Feeling Miserable

Tong Zhao left the study and made his way down to the first-floor hall on unsteady legs. Scarface and Baldy were waiting for him by the elevator.

"Mr. Tong, we'll take you home." Zeng Guang pressed the elevator button without looking aside.

Only after Tong Zhao entered did the two men follow him in. Zeng Guang pressed the button for the garage.

Behind his sunglasses, Wei Ze stared fixedly at Tong Zhao.

Tong Zhao's collar was slightly crooked, his hair was a little messy, his face was red, and his lips were slightly swollen.

Wei Ze frowned slightly and looked away.

Tong Zhao had nothing to say to the two men either. He got into the car and leaned back against the seat, gazing at the scenery outside as he recalled the kiss with mixed feelings.

A kiss he had been forced into, so familiar it made him want to cry. But the person Shu Sizhuo had kissed was "Tong Zhao."

Shu Sizhuo could already kiss anyone with such practiced ease...

It seemed melodramatic to say he was sad. After all, eight years had passed in this timeline.

But he still couldn't stop himself from feeling miserable...

Shu Sizhuo was as good as his word. The next day, Sister Wan excitedly told Tong Zhao that she didn't know whether it was because she had prayed devoutly at the temple the night before, but when she woke up, the contract for that urban drama was back on again!

She told Tong Zhao and Shi Ruohe to come to the company that afternoon and strike while the iron was hot by signing the contract, before anything else went wrong.

Grandpa Shi was in good spirits today and could even chat with the grandmothers in his ward. Shi Ruohe asked them to look after his grandfather, then changed into clean clothes and went to the company to sign the contract.

The moment Shi Ruohe put down the pen, he was overwhelmed with emotion.

This was the best opportunity he had received in three years. He was no longer playing passerby A, B, C, or D, nor was he an extra who didn't even get a shot.

So when Tong Zhao patted his shoulder, he threw his arms around Tong Zhao in excitement and choked out, "Thank you, Tong Zhao."

Tong Zhao laughed. "What are you thanking me for? You drank plenty at those business dinners too, hahaha!"

The urban idol drama was called Falling into My Heart. Shi Ruohe played Leng Jiah ‌ang, the male lead's number one rival in love, a rich second-generation heir with money, influence, and ability. Tong Zhao played Shen Yi'an, one of Leng Jiah ‌ang's fair-weather friends and a frivolous, good-for-nothing young master.

A week after signing their contracts, the two joined the production together.

The male lead was Bai Yue, who had successfully risen to a higher tier thanks to his previous xianxia drama. He was tall and handsome, but too meticulously groomed, even his eyebrows trimmed into perfect shape.

The female lead was Liu Danning, a popular young actress. She was petite and delicate, sweet and adorable.

As the third male lead, Shi Ruohe had quite a lot of scenes. Tong Zhao, as male lead number five, six, or seven, had pitifully few.

After arriving on set, Shi Ruohe remained reluctant to talk or interact with people, always sitting alone in a corner and quietly reading the script. Tong Zhao was worried about him, so even though he had no scenes for the first three days, he stayed with Shi Ruohe like a nanny.

He had even picked up a few tricks for surviving on set. After checking his phone balance, he reluctantly spent a huge sum treating everyone in the production to milk tea, putting it in Shi Ruohe's name.

Sure enough, the few actors who had taken a dislike to Shi Ruohe over the past few days finally began to treat him a little more kindly.

Shi Ruohe, however, disapproved of what Tong Zhao had done. "Why waste the money? I'm here to act, not to make friends."

Tong Zhao sucked on his milk tea and turned to look at him. After some thought, he said, "You're right, but Shi Ruohe, you need a platform to show your ability and talent. Society provides that platform, and society is made up of people. The directors, screenwriters, actors, and even the crew here could all work with you again. Any of them could become an opportunity for you, so building good relationships isn't wasting money. It's seizing opportunities. Understand?"

Shi Ruohe, who had low emotional intelligence and social anxiety, listened carefully and nodded as though he only half understood.

Still, Shi Ruohe was genuinely talented. As soon as the director called action, he could get into character in an instant before the camera. In several of his scenes opposite the male lead, his performance utterly outshone him. The male lead simply couldn't keep up.

