At a glance like this, his sleepiness, already too shallow to begin with, felt even more awake.
In a fraction of a second, Yu Cheng’s head, which had been quietly buried in the crook of his arm, moved abruptly. His ear tip brushed softly against his knuckles as if he felt uncomfortable, and while adjusting his posture, a brief murmur escaped his nose, accompanied by an unintentional lift of his hand to scratch the back of his neck.
Finally, he completely settled back down in that rather uncomfortable posture.
Chu Hanfeng: “(~.~)”
Chu Hanfeng paused for half a second and called out, “Yu Cheng?”
Miraculously, that person actually murmured a response, a “Mn” with a slightly rising ending tone.
Only the thin, closed eyelids showed no intention of opening whatsoever, still sleeping soundly.
Chu Hanfeng stood up, felt around for his phone which had been abandoned by his bedside, and glanced at it.
Naturally, it was yet another series of nonsense from Xue Ji. Chu Hanfeng skimmed over it roughly, finding nothing but nutrient-free stickers and rambling that not even a dog would bother to entertain.
Until he exited the app, alongside a call from the show’s production crew, there was also a single text message.
It was sent by Chu Shihua.
Chu Hanfeng subconsciously glanced at Yu Cheng.
Immediately afterward, avoiding Yu Cheng’s hands and body, he turned straight toward the door and walked out.
It was just unfortunate that someone was already lingering by the window at the far end of the hallway outside.
Chu Hanfeng’s footsteps paused slightly as he vaguely recognized the person as one of the resident guests on the show, someone Qiu Xiangzhong had occasionally exchanged words with during dinner.
It took him quite a while to recall this person’s name.
Liang You.
Liang You still had his phone clutched to his ear, presumably chatting away happily without noticing the movement nearby.
“I think this Yu Cheng is quite attractive, he has a lot of drama,” Liang You paused meaningfully for two seconds. “If I had not diverted the topic several times, aside from Zeng Meng and Fu Nian, I am afraid even Chu Hanfeng would have wanted to cozy up to him.”
“Why would I lie to you? But I saw Chu Hanfeng’s expression looked rather unpleasant when talking to him. I do not know if Yu Cheng offended him while we were not around. I heard it was on purpose, that he did not even greet the guy.”
“Fortunately, Chu Hanfeng is magnanimous and did not hold it against him. The production crew deliberately let him share a room with Yu Cheng to manufacture talking points, and Chu Hanfeng actually agreed.”
“If the person who came this time were you, that would be great. You have collaborated with Chu Hanfeng before. If Yu Cheng had not snatched the spot, the person sharing a room with Chu Hanfeng would be you. To promote the upcoming television drama, Chu Hanfeng would definitely cooperate, and by then…”
Just as those words finished, sensing the figure of the newcomer, Liang You froze instantly. The moment he turned his head, his eyes widened wide in astonishment, rendering him unable to utter another single word for a long time.
Only the person on the other end of the phone, unaware that anything was amiss, continued resentfully, “What good does that do? Who knows when he hooked up with the Xue family’s young master again? Not just me, even Zhong Kun was lectured by Xue Ji, who accused him of abusing his power for personal gain and deliberately holding back a good seedling like Yu Cheng.”
“What good seedling? I am afraid it is good in bed. Who knows who is actually abusing their power for personal gain.”
Tong Shi’s increasingly agitated voice on the other end made Liang You shudder violently. He hurriedly cut off the call, shoved his phone into his pocket, and felt a buzzing roar fill his head.
After a long while, under Chu Hanfeng’s increasingly deep gaze, he swallowed hard and spoke with utmost caution, “Teacher Chu, are you unable to sleep too?”
As a result, Chu Hanfeng showed not the slightest intention of being polite: “Who were you chatting with?”
The reaction spoke for itself, all those words had been overheard by Chu Hanfeng.
Liang You bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, his face turning ashen as his lips parted and closed.
After a long while, he shrank back and replied, “I did not mean anything else, I was just trying to stand up for you. He is a newcomer with zero manners, and he also…”
“I asked you.”
Chu Hanfeng’s patience was clearly running thin, the detachment in his eyes growing even heavier as he said coldly, “You had better figure out how to answer me before you speak.”
The next day, Yu Cheng was woken up by a rapid string of loud knocking on the door.
