Chapter 14 "Che, your girlfriend is here." Cross-border online love, cross...

Chi Leyou stretched the corners of her mouth, and before it was about to burst, she yawned quickly.

She opened the door of the martial arts hall familiarly, and the early sun followed her in, casting a faint shadow on the maple wood floor.

The dust particles in the air were madly visible.

Ren Mi, who was late, ran into the martial arts hall and glanced at the huge floor-to-ceiling window - her friend was lying on the window glass like a suction cup.

"Ha--" White air came out of Chi Leyou's mouth, and she held an English newspaper in her hand.

Ren Mi glanced at the headline of the newspaper "China... Film Queen... Du..." Before she could take a closer look,

the newspaper with the news about Du Yuanshan was pressed against the glass by Chi Leyou.

"Oh my god, a long-lost window-cleaning method from elementary school!" Ren Mi suppressed the urge to read the newspaper and was startled.

Chi Leyou teased Ren Mi about her elementary school experience of immigrating to the Maple Leaf Country: "Teacher Ye taught us window-cleaning secrets, and you, a little foreigner, haven't forgotten your roots?"

"You sound so foreign! Aren't you standing on foreign territory?" Ren Mi picked up a newspaper, crumpled it up, and helped her friend clean the windows.

"I'm a true Young Pioneer, an outstanding League member, and a Party member in spirit," Chi Leyou said, like one of the first elementary school students to don a red scarf. "How could I forget my roots?"

"..." Ren Mi was speechless.

"I don't know whose passport got changed to the Maple Leaf Country." Chi Leyou glanced at her, then suddenly emphasized, "It wasn't me."

"I've been corrupted by capitalism, okay, old lady!" Ren Mi was desperate.

They were elementary school classmates. They

'd copied homework, resold My Little Pony cards, and even ate starch sausages. They were three close friends.

Why "three"?

Chi Leyou and Ren Mi found two Ultraman cards at the stationery store in front of the school.

Ren Mi scoffed, "It's not My Little Pony, so it won't sell for much."

"You have to believe in the power of light," Chi Leyou blew the dust off the card and looked out. "Look at me!"

Ren Mi's questioning gaze followed the swaying ponytail.

At the curb, Chi Leyou skidded to a stop, her head tilted to the left, her ponytail draped over her right shoulder.

"Hey—" She tapped the boy's round shoulder with her left fingertips. When he turned to her, she quickly switched to her right hand, curling her fingers in a familiar voice. "Classmate, you're from Class 302, right?"

The boy with glasses raised his chin, a clear, yet foolish look gleaming from behind his glasses. He nodded honestly.

"You must like Ultraman!" Chi Leyou exuded confidence.

The boy shook his head, indicating that he only liked Lego and yo-yos.

"What's so fun about yo-yos!" Chi Leyou's voice was quiet but alluring. "You're into Ultraman now! Five yuan each, two for 20% off! You got money, right, classmate?"

She twirled the two Ultraman cards in her hands, playing like her gambling dad.

She took a step forward.

The early summer sun filtered through the lush sycamore trees, scattering spots of light onto the glaring cards, blinding the boy.

As if possessed, the boy closed his eyes and gently moved his chin.

Chi Leyou jubilantly said, "Deal!"

Ren Mi's chin slammed to the ground.

One dared to sell, the other to buy.

During

the school's after-school hours, the school gate was crowded. Xiaopang stood awkwardly on the curb, clutching two Ultraman cards.

He only had a ten-yuan note, and his best friend didn't have change.

So, reluctantly, she accepted the ten yuan.

Chi Leyou splashed out a hefty five yuan on an extra-large cornstarch sausage, which she and Ren Mi each had a bite.

With greasy spots on her lips, she saw Xiaopang's forlorn expression. In the spirit of humanistic customer care, after-sales representative Xiao Chi generously offered him a grilled sausage.

"Here, please."

Xiaopang's upbringing made him politely decline, even though he'd never tried starch sausage before.

"It's delicious!" Chi Leyou exclaimed enthusiastically. If she were working, she could rotate between pre-sales and after-sales duties and still earn the title of Top Ten Employee.

"You bite this end, I've never tasted anything like it." Her best classmate, with fervent enthusiasm, skillfully twirled a bamboo skewer, offering a plump, fragrant sausage. "It's loaded with cumin powder."

