Month: December 2020 (Page 2 of 2)

Chapter 39 – Lin Rui confessed to me

In the evening, most of the crew stayed in the same hotel, and so did An Xumo. However, because he joined the crew earlier, his room was booked by Tang Tang. He didn’t bother the crew to arrange it.

Although it would have made sense to buy a room with the crew, An Xumo is a newcomer after all. Tang Tang thought it would be better to be cautious.

She hurriedly ran to prepare supper for An Xumo. On the way back, her phone ran out of battery, thus, she didn’t receive a call from An Xumo. After arriving at the hotel and asked her assistant Xiao Zhang, who was waiting for the crew, to help deliver two lunch boxes to the hotel. Tang Tang received An Xumo’s response from Xiao Zhang.

An Xumo said he’s full and not hungry.

“……”

Tang Tang looked at Xiao Zhang suspiciously, repeatedly sizing him up many times. After looking at everyone, she said in disbelief, “Is this really what Xiao Mo said?”

If it weren’t for the fact that it was so late, she would have wanted to go up by herself.

Xiao Zhang nodded vigorously and swore that he hadn’t misstated a single word.

Tang Tang was baffled.

She looked up in the direction of An Xumo’s room. The light in that room was on, but the curtains were drawn. She couldn’t see what was going on inside.

Tang Tang turned back to Xiao Zhang and asked uneasily, “Did he do anything special?”

“Special? ” Xiao Zhang wondered, “What do you mean by special?”

“He’s in a bad mood, toothache, or something. He’s not dizzy anymore, right? ” Tang Tang couldn’t help but start to wonder if the last major concussion hadn’t fully healed yet. Otherwise, why wouldn’t he be able to eat?

Xiao Zhang shook his head honestly, “None of them.”

Could it be that he ate too much at night? Wouldn’t that mean that everyone at the table knows how much he eats? The more Tang Tang thought about it, the more wrong it was. She even had a feeling that tomorrow, there would be a news story about a young idol who gave up on himself and took out his stress by overeating.

She was so worried that she simply stretched out her hand toward Xiao Zhang, “Lend me your phone, I’ll give him a call and ask.”

Xiao Zhang lowered his head to take the phone while saying, “But Xiao An may not be able to answer the phone. When I first came out, someone in his room went in.”

Tang Tang took the phone curiously and asked, “Who?”

Xiao Zhang said, “He’s an actor from the crew. He seems to be the protagonist. His name is……right, Zhou Jinchen.”

Tang Tang almost threw out Xiao Zhang’s phone.

“Why didn’t you say it earlier?!” If it wasn’t for her surroundings, Tang Tang would almost shout out. When she was looking for an assistant, she specifically said that she wanted honest outsiders. Anyway, just to help run errands, while she has to deal with other things. Being tight-lipped was the most important thing. As a result, Tang Tang did not expect that the other party could be so honest to the point of being slow.¹迟钝: slow in one’s reactions; sluggish [in movement or thought]

Xiao Zhang shrank his neck, a little hesitant, “No one asked me.”

Tang Tang couldn’t be bothered with him, “What does Brother Zhou want with Xiao Mo?”

Xiao Zhang shook his head, “I don’t know. After he came in, Xiao An said he didn’t need supper and asked me to bring it back. Then, Brother Zhou looked at me and made my back feel chilly, so I quickly came out.”

After hearing this, Tang Tang also felt her back getting cold. She remembered the time when Zhou Jinchen looked at her.

But when she thought about it, she felt that it was not right. Obviously, at noon, Brother Zhou even covered Xiao Mo’s food. Why did Xiao Mo dare not to eat at night when he saw him?

Tang Tang counted a lot, but she never thought that An Xumo was really full.

When Xiao Zhang knocked on the door, An Xumo was reading the script. He had already memorized Bai Qingchi’s lines, even the lines of the characters he was playing against. But thinking and doing are two different things, he still needs to work hard.

This time when An Xumo read the script, he didn’t look at his own part, but the scenes that were shot on the set during the day. As he read the script of those scenes, he recalled the performance of the actors, and slowly transformed the thin words on the paper into a three-dimensional interpretation of the scene in his mind.

As soon as An Xumo finished looking at the classroom scene between Zhou Jinchen and Lin Rui, Xiao Zhang knocked on the door and entered. When he saw him, An Xumo knew that Tang Tang had arranged it, but he did have enough to eat in the evening. He planned to let Xiao Zhang take the things back.

Anyway, Tang Tang told him before that there was a special food expense in the money he earned. As long as he worked well, he didn’t need to worry about the food. Thus, An Xumo didn’t worry about how the supper would cost.

But An Xumo didn’t expect that before Xiao Zhang left, there was a knock on the door again.

