The Nutrition is Too Good - Chap 7

It has been a long time since Rong Mian has slept so well.

When in cat form, Rong Mian feels that even his breathing becomes lighter. Although the perspective becomes much lower than when in human form, sleeping in cat form is truly much more comfortable.

He particularly enjoys the feeling of being wrapped in soft and thick fabric all over his body. In this way, Rong Mian can curl up into a ball, with his tail wrap around his body. Allowing him to have a safe and high-quality sleep.

However, cats are very alert animals, and even the slightest movement will make their ears perk up.

Rong Mian heard footsteps outside the door.
It was Liu Yuanfeng. He stood at the door, rubbing his hands, looking at Rong Mian, who was curled up in a blanket with slightly closed eyes, sweating profusely. Fear was clearly written on his face.

He nervously called out, “Um, Xiao Rong…”

The power dynamics among animals are inherent, especially in predator-prey relationships. Even after transforming into a human form, Rong Mian knew how much pressure Liu Yuanfeng was feeling at this moment.

Rong Mian felt that there was a high possibility of Liu Yuanfeng fainting if he continued to stand there, so he wagged his tail and transformed back into human form.
The blanket was a bit small for him in human form, and Rong Mian’s upper body was exposed to the air, without the covering of fur. He felt a bit cold.

For small-sized animals like them, before transforming from human form to their original form, they need to take off all their clothes.

This is because the clothes do not shrink proportionally. If they don’t take off their clothes, it is easy to find themselves with their heads stuck in their underwear after transforming back to their original form.

However, animals don’t mind being exposed to bare skin. When Liu Yuanfeng saw Rong Mian transform back into human form, he had an expression of “Thank God, I’m saved.”

He raised his hand and wiped the sweat off his forehead, clearly relieved.

Rong Mian said, “I’m sorry, Director Liu.”

Liu Yuanfeng quickly waved his hand, stuttering and nervous, unable to form a complete sentence for a while.
Rong Mian asked Liu Yuanfeng about the parts of the script he didn’t understand one by one. Liu Yuanfeng was still a bit afraid, sitting beside him with some restraint, but he earnestly explained it to him.

Rong Mian held a pen and listened attentively, carefully writing something next to the lines, appearing to be meticulous.

Liu Yuanfeng couldn’t help but sneak a curious glance, and he was directly dumbfounded. It was as if he was drawing some kind of talisman to ward off evil spirits.

“…”

Liu Yuanfeng said, “Actually, if you have any questions later, you can ask Zhong Yi. He’s a nice person and often helps newcomers in acting.”

However, Liu Yuanfeng paused when he saw Rong Mian holding the pen.

“He…”

Rong Mian raised his eyes and asked somewhat abruptly, “I mean Zhong Yi. Does he know your true identity…?”Liu Yuanfeng was momentarily stunned, feeling that this question was quite strange. “Of course it’s impossible.”
The reason why Liu Yuanfeng answered so confidently was because he had been in human form for over thirty years, like all animals with shapeshifting abilities. Initially, he was extremely cautious, afraid of revealing any flaws in the smallest details.

But later on, he discovered that as long as he didn’t transform back to his original form in front of humans, an extreme situation that would definitely expose him, there was basically no chance of being discovered.

Because humans simply wouldn’t think in that direction.

‘It seems like I’m the only one who exposed.’

Rong Mian thought to himself, lowered his head, and slowly closed the pen cap.
“Thank you, Director Liu.”

He politely said, “I understand everything now.”

Every time he called Liu Yuanfeng “Director Liu,” Liu Yuanfeng felt a chilling gust of wind blowing behind him, as if a level seven cold wind had started. He instinctively shrunk his neck and could only wave his hand pretending to be calm, indicating that everything was fine.

Then Liu Yuanfeng fled in panic.

Rong Mian stayed in the sofa for a while.
Suddenly, he felt some movement outside the door and looked up in surprise. He could vaguely see a figure flashing through the crack of the door.

He had to put on his clothes first, walked barefoot to the door, pushed it open, and found the corridor empty, with no one in sight.

There was a takeout bag on the floor, with the name of a porridge shop written on it. Rong Mian crouched down, reached out his finger to touch the plastic bowl containing the porridge, and found that it was still warm.

He picked up the plastic bag and sniffed at the handle, instantly a unique scent, belonging to the citrus family, rushed into his nostrils.

Rong Mian quickly knew the answer.
*
He stood on the set, facing a man sitting in a wheelchair. There was a slightly stronger concentration of the same citrus fragrance enveloping him.

