13. The Program
N city was located in the south, and if you went there in the summer, it was a bona fide hot hell.
Just taking a few steps from the airport to the car, the temperature outside was like a hot fiery wave that hits you in the face.
They still sat in the same position as before and the driver was a familiar local driver arranged by Xiang Xun.
Once in the car, Xiang Xun used his fingertips to wipe the sweat off the tip of his nose and muttered, “it’s a hellishly hot day to record…”
Even worse was that the recording location was near a forest.
the sun wouldn’t be so sunny, and the temperature unlike in the city, would be one or two degrees lower but it’ll be humid and there’ll be more mosquitoes.
You only have to think about it a little to know that this recording won’t be very easy.
Xiang Xun had on a “you better behave expression” and when they entered the hotel and took the elevator upstairs, he patted Su Zhihe on the shoulder and sighed, “Take care of yourself, friend.”
Su Zhihe glanced over at him: Crazy
Upstairs, Su Zhihe had a single suite, Qin Qing’s room was beside it and Cui Huohuo’s’ was diagonally in the opposite room.
Before long, a staff of the program group came over and the first thing they did was to check in with Su Zhi He about the recording process.
Xiang Xun left them to talk about work, he himself was bored of it. When he came out of Su Zhihe’s room, he passed by Cui Huohuo’s door on the other side and Qin Qing happened to also be in there
The door wasn’t closed and as he entered, he heard Qin Qing asking Cui Huohuo, “Does the assistant also live in a suite?” One person to a room?
Cui Huohuo said while tidying up his luggage, “well, more or less, I think. sometimes…”
Xiang Xun walked in to personally dispel Qin Qing’s confusion*: “remember not to ask this type of question in the future.”
t/n: to clarify. Help someone understand something
Xiang Xun: “It’s precisely because Boss Su has prestige, so the program team must arrange it like this. And also Boss Su has money, even if the program team didn’t make these arrangements, he is willing to pay (from his pocket) for his assistant.”
In Qin Qing’s heart: these words; he knew Xiang Xun wasn’t wrong.
But for an assistant to follow the boss to live in a suite and it was one person to a room, no matter how amazingly great Xiang Xun’s explanation was, Qin Qing was still surprised.
At the same time, he concluded that it was really as expected of Su Zhi He
When his astonishment was over, Xiang Xun went towards the suite’s sofa and sat down. He crossed one leg over the over and motioned, “Come over here, I want to warn you guys about some things.”
The so-called warning was actually that during these several days of recording, they (the two assistants) needed to pay attention to a number of things.
This included but wasn’t limited to sunburn protection, mosquito protection, people taking secret photos, diet, water, rest, and safety.
Xiang Xun: “The RV is already parked in the parking lot. The driver is still the old horse* that picked us up at the airport today. The two security vehicles ordered will also come this afternoon. They are all acquaintances who have worked with us before, and It’s convenient because Boss Su also knows them.”
t/n: 老马 Lao ma: old horse: a person with a deep experience (an experienced person)
Xiang Xun: “Others are nothing more than what we talked about, pay attention to safety. Besides you guys, don’t let anyone else see your personal belongings, especially mobile phones.”
When he finished warning them, Xiang Xun looked at the time: “I have other work so I’m leaving now. You guys should follow after Boss Su and call me if you need anything?”
Then he specifically looked at Qin Qing: “If you don’t understand anything, ask Cui Huohuo.” Then he paused, “or you should ask Boss Su directly.”
That afternoon, Xiang Xun left.
From what Cui Huohuo said, there was another rising artist he was in charge of that was competing with someone for a major role and big agent Xiang was ready to personally come out and help the artist to get the role.
After saying that, with an envious face he sighed: “Alas, when can I also be like my brother Xun…”
Qin Qing looked at him and didn’t utter a word. He thought in his heart that to arrive at Xiang Xun’s level wasn’t easy. It’s okay to have a background but if you don’t have a background in order to mingle and go up, then just like him back then; you have to pay an extremely big price of forbearance and blood and tears.
Qin Qing originally thought Cui Huohuo would continue to lament like this, then it’ll be followed by some self-motivation, and then in passing, he’ll envision his future for abit.
But who would have thought that he’d directly change the topic with the sentence, “Are you hungry? I’m so hungry.”
“…” Qin Qing couldn’t help smiling.
Cui Huohuo looked at the time. It’s been more than 3 hours since their Boss Su met up with the program team, and he’s guessing that it’ll take at least one more hour.
When Cui Huohuo spoke about going to eat, at that moment, he was no longer simple-minded (like before). His expression was clear as he actively suggested, “Let’s go downstairs?”
t/n: clear: no longer naïve; sensible.