Since it wasn’t the crew’s uniform arrangement, and the room was scarce, An Xumo was separated from most of the people’s rooms by a long hallway. Although it was on the same floor as most of the actors, it was a bit far away.

An Xumo was wondering who would come looking for him, but Xiao Zhang had already helped open the door. As soon as the person came in, An Xumo, who was holding a lunch box in his hand, was stunned.

When Zhou Jinchen came in from the door, he first looked at Xiao Zhang, who opened the door and then turned his attention to An Xumo, who was standing still in the room and saw the lunch box in the boy’s hand. Zhou Jinchen’s expression moved slightly, then quickly regained his composure.

His voice was faint and he couldn’t hear the emotions, “Didn’t have enough tonight?”

It’s not that An Xumo wasn’t full, he felt like he was going to eat a year’s worth of candy in one day. Braised prime rib, fatty beef in sour soup, caviar sushi, creamy muffins, and chocolate lava marshmallows.

High-calorie, high-sugar, warm and satisfying food, the ultimate happiness.

An Xumo hurriedly shook his head, “No, no, I’m full. This is the supper prepared by Tang Tang.”

“I tried to tell her during dinner that she didn’t have to……but she didn’t seem to be looking at her phone.”

Xiao Zhang on the other side added, “Tang Tang’s phone battery is dead.”

An Xumo returned the lunch box to Xiao Zhang, “Take it back and share it with Tang Tang and Brother Zhang. It’s hard to run back and forth at night.”

The driver Tang Tang found was also named Zhang. Xiao Zhang took the lunch box and soon left with his things.

An Xumo sent Xiao Zhang out and closed the door, only to be reminded of the nervousness afterward.

They were the only two people left in the room. The light on the roof was comfy, giving a warm glow to the pure white bed covers.

The man stood under the light. His pure black hair was lined with warm golden light, and his hair still had the hair wax used for styling during the day, but the edges were inexplicably illuminated by the light into a slightly fluffy look.

Zhou Jinchen looked at him, his voice was the usual deep and mellow, “Are you really full?”

An Xumo nodded, “Really.”

He looked back at the door behind him, making sure he had closed it before turning back and whispering, “Thank you brother for the dinner.”

Zhou Jinchen didn’t express his gratitude, but only said, “Since when have you been eating like this?”

An Xumo stiffened a bit and quickly said, “Probably after being a trainee.”

He added a very detailed and convincing reason, “The amount of training is relatively large, it’s easy to get hungry.”

As expected, Zhou Jinchen didn’t ask anymore. He looked at the table and turned, walking over.

An Xumo gently exhaled, relaxing his shoulders and neck. Only then did a slight soreness and warmth come over him.

He had lied.

It wasn’t from the trainee period, it was much earlier.

It was the housekeeper who forgot that he couldn’t eat at the table. The little boy was so hungry that he could not sleep. He snuck out in the middle of the night, but because he accidentally knocked off the porcelain, he was punished by not being allowed to eat for a day.

It was the collective ridicule by his classmates. The temperature and emotions were cold.²气温和情绪都是天寒地冰: this was really hard to phrase. Only when there is steaming lunch to eat, he can pretend that everyone around him was not watching.

It was the furious Zhou Yunlin who kicked him out, he had just peeked through the door, and the skinny brother was sleeping quietly in his bed, the rice porridge he had been fed was flowing out.

The only good thing was being able to eat.

It was only when the sound of turning pages came that An Xumo looked over a few beats late.

Zhou Jinchen was sitting on the sofa, flipping through a script he had just read.

The script was in a plastic folder, with a well-protected outer layer, but the inside was slightly yellowed. Some of the pages were a little soft and brittle, almost curling at the edges.

Although it had obviously been turned over many times, the script did not have many annotations. There was only an average of less than three words on each page, all of which were simple keywords. But in addition to the script, there was another A4-sized binder on the table. It was a printed transcript of An Xumo’s conversation with his acting teacher, telling his confusions after reading the script. After discussing with him, he sorted out and printed the chat records.

The script can’t be passed on, and An Xumo only asked questions that did not involve specific plots. Many of the questions might even seem naive to a veteran actor, but for An Xumo, they were knowledge worth documenting.

Zhou Jinchen remained silent. He read An Xumo’s script once and went to the bound book. There are many annotations on the A4 book, some of which have been revised repeatedly. Although An Xumo’s writing is beautiful, at first glance, the whole page seems a little messy.

After going through all of these, Zhou Jinchen put down the things in his hands and looked at An Xumo, who was standing beside him.

“Is acting stressful?”

“A little.”

An Xumo’s mood gradually eased, and there was nothing unusual on the outside. But he eagerly wanted to talk to his brother, just a few words to make sure that the other person was fine and that he was no longer in a nightmare.

Seeing that the man had no intention to speak anymore, An Xumo took the initiative to ask, “Brother Jinchen, did you come to see me for something?”

