Chapter 1018

After guiding her into the ward, he closed the door behind them, his strong, musky scent—that was laced with the smell of alcohol—growing heavier by the second. Once he finally let go, he was prompted to say, “Ask me to leave one more time and I won’t hold back…” Naturally, Xavia didn’t dare say anything more after that… Fast forward to the next day, Xavia regrouped with Bianca and Dolly since they still had shoots to do. Today’s theme was ‘sunrise, sunset,’ and Xavia was tasked with pruning and watering the flowers, fruits, and vegetables in the yard to be used as breakfast. Following that, Xavia was scripted to return to the yard—together with Loveu—to plant new vegetables. Back when she was younger, Xavia always did such things with her grandmother. Everything was so simple back then, and there was no overthinking required… It was simply the smell of dirt, grass, and nature… No bustling cities, or pressure. True peace… Either way, once the seeds were planted, she was just about to add some fertilizer when all of a sudden, she felt an acute pain in her ankle! Looking down, she realized that a snake had bitten her! Feeling a chill run down her spine, Xavia ended up toppling backward as she attempted to distance herself from the snake! By this point, Bianca and Dolly had noticed the snake as well, and they quickly ran over to her. Upon seeing the bite mark, the trembling Bianca was prompted to stutter, “X-Xavia…! You’re hurt…!” Dolly herself wasted no time and chased the snake off with a large branch she found. Once it was gone, she rushed back to Xavia’s side while saying, “Let’s get you to the hospital!” Shaking her head, Xavia simply replied, “I-It’s fine… The snake wasn’t the venomous kind… I can take care of it… You two should continue filming…” “…Are you sure you’re alright…?” asked the anxious Bianca. “Don’t worry… Though I’m afraid of snakes, I was bitten by one as a child before, and my grandmother educated me a lot about how to take care of snake bites… Honestly, we could use this as an idea for our film,” replied Xavia in a rather casual tone, prompting Bianca to heave a sigh of relief… Thankfully, nothing else happened throughout the rest of their shooting. Xavia herself had used traditional methods to take care of the bite, leaving Bianca impressed, to say the least. Either way, they were done by nightfall, and after closing the door behind them, all three women sat at the table, exhausted. It took her a while, but Bianca eventually said, “This has got to be one of the most exhausting videos we’ve made… However, I really like the theme, and I can’t wait to upload it.” “I’m unsure whether it’ll be a hit, but I do envy such a carefree life…” muttered Dolly. “Good job for carrying those heavy cameras around all day, you two. While we’re on the topic, I have a few other good themes in mind. One of them involves incorporating classic poems in our videos. For example, we could use ‘The Harvest’. If I recall correctly, it goes along the lines of, ‘Sweat drips into the soil, and on the day of harvest, they are collected as grains to be placed on our plates’.” “Though I’m sure several city children know of the saying, I bet a lot of them don’t actually realize how hard it is to get rice. We can film the growth process of planting grains to show them that, and in the process, we can also educate the masses on the traditional processes of grain harvesting.” “For another example, we could also use the poem, ‘Beanstalks are cooked, while the beans weep in the kettle’. Basically, I suggest we use that to show people how beans are turned into tofu.” As a city dweller, Bianca’s eyes instantly lit up as she exclaimed, “That’s a great idea! Those topics are interesting, and I feel that people will naturally be drawn toward them. Though… Won’t the videos be difficult to make…?” Shaking her head, Xavia then said, “Not at all, I’ve done those things plenty of times as a child… With that said, let’s do this! Bianca! Dolly!” Sadly, her grandmother wasn’t here to see through it anymore… Even so, she’d do her best for her grandmother’s sake! Following that, the three women ‘toasted’ by clinking their tea cups together… It was shortly after when Dolly was finally prompted to ask, “…Speaking of which… there’s something off with you today, Xavia…” …What? What did she mean by that? “Even after working so hard today, you’re still this determined… It makes me wonder if something happened…” added Bianca. “Don’t you normally work for three days and take the rest of the week off…? What happened to that? If something’s wrong, just tell us…”