Fringe artists in the entertainment industry

Chapter 10 10. Darkroom

The yellow flames were burning, and the hot air waves evaporated all the moisture in the air.

Chen Li'an was sitting cross-legged on the ground, surrounded by flames, with a hairband on his head that read "Today is the beginning of spring."

After the simulated water burial, Chen Li'an rested for a while and then started the simulated cremation.

It was exactly as Wang Xiaoshuai said, he took a bath first and then warmed himself up by the fire.

Chen Li'an in the center of the flames was not as comfortable as Wang Xiaoshuai said, because the crew was very poor and did not use ether with a very low ignition point, but a small amount of gasoline to light the dead branches.

The hot fire waves burned Chen Li'an's skin, and his long black hair was slightly curled.

Surrounded by such flames, Chen Li'an felt that he was experiencing two worlds of ice and fire, because the biting cold brought by the water burial was still raging in his body, and the peripheral flames made his skin feel burning pain.

This kind of experience really cannot be described in words. Chen Li'an only has one feeling now, performance artists are all crazy!

However, it was also because of this feeling that Chen Li'an grasped what was missing in his heart. He was not paranoid or crazy enough, and he had not truly fit the character and turned into Qi Lei.

At the periphery of the flames, the camera recorded this scene. In the beating flames, Chen Li'an, with his eyes closed, seemed to be waiting for death to come. It was peaceful and strange.

The flame burns fiercely and extinguishes very quickly, and a small amount of gasoline does not last long.

The entire simulated cremation did not last long, only five minutes.

After completing three simulated deaths in one day, Chen Li'an's body had reached its limit, and he was also mentally exhausted.

After following the crew's car back to the West Village, Chen Li'an got out of the car exhausted.

Wang Xiaoshuai jumped out of the car, stretched his mellow body, walked up to Chen Li'an in a high-spirited manner and asked: "Qi Lei, let's have a drink together tonight?"

Wang Xiaoshuai has now firmly remembered that his name should be Qi Lei.

The afterglow of dusk exuded a golden light, and Chen Li'an felt that his energy was about to be unable to support him going down the mountain. He replied in a hoarse voice: "No, I need to eat now and then have a good sleep."

"Okay, do you want to take you back?" Wang Xiaoshuai didn't force it. Today was indeed quite tiring, and he almost had an accident.

Chen Li'an shook his head, said hello to the crew and left.

At the intersection outside the West Village, Chen Li'an put his hands in his pockets and was a little confused about which direction to go.

Go straight ahead to go home, turn right to go to Bai Qing's place.

Chen Li'an, who was exhausted, longed for a warm embrace to let him rest for a while.

Chen Li'an looked down at Bai Qing's self-portrait on the T-shirt and looked away from the right.

If things continue to develop, Chen Li'an is afraid that Bai Qing will really fall in love with him. He is not a dedicated person.

It is good to let a relationship stay in the joy and desire before love, but if it really turns into love, it will hurt the other party.

Chen Li'an will always exercise restraint on this point, trying not to hurt any relationship and not let down every girl.

The West Village is a bit remote. There are many buses, but there are no taxis.

Chen Li'an stood at the intersection, hoping to meet a taxi. As for the bumpy and crowded bus, he did not consider it.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Ma Xiaoqing appeared from behind Chen Li'an, her round face flushed, and it looked like she had come running.

Ma Xiaoqing was panting slightly. She just realized that Chen Li'an left first and immediately chased after him.

She didn't know why she wanted to catch up, or what she wanted to do, but she just couldn't control herself, and there was always an inexplicable impulse in her heart.

Chen Li'an lifted up the long hair that covered his eyes, exposed his eyes, and looked at Ma Xiaoqing with doubts in his eyes.

Ma Xiaoqing felt a little embarrassed when Chen Li'an looked at her. She felt that she was too impulsive and said awkwardly: "I...why do you look at me like that?"

Chen Li'an shook his head and said, "It's nothing. I'm going to eat and then go home and sleep."

"Can we go together? I'm going to eat too." Ma Xiaoqing said immediately. After speaking, Ma Xiaoqing also let go of her shyness. Without waiting for Chen Li'an to answer, she took his arm and said, "Let's go, I know there is a family here." The braised food is particularly good.”