However, from Zhong Yi’s expressionless face, Rong Mian could tell that this person was angry at the moment.

To be precise, he was angry at himself.

Both of them are not in the right state, and the whole situation is quite chaotic. Liu Yuanfeng noticed that something was off and could only ask them to sort things out on their own.

“You’ve brought your personal emotions into this.”
As soon as they were away from the crowd, Rong Mian bluntly pointed out the reason, “So there’s no way to perform well.”

Zhong Yi did not respond to his words.
He just found it a bit funny, laughing at himself for actually believing that this kid was just temporarily misguided and had taken the wrong path. He even found the way he looked while catching butterflies was … a bit cute.

But then again, it made sense. One moment, he would flirt with a stranger in the restroom, and the next moment, he would casually climb onto a director’s bed. It was reasonable in its own way, and there wasn’t really anything that couldn’t be justified.

What infuriated Zhong Yi the most was that Liu Yuanfeng was a married man.

Just the day before yesterday, he even posted a family photo on his WeChat moments showing him, his wife, and their daughter. The three of them looked so happy and content, smiling at the camera. It was the kind of happiness that made people’s lips curl upwards.

So, it turns out they’re not good people.

Zhong Yi thought.

Rong Mian wasn’t someone who was good at handling silent situations. He tilted his head and stared at Zhong Yi for a while but still couldn’t understand why he was angry.

So he thought for a moment and said to Zhong Yi, “Thank you for the porridge.”

Zhong Yi didn’t accept his favour and said, “It’s Shen Yan’s porridge.”
Zhong Yi didn’t feel like dragging it out any longer, so he looked directly at Rong Mian and bluntly asked, “Do you know that Liu Yuanfeng has a wife and a daughter who just started elementary school?”

Rong Mian seemed to not understand the connection between these two statements.

“I know,” he replied.

Rong Mian didn’t tell Zhong Yi that Liu Yuanfeng’s family also had a two-year-old son, but he couldn’t fully transform and so there was no way to disclose it to the public.

It is rare for animals to be able to take human form, but generally, if both parents have the ability to transform into human form, their offspring are usually born with that ability.

So Liu Yuanfeng was extremely worried and had previously sought advice from Uncle Yun while carrying a small cage containing his son.

At that time, Rong Mian was in a state of confinement for stealing and consuming an entire bag of freeze-dried food, so he only caught a glimpse from afar, but he remembered that his son was also a round and chubby ball.

Uncle Yun told Liu Yuanfeng not to be impatient, saying that the main reason was because he was overfeeding and being too lazy. Skipping a few meals might do the trick, and in the end, Uncle Yun also prepared some specially pickled hay for Liu Yuanfeng.

It was precisely because of this favor, as well as his good performance in his previous web drama, that he was able to get this role. Therefore, he cherished this opportunity very much.

“Knowing that you still look for him?”

Zhong Yi didn’t know this inside story, so at this moment, he only felt ridiculous, that would make him have a brain hemorrhage in the next second due to anger.
“You really have no one else to find…”

Zhong Yi realized that the words he was about to say would be very harsh, he looked at the young boy’s profile, took a deep breath, and in the end, could only shake his head and coldly laugh, swallowing his words.
“Because Director Liu was just explaining the scene to me.”

Rong Mian looked at him with confusion, “But there are still some parts that I don’t quite understand.”

‘He really thinks I’m an idiot.’

Rong Mian’s words undoubtedly added fuel to the fire, Zhong Yi could only feel himself about to laugh out of anger. What kind of magical script is this? As he reads, does he have to take off all his clothes?

“Okay.”
Zhong Yi nodded, he just wanted to see how this person could continue to make up the story. “Come, tell me, which scene did you specifically discuss just now?”

Rong Mian made a sound of agreement and lowered his head to open the script.

“It’s this part here.”

Rong Mian pointed to it and showed it to Zhong Yi. “I still don’t understand how to express the expression in this section.”

He looked very serious, with a calm expression that showed no flaws. Zhong Yi was really confused this time.

For a moment, Zhong Yi couldn’t distinguish whether this person had exceptionally good acting skills and a thick-skinned face, or if he had indeed misunderstood the situation between him and Liu Yuanfeng.

But the image of Liu Yuanfeng running away in a panic, covered in sweat, was still vivid in his mind. And through the crack in the door, he did see the boy strip completely…

The image of the boy’s slim and fair waist appeared in Zhong Yi’s mind again. He cursed inwardly, took a deep breath, and glanced at the script in Rong Mian’s hand. He was taken aback by the densely packed annotations on it.

