Chapter 53: Breath Intertwined
From beginning to end, Meng Qingyan's attitude was considered decent.
Not distant, but definitely not intimate either.
If it weren't for the familiar body temperature under the table that was so clear and burning that it was closely connected to himself, this might be the most appropriate distance between colleagues: they have cooperated with each other before and are familiar with each other, but they are not close friends, so they don't even know each other's preferences.
Maintaining a proper smile, Bai You calmly moved his leg to the side.
It’s just that the space is too small and we can’t retreat too far.
Although there was a slight distance between the two of them, their clothes were still rubbing against each other.
The body temperature was no longer scorching, but just a faint and light lingering around, but its presence did not diminish at all.
"I remember when we were filming Feng Hua, Bai You liked mango ice the most?" Liu Ben smiled as he recalled the past. "Every time they went to buy ice, that was the cheapest. At first everyone thought it was just a kid who couldn't let go, but later we found out that he really liked it."
Hearing this, Meng Qingyan raised his eyebrows in an imperceptible arc, and the smile in his eyes deepened unconsciously.
have to……
Fortunately, before he could say no, Bai You swallowed it calmly and took the candy with a smile.
The candy is small and round, wrapped in orange transparent candy paper. It doesn't look like a throat lozenge, but more like a fruit candy.
The fingertips touched briefly, then separated again, and Bai You held the candy in his palm.
He thanked her politely, lowered his eyes, tore open the candy wrapper and put it in his mouth.
It's throat lozenges indeed.
Behind the sweet mango flavor is a slightly cool mint scent.
I just took a sip of hot tea and my throat immediately felt comfortable.
Putting the candy on the tip of his tongue, Bai You pursed his lips subconsciously, suspecting that Meng Qingyan might have some incredible mechanism installed on his body, so he could easily produce some strange things.
After this little episode, everyone at the table slowly got down to business.
Listening to Qi Fu's talk about the set construction and the team invitation, Zhao Kaiyang's estimate of the progress and the budget adjustment, and Liu Dang's choice of actors...
Although Bai You remained silent, he had a general understanding of the main theme of "Fireworks".
Before I knew it, more than two hours had passed.
Liu Ben and Meng Qingyan landed today and had no time to rest. Liu Dang put together the list that had been adjusted after discussion and ended the meeting.
"Then I will start sending audition invitations to actors tomorrow and decide on the actors in advance," he said.
"Okay," Zhao Kaiyang stood up, "Let's stop here for today? We can talk about the details later when we have time."
"With so many actors, it would take two months to finish selecting them," Liu Dang waved the thick list of names in his hand and couldn't help sighing, "Let me make a promise first, don't contact me for anything other than casting."
"Qingyan..." Zhao Kaiyang looked at Meng Qingyan.
"How much do you need? Contact my assistant and let her arrange it." Meng Qingyan raised his eyes.
As an investor, his purpose of coming here this time was, firstly, to understand the progress of each link in the group, and secondly to pay money for the group.
Zhao Kaiyang was satisfied and said goodbye to Liu Ben. Everyone also stood up one after another, and the originally crowded round table suddenly became empty.
It was not until this moment that Bai You noticed that during the meeting just now, his legs and Meng Qingyan's legs had been leaning against each other again without him noticing.
Bai You was so absorbed in listening to his seniors' speeches that he didn't pay much attention. On the contrary, he even leaned towards Meng Qingyan because he felt that this familiar warmth made him feel at ease.
Bai You: “…”
He took the opportunity to stand up with everyone else, pretending to know nothing about it and ignoring the deliberately suppressed smile in Meng Qingyan's eyes.
"Teacher, I..."
"Wait a minute." He wanted to leave earlier, but Liu Ben kept him, "I have something to say to you later."
Bai You had no choice but to stop again.
He bent down and together with Zhang Meng, he picked up the tea set on the table and took it to the sink to wash it.
Amid the sound of splashing water, Bai You raised his eyes and saw Liu Benzheng and Meng Qingyan talking through the mirror in front of him.
After a moment, Meng Qingyan stood up and said goodbye to Liu Ben in a gentlemanly manner.
Liu Ben sent him to the door, and as the door closed, he raised his hand and called Bai You over.
"How do you like the script?" Liu Ben asked as soon as he sat down.
"I've read it carefully twice." Bai You answered truthfully.
"Tell me about it." Liu Ben leaned on the sofa, half closing his eyes to rest.
Everyone knows that era.
When I was studying, every word in the history books was filled with blood and tears.
Later, various anniversaries, film and television works every year... all remind everyone not to forget the national humiliation.
But this is all most people know.
In fact, only after peeling off the cover will you find that that era was far more cruel than most people imagine, and it also makes people more excited and awe-inspiring.
That is the hope that was created by countless martyrs, including countless unknown little people, who waded through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, step by step.
While reading the script and looking up information, Bai You was actually receiving patriotism education all over again.
He reviewed his understanding of the script and characters, and took the opportunity to ask Liu Ben for advice on some areas where he still had questions.
"These past few years have not been wasted, and we have made great progress." Liu Ben said, but he did not explain to him. He just smiled and suggested, "Dig deeper, and the answer will naturally come out."
Bai You suppressed the doubts in his heart and didn't continue.
"Go back and have a rest," Liu Ben said. "If you still don't understand the script when we read it together, we can break it down and talk about it again."
