Gu Tang knew that Yin Fan was not treated well at his company, but she had never known exactly what the situation was. From Su Zhan, she learned some of the details.
Yin Fan rarely got opportunities to play leading roles. This time, he had finally made it onto a trending topic because of his acting in Destined to Miss You, only for the male lead’s manager to hire internet trolls to manipulate public opinion. While riding on the same wave of popularity, Yin Fan was also mocked as someone who hogged the spotlight and dominated the production.
Yin Fan had been filming a historical drama for several days when he was suddenly informed yesterday that he would be replaced. The other side did not give a clear reason, only saying that they had found someone more suitable.
The resources the company had promised because of Gu Fugui’s investment had still failed to materialize.
“The little bit of popularity he’d accumulated from his TV dramas is basically useless now that he doesn’t have any screen time,” Su Zhan said with a bitter smile.
“I sent him some emergency jobs last night. They received them but didn’t respond, and I’ve been completely unable to get in touch with him.” Su Zhan glanced at Gu Tang. “Luckily, you called just then. He can afford to offend me, but does he have the guts to offend his financial backer?”
Gu Tang was too lazy to argue anymore.
“Is Yin Fan unhappy with those jobs?”
“The jobs he’s getting now are all things other people don’t want, but having something is still better than having nothing.” Thinking about this gave Su Zhan another headache. “Kids these days have never suffered any setbacks. They’re so damn arrogant. It’s normal for them not to cooperate. Just give them a beating and they’ll be fine.”
Gu Tang’s lips twitched.
“I’ll go talk some sense into Yin Fan. You just back me up. If that doesn’t work, say something harsh and knock some of the arrogance out of him.” Su Zhan turned the steering wheel to the right. “There are things you’ll be more effective at saying than me.”
“What am I supposed to say?” Gu Tang looked at him expectantly.
“You don’t know how to say harsh things?” Su Zhan gave her some examples. “Tell him he’s ungrateful. Tell him to go take a piss and look at himself before dreaming so high, that his ambitions reach the heavens while his life is as fragile as paper.”
“What about you?” Gu Tang began repeating the phrases Su Zhan had just taught her.
“I’ll obviously comfort him!” Su Zhan said as though it were self-evident. “I’m his manager. I have to get through this difficult period with him!”
Gu Tang rolled her eyes. “Why do I have to be the bad guy? You go curse him out, and I’ll be the one who comforts him.”
Su Zhan clicked his tongue twice. “Just look at that face of yours, and the way you roll your eyes. It would be a shame if you didn’t play a vicious woman. You’ve got a natural talent for it, so you have to make good use of it.”
“Natural talent my ass!”
The residential complex where Yin Fan lived was tucked away in a secluded location, and it did not seem to have a particularly high occupancy rate either.
As Gu Tang followed Su Zhan into the elevator, she finally began to feel wary.
“Why am I getting dragged into this mess with you?”
“Just think of it as doing a good deed.” Su Zhan sighed. “I haven’t been working with Yin Fan for very long, and I still can’t figure out his personality. I really don’t know how to deal with him.”
When they arrived outside Yin Fan’s apartment, Su Zhan was already preparing to enter the password into the electronic lock, but he still knocked on the door out of courtesy.
To their surprise, the door opened.
Yin Fan was wearing casual home clothes. There was not the slightest sign of dejection about him. He still looked clean, neat, and presentable.
Yin Fan did not seem surprised to see them.
“Come in.”
He served them tea and water and invited them to sit down. His natural manner actually made Su Zhan and Gu Tang feel awkward instead, and the two of them sat there stiffly and properly.
Their plan had failed to keep up with reality, and the two of them had suddenly lost their confidence.
Su Zhan gestured at Gu Tang with his eyes, signaling her to say something.
Gu Tang pretended she had not seen him.
Su Zhan had no choice but to take the lead himself.
“Did you look at what I sent you last night?”
“I did.” Yin Fan nodded. “I’ve sorted through some of it, but my computer is in the study. Do you want to take a look first?”
“Sorted through what?” Su Zhan was a little confused.
Yin Fan pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. His voice remained gentle as he explained everything clearly.
“There are two jobs I think we can accept. The online variety show where they roast people has a wide reach, and I’ve written half of the script already. The other is a supporting role in a modern urban drama. It has enough exposure, and filming will wrap up quickly, so it can help us get through this urgent period.”
Su Zhan: “Holy shit!”
Gu Tang silently turned her head away. Why had she and Su Zhan naively discussed how to save this man from his predicament when his mind was this clear? They were simply not worthy.
Su Zhan went to the study to see what Yin Fan had written.
Yin Fan gave Gu Tang an apologetic smile. “There are snacks on the table. Feel free to look around the house.”
“It’s fine.” Gu Tang immediately waved her hands. “I’m only here to make up the numbers. Don’t worry about me.”
Yin Fan also went into the study. Gu Tang wandered around the living room.
The apartment was not large. Everything was kept impeccably neat, and there were pitifully few belongings.
Then Gu Tang’s gaze was drawn to a pale yellow object on the small table beside the sofa.
A squeaky chicken.
She absolutely had not expected this.
Gu Tang imagined Yin Fan holding How an Actor Is Made in one hand and a squeaky chicken in the other, and the image was indescribably bizarre.
