After crossing the river and passing the bustling city, the scenery became more and more remote. Zhou Ziheng nudged Xia Xiqing with his toes, "Are we almost there?"
"I don't know." Xia Xiqing didn't even try to distinguish carefully.
Zhou Ziheng felt that he was being perfunctory. "Aren't you from Wuhan?"
"Not many people from Wuhan have visited the whole city." Xia Xiqing said this without thinking, and then he let out a sigh at the end. Zhou Ziheng noticed this, but Fei Ge, who was sitting in the front, did not notice it, and he happily took over the conversation, "Yes, an old Wuhan person like me who travels around every day may not have visited all places."
Xia Xiqing turned his head to look at him. The small mole on the tip of his nose always caught Zhou Ziheng's attention immediately. "You know the three towns of Wuhan, right?"
Seeing Zhou Ziheng nod, Xia Xiqing continued, "In fact, it is better to say that they are three cities than three towns. Each of them is very large, not to mention the total area. My family lives in Hankou. When I was in high school, I often went to Wuhan University to sketch. It took nearly two hours to take the bus, and I could sleep a whole night on the bus." His expression always softened when he talked about his memories, "But the drivers here drive very fast, and it is basically impossible to fall asleep."
Looking at Xia Xiqing's face, Zhou Ziheng always thought that it would be great if he could hug him. He could just hug Xia Xiqing and listen to his stories all night long.
"You two have time. There's still a week before the flight." Kun Cheng said with a smile, "Xi Qing, you should take Ziheng around Wuhan more often so that he can get into the role as soon as possible and get a taste of the local life."
Xia Xiqing hummed, and the hand held by Zhou Ziheng felt a little sore. He touched it with his wrist and frowned at Zhou Ziheng. Zhou Ziheng soon realized that he had hurt him, so he quickly loosened his hand. Xia Xiqing did not take his hand back, but just gently placed it on the seat cushion. Zhou Ziheng also gently covered Xia Xiqing's hand with his own.
Several people were talking in the car, and soon they arrived at the filming location. This is the most famous urban village in Wuhan, and it is also the least "Wuhan" place in the entire city. The road began to become crowded, with messy stalls and pedestrians everywhere. Fortunately, Fei Ge had good driving skills and drove the car into the culvert of Hua'anli.
The culvert is actually a passage into the Hua'anli community, with emerald green walls on both sides and a covered roof in the middle. This narrow five-meter-wide passage is used by 100,000 community residents to travel every day.
Brother Fei held the steering wheel and honked at the dusty van in front of him. "We're lucky today. We didn't run into any cars coming out from that side. Otherwise, we'd be stuck at both ends and no one would be able to move."
The van in front finally moved out of the way and drove forward slowly like an elderly man, forcing them to drive slowly as well. They finally entered the culvert. The light suddenly dimmed. Zhou Ziheng subconsciously held Xia Xiqing's hand and looked in his direction, but Xia Xiqing just held his chin and looked out the window.
Fortunately, he did not pull his hand away, which made Zhou Ziheng feel relieved enough.
In fact, the culvert was not completely dark, but just a little darker. The passage was not long, so we drove out quickly. It seemed that it had just rained, and the ground was muddy. An old lady was walking along the side of the culvert with two large bags of daily necessities. She was splashed with mud by the wheels of the car. She cursed a few words in the unauthentic Wuhan dialect and continued to walk out of the culvert.
Zhou Ziheng does not hate this chaotic and noisy market. As an actor, he actually likes this kind of place. It is full of people of all kinds. Each of them is an open storybook, using their body language and expressions to interpret all kinds of bizarre plots.
They drove to a place where the car couldn't drive in. Four people got out of the car, and Fei Ge quickly closed the door and took them to the house that Director Kun had asked him to rent. Zhou Ziheng and Xia Xiqing walked behind, both of them had their hats pulled down low, their shoulders rubbing against each other in the sticky and hot air from time to time, and then they kept a short distance away from each other as they walked.
After walking along a muddy path, the four of them arrived at a densely packed construction area. The houses here were very high, which reminded people of the towering cubicles in Hong Kong, but they were not exactly the same. The high floors here were obviously added later. The walls of the lower floors had long been covered with a thick dark color from cooking oil, but the upper floors were covered with royal blue iron containers, glowing with a faint purple luster under the fading sunset.
"The conditions here are really bad." Brother Fei lit a cigarette and took a puff. The smoke he exhaled seemed to be stuck by the moisture and couldn't be dispersed beautifully. "This place is small and there are many people. We can't build on the ground, so we have to build in the sky. The houses are getting higher and higher."
Just as Zhou Ziheng was about to look up, he felt a hand pressing on the back of his head. When he walked over and looked back, he discovered that there was a loose electric wire hanging there. Xia Xiqing had already taken his hand back and put it into the pocket of his work pants.
"Lower your head a little." Xia Xiqing's voice was particularly clear in the hot and humid air. "I don't know what you ate to grow so tall."