Zhou Jinchen looked at him and was about to open his mouth when the phone in his pocket rang.

An Xumo saw him narrow his expression and look at the phone screen that was taken out.

For some reason, Zhou Jinchen didn’t pick up the phone directly, but the ringing sounded a bit harsh in the quiet room.

An Xumo’s emotions had calmed down and he began to feel curious. He waited for Zhou Jinchen to pick up the phone or hang up, but the man suddenly turned his attention to him and said, “I’ll help you read the script.”

An Xumo was stunned and he saw Zhou Jinchen, who had said this, raise his hand to slide open the screen. The ringing stopped, the phone was connected, and a slightly distorted male voice came out, “Hello, Jinchen. Where are you?”

The background noise on the phone was slightly noisy, and it didn’t sound like there was only one person there. An Xumo reacted for a moment before remembering who this voice was.

Zhou Jinchen raised the phone, “What’s wrong?”

As soon as the man put the phone to his ear, An Xumo could not hear what was being said. He had no intention of eavesdropping, so he bent down and carefully picked up the two pamphlets in front of Zhou Jinchen. On the table, there were also carbon pens scattered around. An Xumo put the cap on the end of the blue pen, and the two books were stacked close together.

Things were neatly arranged and he also sat upright at the table with his pen in hand, looking like a student in the class.

Zhou Jinchen said a few more words before ending the call.

However, before hanging up, he gave An Xumo’s room number.

Seeing the man put down the phone, An Xumo asked, “Is there anyone else coming over?”

Zhou Jinchen said, “Lin Rui.”

Naturally, An Xumo wouldn’t think that Film Emperor Lin was looking for him, but he couldn’t quite understand why both actors came to his room tonight, “Brother Lin Rui, is he coming over for something?”

Zhou Jinchen said directly, “I don’t know.”

The room suddenly became quiet.

But the silence was much colder than the atmosphere when Zhou Jinchen was reading the script.

An Xumo rubbed the barrel of the pencil with his fingers. He could not open his mouth, he could only use this small action to ease his tension.

The man’s gaze seemed to fall over, and his heavy stare was substantial. After a while, An Xumo heard Zhou Jinchen say, “Bring the script.”

An Xumo put down the pen and reached out to pass the script. Zhou Jinchen took the script and suddenly said again, “After acting in 《The Scarecrow》, Lin Rui confessed to me.”

The uncovered blue pen rolled down to the floor with a soft “pop.”

An Xumo bent down to pick it up. The action gave him an opportunity to hide his expression. But as soon as he picked up the blue pen, Zhou Jinchen said something else.

“I turned him down.”

An Xumo looked up and saw the man sitting on the soft sofa, but there was no trace of laziness around him. His face was still expressionless, which was in stark contrast to the vivid and three-dimensional new movie star who could grasp all kinds of emotions in the camera.

Lin Rui likes…..brother?

This matter between the two of them……why did my brother tell it himself?

An Xumo could neither digest the news of Lin Rui’s confession, nor could he figure out why Zhou Jinchen would suddenly mention this to him.

If it weren’t for the fierce heart beating in his chest, An Xumo would even think he was dreaming, which was really unreasonable. In one day, he had seen Zhou Jinchen for more than ten hours. The barrier that existed between the two of them seemed to have been knocked open, and he was sure that the gap was not from his side.

An Xumo felt that his emotional load was a little too heavy for a moment.

He opened his mouth and was about to say something, but there was a knock on the door for the third time.

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The author has something to say:

Xiao Mo upgraded to acting, while his brother deals with emotional problems.

Chapter 38 – Feed my younger brother at night too

After mealtime, the crew resumed work.

The afternoon was still the run-in phase for the test shoot, but it was a lot faster than the morning, and Ma Lao was watching the whole thing. Although Ma Zechi never gave him the horn, it still didn’t stop him from giving instructions on the progress.

The arrangement of not filming directly on the first day was not only to give the actors a chance to get into the process but also to give Ma Lao himself a buffer. His health in recent years has not been good, but he still has the same strict requirements directing the movie, and the intensity is the same. Even if the trained actors can survive dozens of reshoots, he himself may not be able to take it.

However, according to the situation, the first day went quite smoothly. Even An Xumo, who was watching from the sidelines, gained a lot from it.

The things that the acting teacher handed over in class before, An Xumo could only memorize and didn’t know how to adapt. Now, after directly watching on the set, those things that were supposed to cast a shadow on An Xumo, have unknowingly played a new role.

In fact, at the very beginning, An Xumo was able to imitate some of the very natural emotions, otherwise, his acting teacher would not have thought that he had this talent. The teacher could see the potential in An Xumo that was necessary for an actor, that’s why he always wanted to help An Xumo unleash that potential.

