After several night scenes, Xia Xiqing was seriously sleep deprived and not in a good condition. Yesterday, in order to shoot a rain scene, he was soaked in artificial rain all night, and he was exhausted when he returned to the hotel that night. Today's scenes were all scheduled during the day. Xia Xiqing got up at five in the morning, drank three cups of iced American coffee in a row, and shot until 2:30 in the afternoon.
After finally finishing his part, Xia Xiqing sat on the steps in a daze. The afternoon sun made his eyes dizzy and he felt like he was about to turn into a wisp of smoke.
"Xi Qing, you have dark circles under your eyes. Do you want Sister Cindy to cover them for you?" Xiao Xiao squatted in front of him and held a small fan for him, with a worried look on her face. "Are you still sleepy? Do you want to eat anything?"
Xia Xiqing shook his head, propping his cheek with his palm, and spoke weakly, "With dark circles under my eyes, I look more like Jiang Tong. Anyway, Sister Cindy is here to make me look uglier. You go sit in the car, I'll take a break and then get on... Ah--" He suddenly sneezed, and Xiaoxiao asked nervously, "Did you catch a cold from the rain yesterday?"
"No," Xia Xiqing rubbed his nose with his hand and yawned loudly, "It's from the sun."
Xiaoxiao finally went back after being urged many times. Xia Xiqing stood up and stretched. Zhou Ziheng was filming a scene, so he could only stand by and watch.
This scene is about Gao Kun finding himself feeling unwell and going to a black clinic for treatment. The clinic is also a very small room rented in the Hua'anli community, decorated like a small clinic. There are several extras sitting inside receiving IV drips. There is only one old ceiling fan in the whole room, which does not produce any breeze, and it is still stuffy and unbearable even with all the windows open.
Xia Xiqing stood next to the director and looked at the monitor screen.
"It hurts when I swallow." Gao Kun frowned and explained to the doctor across a small wooden table, "It's a scraping pain. My throat, my throat seems to be swollen."
The doctor was a middle-aged woman who looked to be in her fifties. She wore reading glasses and a white coat. She reached out and touched Gao Kun's throat. "Open your mouth."
After reading it, "You're all blistering inside."
She stood up and dug out two boxes of medicine from the medicine cabinet behind her. She threw them in front of Gao Kun and said, "Two blue pills a day, three green pills a day."
"You don't even tell me what disease I have?" Gao Kun touched his neck, glanced at the two boxes of medicine, and then looked at the doctor.
"I have a fever." The middle-aged woman rolled her eyes. It took her a long time to turn her bloated body from the narrow gap between the medicine cabinet and the table and sat down again. "Do you want this medicine or not?"
Gao Kun's brows were still furrowed. He reached out to take the medicine, then retracted his hand and looked up at her. "Is it really just a sore throat?"
"Are you the one who treats the disease or am I the one who treats the disease?" She pushed her glasses and said in a harsh tone, "Why, you are not good at getting angry, and you want to get a terminal illness."
Gao Kun's temper flared up all of a sudden. He slammed the table and everyone around him looked over. The children who were receiving IV drips with their eyes closed opened their eyes and started crying. Their cries became louder and louder. He looked back, then turned his head away and asked, suppressing his anger, how much it cost.
"sixty-five."
"Sixty-five? Why don't you just go and rob?"
"Why don't you go out and ask around? You think this is too expensive?" Her eyes swept across Gao Kun's face like a knife, wishing she could cut off two pieces of flesh. "You have no money and yet you're making a fuss here. Do you want it or not?"
Gao Kun had no choice but to pull out a stack of banknotes from his trouser pocket, which was what he earned from his last part-time job. He put the banknotes under the table and counted them, then took out several and slapped them on the table. He grabbed two boxes of medicine and walked out the door, making the wind chimes on the door jingle.
"Why are you being so arrogant? If you have the guts, go to a big hospital. You will be poor and sick for the rest of your life."
