Month: January 2021 (Page 1 of 3)

Chapter 69 – About Zhou Jinchen’s illness
 
The situation changed so quickly that everyone present was momentarily stunned.
 
It wasn’t until Tang Tang rushed up to hold An Xumo that someone gradually reacted and came over to help move the chair and get tissues. The scene was suddenly very busy.
 
Although the boy deliberately found a remote corner and turned his back towards the crowd, but it was just the bent slender back and violent trembling that made people aware of the bad situation.
 
An Xumo still had porridge at noon and there was a full scene in the afternoon. He was so busy that he hasn’t even had time to drink a few more mouthfuls of water, and the rice porridge had already been digested and disappeared. So after bending and retching for a long time, he wasn’t able to vomit anything out.
 
If you feel nauseous because of not eating well, you can feel better after vomiting. However, An Xumo is far from being so lucky. He has no food in his stomach, he couldn’t puke anything. Finally, he felt so nauseous that he vomited out grayish-white gastric juice.
 
The people on the sidelines felt shocked, not to mention how he himself felt.
 
An Xumo was able to hold on to the wall at first but then he was tortured to the point where he couldn’t stand up. Even if he is thin, his height is still there. Tang Tang as a girl certainly won’t be able to support him.
 
Before Tang Tang could open her mouth to call assistant Xiao Zhang, someone reached over and took the boy she was holding.
 
An Xumo was trembling badly and his face was pale to the extreme as if he would faint in the next second. Zhou Jinchen half-hugged him, almost holding most of his weight but despite this, the weight in his arms was still light, as though a gust of wind can blow it away.
 
The crew was attracted by the movement of many people but Ma Zechi who was alarmed, stepped in to let everyone go to eat and prepare for the next work, leaving only a few of them and the doctor in the group here. After vomiting gastric juice, An Xumo finally stopped retching. Tang Tang carefully gave him some warm water and found the emergency pills under the doctor’s reminder and watched the boy reluctantly drink them.
 
An Xumo vomited so much that he lost his strength and relied on Zhou Jinchen to hold him steady throughout. Even when he sat on the chair they brought, it looked like he would fall down at any moment.
 
But in this way, he seems to be trying to say something to the man beside him.
 
At first, Zhou Jinchen thought that the boy wanted something but he waited patiently for a long time for the broken three words.
 
“I-I’m…….s-sorry……”
 
“Don’t talk.” Zhou Jinchen directly interrupted him and raised the cup of water in his hand to the lips of the person. “Drink some water.”
 
An Xumo seems to be trying to take the cup but Zhou Jinchen did not let the boy try to be brave and directly helped the person drink a little. His movements are not too skilled but his attitude is very careful.
 
When the boy drank a little, Zhou Jinchen first moved the cup away to let the person swallow the water. However, An Xumo’s face suddenly changed, he stretched out his hand to push Zhou Jinchen away with the last bit of strength.
 
He failed to push the man but it doesn’t matter anymore. An Xumo once again bent over and the tears from retching made his eyes sore, the unbearable tears slid down his eyes, making his already pale and uncomfortable face even worse.
 
The boy vomited again, spewing out the water and pills he just drank.
 
Zhou Jinchen watched from a distance, half a step away and the unbearable pain clearly passed on. ‘Empathy’ is the most difficult and useless word for him. However, when he saw the boy’s thin back bent into a fragile arc and the slight spasm from his emaciated body from time to time, he had a brand-new experience of this word.
 
Like a little white cat so thin that you can see the bones, and so weak to even make a purr. Zhou Jinchen had never had special feelings for pets before but now he has the impulse to reach out and want to touch the little white cat’s cold, shivering, and thin body.
 
Even if it warms him up a little.
 
The doctor on duty today is not the same Dr. Hao. He doesn’t know much about An Xumo’s condition. Seeing the person’s current condition, he suggested sending the person to the hospital for an examination.
 
There was no night scene for Bai Qingchi so Tang Tang and Xiao Zhang accompanied An Xumo to the nearest hospital. Zhou Jinchen wasn’t able to get away; he had to continue filming the night scenes.
 
Although the impact was intentionally reduced, the fact that An Xumo was sent to the hospital because of retching during mealtime was still known to most of the people working on the evening set. They looked at Zhou Jinchen with some caution, knowing that the film emperor must be in a very bad mood right now, and even the movement at work was much smaller.
 
In the end, Ma Lao frowned and shouted twice to start over and the crowd on the set resumed to the normal level.
 
But even so, the indoor scenes shot at night were still affected. Tonight, they were going to film Ling Sihang’s interrogation scene in the police station. Two police officers, an old man, and a young man were responsible for the questioning. The two supporting roles acting against Zhou Jinchen were a little bit involuntarily affected. The older actor was fine and quickly adjusted, but the remaining actor playing as a young police officer was completely suppressed by Zhou Jinchen in terms of momentum. When the lines by the opposite party came out, he did not look like a police officer asking questions at all, but rather as if he were giving an explanation of the crime.
 
The night scene also has a shot of Lin Rui. He stood beside Ma Zechi, watching Zhou Jinchen who was expressionless sitting on the iron chair, and his heart vaguely gave birth to some confusions.
 
The director in charge of the night scene is Liu Longfei so Ma Zechi appears to be a little leisure now. He also noticed Zhou Jinchen’s emotions, when he was rubbing his chin and thinking, he heard Lin Rui’s voice beside him.
 
“…… Do you feel that Zhou Jinchen’s emotions are not quite right?”
 
Ma Zechi looked at Zhou Jinchen in front of the camera and raised an eyebrow, “His current emotions are definitely wrong ah, isn’t it obvious.”
 
Lin Rui frowned, “Obvious?”
 
Ma Zechi looked at him suspiciously and then thought of Lin Rui’s feelings for Zhou Jinchen. He coughed lightly and did not mention An Xumo’s name. “Maybe it’s because of the accident during the meal.”
 
Lin Rui thought differently from Ma Zechi.
 
Zhou Jinchen did not have any special thoughts about An Xumo, which Lin Rui can be sure of. At best, he is only acting out another script, his voice full of emotion and touching but no matter what was said the script can’t become a reality.
 
But An Xumo has already left, why would Zhou Jinchen still behave this way?
 
Lin Rui looked at Zhou Jinchen in the bright light, and the other party’s face was illuminated by sufficient light but Lin Rui felt for the first time that he had not read Zhou Jinchen’s emotions correctly. 
 
If Zhou Jinchen wants to leave the image of a good boyfriend who is worried about his lover to everyone, and does not want people to doubt that he is indifferent because An Xumo is sick, then Zhou Jinchen can just act and stop as soon as it’s good. But now, Ma Lao has obviously become a real fire.¹angry After criticizing the actor who played the young police officer twice without any effect, he took aim at the extremely imposing Zhou Jinchen.
 
But after Zhou Jinchen was bombarded once, he still did not adjust his state.
 
So much so that after six re-takes, Ma Lao was still very dissatisfied and the filming at the scene was completely stopped, leaving a few minutes for the actors to adjust.
 
This is not common on the set of 《Different Roads》, especially when this obvious mistake unexpectedly happened to Zhou Jinchen who had always been very quick to get into his role. The atmosphere on the set became depressing and only Ma Lao who had lost his temper could be heard adjusting his own lethal weapon, the loudspeaker.
 
Because of personal emotions, the filming progress of the crew was affected. Before tonight, Lin Rui would never believe that this will happen to Zhou Jinchen.
 
This man is extremely self-disciplined, rational, and calm, and he calculates the impact of everything he does in advance. Lin Rui certainly understands that this kind of person who is almost cold is not suitable for being a lover, but he still felt uncontrollable and could not go out again.
 
Lin Rui is well aware of Zhou Jinchen’s extreme calmness, so he also knows that ‘being unable to properly film because he is worried about his lover’ this kind of thing can never be executed by Zhou Jinchen’s rational judgment in advance.
 
But now, this thing is actually happening.
 
Why……?
 
Lin Rui was so puzzled that he subconsciously ignored the most obvious reason —— Ma Zechi and even everyone settled with that.
 
How could that be?
 
It can’t be.
 
Lin Rui decisively rejected this answer and finally put it as one of Zhou Jinchen’s long-term plans for the time being, thinking that the man should have other plans before he chose to do so.
 
The evening filming was set back by about half an hour and it was hard to do it by hand. Zhou Jinchen, whose face has not been very good, did not go back to the hotel with the crew but went alone to call Tang Tang.
 
An Xumo has returned to the hotel, he vomited twice in the hospital and got a little better after taking a bottle of an IV drip. After returning to the hotel, tossing and turning for a long time, he finally fell asleep.
 
At this time, going to the boy to see him will inevitably disturb him. After he hung up, Zhou Jinchen was silent for a while, and he finally went back to the hotel alone, to his own room.
 
Early the next morning, Xin Zimai arranged the car early and waited downstairs. Zhou Jinchen made another call to Tang Tang. As a result, Xiao Zhang said that there was nothing unusual about An Xumo but he was still sleeping and did not get up.
 
The time is indeed a bit early. In order not to disturb the boy’s rest, Zhou Jinchen did not go over.
 
Today is the examination date once every three months, and the crew transferred the relevant parts early and have Zhou Jinchen a half-day off. As the main character of the film, he only had half a day and it was difficult to reschedule again if he missed it. Therefore, Zhou Jinchen did not delay and went to the hospital as originally planned.
 
The examination is still carried out by Li Qiucheng. After all kinds of long-winded psychological test questions and boring simulated behavior like before, Zhou Jinchen went to measure the level of secretion of various neurohormones in the body. This is a routine activity and when the examination is done, the whole morning has passed.
 
The results would still come out in a few days. After greeting Zhou Jinchen who had finished the examination, Li Qiucheng thought that the other party would leave directly like before. Unexpectedly, the man followed him to his office and asked if he had a good gastroenterologist to recommend.
 
The Zhou family’s medical resources were far richer than those that Li Qiucheng has access to, but the subject was An Xumo, and Zhou Jinchen couldn’t possibly use the family’s resources again.
 
Although Li Qiucheng was a little surprised, he still agreed. Next time, let the patient come directly, he would take someone to see him.
 
After learning the identity of the patient in Zhou Jinchen’s mouth, Li Qiucheng quickly remembered that the other party was the boy who ate seafood after having an injury that he (Li Quicheng) had treated himself. He thoughtfully looked at Zhou Jinchen two more times before sending the person out of the office.
 
After Zhou Jinchen left, Li Qiucheng thought for a while, then got up and went to a room not far from next door.
 
His mentor happened to be in his office. Li Qiucheng walked to the table and rubbed his fingers against the smooth wooden table.
 
He pondered and opened his mouth to ask, “Teacher, do you remember the case of Asperger’s syndrome in our group?”
 
“Does the tendency of AS patients to get better involve caring for other individuals?”
 
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The author has something to say:
 
AS is the abbreviation of Asperger Syndrome. Yes, this is the brother’s illness.
 
【【Asperger’s syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder characterized by social difficulties accompanied by narrow interests and repetition of specific behaviors, but still retains a relatively high level of language and cognitive development compared to other general autistic disorders.】】 —Taken from Baidu Baike.
 
However, the brother’s situation is different from that of ordinary AS patients because he had a serious illness at the age of twelve due to an accident. The specific difference will be explained later~
 
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Additional info:
 
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD): is a neurological and developmental disorder that begins early in childhood and lasts throughout a person’s life. It affects how a person acts and interacts with others, communicates, and learns. It includes what used to be known as Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorders. Link

Chapter 68 – Can you eat enough

Tang Tang was so scared by the man’s words that she even forgot what she wanted to say. “There is…… poison?”

“No poison.” Zhou Jinchen repeated with a straight face.

“……”

There was a moment of eerie silence around.

Looking at Tang Tang who was in a circle, An Xumo reached out to take the lunchbox from her arms. When he wanted to take the second one, Tang Tang subconsciously tightened her fingers and didn’t let An Xumo take away the lunchbox Zhou Jinchen brought.

Her body was a beat faster than her brain. Only when An Xumo who let go of his hand, showed a puzzled expression did Tang Tang react.

She hurriedly explained, “No, Xiao Mo can’t eat this now.”

An Xumo was just about to speak when he heard Zhou Jinchen ask, “Why?”

This is a separate dinner prepared when ordering. It tastes good with low calories, less oil, and less flavor. It’s packed in a small insulated box which enjoys special treatment. However, this specially prepared dinner was not appreciated. Tang Tang directly said, “Xiao Mo has gastritis. Recently, he can only eat porridge or egg custard, and others are difficult to digest.”

An Xumo held the lunchbox with egg custard in his hand and felt his brother’s line of sight without looking up.

The man’s voice was still magnetic with a faint low voice, “This happened after the last fever?”

An Xumo hesitated and nodded.

Tang Tang looked around and saw that no one noticed their side before continuing to explain, “The doctor said that there is no quick treatment for chronic gastritis, he can only slowly recuperate. Xiao Mo is taking medicine now and he can gradually resume a normal diet in another week, but not now.”

She handed the lunch box back to Zhou Jinchen. “Thank you for your care Brother Zhou, you better take this dinner back first ba.”

An Xumo also said thank you but his eyes were still glued to the lunch box in Tang Tang’s hand and failed to successfully retrieve it.

Zhou Jinchen glanced at the eager boy and asked Tang Tang, “Can’t touch it at all?”

Tang Tang apologized, “It’s probably not possible now.”

Zhou Jinchen raised his hand and took back the lunchbox. He looked at the insulated box An Xumo was holding which was so small that one hand could cover most of it, and then said to Tang Tang, “What did the doctor say he could eat now? Send me the recipe.”

Tang Tang blanked for a moment but when she thought of the fact that Zhou Jinchen was An Xumo’s brother, she quickly reacted and nodded. “Okay.”

