The Emperor of the Yaoguai is a mid-tier boss in Evernight, so most of Liu Yuâanâs parts are to be shot later.
It was superstition that on the day of the movie production starting that director He began with Liu Yuâanâs part.
Everything else is on schedule, so for three more weeks Liu Yuâan has nothing to do.
The next day, when Shao Yanxi has gone to work, Liu Yuâan contacted Mrs. Jiang Chunli and made sure she is free this afternoon, before making lunch and feeding Shao Yanxi.
In the afternoon, then, he took some presents for the teacher-disciple ceremony and drove to Mrs. Jiang Chunliâs residence.
The elderly woman lives with her husband in a in Lai, keeping lots of plants around.
Her husband appears to be a gentle person. When Liu Yuâan arrived, he was watering the flowers. He greets him back when Liu Yuâan does and puts the watering can down next to a flower pot, saying with a smile, âyou must be Xiao-Liu. Your teacher Mrs. Jiang kept talking about you these few days, about how talented you are in your acting. She says youâre the most talented one sheâs seen these few years.â
While Liu Yuâan is smiling along as he answers, he is thinking inside that of course his acting was âtalented,â heâd experienced it in person.
âWhat I said was the truth,â Mrs. Jiang takes over from her husband, chuckling next to him, âXiao-Liu really has talent. I can see many areas your technique can be improved, but your acting was still more convincing than even oldies with dozens of years of acting experience under their belt. The only thing I could teach you, too, would be the techniques. Everything else you seem to already have naturally mastered.â
âYou never said that about Xiao-Song and the others,â her husband says.
Xiao-Song is probably another disciple of hers, but Liu Yuâan isnât certain.
âAlthough Xiao-Song is also talented, he still canât compareâŚâ She sounds really happy. Meanwhile, the three of them have already walked into the house. Mrs. Jiangâs husband invites him to take a seat.
Liu Yuâan thanks him but doesnât do so. Instead, he takes everything the ceremony needs out.
Mrs. Jiang was about to pour him a drink but also stops upon seeing it. Listening to Liu Yuâan, she takes a seat on the sofa.
Liu Yuâan has not presented tea before, but he has taken in disciples. Before he came, he also looked up the procedures online, so he knew what to do.
Mrs. Jiang, meanwhile, has had several disciples, but she has never actually had a proper teacher-disciple ceremony.
The others all became her disciple with a normal verbal confirmation.
But still, in all honesty, accepting the ceremony would feel different. Especially when Liu Yuâan presented tea to her with both his hands, she could feel tears welling up inside.
Her husband sees it and is surprised, but stops himself from getting her some tissues until Mrs. Jiang has finished the tea and put the teacup down.
She takes the tissue and touches her eyes with it a bit while smiling, and says, âitâs easy to get sentimental when youâre older.â
âIt just shows my teacher is an empathetic person,â then he stands back up and takes a seat where the husband shows him.
Then they chat a little more. Mrs. Jiang asks if Liu Yuâan is free this Saturday. She wants to take him to the theatre with her.
Liu Yuâan immediately turns down the offer hearing itâs on Saturday.
âIâm sorry, but I have something to do on Saturday,â then, he continues, âbut besides Saturday, Iâll be free the entire week following.â
Ren Jianzhang said thereâs some variety show offer the two weeks after that, and he has accepted already.
âNo worries then. Just come over whenever youâre free.â
Besides wanting to teach him what she could, she most importantly wants to introduce (Author: Read: brag about) him to the other old farts.
âAlright,â Liu Yuâan accepts and stays for a bit inside her house as she talks a little bit about the theory of acting.
Just after five, Liu Yuâan takes his leave to go pick up Shao Yanxi from Hengâan.
As he arrives he receives a message from Shao Yanxi
When Liu Yuâan thought if it was Shao Yanxi missing him (of course not) and opens the message, it turns out to be [I have a function to attend tonight. You donât need to pick me up]
ââŚâ Heâs already here. Oh well. His fault for trying to surprise him, instead of missing him entirely.
He replies [Got it. Take care. Call me if you need anything] before driving home.
On the way, Zhuang Feiyu calls, asking if he wants to eat out with their group of friends.
Odd. Due to the original cannon fodder having had an affair behind Shao Yanxi, his âfriendsâ were all too frightened of the potential repercussions and distanced themselves from him. The entire group wants to meet together with him?
When he asks about it, it turns out Zhang Ning, one of their mutual friends, is returning home from abroad, so they want to celebrate.
Since Shao Yanxi is at a function and thereâs nobody home anyway, Liu Yuâan accepts and asks, âwhere? Iâm already driving.â
âJun Yue, 606.â
He hangs up then drives towards Jun Yue. Itâs been mentioned already, but itâs a high-class establishment offering all sorts of services. That is, all sorts of services.
So, when Liu Yuâan is there, he sees that they have called some hookers and hustlers over. Though, thinking about their usual habits, itâs not exactly surprising.
He pushes away a hustler who has headed his way in Zhang Ningâs direction and tells him, âI donât need the services. Go after them instead.â
âAn-ge, youâre actually settling down? I still canât believe it,â Zhang Ning says, rather surprised. He seems almost completely different from before. The Liu Yuâan he remembered was pretty open to everything except actually sleeping.
Just four, five years and heâsâŚ
âTold you heâs married for good,â Zhao Xian laughs next to him.
âUh, right, I see,â Zhang Ning knew that he was marrying, but because heâs been abroad all the time, itâs hard to exactly feel anything because of it. Theyâre all just twenty-something, still young enough. For them, marriage talk is usually off until 30.
âYou are actually settling down with⌠That newest billionaire Shao Yanxi, right?â Zhang Ning asks.
âThatâs right,â Zhuang Feiyu answers him.
That is when the door is pushed open, and the person in question, Shao Yanxi, actually walks in, but quickly stops midway through.
He takes a look around, and confirms the room heâs in. He actually entered the wrong room, and his function is in 607 next door. He just went outside for some air but somehow walked into the wrong room.
But then he sees Liu Yuâan and a hustler in Jun Yueâs standard-issue clothing, with a white shirt and black pants, standing just next to him.
He pauses, and how good Liu Yuâan has been, and his sweet words flash before his eyes, and he can feel a pain in his chest.
Why does it still hurt? Even if he has gotten over it already⌠But now, seeing Liu Yuâan with them, he canât help but feel uncomfortable again.
He says, âsorry, wrong room,â and turns around.
Looking at how the light seems to have gone out of him, Liu Yuâan is spooked and yells out âYanxiâ as he gives chase.
The rest of the people in the room all have their jaws on the floor, meanwhile.