Chapter 55: Summer Solstice I'm going to take a call.
Xia Huanming was stunned for a moment, then gently pinched Chen Xing's cheek with his right hand and lifted it up slightly, as if he wanted to expose Chen Xing's face a little more.
Chen Xing cooperated by looking up and letting Xia Huanming's fingertips stroke under his eyes, and the melted snow was wiped away lightly.
"Wait!" Chen Xing grabbed Xia Huanming's wrist.
Chen Xing was originally staring at Xia Huanming who was carefully wiping his face, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed a dark red color that shouldn't be on his palm.
What is going on? !
He forcibly pried open Xia Huanming's palm and stared at the mark - the palm of his hand seemed to be scratched by something, not deep and did not break the skin, but that mark was obviously redder than other places.
"What's wrong here?" Chen Xing looked up and asked Xia Huanming, "It wasn't there just now, are you allergic to it?"
"Maybe it hit something. It will be fine after a while."
Xia Huanming's eyes were still gentle, as if the wound was not worth mentioning at all. He tried to pull his hand back, but Chen Xing held it tighter.
Because Chen Xing didn't quite believe what Xia Huanming said.
This is obviously the result of being pressed by something, and it was pressed for a long time.
Chen Xing stared at Xia Huanming without blinking, his pupils filled with doubt: "Really? Will it really be over in a moment?"
Xia Huanming seemed to realize that he had just made a light comment, and his expression suddenly became serious. He leaned forward slightly, looked directly into Chen Xing's eyes, and said word by word: "Really, wait until this scene is finished and then come back to see it. If it's not healed yet, you can hit me."
"Pfft——" Chen Xing laughed out loud, and slowly loosened his fingers, "Why would I hit you?"
A gentle smile spread across Xia Huanming's lips, and he reached out to help Chen Xing adjust his scarf. His movements were very gentle, and his fingertips accidentally touched Chen Xing's cheek, pinching it in passing.
Chen Xing glared at him and reminded him: "Hey."
At the same time, the leader's voice came from afar. Xia Huanming smiled and let go of his hand, saying softly, "Let's talk later."
"Yeah," Chen Xing nodded, "I'm going to look for Guoguo too, and then I'll come over to watch you act."
While the set was still being adjusted, Chen Xing first handed the candy to Guo Guo, then squatted down and chatted with the little guy for a while. When he hurried back to the set, he saw Xia Huanming standing alone next to the monitor, looking down at the script.
As soon as Chen Xing approached, Xia Huanming raised his head as if he had sensed something and naturally took two steps towards him.
The sleeves of their down jackets stuck together, making a slight "rustling" sound.
None of them spoke, they just stood side by side, watching the assistant director direct the extras to practice their movements over and over again.
A few minutes later, the director started calling people, and the filming of Xia Huanming and Shen Miao's rivalry officially began.
Twenty or so extras wrapped in dark coats shuttled back and forth, the heels of their leather shoes tapping the ground faster and faster. Some deliberately swung their briefcases to make a rattling sound, while others lowered their voices and cursed at their non-existent watches.
Xia Huanming, who was standing in the center of the crowd, seemed to have been paused.
The lighting engineer changed the filter to indigo, and the entire set suddenly darkened. The ground was covered with a cold blue-gray light, like a frozen lake.
Xia Huanming's elbows in his pockets were shaking slightly. He rolled over the raised bricks on the sidewalk with the toes of his shoes, exhaling white mist from time to time.
What great acting.
Chen Xingguang just looked at Xia Huanming's "red" nose, as if he could feel the moment when the cold wind of the winter night poured into his lungs.
“Boom, boom…”
The crisp sound of high heels broke the silence of the scene, and Shen Miao walked over slowly.
She walked up to Xia Huanming, frowned slightly, and said with a hint of impatience and confusion: "Why are you waiting here? Why don't you go in?"
Xia Huanming turned his head and glanced at her, his eyes were cold and distant, and he replied in a cold voice: "I'm afraid they don't know the way."
Shen Miao heard this and shrugged speechlessly: "What a stubborn ass."
Xia Huanming and Shen Miao's lines went back and forth, with the tone and rhythm just right, as if every glance contained a hidden sharpness.
Chen Xing, who was watching from the sidelines, was so engrossed in the action that he didn't even notice someone was approaching him. He only turned around when the person touched him.
It turned out to be Shao Shuxian.
Chen Xing greeted him with a smile: "You are here to watch the show too."
Shao Shuxian nodded and said, "Yes, yes."
After a brief exchange of greetings, Chen Xing's eyes fell on the two actors again and he exclaimed, "They acted really well."
