When she woke up the next day, Zhou Ziheng was gone again. Xia Xiqing was lying on the bed wearing pajamas that were a size too big for her.
The whole bed was filled with Zhou Ziheng's scent, which smelled very nice. He glanced at his cell phone and saw that it was already 10:30 in the morning and there were two messages.
[Moral Model: I have to walk the red carpet today, and I probably won’t be back until very late. There’s a bagel sandwich in the fridge for you.]
Xia Xiqing felt that he had accumulated a lot of merit in his previous life to find such a sex partner. After stretching, Xia Xiqing got up and opened the curtains. The sunshine in early May met him head-on, and he felt happy. After opening the curtains, he found that the bedroom window was a large bay window covered with a layer of gray blanket. Xia Xiqing sat down and found that there were many scattered papers on the bay window, with dense notes on them, and piles of information.
These are all Zhou Ziheng's handwriting. Xia Xiqing flipped through them and found that a lot of them were related to AIDS, including notes on pathological medicine such as the early symptoms of AIDS, as well as psychological analysis and research on AIDS patients. The notes were quite detailed, and even the corresponding inner activities and expressions of the characters were written next to those symptoms and psychological manifestations.
So serious. Xia Xiqing couldn't help but feel that compared to those young actors who just casually take roles and shoot movies nowadays, Zhou Ziheng is really a breath of fresh air, with a long acting career, talent, and so hardworking.
With so much information, it seems that he really wants to play this role well.
After picking up his clothes and changing his shoes, Xia Xiqing prepared to go back to his home. Before closing the door, he remembered Zhou Ziheng's WeChat message, so he turned back and took the bagel sandwich that Zhou Ziheng had left for him in the refrigerator. When he closed the refrigerator door, he found that there were a lot of incomprehensible physics formulas on his refrigerator.
A scary science guy.
Xia Xiqing returned to his home to wash and pack. Just after he changed his clothes, he received a call from his former assistant tutor. He thought he was just concerned about his daily life, but he didn't expect that this time he was trying to persuade him to work.
"I think college is suitable for you. The environment here is very relaxed. You can enjoy many resources and create as much as you want."
"Really?" Xia Xiqing smiled politely. "I haven't thought about my future plans yet. I will certainly consider your suggestions carefully."
"Whether you come or not, don't bury your talent."
Talent.
These two words are extremely heavy for Xia Xiqing. When he was studying at the Academy of Fine Arts, he was praised by others for his talent, which is a vague description. He was also criticized by many critics, saying that his works were too dark and suffocating. Some people called it spiritual, and some called it heresy. But no matter what, he could indeed draw things that were discussed by others.
But now. Xia Xiqing knew better than anyone that he had entered a bottleneck period of creation, a period of confusion, and he had no sense of belonging when he started writing. He locked up all his previous paintings and didn't want to see them again. The spark of creation was fading day by day, which made him doubt whether he really had talent. Or was the original inspiration just a nightmare that was constantly overdrawing his own energy
Enduring the pain, he squeezed the black pus out of his heart bit by bit, spread it on the drawing paper, and called it creation.
How could he be so pathetic.
Xia Xiqing closed his eyes and leaned back in the hammock. His cell phone rang again. Thinking that Professor Wang had something else to say, he answered the call without even looking at it. "Teacher..."
"You can call me teacher now." There was a clear and gentle voice on the other end of the phone.
It was Xu Qichen. Xia Xiqing opened his eyes and laughed, "That's right, Mr. Xu, Editor Xu."
"Don't make fun of me. I didn't sleep all night and I'm relying on coffee to survive."
Xia Xiqing came out of the hanging chair, walked to the balcony and lit a cigarette for himself, "So tired? What are you busy with? Aren't you afraid that Xia Zhixu will get angry with you?"
"He got mad at me yesterday. I'm so annoyed with him."
Hearing the tail end of Xu Qichen's last sentence, Xia Xiqing suddenly felt like she was being fed dog food. Xu Qichen quickly changed the subject back to, "Did Zhou Ziheng tell you that I'm the screenwriter of the new play he took on?"
