CH 21

CHAPTER 21—Do Not Show Affection

Xie Yu returned to his apartment with the ingredients and headed to the kitchen to try to start the fire on the stovetop while making sure Xie Chan rested well.

By relying on the memory of the original body, he was able to make a few dishes that Xie Chan also loved.

After she ate the meal, Xie Chan felt that her brother’s skills had improved. But after Xie Yu gave some explanation and excuses, she didn’t notice anything wrong.

As night approached, Xie Yu finally let out a long sigh of relief after watching Xie Chan head back to her room to rest once she was able to get settled and had washed.

He also went back to his own bedroom, and fell onto the soft single sofa in the corner, unloading all his strength and completely relaxing.

He pulled up the panel on the upholstery and switched a wall to one-way window mode.

The wall began to change, and finally turned into a flat, transparent screen.

Xie Yu wanted to see the night sky of the Capital Star, but when he looked up, he saw several aircrafts majestically hovering in mid-air not far away.

Thinking of Zhou Cheng’s increasingly bad evaluation of the media, Xie Yu could only switch back to the wall mode speechlessly, and dared not sit on the single sofa anymore.

Just as he was about to get into his bed, he remembered the pieces of paper still in his pocket, so he looked up at the closed door, then looked around the well-decorated and bright room, and hesitated again and again, but in the end he didn’t reach into his pocket to take it out.

******

Xie Yu still didn’t get a good night’s sleep that night.

The scenes in his dream consisted of all kinds of memories before his accident.

There were old partners who had worked together with him for many years, and there was a Beijing-style director who was very strict in filming but he had made friends with in private.

There was a screenwriter, as well as his assistant who had been with him for many years and was about to resign and head behind the scenes…

Everything ended in the shipwrecked.

In his dream, people from all walks of his life took turns on the main ‘stage’ of his dream, but in the end his loved ones took center stage.

The faded pictures in his memory suddenly appeared in front of him—a mother who was addicted to gambling, and a father who was told he’d be laid off…

It was like he was sinking down underwater again, and the feeling of suffocation hit him in the face.

In the end, Xie Yu woke up in the middle of the night.

He hadn’t had a good rest for several nights now.

By this point, he was extremely tired, and he felt heavy even when trying to raise his arms.

With great effort, he headed to the kitchen to fill a glass of water.

""

He wanted to stay in the living room for a while, but was afraid of somehow affecting Xie Chan’s rest, so he could only retreat back to his room.

He couldn’t fall asleep, so he instinctively powered up his light brain and started looking for interstellar movies to watch.

In recent days, Shen Qi’s <Simon’s Star No. 10 Mine> had been making headlines for several days in a row due to the promotion done by the Golden Laurel Awards.

He was interested in this movie that was blown up to mythical heights, so he clicked on it and watched it slowly.

The viewing experience of less than three hours gave Xie Yu an understanding of Simon Star, a spaceship energy mining star.

On this star, blood-stained workers rioted, leading to a series of sordid incidents in which local managers colluded with large energy companies.

Behind the theft and corruption, the lives of tens of thousands of miners were buried.

This film was based on gathered materials of local events, and involved the work of parties behind the scenes.

It was indeed as film critics said, the film had the rigor of a documentary, while taking into account the ups and downs found in a feature film.

Most of the scenes were plain and restrained, but there was always a shot with a very artistic effect at the most critical nodes.

In this way, the director used one percent of his lyricism to highlight the emotions encompassing the whole film and aroused everyone’s reflection.

He was deeply attracted by the style and message of this work, and felt that Shen Qi’s shooting techniques had a profound, contradictory, and aesthetic flare that could not be ignored.

He had been in the industry for many years, and had seen countless directors with unique styles, but in terms of the impact given to him by their works, they really couldn’t compare to Shen Qi.

After he finished watching it the first time through, his remaining drowsiness disappeared.

He was excited but still unsatisfied, so he pulled back, focused on a few scene selections and savored them slowly, exploring the true meaning of the director through his lens.

Xie Yu contemplated and dwelled on the film until the sky turned light, and even when he heard a noise from the living room, Xie Yu was still reluctant to pause the film.

Xie Chan had left her room only to find that there was no one in the living room.

She thought her brother was still sleeping, so she didn’t plan to bother him.

As soon as she poured herself a glass of juice, she saw Xie Yu floating out of his bedroom with messy hair, exhausted but excited at the same time.

“Brother…” Xie Chan was surprised. It was obviously the first time she had seen her brother like this.

“Xiao Chan, brother will make you breakfast,” Xie Yu said in a daze, and before he even finished speaking, he flashed into the kitchen. (TL: Xiao, meaning little, is used with a person’s name to address someone in a younger generation)

In the pantry where he was grabbing ingredients, he was still thinking about the story captured in the movie.

Fortunately, his culinary skills were still online, and the taste of the breakfast produced by Xie Yu still conquered Xie Chan.

Xie Chan ate a lot, and when she looked up, she saw Xie Yu put his bowl and chopsticks aside while watching something seriously with his light brain.

