CH 26

Evening.

The nanny’s car drove to the door of the community where he lived and Xia Yuanhang in the car saw Xia Xiangzhou standing outside the community, probing his head. Unexpectedly, after a few months, he appeared again and even came to his new residence.

Xia Yuanhang lowered his face. He asked the driver to stop and got out of the car. Xia Xiangzhou walked over immediately when he saw him, rubbing his hands uncomfortably, with an awkward smile on his face: “Son… son, why did you move here? I’ve been looking for you for a long time, but those security guards won’t let me in…”

“Is there something wrong?” Xia Yuanhang interrupted his nonsense in a cold voice.

Xia Xiangzhou looked ashamed as he licked his dry and cracked lips and asked him hesitantly: “How is the injury on your hand? Is it all right?”

He slapped his face vigorously as he said: “I really lost my head at that time, I didn’t mean it, don’t be angry at Dad…”

Xia Yuanhang looked at his poor acting performance coldly, suppressing the impatience in his voice and asked again: “I have made it clear enough last time. In the future, your affairs have nothing to do with me. What are you doing coming to me?”

“Don’t be angry, don’t be angry, there is no overnight hatred between us father and son,” Xia Xiangzhou wiped away tears after saying a few words. He took off the gloves on his right hand and showed Xia Yuanhang his hand that was missing two fingers. “I really know I was wrong, and I regret it. I really won’t bet again in the future. Can you trust me again?”

Xia Yuanhang only glanced at it and moved away, his voice still cold: “It has nothing to do with me.”

“Do you have to be so unfeeling? I’m still your father…” Xia Xiangzhou stuffed the bag in his hand to Xia Yuanhang. “Forget it, I know you are still angry. I’ll come to you next time. This is the cake I bought for you. You used to like it the most. Take it and eat it.”

Xia Yuanhang swung his hand away violently and the bag fell to the ground with a ‘thump’, making the cake inside shattered and splashed all over the floor. Xia Yuanhang sarcastically said: “Stop acting. I don’t know what you want to do this time, but you’re acting too fake. And this cake, I don’t eat much sweets after junior high school. I think you have forgotten it.”

The face of Xia Xiangzhou who was exposed turned very ferocious for a moment. Xia Yuanhang ignored him and turned to go into the community.

In mid-August, Liang Xincheng returned to Beijing to attend the premiere of ‘Wanted’. Before he came back, he asked someone to send Xia Yuanhang a ticket to the premiere. He didn’t expect him to really go, but he just tried to have a little more intersection with him.

The film had attracted much attention since the beginning of filming, and it had been shortlisted for several awards at the Golden Pine Awards two months later before it was released. Of course, the biggest focus was on the leading actor Xie Qinfeng.

Liang Xincheng saw Xie Qinfeng, whom he hadn’t seen for a long time in the backstage, so he took the initiative to greet him. Xie Qinfeng was still the same; he was always cold but his attitude towards Liang Xincheng was much better than before. Liang Xincheng greeted him politely for a while, and was planning to talk to the director again but Xie Qinfeng stopped him, taking a cup of coffee that his assistant had just bought and handed it to Liang Xincheng: “Please have a drink..”

Liang Xincheng took it and thanked him with a smile. Xie Qinfeng seemed to have something to say but looked hesitant about it, so Liang Xincheng took the initiative to talk about the things he cared about: “Teacher Xie should know that I’ve been filming in Director Peng’s movie recently, right? I worked with Sister Gu Rong and Xiao Ding. I didn’t think like this before, but after I really worked with Xiao Ding, I realized that although he was young, his acting skills were really good. I just have to work harder in private, or it will be embarrassing for me to be compared to him.”

When Liang Xincheng mentioned Ding Yao, Xie Qinfeng took advantage of the situation and said, “Is your crew getting along well? Did Yaoyao bother you guys?”

“It’s pretty good. Xiao Ding gets along well with everyone and is very humble. Everyone in the crew likes him very much.”

Liang Xincheng casually said a few interesting things about Ding Yao that happened in the crew. Xie Qinfeng listened very seriously: “Yaoyao, he is still a child. If there is anything he can’t do well, I would trouble you to take care of him.”

Liang Xincheng laughed out loud: “Teacher Xie, don’t worry. Since he calls me ‘ge’, I will also take care of him as a younger brother.”

With such a friendly interaction, Xie Qinfeng reciprocated with a lot of face. At the beginning of the premiere, he threw the topic to Liang Xincheng several times, giving him more opportunities to perform in front of the camera as well as praising Liang Xincheng in front of the media. “He has great potential and is very serious. He took every scene and every shot very carefully. If there was anything bad, he would take the initiative to reshoot it. When the director explained to him about the scenes, he listened very seriously. He is very open-minded and studious. I have read his script book, it was full of notes. It’s really rare.”

Liang Xincheng smiled and thanked Xie Qinfeng for his praise, and also praised him with a lot of compliments.

