Chapter 109

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Lu Nianxin’s dinner was scheduled a week later. The days were getting closer and closer to the Lunar New Year.

Tonight’s dinner consisted of Yang Youming’s friends and partners who have worked with him for many years–Xia Xingcheng had no reason to be the least bit nervous. Yang Youming’s parents had already passed, and these friends and partners of his were perhaps closer to him than his still-living relatives. This made Xia Xingcheng feel like he was going to meet Yang Youming’s parents.

That morning, Xia Xingcheng was in the walk-in wardrobe looking for clothes to wear in the evening.

Yang Youming was leaning against the wall with his hands behind his back, watching him. Seeing Xia Xingcheng dissatisfied after trying on several sets of clothes, he opened his mouth and said, “Are you dressing up to go to a blind date tonight?”

Upon hearing this, Xia Xingcheng, who was in the process of holding up a sweater to his body in front of the mirror, turned to look at Yang Youming. “I want to look good so I won’t embarrass you.”

Yang Youming laughed and held out a hand. “Come here.”

Xia Xingcheng immediately walked to his side and grasped his hand.

Yang Youming said, “You look good in anything.”

Xia Xingcheng couldn’t help but hug and bite him.

Yang Youming softly said, “You look best in nothing.”

When they went out that afternoon, there was a light snowfall. They had no idea whether it was due to the snow, but the traffic along the way was particularly bad.

Xia Xingcheng sat in the front passenger seat and pressed his face to the ice-cold car window to look at the fluttering snowflakes, and said, “We’ve lived together for so long, but I’ve never actually met Du Jin yet.”

As he drove, Yang Youming said, “You know I haven’t had work for over a year.”

Xia Xingcheng turned to look at him.

Yang Youming chuckled. “He’ll give me a call if anything comes up, it’s no longer his job to run errands for me now.”

Instead, Xia Xingcheng recalled another matter. “Ming ge, you should shoot more movies.”

The car lined up at an intersection to wait out a red light.

Yang Youming stepped on the brake and glanced at him.

Xia Xingcheng said, “You not filming is a loss for the entire film industry.”

Yang Youming couldn’t help but smile. “Only you think so, right?”

Xia Xingcheng said, “Of course not, it’s just that you can only hear my words. If you look at your fans, aren’t they all dying for you to come out? Even showing your face is enough.”

The red light at the intersection turned green, and the car in front of them slowly began to move. Yang Youming also faced the front and followed the car up ahead across the intersection.

Xia Xingcheng then continued, “I just want the both of us to shoot more movies. When we’re old, we’ll stay at home and take out all the dramas and movies we’ve acted in and watch them one by one.”

Yang Youming said, “You still haven’t watched Gradual Distance until now, have you?”

Xia Xingcheng glanced at him and whispered, “Let’s talk about that some other time.”

Yang Youming laughed. “Weren’t you in several idol dramas? If you want to watch something, we can take our time and watch them then.”

Xia Xingcheng knew that Yang Youming said this to tease him, but went on, “You said it yourself, we’ll see if you watch them then.” With that, he couldn’t help but laugh along.

The place that Lu Nianxin had decided on for their meal was in a fairly remote clubhouse in the mountains; Yang Youming drove for nearly two hours to get there.

The snow on the mountain fell heavier than it did in the city. The moment Xia Xingcheng opened the car door, the cold air assaulted his senses, and he unconsciously tightened his down jacket around himself. When he looked up, he saw Li Yun standing under the eaves up ahead. Initially wanting to jog over, he couldn’t help but stop in place.

Yang Youming closed the car door and came around from the driver’s side, grabbed Xia Xingcheng’s hand, and led him over.

Li Yun was expressionless, merely smiling and nodding at Yang Youming. “You two are finally here.”

Yang Youming said, “The traffic was awful.”

Xia Xingcheng was a little nervous. He called out, “Yun jie.”

Li Yun also smiled his way and said, “Come in quickly.” With that, she turned around and walked in front to lead the way.

