Because they both finished work early, the sun was still out when they returned to the hotel.\n
"Are you planning to have hotpot tonight?" Yu Bai opened the door to let Sheng Xing Ze with bags of grocery into the room, "Mi He Qiu bought a lot."
"These are of good quality," Yu Bai naturally took the bags in Sheng Xing Ze's hands. He had done this action many times since Sheng Xng Ze started coming here every night to have free meals.
"Also, he's feeling much better now, alive and kicking," Sheng Xing Ze glanced at Yu Bai with hints, as if to say, but I still promised to accompany you to sleep.
Yu Bai understood the meaning behind Sheng Xing Ze's stare all at once. He felt guilty for a second, and he looked away from him. He hurriedly carried the bags into the kitchen and pretended to look at them: "Do you need help?"
Sheng Xing Ze followed him into the kitchen, then he looked through the plastic bags and handed the older man a bag of potatoes, "Can you peel these?"
Yu Bai looked at the covering in mud potatoes with disgust, and wished that he could stay a meter away from it, "Can I wash them first?"
Looking at Yu Bai's repulsive face, Sheng Xing Ze unconsciously laughed out loud, turning on the water and spoke in Yu Bai's direction, "they're fresh, don't be so disgusted, just wash them and they'll be clean."
The two of them quietly made dinner in the kitchen, no one spoke, only the sound of the water running and the chopping sound of the knife hitting the cutting board.
Although it was his first time, Yu Bai had done a very good job; the potatoes under his hands transformed from little dirty boys with black gourd rums to little cute ones with attractive yellow color. Every potato was washed very clean, Yu Bai also carefully picked out the bad parts.
When Sheng Xing Ze boiled the soup, he turned to look at Yu Bai's progress, "You really have talent for this, much better than me."
Yu Bai finished peeling the last potato, rinsed it and put it in the basket, "How do I cut them"
"I'll do it, I'm afraid you might cut your hand."
Yu Bai did not try to be brave, standing next to Sheng Xing Ze to watch him move his hands skillfully and quickly cut the potato into equal pieces.
"Where did you learn how to cook?" Yu Bai smelled the enticing fragrance from the kitchen, his eyes fell onto the young man wrapped in an apron who was busy cooking in front of the stove, suddenly he had this idea for the years to come, it would not be so bad to just be like this in the future.
"Don't you think a man who knows how to cook is very attractive?" Sheng Xing Ze turned his head to smile brightly, showing a neat row of white teeth and this sight made a light stir in Yu Bai's eyes. Even though Sheng Xing Ze said so with a smile as if it was the most beautiful thing, the real reason was not that beautiful at all.
In his previous life, Sheng Xing Ze once surpassed an A list actor to win the best actor at an honorable award ceremony, since then, he was able to thrive to the top of his career. The fans of the actor that he surpassed were not happy with the result and decided to take revenge on their idol's behalf. The person secretly put in the food that Sheng Xing Ze is allergic to in Sheng Xing Ze's lunch box. Fortunately, his life was not threatening because he was sent to the hospital in time; however, since then Sheng Xing Ze had developed a habit of making his own food. He would always make his own lunch every time he started in a new filming crew. It was a bit tiring, but at least he could guarantee his safety.
Thinking about this, Sheng Xing Ze's eyes got all gloomy; although it was just a short moment, Yu Bai saw it.
Yu Bai did not know what happened to Sheng Xing Ze, but it was obvious that Sheng Xing Ze did not want to tell him, and it was such a rare sight to see Sheng Xing Ze got this emotional, so he reached out his hand to touch the young man's head, "Very attractive."
Sheng Xing Ze, who was ready to counter, made a frightened expression. The expression was so exaggerated that Yu Bai did not want to admit that this was a professional actor, "Film Emperor Yu has a change of thought, or you're being charmed by me?"
Yu Bai did not speak, and tapped lightly on top of Sheng Xing Ze's head, then went to the dining table with the side dishes.
Right now, Sheng Xing Ze absolutely did not expect that this sentence he casually spoke would become the motivation for Yu Bai to learn to cook in the future and to give one of the biggest surprises in the future.
The cold winter night is undoubtedly the best match with the steaming hotpot. Sheng Xing Ze dipped in a piece of pork belly, shoved in piece after piece of side dishes into his mouth, after one round of eating, his face was full of happiness due to delicious food.
Yu Bai did not have much appetite, but watching Sheng Xing Ze eat with happiness, the speed of picking vegetables in his hand also accelerated. It was almost like whichever Sheng Xing Ze ate, he would have a bite of that food as well.
