Chapter 180 The Changing Room
After the last scene of the morning ended, Ji Cen skipped over to Xia Mian: "Xia, what are we having for lunch?"
"A boxed lunch."
"The boxed lunches were too salty and oily. I ate Japanese food yesterday, and when I stepped on the scale this morning, guess what? I've gained almost a pound! Jiang Jiang and I want to order some low-fat meals to ease our guilt. Why don't you join us?"
While they claimed it was to alleviate their guilt, Xia Mian knew that they actually wanted to repay the favor for the big meal last night.
Daddy once said that only when people owe each other something and reciprocate each other's kindness can they become closer. So he happily joined the weight loss meal camp.
With her phone still in the car, Xia Mian ordered food with the two main characters and then ran to the parking lot.
From afar, Zhou Pingchuan had already opened the car door to greet them, looking every bit like a well-trained veteran driver.
Xia Mian was quite surprised by how quickly he got into character. He didn't get into the car, but stood by the door, holding out his hand: "Third Master, give me your phone."
His tone was extremely matter-of-fact, like a spoiled child asking his parents for pocket money.
Zhou Pingchuan didn't move, but glanced at him sideways: "Aren't you going to eat lunch?"
"Eat up, eat with Brother Cen and Sister Chun."
So... he traveled thousands of miles, braving the heavy snow, and took two different modes of transportation to Yunshan, just to bring warmth to a certain child, only to be refused even a meal by that child.
As if guessing what he was thinking, Xia Mian said, "The logistics department will be distributing boxed lunches in a little while. The crew usually eats these. I was originally going to order some Yunshan specialties for you to try, but in order to maintain your driver persona, please bear with me and eat with everyone."
The more the boy talked, the more smug he became, and at the end, he even whistled with delight.
Having been raised in a wealthy family, Xia Mian was well-mannered and unafraid to spend money. He simply didn't want to entertain Zhou Pingchuan; after all, Zhou Pingchuan had been so mean last night, seducing and bullying him, and even embarrassing him right before the performance.
He must get his revenge!
Besides revenge, there were other reasons Xia Mian himself didn't want to delve into. The thought of tearing down the wall after drinking the day before yesterday still terrified him whenever he thought about it. He didn't want to have too much contact with Zhou Pingchuan; one wrong step could lead to another, and he couldn't let himself get caught in that vortex again.
Zhou Pingchuan was both angry and amused. The dignified head of the Zhou family had actually been tricked by his own wife. He tossed his phone to her and said, "Fine, I'll eat my boxed lunch."
"Thank you, Third Master." Xia Mian lifted the hem of her robe, kicked at the snow, and happily left the parking lot.
Lunch was booked at Ji Cen's lounge.
A weight-loss meal is a weight-loss meal; it's low in oil and salt, bland and tasteless, with a table full of white and green dishes. The appetite for food reaches its peak at this moment.
But with so many of them, the atmosphere was quite lively as they all found joy in the midst of hardship. Ji Cen even took several photos from different angles and posted them on Weibo. Xia Mian, who hadn't been active on social media for a while, logged into her account with him and posted three photos.
@Mianmian: I got to nibble on the grass today too.
[Images][Images][Images]
After the food was distributed, Ji Cen's assistant helped open the lunchboxes, and everyone mustered up their courage to start eating the grass.
While eating, Xia Mian read the comments section on Weibo. The comments from his fans were quite interesting. Some were witty, some asked for selfies, and most commented on how thin he was and forbade him from dieting. This made him feel particularly comfortable.
Soon, some fans noticed that Ji Cen had posted the exact same dishes: "So it turns out Mianmian ate with Ji, the school heartthrob! Their posts were at 13:13 and 13:14 respectively—are they subtly showing off their relationship? I'm totally shipping them!"
Since filming resumed, the production team has opened the set to the media to maintain its popularity. Ji Cen and Xia Mian are close, always seen arm in arm, entering and leaving together, resulting in a large number of behind-the-scenes photos and inevitably generating a CP (couple) fanbase.
Since the number of CP (couple) fans is small and they don't cause trouble, neither side has deliberately guided them. Anyway, once the drama airs, this group of fans will go and ship the male and female leads again; the official pairing ultimately has the most tension.
So when Xia Mian saw CP fans using their Weibo time to find sweet moments, he didn't think much of it; everyone has the right to pursue their own preferences. He continued scrolling down, when a WeChat message popped up at the top.
Z: [Changing Room]
Three words without beginning or end.
It was like a rendezvous between spies.
Xia Mian looked around. She didn't want to go, but she was afraid that Zhou Pingchuan would be exposed, so she put down her chopsticks and said, "You guys eat first, I'm going to the restroom."
Ji Cen: "Go on, but come back quickly, or the food will be gone."
Xia Mian laughed: "That's great! This whole patch of grass is yours, enjoy it!"
When building the set, the crew set aside a whole row of rooms as a public dressing room. Apart from the male and female leads who had their own dressing rooms, all the other actors did their makeup in the public dressing room.
The dressing room was divided into two parts. The left half served as a storage room and dressing room for costumes, while the right half contained neatly arranged dressing tables. At lunchtime, while the actors and staff were eating, only two or three makeup artists were playing on their phones at the tables.
Upon entering, Xia Mian turned left and headed straight for the changing room. It was even emptier there; there were no staff members, and he didn't see the person who had called him there.
What exactly did Zhou Pingchuan mean? Xia Mian didn't dare to shout, afraid of giving herself away, so she took out her phone: [I've arrived, where are you?]
The message was sent successfully, and Xia Mian belatedly realized that their behavior seemed more like... an affair than a spy rendezvous.
One party finds a location for their tryst, sends a brief notification, and the other party sneaks off to the meeting place.
My heart suddenly started pounding.
The other party didn't reply, so Xia Mian grabbed her phone and started searching room by room.
There were ten changing rooms in total. When he walked to the innermost one on the left, a hand suddenly reached out from the crack in the door and pulled him inside!
The hand was so strong that Xia Mian lost his balance and fell directly into the other person's arms. He looked to see if it was Zhou Pingchuan, but before he could look up, he was turned around and the face-to-face position became a back hug.
Immediately afterwards, the other person put their arm around his waist and they sat down together on a chair in the locker room.
His back was pressed tightly against the other person's chest. Although he still couldn't see who it was, he knew from the feeling of the bulging muscles that it was Zhou Pingchuan.
Xia Mian wanted to ask him what he was doing, but the other party didn't give him a chance to speak at all. He reached under the hem of the robe and easily and skillfully untied the costume pants that were used as a base layer. He had personally put these pants on him that morning, and now he was taking them off himself.
This is... Xia Mian's mind almost exploded. She quickly grabbed the arms under her robe to stop them from causing any more trouble, and warned in a voice that was as low as it could go: "This is a film crew, there are a lot of people here, you can't do this."
"Shh, don't talk," Zhou Pingchuan licked his earlobe from behind, "I think you should focus more on the door lock than on me."
The door lock? Xia Mian looked closely and realized that the lock was broken! If someone were to open the door and come in now, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Xia Mian quickly grabbed the doorknob, then used both hands to try and pull it open, fearing one hand wouldn't be enough. Freed from its restraints, the unruly arms finally succeeded, gently peeling back the last layer of packaging.
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