Chapter 61

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Huang Jixin was a man who handled things properly, and the restaurant he had booked for them was secluded and relatively concealed, allowing Xia Xingcheng and Ding Wenxun to talk while they ate in the private dining room. He sent them over first, then told Xia Xingcheng to call him after the meal before leaving.

Xia Xingcheng and Ding Wenxun took off their coats and handed them to the waiter to hang on the clothes hanger. The pre-ordered dishes were already arranged on the table, and the waiter left the private room and closed the door for them.

Ding Wenxun sat down. Pushing up the sleeves of his sweater, he heard Xia Xingcheng ask him, “Director Ding, did you give me the chance to act in this movie because of Yang Youming?”

Xia Xincheng asked this question in a solemn tone.

Ding Wenxun chuckled, “Why? So little confidence in yourself?”

Xia Xingcheng didn’t smile. He was in a complex mood–on one hand, he didn’t expect Yang Youming to fight for his second chance to audition. He felt like someone had grabbed his heart and twisted it. It wasn’t painful, yet the swelling ache was difficult to bear, and those pent-up emotions that couldn’t find an outlet from the start was now bearing down on his chest even more. On the other hand, if he finally passed the second audition due to his relationship with Yang Youming, it would make him feel even more ashamed than if he had failed. When all is said and done, he didn’t know what kind of useless image he presented in Yang Youming’s heart.

Ding Wenxun stared at him for a moment and said, “I’m someone who speaks bluntly, so you don’t need to be too concerned.”

Xia Xingcheng’s heart sank when he heard the beginning of his words–it showed that what Ding Wenxun would say to him next might be unpleasant to hear. He could only pretend not to care and shake his head.

Ding Wenxun said, “I was actually quite dissatisfied with you at your first audition, and then I called Youming to ask him how he and He Zheng took a liking to you. After listening to this, he told me that it takes time for you to get into character, and suggested that I give you the script and give you another chance to try it out.”

Xia Xingcheng couldn’t help but ask, “He… is that all he said?”

Ding Wenxun nodded, “I wasn’t convinced at first, mainly because I wasn’t convinced about you–after I returned from Hailan’s wedding, I looked for one of your previous TV series works to watch.”

Xia Xingcheng inexplicably felt a little embarrassed.

Ding Wenxun continued, “But I believe in Youming. This is the first time since I met him that he recommended a young actor, and I could hear the confidence in his voice. As it turns out, his judgement still stands true.”

Xia Xingcheng clasped his hands on the table as he quietly listened to Ding Wenxun speak.

Facing Xia Xingcheng, Ding Wenxun leaned back on his chair and said, “There’s one thing you can be assured of, Yang Youming did not invest in my movie. It’s fine if he introduces actors to audition, but deciding the outcome won’t be so easy. Why don’t you ask him to invest in me, I can consider letting him put another actor in.”

Xia Xingcheng had no choice but to laugh, saying, “Director Ding can really joke.” He picked up a spoon to ladle soup into Ding Wenxun’s bowl, “Eat something, it’s going to get cold.” Soon after, he asked, “Director Ding said he had something he wanted to tell me, what could it be?”

Ding Wenxun replied, “Just some talk about the movie and character, there’s no rush, we can talk while we eat.”

The air inside the room was warm. Xia Xingcheng felt that Ding Wenxun wasn’t a difficult person to get along with, and he gradually relaxed after having opened up the conversation before. As they ate and talked, Xia Xingcheng accompanied Ding Wenxun to drink some baijiu.

At the end of the meal, Ding Wenxun, under the influence of alcohol, opened his mouth to lament, “Youming is really good to you.”

Xia Xingcheng stared at him.

Ding Wenxun tilted his head, his collar loosening on either side. “This person–he’s really not easy to be friends with. After so many years of being friends, there’s still many things that he may not talk to you about.”

Xia Xingcheng pondered over it and realized that he couldn’t evaluate Yang Youming very objectively, so he could only vaguely say, “I think he’s very gentle.”

