Part 2 of Chapter 72
Please Like Her 23
Shang Lu felt a slight trembling in her body as she asked, “What about the mother? Are we just going to watch, knowing that we can’t do anything?”
Song Zeqian asked her, “What can we do when even her own son can’t do anything?”
They locked eyes, sharing a brief moment of silence.
“Lie,” Shang Lu said, looking firmly into his eyes. “If you were that kind of person, you could have just let me pay 300,000 directly to buy Xiao Mi instead of going through all that trouble of acting out that whole play with me. You once told me that we should see, understand, and respect suffering. But if we’re only doing this to learn, and even pay the tuition to the abuser, then we’re supporting suffering. We’re also helping the oppressor.”
“Shang Lu, although you’re not wrong, you don’t need to worry about these things for now,” Song Zeqian said without denying it this time. He closed the script and placed it on the bedside table, saying, “Since you’ve figured out so much already, I’ll give you a hint: pay more attention to the grandson of this family. Anyway, go back and get some rest. Don’t forget your main task as an actor.”
Back in her own room, Shang Lu continued to think about Song Zeqian’s last words, specifically about paying more attention to the family’s grandson, the little boy called Ah Zhì.
He seemed quiet and unremarkable, and she couldn’t recall much about him at this point.
As Shang Lu was lost in thought, she suddenly heard the sound of a heavy object falling in the neighboring room, followed by more similar noises.
Perplexed, Shang Lu went out and knocked on the door, asking, “Who is it? What’s going on?”
The door opened, and Meng Li appeared while holding a white shirt that had become almost gray from dirt. His face and mood were both not great, and upon seeing Shang Lu, someone he considered relatively close, he began venting as if he had finally found someone to share his frustrations with. He ranted, “This place is too dirty! And those bedsheets look like they’ve been used for years and barely washed. There are even cockroaches on the floor. Can you believe they’re making us stay in a place like this?”
Clearly, he was using his own clothes as a makeshift cleaning rag to tidy up the room.
Shang Lu thought it wasn’t too bad, perhaps because Song Zeqian’s money ensured that the room was relatively clean and tidy. She tried to console him, saying, “The village chief’s house is the best-conditioned place in the village.”
Meng Li knew this was true, but he still complained, “I can’t stand the strange smell. It’s disgusting.”
“What smell?” Shang Lu asked, not understanding.
Shang Lu opened the door and gestured for her to come in.
As soon as she walked into the room, Shang Lu also sensed some vague odor and asked, “Is there a dead rat in the corner?”
Shang Lu took the initiative to move cabinets and desks, inspecting the room’s blind spots.
Meng Li replied, “I’ve already searched everywhere.”
They found nothing, and had no idea where the odor was coming from.
Until Shang Lu suddenly heard a brief cuckooing.
Shang Lu opened the window and leaned out halfway, then turned to tell Meng Li, “There are a lot of chickens outside your window, and the ground is covered in chicken droppings.”
In an instant, Meng Li’s face turned ashen.
He walked over to take a look and immediately bent over, retching violently.
Because the window was open, a chicken suddenly flew in from outside.
Shang Lu was startled and took a step back.
After entering the room, the chicken strutted around proudly.
With a flap of its wings, it left behind a pile of droppings and left casually.
Meng Li’s face turned even paler.
The next second, he couldn’t bear it anymore and bent over to vomit.
Shang Lu : “…?”
Meng Li finally recovered and rushed out, as if fleeing.
He stood at the faucet by the door, constantly rinsing his mouth, and occasionally making retching noises.
Shang Lu stood nearby and asked, “Are you okay?”
“I have germophobia,” Meng Li said, as he finished cleaning his mouth and took out hand sanitizer from his pocket to clean his hands. His face remained pale, and it seemed like the thought of the recent scene made him want to vomit again.
Shang Lu paused and said, “You can’t handle this? But in the script, you have to go to the pigsty to feed the pigs, and by the way, you have to ride a pig.”
Meng Li was stunned, “Isn’t it enough to just clean the pigsty temporarily and bring in a lead pig?”
Shanglu thought for a moment and replied, “Maybe other production teams do it that way, but if it’s Song Zeqian, he’ll only select a suitable pigsty in advance and choose the most suitable pig, maintaining the most primitive environment. After all, according to the script, the mother is locked up, the father is lazy, and there are only a few children in the house. If they can feed the pigs, that’s good enough. How can it be kept clean?”
Meng Li’s expression became even more pained, as if his world was falling apart.
Just at that moment, footsteps were heard.
The village chief’s grandson, also known as Ah Zhi, came down. He was holding a cup in his hand and seemed to only remember that there were guests when he saw Shang Lu and Meng Li.
He did appear to be very well-behaved, with no signs of aggression, even to the point of being easily overlooked.
Thinking of what Song Zeqian had said earlier, Shang Lu greeted him, “Hello, are you still awake so late?”
“Yeah, just washing the cup,” Ah Zhi replied as he walked to the faucet and cleaned the milk residue from the cup.
At this moment, the village head’s daughter-in-law returned from playing mahjong at a neighbor’s house and was a bit surprised, saying, “Ah Zhi, didn’t you already have milk this morning? Why are you drinking it again at night?”
She clearly remembered that her own son didn’t like milk.
Ah Zhi’s face showed a hint of panic, and he replied, “I suddenly wanted some.”
The village head’s daughter-in-law didn’t notice anything unusual and was quite pleased, “If you like it, drink more. You need to get plenty of nutrition at this age. Next time, I’ll have your Dad buy more when he goes to the market.”
This woman seemed to be named Zhang Qian.
Shang Lu started a conversation with the woman, “Sister Qian, your son is both obedient and sensible, very cute.”
No one dislikes hearing praise for their children, and Zhang Qian immediately smiled and said, “That’s right. He’s not only well-behaved and filial but also does well in his studies. I’m content with just having this one child in my life.”
Shang Lu nodded in agreement and smoothly continued the conversation, “It seems like your relationship as a couple is also good. Such a harmonious family is truly enviable. If I had your luck, I could marry such a good man and have such a well-behaved child.”
Meng Li, who was standing nearby, found these words somewhat perplexing. Would a female celebrity like Shang Lu envy such an ordinary life, or did she have a romantic disposition?
Ah Zhi looked up at Shang Lu for a moment, although he was a young child, he showed no expression, and even seemed a bit numb. He took the cleaned cup and walked back into the house.
At this moment, Zhang Qian was beaming from Shang Lu’s praise and didn’t pay any attention to her son going back inside. She warmly continued to chat, “That’s right, the villagers all say I’m lucky. My husband is honest, hardworking, and diligent. After giving birth to Ah Zhi, I couldn’t have any more children, but he didn’t mind. Sometimes I think that even though there were some difficulties before… I won’t say any more. My son is this big now, and life is fine just the way it is. People should be content.”
So she brainwashed herself, developed Stockholm Syndrome, and she will likely try to brainwash other girls who end up there to be like her. Seems like she has blind faith in her husband, I don’t know if it can be considered love bombing, but all the attention she receives from the villagers seems similar to it. Almost like a cult, how terrifying
It seems that most of the abduction victims were orphans or at least, their parents and relatives didn’t have enough power and/or much care to search for their daughter. At most, the family would report a missing person case. Then, no then. The lucky ones can reunite with their family while the less fortunate ones ended up like ZQ and her mother in-law.