Chapter 742

 The reason there were so many of his characters in these shows was that after Jiang Bai became popular, the producers of shows that had been delayed in airing discovered they had Jiang Bai in them and rushed to release all his scenes to ride the wave. They even added scenes for his background roles, turning them into credited cameos. As for dialogue mismatches? No problem. They dubbed over the lines. They forcibly turned Jiang Bai’s cannon-fodder extras into featured guests.

So last year, in many of the dramas people watched that had Jiang Bai in them, everyone noticed his lip movements didn’t match what he was saying.

At the time, many people didn’t know that TV shows could be dubbed and assumed it was the actor’s real voice. They all wondered why Jiang Bai’s voice had changed—it felt weird.

Jiang Bai himself had no idea about this. Other than the movie and TV versions of White Snake, he had never actually watched any of the dramas he had appeared in as an extra.

Yu Wenjie had already heard about Jiang Bai at Jiang Ning’s house.”

Beside her, Wang Mingyue chimed in excitedly, “Yes, yes, that’s my second brother!”

Wang Mingyue and Wang Mingliang, the sibling pair, were very proud and popular among their classmates because they had a cousin who was a movie star. The area around their school had lots of posters—some of Happy Little Swallow, and plenty of Jiang Bai too.

Maybe in other places, Happy Little Swallow posters were more popular, but in Shuibu Town, nearly every elementary and middle school kid had a stack of Jiang Bai posters. The boss of the printing factory making the posters was overjoyed.

Wang Mingyue had already promised many of her close friends that she’d help them get Jiang Bai’s autograph.

Unfortunately, Jiang Bai didn’t come back for the New Year this year. Both of them felt a bit regretful, and so did many villagers. People were still hoping Jiang Bai would return so they could take a photo with him, enlarge it, and hang it in their homes—to show how close they were to Jiang Bai, and also to use it as a form of promotion for their stores. Just like the enlarged scenic stills from Legend of the White Snake that had been taken in the village and were now hanging everywhere around the scenic spots.

After watching the movie, the young folks from neighboring villages didn’t head back. Instead, they brought their dates to go hiking.

The hills around Jiang Village were very easy to hike. After all, cement roads now led all the way up the mountains. To make tea leaf picking more convenient, the village chief and his team had even upgraded the old trails on the mountain last year into one-meter-wide stone steps, making it possible to hike up to the tea mountains and enjoy the scenery. For those with more energy, they could even attempt climbing the highest peak in Linhe Brigade—Huolu Mountain.

Not many went to Huolu Mountain, but during the New Year, there were plenty who went to Wugong Mountain.

Even before there was a cement road up there, the Taoist temple on Wugong Mountain was already drawing in strong incense offerings. Maybe not every family, but at least half the locals would go there to burn incense and “pray to Buddha” during the New Year. Once they got up there and realized it was Taoist deities being worshipped instead of Buddhist ones—well, who cared! There was a God of Wealth up there; that’s reason enough to pray!

With the cement road built, and with Jiang Guotai having also repaired the stone steps leading to the mountaintop temple, Wugong Mountain became even more popular. Many young couples treated going there to pray as a New Year date.

After coming out of the cinema, Yu Wenjie was taken around Jiang Village by Jiang Ning. He realized the village was huge—according to Jiang Ning, there were seven to eight hundred households here. Jiang Village had four branches, and each branch had a hundred or two households. Many small villages didn’t even have that many people in total. Just one branch here had that much. No wonder the Linhe Brigade’s primary school and cinema were both built in Jiang Village.

They walked around until about 4 PM before heading back to Jiang Ning’s house, only to find lots of young people gathered outside taking photos in front of it. He heard a little kid helping take photos say to them, “If you’d come in spring or summer, or even fall, the scenery here would be amazing! See those rose vines on Sister Ning Ning’s courtyard wall? Uncle Guotai specially got that rose variety from overseas—it’s pink! Big and beautiful blooms!”

The little photographer had clearly picked up the family’s knack for exaggeration. Those pink roses that Uncle Guotai had sourced from a botanical garden were now claimed to be from abroad. But the tourists loved this kind of talk and were in awe, already picturing how stunning the rose wall must look in spring and summer.

After helping them take photos in front of Jiang Ning’s house, the kid went on introducing the next stop, “This is Uncle Guotai’s daughter’s house! Want to take a photo here too? You know who Jiang Guotai is, right? The cement road under your feet—he built it for us for free!”

It was New Year, and the people visiting were all locals from nearby areas—who hadn’t heard of Jiang Guotai? The moment they found out it was his house, it was photos galore again. The kid kept going, “Uncle Guotai’s daughter’s courtyard walls were also planted with roses brought back from overseas—purple ones this time. Have you ever seen purple roses?”

The little boy’s voice was bright and cute, and his confident bragging even had himself believing it. As if this place really was as beautiful as he described. In truth, the rose bushes had only been planted for a year, and the rose plants had only just grown taller than the wall. Where was the full-wall bloom he was claiming?

After photographing the first two villas, there was still the third one.”

And more clicking followed.2 yuan. This New Year season, just from taking photos for others, this little kid was making over a hundred yuan a day—more than what many villagers earned in a whole week of migrant work.

When they got back, not only were Father Jiang, Mother Jiang, and Uncle Jiang and his wife home, but even Granduncle Jiang and Grandaunt Jiang (Granduncle Jiang’s wife)—who were supposed to patrol the mountain during the New Year—had come down. Seeing his long-lost elder sister, even Granduncle Jiang, known as a stoic who never uttered a word more than necessary, couldn’t hold back and teared up silently.

Sister Grandaunt Jiang  cried as soon as she saw her younger brother, followed by an emotional family reunion.

Only then did Yu Wenjie realize—his grandma’s family was no ordinary household. Jiang Ning being a top student from a university in the capital was something he already knew. But Jiang Bai wasn’t just a big star; he was also a graduate student at East China Science and Technology University. And even the two younger uncles in his young granduncle’s family—they were both university students too.

Meanwhile, he, a city kid, had failed the college entrance exam last year and dropped out. He was still trying to figure out what to do next.

Before coming here, when he’d heard his grandmother talk about Wugong Mountain and Wugong Tea, he was wondering if, after he arrived, he could use her connections to bring some Wugong Tea back to Qushui City to sell.

Who would’ve thought—her whole family all owned tea fields. And they grew nothing but authentic, premium Wugong Tea.

He thought his countryside relatives were poor, turns out they’re all low-key tycoons.

Yu Wenjie had assumed what he’d seen so far was the full extent of what Jiang Village had to offer. But then, around 6 PM, music started drifting faintly from the village center.

After dinner, Grandma Jiang headed out—with her old friends and dance buddies—to the elderly activity center in the village square to dance disco.

Disco! That was all the rage in the 90s!

Grandpa Jiang had sore legs and didn’t go out at night. Therefore, Uncle Jiang’s oldest son pulled along Grand-aunt Jiang (the sister), her husband, and Jiang Guoliang and his wife—who were back for the New Year—to go check it out at the village center.