As the Lunar New Year was fast approaching, red lanterns were hung all along the entrance to the corridors. As Xia Xingcheng passed them, the bright red was reflected on his face. By the time Li Yun brought them into the private room, Xia Xingcheng found that the room was livelier than he’d thought. In addition to Lu Nianxin, there were several other people present.

Among them was a tall and thin, bespectacled man. Although they had never crossed paths before, Xia Xingcheng has seen pictures–this man was Du Jin.

The moment Lu Nianxin saw Xia Xingcheng walk in, he smiled and came over to welcome them. He raised his arm to embrace Xia Xingcheng’s shoulder, but was slapped away by Yang Youming.

Xia Xingcheng stopped in his tracks, then retreated behind Yang Youming.

Lu Nianxin looked down at his hand, then said to Yang Youming, “Must you?”

Yang Youming merely said, “Stay away from him.”

Lu Nianxin let out a laugh yet no longer persisted. He turned to Du Jin and said, “Lao-Yang brought his little boyfriend, aren’t you going to say hello?”

Xia Xingcheng was wholly resentful at this ‘little boyfriend’ address. He’d always thought that it sounded too casual, so he couldn’t help but say, “The other day it was ‘new wife’, yet today it’s ‘little boyfriend’.”

Lu Nianxin turned to look at him in surprise.

Yang Youming wrapped his arm around Xia Xingcheng’s waist and pushed him forward. He said with a laugh, “Meet my wife.”

Xia Xingcheng abruptly reddened.

Right then, Du Jin uttered, “What wife, did you guys obtain a marriage certificate?”

Yang Youming turned to Xia Xingcheng and said, “It doesn’t matter, if I can’t get one I’ll make one myself.” With that, he kissed the side of Xia Xingcheng’s temple.

Xia Xingcheng’s face was still red.

After that, Yang Youming introduced him to the other people in the room, including a middle-aged man, who was Li Yun’s husband, and a beautiful young woman who was Du Jin’s wife.

Although Lu Nianxin had a bunch of lovers, he wouldn’t bring any of them to occasions like this. As a matter of fact, those lovers of his couldn’t really be considered lovers–they merely slept together with no feelings involved.

They all sat down at the round table.

Lu Nianxin leaned back, his chair tilting back with two legs off the floor. He looked Xia Xingcheng up and down, then said with a grin, “Itching to be your Ming ge’s wife, huh?”

Xia Xingcheng said, “In any case, it’s not ‘little boyfriend’.”

Du Jin’s expression was solemn as his slender eyes observed Xia Xingcheng behind the lens of his glasses. He looked at him for a while, then said to Yang Youming, “What are your plans?”

Yang Youming’s tone was rather mild as he asked, “What plans do you mean?”

Du Jin said, “You’ve had a really long break, isn’t it about time you come out and work?”

“Hold on,” Lu Nianxin raised a hand and interrupted them. “What are you doing? We’re all gathered here to celebrate the New Year tonight, what’s all this shoptalk. You can talk to Lao-Yang about work some other time. Go at it slowly, can’t you see that so many of us are waiting for a drink? Right, Xingcheng?”

Xia Xingcheng didn’t answer him.

Yang Youming glanced at Du Jin and said, “Let’s take a rain check.”

Lu Nianxin snapped his fingers and said to Li Yun, ”Go tell them to rush our dishes, we all want to eat.”

Soon after, the waiters served up their hot dishes one after another, spreading them over the entire table. There was a glass of baijiu in front of each person, and after the alcohol was poured, Lu Nianxin was the first to stand up with a glass, saying, “Gathering like this today is a rare opportunity for us all, we should drink to this first.”

The others took their glasses and stood up for a toast.

Without eating even one mouthful of food first, Xia Xingcheng knocked back his glass, and it burnt down his throat all the way to his stomach. As he was about to sit down with his empty wine glass, Lu Nianxin had already picked up the liquor bottle from the table and poured himself another glass of baijiu, saying, “The second glass–I’d like to toast Xingcheng to welcome him here today.”

Du Jin gave him a blank look.

Xia Xingcheng had no choice but to fill another glass for himself. He stood up and clinked glasses with Lu Nianxin, and said, “Thank you, Mr. Lu.”

