Chapter 168: The Car That Caused the Accident
From Jiang Qing's perspective, the male lead, Jing Sheng, had become a red-clothed ghost, with a pale face and a bizarre smile, always able to appear from various places in the room, terrifying Jiang Qing into sleepless nights and driving him to the brink of insanity.
Tormented beyond endurance, Jiang Qing finally could bear it no longer and attempted to kill Jing Sheng. However, every time he struck, he accidentally killed someone else, which led to that series of incidents.
Therefore, the person Jiang Qing truly wanted to kill was Jing Sheng. If not for various accidents, the one who died on stage would have been Jing Sheng, the one who perished in the fire would have been Jing Sheng, and the one who died from the pain of the peach wood piercing his heart would have been Jing Sheng.
Layer by layer, the truth was unveiled. It turned out that the murderer Jing Sheng had been pursuing was actually targeting Jing Sheng himself all along.
Jiang Qing pulled out a small knife coated with black dog's blood from his pocket and charged at Jing Sheng.
Jiang Qing snapped out of his initial shock upon hearing the news. Looking at his former friend charging toward him, he couldn't hide the sorrow in his eyes.
And at that moment, the scene shifted. Someone suddenly sat up in bed.
Snow-white sheets, snow-white blankets. This was... a hospital.
But the person who woke up in the bed was Jiang Qing.
"You're awake? How do you feel?" A man in a white lab coat walked over.
He had pale gray, long hair loosely tied back with a cord. A pair of silver-wire, lower-rimmed glasses sat on the bridge of his nose, their lenses reflecting white light as he moved. A silver chain was attached to the left side of the glasses, swaying slightly with his movements.
Jiang Qing held his head, his eyes still seeming somewhat dazed.
Not receiving an answer, the man in the white coat wasn't anxious. He just looked at Jiang Qing seriously and said, "Did you succeed?"
Only then did Jiang Qing look at the man in the white coat. Slowly, he nodded.
"That's good." The man in the white coat curled the corners of his mouth into a smile. "Congratulations. From now on, you won't be troubled by him anymore. You won't hallucinate his appearance, nor will you see him constantly emerging to pester you."
After saying this, the man in the white coat snapped his fingers beside Jiang Qing's ear.
"Thank you, Dr. Du." Jiang Qing nodded.
"Have some water. You've already killed him with your own hands. His figure won't appear in your mind anymore, nor in your dreams. You can rest assured and have pleasant dreams." Du Xiao handed over a cup of warm water.
Jiang Qing nodded, took the cup, held it, and took a small sip.
"Then you rest well here for now. I won't disturb you any longer." After Du Xiao finished speaking, he turned and left.
After the door closed, Jiang Qing's gaze fixed deeply on that door. After quite a while, he finally took a mirror from the bedside table.
Looking into the mirror, the corners of his mouth slowly curled upward.
Actually, in Yin Chengjue's script, Jiang Qing's gaze was supposed to change when looking at the door Du Xiao closed—the kind meant to highlight the eerie feeling of Jiang Qing's current state. Unfortunately, Ming Qian's acting skills weren't up to par; he could only manage a dull, staring look.
This part Director Mo had him redo countless times, but he just couldn't get it right. They could only reluctantly use this take.
As for the part where Jiang Qing looks in the mirror, originally he was supposed to show a "triumphant" expression. But no matter how Ming Qian manipulated his facial expressions, it was either wide-eyed with an open mouth, a pursed-lip smile, a toothy grin, or a smirk. He simply couldn't convey that deeply unsettling feeling.
There was no other way. Director Mo could only film an extra shot of Rong Yu's expression and have post-production superimpose Rong Yu's expression onto Ming Qian's face in a double-exposure style, allowing the audience to realize that at this moment, Jiang Qing was actually not Jiang Qing.
In Yin Chengjue's script, there was no need to rely on post-production to resolve this. As long as the actor could perform the expression well, the audience could speculate on their own, leaving a deeply unsettling cliffhanger. However, Ming Qian's acting wasn't good. Without post-production enhancement, the audience simply wouldn't be able to discern this cliffhanger. If they couldn't see it, it would be pointless. So they had to abandon this subtlety and present it in a more straightforward manner.
It must be said that in this film, Ming Qian's shortcomings in acting skills were completely exposed.
In this facial close-up, Ming Qian's stiff smile was toned down, while Rong Yu's face, wearing a triumphant smile, became apparent. This also made the audience suddenly realize one thing—the current Jiang Qing was no longer Jiang Qing, but Jing Sheng.
In other words, in the duel between the two, the one who was killed was not Jing Sheng, but Jiang Qing!
With the plot reaching this point, many people could realize one thing—
So, everything that happened before was Jiang Qing's hallucination!
