This is a very, very long tracking shot. The background is a yellow-green wall, the only light coming through the window. Andrew Clark and Emily Foster sit side by side on the bed, accompanied throughout by all kinds of noise from the street outside.

“My sky, why is it filled with wet tears? My sky, why does it always wear a gray face…”

Emily Foster sings, while Andrew Clark listens quietly.

One is a nightclub singer, the other a thief.

He holds a cigarette in his hand, smoke curling and swirling, obscuring his face.

She sings and sings, then suddenly starts to cry.

Unknowingly, Andrew Clark has already stayed in Fenyang for one month and twenty-three days.

There’s only one story left to shoot in the whole film. “Xiao Wu” is clearly divided into three parts: the first part is about the loss of friendship with Little George, the second about the end of love with Megan Scott, and the third about the fading of family ties.

Little William’s rural home was chosen by Samuel Reed in a village near the county seat, nestled against the mountains, with cave dwellings all over the hillside.

As soon as the group entered the village, it started pouring rain. The road conditions were terrible, and the crew’s car was stuck at the village entrance.

There was only one dirt road into the village, already muddy and impassable, with a mountain wall on one side and a deep ravine on the other.

Steven Grant got out of the car alone, stumbling along the path into the village just to tell the villagers that the crew wouldn’t be coming today. On the way back, he ran into Samuel Reed, who said he thought he’d fallen into the ravine and came to look for him.

The two of them shouted back and forth on the dirt road, and Andrew Clark could hear them clearly from inside the car.

He didn’t even know what he was thinking at the time—suddenly he jumped out of the car and ran over to join them in shouting.

Then, Richard Morgan and David Cooper joined in too.

The rain was pouring, soaking them to the bone, and the five of them jumped and shouted like madmen in the mud.

That day, Samuel Reed rarely announced a second full break for the crew—both times because of rain.

That night there was a soccer match against Korea, and all the guys in the crew each grabbed a bottle of booze and crowded around a broken TV to watch.

And damn it, they lost again!

Five days later, “Xiao Wu” wrapped filming.

Chapter 9: Going Home

Andrew Clark finally got his pay—two thousand yuan.

It was also the most money he’d ever earned at one time in both his lives combined.

Samuel Reed and his group packed up to return to Beijing, but Andrew Clark didn’t plan to go with them. He wanted to go back to the Northeast.

Maybe his original plan was to return to Beijing, but after finishing “Xiao Wu,” something changed.

Ever since his rebirth, he’d always felt a sense of insecurity. He hadn’t understood why before, but now he suddenly realized it came from his rootlessness.

A rather pretentious word.

Andrew Clark had once called the home of his family from his previous life, and a stranger answered. He hung up immediately, and tears fell like a string of beads.

That phone number had never changed, not until he was reborn.

Dad, Mom, and Grandpa—he’d probably never see them again…

The home from his previous life was gone, but he still had one in this life, so he had to go back to the Northeast, even if he did nothing but take a look.

Before leaving, Samuel Reed brought David Cooper and Steven Grant to his room, got himself drunk, and had to be carried back.

Richard Morgan gave him a backpack—the most popular style in Hong Kong—to replace his worn-out woven bag.

The next morning, Andrew Clark set off alone on the train to the Northeast.

He spent two days on the train, then switched to a bus, then an ox cart, and finally walked, arriving at a mountain village.

Maybe the original owner didn’t want to remember, so he didn’t have many memories of his old home, but as he walked along the wet, narrow path, watching the crooked road stretch up the hillside ahead, his gaze tilted up at a 30-degree angle, with irregular houses scattered on both sides like grains tossed on the ground—

The memories suddenly became clear.

Andrew Clark followed his memories toward the old house, breathing in the unusually fresh air, his heart a mix of emotions.

The village had only a dozen or so households, most people out in the fields at this hour. After a while, someone came toward him.

Maybe it was rare to see someone with a backpack, so the man looked at him a few extra times.

Suddenly, he stopped, hesitating: “Xiao Qingzi?”

Andrew Clark looked him over too. He wasn’t that old, but half his hair was white. Someone came to mind, and he said, “Mr. Parker?”

“Hey, Xiao Qingzi, it really is you! You’re back!”

The man got excited. He was Andrew Clark’s neighbor and childhood playmate.

“Yeah, I’m back. Haven’t seen you in years. How have you been?” Andrew Clark couldn’t quite summon the feeling of seeing an old friend, so he just tried to be polite.

“What else? Farming, of course. Oh, I got married, and you didn’t even give a wedding gift!” said Mr. Parker.

“I’ll make it up to you!” Andrew Clark laughed. “How’s my second uncle? He’s doing well, right?”

At the mention of his only living relative, Mr. Parker’s expression suddenly turned odd. “Ah! He’s fine. I have to get back to the fields, see you!”

Then he hurried down the path.

Andrew Clark looked at him suspiciously, but didn’t think much of it. He walked a bit further and arrived at the old house.

“Hm?”