DP Chapter 42
by VolareThe Valentine’s Day gift Xiang Yiye sent could also be considered a set of models, but unlike physical models that can be held and played with, 3D models need to be opened and viewed on electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones. However, they also have some advantages, such as the scene in which the model is located can be expanded, it’s convenient to modify things later, and it can also be dynamic.
Xiang Yiye was assisted by a classmate studying sculpture, who referenced Greek mythology and set the 3D model’s scene as the chaotic primordial world before the birth of the gods.
Initially, the scene was set at dawn, with a solitary island surrounded by reefs standing in the black ocean. Xu Chuo’s painting was hung on the cliff face inside the island, welcoming the sunrise and sunset amidst the surrounding churning seawater.
When the initial version was made, Xiang Yiye felt the tone was too heavy. The classmate who was helping suggested adding some elements like plants. After thinking about it, he added a tree symbolizing vitality, a lush camellia, between the cliffs, its flowers and leaves swaying in the breeze.
Xu Chuo’s comment was: “This is the most hardcore gift I’ve ever received.”
But Xiang Yiye was still not very satisfied: “There wasn’t enough time, I could only make a display area of this size.”
In the future, he wanted to continue expanding it, making it a real online exhibition hall where he could hang many paintings.
After receiving it, Xu Chuo spent the whole morning tinkering with it, converting the 3D scene’s format, and giving his laptop, desktop, mobile phone, and tablet wallpapers a unified refresh.
When he looked up at the computer screen, he could see that tree of red camellias that would never wither.
After Valentine’s Day, Xiang Yiye began to prepare for Xu Chuo’s birthday present.
Xu Chuo’s birthday is in November, with three months to go. He thought that since Xu Chuo didn’t lack anything, he should put more thought into the uniqueness of the gift, preferably something that could carry a bit of memory exclusive to the two of them.
After thinking it over, Xiang Yiye decided to hand-copy a copy of “The Little Prince” for Xu Chuo, using a French font that was closer to the original book’s style.
Learning French now would be too late, and not really necessary. If it was just copying, understanding the meaning of the words and grammar wasn’t necessary.
He had seen Gu Wenyu write calligraphy before, and had also admired those incomprehensible cursive scripts in Gu Wenyu’s study, which made him know that writing itself had warmth.
Xiang Yiye bought several French calligraphy practice books, starting with individual letters, copying them one by one.
There are 26 French letters, and if you don’t particularly pursue fancy fonts, the writing style is not much different from English letters, but there will be some more diacritical marks, which he understood as the tones of Chinese Pinyin.
In early September, the temperature remained high, with a perceived temperature approaching 43 degrees Celsius. People would be cooked after spending half an hour outdoors. The crew adjusted the proportion of night scenes to avoid the hottest afternoons as much as possible.
This day, after finishing work during the day, Xiang Yiye spent half an hour filling out a bunch of application forms in the afternoon and sent them to Wu Yiyue, asking him to take them to the college to get them stamped.
Their college has a flexible system, where internship experience or international courses can be used to offset credits. In the first semester of their junior year, there are fewer classes, and some students who want to accumulate internship experience to enrich their resumes, or who want to take fewer elective courses, will apply for off-campus internships in this semester.
In the evening, as the sun set, Xiang Yiye and Xiao Zhou went out of the hotel for dinner, and also invited Tao Mujia.
Xiang Yiye planned to ask Tao Mujia about his intentions at the dinner table. There are too many people in the filming set, and it’s not good to openly poach people.
Tao Mujia was a little surprised and asked, “Brother Xiang, can I ask why? Are you and Sister Xiao Zhou always helping me on set because my voice sounds like your friend?”
“At first, it was indeed because of this,” Xiang Yiye said, “But not later. When filming wraps up in October, I will indeed need an assistant here, and you happen to be looking for a job. There’s nothing else, don’t worry.”