He thought that although this boy had questionable intentions, he still had a sense of responsibility towards his career. Zhong Yi’s emotions became a bit complicated.

Thinking that filming was the priority, Zhong Yi temporarily suppressed the anger in his heart.

“Here, I am pretending to bring you milk to drink as a cover, continuing to test you.”

Zhong Yi glanced at the script and said coldly, “The key point is this part when I smoke. Feel it for yourself and think about how you should respond.”

This scene is quite interesting, with hidden meanings throughout the conversation. It’s a scene where Zhong Yi, playing a detective, buys milk and goes to the school to continue probing for information.

Zhong Yi dislikes the smell of smoke, but in this scene, he needs to smoke.

During the rehearsal, it’s not necessary to do everything in full detail, but after a moment of contemplation, Zhong Yi still takes out a lighter.

He casually brings his golden wheelchair over and sits on it.

Zhong Yi sits in the wheelchair, starts smoking; Rong Mian sits on the bench opposite him, biting the straw of the boxed milk, staring curiously at the cigarette slowly burning in Zhong Yi’s hand.

Rong Mian is familiar with this smell. He remembers the time when he used to accompany guests at the cat cafe. Although smoking was prohibited there, many male customers still had the smell of tobacco on them, which he didn’t like.

With the cigarette in his mouth, Zhong Yi flips through the script and roughly understands the situation. When he looks up again, he is already in character.

“How about this, little classmate? I will come to find you after school every day, and you can spend half an hour chatting with me.”

Zhong Yi’s facial features are bright and profound, with a hidden smile in his eyes that is mysterious. He sits in a relaxed posture on the wheelchair, giving off a sense of stability and inexplicable trust.

He gazes directly into Rong Mian’s eyes, slowly exhaling the smoke, bit by bit.

Amidst the hazy white smoke, Zhong Yi casually delivers his lines, “I will bring you a box of milk every day, how about it…”

Rong Mian: “Okay.”

“…”

Zhong Yi says, “Kid, you got the words wrong.”

Rong Mian pauses for a moment, as if just coming to his senses, and then directly freezes upon realizing what he just replied to Zhong Yi.

Zhong Yi doesn’t pay much attention to it, just points at the script with the cigarette between his fingers and explains it to Rong Mian.

He explains it very clearly, analyzing it from Rong Mian’s character’s perspective, including the expressions and subtle movements to be captured later. He explains the details very clearly.

Rong Mian can pick up on the frequency of cigarette ash falling from between Zhong Yi’s fingers and, when the smoke rises in the air, can see the deep and handsome features of the man opposite him.

The orange flame turns into a dim gray, and Rong Mian blinks gently.

Zhong Yi takes another drag from the cigarette, freeing up his hand to flip a page of the script and casually asks Rong Mian, “…Do you understand?”

Rong Mian nodded slightly
Zhong Yi looked at the notes written by Rong Mian in the script. The handwriting was really ugly, so ugly that it could be considered pictographic characters1, but the way of understanding and the perspective were quite interesting.

So Zhong Yi snorted, and prepared to put out his cigarette, but Rong Mian, who had been staring at him for a while, suddenly reached out and snatched the half-burnt cigarette from his hand.

Zhong Yi didn’t manage to stop him, and he saw the young man in front of him pick up the half-burnt cigarette, looking at it for a moment, and then hesitantly lowered his head to take a sniff.
Then he directly took a big sip straight away.

Zhong Yi: “……?”
Sure enough, Rong Mian choked on the smoke, covering his mouth and turning his face away, coughing.

After a while, he turned his head back, looking at the cigarette in his hand again, seemingly puzzled why the taste of this small thing could be so complex and indescribable.

“It looks really good…”

Zhong Yi heard him whisper softly, “So, I want to give it a try too.” Zhong Yi was momentarily stunned. “What?”

Then he watched as the boy in front of him raised his head. Due to choking on the smoke, his eyelashes trembled slightly, but his eyes were moist, exuding a serene and pure brightness.

So Rong Mian carefully explained to Zhong Yi once again, “I meant to say that the way you were smoking just now looked really good.”

High.

At that moment, Zhong Yi finally realized clearly that the level of this boy in front of him was truly high.

Author’s Note:

Zhong Yi (through gritted teeth): Impressive technique, cunning mind, and a cup of pure green tea.
Rong Mian (confused): Is it mealtime? But I don’t like tea.

Footnotes
Pictographic character is from Chinese character classification, It’s stylised character drawings of the objects they represent.
Source : Wikipedia