As the variety show recording neared its end, the directing team gathered for a meeting and didn’t give this group another chance to improvise.
Yin Chi had let things take their course for three days, watching with his own eyes as an entire crew efficiently took their positions under the director’s high pressure—brothers friendly, siblings respectful, couples harmonious—coming to visit their tea garden friend. He almost couldn’t react.
“What about President Huo…?”
The deputy director was somewhat concerned: “Would this make it seem like we’re isolating the investor?”
Yin Chi carefully recalled all the footage that could be edited for broadcast and lamented with regret: “We’ve done more than just isolate the investor…”
Xingguan required editing to show that President Huo and Mr. Liang weren’t familiar; Jiang Pingchao’s studio and Su Man’s management team both required maintaining their single status image; before recording, the producer had also tactfully asked the program team if they could edit the directing team to have a transcendent senior feel.
Yin Chi had gone to great lengths to get a mahjong machine and had personally helped move the transcendent seniors’ residence from the mountaintop to the foot of the mountain. Even the slightest thought made him anxious.
Although in the industry and among many viewers, it had become a standard for post-production editing to arbitrarily gloss over and graft facts onto variety shows, some things ultimately couldn’t be changed by will alone.
If they were to follow each guest’s requirements, the usable footage might not be enough to fill one episode.
The guests’ professional instincts were strong, methodically filming the impromptu mini-drama of the tea garden owner brewing tea for friends—a rare segment that could fill time. Yin Chi no longer sought to take care of every detail and steeled himself, instructing post-production: “Draw a cartoon of President Huo peeking through a door crack, and photoshop it onto the border…”
The deputy director widened his eyes in surprise.
Yin Chi, like the wind sighing and the waters of Yi River cold, patted his shoulder and went, with a desolate air, to discuss the Q-version character design of peeking through a door crack with the investor.
–
The tea fragrance wafted.
Liang Xiao watched over the small red clay stove, appearing fresh and elegant, dutifully brewing the third pot of tea: “The old friend will need to use the restroom after drinking more…”
“Paper characters don’t go to the bathroom,” the screenwriter said steadily. “Film and TV characters don’t feel the urge to urinate.”
Liang Xiao: “…”
Pei Guang, immersed in the screenwriting industry for many years, had a stable mindset. He instructed the camera to create a peaceful worldly scene where one could drink a cup of tea, then strolled out to chat with President Huo.
The variety show’s cameras and lights had hardly ever done such arduous work. Under the strict new director’s command, they tremblingly lit the scene, repeatedly adjusted, and finally found the right angle.
Participating in a variety show yet having to work overtime to film, the main cast who came to visit their old friend found their state through habit, reluctantly gathering harmoniously in front of the camera.
The deputy director wasn’t enough, so Liang Xiao came in from outside the frame, poured tea for Su Man, and softly helped relay a message: “Sister Man, the director says to be a bit closer to Teacher Jiang…”
“After the wrap-up hug back then, we thought we’d never see each other in the jianghu again.”
Su Man sighed, making some room for Jiang Pingchao: “Why is it snowing outside the door?”
Liang Xiao was taken aback: “Huh?”
“Green ants in new fermented wine, red clay small stove,” Meng Feibai recited this poem. “Late comes the sky about to snow-”
“I know,” Su Man could still drink a cup, holding the tea soup and pondering. “But isn’t it summer now?”
Liang Xiao really couldn’t help it. Taking the opportunity of pouring tea, he looked back at the door: “…”
…
The investor participated in the warm and harmonious mini-drama in his own way.
Liang Xiao had gone back and forth pouring three pots of tea and finally heard a “pass” from the director. He breathed a sigh of relief, threw down the teapot, and quickly went out to grab the quietly professional snow-making President Huo: “It’s done, why-”
Liang Xiao dusted off his silver-white attire and ultimately couldn’t help but laugh and sigh: “How did this segment even come about…”
President Huo stopped his pheromones and explained to him: “Teacher Pei came out and asked if I could help.”
