The moment Han Tang came out, he caught a whiff of a fragrance completely different from the mass-produced, standardized canteen meals.
Han Tang swallowed hard, feeling a mix of anticipation and confusion.
The food is this extravagant?
Is today some kind of special day? Did someone on the crew win the lottery?
Han Tang’s confusion was answered almost immediately.
Su Li walked over to him carrying an extra-large, exquisitely crafted solid wood lunchbox and said, “Here, your brother brought this for you. Good thing he left it with me, or that pack of starving wolves would have devoured it all within a minute.”
Looking at the lunchbox that was practically as tall as his own knee, Han Tang’s mouth twitched.
“This much?” Han Tang took the lunchbox, and his arm instantly sank, nearly pulling him down to the floor.
Seeing this, Su Li also thought it was over-the-top and reached out to take it back, but someone else moved even faster.
Watching Shen Kui’s eager yet restrained demeanor, Su Li couldn’t be bothered to entertain him. He rolled his eyes, looked away, and continued talking to Han Tang:
“Not only that, all of those are from private restaurants.”
Ordinary people couldn’t even step through the doors of those establishments, yet Han Gui had gone ahead and arranged catering for the entire film crew. Han Gui certainly knew how to throw his weight around with grand gestures.
And people actually had the nerve to claim that Han Gui and Han Tang were at odds behind closed doors!
Hah.
Han Tang never expected that he had somehow triggered some hidden switch in Han Gui.
The “mute” older brother from the original novel not only started expressing verbal concern for him, but he even knew how to help him win over the hearts of the people on set. His character setting had completely collapsed beyond recognition.
Oh well.
Things had already reached this point, and overthinking it was useless. Fortunately, his ultimate goal was to help Shen Kui reach the pinnacle of his acting career, and as for Han Gui…
Just let him do whatever he wanted.
With that thought, Han Tang finally felt a bit better inside.
After thanking Su Li, Han Tang looked at Shen Kui, who was helping him carry the lunchbox, and asked, “Xiao Shen, there is so much food here, do you want to come back to my room and eat together?”
Sensing that the teenager was not in high spirits, he thoughtfully declined the suggestion: “No need. I will eat with Director Su. I happen to have some questions I would like to ask him.”
Hearing this, Han Tang nodded and said nothing more, though his mood lifted considerably.
The gloom in his heart caused by Han Gui randomly breaking character had finally cleared up, turning into sunshine.
At last, someone was following the normal script.
He cast an approving look at him.
And so dedicated to his craft as well, truly worthy of praise!
After helping Han Tang carry the food back to his room, Shen Kui returned only to be greeted by a look of exasperated disbelief from Su Li.
Shen Kui paid it no mind.
Knowing that Su Li assumed he and the teenager were mutually and openly crushing on each other, the director directly and bluntly started probing him for information concerning Zheng Qi. As they chatted, the conversation inevitably drifted toward Han Gui.
Only then did Shen Kui realize that the behind-the-scenes maneuvering surrounding his entry into the cast was far more complex than he had imagined.
Unaware that he was being cross-examined, Su Li simply assumed Shen Kui had come to fish for information about a love rival. Fearing that Zheng Qi’s presence might negatively affect Shen Kui’s mental state, Su Li exaggerated everything Han Tang had done for him tenfold!
Shen Kui felt quite pleased hearing Su Li emphasize how much importance the teenager attached to him—after all, nobody would ever get upset over someone else valuing them—yet his focus lay elsewhere entirely.
He was wondering why Han Gui had gone back on his word.
However, no further answers could be squeezed out of Su Li. Just as Shen Kui was about to wrap up the conversation, he noticed that Han Tang, who should have been staying safely inside his room, had emerged once more.
Expecting the teenager to come look for him, Shen Kui watched instead as he walked straight toward an unfamiliar young man.
Standing too far away from the two of them, he could neither hear their conversation nor observe the expression on the teenager’s face during their interaction.
Yet, judging from how the man attempted to grab and pull the teenager while the teenager stepped back to dodge him, he could tell their exchange was far from pleasant.
Just as Shen Kui was about to step forward to help, he saw the teenager say something before pushing the man away and retreating back into his room.
Shen Kui paused in his tracks, turning his gaze back toward the young man.
The man had already departed, leaving behind only a receding figure, yet for some reason, he found it strangely familiar.