Love Rival Is Getting Prettier Everyday - Chap 149
Chapter 149: Blizzard
Xiao Tang stood at the entrance to the room in utter shock, the breakfast in his hand almost falling to the ground. “Yan… President Yan.”
Yan Qiuchi put on his robe and said, “Nn. Come in.”
Xiao Tang: “I… Do you want me to buy another breakfast…”
He didn’t know that Yan Qiuchi would be here, so he only bought breakfast for Shen Jintai alone. Could someone tell him why Yan Qiuchi was in Shen Jintai’s room so early in the morning?! Wasn’t this moving too fast?!
“No, I don’t need it,” Yan Qiuchi said. “Come in, and I’ll leave.”
Xiao Tang and Yan Qiuchi passed by each other. When the door behind him closed, Xiao Tang immediately ran to the bedroom and looked. He saw Shen Jintai sleeping soundly with one arm exposed and his pajama shirt dangling from one side of his shoulder. Looking at his position, Yan Qiuchi slept on the left side yesterday. Xiao Tang was so shocked that he hurried back into the living room.
He sat there for a while, until he heard a knock on the door. He hurriedly opened it and saw that it was Li Meilan, Wang Nan, and the others. Li Meilan undid her scarf and said, “It’s freezing to death outside. Is Jintai up yet?”
“Not yet… not yet,” Xiao Tang said.
“We need to get started soon. It’s already snowing, so there will definitely be traffic jams. We should leave early.” Li Meilan went into the bedroom as she was speaking and woke Shen Jintai up.
Shen Jintai rubbed his eyes and sat up. Li Meilan said, “It’s snowing so hard outside.”
Shen Jintai got out of bed, opened the curtains, and took a look. He saw snow heavily falling as the strong wind blew them around. The snowflakes were dancing wildly in the air, and the sky was so dark that the cars on the road had their headlights turned on. He inadvertently shivered at the sight.
“I have good news for you,” Li Meilan said. “The official account of Headline Entertainment has been blocked.”
Shen Jintai was taken aback for a moment. “When did it happen?”
“I got the news last night, and I went to their Weibo page, and it was indeed blocked. At the same time, there were several other Weibo gossip accounts that were blocked as well,” Li Meilan said. “I did say that Headline was barking up the wrong tree.”
Shen Jintai took out his phone to search for news and found that Sina had posted an announcement clarifying their position on why several accounts had been blocked. The reason they stated was [Malicious speculations on celebrity topics, which could be vulgar or slander, are not conducive to the Weibo ecosystem.].
Shen Jintai immediately took a screenshot and sent it to Bai Qingquan, hoping it would provide him with some small relief. He wasn’t sure if Yan Qiuchi had anything to do with it. He didn’t realize when Yan Qiuchi had left. He could only vaguely remember that he was about to go to bed last night when he noticed Yan Qiuchi gently caressing his waist, being quite restrained, knowing that he was too tired to do anything else.
After breakfast, they rushed to the crew. They encountered a traffic jam on the road, so it took them half an hour longer than usual to get to the filming location. To cope with the blizzard, almost all traffic police in Nacheng were dispatched. The blizzard was so heavy that it made many people feel uneasy. Shen Jintai called Yan Qiuchi and said, “We’re going to have dinner with Uncle Yan and the others tonight. The weather is so bad right now. Perhaps we should reschedule it for another time.”
“I called and asked, and my mother said it was fine and to pay attention to safety on the road.” Yan Qiuchi asked, “What time are you finished? I’ll pick you up.”
“You can just go directly to the restaurant and wait for me. I will go back with Xiao Tang and the others.”
Due to the heavy blizzard, filming was affected. The Xu family courtyard in the movie was an old courtyard that they rented on the outskirts of the city. The home had no heating except for two stoves in the room. On snowy days such as this, with various staff members coming in and out, the floor of the room was covered with mud and water, making it even colder and unsightly.