Since the diagnosis of gastritis, An Xumo’s meals were taken care of by Tang Tang. She discussed it with Sister Liu and canceled An Xumo’s boxed meals and brought them back from the outside three times a day.

An Xumo felt a little sorry and was evaded by Tang Tang with “If you post more Weibo, I’ll send you a year’s worth of meals”. An Xumo knew that Tang Tang really cared about him so even after drinking rice porridge and egg custard for more than a week, he didn’t complain about anything but just silently endured the hunger that followed him.

However, after Zhou Jinchen took the list of food prescribed by the doctor from Tang Tang’s hand, the latter’s takeaway business was taken away.

Zhou Jinchen paid a month’s money in advance at a long-established porridge shop two or three kilometers away from the Film and Television City and asked them to deliver the customized stomach-nourishing meals on time, for three times a day.

This porridge shop is known for its medicinal food. The ingredients are really not mentioned, but the price is also very good. In addition, the insulated porridge bowls sent every time are exquisite and exceptional; the shape of the bowl also matches the color of the porridge ingredients. Their intentions can be seen just from the object.

Not to mention, these porridge aren’t cooked in a big pot but in accordance with the information provided by Zhou Jinchen, a specially designed personal recipe for An Xumo who has chronic gastritis. Three meals a day were delivered for seven days in a row, without repeating for a whole week.

From the time the first meal was delivered, An Xumo felt a little sorry. He didn’t want to trouble his brother and he doesn’t want to let himself fall deeper into the past. But after he plucked up the courage to explain to Zhou Jinchen, the man did not agree to his proposal, only saying that he should get well quickly.

The actors in the cast are basically eating together. An Xumo originally ate with them, it’s a bit too deliberate if he avoids them now. But in this way, within two days, everyone around knew that he had a stomach problem and had to drink porridge.

Some actors were attracted by the aroma of the porridge and came to ask the shop selling the porridge and its price. An Xumo didn’t know anything when asked¹lit. to reply “don’t know” whatever the question (idiom); fig. absolutely no idea of what’s going on; complete ignorance. so the next time the staff of the porridge shop came to deliver the food, someone was curious and asked the employee a few more questions.

The result was predictable.

An Xumo was not the only one who was surprised by the price of the porridge. Soon, the story of Zhou Jinchen specially ordering meals for the sick An Xumo almost spread throughout the crew.

The brand of the porridge shop cannot be faked and there is a never shortage of porridge delivered three meals a day. This is really obvious to all and it’s more impactful than the kissing scene where only long-term staffs were present at that time.

Although there is still no sense of directly mentioning this matter in front of Zhou Jinchen, the crew’s eyes are clearly different from the two people. When An Xumo helped to get the props, he also heard Ma Zechi ask Zhou Jinchen if he was serious. Zhou Jinchen who always disliked emotional rumors did not deny it, and he seemed to consent to it.

But Lin Rui who was standing beside the two first saw An Xumo passing by and greeted him with a smile.

An Xumo pretended to run away calmly but his heart became more and more clear about what the film emperor Lin had said before.

This kind of thing can fool others but not those who really like Zhou Jinchen.

Within a few days, almost everyone in the crew was aware of Zhou Jinchen’s special treatment towards An Xumo. If the object had not been Zhou Jinchen, I’m afraid everyone would have already made a fuss. However, most people dare not to joke with Zhou Jinchen but not with An Xumo who is easy to get along with. In less than a week, many people in the cast and crew from top to bottom were teasing An Xumo in public and in private.

Everyone has a gossipy heart and curiosity about this kind of thing that is difficult to be suppressed. Coupled with the fact that these two obviously don’t have any cheating and messy dog blood drama, they are in a sweet normal love. Everyone thinks that as long as they don’t expose it to the media, looking at Zhou Jinchen’s current attitude, it doesn’t matter if they openly talk about it.

The majority of the crew has a good impression of An Xumo, when they talk about gossip, they will not mix too much malice. There are even people who have mentioned a few things to An Xumo, saying that they were envious of Zhou Jinchen.

In most people’s eyes, the act of remembering to send porridge when you’re sick is more loving than sending roses on holidays.

An Xumo knows the truth but he could only hide it with a smile.

The more people around him take this as truth, the more smoothly Zhou Jinchen’s plans will be. Although An Xumo did not dare to pick up the candy from his brother, he would never refuse to help his brother.

An Xumo understood the reason why his brother chose him to act is that they have a brotherly relationship in which his brother thinks he will not like him. The fake act will not come true and it also avoids the trouble caused to his brother who loathes the feelings of others.

If he wants to continue to help Zhou Jinchen, he must hide his feelings.

An Xumo had already thought about this matter as early as when he had a high fever so he dutifully played the role of a lucky man who was admired in everyone’s eyes. Even if he was teased kindly over and over again, An Xumo never revealed anything.

But there is only one thing that An Xumo has no control over.

—— The porridge which was carefully prepared, privately ordered, and delivered on time, made him find it harder to swallow every time.

As time went by, many people met the staff of the porridge shop that came over to deliver. They looked at An Xumo with curious and ambiguous eyes, reminding An Xumo all the time of the real reason why the porridge was delivered.

An Xumo is not really stupid. Zhou Jinchen had long ago identified those fake things, how can he not understand that these porridges are such good props.

Sleeping in the same room, explaining the script, real kissing scene, plus one more, attentive after getting sick.

Who would not find them sweet after listening to it?

An Xumo understands all of this so he must continue to cooperate. The off-cam acting is no less stressful than the pressure on-cam, and there is no chance for NG to start over. As long as there is an outsider present, An Xumo must be acting.

He learned to ignore other people’s eyes a long time ago but now he is forced not to miss each and every gaze that are thrown at him.

As time went on, An Xumo even began to miss the porridge that Tang Tang brought to him at the start.

After the one-week time limit was up, An Xumo began to take new stomach medication according to the doctor’s instructions. He was finally able to end his days of eating porridge and slowly began to return to a light, normal diet.

An Xumo easily finished the last bowl of porridge delivered by the porridge shop and waited eagerly to eat the crew’s lunch box again. Even if Tang Tang stared at him and carefully picked out the meat slices, he was no longer surrounded by people saying those roundabout or straightforward compliments and envy.

It’s just that after the crew finished work, Tang Tang didn’t let An Xumo who finished filming, receive the lunch box. She said that the crew’s meal still has a heavy taste which is not quite suitable for An Xumo who was in the recovery stage.

“Xia Mo, you haven’t reached the stage where you can eat casually so be careful for a while more.”

An Xumo was a little confused, “Didn’t you say I’m not drinking porridge?”

“Not drinking, not drinking.” Tang Tang hurriedly said, “I can’t even stand it anymore.”

Even if it’s done in different ways, drinking porridge for more than two weeks in a row is hard to accept, Xiao Mo has been able to persist enough. Seeing An Xumo get increasingly harder for him to swallow as he drank porridge, Tang Tang also felt unbearable.

She did not know that An Xumo was having a hard time drinking it, not just because of the porridge itself.

Tang Tang said, “There is a new recipe today which had been arranged in advance. You do not need to worry.”

An Xumo breathed a sigh of relief, he thought Tang Tang brought him another meal. He was still wondering that the other party seemed to have been present and did not leave; perhaps Xiao Zhang had gone to help get it?

While he was thinking about it, he heard Tang Tang smash her palm with her fist.

“Come!”

An Xumo followed her line of sight and look over, he froze directly in place.

The one who came over with the lunch box was no longer the already familiar porridge shop employee but it wasn’t the Xiao Zhang he had imagined either. The man’s height of nearly one point nine meters and excellent proportions make him the focus of attention no matter where he goes. Zhou Jinchen walked towards their side and brought the eyes of other people in the crew who were ready to eat.

“Brother Zhou asked for the recipe in advance and the doctor suggested that you can eat this……”

Tang Tang’s voice became farther and farther away in his ears. An Xumo looked at the lunch box in Zhou Jinchen’s hand. After several days he was on guard and let him not be the same as before, directly ignoring the eyes cast around him.

Those curious, envious, and ambiguous lines of sight.

Zhou Jinchen who was holding the lunch box was about to open his mouth when he saw the boy in front of him swayed. He was about to reach out to help him but he saw the boy suddenly turn his back and stride towards the wall two meters away.

“Xiao Mo……?”

Tang Tang who doesn’t know the reason why, called out but she did not get a response from the boy.

The people who noticed this were not few and they all witnessed An Xumo’s sudden change on his face and left. The scene immediately quieted down. However, before Zhou Jinchen who had not been able to help him take back his hand, An Xumo who walked a few steps on the wall, suddenly bent down, leaning against the side of the wall, and retched violently.

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The author has something to say:

Chronic gastritis can cause nausea and retching. In severe cases, vomiting on an empty stomach and gastric juice will come out…

If there are no accidents, the brother’s illness will be revealed in two chapters!

Chapter 67 – It’s something my brother gave

An Xumo turned his head and tried to say goodbye to the figure that appeared in his dream earlier. Yet he walked in the opposite direction for a long time and dragged his tired legs to scuttle in fear, but he still did not shake off the hazy light and the figure in the light.

Something even came up from behind and pressed against his temple —

An Xumo suddenly trembled, he opened his eyes with a sharp gasp.

The bedside lamp used to illuminate at night has been turned on and the man standing by the bed looked down at him. A slender and strong hand was pressed against the side of An Xumo’s face. It was this touch that pulled An Xumo out of his dream.

Zhou Jinchen originally wanted to test whether An Xumo’s fever subsided but he didn’t expect that just as he touched the other party, the boy would suddenly violently shudder and open his eyes in horror.

The light brown pupils were filled with water, but the fear inside was undeniable.

Zhou Jinchen’s movements could not help but pause.

Unlike last time when the boy was unconscious, he mistakenly thought that his dream was peaceful. An Xumo’s chest fluctuated sharply this time but he also woke up because of this violent movement. He even subconsciously used his hands to support his body as if to move himself a little further to the other side. But he doesn’t have the strength to support himself now and his arms went limp as soon as his upper body was raised.

—— If Zhou Jinchen hadn’t reached out and put his hand on the back of his neck, he’s afraid An Xumo would have fallen back directly.

The cold temperature from behind his neck was like a cold wind in winter. An Xumo couldn’t help but shiver again. Even when he was put back on the bed, he was so flustered that he forgot to say ‘thank you’.

Zhou Jinchen frowned. He did not notice the difference in An Xumo’s expression but judging from the temperature touched by his palm, the other party’s condition was not really good.

“The fever hasn’t gone down yet?”

“It doesn’t burn much anymore…”

The voice was so rough that it directly weakened the credibility of what An Xumo said. Zhou Jinchen reached out again to probe the temperature of An Xumo’s forehead but the boy on the bed looked like he was afraid of the cold and his body was still slightly shaking.

“Have you taken the medicine?”

Just as An Xumo wanted to speak, he was directly stopped. “Don’t speak, nod or shake your head.”

An Xumo nodded as he was told.

“Do you have a scene tomorrow?”

Still nodded.

“I will ask for leave with the crew and try to move it back, you get well first.”

Zhou Jinchen’s voice was tinged with a little haze in the room with the night light on, like a candy wrapped in cellophane.

“Go back to sleep.”

The wall switch made a light ‘pa’ sound and the familiar figure slowly moved away in the dark. After a ‘click’, the door closed and the room quieted down again.

An Xumo shrunk himself under the covers.

His consciousness is still not clear but his mind is already working on its own. An Xumo thought that if he could give up his unrealistic fantasies and still look at his brother with the same gaze as he did at the start, it seems that the situation could become a little better.

Just like at the very beginning, when looking at his brother’s picture, he can feel that food has become much better.

What would it take to get back to the way it was at the beginning?

An Xumo envisioned in his head drowsily. First of all, he must ignore his brother’s attitude towards him because if his brother takes care of him more, his emotions would be affected. Just like now, when his brother said he would help him to ask for leave, that unsettling voice deep inside would scream and want to break out of bounds.

Not to mention the thoughtful concern, the mint-flavored kisses……

He would have to bury those cakes and sweets and not to touch them again.

And then, An Xumo thought, he’s going to start gaining energy again the way he did in the first place, just by taking a look.

Perhaps, he can find something else to replace it, his job, for example. An Xumo vaguely remembered those little girls who came to visit the set before, they smiled shyly and brightly which made him find another meaning of this job.

Work hard in the initial direction and then replace it with something else, so that’s fine. He was not only able to pull himself back to safety but also be able to help his brother and solve the trouble for the other party.

An Xumo’s thoughts clearly listed one, two, three, and also added goals and meanings from the beginning to the end. But as if the hidden virus still hadn’t given up, he just finished sorting himself out when an unspeakable emotion suddenly came over him.

Why can’t I eat the candy given by my brother?

Even when he initially counted the hundreds of days without seeing his brother, An Xumo could still comfort himself with his brother from ten years ago. At that time, everyone disliked him and only his brother would give him milk. An Xumo was relying on this little sweet taste to survive the ten long years.

But now, he has to bury what his brother gave him with his own hands, not even daring to touch it anymore.

The saddest thing is that this is all caused by An Xumo himself.

If he hadn’t crossed the line and hadn’t been greedy and delusional, he could still be the same An Xumo who could happily hold the candy from ten years ago.

Let’s start tomorrow and allow ourselves to be sad for one more night, An Xumo thought, closing his wet eyes in the darkness.

No one has taught An Xumo normal feelings so he doesn’t know that secret love is the most difficult to resist to the provocation of the one they love. The beautiful fantasy and the loss of reality are the most frequent emotional twists and turn in the process of unrequited love but An Xumo regarded all of these as his own fault.

He hurt himself to death to correct these mistakes he had made alone.