She was still staring blankly when she heard a tapping sound coming from the balcony. Gu Tang looked up and saw a blue, long-tailed bird pecking at the window.
The bird’s beady black eyes met Gu Tang’s. Instead of backing down, it tilted its head provocatively and gave a chirp, then started pecking even harder.
How dare a bird provoke her?
Gu Tang went to the balcony and stared at the bird through the glass. She poked the spot where the bird had been pecking with her finger, making a tapping sound even louder than the bird’s.
The blue-tailed bird was startled by her tapping and took flight.
Gu Tang gave a faint smile, displaying the pride of a primate. Did this pathetic little bird really think it could compete with her?
Then the bird, now flying in the sky, gave another chirp and viciously flicked its tail at Gu Tang.
A lump of bird droppings splattered onto the glass.
Gu Tang: …I’m screwed!
The blue-tailed bird flapped its wings away triumphantly. Gu Tang searched around the balcony for something she could use to clean the window.
Unfortunately, there was nothing useful on the balcony. However, in one corner, she discovered an ashtray.
She crouched down and saw the cigarette butts arranged neatly inside. The owner had lined them up horizontally and vertically with the kind of meticulousness that suggested mild obsessive-compulsive tendencies.
Gu Tang was genuinely bored enough to count them. There were two layers, stacked neatly together, exactly the number in half a pack of cigarettes.
Gu Tang had seen some of Yin Fan’s interviews. His public image was gentle and refined, a proper gentleman who did not smoke or drink.
Yin Fan’s living room was almost excessively clean. He probably would not simply leave cigarette butts here and ignore them.
A faint curiosity arose in Gu Tang. She pressed her fingertip against each cigarette filter one by one, eventually finding one that still retained a little warmth. She picked it up and held it between her fingertips.
Yin Fan was not nearly as calm and composed as he appeared.
From deep into the night until dawn, he had searched through the jobs other people had rejected, trying to find something that still had value, while smoking for the entire night.
One cigarette had even been extinguished hurriedly when he heard the knock at the door. That was why this ashtray, which he had not had time to tidy up, had been left there.
Yin Fan was not being willful or deliberately ignoring Su Zhan. He simply no longer had the energy to deal with anything else.
A strange, aching bitterness swelled in Gu Tang’s heart.
Hard work without reward.
No one could deny Yin Fan’s acting ability. She had seen how seriously he took acting, yet someone like him was constantly being suppressed, forced to pick through what others had already rejected.
What was most infuriating was that he did not lose his temper or become dejected. He remained calm enough to revise scripts…
Those roast-style talk shows had scripts written by screenwriters. What the hell kind of inspirational character setting was this?! Was he a model student or something?!
Gu Tang was still crouched in the corner, silently grumbling to herself, when the light suddenly dimmed and a figure cast a shadow over her.
A hand with clearly defined knuckles gently took the cigarette butt from her fingertips. His fingertips brushed against the back of her hand, carrying a faint coolness.
Yin Fan was standing behind her. He must have bent down, because his breath spread through the air. Her neck felt slightly itchy, touched by the cool scent of faint cigarette smoke.
“Don’t touch that. It’s dirty.”
He returned the cigarette butt to its original position.
Gu Tang turned around and saw Yin Fan looking downward. His eyes behind his glasses carried a faint trace of weariness, and compared with his usual self, his detached expression seemed slightly more tired.
“Yin Fan,” Gu Tang said, “I’ll go find Gu Fugui. He’ll definitely be able to help you.”
Before she could finish, Yin Fan raised his eyes.
His phoenix-shaped eyes were dark as ink.
“What do you want… If it’s pity, then forget it.”
He was still a man whose pride had not bent. Every favor he accepted came with a clearly stated price.
Gu Tang thought of the stray cat she had fed downstairs for a while. She had never successfully managed to stroke its fur. The closest contact she had ever had with it was when, in a good mood, its glossy black tail wrapped around her ankle, sending a tingling sensation through her.
It had only lasted for a short period. Later, the stray cat disappeared. She had merely been one of the roads it had traveled and one of the people it had encountered.
“Aren’t you my teacher?” Gu Tang said. “I want to win the Golden Whale Award for Best Actress.”
“Okay.”
Yin Fan answered without hesitation.
Gu Tang’s eyes flickered somewhat guiltily. This was another excuse she had found by following the path laid out before her, something she had never actually taken seriously.
A casually made promise, an outrageous boast, could disappear into the air in two seconds, only to grow into vines that wrapped themselves around the heart of the person who took promises seriously, becoming a resilience that could not be severed even in a storm.
Gu Tang did not know what this would grow into, just as she did not know why a cat would wrap its tail around her slender ankle.
“Then I’m really looking forward to it.”
She smiled brightly, like a trap.
Author’s Note: Mini Theater:
(1)
Gu Tang: “To keep Yin Fan from discovering the bird droppings on his balcony window, I had no choice but to smash the glass.”
Yin Fan: “…Please act like a normal human being.”
Su Zhan, looking suspicious: “You really do have that evil-woman persona after all.”
(2)
Gu Tang: “Why is there a squeaky chicken in your room?”
Yin Fan: “…I like things that make noise.”
Su Zhan, interrupting: “And things that move, and shiny things. If you shine a laser pointer around on the wall, he can stare at it for an entire day.”
Gu Tang looked at Yin Fan.
“…Are you even a primate? Or are you a cat?”