Fortunately, they only needed to film a short cutscene, and after filming was done, they moved location to a lamb hotpot restaurant nearby to film the scene of Xu Xingchen and Yu Chenglin eating. To prevent a crowd, the crew did a good job keeping things confidential when they chose the location. In addition to the blizzard, there were no other guests in the restaurant besides the crew members. Despite this, the owner was full of excitement and even volunteered herself to appear in the movie, which was rejected. She took out her phone and recorded a clip to send to her daughter, who was off in college. “Look! They’re all big stars, and it’s your favorite, Shen Jintai!”
Shen Jintai was originally sitting in a chair, but when he heard this, he turned his head and waved his hand. The staff went up to block the owner’s phone. “No pictures. No pictures.”
To improve work efficiency, Qiu Hong gave up on the idea of using amateur actors, so all the extras were all professionals.
“Director, hurry up and start shooting so we can keep warm after eating,” Gu Jin said with a smile.
The light technician finally adjusted the angle of the light plate again and made an “ok” gesture. This scene was an important one. Yu Chenglin was regarded as the only bright aspect in the movie. His relationship with Xu Xingchen was restrained and subtle. It was interesting to say that what they had was love but wasn’t love, but it wasn’t entirely correct to say that there was no love, giving off a very tender and warm feeling.
Originally, the script only said that they would eat together but didn’t say what they would eat. Following a discussion among the creators, they decided that hotpot was the best option. As the pot steamed and boiled, the thick soup roiled as two old lovers acted polite yet alienated. Hotpot had such Chinese characteristics that it added a nice human touch to the scene.
If it weren’t for another chance encounter on the street, Xu Xingchen probably wouldn’t have eaten with Yu Chenglin. When they met at the farmer’s market, he only said it as a common courtesy.
The hotpot restaurant was very lively. Four of the six tables were filled. Xu Xingchen sat across from Yu Chenglin, picked up a glass of alcohol, and poured one for him.
Yu Chenglin said politely, “Thank you.”
“Do you remember this shop?” Yu Chenglin asked.
“This wasn’t a hotspot restaurant before, was it?” Xu Xingchen said.
This shop was next door to their school, facing the old railroad station. It looked like an ordinary restaurant that also sold steam buns in front of the shop. At that time, they didn’t have money, so at most, they would come here for a meal on weekends, and all the dishes they ordered would be vegetarian. Xu Xingchen liked eating the fried mung bean sprouts from this shop the most, and the cabbage and bean curd soup was also very good. This was the first time he had gone inside with Yu Chenglin.
“It’s been more than ten years,” Yu Chenglin said.
Xu Xingchen stared at him, and said, “When I look closely, you haven’t changed much. Just a little tanner and stronger. I used to remember that you were lighter than me back then.”
Memories came to his mind, but the love did not rekindle. It was more of an emotion that arose from nostalgia. At that time, life was difficult, and middle school was boring and exhausting. Their first love was bitter and had a tragic ending, but when he recalled it more than ten years later, the pain was forgotten and only the warm memories were left.
“What does your partner do?” Yu Chenglin squeezed the glass and pointed to the ring on his middle finger with it.
Xu Xingchen rubbed the ring on his hand and said, “Ordinary office worker. How about you? How are you now?”
“I have been with a girl, but in the end, I didn’t want to hurt her. When I was about to get married, we separated, and I’ve been single ever since,” Yu Chenglin said.
Xu Xingchen nodded but didn’t continue to ask.
Yu Chenglin himself said, “But the most difficult time has passed, and my family has let me be.”
Xu Xingchen nodded again, his mood suddenly rose as he drank his glass of alcohol. The hotpot continued gurgling and steaming. He fished some out and took two bites of the food as sweat condensed on his forehead.
“Cut!”
Qiu Hong said, “Okay, I’m going to film the next scene.”
The movie was not a romance film, so it didn’t spend much time describing their feelings. When they moved to the next part of the scene, Yu Chenglin had become drunk and had his head plastered down on the table as he silently sobbed.
Suddenly, there was a burst of emotion. What was Yu Chenglin thinking? Was he still in love with Xu Xingchen? How did Xu Xingchen spend the past 10 years? These things were not mentioned in the script, and there was no dialogue to support them either.