Chen Li'an did not agree or refute, and allowed Ma Xiaoqing to pull him. He felt that she was a little too enthusiastic, but then he thought about it. They were a couple in the movie, so there was no problem in getting to know each other.

Not hearing Chen Li'an's answer, Ma Xiaoqing turned to look at Chen Li'an's profile and asked curiously: "Don't you like braised food?"

"No, it's good when braised."

Silence is the main theme between the two, but Ma Xiaoqing quite likes this feeling, but she can't control her curiosity.

"Is that your girlfriend painted on your clothes?"

"no."

"Did you draw it yourself?"

"no."

"So do you have a girlfriend?"

"No."

Ma Xiaoqing, who had been asking for a long time, was a little discouraged and said with a hint of resentment in her eyes, "Don't you want to talk to me? You think I'm too annoying."

"No."

Ma Xiaoqing: "." Forget it, give up, this is just a piece of wood!

There are less than ten tables in the small fly restaurant. The owner is a chubby middle-aged man, and the steaming cauldron constantly exudes an alluring aroma.

Ma Xiaoqing took Chen Li'an to find an empty table and sat down. She turned around and shouted to the boss: "Two bowls of stew and four of fire!"

The braised food is very fragrant, the soup is rich, and the braised food is also good. Chen Li'an ate two braised dishes and one bowl of braised food to make up for all the lost calories.

Ma Xiaoqing ate slowly, and Chen Li'an sat there and watched her eat after finishing her meal. Ma Xiaoqing's appearance was not very outstanding, she could only be regarded as an average beauty, but her round face looked quite cute.

Chen Li'an's eyes were filled with admiration, and Ma Xiaoqing took a bite of the fire with some embarrassment. She had never encountered such an undisguised gaze.

Ma Xiaoqing stirred in the bowl with a spoon and asked calmly, "Are you going home later?"

"Well, I'm waiting for you to finish eating." Chen Li'an replied.

Ma Xiaoqing put down the spoon in her hand and said, "I'm done eating."

"Well, let's go then."

Chen Li'an took out ten dollars from his wallet and put it on the table. Ma Xiaoqing didn't rush to pay after seeing it. The money wasn't much anyway.

After coming out of the stew shop, Chen Li'an stretched his waist, turned to look at Ma Xiaoqing and said, "What are you doing?"

"I live not far away." Ma Xiaoqing hesitated for a moment and then said: "How about you go to my house to sit and look at the photos taken today?"

"Do you have a darkroom at home?" Chen Li'an asked curiously. He originally thought that Ma Xiaoqing only brought a camera because the characters in the movie needed it.

In the movie, the character played by Ma Xiaoqing is a photographer.

Ma Xiaoqing nodded and said, "Yes, do you want to go and have a look?"

"Let's go then, I haven't seen how the photos are developed."

"Then can you let me take a few more pictures later?"

Chen Li'an: "." Why do you feel like you have heard this before?

In the dim darkroom, the red light was a bit dim and I could barely see. The smell of the developer was a bit pungent, not as good as turpentine at all.

Ma Xiaoqing wore white rubber gloves, held the photo paper with tweezers and shook it in the developer a few times.

Chen Li'an, who was standing behind Ma Xiaoqing, watched Ma Xiaoqing develop the photos seriously. It was not very troublesome to develop the photos, but there were a few more steps, but Ma Xiaoqing was obviously a veteran.

In about twenty minutes, the first photo was developed. Chen Li'an leaned over and took a closer look at himself in the photo.

"Why did you wash this one first?" Chen Li'an looked at his half-naked self in the photo. The angle of the photo was slightly backlit, showing off his figure perfectly.

Ma Xiaoqing's hand holding the photo paused for a moment, and she said without confidence: "It happened to be that I chose that negative."

Of course it was not a coincidence. Chen Li'an saw that Ma Xiaoqing had specifically looked at the negatives before developing the photos. This photo must have been specially chosen by her.

Chen Li'an did not expose Ma Xiaoqing's "lie". After she had developed all the films and hung them up, the two came out of the darkroom.

As soon as she came out of the darkroom, Ma Xiaoqing picked up her camera and said to Chen Li'an, "I want to take a few more pictures."

"The camera is in your hands as you please, but can I borrow your sofa to sleep for a while?" Chen Li'an said nonchalantly while sitting on the sofa.

Ma Xiaoqing: "..." How can I take pictures of you sleeping?