Duan Ming looked at him incredulously, lowered his head, and rummaged through the first aid kit for a thermometer.
“I’m just saying,” Liang Xiao promptly stopped him, covered his collar, and sat up. “I’ll go see if anyone needs help memorizing lines.”
“Who would dare use you…” Duan Ming couldn’t help but mock him, but halfway through his sentence, he suddenly realized something and looked up at Liang Xiao.
Liang Xiao was still examining those two bandages, occasionally lifting his clothes to look, hugging himself with concern, and lowering his head to laboriously blow on the bandages a couple of times.
Duan Ming didn’t have the heart to scold him anymore and sighed: “Go ahead.”
The night scenes in the crew were always harmonious, and the progress wasn’t rushed. Many people gathered in small groups to chat, and pastries that couldn’t be kept for long were all consumed before midnight.
Director Jin was rarely present in the evenings, and the production manager’s supervision was always relaxed, allowing the actors waiting for their scenes to be much more at ease than during the day.
Liang Xiao rarely participated in such tea parties and, with an armful of pastries that had been thrust upon him, couldn’t help but ask curiously: “Why not use models?”
“One set of models costs five thousand,” the production manager smiled as he distributed rose pastries and chestnut cakes steamed with osmanthus sugar to him. “Buying pastries only costs fifty.”
The financial supervisor nearby sighed: “But we’re shooting more than a hundred scenes…”
The production manager smiled calmly and unhurriedly: “Want some?”
“…” The financial supervisor: “Yes.”
The production manager steadily gave him two chestnut yokans, patted Liang Xiao’s shoulder, and added an extra piece of osmanthus cake for the new member of their spoils-sharing group.
The intensity of filming work was high, and the night crew and actors were already working hard. Being able to have an extra meal increased everyone’s enthusiasm, and they gathered happily to chat.
“Isn’t ‘Year’s End’ premiering today?”
The production manager, who alternated shifts with Director Jin, had just watched those two episodes and praised Liang Xiao with a smile: “It’s even better than expected; you might win Best Supporting Actor.”
Liang Xiao smiled: “You’re too kind…”
“It’s true,” a young actor nearby, who was in fan groups, excitedly raised his hand to interject. “#I have money Yun Lian please come scam me# is trending all over the internet.”
For the premiere promotion, all the main actors had their trending topics. Jiang Pingchao and Meng Feibai’s brotherly clash, Su Man’s whip-all had made names for themselves on the trending topics, and the popularity was certain.
Liang Xiao was generally prepared, smiled, and politely expressed his thanks.
“When Long Tao sold you off, they probably didn’t expect you to make such a splash right after.”
The production manager, not deeply familiar with the inside story, couldn’t help but sigh: “A pearl cast aside; you were truly wasted there.”
“It’s not that simple,” the assistant director, who knew more gossip, came over to get some pastries and interjected. “Long Tao didn’t just waste him; they directly shelved him… Then when they saw he was doing well after moving to Xingguan, they got jealous and pursued him with vicious smears.”
The assistant director handed Liang Xiao a bottle of hot coffee: “Did you have some conflict with Long Tao back then? Why are they targeting you so much?”
Liang Xiao had just come to relax and unexpectedly became the center of conversation. He smiled helplessly: “There were some conflicts.”
“There was such a thing?” The production manager frowned upon hearing this. “Do you need us to help through our connections? Has it been resolved?”
“…” Liang Xiao thought about their President Huo’s statement, coughed, and said: “It’s resolved.”
“Can’t be careless. To kill a snake, you must strike its vital point, otherwise they’ll raise their heads again next time.” The production manager, experienced in the industry, shared his wisdom. “When dealing with issues, you need to solve the problem at its root.”
Liang Xiao nodded cautiously: “It’s quite rooted…”
The production manager, seeing that he indeed had confidence, didn’t ask further and instead reminded him: “Aren’t you on good terms with Xingguan’s President Huo? Keep in regular contact and send more messages during holidays and festivals.”
Liang Xiao nodded obediently: “Alright.”
The production manager genuinely appreciated him, patted Liang Xiao’s shoulder, made his point without over elaborating, and took people to supervise the next scene.
The crew was well-organized, and the young actors were all diligently memorizing their scripts, not requiring external intervention or assistance.
Liang Xiao really had nothing to do. He walked around the set, gathered a full load of snacks and drinks, and got into the car back to the hotel.
Duan Ming was waiting for him in the car and was startled: “Are there so many benefits for working late? What did the production manager say to you again?”
Liang Xiao pondered: “He told me to send more messages to President Huo.”
