Chapter 19

Xia Lanzheng had nowhere to hide and came out in shame.

When Cheng Lan saw the curly hair, the vigilance in his eyes disappeared and turned into an extremely uncomfortable look.

Song Xinghuai only raised his eyes at first, his expression was strangely cold, but when he saw who was coming, he immediately smiled: "Brother Xia!"

He raised his foot to walk towards Xia Lanzheng, but Cheng Lan grabbed his wrist. Xia Lanzheng clearly heard a "snap" sound.

How long had it been since the school anniversary, and their relationship had progressed to this point?

Cheng Lan released his hand and wiped it on his clothes, then leaned over before Song Xinghuai: "Xia Lanzheng, what are you doing here?"

Xia Lanzheng glanced at Song Xinghuai behind her and said in a strange tone, "I'm here to film."

Song Xinghuai smiled at him good-naturedly. He then heard Cheng Lan ask, "Filming? What kind of movie are you filming?"

Xia Lanzheng spoke the truth, and Cheng Lan's face turned stern after hearing it: "No one told me, why didn't you tell me?"

He knew about Yu Shuang's recruitment of actors. The role didn't have many lines or important roles, but it was extremely important and had been given a lot of fanfare.

He knew that Yu Shuang wanted to pick an amateur with talent, but Cheng Lan was busy with the announcements and didn't pay close attention, so he had no idea whether there was a suitable candidate in the end.

Song Xinghuai rubbed his wrist. Xia Lanzheng heard him sneer, "Teacher Cheng, the cast list was sent to the group yesterday. I hope you didn't see it."

The atmosphere was different from what Xia Lanzheng had imagined.

Not only was there no pink bubble at all, but the situation was tense, as if a fight could break out at any second.

He was sandwiched between two men, each taller than the other. If a fight really started, he would have nowhere to run.

Weren't they so close just now? Xia Lanzheng didn't know what had gone wrong.

Cheng Lan glanced at Song Xinghuai and didn't say much to him. Instead, he pulled Xia Lanzheng aside and said, "Let's go. This trash can stinks. I can smell it from far away."

Xia Lanzheng shook her hand away and stood there motionless.

He can no longer have contact with the protagonist.

This paragraph is clearly not in the original book, and the plot has become completely confusing.

Cheng Lan grabbed a handful of hair and asked, "What do you mean, you're not leaving?"

Xia Lanzheng stood under a ray of light, and the dim light made her eyes look round and bright.

Cheng Lan met his gaze and realized belatedly that his tone just now was a bit fierce.

His voice softened. "Come on, Zheng Zheng. I'll take you to my place for lunch. Your agent will bring you there."

"No," Xia Lanzheng got goosebumps and said she was not willing to go no matter what. "I told my agent, he left a lunch box for me."

Cheng Lan didn't expect to be rejected and was in disbelief.

It was strange that Xia Lanzheng, a delicate and tender young man, could tolerate the environment of the crew. Besides, he would never eat this lunch box even if he starved to death.

Just when he was stunned for a few seconds, Song Xinghuai's arm was raised under his nose and slowly fell on Xia Lanzheng's shoulder.

The man who had been so cold just now suddenly smiled: "Xiao Xia, I also want to go downstairs to get a lunch box, want to join me?"

Cheng Lan looked at the hand holding Xia Lanzheng, and a burst of anger suddenly rushed into his heart.

Who is this person? Where did he come from? Is he familiar with Xia Lanzheng?

Cheng Lan was about to slap the hand away, but Song Xinghuai calmly pulled Xia Lanzheng forward, causing his hand to hang in the air.

Cheng Lan immediately looked at Xia Lanzheng, and Xia Lanzheng did not refuse.

He heard his childhood friend say this to the strange man.

"Okay, I'll go with you then."

The two of them walked past Cheng Lan. After walking a few meters, Xia Lanzheng finally remembered something and turned back: "Cheng Lan, then I'll be leaving first?"

It sounded like a question, but the man was actually walking very fast.

Cheng Lan was stunned for a long time when he saw him disappear at the other end of the corridor.

He couldn't tell where the anger in his heart came from, but he felt annoyed and wanted to pull Song Xinghuai away from Xia Lanzheng.

"Hold."