That’s what the teacher thought, and in fact, he did. But because An Xumo was under too much pressure, that he was so determined not to behave badly in front of his brother, he ended up overloading himself with a heavy burden, which caused him to become more and more rigid in the class.

It wasn’t until he fainted in the ballet class and was accompanied by his brother in a dream that An Xumo’s mindset really changed. After letting go of the heavy pressure, he had a new outlook on acting. As a result, when he was able to observe the actual shooting on the set, the skills that had only been on the surface slowly took root.

The person who touched An Xumo and inspired him the most was his brother, Zhou Jinchen.

The character played by Zhou Jinchen is named Ling Sihang. Due to an old case with a new imitator, he was called to his hometown by Lin Cheng Police after being away for many years. In the process of solving the case, Ye Qisheng, Ling Sihang’s rival, also returned to Lin Cheng Police. In order to clear their suspicions, Ling Sihang and Ye Qisheng have to spend time with each other again. It was not until the case progresses, the public discovers that the two opponents who had vowed to never see each other again, were close friends who have grown up together and were once like brothers.

Lin Rui plays the role of another male protagonist, Ye Qisheng, and their personalities are similar to those of the real person. Ye Qisheng always kept a kind smile throughout the film, and he always smiled even in his teenage years. Zhou Jinchen as Ling Sihang is relatively cold and hard in terms of characters, and the script includes several scenes in which he is the protagonist.

The opening scene of the film was set ten years later in Lin Cheng, but the first day of filming was filled with scenes from his student days that appeared in his memories. At this time, both Ling Sihang and Ye Qisheng were still at their purest age and their emotional state was relatively simple. For Zhou Jinchen and Lin Rui, it wasn’t difficult to portray the hearts of their characters in this part of the film. The hardest part was for them to truly act out the unique youthfulness of high school students.

An Xumo didn’t know much about Lin Rui before, so he didn’t feel too deeply about him. However, the difference between Zhou Jinchen’s role in the movie and his role outside of it was a good lesson for An Xumo.

In the classroom, Ye Qisheng, who had finished wiping the blackboard, patted his hands and raised them to blow the chalk dust off the back of his hands. He stepped down from the podium with two steps at a time and said with a long sigh, “Sihang, let’s go!”

“Okay.” Ling Sihang, who was standing at the end of the classroom tidying up the cleaning tools, placed the last broom and walked back to his seat.

Seeing that Ling Sihang was still tidying up, Ye Qisheng didn’t rush forward. He sat directly on the desk, his long leg on the other leg, the toe of his shoe almost touching the next table.

Ye Qisheng took out his lunch card from his uniform pocket, sitting on the desk with his leg raised, and looked at his hairstyle on the card’s reflective mirror. As he fiddled with his bangs on both sides of his forehead, he said, “Oh yeah, did you hear about the new game the next class is playing?”

Ling Sihang zipped up his schoolbag, raising his hand and put the long shoulder bag strap over one shoulder, and spoke in a somewhat careless tone, “What’s that, they’re playing immortal pen¹笔仙: Basically, it’s kind of a magic game in which the pen is used to communicate with a kind of energy in the body. At the same time, it’s also the name of a horror movie. It’s a game asking ghosts to summon spirits, which is easy to stimulate inner fear.again?”

Ye Qisheng stuffed his lunch card back into his pocket and jumped down from the table. He picked up the bag with one hand and put it on his shoulder. He reached out to Ling Sihang’s shoulder, “No, this time it’s different.” He said while touching the back of Ling Sihang’s head.

Ling Sihang had expectedly dodge forward, not letting him succeed, “Don’t mess up my hair.”

The two of them quarreled with a grin and made a mess. After the trouble, Ye Qisheng hooked Ling Sihang’s shoulders again: “Come, I’ll show you the new game.”

“Cut!”

With a command from Liu Longfei, this shot passed smoothly. The two inside the classroom set separated at the door. Lin Rui smiled and patted Zhou Jinchen’s back, “Jinchen is really tall, I can’t reach the shoulders any higher.”

When Liu Longfei heard this, he said jokingly, “Brother Lin, did you secretly tiptoe just now?”

Lin Rui’s face did not change and compared the camera beside him, “Did I? No, the footage wasn’t even shot.”

Liu Longfei is one of the assistant directors of the film. In addition to the casting work that he had led before, today’s unofficial shooting is also his responsibility. Ma Lao only speaks when he is picking up on a problem. This one passed, which is why Liu Longfei called for a pause.

Due to the misunderstanding during the last casting, An Xumo also went to Liu Longfei after entering the group, but it seems that Zhou Jinchen has already explained to him. Liu Longfei didn’t care, patting him on the shoulder and told him to perform well. Liu Longfei helped An Xumo find a spot on the set where he could observe the performance as closely as possible without interfering with the filming.

