Shooting
Under the spotlight, Chu Yiran lowered his head slightly, letting the makeup artist touch up his makeup. His skin appeared translucent and fair under the strong light, and he had a pair of classic peach blossom eyes with slightly upturned corners, giving off a youthful cunning, but his gaze also contained a maturity far beyond his years.
"It's perfect!" The photographer excitedly pressed the shutter button repeatedly. "Teacher Chu, let's take a few more pictures."
Chu Yiran obediently changed poses, his slightly open V-neck suit revealing the results of his recent workout. The staff in the photo studio whispered among themselves.
"His face is so photogenic! His bone structure is perfect!"
"He's so handsome! Our editor-in-chief has a great eye for talent!"
"The quality of the new releases in the Chinese entertainment industry this time is really good!"
...
The photoshoot for the digital magazine was quick. After it was over, Chu Yiran was led to a sofa area next door by a short-haired girl to rest. Sun Xiaoxiao, who had been waiting there, immediately served him tea.
"Hello, Professor Chu," the short-haired girl said, "We have a short interview to conduct. Would you mind answering a few questions for me?"
Chu Yiran nodded while drinking water. The short-haired girl immediately called the cameraman to set up the equipment, and the makeup artist also came over to help touch up her makeup.
"Mr. Chu, netizens are very curious about your relationship status," the short-haired girl said with a smile. "They'd like to ask what your ideal type is?"
Chu Yiran had already prepared answers to the questions in advance according to the interview outline: "Personally, I prefer sunny, cheerful, optimistic and positive people. I feel that it would be more enjoyable to be with such people."
"Then—" the short-haired girl changed the subject, "Is Lin Wanxing your ideal type?"
This question wasn't in the interview outline. Chu Yiran paused, and seeing the gossipy expression on the other person's face, he knew it was a little trick the magazine used to boost traffic.
“Xin Xin is definitely my ideal type. I think you’ll find the answer to that question in ‘Ambiguous Game’,” Chu Yiran easily defused the situation by using the character’s name from the drama. “However, you’ll still have to ask Zhao Lingyi if he agrees.”
The short-haired girl, caught up in the conversation, said, "It seems you and Zhao Lingyi have a pretty good relationship?"
"He always steals the snacks that Sister Xing brings me on set." Chu Yiran said with a helpless expression. "After all, we're rivals in love in the drama, and we're kind of 'bickering lovers' off-screen too."
Good-natured laughter rang out at the scene.
Chu Yiran answered all the following questions flawlessly, his tone humorous and relaxed. The staff on site were all marveling at how handsome he was and how high his emotional intelligence was.
"Professor Chu, one last question," the short-haired girl said, placing an iPad in front of him. "We found an interview with you from your university days..."
The short-haired girl tapped a few times on the screen, and a younger version of Chu Yiran appeared in the video.
This is a street interview on campus, with the drama academy's plaque in the background. Chu Yiran, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, smiles shyly at the camera: "My motivation for applying to the drama academy is Su Jing. I've liked him since I was little, and I hope to become an actor like him someday."
The air froze instantly.
"Can you tell me why you like Su Jing?" The short-haired girl's eyes lit up. "I heard Lin Wanxing is also good friends with him. Have you ever privately introduced Teacher Chu to your idol?"
"Splash—"
The studio door was suddenly pushed open.
The sound of the door opening drew everyone's attention, and everyone looked towards the door. There were two or three staff members talking at the door, while in the center of the crowd, Su Jing was standing there wearing a striking silver-gray suit. The asymmetrical cut accentuated his broad shoulders and narrow waist, and the silver-gray fabric gleamed with a cold metallic light under the overhead light.
Chu Yiran saw Su Jing at first glance, and Su Jing also looked up and saw him.
The studio was dimly lit, while the sunlight streaming in from outside bathed the corridor in a dazzling golden light. Su Jing stood in that light, his figure almost blindingly outlined, but his eyes were unfathomable, indifferent to the point of being icy.
Their gazes met briefly across the crowd at the boundary between light and shadow. He seemed to glance at Chu Yiran, before his eyes finally settled on a point in the void.
Then, take a step, and walk straight ahead until you can no longer see it.
Su Jing just left like that.
Chu Yiran clenched her fist. A staff member ran over and whispered in the short-haired girl's ear, "Something's wrong, sis. The artist's contact person gave Su Jing the wrong time. Su Jing's team is here two hours early for filming..."
The sound of staff members arguing quietly could be heard, and someone nearby was getting angry and being scolded. After a while, the short-haired girl got up and came over to apologize: "I'm so sorry, Teacher Chu, there was a problem with our artist coordination. We'll end the filming here for today. I'll have someone take you home later."
Chu Yiran nodded unconsciously. Sun Xiaoxiao exchanged a few pleasantries with him, and then they left.
Even after getting into the car, Chu Yiran's thoughts were still in a state of chaos.
Why do you like Su Jing?
This question is like a blunt knife, piercing deep into the deepest part of my memory.
For a long time, Chu Yiran thought that if he hadn't actively pursued Su Jing back then, perhaps none of the subsequent events would have happened.
——
As the seventh prince, who was the least favored in the entire palace, Su Jing lived in the extremely remote North Fifth Palace.
The walls of the North Fifth Palace were half a level lower than those of the other palaces, and the peeling plaster revealed grayish-yellow rammed earth, like a long-unhealed scar. Chu Yiran lifted his robe and climbed over the low wall, only to see an old eunuch dozing against the palace gate.
The palaces of other nobles were filled with precious seasonal flowers and plants, but in Su Jing's courtyard there were only a few withered grasses shivering between the bricks, and the hall was so empty that echoes could be heard.