He sat up straighter. "I remember you didn't smoke when you were a kid, right?"
Bai You knew why he asked that question once.
In this drama, Yuan Man has many scenes where he smokes, and most of them are cigars, which are quite pungent.
"I learned it later." Bai You smiled, "But I don't smoke much now. I'll practice more when I get home."
"Zhang Meng," Liu Ben ordered Zhang Meng, "give the boxes of cigars I brought back to Bai You."
Not long after, Zhang Meng came out with a box and made a look at Bai You behind Liu Benlian, implying that Liu Benlian's gifts to others were closely related to movies.
"Go back and try it," Liu Ben said, and then reminded, "You don't need to go through your lungs to smoke a cigar. Just practice the posture and find the mood."
The hotel is just outside the business district. Although it was already past ten o'clock in the evening, the shops in the distance were still brightly lit, and occasionally pedestrians could be seen passing by in groups of three or four.
Bai You drank a lot of tea in the evening and was still very energetic, so he planned to cross two small roads, get to the main road and then take a taxi back.
Just as I stepped down the hotel steps, headlights flashed in this direction in the parking lot, and a black car drove slowly over.
The car stopped beside Bai You, the driver got out and respectfully opened the back door for him.
"Mr. Bai." Uncle Liu said.
Bai You bent down slightly and met Meng Qingyan's dark eyes in the carriage.
He had a tablet on his knees, and the light from the tablet reflected into his eyes, making them look particularly bright.
"Teacher Bai, let's go together," he smiled, "and pick up Xiaoliang by the way."
Meng Qingyan waited outside for more than half an hour.
But every word and every action was very reasonable, leaving Bai You no room for refusal.
After a brief hesitation, Bai You bent down and got into the car.
"You don't have to wait for me," he said. "I was planning to send it back to you when I knew you were coming back."
"I miss it," Meng Qingyan laughed, the meaning of his words unclear, "so I can't wait."
Every word and every action of Meng Qingyan was reasonable. Bai You said nothing and bent down to get in the car.
During the time he was fooling around with Meng Qingyan, he rode in Meng Qingyan's car quite often. However, in order to avoid the eyes of the media, he usually drove the black Volkswagen.
As for those luxury cars that others drove around, he had hardly ever sat in them.
The only time this man dragged him out to fool around in the wild.
Bai You didn't answer and put his backpack and the bag of cigars aside.
Meng Qingyan's eyes were sharp: "Director Liu gave it to you?"
"Yeah." Meng Qingyan asked, and Bai You nodded, "The teacher told me to practice."
"Do you know how to smoke?" Meng Qingyan asked, lowering his eyes to look inside. The several boxes of cigars were all entry-level.
"Ah?" Hearing this, Bai You was a little confused, and his eyes widened slightly.
I used to smoke, and that was during the lowest point in my career.
He was not very addicted. Although he would smoke occasionally, he mostly used it to refresh himself or pass the time.
He knew even less about cigars and had never studied them. He originally thought that they were no different from cigarettes.
Seeing his puzzled look, Meng Qingyan smiled.
"Can I see it?" he asked.
Bai You handed the bag to him.
Meng Qingyan took it, took out a box and opened it.
Wooden cigarette box, containing ten cigarettes. Liu Ben gave Bai You five boxes. The requirements for smoking scenes in social situations must be very high.
There was a cigar cutter under the bag. Meng Qingyan took it, lowered his eyes and cut a cigar for Bai You.
His movements were skillful, elegant and dignified. His slender white hands held the silver cigar cutter, giving off a sense of aloofness and coldness, but a gentle smile shone through his brows.
Bai You looked at him quietly, his heartbeat unconsciously speeding up a little bit.
He thought he knew Meng Qingyan to some extent, but at this moment, he felt that this person was very strange and mysterious.
"Try it?" Meng Qingyan asked, holding a cigar.
Bai You did not refuse.
Originally in his mind, this was just a matter of smoking a cigarette, but after passing through Meng Qingyan's hands, it suddenly became more ritualistic, which aroused his curiosity.
Meng Qingyan took out the lighter and twirled the cigar deftly with his fingers.
"You don't need to put the cigar into your lungs, especially for beginners, as it's easy to get drunk on the smoke," he said, not looking at Bai You, his eyes fixed on the lit cigar foot, his expression serious and focused, "You can use a small cycle method, first taste it in your mouth, then spit it out and slowly enjoy it with your sense of smell. Even if you practice, you don't need to do it too frequently, just one a day is enough."
He waited until the tail of the eggplant was evenly burned before handing it to Bai You, smiling and saying, "Smoke it more lightly."
Bai You has always been humble and eager to learn, and Meng Qingyan did not show any aggressiveness, so he was no longer so defensive and reached out to take it.
But just as he took the first puff, Meng Qingyan suddenly leaned over.
With a click, the lighter sounded and the flame came out again. As Baiyou smoked, the flame licked the foot of the eggplant, and a burst of sparks exploded, while the aroma of pine wood entered Baiyou's mouth.
But Bai You didn't have time to savor it carefully as Meng Qingyan had said before.
Because at this moment, the distance between them was too close.
They were almost head to head, with only a cigar and a flickering flame between them.
Firelight flickered in each other's eyes, their breaths almost intertwined, and they saw their own shadows in each other's eyes at the same time.
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