoqun’s shoulder, then silently crawled into Luo Huai’s pocket, seeking protection from the great tree in its heart, Luo Huai.

Luo Huai could not see the invisible eyeballs, and he too gave Qian Duoqun a tight hug. “Brother Qian, thank you for giving me the chance to act in such an excellent movie. I’m so lucky to have met such wonderful people as you right after graduating!”

“Exactly!” Qian Duoqun took two sheets of paper from his briefcase and showed them to Luo Huai.

One was a box-office forecast. Qian Duoqun was still being very conservative. Based on the current box office and people’s acceptance of horror films, he predicted that once the other movies released during the National Day holiday started receiving good reviews, the number of screenings and attendance rate for their film would drop sharply. Even so, it could still make 800 million at the box office, of which Zhong Jiudao could receive more than 200 million. Qian Duoqun had a 2% share of the net box-office revenue, which would amount to 16 million. He had already written down the projected box office and the amount each of them would receive on the paper.

The second sheet was the actors’ schedule. Many interview and variety-show invitations had not only been sent to Zhong Jiudao; Qian Duoqun also had a detailed list. He said to Luo Huai, “These are the jobs people have contacted you about so far. Take a look and see if you can handle this workload.”

Luo Huai opened the schedule, which ran from 8:00 a.m. until 7:59 a.m. the following morning. He looked through it three times and still could not find any time for himself to rest. “Brother Qian, isn’t this schedule a little too packed?”

“Is it? The high-speed train from Place A to Place B takes three hours. You can sleep during those three hours, right? Young people won’t die from not sleeping for a day or two.”

Luo Huai: “…”

With the eyeballs in his pocket, he could not help inching closer toward Zhong Jiudao. Brother Qian was terrifying now. It was as if he were always ready to pull out a knife and peel his skin off.

Zhong Jiudao comfortingly put an arm around Luo Huai and patted his shoulder. His hand slid down Luo Huai’s arm, and while Luo Huai’s attention was focused on Qian Duoqun, he quietly slipped his hand into Luo Huai’s pocket, took out the two eyeballs, and put them into his own pocket. Only then did he breathe a little easier.

“Director Zhong, quite a few people are offering to buy the behind-the-scenes footage from me now, and the prices are incredible!” Qian Duoqun looked like someone who had never seen the world before. “I never thought behind-the-scenes footage could make money too. Should we sell it? If we accepted all these endorsements, interviews, and variety shows, our company could make tens of millions more!”

“Calm down first,” Zhong Jiudao said. He had not yet decided what to do, but whatever happened, they could not accept all of them. “It’s almost time. Let’s go watch the movie first.”

“Huh? I’m not going.” Qian Duoqun’s face stiffened. “I’m not a horror-movie fan. I’m honestly a little scared.”

“Go and inspect the advertising placements. We need to make sure they don’t secretly add more advertisements without our permission,” Zhong Jiudao said.

Qian Duoqun instantly forgot that he was afraid. “Okay! I’ll definitely go.”

At that moment, someone rushed through the half-closed door and threw his arms around Zhong Jiudao. “Director Zhong, I’m going to thank you for the rest of my life! Ahhh!”

It was Pang Xinhao. He had been absolutely riding high these past few days, as if he had returned to the days when he had first become hugely popular.

Back then, quite a few film-review video creators had criticized him. This time, when praising the movie, they had also gone out of their way to praise his acting.

[I was prejudiced when I saw the familiar face of Pang Xinhao, whom I had often mentioned in my videos, before watching this movie. I thought that even if most of the movie was excellent, Pang Xinhao would definitely be its weak point. I never expected him to deliver such impressive acting in this film. Many times, he actually drew me into his emotions. Without his immersive acting, the movie’s sense of horror would have been greatly diminished. After being out of the spotlight for so many years, Pang Xinhao has finally regained the spark he had when he first started out. I hope he can perform even better in the future. I’ll continue following his future works.]

[Strictly speaking, the plot of this movie is quite clichéd. If you dig deeper into the script, the story itself isn’t particularly strong. It is even inferior to the plots of some third-rate murder-mystery games. Its success is thanks to the actors’ superb performances and the director’s storytelling techniques. Sometimes, even a good story needs an excellent storyteller. Among the actors, I especially want to praise Pang Xinhao. He is the only one whose other works I can use for a direct comparison, and compared with his previous performances, his transformation is practically a complete rebirth].