–

After two days off from work due to illness, An Xumo finally returned to the set.

Because of the temporary delay in filming, he felt that he had caused a lot of trouble for the crew. Taking the initiative to apologize seemed too deliberate so An Xumo would rush over in time whenever they needed help and the number of NGs during filming was gradually decreasing.

Ma Lao’s attitude towards the newcomer was of course would have been more relaxed and he was even more satisfied with this kind of An Xumo.

After filming the scenes from ten years ago, the crew fixed the actors’ makeup, reworked their costumes, and gave the props a major change. It wasn’t long before the filming of the third murder case ten years later begin. The two protagonists’ emotions are much more complex and restrained than they were ten years ago. This is precisely Zhou Jinchen and Lin Rui’s strength. After not having to deliberately imitate the teenager’s posture to act as a student, their interpretation of a young man with a secret was more comfortable.

The atmosphere in front of the camera was getting more and more depressing by the day but the overall atmosphere on the set is a lot lighter. The progress of the scene is developing smoothly, even in the hands of Ma Lao who had always been picky, there have only been two or three shots taken.

An Xumo’s observational experience is accumulating day by day. Unlike the two lead actors, the Bai Qingchi ten years later is a more difficult test for him. He deliberately changed his old makeup and can see the immaturity of his words and deeds. Therefore, the improvement in acting skills during this time becomes more important.

Memorize the process of shooting on the set as detailed as possible during the day and repeat the scene on the script over and over again at night. Although there are no scenes for the time being, An Xumo was no more relaxed than the rest of the actors in the crew. But this is good, busy work is actually a very effective way to share the psychological pressure.

If it wasn’t for Zhou Jinchen who would occasionally come over at night to find someone to review the script, An Xumo might have been a little more relaxed.

But Bai Qingchi and Ling Sihang’s most intimate scenes have already been taken and the present situation is much better than before. Although Zhou Jinchen still takes the initiative to come over, he would only come to correct a pair of scripts or to spend some time in the gym with someone. For An Xumo who set his goal early, it wasn’t too hard.

In addition, An Xumo also took the initiative to find Tang Tang and talk about some matters. His previous Weibo posting is once a week, after entering the group in order to feel at ease filming, Tang Tang did not continue to urge him, and An Xumo also forgot about this matter. Now that he has taken the initiative, Tang Tang naturally raised her hands in approval.

An Xumo found four pictures and sent them out, two of which had himself on them which was incredible for him who often posted on Weibo and forgot to bring pictures along. The fans breathe in a piece of fresh Mo were happy as if it was Chinese New Year and the number of reposts and comments skyrocketed.

Within half an hour ‘An Xumo the missing person’ and ‘four photos at once’ were on the top of the hot search keywords. When Tang Tang showed An Xumo the screenshots of the hot search, she also found a few Weibo posts forwarded by fans to draw lottery. An Xumo did not expect that his Weibo post can make fans happy to the point of celebrating the lottery. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but a little warmth also vaguely gushed inside his heart.

Everything is moving in a good direction, except for one thing that is not quite as one would like.

An Xumo’s hunger has not been alleviated but it has become more and more serious with the passage of time.

After Xiao Zhang learned about gastrointestinal inflammation, An Xumo had just recovered from the fever and was pressured by Tang Tang to go to the hospital. Gastroscopy is a very torturous test and the final result was not very optimistic — An Xumo indeed has chronic gastritis.¹Chronic gastritis occurs when your stomach lining becomes inflamed. Bacteria, consuming too much alcohol, certain medications, chronic stress, or other immune system problems can lead to inflammation. This is where your stomach feels full after eating just a few bites of food. read more

After the diagnosis, Tang Tang who once hid six lunchboxes inside her coat changed into a delicate girl who wanted to haggle over²to haggle over every ounce; (fig.) to fuss over minor matters; to split hairs every grain of rice. Don’t eat too many sweets — it will stimulate his gastric acid, cold ones will be out of the question, not to mention stimulating spicy and greasy food, let alone eat two spoonfuls of rice congee, she will nervously stare at An Xumo for a long time.

Under Tang Tang’s supervision, An Xumo did not have a stomach ache again. But correspondingly, that kind of hunger has obviously invaded more and more, making it increasingly difficult to ignore.

It didn’t take long for Qian Lingyuan who played the role of Zhao Jiujiu was killed and completed the scene. The crew could not find time to send him alone so they had a small gathering on the set. The usual lunch box was replaced by a specially ordered delivery and actors who didn’t have any night scenes broke their ring³something they stopped doing but did so in the end; ex. fasting, smoking, etc,. and went to a convenience store nearby to carry two cases of dark beer.

The delivery was paid for by Zhou Jinchen which is asking the crew to improve their meals together. The van sent by the hotel carried one insulated box after another. When the lid was opened, the hot air and aroma inside poured out together and the whole set was filled with an enticing fragrance.

The crowd gathered around in succession but the hungriest boy did not move. Tang Tang went to get his dinner. An Xumo could not help but take a few deep breaths, then tried to pretend not to care and continued to chat with Qian Lingyuan for a while. (T/N: Oh the torture, I can relate on a spiritual level lol.)

When they finished talking, the sumptuous dinner arranged one by one has begun. Qian Lingyuan called him to go over to eat, An Xumo could only excuse that he had to find something else first and stayed away from the temptation area for the time being.

But he didn’t go there by himself, the aroma of food followed closely behind his heel.

An Xumo was stunned to see a transparent box with a faintly hot lunch box in front of him.

Zhou Jinchen handed it over and looked at him with downcast eyes.

An Xumo hesitantly said, “This is……”

“A serving that is not too high in calories.” Zhou Jinchen said, “A recipe that even dancers can eat.”

“Thank you…” An Xumo bit the tip of his tongue. He was just about to take the lunch box when a cold wind blew around him, and then the weight in his hand was gone.

“No, no, no, you can’t eat it!”

Tang Tang who rushed over with her eyes and hand stepped between the two and took away Zhou Jinchen’s lunchbox. She gasped and said, “Inside there is, there is……”

Zhou Jinchen: “……”

Zhou Jinchen: “No poison.”

•·················•·················•

The author has something to say:

Xiao Mo basically finished his explanation and he decided to refuse to accept his brother’s closeness to him……

Maintain a fixed distance from his brother. Later, when his brother takes the initiative, he will, um.

Then these two chapters will explain the brother’s illness~

Chapter 66 – Dare not dream about his brother again

The next day on the filming set, An Xumo still didn’t show up.

Although An Xumo is still a complete newcomer in the film industry and many of his behaviors reveal his unfamiliarity and ignorance, the boy’s attitude is obvious to everyone and his personality is very likable. After such a period of time, most people in the crew have a good impression of him.

In addition, almost everyone knows that he insists on coming to the set every day to watch the filming and learn about acting. His absence on this day attracted the attention of many people.

After the morning scene was finished, the crew packed up and changed locations. A group of people chatted while they were busy and the matter of An Xumo was mentioned.

“Hey, how come I didn’t see Xiao An come over today?”

“Yeah, I didn’t see him when we sent out breakfast in the morning. Aunt Zheng who was helping even mentioned it, asking why the thin child who was very good-looking didn’t come to get his meal.”

Someone muttered, “There’s no scene for him today, right? That’s why he didn’t come.”

The person next to him immediately said, “Before, the person never leaves a day behind. Every time he stands not far from the camera to watch, he can see how to choose the angle of the camera without blocking the way. It can be seen from this small matter that this child will definitely go quite far in the future.”

Another person guessed, “Is it…… is it because of the incident yesterday?”

“What happened yesterday?”

Someone reacted, “Oh, that swollen mouth thing? But didn’t Xiao An take a day off yesterday, he’s still not well today?”

“Who lives with Xiao An? Does anyone know about his situation?”

“Didn’t he join the group ahead of time? The room he lived in was rented by himself which seemed to be a single room and it wasn’t next to the crew’s room.”

An Xumo’s agent did not show up for several days. As a result, they couldn’t find anyone who could accurately understand An Xumo’s situation.

When they were chatting, Liu Longfei also heard these scattered conversations. He thought of Zhou Jinchen’s words yesterday and he couldn’t help but frown.

If at first Liu Longfei’s concern for An Xumo was because of Zhang Zhiwei, after so many days together, more reasons became his appreciation for An Xumo. After so many years in the industry, Liu Longfei has met all kinds of people, from a temporary worker who moved props to becoming a member of Ma Lao’s team. Therefore, when he sees such a hard-working junior, he thinks of helping him as much as he can.

However, An Xumo’s temperament rarely gives people trouble. Apart from the reminders during the audition, after entering the group, he gave a hand to Liu Longfei several times and helped a lot. This time, An Xumo suddenly didn’t come over. Although this is not a big deal, Liu Longfei’s heart has been thinking about this child. Finally, when no one was paying attention, he stepped aside and called An Xumo.

In fact, the person Liu Longfei wanted to find more is Zhou Jinchen. After yesterday morning’s filming of the kissing scene, he noticed the faint relationship between the two men. But Zhou Jinchen went out early this morning with the person in charge of the props to see the props to be used by the protagonist and he hasn’t come back yet.

The call prompt sounded for a long time but no one answered. Liu Longfei’s brows furrowed more and more until the cold mechanical female voice sounded, did he took down the phone and looked at the screen anxiously.

Why isn’t anyone answering?

Liu Longfei hung up the phone and dialed again. He thought that if no one answered again this time, he would have to consider looking for An Xumo’s agent to ask what was going on.

Fortunately, after the prompt sounded for a while, the screen finally showed the call time started.

“Hello, Xiao An?” Liu Longfei called out and heard a voice so hoarse that no one could help but frown.

“Assistant Director Liu……?”

An Xumo’s voice was so hoarse that one could barely hear what he was saying. Liu Longfei hurriedly asked, “What’s wrong, Xiao An? Have you caught a cold?”

The other side coughed twice which sounded weak but he was still holding on to raise his spirit and said, “Maybe a little. Did you call for something?”

“It’s nothing. It was just that you didn’t come today. I don’t know what happened.” Liu Longfei remembered that he was sent to the hospital before and he couldn’t help but give birth to some uneasiness. “Where are you now? Have you got a fever?”

“I’m still in the room.” An Xumo’s voice was light. “There should be no fever; I can’t feel it……”

“……”

The more Liu Longfei listens, the more wrong he felt. “Have you got up yet? Can you still get out of the bed?”

“Haven’t got up yet……” An Xumo’s voice was getting weaker and weaker, it sounded like he was about to fall asleep.

“Forget it, don’t move around yet.” Liu Longfei raised his eyes and looked around. After finding his target, he walked over there.

As he walked, he said, “Xiao An, listen to me. Don’t sleep yet. Call the front desk now and say that someone is coming to your room later. Ask them to help open the door. I’ll let the crew’s doctor go there directly.”

There was a vague answer on the phone. Liu Longfei did not know if he heard clearly, he could only try to speed up his pace.

The crew’s logistics work of 《Different Roads》 was excellent. Once Liu Longfei told the logistics director about the matter, the other party found the crew’s doctor in the group. Liu Longfei was still required to be present in the next scene. He could not leave his post without permission so he had to explain An Xumo’s situation as clearly as possible and let the doctor hurry over.

The doctor also had some impression of An Xumo. After listening to Liu Longfei’s explanation, he took his medical kit and went to the hotel. Fortunately, today’s shooting location is not far from the hotel. In less than fifteen minutes, the doctor entered An Xumo’s room with the help of the front desk.

Surprisingly, An Xumo was already dressed. But his condition is worse than just wearing only his pajamas — because he fell down from the hanger and barely sat on the ground with his back against the bed, and even never managed to stand up.

The hotel uses air-conditioning to control the temperature; there was no room heating system so the floor was cold and hard. The doctor rushed over to the little brother with the receptionist and helped lift the person from the ground.

But as soon as he touched An Xumo’s arm, the doctor frowned.

The high temperature from his body passed through his thin clothes.

He sent off the receptionist and closed the door. The doctor quickly sterilized the electronic thermometer and put it on his temple to detect his temperature while making a phone call to Liu Longfei.

When the phone was connected, the electronic thermometer made a “click” sound showing the measured person’s body temperature.

The doctor’s heart sank.

39.5°.¹103.1° F

After hearing An Xumo’s high temperature, Liu Longfei’s voice also became anxious. He immediately asked someone to come and send An Xumo to the hospital. The doctor was listening but the boy on the bed moved a bit.

He borrowed the phone from the doctor and tried to suppress the hoarseness in his voice and barely said, “Assistant Director Liu, no need to trouble you. My assistant is here. Just have him pick me up.”

“Okay, okay.” Liu Longfei asked again, “Where is he? If he is on the set, let him drive the crew’s car to directly pick you up.”

“He’s at the hotel. We’ll just take a taxi.” An Xumo took a breath and said, “Assistant Director, there is another thing to trouble you.”

Liu Longfei asked, “What is it? Go on.”

“My situation is not very serious. Please don’t tell the crew about the fever first.” An Xumo swallowed hard, his throat was like being torn with continuous pain. “I was fine before I came back yesterday, it shouldn’t have infected everyone. I’ll explain to everyone when I’m good to go back.”

It seems that he did not expect him to say this, but the phone paused for a moment before an echo came, “Okay. I understand.”

“Forget about it, you go to the hospital first with Dr. Hao and your assistant for a check-up and come back after your fever has gone down. When I’m done here in the evening, I will go over to see you.”

An Xumo actually didn’t want to bother Liu Longfei to come over. He has a thorough understanding of how intense the work of the crew these days with the group. But Liu Longfei had already made a decision and An Xumo’s throat was so sore that he couldn’t say much. He had to let him hung up the phone.