He cursed and kicked the takeout bag next to the door. The empty coffee cup hit the wall and rolled to his feet.

He reached into his bag and touched something bumpy. He took it out and looked at it, staring at the small holes in the stone clay, and then he slowly and steadily breathed.

This was a gift from Xia Lanzheng to him when he was a child: "Cheng Lan, I made this myself. There's only one in the world. How about giving it to you as a present for your seventh birthday?"

This thing looks so ugly. It's said to be a lamb, but it looks like a white UFO with its eyes painted on its forehead.

Just now, Song Xinghuai called him and said that he lost something at the school anniversary.

The cramped stairwell had poor ventilation and the trash can smelled terrible, so they leaned against the wall on the other side, which made it feel better.

Cheng Lan pinched the little lamb horns, and his fingertips hurt.

He clearly remembered everything, so why did Xia Lanzheng forget everything?

After a few seconds of silence, Cheng Lan made a "tsk" sound, bent down and threw the garbage back into the trash can.

*

Xia Lanzheng didn't know what Cheng Lan was thinking. She was simply afraid of Cheng Lan's inexplicable attitude, so she ran away with Song Xinghuai.

"By the way," Xia Lanzheng sat across from Song Xinghuai and took out the burnt meat. "What did you just do... well, can you tell me?"

Song Xinghuai made no secret of it: "I found his lost things at the school celebration and just returned them to him."

"No more?"

Song Xinghuai broke off his chopsticks and said, "That's all. What else can Teacher Cheng and I do in the stairwell?"

Xia Lanzheng explained: "Nothing, I..."

Song Xinghuai suddenly took over and said with a smile: "Brother Xia, I don't like Teacher Cheng."

Xia Lanzheng hadn't thought of asking this at all, but after hearing him say that, she couldn't help but gossip, "So what kind do you like?"

Song Xinghuai looked away, then raised his eyes two seconds later, sweeping his gaze across Xia Lanzheng's face. He said slowly, "Shorter than me, with long hair?"

Xia Lanzheng suddenly stopped chewing, her cheeks puffed up, and she looked a little subtle, not knowing what she was thinking.

Song Xinghuai curled his lips silently, then saw Xia Lanzheng's face flushed, swallowed the food in her mouth in a few seconds, and looked straight at him.

"you……"

Song Xinghuai leaned closer: "Hmm?"

Xia Lanzheng stared at Song Xinghuai's face. He was not that pale and was the handsome type.

He swallowed and asked quietly, "Do you like girls?"

“…”

Song Xinghuai's body froze there. He looked at him carefully, frowned and smiled.

In Xia Lanzheng's eyes, this laugh was a tacit agreement. His three views were overturned. Song Xinghuai is a straight man?

How can he be straight? Who allowed it?

In the end, the burnt dish had no flavor anymore, and Xia Lanzheng received a message from Chu Linchuan while she was in a trance.

"Chu Linchuan (evil version): Food."

Xia Lanzheng took a photo of the empty lunch box and sent it to him.

"Chu Linchuan (evil version): I'm quite a eater."

Xia Lanzheng didn't reply. The fact that Song Xinghuai was a straight man had shocked him too much. He thought to himself that he should take it easy, and that took most of the week.

Sometimes he admired himself for his ability to adapt to the workplace. After getting to know the crew, his social anxiety didn't seem to matter anymore.

He plays a mute eunuch in the movie. He has no lines and few scenes, so filming was not as difficult as imagined.

Song Xinghuai was also a supporting role and he could not get along with him. They hardly saw each other after that lunch.

However, he had met Cheng Lan several times, and he didn't know what was wrong with this man. He would hide whenever he saw him. Once, he ran away from him from a long distance.

Yu Jiawei also saw it that time and was worried. He asked, "What happened? Did you upset Cheng Lan?"

How could Xia Lanzheng know? This man's expression changed every day, which was very strange. She just wanted to stay away from him.

However, the last day of filming was with Cheng Lan.

Xia Lanzheng knew she couldn't escape, so she got up early to cheer herself up. As soon as she went out, she ran into Cheng Lan who lived across the street.

Cheng Lan nodded to him, and the two of them walked into the set one after the other.

The special effects artist smeared something like blood plasma on Xia Lanzheng's face, and then scattered a few handfuls of ashes. Then he was pushed in front of Cheng Lan.