Liang Xiao’s respect for the screenwriter almost reached its peak. While worrying that their President Huo’s pheromones would eventually develop in some strange way, he couldn’t suppress the warmth seeping from his chest and pulled him into a corner: “And you just helped?”
Being a CEO and investor, Liang Xiao wanted to teach him not to be so accommodating. As he pulled, he nagged: “You can’t agree to everything. If you don’t want to-”
“Your matters,” President Huo said, “are my greatest pleasure.”
Liang Xiao opened his mouth, his ears turning red, and fell silent.
President Huo was still concerned about Mr. Liang’s leg after doing the split and reached out to support him as Liang Xiao pulled him toward the corner.
In terms of flexibility alone, a full split wasn’t actually difficult for Liang Xiao, but being caught off guard made it hard to control the angle and force. Liang Xiao had stepped on ice chips and split suddenly. President Huo could barely react in time, but ultimately, some ligaments and muscles were still strained.
Liang Xiao was always professional when filming and showed no limp in his step, but now off-camera, he was having some trouble bearing weight.
President Huo had massaged him all night and had a precise grasp of the location. His palm covered the strained area on Liang Xiao: “Does it hurt badly?”
“It’s fine,” Liang Xiao hadn’t yet recovered from their President Huo’s straightforward romantic words and was warm and vague. “A bit sore.”
President Huo held him leaning against himself, taking the weight off that leg, and slowly massaged it for him.
Liang Xiao was happily reminiscing about President Huo returning home on a snowy night, vaguely feeling that this posture wasn’t quite right, but his vigilance only flashed briefly: “When we get home, let’s also find a hot spring…”
President Huo nodded: “I’ll have one dug.”
“…” Liang Xiao opened his mouth, weakly: “That’s not necessary…”
Their President Huo would often, in unexpected places, suddenly display the basic qualities of a proper domineering CEO.
Liang Xiao didn’t doubt Huo Corporation’s financial power, but he wasn’t prepared for such an outrageous level of extravagance: “Natural—natural environment is fine, I’ll stand steady and try not to do splits.”
Liang Xiao thought for a moment, grinned, and smiled: “You once mentioned a place with reindeer pulling sleds, where you could soak in a hot spring while watching the aurora…”
President Huo was taken aback: “When?”
“When you were young,” Liang Xiao said. “You weren’t talking to me… probably to your family.”
At that time, young Huo Lan’s study had many travel books from around the world. Little Liang Xiao deeply detested all printed materials at the time and uniformly declined these books as well. Looking back now, he felt extremely regretful.
Liang Xiao reminded him: “You also said that the sauna there was good for health, could promote blood circulation, and was especially nourishing.”
President Huo’s memories of Jiangnan were all related to Liang Xiao. After being reminded by him, he finally remembered the past events and nodded slightly.
Liang Xiao was curious: “Did you want to go yourself?”
President Huo shook his head.
In his tumultuous youth, travel in his impression was merely going from one place that wasn’t home to another place that wasn’t home.
At that time, he didn’t actually have much longing for vacations and travel and knew he couldn’t go with his family. Collecting this information was just an attempt to share some of his parents’ burdens.
President Huo recalled for a moment and suddenly remembered: “The rainbow in the bathroom—”
Liang Xiao’s ears immediately heated up, and he shook his head vigorously: “I didn’t draw that.”
President Huo looked at him quietly, the corners of his lips lifting slightly as he pulled Liang Xiao into his arms and kissed Teacher Liang’s red ears.
…
Young Huo Lan would often make such attempts. Although his father was cold to him, and most of the time saying these things didn’t help much, it at least allowed them to exchange a few more words.
That time, his father had also coldly rebuked him for not being able to focus and for being distracted by trivial things. Huo Lan didn’t argue, hung up the phone, and as usual concentrated on reading and reviewing. One night, when he entered the bathroom, he was startled.
The bathtub was filled with steaming hot water, and the tiles were covered with colorful lines drawn in an especially splashy, abstract style.