The hotel is not too far from the hospital but it’s a little troublesome when going out in disguise. Fortunately, there are two helpers, Xiao Zhang and Dr. Hao. An Xumo wore a black-rimmed glasses and a mask and he made it all the way to the hospital smoothly.

However, what happened next was not quite as one would expect.

An Xumo didn’t just have a fever, his tonsils were inflamed, and his back was bruised because he fell down while getting out of bed and dressing up.

The most serious thing is that he had gastrointestinal problems.

After asking, Dr. Hao learned that An Xumo ate takeout for four servings after ten o’clock in the evening, and not long after dawn, he passed out because of discomfort. This way of eating, even a strong, muscular man will not be able to digest, let alone An Xumo who’s been controlling his diet because he has to film as a dancer in the scenes.

Because he ate too much, his voice was also affected. In this way, even a fever may have something to do with the sudden overeating last night.

A full set of gastrointestinal examination requires a gastroscopy²an examination of the upper digestive tract or fluoroscopy³a continuous X-ray image on a monitorbut An Xumo still has a fever and is too weak to do these tests. After discussing with the hospital, Dr. Hao ended up giving An Xumo a fever-inducing injection first but reduced most of the irritating medication.

The next afternoon, there was a scene of Bai Qingchi, and with his status, it was not very convenient to continue to stay. An Xumo finally convinced Dr. Hao not to stay in the hospital for observation. The hospital gave some medicine to protect the stomach and intestines. When Xiao Zhang took the medicine, he took another box of Huoxiang Zhengqi Shui⁴a liquid herbal formula used in Traditional Chinese medicine to “induce diaphoresis and clear away summer-heat, to resolve damp and regulate the function of the spleen and stomach” It tastes bitter and pungent. Wikipedia when he received the medicine, and the three people went back to the hotel.

After tossing around, it was already evening when they returned. After sending off Dr. Hao, An Xumo made another phone call to Liu Longfei. In fact, his thoughts are still groggy and he only relies on holding by a breath. After explaining it to Liu Longfei, Xiao Zhang helped An Xumo to take his medicine. Xiao Zhang wanted to stay and take care of him but An Xumo felt it was unnecessary so he let the man go first.

An Xumo lay alone in bed with no lights turned on in the room. The curtains were drawn tightly and the darkness was similar to that of last night when he returned, weighing heavily on every inch of his body.

He buried himself in the blanket and sighed slowly.

So hungry…

Patients with a fever can’t eat food that can’t be well-digested nor is it suitable for spicy or greasy food, not to mention that he still has gastrointestinal problems. After the check-up during the day, he only drank a bowl of porridge, and Dr. Hao also gave Xiao Zhang a list of portions to be eaten by An Xumo in the next few days.

Before he left, Dr. Hao made repeated orders and took An Xumo to educate him for a long time. He said, even if you’re under a lot of pressure as an actor, do not use overeating to vent.

But he didn’t want to vent, An Xumo thought. He was just very hungry.

People with fever have a little appetite but An Xumo is different. He can clearly feel the emptiness in his body; his hunger is like four trailing vines, surrounding the wall of his stomach little by little, still constantly tightening.

Want to eat……anything is fine, not cake, even just the most common steamed bun rice, as long as you can eat enough.

But he can’t eat at all now.

An Xumo was so hungry that he had to try to get himself to sleep. His head was still dizzy and there is a scene to be filmed tomorrow so he must recover early in order to complete the task.

In the darkness and hunger, An Xumo tried for a long time and finally drifted off to sleep.

An Xumo didn’t sleep soundly and walked for a long time in a dream of constant floating and weightlessness. Somewhere in the misty haze, there seems to be some noise around. Even after walking far away in a dream, one would be tired. The noise attracted An Xumo’s attention so he simply stopped.

There was a little light shining through which was not blinding. The light appeared in front of a figure, slender, and extremely good-looking.

An Xumo sniffed and felt his eyes were a little sore.

He wanted to look at the person more but didn’t dare to be too obvious. After hesitating for a while, An Xumo simply took two steps backwards and turned his head away.

It can’t be like this, An Xumo thought, trying to move the figure away from his heart a little.

He just figured it out yesterday and now……he dare not dream about his brother again anymore.

•·················•·················•

The author has something to say:

There is one thing to say. For the author, there is no such thing as deliberately abusing anyone but the logic of the article is here. After Xiao Mo was wounded, he withdrew, and then it will be difficult for him to open his guarded heart which will require his brother’s constant efforts. This section is the main content of the second half of this text. It certainly won’t be said that after the brother recognized his own thoughts, as soon as he found Xiao Mo to confess, Xiao Mo agreed.

Chapter 65 – His brother won’t like him

Thank you for the ko-fis impatientlywaiting! ♡♡♡

Btw, this chapter really broke my heart. I had to pause when I read the raws back then. Even our editor’s heart broke lol. So, ready your heart everyone~

•·················•·················•

“Why are you here?”

The first person to break the silence was Zhou Jinchen. The space in the bathroom wasn’t quite enough, and the muffled echo of the question could be heard faintly which highlighted his originally low magnetic voice deeper and deeper.

An Xumo’s complexion didn’t look very good rather, it should be said that it is awfully bad, but he still quickly opened his mouth to answer the question.

“Brother told me to come back here…… I just asked the assistant for the room card and came over.”

“I know that,” Zhou Jinchen said looking at An Xumo who was obviously in a trance. His eyes darkened slightly. “I was asking why you were in the bathroom.”

An Xumo reacted half a beat late, looking down at the sink. “I came to wash my hands here……”

He explained again, “When I wanted to go out, I heard Teacher Lin speaking and felt that it wasn’t proper, so I didn’t go out.”

Zhou Jinchen looked at the boy for a while until the atmosphere around him quieted down again. He turned his head and gestured.

“Come out.”

There was nothing unusual in the bedroom, even the bottle of mineral water on the sofa table was taken away by Lin Rui. When he took it, he said that this is also considered as something Zhou Jinchen gave him. The latter did not understand the meaning of Lin Rui’s action and he was not interested in knowing it.

The two men sat back on the sofa and the scene reverted to the way it was when he was talking to Lin Rui. The difference was that An Xumo seemed even more nervous than Lin Rui who was sitting here before, causing Zhou Jinchen to look at him for a while before finally opening his mouth.

“What’s wrong with you?”

An Xumo’s face seemed to turn a little paler because of his question and he hesitantly said, “……me?”

“En.”

An Xumo naturally knows himself. The great panic was like a bottomless abyss, blowing out cold wind and he is hanging above the abyss. Even if he tightly held on to the rope, he could still fall in minutes and seconds.

But this won’t work, An Xumo thought. He must act natural. He can’t let his brother find out his thoughts……

“I just heard Teacher Lin’s voice and felt a little surprised……”

The knuckles were pale from the excessive force with numbing pain on his palm. An Xumo finally found an explanation, only to see the man on the opposite side frown.

“What Lin Rui said is the truth.”

At that moment, An Xumo could not even feel the pain that came around his whole body. (E/N: my heart also fell hnggg)

“The truth……?”

Even the voice was like a rough sound made from grinding sandpaper, it was difficult to hear to the extent that it was unbearable. The only fortunate thing was that his physical skills were still functioning and he could still hear Zhou Jinchen’s voice in his ears.

What the other party said was, “The publicity plan of 《Different Roads》 will indeed focus on my relationship with him.”

An Xumo froze for a moment.

He thought that the fact that his brother refers to was Lin Rui’s last words but he didn’t expect the other party to turn to the movie again.

“This is not something I can decide,” Zhou Jinchen said. “The crew’s publicity originally had to maximize the benefits in the most effective way.”

“En……en.” An Xumo nodded, trying to disguise himself as normal with his movements. “I understand.”

His current thought was already chaotic, so much to the extent that he didn’t even think about the reason why Zhou Jinchen brought up the matter of the movie. He could only do so until the other party said a word and react along with it.

Until Zhou Jinchen completely revealed the reason.

“But Lin Rui is already emotionally involved; I don’t want to have an affair with him.” Zhou Jinchen said.

An Xumo felt that the abyss not far below his feet seemed to stop emitting cold wind.

Zhou Jinchen said, “Filming with you and calling you here today is to discuss this matter with you.”

“The most effective way to prevent other people from pairing me with Lin Rui without affecting the film’s publicity is to separate the film from reality. In the film, I have the deepest involvement with his character but outside the film, I have another preferred choice.”

The dark bottomless abyss was sealed, and a hard ground made of lime and cement solidified on top.

But An Xumo could not understand why, the throbbing feeling tightly clenching his heart still did not disappear.

He heard himself saying, “Therefore…….it’s to use me and brother’s gossip to avoid the gossip between brother and Lin Rui, right?”

However, An Xumo could no longer hear Zhou Jinchen’s voice.

He could only see the other party’s rational and calm expression and the mouth’s shape that pronounced the verdict.

—— Correct.

Zhou Jinchen also added a word, An Xumo heard it intermittently, but this did not affect the pain of that word, like a sharp blade cutting on the tender flesh of the heart.

He said, like Lin Rui, other people did not know about the relationship between the two so these fake rumors could be spread as if they were real.

Fake.

Zhou Jinchen is not a man of many words; he only briefly explained a few sentences to explain the word ‘fake’. But those details have been revealed from Zhou Jinchen’s words, uncovering the original peaceful disguise and showing the truest face.

An Xumo couldn’t really hear it, his ears were full of buzzing tinnitus which was very annoying. Even so, he still understood Zhou Jinchen’s meaning and picked up the dusty beads that had been scattered everywhere and strung them into a string of gloomy, unsightly chain of beads.

He deliberately came to talk about the script to An Xumo to avoid staying in the room and being found by Lin Rui to be alone; took the initiative to tell Ma Lao and Mr. Tao to revise the kissing scene and change the actor in order to pave the way for the subsequent rumors; agreed to sleep with An Xumo in the same room to let the other people in the crew misunderstand the relationship between the two. It was the same when filming the kissing scene in the classroom, repeatedly made exceptions and shown affection but it’s also merely an act in front of everyone.

And when the film is promoted in the later stage, these kinds of news will burst out among the public with a hundred times stronger effect than in the crew, and those people present are prepared in advance. If you pull one out randomly, the truest news will explode.

It was only then that An Xumo realized how outrageously wrong he was. ¹E/N: Sh—t that hurts. T/N: I know *heartbreaking

He thought that the only thing he was worried about was that his brother would find out his unseen feelings but when Zhou Jinchen really didn’t find out about his feelings, and bluntly and frankly said that he wanted the two of them to act together, An Xumo realized that he was still in severe pain, and the tears were streaming with blood from the bowl-sized hole in his chest.

The abyss was filled but he was still slammed into the rough, hard ground, leaving a trace of lingering breath. Because the rope hanging from him is Zhou Jinchen’s attitude towards him, it is that bowl of tonkatsu ramen and that mint flavored-kiss that happened in front of the seat of the classroom.

Now the rope disappeared and An Xumo was violently thrown down from a height.

How he got back to his room from Zhou Jinchen’s room, An Xumo himself didn’t know. He stepped on the sharp tip of the knife that once again pierced the soles of his feet with every step, pretending to normally brush open the door of his room.

Open, close, lock.

That was all that was left. Even the strength to insert the room card in the wall switch was no longer there.

With his back pressed against the cold door, the emptied An Xumo slowly slid down and fell for a long time before he touched the floor.

He sat on the wooden floor behind the door, surrounded by terrible and safe darkness.

After such a long and tumultuous day, at last in the evening, An Xumo discovered his true thoughts.

He was far more ridiculous and despicable than he had ever imagined.

From a long time ago, An Xumo knew that he was different and that no matter what he did, he would not be liked by his family. But at that time, he still held that ridiculous wishful thinking again and again, trying to be well-behaved and obedient to achieve all tasks perfectly in exchange for easing the attitude of the people around him.

But it didn’t.

Not even once.

That’s why An Xumo locked up his bloody heart early on, didn’t look at the surrounding eyes regardless of other people’s judgment on him. He thought that he would certainly not make the same mistakes again. Even if he stumbled, he could see the road ahead and could go on.

But now, An Xumo once again made the same mistakes that are no different in nature.

He thought that as long as he could look at his brother, he would have strength and hope. Yet he didn’t realize that he stepped out of the warning line that he had drawn himself before he knew it.

So when Zhou Jinchen said that all those things were deliberately planned, An Xumo bled and got hurt.

Why can’t he honestly stay where he should be and why does he think that he can touch the sun?

An Xumo extremely detests this kind of him.

He only had one light source but he almost locked himself in the dark wooden box without a key forever.

It can’t be like this……he thought, fortunately……fortunately, he did not commit any mistake in front of his brother just now.

There is still room for turning things around.

An Xumo stretched out his hand and tried to touch around, but it was dark and empty in front of him. He couldn’t touch anything. He could only withdraw his hand and hold his ankle.

The feeling of having something real in his hands finally calmed down An Xumo a bit. He slowly stood up holding the door, his back leaning on the solid wooden board, his chest heaving violently and his legs were filled with soreness.

But at least he stood up.

An Xumo fumbled for the switch on the wall and pressed it twice only to find that it did not light up. The room card was not inserted. He bent down and searched the floor little by little for a long time.

With a soft ‘click’ the power was finally turned on in the room. The blinding light came on and he subconsciously raised his hand to block his eyes.

The light was like a lifetime ago.

An Xumo walked into the bathroom holding the wall. He propped himself up in front of the sink, turned on the faucet, and splashed the cold water on his face.

The sound of water lasted for a long time before he gradually calmed down. He turned off the switch and looked at the bright mirror in front of him.

The boy’s face in the mirror was full of water drops but it hid a bit of his frightening paleness. His lips are still red, like an iron-faced and selfless judge,²impartial and incorruptible; described someone who is relentless in his purpose in the execution of his duties according to law or regulations. always reminding him of his previous mistakes.