The difference between this kind of close observation and watching a movie through a screen is obvious. At least for An Xumo, he learned a lot. Zhou Jinchen and Lin Rui both played teenage high school students, and each of them had their own unique way of acting.

Lin Rui designed a lot of detailed actions for his character, which is in line with his personal status. He had a slight disadvantage in terms of age. Movements like fiddling his bangs and sitting on the table complement the overall image well. When combined with the hair and make-up styled by the stylist specifically for him, the teenage schoolboy feel is very obvious.

Zhou Jinchen’s approach is different from Lin Rui’s.

An Xumo was thinking about it when a makeup artist walked over to him and went up to fix Zhou Jinchen’s makeup. Zhou Jinchen’s eyebrows and eyes have been deliberately softened that his original sharpness is visually weakened quite a bit. Yet, when the make-up artist stepped back and the man’s gaze swept over, An Xuemo still felt that the man in the school uniform not far in front of him was still an imposing twenty-two year old, Zhou Jinchen himself.

[T/N: I’m also surprised that ML is just 22 lmao. I thought he’d be at least in the late 20s.]

But when he was on camera, he was really the image of a seventeen-year-old high school student.

Lin Rui and Zhou Jinchen’s performances were almost evenly matched, with both of them familiar with their acting. The only difference is that An Xumo could see the skillfulness of Lin Rui’s performance, but he could hardly find any traces of it in Zhou Jinchen’s.

If you really want to describe it, Zhou Jinchen seems to have a switch on him. On the camera, you can tell that he is on duty by looking at the way he cleans the broom. Once he leaves the set, he gives the impression of an adult even in his oversized school uniform.

An Xumo couldn’t help but recall a word that his acting teacher would repeatedly mention to him: State.

He was definitely not able to transform as freely as Zhou Jinchen, but vaguely, An Xumo felt as if he had touched the edge a little.

The afternoon progressed smoothly. Except for An Xumo, a bystander who joined the group in advance, the rest of the actors were on camera. Before six o’clock, the whole day’s plan was complete.

There were no night scenes scheduled for the evening, and the rest of the time seems to be ampler. A few actors had a brief discussion, and hit it off in less than two minutes—off to dinner!

The people who were going to the dinner were all actors who were filming together today, a few more than at noon. After all the discussion, they thought of asking the crew. Ma Lao was old and knew that he would not have fun with them and he just asked Ma Zechi to go for him. The producer and other big heads didn’t say they were going to go. Finally, after a round of questions, only Liu Longfei and a few other crew leaders followed. A party of more than 20 people, went to the hotel next to the set.

When Tang Tang heard that An Xumo was going to a dinner party, her first reaction was to return and bring back supper. Although there were other hotels near the set, An Xumo still had to keep his body in shape and was limited in the kinds of food he could eat. When An Xumo didn’t look for a moment, Tang Tang was anxiously following the driver in a hurry.

An Xumo was a little helpless and had no choice but to follow the large group to the hotel first. The atmosphere at the banquet was quite active. An Xumo also met several other young artists. Everyone was eating and chatting, and it didn’t end until after eight o’clock.

Originally, the bill was AA system²AA system “Going Dutch” means to split the bill equally. but when they checked out, Zhou Jinchen asked his assistant to directly play for the entire meal, which was regarded as him inviting the crew for this meal.

The money for a meal is not too much, but this favor was impressive. Initially, there were two main characters in the original movie. After Lin Rui said that he would treat them when the film was finished, the bill for the dinner was even more logical. At the end of the banquet, several young artists went to say thank you to Zhou Jinchen. An Xumo thought about it and followed him to say thank you.

In the end, Zhou Jinchen, who had just been nodding his head in response, looked down at him.

The surroundings were a mess, everyone in the room was getting up to leave. The young actors who had finished speaking also went to find their coats, leaving An Xumo alone beside Zhou Jinchen.

When the man opened his mouth, although his voice was low, it clearly fell on An Xumo’s ears.

He said, “I’ll pay you back for the soup earlier.”

An Xuemo remembered afterward that when he ordered the food earlier, everyone ordered two dishes because of the small amount of food in the hotel. Even An Xumo was told to choose two dishes.

Zhou Jinchen was the only one.

He didn’t even look up the menu until the very end, and only ordered a large portion of the rib soup.

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The author has something to say:

Uh, brother seems to be slowly melting…..

DISCLAIMER: We don’t own any of the stories published. We don’t know any Chinese language and this is our first time MTL-ing a novel, expect inaccuracies in the translations.

❌ NO SPOILERS. WE ARE MTL-ING THIS AT THE SAME TIME WE’RE READING IT ❌

Translated by: Jie Jie

Unedited.

Hello, December! It’s the last month of the year and I wish everyone to have a happy 2020 ’till the end! Stay safe! ＼(≧▽≦)／

P.S. This is the last chapter I uploaded in my Wattpad.

