Flirting with Men Is So Much Fun

Zhou Nanxing left the rest unsaid, but Yan Ningke understood.

Hobbies depended on having a secure livelihood.

Only with a stable life could someone have spare time for fun.

After lunch, Yan Ningke suddenly thought of Shao Ke.

He took out his phone and sent a WeChat message.

They had exchanged contact details the previous afternoon.

"Did you eat the sandwiches?"

The reply was a photo of an empty lunch box.

Yan Ningke's eyes curved with a smile.

"Such a good boy."

Shao Ke: "?"

Brazen beyond belief, Yan Ningke wrote, "When I earn some money, I'll buy you candy."

Shao Ke: "??"

Yan Ningke couldn't help laughing, his fingers tapping away at the screen. "As a reward."

Shao Ke: "???"

Imagining him replying with a dark expression, Yan Ningke was beside himself with glee.

He paid no mind whatsoever to the consequences when he went back later.

Whatever! Flirting with men is so much fun!

Inside the car, Shao Ke flung the lunch box onto the seat.

The driver dozing up front jolted in fright.

"What's wrong, Mr. Shao?"

Shao Ke pressed his lips together. "Go back to sleep!"

The driver trembled with apprehension. Why was he getting more and more moody?

At three in the afternoon, when the sun was at its fiercest, it was finally time for Yan Ningke's scene.

It was simple: a young newspaper seller approached the male lead with an ingratiating smile, hoping he would buy a paper so the young man could scrape a living.

As luck would have it, the male lead had just suffered an investment failure. Hearing the newspaper seller calling out the day's international news, he kicked him away in anger and ordered his men to beat him up.

Yan Ningke declared it easy. This was his old line of work.

It was no different from when he used to sell sweet potatoes through the streets and alleys.

"Papers! Papers! Sir, would you buy a paper?"

"Not interested!"

Yan Ningke hurried after him, his face full of eagerness to please. "Please buy one, sir. There's international unrest today. England..."

"Get lost!"

A kick sent him to the ground.

Yan Ningke nimbly avoided most of the force, then went with the motion and fell onto the mat laid out beforehand. The male lead froze for a moment.

Just as Yan Ningke was getting excited about finishing work, filming was suddenly halted.

"Cut!"

The set returned to a state of bustle and disorder.

Yan Ningke sat up on the mat, bewildered.

That couldn't be right. I thought I did pretty well.

It could have been called playing himself.

A voice rang out over the walkie-talkie. "Zhao Zhuo, what are you spacing out for? The newspaper seller's down. What are you waiting for? Say your lines!"

Yan Ningke's slightly panicked heart settled. Good, it wasn't his fault.

The male lead, Zhao Zhuo, had been told off but couldn't talk back, so he could only shoot a covert glare at the person sitting on the mat.

If he hadn't dodged, why would I have lost focus?

Yan Ningke knew nothing of this and was privately pleased with his acting.

The second take began.

Everything went smoothly up to him being kicked to the ground, after which the male lead ordered his men to teach him a lesson.

Yan Ningke reacted swiftly, curling up with his arms over his head to protect his vulnerable spots, letting the punches and kicks land on his back.

At the monitors, the head director remained silent, while the producer praised him. "This newspaper seller's acting is good. He's really grasped the character. For someone like this, who's spent years scraping by at the bottom, beatings are an everyday occurrence."

"Look how he knew to protect himself right away. It gives you an immediate sense of who this person really is."

He was just a poor soul who couldn't get enough to eat, running himself ragged to make a living.

The young woman in the corner, Lili, recognized Yan Ningke at a glance.

His sunny, handsome face was covered in grime, his complexion made up to look sallow, and he wore ragged clothes and an ingratiating smile.

There was no trace of what he actually looked like.

With looks and acting skills this good, how had he managed not to become famous?

"Cut! That's a take!"

The first scene of Yan Ningke's life came to a successful end.

Zhou Nanxing hurried over to help him up. "Are you okay?"

Yan Ningke wiped the tomato juice from the corner of his mouth and stretched his limbs. "Not bad."

It had been so long since he'd taken a beating that he really wasn't used to it anymore.

If he hadn't kept reminding himself that it was acting, he would have fought back long ago.

Zhou Nanxing gave him a thumbs-up. "Best Actor!"

The moment the director called action, he had watched this man instantly turn meek and servile. For a moment, he'd been dazed.

It was so real that he couldn't tell whether it was acting or whether Yan Ningke was actually like that.

Yan Ningke clasped his hands in a playful salute, grinning as he joked, "You flatter me."

Zhou Nanxing promptly returned to reality. Confirmed: it was acting.

"Oh, get lost. Give you an inch and you take a mile!"

The two laughed and bantered.

"Newspaper seller! The director wants you!"

Yan Ningke paused, then put away his smile and answered, "Okay."

Did the director have to pay extras personally?

The monitors were a long way from the actual set, so Yan Ningke jogged over.

Inside the tent, the director was wearing headphones as he oversaw filming. Yan Ningke tucked himself into a corner and waited quietly.

"That's a take. Change locations!"

Zheng De turned to glance at him, leafing through the information in his hands. "Your name is Yan Ningke?"

"Yes."

Yan Ningke clasped his hands in front of him and stood there obediently.

Zheng De continued, "I have a real estate agent role here. See if you can take it."

Huh?

Yan Ningke froze. He'd thought something needed reshooting, but instead he was being offered work.

When he didn't speak, Zheng De assumed he was concerned about the pay. "There aren't many scenes, a dozen or so. It should take about three days to shoot. Thirty thousand for the role."

"Yes!"

Yan Ningke grabbed the director's hand and agreed at top speed.

Come on, thirty thousand for three days. Only an idiot would turn that down!

Zheng De couldn't shake the impression that his eyes had lit up at the money. "...All right. I'll have the executive director contact you later."

Yan Ningke came out beaming and saw Zhou Nanxing leaning against the wall.

Seeing him emerge, Zhou Nanxing hurried forward to ask, "How did it go? Everything okay?"

Yan Ningke grinned, his teeth dazzlingly white. "He said he had a role for me!"

"Look at you! You won that old man over with a single scene!"

Well, that wording was a little ambiguous, but thinking about it carefully, that really was what had happened.

Zhou Nanxing patted his shoulder. "Don't forget your buddy when you hit the big time!"

Yan Ningke didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He wasn't destined for that. He was purely doing this for a little money.

He'd never been in the entertainment industry, but he'd heard about it.

Its inner workings were even scarier than those of an ordinary workplace. He would be content to keep his head down and earn a little money for putting up with things.

He couldn't afford to be greedy.

After exchanging contact details with Zhou Nanxing, Yan Ningke went alone to the wardrobe truck to change, then slung on his little backpack and ran toward the main gate.

He could forget about collecting his pay. It all went straight to the company.

Small-time outfits imposed nothing but one-sided terms. The company and Yan Ningke split the money nine to one.

Out of several thousand in pay, only three hundred would reach his hands.

Yan Ningke felt glum. He'd even promised to buy someone candy.

Leaving the studio complex's main gate, he saw the car parked beneath a large tree and felt an inexplicable sense of reassurance.

When he was little, his classmates all had parents picking them up after school.

Once they grew up, some people had partners picking them up after work.

Only Yan Ningke had always been alone.

The setting sun glinted off the black car, obscuring its interior.

Yan Ningke broke into a broad smile and strode over.

Perhaps regrets could find their resolution.