Chapter 8 Part2 (1/2)
One is in Shanghai and the other is in Beijing for one whole month. How will this new relations.h.i.+p go?
Chapter 8.2 — An Unexpected Beginning (2)
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With her head down, Xiao Yu calmly picked up a har gow with her chopsticks and tossed it over to Jia He, her eyes sparkling.
Har gow, also known as shrimp dumplings or crystal shrimp dumplings. (Image credit: “Har Gow,” by Foodista, original posted in , image used under )
”Don't judge based on how he clarified so quickly. According to my many years of experience in this entertainment circle, there is absolutely something between those two.” He fished out a box of matches, pinched a matchstick between his fingers, and took it out.
”b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” Xiao Yu cursed in a low voice.
”Quiet.” Shooting her a glare, Jia He carried on eavesdropping with ears p.r.i.c.ked.
Those two female performing arts students were obviously very interested as well. One of them even elatedly said that she had always liked Wu Zhilun and had already watched three or four times his film that was released during the Valentine's Day period. The young man cupped the flame of the match behind his palm and took a deep drag of a cigarette before resuming what he had been saying. ”You know about Yi Wenze's new drama? The trailer was finished today. A buddy of mine who works on that drama shared it with me. That woman is in it, and from the looks of things, her part isn't all that small. Now, you say, if there really were no connections, how could a newcomer who has never shown her face before manage to play a role opposite Yi Wenze?”
He purposely wanted to keep them in suspense.
One of the girls immediately jumped in and continued for him, ”That's true! Wu Zhilun and Yi Wenze have been friends for more than a decade. It must be that Wu Zhilun asked Yi Wenze to say a few words to the production team so that his girlfriend could get her shot at fame, right?”
A tremor shook Jia He's hand and she ended up missing her target, pouring vinegar outside of the little sauce dish.
Too amazing…With such deductive abilities, this girl shouldn't act. She was absolutely suited for being a screenwriter.
Quickly yanking out a napkin, Xiao Yu helped her clean up her mess while chortling quietly. ”When you listen to it, it does sound quite real.”
”You're listening to him spout nonsense.” Jia He did not even have words to respond. ”Qiao Qiao and all of them ganged up together and forced me. My role has all of a few minutes and three lines… And what's more, because I'm the screenwriter, they said I had to 'invisibly support' the production, so they didn't even pay me for it.”
Xiao Yu snickered. ”That does have Qiao Qiao's style in it: 'kick 'em while they're down' plus penny-pinching.”
Jia He shoved an entire har gow into her mouth. When she got back home, she definitely had to take a look at that trailer. How did her face manage to get in there? …
Over at the other table, those people were still blathering on noisily. She and Xiao Yu scarfed down their food. While Xiao Yu was paying, one of the young girls was still talking about this matter. ”From reading the gossip on the forum posts, that woman is already twenty-six, twenty-seven years old. How is it that Wu Zhilun likes someone so old?”
Jia He gave an indignant sniff. Was that really old? Wu Zhilun was thirty-five already…
”Ah, just forget it. It's all about a person's lot in life.” The other girl sighed, saying, ”I'm going for a screen test in a couple of days. Who knows if such good fate will fall on me and I can run into some big celebrity.”
Xiao Yu did not show much of a reaction. After taking her card and the receipt that the server handed back to her and stuffing them into her bag, she turned around and, flas.h.i.+ng a smile that was only skin deep, addressed that girl, who was currently using her mobile phone as a mirror to examine her own face. ”Oh, a screen test, eh? I suggest you first go get a jaw or chin reduction or something like that. Being old is actually nothing to worry about. You can just put on some makeup and that covers it up. But if your face is even just a little too big, in the camera lens, it becomes a pancake.”
Her voice was neither loud nor soft, just enough for everyone at the two tables to hear.
The people at the other table were evidently confounded by this interruption. By the time they were able to react and ready to open their mouths to start bellowing back retorts, though, they spotted Jia He. There was an obvious pause in their actions, and not a sound came from them.
With those tens of thousands of horses stampeding once more in her heart, Jia He grabbed Xiao Yu and strode out from there.
Not until they were in the car did she begin whacking Xiao Yu with her purse. The subject of her beating cackled while blocking her a.s.sailment. ”I was wrong for getting even for you?”