Sure enough, it was this matter again. Xia Xiqing hummed, "That's why I call you Editor Xu."
"Alas, this script is too difficult to handle. I wanted to write a love story, but I just couldn't find a suitable actress."
Xia Xiqing interrupted: "Didn't you have a prototype when you wrote the script?"
Xu Qichen was stunned for a moment on the other end of the phone. Xia Xiqing was too smart. He had to think of a countermeasure when talking to him. He certainly couldn't say that his prototype was Xia Xiqing. He wrote the script based on his stories, but he didn't expect that he couldn't find a young actress who was the right age and had the acting skills.
"No, anything I can write has a prototype." Xu Qichen smiled.
That's right. Xia Xiqing thought of what Zhou Ziheng said yesterday, "I heard from Zhou Ziheng that you and the director both want me to act?"
I was still thinking about how to bring this up, but Xia Xiqing said, "Yes, these things are a bit troublesome to talk about. Where are you now? Let's talk in person. I'll show you the information."
"Come to my house."
It was almost five o'clock in the afternoon when Xu Qichen finished his work, packed up his things and went to Xia Xiqing's house.
"It's not easy to come to your house. The security is so strict." Xu Qichen took off his schoolbag and Xia Xiqing took it. "The people living in this apartment are special, so the security system is stricter." He put his arm around Xu Qichen's shoulders. "Why do you look so young? Like a college student."
Xu Qichen scratched his hair a little embarrassedly, and looked down at his yellow sweater, "I came out without changing clothes." He saw Xia Xiqing's living room and the lofty roof, and couldn't help but sigh, "The house you bought this time is so big."
"Do you like it? Ask Xia Zhixu to buy it downstairs, and we can see each other every day." Xia Xiqing put his bag on the sofa, went to the kitchen to get him some lemon juice, and threw it into Xu Qichen's arms.
Hearing Xia Xiqing's proposal, Xu Qichen asked seriously, "Why do you want to buy downstairs? Wouldn't it be better to buy on the same floor? There are several households on this floor."
Xia Xiqing was choked by him, "Uh... two households."
"The other one was sold?"
"right."
"A star?" Xu Qichen looked a little excited.
How can you guess so well? Xia Xiqing nodded, "Yes."
"Which celebrity? Do I know him?"
"Oh, you don't know him," Xia Xiqing held Xu Qichen's shoulders and pushed him to sit on the sofa, "Aren't you going to talk about the script? Let's get straight to the point."
Xu Qichen took out his computer from his bag and took out the latest version he had revised. "I don't know how much Zhou Ziheng told you, so let's start from the beginning. I plan to change the role of the heroine to a male role and delete the emotional scenes. There aren't many of them in the original script anyway."
"All the emotional scenes were deleted?"
"Yes. If both the main characters are male, adding a love scene would be too much. The theme of this play is not about love. It is very likely to go off track, especially during the later promotion." Xu Qichen pushed the laptop in front of Xia Xiqing, "I changed the female lead role to the second male lead, named Jiang Tong, and the first male lead Gao Kun is still played by Zhou Ziheng."
Xia Xiqing looked at the setting table made by Xu Qichen while listening to Xu Qichen's introduction.
"Let me tell you about the character Jiang Tong. Although he grew up in the city unlike Gao Kun, he lives at the bottom of the city. He has even been an illegal resident and dropped out of high school. We wanted to write him as autistic at first, but considering the development of the plot, we changed it and decided to change him to depression."
"Depression..." Xia Xiqing slid the mouse and saw the plot on the second page, and his fingers suddenly stopped.
Xu Qichen knew very well that he had seen it. He hesitated for a while, but decided to speak up. "Jiang Tong has been abused by his parents since he was a child. His family is very complicated. One of his ears was beaten deaf by his father."
He looked at Xia Xiqing's profile, his chest rising and falling slowly, as if he was suppressing something.
"You will definitely think I am cruel." Xu Qichen put his hand on Xia Xiqing's knee, "Xiqing, you can't keep ignoring it."
