DP Chapter 35
by VolareLin Xiao’s emotions came and went quickly, and she soon regained her composure and began sharing her experiences with Xiang Yiye.
First, she talked about work. Lin Xiao discussed the production team of “Si Yan Hua” with Xiang Yiye, mentioning the replacement female lead, Tang Shuqin from Minghua Stage. Xiang Yiye’s main scenes would be with her.
“I’ve acted with Tang Shuqin once,” Lin Xiao said. “How should I put it? She has some connections, but she’s not easy to get along with.”
Tang Shuqin had a pretty positive reputation in all aspects and a distinct personal style, different from the popular sweet girl image. She was the cold and glamorous beauty type, usually projecting a sense of ease and disdaining to participate in disputes. Playing the female lead with some villainous traits in “Si Yan Hua” could be considered in line with her persona.
But that was mostly bought publicity, for uninformed fans or audiences. People in the industry knew a bit of the truth. Tang Shuqin was a bit of a diva. In many dramas, she directly brought her own stylists into the team and didn’t cooperate well with the production.
“Her studio is even more formidable,” Lin Xiao said. “They’ve personally stepped in to fight for billing and stir up trouble, and their fans followed suit, causing a lot of tension with the other actors.”
Billing order was related to the order of the actors in the drama, which could be seen from the order of the actors’ names in the opening and ending credits and promotional posters. The one listed first was the lead.
There was a reason for fighting over this. Everyone knew the best in the world, but few people asked who was second. In a society that valued relationships, even meals required attention to the main table and seat.
In recent years, billing order had slowly become one of the focuses of contention among actors’ fans. Some producers even promised to give certain actors the absolute lead position when signing contracts.
Xiang Yiye understood all this, but he wasn’t too worried, saying, “There’s no need to fight. Based on seniority and work alone, Tang Shuqin should be the lead.”
He felt that, given the current situation in China, the lead billing was mainly to highlight the actor’s personal status. The successful completion of the entire drama still depended on the concerted efforts of the entire team. He just needed to play his role well.
Lin Xiao: “I’m just afraid you’ll be bullied when you join the team.”
Xiang Yiye smiled without saying anything.
“I’m not worried. Tang Shuqin has people behind her, and you have your Xu Chuo brother behind you…” Lin Xiao said in a pinched voice, “He’s a little useful, just that his ‘shelf life’ is a bit short.”
After saying that, she adopted a sincere tone: “Xiao Yiye, don’t blame me for being blunt. With Xu Chuo, feel a little less emotion if you can, and use him a little more if you can. Don’t be shy.”
Xiang Yiye paused, then laughed. “Manager Hu said the same thing.”
He had previously worried that being in a relationship wouldn’t be allowed, but in Manager Hu’s eyes, he and Xu Chuo couldn’t even be considered in a relationship. Maybe she had seen too much of this kind of thing. When she was finding endorsements for Xiang Yiye a few days ago, she directly said, “You can ask if Young Master Xu has anything better on his side.”
Lin Xiao counted the time on her fingers, saying, “Let me calculate the time for you. He and Han Fangyan met last year… in September, right? They broke up in December, so it only lasted three months. I really haven’t counted the longest…”
Xiang Yiye wanted to say that he had counted, he had counted on the night of their reunion, the longest was six months. Then he couldn’t help but calculate, starting from mid-April half a month ago, counting through May, June, July, August, and September. October was just around the corner. It turned out that half a year was so short.
He looked towards the kitchen. Xu Chuo happened to come out, casually holding a cigarette in his mouth. Seeing that his expression wasn’t good, he winked at him to tease him.
Mid-May, on the D University campus, the atmosphere of summer was already evident. After the last class on Friday morning, Xiang Yiye sat in his usual seat, watching the others gradually leave the classroom.
Wu Yiyue asked him to eat together, but Xiang Yiye said he was waiting for someone and told him to go ahead.
“Okay, remember to eat more,” Wu Yiyue instructed. “Three o’clock this afternoon, at the Third Sports Field, court number 4.”
Xiang Yiye responded and walked to the door to look outside. Xu Chuo said he would come upstairs to find him and told him to wait in the classroom, but the people in the corridor were hurrying past, and there was no sign of Xu Chuo.
Confused, he turned around and saw someone sitting by the back door. Xu Chuo was resting his cheek on his hand, looking at him with a smile.
Xiang Yiye walked back to his seat to get his things. “When did you come? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Probably…” Xu Chuo raised his hand to check his watch, “An hour and thirty-seven minutes ago. I wanted to tell you as soon as I arrived, but I was afraid of disturbing your class. And your teacher’s lecture was so hypnotic that I fell asleep after sitting for a while. It felt like I was back in high school for the morning session.”
Xiang Yiye walked over and saw that Xu Chuo’s style of dress was very different today.
Xu Chuo liked colors, but only in his art. He usually wore basic colors, focusing on the cut and material of his clothes. Shirts, knitwear, and suit jackets were common on him, but today he was wearing a navy blue and pure white baseball jacket, giving off a casual, street style vibe.