Brother Fei heard it and asked, "So, Ziheng, how did you grow so tall?"
"Grown?" Zhou Ziheng looked puzzled, looking at Xia Xiqing for help. Xia Xiqing lowered his head and laughed, then raised the brim of his hat a little to look over, "In Wuhan dialect, we don't say people are tall, especially for children, for example, I'm your uncle," Xia Xiqing raised his hand and touched the brim of Zhou Ziheng's hat, and said in Wuhan dialect, imitating the tone of an adult, "Hengheng, I see you have grown taller in just half a year."
After he finished speaking, his tone immediately changed back, and even his dialect was gone, "Do you understand?"
Zhou Ziheng curled the corners of his mouth. He really liked Xia Xiqing speaking Wuhan dialect, which was so vivid and lively.
"Xiqing's Wuhan dialect is quite interesting." Brother Fei smiled and praised Director Kun in front of him. Director Kun was also satisfied, "I have to say that Xu is so good that he even saved me the actors' dialects. When the time comes, Xiqing, you can use Mandarin with a Wuhan accent to act."
"I'm playing a hearing-impaired person." The road ahead was too muddy, and even Xia Xiqing, who was casual, had no choice but to bend down and roll up the legs of his gray overalls while talking, revealing his white ankles. Zhou Ziheng also stopped, his eyes wandering downwards, lingering on the slightly protruding ankle for a second, then turning back up, all the way to the rolled-up trouser legs and the skin hidden inside.
He couldn't help but think of the scene that night when Xia Xiqing's ankle was on his shoulder. At that time, his eyes seemed to be soaked in the hot and humid air of this city.
"Oh! Oh, yes, yes, Jiang Tong has a hearing impairment." Director Kun, who hadn't noticed that Xia Xiqing was lagging behind, slapped his forehead and said, "I forgot about it. Then you can train Ziheng."
Brother Fei continued, "He plays the role of an outsider, right?"
“The goal is to train them to speak with a non-authentic Wuhan accent, hahaha.”
The two of them were laughing together. Xia Xiqing, who was walking behind, felt hot, so he took off his hat, scratched his hair, and fanned himself twice. Just as he was about to put the hat back on his head, Zhou Ziheng suddenly pulled him closer and whispered something in his ear.
“I think I’m pretty tall.”
Xia Xiqing frowned and raised his eyes. His hair was soaked with sweat and stuck to the side of his fair face in curls. The longer hair extended to his jawline, making his expression that was about to blame him become more seductive.
Zhou Ziheng leaned close to his ear and, intentionally or unintentionally, brushed his lips across his slightly protruding ear bone while speaking in a very low voice.
"You said that we can reach the innermost part."
This hooligan played a lot of tricks. Xia Xiqing suppressed his anger. He couldn't lose his temper. If he lost his temper, wouldn't he be like a little girl who was molested? He took a deep breath and felt that the saying "everything changes" was really true. He grew up playing hooligan, but now he was molested by a guy who was five years younger than him!
After managing his facial expression, Xia Xiqing turned his head to look at Zhou Ziheng. He raised his eyebrows to show his toughness, and spoke word by word, "Appearance is not important, experience is the most important."
But in Zhou Ziheng's eyes, it was pure seduction.
He nodded and put his arm around Xia Xiqing's shoulders. Kuncheng turned around and was happy to see the two of them being so affectionate. After all, to act together for such a long time, the actors must have a certain degree of friendship, otherwise he, as a director, would have a headache.
"Experience needs to be accumulated." Seeing Director Kun turned away, Zhou Ziheng's eyes returned to Xia Xiqing. He lowered his voice. Although it was a submissive word, it sounded aggressive when he said it, "Brother, teach me."
His ears were burning, so Xia Xiqing pushed him away and uttered a word, "Hot." His words seemed to carry a Wuhan accent, like a habitual complaint, which Zhou Ziheng's sensitive ears could distinguish. The tone of the word "hot" kept changing, and it seemed to go into his heart.
Even though he was pushed away, Zhou Ziheng still felt happy. The sweet aroma of pork ribs and lotus root soup cooked by some unknown household wafted from the narrow building. When the sky was about to go out, he walked behind Xia Xiqing with a smile, feeling the beauty of worldly life for the first time.
It doesn't matter what happens or where, as long as Xia Xiqing is by my side.
They walked into an apartment building. The staircase inside was dark and narrow. Xia Xiqing had just taken two steps when Zhou Ziheng took his hand. He wanted to break free, but was too lazy to do so and just let him hold his hand. Anyway, the light was so dim that he couldn't see the two people walking in front of him clearly.
After going up to the fourth floor and passing through a dark corridor, there was a door at the end. Fei Ge took a key from his trouser pocket and used the screen saver on his mobile phone to unlock it with great effort.
"This is the room." Brother Fei stepped in first, "Take a look, it's quite small anyway."