Xia Xiqing took a deep breath. If it was someone else sitting next to him at this time, anyone, he would definitely flip over the computer and curse at him, but he was Xu Qichen, and he knew very well that Xu Qichen was not the kind of person who would tear open his wounds and make fun of him. He couldn't vent his emotions to Xu Qichen, so he could only suppress them.
"If you feel uncomfortable, you can tell me, you can also lose your temper with me." Xu Qichen moved closer, "You can't hide from the past forever, like I did back then. Avoiding won't solve any problems."
Xia Xiqing gritted his teeth and remained silent.
"I have been writing this script for a long time. When I decided to add those plots, I was thinking about your experience. This method of scraping the bone to heal the wound may be painful, but I want you to completely walk out of the shadow. You are too strong-willed and have never vented your anger to anyone. If you continue like this, it will only accumulate in your heart and will not disappear. Just treat this as a creation, and use the creation as a window to vent all the emotions in your heart, just this once, and maybe you will feel better in the future."
"You also said it's uncertain." Xia Xiqing finally spoke, but his tone was like a pool of stagnant water, without the slightest ripple.
Xu Qichen knew this would be the result. "Actually, I want to help you. Although I know you never need help from anyone, and it sounds hypocritical, I still want to say it," he lowered his eyes, "In this world, the person I most want to be happy is you."
Xia Xiqing felt a pang in his heart. He and Xu Qichen had known each other for nearly ten years. They knew all these things, but they had never said them to each other. After all, they were both men. Thinking of this, Xia Xiqing felt that he was being hypocritical like a woman. He was easily soft-hearted in front of Xu Qichen, not to mention that Xu Qichen had said so much, but he still couldn't say a word for a long time.
But no matter what, he felt uncomfortable when he thought of these plots. Those were things he had actually experienced, and he couldn't breathe just by looking at them. He didn't dare to imagine what he would become if he really acted in them.
Xu Qichen misunderstood the silence as a failure of persuasion. He sighed, "If you really don't want to, I'll talk to the director and we'll go interview a few young male actors to see if we can find someone with talent." He closed the computer and said, "I think Zhou Ziheng likes this script very much. Their team has cleared a long schedule for this film. It is said that they have also recommended a big director. Whether you act or not, he will definitely have to work hard for half a year."
Xia Xiqing felt upset whenever he talked about this. He didn't know why, but when he thought about not being able to meet Zhou Ziheng in Beijing for several months, he felt uncomfortable all over, with chest tightness and shortness of breath.
"Where are you going to find an actor?"
"None of the more popular actors in the industry are particularly suitable for this role. The director wants to find a boy who looks protective and can easily arouse the audience's empathy. But you know, this type of actor is not common, so I should look at newcomers from film schools."
Newcomers? Aren't they all fresh-faced guys, young and good-looking, with a strong desire to protect them? If they spend half a year together with that righteous messenger and moral model who is born to protect others, then I'll have spent so much time flirting with him, which is equivalent to making wedding clothes for others.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Xia Xiqing simply stopped thinking about it and said, "Chenchen, do you want to eat pizza?"
"Ah?" Xu Qichen was still immersed in the sadness of the failed lobbying. He was a little confused when Xia Xiqing asked him, "Eat...?"
"I'll order." Xia Xiqing took out his mobile phone and logged into WeChat. After placing the order, he glanced at his Moments and scrolled down. He happened to see a Moments post by Xiao Luo.
[Xiao Luo: When I heard that Ziheng was going to the xx Fashion Charity Gala, my WeChat went viral. Here, I took a sneak shot for you.]
It was a side photo of Zhou Ziheng. Unlike his private clothes, his hair was combed up, revealing his three-dimensional facial features. He wore a rare white suit with a dark blue tie around his collar. His look was not as aggressive as his previous ones, but had a more noble temperament.