There was chaos in the palace, and the little mute ran all the way, trying to inform His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

He clutched the blood-stained note tightly, his eyes blurred with tears. The moment he saw the prince, he felt relieved and fell to his knees with a thud.

At this time, heavy rain began to fall, crackling, and the rain spread along the muddy road.

The prince was dressed in black and holding a long sword with bloodshot eyes.

He stood in a pool of blood and looked at the person who came.

The camera and sound crew circled around, their cameras trained on the prince's face.

Others might not have noticed it, but Cheng Lan was stunned the moment he saw Xia Lanzheng.

The man on the ground was thin and pale, and it was hard to tell whether the liquid on his cheeks was tears or rain.

This is the first time Cheng Lan has had a performance after so many years in the industry.

The hand holding the sword trembled, and he stood silently for several seconds.

The director looked away from the monitor and finally realized something was wrong - the young eunuch had handed the role to the prince.

He raised his trembling hand, revealing a bloody note in his palm.

Cheng Lan suddenly came back to his senses, and his expression changed in an instant. He squatted down to catch it, and poked the young eunuch's wet hand.

So cold.

The young eunuch's robe was stained black and blue by blood. He took all his strength to take a last look at him, and a shadowy figure seemed to float before his eyes.

The silent life was torn into countless pieces and drowned in the pouring rain.

Xia Lanzheng died in the pouring rain.

Cheng Lan's eyes were red as he tightly gripped Xia Lanzheng's hand. He watched as his eyelids gradually drooped before finally closing.

"Card--"

The quiet set finally became noisy. The artificial rain stopped, and Xia Lanzheng took a breath, buried in her robe.

Cheng Lan was acting too slowly. If he had been two seconds later, he would have suffocated to death.

Xia Lanzheng wanted to lie on the ground for a while, but suddenly someone pulled her hard.

Cheng Lan's face was tense, and he raised his voice: "Get up."

This sound startled Yu Jiawei who was about to approach.

Yu Jiawei quickly came over and said, "What's wrong, Teacher Cheng? We can discuss it!"

Xia Lanzheng was almost dragged up by Cheng Lan. Both of their palms were filled with rainwater, wet and slippery, but it was even more painful to be held like this.

"What are you doing?"

Xia Lanzheng got angry and pulled her hand out with force.

The soles of his feet were covered in mud and several dirty footprints extended all the way to the cement road.

Xia Lanzheng was not only asking about what happened just now, but there was also a subtext hidden in her words.

He had been tolerating Cheng Lan for almost a week.

Cheng Lan's agent, Yang Pengfei, ran over quickly and knew what was going on at a glance.

His artist has been acting strangely lately, and every time he sees Xia Lanzheng, he gets sulky for a while.

He gave me many instructions in the morning, asking me to act well on the set, since it was just this one scene.

But the status of Chenglan is still wrong.

Yang Pengfei slapped Cheng Lan on the back, which woke him up.

Cheng Lan lowered his eyes and saw that Xia Lanzheng's face was flushed, and it was obvious that she was angry.

He didn't think too much about it and quickly apologized: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Everyone saw Xia Lanzheng turn a face and walk away.

Teacher Cheng hurriedly chased after him to apologize, followed by two agents who looked bewildered.

Song Xinghuai stood outside the crowd, staring intently at the two people walking out of the set.

"I just didn't realize you were dead..." Cheng Lan wanted to reach out but didn't dare. "Of course I know you're not dead. I was just overthinking it. Anyway, I'm sorry. I was wrong. Don't be angry."

He also knew that he was in a bad mood. He was no longer a newcomer in the industry, but Xia Lanzheng's previous state made him feel very nervous and he couldn't get out of the role.

Yu Jiawei was sweating profusely, thinking to himself, what is going on? If this gets out, won’t people say that Xia Lanzheng is a big shot?

It would be Cheng Lan, right?

He wanted to go up and persuade him, but Cheng Lan's agent hadn't made any move yet, so he didn't dare to speak rashly.

Yu Jiawei followed behind in confusion, but then Xia Lanzheng stopped.

He wiped the water that dripped onto his eyelashes, ignored the people around him, turned his head and stared into Cheng Lan's eyes, his chin raised higher and higher.

"Okay, beg me and I'll forgive you."