It won’t happen again…… An Xumo thought, he would never, ever do it again.

As long as he can look at his brother, this is the only habit that he had engraved into his instincts for seventeen years so there is no way to change it. Along with all other thoughts, An Xumo would completely cut off.

He will never allow himself to think that his brother will respond to his feelings.

Never again.

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The author has something to say:

Xiao Mo’s thoughts are also explained clearly la. He thought he just had to look at his brother, and as a result, he crossed the line. After the pain this time, he would honestly stay in the circle he drew and never come out again.

Xiao Mo’s pain is over……it’s time for another one.

•·················•·················•

Sees the line Never again:

mochimùwú: My heart hurts

Editor (because she didn’t want to have any name lol): 🙁

Chapter 64 – I don’t think you love him

Thank you for the ko-fis impatientlywaiting! ♡♡♡

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To be able to ask such a question, even Lin Rui also took a lot of effort.

However, his efforts are still fruitless.

Zhou Jinchen’s attitude was very decent and his answer was also straightforward.

“Sorry.”

Lin Rui smiled. His usual expression at this time was less than his usual disguise and only the paleness hid his embarrassment.

The room was quiet for a moment.

The clock displayed in LED mode did not even tick and the surrounding area was frighteningly quiet. Zhou Jinchen is not a person who will take the initiative to ease the atmosphere. After a long time, Lin Rui opened his mouth again to break the silence.

He was talking about another seemingly irrelevant topic.

“Jinchen,” Lin Rui’s voice has returned to its normal mood. “Have you heard of this sentence?”

“In matters of this world, there are 80% or 90% of them which do not happen according to one’s wishes. Since this is the case, you should not force me to do anything.” [Note 1]¹It’s actually available in Novel Updates and I used their translation on this passage. I forgot which chapter it was lol. Apologies. NU Link. Direct Link

Zhou Jinchen raised his eyes to look at him and saw Lin Rui pick up the water bottle on the table and held it in his hand. He shrugged his shoulders and laughed, “I think this sentence makes sense.”

Lin Rui did not give any additional explanation for this limitless sentence. Once the words were finished, he went back to talking about the movie.

“Ma Xiao approached me before filming 《The Scarecrow》. I happened to have little idle funds at that time so I was dragged into it by him.”

“I was also pulled by friends to cast a few films before but that was a few years ago. As you know, the market has changed so much in recent years that in the film industry, there is no longer a saying that fragrant wine fears no dark alley.”²fragrant wine fears no dark ally (idiom): quality goods need no advertising

Zhou Jinchen listened silently.

“After the filming of 《The Scarecrow》, I happened to have a vacation so I followed Ma Xiao for two days. He happened to be discussing the follow-up publicity with the team at that time and I listened to it several times which was also very beneficial.”

Lin Rui said, “They have studied the publicity methods of all the movies that have made big success at the box office since three years ago and found one thing in common.”

Zhou Jinchen’s expression looked unmoved, “What is it?”

Lin Rui smiled and spoke unhurriedly, “I’m not an internal member. I’m only a spectator at best so what I know is only a general concept.”

“Generally speaking, before and during the screening of these films, in addition to a complete publicity program, they will also identify a very powerful main point of attack.”

“For example, comedy films will pick the right time for holidays and festivals, and military films will be associated with current affairs. These are all very general examples. Let’s talk about The Scarecrow as an example. When the film was released, it caused a flurry of discussion about the damage caused by the family of origin. All kinds of discussion were extremely hot, which in turn worked on the box office.”

Lin Rui said, “But when the issue was first launched, it was a plan arranged by the team.”

“Someone buried the seed in the right place and it sprouted with such good results.”

Zhou Jinchen listened in silence but he knew very well in his heart that Lin Rui’s purpose was never as simple as talking to him about work.

Sure enough, Lin Rui quickly changed his words.

He looked at Zhou Jinchen and said, “Jinchen, do you know what the seeds of 《Different Roads》 will be?”

Zhou Jinchen narrowed his eyes slightly.

Lin Rui smiled and pointed his chest with his index finger and turned his wrist and fingertips to Zhou Jinchen on the opposite side.

He whispered, “It’s us.”

Lin Rui’s sentence sounded a little too taken for granted, but Zhou Jinchen knew that what he said was indeed the truth.

It has been only two months since the end of the Wutong Awards and Zhou Jinchen’s Film Emperor Title is still hot. However, the film 《Different Roads》 which is being filmed doesn’t require much complex post-production special effects. For the sake of high box office on holidays and catching up with the awards, 《Different Roads》 schedule will certainly not be too far away.

Not to mention the pre-screening publicity, even when 《Different Roads》 officially announced the actors, the most eye-catching topic was the second cooperation between Zhou Jinchen and Lin Rui.

This is not because Zhou Jinchen wants to distance himself from Lin Rui, he can refuse it according to his wishes.

The two of them have always maintained a good relationship in public. As early as during the filming and roadshow of 《The Scarecrow》, Lin Rui expressed his admiration for Zhou Jinchen several times. At that time, Zhou Jinchen had not yet won the Wutong Awards and his status could not be compared to now. Lin Rui is definitely Zhou Jinchen’s senior in the film industry and his attitude can be considered as an unreserved promotion.

If 《The Scarecrow》 was just a personal relationship between the actors, then here in 《Different Roads》 the two of them are definitely double fated inside and outside the film.

In any case, Ling Sihang’s secret love for Ye Qicheng is a fact that cannot be changed. How can this excellent material with its own topic be ignored by the public and be spared by the production?

Zhou Jinchen never thought about accepting Lin Rui’s feelings but he knew very well that after the movie is released, the crew, the media, and the audience would surely spare no effort to link their names together.

He can’t reject this matter as much as he can reject confession. Lin Rui is right. This is something that must be done during the official promotion because it can draw more people to the cinema.

Moreover, as one of the biggest investors behind 《Different Roads》, Zhou Jinchen’s box office income of the movie is more closely related to him than ordinary actors. Therefore, it is even more impossible for him to willfully reverse the most favorable publicity plan because of his own personal wishes.

What’s more, the current Zhou Jinchen needs the money more than ever. He desperately needs to get out of the Zhou family’s grasp and if the box office of 《Different Roads》 is not satisfactory, he will have to accept the Zhou family’s intervention again. The possibility of pulling himself out will become increasingly slim.

After Lin Rui finished his words, the room once again fell into silence. Only this time, Lin Rui became the more relaxed one.

He left enough time for Zhou Jinchen to think about the matter and this is Lin Rui’s confidence that his invitation tonight will not be rejected.

But the development of things seems to deviate from his expectations in subtle ways.

For example, Lin Rui previously thought that Zhou Jinchen would not allow him to enter his room so he offered to go to his room to talk. And now, for example, he originally thought that Zhou Jinchen would have a change of expression after hearing his words but the other party was still the same cold expression, and he couldn’t even see much fluctuation in his eyes.

Lin Rui boasts that he has been in the industry for many years and has thoroughly studied acting. Even off cam, all kinds of subtle changes in the facial expression cannot escape his eyes.

However, Zhou Jinchen is always the one who makes him feel like going back with a feather.³return in low spirits following a defeat or failure to achieve one’s ambitions [idiom]

Perhaps the other party has always been accustomed to their expressionless face like this. Lin Rui can only comfort himself for this reason. He knows the weight of the chips he holds and so far, Zhou Jinchen also did not express his opposition as he had previously refused his confession.

This night talk is not easy for both sides and the final win or loss can only be confirmed in their hearts. Before leaving, Lin Rui stopped in the hallway not far from the door and on the right-hand side was the bathroom that reduced the space to the hallway.

He looked at Zhou Jinchen who followed him and finally couldn’t resist saying another remaining sentence.

“In matters of this world, there are 80% or 90% of them that do not happen according to one’s wishes. Since this is the case, you should not force me to do anything.” Lin Rui repeated this sentence. He looked into Zhou Jinchen’s pure black eyes and asked the other party, “Do you know what the next sentence is?”

Zhou Jinchen shook his head.

Lin Rui smiled.

He also has outstanding looks, and his acting skills are basically not limited by his appearance. The orange light above his head made his expression look more and more radiant.

Lin Rui said, “The next sentence is ‘I want to force you.’” [Note 1]

Zhou Jinchen remembered Lin Rui’s previous statement “I think this sentence makes sense” and couldn’t help but frown. However, before he could say anything, Lin Rui said, “I know what you want to say to me — you have someone better in mind, don’t you?”

They were standing in the hallway with the closed bathroom door less than a person’s distance away on their right. Zhou Jinchen did not answer the question at first and Lin Rui had already continued to pick up the conversation.

“My initial thought was the same as Ma Xiao’s. I thought you finally found that special person but after you finished filming on the set this morning, I changed my mind.”

Lin Rui said, “You and Xiao An did not film a borrowed position in the kissing scene, and acted it completely for more than a dozen times. In order to relax his emotions, you also blocked Xiao An with your body and directly kissed him on the set. Every single act was a choice that the old you wouldn’t have made before and you have broken so many exceptions for him.”

Lin Rui’s voice softened and looked at Zhou Jinchen with his usual smile on his lips.

“But I don’t think you love him.” 

Zhou Jinchen’s eyes darkened slightly and asked rhetorically, “You think?”

Lin Rui was not influenced by his aura. He graciously admitted, “Yes, I think so.”

“You know, Jinchen, everything you do when facing Xiao An is like the perfect boyfriend in a perfect script. Every move is the most appropriate choice that everyone envies.”

“However, these perfections are not real feelings outside the camera.”

Zhou Jinchen’s brows twisted more and more severely.

“If a person really moved his heart, no matter how tough and indestructible he was before, he will certainly suffer from gains and losses, and he will be nervous and helpless. He will feel that he is not doing well enough when facing the object of his heart.”

Lin Rui looked at Zhou Jinchen’s expression and smiled lightly, “But you’re not, you are too calm and collected. You are still the same person who habitually plans everything well, and every action has its own purpose.”

“Although I still don’t know what your intention is,” Lin Rui raised his eyebrows, “but I can tell that you are completely unaffected by this kind of emotion.”

Zhou Jinchen slowly said in a low voice, “Your judgment is too subjective.”

“Perhaps,” Lin Rui shrugged, the smile on his face was still indifferent, “but Zhou Jinchen, you should know that you can deceive others in matters like feelings but you can never deceive someone who likes you.”

He settled his chest a little.

“My heart can feel it.”

Zhou Jinhcen’s expression is obviously a little unpleasant. Lin Rui looked at the person who had just been quiet on such a big matter as the publicity program but he showed such a look at this time. There was an inevitable faint uneasiness that emerged in his heart.

But he quickly suppressed these emotions and said the last words to Zhou Jinchen.

“Maybe you have a reason for your attitude towards Xiao An or maybe you have other plans. No matter what, I won’t stand in your way. But there is one fact that is enough for me to know.”

Lin Rui smiled and raised his hand to hold the doorknob.

“Right now, Xiao An and I are still on the same starting line.”

After Lin Rui left, the room was quiet again.

Zhou Jinchen glanced at the door then quickly turned around and walked towards the bathroom that was only a few steps away.

He opened the bathroom door and at a glance, he saw An Xumo standing next to the sink, neatly dressed.

The boy’s lips were still of brilliant color but his face was ghastly white. Under the snow-white light in the bathroom, his entire body was so pale that it was almost transparent as if he would dissipate in the air if touched.

Zhou Jinchen frowned.

He heard it all.

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The author has something to say:

Note 1: 【In matters of this world, there are 80% or 90% of them do not happen according to one’s wishes. Since this is the case, you should not force me to do anything —I want to force you. 】 from Jin Yong’s 《Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre》

Because this text is fiction, I didn’t put the Old Master’s name directly into the main text. I just felt that this passage fits Lin Rui’s attitude so I put it in. It had nothing to do with gender ha and it doesn’t correspond to the characters in the text!

Now, the elder brother is still skeptical of Lin Rui’s words. He doesn’t know that one day, he will not be able to accurately calculate everything with reason and won’t certainly imagine that he will become a vinegar jar……_(:3」∠)_

Chapter 63 – Try to confess again

Jie Jie: Thank you for the wait~ I hope everyone had a great week and will have an even greater week ahead~

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Xin Zimai immediately gave the answer, “The crew dismissed Lu Pinghui. At one o’clock just now, the official Weibo released a statement.”

An Xumo paused for a moment. He thought of a different outcome but did not expect it to be so serious.

“……dismissed?”

“En.” Xin Zimai explained, “The official statement has two main points. One, the crew did not film the kissing scene before the incident and there is no phenomenal breaking news of taking the initiative to kiss. Second, Lu Pinghui not only released unauthorized photos with the set’s content but also with messages insinuating the cast, deliberately induced plot discussion causing a bad impact. That’s why the crew used such a tough attitude to deal with the matter.”

He also added, “The key point is to expose the set’s content and deliberately distorting the plot to induce discussion.”

An Xumo was a little confused, “Plot discussion?”

After Xin Zimai explained, An Xumo remembered that there had been a round of discussion about the triangular relationship when the crew had a public interview before. When Lu Punghui said this, it was tantamount to stamping the relationship between Lin Rui and An Xumo acting the role in advance. This is why the crew came out and strongly denied it.

An Xumo really didn’t think about this point. He always thought that the target of this news was him but he did not expect that the crew would be involved.

Xin Zimai gave a frank answer to his doubts.

“It’s not crucial who will be affected but the key is that the crew will come forward to minimize the impact and impose the most severe punishment for Lu Pinghui.”

An Xumo listened to him and understood what he meant. However, remembering the name Yin Yuan that the two mentioned that day, he hesitated again, “To deal with him so directly……will there be any trouble?”

