The light in the screening room was bright and uncertain as the movie screen changed under the magnificent twists and turns of the story. Qi Cong sat comfortably in the center of the seating area and maintained the posture of holding the cake as he seriously looked at the screen without moving.

On the monitor in the surveillance room, Gu Xun also maintained the posture of leaning on the edge of the table looking at the monitoring screen, not moving for a long time.

Time passed quietly.

When the cast and crew list rolled on the big screen again, Qi Cong moved. He let go of the cake on his lap, picked up half a cup of wine on the small table that he hadn’t touched and gently touched the empty cup left by Gu Xun, after which he drank the wine in one go.

Gu Xun’s expression changed and he stood up. He restrained himself and with a low curse, he took out his phone to call Kevin. After the call was connected he said, “Go and order dinner. Hurry up. Remember to remove the wine when you deliver the meal. He will have to take a taxi home later so he can’t drink too much.”

After making the phone call, Gu Xun looked back at the monitoring screen.

At this time, Qi Cong had put down his wine glass and returned to the posture of holding the cake and watching the movie on the big screen.

Gu Xun watched Qi Cong become more and more thin in the dim light. His anger gradually faded and was replaced by some painful and stuffy emotions. He said bitterly, “Qi Cong, no matter what the reason is, please get better soon. I’ll give you time to get better.”

…..

“West” was a film about domestic violence, with a total duration of 134 minutes. Gu Xun played a murderer who has been abused since childhood.

This was also Gu Xun’s first movie. Gu Xun acted in this movie after leaving Haicheng wounded and traumatized.

The murderer in the movie was pitiful and hateful, terrible and sorrowful, thin and haggard, with no resemblance to the real Gu Xun except for his physical appearance. Yet at certain moments, Qi Cong saw a trace of familiarity in this murderer.

On the screen, the murderer unleashed his inner demons in the dead of night. Throwing away his daytime timidity and cowardice, he looked expressionlessly into the mirror and asked, “Why do you never look at me directly, am I not human?”

Light and shadow blurred and overtook his expression. When Qi Cong looked at the screen he  suddenly remembered part of the memory of the “kidnapping” where Gu Xun pressed “him” on the shoulder and asked “him” if he would look at him when Jiang Zhaoyan died.

Similarly, the pain and collapse hidden under the expressionless face were the same.

Qi Cong’s expression remained unchanged, but his hands holding the cake slowly tightened.

Sorry.

It won’t happen again. I’m sorry.

After “West” was over, Kevin asked the cinema staff to send in the dinner. Gu Xun saw Qi Cong on the surveillance screen get up and accept the dinner. His expression looked a little better.

After delivering the meal, the staff spoke to Qi Cong and made a gesture of wanting to collect the wine, but Qi Cong rudely grabbed the hand of the staff member that was reaching for the wine, and retracted his hand, saying something to the staff. After exchanging some words, the staff members left without taking away the wine.

Gu Xun couldn’t help standing up straight when Qi Cong grabbed the worker’s hand. After seeing that the staff didn’t take away the wine, his face turned black. He took out his mobile phone and called Kevin asking, “What’s going on? Why wasn’t the wine taken out?”

Kevin’s voice rang out after a while, replying, “The head of the cinema said that Mr. Qi refused their proposal to exchange the wine for juice and said that he could pay for it if it hadn’t been paid for yet.”

“…”

Gu Xun gritted his teeth. “How could I give him wine that hasn’t been paid for?!”

“The person in charge of the cinema found it a little difficult. They can only politely suggest a replacement of the drinks bought by the guests, but have no right to take it away by force. Unless….”

“Unless what?” 

“Unless the boss allows them to tell Mr. Qi the truth, that you bought the wine and you no longer want him to drink it and want them to take it away.”

“Go prepare something else for him to drink and send it in. Find a way to remove the wine!”

Kevin answered and Gu Xun hung up the phone. Then he looked at the security feed, where Qi Cong didn’t touch the dinner at all and just kept holding the cake as he looked at the big screen. Gu Xun couldn’t help becoming a little angry.

“Just wait for me.” He couldn’t help but say ruthlessly. “Wait until you’re better and see how I clean you up!”

A few minutes later, the theater staff reappeared on the monitoring screen, giving Qi Cong a total of seven drinks including milk, juice, tea and pure water.

