C2 Part3

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P – Chapter 2.2

P – Chapter 2.3

Zheng Yin took a while to stop laughing. He patted his chest for air as he said, “All right, all right, I won’t laugh anymore. Come, Xiao Ye. Let me introduce you. This is Liang Sizhe. Xiao Liang, how old are you? Seventeen?”

Nodding, Liang Sizhe said, “Yes.”

“Then Cao Ye is two years younger than you.” Zheng Yin was patting Cao Ye’s back. “Come, acknowledge him as your ge. What’s a good way to call him? …How about Sizhe-ge?”

Being fifteen, sixteen years old was the time of being sensitive to age, hating that they couldn’t get the entire world to call them ‘dad’1. Cao Ye wasn’t willing to acknowledge this older brother, and as he sized up Liang Sizhe in front of him, he muttered under his breath, “We’re about the same age. The two of us are even the same height.”

Zheng Yin was amused. “You’re taller than me, but don’t you still call me uncle?” He didn’t continue talking about this with Cao Ye for much longer, turning around to say to Liang Sizhe, “Sizhe, help me take care of him over the upcoming days. I’ll thank you well in the future.”

Liang Sizhe tugged up the corners of his mouth and smiled; he didn’t agree or disagree.

It wasn’t as though he was deliberately not giving Zheng Yin face. It was just that he was inexperienced when it came to taking care of other people; he could also barely take care of himself. The person in front of him honestly looked like a stubborn, disobedient master who could definitely find trouble.

“Just take it as doing me a favour.” Zheng Yin could see he wasn’t willing. With a warm smile on his face, he assigned the task to Liang Sizhe without a change in his voice. “It’ll be fine as long as you make sure he doesn’t get into trouble and doesn’t go around randomly hitting on girls. Okay?”

Liang Sizhe didn’t give him an answer directly, only looking at Cao Ye. He threw the last word over to him. “Okay?”

Perhaps the matter just then had been overly awkward — Cao Ye had already retracted his eyes studying Liang Sizhe and had turned them towards observing the environment around them in total unconcern. After he realised that ‘okay’ had been directed at him, he turned his head around and looked at Liang Sizhe. He simply said, “Sure2.”

The two of them looked at each other. Even though neither of them spoke, one look was all that was needed to reach a common certain tacit agreement between youths: those words just then had been bullshit, the two of us will leave each other alone.

At this moment, the store owner who’d been bustling about lifted the door curtain. She poked her head out and peeked outside, and when she saw Zheng Yin standing at the entrance with the two youths, she came out, her face broadly smiling as she looked at Cao Ye. “This is Director Cao’s son? He doesn’t really take after his father.”

Zheng Yin glanced at Cao Ye. Laughing, he said, “He’s better looking than his dad.”

“Now that’s true.” The store owner also laughed, and then she said, “We’re busying about right now. Boss Zheng3, you guys rest for a bit. I’ll come back after settling things upstairs. It’ll take only a little while.”

Zheng Yin understood — this period of time right before the start of the evening performance was Lan Yan’s busiest time. He asked, “Everything’s been organised?”

“Yes,” the store owner said, “no need for you to worry if I’m handling it.”

“Then I won’t wait with them here, I still have other things to do. You can handle it,” Zheng Yin said.

Once he finished exchanging goodbyes with the store owner, Zheng Yin once again turned to look at Cao Ye and Liang Sizhe. “You guys just listen to her. I need to leave first.” He then grabbed Cao Ye’s arm and pulled him away, saying, “Xiao Ye, come with me to get your luggage.”

“Why do I have to stay here?” Cao Ye went out with him, his voice carrying some resentment. “Uncle Yin, why exactly did you trick me here?”

Zheng Yin walked down the few steps in front of Lan Yan and took two more steps before looking backwards. He saw Liang Sizhe waiting in the store, not having come out, and slipped an arm around Cao Ye’s shoulders, taking him over to the wall. Lowering his voice, he said, “Come here, let me tell you something.”

“What?” Cao Ye’s body didn’t resist, and he was tugged over by Zheng Yin.

Keeping his arm around him, Zheng Yin brought him over to the wall and then stopped. He himself stood with his back facing the wall; both of his hands were on Cao Ye’s shoulders, and he had Cao Ye face him. There was quite a serious look on his face — he didn’t look like he was joking. “Cao Ye, do you remember how I told you before about your Zhou Ru-jie having written a script with you as inspiration?”

“You told me that before?” Doubt showed on Cao Ye’s face. “Why don’t I remember?”

“What kind of brain do you have? Proper business never gets inside it. It’s fine if you don’t remember, but you have to remember what I’m telling you today.”

