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As he digested what the actor said to him, Jian Xingsui stared at his back and froze for a moment.
Fu Jinxiao didn’t turn his head back, instead just directly gave a command, “Follow me.”
Jian Xingsui finally came to his senses, so he quickly put the instant noodles in his hand on the table. Without thinking too much about Fu Jinxiao’s reasons, he faithfully followed the actor to go eat out tonight.
The cafeteria was indeed closed, so it was expected for Fu Jinxiao to not take him there. Instead, he led Jian Xingsui to the outside, where the cultural and sports hall was. Many of the program crew had clocked out from work, some had gone home while the others went outside for dinner. And indeed, not far away from the filming location, many vendors were selling snacks and dinners. The scene was very lively.
While the two of them walked out, some of the staff recognized Fu Jinxiao, so they would stop to greet him respectfully.
“Hello Instructor Fu.”
“Fu-ge, good evening.”
“Instructor Fu took a trainee out for supper.”
Fu Jinxiao nodded faintly as a greeting. He stopped by a flower bed not far away, looked to the youth at his side and said, “Choose what you want to eat.”
Jian Xingsui was already hungry, so it didn’t take him long to decide. The moment he smelled the delicious, warm, inviting scent of the nearest food, he immediately went there. It was a fried rice stall with an absolutely divine aroma wafting everywhere. As he went inside, he said to the owner, “Two bowls of fried rice with eggs, please.”
The stall owner happily smiled at his customer and asked, “Do you want anything extra to add?”
Jian Xingsui looked at the menu. There were a lot of add-ons available on the stall: meat, intestines, and various vegetables for side dishes. They all looked very appetizing, and it made Jian Xingsui want to add them all. Just as he was going to tell the owner his choice, he suddenly had a realization – he didn’t bring any money at all!
But a voice came from behind, “Give him a little bit of all.”
The actor’s slender and clean hand passed the banknote over him, then handed it to the stall owner. He happily took the money, counted it internally, then immediately started cooking.
Jian Xingsui unexpectedly looked at Fu Jinxiao’s hand in a daze. He still remembered that Fu Jinxiao also came to Zhang’s family1 rice cake shop last summer. That time, he also gave Jian Xingsui a banknote and a band-aid. As he took a trip down his memory lane, he kept staring at Actor’s Fu hand in a subconscious daze.
Fu Jinxiao glanced at him: “Are you hungry?”
Jian Xingsui suddenly came back to his senses, and quickly answered so he wouldn’t look disrespectful, “No, no, I was thinking about paying back your money when I go back next time, or I can treat you to dinner someday too.”
The stall owner finished cooking and handed over the take-away fried rice to Jian Xingsui.
The corner of Fu Jinxiao’s mouth twitched into a faint smile, and he said slowly as he walked back, “You know, it’s not easy to ask me out for dinner.”
This sentence sounds a bit arrogant at first, but after some thinking, Jian Xingsui realized that it was true. He was telling the truth – in his position as a big-name actor, those rich producers or investors had to scramble in order to arrange a dinner appointment with him.
In comparison, Jian Xingsui was just a no-name trainee.
Jian Xingsui felt that his braincells must’ve been completely eradicated to say such a stupid thing. In a soft tone, he lowered his head and apologized, “I made a mistake
”
But Fu Jinxiao interrupted his apology as he slowly said, “If you want to make a dinner appointment with me, you can. However, you will have to wait until you leave this gymnasium. I’ll agree to attend your celebration banquet. I will be waiting.”
The wind at the end of autumn was a bit chilly.
Fu Jinxiao’s words were heard clearly, but it made Jian Xingsui’s heart skip a beat. Hearing the word “celebration banquet”made his heart very excited at first, but then it fell silent.
Ah, yes, he remembered.
He wouldn’t – couldn’t – be present at the debut celebration banquet. But
 Actor Fu thought he could make it as a debutant of this show.
Wasn’t that an affirmation of the highest degree?
Just thinking that made Jian Xingsui’s heart jump and burn, beating very loudly in his ribcage.
The two of them walked to the pavilion not far away. The air was crisp, and the noise was minimal, as there was no one there. All in all, it was a perfect spot to enjoy a leisurely dinner.
Jian Xingsui handed the meal to Fu Jinxiao: “Yours.”
Fu Jinxiao thought that Jian Xingsui bought two portions to eat for himself, so he was surprised that the youth were actually thinking of treating him to dinner. He smiled in response, “Thank you.”
The freshly-made egg fried rice was warm and fragrant.
