entanglement
Lin Jingming pushed open the office door and saw Cheng Shubai leaning carelessly on his leather swivel chair with his legs crossed.
"Are you here to check on him?" Lin Jingming took out a bottle of mineral water from the small refrigerator and pushed it in front of Cheng Shubai.
"I have to be concerned about whether my money is worth spending." Cheng Shubai unscrewed the bottle cap. "Is this how you treat me?"
"It's 7 yuan a bottle. If you don't want to drink it, forget it." Lin Jingming opened the cabinet and started looking through the documents.
"Old Lin, you weren't like this before." Cheng Shubai rummaged through Lin Jingming's desk. "Where's the cigar?"
"There's no such thing." Lin Jingming put the documents he needed to check with Cheng Shubai on his desk. "Before, he was just a gigolo. He would waste his money if he didn't spend it."
"Tsk, you're quite generous." Cheng Shubai muttered softly, then turned the page and began to check the information.
It was getting dark, the ceiling lights were turned on, and the Japanese food ordered by Lin Jingming was delivered.
After there were four or five cigarette butts in the ashtray, Cheng Shubai finally signed the last document.
"Old Lin, why isn't Tang here?" Cheng Shubai couldn't help but tease Lin Jingming as he was unpacking a takeaway box.
"Isn't it normal that she is not here?" Lin Jingming asked back without raising his head.
"Hey, who was it that said, 'My daughter has grown up' so late at night?" Cheng Shubai opened Lin Jingming's wine cabinet and began to pick. "Is this someone's self-consolation?"
"This bottle." Lin Jingming pushed Cheng Shubai aside and took out a bottle of wine from the wine cabinet.
"Don't change the subject." Cheng Shubai was unwilling to let this man go. He had endured for several months before finally finding the time to confront him face to face. How could he be fooled so easily?
"Qingwu is my daughter too." Lin Jingming took the wine glass while avoiding Cheng Shubai who was clinging to him. "Don't get so close. I'm a man and I like women."
"Tsk, I don't know you well enough. You've been secretly waiting for me to ask you about your favorite thing." Cheng Shubai knew that Lin Jingming was setting a trap for him, but he still couldn't help but step into it.
"I just asked the front desk. You haven't been back many times since you finished filming." Cheng Shubai sat in a chair and nodded at his wine glass. "It's missing a lemon slice."
"No." Lin Jingming took out a bag of ice cubes from the refrigerator, "Let's make do with some ice cubes."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, you must be annoying." Cheng Shubai shook the ice in his wine glass, making it clink. "What did you do this time to scare people away?"
Lin Jingming tilted his head and thought for a moment: "It seems like she suddenly got it."
Cheng Shubai shuddered at the sight of Lin Jingming: "Put away that shy expression of yours."
Lin Jingming glared at Cheng Shubai and said, "You want me to expose the ugly photos of you and Guan Mingyue quarreling over a misunderstanding when you first started dating?"
"You, you're so vicious!" Cheng Shubai pointed at Lin Jingming in disbelief, "Are we still brothers?"
"You started the trouble first." Lin Jingming hummed, picked up a piece of salmon, dipped it in okra sauce and started eating.
"Okay, okay, let's not talk about this anymore." Cheng Shubai was also hungry, so he decided to fill his stomach first before going to find out what was going on.
After eating until he was about 70% full and drinking a few sips of ice-cold whiskey, Cheng Shubai finally remembered what Lin Jingming said at the beginning about Xia Zhitang becoming enlightened.
"Did she start to like you or did she notice you had ulterior motives?"
Cheng Shubai still doesn't understand what Xia Zhitang's attitude towards Lin Jingming is. If she says she likes him, she will firmly reject him. If she says she hates him, she will be reluctant to push him away.
But the relationship between the two of them is like a long-lasting tug-of-war.
As they were pulling each other, they slowly developed some strange tacit understanding, so that one liked the other and the other acquiesced, unable to be together but also unable to separate.
"She's starting to feel shy." Lin Jingming held up his face and looked at the water droplets condensed on the edge of the wine glass.
"Do you know the last time we saw this?" His eyes turned nostalgic. "When she first started working on the project with me."
At that time, there was no guard, fear or sadness in her eyes.
"So you rushed over and hinted to someone to be your girlfriend in a fit of rage?" Cheng Shubai clapped his hands and laughed.
Lin Jingming coughed lightly with a wooden face: "She is my confidante."
"Old Lin, I have to warn you." Cheng Shu's face flushed slightly after drinking the liquor, and he looked serious for once. "She's avoiding you, just like when we were on the set of 'Dark Alley'."
"It's different." Lin Jingming looked at Cheng Shubai with a firm expression, "She doesn't hate me."
Cheng Shubai looked at Lin Jingming with a stubborn look on his face, and his Adam's apple slid several times with difficulty.
I have given him countless words of advice, but he is like a possessed man and refuses to listen.
He felt a little regretful for a moment, regretting that he had arranged Xia Zhitang as a chess piece to be next to Lin Jingming.
Cheng Shubai never thought that Xia Zhitang would be so important to Lin Jingming, even though they had never been together...