“Okay…” Cao Ye put aside his carefree and nonchalant air. It wasn’t because of how Zheng Yin was acting so seriously — it was mostly because he was curious. “What is it?”

“That script your Zhou Ru-jie wrote is about to start filming. It’s currently in preproduction. Your dad’s the director.”

“Ah? I’m about to act?” Cao Ye froze, obviously caught totally off guard.

“Keep your voice down.” Zheng Yin paused, and then he hesitantly started speaking again as he looked at Cao Ye. “Even though it’s about to start filming, your dad still hasn’t decided if you’ll be the lead role…”

“Why? Didn’t you say Zhou Ru-jie wrote the script while thinking of me?”

“While that’s true…” Zheng Yin threw a look at him and intentionally started talking about serious matters. “Isn’t it because you’re always fooling around every day? What if you give up and refuse to keep filming because you think it’s boring after having filmed half of it? Who’d be able to bear that kind of loss…”

He didn’t expect Cao Ye to actually nod, rather agreeing with him. “That’s true.”

Exasperated that Cao Ye didn’t understand what he was getting at, Zheng Yin said, “What nonsense are you babbling, can’t you control yourself? Your Zhou Ru-jie even mentioned you to me the other day, saying she particularly hoped you could come and be the main male lead.”

“But it’s not like I can decide whether my dad will choose me or not…” Cao Ye scratched his forehead, rather perplexed.

“Isn’t there still me? Your Uncle Yin is standing on your side.” Only now did Zheng Yin bring up the main issue. “Your dad has still yet to let anyone see the script for this film. Zhou Ru and I both asked for a copy, and even though there’ll definitely be a lot of changes in the final copy, the main storyline and characters will remain roughly the same. I’ve left the script into your luggage, so read it and try to understand it carefully over this period of time. Tell me if there are areas you don’t understand, I’ll help you ask Zhou Ru. This way, when it’s time for auditions and other people haven’t prepared, the advantage of using you will be obvious.”

Cao Ye wickedly grinned at him. “Uncle Yin, you’re helping me cheat…”

Lifting a hand, Zheng Yin patted his shoulder. “I do intend to help you cheat, but the final result will still depend on you. Just behave yourself and stay here. Who knows, your dad might come to see you one day. You better not let him catch you doing anything, or else he’ll immediately disqualify you from being eligible.”

“He won’t come over.” Cao Ye sniffed, saying, “I’ve already been back for a good few days, and yet I still haven’t even seen his shadow…”

“Your dad was away location scouting for a while, he hasn’t been able to free up his time.” Zheng Yin helped Cao Xiuyuan explain. “There’s a ridiculous amount of things to do during preproduction — you wouldn’t be able to imagine how busy he is. Don’t worry, he’ll definitely come see you in a few days.”

“He can come if he wants. I’d be happier if he didn’t.” Since it sounded like Zheng Yin had finished what he wanted to say and since he’d satisfied his curiosity, Cao Ye started to lose his patience at hearing Zheng Yin nag. He half-heartedly promised, “Uncle Yin, don’t worry. I’ll definitely follow what you’ve said.”

Zheng Yin laughed as soon as he heard — Cao Ye was quite adorable whenever he was obedient. He liked this child. “Good. Then I’ll devote myself to waiting for your debut.”

Determined words came as soon as Cao Ye opened his mouth. Briskly and without the slightest hesitation, he said, “No problem.”

Since he’d finished saying everything, Zheng Yin headed to the car and popped open the trunk, lifting out a suitcase and placing it onto the ground. He tugged out the handle and handed it to Cao Ye, nagging at him like Cao Ye was his own child. “Your toiletries and clothes are all inside, call me if you need anything. And that script, remember to read it. Only you can read it — your gang of friends can’t, and the Liang Sizhe who was just standing in front of you can’t read it either, hear me? If your dad finds out I’ve secretly given you the script, he’ll definitely fire me… Here. Take your suitcase.”

Cao Ye took it and picked it up to test its weight. “Can my dad even keep filming if he fires you… All right, Uncle Yin, don’t worry. I definitely won’t let other people see the script. No one will know except you and me. Ah, and Zhou Ru-jie.”

Zheng Yin chuckled. “Good. I’m relieved to hear you say so.”

Cao Ye was just about to pull the suitcase towards Lan Yan when he lifted his eyes and saw Liang Sizhe come out of the store several metres away. He stood at the door, faintly inclining his head to study the row of assorted miscellaneous shopfronts in front of him.

His feet pausing, Cao Ye caught hold of Zheng Yin’s arm as he was about to open the car door. Cao Ye moved his chin in Liang Sizhe’s direction and asked, “What’s he here for?”