“Brother, don’t you want to eat any more?” Xie Chan frowned slightly.

Xie Yu raised his eyes and nodded in response, “Eat, I’ll eat… Oh, by the way, have you watched the latest film, <Simon’s Star No. 10 Mine>?”

“…” Xie Chan was taken aback for a moment, and then answered, “No, I haven’t been in the mood to watch anything these days.”

As soon as Xie Yu heard that his sister hadn’t watched it, he became excited.

He held up his light screen and wanted to tell her the plot of the film, which was very interesting for discussion.

Xie Chan didn’t answer and just pushed her brother’s half-eaten breakfast in front of him, “Let’s talk after eating.”

Xie Yu, who had been educated by his sister, finally put down his light brain reluctantly, ate quickly, and finished his meal in two to three bites.

But before he could open his mouth to speak more, he heard a new message notification from his light brain.

[Zhou Cheng: This is Mr. Li’s business card. I also pushed your business card to Mr. Li. He’s anxious to contact you. It should be about <Blood Wanted>.]

Xie Yu understood, and then went to add Mr. Li according to the business card pushed to him by Zhou Cheng.

However, he saw an application request on his contact list and clicked to open it, and saw it was Mr. Li.

Xie Yu hurried to accept the application, but before he could type out anything, Li Wuqiang initiated a voice call.

Xie Yu mouthed “wait a minute” to Xie Chan, and answered Li Wuqiang’s communication request.

“Xie Yu, it’s Li Wuqiang.” The voice on the other end of the call was crisp, “Our <Blood Wanted> project won over Director Shen!”

Xie Yu, who had just finished watching Shen Qi’s work, suddenly smiled and his eyes lit up, “Congratulations, Mr. Li. <Blood Wanted> with director Shen Qi, that’s really like adding wings to a tiger.” (TL: A Chinese saying that means taking something that is already powerful and making it even more so)

“That’s right! We’re really lucky!” Li Wuqiang didn’t care about etiquette or his image at the moment, “He has no agent and is alone. This is after the film festival too. He didn’t want to be idle, so he tried to apply for a job. How could it be so coincidental!”

Hearing Li Wuqiang’s words, Xie Yu remembered the man in flowered clothes he saw in the Shen’s dining room who claimed to be Shen Qi’s manager.

Although it was strange, he didn’t want to say much, so he just followed Mr. Li’s words and said, “Yes, it must be fate.”

“That’s right, that’s right! It’s fate! The words the human race use can really express my current mood perfectly!” Li Wuqiang was still in a state of excitement, and just when he was about to say congratulations to Xie Yu as well, he thought of what Shen Qi said to him earlier, and couldn’t help but fall silent.

Xie Yu heard no sound from the receiver for a long time, so he could only speak up and ask.

“Xie Yu, Director Shen…” Li Wuqiang’s speech slowed down, and there was a bit of embarrassment in his words, “Director Shen has relatively high requirements for cooperation with us. Regarding the roles, whether it’s the amount of scenes or who will perform, there may be changes.”

…role changes?

After hearing this, Xie Yu was speechless for a while.

He went through several possibilities in his mind, and wanted to ask if he could get a role, but in the end it came down to the script.

""

“Mr. Li, just tell me, I can handle it.” Xie Yu said in a deep voice.

The original body’s acting skills were indeed not outstanding, and it was reasonable for Shen Qi to look down on him.

Li Wuqiang waited for Xie Yu to express his opinion, and now he was able to say everything in one breath, “Shen Qi signed a shared agreement with the senior management of Tengfei, and he invested a lot of money. He’s very particular about the preliminary work, and he’s not letting go regarding Tengfei’s internal selection of leading and supporting roles.”

“…So, what does he mean?” Xie Yu suddenly thought of a possibility.

“He wants to completely open up auditions for the <Blood Wanted> project. For you, he said that you can come to audition, but whether you get a role or not depends on your performance. <Blood Wanted> will launch on Terran in a month, so you have time to prepare.” After Li Wuqiang said this, he waited in order to listen to Xie Yu’s reply.

Xie Yu, who had bet on what position Shen Qi would take, breathed a sigh of relief, while feeling strange and like he was being teased at the same time.

This approach made him more interested in Shen Qi.

And although he had acted in a lot of works, he still didn’t know whether the interstellar showbiz circle would accept him or not.

Shen Qi’s move didn’t show any bias, and it was more attractive to him than internal decisions regarding roles.

It was interesting indeed, and very much to his liking.

Xie Yu suppressed the smile forming on his lips, and immediately responded to Mr. Li, saying that he would prepare well for the audition, and only after hanging up the line did he give Xie Chan, sitting opposite him, a big smile.

It was rare for Xie Chan to see her brother smiling so brightly, so she stretched her neck forward curiously, as if to listen attentively.

Xie Yu switched pages on his light screen, and handed a half-length photo of Shen Qi receiving an award over to Xie Chan.

“Your brother is very likely to cooperate with this director!”

*****

TL: Were you looking up photos of Shen Qi? Cuz that pic was pulled up quite fast (≖ ͜ʖ≖)