Yin Xinyue sounded embarrassed

 and explained

. “We

’ve

 cooperated in a drama before. 

We

just have a

 normal friendship. Please don’t misunderstand.” 

“I won’t.”

Although I comforted her, I still 

found that guy very

 irritating

.

 No matter what, I would never have anything to do with this sort of person. 

Li Mazi said, “Why do I always feel 

he’s somewhat

 feminine? Is he gay?” 

“Sh

hh

!” Yin Xinyue signaled at Li Mazi to lower his voice. “Do not say that in front of him, ever! 

One time,

 an assistant joked that he wasn’t manly enough. As 

a result, Yi Xi

 was so 

enraged

that

 he didn’t join the filming for a whole week. At that time, 

the company suffered 

tens of thousands of 

renminbi

in losses

.” 

We 

went

 to town to buy some supplies for the coming days. We also bought a pound of eels, a rooster, yellow papers, and salt. I saw they 

sold

 a line marker

 that carpenters used,

 so I bought 

that too

. After the encounter last night, I thought I should be prepared. 

Then, I went to get a Guan Yu statue for the director. 

“Sir, do you know if any member 

of

 the royal 

family is buried

 in this place?” I asked the old man who sold the statues in front of a temple.

“Oh, this place has excellent 

geomancy

. I heard that they buried the Prince of Lanling in the mountain!” The old man sounded proud.

The peddler selling roast sweet 

potatoes

 turned to refute his idea. “Don’t listen to him. 

The P

rince of Lanling’s tomb is in Ci County. When did it come here?”  

The two then began to quarrel. We didn’t want to join, so we quietly 

left

. 

Along the way, I told Li Mazi and Yin Xinyue, “

I guess 

the thing the three ghosts were searching for last night is the Great Mask of the Prince of Lanling! That’s why they touched our faces.” 

The p

rince’s real name was Gao Changgong

. He was 

a member of the Northern Qi’s royal family during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. He was a famous high-ranking general in history. 

L

egend said that he was born with a feminine appearance 

but with

the

 heart of

 a lion.

 Every time he walked out his door, women 

felt

 infatuated with him

, and h

e was 

famous in history because of his good looks. 

However, he was 

still a

 general who had to 

lead

 his army. His beautiful appearance couldn’t help him earn respect from his soldiers. 

Moreover

, 

h

is enemies laughed at him

 and said 

that Northern Qi didn’t have any good m

e

n to send to the battlefield, so they had to send a 

pretty

 boy instead. 

Thus, whenever he fought in a battle, he 

wore

 a gruesome, ghostly mask. In a well-known battle where Northern Qi was 

surrounded by enemies

, he 

headed to the besieged city with

 five hundred men

, killing

everyone in his path.

 The soldiers that guarded the city didn’t know who he was. When he took off his mask, people recognized he was the Prince of Lanling. Immediately, their fighting spirit was boosted. They killed their enemy’s army and secured the city. 

Later on, the soldiers spread a song to praise their invincible Prince

 of Lanling

. It was the famous 

classic

, 

‘

Lanling Prince in Battle.

’

To this day

, Japanese people still 

perform

 that dance

 and address the Prince of Lanling 

as the Pretty 

Demon

Prince

. 

The p

rince lived his life 

as a

 legend. He was also popular with the ordinary 

folks

. A few years ago, they made a drama about him.

 Some p

eople didn’t know where the Northern Qi dynasty was 

situated 

in the timeline of history, but they all knew of the Prince of Lanling! 

“Little 

B

rother Zhang, are you sure?” Li Mazi was excited. 

“Pretty sure, around 80 or 90%. Moreover, I have a feeling that the mask isn’t in the police station.”

“How 

did

 you conclude that?” 

“If they found the great mask of the Prince of Lanling, the press would have had a lot of things to tell about it. I often 

keep an eye on

 this sort of news. However, I

 haven’t seen or heard about it yet.” 

The mask could 

still 

be on

 the mountain. 

Another possibility was that it was

in the hands of

 someone in the film crew. I hoped it 

was

 the latter! 

“But the uncle selling sweet potatoes said that the 

p

rince’s tomb is in Ci County

,

” 

said

 Yin Xinyue.

“Perhaps it’s just a fake burial mound. 

