Chapter 124

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The word ‘student’ touched Xia Xingcheng. He had never expected to hear such a comment coming out of He Zheng’s mouth—it was far heavier than the weight of the words ‘good actor’. Dumbfounded, he gave He Zheng a wide-eyed stare.

Yang Youming elbowed him lightly. “Not going to call him Teacher?”

Xia Xingcheng gaped, and was suddenly struck with a bout of embarrassment—he noted how the gazes of the table’s occupants were all trained at him. Even He Zheng had a smile on his face as he watched him. Eventually, he softly called out, “Teacher.”

Lu Nianxin piped up, “This sneaky way of acknowledging a teacher won’t do, will it? According to the old customs, you have to serve your teacher tea and kowtow to him.”

Xia Xingcheng glared at Lu Nianxin then turned to face He Zheng, expecting He Zheng to say that it was unnecessary.

And yet he merely saw He Zheng angling his upper body as he leaned back on the chair, an indolent smile crossing his face. “I think I can afford to receive this cup of tea. You yourself know how much you’ve improved from your first movie, shouldn’t you be thanking me and Lao-Yang?”

Xia Xingcheng couldn’t help but raise his gaze to look at Yang Youming.

As a result, Yang Youming straightened up in his seat and held out a hand, gesturing for Ding Wenxun to pass him a clean teacup. He then personally poured tea into the cup, then pushed it towards Xia Xingcheng, and said, “I don’t need it. It’s Teacher He who’s due for a cup. Go on.”

When Xia Xingcheng reached for the teacup, he saw that the people at the table were all staring at him with smiling eyes. Even the small internet celebrity who Lu Nianxin had brought along had also taken her earphones off, watching him serve tea gleefully.

He couldn’t figure out whether these people were playing him.

Xia Xingcheng rose with the cup of tea in his hands. Lu Nianxin suddenly clapped and shouted, “Okay!”

The people sitting at the nearby tables all looked over.

Xia Xingcheng took a deep breath and made himself appear a little more relaxed as he walked up to He Zheng. He first bowed, then said, “Teacher, please have some tea.”

He Zheng didn’t immediately reach out to take it.

Xia Xingcheng clenched his teeth, seriously intending to kneel down.

This time, He Zheng hastily held a hand out to stop him. He took the cup of tea and stood up, saying to Xia Xingcheng with a faint smile, “There’s no need to kneel. I’ll drink this cup I’m owed.” He Zheng raised the cup of tea and drained it in one gulp.

At the side, Lu Nianxin jeered and whistled.

At this moment, almost all the guests were present. When Chen Hailan came in from the welcome hall, he happened to hear Lu Nianxin whistling. He walked over to them and asked, “What’s all this fuss about?”

Lu Nianxin said, “He Zheng here has taken in a student.”

Because Chen Hailan had come by, all the guests in the banquet hall were looking their way; Lu Nianxin’s sentence ought to have been heard by many people.

Xia Xingcheng’s face eventually went taut as he flushed red.

At what might be the sight of Xia Xingcheng’s slight predicament, Yang Youming beckoned at him. “Come back and sit.”

Xia Xingcheng swiftly walked back to his seat and sat down, heaving a faint sight of relief.

Yang Youming patted the back of his hand, keeping his hand on top of it. He looked at He Zheng, and said, “If there’re any good roles in the future, shouldn’t the first person you have in mind for them be your student?”

He Zheng laughed and said to Yang Youming. “Don’t worry. There’ll be many suitable roles waiting for him in the future. But on the condition that you keep both feet on the ground—make the best of your current role first.”

Standing behind Xia Xingcheng, Chen Hailan squeezed his shoulder and said, “It won’t be a problem for our Xingcheng, right?”

Xia Xingcheng was beyond humiliated at this point, and he had no choice but to nod. “Mm.”

Throughout the entire meal that day, Xia Xingcheng felt that he’d become the subject of numerous discussions. Of course, he couldn’t hear anything that was being said, but he could always feel their probing gazes. Two or three people even approached him, sneaking glances at him while whispering between themselves, and the topic of their mumbling was naturally the very recent affair.

Chen Hailan invited them to have tea in the hotel’s tearoom upstairs.

When Xia Xingcheng was about to leave, Ren Jingyuan approached him, clapping his shoulder as he said, “Not bad, eh. You’ve snuck into He Zheng’s circle.” His tone carried no hint of ridicule, but he sounded somewhat forlorn—perhaps on account of the fact that he had no idea how Xia Xingcheng, who’d initially been a C-list celebrity, had skyrocketed into the mainstream film industry.

Xia Xingcheng didn’t know what to say either. He forced a smile, then quickened his footsteps to catch up with Yang Youming and the others.