In fact, it was much better than Xia Xiqing had imagined. He had originally thought it would be a dirty and old house, but in fact it was just a little smaller, with a narrow one-bedroom, one-living room and one bathroom. It was a little hard for four people to move around. They walked around the house, and Xia Xiqing got a general idea of the house. As soon as you enter the door, you will see a small living room. After passing through a small passage, you will find the bedroom. On the right side of the passage are the kitchen and bathroom, which are next to each other and are about the same size, just enough for one person to move around.
The only light source in the whole house comes from a small window in the bedroom. Under the window is a row of small succulents, which are green and cute.
As soon as he entered the room, the stuffy feeling was like a layer of plastic wrap, transparent but airtight, covering Zhou Ziheng tightly. He lifted up the collar of his clothes and fanned himself several times.
"That's about it. In fact, the original owner was a very clean young man who worked outside the city." Director Kun laughed. "He was very honest. I told him to give me more money because he might need to redecorate the house, but he refused to take it. So we gave him more anyway. He was so happy that he kept saying thank you to me."
Xia Xiqing tried to match this small house with Jiang Tong's residence in the script. This feeling was very strange, as if he had deliberately squeezed into a safe little mold and turned himself into another person. There was a small dusty fan on the coffee table in the living room. He sat on the sofa facing it and turned on the switch. The fan squeaked and turned. The wind was not strong, but it was better than no wind.
Zhou Ziheng's eyes were fixed on Xia Xiqing. He watched the heat lift his hair, and watched him stretch his neck to greet the wind. His sweaty hair stuck to the corners of his mouth, which he brushed away with his hands. But he had no time to care about the broken hair stuck to his slender neck.
This scene gave Zhou Ziheng a sense of worldly sexiness.
"Oh, by the way, the crew and I have a meeting, so we're going to go outside to shoot the night scene. Do you two want to stay here or go back to the hotel?"
Before Xia Xiqing could answer, Zhou Ziheng made a decision on his own. "Stay. I want to get a feel for the script." He walked to the sofa in two steps and sat down. He put his arm around Xia Xiqing's shoulders and said, "Xiqing, come with me. When we're done, I'll call Xiao Luo to pick us up and take us back to the hotel."
After hearing this, Fei Ge pushed the key into his hand and said, "Here, this is for you. My wife just sent me a text message, urging me to pick up the kids from tutoring class."
"It's okay, Brother Fei, you go ahead. My assistant will be here soon." Zhou Ziheng tapped Xia Xiqing's shoulder. "Besides, there's a local here."
In this way, Kuncheng and Fei Ge were persuaded by Zhou Ziheng, and they went downstairs together. The footsteps gradually faded away. Zhou Ziheng closed the rusty iron door and was about to turn around when he was pushed against the door by Xia Xiqing.
"What are you planning?" Xia Xiqing threw the hat in his hand back onto the gray-green fabric sofa behind him. His palm was very hot, like a branding iron piercing through his chest and directly reaching his heart.
Finally, there was no taboo. Zhou Ziheng looked down at his slender waist wrapped in a slim-fitting top and hugged him. The distance between them was compressed all of a sudden. The stuffy air between them seemed to be expelled, and their skins pressed against each other through the damp cloth.
"I'm planning on you."
Xia Xi lowered her head and released his arms, "Dream on." He walked to the bathroom, his voice echoing, "I'm going to take a shower, my body is too sticky. Call Xiao Luo now and ask him to buy some food on the way. I'm hungry."
After he finished speaking, he reached out to lock the bathroom door, only to find that the bolt, which was covered with copper rust, could not be moved at all. He tried several times but failed to lock the door.
A bony hand grasped the door frame. Xia Xiqing raised his eyes and gave Zhou Ziheng a rebellious and slightly naughty smile.
"I'm hungry, too."
After saying that, he squeezed in, and the cramped bathroom was suddenly packed. The shower switch was turned on as soon as Xia Xiqing came in, and the water poured down, increasing the humidity in this small space.
The sticky humidity is a breeding ground for desire.
"There's no room for two people to stand here." Xia Xidan grabbed the hem of his clothes with one hand, pulled it up, and took off the clothes that were completely stuck to his body.
Zhou Ziheng took another step closer, almost sticking to him, "If you get a little closer, you can always stand."
Looking up, Xia Xiqing's mouth, which was red from the heat, opened slightly, with a half-smile on his face, and he spoke as if blaming, "Why are you so clingy?"
After he finished speaking, Zhou Ziheng snatched the black T-shirt from his hand and threw it out of the bathroom. He pushed his chest and gradually forced him under the shower which was turned on to the maximum. The hot water pouring down from the top soaked everything, including Zhou Ziheng's usually low voice.
"It's better than you. You're hard to chase and hard to deal with."
The author has something to say: ao3
Everyone has a mock test tomorrow? We passed it. We, the girls who study by ourselves, have two top students to protect us. We will pass every test~