Snacks

At that moment, Yin Zhengchuan stared at the back of Wei Zisu's head, longing to shout back at the director, "It's not the commander's love for the young master. It's Yin Zhengchuan's love for Wei Zisu!!"

But when Wei Zisu turned to look at him, he instantly lost his nerve.

"That was great acting," Wei Zisu said with a smile.

Yin Zhengchuan smiled too, but inwardly said, It wasn't acting...

No one had expected the scene to go so smoothly. They wrapped up early that evening, and everyone was happy.

Wei Zisu finally had time to take Yin Zhengchuan out for a stroll, too.

First, he treated Yin Zhengchuan to dinner, insisting on not letting him pay. Then he took him wandering around near Film and Television City, which also helped them walk off their meal.

"When are you planning to go back to Shandong?" Wei Zisu asked.

"Dunno I," Yin Zhengchuan said.

He didn't want to go back. He only wanted to stay somewhere closer to Wei Zisu.

After spending this time together, Wei Zisu could already understand some Shandong dialect. Words were often arranged differently in Shandong dialect, so he could roughly guess that Yin Zhengchuan meant "I don't know."

"Everything's fine with me here," Wei Zisu said. "You don't have to stay and keep me company. Go home and take care of the work in the fields. Once I finish filming, I'll go to Shandong to visit your family and attend our wedding banquet while I'm there."

"Really?" Yin Zhengchuan asked, his eyes lighting up.

Wei Zisu nodded. The phone in his pocket rang. It was Cui Xiangxiang.

"Hello, Xiangxiang."

He had only just answered when Yin Zhengchuan suddenly said quietly, "Take your call and wait here. I'll go buy you some munchies."

Buy what??

He watched Yin Zhengchuan run into the supermarket by the road.

He probably felt it was rude to listen in while someone else was on the phone, so he had found an excuse to leave.

Wei Zisu sat on the edge of a flower bed and began chatting with Cui Xiangxiang.

He told him about the funny things that had happened with Yin Zhengchuan over the past few days, but the more Cui Xiangxiang heard, the more worried he became.

"His younger sister is disabled?" That was the only detail he remembered.

"Yes."

"Oh my God, what kind of hellish starting hand is this?" Cui Xiangxiang exclaimed in despair. "A family that grows vegetables is bad enough, but a disabled sister too? Wei Zisu, think this through. Once you actually start living together, his parents might very well dump his sister on you two to look after!"

Wei Zisu wasn't worried at all. "That's just your speculation. Besides, since I married him, it's only right to help look after his sister. Once my contract with the company expires, I'll find another company to sign with. Making money from acting is easier than growing vegetables, after all. As long as Yin Zhengchuan stays the way he is now, I'm willing to help him look after his family and earn money to contribute to the household."

"No, no, I think that Yin guy has completely bewitched you!" Cui Xiangxiang said. "Tomorrow I'm going to Hengdian to meet this Yin Zhengchuan. Let's see just what charms this male Daji has that make you, Wei Zisu, so willing to support a family through acting!"

With that, he angrily hung up.

Wei Zisu shook his head helplessly.

Yin Zhengchuan came out of the supermarket carrying a large bag of snacks. Seeing that he had finished his call, he jogged over and said, "Your mealtimes are always irregular when you're filming. From now on, you can keep some munchies in your trailer when you go to the set and have a bite whenever you're hungry. Otherwise, you could easily develop stomach problems."

Wei Zisu smiled at that and asked, "By 'munchies,' you mean snacks?"

Only then did Yin Zhengchuan realize he had slipped back into dialect out of habit. He scratched his head sheepishly and murmured his agreement.

"I'll remember that," Wei Zisu said.

Yin Zhengchuan looked slightly taken aback. "Remember what?"

"I'll remember that 'munchies' means snacks, 'dunno I' means 'I don't know,' 'dark sky' means it's getting dark, and 'jawing' means chatting," Wei Zisu said.

Yin Zhengchuan immediately grew a little embarrassed. "I'll... change that."

"Why should you?" Wei Zisu said. "It's not like you're going to be a broadcaster or a presenter. What's wrong with speaking dialect? As long as I understand you, it's fine."

Yin Zhengchuan grinned foolishly.

On their way back to the hotel, Wei Zisu said, "Oh, right. A friend is coming to see me tomorrow. He's my childhood friend, Cui Xiangxiang. Ever since he heard I got married, he's wanted to meet you."

"Okay," Yin Zhengchuan said. "Just focus on filming. I'll make sure to look after him."

Wei Zisu thought for a moment, then added, "This childhood friend of mine... is a little too lively, and sometimes he likes to joke around. If he says anything that upsets you, don't take it seriously. Tell me afterward, and I'll give him a talking-to."

"Okay, okay, understood!"

Yin Zhengchuan lifted his head and puffed out his chest like the Wei household's principal wife. He felt that Wei Zisu asking him to help entertain a friend was an acknowledgment of his status!

Their rooms were right next to each other. After opening his door, Wei Zisu suddenly turned to Yin Zhengchuan and said, "Wait here a moment."

He ran inside and soon came back out carrying half a bag of snacks. He handed it to Yin Zhengchuan and said, "Half the munchies for you."

On set, Wei Zisu, Wu Hao, and the other actors finished filming an ensemble scene. Next came scenes with Wu Hao and the other actors; he still had two or three hours to wait before his next scene.

During the break, he went to his trailer to review the lines for his next scene.

Yin Zhengchuan had gone to pick up Cui Xiangxiang, leaving him alone with the crew.

The snacks Yin Zhengchuan had bought him sat on the table, and he nibbled on them now and then.

Normally, actors absolutely couldn't touch snacks if they wanted to maintain their figures. If their managers caught them, a scolding was inevitable.

But his company had effectively given up on him now, leaving him to sink or swim. No one kept an eye on him, much less scolded him.

Wei Zisu suddenly felt that this wasn't so bad, either.

Standing a short distance away, Sun Liang looked toward the production Wei Zisu was working on and fell into thought.

Yuan Zizhen had said that Wei Zisu had married some random countryman.

At first, he had felt a little gleeful at his misfortune, thinking Wei Zisu had truly proved his words right: without him, he could only find someone beneath him!

But after calming down, he felt unwilling to accept it!

During the years Wei Zisu had been engaged to him, he hadn't let him sleep with him, nor had he ever taken the initiative to bring up marriage.

Even the year-end wedding planned before their engagement was called off had been Grandma's suggestion. The way he had agreed had been like accepting an assignment, without the slightest feeling.

Yet now, he had actually found some random man and skipped the engagement altogether to get married!

Compared with that, what did all those years of neglect he, Sun Liang, had endured even amount to?!

Was he a sucker who wasn't even worth as much as a countryman?

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Nothing had gone right lately, as though the whole world were against him!

He had come all the way to Hengdian these past two days to see Yuan Zizhen and, while he was at it, relieve some of the emptiness he had been feeling lately.

But whenever he and Yuan Zizhen were about to get down to business, phone calls kept interrupting them.

Yuan Zizhen said to ignore them, that they were nuisance calls, and frantically tried to turn off his phone as he spoke.

Sun Liang rarely saw him act like this. Suspicious, he snatched the phone and answered it. It was actually a call from an infertility hospital, asking whether he could come in for his examination at the scheduled time!

The heat in Sun Liang's lower belly instantly shifted to his chest, and he furiously demanded to know why Yuan Zizhen hadn't told him sooner that he couldn't get pregnant!