Chapter 328: Change

Chapter 328: Chapter 261: Change

No matter how worried Ni Bingyan was, the day filming began arrived in the blink of an eye.

She was pragmatic. Faced with a problem she couldn’t solve, she simply pushed it to the back of her mind. She decided to truly follow her heart and enjoy the trip.

“We’re about to arrive in Wutong County. Do you think the changes there will meet your expectations?”

In the six-seater SUV heading to Wutong County, Ni Bingyan sat in the back row, while Pei Jin and the cameraman were in the middle. As soon as the camera turned on, Pei Jin began going through the motions.

Chatting on the road during the trip would provide great footage later on.

“I don’t really have any expectations. I just want to go and see for myself, because I don’t know how they’re doing now.”

She had never met people that poor before, nor had she often been treated with such sincere kindness. Somehow, she had taken it to heart.

Honestly, she wasn’t some kind of saint.

The lives of hundreds of thousands of strangers had nothing to do with her, and she didn’t feel it was her absolute duty to make sure everyone here lived a good life.

She didn’t possess such noble sentiments, nor did she have that strong a sense of responsibility.

It was just that she had, at least, put in some effort, so she was a little curious about the result.

“You only filmed here for a short period. Did something special happen between you and the locals? You seem to care about them a lot.”

Pei Jin asked this question to make the interesting.

In his plan, if Ni Bingyan just shared a few touching anecdotes from the shoot, it would add a warm touch to the show.

But as it turned out, Ni Bingyan didn’t like to say such high-sounding things, and her answer was quite blunt:

“When we were filming that movie, the schedule was really tight, so I didn’t actually have much time off. The only locals I got to know, besides the poverty alleviation officials, were the people in the village where we were shooting. To be honest, most of the people left in the village were either children or the elderly. I couldn’t communicate with most of them, so we never established any deep bonds.”

Pei Jin was a very shy person to begin with, and he had scripted those questions in advance. Hearing her answer, he was completely stumped.

Fortunately, the cameraman was someone he had borrowed from his father’s team. Not only was he highly skilled, but he was also very talkative.

Seeing Pei Jin staring wide-eyed with his mouth agape, unable to utter a word, he let out a laugh and picked up the conversation:

“I don’t believe that for a second. If you really didn’t care, why would you help them sell their products and donate schools? From what I know, you’ve donated three Hope Schools to Wutong County alone.”

Although Pei Jin was a “second-generation director,” his father never spoiled him. The only reason this cameraman was here was because he himself wanted to be.

Coincidentally, he was someone who had come from a poor county and put down roots in a big city.

When he went back to his hometown during the May Day holiday this year, he saw a beautiful new Hope School at the entrance of his village. He looked into it and learned that Ni Bingyan had donated the money to build it, and he was deeply moved.

The educational conditions in his hometown were poor. Children had to wake up before dawn and return after dark just to get to school, and many dropped out because of it.

How could those like him—the “phoenixes who flew out of mountain nests”—who had drifted in the big cities and seen so much of the world, not want to change the situation back home?

It was just that they lacked the ability to do so.

Ni Bingyan had done what he couldn’t, so he was grateful.

When he heard that Pei Jin was shooting this variety show, which likely wouldn’t be profitable and was purely to fulfill Ni Bingyan’s dream of traveling the world, and that the pay for the cameraman wasn’t particularly high, he still accepted the job immediately.

This was the one drawback of a show planned by a fan team: the staff probably remembered more details about her life than she did.

Not expecting him to bring this up, Ni Bingyan turned her face away in embarrassment.

She cleared her throat before explaining:

“Well, a donation is a donation, no matter where it goes. It’s just that I’m not familiar with other places. I’ve been here, and I know the children here are truly in need, so I donated here first.”

You have to spend money where it counts most. Nothing wrong with that.

“So you do have deeper feelings for this place after all. That’s why you still think about them and wanted to come back to see them after all this time.”

Pei Jin was seeing her through a thick fan filter and was unwilling to believe her candid words.

Ni Bingyan was exasperated. She had no choice but to analyze her own motives for doing these things in detail.

To be honest, she had never really thought about this question seriously before.

“Alright, fine. I do have a tiny bit of fixation on seeing Wutong County escape poverty. Really, just a little bit!”

Ni Bingyan pinched her thumb and index finger together to show how small it was, then continued:

“You probably haven’t met the director of the Wutong County Poverty Alleviation Office. When I first met him last year, I thought he was about to retire. It was only later that I found out he’s only thirty-eight.

“I don’t know him personally. But I truly admire him from the bottom of my heart.

“There are many, many people like him all across China. They spend their lives, from their youth until their hair turns white, dedicated to the single cause of poverty alleviation. But they often struggle to find the right path, getting half the results for twice the effort, you know?”

Seeing the two of them hiding behind the camera without a word, Ni Bingyan rubbed her face in embarrassment.

It was really awkward to be analyzing her inner thoughts for the camera, especially in front of the driver.