Jian Xingsui buried his head in his food, so focused because he was feeling ravenous. As he was demolishing his dinner, he heard Fu Jinxiao talking to him, so he turned his head to face the older man.
Fu Jinxiao was eating at a lazy pace, so he hadn’t eaten much. Instead, the actor looked at the youth and asked, “Tell me, what’s wrong with you?”
Jian Xingsui answered after a pause, clearly confused. He raised his head and asked back, “I’m sorry, what do you mean?”
Fu Jinxiao raised his eyebrows, “Don’t tell me
 you haven’t eaten all day, did you? You glued yourself up to the computer from early morning to finish up your song; and after everything went well, you want to celebrate with that cup of noodles for your dinner?”
“
”
Instructor Fu could be so humorous at times.
Jian Xingsui swallowed the food in his mouth, hesitating whether to talk about the problems he had encountered. When he looked up to meet Actor Fu’s eyes, he only saw the older man’s dark and peaceful eyes. Steeling his resolve, he just sat there, quiet and steady, thinking about how to explain his circumstances.
Fu Jinxiao wasn’t the type who likes small chit-chat. He’s very efficient with his words. So, there was no need for any extra embellishment, so he should just tell everything as-is. Any extra fluff would be seen as nothing but small winds and waves in front of Fu Jinxiao.
Besides, Fu Jinxiao was someone he could trust.
Someone who he could confide in.
Jian Xingsui remembered Wen Shengge’s words he said as he left, the thing about asking Jian Xingsui to seek other people’s help when he encountered difficult problems.
Wen Shengge was right. He was the type who buried all his troubles, not daring asking for any outside help. And he also knew that it wouldn’t solve his problem, and at times, it even ended up worsening them.
He promised his ex-roommate that he would be better, and this was the time to fulfill that promise.
“Actually
” Jian Xingsui took a deep breath, “I have indeed encountered a problem, please help me out.”
Sitting in the small pavilion, the youth with buzz-cut talked about his troubles, his hand was still gripping his disposable chopsticks. He talked about the song’s arrangement – about how his teammates have a million differing opinions and it ended up prolonging things out. He knew too many cooks would spoil the broth, but he didn’t know how to reject only some of their opinions without accidentally making it as if he was biased to a certain person.
As this was the first time that Jian Xingsui has told everything inside his mind in front of Fu Jinxiao, it ended up removing the last transparent barrier separating the two of them. They no longer felt as a polite teacher and student, but instead more like close friends ranting about their hassle at work.
Fu Jinxiao groaned after listening to the youth’s problems, “So, you stayed and worked overtime by yourself?”
Jian Xingsui nodded slightly.
Fu Jinxiao sneered, full of sarcasm, and commented: “Stupid”
Jian Xingsui was taken aback.
Normally, Movie Emperor Fu looked refined and gentle, always with a polite smile. He looked like the kind of gentleman who would never use any swear words. So, when the actor said this word to him, Jian Xingsui was stunned for a moment.
Fu Jinxiao opened his mouth, dinner forgotten in favor of lecturing the stupid youth, “What is a team?”
“A team is the six of you working together to find a way to complete the performance, instead of throwing all the problems to you and waiting for you to solve it.” Fu Jinxiao flicked his gaze to see Jian Xingsui more clearly, “Do you think that others will understand and gladly receive your love if you just accept all of it silently? Wrong, if the response of this stage is not good in the end; not only the audience, but even your teammates will put all the responsibility on your shoulder.”
These words enlightened Jian Xingsui.
Jian Xingsui asked with a lost look, “Then what should I do?”
If Jian Xingsui asked for advice about his problem to the other mentors, they would advise him to think about the overall situation, to cooperate more with his teammates, how to properly discuss with his teammates, or how to fulfill his responsibilities as the team’s vice-captain and composer.
But he asked for Fu Jinxiao’s advice. This old fox would never eat such a loss with that kind of soft approach. No, he would think of something that 100% guaranteed to benefit him.
The black-bellied actor mused, putting his fingers on his lips, “What would I do
”
Then, as if he thought of a brilliant plan, Fu Jinxiao’s lips curled into a meaningful smile. He sat lazily on the chair and drawled in an enchanting, yet dangerous tone, “Of course I would
 discuss it with my teammates.”
As the actor said that, the chilly autumn wind blew.
Jian Xingsui inexplicably felt embarrassed. A sudden chill went down to his spine.
He didn’t know why, but he felt that the word “discuss” Fu Jinxiao just said was laced with such a level of spite.
As if he actually had murder in mind.
first date? OwO
1
Jian Xingsui’s “supposed” biological family.