SA Chapter 89 (Part 1) – Maze City, Complete~

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{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

     From beginning to end, Maze City took only 2 months to film.

     For an action, suspense movie, the filming of this work went very smoothly. Among the cast members, except for Ren Shuzhi’s acting skills being common, the two leading actors who had the most scenes performed well and rarely NG’d. Director Yuan also didn’t expect the filming to be completed one week earlier than expected. But even so, the crew members didn’t dare slack off.

     Rong Xu was the first to arrive at the crew, and Bo Xiwen was the second. Within half an hour, the sky gradually brightened, and Director Yuan and other staff members entered the set one after another to prepare for the last few scenes.

     In the scenes filmed yesterday, the criminal had already been apprehended and brought to justice. The criminal had crazily repeated the phrase “they deserved to die” and in the end, the judge made the final decision and sentenced him to the death penalty.

     The serial murder cases that haunted Hai Cheng for more than a year were finally over. Tan Yangxuan received a high-level honor and was promoted to Bureau Captain. Xue Jiazhe returned to school and continued to teach every day as the youngest professor.

     Everything seemed to have come to a close, until one day, while Xue Jiazhe was in class, a tall and handsome man sneaked in through the back door of the classroom hunched over. When he saw this scene, Xue Jiazhe’s words paused, and the “student” who sneaked into the classroom smiled and waved at him with white toothed grin.

     At the podium, the genteel and handsome man smiled slightly before continuing his lecture.

     That was the scene filmed yesterday. Today, Tan Yangxuan would look for Xue Jiazhe after class. 

     Similar to the beginning of the movie, Professor Xue was quite poisonous to this old classmate of his, but this time, Tan Yangxuan gave a small laugh: “No cases. Where would so many cases come from? I can’t come see you if there aren’t any cases?”

     The eyes of all the crew members were gathered on the center of the set. There, the cold and elegant young professor raised his eyebrows and said quietly: “You came to see me?” No matter how one listened, the end of his tone carried a hint of laughter.

     In the past two months of performing, Rong Xu had practically completely become Xue Jiazhe.

     Whenever the camera started running, as long as he stood there, one would never connect this individual with the gentle and friendly Rong Xu. He was calm and indifferent, seemingly polite, but distanced himself from everyone. A pair of apathetic eyes were hidden behind the frames of his glasses, appearing as though he could see through everyone’s mind.

     Except for this old classmate of his, he never truly laughed for anyone else.

     Facing Xue Jiazhe’s almost sarcastic rhetorical question, Tan Yangxuan smiled heartily and grabbed his friend as he walked.

     They bought a ton of beer and then went to Xue Jiazhe’s apartment to drink together. It was pretty much only Tan Yangxuan drinking. Xue Jiazhe drank little, and when he (felt he) drank too much, he (stopped and) listened to this old classmate reminisce about the past.

     “I remember when I first entered the school, all the girls in the class liked you…… Oh that’s not right, all the girls in the school liked you. I was so jealous, haha. Not just me though, Liu Zi, Er Chen, were also jealous of you. How come so many beautiful senior sisters and underclassmen were attracted to you, such a waste^[1]“

     Xue Jiazhe drank beer calmly and said: “It is such a waste.”

     Tan Yangxuan didn’t have the capacity to care about him, having long since gone dizzy in his drunken state. He continued to talk: “In my junior year, I didn’t expect my old man would force me to drop out of school to take the police academy exam, otherwise, I would be the same as you guys, a white-collar worker. Being a professor is also pretty good……”

     Xue Jiazhe lifted his hand to push up his glasses, and his thin lips slightly curved upwards: “Actually, it might be difficult for you to become a university professor.”

     Hearing those words, Tan Yangxuan suddenly put down his beer bottle and leaned in towards Xue Jiazhe. This scene was captured in the eyes of all the staff members (standing) next to the set, as their eyes widened one by one, staring intently in concentration.

     This scene, at current, was on its third take. Bo Xiwen was already painted with a ‘drunken’ makeup and fully presented the behaviors of a drunkard, but Director Yuan wasn’t satisfied. This was the last scene, but the scene couldn’t be shot smoothly, which caused a headache for everyone in the crew.

     Now, Bo Xiwen again leaned towards Rong Xu, staring straight at his old classmate like an old ruffian. His cheeks were red tinged, and his eyes were squinted. He stared at Rong Xu as if he could see through him. After staring for a long time, he suddenly laughed and asked: “Am I really that stupid…… “

     Up until this point in the plot, none of the audience members knew that Xue Jiazhe was the real serial murderer. Those words spoken by Tan Yangxuan just now were actually a flash of inspiration by the screenwriter and changed last minute. Yesterday, when they changed the script, (the scriptwriter) had said specifically: “This is a double entendre. Take a guess, does he know who is the real murderer?”

     Perhaps even the screenwriter himself didn’t know the answer. Logically, according to Tan Yangxuan’s character, he really shouldn’t know that Xue Jiazhe was the murderer, otherwise he would definitely bring the other party to justice. 

     But perhaps, there was always an intuitive sense deep in his heart that told him Xue Jiazhe was the murderer. It’s just that he himself didn’t even know, and only when he was drunk would he subconsciously say such words.

     However, hearing those words, the pair of phoenix eyes hidden behind the glasses slightly flickered, but Xue Jiazhe’s tender face didn’t fluctuate.

     Following that was the part Director Yuan continuously NG’d.

     Every time Rong Xu finished that particular line, Director Yuan would unsatisfactorily (call out an) NG, yet no one could tell what was wrong with it. Director Yuan himself only felt it wasn’t good enough, and if you asked him, he couldn’t suggest ways to improve it either.

     Many staff members were already sighing in their hearts, expecting another NG.

     However, they watched on as Rong Xu slightly tilted the corners of his lips, revealing a helpless smile. So far, there was no difference between this scene and the previous two NG scenes, but it was at exactly the next moment when he suddenly stretched out his right hand and patted Bo Xiwen’s short, frizzy hair. He gently shook his head and said with a smile: “I don’t know if you’re stupid, but Ah Xuan, teaching and educating people is a very exhausting and heavy responsibility. I shouldn’t be bearing this, this responsibility…… and neither should you carry it.”

     Among the onlookers, Luo Qian’s eyes slowly widened.

{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

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Footnotes:

1. “Such a waste”: Direct translation: truly not cherishing properly

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