No one wants to be someone else’s shadow. Xiang Yiye thought that Tao Mujia cared about this, but Tao Mujia explained: “It’s not that… Brother Xiang, I just want to confirm what use I am to you, otherwise I wouldn’t dare to accept…”
“There’s another reason,” Xiang Yiye said, “I think you’re very reliable, and we get along very easily… so, are you willing to work with me?”
“I’d be happy to! Thank you, Brother Xiang…”
“Remember to tell Xiao Ya when you get back, otherwise there will be another argument.” Xiao Zhou said.
“She definitely won’t mind.” Tao Mujia said, smiling to reveal a set of white teeth.
Xiang Yiye also smiled, and saw the message floating on his phone screen.
Xu Chuo: “Just got off the plane, where are you?”
Xiang Yiye sent a location: “Haven’t eaten yet, want to come join us? Xiao Zhou is here too, and Xiao Tao.”
Xu Chuo replied with an “okay,” arrived across from the restaurant, didn’t go in, and sat in the car waiting.
More than half an hour later, he saw Xiang Yiye just walking out, and then being stopped by Xiao Zhou behind him.
At this time, night had fallen, and the night market on the square had opened up, with all kinds of snacks, a dazzling array of glittering handmade jewelry, and strings of colorful lights hanging on the stalls.
“It’s so lively,” Xiao Zhou looked around, “Xiang Yiye, don’t move, I’ll take a few pictures for you, your Weibo hasn’t been updated in a long time.”
Hearing this, Xiang Yiye stopped, smoothed out the uneven parts of his T-shirt, raised and lowered a V-sign, a picture of well-behavedness.
Xiao Zhou laughed: “I’ve got the candid shots, you can wander around. Xiao Tao, shine a flashlight so I can see.”
Through the car window, Xu Chuo saw the night wind passing by Xiang Yiye’s side, kissing his forehead, like passing through lush trees, messing up the hair on his forehead.
The ends of his hair fluttered, as if the branches and leaves were rustling and growing against the wind, making people want to turn into a bird and rest peacefully on it.
That was his Xiao Ye, also a rare treasure that was being discovered by more and more people, Xu Chuo thought.
While Xiang Yiye was taking pictures, he ran into an internet celebrity blogger who was doing a live broadcast with a tripod, and repeatedly called him “handsome guy” and “handsome guy”, wanting to pull him over for an interaction.
He still had to rush back to the set later, and Xiao Zhou went over to negotiate as soon as possible, which seemed like it wouldn’t end anytime soon.
Xu Chuo took out his phone and made a call to He Jingming: “Hello, Sister He, this is Xiao Xu.”
He Jingming: “Oh, President Xu, what’s the matter?”
Xu Chuo: “Sister He, I won’t beat around the bush, I went to the set to see Xiao Ye a few times last month, and I always feel that he only has Xiao Zhou as an assistant, which doesn’t seem enough.”
He Jingming: “Oh, Xiao Xiang mentioned this to me a few days ago, he wanted to recruit someone he knew to be an assistant, I think there’s no problem.”
Xu Chuo: “I know that. But I remember that Xinghui also has some requirements for assistant work, isn’t it too risky to directly use acquaintances? After all, Xinghui is also full of talents.”
He Jingming pondered the implication: “That makes sense. Okay, President Xu, I’ll discuss it with Xiao Xiang again.”
Xu Chuo glanced at Tao Mujia, and sent a message to Yunhua’s secretary: “Check out this person Tao Mujia, he should be a local of City Z, and has a twin sister who is in college.”
After doing this, Xu Chuo saw Xiang Yiye approaching, and had the driver honk the horn to attract his attention.
A few days later, Xiang Yiye received a message from He Jingming, saying that Xinghui had a rule that artists should use assistants recruited by the company.
He Jingming certainly didn’t say it was Xu Chuo’s intention, otherwise she wouldn’t have called him separately to say it.
Xiang Yiye looked through the company’s various rules and regulations, said that he didn’t find any relevant regulations, and used other Xinghui artists as examples to show that his request to employ acquaintances was reasonable.