In the camera, he was lowering his head to adjust his cuffs with a focused expression. The line from his nose to his lips was incredibly three-dimensional. He recalled the praise for Zhou Ziheng's looks in the fan circle, who often compared him to Apollo. Originally, Xia Xiqing didn't like Apollo because he was arrogant and paranoid, but if the sun god really had this face, he might not have so many prejudices.
He also left a comment on Ronaldinho's circle of friends.
[Today's look is really nice, Prince Book.]
Unexpectedly, not long after the message was sent, a message popped up on WeChat.
[Moral Model: Thank you.]
Xia Xiqing couldn't help laughing. How could this person be so shameless? He wrote this review for Xiao Luo, okay
[Terrorist: Walk your red carpet.]
I received a reply very quickly.
[Moral Model: I left a long time ago. I’ll be fine after watching the show. I can’t stay for dinner.]
Thinking about Zhou Ziheng's statement yesterday that he had to lose weight for a role, Xia Xiqing felt that he was pitiful, but still teased him with a sense of wickedness.
[Terrorist: That's great. I ordered some pizza and I'll take a picture of it for you later.]
Speak of the devil, the takeaway phone call came. Xia Xiqing went downstairs to get the pizza, and sat on the floor with Xu Qichen to eat pizza and drink Coke.
"Hey, how about calling Chen Fang and Xia Zhixu over as well?"
Xu Qichen took a fork and rolled up a ball of pasta and stuffed it into his mouth. He shook his head and said vaguely, "Zhi Xu has been very busy recently..." He swallowed the pasta with great effort and took a sip of Coke to suppress it. "Chen Fang has been in a relationship recently. Maybe he is having dinner with his girlfriend."
"Chen Fang is in a relationship?" Xia Xiqing raised the end of her eyebrow in disdain, "What kind of girl is so blind at such a young age?"
Xu Qichen smiled to one side, holding a piece of pizza in his hand, "She was said to be an intern at their company. I saw her the other day. She was quite cute. I think her name was Xiaoliang."
Xia Xiqing sighed deeply. Xu Qichen stretched out his legs and kicked Xia Xiqing's legs, "Hey, you're the only one left alone."
"Me?" Xia Xiqing threw a coquettish glance at Xu Qichen, "I want to find a companion, isn't it just a matter of talking?"
"I'm not talking about that kind of companion, I'm talking about a serious relationship." Xu Qichen moved his butt over and sat down. "I think Zhou Ziheng is pretty good. He's good-looking, tall, and a decent person. The most important thing is, aren't you his fan?"
Xia Xiqing pinched Xu Qichen's face with her clean hand, "Why do you worry so much about me?"
"Of course not." Xu Qichen chuckled twice, scooped a piece of matcha cake with a spoon and put it into his mouth.
The two of them ate and drank for an hour or two, during which Xu Qichen made various indirect inquiries, but was fooled by Xia Xiqing, who pretended to be ignorant. He sent Zhou Ziheng a photo of himself before eating and a photo of the mess after eating.
[Moral Model]: Are you a devil
Seeing his reply, Xia Xiqing's mouth was about to rise to the sky. He held the half-finished bowl of borscht in one hand and typed with the other.
"I'm so full." Xu Qichen felt uncomfortable and leaned towards Xia Xiqing. Xia Xiqing didn't hold on, and the remaining half bowl of cold soup spilled all over Xu Qichen.
"Fuck," Xia Xiqing held back her laughter as she took the bowl of soup from Xu Qichen's neck. "If I don't look at it, you won't look at it either. How are you going to get home later?"
Xu Qichen pursed his lips and said, "I feel like I'm a walking borscht now."
"Why don't you just go take a shower and take your clothes to dry cleaning. You can wear my clothes first." Xia Xiqing couldn't hold back her laughter, and the louder she laughed, the louder she laughed. Xu Qichen listened to him and went directly to the guest bathroom on the first floor, took off his dirty clothes and took a shower. Xia Xiqing cleaned up the takeaway food on the floor. She had said she was going to find him some clothes, but she forgot about it after cleaning up the garbage. She was so tired that she sat cross-legged on the sofa and drank Coke.