Shao Shuxian also agreed: "Yes, the acting is really good."
Shen Miao walked to the street light, took out a cigarette box from his coat pocket, took out a cigarette and asked Xia Huanming: "Want one?"
Xia Huanming's drooping eyelids slightly lifted, and his eyes followed Shen Miao's movements. He paused for a few seconds when he saw the outside world - Chen Xingzheng and Shao Shuxian were standing together, and they laughed together without saying a few words.
“…”
Xia Huanming's gaze paused slightly, and a barely perceptible emotion flashed in his eyes.
Fortunately, his acting skills were good enough to perfectly hide his distraction for a few seconds.
Xia Huanming answered Shen Miao according to the script: "No, I don't smoke."
Shen Miao, who was immersed in the lines, did not notice his strangeness at that moment, and replied with a smile: "Just pretend." But she did not smoke, she just held the cigarette in her mouth.
At this time, Zheng Qi walked in, and the three of them met and continued to talk about their lines.
Zheng Qi's acting is also very capable. Although not as good as Xia Huanming and Shen Miao, he focuses on true feelings and simplicity. Whatever he says has the magic to make people believe it.
It's like letting these three people become swindlers. Zheng Qi will definitely make more money because he is sincere enough, as if he has really experienced these things.
"You can learn Zheng Qi's method. You two have similar performance styles," Shao Shuxian suddenly spoke to Chen Xing. "You and he both let your bodies perform and react naturally. You are just starting out, while Zheng Qi has already mastered it."
"I see." Chen Xing nodded thoughtfully, "No wonder Teacher Zhang Jin'an said at the beginning, 'Even those who did not debut professionally have aura and a sense of relaxation.'"
Shao Shuxian was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "You have a really good memory."
The three people's scenes were quickly finished, and Director Yu announced a halftime break. Everyone could move around freely for a while, and the filming also moved to outdoors during this time.
Shao Shuxian was pulled away by Shen Miao, and Xiaoling came over to touch up Chen Xing's makeup.
After finishing her makeup, Chen Xing wanted to find Xia Huanming, but Xia Huanming came over by himself.
Without saying a word, Chen Xing pulled up Xia Huanming's right hand and observed the condition of his palm. It was a little lighter than before, but not completely healed yet.
Xia Huanming let Chen Xing hold him like this, staring at his drooping eyelashes, and asked casually: "What were you talking about just now?"
Chen Xing looked up in confusion, looked at Xia Huanming and asked, "What are you talking about?"
Xia Huanming raised his chin slightly: "You and Shao Shuxian."
Chen Xing said, "Oh," and said, "Let's talk about you guys, your acting is great."
"We? That's good." Xia Huanming spoke the last three words softly, and Chen Xing didn't hear it clearly. He asked Xia Huanming to say it again, but Xia Huanming said it was nothing.
Chen Xing is not the kind of person who thinks too much. Since he said it was nothing, he would take it as true.
Later, the staff came to call people, and everyone went outside to continue filming. The outdoor shooting lasted until 8:30 in the evening.
After Chen Xing changed his clothes, he smelled the aroma of cumin. He asked the others and found out that everyone was a little hungry, so they came to the alley where the aroma came from.
Various late-night snack shops wake up in the twilight. From afar, it is brightly lit, and the sky is slightly illuminated by the lights.
They walked for a while and finally chose a barbecue restaurant where not many people were.
There is a convenience store next to this barbecue restaurant, and the two companies should have a good relationship. When Chen Xing went in, he heard the two proprietresses talking about the dishes for tomorrow's lunch.
The owner of the convenience store said in dialect, "I'm leaving now because I have some business," and went back to her store.
The barbecue restaurant is not big, and there are tables and benches outside. The gray air-conditioning unit is dripping water, leaving dark marks on the ground.
After they took off their masks, the boss lady recognized them. She was then in a dilemma of not being able to find anyone to show off to. She sent several voice messages on her mobile phone saying "Guess who I met today", and in the end she sent them all in dialect "Forget it, forget it, you can't guess it anyway".
The boss lady's conflicted look made everyone laugh. Finally, everyone took turns taking photos with the boss lady. The old customers next to them all said that the boss lady was lucky today.
The proprietress seemed to like Shao Shuxian very much. When taking a photo, she naturally held her hand with a gentle light in her eyes.
After further questioning, I found out that the boss's daughter was somewhat similar to Shao Shuxian.
"She is teaching in a remote area now, and comes back only once in a long time. Life is so hard over there. I feel sad seeing those children whose parents are not around." As the proprietress spoke, tears fell from her eyes.