In fact, He Jingming could also use reasons such as the company’s assistants being better able to manage artists, but she said it was okay before, and now she changed her mind and said it wasn’t okay, and Xiang Yiye couldn’t figure it out.
He Jingming shouted in her heart for the evil capitalists who wanted to engage in hegemonic dictatorship, and was afraid of hurting feelings, so she became an outsider caught in the middle, in a dilemma.
Later, He Jingming simply gave up, let Xiang Yiye use whoever he wanted, and then pick one for him from the company’s assistants.
Since Xu Chuo said Xiang Yiye had few assistants, then let’s have a few more. Now there are both public and private ones, so no one can compete.
The salary, benefits, and working hours were almost finalized, and Tao Mujia could officially start work around the end of October.
But in mid-September, Tao Mujia brought a box of seasonal fruits and apologized to Xiang Yiye, saying that he might not be able to come.
“Do you have any other ideas? Don’t be embarrassed, you can say anything.” Xiang Yiye said.
“It’s not like that, Brother Xiang, I also really want to work with you, but…” Tao Mujia stammered for a while, and said: “I have other arrangements, I’m really sorry…”
Xiao Zhou asked him what arrangements he had, and he hesitated for a long time, only saying that he had found a job in another place with a high salary.
People want to go to higher places, Xiang Yiye felt regret, but it wasn’t good to force him to stay.
The summer heat finally showed signs of weakening every morning and evening. When work started, Xiang Yiye was filming action scenes in the green screen shed, flying around with wires. After finishing work, he returned to the hotel to memorize lines and copy books.
He had practiced French letters for more than a month and was already proficient, and had also developed a connected script with his own style, so he could start copying books.
“The Little Prince” has a total of 28 chapters, including the preface. Copying at least one chapter a day would take less than a month, more than enough to finish before Xu Chuo’s birthday.
He converted the number of words into the number of pages, selected a few hardcover books that were just the right size and suitable for collection, bought a fountain pen that showed the strokes, and started copying.
Sometimes, when he saw a somewhat familiar word in the vast French text, Xiang Yiye would also flip through the Chinese and English versions, locate the sentence, and guess the meaning of other words around it.
That process of inferring another unfamiliar language by comparing it to a familiar language was also like exploring another person’s heart.
After discarding two notebooks one after another, he finally copied smoothly all the way, and when he wrote the last sentence, his scenes were also about to wrap up.
After filming the last scene, dealing with a few dinner parties, on the day he was about to return to City S, Xiao Zhou said to Xiang Yiye that Xiao Tao’s sister wanted to see him.
In the hotel room, the door was open, and the cleaning lady pushed a half-cart of towels through the corridor, peering inside.
Xiao Zhou closed the suitcase and asked Tao Muya: “Today is a work day, you didn’t skip class to come, did you?”
“No, no, my class today is in the evening.” Tao Muya said, putting down what she was holding.
Xiang Yiye looked at the large bag of fruit, thinking that twins really had a telepathic connection, and said: “You don’t have to be polite, Xiao Ya, I’m leaving City Z this afternoon, I might not be able to take these with me, take them back. Did you come alone, where’s your brother?”
“My brother… he’s probably at home packing his luggage right now.” Tao Muya said.
“He’s leaving too, is he? Where does your brother work, is it far from home?” Xiao Zhou said.
“Don’t you know, Sister Xiao Zhou,” Tao Muya said, “My brother is going to Tibet to drive long distances.”
Xiang Yiye and Xiao Zhou were both stunned, and Xiao Zhou said: “Your brother didn’t say anything, that’s a bit far…”
“Brother Yiye, I came to you today because of this.” Tao Muya said, “Thank you very much for caring about my brother’s affairs, but the job you offered him, he may not be able to do it…”
Xiang Yiye was confused, thinking that Tao Mujia had already refused once last month, hadn’t he?