Mad Dog

Chapter 35: A Sick Dog Like Him Cant Restrain Himself

Seeing the “characteristic” shantytown of Chen Kong Alley, a low and uneven expanse, it seemed like all the memories from the past suddenly rushed back into his mind.

Jiang Qi didn’t know how he had left the car amidst the crowd of people, standing on this familiar yet unfamiliar piece of land, his whole body almost stiff from head to toe.

Perhaps it was because December had started to get cold, and there was a layer of frosty cold air between his breaths. His face was pale, his pupils covered with a layer of chaotic ice color, he coldly observed as people from the crew came and went.

Like ants, in an instant it seemed like they were all assimilated by this ruins, in complete darkness.

Until Qiu Heng came over to call him—

“Ah Qi.” The man lowered his head to look at the script in his hand, not noticing Jiang Qi’s abnormality. He just rubbed his temples and said, “The next scene we’re shooting is from high school, the one where you got beaten up by classmates. Hurry up and change into your school uniform in the car, I’ll have the stylist…”

Qiu Heng’s instructions came swiftly, like the crackling of beans popping, making people’s heads seem to ache.

Jiang Qi didn’t say anything, just blankly scanning this alley he hadn’t returned to in years.

He thought he would never have the misfortune to come back, but he didn’t expect the “opportunity” to come so quickly and unexpectedly. After that, Jiang Qi was like a puppet being manipulated, put on the school uniform and styled by the makeup artist.

In the movie, the male protagonist Chen Si had the most precarious period during high school, malnourished, pale, with eyes full of timid avoidance.

And Jiang Qi’s complexion, almost didn’t need makeup to “perform naturally”, making the makeup artist somewhat surprised.

Qiu Mi, who had been thinking about Zhi Qi’s inexplicable words on the phone earlier, naturally noticed Jiang Qi’s anomaly at this moment. He inexplicably felt a bit frightened, leaned over and asked softly, “Brother Qi, are you okay?”

…

After a while, Jiang Qi seemed to finally come to his senses, shook his stiff head.

It’s nothing, what could happen to him? He’s just returning to his “old years,” after all. Jiang Qi doesn’t allow himself to be so useless.

Even though the violent factors within him are stirring restlessly, almost uncontrollable, as he moves through these familiar places.

Jiang Qi presses on his knuckles repeatedly, taking deep breaths. “Let’s shoot.”

The sooner it’s done, the sooner he can leave. He doesn’t want to stay here any longer.

As the young actors advance towards the set, which has already been set up with props, Jiang Qi’s throat tightens a bit.

*

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In the scene at Chen’s alley, it depicts Chen Si’s high school days, where he doesn’t fit in with his classmates due to his strange mannerisms that seem neither masculine nor feminine. He’s ostracized and bullied by his classmates, and there’s even a scene where some irrational teenage boys want to “teach him a lesson.”

This scene directly establishes why Chen Si in the play dislikes boys even more and increasingly sees himself as a “cute girl.” It’s a crucial turning point for the protagonist’s mindset.

But Jiang Qi just can’t get into character.

As the extras playing his classmates push him against the wall, his thin back touches the moss-covered wall unique to Chen’s alley. Jiang Qi can’t get into character as Chen Si; instead, his mind is filled with memories of the past.

He remembers being grabbed by men in this alley, his hair pulled as he was slammed against the wall with brutal force.

The young boy’s face covered in blood, even the taste of dirt in his nostrils…

“Cut!” Qiu Heng, behind the camera, calls out. He stands up, frowning at Jiang Qi with visible displeasure. “Ah Qi, are you tired?”

This is the third time today, and Qiu Heng can’t help but feel that something is off. During the half-month of filming “Jiao Si,” Jiang Qi could instantly get into character the moment the camera started rolling.

He even earned the nickname “Jiang One-Take” because he never needed multiple takes. But today, for a scene that isn’t particularly difficult for Jiang Qi, he has NG’d three times already.

Could it be that the relentless schedule has worn out these actors?

With this thought in mind, Qiu Heng decides to pause filming. “If you can’t get into character today, let’s call it quits and try again another day.”

Try again another day?

Jiang Qi furrows his brow, shaking his head instinctively. “No.”

Once is enough for this place; he doesn’t want to come back.

Taking a deep breath, the young man with a pale face tightly clenches his lips and manages to utter a few words with difficulty: “I can do it.”

So, for the fourth time, the same scene begins again.

Jiang Qi forcefully tries to convince himself that he is Chen Si now, not the powerless child he once was. Finally, he manages to make his icy gaze appear “soft and timid,” trying his best to resemble Chen Si.

“You neither act like a man nor a woman? Are you a man or a woman after all?”

The two extras wearing school uniforms faithfully deliver their lines, laughing as they reach out to Jiang Qi, patting his face insultingly. “Or should we check for ourselves?”

With a change in his expression, Jiang Qi immediately leans against the wall, curling up his body. His head, seemingly “timid,” buries into his arms. Although his eyes should be filled with resentment and grievance in the darkness, they appear cold and distant, almost lost.

