Chapter 81: Check-up

The Spring Festival holiday ended, and “Fleeting Life” became the biggest dark horse at the box office.

As its popularity skyrocketed, the various interviews Shen Xici and Lu Jiming had participated in before the film’s release were compiled. Several of their witty exchanges went viral, and they were playfully dubbed the “poor duo who created a miracle” by the melon-eating masses.

At the same time, Bilibili user Dongyu once again created a Narcissus-pairing CP video—this time between Gu Changsheng, played by Shen Xici, and Sheng Yuen, the person Gu Changsheng was impersonating.

With this cut, “Yigu Shengen” (a pun on the characters’ names) shot to fame. Countless people spammed the bullet comments with “hissing” sounds of delight, saying the meal was too delicious and praising the great Dongyu for having a keen eye for true gold. Whether it was the initial Son of the Mountain God x Young Priest Narcissus pairing or this current street punk x noble young master, they were all so shippable. Even artists from various circles were enticed to join in, working overtime to draw fan art.

The melon-eating masses sighed that indeed, nothing can stop a heart that wants to ship a CP. Even though Shen Xici, as the male lead, had no romance plotline in the entire film, it was no problem at all!

Cheng Mingye returned from his skiing vacation abroad. Not long after landing, he eagerly invited Shen Xici and Lu Jiming to dinner.

It was in the same clubhouse where the three of them had first met. Shen Xici pushed open the door to the room, and a figure excitedly rushed up to him. “Changsheng, I knew it! You definitely didn’t die!”

Shen Xici subconsciously took half a step back. When his vision focused, he realized it was Cheng Mingye. He asked Lu Jiming, who was watching the fun from the side, in confusion, “…What’s wrong with him?”

“Just bear with him. He flew abroad right after watching the premiere. When he came out of the theater, his eyes were all swollen from crying. He was photographed by tabloid reporters at the airport, and immediately there was news like ‘Rich Second-Generation Loses His Love and Cries All Night,’ and ‘Family Nearing Bankruptcy, Former Rich Young Master Weeps Bitterly.'”

Cheng Mingye was indignant. “Those tabloids are writing nonsense! I was clearly crying because Changsheng died at the end of the movie and I couldn’t accept it!”

Lu Jiming snapped his fingers. “Alright, it seems the influence of the Republic-era charmer Gu Changsheng has broken through from 2D to 3D.”

“Of course!” Cheng Mingye said, his face glowing with excitement. “Who would have thought that I, Cheng Mingye, would one day make money from an investment? Such a good thing actually happened to me!”

The more he spoke, the more smug he became. “A few days ago, at the New Year’s family dinner, my parents and my brother all praised me. They said I’ve finally grown up, that my head isn’t just full of cars all day, and that I know how to make money now.”

Shen Xici asked a soul-searching question, “So what’s in your head now?”

Cheng Mingye looked puzzled. “Cars, of course. Besides my beloved car concubines, what else is worthy of being in my head?”

Lu Jiming burst out laughing. “Hahaha, your family’s praise was for nothing!”

Cheng Mingye crossed his legs, lifted his chin, and said gleefully, “It’s fine as long as I wasn’t praised for nothing. Not only did my allowance double, but my brother also gave me five million in lucky money. He said my performance was very good.”

Lu Jiming’s laughter got stuck, like a broken record player.

“How much? Five million? Lucky money?” He clutched his head. “I’ll fight you rich people!”

Cheng Mingye uncrossed his legs, at a loss for what to do. He quickly said, “Brother, don’t! Aren’t we the League of the Sons of Heaven’s Mandate? I’ve already thought it through. I’ll save up all this five million in lucky money, and the money my parents rewarded me with. Then, I’ll invest it all in your next movie!”

“Oh, that’s so embarrassing.” Lu Jiming’s expression cleared up in a second. He sat down next to Cheng Mingye and put an arm around his shoulder like a good brother. “Then why don’t you get some more lucky money from your brother? Five million is indeed a little less for investing in a movie. And your brother’s legal team, they’re so professional. Can we borrow them again for our next movie?”

Shen Xici just watched as, in the short span of half a meal, Lu Jiming had already found the main investor for a movie that didn’t even exist yet.