Duan Ming: “!!”
Duan Ming hadn’t expected the production manager to see through things so clearly and thought for a moment: “Then you should… send more.”
Duan Ming had noticed earlier how distracted he became as soon as filming ended and felt uncomfortable for him. He passed over a blanket: “If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t hold it in.”
Liang Xiao was taken aback: “Is it that obvious?”
Duan Ming was tempted to find him a mirror and glanced at Liang Xiao: “What are you planning to do now?”
Liang Xiao looked at the chat records a few more times, put down his phone, feeling a bit embarrassed, and coughed lightly: “I was wondering if I could change to a different room…”
Duan Ming was surprised and checked his phone to confirm: “The hotel isn’t paid for by us. President Huo has their family’s black gold card; during the off-season, stay for two months and get two months free.”
Liang Xiao: “…”
Duan Ming wasn’t clear why he suddenly wanted to change rooms and waved his hand in front of his eyes: “What are you thinking about?”
Liang Xiao murmured: “Evil capitalism…”
Duan Ming didn’t hear clearly: “What?”
“Nothing.” Liang Xiao perked up and asked again to clarify, “Are we in the free period now? We don’t pay for changing rooms either?”
“It’s already discounted, so definitely not.”
Duan Ming shook his head: “Actually, it’s because the general environment is in recession. Their location is so remote, they usually rely on film crews for business, and now they’re all struggling.”
Film crews consider expenses when choosing relatively inexpensive accommodation arrangements. These five-star hotels operate at a loss during industry downturns, losing money each day they remain open.
This year’s film and television industry winter came unexpectedly. Apart from large, well-established companies like Xingguan that were still steadily developing, related industries were suffering losses at best. Long Tao had too much internal shorting; although their bankruptcy and acquisition were high-profile, it wasn’t an isolated case in the industry.
“They won’t refund the money, but they should let you change rooms.” Duan Ming thought for a moment. “Are you not used to living alone? Afraid of being reminded of memories? I can talk to the hotel…”
Liang Xiao firmly declared: “No change.”
Duan Ming clicked his tongue and put down his phone.
“Can’t change,” Liang Xiao refused to lose out and righteously shook his head. “Let me cry desolately alone in the presidential suite; I won’t be reminded of memories.”
Duan Ming looked at him for a while, couldn’t help but laugh, and punched his shoulder.
…
Jokes aside, with President Huo taking many people away, no matter how you calculated it, quite a few rooms had indeed been vacated.
Although some bodyguards and assistant teams remained, they were always like NPCs, and situations where they could chat with Liang Xiao were rare.
Liang Xiao had already discussed with Duan Ming about having the manager and assistant move over. Duan Ming thought it was troublesome and originally didn’t plan to agree, but thinking about it now, he felt a bit sorry for him: “You be desolate for one night first, and tomorrow I’ll bring Little Gong over to keep you company.”
Liang Xiao’s eyes brightened, and he nodded.
“If you’re bored, come find us.” Duan Ming had the assistant stay on duty, got out of the car with Liang Xiao, and accompanied him back to the suite. “If you can’t sleep, find President Huo.”
Liang Xiao swiped the card to open the door and smiled: “Okay…”
He suddenly paused, his voice trailing off, and peered inside.
Duan Ming was carrying a pile of pastries for him and couldn’t see: “What’s wrong?”
Liang Xiao rubbed his eyes, pushed the door open, entered the living room, and looked around carefully.
When he had seen President Huo off in the morning, he had been too drowsy, and worried about being reminded of memories and feeling reluctant to part, he had closed his eyes and floated to the car, not noticing the changes in the room.
On the way back, he had been trying to prepare himself mentally for the emptiness.
Seeing him not speaking, Duan Ming became concerned and frowned deeply: “What’s wrong? What’s changed-”
Liang Xiao took a deep breath, blinked back the moisture in his eyes, and smiled: “Nothing has changed.”
Duan Ming was surprised: “Huh?”
Liang Xiao looked at the still very full living room, opened the side bedroom, and turned on the light.
President Huo hadn’t taken anything away. Not only that, he had even made sure to fully equip everything they both used, and had neatly folded pajamas at the head of the bed for him.
Liang Xiao opened the wardrobe to look and wasn’t too surprised to find that his set of pajamas had been meticulously taken away by their President Huo in exchange.
Liang Xiao leaned against the wardrobe door and couldn’t help but imagine their President Huo sleeping in his pajamas, quickly suppressing the thought: “Impossible…”
Duan Ming was also stunned by the room’s condition, almost thinking President Huo hadn’t left, and checked the flight information again: “What’s impossible?”