”Drive.” Having vented enough, Jia He hugged her bag to herself and stared sullenly ahead, deciding that she would ignore her.
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The car drove onto the Third Ring Road and soon reached Xiao Yu's home. After a quick shower, Jia He stretched out on her belly on the bed and, clutching her mobile phone, began to stare with glazed eyes at it, seriously pondering over whether she should make a phone call to say that she was going to bed.
In the end, after vacillating for a long while, she went online instead and contacted Qiao Qiao, asking her for the trailer. On the other end, Qiao Qiao, seeing this request, instantly sought credit for her wonderful contribution, boasting that she had spent a long time specially keeping an eye on things from the side and had expended a lot of effort to get a scene with Jia He in it added into the trailer. Jia He did not know whether she should cry or laugh at this and could not be bothered to explain to Qiao Qiao the embarra.s.sing predicament she had been in tonight. Once she received the trailer, she immediately went offline.
She watched that three-minute trailer from beginning to end four or five times.
And the darn thing about it was, she was devastated by the angst and actually ended up crying for a long time after.
Just as she was nonstop tugging tissues out of the box, a text message came in on her phone. Her heart gave a leap. Roughly able to guess whom it was from, she picked up her phone, her heart in a flurry. Sure enough, it was Yi Wenze. Asleep yet?
She straightaway tapped the b.u.t.ton to call him back, but then at once hung up again. Oh no. She had just cried. Her voice must sound awful…
Very soon, there was an incoming call. She gave a couple of coughs with all her might, trying to make her voice sound normal again before picking up. a.s.suming a relaxed tone, she spoke first. ”How did you know I'm not asleep yet?”
On his end, he seemed to take a drink of water before leisurely answering, ”I'm very familiar with your daily schedule already.”
The sounds of Xiao Yu's shower echoed in from outside. Rather guiltily, as if she was nervous she would be found out doing something forbidden, Jia He stepped to the side of the window and gazed down at the road on which cars were still coming and going. Her fingers unthinkingly drew random scribbles on the gla.s.s. ”How come you're not sleeping yet?”
He chuckled. ”I was waiting for your call.”
She gave an ”oh,” suddenly not knowing what to say.
Normally when she was on the phone, she would simply talk casually about whatever she saw or anything that came to mind. But when talking to him, what should she say? … While she wrestled with this question, Yi Wenze all of a sudden asked, ”Did you cry just now?”
”… Mm-hmm.”
”What's wrong?”
She could only be honest. ”I just watched the trailer. Cried from all the agony and angst.”
There was quiet for a moment on his side. Then, with mirth in his voice, he said, ”Next time, write something that's a little happier.”
Hearing his laughter, her heart dropped and she tentatively probed, ”You find it too sad, too?”
”It's all right.”
”What did you feel when you watched the trailer?”
His tone nonchalant, he a.n.a.lyzed, ”There are no domestic dramas of late that are sad and tragic. If the marketing and publicity are done well, reception for it should be quite good.”
Jia He was silent. Why was his answer so… official-sounding? ”What I mean is, weren't you touched?”
He seemed to mull this over with seriousness. ”Not bad. As long as the ending is good, that's good enough.”
She was not certain why but she somehow felt as if she had taken a blow.
”I cried for a long time when I saw you and Liao Jing, you know, that.”
What she wanted to say was ”that kiss scene between you and Liao Jing,” but when the words came to her lips, she felt awkward and also a teensy bit of discomfort in her heart, so she did not let them come out. Yi Wenze's kiss scenes used to be what she most loved to watch… For any film of his that had a kiss scene, she was able to immediately find the exact time at which it occurred. Sure enough, now that her status had changed, she was starting to mind.
He suddenly told her, ”Kiss scenes are simply necessary for the portrayal of the roles and story. You don't really need to mind.”
Jia He's face grew hot. He had actually caught the undertone of her words. She was a screenwriter. She had seen so much of this, but here she actually needed someone to straighten out her thinking. She must seem so petty.
Before she could come up with some words to respond, over on his end of the call, someone was already sn.i.g.g.e.ring. ”Hey, Harmonious Family Prospers, I'll teach you a method. From now on, every time he does a kiss scene, you have him make up for it at home. If another person gets one kiss, you go and get yourself a hundred kisses. You'll definitely become desensitized in the end.”
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