My Wandering Swordsman

"Lie down, lie down?"

"Nonsense, how can you apply iodine while standing up? It'll just drip down."

That makes sense, and I couldn't refuse, so I obediently lay down on the bed.

My aunt took a cotton ball, soaked it in iodine, and began to treat my wound little by little. The worst part was that, for some reason, the fat boss booked us a room with a large bed. Because the bed was too wide, she had to bend over extremely low while applying the iodine.

In a fleeting glance, a patch of snow-white caught my eye.

What the hell!

I quickly turned my head to the other side, my ears turning red to my heels.

My aunt was taken aback, but then she realized what had happened, and her cheeks instantly flushed red.

next second.

"Thump thump—"

She kicked off her high heels, moved her legs to the head of the bed, and sat down to continue applying the medicine to me.

In my aunt's opinion, this is indeed a good way to avoid accidental exposure.

Unfortunately, this has caused me a lot of trouble.

Originally, it would have been enough to just turn my head to the side, but now, with my aunt's movements, her legs keep making small contact with my back, and a few times her toes even gently bump into the back of my neck.

I couldn't stand it, and my whole body turned as red as a shrimp.

"Amitabha Buddha, Amitabha Buddha..."

I muttered to myself.

Damn it, it's completely useless. All the blood in my body is rushing to one place like crazy.

Thankfully, I didn't hurt my chest. If I were lying on my back right now, that would be a real mess.

The torment lasted for ten minutes before my aunt finally spoke:

"Alright, it'll be fine once it dries."

I buried my head in the pillow and softly hummed in agreement.

Then, I heard my own voice: "Auntie, you've changed so much, you've become...pretty."

My aunt paused for a moment, then chuckled softly:

"People change, silly boy."

I noticed that the smile was faint and somewhat forced.

"Auntie, are you a big star?" I asked again.

My aunt paused for a moment, her eyes dimmed a little, and tapped the tip of my nose: "Silly boy, your aunt is just an actress."

Is there a conflict between big stars and actors? I don't quite understand.

My aunt didn't want to delve too deeply into this topic: "You! Why did you offend the First Prince?"

I get angry just thinking about it, and I sit up abruptly.

"Auntie, that grandson is a real beast, he deserves to be taught a lesson."

The aunt shook her head: "That's true, but his father..."

I raised an eyebrow: "What, is his dad that powerful?"

"It's hard to say. I don't know this person very well, but it's certain that his family is wealthy. Never mind, don't worry about this. Just focus on recovering."

When I heard that, I thought, "What? My aunt is going to take the blame herself? That won't do. I'm the one who caused this mess. The Ji family doesn't have a tradition of pushing women out to take the blame."

"No, I'll handle this myself!"

"What can you, a mere kid, solve?"

"Auntie, you don't need to worry about it. I'll take responsibility for this." I patted my chest.

My aunt smiled and didn't continue the conversation.

Then she abruptly changed the subject: "Why did you suddenly decide to come to Hengdian to see me?"

My grand pronouncements faltered, and I looked at my aunt with utmost seriousness:

"Auntie, do you know about my father?"

She gently shook her head.

My father and stepmother's relationship has been broken for almost two years, and my aunt has absolutely no reason to know.

So I started dumping all the messy things at home on the floor.

My aunt didn't utter a single word from beginning to end; her expression remained indifferent, showing no reaction whatsoever.

Come to think of it, my womanizing father's life or death really has nothing to do with her.

But when I mentioned that I came to Hengdian to find a woman with three moles on her buttocks, my aunt's lips twitched slightly.

"rogue."

I don't know if she was cursing my philandering father or me, the guy who's been searching the whole world for moles. Anyway, my face flushed.

"Auntie, do you know where I can find this person?" I asked.

She continued to shake her head.

Just as I expected...

My aunt doesn't have any strange quirks, so it's strange that she knows this person.

Although I had already guessed this would be the result, hearing it still made me feel incredibly suffocated. She, someone who's lived in the area for years, didn't know; how was I, a clueless outsider, supposed to find her?!

However, it wasn't entirely without gains.

Seeing my dejected look, my aunt hesitated for a moment and said, "Xiao Ji, in recent years, a lot of people have flocked to Hengdian, mostly from other places. Eight out of ten of them are going there for the same reason."

"where?"

"Film and television city. If you really want to find... well, this woman, you can start here."

She told me that whether you're local or from out of town, film crews are the places with the highest foot traffic. All sorts of people come here, so it's the most convenient place to find someone.

My eyes lit up. So, it turns out that my accidental role as an extra was actually the right thing to do.

My eyes immediately dimmed again, a little embarrassed: "But I was just fired today..."

Auntie laughed: "Don't worry, with your auntie here, arranging an extra role for you is a piece of cake. Assistant Director Wang still gives me some face."

"Besides, the extras in this film crew are paid quite a bit, 25 a day. Your family is of average means... no, you're new here, so it'll be a decent income."

I was stunned when I heard that.

"25? The production manager is paying us 18 a day."

"18? I've seen the budget details. Each extra is paid 25 yuan a day, plus a boxed lunch."

Ok?

My eyes flickered a few times.

I heard it clearly that day: the production manager, Niu, and the person who recruited me agreed on a daily rate of 20 yuan for extras, with each of them taking two yuan and using 18 yuan to recruit people outside. But now there's this 25 yuan... thing.

Something's fishy going on here. Did the production manager, Niu, have such an insatiable appetite that he deceived his partner? Or is there someone else involved?

My aunt probably hasn't figured this out yet and is still confused.

I didn't bring it up for the moment, but changed the subject, saying, "Auntie, I'm relieved to have found you. Now we have someone to rely on in Hengdian, hehe..."

My aunt forced a smile: "Yes, it's so nice to run into family..."

Lost in my excitement, I didn't notice my aunt's bitter expression and continued to ask, "Auntie, where do you live? I'd like to visit you when I'm free."

"Home?" Aunt shook her head. "If you need anything, just come find me at the film set."

Film crew?

I frowned.

My aunt's status makes it impossible for her to live in a dormitory. Is it inconvenient at home or something else?

I was about to ask another question when my aunt had already stomped toward the door in her high heels.

"Long time no see, I'll take you out for a nice lunch."

what?

My words were cut off as I swallowed them back.

Looking at her slender figure and smelling the perfume filling the room, the scenes from just now flashed before my eyes, and my heart pounded again.

"Hold."

I cursed under my breath and quickly rubbed my face vigorously.

Ji Xiaosong, that's your aunt.

Can't you fucking put something else in your head?