Chapter 147: Unexpected Events Galore

"Make sure to hold onto me tightly during the shoot."

Since Joey Wong insisted, Yan Xu had no choice but to agree. Sitting on the horseback, he looked back at her and said.

He hadn't expected Joey to be so stubborn, but since the decision was made, they would have to be doubly careful during the filming. Of course, deep down, Yan Xu felt quite unconfident. Although his recent horseback riding training had yielded modest results, he had never carried a passenger on horseback before.

"Humph!" Joey did not reply. The light snort from her nose indicated that she had heard him, but whether she would actually follow Yan Xu's instructions remained unknown.

"All departments, get ready! Lighting, sound effects, and the car. This time, we must get it in one take." Before issuing his command, Director Tung Chi-ming checked each department once more. Although a scene like this wasn't particularly crucial, its equestrian nature carried a certain level of danger, so all safety measures had to be flawless.

"Giddy-up!" Following Tung Chi-ming's command, Yan Xu squeezed his legs, and the walking horse broke into a gallop as if responding to a starting gun, its speed increasing rapidly.

The car beside the horse had already started, its camera lens locked tightly onto Yan Xu and Joey Wong.

Although the horse's speed was increasing, Yan Xu kept controlling it to prevent it from going too fast. This was, after all, a racehorse from the Jockey Club; if it ran at full tilt, it could easily match a car. Meanwhile, Joey Wong behind Yan Xu had paid no attention to his warning. She merely rested her hands lightly on his waist, deliberately leaning her upper body backward to maintain a certain distance from him.

Perhaps the more cautious one is, the more likely accidents are to happen. The running route had been predetermined; the path had been slightly cleared, and lights had been set up on both sides, but in such rugged, wild mountains, not everything was under control.

Just as Joey nervously looked back in accordance with the script, the steadily running horse suddenly took a slight leap because of a thick tree root protruding from the soil across the path. This jump made Joey instinctively panic and turn around, wrapping her arms tightly around Yan Xu's front, her body pressing closely against his back.

However, a moment later, Joey abruptly pushed against Yan Xu's torso to thrust herself backward again. All of this happened in a split second, and her push threw her center of gravity backward. Amidst the horse's gallop, her entire body tipped backward.

Because it happened so fast, Yan Xu barely had time to react. He only knew that when the horse leaped, Joey had suddenly hugged him, but then for some reason pushed him away with great force, causing her to fall backward off the horse.

Yan Xu didn't think twice. Although the horse's speed wasn't extremely fast, that was only relative, and they were on a mountain trail. The path was not merely covered in fallen leaves and dirt; there were even some exposed rocks beneath. Falling off a horse at that speed would be unbearable even for a robust man, let alone a delicate woman like Joey.

Feeling Joey's body falling from the horse, Yan Xu hurriedly grabbed her arm, trying to pull her back. But the downward momentum was too great, coupled with the forward movement of the horse. Not only did Yan Xu fail to pull her back, but he was also dragged down from the horse himself.

"Thud!" With a heavy landing sound, Yan Xu clutched Joey's body and tumbled over and over several times along the mountain trail.

"Quick, save them!"

"Medical team, come quickly!"

"Young Master Yan! Xiaoxian!"

The moment they fell from the horse, almost the entire crew rushed over. The camera car that had been following closely alongside the horse stopped first, and Poon Hang-sang and his assistants jumped out immediately.

A fall like this from a galloping horse was no small matter. Because Yan Xu had held Joey tightly in his arms before hitting the ground, he had to bear a much greater impact. Yan Xu felt as though all the organs inside his body had shifted instantly, struck by a heavy sledgehammer. If he hadn't already been biting down hard on his teeth, he might have bitten through his lips or tongue from the heavy impact.

"Are you all right?" Yan Xu looked first at Joey in his arms. Out of shock, she was clinging tightly to his chest, completely devoid of any previous aversion. Her stunning face was deathly pale, her hair bun somewhat disheveled, with stray locks hanging down and even a few pieces of grass and dead leaves caught in them.

The white gauze dress she wore was stained with large patches of dirt from the continuous rolling, and in some places, it was torn by branches on the ground.

"I'm fine!" Joey shook her head, taking a long time to utter the two words. She was just a young woman who had barely reached adulthood, and this sudden fall had scared her out of her wits. Her heart felt as if it were about to jump out of her chest. She checked her body—other than some slight grazes on her arms and wrists, the shock from the fall was surprisingly minimal.