Ten years ago, at that graduation party, two drunk people were crossing the road when a sedan rushed toward them. The male lead, Jing Sheng, pushed his good friend Jiang Qing out of the way. Good friend Jiang Qing lived, but male lead Jing Sheng died.
Jiang Qing, filled with guilt, endured alone the blame heaped upon him by Jing Sheng's family. Over time, the guilt transferred and instead turned into resentment.
Furthermore, because he lived under prolonged pressure, he developed psychiatric hallucinations, constantly imagining he saw Jing Sheng appearing before him, interfering with his life, haunting him relentlessly.
So Jiang Qing sought out psychiatrist Du Xiao. Du Xiao guided him to kill this hallucination born from long-term stress within his consciousness, but instead, this hallucination "counter-killed" him.
This explanation might sound a bit fantastical, but just imagine it as Jiang Qing constructing the existence of a "Jing Sheng" within his mind, and this "Jing Sheng" perfectly replicated the image of the former Jing Sheng, just like a real person.
He would participate in talent shows, act in dramas, attend others' weddings.
His every smile, frown, and action was as if he were truly alive.
Jiang Qing lived in such hallucinations for a long time, unknowingly having replicated Jing Sheng's thinking habits, behavioral habits, social habits, and all other aspects within his mind.
In short, he could freely simulate another Jing Sheng.
And it was this "Jing Sheng," replicated in his mind, who killed Jiang Qing.
Therefore, when he woke up again, because his subconscious already believed that "Jiang Qing" was dead and "Jing Sheng" had survived, his brain automatically switched him to "Jing Sheng's" behavioral patterns.
So, at this moment, he was no longer "Jiang Qing."
The human brain is a marvelous thing. It can "erase" your existence without you even realizing it.
Does human consciousness determine the brain, or does the brain determine human consciousness?
The brain is clearly a part of the human body, but even now, how many people can fully develop their own brains?
Therefore, it's not unreasonable to say the brain controls the person.
Therefore, it's also not unreasonable that a fantasy entity constructed by consciousness could erase the original self existing within this body.
'Ghost Traces' was nearing its end at this point.
But in the final few minutes, there was still more plot!
After looking in the mirror, "Jiang Qing" soon felt drowsy and fell asleep.
Right then, Du Xiao pushed the door open and walked back in.
His footsteps were very light, ghost-like, as he approached the bedside.
A silvery-white light gleamed off his glasses.
Du Xiao gazed deeply at the sleeping "Jiang Qing," then pulled his hand out from the pocket of his white coat.
In his hand was a scalpel with a gleaming blade.
Expressionlessly, Du Xiao aimed the scalpel at "Jiang Qing's" heart. The moment the scalpel suddenly fell, the scene shifted once more!
Someone abruptly jerked up from the bed!
Snow-white sheets, snow-white blankets.
But the person panting heavily had become Du Xiao!
Du Xiao breathed heavily for a long time. Feeling his throat dry, he swallowed hard.
His gaze swept around the room. Finally, he looked down at the scalpel he held in his hand.
He had fallen asleep holding this scalpel.
Before sleeping, he had given himself a suggestion—whenever he saw this scalpel in his hand, he must remember to kill Jiang Qing.
The camera followed Du Xiao's movements.
He took out his phone and opened an encrypted file.
Opening a picture inside the encrypted file revealed a photographed newspaper clipping.
Judging by the date, it was a newspaper from ten years ago. The content was about a traffic accident.
It was the accident that caused Jing Sheng's death.
The news reported that the car that hit the person had fled the scene. Because the car had no license plate, and the incident occurred on a small road without surveillance cameras, they couldn't capture the driver or the car's escape route.
They could only describe the car's color, make, and model based on witnesses' testimonies.
Why did Du Xiao have this report saved?
Just as the viewers were inwardly asking this question, they saw Du Xiao on screen press and hold the photo with his fingertip, then select delete.
After deleting this one, the next secretly stored picture automatically popped up.
It was a family portrait.
A seemingly very warm and sweet family portrait.
A woman held a child who looked about five years old. Behind the woman, a clearly younger and more youthful Du Xiao was hugging her.
A family of three, laughing happily.
However, sharp-eyed viewers could quickly notice a crucial piece of information hidden in this family portrait.
Behind the smiling, warm family of three was a parked sedan.
The color and model of that sedan were exactly the same as those of the car involved in the incident described by the eyewitness in the deleted news report!
In other words, Du Xiao was the sedan driver who hit Jing Sheng and immediately fled the scene ten years ago!
Du Xiao looked tenderly at this family portrait.
This was his most precious family portrait, and also the most fatal piece of evidence for him.
He had quickly disposed of and destroyed that car and other related evidence afterward. But only this family portrait, he could not bring himself to delete, no matter what.
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