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Chapter 37 – How to feed my younger brother

An Xumo was stunned for a while before he remembered to put his lunch box down. He hurriedly stood up from his chair, he was obviously someone who had already been on the stage for 5,000 people, but now he didn’t even know where to put his two hands, “Jin, Brother Jinchen.”

Zhou Jinchen looked at him and swept a glance at Tang Tang, who had already lowered her head and immediately closed the two lunch boxes she had taken out. The opaque lid was on top, making it impossible to see the contents.

To be frank, Tang Tang didn’t know why she wanted to hide, but Zhou Jinchen’s gaze was so stressful that she was like a student who was caught stealing snacks in class. Her first reaction was to hide the “evidence” by deceiving herself and the others.

Then, Tang Tang, along with An Xumo, waited with their head down for the Head Teacher Zhou’s lecture.

But when Zhou Jinchen opened his mouth, neither of them predicted what he said.

Zhou Jinchen retracted his gaze and asked An Xumo, “Is the lunch enough?”

An Xumo was stunned for a moment before responding, nodding his head, “Enough.”

Zhou Jinchen turned his head to look at Tang Tang, “If you have any takeaways in the future, you can go to the car after getting your lunch box.”

Tang Tang was also stunned, not knowing why Zhou Jinchen said this to her, but she subconsciously answered immediately, “Okay, I understand.”

She promised before she remembered to ask, “Then, it wouldn’t be nice to eat alone like this……”

An Xumo looked at Tang Tang in surprise. He didn’t quite understand why Tang Tang would say such a straightforward thing to Zhou Jinchen.

In the eyes of outsiders……he and his brother should still be in a state where they don’t know each other very well, right?

An Xumo didn’t know that Tang Tang had already guessed the relationship between the two people when Zhou Jinchen came to visit him after he fell into a coma. With Xin Zimai present, Zhou Jinchen had already found out the information exchanged by Tang Tang back then. When Zhou Jinchen left the ward that day, although he didn’t point it out clearly, Tang Tang listened to what he meant and was already admonishing her not to talk about the relationship between the two.

Therefore, even if her artist suddenly has such a big backer, Tang Tang can only pretend that she doesn’t know anything.

When An Xumo was still surprised, Zhou Jinchen had already replied to Tang Tang, “It’s okay to have a few times occasionally.”

But now, he turned back to An Xumo and said, “A few actors are eating together, do you want to come over?”

An Xumo was stunned again, “……will it bother you?”

Because of his special way of becoming popular, he himself has no connections within the circle. Except for the guests he met in the previous two variety shows, An Xumo didn’t even recognize all of the artists within Jin Dian. Although he also wanted to come in contact with other people after entering the cast, An Xumo hasn’t officially started filming yet, so it seems a bit early to get to know other people.

That’s why he was worried about whether he would leave a bad impression by rushing forward.

Zhou Jinchen directly said, “No.”

Except for him and Lin Rui, most of the actors in this drama are working together for the first time. They are just having lunch together. It makes no difference if there is one more or one less person.

Tang Tang also reminded An Xumo from behind, “Xiao Mo, go ahead.”

This is a good opportunity to get to know the rest of the crew. An Xumo was an idol before and lacked a lot in acting, so it might be good to get to know more people. Tang Tang originally planned to urge An Xumo to get acquainted with the crew earlier, but today is the first day, and she hasn’t found any good opportunity yet. She didn’t expect that it would be Zhou Jinchen who would send this opportunity to her.

Tang Tang thought, it seems Brother Zhou is still taking care of Xiao Mo.

An Xumo nodded his head and said yes. He bent down to pick up his lunch box to follow Zhou Jinchen, but he couldn’t help but pause again when he remembered the beef on top of his lunch box.

When Zhou Jinchen looked up at him, An Xumo said apologetically, “There are still some extra takeaways in the lunch box…..”

Zhou Jinchen directly extended his hand toward Tang Tang, “Bring the lunch box.”

Tang Tong was busy arranging the two lunch boxes on the table and handed them to Zhou Jinchen, then she took off her coat and started to take the sealed lunch boxes out from the two large inner pockets of her coat under the watchful eyes of An Xumo and Zhou Jinchen.

One, two, three……plus the two that were taken out in the beginning, Tang Tang actually brought over a total of six lunch boxes.

An Xumo: “…….”

He said how can Tang Tang looked so bloated in this coat.

Tang Tang also wore a waterproof jacket inside her coat to avoid contaminating between herself and the box. The lunch boxes are kept warm and fresh, and you can’t feel the temperature outside, but the soft-boiled eggs inside are still warm.

Zhou Jinchen looked at the four additional lunch boxes that Tang Tang was holding with both hands, and the expression on his face looked somewhat unreadable. However, he didn’t say much and just reached out his hand to take all six lunch boxes over.

