Chapter 3

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Huang Jixin found a documentary about He Zheng from the internet and showed it to Xia Xingcheng.

Xia Xingcheng sat in front of the computer and felt sweat breaking out on his forehead. He Zheng had extraordinarily strict requirements for his movies and actors. If something didn’t sit right with him, he wouldn’t hesitate to slowly tear at you piece by piece. However, what bothered Xia Xingcheng was the fact that He Zheng would only tell you what was wrong, but not tell you what was right. The actress in the documentary was repeatedly worn over for more than ten times for a single scene, until her sweat drowned out her makeup. Xia Xingcheng couldn’t imagine how much pressure he would feel in that environment.

He took a deep breath and spent half an hour watching the documentary, then closed the video and opened Weibo.

Weibo was as lively as ever. He didn’t have time to read comments and private messages and instead looked up He Zheng, only to discover that a promotional account had revealed that Xia Xingcheng was going to act in He Zheng’s new movie. The comments section was filled with both his fans and passersby, all expressing disbelief.

Xia Xingcheng was curious and pulled up the searched content, only to find that while someone had broken the news about He Zheng’s new movie, there was no reveal about Yang Youming.

After a bout of hesitation, Xia Xingcheng entered Yang Youming’s name on the search bar.

Yang Youming’s own Weibo profile was the first thing to pop up, with a profile picture that was probably taken from his most recent magazine photoshoot.

Xia Xingcheng’s weibo account was for work purposes only. He barely ever used it himself, only following some friends and colleagues he’d previously worked with—he wasn’t even following Yang Youming.

Even though he idolised Yang Youming, Xia Xingcheng didn’t chase after him. He paid more attention to his works than to Yang Youming himself.

Yang Youming’s latest Weibo post was an ad for a luxury brand that he was partnered with, dated a week ago, and the previous post was a month before. He had posted a picture of strangers on the streets of Europe. The picture used a black-and-white filter, which somehow made people feel a sense of loneliness.

Xia Xingcheng stared at the photo for a moment. When he wanted to exit Weibo, he suddenly noticed the hot searches nearby, one of which showed Yuan Qian hand in hand with a young, fresh-faced male idol, traveling in Japan.

Yuan Qian was Yang Youming’s wife, and they had been married for three years.

Yuan Qian was also an actress. She had been called the entertainment industry’s stunning beauty ever since her debut. When her entire face was in front of the camera, you wouldn’t be able to pick out a single flaw from any angle.

It was a pity though, that while Yuan Qian was beautiful, her acting had always been dull and stiff, and many people said that she was a mannequin with a good-looking face.

When Yang Youming and Yuan Qian announced their marriage three years ago, the internet and media mourned with grief, but while the fans burst into tears, actual passersby praised the two as a perfect match, saying that they were the immortal couple of the entertainment industry.

At that time, Xia Xingcheng also felt that only a beauty like Yuan Qian was worthy of Yang Youming. He also told Huang Jixin that when he became as famous as Yang Youming, he would find a beautiful wife like Yuan Qian and have two equally beautiful children.

It was a pity, though, that Yang Youming shot fewer movies after he married Yuan Qian. He had only been in one movie in the past three years, and last year, there was no news about him at all.

Right then, when he suddenly saw Yuan Qian’s affair, Xia Xingcheng was a little surprised and clicked to see what the hot search was about.

In the hot searches topic, there were two paparazzi photos of Yuan Qian walking with a tall young man on the streets of Japan. There was a slight distance between them, and they didn’t appear close. Moreover, there were several people around them, and no one could be sure whether or not they were all walking together.

It was probably just the paparazzi’s speculation. Xia Xingcheng wasn’t all that interested and closed the page.

*

After nearly a month, when Xia Xingcheng finally received the script, it was almost time for him to pack up and get ready to join the cast and crew.

The movie’s producer was a good friend of He Zheng’s, and the screenwriter finished the script in full accordance with He Zheng’s requirements. Everything that He Zheng wanted to present and express would be poured into the movie.

The movie was tentatively named ‘Gradual Distance’, which was precisely the name of the male lead Xia Xingcheng played—Fang Jianyuan. He hastily flipped through the script and found that, as far as the story was concerned, the role of Fang Jianyuan should be regarded as a standard one. Naturally, it was unlikely that he would ever publicise this in the end, but nevertheless, he let himself feel genuine excitement.

Xia Xingcheng set the script aside and went to the dressing mirror wearing only a pair of shorts. He was a lot thinner than he was a month ago, and his hair had grown a little longer. His eyes were dark and bright, and this image gradually matched up with Fan Jianyuan’s image in the script.

At the beginning of the movie, when Fang Jianyuan first showed up, he was only an 18 year old freshman.

☆ ☆ ☆

t/n – Gradual Distance: 渐远 (jiàn yuǎn)

⟵ Chapter 2 | TOC | Chapter 4 ⟶

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