The Long Wait

"Don't worry, I won't tell." He glanced at the script beside him. "You didn't write this, did you?"

"Oh, come on. If I were qualified to write scripts for you, Teacher Xie, I wouldn't still be working the front desk." Nini laughed heartily. "But I did sneak a look. It's a really good script, and the male lead suits you perfectly."

Xie Yibai signed the last photo and capped the pen. "I haven't read it yet, so I'll take a look first."

"Mm! You've got this, Teacher Xie! I really can't thank you enough!" Nini gathered up the stack of signed photos and pushed up her glasses. "Mirror World's headquarters is upstairs, right? I get called up to help out sometimes, and I've met lots of award-winning actors and big stars. But of all the male actors, you're still the one who amazed me most, Teacher Xie. You're so, so, so exquisite in person, like an immortal! I want to tell the whole world how beautiful you are!"

Xie Yibai had heard enough extravagant praise for his looks to pile higher than mountains and run deeper than seas. Even being showered with compliments to his face didn't faze him. He smiled. "You're too kind. Thank you-you really know how to flatter someone."

"I mean every word! I'm not exaggerating one bit!" Holding the photos, Nini was ready to go show them off to her good friends. She said goodbye to him. "I'll head out first, Teacher Xie. If you want water, tea, or juice, just call me. I'll be there whenever you need me."

Xie Yibai nodded, thinking that 404 Studio really had earned its title as the best in the business. Such a small company was full of hidden talent.

He picked up the stack of pages titled Beacon Fires West of the City, set it on his lap, and began reading intently, his cold coffee in hand.

Binding Knife was a film, while Beacon Fires West of the City was a television series adapted from the same framework and setting. The script was still unfinished; Xie Yibai had received the episode outlines and the scene-by-scene scripts for the first five episodes.

There was a saying: films depended on directors, television dramas on screenwriters, and stage plays on actors. For a web drama, the first five episodes were enough to determine its fate.

Xie Yibai had known what to expect: a story Zou Yan had taken a liking to could hardly be ordinary. Even so, reading it still gave him quite a shock-it was just too good.

He wondered whether the dramas he had filmed in the past had been too awful. Oh, no, too mainstream. Before meeting Zou Yan, he really hadn't been able to get scripts of this quality; he had never even seen one.

Competition among male actors in the domestic entertainment industry had always been as fierce as a gladiatorial arena. Veteran actors and the middle generation held the best resources, while the younger generation couldn't break into the top circle and could only pick up whatever scraps were left.

Even for those low-tier costume idol dramas and xianxia shows, actors had to rely on their fans clamoring for rumored roles under major marketing accounts' posts, drumming up enough buzz to get cast.

Xie Yibai looked back wistfully on his career. So what if popular young actors like him stood high? They were nothing more than tools promoted by capital to fleece fans, while the truly good scripts were reserved for those with powerful backing.

If he hadn't submitted to Zou Yan-could he use that word here? All right, to put it more delicately, accepted. If he hadn't accepted Zou Yan's kindness, all that awaited him was being squeezed dry of his commercial value by the market and then ruthlessly cast aside.

Yes, even if the ending was already decided, he could still use these few years of his youth to earn enough to live comfortably for the rest of his life. But people were often hard to satisfy. He just couldn't bear it: why could some people do it when he couldn't?

Now that he held the script in his hands, he was even less willing to let go.

Xie Yibai gazed out the window. Beyond the tall buildings stood even taller ones.

He wanted to climb up and see the view from there.

Chapter 12: The long wait

Zou Yan was used to answering emails during meetings. With his attention already divided, he had no energy left to spar with Sheng Ke. After the meeting, he said nothing and got up to find Xie Yibai, but a single sentence from Sheng Ke stopped him in his tracks-

"Don't count on me to help you shoot a web drama."

The words grated on Zou Yan's ears. Considering that the conference room wasn't a good place to lose his temper, he said, "Come on, let's go somewhere else."

The only other place they could go was the office, where anyone outside could eavesdrop if they wanted to. But this wasn't the first time the two had argued. Could a power struggle between good brothers be called a falling-out? It was just friction; sooner or later they'd make up. Even Jiang Ni didn't think there was much to see. She went in to deliver two documents and came right back out.

"You think you're the only director in the world? That the earth can't turn without you?" Zou Yan leaned against his desk, giving the globe a token flick with his finger. "You make your movies, and I'll make my web drama. It doesn't get in your way. Don't pull this on me just because I'm easygoing. I don't owe you anything."

Sheng Ke hadn't intended to fall out with him at this moment, but since Zou Yan had put it so bluntly, he had no choice but to speak plainly too. "It doesn't get in my way? Then what's the deal with you approaching Shu Lin? You're poaching my assistant director, and you say you're not getting in my way?"

"It's not like I'm asking him to leave with me right now. That script hasn't even been approved yet. Filming won't start until next year at the earliest, so tell me how I'm getting in your way. Shu Lin didn't sign his life away to you. What gives you the right to control him?"

"I don't have that right, but don't I know you? Stop filling Shu Lin's head with that nonsense. I'm not going to stand by and watch him cripple his own skills."

Zou Yan was so angry that he swept the two documents onto the floor. "Fine! You're famous, you're amazing! Making a web drama is crippling your own skills? Listen to yourself. Sheng Ke, let me make this clear: without me, your films wouldn't sell for those prices. You have no right to give me attitude."

"I'm not giving you attitude. I'm just getting the unpleasant words out of the way first." Sheng Ke's emotions didn't so much as stir as his calm gaze swept over Zou Yan's face. "Let's go."

