Chapter 26 - Brotherhood Clothing
“I cried so loudly. Our baby really didn’t have it easy.”
“I saw Zhao Zhao fall to the ground after being hit with a stick and he couldn’t get up. Other people in the crew walked past him but no one helped him up.”
“I’m a passerby fan, crying and using up a packet of tissues.”
“I’m just a passerby. After watching this video, I feel helpless and sad. In the film and television circle, how many actors are like Li Zhao, dreaming of becoming a star? Li Zhao’s facial features are outstanding yet he fared so badly. How hard are those who aren’t as good as him?”
“The upstairs sister is a bit naive. How can Li Zhao be miserable when he looks so good? He was miserable because he wasn’t obedient enough. To put it bluntly, he is unwilling to accept certain rules. I have a friend who is an insider. I had dinner with him two days ago and just talked about Li Zhao. He said that Li Zhao is a very good person. He is always silly and happy in the crew. Even if he is tired to death, he can happily eat a boxed meal with the crew. He also said that Li Zhao is very frugal at ordinary times. He was reluctant to drink a bottle of mineral water that drank two yuan. He usually took a large plastic kettle and ran to a drinking point to collect boiled water. My friend is very happy that Li Zhao finally succeeded. I hope he will develop more and more in the future.”
“By the way, I’m not sure if this is true insider information. I heard there is a decent entertainment company who took a fancy to Li Zhao and is ready to train him. If this information is reliable, Li Zhao won’t have to live such a miserable life in the future.”
Li Zhao’s team saw the netizen’s explosive comments and went to ask Zhang Xiaoyuan. “Brother Zhang, is this explosion true or false?’
“This happened last year in the Heroic Ruler crew.” Zhang Xiaoyuan glanced at the explosive content. “It seems the informant’s friend should be a member of the Heroic Ruler crew.”
“Zhao Zhao really lived so badly.” The staff felt that Li Zhao was probably the worst artist he had ever met.
“There was no way.” Zhang Xiaoyuan sighed. ”At that time, we were really poor. We had to rely on the crew’s meal boxes to barely live.”
“It is miserable, too terrible.” The staff took out a half-eaten packet of chips from the draw and handed it to Zhang Xiaoyuan. “Take it and eat it. Don’t give it back to me.”
Zhang Xiaoyuan, “……”
Did he go a bit overboard selling misery?
In the dark room, only the faint light on the computer screen flickered. Once the video showed Li Zhao’s head hitting the wall or when he lay on the ground in pain, his white fingers held the mouse and clicked pause.
He put down the mouse, moved his hand slightly to the right and picked up the phone on the table. 10 hours had passed and he hadn’t received any news from Li Zhao. He stared at the still screen for half a minute before finally clicking on the play button. The scene changed again. Li Zhao was dressed in the costume of the heroine and wore a wig as he jumped into the mud.
The child kept smiled as he did his best to control his desire to shiver from the cold. Again and again, again and again, until he was exhausted. Then the director was finally satisfied with the scene.
The second hand on the clock was constantly ticking. Yan Ting looked at the last shot of the warmly smiling young man and once again pressed pause.
“Sir.” The housekeeper knocked on the door. “Sir, it is time to take your medicine.”
“Come in.” The room completely darkened when Yan Ting turned off the computer screen.
The housekeeper opened the door and wasn’t surprised to see the darkness in the room. He walked up to the desk and put the water and medicine on the table. “Sir, you should rest earlier.”
No one responded to him in the darkness but he knew that Yan Ting had heard it. He was about to turn away when the phone on the table suddenly lit up.
He hadn’t reacted when the boss picked up his phone at a surprising speed.
[Zhao Zhao Has Good Luck: Ting Ting, are you sleeping?]
Since adding Li Zhao as a WeChat friend, Li Zhao had changed his WeChat name a few times but it was all about good luck coming. Today, he finally changed it to having good luck.
[Yan Ting: No.]
“Ting Ting!”
“Ting Ting!”
Li Zhao’s voice came from the courtyard below. Yan Ting stood up and quickly walked to the window. He opened the thick curtains and bright moonlight shone through the window. It couldn’t wait to enter and spread all over him.
The dark house finally had light. Downstairs in the yard, Li Zhao’s suitcase was at his feet and he was wrapped up like a big steamed bun as he looked up at the building. The moon shone on his face like he was glowing.
Seeing a window open, Li Zhao looked up and saw Yan Ting’s figure.
“Ting Ting, I’m back.” He jumped a few times and waved energetically at Yan Ting. “Ting Ting, I’m hungry. Can I have a midnight snack here?”
Yan Ting’s hand tightly pinched the curtain before releasing it. “Yes.”
The closed villa door soon opened in front of Li Zhao. He rushed into the house with a big suitcase, stomped his feet and took off his hat, scarf and coat. He covered his hungry stomach and said, “There were no tickets for a direct flight to Beijing. I had to buy a ticket to a neighbouring city and then take a high-speed train back. I’m hungry enough to eat a cow.”
Someone soon brought a hot bowl to the table. Li Zhao wasn’t polite and grabbed his chopsticks to eat. He ate half a bowl of noodles before finally having the strength to talk to Yan Ting. “It is New Year’s Day in five minutes. I wish you a Happy New Year’s and an auspicious new year.”
Yan Ting sat at the table and pushed the small dishes from the housekeeper to Li Zhao. “How many days are you back for?”
