On the last day of August, Qi Cong was shooting the first acting scene in his life. On the same day, the premiere of “Heaven Asked?”was successfully held in Beishi.

At 12:30 in the afternoon, Qi Cong, who had just finished eating lunch, walked to the hotel parking lot with his script. Xiao Han drove the car to pick him up and opened the back seat door.

“Brother Cong!” Shen Jia, who was still in costume, peeked inside the car and excitedly waved at Qi Cong. “Come out, I brought you a cheat sheet.”

A cheat sheet?

Qi Cong closed the car door and looked sideways at Shen Jia asking, “Why are you back? Did you have lunch?”

“Yes. My next scene doesn’t start until 1:30, so I had nothing to do at noon anyway. After informing Brother Zhao and the director I came to pick you up.”

Shen Jia answered while pulling out a long strip of paper from the sleeve of his costume, shaking it open and shoving it in front of Qi Cong. “This is the part of the plot meeting I had with the chief scriptwriter this morning. It’s a record of their conversation about You Chengqing. See if it will be of any use. Anyway, don’t get nervous. If you can brazenly go out of your way, you can act well.”

Who was nervous?

Qi Cong looked at Shen Jia with an obviously nervous expression, reached for the note and carefully looked at the scattered record, then he said toward Shen Jia, “This is very useful, thank you Jia Jia.”

“There’s nothing to thank me for.” Shen Jia waved his hand and suddenly approached Qi Cong. Looking back and forth, he finally looked satisfied and withdrew his hand as he sat back at his seat. He was obviously relieved. “Fortunately, there are no dark circles under your eyes. I was afraid that you wouldn’t be able to sleep well last night  because you were nervous, so you would go to the set today with dark circles under your eyes. By the way, give me your hand.”

Shen Jia pulled Qi Cong’s hand to look at it as he chattered, “You have a close-up of your hand in the scene today. I dreamed yesterday that your hand was bitten by mosquitoes and you weren’t able to film the scene. Director Wang was very angry and scolded you. I wanted to buy you medicine but…”

Qi Cong grabbed Shen Jia’s hand and said soothingly, “Jia Jia, I will act well. You said that you shared half of your luck with me.”

Shen Jia stopped mumbling and glanced at Qi Cong.

Qi Cong smiled at him. “Don’t worry, this time will really be a new beginning.”

Shen Jia pursed his lips and suddenly collapsed back into his seat like a balloon that lost all its air. After a few seconds of paralysis he sat up. His tone finally returned to normal and no longer seemed overly nervous as he asked Qi Cong, “Brother Cong, have you told Gu Xun that you will officially start filming today?”

Qi Cong paused for a moment and shook his head. “No, I lied to him and said it was tomorrow night.”

Shen Jia was confused. “Ah? Why did you lie to him about this? “

“The premiere of “Heaven Asked?” starts at two o’clock in the afternoon and ends around five o’clock. After that, the main members of the cast and creators will most likely have a get together privately about the movie release,” he replied. “I was afraid that if I told the truth, Gu Xun would leave early and rush back. Gu Xun lost a lot of fans because he spoke up for me, so I don’t want to affect him any more.”

It really would be like Gu Xun to leave his work early and hurry back. Shen Jia  thought of the ups and downs on the Internet these days, glanced at Qi Cong and decided to end this topic. Then he began to show Qi Cong filming position tips.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to arrive on the set. Zhao Zhenxun came to pick up the two of them and then Shen Jia went to shoot his own scenes while Qi Cong went over his script and stayed in the rest area. He also sat and waited for his make-up and hair to be done.

His phone suddenly vibrated and a message came in.

Qi Cong put down the script to look at the phone placed at his side. Seeing on the alert bar that there was a message from Gu Xun, he quickly picked up his phone and looked at the message.

Gu Xun: My friend came to the premiere to support me and brought me a box of pastries. They taste good so I asked about the place. Next time I will take you there to eat them.

Following the message was a photo of pastries.

Qi Cong clicked on the photo, his eyes briefly admiring the beautifully made pastries, and then settled on the slender fingers holding the edge of the pastry box.

It was Gu Xun’s hand which was still wearing the red garnet ring that Gu Xun wore when they first reunited.

Gu Xun seemed to like that ring a lot.

Qi Cong enlarged the photo to take a closer look at the shape of the ring, then shrunk it as he saw several more messages come in from Gu Xun.

Gu Xun: He’s a friend from outside the circle. He’s married.

Gu Xun: When l have an opportunity, I will introduce you.

Gu Xun: Busy?

Gu Xun: Still having lunch?

Gu Xun: Are you free this evening? I want to talk to you about the script. [cute].

Qi Cong was stunned at first by Gu Xun’s remark that ‘He’s a friend from outside the circle. He’s married.” Then he realized that Gu Xun was explaining the identity of his friend who delivered the pastries, and felt a bit stunned. Then he was surprised by Gu Xun’s last question.

It seems the old saying was true, one lie needed to be rounded out with countless more lies.

Qi Cong grip of his mobile phone tightened  as he decided what to type back.

Qi Cong: I just finished my meal. I have an acting class in the evening. Can we talk about the script tomorrow?

Qi Cong: The pastries look delicious.

Qi Cong: Is the premiere about to begin?

Gu Xun made a video call directly.

Qi Cong, who was in the middle of typing, was so frightened that his heart almost stopped. He looked around, hesitated, but still didn’t want to reject the call. He picked up his stool and moved it to the corner beside a shelf before answering the call, and sitting with his back against the shelf.