He'd inexplicably spent ten yuan on two scrap cards. Wasn't a bite too much for him? The worms in his stomach surrendered, and Xiaopang, already rebellious, purred his lips. "Is it spicy?"

"Not spicy! Absolutely delicious!"

Then, the growing Xiaopang gulped down a large mouthful.

"..." He ate so much! He'd chewed through three yuan in one bite! Chi Leyou was shocked.

Ren Mi, another founding member of the company, was visiting a client. "Xiaopang, why aren't you going home?"

"My driver's stuck in traffic." The boy's eyes narrowed, and he pursed his lips. "My name isn't Xiaopang, it's Shen Xiaoxi."

My family? Driver? Xiao Chonghuo.

"Ha, I was half right. They both have 'Xiao' in them, Xiaopang." Chi Leyou glanced at the bus stop. Why hadn't the No. 12 bus arrived yet? "My driver's stuck in traffic too." Shen

Xiaopang, disapproving of the nickname, said glumly, "Oh."

The No. 12 bus struggled to squeeze into the traffic.

Chi Leyou shouted, "The bus's here!"

The elementary school students from the stationery store swarmed out like swarms, their red scarves casting a faint crimson glow. Chi Leyou and Ren Mi squeezed onto the bus, successfully securing a spot in the back row.

"Why isn't this idiot getting on the bus?" A bus ran right by the school gate. Chi Leyou poked his head out and shouted, "Xiaopang! Get on the bus! The driver's here!"

The bus driver, who must have been a supporting actor in a past life, kindly opened the door.

Xiaopang: "..."

His phone beeped at the perfect moment.

A bus stopped by auxiliary police at a crosswalk, a busload of children stared at Xiaopang's wrist.

Not a genius.

"He's wearing an Apple Watch," Ren Mi's eyes widened.

The next second, Xiaopang, backpack on his back, trotted forward. He

passed the bus

and sprinted toward the mobile patrol/riot van parked at the school gates.

Turning back, he realized no one was waiting. The

car door was open.

"Xiaoxi, your driver was rear-ended and is working with the traffic police to handle the accident. Captain Shen was out on a temporary mission, and he's worried you'd wander off."

The young, uniformed special police officer, who had never met Xiaopang before, hurriedly stood up and beckoned Xiaopang aboard.

"We have patrol duties ahead of us, so we can't take you home. Please sit down for a while."

"It's okay, Uncle Chen. I'll do my homework first."

Xiaopang boarded the bus with a lightness that resembled Cinderella in her glass slippers climbing into a pumpkin carriage.

Chi Leyou, wedged in the bus, couldn't hear their conversation.

She only knew that she was a suspect and forced Xiaopang to sell two cards.

And the silly, goofy Xiaopang knew a police SWAT officer.

Would that idiot call the police on her?

Scamming her out of ten dollars...how many years in jail?

Chi Leyou's jaw dropped, smashing through the earth's core.

A pounding stomachache quickly buried her apprehension.

That night, Chi Leyou was rushed to the emergency room by her gambling-addicted father.

There, she ran into Ren Mi, also suffering from vomiting and diarrhea.

Three days later, the two reappeared at school, wreaking havoc, only to find Xiaopang's seat empty.

A new classmate, who had been in the class a week earlier, had mysteriously vanished again.

No one cared,

except Chi Leyou: "Do you think Xiaopang is dead?"

Ren Mi's forehead darkened: "Fat people are usually hard to kill."

"..."

After

Xiaopang's death (crossed out)—After transferring schools, her best friend Ren Mi also hurriedly transferred.

This time, abroad.

In first grade, Ren Mi's father cheated on her, prompting her mother to divorce him.

In second grade, her mother fell in love online.

In third grade, her mother took her to a cross-border meeting.

The good news: the other party wasn't a scammer.

Bad news: Ren Mi changed her name to Mia Tremblay and now has a foreign father.

"Alright," Chi Leyou, who had just finished cleaning the windows and reunited with her friend two years ago, wiped her brow and said to Ren Mi's puffed-up mouth, "You infiltrate the enemy and share the enemy situation with your best friend."

Ren Mi was easy to please, perking up: "Of course! There's a job today! The hourly pay is super high, do you want to go?"

"Yes!"

her friend threw out the address.

"I've signed you up! They're looking for experienced extras! And you, my smart, beautiful, and lively friend! You! Just fit the bill." "

A TV extra?" Chi Leyou pouted, her eyes bewildered. "I've never acted before. Zero experience."