Then comes the flurry of punches and kicks from the two boys towards “Chen Si,” with the camera intentionally portraying the scene with heightened violence.

But in reality, this kind of fighting scene generally doesn’t hurt anyone. Jiang Qi was just pretending to cry out in pain, curling his body, but his hands protecting his head and face involuntarily clenched tighter, the fair backs of his hands showing prominent veins.

They were extras; they weren’t really trying to hurt him. The force they exerted on him was soft, just for the sake of acting.

Jiang Qi kept convincing himself, yet there was a raging fire burning in his heart, boiling with every cell in his body, each containing a factor of brutality that he couldn’t restrain no matter how hard he tried.

“Damn, are you made of wood? Can’t you show some manliness?!”

Finally, it came to the scene where the extras angrily grabbed Jiang Qi, throwing the slender youth ruthlessly against the wall. Jiang Qi winced in pain, hearing their curses:

“Just look at you, we hit you and it’s like bullying a child who’s still breastfeeding! Can’t you resist a bit, so we can have a back-and-forth?”

“You’ve got a dick down there, but you’re as weak as a girl.”

“Looks like a girl, too. If it weren’t for that thing being so repulsive, I wouldn’t mind having some fun with you.”

“Heh, bro, he thinks he’s a girl, maybe he’ll end up cutting that thing off and selling it in the future?”

“Haha, selling it, that suits him perfectly!”

“Looks like a sly fox, born to be a prostitute…”

…

…

“You look like this, you’re born to sell yourself to me and make me some money!”

“Looks like a sly fox, not much different from your crappy mom!”

“Why do I have such a worthless offspring like you? You should die with your mother!”

The lines of the two extras in front of him reminded Jiang Qi of countless days and nights in his youth, filled with endless insults.

The young man’s gaze gradually became hollow. He forgot what he should do, what lines he should say, and could only stare blankly at the two men in front of him.

Strangely, their ferocious faces gradually merged with Jiang Quan’s in Jiang Qi’s eyes.

Clearly they were young extras, but now they transformed into middle-aged men reeking of alcohol and full of aggression. As if his neck was being strangled, unable to breathe, the young man was suffocating. His vision blurred, filled only with insults, his body experiencing piercing pain and a burning sensation.

It’s a sensation of flesh burning.

Jiang Qi had felt it countless times before, when Jiang Quan stubbed out cigarettes on his hands, on his body…

Leaving countless scars.

Once again, being pushed, shoulders slammed against the wall, the stabbing pain behind him, Jiang Qi’s gaze shifted from confusion to icy determination.

For someone like him, a “sick dog,” once he couldn’t restrain himself, he would bite.

When the extras dutifully threw punches according to the script, something unexpected happened—Jiang Qi suddenly grabbed the wrist.

The extra looked at the young man in astonishment, feeling as if the temperament of the young man in front of him had undergone a dramatic change in an instant, as if in a moment, he transformed from the supposed “timid” Chen Si into a demon from hell, his sinister and cold demeanor overwhelming.

The next moment, before anyone could react, Jiang Qi kicked the man’s kneecap.

With a sudden scream from the extras, the entire crew erupted.

But Jiang Qi paid no heed, completely immersed in his own bloody world. Seizing the moment when one of the extras knelt down from his kick, he swung his fist towards another person nearby—

“Ah!” The hard knuckles directly broke the actor’s lips, and he staggered and fell to the ground.

“What the hell is going on!”

The fact that a lead actor on set could beat up extras, and so brutally at that, was unheard of. Could the whole crew still function after this? After a moment of shock, Qiu Heng became furious, his usual gentleness gone, roaring, “What are you all staring at? Hurry up and stop this!”

The young man in the center of the chaos was red-eyed, looking as if he had gone mad.

Expressionless, Jiang Qi knelt on the ground, raining heavy blows on the two men lying on the ground, listening to their cries and screams, a hint of pleasure rising in his eyes…

*

In a hurry, Zhi Qi rushed to the scene in a taxi, and what she saw through the crowded crowd was such a scene.

—The young man’s white shirt was covered in blood, his black hair disheveled, being pulled and torn by countless people around him, while two barely conscious men lay on the ground, Jiang Qi evidently the “perpetrator.”

“Miss Zhi.” Qiu Mi was shocked, trembling as she spoke to Zhi Qi, “Qiqi, he, he suddenly lost control just now, started hitting people out of nowhere, like he’s gone crazy.”

Everyone was stunned by this “unexpected” scene.

“No, he hasn’t.” But the girl, who usually seemed timid, unexpectedly remained calm.

Zhi Qi stared straight at Jiang Qi, who was being held down by everyone, her voice calm: “He’s not crazy. Can you let me in?”

She was outside the set, with a barricade of electric fences in front of her. Seeing the calm gaze of the girl, Qiu Mi dumbly opened the electric fence and let Zhi Qi through.

Zhi Qi took a deep breath, then hurriedly ran towards the chaotic center where the young man was.

“Jiang Qi!” The girl’s soft body threw itself at the boy, her arms tightly wrapped around Jiang Qi’s waist, her voice trembling slightly but resolutely repeating, “Calm down, you need to calm down.”