Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 55 Picking Up
Actually, Chen Hong's attitude has changed somewhat since she came back this time.

When she first arrived at the film crew, she was somewhat reserved and usually only flirted with Zhang Yan when no one was around.

Things are different now. They're completely open about it. When they went out to eat with Zhang Yan, they were completely open about it without even trying to hide it.

When the two returned after lunch, they brought back a box of popsicles for the film crew, since it was almost Children's Day and the temperature had already soared to 30 degrees Celsius.

The production team is currently filming the fifth case, which mainly involves a genius teenager who, in full view of everyone, remotely controls the lights and sound system in the victim's home through signal communication between a mobile phone and a pager.

This creates the illusion that the victim is still alive, while the victim, who was killed long ago, is put into a freezer to confuse the time of death.

This technique was quite novel at the time.

"Teacher Zhang."

While they were handing out popsicles, the prop master specifically approached Zhang Yan and showed him the metal box in his hand: "We disassembled two broken pagers and pieced together the parts inside to make this. Take a look and see if it looks convincing."

Zhang Yan flipped through it briefly. He couldn't understand the components inside, but he felt like something was missing.

After thinking for a while, he suggested, "Put a small red light inside. When the protagonist is reconstructing the case, the light will turn on when he makes a phone call, and then a little red light will shine through from the hidden place. Wouldn't that make the filming more impactful?"

This change doesn't quite fit the logic of hiding a murder weapon, but between a dark, unremarkable box and a box emitting faint red light, the latter is definitely more photogenic.

"This is easy to handle!"

The prop master slapped his thigh, picked up the 'killing machine', and got to work.

Just then, Ma Huiwu's laughter came from behind Zhang Yan: "Well done, Xiao Zhang, you've done another great service for our crew. It seems our crew still can't do without you, our great screenwriter."

"Please don't flatter me."

Zhang Yan turned around and said, "If there's anything I can help you with, just let me know."

"That works."

Ma Huiwu didn't stand on ceremony with him, pointing to the Santana parked by the roadside and saying, "Help me pick up a few people at the train station."

Zhang Yan suddenly realized, "Those girls from the synchronized swimming team?"

When we last met, Tao Hong said that she would officially join the crew on June 1st, so it was normal for her to come a day early to get used to the environment.

"Yes, now only the third case is left."

"Alright, I'll go."

Zhang Yan gave Chen Hong some instructions and then drove his Santana straight to the train station.

As a result, he overestimated his driving skills and underestimated the heavy traffic near the train station, resulting in several near-misses where he almost scraped his car.

When he finally stopped near the train station without any major incident, he was drenched in sweat, his vest completely soaked.

Because of the delay, Zhang Yan had just entered the waiting hall when the train had already pulled into the station.

He hurriedly held up the sign prepared by the film crew.

Amidst the surging crowd, four little girls had just stepped off the platform when they saw the sign for those picking up passengers. Overjoyed, they squeezed their way to the front.

"Teacher Zhang?!"

Tao Hong was overjoyed to see Zhang Yan picking her up at the station, and the other girls were also very happy, since Zhang Yan was someone they knew.

"Haha, we meet again."

Zhang Yan put down the sign in his hand and beckoned the girls to walk outside.

As we exited the waiting hall, he turned back and smiled, "Have you had lunch yet? If not, I'll take you to a restaurant first."

One of the more lively students immediately chimed in, "We didn't eat. The coach was worried that we'd get separated if we needed to relieve ourselves on the train, so he didn't even let us drink water on the way here."

At this moment, Tao Hong handed over a handkerchief and said with concern, "Teacher Zhang, have you been waiting for a long time? Look, you're all soaked."

"Uh~"

Zhang Yan was too embarrassed to admit that he was just a novice who had rushed into things in a panic, so he readily accepted the handkerchief, wiped his forehead, and laughed, "I was just worried about you all. These girls are all so beautiful. If something were to happen to them, we would be in big trouble."

Although Beijing and Tianjin are not far apart, the synchronized swimming team members are indeed quite carefree, not even arranging for a male to accompany them. Of course, it could also be due to budget constraints.