“Too stimulating.” Liang Xiao didn’t want to corrupt his mind. “Brother Duan, is there any change in the bathroom?”
“No…” Duan Ming peeked inside. “Yes, there is.”
Liang Xiao was taken aback: “What?”
Duan Ming went in and brought out a squeaky little yellow duck, placing it on his head.
Liang Xiao: “…”
“There’s a whole row of them by the bathtub,” Duan Ming said. “Is this your dream?”
Liang Xiao himself couldn’t remember very clearly, vaguely recalling asking young Huo Lan for them. He cleared his throat, took it down, and squeezed it: “I… guess so.”
Liang Xiao rummaged through the wardrobe and found an unopened Monopoly and Chinese Checkers set.
A dartboard had been added to the side bedroom door, with a box of colorful darts on the table.
Snack boxes were stacked in the corner of the table. Besides the usual candies he was accustomed to eating, there were many childhood memory snacks.
Liang Xiao suddenly understood what was happening, quickly went out to open the master bedroom, and indeed found a game console on the table.
Duan Ming suddenly felt a headache: “This is too indulgent…”
Liang Xiao looked at the note President Huo had left on the table and took a deep breath: “These are all things I urged him to buy when we were young, but he thought they were frivolous… and didn’t agree.”
Liang Xiao couldn’t help it, roughly rubbed his eyes a couple of times, and hugged the game console in his arms for a while.
Duan Ming hadn’t expected there to be such a history behind this, was taken aback, and his voice also softened: “Did President Huo leave a note?”
Liang Xiao’s voice was uncontrollably nasal: “Mm.”
Duan Ming asked gently: “What did it say?”
Liang Xiao: “He said I’m only allowed to play for thirty minutes each day.”
Duan Ming: “…”
Strict requirements didn’t diminish the emotional impact of the past. Liang Xiao hugged the game console, enthusiastically searched around the room for treasures, and returned to his room satisfied with the discovered gifts and notes.
“President Huo thought of everything.”
Duan Ming looked at the plastic whistle around Liang Xiao’s neck, couldn’t help but pick it up, and put it in his mouth: “Look around more tomorrow, there might be more.”
Liang Xiao had collected a thick stack of notes and happily blew the whistle: “Mm.”
“Since you’ve received everything, send President Huo a message back.”
Duan Ming helped him pull the blanket on the bed, spreading it flat: “President Huo is probably waiting for you to discover the surprises.”
Who knows when he prepared all this.
Duan Ming hadn’t seen these things when he came in the morning. Watching these two happily in love, he didn’t have the heart to mock him anymore: “You drew all night, what did you draw for President Huo?”
Liang Xiao felt that his return gift was definitely worthy of this room full of presents: “Geometric math problems.”
“…” Duan Ming: “Huh?”
“Hand-drawn.”
Liang Xiao clenched his fist: “I specifically looked for ones with particularly beautiful patterns, including a function that when calculated forms a heart shape.”
Duan Ming regretted buying him a compass and triangle ruler: “…Oh.”
Duan Ming took a deep breath, feeling a bit weak: “Then you should… quickly send President Huo a message.”
After all, if the message was sent late, letting President Huo open Mr. Liang’s gift with anticipation, tomorrow the Huo residence might turn into a crystal-clear castle in the sunlight.
Liang Xiao’s mind hadn’t recovered from the emotional impact yet. He hugged the game console while distractedly checking his phone, typed several times but wasn’t satisfied, and deleted word by word: “No good… the grammar is too fragmented.”
To give him a surprise, President Huo had clearly prepared for more than just a day or two.
If there hadn’t been an unexpected need to return to Beijing early, he would now be blowing the whistle with the little yellow duck on his head, rushing into the master bedroom to give their President Huo a loving descent.
Liang Xiao felt that messages like “Ahhh wuwu yee” weren’t worthy of such carefully prepared surprises and urgently needed his manager’s literary support: “How should I phrase it?”
“Just say you received the gifts, you’re very happy and touched, and also-”
Duan Ming had a terrible headache and pressed his temples as he gave advice, while lifting the blanket, when he suddenly paused.
Liang Xiao quickly typed into the input box, happily following along: “What else?”
The manager frowned, carefully considering what felt off, then opened the door again and went to the master bedroom to look around.
Liang Xiao was always spontaneous when chatting with President Huo, saying whatever came to mind, and couldn’t continue with such formal thanks. He followed persistently: “Then what? What else?”
“Also…”
Duan Ming couldn’t figure it out and turned around, pondering: “Where did all your pillows go?”
##
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
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