"I'm not fucking finished talking. Where are you going?"

"To meet that Xiaobai of yours with all his clever tricks."

"Come back!" Zou Yan chased him out of the office, intending to stop him, but with so many eyes watching outside, he couldn't actually lay hands on Sheng Ke, argument or not. He could only hurry ahead and block the door to the reception room.

Xie Yibai finished reading the script and stood up to stretch. The reception room wasn't large, but it had an open view and elegant decor. A faded, yellowing landscape painting hung on the wall, and the room was divided into two halves: one with a minimalist black sofa and white coffee table, the other with an antique-style tea area and bamboo blinds. Several pots of common greenery surrounded an expensive orchid.

Beneath the painting stood a solid-wood cabinet with glass doors. Tea utensils sat on the upper shelves, while tea pets and small ornaments occupied the lower ones. Xie Yibai recalled that his boss, Hao Jun, had also set up a tea room like this at the head office. Older men all liked to adorn themselves with refined tastes.

The tea utensils here showed few signs of use, though. They were probably just there to cater to the guests' tastes, and no one usually touched them. The employees at this company were the sort who drank coffee like water.

Xie Yibai stroked the orchid's slender green leaves. Though it was kept indoors, there wasn't a speck of dust on it. It was tended to very diligently.

"Stop right there!" Zou Yan's voice rang out from beyond the door.

Xie Yibai turned at the sound, only to see a lean arm pushing the door open. The newcomer's sleeve was rolled up to his elbow, and his low body fat made the veins stand out. On his wrist was a familiar watch, with rose gold surrounding a black sapphire crystal dial and a crocodile-leather strap patterned with rectangular scales. Its silver hands pointed like sharp swords at a pitch-black sky, confining the Milky Way and moon within a tiny world.

Why was Xie Yibai so familiar with this watch? Because a nouveau riche man who had wanted to sleep with him had once given him the same model.

He hadn't been famous that year, and his take-home pay for filming a drama was worth less than the watch. The nouveau riche man looked like a prize pig and didn't even like men. He had simply admired how Xie Yibai looked as an ethereal immortal lord in flowing white robes, pleasing to the eye, his waist still slender enough to encircle with one hand despite all those thick layers.

Xie Yibai hadn't dared accept it. He was terrified, and when he got home, he told Xing Zhanyun the whole story. Xing Zhanyun had been playing video games in the living room that day, sitting on a handmade genuine-leather rug. After hearing him out, he put an arm around him and said, "Baby, your waist is worth four million."

From then on, he and Xing Zhanyun went their separate ways.

To this day, Xie Yibai still hadn't bought himself anything that expensive. Apart from buying a home, he had given all the money he earned to his mother for safekeeping. Zou Yan was right: by and large, he was thrifty and managed his finances well. He guessed that when Sheng Ke bought the watch, he couldn't have imagined it would have anything to do with a waist.

Sheng Ke had very long legs. He had been sitting down both previous times they met, and seeing him now, Xie Yibai thought, Wow. Sheng Ke's looks were as outstanding as his talent. After he became famous overnight and was dubbed "Little Great Director," netizens had heatedly debated whether he was a genius director or a genius face.

Actually, he was both. Of course, he wasn't a popularly elected pretty boy like Xie Yibai, but the type whose aura was highly esteemed by artistic types: a small head and narrow face, with bone structure that gave his features depth, slightly wide double eyelids, a high nose, and thin lips. He was exceptionally easy on the eyes.

Maybe it was prejudice, but Xie Yibai thought the way Sheng Ke looked at people through half-lowered eyelids seemed to say, "Why haven't you gotten lost yet?"

One look at this man and you could tell he had a terrible personality, and his manners weren't much better. Clearly, artistic types were just a bunch of people with pica.

Xie Yibai smiled and greeted him. "Hello there."

He was tall and slender, standing poised beside the orchid, with an effortless, natural beauty that brought four words to mind: still as a maiden. Somewhere between mature and youthful, his smile was like a clear stream flowing by.

Sheng Ke suddenly approved of Zou Yan's taste. This Xiaobai might not be quite so pure and white, but he really was beautiful.

"Hi. Sorry for the wait."

Xie Yibai said, "It's all right."

Zou Yan squeezed in and stepped in front of Sheng Ke. "I'm finished over there. Did you read the script? What did you think?"

"It's very good. I like it a lot."

"Then once you've chosen an agent, we can talk about the next step."

"Is it really for me?" Xie Yibai smiled shyly. "It's a little hard to believe. I thought you only made films."

"That's right, we made an exception for you," Sheng Ke interjected. Rather than squeeze past Zou Yan, he opened the cabinet and picked out a tea set. "The script and screenwriter were chosen after a painstaking search, and the role was tailored for you too. Teacher Xie, do you like tea?"

Xie Yibai didn't know what to do. This man spoke with such terrifying bluntness that he couldn't find a response. When Zou Yan offered to introduce him to an agent, he had guessed there would be more to follow, but he had never imagined the script had been written especially for him. It seemed Zou Yan had done a lot of preparation over the past few months. None of that was really a problem, but hearing it from a third person was just too strange!

"I don't drink tea. I had coffee this afternoon, and if I drink tea too, I won't be able to sleep tonight." Xie Yibai took a deep breath and silently repeated, I can't embarrass myself. Then he said to Zou Yan, "Thank you, Brother Yan. You've really put a lot of thought into this. I'm so lucky."