An Xumo wanted to reach out and help, but Zhou Jinchen didn’t let anyone touch them. He raised his head and said to Tang Tang, “Look for Xin Zimai for the meal allowance.”¹餐补找辛子麦报。It was a bit confusing to translate QAQ

Tang Tang blinked, “This is part of Xiao Mo’s expense plan…….”

Zhou Jinchen said indifferently, “This one is on me.”

The man’s tone was so calm and logical that neither An Xumo nor Tang Tang, who were present, could think of any further objections. After taking the lunch box, An Xumo followed Zhou Jinchen with disposable chopsticks in hand and went with him to another rest area on the set.

Today’s filming took place indoors, and there was plenty of space in the studio. The rest area where several actors gathered was also indoors. There was a long table with several benches around it. When Zhou Jinchen and An Xumo entered, four or five people were already seated in the room, and they all looked up when they saw someone enter.

The closest one to the door was Lin Rui, also dressed as a teenager. The stylist put a small tail behind his head to make him look younger. Seeing Zhou Jinchen come in, Lin Rui smiled and said, “Jinchen is finally here. If you didn’t come back, we’re going to finish eating.”

After Lin Rui finished speaking, he saw the six lunch boxes in Zhou Jinchen’s arms and raised his eyebrows. Not only him, but also several other people in the room were surprised. Zhou Jinchen said he had to go out for a while, why did he bring back so many things after returning?

Zhou Jinchen nodded to Lin Rui and put the six lunch boxes in both hands on the long table together. Qian Lingyuan, who was on the other side of the table, asked curiously, “What’s this, Jinchen?”

Zhou Jinchen steps aside to make room for An Xumo to take the seat next to him. He took down the stacked insulated lunch boxes and reached out to open the lid of one of the lunch boxes.

The fresh and shiny salmon fillets were neatly stacked together, and the well-processed ingredients had a shimmering watery glow to them.

There were two other dipping sauces in the four slots on the side with the lid, and because the lunch box was scientifically designed, there was no sauce coming out of the dip at all, nor were they mixed together.

The few people in the room are also eating the crew’s lunch box. Seeing the box of fresh salmon fillets, they couldn’t help but brighten up, and even look at the newcomer An Xumo a few seconds late.

An Xumo stood next to him under Zhou Jinchen’s gesture and Lin Rui, who was diagonally across him. While Zhou Jinchen opened the six lunch boxes one by one, he said, “Zimai sent this for everyone’s extra meal.”

Xin Zimai can be considered a legendary figure in the industry. When it comes to the reason for Zhou Jinchen’s popularity, Xin Zimai is definitely the agent. That’s why when Zhou Jinchen mentioned him, the others also knew Xin Zimai’s identity.

After explaining, Zhou Jinchen gestured towards An Xumo again and said, “This is An Xumo, the one who plays Bai Qingchi. We’ve been on a variety show together before.”

An Xumo bowed and said, “Greetings, seniors.”

The people greeted him one after the other. Although the atmosphere was not warm, it was still harmonious. Lin Rui also smiled and said to him, “Come, sit down, don’t be nervous.”

An Xumo said, “Thank you, Teacher Lin.”

Lin Rui waved his hand and said, “You’re welcome. You are younger than Jinchen, right? Just call me Brother Rui.”

An Xumo called out “Brother Rui” again, and Lin Rui responded with a smile.

Zhou Jinchen, who was on the other side, opened all six lunch boxes and looked at them again. Then he closed one of the lunch boxes filled with fragrant soup and handed it to An Xumo, “Send this papaya rib soup to Ma Lao. He is in the room on the second row to the right.”

An Xumo took the lunch box, gesturing to the actors in the room, and left first. Zhou Jinchen put the remaining five lunchboxes in the middle of the long table for the others to eat together.

Tang Tang’s preparation was more than enough for one person. Even An Xumo couldn’t eat so much at one meal. Tang Tang was worried that he was under pressure on the set and wanted to bring more delicious food to comfort him, which is why she brought so much. Thus, when Zhou Jinchen said that Xin Zimai sent this to share with everyone, no one was suspicious.

Unfortunately, because Zhou Jinchen had just left for a long time, a few people’s lunch boxes had basically been wiped out. Although today’s lunch time was very abundant, but letting a few people here continue to taste the delicious delicacies brought, they are also a little more than willing but not strong enough. Even if their eyes are still hungry, their stomachs are already full.

In the end, a few of them just tasted it. Each of them took a little bit, thanking Zhou Jinchen for his kindness. Although the food was really delicious, they couldn’t eat much of it.

When An Xumo came back, the five lunch boxes on the table seemed as if they had not been touched, except for the one with the soft-boiled eggs, which was obviously half gone, leaving the last two on the bottom of the lunch box.