Ren Mi, like a worm in her stomach, shut her up with one sentence: "Didn't you just play a turkey?"

"..."

Ren Mi's mother practiced martial arts, and her stepfather was a boxer.

After marriage, the two embarked on a new venture: renting a venue and opening a martial arts gym and boxing studio called "Tremblay Kung Fu Club."

Its main theme was a fusion of Eastern and Western elements.

Ren Mi's leg skills aren't great, but she's tall and slender, with a dashing presence reminiscent of Hua Mulan.

Ren Mi's mother wants to train her daughter to be an actress.

She pays annual dues to the local actors' union, which recommends suitable roles. Ren Mi has played several small, close-up, non-speaking roles.

Last time, she was asked to play a body double—dressed as an imperial soldier. Ren Mi wasn't happy, confronted the man, and walked out on the performance.

She pushed Chi Leyou on the back and helped him onto the C-train. "Don't worry, you're not playing a stuntman this time. I've made sure everything's clear."

"How can I be a body double if I don't know kung fu?" Chi Leyou waved quickly to her friend, mingling with the passengers of all colors. As

the sun rose, her skin bathed in the light, unlike the honey-hued white people who love sunbathing in the local area.

After more than two years in the Land of Maple Leaves, her skin remained unaffected by UV rays and remained radiant.

"Don't worry, you won't be playing a stuntman!" Ren Mi's voice echoed into the C-train.

Chi Leyou cupped her hands in a trumpet-like gesture, her expression anxious, like a hummingbird unable to find nectar: "Tearing and ripping won't work!!!"

A

long warning fence was erected along the newly built subway line.

A staff member held aloft a sign from an actors' union at the subway entrance.

Chi Leyou bravely stepped forward to meet them.

"Leyou Chi?" The staff member verified the information and called down the tunnel. "Finally, someone's here! A beautiful young woman."

An echo echoed up: "What country?"

"Asian!"

"Great! We've got her! Let her come down for special effects makeup!"

Special effects makeup? Special effects makeup? Chi Leyou's eyes darted around.

What movie was it? If she had mentioned special effects makeup earlier, she should have brought makeup remover.

Her hands were empty; her canvas bag contained only sausages and custard buns.

The further down she went, the busier it became.

Sunshades, tripods, slides—all sorts of filming equipment were set up in the subway station.

Clutching his canvas bag, Chi Leyou sidestepped past the photographer and lighting technician engaged in a heated argument.

Moving forward, he saw two staff members lying on the ground, ripping off tape and marking the actors' positions.

Everyone was doing their job, no one paying attention to the Asian-looking extra.

On one side of the set, on a low stool beneath the viewfinder, a man sat diagonally.

He wore headphones and held a laser pointer.

The pointer cast a red dot on the wall as he spoke to a short foreigner sitting on the ground.

The dot danced around, and Chi Leyou's gaze followed it as it moved around the subway station.

"Hey—" Chi Leyou steeled himself and addressed the man's sleek, dark head. "Hello, Director."

The short foreigner looked up,

meeting a clear, Asian face.

The girl had long, straight black hair, her dark eyes twinkling as she stared at the man beside him, wearing headphones.

He was also Asian.

The foreigner's eyes darted back and forth between the two of them.

Ding—his eyes lit up.

"Che, your girlfriend is here." The foreigner cheered for his great discovery.

Chen Che didn't hear clearly. He took off his headphones, followed the director's gaze, and turned around blankly.

To facilitate the filming, the subway station was dimly lit.

The camera and lighting, who had been arguing fiercely, subsided.

This time, the lighting engineer won.

Da—he pressed the switch, and a beam of light mist lit up, gathering around Chi Leyou. The girl's

pupils, just adjusting to the dim light, shrank, and she closed her eyes.

After a few seconds, Chen Che could clearly see the canvas bag the girl was holding in her arms.

There was a small bird printed on it.

The bird seemed to flutter its wings as the girl moved nervously. The set was now

a chaotic mess, gray and black.

Everything around him was silent and colorless.

Chen Che held his breath. There must be something wrong with his eyes. He saw the bright world again.

Should he believe in light? His eyes followed the tit illuminated by the light. Its wings were so lifelike, and the bright orange beak was even more vivid.

The moment he raised his eyes slightly.

The girl adjusted to the light and slowly opened her eyes.

His pupils trembled, and the tit transformed into a human form, occupying his eye sockets.