Qin Qing had to remind him, “They might need someone in a moment. Let one of us stay upstairs ok.”
“No need to.” Cui Huohuo had already reached the suite’s doorway. He kept turning his head to signal at Qin Qing while simultaneously explaining, “You just started and don’t understand that our Boss has always never liked to order people about when he’s working. It’s easy to be an assistant for him.”
He again said, “We are still in the hotel and won’t go out and if there’s really an issue, he’ll just call and we’ll immediately go up.”
Just then, Cui Huohuo received a message.
Su Zhihe: my side will take some more time. You should take Qin Qing downstairs to eat.
Cui Huohuo: Oh yes!
He lifted up the screen and signaled to Qin Qing to look, “I said it right. Let’s go eat.”
They went downstairs to the restaurant and although it was already past mealtime because the whole hotel was entirely booked by the program team and they’d also called in advance to say hello, the restaurant will always provide three meals.
Cui Huohuo didn’t pay attention to what he’d eat and Qin Qing also wasn’t picky about food so both of them casually ordered 3 dishes and sat down to wait.
In between waiting for the meal, Cui Huohuo and Qin Qing chatted a little bit about personal topics.
Only then did Qin Qing know that Cui Huohuo was Su Zhihe’s relative but Cui Huohuo always stressed that they weren’t close and were more distantly related.
Cui Huohuo also said. “Before I came here. I was just a technical school student, unlike my 2 brothers that are both university students. My dad and mum were worried to death and didn’t know what I was going to do after I graduated.
At that time when my brother’s assistant quit, I just came over.”
Cui Huohuo said whatever came to mind, without cunning or being guarded. or at least he didn’t guard against Qin Qing. He also said with feeling: “My brother is very good. I’ve only been his assistant for 6 months and there’s already money to send home. He also gave me back a lot of money at the end of the year and my family and I raised enough money for the old family home to be entirely knocked down and rebuilt.”
After saying that, he smiled embarrassedly and sniffed his nose, revealing a bit of the simple nature of the country folk: “it’s just that I myself I’m not very work driven. Besides following my brother to run errands as an assistant for him, I can’t do anything else and have wasted a lot of his kind intentions and arrangements.”
Because of this honest and uncomplicated chatting, Qin Qing was moved.
Why could he not come into contact with such simple and sincere people in his last life?
In the end, it was because he was looking for quick success at that time. There wasn’t space for anything less in his eyes. It was all about opportunities, benefits, and money.
Now that he was reborn, he no longer seeks those things. his heart had stabilized and his eyes were able to see things clearer and only then did such an opportunity exist.
Qin Qing listened and appreciated the feeling of simplicity that was in front of him.
When Cui Huohuo finished talking about himself, he asked Qin Qing “What about you? Did you also leave home to do some work?”
Qin Qing didn’t hide it and he didn’t feel that it was something difficult to mention. “Hmm. I dropped out of school and then came out to work.”
Cui Huohuo’s movement of drinking water paused and he put down his cup. His whole face was full of unconcealed astonishment: “Dropped out of school?”
Realizing that his reaction was too strong, he restrained his expression: “sorry ah.”
Qin Qing shook his head and smiled, “Doesn’t matter. You can ask.”
Cui Huohuo thought about it, then cautiously said, “Then you were in senior high school before you dropped out, right?”
Qin Qing looked unperturbed, “I went to school a little later than people my age. Before I dropped out of school, I was a sophomore.”
Cui Huo blinked, “Because of bad grades?”
Qin Qing: “No money. My family won’t allow me to attend class.”
No money, he can understand, but what does not allowed to attend class mean?
Cui Huohuo was incredulous: “your family didn’t allow you to study!?”
Qin Qing pursed the corners of his lips, its meaning couldn’t have been more obvious.
Cui Huo couldn’t continue to drink his water. As a member of a family that has raised two college students. His belief was that as long as one was able to read, one must continue to read books and study.
In their village, it was popular for every household to send their children to school, regardless of if they were male or female. If they didn’t send (their children to school), they’d suffer their next-door neighbor’s broken mouth and gossip. How are there still people who don’t allow their child to study?
What those parents have done was too unqualified!
Cui Huohuo was secretly angry in his heart but couldn’t talk much in front of Qin Qing.
He was angry for a while then the food was served.
Cui Huohuo took a pair of chopsticks and kept on picking* dishes for Qin Qing. “Eat more. You eat this one and this one. Eat more of this one.”
The more he thought about it in his mind, the angrier he got: not allowed to go to school, so they could only come out to work by themselves. Then you should eat a lot more food okay!
faced with a large dish that came out of the edge of the bowl, Qin Qing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “That’s okay. Thank you, it’s enough.”