Xu Xingchen had helped Yu Chenglin home. When Yu Chenglin’s mother saw him, she was surprised. They exchanged a few awkward polite words before Xu Xingchen left. While their emotions were not directly expressed, Qiu Hong made sure that many hints were hidden in the small details, some so subtle that the audience might miss them.
For example, there are several photos hanging in Yu Chenglin’s room. One of them was a class photo of him and Xu Xingchen. This was discovered by Shen Jintai himself, leading him to believe that there were many other props that he did not notice. They weren’t placed casually, and Qiu Hong refused to explain it to him, saying, “You don’t need to know the things that Xu Xingchen doesn’t know.”
Adult emotions were nuanced, and not everything was simply love or hate. What Qiu Hong wanted were the subtle feelings that forced them to break up in the first place and the feelings they felt when reunited ten years later.
On the snowy street that was devoid of people, Xu Xingchen walked home silently.
After filming this segment, Shen Jintai was almost completely frozen. Despite drinking, it still didn’t work. It was too cold, and he kept trembling from the cold. The wind and snow were blowing too strongly, creating a harsh environment that was no longer suitable for filming. Qiu Hong said, “Let’s end here today. Thank you for your hard work.”
Qiu Hong gave Shen Jintai a hug and found that Shen Jintai’s hands were particularly cold: “Go back and have a good rest so you don’t get sick.”
Shen Jintai nodded and got into the car, shivering. Li Meilan quickly handed him a cup of hot tea. “Warm up.”
Shen Jintai: “What time is it?”
Li Meilan: “It’s not even four yet.”
Shen Jintai took a few sips of hot tea, then rubbed his hands and said, “Go back.”
The snow on the road was very thick. Many of the roads were blocked, and the drivers were driving slowly. It was almost six by the time they returned to the hotel. Shen Jintai took a shower and changed his clothes. As he was still dressing, Yan Qiuchi came over.
“It’s so cold, and you’re just wearing this?” He asked Shen Jintai.
Shen Jintai: “Today I want to look good.”
Yan Qiuchi: “You look good in whatever you wear. It’s not the first time you’ve seen them. You can wear whatever you want.”
Still, Shen Jintai didn’t listen to him. He felt that this meeting with Yan Tiefang and Mrs. Yan had a different meaning. He couldn’t dress too casually. He was wearing a black turtleneck sweater with a light gray-mid-length coat on the outside. Yan Qiuchi said, “Put on your scarf.”
As Shen Jintai went to grab his scarf, his phone rang. He took it out and looked at who was calling. He smiled and said to Yan Qiuchi, “Auntie Fang is calling.”
Mrs. Yan’s voice was crisp, and she couldn’t conceal her joy. “Xiao Jin, we’re heading out!”
“Then Qiuchi and I will wait for you in the restaurant,” Shen Jintai said. “Tell the driver to drive slowly on the road as the conditions aren’t good.”
“I know. You are so close. You don’t need to go out so early. I will see you later. I have brought you a gift!” Mrs. Yan hung up the phone happily.
Yan Tiefeng helped her put on her coat and said, “You’re seeing them later, yet you still have to call.”
Mrs. Yan wrapped up a bracelet that she took out of a sandalwood box as Yan Tiefeng continued, “You’re really giving it to him.”
Mrs. Yan: “When we got married, your mother said that this bracelet was an heirloom of your Yan family and wanted me to pass it on to the eldest daughter-in-law. To me, whether they are a man or woman, I would consider them my daughter-in-law. This bracelet was not originally intended to be worn but was mainly used to express the wishes of our family. When two young men like them are together, they especially need something with a sense of ceremony. I am also doing this for Qiuchi.”
Yan Tiefeng: “If you give this now, what will you give when they get married?”
Mrs. Yan: “Your mother gave it to me when we were engaged.”
“Really?” Yan Tiefeng said.
Mrs. Yan snorted coldly and said, “As if you could remember.”
“I remember that today is our wedding anniversary.” Yan Tiefeng leaned forward as he spoke, and he kissed her on the cheek.
Mrs. Yan smiled and gave him a push. She picked up the box and said, “Let’s go, let’s go! I can’t wait to see the two of them!”
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The night of a windy and snowy forecast.