Because there were many travelers from Beijing, and the area outside the train station was in complete chaos, Zhang Yan decided to take them to a nearby restaurant for a meal first, planning to drive the car out again when things calmed down.

Several girls were also covered in sweat.

After ordering the food, Zhang Yan also went out of his way to buy a few bottles of chilled Jianlibao (a popular Chinese beverage). As he distributed the drinks, he instructed, "Don't mistreat yourself while you're away from home. If you encounter any problems on set, tell Director Ma or Director Yan—or you can come to me. Just don't keep anything to yourself."

The four girls nodded haphazardly, but apart from Tao Hong, their attention was mostly on the food—it seemed that the swimming team's meals were just average, at least not very tasty.

After they had almost finished eating, Zhang Yan went to the counter to pay the bill and then instructed, "You wait here, I'll go get the car."

Tao Hong put down her chopsticks and watched Zhang Yan leave the restaurant before turning her gaze away.

"Tao Hong~"

At that moment, a teammate whispered, "Do you like Teacher Zhang?"

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

Tao Hong's face flushed red instantly, and she stammered, "He's a famous writer, I...I...I..."

She stammered for a long time without getting a clear answer, and finally got up in a hurry and said, "I'm going to the restroom!"

Seeing Tao Hong run away in a disheveled state, the teammate sneered, "What's so hard about admitting it? Don't you guys like Teacher Zhang?"

The girl across from me shrugged and said, "Of course I like him. He's tall, handsome, and a great writer, but he definitely wouldn't be interested in us."

The person across the street whispered, "Only Tao Hong has a chance. Did you guys notice that Tao Hong and Teacher Zhang seem to know each other quite well? Maybe they've met again since then."

The teammate who spoke first suddenly realized, "No wonder, this is called a guilty conscience, right?"

"Shh~"

The clever girl diagonally across from them made a shushing gesture: "Maybe this meal was only paid for because of Tao Hong—since you've taken advantage, don't make sarcastic remarks. Do you think all this delicious food can't shut you up?"

Tao Hong lingered inside for a while, worried that Zhang Yan wouldn't be able to find her when he returned, so she had no choice but to bite the bullet and go back to the dining table.

Fortunately, the teammates tacitly changed the subject this time, and began to compare the differences between Tianjin Railway Station and Beijing West Railway Station.

About ten minutes later, Zhang Yan drove back to the restaurant and called out at the door, "Get in the car and let's go. Remember to check so you don't forget anything."

The girls responded in unison, picked up their luggage, and went out the door. They were all quite surprised to see a nearly brand-new Santana parked outside.

After all, the synchronized swimming team only has one van.

A young woman asked curiously, "Teacher Zhang, is this your car?"

"My friend's car."

Zhang Yan sat in the driver's seat and casually said, "I heard you were coming today, so I specially asked someone to borrow a car."

The girls looked at each other, their gazes finally settling on Tao Hong's face. Tao Hong felt extremely uncomfortable, not understanding what they meant.

At this point, Zhang Yan said, "If you're not tired, I'll take you to the filming location first so you can experience the atmosphere of the crew. Then you can go back to the hotel with the rest of the group tonight."

None of the four girls had any objections.

So Zhang Yan drove back to the filming location.

Upon arriving at the filming location, Zhang Yan had just parked the car when Chen Hong jogged over, peered through the car window, and laughed, "Our crew has been dominated by men for so long, but this time we finally have a balance of yin and yang."

Zhang Yan got out of the car and introduced the woman to the group in a natural manner: "This is Chen Hong, the female lead of our TV series 'Tianjin Wei'. She is a few years older than you, so you can just call her Sister Chen or Sister Hong."

Chen Hong took Zhang Yan's arm and asked in a coquettish voice, "Should I call you 'Brother Yan'?"

Chen Hong was born in 68, one year younger than Zhang Yan.

The young girls on the synchronized swimming team were already somewhat ashamed of themselves when they suddenly saw a beauty like Chen Hong. Then, seeing her so intimate with Zhang Yan, they all looked at Tao Hong in unison.

Tao Hong bit her lower lip tightly, almost burying her head in her collar, not daring or wanting to look at Zhang Yan and Chen Hong's arms linked together.

(End of this chapter)