H

istory details in books are sometimes wrong. I believe in my eyes more than the books! Anyway, when we get back to the filming location, we 

may

 find something

,

” I said. 

Li Mazi sounded 

happy

. “

I c

an’t believe we might have 

an

 unexpected harvest 

on a

 trip like this. We should travel more often!” 

“Nothing is certain yet. Don’t be excited too early.” 

We had lunch in town before 

we returned

 to the filming location. 

When we arrived there i

n the afternoon

, 

we saw people walking back and forth in the small town. 

People were wearing

 ancient costumes. I was surprised.

It turned out the filming had started. Those people were the walk-ons. 

Yi Xi put on an ancient costume. He was acting in a small inn with the other actors. Although I didn’t have a good first impression of him, his acting was professional

. It 

was completely different from

 how he acted before

. 

In this scene, the enemy came to find the protagonist’s father to take revenge

, and t

hey bumped into the protagonist in the inn. The protagonist decided to give them a lesson

 and make fun of

 them. 

When their conversation 

reached

 the climax, Yi Xi 

slammed

 the table and took out his sword.

I thought that they would fight

, but 

the director suddenly called, “Cut!” 

“They always use stunt doubles for the fighting scenes. Yi Xi has never played the action scenes himself,” explained Yin Xinyue. 

While his assistant was busy serving him, taking off his coat

, 

and wiping his sweat, Yi Xi twisted a bottle cap

 and drank 

his mineral water. He then sneered. “Director, what kind of actors have you hired for this drama? Can they even act? I’m afraid I will lose my face 

if I cooperate

 with them.” 

I admired this kid. 

It was as if he

 had two faces

. How he appeared in

 dramas 

was very different from how he was in

 reality

. H

e could shift between them so naturally. 

The supporting actors looked irritated. However, they didn’t retort as they were afraid of Yi Xi. Only 

one man mumbled 

something. 

Yi Xi heard that. He smashed the mineral water bottle in his hand

 and pointed 

at that mam

, scolding,

 “

Y

ou damn supporting role, what did you just 

say

 about me? You don’t want to work in this business anymore?” 

The supporting actor blushed in embarrassment. “

Watch your words

. Moreover, 

w

ho got to

 play

 the 

lead role

at their first try

? We are all actors

, so w

hy do you have to look down on us? And, don’t you remember how you got this protagonist role? I think you know it well.” 

Yi Xi’s face darkened immediately. “

I dare you to repeat that

!” 

When he said that

, 

his face seemed to turn into that of another person for an instant

.

 It was

 the

 ferocious face of a ghost. 

The director and producer came over to 

deescalate the situation. 

A man in a black suit took Yi Xi away

 and tried to calm 

him. They looked close

, and I felt they had 

a very good relationship. However, Yi Xi 

was still angry

. 

“Who is that?” I asked Yin Xinyue. 

“Xiao Song, Yi Xi’s agent,” answered Yin Xinyue. 

After a short break, the shooting resumed. A stunt double 

wearing

 the same costume 

as

 Yi Xi

 fought 

against the supporting roles. Yi Xi was chatting

 and 

laughing with his agent. He didn’t even watch the scene. 

Yi Xi took the stage after the fighting scene

, and t

hey shot a few close-up scenes. 

If we added

 the editing work later, it would look like he 

acted in

 that fighting scene. 

I made a rough calculation. This fighting scene in the inn would 

appear on TV for

 around five minutes, but it took more than two hours to film, excluding the time for preparations before the scene. It wasn’t easy to shoot a drama. 

The director called 

‘

Cut

’

 and let people 

take

 a break. The actors then scattered.

All of a sudden, a loud noise came from the studio tent followed by someone screeching.  

Everybody 

went over

 to the tent. It turned out one of the big rocker arms of the camera suddenly fell off. 

A

 camera that was dozens of kilograms fell right on an actor. Coincidently, it was the 

actor who had

 just 

quarreled

 with Yi Xi. 

Yi Xi stood in the inn

 and slowly 

twisted the cap of his mineral bottle

. He 

took a sip

, and a

 cold sneer hung at the corner of his mouth. 

Once 

again, I saw the ferocious ghost face 

overlap

 his face. 

I was 

completely

 sure that this man had 

a

 problem!