The doorbell suddenly rang.
Who could it be at this point? Xia Xiqing took the last sip of Coke, put the empty cup on the floor, walked to the entrance and glanced at the electronic screen.
Zhou Ziheng
Xia Xiqing pressed a button on the electronic screen and said to him, "Why are you coming to my house?"
"I-I forgot my key card."
"Then why don't you call the property management? Why are you coming to my place?"
"I'm so tired, I want to sit for a while."
"How many minutes?"
"What few minutes?"
Xia Xiqing deliberately put on a cold tone and said, "Sit down for a few minutes."
Zhou Ziheng's expression fell a little, "Five minutes..."
"Okay." Xia Xiqing opened the door while holding back his laughter. However, there was no one outside. He glanced outside and was dragged into the entrance by someone. The person pressed him against the wall and started kissing him without saying a word.
"Um... Hello, Zhou Ziheng..." Xia Xiqing couldn't push him away, the kiss was so sudden that he was not prepared at all. His scalp was numb, as if he had an electric shock.
"Fuck... what are you doing... get out of here..."
Zhou Ziheng held the back of his neck with his palm and said in a low, panting voice, "I'm hungry."
"You're hungry, so you turn me off... um..."
In just one or two months, Zhou Ziheng's kissing skills improved by leaps and bounds. From the beginning, he could only be kissed by Xia Xiqing forcefully, but now he can completely take the dominant position. His tongue tip can easily pry open his teeth, lick and wrap around his tongue, stirring it in that hot and wet mouth.
"So sweet." Zhou Ziheng held Xia Xiqing's face and kissed him passionately. Xia Xiqing's heart beat abnormally fast after hearing this. He pulled his tie with one hand and grabbed Zhou Ziheng's shoulder with the other hand, trying to give an answer intermittently, "I just... drank Coke..."
Zhou Ziheng kissed from the corner of his mouth all the way to his ear, leaving a series of light and hot kisses, and finally bit his earlobe, "No." His laughter was very low, and his breath sprayed on Xia Xiqing's soft earlobe, "You are very sweet."
Xia Xiqing was so aroused by him that she couldn't think of anything at once. She put her arms around his neck and leaned over to kiss him, her fingers sticking to his scalp and weaving into his hair. Her breathing became more and more irregular, sweat oozed from her forehead, and she was about to lose control.
"Xi Qing? Can you help me get some clothes?" I could vaguely hear a voice...
"Where is he? Xi Qing?"
Clothes
Oh shit.
Xia Xiqing opened his eyes and pushed Zhou Ziheng away, "Wait, wait, listen to my explanation, what is that..."
"Xi-Qing-"
Brother, please stop yelling. Xia Xiqing covered his forehead with his hands, not daring to look at Zhou Ziheng's face. He had done nothing wrong but his words became stammering. "That's Xu Qichen, you know him, Editor Xu? The pale and skinny one, remember him, right?"
Zhou Ziheng's expression didn't look much better. He crossed his arms over his chest, wiped the corner of his lips with his fingers, and looked deep, "And then?"
"Then we ate together, and when his clothes got dirty, he went to take a shower, and then..." Before he could finish his explanation, Zhou Ziheng blocked his mouth with a kiss again. This time it was even more intense than the last time. He hugged Xia Xiqing so hard that he almost crushed him in his arms.
He lowered his voice and said, "Um... I can't breathe... Ziheng..."
But the more Zhou Ziheng was pressed, the more excited he became, like a beast driven by hunger.
Just when Xia Xiqing was almost suffocated by Zhou Ziheng's kiss, Xu Qichen, wearing only a bath towel and with wet hair, walked out of the bathroom to the entrance where there was a lot of noise, wanting to see if there was a thief or something.
Half a minute later, Xia Xiqing, who was hugged by Zhou Ziheng and kissed so hard that she felt dizzy, heard Xu Qichen swear for the first time in her life.
"Fuck..."
The author has something to say: Xu Qichen:
Xia Xiqing: …
Zhou Ziheng: ( ˙-˙ )