The Novelist Forced to Become Famous

Chapter 34

The scheduled recording time was 2pm on the 10th.

Jian Jing slept until 9 o’clock and got up lazily, browsing her phone in bed. As soon as she opened Weibo, her private messages exploded with many fans asking if she was participating in the recording of Adventure in the Haunted House, as many people had taken photos of her checking into the hotel yesterday.

She scrolled through and found quite a few insider news items.

Entertainment XX Number: The flying guest of Adventure in the Haunted House is Jian Jing, the author of The Hide and Seek Child and The Evil Doctor, a quite popular mystery novelist.

818 Hey 818: Adventure in the Haunted House has invited Jian Jing, there are photos as proof, not the X Little Flower rumored before. It should be to promote The Evil Doctor which will start shooting soon.

Gossip Hey Hey: The red-white CP last season was boycotted by fans, so the program team invited a young female amateur this time again, don't know who to hype up with. This woman has connections with the top management of Feiniao Entertainment, she's a fan.

...

In response to these seemingly true and false explosive news, fans' reactions can be divided into the following categories: wailing why it wasn't their XX family, too insensitive to have slipped away fans before; who is this person, never heard of her, take away my brother; a mystery novelist coming to this kind of show, don't know if she can do it, live reasoning is completely different from writing novels.

And so on.

Jian Jing closed her phone and chanted to herself: "Unlock the limited pool, unlock the limited pool..."

System: [After detection, the host's popularity has not reached "little famous", unable to open]

Alright.

"Teacher Jian, can I come in?" came a gentle knock on the door.

Jian Jing opened the door for them. It was the makeup artist coming to help with makeup. After this and wasting time eating lunch, it was soon 1:30 in the afternoon.

She went downstairs ahead of time, wanting to arrive at the scene early, but unexpectedly when she got on the bus, there were already two people inside.

Han Bo and Jiang Baiyan.

"Teacher Jingjing, sit here." Jiang Baiyan made room and beckoned her to sit down.

Jian Jing hesitated a little.

The seats on the bus were like this:

Last row: ABC

Previous row: D aisle EF

The fixed camera lens was on F, sitting in this position you'd have to turn your face backwards to talk to others, but in the shot there would only be the back of your head, very unfriendly.

Jian Jing had watched the first season, Zheng Dayan generally sat in the center B, Cao Junsai liked A or C, Jiang Baiyan usually took the other one. Cai Xiaohua liked to choose D, Han Bo was just a not very famous singer, and could only choose between E and F.

But now, Jiang Baiyan was sitting in F, signaling her to take E.

She had a good impression of Jiang Baiyan, and did not suspect he was setting a trap, thanked him and sat down.

--

Time: Broadcast on August 25

Danmu 1: Little brother is so warm, knows to take care of new people

Danmu 2: The newcomer is so restrained, no sense of presence

...

--

The air was very quiet.

Han Bo cleared his throat and brought up a vague topic, "I heard that this time it's an inn in the mountains."

"Wow, that must be really scary." Jiang Baiyan leaned back, showing a look of lingering fear, "I remember watching a movie before, with a pair of twins in blue dresses, called, called what..."

As expected, he looked to Jian Jing, and she answered without surprise: "The Shining?"

"Yes, yes." Jiang Baiyan quickly picked up the thread, "We won't have someone chasing us with an ax, right?"

Han Bo looked incredulous, "It shouldn't be that brutal, right?"

"The last episode was very scary, that Qing dynasty mansion scared me and I couldn't sleep for several nights." Jiang Baiyan very naturally recalled the filming theme of the last season, both introducing it to Jian Jing and reminding the audience of the famous scenes.

Taking advantage of this topic, the three chatted casually, and before long, the others arrived one after another.

The fourth person to arrive was Cao Yu.

He sat in position A, smiling and greeting, "Long time no see, Baiyan, you don't count, I just saw you at the movie theater the day before yesterday, really great film."

"It was well directed by Director Ding," Jiang Baiyan humbly replied, then turned to face Jian Jing, "and well written by Teacher Jingjing."

Jian Jing felt Jiang Baiyan's thoughtfulness, and followed up at this time: "You acted very well too."

She was pulled into the conversation, Cao Yu naturally could not ignore her, and greeted her: "Teacher Jian is talented and beautiful, awesome."

"Jian Jing," she reached out her hand and exchanged polite greetings, "Nice to meet you, Teacher Cao."

Cao Yu was a powerful actor, not very popular online, but had starred in many mainstream TV dramas, trying roles from fatherly seniors to mature and steady CEOs, he had done them all with a wide repertoire.

Calling him Teacher was not really flattering either.

Cao Yu smiled and gently grasped her fingertips.

Zheng Dayan and Cai Xiaohua arrived one after the other soon after, both had chatted with fans at the hotel entrance for a while, the fans' cheers could be heard on the bus.

It had to be said, the visual impact of female stars in real life was great, stunningly beautiful at first sight, perfectly highlighting the difference between ordinary beauties and great beauties.

Zheng Keyan had an elegant maturity, wearing a real silk shirt + wide leg pants, simple and elegant colors, with a powerful aura. Her personality also seemed very friendly, seeing Jian Jing she smiled: "There's a newcomer this time, I'm Keyan, just call me Sister Keyan."

"..." Jian Jing did not want to call her so intimately, they were not familiar with each other, but the camera was filming to the side, rejecting the olive branch reached out by the big star would have unpredictable consequences.

She politely nodded: "Sister Keyan."

Cai Tonger had another style, from her hair strands to folds of her clothes, everything was exquisite, her makeup was very characteristic, just sitting there silently she was like a finely crafted doll.