Gu Xun’s face appeared on the screen. He was dressed in a semi-casual dark red suit with a black shirt and no tie. His shirt collar was open to reveal a long slender neck and Adam’s apple and his hair was combed back making him look very sexy and handsome.

“Cong.” He spoke, his eyebrows slightly knitted, “Why do you have classes at night? Did Zhao Zhenxun arrange this for you? Tomorrow you begin filming, you should rest early today.”

Qi Cong moved his gaze to look at the hand holding his phone and explained, “I asked Zhao to add the class tonight. I want to review what I learned last week and consolidate it.”

Gu Xun on the opposite side of the video call suddenly narrowed his eyes and looked at him without speaking.

Qi Cong noticed and suddenly became nervous in his heart. No longer able to control his eyes, he shifted his gaze somewhere else, changed the topic and asked, “Is the premiere about to start?”

“….hmm.” The screen moved and Gu Xun changed his sitting position so he was now closer to the camera. His expression resumed his usual expression when he was in front of Qi Cong and said, “It’s about to start. Cong, will you watch the premiere live?”

He seemed to be fooled.

Qi Cong relaxed, looked back at Gu Xun’s face and replied with a nod. “If I have nothing to do, I will.”

Gu Xun smiled and said, “I hope live camerawork will make me look better. Are you on the set now? Why didn’t you stay at the hotel for class?”

Qi Cong’s eyes couldn’t help but drift to the side again as he replied, “Yes, I’m on set. The vocal teacher had to take a leave of absence so I have no classes in the afternoon and since the crew wanted to ask me something I came over.”

“Hmm.” Then suddenly changing the topic again he said, “By the way, I suddenly remembered yesterday a detail that I had overlooked before. Your character has problems  walking, right?”

Qi Cong, who was distracted, nodded. “Yes, there is something wrong with You Changqing’s leg.”

“Then based on that, I think that in addition to hating his father and brother when he was dying at the end, You Changqing should also hate himself.”

This idea was so novel that Qi Cong immediately got caught up in it. He picked up the script on his leg, flipped through it, then looked up at the phone screen and confirmed, “He hated himself a lot?”

“Mm-hmm.” Gu Xun looked at Qi Cong, who looked very serious on the other side of the video call and moved his cell phone to wave to his good friend Ding Desi, who had been hung out to dry on the side. He got up and walked to a quiet corner, explaining, “You Changqing is a character with complex emotions.”

Ding Desi was tidying up his hair and clothes and looked at Gu Xun’s back in disbelief. Then he turned to look at Kevin sitting on the other side and asked, “Isn’t he going to introduce me to his boyfriend? Why did he leave? I even combed my hair.”

Kevin, who could never understand Gu Xun’s mind, just shrugged his shoulders.

Ding Desi’s expression collapsed as he looked at Gu Xun. He had already walked behind the partition, and so he rolled his eyes. “Horny bastard.”

 

……

 

The video call between Qi Cong and Gu Xun lasted for more than half an hour. Qi Cong was very engaged in listening to Gu Xun’s analysis and only realized that the movie premiere was about to begin when he saw Kevin appear at Gu Xun’s side, calling him away.

He looked at the time and saw that it was almost 1:40. Frowning, he said to Gu Xun, “Sorry to have delayed you so long. You should go get ready.”

Gu Xun also looked at the time, after which he smiled at Qi Cong and said, “I’m going then, I’ll contact you when I’m done.”

“Good.”

On the screen, Gu Xun began to move closer to the phone, as if to turn off the call. Qi Cong just looked at Gu Xun and waited for him to hang up the phone. As a result, Gu Xun came closer  and then said, “Cong.”

Qi Cong became puzzled and replied, “What’s the matter?”

“Don’t be nervous when you are filming. Cheer up.”

Gu Xun’s face disappeared and the call ended.

Qi Cong froze for a moment, then his heart uncontrollably thumped.

What Gu Xun said just now… Did Gu Xun find out that he lied?

As soon as the mobile phone shook, another message came in.

Gu Xun: I will go back tomorrow to accompany you.

Qi Cong nerves that were tensed up instantly relaxed.

It seemed that he didn’t find out.

He picked up his phone and looked at what he had just written down in his notebook when he was discussing the plot with Gu Xun. His fingers slipped on his phone and he typed.

Qi Cong: I’m waiting for you to come back.

Qi Cong: Good luck with the box office.

 

……

 

At 2 pm, the premiere of “Heaven Asked?” officially began. At the same time, the cast and crew of “Legend of Youth” found Qi Cong and told him to go get his makeup done to prepare for the filming in the evening.

Qi Cong was surprised.  His scene didn’t start filming until 7:30 p.m. Even if the ancient costume makeup was complicated and needed to be done in advance, it shouldn’t be done so far in advance.

The staff explained, “Tonight there is a group scene so a lot of makeup and hair need to be done. The coordinator said that while we’re not particularly busy, we should first finish the makeup and hair of the actors who have already arrived.”

So that how it was.

Qi Cong looked at the just-opened live broadcast page on his phone, dimmed the screen and looked over at Shen Jia, who was filming not far away. After saying hello to Xiao Han, he walked towards the crew’s dressing room together with him. They were also accompanied by Yuan Yuan and Jiang Meng.

Sitting in the dressing room and waiting for Jiang Meng to bring his costume, Qi Cong picked up his cellphone and re-entered the live broadcast page of the premiere of “Heaven Asked?” all the while avoiding the comings and goings of the staff.

The premiere had just started not long before, so all the main actors were walking the red carpet. Qi Cong opened the live broadcast window just when he saw intensive flashing lights. Gu Xun, wearing a dark red suit, stepped alone onto the red carpet.

 

Edited by: Antiope1

 

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