Noticing Xiang Yiye’s gaze, Xu Chuo asked, “Is it strange?”
“No, it’s not strange,” Xiang Yiye looked him up and down several times. “You look like my classmate.”
Xu Chuo laughed. “That’s the effect I was going for. After listening to you talk about your high school days, I thought, if I could be in the same class as you, I would definitely sit in front of or behind you and draw little caricatures of you every day, and throw paper balls at you during class.”
Unfortunately, they were four years apart and couldn’t be in the same classroom.
Xiang Yiye: “Then I would annoy you by explaining math problems every day.”
“I couldn’t ask for anything more.” Xu Chuo moved closer to Xiang Yiye. “Call me ‘senior’ and I’ll listen?”
“Don’t be silly.” Xiang Yiye turned his head slightly and saw a sketch lying on the desk, a quick sketch of a person in ballpoint pen, drawing his back when he was listening to the lecture.
He was about to pick it up when Xu Chuo touched the paper with his fingertip, saying, “Want it? Call me ‘senior’ and I’ll give it to you. You can call me ‘junior’ too, whatever you want.”
Xiang Yiye looked at the empty classroom and called out, not loudly, but definitely clear.
Xu Chuo glanced at the surveillance camera in front, resisted the urge to kiss him, then rolled up the sketch and put it away, saying, “Just call me that today, anyway, no one can tell which school I’m from.”
Xiang Yiye: “…” Taking an inch after being given a foot.
At Xu Chuo’s suggestion, they had lunch in the cafeteria. Xiang Yiye took him to D University’s faculty and staff cafeteria, which had better food, hygiene, and environment than the regular cafeteria, and students could also eat there.
If he didn’t have to consider controlling his diet, Xiang Yiye preferred home-style dishes and whole grains. He only ate hot pot and barbecue with friends. He didn’t have any obvious dietary restrictions, but he usually ate only a few dishes and rarely tried new things.
Xu Chuo wasn’t picky, and he was willing to try foods he hadn’t eaten before. But Xiang Yiye could still see some of his food preferences from their interactions, such as that he didn’t eat internal organs, cilantro, or onions, probably because he thought they had a strong taste.
After eating, they strolled under the trees. Besides not being able to hold hands openly in the sunlight, Xiang Yiye felt that they were no different from ordinary campus couples.
Sunlight filtered through the branches, and dappled shadows flowed incessantly at their feet. Xu Chuo said, “Now is the best time.”
Xiang Yiye saw the pink butterflies fluttering between the flower beds and thought he was talking about the season, but Xu Chuo continued, “You will always become famous. At that time, you won’t be able to stroll around so freely.”
Becoming famous, a goal that still seemed a bit distant now. And would they still be together then? Xiang Yiye didn’t want to spoil the mood.
Walking to the south gate of D University, Xu Chuo went back to the car to get his camera, saying that he wanted to capture the most exciting moments on the basketball court for him.
At 2:30 p.m., Xiang Yiye arrived at the Third Sports Field, took off his coat, and went onto the court to warm up by shooting hoops.
Soon the referee and scorekeeper also arrived, the spectators gradually gathered, and banners cheering for both sides were raised.
The sun was shining brightly, hitting the red, green, and blue silicon PU surface. The sounds of people were interspersed with the sound of sneakers rubbing against the ground. Everywhere you looked, there was the breath of youth.
Xu Chuo stood outside the crowd, a little far away. He hadn’t participated in many sports activities in college, and the scene in front of him always reminded him of high school.
He had also played basketball for a while in the first year of high school, but he was always hit by the ball. At first, he was only hit on the court, but later he would be hit even when he was passing by. Then he gave up.
Many people missed the youthful years of high school, but Xu Chuo didn’t like his high school years.
Xie Zhimin went abroad to study after graduating from high school. Xu Chuo went up to the second year of high school, and the people around him didn’t avoid him as much, but they couldn’t really get close. Instead, there was a polite distance, and if you paid attention, you might even detect a little pity.
It was at that time that Xu Chuo clearly experienced the feeling of being a marginal person in a group, but he didn’t hide in a corner and disappear. Instead, he often stepped forward to show himself.
He could draw, so he volunteered to be responsible for the class’s blackboard newspaper work. He could play the violin, so he shined at the New Year’s Eve party. He was good at socializing, so he was responsible for communicating with all parties in the organization of the cultural festival.
It seemed like an accelerated evolution. He learned to protect himself in this way and gradually became popular.
Everyone thought he was moving forward, but only he understood that he couldn’t really fit in.
Before he even turned twenty, Xu Chuo felt that he was already old.
But from Xiang Yiye, he learned what a normal, healthy high school student should be like, and he regained his desire and longing for youth.
A gentle breeze blew the basketball jersey on Xiang Yiye. Xu Chuo looked at him, took a few steps closer to the sideline of the court, and raised his camera to frame the shot.