Evening.
After finishing their meal, He Jiong and Huang Lei sat idly under the eaves, sipping tea.
Suddenly, He Jiong thought of the villagers who had gone into the mountains earlier.
"Teacher Huang, since we have nothing to do, would you like to go for a stroll?"
Huang Lei glanced at He Jiong and said with a smile, "You just want to go check out the bamboo house Wang Zhengyu mentioned, right?"
"Let's go. A walk after dinner sounds good."
With that, Huang Lei looked at Wang Zhengyu.
"Zhengyu, where is that bamboo house you were talking about?"
Wang Zhengyu pointed in a certain direction.
"Just follow the main road outside, keep going up, and turn in at the first intersection ahead. You'll see it after a short walk."
"Actually, you can also get there through the woods, but it's getting dark soon, and the path through the woods isn't very easy to walk."
Hearing this, He Jiong walked out with a smile on his face.
"Then we'll take the main road."
True to Wang Zhengyu's description, they hadn't walked far before they spotted the intersection he had mentioned, and turned in.
The Bamboo House.
Although the villagers had been busy working here all day, the place hadn't been lived in or repaired for far too long.
As a result, many things were no longer usable.
Even the main structure of the bamboo house had rotted to the point where simple repairs could no longer fix it.
In the end, it was decided that the entire bamboo house would be dismantled and a new wooden cabin built in its place!
All day long, the villagers had been tearing down the bamboo house and clearing the surrounding foundation.
Seeing that it was growing dark and that the villagers were not young anymore, Yun Mu had told them to head back for the day and return tomorrow.
Yun Mu himself stayed behind to tidy up a bit more and sketch out the design for the wooden cabin.
"Hello there."
Just then, Yun Mu heard someone greeting him from behind, which gave him a start.
He whipped around, and two familiar faces came into view.
"They look exactly the same."
"What?"
Yun Mu quickly shook his head, put on a smile, and walked over to them.
"Teacher He, Teacher Huang, hello. My name is Yun Mu."
He Jiong and Huang Lei greeted Yun Mu warmly as well.
He Jiong immediately voiced the question on his mind.
"What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I was planning to come back and live here, but the bamboo house here is beyond saving, so I have to tear it down and rebuild."
Hearing this, He Jiong looked at Yun Mu in bewilderment.
"The original bamboo house here... was your home?"
Yun Mu scratched his head somewhat sheepishly.
"Well, it's like this. I used to work and live in Magic City, but the pressure was just too high, and then I lost my job. So I simply sold my apartment and car in Magic City and wanted to come back home to live."
"However, Grandpa Village Chief didn't know I was coming back, and your production team offered a pretty high price, so he ended up selling my house to your production team."
Hearing this, He Jiong and Huang Lei both dropped their jaws in astonishment.
"What?! You mean the Mushroom House used to be your home?!"
He Jiong exclaimed.
Huang Lei let out a helpless, wry chuckle.
"Who would've thought things would turn out like this."
At this, Yun Mu gave a light, self-deprecating smile.
"It's fine. I can just use the money from selling the house to build a new one. And look, we've become neighbors now."
The three of them chatted briefly.
The sky was gradually growing dark.
"Hey, Xiaomu, have you eaten yet?"
Yun Mu shook his head.
"Not yet. I was planning to busy myself a bit longer and then go over to Grandpa Village Chief's place to eat."
Hearing this, He Jiong suddenly turned to Huang Lei.
"Teacher Huang, since we don't have any guests over anyway, why don't we invite Xiaomu to the Mushroom House for dinner?"
Huang Lei grinned broadly.
"You really are something else, inviting someone to be a guest in their own former home, aren't you?"
With that, Huang Lei turned to Yun Mu.
"Come on, come back to the Mushroom House with us two old fogies for a bit. We had noodles for dinner, and there's still some sauce left. If you don't mind, I'll cook up some more noodles for you and you can make do with that."
Yun Mu smiled slightly, showing no stage fright.
"Alright! I'm a hardcore fan of Back to Field—I've watched every single season."
"I always watch Back to Field while eating. Through the screen, even instant noodles look and taste amazing."
"Looks like I'm in for a real treat today."
Flattered by Yun Mu's praise, Huang Lei felt quite happy.
After all, the gap in status between them was vast.
For a major celebrity to cook a meal exclusively for an ordinary person was already an unlikely scenario.
The only reason Huang Lei had agreed just now was out of consideration for He Jiong.
Yet, after Yun Mu's sincere flattery, the trace of lingering reluctance in Huang Lei's heart vanished completely.
The three returned to the Mushroom House.
Seeing the array of cameras set up in the small courtyard, Yun Mu couldn't help feeling a bit nervous.
He had never exposed himself to so many lenses before.
Noticing Yun Mu stop in his tracks, He Jiong asked with a puzzled look, "We're at the doorstep, come on in."
Yun Mu glanced at the cluster of cameras and said sheepishly, "Teacher He, look at this..."
Following his gaze, He Jiong instantly understood.
He looked over at director Wang Zhengyu and smiled lightly, "Zhengyu, our recording for today is pretty much done, right? Let the crew take a break. Let's stop filming for now."
Wang Zhengyu naturally caught the implication in He Jiong's words and immediately instructed the crew to halt shooting and take a break.
"Alright, let's go inside."
With that, He Jiong took Yun Mu warmly by the arm and led him into the courtyard.
"Jiongjiong, keep Xiaomu company for a moment. I'll go heat up the sauce and cook some noodles, it won't take long."
Huang Lei said to He Jiong, then turned and slipped into the kitchen.
He Jiong brought Yun Mu inside the house and thoughtfully handed him two bottles of milk.
"Here, you've been busy all day, you must be thirsty. Have some milk, there's more if that's not enough."
"Thank you, Teacher He."
The two sat down, and He Jiong looked for a topic of conversation.
"Xiaomu, I heard you mention earlier that you bought an apartment and a car in Magic City. Things were going pretty well for you there, weren't they? What made you suddenly decide to come back and live here?"
Yun Mu let out a soft sigh.
"Teacher He, the pressure of living in Magic City is simply too immense."
"After paying off various loans from my monthly salary, I was left with only a little over 500 yuan. Doing some part-time work after getting off duty at best netted me a little over 2,000 yuan more."
"And that's not even counting food, clothing, transportation, and all sorts of other miscellaneous expenses."
"Once you factor all of that in, there's simply nothing left at the end of the month."
"On top of that, I lost my job this month. I've been looking for work for a while, but the salary wouldn't even cover my loan repayments."
Yun Mu looked at He Jiong, his eyes filled with exhaustion.
"Teacher He, what on earth do people live for in this lifetime?"
Without waiting for He Jiong to answer, he turned his head away and gazed through the doorway into the endless night sky.
"Before, I lived for a house. I lived for the bank."
"Now, I want to live for myself."
He Jiong looked at the hesitant Yun Mu, his mouth opening, yet no words came out.
After all, this was the reality for the vast majority of ordinary people.
"Sometimes, stopping to rest is pretty nice too—taking time to sort out your thoughts, figuring out how to move forward, how to live, and finding the path that suits you best."
With that, He Jiong chose not to dwell on the subject any further.
"By the way, Xiaomu, did you know? This season of ours is also our last."
"We're planning to stop and take a good, long rest as well."