Qi Cong seemed a little confused and asked the staff something. After a brief exchange, Qi Cong acquiesced to the staff leaving the drinks. Just when the staff was leaving, he suddenly thought of something and spoke  to the staff.

The workers nodded and turned to leave.

Gu Xun frowned and couldn’t help but call Kevin again.

A few minutes later, Gu Xun’s inner questions were answered when Kevin called back. “Mr. Qi asked when “Character of Edward” would be shown, and asked the staff to send him a small packing box.”

“A packing box?”

“Right.”

Gu Xun looked at the screen where Qi Cong still didn’t touch the dinner and continued to hold the cake looking at the big screen waiting for the next movie to play.

What did he want the packaging box for? Could it be that Qi Cong was going to keep the dinner that was sent in and pack it up to eat at home?

Then he was planning to leave?

Gu Xun once again got angry as he tried to find a way to take Qi Cong to dinner as he had done before. Then he remembered the doctor’s orders to ‘breakup’ for three months and swallowed the idea. He continued to watch as Qi Cong abused his stomach.

“Damn it.” With a low curse, he just wanted to travel back to that afternoon and punch Jiang Zhaoyan several more times.

……

After the staff brought the packing boxes, the movie “Character of Edward” that helped Gu Xun win his first movie star trophy finally started to play.

Qi Cong reigned in his emotions and carefully watched the movie.

Unsurprisingly, in this movie Qi Cong saw another character whose appearance only looked like Gu Xun, but had no trace of him anywhere else.

With the precipitation of the two films, Qi Cong mood calmed down as well. He began to enjoy the movie itself and the process of getting to know another side of Gu Xun a little bit.

Before he knew it, the third movie ended.

It took Qi Cong a while to recover from the emotional storm caused by the movie. He moved his stiff back and legs, recalled the three completely different Gu Xuns in the three films, and looked at the time on the big screen.

It was almost ten o’clock.

His date with Gu Xun was coming to an end.

He looked back at the cake on his lap.

It was finally time to eat the cake.

He moved away from the cake, got up and went outside the screening room to find the staff. Then he walked back and sat down, ignoring the dinner and drinks that the staff had brought earlier. He put the cake back on his leg and lifted his fork.

In the monitoring room, Gu Xun was talking to Kevin on the phone and was stunned for a moment. Kevin’s voice came from the receiver, “Boss, Mr. Qi just came out to ask the cinema staff to play “Heaven Asked?” again.”

On the monitor, Qi Cong lowered his head and forked a mouthful of cake into his mouth, moving carefully, as if he wasn’t eating cake but some priceless delicacy.

The anger that accumulated in Gu Xun’s heart because of Qi Cong’s disobedience for not eating dinner and drinking on an empty stomach all dissipated with Qi Cong’s first mouthful of cake. It was replaced by some sour and soft emotion that nearly prompted him to rush back into the screening hall and hold that person in his hands.

“Show it to him.” Gu Xun looked at Qi Cong, whose profile was too calm after eating a bite of cake, and then crossed the table full of drinks to pour wine. Suddenly he understood what Qi Cong wanted to do.

He tightened his hand and said, “Don’t let the staff in. Let him watch the movie in peace.”

….

The beginning of “Heaven Asked?” appeared on the screen again. Qi Cong hurriedly put the bottle aside, sat down and picked up his fork, like the most ordinary moviegoer as he watched and ate.

Although he had already seen the movie once, Qi Cong still watched it very carefully.

As the movie progressed, Qi Cong was looking at the screen and moving the fork in his hand from time to time. Occasionally he would put down the fork and take a sip from the wine glass.

When the ending credits of “Heaven Asked?” rolled again, there were only two mouthfuls of cake left on Qi Cong’s plate and there wasn’t a drop of wine left in his glass.

He put down his fork and sighed sincerely from the bottom of his heart.

It was nice.

Gu Xun acted really well.

He was sure that Gu Xun, without Qi Cong dragging him down, would sooner or later stand near the top of the film and television industry and look toward the world.

His stomach was so full that it felt like it was going to burst, but Qi Cong felt secure.

He looked down at the two bites of cake left in his lap and carefully finished them, then he picked up the wine bottle to refill his and Gu Xun’s empty cups and gently clinked them.