“There will be trouble,” Xin Zimai did not hide it. “But your brother has already dealt with this.”

An Xumo did not expect him to say this directly and subconsciously said, “That troubled brother……”

“For the time being, there is no need to rush to say thank you,” Xin Zimai sighed. “There is a reason for Jinchen to take action. He let you answer the phone today probably because of this. Xiao An, there is one more thing to tell you here.”

An Xumo curiously said, “What is it?”

“In order to make up for the impact of this revelation, after discussing with the team and the crew, they are going to shoot a little bit of your daily scenes on the set and wait for the right opportunity to release it,” Xin Zimai said. “The crew’s filming progress has already been more than halfway and you will gradually resume attending various interviews and activities afterwards. By then, the media will be asking all kinds of questions related to the period of filming Different Roads. You and the film emperor’s kissing scene will definitely be bitten to ask.”

“What you need to do is pay attention to your attitude during the interview.”

An Xumo understood a little and took the initiative, “Good. I want to keep my distance and clear the relationship—”

“No.”

Xin Zimai interrupted him.

An Xumo was stunned for a moment and heard on the other end of the phone say, “It’s to tell you not to deny the various rumors with Jinchen.”

“……”

An Xumo’s eyes widened, “Why?”

Countless complicated and different reasons flashed through his mind but none of them could convince him.

More importantly, Xin Zimai did not give him an answer.

He said, “It’s better for Jinchen to explain this matter to you.”

After the phone hung up, the room regained its calm. However, the heart of the only person left was in a mess.

“Don’t deny it head-on.” Although Xin Zimai added a sentence afterwards, “Don’t directly admit it.” But this kind of hollow answer, what kind of effect it will cause, An Xumo can definitely imagine it.

He couldn’t figure out why Xin Zimai would make such a request.

Doesn’t my brother hate spreading scandals with others?

Although it can’t be said to be a complete insulator of gossip but since the beginning of his career, Zhou Jinchen never had gossip that could be spread on a large scale nor have announced his love affair. The only thing that had been discussed on a large scale was Han Ming and the final result, An Xumo was also well aware.

In addition to Han Ming, there is also a very direct example in front. Since his brother had told him that he rejected Lin Rui’s confession, An Xumo had also paid attention to the relationship between the two people in general. Although there was nothing strange between Zhou Jinchen and Lin Rui, An Xumo found that his brother had never been alone with Lin Rui.

Zhou Jinchen was physically expressing a clear attitude: Avoidance.

But this time, why is it……

Although An Xumo doesn’t care much about various rumors in the entertainment industry, and apart from the need to work, the only news he cares about are Zhou Jinchen’s but that doesn’t mean he is not aware of the power of such news as sleeping together and the kissing scenes. Even if An Xumo leaves the set now, he can imagine what the other people in the crew are saying about them.

According to Zhou Jinchen’s usual behavior, he would certainly not allow such news to spread. 

No, An Xumo thought. It should be said that, according to common practice, his brother would never make such intimate moves with other people.

He slowly lowered his head and stared at his folded knees, feeling that the pattern on his clothes was like a black vortex that was trying to suck people in.

Although he didn’t understand the reason why Xin Zimai said not to deny the rumors positively, An Xumo could guess why this special case would be him.

The reason is that he is the only one who has maintained a brotherly relationship with Zhou Jinchen for more than ten years.

It has nothing to do with blood relation and reality. As long as there is this relationship, no matter what kind of news they spread, they won’t end up making the fake drama into reality.

This is an absolutely safe identity.

But……

An Xumo covered his eyes with his palm. He rested his other hand on his knee as if with these two layers of barriers, he could not be sucked in by the spinning pattern on the fabric.

What he was afraid of wasn’t the panic over the scandalous rumor caused by unknown reasons.

It is the fear of his immoral thoughts at the bottom of his heart that might be exposed to the sun.

–

After filming two scenes in the morning, the crew wrapped up smoothly and started lunch on time.

But unlike the usual, a piece of news spread quickly among the crowd.

The previously hired actor, Lu Pinghui, was directly dismissed by the crew by making a public statement.

Lu Pinghui has been in the group for seven or eight days, and many people in the crew have dealt with him. When he first entered the group, he brought his own barrage of ‘I have a backer, who dared to mess with me’. Not only no one dared to mess with him, but he himself had caused a lot of trouble.

It is common practice to subjectively instruct the staff, fiddle with the crew’s equipment without permission, never greeted the person in charge, and even took selfies with the key props in the crew. A staff member even came up to remind him to delete the photo but Lu Pinghui and his agent scolded him till he cried.

If not for his small part, and if Ma Zechi hadn’t stopped him, this matter would have stabbed Ma Lao.

Although Ma Lao can certainly kick people out directly, his health has not been good. Ma Zechi doesn’t want to bother his father with this kind of thing. Lu Pinghui’s backer is indeed a hard piece of iron. Ma Zechi can only appease the staff while putting Lu Pinghui’s scenes together as soon as possible so that he can finish filming and quickly roll¹get lost; go away; scram away.

Unexpectedly, Lu Pinghui kicked an even harder iron plate²kicking an even harder iron plate, something like this: others thought that they are weak and easy to bully and as a result, the other party was worse than themselves and they end up suffering. before he left the group.

Zhou Jinchen’s way of handling is still the same. He did not even show his face and only helped behind the scene with the most appropriate reasons to promote the most effective results. Most of the people in the crew didn’t even know that this matter was related to Zhou Jinchen and thought that the reason was only the one stated in the official statement.

Lu Pinghui’s relationship with the crew was not good. When this happened, it was all those people who tried to suppress their emotions without clapping their hands and cheer. The confidentiality agreement is an agreement that everyone has signed. Apart from Lu Pinghui, no one else will be stupid enough to reveal the news to the crew.

As for An Xumo who was targeted by the news, although the crew knew what had happened, An Xumo was naturally more liked than Lu Pinghui. An Xumo’s relationship with the crew is not bad, even if someone wants to target him, after Lu Pinghui’s dismissal, they also have to give birth to concerns.

From the breaking news to the dismissal, it took no more than two days for Lu Pinghui who walked sideways³overbearing/arrogant to be dealt with. If there were others who want to spread An Xumo and Zhou Jinchen’s matter…….what kind of results will be waiting for them?

Moreover, Ma Lao hates it when actors’ do publicity during filming. There are only so many people in the crew, because of the incident, when the kissing scene was filmed, all the people present were screened and registered. If they spread the gossip, not to mention whether they can achieve their expected explosive effect, even their own identities could not be hidden.

In addition, Zhou Jinchen’s team has well-known public relations ability in the entire industry……

Therefore, as Xin Zimai expected, the news which should have caused a sensation was temporarily suppressed.

The initiative is still in the hands of their team.

Unlike the crew with such complicated ideas, the news of Lu Pinghui’s dismissal from the crew spread, and the majority in social media immediately gave the most direct response.

The eye-catching headlines occupied the most prominent positions. Although the specific contents of various reports were more or less the same because of the lack of information, these reports have also earned all the clicks long ago only by the headlines. The film 《Different Roads》 which was originally the scope of focus burned a topic again and the crew’s decisive approach made the main media happy.

These media are not necessarily purely agreeable but this kind of highly relevant news is a good material that can’t be missed. Coupled with the management and instruction of the crew’s investors, the report that agrees with the crew’s vigorous and resolute handling of the results was overwhelmingly dominant.

In addition to the official reports from various media, the voices of fans can’t be ignored on Weibo, WeChat, and several major forum websites.

The focus of the media attention is on the cast and crew of 《Different Roads》. After all, Lu Pinghui did not specify a name when he broke the news. Even if they wanted to directly guess that it was An Xumo, they have to consider the possibility of being sent a lawyer’s letter. The crew made it clear in the statement that it was too late for the media who previously rubbed An Xumo’s heat to avoid suspicion so how could they take the initiative to get into trouble again.

But in the fan’s eyes, Lu Pinghui’s biggest crime is to harm An Xumo.

It insinuates, reversing black and white and describes the idol that is serious about filming as a despicable villain who tends to follow the trend. After the crew’s statement was issued, the enraged fans finally started an organized and large-scale counterattack.

The certified Weibo account used by Lu Pinghui has been completely taken over by An Xumo’s fans. The fashion brands he worked with also announced that they were ending their contracts with him under pressure. Lu Pinghui can only be regarded as a mid-range influential online celebrity on Weibo and didn’t have many die-hard fans. After causing such a scene, his fans left on the spot and there were many who turned black and stepped back.

Furthermore, some inappropriate remarks released by Lu Pinghui have also been found out by An Xumo’s fans. What is more unexpected is that someone used technical means to restore the original picture released by Lu Pinghui, combined with his previous high-profile Weibo content, they actually found evidence of his tax evasion.

This is an absolute violation of the law.

The evidence of tax evasion was posted by fans on Weibo, and the skills of the great god of technology were simply amazing. The neatly typeset, well-organized, and well-documented Weibo was turned directly out of the circle. Finally, the official certified Blue V⁴verified companies, non-profits & government institutes which has been forwarded and @ for more than 20,000 times, has stepped in and announced that the local tax bureau has been involved in the investigation of the matter.

The development of the incident took a sharp turn and the onlookers were satisfied to eat melons.

As for An Xumo’s fans, this incident is actually an important turning point.

Since his debut, An Xumo’s development can be described as smooth sailing. Accordingly, his fans’ fighting power is slightly inferior. Usually, they are cloud sucking⁵to attractMo little girls, who have little experience in fighting against black powder and gossip. As a result, the original somewhat loose cuttlefish fanbase rapidly developed a very effective, collective organization and some potential great gods have demonstrated their abilities. The fans’ growth rate was particularly impressive at least from the statistics within the fanbase.

After this incident, the number of people who have left the group because of the news wasn’t much. On the contrary, it gathered a very considerable force within the group and developed a good side-by-side friendship and ‘fighting’ ability.

The development trend of fans is particularly gratifying, but for the parties involved, he has another important problem to face.

The crew arranged four scenes on the same day. After the filming was over, there were no additional night scenes.

When the actors returned to the hotel just before eight o’clock, they came back together, found their own rooms in the hallway, and swiped their cards to enter the room. But when Zhou Jinchen wanted to enter the door, someone stopped him in a low voice.

“Jinchen.”

Lin Rui’s voice was a bit low. He hasn’t been in a good mood all day, although Zhou Jinchen didn’t notice it.

“Can I talk to you?”

He looked at Zhou Jinchen who obviously had no intention of agreeing, he whispered, “It’ll be just a minute.”

There still so many rival scenes to film and Lin Rui knew that Zhou Jinchen will not quarrel with him at this time.

As expected, Zhou Jinchen did not refuse.

“Go to my room ba.” Lin Rui gestured to the side. After so many days together, he finally gave up the idea of going to Zhou Jinchen’s room to be alone with the man……

Because none of his attempts had ever been successful.

Unexpectedly, however, Zhou Jinchen glanced at the door that was pushed halfway and swept a quick glance at the spare room card that was inserted on the wall next to the door but he said, “Don’t bother.”

Lin Rui looked at him and saw the man pushed open the door to his room and motioned him, “Come in.”

Lin Rui obviously froze for a moment. Zhou Jinchen had already walked in and he quickly followed.

The lights were turned on in the room and the bed was covered with a soft quilt without wrinkles. It’s clearly the same room layout but this room obviously reveals that it belongs to Zhou Jinchen’s style.

Concise, strict, and meticulous.

Lin Rui came in and sat down on the single sofa inside the room. Zhou Jinchen sat opposite him and took out two bottles of mineral water from the side and placed them on the table.

As if to engage in some formal business cooperation. Reserved and unwelcome.

While Lin Rui smiled bitterly in his heart, he didn’t notice that Zhou Jinchen who picked up a bottle of mineral water, scanned the room and stopped for a moment in front of the closed bathroom door.

The golden room card is still lying in Zhou Jinchen’s pocket.

The silence did not last long. Lin Rui quickly spoke up to break the silence.

He looked at Zhou Jinchen who was separated from him by a table and seriously asked, “Jinchen, is it really impossible for you to accept me?”

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The author has something to say:

Xiao Mo waited in the room to ask questions, and as a result, two people came……

There is still a hurdle before the elder brother determines his heart to chase Xiao Mo. His illness hasn’t been written yet. The next key point is the process of his enlightenment. After writing about the brother’s change of heart, it’s a long way to chase Mo (also the process of healing Xiao Mo).

Chapter 62 – Is it a work-related injury?

Thank you so much for the ko-fis britener & impatientlywaiting! ♡♡♡

Hope you enjoyed the bonus chapters~

I’ll update on Sunday and rest (not really, I’ll just be busy irl *cries)  for a while~

•·················•·················•

An Xumo’s physique is special. Zhou Jinchen also did not expect this to happen before suggesting that the kissing scene should be changed.

This situation is actually the result of numerous coincidences and inevitability. After practicing the next morning, because of the medical examination at the hospital, everyone in the crew saw An Xumo and also noticed the strangeness on his lips. In fact, some people had already made a guess at that time which is why Lu Pinghui used that fashion big V to authenticate the Weibo breaking news. Just because of the excuse of allergies, everyone still accepted the explanation on the surface.

After this kissing scene, all the people present saw the actual scene of the two people filming. Not long after the shooting, the original nothing-unusual-An-Xumo now appeared in this condition. This time, people who didn’t think much about it last time and people who thought too much about it last time didn’t say anything but understood the real reason.

Although An Xumo has recently been among the ranks of traffic idols, he is still a complete newcomer in the field of filming. If the object has not been Zhou Jinchen, the scene he would have face now will certainly be much more severe.