The tearoom upstairs had many private rooms in all sorts of sizes. After Chen Hailan made arrangements for the other guests, he accompanied Yang Youming, He Zheng, and Ding Wenxun in the quietest private room to sit down for tea.

An evening banquet had also been arranged. If the guests wished to stay for dinner, they could have tea or play mahjong at the hotel. Lu Nianxin brought along his small internet celebrity to play mahjong.

Since Yang Youming and the others were leaving in the afternoon, Chen Hailan specially left the afternoon free to chat with his old friends.

Chen Hailan told Xia Xingcheng to play with the other youngsters. Xia Xingcheng didn’t want to go, so he sat on the tea room sofa and listened to them talk. Perhaps, due to the room being too warm, it wasn’t long before he grew weary, and he simply fell on the sofa to take a nap.

“Why don’t you get a room and sleep there?” Chen Hailan said to him.

Xia Xingcheng said, “It’s fine, I’ll just lie down for a bit.”

He closed his eyes and heard their voices growing lighter. A while later, someone gently draped something over his body. He knew that it was Yang Youming’s coat—warm and soft. He couldn’t help but shrink his neck and bury half his face into it. His mind was drowsy, and soon after, he really fell asleep.

Xia Xingcheng didn’t know how long he slept, but when he woke up, the entire tearoom was quiet. He opened his eyes and found that Yang Youming was the only one left.

Yang Youming was sitting at his feet, a small, smooth and glossy teacup held in his slender fingers. He brought it to his lips and slightly tilted it to drink the tea in the cup.

Xia Xingcheng didn’t say a word and instead propped himself up and flipped around to rest his head on Yang Youming’s lap.

Yang Youming lowered his head, smiling as he gazed down at him. “You’re awake?” As he said this, he reached out and once again covered Xia Xingcheng with his coat.

Xia Xingcheng said, “Where did everyone go?”

Yang Youming said, “Ding Wenxun had to leave, so Chen Hailan sent him out. He Zheng went to find a place to smoke.”

Xia Xingcheng’s eyes weren’t completely opened yet. He blinked twice. “Are they coming back?”

God knows what went through Yang Youming’s mind; he laughed out loud, and said, “They should be coming back. We don’t have enough time.”

Thinking that he was probably not all that awake yet, Xia Xingcheng yawned and asked, “Don’t have enough time for what?”

Yang Youming carded his fingers through Xia Xingcheng’s hair. “In any case, there’s not enough time for me. I don’t know about you—”

“Me too!” Xia Xingcheng abruptly reacted to what Yang Youming had meant, his whole being invigorated. “I last real long, okay? Ming ge, you’ve changed for the worse, you weren’t originally like this.”

Smiling, Yang Youming asked him, “What was I like originally?”

Xia Xingcheng reached out to hook a button on the lapel of Yang Youming’s shirt. “Originally, you were a serious male god, but it turns out that that facade was a sham.”

The corners of Yang Youming’s eyes were curled, his gaze tender. “That ‘male god’ side is for other people. In front of you, I’m just an ordinary man who thinks things that an ordinary man would think.”

Xia Xingcheng’s hands stilled. He quietly looked at him for a while, then said, “Why don’t we test out whether there’s enough time?” After, he couldn’t help but burst out laughing, his body constantly shaking as he lay on the sofa.

Yang Youming waited for his laughter to peter out, and asked, “Want some tea?”

Xia Xingcheng nodded.

Yang Youming slightly leaned forward, picked up the teapot on the table, and poured some tea into his own cup. He patted Xia Xingcheng’s shoulder, signalling him to get up, but Xia Xingcheng didn’t want to and insisted on drinking it lying down.

“I’m worried you’ll choke,” said Yang Youming.

Xia Xingcheng said, “Do it slowly.”

Head lowered, Yang Youming carefully tipped the teacup into his mouth little by little, but some of the tea still drooled down the corners of his mouth. Once he’d fed him all the tea in the cup, Yang Youming fetched a tissue from the table and helped him wipe his mouth.

Right then, Xia Xingcheng heard the sound of footsteps approaching the sliding door of the tea room. He instinctively moved to sit up, but Yang Youming said, “Don’t worry, it’s Chen Hailan.”

Soon after, the sliding door was opened by someone, and sure enough, Chen Hailan appeared at the door.

Xia Xingcheng had already sat up by then, Yang Youming’s coat that had been covering his body slid down.

Chen Hailan displayed a natural smile. He raised his hand and pulled the door as he asked, “Xingcheng’s awake?”

Xia Xingcheng straightened up on the sofa, embarrassed. He gave the coat back to Yang Youming.

“Has Ding Wenxun left?” Yang Youming asked Chen Hailan.