The meal was almost over. Cheng Mingye had to go meet a friend, so he reluctantly paid the bill early and left. After seeing him off, Lu Jiming returned, his fair, boyish face full of joy. “Lots of money, few problems, and still an amateur. Gives the money and doesn’t care about anything. What a great investor. It’s really hard to find one like this anywhere else!”

Shen Xici agreed very much. “Indeed. Many investors either stuff people into the set or hold the script and demand this and that be changed.”

Lu Jiming sat back down and invited, “Since we’re on the topic, how about it? Interested in collaborating again for the next movie? Next time, I’m confident we can aim for the titles of ‘World-Famous Director Mr. Lu Jiming’ and ‘World-Famous Actor Mr. Shen Xici’!”

Shen Xici was not tempted at all and asked, “Is it convenient for you to let me see the script?”

Lu Jiming: “How about I write it now?”

Remembering the scene from their first meeting, both of them started laughing.

As they laughed, Lu Jiming’s smile faded. He held the glass, his fingers pressing against its side, and said, “According to my own plan, after finding Zhong Yue in Sui County, I would have worked part-time to earn rent and living expenses for a while. Then, while continuing to polish the script, I would have looked for investors.”

He gave a bitter smile. “But let’s put it this way, I knew in my heart that as a rookie director who was nothing, with no connections and no background, it would have been impossible for anyone to be willing to talk to me. They would only think I was a daydreaming beggar.”

Shen Xici poured more drink into his glass. “I’m the male lead, I have the final say. Your talent is more dazzling than a disco ball in a KTV!”

“What kind of terrible metaphor is that? It’s quite fitting though.” Lu Jiming paused. “I know I’m excellent and very talented, but what I said is also the truth. It was you who came up with the idea to get investment from Cheng Mingye, and it was you who gave that string of… whatever code, that got us into the clubhouse and allowed us to meet Cheng Mingye. In the end, it was you who accurately predicted that hexagram, which finally made Cheng Mingye decide to invest in us. Otherwise, even if this movie could have started filming, who knows when that would have been.”

He took a sip of juice, suppressing the bitterness on his tongue, and shared his thoughts. “These past few days, the more I think about it, the more scared I get. If Wu Ya’s ‘The Two-Faced’ had been released during this Spring Festival and my ‘Fleeting Life’ hadn’t, then it would have really been too late for anything. The script of ‘Fleeting Life’ would definitely have been accused of being the thief crying ‘stop thief,’ and it would have been impossible to explain. No one would have believed me, no investor would have been willing to invest, and no actor would have risked getting tainted to be in my film.”

Holding the glass with both hands, Lu Jiming’s eyes were red, his expression a mix of crying and laughing. “How could it be like now, where the netizens are all on one side, all praising me for filming well, all supporting me, believing in me.”

Seeing that he was about to cry, Shen Xici quickly patted his shoulder and comforted him, “It’s also because our Director Lu is so talented that I was attracted as soon as I finished reading the script and had to make this movie. And, ‘Fleeting Life’ isn’t just your ‘Fleeting Life’ anymore. It’s our ‘Fleeting Life’ now.”

Lu Jiming couldn’t hold it in any longer. His mouth crumpled, and tears started streaming down his face. He still had his idol burden. “Don’t film me! My… my crying face, absolutely can’t be circulated!”

Shen Xici was amused. “I’m not even holding my phone. What am I going to film you with? A camera built into my eyeball?”

Lu Jiming sniffled. “You have that kind of high-tech?”

Huh? Shen Xici placed the back of his hand on his forehead. “Yo, have you really cried yourself silly?”

“Get lost, get lost! I’m very smart!” Lu Jiming pulled out two tissues, wiped his tears, stabilized his emotions, and raised his glass. He turned to Shen Xici and said solemnly, “Without you, there would be no movie ‘Fleeting Life,’ and there would be no me, Lu Jiming, today. As long as you don’t despise me, we are brothers for life!”

If it were in the past, Shen Xici would never have agreed to the words “for life,” let alone taken the initiative to form a deeper friendship than that of a casual friend with someone.

But after being with Sheng Shaoyan, he found that he had also become braver.

