Chapter 12

Ao Qingyuan drained the rest of his iced cola. Wenren Yan noticed how down he seemed and suddenly said, "If I were acting opposite you, I'd be willing to wear a safety harness."

Ao Qingyuan froze and looked at Wenren Yan.

Wenren Yan smiled. "So, as a reward, could I get a few signed photos? My friends were thrilled when they heard I'd be acting with you. They're all your fans."

Ao Qingyuan broke into a bright, sunny smile. "Sure! How many do you want?"

"However many you feel like writing. I'll take them all."

Ao Qingyuan furrowed his brow. "That's too hard. If I write too few, I'll feel bad. If I write too many, I'll get tired."

"Then write one a day." Wenren Yan paused, his smile warm as he looked at Ao Qingyuan. "We'll be filming together for three months, after all."

Ao Qingyuan's hand paused around the cola can. Instinctively, he rubbed the back of his neck. The cool, damp touch helped wake him up a little. After a moment, he said, "Then I want a signed photo from you, too."

Wenren Yan raised an eyebrow. "I'm not a celebrity. And I don't like taking photos."

Ao Qingyuan grinned. "I don't care. I can't be the only one losing out."

Wenren Yan nodded. "Fair enough."

He wasn't keen on giving Ao Qingyuan an autograph, though. He thought his signature was useless—unless it was on a check or a contract. After a brief pause, Wenren Yan said, "How about I write you an equation every day?"

Ao Qingyuan groaned. "I only just passed the math portion of my college entrance exam! Is this how you straight-A students bully people?"

Wenren Yan hadn't meant to bully him. But Ao Qingyuan was clearly so averse to equations that he decided not to push it. After thinking for a moment, Wenren Yan picked up a sheet of A4 paper from the coffee table, folded it into a jumping frog, and handed it to Ao Qingyuan.

Ao Qingyuan looked bewildered. "..."

Wenren Yan smiled. "I'll trade this for your autograph."

Ao Qingyuan fiddled with the jumping frog in his hand, curious. "...Why a jumping frog?"

Wenren Yan replied with a serious expression, "I can fold a heart, too. So would you rather have a heart?"

Ao Qingyuan shook his head. "I'll stick with the jumping frog."

Author's note:

I had an upset stomach today, so the update was a little late o(╥﹏╥)o

Thanks to everyone who sent me gift votes or nourishing potions between 2020-05-20 11:14:56 and 2020-05-21 21:08:30!

Thanks for the nourishing potions, Blue Sky, 5 bottles;

Thank you all so much for your support. I'll keep working hard!

Chapter 12

Ao Qingyuan left Wenren Yan's RV with the jumping frog. His assistant hurried over and asked curiously, "Who exactly is this Yan Shu? You seem to like him a lot."

Ao Qingyuan's ears perked up. He handed the jumping frog to his assistant. "Take good care of this for me."

His assistant accepted the jumping frog, utterly baffled. He was about to keep asking questions when Wenren Yan stepped out of the RV, too. The assistant quickly shut his mouth.

In his twenty-odd years of life, Wenren Yan had never acted before. He had no plans to pursue a career in entertainment, but he was still interested in trying something completely new.

Especially since this job meant acting opposite Ao Qingyuan.

So Wenren Yan took the rehearsal very seriously. The two of them also had a bit of chemistry, and they got through a scene with a long stretch of dialogue in a single take. The cast and crew, who'd been racking up NGs all morning, perked right up. It felt as if the morning's bad luck had finally turned around with Wenren Yan.

"Little Yan really knows how to pick people. You've got a real spark!" the director exclaimed after the scene, watching Wenren Yan.

With Little Yan personally backing him, and a natural talent for acting on top of that, Wenren Yan would be a formidable rival to the other young stars if he decided to join the entertainment industry.

Wenren Yan took off the mask covering his face, sweat trickling down his forehead. Ao Qingyuan sat beside him looking a little listless, eyes narrowed as he waited for the makeup artist to touch up his makeup. As the artist worked, he looked at Wenren Yan enviously. "It must be nice not to have to wear makeup."

Wenren Yan's lips curved slightly. He glanced toward the ice cream cart waiting off set. "Want more ice cream?"

Ao Qingyuan nodded. "This time I want vanilla."

Wenren Yan smiled and asked the vendor to make Ao Qingyuan a vanilla ice cream, then ordered a plain one for the director. Ao Qingyuan took his ice cream and asked Wenren Yan curiously, "You're not having one?"

Wenren Yan shook his head. "I don't like things that taste too milky."

Oh.

Ao Qingyuan swallowed a scoop of ice cream in one bite. He thought blankly, Fresh milk-flavored desserts are my favorite.

Though after eating it, he'd probably have to work out for an extra three hours at the gym that night.

Since Ao Qingyuan and Wenren Yan were both newcomers, and the two scenes scheduled for the day involved large crowds, the production coordinator hadn't packed their call sheets too tightly. They wanted to leave plenty of time. But Wenren Yan exceeded expectations and nailed his scene in one take, while the crowd actors who'd kept messing up all morning finally got things right, too. As a result, they wrapped for the day in less than an hour. Director Chu Siming checked the time and decided to call over the other supporting actors, who'd been resting at the hotel, to film a few more scenes set at the Nine Heavens Palace. The leads and Wenren Yan, who played the second male lead, could take the rest of the day off.

Ao Qingyuan's clothes were soaked with sweat and covered in rings of salt. At the news, he was practically ready to leap three feet in the air. He happily rode back to the hotel in Wenren Yan's car, then rushed straight to his room to shower. Afterward, with nothing to do, Ao Qingyuan knocked on Wenren Yan's door and asked if he wanted to play a game.

It was probably the only way Ao Qingyuan had ever learned to take the initiative and socialize.

Wenren Yan didn't know how to play games, but he didn't want to turn down the young man's attempt to get closer. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Want to go out and look around?"

Ao Qingyuan was an outdoorsy young man, so of course he didn't want to stay cooped up in the hotel every day. But Hengdian was crowded, and he had a lot of fans. If he went out, he might draw a crowd and cause a commotion. That would only be a hassle.