"Old Cheng, please keep an eye on Gu Zian for me recently." Lin Jingming solemnly poured wine for Cheng Shubai.
"No help." Cheng Shubai sat there motionless. "You three are making a fool of me, aren't you? You're all plotting against me."
"Thank you for sending her back to me." Lin Jingming raised his glass and touched it with Cheng Shubai's glass, then drank the wine in the glass in one gulp.
He showed the wine glass to Cheng Shubai: "This one is for you."
Lin Jingming poured himself a second glass of wine. The amber whiskey in the glass stirred like the sea surface during a storm.
"Old Cheng, I didn't stop her the first time she left." Lin Jingming's voice was a little choked up, "But you know, I've been thinking about her for three years."
"Bullshit, I don't even see you go find him."
If Xia Zhitang was not the only person directly promoted and kept by Lin Jingming's side, Cheng Shubai would not have chosen to detain him.
But when he sent the person over, he was purely taking a gamble. If it succeeded, that would be the best, but if not, there would be no loss.
"Because I know she's with you." Lin Jingming smiled like a fox under the light. "If you don't send her over, I'll find a reason to ask her to come over for the next movie."
"You chased them away the second time?" Cheng Shubai still didn't quite believe what he said.
Lin Jingming placed the glass heavily on the wooden table. "Although I want to keep her by my side, she would rather sleep with Gu Zian than accept me. In this situation, is she still clinging to a man?"
Cheng Shubai raised his eyebrows and looked at Lin Jingming, then swallowed what he was about to say.
Forget it, the current situation has already been caused, there is no need to mention some things anymore.
"I wish you success soon." Cheng Shubai raised his glass.
"Thank you. I'll give you a 20% discount on your salary for future projects."
"Wow, so generous?" Cheng Shubai took the initiative to clink glasses with Lin Jingming.
“Some things are more important than money.”
After all, she had missed out so many times, and her marriage contract would expire in a year...
As a qualified person on the set, Xia Zhitang thought he could accept his partner having a love affair with someone else in the play, because this is an actor's professional quality.
But this time, after the director called cut, Gu Zian looked at the heroine with the same expression as he looked at himself...
It was difficult for Xia Zhitang to explain his mood. He felt sad, but also relieved.
The firm choices made between people may often just be an illusion of the current environment, and no one knows who will start to waver in the next moment.
As the crew members were happily passing on the words of "filming completed", Xia Zhitang walked towards Gu Zian holding a bouquet of flowers.
At that time, Gu Zian had not yet withdrawn his affectionate gaze from the heroine, while the heroine lowered her eyes and stared at her toes.
"Zi'an, congratulations."
Xia Zhitang's words were like a knife, severing the invisible thread between the two of them.
Gu Zian took the bouquet in a panic, looking a little helpless, like a dog that had done something wrong.
Xia Zhitang ignored Gu Zian and smiled and nodded at the leading actress, Chen Ziqi. "Congratulations, Teacher Chen. Your performance just now was fantastic. It was very touching to watch it live."
Chen Ziqi looked up at Xia Zhitang in surprise, and met his smiling eyes.
Xia Zhitang's expression was too sincere, at least Chen Ziqi couldn't sense any malice from him.
"Thank you, Teacher Xia." Chen Ziqi bowed slightly to Xia Zhitang obediently.
"Keep going, I hope we can work together if we have the chance in the future."
Although he seems a little cold at first glance, he is a humble and polite child.
"I will try my best. I like the works of both Teacher Xia and Director Lin."
Chen Ziqi had always been afraid that playing an on-screen couple with Gu Zian would upset Xia Zhitang, so she usually avoided him after filming to avoid suspicion. But this time, Xia Zhitang took the initiative to show his kindness, which gave Chen Ziqi the courage to speak out what was in her heart.
"Which movie do you like best?" Xia Zhitang was a little surprised.
"'Fragrant Mountain'." Chen Ziqi smiled, her dimples faintly visible. "They are so warm and full of tenacious vitality. They are really amazing."
"Thank you, the children will be very happy." Xia Zhitang looked at the staff member holding flowers and looking at them hesitantly, "You go ahead and do your work. We'll talk next time when we have a chance."
She turned to look at Gu Zian, who was standing awkwardly and fidgeting with the flowers in his hands. "Zi'an, let's go take a group photo."
"Yeah." Gu Zian turned around with a sense of relief, but went in the wrong direction in his haste.
Xia Zhitang couldn't help but sigh as he watched Gu Zian being pulled back by the staff.
She slowly walked out against the flow of people, found an empty step and sat down, quietly watching the bustling crowd organizing the wrap-up photo shoot.
She was actually free on the day Lin Jingming's drama was wrapped, but she didn't dare to go.
She did come to Zi'an's finale, but the result was a bit subtle.
She looked up at the clouds slowly floating across the sky; they seemed so leisurely and free.
The continuously vibrating phone interrupted Xia Zhitang's melancholy thoughts: "Hello, um, you guys take the ibuprofen first, I'll be right back."
After hanging up the phone, she hurried to the parking lot while leaving a message for Gu Zian.
At this moment, Xia Zhitang secretly felt relieved in her heart - she and Gu Zian both needed a buffer before they could face each other properly.
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