Shi Ruohe knew where the other man's problem lay. Thinking of what Tong Zhao had said about building good relationships, he wanted to take the initiative to talk it over with the male lead, but as soon as the director called cut, he couldn't get the words out.

Tong Zhao asked curiously, "You're such a good actor. Didn't Sister Wan send you to auditions? How did you miss every opportunity?"

Shi Ruohe said quietly, "I auditioned for two productions, but neither went anywhere. After that, Sister Wan stopped calling me when there were auditions."

Tong Zhao understood. With auditions, either there was a better candidate, or they were just going through the motions, making others compete against someone the investors had already chosen.

He patted Shi Ruohe's shoulder. "Don't be afraid. Show them what you can do! Missing out on you is their loss!"

Shi Ruohe smiled at that.

After smiling for a while, he asked, "Tong Zhao, why do you always think I can do it?"

Tong Zhao smiled too. "Because I can tell fortunes, and you can do it!"

After buying milk tea for the production, Tong Zhao's balance was even more painful to look at. He decided he had to save money!

As yellowed autumn leaves drifted down before his eyes, Tong Zhao sat on a little stool eating a ten-yuan boxed meal from the production and suddenly found himself missing the hairy crabs that were in season.

The last time he had eaten hairy crabs was with nineteen-year-old Shu Sizhuo. Shu Sizhuo had ordered him a whole hairy crab feast, then sat quietly beside him, watching him eat and cutting open the crab legs for him.

The shredded potatoes in his mouth suddenly lost their flavor.

He wanted hairy crabs. He wanted hairy crabs so badly~

"Oh my, who's this pitiful-looking handsome guy?"

A woman in high heels and a red dress stopped in front of Tong Zhao, and he looked up.

"How pitiful. Why didn't you add a chicken leg?" Hua Xiaotang's long, wavy hair fell to her waist. She pulled down her sunglasses and smiled down at him.

"Senior Sister Hua? What are you doing here?" Tong Zhao asked in surprise.

Hua Xiaotang spotted an extra stool beside Tong Zhao, so she spun around and sat down, elegantly crossing her legs. "Filming, of course. Female supporting role number five, six, or seven—Meng Zhiting, your CP."

Tong Zhao's jaw dropped. "You're playing Meng Zhiting?"

"Mm-hmm. Our first scene together is tonight."

Shen Yi'an and Meng Zhiting were the third CP in Falling into My Heart: an immature, good-for-nothing young master and a stunningly beautiful older woman with formidable fighting ability. Their main role was to liven up the atmosphere.

Tong Zhao looked at Hua Xiaotang in puzzlement. "Senior Sister, you take short-term missions, so you're not short of funds. Why are you acting?" Last time, she had filmed the commercial to get close to Shu Sizhuo. What about this time?

Hua Xiaotang rolled her eyes. "It's all because of Shu Sizhuo!"

Tong Zhao: "?"

"Using my beauty and intelligence, I pulled all sorts of strings to get close to him. A few days ago, I even managed to get into his company's summit, but he completely ignored me! Is he blind? How could he not see such a gorgeous woman?" Hua Xiaotang said indignantly. "But getting into the summit left me owing someone a favor. The actress originally playing Meng Zhiting dropped out at the last minute, so they asked me to fill in."

Oh, so that was it.

Hua Xiaotang glared at him. Whenever she thought about how difficult her mission had been, she couldn't help taking it out on Tong Zhao.

"I told you last time not to provoke Shu Sizhuo. You haven't been secretly meeting him behind my back, have you?"

Tong Zhao gave a vague murmur, unscrewed his bottle of mineral water, and silently drank. He didn't dare mention that, for the sake of this opportunity, he and Shu Sizhuo had shared a kiss in which they had almost devoured each other whole.

Hua Xiaotang gave him a couple of suspicious looks, then pointed a warning finger at him. "If I catch you two meeting in secret, Tong Zhao, I'm telling you, you're done for."

Tong Zhao: "..."

Hua Xiaotang looked down at his boxed meal, so plain it killed the appetite. "Why are you eating so poorly?"

Tong Zhao complained, "The head institute is being inhuman. The reserve fund was only two thousand yuan, and I even took out a loan from them."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"..."

At last, a tiny bit of responsibility as a senior sister from the same school surfaced in Hua Xiaotang. In a rare moment of generosity, she said, "A body used for missions needs nourishment. I'll treat you to a late-night meal when we wrap up."