Chapter 167
Chapter 167
She came because of my reputation?
What reputation did I have?
But when the woman removed the hat wrapped tightly around her head, along with her mask and sunglasses, I froze.
I knew this woman. Her name was Jiang Yingxue, and she had been one of the hottest online influencers of the past two years.
One of my college roommates was a huge fan of hers. At the beginning of the semester, she checked almost every day for new videos and livestreams from Jiang Yingxue.
Jiang Yingxue had started out as a food streamer, cooking her own meals and then eating them on camera.
She was an excellent cook. Everything she made looked, smelled, and tasted delicious, and they were all ordinary home-cooked dishes.
More importantly, she was pleasant to watch when she ate. Even when a dish had lots of broth or sauce, she ate unhurriedly and never made a mess.
But there were far too many food streamers online. As time passed, her viewership plummeted, and she disappeared from the public eye for a while.
When she resurfaced online, she had changed direction and begun creating content about intangible cultural heritage.
That kind of content had drawn a great deal of attention in recent years, and she had clearly found the winning formula. Combined with her good looks, willingness to endure hardship, and high-quality filming and editing, her transition was an instant success. Her follower count skyrocketed in a very short time.
That was when my roommate became a fan.
After being exposed to her content so often, I ended up watching quite a few of Jiang Yingxue’s videos myself. I had also grown rather fond of this beautiful and capable young woman.
She had large, misty eyes like a young doe’s. Whenever she smiled, two shallow dimples appeared beside her lips. She was tall and curvy, with a figure that easily drew attention.
But seeing her again today, she had grown so thin that she was almost unrecognizable. Her eyes were sunken, with dark circles beneath them. Most troubling of all was the dazed look in her eyes.
When her eyes first met mine, her gaze was still focused. But a moment later, it was as though her mind had drifted somewhere far away.
Still, she seemed to be clinging to some deep conviction. Before long, she managed to pull herself back again.
At first, I didn’t speak for fear of startling her. I simply observed her expression and behavior, my frown deepening by the second.
When she slipped into another daze, I called sharply, “Jiang Yingxue!”
My voice was rather loud, and the sudden shout made everyone present jump.
Jin Wuya and Li Qingying both turned to look at me, surprised that I also knew the woman in front of us.
Jiang Yingxue’s reaction, however, could only be described as extreme.
Her entire body jerked. Her eyes immediately went vacant, and then she began to grin foolishly.
“Heh… heh…”
In that state, she looked no different from a complete simpleton.
Jin Wuya instantly panicked. “Her… her soul’s been frightened out of her body.”
Without the slightest hurry, I pressed a piece of Talisman Paper against Jiang Yingxue’s forehead and called several times in succession, “Jiang Yingxue, return to your body!”
Her soul had only just been jolted out and had not yet drifted far. If it was summoned in time, it could easily return.
Sure enough, clarity soon returned to her eyes.
Li Qingying muttered inwardly, “Isn’t she a little too timid? One loud shout was enough to scare her soul out of her body? That’s ridiculous, isn’t it?”
“It isn’t ridiculous,” I said. “She was already missing part of her Souls to begin with.”
Li Qingying stared in surprise. “Huh? What happened?”
I looked at Jiang Yingxue and asked, “Go on, then. Tell us what’s happened to you lately.”
That piece of Talisman Paper would keep her Souls stable for a while.
“I… I’ve run into some trouble.” Jiang Yingxue glanced toward the front gate, visibly wary.
We were currently sitting in the living area of the Rear-facing Room, some distance from both the front gate and the Southern Study. It was relatively private.
Only after Jiang Yingxue had made sure there were no outsiders around did she take something wrapped in Yellow Paper from the pocket of her down jacket and place it on the coffee table. “Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu, I did a lot of research before coming here, so I know the Pawnshop’s rules. I want to leave this item with the Pawnshop as a Dead Pawn. Please help me.”
Li Qingying reached out and unfolded the Yellow Paper, revealing what was inside.
It was a palm-sized Bronze Bell with a distinctly ancient appearance.
A piece of red cloth was tied around the top. Its color had faded with age, and it looked quite old as well.
We could tell at a glance that the Bronze Bell was an antique.
Could Jiang Yingxue be an antique collector who had unwittingly acquired something unclean and brought disaster upon herself?
But then Jiang Yingxue pulled up a video and slid her phone over to me.
It was a polished short video with excellent editing and high production values.
The video followed Jiang Yingxue as she ventured deep into Xiangxi, visited practitioners of Corpse Driving, and learned to carry on the Corpse-Driving Art.
The ancient technique of transporting corpses was certainly sensational enough to draw viewers in, but the audience was equally moved by Jiang Yingxue’s perseverance, fearlessness in the face of hardship, and meticulous dedication to preserving the tradition.
“I filmed this at the beginning of the year,” Jiang Yingxue said. “During the seventh lunar month, we uploaded it to my account to capitalize on the Ghost Festival. In just half a day, it received more than eight million likes and over a million comments. But just when I thought another of my videos had gone viral, it was taken down.”
I could understand why. The subject of preserving the Corpse-Driving Art was simply too sensitive.
“We cut the content again and again, doing our best to avoid anything sensitive. We even kept darkening the footage, but no matter what we changed, it was still taken down. In the end, I had no choice but to give up. That’s why you can no longer find the video on my account.
“Although we couldn’t post the video, the practitioners of Corpse Driving in Xiangxi who worked with us were thoughtful enough to mail me this Bronze Bell as a keepsake. It’s the same one I used while I was in Xiangxi.
“The Bronze Bell arrived near the end of the seventh lunar month, but I was up north filming another video at the time and didn’t get home until early August. My assistant put it on my display shelf, and I completely forgot about it.”
Li Qingying clicked her tongue. “You’ve really got nerves of steel. You even dared to film something that sinister and sensitive. You care more about money than your own life.”
Jiang Yingxue gave a bitter smile. “Once you’re in this business, some things are beyond your control. I only have myself to blame for getting greedy. I sank too deep, and now there’s no turning back.”
She told us that when she had first started making food videos, she had done everything herself-cooking the food, eating it, and filming the process. After her views skyrocketed and then plummeted, she fell into a difficult period. Her anxiety became so severe that her hair came out in handfuls.
It was then that a professional domestic production team approached her. They wanted to work with her and guaranteed they could make her popular again.
With nothing left to lose, Jiang Yingxue signed a contract with them.
Once the professional production team took over, everything-from choosing topics and writing scripts to all the postproduction work-was handled by them.
“I did become popular again, but I also became nothing more than a performing puppet,” Jiang Yingxue said. “I have no personal freedom and no say in anything. Whatever they tell me to film, I have to film. If I show even the slightest resistance, the astronomical penalty for breaching my contract would crush me.
“I’m miserable, because many of the subjects they choose are things I never wanted anything to do with-like venturing deep into snowy mountains to gather medicinal herbs, or going to Xiangxi to carry on the Corpse-Driving Art. I truly regret it…”