He had always been prone to a bit of morning grogginess upon waking up. Startled awake so abruptly, he found himself dazed for four or five seconds, then with sleepy eyes pulled the blanket up to his shoulders and buried his side profile completely into the soft pillow.
Acting like a pause button, Yu Cheng remained completely motionless, collecting himself for a moment before remembering something and springing up from the bed!
Why was he sleeping here?
Still covered by a blanket?
Where was Chu Hanfeng?!
Squinting his insufficiently awake eyes, Yu Cheng glanced at the small stool still placed by the bedside, then sluggishly looked toward his own side and the pillow area.
Chu Hanfeng’s phone was not there either.
It must have been taken away.
In one fluid motion, Yu Cheng put on his shoes and went to open the door.
Standing outside the door were the cameraman and Fu Nian. Along with the approaching camera lens, shoved directly in front of Yu Cheng was Fu Nian’s sunny, handsome, and immensely excited face.
“Wake up! The sun is already baking your backside!”
Fu Nian made a gesture of a surprise. Catching sight of Yu Cheng’s messy hair, he burst into laughter for a moment, then feeling that the other’s dazed expression was genuinely adorable, he teased, “Are you still not fully awake?”
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Yu Cheng suddenly let out a breath of relief.
Of course he was not awake.
Otherwise, how could he have vaguely imagined in a daze that he was sleepwalking, hijacked the sleeping spot of Chu Hanfeng, and audaciously locked the man outside the door?
He must have lost his mind.
And he was also panicking.
What on earth did he even have to panic about?!
“A little bit,” Yu Cheng rubbed his eyes. “I am awake now.”
“Teacher Qiu made mixed noodles for everyone. Afraid they would clump and stop tasting good, he specifically sent me to check if you guys were up.”
As he spoke, Fu Nian poked his head forward to peer inside. Expecting to catch a glimpse of what Chu Hanfeng looked like right after waking up, he stared for a long time without managing to spot a single shadow of a person.
“Where is my idol?”
Yu Cheng turned back into the room to brush his teeth, replying fuzzily around his toothbrush, “I do not know.”
“Did you not sleep together?”
Hearing the phrase “sleep together,” Yu Cheng almost choked to death on his mouthwash.
Before he had a chance to reply, he heard Fu Nian say with disappointment, “And here I was thinking of seeing whether my idol looks just as out-of-touch with reality right after waking up as usual.”
“Not really,” Yu Cheng said. “His expression right after waking up might be even scarier than usual.”
“How do you know?”
“…”
Yu Cheng instantly lost his voice.
How did he know?
Of course he knew from the past.
But those were all past events too shameful to look back on, his current persona was that of a little newcomer who instantly became a fan upon watching Chu Hanfeng’s first movie, how could he possibly know such things?
Spitting out a mouthful of toothpaste foam, Yu Cheng replied dismissively, “I saw it on gossip forums before, do not know if it is true or not.”
“Why do you even believe gossip forums? The gossip forums also claim I am one hundred eighty-five centimeters tall.”
“Huh?” Yu Cheng was suddenly thrown off track, observing the other up and down several times.
Fu Nian said, “Stop trying to measure me with your eyes, I am only one hundred seventy-nine, saying it brings tears.”
“…”
Quite honest, indeed.
Fu Nian: “I spilled my own secret, so you have to spill one too.”
Yu Cheng: “Do I have to?”
Fu Nian: “It is the cottage rules.”
Yu Cheng hesitated for a few seconds: “Well… I…”
“Hm?”
“Is wanting to take the civil service exam considered one?”
“Oh… huh?”
Never had Fu Nian imagined that Yu Cheng would come out with something like that. He stood frozen for a few seconds, failing to catch up for a moment.
Yu Cheng sighed: “But it is so hard.”
He had pondered it over, if he wanted to terminate his contract without paying liquidated damages, this was indeed a pretty good choice.
The premise, however, was actually passing the exam.
Yet today’s top students were far too competitive, after thinking long and hard, he felt he was not really cut out for it either.
Fu Nian glanced at the camera right in front of them and took quite a while to find his voice: “Why?”
Fu Nian had been in the film and television circles since he was five years old, participating in the shooting of various types of film and television works almost every year since then, and subsequently entered his dream film academy through the arts exam without any suspense. He had never expected that Yu Cheng would harbor such a dream.