Zhou Jinchen naturally also knows about this matter. Although An Xumo is not very popular within the crew, how can gossip and rumors be suppressed by the popularity in the entertainment industry? Had it not been for Zhou Jinchen’s status, others’ attitude would not be as cautious about An Xumo as they are now.

For those eyes that gathered around, Zhou Jinchen also understood their meaning. They are curious and testing their attitude.

Moreover, Zhou Jinchen did not conceal his attitude.

He glanced at Lin Rui; his voice remained no different than usual.

“En.”

Zhou Jinchen’s answer was so straightforward that Lin Rui surprisingly did not respond for a moment, the other party was agreeing with his question.

Lin Rui was a beat slower but there were others who reacted. Among the surprised eyes that were cast, Zhou Jinchen also looked at Ma Zechi who was standing not far away.

He asked Ma Zechi, “Is it a work-related injury?”

Everyone: “……”

Ma Zechi, “……”

What is this? Is this famous film emperor openly blackmailing the crew to cheat on medical insurance?

Before many people in the room recovered from the shock, Zhou Jinchen had already walked towards the decorated set. When passing by Ma Zechi, he even said to someone, “I just saw Ma Lao, he’s ready to come over.”

Between the two scenes, Ma Lao had to go to take his medicine so he was a little late than the two main actors changing costumes. The on-the-spot director was left to Ma Zechi. “If you wait for Ma Lao to come back and see that the scene has not yet started, he will definitely be unhappy.”

As soon as Ma Zechi was reminded of this, he reacted and hurriedly pulled Lin Rui who was still stopped halfway. He went to greet the staff on the scene to get ready to start working.

But before everyone was ready, Zhou Jinchen who was the first to walk into the scene did not stop in front of the camera. He passed through most of the set and came to An Xumo in the corner.

An Xumo who was carefully rubbing his mouth with the back of his hand did not expect his brother to come over and was stunned for a moment.

The man stopped in front of him and his eyes fell on the slightly swollen lips.

Actually, the people in the crew believed in the reason of ‘allergy’ to give face and it’s normal not to believe it. Since An Xumo’s lips did not look like the kind of that red swelling, it is moist and lustrous with a watery glow; even the color is a little too eye-catching.

An Xumo was a little embarrassed and the raised wrist used to block was neither good nor putting it away so he froze there for a moment.

He didn’t care about other people’s gaze but he couldn’t look at his brother.

Fortunately, Zhou Jinchen was not silent for too long. He quickly spoke, “There is no more scene for you today, go back to the hotel first.”

An Xumo stayed here to watch the shooting but in this situation, he didn’t have any thoughts of opposing the idea.

He immediately nodded, “Okay.”

However, when he was about to leave, he heard Zhou Jinchen once again say, “Go to my room.”

“…….?” An Xumo thought he had heard wrong.

“Look for my assistant, he has the room card.”

Zhou Jinchen quickly gestured, “Go ba.”

An Xumo was stupefied. He looked at Zhou Jinchen and confirmed that the other party did not look like he was joking before nodding his head in response and leaving the set.

Zhou Jinchen turned and bumped into a group of faces who were stunned on the spot.

Curious people who can’t bear but hold up their ears: “……”

Liu Longfei who watched the whole thing word for word: “……”

No matter how you look at it, a kissing scene that gave birth to love and spending time in the same room, it looks like you’re really in a relationship, okay?

Moreover, these things also happen to a popular idol and well-known film emperor. If they are not mistaken, this is clearly a piece of shocking news that can paralyze the server.

But why is it the concerned parties still looked unperturbed, so they won’t have any sense of achievement in discovering the scandal at all?

Watching Zhou Jinchen calmly return in front of the camera, people looking at each other had doubts about their own gossip ability and even their eyesight level.

Is this gossip true or not ah?!

In the face of the bizarre atmosphere of the whole scene, Ma Zechi who was standing next to the camera looked helpless. He had to use the loudspeaker specially used by Ma Lao and set it to maximum volume.

“Attention to all departments, prepare to start shooting!”

An Xumo who had left the set did not know what happened. He found Zhou Jinchen’s assistant around the set but the other party didn’t give him a room card instead, told him another room number.

The room is also on the same floor as the rented room of the crew, but it’s not in the same area.

An Xumo was a little confused but the set had already started filming and it wasn’t practical for him to call Zhou Jinchen again. After a moment of hesitation, he still rang the doorbell of that room.

He did not wait long. After a ‘click’ sound, the door was pulled open from the inside. A tall grim-faced man in black stood inside, his appearance is not outstanding, and his features were not special, as if people can forget it at a glance.

The only thing is that their eyes were frighteningly bright. After being looked at by the black-clothed youth, An Xumo suddenly had chills from behind.

He was a little surprised. When he tried to look at the other party again, the black-clothed youth had already withdrawn his sight, made way for space, and said in a low voice, “Young Master An, please.”

An Xumo hadn’t been addressed that way for a long time.

He subconsciously took a step back but heard the black-clothed youth say, “There is hotel surveillance in the corridor. Please come in.”

The youth said he was inviting the person but he only let An Xumo stand in the corridor behind the door. The youth’s tall figure blocked most of the view so An Xumo couldn’t see the situation inside the room at all. 

The black-clothed youth pulled out a room card from his inner chest pocket and handed it to An Xumo. Zhou Jinchen’s room number is written on a piece of paper wrapped around a golden room card. An Xumo took the room card and the youth spoke again, “The fifth compartment of the second part of the bedside drawer, the mobile phone inside can answer the call.”

An Xumo didn’t quite understand: “I have a mobile phone……”

The youth looked at him and said, “That once can prevent eavesdropping.”

An Xumo could not think of anything important enough to prevent eavesdropping. Although he grew up in the Zhou Family, he had never been allowed to come into contact with these things. The Zhou family would rather have a bookworm than cultivate a potentially powerful opponent for them.

After returning alone to Zhou Jinchen’s room, An Xumo quickly found the phone in the drawer. It was a very ordinary Apple, and even the desktop came with the system.

There was no phone number inside. An Xumo was a little confused. Before the crew was about to start working, he didn’t have the time to ask his brother why he wanted him to come to this room. Obviously, the room card was changed in the hands of the assistant but he was involved with a strange black-clothed youth.

Finally, there is an additional anti-eavesdropping phone that can’t see any clue.

An Xumo sat back on the sofa before he felt the tiredness coming from all over his body. The day is not even half over yet but he had experienced so many things.

NG blunders, being comforted by his brother, successfully filmed a kissing scene, and the truth about his allergies being discovered by the crew……

And so on.

An Xumo suddenly sat up straight.

He realized that he had forgotten one thing.

When he was watched by the crew before, rumors pointed directly at him broke out on Weibo that night. At that time, his brother and Xin Zimai dealt with this matter and his mind was on the official filming so this page was temporarily uncovered. Nevertheless, listening to the conversation between the two, the person who broke the news obviously does not have a simple background, and handling the matter was evidently tricky. But because of this matter, Tang Tang left the crew to go to the company and has not returned yet.

This matter has not been solved yet and just now, An Xumo was once again was watched by the crew because of his swollen lips.

……will that happen again this time?

The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became. He was not only worried about his own situation but also worried that he would involve his brother. Lu Pinghui did not know about the change before and pointed finger at An Xumo and Lin Rui. Now, so many people have seen the filming of the new script. If the word gets out again this time……before he finished thinking, the phone placed on the table suddenly rang.

It still the system’s ringtone.

An Xumo froze and reached out his hand to answer the phone.

“Hello?”

“Jinchen, there’s been……”

An Xumo and the person on the other end of the phone was stunned at the same time.

The person there was vigilant at first, “Who are you?”

An Xumo heard the voice on the other side, “Brother Zimai, I’m An Xumo.”

Xin Zimai breathed a sigh of relief. He muttered, “I said how come it’s not a message” and wondered, “You have your brother’s phone?”

“No,” An Xumo said, “I’m in his room.”

Xin Zimai asked, “Did you take the mobile phone in the drawer of his room?”

An Xumo, “Yes.”

“That’s an extension and it can synchronize calls,” Xin Zimai said. “I’ll tell you, your brother shouldn’t be free to answer the phone right now.”

An Xumo was a little confused, “Is something wrong?”

Xin Zimai said, “Did your brother asked you to come to his room?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I guess he probably wants you to know about it too,” Xin Zimai said. “Do you remember that big fashion V mentioned before, the one who broke the news of 《Different Roads》?”

An Xumo was just thinking about this matter, and naturally, he reacted immediately.

“I remember.”

Xin Zimai said, “The blogger named Lu Pinghui played a supporting role with a few scenes in the crew. The motive of the person hasn’t been found yet but he is a related household which is not easy to handle. Jinchen just called me not long ago and said that he had confirmed Ma Lao’s attitude. Therefore, he asked me to report the results as soon as possible after I finish dealing with it.”

The phone call and confirming Ma Lao’s attitude, this is probably what happened during the costume change, An Xumo thought on one side while asking, “What is the result?”

If it was something else, he might not care so much but just now, on the set, An Xumo was being watched again. With Lu Pinghui’s breaking news in front of him, he really didn’t want to repeat the same mistake.

Most importantly, he also didn’t want to spread scandals with his brother.

He didn’t want to be like Han Ming and Lin Rui, causing trouble to his brother and then being alienated from each other.

•·················•·················•

The author has something to say:

Brother: What are you looking at? I kissed him and he also went back to my room.

Xiao Mo: I’m not, I did not. Don’t talk nonsense ah. Senior Zhou and I only have a cooperative relationship. The scandal is fake, please don’t spread it QAQ

Brother: ……

↑From this small theater, do you feel the emotional drama that is ready to move and is about to erupt? xd

Chapter 61 – After the kiss, it swelled up again

Thank you so much for the ko-fis britener & impatientlywaiting! ♡♡♡

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Only then did An Xumo understand the meaning of Zhou Jinchen’s words. His brother was personally teaching him how to master these emotions and express them in front of the camera.

He took a deep breath, “I understand. Thank you, Brother Jinchen.”

Unhappy? How could that be?

An Xumo felt that the amount of happiness in the last five minutes was enough for him to squander for the rest of his life.

Zhou Jinchen looked at the boy and confirmed the other party’s expression before dropping the question.

However, he didn’t get up with An Xumo to go back to the filming position, but said, “The Bai Qingchi who takes the initiative possesses such positive emotion as well.”

An Xumo responded first then heard Zhou Jinchen continue, “This is the point where Bai Qingchi touches people’s hearts. You have to relax in order to perform this point.”

“Okay……” An Xumo said and suddenly froze for a moment.

He looked up at Zhou Jinchen and the man lowered his eyes to look at him. His expression faint and he couldn’t see anything different from usual.

But An Xumo clearly felt something.

“Brother Jinchen, I……”

“Kissing is not just a nervous thing.” Zhou Jinchen interrupted him.

An Xumo vaguely guessed something but when the other party said the words, the impact was not reduced by half.

What Zhou Jinchen said was, “Getting along with me is not just a nervous thing, right?”

“It’s not……” An Xumo was eager to explain something until the impatient Ma Lao had walked over. He tapped on the table with his horn, “How long are you two going to communicate?”

Zhou Jinchen replied, “It’s all right.”

An Xumo hurriedly stood from his chair under Ma Lao’s urging. He no longer had the chance to answer his brother’s question yet in his heart, he had a clear answer.

When I am with my brother, the nervousness is like a balloon. There were other things that poured in from that balloon and filled it up into a water balloon. Nervousness is wrapped in the outermost layer, something visible and tangible yet what’s overflowing inside is another emotion.

It’s the kind of positive, exciting, and something that makes you happy just as my brother said.

Ma Lao looked at the two men and knocked on the table again. He inclined his head and motioned to Lin Rui who was standing at the door and said to the two, “Are you all rampant to enter the scene off-cam now?”

It was only then did An Xumo notice Lin Rui, who was standing at the back door of the classroom. Lin Rui is an actor himself and An Xumo is not sensitive to the emotional perceptions of people other than his brother. He could not see anything different on Lin Rui’s face but he found a water stain on his cuffs and trousers.

When they looked over, an assistant came over and handed Lin Rui the new mineral water in his hand.

An Xumo remembered in hindsight when his brother kissed him, he seemed to hear something falling on the ground.

Then……is it the water bottle that Lin Rui was originally holding?

The mineral water bottle was a prop arranged in the script. Ye Qisheng and a group of his friends pushed open the classroom door and happened to bump into this scene. The water bottle in his hand fell to the ground and it was this action that attracted the two people who were kissing.

But just now, the camera wasn’t turned on and it was in a non-working state on the set. Everyone knew it was break time but the bottle in Lin Rui’s hand fell on the ground like the development in the script.

……no wonder Ma Lao said that they ‘all’ entered the scene off-cam.

The water stains spilled at the back door have been cleaned up. Ma Lao also gave the order to start filming again. An Xumo retracted his scattered mind and took a deep breath.

A crisp ‘pop’ sounded on the scene record once again rang in the hands of the whiteboard.

The camera gathered around and the lighting board refracted light on the two people in the classroom. Under the attention of high-definition cameras, in everyone’s eyes, An Xumo grabbed Zhou Jinchen’s collar. With a very light and fast movement, he kissed him.

Not far away, Ma Zechi who was standing in front of the monitor screen stared closely at the image in the camera. When he saw An Xumo’s action, he secretly said in his heart.

It’s done.

As expected this time, An Xumo who took initiative did not stop moving as soon as Zhou Jinchen wrapped his arm around his waist as he did before. He still followed the rhythm led by Zhou Jinchen but instead of moving forward with the waves, he took the initiative to cooperate.

He added his own part in it. Tightly closed, long curly eyelashes trembled slightly because of the anticipation and nervousness, and there was also a little distinct smile on the corner of his eyes and eyebrows.

It was a highly contagious expression.

Across the monitor screen, Ma Zechi could feel his heartfelt happiness.