But this vulnerability lasted less than a minute.
The proprietress seemed to realize that she still had to continue living and making money. She wiped her face vigorously, and in a blink of an eye she returned to her usual cheerful appearance and continued to greet customers.
"Third brother! That table wants two skewers of kidneys!"
Fortunately, "Acting First" is not the kind of program that relies on exploiting other people's suffering to create gimmicks.
When the proprietress shed tears, the camera turned tacitly to the young man busy in front of the grill.
The sizzling lamb skewers rolled on the charcoal fire, oil and water dripped onto the coals, the charcoal fire suddenly crackled and exploded, and white smoke mixed with the aroma of cumin rose up.
Chen Xing smelled the aroma and his stomach growled.
He first ate some peanuts, chatted with Xia Huanming for a while, and then read the daily question sent by Xiao Wu.
When he looked up, Xia Huanming put the roasted cauliflower on his plate.
"Thank you," Chen Xing put down his phone and called the proprietress, "Sister, can you give me some chili noodles?"
"Okay, I'll give you as much as you want." The lady boss looked at Chen Xing and said in dialect, "Oh, you don't know, my daughter shared your songs with me before, and my husband said at first that you must be a sloppy and rebellious boy, but after seeing you on the show, he said he was wrong."
After hearing this, Chen Xing burst into laughter.
People who didn't understand the dialect asked Chen Xing what he was laughing at. Chen Xing explained it to them and everyone started laughing too.
Zheng Qi took the opportunity to start telling jokes.
Zheng Qi said mysteriously: "The child asked his mother why the candle flame could not be still for a while. His mother said that it was because it was a small spiritual fire."
The table instantly fell into a strange silence. After a few seconds, Shao Shuxian, who had been quiet all the time, suddenly laughed: "Hahahahaha——"
Everyone: “……???”
Not to mention they were surprised, even Zheng Qi was surprised.
He has been in the joke industry for many years, but this is the first time he has met such a cooperative customer. He was moved and told two more jokes, both of which were similar to the homophonic pun "The coal won't light, it turns out it's the coal's fault".
Shao Shuxian was very considerate and laughed non-stop with her arm around Shen Miao's shoulder. Her voice became intermittent from the end of her laughter, but she was still laughing.
The assistant director pointed at Shao Shuxian, who was laughing so hard that she couldn't breathe, and said, "I say, why don't you take the children to have a look?"
Shen Miao calmly drank a sip of juice and explained in a nonchalant manner: "It's okay, she just likes puns."
Seeing this, Zhao Xingyu said, "Then she should have participated in our Don't Laugh Challenge last time. She could have helped Brother Yue to be at the bottom."
"...I didn't expect that Brother Qi's jokes would have a market." Chen Xing sighed softly.
"There is only this one market." Xia Huanming added silently.
The two looked at each other and clinked their glasses silently.
At this moment, Chen Xing's cell phone on the table lit up, and a new message came.
Chen Xing drank his drink and picked up his cell phone.
[Qi Yinrui]: Isn't the fourth episode going to the island? We'll take Tiaotiao over there, and you can play with it directly.
Chen Xing put down the cup and lowered his head to type his answer.
【Chen Xing】：Great! (*=w=*)/
Just as Chen Xing finished replying to the message, Xia Huanming's deep voice came to his ears: "Is it Qi Yinrui who is looking for you?"
"Yeah!" Chen Xing sat up straight, and turned his phone screen to Xia Huanming with sparkling eyes, "Look, he said he wants to bring Tiaotiao to the island for the fourth recording!"
Xia Huanming calmly glanced at the dialog box, including the chat history on it.
The content of their conversation was either about cats or scripts, there was nothing special.
Moreover, Chen Xing could show him the chat content so frankly. Doesn't it prove that in Chen Xing's heart, he is a friend with whom he can share private matters?
Xia Huanming felt secretly delighted when he thought of this, and his tense shoulders relaxed slightly.
Xia Huanming's voice softened a bit: "No wonder you are so happy, you can go play with it directly when the time comes."
"Yes, yes," Chen Xing looked at his phone and nodded excitedly, "You can also go and see Tiaotiao, she's really cute."
Xia Huanming didn't look at his phone, but stared quietly into Chen Xing's shining eyes, with the corners of his lips rising unconsciously.
When the barbecue was over, everyone made an appointment with the boss lady to come back next time. Chen Xing wanted to ride a shared bike back, but Xia Huanming grabbed his wrist and said that there were several sections of the road without street lights, which was too dangerous.
Chen Xing recalled and it seemed to be the case, so he got into the car with Xia Huanming.