There were countless comments like these. Pang Xinhao himself had also received quite a few invitations to audition for movies. Although every single role was a cheating scumbag with a foot in two boats, so what? He had already taken one step into the film industry!

Of course, his haters had never let him off the hook either. Some even said that Pang Xinhao himself must be a scumbag, otherwise how could he act so convincingly? The term “scumbag-style acting” even started appearing.

Fortunately, after Zhong Jiudao and Qi Wanlian had put him through some brutal education, Pang Xinhao had learned to ignore malicious comments. These comments did not hurt him too badly.

After calmly accepting Pang Xinhao’s thanks, Zhong Jiudao asked, “How did you get up here?”

The group had gathered at the hotel where Luo Huai was staying. Qian Duoqun had been picked up by Zhong Jiudao downstairs after arriving at the hotel, but Pang Xinhao had suddenly rushed through the half-closed door. Without a room key, he could not take the elevator. So who had brought him upstairs?

“That’s really amazing!” Pang Xinhao pulled the door open and invited the person standing outside inside. “I ran into Panpan downstairs after she finished work. She brought me up. She said she knew me!”

Pang Xinhao was clearly far too excited at being recognized by a top-tier goddess. He respectfully invited Ji Pan inside.

Ji Pan said to Zhong Jiudao, “I heard you’re having a company outing tonight. Can I come watch the movie with you? I guess I can count as part of Fallen Home’s publicity team too.”

“Of course!” Qian Duoqun and Pang Xinhao said in unison. “It’s our honour to have you!”

Before Zhong Jiudao could refuse, Ji Pan quickly said, “That’s wonderful.”

Zhong Jiudao: “…”

It seemed that this top-tier celebrity was still unwilling to give up on Qi Wanlian and had decided to bypass him and approach Qi Wanlian directly.

He had rented the entire theatre tonight precisely to have a quiet environment where he could let everyone out, so that these paper figures would stop tearing at his wallet all day long. The wallet Zhong Jiudao had been using for nearly five years had already been battered and worn to pieces.

Once a promise had been made to a ghost, it could not be easily broken. Otherwise, the ghost tattoo would retaliate and harm him. It seemed that Ji Pan and Qi Wanlian were bound to meet today. He would have to keep a close eye on Qi Wanlian to prevent her from saying or doing anything inappropriate.

“It’s already this late. Let’s go to the cinema together,” Ji Pan said. “I always have some obsessive fans following me around. Luo Huai and Pang Xinhao are celebrities too now, so it must be difficult for you to go out, right?”

“Exactly!” Pang Xinhao nodded vigorously. “Just now, in front of the hotel, a bunch of people who were waiting to photograph Panpan rushed over when they saw me. They even asked me whether I was dating two people at the same time in real life. It was terrifying.”

Luo Huai had been on set these past few days, so he had not really felt the craziness happening outside. It was just that quite a few people on the set had congratulated him on the success of the movie he had acted in.

“I’ve had a car arranged at the staff entrance. We can avoid those people,” Ji Pan said.

Since things had come to this, Zhong Jiudao could only let nature take its course, and went with Ji Pan.

In the car, Ji Pan was clearly a little nervous. She asked Zhong Jiudao, “Qi Wanlian… and the other actors, did they go to the cinema ahead of us?”

Zhong Jiudao pressed down on the wallet at his waist, which kept bouncing around, and nodded. “Yes.”

“It’s a shame Xiao Yun and Xiao Yan are filming out of town and can’t come,” Pang Xinhao said.

Zhong Jiudao did not think so. He always felt that the two girls had an astonishing intuition. While filming, they had instinctively avoided countless dangers. Today, it was almost as if they had sensed something as well: both of them had left the city this morning, avoiding this group outing with all the ghosts.

When they arrived at the cinema, Zhong Jiudao used the excuse that they were all celebrities and it would be inconvenient for them to queue up for ticket checks. He asked the actors to wait in the car while he went inside first to get their tickets checked. Once the screening was about to begin, Qian Duoqun would bring everyone up.