“Ah, him. He’s also here to be an actor. We’ll probably give him a different role when the time comes.” Zheng Yin turned to glance at Liang Sizhe. “You can’t tell him a single word of the stuff I told you today.”

“Yeah.” Cao Ye responded while distracted; his eyes were on Liang Sizhe.

Zheng Yin got into the car and closed the door, rolling down the window. He was still wondering if there was anything else he needed to say, and then he suddenly remembered something. Looking at Cao Ye, he said, “Do you have enough money on you?”

Cao Ye pulled back his gaze. “Yes, I have my bankcard.”

“Which one? Let me see.”

“I’ve only ever used this one…” Cao Ye lowered his head and pulled out his wallet from his jeans. He opened it, planning on pulling out that card — and then Zheng Yin reached out of the window and snatched away the wallet. Spreading it open, he looked at it and said, “Ooh, quite a lot of cash too.”

“It’s okay,” Cao Ye said, his eyes going to look at Liang Sizhe again. It had to be said — Cao Xiuyuan really had a good eye. Where did he find someone like that? He looked like a long take just by casually standing somewhere. It was now dusk, and some wind was rising; Liang Sizhe was standing in an old, ruined alley, the tips of his hair behind his head and the folds of his clothes rustling and swaying in the breeze. An unbidden thought appeared in Cao Ye’s mind: he looked like someone who belonged in a donghua4.

Zheng Yin slipped out a one hundred RMB bill from the wallet and then grabbed out a new debit card from the car’s glove box before stuffing them both into Cao Ye’s hands. He threw the wallet into the glove box and closed it with a pop. “These are yours. I’ll help you hold onto everything else.”

After finishing his words, he pulled back his hand, released the handbrake and, taking advantage of Cao Ye’s absentmindedness, decisively drove away.

“Huh?” Cao Ye moved his eyes back only after Zheng Yin had finished speaking. Lowering his head, he looked at the sad single bill and the insubstantial bankcard in his hand; he suddenly realised what’d happened and shouted, “Uncle Yin, give me back my wallet!”

Zheng Yin’s car didn’t stop — it turned out of the alley in a blink.

Cao Ye promptly decided on the spot to push his suitcase to the side, open his two long legs and quickly chased after Zheng Yin’s car. But the car entered the main road very quickly, and it merged into the heavy rush hour traffic of people going home, disappearing from view.

After chasing for several metres, Cao Ye couldn’t even see the car anymore and stopped, watching the busy main road packed with cars. He was panting, his chest rising up and down, and he squeezed the one hundred RMB bill in his hand into a ball and forcefully threw it away. Before groping out his phone to give Zheng Yin a call, he complained, “Is he trying to get rid of a beggar…5”

Zheng Yin didn’t pick up.

Cao Ye stubbornly called again; the call once again wasn’t picked up. Looked like Zheng Yin had made up his mind to not pick up his calls.

A few seconds passed, and then his phone vibrated. It was a message from Zheng Yin: Don’t worry, I’ll give you back your wallet later. Just stay there for now, and don’t make any trouble. I’ll come see you in a few days. Oh yes, the password for the card is your birthday.

Tightening the fingers gripping his phone, Cao Ye only just managed to hold back from throwing it away.

Translator has something to say:

Common Chinese trope/gag where if you can get someone to call you dad, it’s as if they respect you and ‘bow down’ to you. Often seen in gaming novels but is very common everywhere else too! ↩This entire conversation of ‘okay?’ -> ‘okay?’ -> ‘sure’ is an example of one Chinese character taking on multiple meanings in context. The original words here are 行么 (xing me), which literally translates to ‘can (you) do it?’ So ZY literally asks LSZ if he can do it (take care of CY), LZS then throws that to CY (of asking if CY would be willing for him to take care of him), and then CY also replies with 行 (‘can’, for ‘sure, go ahead’). I decided to follow the one word-esque format of the Chinese raws instead of typing out the actual conversational meaning in the raws. ↩The store owner doesn’t actually call ZY ‘boss’ as per the usual 老板 (laoban) — she called him Zheng 总 (zong). The title used there is actually very useful, in that it can mean a bajillion things because it doesn’t have a set definition in English like laoban does. It’s most commonly used to refer to high executives (for example, Cao Ye is called Cao zong aka President Cao), but it doesn’t differentiate between the different levels like English does. For example, CY is called Cao zong, aka President Cao, but so is Cheng Duan, who is merely the director of a certain department in the company. I decided to use ‘boss’ here to remove any confusion (and for easier understanding). ↩Donghua is the Chinese term for animations. The Chinese produced equivalent of anime. ↩Literal translation here of 打发叫花子呢 — means he’s scoffing at how little money there is! ↩

P – Chapter 2.4

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