Lu Nianxin held the wine glass in his right hand, while his left hand reached out and captured Xia Xingcheng’s wrist, saying, “Why are you calling me Mr. Lu? Call me Xin ge.” He said the last two words especially lightly with an eyebrow raised.

Xia Xingcheng smiled at him, retracted his hand with great difficulty, and drained his second glass of baijiu.

Lu Nianxin also drained his glass in one go, then boldly picked up the bottle to pour himself a third glass. His gaze turned to the table, he said to Yang Youming and Xia Xingcheng, “The third glass–I have to dedicate to the both of you. Congratulations on your happily ever after.”

Xia Xingcheng raised his hand to pour the wine, but Yang Youming grabbed his wrist and looked at Lu Nianxin as he said, “All right, we appreciate your kindness, please sit down.”

Lu Nianxin still meant to pester him, yet Yang Youming flashed a smile his way with his hand still around Xia Xingcheng’s. Lu Nianxin could only say, “Forget it. None of us dare to provoke you.” After that, he sat down in his seat.

Yang Youming picked up his chopsticks, placed some hot dishes into Xia Xingcheng’s bowl, and said softly, “Eat something first, no need to pay attention to him.”

Xia Xingcheng nodded.

Seeing that Yang Youming had moved his chopsticks first, everyone else also began to eat.

The meal was actually quite lively, mainly due to the fact that Lu Nianxin didn’t remain idle; if he wasn’t looking for someone to talk to, he called on somebody else to drink. Yet even though he was Juxin’s big boss, everyone was obviously more afraid of Yang Youming, and no one really feared him.

Later on, an intoxicated Lu Nianxin tipped back on his chair while smoking, his collar wide open and face red. He said to Xia Xingcheng, “Want to jump ship and come to Juxin to follow your Ming ge?”

Xia Xingcheng froze at his words.

Lu Nianxin said, “I’m pretty close with your Chief Cai, I can go talk to her.”

Xia Xingcheng immediately said, “No need, I think my current company is very good.”

Lu Nianxin sandwiched his cigarette between his lips and turned to Yang Youming.

Yang Youming had also drank some wine. His cheeks were rosy, and the hair on his forehead had been pushed back–it was in slight disarray. He said, “It’s enough if he’s happy at work.” As he spoke, he threw a hand on the back of Xia Xingcheng’s seat, and his index finger softly scratched at Xia Xingcheng’s nape.

Xia Xingcheng felt ticklish and couldn’t stop his neck from shrinking back.

At this time, Du Jin’s wife was at Li Yun and her husband’s side, talking to them about their children’s studies.

Du Jin said to Yang Youming, “I met He Zheng last week. He talked to me about his new movie.”

Lu Nianxin didn’t break off their work discussion this time, merely shaking out two cigarettes from his cigarette case and throwing one to Du Jin and the other to Yang Youming, who shook his head to indicate that he didn’t want one. With the remaining cigarette in his hand, Lu Nianxin gestured to Xia Xingcheng.

Xia Xingcheng also shook his head.

Du Jin said, “You’ve worked with He Zheng many times, and it’s always been a pleasant cooperation. Why don’t you reconsider.”

Yang Youming’s finger on Xia Xingcheng’s neck paused in its act, and he looked at Du Jin and asked, “Did you know that He Zheng originally wanted to invite me and Xingcheng to act in his new movie together?”

Du Jin gave an obvious start. “Originally? Then what about now?”

Yang Youming said, “I don’t know what’s in his mind now either. You can ask him the next time you meet him.”

Du Jin asked him again, “What do you mean?”

Yang Youming answered, “I’m still thinking it over. I want to see what He Zheng has in mind.”

Lu Nianxin interjected, “Are you guys playing a guessing game? What’s in who’s mind?”

Du Jin glanced at Xia Xingcheng and said, “No. No matter what He Zheng has in mind right now, I don’t approve of you two acting in the same movie again.”

☆ ☆ ☆

⟵ Chapter 108 | TOC | Chapter 110 ⟶

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