"Cut!" Kun Cheng called for a break. "Take a break. This one is good. It's passed." He turned to look at Xi Qing. "How is it? Have you gotten used to the life of an actor?"
Xi Qing smiled bitterly, "I'm used to it, but I can't be called an actor yet."
"I think you are quite talented." Kun Cheng said with a smile. The assistant director came over with a girl beside him. Xia Xiqing turned around to look. The girl looked familiar. She seemed to be less than 20 years old. She was wearing an orange tank top and tight jeans, revealing half of her slender waist. She had a good figure, her hair was dyed yellow-brown, and she wore two exaggerated large earrings, like the wind chimes that were swinging just now.
"Director Kun, I just arrived at noon, sorry."
Kuncheng stood up and said, "It's okay. They are delayed for a while. It will be your scene with Gao Kun next." He walked to the assistant director and the two discussed other things. The girl turned to look at Xia Xiqing and smiled at him. "Hello, I'm Song Nian, the one who plays Lingling."
Song Nian? Xia Xiqing reacted quickly. No wonder she looked familiar. He seemed to have seen her before when he was watching Zhou Ziheng's acting collection on B station. She was probably a female artist he had worked with several times. He generously extended his hand and smiled gently, "I am Xia Xiqing."
"I know. I like watching your variety show, too." Song Nian had bright red lipstick on her lips, which made her teeth look very white. She definitely couldn't be called a great beauty in the entertainment industry, but she was very pleasing when she smiled, and her appearance was quite comfortable. "You are really pretty, even prettier than me."
This word was a minefield for Xia Xiqing, but considering that it was their first meeting, he just smiled and said thank you. The two of them didn't talk for a few words before Zhou Ziheng walked over.
"Hey, Song Nian, you are late..."
Before he could finish his words, the cheerful Song Nian rushed to Zhou Ziheng, jumped up and hooked his neck, "Long time no see!"
Zhou Ziheng's first reaction was to pat Song Nian's arm and look at Xia Xiqing.
Xia Xiqing's first reaction was to turn his face away and sneeze with his head tilted to the side.
After sneezing, he lowered his head, rubbing his nose while thinking about why he turned his face away just now, making it seem like he didn't want to be seen.
"You dyed your hair so cool, like Sakuragi Hanamichi," Song Nian stood on tiptoe and reached out to touch his hair, "I should have dyed it red earlier, so we can act like a couple, right?"
Are they a couple? I'm afraid we are not watching the same script. Xia Xiqing complained in his heart. Song Nian played the role of Lingling, who met Gao Kun during a gang fight when she first came to the big city. The two of them had a good impression of each other and had an ambiguous relationship for a while. It was Lingling who told Gao Kun that there was a way to make money quickly, so Gao Kun had the way to sell blood.
However, after learning that Gao Kun was infected with AIDS, Lingling moved out overnight and never saw him again.
"Your color is pretty good, better than red." Zhou Ziheng stood half a step away, still looking at Xia Xiqing, but Xia Xiqing ignored him and put her hands over her eyes to block the sun. A makeup artist happened to walk over, and Xia Xiqing stopped her, "Xiaoyue, help me remove my makeup."
"Okay, let's go."
Before Zhou Ziheng could say anything, he saw Xia Xiqing put her hands in her pockets and followed the makeup artist. She didn't even turn her head or say hello. He immediately became irritated. Song Nian was chattering beside him. His usual good manners were no longer useful at this time.
"I'm going to take a break over there. The heat is making me dizzy."
Song Nian said awkwardly in the middle of his sentence, "Then...then you go."
Zhou Ziheng found a shady spot to sit down, took out his cell phone to check the time, and happened to see the message from Zhao Ke.
[Ke Zi: Are you coming to play duo? I can’t find anyone!]
He got angry at the sight of it. Zhou Ziheng typed a line of words to attack him.
[Heng Heng: Are you crazy? Do you think an actor who is filming in the crew has time to play games with you?]
Not long after the call was sent, Zhao Ke called. After Zhou Ziheng answered the phone, he said "Hello" in a rude manner.