“I just happened to be in a position to contribute a little. It was easy for me to do, didn’t cost me much, and wasn’t some noble deed. It’s a case of getting twice the results with half the effort, you get me? It felt like I was getting the better end of the deal, so why not do it?”

The three of them chatted all the way, talking until Ni Bingyan’s mouth was dry.

“Hey! Stop asking questions, you’re making me uncomfortable. This was supposed to be a nice travel show, and you’ve somehow turned it into a talk show.”

“Haha! Alright, take a rest. We’re almost there.”

They hadn’t had a chance to speak alone when they met at the company before. After talking so much today, Pei Jin felt he understood Ni Bingyan on a deeper level.

Honestly, to be a fan—especially of a female star around his own age—meant he genuinely liked her from the bottom of his heart.

However, his affection was purely admiration; he had no thoughts of dating or marrying her.

If he really did have those kinds of feelings, taking this job would mean he’d inevitably be tempted to poach someone’s girlfriend, and that would be so immoral.

To create a more natural effect, the film crew was very small. Besides the cameraman, only the director, Pei Jin, followed her. Even Duanmu Li and Wang Biao traveled separately from her.

She did her own makeup, wore a mic for sound, and things like lighting were completely skipped.

For a travel show, there was no need for all the bells and whistles. If she wanted to be all glamorous, she got more than enough of that walking red carpets and shooting commercials. When you’re out having fun, you shouldn’t work so hard.

According to their agreement, during the recording of the show, she couldn’t ask the staff for help unless absolutely necessary. She had to rely on herself for everything.

Where to travel? What transportation to take? Where to stay? What to eat?

She made the final decision on all these questions herself.

The staff were just utility players. Aside from following the procedure, they didn’t even speak to her. She could completely pretend they didn’t exist.

Although traveling alone meant she would encounter more trouble, she knew that if she were in real danger, someone would be there to help her, so she wasn’t afraid.

Arriving in Wutong County in the evening, Ni Bingyan found the guesthouse she had stayed at while filming last year, intending to check in, only to be told there were no vacant rooms.

“How can there be no vacant rooms? I remember when I was here last year, you were always sighing that half the rooms were empty year-round and you were barely hanging on.”

Last year, the film crew had booked the place for two months. The owner had been so happy he hummed tunes all day, his enthusiasm for work soaring. He practically wanted to mop the hallways eighty times a day.

This was also why she hadn’t booked in advance.

Now, hearing that there were no rooms available, her curiosity was piqued.

The sky was gloomy and snowflakes had begun to fall. The innkeeper saw that she wasn’t in a hurry and was a returning customer, so she said with a helpless air:

“The weather’s bad today, you need to find a place to stay quickly! Don’t waste time here! There really are no vacant rooms!”

“It’s alright, it’s alright. It’ll only take a minute, it won’t be a delay. Besides, you have a kind face, and I just wanted to chat with you.”

Ni Bingyan was wearing a dark green all-weather jacket and carrying a large hiking backpack. A gray scarf covered the lower half of her face, and a matching knit hat was pulled down over her eyebrows. She held her gloves in her hand. Her camel-colored leather boots were stained with mud, which she had carefully wiped at the door before entering—there were even tiny scraps of paper clinging to the sides!

Although the innkeeper couldn’t see her face clearly, she could tell from her voice that she was a young, harmless woman who was also neat and tidy.

The innkeeper’s heart softened, and she spoke up:

“Oh, honestly… If you don’t mind, I can set up a cot for you in the storage room. It has heating, so it won’t be cold. You can make do for one night, and I won’t charge you. It started snowing recently, and the view of the terraced fields after a snowfall here is unique, so we’re flooded with tourists. If you don’t have a reservation, I’m afraid it’ll be hard to find a place to stay.”

The people here were still so simple and kind.

Learning that the local tourism industry had finally found the right path and was beginning to flourish, Ni Bingyan smiled and accepted:

“That would be wonderful! It’s a familiar place, which is much better than going out to look for a room in the snow.”

Her kindness accepted, the innkeeper’s flushed cheeks beamed with even more satisfaction. But then she turned her head and saw Pei Jin and the cameraman standing at the door, aiming a camera in their direction. Realizing they were all together, she suddenly grew a bit awkward:

“The storage room is a little small. I didn’t know you had companions…”

“Oh, it’s fine, it’s fine. They can go stay at another hotel.”

Other staff members had also come here. Unlike Ni Bingyan, who was unprepared due to her past experience, they had Wang Xi, the head of logistics. They had surely booked a hotel long ago, so there would definitely be room for those two to squeeze in.

She shot Pei Jin a meaningful look. The two men handed her the camera.

“You know how to use this, right? Just film whatever footage you think is necessary. We’ll meet up with you again tomorrow morning.”

The innkeeper was very conflicted.

If she wasn’t traveling alone, why insist on crashing in her storage room instead of going to a hotel with her companions?