“Gentle?” Ding Wenxun seemed as if this was the first time he heard this description. He tapped his fingers on the table, “The people we’ve met in the past–their general comments about him is that he’s distant. There are also those who find him cold. Yet those who say he’s gentle, for so many years it seems that besides you, there’s only—” He stopped abruptly here, probably due to his itchy nose. He raised his hand to cover his mouth and couldn’t help sneezing.

Xia Xingcheng took a tissue from the table and handed it to him, desperate for him to continue.

However, after Ding Wentian wiped his mouth with the tissue and said ‘thank you’, he seemed to have forgotten what he had just said, not intending to go on.

Xia Xingcheng had no choice but to follow up with a question, “Director Ding, who else did you say there was besides me?”

Ding Wenxun looked at him a little strangely and said, “Who? His wife of course, Yuan Qian also used to say he was gentle.”

Hearing this name, Xia Xingcheng abruptly stopped breathing, and it was as if all the blood in his body had drained away in an instant. All at once, a coldness spread out from his chest to his fingertips, and he withdrew his hands from the table, afraid that Ding Wenxun would see his trembling fingers. He clenched his jaw and asked, “Is their current relationship very good too?”

Ding Wenxun answered, “I don’t know, it shouldn’t be that bad. It’s just been a long time since I’ve seen them out to dinner together.”

What Ding Wenxun said after, Xia Xingcheng couldn’t quite remember clearly.

When Xia Xingcheng got back that night, he took a shower and sat cross-legged on his bed in his pajamas. His phone was placed in front of him, and he stared at it for a long time but didn’t dare to reach out and touch it.

Even out of politeness, he still needed to call or send a text message to Yang Youming about the results of the audition and express his gratitude. In fact, this was far from enough. Yang Youming had helped him so much that it wouldn’t be too much to invite him for a meal.

But he can’t and couldn’t dare. Yang Youming was his bottomless abyss. If he even took a step forward, he’s afraid that he wouldn’t be able to come back.

He didn’t know why Yang Youming was so good to him, but he knew he shouldn’t continue on like this, and it was truly better for him to end things cleanly.

Xia Xingcheng deleted all of Yang Youming’s contact information. He threw the phone to the side and fell on the bed with his head in his hands. So what if he was gentle? It wasn’t like Yang Youming’s gentleness belonged to him alone–no, he ought to say that it shouldn’t have belonged to him in the first place. He was too greedy.

Xia Xingcheng raised his hand and rubbed his eyes, they were slightly red. Just a little red and nothing more.

The movie’s leading roles still hadn’t been finalized yet, and the pre-production would take some time, so Xia Xingcheng would have a gap of at least two to three months.

The variety show he had previously participated in had a very good response, and there was a certain amount of talk online, which also attracted many new fans for Xia Xingcheng. The company had the idea of striking while the iron was hot, hoping to keep him on some variety shows to fill the gap.

It happened to be the end of the year, and various fashion events and award ceremonies were held one after another. Xia Xingcheng received an invitation from a TV station to sing on stage as a performing guest at the biggest domestic TV drama award ceremony, and he would sing a love song with Qin Xueyue.

When he received the invitation, Xia Xingcheng complained to Huang Jixin, “Why should I perform for the program? Shouldn’t they at least give me an award?

Huang Jixin answered him lazily, “Probably afraid that you’ll be scolded on the internet if you’re given an award.”

Xia Xingcheng was even more upset.

Huang Jixin said, “It’s just to piggyback on the variety show’s popularity. Moreover it’s their TV station’s own variety show.”

Xia Xingcheng lay on the sofa and tilted his head back, “I don’t really want to go.” Because yesterday when he was browsing the web, he saw a scalper leak the news that Yang Youming had been invited as the guest of honor at this award ceremony. He was afraid of meeting Yang Youming.

Huang Jixin remained silent.

Xia Xingcheng looked up at him and saw him sitting on the sofa, clutching his phone with a dumbfounded expression. Thus he stretched his long legs and kicked him, “What’s wrong?”

Huang Jixin turned around to look at Xia Xingcheng and said incredulously, “Yang Youming and Yuan Qian got divorced.”

☆ ☆ ☆

t/n – …goodnight

⟵ Chapter 60 | TOC | Chapter 62 ⟶

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