When An Xumo sat back down at the table, Zhou Jinchen said, “Have you sent it?”

“En,” An Xumo nodded.

His expression was clearly still somewhat reserved. Zhou Jinchen glanced at him and asked, “What did Ma Lao say?”

An Xumo thought about it and said, “He said the soup was delicious and he likes it.”

Lin Rui on the other side, laughed and said, “Ma Lao’s exact words must have been more straightforward than this.”

He looked at An Xumo with a smile, “Did he ask you how the soup was made, and let Ma Lao learn it?”

An Xumo was surprised, “How did Brother Rui know……that’s what Ma Lao said.”

Lin Rui smiled and looked at Zhou Jinchen, “Xiao Ma might be talking about you behind his back right now.”

Zhou Jinchen didn’t pay much attention, “Is he still chasing that one with a bad stomach?”

“Yes,” Lin Rui propped up his side face with the palm of his hand. “Ge Ming has not yet been successful, and the road ahead is long. Ma Lao is heartbroken every time he mentions it.”

Zhou Jinchen looked at An Xumo, “Did Ma Zechi chase after you and asked?”

“There was no chasing…..” An Xumo said, “That is, he asked me to tell him that he wanted to ask Brother Jinchen for the recipe of this soup.”

In fact, An Xumo did not expect that he would be able to impress both the father and son of the Ma family with just one delivery of soup and have them chase after him so enthusiastically to ask him.

Zhou Jinchen hooked the corner of his lips and didn’t ask any more questions. He said to An Xumo, “Let’s eat.”

“Yes, hurry up and eat, the food will be cold later.” Qian Lingyuan, who was chatting on the side, turned his head and looked at the lunch box with some regret, “It’s not good to waste such good things. You two are eating late, hurry up and finish them.”

As he spoke, together with another actor, Wang Xianming, moved the five lunch boxes over and placed them not far in front of Zhou Jinchen and An Xumo.

“Thank you, teacher.” An Xumo thanked him and re-opened his lunch box. The soft-boiled egg was still warm, he stuffed half of the egg in his mouth, with the soft yolk leaving a tender taste on the tip of his tongue.

As soon as An Xumo finished the remaining half of the egg, he saw Zhou Jinchen take a fried egg out of the lunch box in front of him and put it on his lunch box.

The full, smooth, and tender fried egg was placed on the lunch box purchased by the crew, which reminded An Xumo of the half eaten egg that was placed on the lunch box when he was caught by his brother.

An Xumo bit his chopsticks and blinked. When he saw that Zhou Jinchen had no intention of speaking, he withdrew his gaze and quietly ate.

Zhou Jinchen said he brought the food, but he didn’t actually eat much of it himself. The others had also stopped their chopsticks long ago and sat down at the table to chat. Although An Xumo kept eating, someone will ask him questions from time to time. After the meal, it invisibly brought the people closer together.

Even though it was just a meal, it was a good start for a good relationship. When they met again, it would be easier to open a conversation.

In the end, almost everything in the five lunch boxes was wiped out by An Xumo, but because Zhou Jinchen was with him, he ate a lot less than usual, and there was still a lot of stuff left in each lunch box.

Zhou Jinchen, who was eating with him, didn’t eat anything else except for the fried egg. Since no one paid attention to him when he finally finished his lunch, others only thought that the two of them had eaten a lot together, and no one was suspicious of An Xumo’s appetite.

After lunch, there was still half an hour before the afternoon work started. Several people started to pack up their things on the table, preparing to go down and read the script and the like. An Xumo helped Zhou Jinchen pack up a few lunch boxes, and Zhou Jinchen called in an assistant to help put the lunch boxes away.

At the end of the day, when no one else was paying attention, An Xumo suddenly heard the words.

“The soup will be returned to you next time.”

When he looked up, he saw that the man had already packed up his things and was wiping his hands with wet wipes. When he saw An Xumo looking over, Zhou Jinchen seemed as if the person who had just spoken was not him at all, and he didn’t even give any explanation for that sentence.

The man just said, “It’s time to go.”

An Xumo hurriedly threw the lunchbox in the trash bin.

There was no need to return it, he thought, as he was now more satisfied than drinking a whole box of hot papaya rib soup alone.

When An Xumo turned around, Zhou Jinchen was standing there talking to Lin Rui, the corner of his eyes swept over, and raised his chin, motioning him.

“Hurry up.”

“Coming!” An Xumo responded and followed quickly.

•·················•·················•

The author has something to say:

Let’s carve it with one arrow, five, six, seven, or eight. Not only let everything into his younger brother’s stomach but also did not let everyone doubt his appetite. Gave his younger brother earn the goodwill of the Ma father and son, but also helped the actors get to know his younger brother…..

Older brother’s condition is still in the same state. When he really has feelings and plans to chase Xiao Mo…..hehe.