He entered the theatre ahead of them and threw the wallet inside. A group of ghosts came running out.

“Being crammed into that wallet with a bunch of people all day has made my waist ache,” Qi Wanlian complained pitifully, supporting her waist.

“When you need us, we’re your capable assistants. When you don’t, we’re just paper figures stuffed into your wallet. Truly, morals have declined with the passage of time,” Shen Leshan said with a shake of his head.

Fu Yue asked, “Why is the theatre so small? Huh? There’s a room next door with a much bigger screen, and they’re showing our movie there too. I want to watch it over there.”

“No one moves. All of you stay properly in this theatre,” Zhong Jiudao ordered. “There will be other humans watching the movie with you later. You must not say a single word you shouldn’t. You have to learn how to be a ‘human.’”

Jiang Fen, who had never been able to reveal himself, raised his hand and said, “No problem. I’ve always been human!”

“…You don’t need to pretend.” Zhong Jiudao rubbed his forehead. Jiang Fen had already been dead for half a year in modern society. If he actually showed his face, he would be the one frightening people to death!

Qi Wanlian sighed. “Decades ago, celestial masters risked their lives trying to make us powerful ghosts reveal our true forms so that we could no longer confuse humans. Decades later, a celestial master is making us desperately pretend to be human. Times have certainly changed.”

“The world of celestial masters has really fallen,” the Eyeball ghost said, wearing sunglasses.

“Put your eyes back in,” Zhong Jiudao said, tossing the eyeballs to the Eyeball Ghost. “And you are not allowed to take them out while watching the movie!”

“If you behave well, I’ll choose a few reliable interviews and variety shows and take you with me,” Zhong Jiudao promised.

Hearing that they might appear on television, the powerful ghosts, who possessed at least a little vanity, quickly covered up anything that should not be seen and sat properly in their seats.

After Zhong Jiudao gave the group of ghosts a stern warning, Qian Duoqun brought everyone inside.

Ji Pan immediately spotted Qi Wanlian, who was sprawled in her seat as though she had no bones. She quickly walked over and sat beside Qi Wanlian, introducing herself warmly. “Hello, I’m Ji Pan. I really like your performance.”

“I know who you are.” Qi Wanlian smiled lazily and shook Ji Pan’s hand. “Thank you for helping us promote the movie.”

“I’ve never watched your movie on the big screen before. Can I sit beside you and watch it?” Ji Pan asked.

“If you don’t mind the cold, sure,” Qi Wanlian said indifferently.

Only then did Ji Pan notice that although the theatre's air conditioning was not even on, it was unusually cold. She was wearing an off-the-shoulder dress, and her shoulders had already started to ache from the cold.

To avoid Zhong Jiudao, the ghosts had all squeezed into the front rows of the theatre, leaving the seats in the middle for Zhong Jiudao. The seat Ji Pan chose happened to be right where the ghosts had gathered.

Qi Wanlian was sitting on her left, Shen Leshan on her right. In the row in front were Aunt Yang, who had been keeping an eye on the cleanliness of the theatre, and the Eyeball ghost, whose eyesight was actually not very good. Behind her sat Fu Yue, the ghost in the Suit, steward Lin, and the other powerful ghosts.

There was also Jiang Fen, who had liked Ji Pan even when he was alive. At that moment, he was half-crouching beside Ji Pan and smiling at her.

Qian Duoqun, sitting in the middle with Zhong Jiudao: “…”

What kind of living hell was this? Goddess Ji Pan, what on earth were you thinking to insist on sitting there? Wouldn’t it be better to sit with a bunch of us humans?

Although Pang Xinhao did not know the ghosts’ true identities, he had been so frightened by them during filming that he always kept his distance from them. Seeing who was sitting beside Ji Pan, he could not help feeling even more respect for the goddess. Watching a horror movie while sitting among the actors playing ghosts—Goddess really was incredibly brave!

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The author has something to say:

Zhong Jiudao: Since ancient times, humans have done all kinds of baffling and audacious things under the influence of powerful ghosts. As long as life goes on, so does their pursuit of death. That’s humanity.

Ji Pan: I paid too high a price just to sit beside the ghost I have a crush on and watch a movie together.

 

 

Translator : DarNan