"Oh my, who made our Brother Heng like this?" Zhao Ke was also sarcastic and said in a roundabout way, "Brother Heng, it seems that you are not happy with the filming of this play."
"Get lost." Zhou Ziheng's accent came out, "Why are you on the phone when you're playing games?"
"How can playing games be as interesting as watching our Hengheng's jokes? Hey, what happened to you? You're so angry that I can feel my ears burning over the phone."
“Nothing…” Zhou Ziheng’s tone lowered, and Zhao Ke could tell something was wrong. Although he was usually mean and poor, he always cared about the affairs of his childhood friend. What kind of person is Zhou Ziheng? He is an angel that is hard to find even with a lantern. He never gets angry or fights with others, and he doesn’t even have a little emotion at ordinary times.
There is probably only one person who can make him so angry that he types without punctuation marks.
"Well, did you have a quarrel with Xia Xiqing?" Zhao Ke asked tentatively. After hearing that the other end hadn't spoken for a long time, he had an idea in his mind. "I thought so. You got angry in the afternoon. You must be angry with Xiqing for a long time."
Zhou Ziheng hummed softly and said nothing else.
"Why?"
Zhou Ziheng lowered his head and looked at a group of small ants crawling towards him not far away. He sighed silently, and the chirping of cicadas behind him made him feel uneasy.
Just like that, after being silent for a long while like a person holding the phone, Zhou Ziheng finally spoke.
"I like Xia Xiqing."
He was waiting for Zhao Ke to make a move, but he heard a sigh of disappointment coming from the other end of the line.
"Hey, Zhou Ziheng, is there something wrong with you? I've been waiting here for a long time instead of playing games, and you're telling me this!? Who the hell can't see that you like Xia Xiqing!"
This time it was Zhou Ziheng who was stunned. "Is it really that obvious?"
"Super-obvious." Zhao Ke was so angry that his head hurt. "The Thomas 780-degree triple axel turn was the first in the total score, which was obvious."
"..." Zhou Ziheng swallowed his saliva, "Then do you think Xia Xiqing can see it?"
“… Damn it, I’m going to play games now.”
"Hey hey hey wait a minute."
Zhao Ke was convinced. "You two haven't been in love for a long time. I thought you two were going back to your parents' home at public expense. I was so angry. Xia Xiqing is such a smart man, how could he not see that you like him? You are so devoted to him."
That's true. Seeing the little ant approaching him, Zhou Ziheng raised his two feet and said, "Actually, I don't want him to know. If he knew I like him, he would definitely avoid me. He only likes to tease people who haven't liked him yet."
Zhao Ke was silent for a long time. "What does he think of you now? How far have you two come?"
"It's reached a point where even couples may not even reach it."
"Okay, I didn't ask." Zhao Ke slapped his mouth, "Then what are you worried about?"
"I feel that his relationship with me is very strange now. I think he has some other feelings towards me, but I'm not sure. Just now, an actress he worked with before came to see me, and he avoided me as soon as he saw her."
Zhao Ke got excited when he heard this, "No, that's not right. Xia Xiqing should be teasing you, maybe he really is interested in you." He immediately changed his tone to one of calculating, "Why don't you give it a try?"
"How to test?"
"Hey~ I just saw a tweet from a public account about this. I'll send it to you."
Zhao Ke hung up the phone with a click. Zhou Ziheng looked puzzled. The little ants on the ground had also left. He leaned against the tree and knocked his head against the trunk a few times. His phone vibrated, and he opened it to see what was happening.
[Ke Zi: Discuss him! "The Art of Love" teaches you how to make your romantic partner jealous and take the bait. This is the key to your success!]
What the hell... Zhou Ziheng frowned. What kind of messed up public accounts does Zhao Ke usually follow...
Still click to have a look.
The author has something to say: I won’t update much today because I have to take a bus back to Wuhan soon. I will write more tomorrow to make up for it!
Oh, by the way, I posted my new idea on Weibo. If you want to see it, I will give you a preview~ My little cutie, please accept it~