Yu Cheng answered frankly: “To solve the problem of basic survival, so that in the future at least I will not end up picking trash on the street to make a living.”
Fu Nian: “Um…”
For a moment, Fu Nian’s expression turned much heavier than before.
He had long heard that Yu Cheng’s treatment under his own company was subpar, but he never expected it to be this subpar, to the point where one of their own artists was already worrying about having to pick up trash in the future.
Although people said the company was taken over by the Xue family’s young master…
It did not seem to be doing much better either?
Though of course, the Xue family’s young master possessed countless assets, a small entertainment agency simply could not catch his eye, and he probably did not have the spare energy to care. With management unchanged, it was completely useless.
Thinking thus, the look Fu Nian directed toward Yu Cheng gained a few traces of imperceptible sympathy.
Fu Nian patted Yu Cheng on the shoulder: “Let us talk about these things later. Are you hungry? Shall we go grab something to eat first?”
Hungry he certainly was.
Last night he spent all his energy battling those steamed hairy crabs, and later sitting at the same table as Chu Hanfeng, he had even less appetite to eat.
Yu Cheng washed his face with the utmost speed, then, grabbed by the hand by Fu Nian, went together to the front yard of the cottage.
At this moment, Zeng Meng was already bathing in the winter warm sunlight slurping noodles, while Qiu Xiangzhong was holding a watering can to water the flowers.
Fu Nian looked left and right, calling out with dwindling enthusiasm: “Where is my idol? Where is my massive idol?”
Qiu Xiangzhong smiled: “Xiaofeng said before dawn that he had some matters to attend to and went out temporarily. He will rush right back once he is done.”
Saying this, Qiu Xiangzhong looked toward Yu Cheng: “Did Xiaocheng not know?”
Yu Cheng explained: “I slept too soundly, I did not even hear when he left.”
Qiu Xiangzhong nodded, then suddenly heard Zeng Meng ask: “Huh, why did Liang You wake up so late today? Did he not usually start practicing his vocal cords early on?”
Fu Nian lowered his head to fiddle with his phone while replying: “I went to check. He said he felt a bit unwell and wanted to sleep in a little longer.”
Zeng Meng: “Is he alright?”
Fu Nian: “His face is completely white, wonder if he caught a chill by the river yesterday.”
Hearing this, Qiu Xiangzhong also wore a worried look: “Really? I will go check on him.”
Saying this, Qiu Xiangzhong headed back into the inner house, and Zeng Meng, hesitating for a short moment, followed along.
Leaving Fu Nian and Yu Cheng sitting on the small stone stools under the tree shade, Yu Cheng glanced at the scallion oil noodles on the table. After hesitating for a long time, he finally picked up his chopsticks, meticulously nudging the scallion bits away from the noodles one by one before bringing them into his mouth with extremely refined table manners.
On the other side, Fu Nian crossed his legs, took out his phone, and opened a casual mini-game out of sheer boredom.
Initially just meant to kill time, he ended up getting hooked as if fighting a battle, leaning in with intense concentration, even lowering his previously crossed legs without realizing it.
Yu Cheng curiously leaned his head over to take a look, discovering it was an elimination-style puzzle mini-game that had inexplicably trended on hot searches a few days ago and suddenly blown up.
After watching for a while, Yu Cheng could not help himself: “Can I try?”
Fu Nian had been playing for half a day and was already losing patience, so he directly shoved the phone to Yu Cheng: “You take over.”
Ten minutes later.
Chu Hanfeng walked in carrying pan-fried buns and scallion pancakes he had bought, his gaze immediately catching Yu Cheng being gripped tightly by Fu Nian.
Fu Nian: “You are a beast! I am finally first on the friends leaderboard, I am going to screenshot this to mock my roommates.”
Fu Nian: “From now on you are my big brother! My eternal big brother!”
The eternal big brother was being shaken by the shoulders, feeling his head grow somewhat dizzy.
Suddenly, a paper bag appeared before his eyes, printed with the signature pattern of a popular internet-famous breakfast brand from the neighboring city.
Raising his eyes further up, he met Chu Hanfeng’s rather meaningful gaze.
Yu Cheng: “(.)”
Chu Hanfeng’s tone was light and breezy: “A few hours apart, and you have acquired another younger brother?”