“At noon the day after tomorrow, I’ll be going back to the crew.” Li Zhao poured all the vegetables of the small dishes into the noodles and buried his head to eat the rest of the noodles. He touched his stomach and smiled at Yan Ting with embarrassment. “Can I have another bowl?”
Yan Ting looked at the housekeeper and the housekeeper hurriedly spoke. “You wait, the cook is making it.”
“Fortunately, I have your door access card or I wouldn’t be able to enter your yard.” Li Zhao wiped the corner of his mouth and frowned. “Last night when I was talking with you about the video, there was a bottle of medicine on your desk. Are you sick again?”
“It is a tonic to make my body strong.” Yan Ting looked at Li Zhao. “Did you come back for this?”
“Several of the main actors in the crew have received an invitation from major television stations for the New Year’s Day party. Thus, Director Yang simply gave me a day and a half off.” Li Zhao reached out for an apple on the fruit plate. “Your character is too stuffy and you don’t like to say anything. I decided to come back to have a look.”
Having said this, he wiped his hands and felt Yan Ting’s forehead. There was no fever and a normal temperature. It seemed that Yan Ting wasn’t lying to him.
The housekeeper came out and saw this scene. He stopped in his tracks until Li dropped his hand. Then the housekeeper smiled and said, “Mr Li, your food is here.”
“Thank you.” Li Zhao smiled and pulled the bowl in front of him. He started to eat again.
Li Zhao was eating so well that the housekeeper couldn’t help turning to look at Yan Ting. Look at other people, they could eat a bowl of ordinary noodles so deliciously.
“Ting Ting, your family is good at making noodles. There are actually so many ingredients.” Li Zhao turned to pull out a prawn from the noodles, eating it with satisfaction. “Once I make enough money, I will squat at your house every day to eat and drink. I won’t go anywhere or do anything else.”
“That would be great, Sir. I’m looking forward to it.” The housekeeper spoke out of his own initiative. After that, he carefully observed Yan Ting’s expression but there was no response.
Li Zhao nodded with smile. “Then the headline of the entertainment section will be that Li Zhao, the famous actor, was swept out of the house by his friend because he ate too much. Hahahaha!”
Yan Ting replied, “No.”
“No what?” Li Zhao’s eyes bulged. Would he not become a well-known actor who would make a lot of money?
“You won’t be driven out of the house.” Yan Ting stated as he looked at Li Zhao. “I have money.”
Li Zhao, “……”
Oh, Ting Ting had two buildings.
Li Zhao ate three bowls of noodles before his stomach was finally full. He opened his huge suitcase and pulled a pile of things out of it. There were food, handicrafts and a Chinese element coat with the words ‘great lucky’ embroidered on it.
“There was a local embroidery lady whose embroidery was particularly good. I had her embroider two coats.” He pointed to the coat he took off. “Mine is great profit while yours is great luck. It is New Year’s Day so isn’t it good to have great luck and great profit?”
“Don’t be superstitious.”
“It’s not superstition. It is yearning for a better life.” Li Zhao took his coat and compared it to Yan Ting. “Yours is one size larger than the one I’m wearing. It should fit you very well. Would you like to try it on?”
Yan Ting put on the coat with a blank expression.
“Ting Ting, you are a natural coat hanger. No matter what type of clothes you wear, you give off an expensive feeling.” LI Zhao walked around Yan Ting. “You gave off a sense of nobility in a hotel employee’s uniform. You are wearing this type of modified clothing and you still give off the elegant feeling of a prince. You are really a treasure.”
“The rest of the crew said the clothes I bought were ugly but you look good.” Li Zhao’s eyes curved as he smiled. “It is New Year’s Day. Your company should be on holiday?”
“En.”
“Then we will go out to play in this clothing.” Li Zhao opened his mouth with a pleasant expression. “Tomorrow night, there is a light show. I asked someone to help me book two tickets. Shall we go watch it?”
“I saw last year’s New Year’s Day light show and it was super beautiful.” Li Zhao reached for Yan Ting’s neck. “These tickets were really difficult to get.”
“Okay.” Yan Ting agreed. The arm around his neck was very hot like a fire, spreading from his head to the tip of his heart.
“Yes, don’t tell Brother Xiaoyuan.” Li Zhao shook his arm around Li Zhao’s neck and whispered, “He has been very busy recently. If he knows that I am taking you to the light show then he will go crazy.”
“I won’t.” Yan Ting looked down at his arm and didn’t push it away.
“Then I’ll go to bed.” Li Zhao yawned, released Yan Ting’s neck and got up. “I’ll call you tomorrow morning.”
His neck suddenly became empty. The room’s heating was clearly on but Yan Ting felt a chill.
Li Zhao crouched on the ground and collected most of the empty boxes, looking up at Yan Ting. “Go to bed early. Tomorrow, we’ll play late into the night. It will be tiring.”
Yan Ting bent down to pick up the little things scattered on the ground and put them in Li Zhao’s box. “I’ll wait for you to call me.”
“Yes!” Li Zhao dragged his suitcase and stood up. “Then I’m going back. Good night.”
Yan Ting looked at the child carrying the empty boxes, walking briskly into the moonlight outside the door. It was silent, just like when he appeared in the courtyard. Once Yan Ting could no longer see Li Zhao, he saw down on the sofa and looked at the embroidered coat.