As she looked at Yan Xu, her eyes were filled with gratitude. She knew that if Yan Xu hadn't shielded her in his arms and used his own body to block the majority of the impact during the tumble, she wouldn't have escaped with merely a few scrapes.

"Young Master Yan, Xiaoxian, are you both all right?" Hearing Joey's reply, the stone in Yan Xu's heart finally dropped. At that moment, Poon Hang-sang and the others had already run up, followed by the main force of the film crew.

"I'm quite alright." Yan Xu smiled faintly at the anxious Poon Hang-sang. The intense shock inside his body had subsided quite a bit, and he even tried to stand up on his own while speaking.

"Ah!" Just as Yan Xu propped himself up, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his arm, and his newly raised torso collapsed back down.

"What's wrong with you?" Seeing Yan Xu fall, Joey, who had also just managed to sit up beside him, hurried over to support him.

"Ah!" This scream came from Joey. As she embraced Yan Xu's torso, her palm distinctly felt a warm, damp sensation on his back. Curious, she pulled her hand back, and her delicate hand was covered in a large smear of bright red blood. This scream was filled not only with shock, but also with overwhelming worry.

***

"Darling, I told you I'm really fine."

"Stop crying, and you don't need to come back—just focus on your work over there."

"It's not as serious as the newspapers make it sound. I'll be discharged from the hospital in a couple of days. Don't worry too much, or it might ruin your concert."

"Just listen to my voice—I'm full of energy."

"If you cry anymore, you won't look pretty!"

"Come on, darling, give me a kiss."

"All right, focus on your work. I'll hang up now, I love you!"

After chatting on the phone for a full hour, Yan Xu finally hung up amidst Vivian Chow's reluctant sighs. Fat Wong's movie *The Romancing Star* had finished filming and was now in post-production, to be followed by censorship and scheduling. After wrapping up her final scene, Vivian hadn't even attended the wrap party; she immediately plunged into a hectic minor tour of Southeast Asia. She was currently in Kuala Lumpur, and learned about Yan Xu's injury two days after it happened. That prompted her to call him immediately and even insist on booking a plane ticket back to Hong Kong. It took all of Yan Xu's eloquence to convince her that he was in no serious danger and dissuade her from rushing back.

The injuries Yan Xu sustained from falling off the horse were not particularly severe. When he pulled the falling Joey off the horse, he strained some muscles in his arm. After two days of massage and cold compresses, he was already able to move it slightly without too much pain. As for his back, due to falling off the horse and rolling repeatedly while holding Joey, he suffered extensive abrasions. Although it looked terrifying, no bones or tendons were broken. After treatment and bandaging, the bleeding stopped the same day, and the wounds in many areas had already begun to coagulate. Over the past two days, scabs had even formed in some spots. His remarkably rapid recovery amazed the doctor and nurses who changed his dressings, though for a long time, he could only sleep on his stomach.

Because of Yan Xu's injury, the filming of *A Chinese Ghost Story* was inevitably affected to a certain extent. Of course, scenes that did not require Yan Xu continued to be shot. Furthermore, due to his accident, *A Chinese Ghost Story* once again became the talk of the town in Hong Kong, occupying the front pages of various newspapers. Since Yan Xu declined journalists' interviews after being hospitalized and restricted visitors to close family and friends, the newspapers offered all sorts of wildly varying accounts regarding his condition.

Naturally, this only served to generate immense pre-release buzz for *A Chinese Ghost Story*. At the very least, without the company spending heavily on promotion, the movie's title had already reached the ears of most Hong Kong citizens, undoubtedly saving a massive amount in publicity costs. This could be considered the only silver lining of Yan Xu's injury.

"Why are you out of bed again? The doctor explicitly said not to move around casually for the next few days to prevent the wounds from tearing open." Just as Yan Xu got out of bed and stood by the window to breathe in the fresh air, the ward door was pushed open abruptly, and a soft voice tinged with anxiety echoed through the room.

Yan Xu turned around with a smile on his face.

Looking at the newcomer, he saw her place a thermos on the nearby table, remove her disguised hat and sunglasses, revealing a face that combined purity with enchanting allure. The slender, beautiful legs concealed beneath her dress were a powerful magnet for attention. If any paparazzi were to capture this scene, it would undoubtedly generate explosive headlines the next day: "Long-Legged Beauty Joey Wong Sparks New Romance," "Joey Wong Secretly Meets Director," "Yan Xu Uses Status to Exploit Actress," or "The Untold Story Behind Joey Wong and Yan Xu's Hospital Room Encounter," and so on.