“Okay, we’ll be brothers for life.”

Whether his life was long or short.

With that, Shen Xici also raised his glass and gently clinked it against Lu Jiming’s. “To the sky that is already bright.”

The tears Lu Jiming had just held back were about to burst again. He laughed through his tears, his voice thick with emotion as he said loudly, “To the sky that is already bright!”

This meal lasted very late. Lu Jiming said that he didn’t fit in when he was a child, his mind full of wild fantasies. He thought he was one of the smartest people in the world, and all the mediocre people didn’t understand him.

He talked about how he had gone against everyone’s opposition to major in directing, how the tuition was exorbitant, and how he had done all sorts of odd jobs to earn money, like doing homework for classmates and clocking in for them.

He talked about how the story of “Fleeting Life” had been swirling in his mind for two or three years, and finally, in a cramped rental apartment, it had poured out from the tip of his pen like lava. He had once thought this story would only ever be a story, but he had never expected to meet Shen Xici and bring this story to the big screen.

He also said that in the emergency room of the hospital in Sui County, he was dirt poor, living from hand to mouth.

Limping to the payment window, he had already secretly planned that for the next half a month, he might have to live on only two meals a day, surviving on steamed buns, pickled vegetables, and noodles.

Unexpectedly, after checking, the staff said, “Your medical fees have already been paid.”

He thought he was hallucinating and confirmed it again.

Someone had really paid for him.

The person behind him urged impatiently, and only then did he walk away from the payment window.

After walking for a bit, he leaned against a wall, squatted down in the bustling hospital lobby, covered his eyes, and cried for a long time.

Lu Jiming drank a lot of alcohol, drunkenly saying he wanted to go home and write a script, then looked everywhere for a pen. After sitting for a while, he suddenly said he wanted to call Wu Ya, to ask him personally why he had stolen his script and storyboards. Had he forgotten the days of being bunkmates, rushing to the cafeteria to grab food together, and working part-time jobs together to earn money? Or was he the only one who still remembered?

While waiting for Lan Xiaoshan to come and pick him up, he even went online and enthusiastically replied to netizens’ comments, chatting with the fans who had gathered in the Weibo comment section after hearing the news.

The next day, Lu Jiming was on the verge of a breakdown on the phone. “My image as an internationally renowned director has completely collapsed! Drinking is a bad thing, drinking ruins people!”

Shen Xici sat on the sofa in his personal studio and recited Lu Jiming’s Weibo posts from yesterday with perfect enunciation, “‘The name ‘Sloppy Director’ is pretty good. Simplified, it’s ‘Cao’er’ (Grass). Class beau and school beau are both ‘cao’ (grass/beau). Hehe, I have a chance to be a ‘cao’ too!’ Or, ‘What else can I do besides being a director? I can be a mentor! I gave advice to three of my group friends and helped them successfully land rich second-generation boyfriends!'”

Lu Jiming wiped his face, his toes curling in embarrassment. “Shen Xici, you didn’t let me off either…”

Shen Xici, with a genuine thirst for knowledge, gossiped, “Did you really help three of your ‘fake socialite’ group friends successfully land rich second-generation boyfriends?”

Lu Jiming hemmed and hawed, “This… it’s like opening a training class. You always say you’ve produced a few Qinghua and Beida students. You have to blow up your reputation and standards first so people will sign up, right? I just exaggerated a little. I didn’t say it was absolutely guaranteed. Makes sense, doesn’t it?”

Shen Xici was impressed. “Master of the art of language!”

“Ahem,” Lu Jiming cleared his throat pretentiously. “It’s still the alcohol’s fault. I was just too happy last night. I won’t drink anymore! But I did sleep well after drinking. I don’t even know how I got into bed. I even had a dream.”

Shen Xici let him off the hook and cooperatively changed the subject. “What dream?”

“I dreamed that I didn’t meet you. After being driven away from finding Zhong Yue, I went back to Ningcheng. I couldn’t pay the rent, so I slept in parks and squares for two days. I found a temporary job as a security guard and worked on the script and storyboards for ‘Fleeting Life’ while I was working. In the middle of it, I think I was always looking for investors, going to many different crews, looking for directors, actors, and producers. I finally found one!”