As the air conditioner started to blow, Chen Xing began to feel sleepy and yawned several times at the sycamore tree outside the window.
After they returned to the dormitory, Chen Xing ran directly to the second floor to wash up and squeezed out the last bit of toothpaste, which was just enough for one serving.
Chen Xing held the toothbrush and showed it off to Xia Huanming: "Look, I'm really lucky. I just took the last bite."
Xia Huanming couldn't help but chuckle, and then agreed: "Yes, yes, yes."
Chen Xing returned to the bathroom, brushed his teeth and took a shower. When he came out, he lay directly on the bed, rolled around and then curled up in the quilt.
The moment his head touched the pillow, he could no longer lift his eyelids. He said good night to Xia Huanming in a daze and completely lost consciousness.
When Chen Xing woke up, the sun outside the window was already hanging brightly in the noon sky.
The pale yellow light shines through the gauze curtains, casting a warm spot of light on the wooden floor.
Chen Xing propped himself up and sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily, and subconsciously glanced to the other side of the room, only to find that Xia Huanming's bed had already been neatly made.
The sheets were smooth without a wrinkle, and the pillows were neatly placed at the head of the bed, so clean that it seemed as if no one had ever slept in it.
There were no filming arrangements and no classes today, so Chen Xing walked slowly to the bathroom.
He reached for the toothbrush cup out of habit, but suddenly stopped when he saw the strange toothpaste lying inside - the used toothpaste turned into a new toothpaste of another brand.
Chen Xing initially thought he had put it in the wrong place, but then he discovered that there was a box of toothpaste in Xia Huanming's cup.
"..." Chen Xing looked at it for more than ten seconds, and finally brushed his teeth first, then took a photo with his mobile phone and sent it to Xia Huanming.
【Chen Xing】：【Picture】
【Chen Xing】: Thank you for feeding me (*QuO/)
It was not until Chen Xing changed into a white sweatshirt and went downstairs to eat the pickled mustard tuber and vermicelli soup made by Zheng Peiya that he received Xia Huanming's reply.
[Xia Huanming]: Sorry, I just got the phone now
[Xia Huanming]: Just got up?
【Chen Xing】：Hmm~(ouo*)
[Xia Huanming]: Have you eaten?
【Chen Xing】：(●OωO●)No, I’m going to have lunch!
[Xia Huanming]: You didn't eat breakfast, so don't eat spicy food for lunch, it's bad for your stomach.
【Chen Xing】：Okay(/ω＼）
After Chen Xing sent the message, he lowered his head and chatted with his fans.
Xue Si Nian, who was sitting opposite him, swallowed the pickled peanuts she had packed yesterday and said, "This is rare. Didn't they add a spoonful of chili oil before this?"
Chen Xing shook his head and said, "I have been ordered by my superiors, so I dare not disobey."
Today, only Chen Xing and two screenwriters were left at home. The three of them discussed the plans for the day while eating.
Xue Si-nian's sixth script is almost finished, and Zheng Pei-ya's seventh script is also halfway written. With their brain cells almost exhausted, the two of them are eager to relax with other activities.
"It's best to play a game that doesn't require any brainpower," Xue Si Nian said.
Chen Xing stared at the blue sky outside the window, thought for a moment and suggested: "Then let's go fly a kite. I see we have the tools for flying a kite."
This proposal was unanimously praised by the two people on the opposite side.
After the meal, the three of them cleaned up the table, squatted in front of the storage cabinet, and searched for the kite from the program team.
The program team prepared two kites, one is a basic fluorescent green diamond kite, and the other is a hell-level swallow kite.
Xue Si Nian held the bamboo frame of the swallow kite, a little hesitant: "I don't know how to fly a kite, will I fail?"
"Give it a try," Chen Xing gently fiddled with the kite string, encouraging the two people who were already a little unconfident, "Maybe it will fly."
Zheng Peiya agreed in a gentle voice: "Yes, failure is failure, the key point is that we let it go!"
Xue Si Nian thought it made sense, and his frown suddenly relaxed: "Okay! Let's go on the picnic!"
The three of them changed into shoes and went out together, carrying the kite bags.
The midday sun outside is casting waterfalls of light, and the grass waves are surging into an emerald sea in the warm wind.
Just as Chen Xing stepped onto the grass, his cell phone rang.
The caller ID made Chen Xing's pupils shrink slightly, and his knuckles turned slightly white due to the force.
"Sorry," Chen Xing smiled appropriately and said to the two excited people, "I'll take a call."
Without waiting for the two to answer, Chen Xing turned around and left quickly.
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