El mejor arquitecto de juegos

Capítulo 1

Chapter 1

"We're going to Grandpa's for dinner tonight, at six o'clock. Where are you? The driver will pick you up."

On the phone, Mo Yushen's voice conveyed a cold, assertive sense of distance.

Xi Jia hadn't received a call from Mo Yushen for a long time. The last time she saw Mo Yushen was two months ago, when she went back to the Mo family's old house for dinner, and the two of them arranged to meet.

Since their marriage, which has lasted for more than five months, they have only met five or six times.

She and Mo Yushen usually keep to themselves and only get together when dealing with elders.

Xi Jia gave a half-smile: "In the mountains."

There was silence on the phone.

Xi Jia knew he had misunderstood and thought she was deliberately trying to sabotage him, so she didn't want to go to the Mo family's old house.

Rarely, she explained, "I told my grandparents that I was looking for creative inspiration in the mountains, and I would visit them when I returned to Beijing."

"When are you coming back?" Mo Yushen's voice came again.

"What, you missed me?" Xi Jia asked with a smile, not answering the question.

This "want" isn't something you think in your mind; it's a physical need.

Mo Yushen did not respond.

There was nothing else to talk about, so the call ended.

Xi Jia leaned against the window and looked out. The rain was pouring down, and the sky and earth merged into one.

"Jiajia, drink your medicine while it's hot."

Xi Jia turned around, and the old woman put the bowl on the table, then sat down while holding onto the table.

Xi Jia was still holding a book in her hand, with a bookmark in it, and casually placed the book on the rattan chair.

"Here's some sugar. Have a couple of bites after you finish your drink." The old woman opened the glass sugar jar and also prepared a small spoon.

It was Xi Jia's first time drinking Chinese medicine, and she pinched her nose and swallowed it all in one breath.

It's not that it's not bitter, but it's not as hard to swallow as I imagined.

In recent months, she has been suffering from severe headaches and memory loss. She has been to almost every well-known hospital in China and abroad, but they have been unable to find any cause for her condition.

My father's secretary, Lao Liang, said that it's not a solution to keep suffering like this. He suggested that we try traditional Chinese medicine in his hometown, which might work.

Even if it can't cure the root cause, it would be good to relieve the pain.

She put aside all her work and arrived here yesterday afternoon.

Grandma is Uncle Liang's mother. She lives on the mountain, within the scenic area.

The area is surrounded by continuous mountains for hundreds of kilometers, offering beautiful scenery.

Life on the mountain is not very convenient, but there are still a few dozen families living here.

Unable to bear the bitterness any longer, Xi Jia scooped up a spoonful of white sugar and put it in her mouth. When she bit down, it made a crunchy, sweet sound that choked her throat.

"Grandma, when will this rain stop? Won't the tourists who went up the mountain today be unable to see the scenery?" She deliberately started a conversation with the old woman.

The old woman tightened the lid of her sugar jar. "It's alright, it won't have any impact. This rain will stop in about an hour."

"So fast?"

“It’s different from the rain in your city. It rains for more than 200 days a year on our mountain. It starts raining whenever it wants, and it stops after a while.”

The old woman held onto the edge of the table and slowly stood up. "I'm going to do my needlework. If you're tired, lie down and rest."

Xi Jia smiled faintly, "Not tired."

I have a headache and can't sleep.

The old woman's back was hunched, and she walked with a limp, leaning on a cane, as she walked out of the main room.

It took Xi Jia a long time to look away, and she sat back down by the window to continue reading.

Just as the old woman had said, the rain gradually subsided after more than an hour.

Gradually, it stopped.

The clouds gradually dispersed, and the shape of the sun could be vaguely seen. The air after the rain was fresh with the scent of earth.

Xi Jia put down her book and stood in the corridor looking down the mountain.

The mountains and forests are lush and green, shrouded in mist, and you can hear the babbling of flowing water.

Water was dripping from the eaves, and she caught it in her palm, feeling its refreshing coolness.

The phone rang, and even the music sounded exceptionally clear in the mountains.

It's my best friend, Ye Qiu.

"I haven't received your call all day." Ye Qiu asked with concern, "How are you? Are you settling in alright over there?"

"That's good." Xi Jia asked, "No filming today?"

"Just finished work."

Ye Qiu is a nobody actor; whatever he plays, it flops.

Even with a big IP and top-tier male and female leads, if she only makes a cameo appearance, the show will still flop so badly that nobody will recognize her.

There was a banquet tonight, and Ye Qiu was on his way there. He took the opportunity to have a long phone call with Xi Jia.