In terms of artistic style, it was particularly similar to the “demolition” and “pay your debts” signs Huo Lan had seen on doors when little Liang Xiao had dragged him to that demolition shantytown.
Tracing the source of such things usually led to suspecting little Liang Xiao, but during those few days, little Liang Xiao had hardly returned home, so he couldn’t be accused without evidence.
Huo Lan, accustomed to being pranked by those young masters, had it cleaned up and didn’t pay much attention.
…
“What do you mean by colorful lines?!” Liang Xiao had been running around non-stop for days to gather spray paint and was irritated just hearing this. “That was clearly—”
“A rainbow,” President Huo reflected. “I lack artistic appreciation.”
Liang Xiao was furious: “Exactly!”
President Huo stroked his back, lowered his head, was quiet for a moment, and then smiled gently.
He had thought he no longer cared about past events, and even if there were obsessions and knots in his heart, they didn’t affect his life. But Liang Xiao was determined to untie and smooth them out one by one, and he would try his best to cooperate.
President Huo had never truly understood the reason until now, when he suddenly perceived the difference.
Unknowingly, those dark memories in his mind that would stir up oppressive and dull feelings at the slightest touch had cleared away like clouds after rain, leaving only pure, transparent essence.
Each one he uncovered had transformed from a knife into candy.
“After we finish recording the show, we’ll go back,” President Huo said softly. “You can draw on all the walls.”
Liang Xiao was still lamenting young Huo Lan’s lack of romantic sensibility. Hearing this, he was taken aback, his ears heating up, feeling somewhat embarrassed: “No need…”
Little Liang Xiao didn’t know what an aurora was either and imagined it must be similar to a rainbow. He had splashed ink all over the bathroom, filled a bathtub with water, and due to his lack of understanding of reality, had happily imagined the effect of Huo Lan watching a rainbow in the bathtub.
Times had changed, and looking back now, Liang Xiao didn’t have the face to repeat these actions.
Liang Xiao resolutely crossed out President Huo’s proposal but was still moved by the words “go back” and couldn’t help saying: “After recording the show, let’s go back home for a bit?”
This place wasn’t far from where they had lived in Jiangnan. Liang Xiao hadn’t been back for a long time and had been too shy to mention it these past few days due to his nostalgia. Now that President Huo had brought it up, he could no longer suppress his feelings.
Liang Xiao murmured these words, his chest warming, the corners of his mouth uncontrollably lifting: “Let’s go back together, for nostalgia’s sake…”
President Huo nodded: “Alright.”
Liang Xiao recalled his own experience of returning and felt somewhat uneasy, changing his mind: “No, I’ll go back first.”
President Huo was slightly taken aback: “Why?”
Liang Xiao thought to himself, “I’m afraid you’ll return and cry from desolation.” He looked at him and patted President Huo’s back reassuringly: “Don’t worry, leave it to me.”
Although teams couldn’t accompany them during the recording of the program, President Huo’s assistant team was still in Jiangnan. Liang Xiao wanted to first notify the butler and hurry back to tidy up, at least making the room habitable.
It was rare for the two of them to reminisce about childhood together. Even if they didn’t lie in bed together for a nap, at the very least, President Huo should be able to hold him on the sofa while reading a book.
Liang Xiao was enjoying his own thoughts, already imagining himself sternly forcing President Huo to recite lessons, and calmly arranged for President Huo: “I’ll go back first for a day, you stay to record some additional footage for the program team.”
President Huo didn’t understand: “Why does the program team need additional footage?”
Liang Xiao came up with a quick idea: “All variety shows are like this… when leaving, each group of guests has to leave one person behind to record some additional footage, used to fill gaps during editing.”
He spoke with such conviction that President Huo frowned slightly but didn’t doubt him: “Is this customary?”
Liang Xiao: “…Yes.”
Although it wasn’t yet, people had to be flexible.
Liang Xiao had already made up his mind and planned to suggest this to Director Yin later, making it a custom.
President Huo nodded slightly but was still not very comfortable letting Mr. Liang go alone. He continued to massage the injured area, still pondering indecisively.