“I have work tomorrow, so I won’t finish my wine.” He looked at Gu Xun’s glass and smiled very shallowly. “Cheers. I hope you journey to the stars without any harm. Wish me success, too. “

The wine glasses touched with a light sound. Qi Cong drank the wine and then put down the glass. He got up and picked up the packing box sent in by the staff before and took the smallest one from it. Then he put all the decorative chocolate pieces deliberately left one by one when he ate the cake.

There were a lot of chocolates, and it took Qi Cong a few minutes to put them all into the box. After putting them in the box, he put the packing box into his backpack. Seeing the decorative dagger inside, he paused before sipping the backpack on. Then he moved the cake base so he could go out and leave when the cake base suddenly popped open, revealing a small hollow space below.

In the middle of the small space, a cat-shaped USB flash drive was taped.

Qi Cong stopped and he looked back, hurriedly reaching out to pick up the cake base. He removed the USB stick and took it in his hand. Flipping it over he looked at it. After not finding anything, like a written message, he flipped the cake base over again.

Still not finding anything, he only found the small space for the flash drive.

Qi Cong put down the cake base and looked at the USB in his hand.

Was this prepared by Gu Xun?

What could be inside?

Two minutes later, Qi Cong stopped his foolish attempt to find a computer in the cinema to read the USB. He put the flash drive into the inside pocket of his backpack, looked around the couple’s screening room, and left the cake and wine scented room before 12 o’clock.

Qi Cong left the cinema through the front door. When he went down in the elevator, Qi Cong found many workers were tearing down the delicate dome in the square. Flowers and broken balloons were scattered all over the place.

He stopped in his tracks. Walking to the place where most of the flowers and balloons had fallen and squatting down, he picked up a wilted blue rose, touching its petals with his fingers.

Originally it was so beautiful.

This should be the last time he received a rose from Gu Xun.

He squeezed the flower and walked to a trash can on the edge of the square. Pulling open his backpack, he took out the decorative dagger. In his left hand was a flower and in his right hand was sin.

Everything that happened today went through his head like a movie, and he looked up in the direction of the advertising screen of Nanyang cinema.

The poster of “Heaven Asked?” was still hanging there, but the advertising screen no longer played his MV.

After seeing all of Gu Xun’s works, he deeply understood that with Gu Xun’s talent and achievements, his goal of standing on the same level as Gu Xun was almost a pipe dream for him now.

Even so it didn’t matter, he would still try and struggle a little.

As long as it doesn’t affect Gu Xun, even if his road becomes even more lonely and more difficult and without hope, he would still continue on for the sake of his family, friends… and the promise he once made to Gu Xun.

“Goodbye.”

He loosened his grip and let the dagger fall into the dirty and messy trash can.

Bang.

The dagger made a dull sound as it landed in the trash can.

Qi Cong withdrew his hand, and gripped the rose as he looked at the blurred outline of the dagger in the trash can, and said again, “Goodbye.”

Those crazy, bloody thoughts, goodbye.

Whether it was a Taskmaster, a Controller or a Seed, for the rest of his life, no matter what comes, he will be a lot more enlightened.

A taxi stopped nearby and he got into the backseat. The taxi took him away from the fragrance of the flowers in the square.

A few minutes later, a black car stopped at the edge of the square by the garbage can. Gu Xun pushed open the door and got out. Not caring at all about the dirt in the garbage can, he reached in and picked up the dagger inside.

Kevin caught up one step later and asked with a frown, “Boss, why do you have to…?”

“Kevin.” Gu Xun interrupted Kevin and asked, “You said he took this thing with him to see Jiang Zhaoyan. What did he try to do?”

Kevin remembered the scar on Jiang Zhaoyan’s neck and said nothing.

Gu Xun didn’t speak either.  He looked at the dagger for a while and then went back to the car with the dagger as Kevin hurried to keep up.

When the Nanyang Cinema was about to disappear in the rearview mirror, Gu Xun suddenly opened his mouth again and asked, “Why did he take the chocolate with him?”

Kevin glanced back through the rearview mirror, sighed low in his heart and said, “Boss, don’t think about it.”

“Is it because he’s afraid I’ll never buy him chocolates again?” Gu Xun asked himself. It was only after the Nanyang Cinema disappeared from view that he retracted his gaze, leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He hid all the emotions within them and grew completely quiet.

 

Edited by: Antiope1

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