"It must be boring in the mountains."

"It's alright, I'm reading Mr. Yue's book."

"Haven't you watched it several times already?"

“This time it’s different.”

The background of Mr. Yue's original creation was in the mountains.

This novel won numerous awards in its time and is now considered a classic.

She couldn't appreciate the nuances before, but now she can understand them a little.

Ye Qiu heard some news about Mr. Yue's book on set today.

"Several film and television companies wanted to adapt this work into a film or television series, but Mr. Yue was unwell and the negotiations have not been completed. We don't know what will happen next."

"If there's a real chance to adapt it, Jiajia, you should try to participate in the screenwriting."

Xi Jia: "I'd like to, too, but who would dare hire a third-rate screenwriter like me?"

"You're a third-rate screenwriter, and I'm a nobody actor, we're a perfect match." Ye Qiu chuckled, changing the subject. "By the way, how long are you going to stay in the mountains?"

"It's hard to say." She asked, "What's wrong?"

"There are two pieces of good news."

Xi Jia listened quietly, while water continued to drip from the eaves.

"Xinglan Film and Television is publicly soliciting outstanding scripts. The deadline is the end of this month. You've been polishing your script for almost two years. Why don't you give it a try? This is a rare opportunity. I heard that if your script is selected, Zhou Mingqian will be the director."

Ye Qiu then shared the second piece of good news: "The date for this year's show jumping tour in Beijing has been set for November 10th. Would you like to participate?"

Xi Jia has two great passions: writing and horseback riding.

One is "civilized," the other is "martial"—one is quiet, the other is exciting; they are two extremes.

During this time, she was so focused on seeing a doctor that she didn't pay attention to the film and television company's activities.

As for the equestrian club, the person in charge knew that she had been traveling to various hospitals, so they did not have anyone notify her about the competition.

She is currently taking traditional Chinese medicine, one course of treatment per week, and it takes three courses to see results.

It's only early October, so it should be ready in three weeks.

Still tempted, Xi Jia planned: "I'll go back to Beijing at the end of the month. If the traditional Chinese medicine works, I'll come back and stay for a while after the competition."

That was exactly what Ye Qiu meant; sometimes a good mood is a good medicine.

She continued chatting idly, "Didn't Mo Yushen give you a thoroughbred 'BMW' worth tens of millions of US dollars? Take it out for a spin sometime."

——

In the days that followed, Xi Jia spent her mornings polishing the script and her afternoons reading Mr. Yue's books. Her days were monotonous, but not boring.

This idyllic lifestyle is addictive; far removed from the hustle and bustle, one finds peace.

When it gets dark, it really gets dark.

There were no city lights coming on, nor any dazzling lights.

After drinking one and a half courses of traditional Chinese medicine, Xi Jia's headache was much better. However, the medicine could only relieve the pain and could not cure the root cause. Many memories gradually became blurred, and she had no recollection of some people and events.

After finishing the book she brought, she started reading it again from the first page.

"Didn't you finish reading the book a while ago? Why are you starting from the beginning again?" The old lady brought her some roasted corn.

"I only brought this one book, and I've already read it once." Xi Jia put down the book and took the corn.

During her stay, the old lady roasted corn for her almost every day. It was golden yellow, fragrant, and chewy, and she never got tired of it.

When the old woman heard that she had no books to read, she pointed to another room and said, "There's a bookshelf in there. Go and look for it and see if there's a book you want to read."

As she spoke, the old woman strolled over.

Xi Jia stood up and followed closely behind.

She had been here for a while, and apart from her own room and this main room, she never wandered around and didn't know what the other rooms were like.

“These books were left by your grandfather. He didn’t have any other hobbies in his life; he just spent all his time studying these books.”

Grandpa is Grandma's husband, Uncle Liang's father.

The old lady was illiterate, but she had heard Uncle Liang say that her father was a locally well-known writer and had published several collections of short stories.

The room hadn't been lived in for a long time, so it had a faint musty smell, and the floor was damp.

There was an old-fashioned bookcase against the south wall. The glass reflected the light, so Xi Jia couldn't see what books were inside.

It's clear that the old lady cares a lot about this bookcase. Fearing that the wood would rot from the dampness over time, she wrapped all four legs of the bookcase with thick plastic sheeting, and also nailed a layer of plastic sheeting to the wall behind the bookcase.

"Girl, come and find it yourself." The old woman pushed open the glass of the bookcase, stood to the side, and gestured for Xi Jia to come over.