Liang Xiao’s bottom had already been well-massaged. He skillfully bit President Huo’s lips, nimbly jumped down, and went to the corner to find the completely forgotten program team.
–
Yin Chi had been stuck in the mindset of a variety show director and hadn’t thought of such an indirect solution these days. Hearing it, his eyes brightened, and he pulled Teacher Liang, who had delivered himself to their doorstep, together with the directing team for a brainstorming session.
The mountain path had no lighting and was already quite dark.
President Huo waited for Liang Xiao in the tea room to go up the mountain together. After half an hour, the first to arrive was Chi Che.
“There are some things inconvenient to tell Mr. Liang.”
Chi Che had his artist stand guard at the door and took out some materials for President Huo: “Xingguan has probably noticed this matter as well. We happen to have business dealings with several of these gossip accounts and know a bit more detail…”
President Huo’s eyes darkened slightly as he took the materials and flipped through them.
“‘Year’s End’ is in a scheduling conflict with a purely online modern drama,” Chi Che said. “It’s also a big production with a performance-based contract… if they really clash, the other side will probably lose a large portion of traffic.”
“We will thoroughly resolve our issues.”
Chi Che looked back at Jiang Pingchao and bit his lip: “When necessary, I will handle it cleanly and not affect the artist or the crew.”
The traffic war had already reached the point of bayonets drawn. Modern people’s leisure time is limited, and various apps scramble for a piece of the pie. If someone takes a larger share, others inevitably lose out.
That modern drama was already prepared to target “Year’s End,” with Jiang Pingchao as the male lead being the first to bear the brunt. Chi Che had led people to counter for half a month and had also gathered quite a bit of other information.
“Teacher Su’s fans are too strong in battle, and Mr. Liang has just risen to fame with too many new fans pouring in, not yet organized and sorted out.”
Chi Che looked at him: “Their next target should be Mr. Liang…”
President Huo frowned: “Target what?”
Chi Che hesitated for a moment, then said softly: “…Being kept.”
Liang Xiao had few black marks against him. The few that had been dug up had collapsed on their own, leaving only his unclear relationship with the Huo Corporation CEO and the abundance of good resources he had received unexplained.
Liang Xiao’s own temperament complemented Yun Lian’s. Once there was a mishap in this area, many people would become disillusioned with the character, angrily abandon the drama, or even turn against him.
“There are two options. Either completely go public and clarify, or suppress it, insisting there is no relationship whatsoever, and refute rumors that it’s just a contract.”
Chi Che was quiet for a moment: “The former has too many variables… we want to choose the latter.”
Chi Che: “Three days later, ‘Year’s End’ will premiere online. They plan to release the material uniformly at midnight the day after tomorrow. Xingguan should prepare in advance.”
President Huo nodded: “Thank you.”
“We owe Mr. Liang a favor.”
Chi Che shook his head: “For Xingguan, choosing the latter is also better.”
Going public now would certainly better clear Liang Xiao of suspicions of being kept, but it would be somewhat like draining the pond to catch the fish.
After all, Xingguan wasn’t a small company with only Liang Xiao as its artist. If there were any deviations in the disclosure process, it would be easy for malicious people to criticize and attack.
Once Xingguan had problems, it would eventually come back to harm Liang Xiao’s development.
President Huo had been earnestly advised countless times these days. His expression unchanged, he nodded: “I understand.”
Chi Che had done his duty. He rose to take his leave, but at the door, he turned back: “The latter option is better, isn’t it?”
President Huo looked up at the equally elite, cold, and strict manager.
His matter with Jiang Pingchao had also dragged on for too long and needed to be resolved cleanly. Chi Che had already prepared his resignation statement. Looking at the artist outside the door, he managed a smile: “It’s safer, won’t go wrong-”
President Huo: “I like him.”
Chi Che froze.
President Huo had always been a man of few words, but his expression was calm and resolute, beyond question.
“We both simply fell in love with someone.”
President Huo: “I don’t think that’s wrong.”
##