Ma Lao’s tight frown also gradually relaxed a little.

Although An Xumo’s acting still looks a bit green in contrast to Zhou Jinchen’s, he exuded his own charm and is no longer an emotionless set prop with a backdrop like a village to support Zhou Jinchen’s acting.

This is already a very critical shift.

After the eleventh shot, Ma Lao still did not let Lin Rui who was waiting at the door to come in and film the next shot. But his expression has softened a lot and his attitude towards the two men has calmed down a lot.

“The feeling is right, do it again.”

After finding the right state, An Xumo returned to his normal level. Once again played with surprising comprehension ability, after each retake since then has become more and more refined.

So much that by the time Ma Zechi thought it was possible, Ma Lao still did not yell cut. He let the two people act two more times before giving up.

At the end of the day, An Xumo was in his best condition and had not yet entered a state of fatigue. He is the least experienced actor in the group and when he enters the state, the filming of the rest of the scenes becomes very smooth.

Lin Rui and Zhou Jinchen are both film emperors and this kind of scene with intense physical actions and strong emotional outbursts may still be an opportunity and a test for other actors. For both of them, it has become a pure opportunity for acting. The two once again let the crowd on the set experience the feeling of ‘whirlwind drama’,¹Where a few well-performed actors who put together their acting skills for the sake of high box office and finally, Lin Rui slammed the door and left. The whole atmosphere on the set was suppressed.

An Xumo has successfully entered the state of Bai Qingchi acting against Ye Qisheng and the group of actors who played as his good friends, are also the object of long-term cooperation. This conflict scene in the classroom was only shot three times and was exceptionally and smoothly approved by Ma Lao.

Because of the leads’ fighting scene, there are a little more make-up shots in this section, and it took a little more time to wait for all the shots to be finished before the crew began to move collectively, to prepare the next scene of another scene.

An Xumo who finally finished the task, also quietly breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed from his tense state.

There are not many scenes of Bai Qingchi. According to the crew’s arrangement, the next scene will appear two days later so An Xumo can also relax for a while.

More importantly, the kissing scene was successfully filmed, An Xumo thought. When it comes to difficulty, there will definitely no other content more difficult than this scene.

Because it’s a modern drama and it’s in the student era, the crew is wearing light makeup so An Xumo didn’t remove his makeup and directly followed the crew over, ready to go see the next shooting. The filming scenes have been set up in advance for the most part. This scene still required the appearance of the two main characters yet in order to change costume, they came a little late.

Just when filming the hand-to-hand combat, Zhou Jinchen was painted with an injury makeup so he still needs to change on a new set of makeup over. In contrast, Ling Sihang would not have the heart to hurt Ye Qisheng so Lin Rui did not draw wounds on his face; he came one step ahead of Zhou Jinchen.

The staffs on the set were originally busy and An Xumo stood out of the way, ready to continue to watch the next filming process. When Lin Rui walked over, he didn’t notice An Xumo in the corner but he habitually scanned around. He paused on his steps and dropped his eyes on An Xumo.

To be precise, it should be on An Xuemo’s mouth.

The whole audience was waiting for Lin Rui and Zhou Jinchen, the two protagonists. They were fine before they came, but after Lin Rui came their sight also fell on An Xumo.

Even a person who stopped at the roadside to look at the sky would attract a group of people to look at him, not to mention Lin Rui who was waiting by the whole staff.

For a while, many people’s eyes were also subconsciously drawn over and fell on An Xumo.

An Xumo was originally not sensitive to the eyes of people around him, but he was standing not far from Liu Longfei. The latter was disturbed by the line of sight, losing his temper, but when he suspiciously followed the line of sight to look at An Xumo he also froze a bit.

“Xiao An, you…….”

An Xumo heard his voice and asked him sideways, “Assistant Director Liu, what’s wrong?”

Liu Longfei’s expression was somewhat odd. “Your mouth……”

Liu Longfei didn’t have a hesitating nature before. When he spoke with An Xumo like this, he made the latter even more curious.

However, Liu Longfei did not specify it in the end. He looked around then pointed at An Xumo. “There is a makeup artist over there, you go over and let them fix your makeup ba.”

An Xumo was puzzled. “I don’t have any scenes, why do I need to fix my make up?”

Liu Longfei pointed to his mouth, implying, “Yours is very red.”

An Xumo was startled for a moment, he suddenly remembered something.

Sure enough, Liu Longfei said, “It’s very similar when I saw you the day before yesterday morning.”

The morning before yesterday, wasn’t it the day when he was noticed by everyone because his lips were swollen due to practicing the night before?

An Xumo subconsciously covered his mouth.

Liu Longfei was kind enough to lead him and help him disperse the eyes that fell around him either openly or secretly. After all, the people in the crew were not blind. When he went to the hospital for a medical check-up the day before yesterday morning, An Xumo was asked by many people. At that time, he said it was allergies but now after the kissing scene, he reappeared in the same condition.

I’m afraid it’s impossible for anyone to believe in the ‘allergy’ excuse anymore.

However, An Xumo has not yet gone to the make-up artist and everyone’s attention has been attracted by another person.

After changing his costume, Zhou Jinchen walked over and met Lin Rui who stopped halfway with a complicated face.

“What’s wrong?”

Without waiting for Lin Rui to answer him, Zhou Jinchen had already noticed the line of sight around him.

And Lin Rui who turned sideways was looking at him with the same kind of gaze.

Lin Rui did not say anything, raising his hand and pointing to An Xumo.

Zhou Jinchen looked over and saw the boy standing aside with his head down as if he had made a mistake. Despite his lowered head blocking it a bit, the luscious and slightly swollen lips still caught the eye at a glance.

Lin Rui’s voice was slightly low and hoarse as he looked at Zhou Jinchen and asked, “Still allergies this time?”

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The author has something to say:

Big Brother!²²大哥(da ge): eldest brother; big brother (polite address for a man of about the same age as oneself); gang leader; boss Be responsible after kissing ah!

Chapter 60.2 – Filming went one step further

Thank you so much for the ko-fis britener & impatientlywaiting! ♡♡♡

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The kissing scene is dominated by Ling Sihang and the rhythm of the scene is controlled by Zhou Jinchen as expected. However, by contrast, An Xumo’s presence is much weaker, with Zhou Jinchen in the same frame; this can’t be noticed by the audience in the first place.

If the requirements are not too high, the footage can be used as the finished film. However, thinking about the film’s portrayal of the role of Bai Qingchi, Ma Zechi felt that Ma Lao would not agree with the quality of this shot.

Sure enough, Lin Rui, who had finished filming the scene of greeting his friends back to the classroom to see his crush, was still waiting outside the classroom and Ma Lao did not give him the order to push the door and barge in.

This time, the error correction is more difficult than the previous times. An Xumo’s own acting experience has a big difference from Zhou Jinchen’s. And the latter has been deliberately reducing his presence at ordinary times. Apart from the natural charm of stage performance, he rarely has the experience of actively striving for attention, especially in the presence of Zhou Jinchen. In order not to leave a bad impression on his brother, he is accustomed to weakening his own momentum.

An Xumo had not noticed this before until Ma Lao pointed out the deviation of aura of the two on camera that he only discovered this habit of his. After being cold-eyed¹cool eye; fig. detached; (treating) with indifference by his brother at the age of seven, An Xumo has submerged this habit into an instinctive reaction in the ten years that followed. If it were any other actor, An Xumo would not have behaved this way, but it was precisely in the face of Zhou Jinchen that he was unable to control his reaction comfortably.

Since the start of the filming was running smoothly, An Xumo had never experienced any major mistake. However, in this extremely important scene, he encountered his first hurdle. Even though Zhou Jinchen intentionally reined in his cooperation, An Xumo still had no way to smoothly hold up his role when the camera started filming. When he deliberately increased the range of movements and expressions to highlight his role, An Xumo’s acting seemed particularly deliberate and even more unnatural than before.

The content under the same frame was shot six times but An Xumo still did not meet Ma Lao’s standard.

What is even more disturbing is that his performance has not improved in time. Instead, even the mentality is slowly being shaken.

From time to time, there are always eyes around that will fall on him. Ever since this young actor entered the group, there are almost many topics surrounding him like the two main characters. After all, his current popularity is second only to Zhou Jinchen. Even the film emperor Lin Rui, who has been famous for many years wasn’t necessarily as popular as An Xumo in terms of heat and amount of topics.

Along with the attention that always has a variety of discussions, followed by an invisible pressure, whether malicious or not, this is something that cannot be avoided.

Ma Lao stayed for ten minutes. An Xumo sat alone in the front row for five minutes. A water bottle suddenly appeared in front of him.

Zhou Jinchen’s voice remained faint. “Don’t drink too much. It will wipe off your makeup.”

An Xumo took it and whispered thanks. The warm and cool water moistened his dry and cracked throat. After drinking it, Zhou Jinchen took the water back.

An Xumo sat against the aisle. He originally thought Zhou Jinchen was just letting him drink water to calm down, he didn’t expect that after it was taken away, Zhou Jinchen did not leave. Instead, he squatted down on one knee.

With a height of nearly one meter and nine, the short Zhou Jinchen who is crouching in front of An Xumo, who is sitting on his seat, has basically had the same line of sight, making the latter flush. Before An Xumo could react, he heard Zhou Jinchen ask him, “Is kissing a thing that makes you nervous?”

An Xumo hesitated for a moment and nodded hesitantly.

Zhou Jinchen said, “Is there something else besides nervousness?”

An Xumo opened his mouth. Zhou Jinchen didn’t rush to ask him but took up the question himself.

“In addition, there are also positive, exciting, and something that makes you happy.”

Zhou Jinchen said, “If you want the audience to feel these emotions, you must have them yourself.”

An Xumo looked at the other party, the man’s eyes were still a deep, bottomless, pure black. If he was careless, he would be deeply immersed.

Zhou Jinchen, “It’s not hard as you think.”

There was an obvious gasping sound of more than one person around and there was even the sound of someone accidentally dropping something in his hand on the ground.

But An Xumo has no way to pay attention to these background sounds anymore.

— Because the man in front of him, his brother, pinched his chin with warm fingers and leaned in for a kiss.

This kiss is unlike any previous practice or filming. After four lips pressed together, the originally shallow action did not stop there this time. An Xumo sat blankly with actual tables, chairs, and classroom walls behind him, and the man completely blocked the figure in front of him. A little unanticipated wetness touched his tightly pursed and slightly sore lips, which lingered lightly on the beads of his lips.

Then his lips were gently opened, a slightly stronger force invaded with a chilly and rich mint fragrance, almost making one fall into a thick fog woven by dreams.

The action is still Zhou Jinchen’s consistent temper, irresistible, and inescapable. Yet An Xumo felt that it was the gentlest intruder in the whole world.

Unlike many artists who dreamed of making their debut since they were young, An Xumo has experienced a complete academic career. Whether it was a private middle school or a public high school, the children of the Zhou family went to the best schools. And An Xumo, who was seen as a disgrace, was no different. He always wanted to work hard, to gain recognition through his hard work and topping in all subjects. The top first-tier universities in China have extended an olive branch to him.

He was such an outstanding student that he wrote a full-mark composition more than once. Even his score in the college entrance exam was only one point away from the top single division student in S City that year.

But now, An Xumo’s mind is blank. Even a complete and simplest sentence can’t be pieced together.

In fact, the action is not very skillful and sophisticated but because the target is the more inexperienced An Xumo, he did not distinguish it at all. Every part inside the mouth was meticulously taken care of and the breath that was held because of nervousness slowly rises. Obviously, the person sitting steadily on the chair was An Xumo but he felt as if he was wobbling and unstable.

There is no support all over his body, only the man in front of him exuded extreme attraction. An Xumo whose consciousness was dazed subconsciously wanted to touch the other but is suppressed by the last bit of reason and withdraws his hand.

But this is enough; the temperature coming from the lips and teeth warms the whole body. The original stiffness, uneasiness, nervousness, and distress were dispelled one by one.

It’s neither a raging wave nor a heavy color that covers everything. It wasn’t even similar to Zhou Jinchen’s strong style but rather, it was like a gentle and sweet cake aroma, tempting to move your index finger but also makes people satisfied.

After a long time of baking a cake full of cream, chocolate, and cheese which is enough for a person to eat for a lifetime, the warmth slowly receded.

It’s like leaving only a little bit of residual warmth, falling on the moist luscious lips with a watery glow.

When Zhou Jinchen retreated, An Xumo was still there; his mind was still struggling to deal with the excessive amount of complicated information. It wasn’t until Zhou Jinchen raised his eyes and looked up to one side, did An Xumo slowly pulled back to his senses.

Zhou Jinchen was looking in the direction of Ma Lao. A helpless Ma Zechi stood beside Ma Lao who was holding a megaphone, aimed at the direction of the two people in the classroom.

“Ten minutes, ten minutes is up!”

By the time he realized what just happened, An Xumo had to wonder how to write the two words shy and nervous. He was extremely shy but his face didn’t show, leaving only two ears where the tips were steaming so red that people can see it at a glance.

Zhou Jinchen took his eyes away from Ma Lao. He stood up from beside An Xumo and looked down at the other. “Understand?”

“……?”

“Positive, positive emotions.”

Zhou Jinchen paused for a moment, “or it’s just that a moment ago, you were unhappy when you kissed me?”

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The author has something to say:

A girl asked about the elder brother’s psychological activities. When this plot was written in such details, it also explains the brother’s emotional transformation. There will certainly be a detailed psychological analysis for his brother later~

《Different Roads》 filming and description is basically over, and in the later stage, Xiao Mo stunned the whole scene, helped his brother to open up, and so on. He also began to deal with the problem of his brother’s illness -3-

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Jie Jie: How you like that that that that kiss~