But when she spoke, she sounded just like a girl next door, not arrogant at all: "Welcome, welcome, I heard there's going to be a mystery novelist this time, I feel relieved, time to coast to victory."

She was also very thoughtful to cue: "Teacher, just call me Tonger."

Jian Jing deeply admired them, even if it was acting, there were no flaws, it was skill.

After the greetings, everyone continued to chat about the plot of the last season, reviewing the major turning points of each adventure.

Then came the tacit silence.

Jiang Baiyan poked her and gestured for her to turn off the wireless microphone. After she did so, he whispered: "Filming is over for now, we can rest for a while now. The haunted house stuff is all filmed starting from evening until dawn."

Jian Jing: "..." So the atmosphere earlier was all acting.

"I'm going to take a nap." He lay down very experiencedly, closed his eyes, and in less than three minutes his breathing had evened out.

Jian Jing was bored and took out her phone to play Numberlink puzzles.

Ever since the Yuhui Villa incident, she had developed a keen interest in these little mechanisms, just in case she needed to escape someday.

The hour and a half of the journey passed in the blink of an eye.

PD notified: "Almost there."

The guests all entered work mode, tidying up their clothes and microphones, appearing excitedly in front of the camera.

"Everyone please put on your blindfolds and hand over your phones to me."

In the darkness, Jian Jing felt the car gradually slowing down, going down a slope, finally coming to a slow stop.

The door opened, the guests got off the bus in order, the cold mountain air rushing up to meet them, a few droplets of water landing on her arms, cool and refreshing.

"It's raining."

"There are stairs in front."

"So slippery."

In the midst of the chaos, everyone entered the house, a faint musty smell in their noses.

The door closed behind them, introducing the plot: "You are hiking enthusiasts trapped in the mountains by an unusually sudden downpour. After walking in the rain for over an hour, you found this abandoned inn and decided to spend the night here..."

After the introduction, they took off the blindfolds, but still couldn't see anything.

The abandoned inn was of course not powered on, windows tightly shut, the gloomy weather outside exacerbated the dim atmosphere, it was almost pitch black inside the house.

"Find lights first," Cao Yu habitually directed everyone, "Turn on the lights."

"The switch is here, but it won't turn on." Han Bo was last in line, and soon found the switch on the wall, but no matter how he flipped it, the lights wouldn't come on.

"Then look for candles, check drawers, cabinets etc." Cao Yu was unflustered.

Although Jian Jing could turn on night vision, cheating the game was unnecessary. She took a few steps back, leaning against the wall, groping along the wall.

Soon, she touched a sofa, still feeling out its size, when Zheng Keyan said from the other side: "There seems to be a lighter here."

She lit the lighter, and the weak flame revealed the layout of the room.

This was the inn's lobby, not very big, around 20 square meters, rectangular. To the left of the entrance was a counter about half a person's height, the surface covered in dust.

Further inside, to the right against the wall, there was a tattered leather sofa. Next to its inner armrest there was a locked door.

At a ninety degree angle to the door was the staircase leading upstairs. Turning the corner of the wall again, there was another door. In the outward direction of the door, there was an alcove with an enshrined God of Wealth statue.

Diagram is as follows:

...Stairs...

Door......Door

..........

Alcove...Sofa

.Counter...

.Counter...

....Front door..

There was a half-burnt candle on the counter, of course an electronic one. But the effect was the same, once lit, everyone finally had a stable, safe light source.

"There's a guest book here," Han Bo flipped it open, "what's written in it?"

Cao Yu leaned over for a look: "Guest registration and a password."

On the first page of the log book, there was this line of text: Key cabinet password resets every day at midnight

Monday ??????

Tuesday 20????

Wednesday ??05??

Thursday ????21

Friday ????09

Saturday ??01??

Sunday 19????

The question marks were all obscured by stains, unable to be seen clearly.

"Today is Monday, we have to figure out the password to get the keys," Cao Yu took paper and pen and started scribbling.

Zheng Keyan tore off the first piece of paper and gave it to him, then started looking at the guest register herself; Cai Tonger and Han Bo began looking around on their own initiative, paying particular attention to the shrine.

"This is the God of Wealth!" Cai Tonger exclaimed. "I remember there's a song," and she started singing, "Respect the God of Wealth, invite the God of Wealth, summon wealth and treasure, worship the God of Wealth..."

Han Bo joined in the chorus: "Fortune comes rolling in~~"

Jian Jing was confused, what was this performance, bursting into song at the drop of a hat?

"Teacher Jing," Jiang Baiyan said softly to her, "There's blood here."

Jian Jing looked to where he was pointing and saw a few dark, dried bloodstains on the sofa backrest and wall.

"You've got good eyes," she said. The light source was at the front desk and the rest of the place was dimly lit, she really hadn't noticed the abnormal stains in the corner.

However, seeing Cao Yu's composure, she didn't want to steal his thunder. She thought for a moment, then went to the shrine and removed the electric candle placed at the front.

There was a switch below, still with some power left to emit a red glow.

Red light would not illuminate red stains well. Jian Jing walked to the front desk: "May I switch the light?" She asked as she glanced over the password on the paper.

"Sure," Cao Yu looked up and saw it was her, hesitated a moment before asking, "Do you have any ideas about this password?"

Jian Jing said: "The plaintext is left, middle, right order."

"Right, it should be 6 digits, 2 numbers each," Cao Yu was a strategist indeed, with clear thinking, "I'm wondering, like the first two digits of Wednesday, could they be 15? 15 plus 05 equals the 20 above?"

"That would remove the direct connection to the days of the week. The left, middle, right three boxes could correspond to the English abbreviations - Tuesday is tue, t is 20." After the experience at Yuhui Villa, Jian Jing had become much more sensitive to English letters and numbers.