Chen Hailan walked over and sat across from them. He nodded, and said, “He has. He’s been busy these days.” He took off the lid of the teapot to take a look at its contents as he said this, then picked up the kettle and added hot water into the teapot. “Is your flight tonight?”

Yang Youming said, “It’s at seven.”

Chen Hailan poured some more tea into his cup, then fetched a clean cup, placed it in front of Xia Xingcheng, and poured him some tea unhurriedly. He said, “I can’t keep you all for dinner even if I wanted to.”

Yang Youming said, “We’ll get to it some other time.”

Xia Xingcheng was actually a little parched, but the teacup was too small and the mouthful of tea that he’d drunk a while ago hadn’t been enough to quench his thirst. Right then, he picked up the cup again and finished the contents in one go.

Chen Hailan stared at him from start to finish. Upon seeing that he’d finished his cup, he poured him another.

Xia Xingcheng thanked Chen Hailan and picked up his cup to have another drink. This time, he didn’t rush as much, and he downed it sip by sip.

Chen Hailan looked at Xingcheng and smiled faintly. “Xingcheng’s a good kid.”

The cup was still clasped in Xia Xingcheng’s hands. He looked up at Chen Hailan, somewhat baffled, seemingly not catching the meaning behind his words.

Yet Chen Hailan looked towards Yang Youming and said, “Lao-Ding and He Zheng were here just now, so I couldn’t say anything. Honestly, when I see you now, I think you look much better than you did around the time of your divorce.”

Yang Youming lifted a hand and wrapped it around Xia Xingcheng’s shoulder. “Lao-Ding doesn’t know. He Zheng does.”

Chen Hailan nodded when he heard this. “Of course, you definitely can’t hide it from He Zheng. After all, he was the one who sought the both of you for his movie in the first place.” With that, he picked up his own teacup and took a sip, then continued, “I didn’t want to mention Yuan Qian or your divorce in front of you before. But now it doesn’t seem like it matters.”

Yang Youming said, “It’s all in the past, there’s really no need to bring it up again. It was Yuan Qian’s decision. She’s happier now.”

“She’s definitely not as happy as you are,” Chen Hailan said with a grin.

Yang Youming smiled too. He pinched Xia Xingcheng’s ear and said, “Didn’t you say that Xingcheng was a good kid.”

Chen Hailan looked at Xia Xingcheng and said somewhat ruefully, “Xingcheng suits you better than Yuan Qian.”

Xia Xingcheng downed the cup of tea once more, then set the teacup down on the table and faced Yang Youming.

Yang Youming rubbed his hair, and said, “Good boy.”

They didn’t stay for too long after that. When He Zheng returned after a smoke, he rushed them to the airport. The damages the crew had suffered from halting production for a day today was already large enough, and they couldn’t afford to delay tomorrow’s filming.

Their airport-bound party had an additional member—Ling Jiayue.

From the moment she got in the car, Ling Jiayue sat quietly in the back row. She was unwilling to utter a single superfluous word, and she stared at the car window, looking like she was weighed down by something.

He Zheng wanted to smoke inside the car.

Xia Xingcheng swiftly prevented him from doing so. “Teacher, you should smoke less. Also, there’s a girl in the car, where’s your sense of public decency?”

He Zheng rolled his eyes at him. “You weren’t willing to call me Teacher this afternoon when you were told to. Did you think that you’d lose face in front of outsiders?”

Xia Xingcheng was mortified by He Zheng’s words, and he whispered, “Of course not, there were just too many people—I was nervous…”

He Zheng seized his cigarette with his fingers. “You’re all talk and no action.”

Xia Xingcheng didn’t speak.

Yang Youming only smiled as he patted the back of Xia Xingcheng’s hand. He said, “Don’t worry about it. Do anything that makes you happy.”

He Zheng sneered, as if he disapproved of Yang Youming’s views.

Later on, while waiting for their flight at the airport, Xia Xingcheng whispered to Yang Youming, “I always get this feeling that Director He dislikes me.”

“What makes you think so?” Yang Youming said.

Xia Xingcheng considered the question. “I’m not as good of an actor as Ling Jiayue. I think he’s pretty disappointed in me.”

Yang Youming was sitting on the soft sofa, holding a book that was opened up to a random page on his knee. “Have you forgotten why he asked you to play Fang Jianyuan?”

Xia Xingcheng was caught off guard. He recounted what He Zheng had said to him when he first sought him out for the role. “He said he wanted to tell his friend’s story, and thinks that I’m similar to his friend.”

Yang Youming softly said, “You’re like his friend, so how could he hate you?” With that, he picked up the book on his knee and turned the page. “He’s always liked you.”

☆ ☆ ☆

⟵ Chapter 123 | TOC | Chapter 125 ⟶

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