A loud ringtone broke the harmonious dinner time. Sheng Xing Ze glanced at the caller ID on his phone, he whispered apologetically at Yu bai and took the phone to the other room.
"Dad, what's wrong?"
He could vaguely hear Mother Sheng on the other line telling Father Sheng to quickly finish the call and to not bother Xing Xing working, Father Sheng responded quickly, and there was a trace of grievance in his voice when speaking to Sheng Xing Ze, "Xing Xing, have you been busy lately? Is Baba bothering you?"
Sheng Xing Ze quickly said, "Dad, don't talk to me like that, you're my golden Baba."[1] He laughed into the phone.
"Baba is Baba, what kind of gold is added to Baba." Father Sheng pretended to be annoyed, "Don't talk nonsense."
"Okay, okay, okay."
Sheng Xing Ze was still talking and laughing with Father Sheng in the room, Yu Bai was not happy waiting for more than a minute, every now and then he would glance at the room every few seconds.
He just accidentally saw the caller ID on Sheng Xing Ze's phone —— BaBa, somehow the greasy man in the picture sent by Lin Mu suddenly appeared in his mind, and the mood of eating hotpot suddenly got lower by the seconds. The delicious hotpot suddenly became tasteless. Because of the distance, he could vaguely hear Sheng Xing Ze speaking about an investor, and the little emotion that has been suppressed in his heart after seeing the photo had risen up again.
In the end, he could not wait anymore, so he pretended to go to the bathroom and walked not far from Sheng Xing Ze. He knew that it was extremely impolite to do so, but he could not control his body. He wanted to know everything that has to do with Sheng Xing Ze, not to mention that he was extremely concerned about this matter.
"Uh, don't worry, no one dared to bully me."
"There's no way, you're the biggest investor."
"I eat and sleep well everyday, I've even gained a few weights."
"Okay, I'll take care of myself."
"I'll be back on time, so wait for me at home."
Sheng Xing Ze hung up the phone then walking back, Yu Bai hurriedly stepped back to the hotpot before the other returned, "Hurry and eat up, or there won't be any left."
Sheng Xing Ze looked at the hotpot that basically was still the same since he left, "Film Emperor Yu, you don't have to wait for me."
Because of his guilty conscience, Yu Bai had prepared a lot of excuses for when Sheng Xing Ze ask him about the hotpot was being the same as he left it, but once Sheng Xing Ze finally asked, all the excuses suddenly disappeared in one second, he only chuckled out a "ha ha" to fool the other, Yu Bai suddenly had a firm idea in his heart.
After some time, one could easily tell that Sheng Xing Ze was in a very good mood, but Yu Bai on the other hand fell into a deep thought state. Yu Bai looked at Sheng Xing Ze humming happily and seemed to be looking forward to the meeting with his investor after finishing filming. Yu Bai had made a decision in his heart, but he did not want to tell the young man because he did not want to ruin the other's good mood.
Later that night, when Sheng Xing Ze was taking a shower, Yu Bai hid in the room and dialed Zhang Chao's number, "Director Zhang, let's talk about some business. How much did the biggest investor invest? Refund the money to them, I'll double the amount."
Zhang Chao was quite puzzled when hearing this, it was not a secret that Sheng Xing Ze was being put into the set by the biggest investor, literally the whole crew knew about it from the start. He had always thought that Yu Bai and Sheng Xing Ze had a good relationship. But when Yu Bai said this sentence, it meant that he wanted to replace Sheng Xing Ze.
"Is...Sheng Xing Ze offended you? He is a very talented actor. If he did something wrong, I apologize on his behalf. Can we not replace him?"
Zhang Chao spoke carefully, he really could not bear to see Sheng Xing Ze leaving the crew. Without Sheng Xing Ze, he could imagine that no one in the entertainment industry could become the soul of Su Jin Mu like him, but he really could not offend Yu Bai either. Such a dilemma, he really had no idea how to deal with this situation.
"When did I say I want to replace him?" Yu Bai made a deep frown, really had no idea why Zhang Chao had this idea.
"That..."
Yu Bai got silent for a moment, "I don't want when people talk about him in the future, they only remember him as a walking beauty being put into the crew by the investor. He has enough ability to complete this character on his own, whether it is Sheng Xing Ze himself or the character he plays should not be tarnished by this black history!"
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<b>Notes:</b>
[1] Xing Xing was using "金主" Jin Zhu meaning investor...it has a very negative taste when saying that word in the entertainment industry. It's more like saying you have an investor to back you up, who would spend money on you or even spend money to get you a role in the movie/drama. So Xing Xing was joking here.