Xia Yuanhang, who only came in low-key after the premiere, sat in the corner of the last row and heard Liang Xincheng say: “I admire Teacher Xie very much. He has good acting skills and a good personality. He is also very handsome. He’s the goal I strive for.” He slightly pulled his head down on the brim of his cap, his heart feeling a little uncomfortable inexplicably.

After the official opening of the movie, Xia Yuanhang’s gaze had never moved away from the role played by Liang Xincheng. His scenes were not much but they were quite outstanding. At the beginning, he was a rookie police officer who was ignorant and clueless. After experiencing a series of things, he quickly matured and grew up to be able to take the lead. In the end, he died in order to block the gun for the master. He was an important character with a complete growth line and a climactic plot.

Seeing the scene where Liang Xincheng was shot and fell down, Xia Yuanhang closed his eyes and had to admit that Liang Xincheng had already stepped ahead of him with this role.

After the movie was broadcast, Liang Xincheng returned to the backstage and accepted a brief interview with the media. After the end, his assistant came over and whispered to him: “I seem to have seen Xia Yuanhang.”

Liang Xincheng was stunned: “Are you sure?”

The assistant shook her head: “Not sure, but there are people talking about it on Weibo.”

The assistant showed him the Weibo he found. A fan photographed a man sitting in the back corner, wearing a mask and hat and dressed in a low profile, saying that he looked like Xia Yuanhang, but not many people in the comments believed it, saying that there were so many media reporters on the scene. If it was really him, someone would definitely take a clearer picture. Not to mention, Xia Yuanhang and Liang Xincheng’s relationship was so awkward now, why would he go to support his movie premiere?

Some people retorted that they also appeared together at the airport when they were in Macau before, so how could their relationship be awkward? But no matter how much they said, it was just fans’ speculation, and there was really no substantial evidence.

Liang Xincheng however, was very sure that that person was Xia Yuanhang. He really came to the premiere. Excited, Liang Xincheng picked up his mobile phone and dialed Xia Yuanhang’s WeChat voice call directly. It was quickly connected over there: “You are at the premiere?”

“En.”

“Where are you?”

“Parking lot, about to leave.”

“Wait for me.”

Fifteen minutes later, Liang Xincheng was panting as he pulled open Xia Yuanhang’s car door, sat in the car, unable to stop complaining: “Why did you come and leave without saying hello?”

Xia Yuanhang handed him a tissue to wipe his sweat and explained with a smile: “I asked for leave from the crew. I thought you were very busy, so I didn’t bother you.”

“Then will I delay your return to the crew now? Actually, you don’t have to rush here if you need to shoot your movie.”

“It’s okay, are you going back? It’s the same if I send you back first. I came here because I actually want to watch this movie.”

Xia Yuanhang started the car and drove out of the underground parking lot. Liang Xincheng’s excessively violent heartbeat gradually calmed down. Thinking that he had just run over on impulse, he was inevitably a little embarrassed, so he could only try to find another topic to talk: “Then what do you think after watching the movie?””

“Very good, the story is quite complete and highly watchable. The box office should not be bad. And your acting is also very good, you deserve to be shortlisted for the Golden Pine Award.”

One of the important reasons why this film had attracted much attention was that it had been nominated for five awards at the Golden Pine Awards; one of the three domestic important awards, including Liang Xincheng’s best supporting actor award. Regardless of whether he could or not win the award in the end, he was already the only one among young male actors of the same age who got nominated in this category.

When Liang Xincheng heard this, he secretly thought to himself that Xia Yuanhang would really come to see the premiere, but he was still a little curious and unconvinced.

“Really?”

“Really,” Xia Yuanhang turned his head and smiled at Liang Xincheng, speaking sincerely: “You really performed well. You should be able to win the award. Remember to treat me when the time comes.”

Liang Xincheng breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that Xia Yuanhang was not such a small-minded person, so he also smiled: “Okay, definitely.”

In order to prepare for the premiere, Liang Xincheng got up very early today, and after a few words, he leaned on the back of his chair and fell asleep. Xia Yuanhang didn’t bother him anymore. He turned off the car stereo and turned down the air conditioner so that he could sleep more comfortably.

While waiting for the red light, Xia Yuanhang unconsciously tilted his head, staring at Liang Xincheng’s sleeping face for a moment. His mood was somewhat complicated. Even if he did not want to admit it, his concern and care for Liang Xincheng was really growing.

After that night in Macau, the relationship between them was destined to be different, Liang Xincheng was the first person with whom he had a physical relationship. Xia Yuanhang actually cared a lot, but this kind of care even he himself couldn’t figure out; whether he really liked him or it was pure hormones.

Just like he once thought he had liked Ding Yao. But after what happened before, those feelings have long faded away. As for Liang Xincheng, he didn’t know if he would wake up one day, the feeling would suddenly disappear, and everything would return to the way it was before.

So when Liang Xincheng hinted at it half-jokingly and half-seriously, he pretended as if he didn’t understand it. When Liang Xincheng teased him and Ding Yao on WeChat, he also laughed it off and changed the subject. He didn’t know what Liang Xincheng thought of him, or whether or not those vague ambiguities were just because of the intimacy that night. At least for now, he didn’t want to make any changes.