Cui Huohuo didn’t act like a colleague who he worked with but like an old lady* who was fighting for justice. he angrily said, “it’s not enough! How can this be enough!”
It was as if eating so many dishes would be able to make up for the pain of dropping out of school.
Qin Qing froze as he looked at the dishes in the bowl. It wasn’t that no one had ever picked* dishes for him or had politely told him to eat more or to eat these ones.
t/n: I forgot to say, that “pick” is more of a “clamp” or “clip”. Like you’d do with tongs or chopsticks. Food is wedged in between the utensil. I just used “pick” instead.
When someone sought him out in the last life, it was normal and merely routine to pick* dishes and toast him. Even after being reborn, his mother Sun Fang, who had forced him to drop out of school, had also carefully picked dishes for him.
But right now, it was only Cui Huohuo who did it with such pure and simple feelings.
Qin Qing was momentarily dazed. Because he wasn’t used to this, he seemed slightly at a loss. After a few moments of silence, he also raised his chopsticks and picked* dishes for Cui Huohuo.
Cui Huohuo lowered his head and secretly smiled, then directly picked* up (a piece of the dish) and delivered it into his mouth. He then looked at Qin Qing again, and signaled to him, “You eat too.”
There were too many dishes and Qin Qing’s bowl couldn’t be held. He laughed and said, “Next time you want to pick* dishes for me, I’ll change the bowl (size) in advance.”
Cui Huohuo opened his eyes wide and said, “You also noticed it? Big cities only have bowls so big for eating but they are too small (for me). I’m used to eating with big bowls at home. Like when I was young, my dad’s meal was entirely on an extra big bowl.”
Qin Qing ate while listening. He felt that the hotel’s meal design was ordinary but the taste was very appetizing.
As a result of Cui Huohuo’s simple and worry-free chatting, the two assistants got more familiar.
After dinner, Cui Huohuo took Qin Qing to go to the parking lot to see the RV and also entered the RV to walk around it.
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After entering the RV, instead of looking around, Cui Huohuo went to the kitchen bar first and then turned over the ice machine: “when our Boss Su is working in the summer, he can’t do without ice.”
Qin Qing understood: “He is afraid of heat.”
Cui Huohuo was relieved when he saw that there were enough ice cubes in the ice machine: “Eh, he’s afraid of the heat but also once it’s hot, his mood is easily affected.”
Qin Qing (eyes) followed up to one of the RV windows and looked out of it towards the vicious sun and scorching temperature. It seems Film Emperor Su’s mood during these few days of recording won’t be good.
After looking at the RV, Cui Huohuo suddenly stopped Qin Qing when they were about to leave: “Ah, wait.”
Qin Qing: “?”
Cui Huohuo stood in front of the window and gestured for him to look outside, “we’ll wait for those people to leave.”
Qin Qing followed Cui Huohuo’s gaze and looked over. In the outdoor parking lot, not far away, a few people in another car got down from it. The man in the lead was wearing sunglasses. He walked very fast and was followed by a couple of assistants holding umbrellas. Behind them, were a few young male and female assistants who either held bags or pushed suitcases.
Cui Huohuo: “Ye Chutian.”
Qin Qing naturally recognized Ye Chutian.
Cui Huohuo stared outside and his voice was low: “You should remember what Ye Chutian looks like and the people following him around.”
Qin Qing immediately understood and asked, “Doesn’t get along with our boss?”
Cui Huohuo sneered: “Where could they get along”
How could he explain this?
“They are extremely incompatible.”
Qin Qing raised his eyebrows.
At this time, in the small parking lot, another business car came in and from inside a male artist got off.
Cui Huohuo pointed. His voice was low, said, “you should also remember this one as well.”
Qin Qing: “Also doesn’t get along?”
“No! How can they ah!” Cui Huohuo: “That’s known as a mortal enemy*.”
t/n:不共戴天 bù gòng dài tiān: enemies that can not live under the same sky. Sworn foe, lol.
Qin Qing: “…?”
Cui Huohuo who’d been very candid for part of the day suddenly jolted. Shit. What has he been saying? Qin Qing was the one his brother liked and specifically took along to be by his side and he also wasn’t a real assistant!
How did he manage to forget that!
After spacing out, Cui Huohuo rushed to repair his brother’s image: “But you can rest assured, our boss Su is a friendly and generous person and his also very kind. Although their relationship in the past was wasn’t anything special, this time, by recording together we can all surely join hands together and change conflict into friendship*.”
t/n: 化干戈为玉帛: lit trans: to change weapons of wars for jade and silk. Meaning: to turn fighting to friendship; an olive-branch
Qin Qing glanced at Cui Huohuo then looked out the window.
He was doubtful.
The author has something to say: Boss Su. My image???? Is ruined just like this?