Chu Yiran peeked in through the window and saw Su Jing curled up in the shadows at the far end of the canopy bed, half of his body hidden behind the curtains. The afternoon sun shone through the carved window lattice, dividing the entire bed into alternating light and shadow, but he squeezed himself into the only corner not infiltrated by the sunlight, even frowning in his sleep.
Chu Yiran thought to himself: It's just like a smelly and hard rock.
In that brief moment of distraction, he was pulled through the window, the world spun before his eyes, and his back slammed heavily onto the bed. He instinctively raised his elbow to retaliate, but Su Jing grabbed his wrist and pressed it hard against the side of the pillow.
"What brings you here uninvited, Your Highness?" Su Jing's voice was still slightly hoarse from sleep, but his eyes were clear. "Is this the kind of upbringing you have in the Zhenyuan Marquis's residence?"
He had a faint, bitter scent of ink on him, like the deep, mysterious aroma of yellowed ancient books. Chu Yiran was pressed down by him, her nose almost brushing against his neck, and the scent became more and more distinct.
Chu Yiran struggled for a moment but didn't budge. He curled his lip and said, "Last time you were lucky enough to get the upper hand. Today I've come specifically to learn from Your Highness."
As the pressure on his body eased, Su Jing rolled over and got out of bed.
"Your Highness, please leave. I have nothing to teach you."
Su Jing casually picked up an outer robe and put it on, hiding himself in the shadows as he slowly and methodically tied the sash.
What a boring person.
Chu Yiran stretched his stiff wrists: "The Empress Dowager has been unwell recently, and I have come to the palace with my mother to attend to her. I am afraid I will have to stay in the palace for a while longer. Since Your Highness is not available today, I will come again tomorrow."
"you--"
Su Jing turned around somewhat displeased, only to see Chu Yiran swiftly climb out of the window, leaving behind a package of pastries wrapped in oil paper on the bed.
He stepped forward and unwrapped the oil paper, revealing a golden thread jujube pastry inside.
Everyone knows that the Golden Silk Jujube Pastry made in the Empress Dowager's small kitchen is a specialty of the palace. It is made by a chef invited from Yangzhou who soaks jujubes in tribute Mengding Mountain tea and grinds them into a paste. However, Su Jing has never tasted it.
The golden sugar threads shimmered like glass in the sunlight. Su Jing was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly chuckled.
The next afternoon, Su Jing unusually did not take a nap. When he got up and opened the window, he saw Chu Yiran standing in the yard with mud on his hands and a leaf stuck to his forehead.
"What are you doing?"
"Plant trees," Chu Yiran wiped his face, leaving a muddy mark on his cheek. "Locust trees provide the best shade. Once they grow..." He gestured to indicate where the shadows should fall, "they'll perfectly block the afternoon sun."
Su Jing stared at the sapling, which was no taller than a person, and his Adam's apple bobbed.
For the next two months, Chu Yiran would sneak into Su Jing's palace every day, and would bring him little trinkets from time to time.
When Su Jing was in a good mood, she would spar with him a couple of times; when she was in a bad mood, she would sit alone at her desk practicing calligraphy, letting Chu Yiran chatter away beside her.
In late summer and early autumn, Chu Yiran brought three polished copper coins.
"Your Highness, would you like to have your fortune told?" He jingled the copper coins in his palm. "When I was five years old, my mother and I went up the mountain to pray for blessings. At Taixu Temple, Master Jingyang said that I was born with the Huagai star, a natural genius in the Xuanmen (Taoist arts). I was very accurate in my predictions."
Su Jing was engrossed in copying a book at his desk, not even lifting his head.
"What does Your Highness desire most?" Chu Yiran leaned closer. "A magnificent palace, the favor of the Empress Dowager and His Majesty, the opportunity to study in the Imperial Study, or... the throne in the Golden Palace?"
Su Jing paused, and the ink spread a small shadow on the rice paper.
He hissed sharply, "Stop talking nonsense!"
Chu Yiran didn't care. He casually tossed a copper coin, stared at the divination result, and suddenly laughed, "Kan represents water, danger lies ahead—Your Highness may face a great calamity in the future."
"Taking risks without losing one's integrity..." he said softly, "Your Highness's current predicament is merely a dragon lurking in the abyss."
As dusk crept over the palace walls, Chu Yiran suddenly poked Su Jing in the back: "I'm leaving the palace tomorrow." Seeing the other stiffen, he deliberately dragged out his words, "My father misses my mother and has been sending us three letters a day urging us to return home. My playmates at the academy are also waiting for me to come back to play pitch-pot and cuju (ancient Chinese football). And my master keeps telling me to visit him at Taixu Temple more often..."
Su Jing's lips tightened even more. Before Chu Yiran could speak, he left hastily, saying, "Please go ahead, Your Highness."
When Chu Yiran returned to the Fifth Palace, it was already time for the palace to hold a family banquet for the New Year.
He climbed over the wall with a pile of food and saw that the locust saplings in the yard had grown much taller. The trunks were wrapped with layers of straw rope for wind and cold protection. The soil at the base of the tree had obviously been turned over, and there were several faint scratches on the bark—someone must have come regularly to loosen the soil and remove pests.
The person in question remained motionless, engrossed in reading, his back ramrod straight like an unsheathed sword.
How can there be such a stubborn person in this world? It's as if once they've set their sights on a goal, they won't waver.
At that time, Chu Yiran loved this almost torturous pursuit—the more Su Jing retreated, the closer he wanted to get. Closer until he had nowhere left to retreat, close enough that his cold exterior cracked, even if only for a moment.
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