A City - Jin Xiu District
It was now late autumn, Jian Qiaoxin carrying a backpack entered the apartment building, he started to sneeze as soon as he got into the elevator.
His immune system was quite low compared to others, if someone with a cold were to be near him, he would for sure be the first person to catch it.
Jian Qiaoxin rubbed his nose thinking he should have taken some cold medicine earlier, he watched as the elevator number rose up.
*Ding Ding*
At the 19th floor, the elevator door opened, Jian Qiaoxin tightened his scarf and stepped out. The light in the corridor was a bit dim. He was carrying a box in his hand, as he stopped in front of a door, he tried to knock twice, but there was no sound replying to him.
He waited for a while, then he decided to put the box down and tried to insert the key into the lock.
"Click", the door was opened from the inside, Jian Qiaoxin was still trying to unlock the door with his key, when the door almost hit his nose.
A tall and handsome man wearing a sweater was a bit surprised to see him, this man named Qiu Jian: "How come you are back already?"
Jian Qiaoxin did not suspect the meaning behind this sentence, he smiled and shook the box in his hand, "A Qiu, happy birthday, I got you a birthday cake."
"Thanks."
Qiu Jian took the birthday cake box and moved over for Jian Qiaoxin to come in.
The two of them rented this apartment together; although house prices in A City were pretty expensive, they both wanted to give each other a home to stay in, so they pooled in a lot of money to rent this place.
Jian Qiaoxin took off his shoes and went straight to the kitchen to look for a cake cutting knife. When he came out to the living room, Qiu Jian had already set the candlelight.
The candle's dim yellow light burned slowly, adding a little warmth to the room.
Jian Qiaoxin smiled slightly: "Feeling romantic?"
Qiu Jian held a lighter in his hand: "Well, today is my birthday, and I thought you would be busy with work again. But now that you're back, we might as well just go for it."
Jian Qiaoxin knew this was his fault. He touched his nose in guilt as said softly: "My bad, but as you know, I've finally managed to get a supporting role in this movie, where I have more lines and more screening time; therefore, I must perform well. However, today is your birthday, I specifically asked the director to let me leave early..."
"..."
Qiu Jian walked over and pulled him to sit down: "Work is not that important, our relationship is much more important than work. You know that I make enough to support the two of us, you don't need to work so hard."1
Jian Qiaoxin pursed his lips and remained silent.
In fact, Qiu Jian is a really good boyfriend. Although he is not rich, his income can really support two people.
However--
Jian Qiaoxin does not want to be supported financially. He has his own ideal to pursue, and he only wants to spend the money that he has earned.
Jian Qiaoxin heaved out a sigh: "A Qiu, let's not talk about this; today is your birthday, you should have a bite of your cake."
On the side, Qiu Jian's eyes turned dark: "What the hurry, we can't have candlelight dinner without wine, wait here."
Jian Qiaoxin frowned: "How come I didn't know we have wine at home, when did you buy it?"2
"I just bought it today," Qiu Jian said while filling up the glasses, "you should also learn to drink a bit of wine; it's not good to never have some."
The wine glass was placed in front of him inconceivably. Jian Qiaoxin had to drink it even if he was unwilling. Today was Qiu Jian's birthday, he did not want to ruin the mood.
After three rounds of wine, Qiu Jian came in closer to kiss him, Jian Qiaoxin did not move away, he inched in and gave the man a kiss at the corner of his lips.
Qiu Jian was not satisfied with just that, his hand slipped downward, as he wanted to take a step further.
Jian Qiaoxin instantly sobered up as he jumped and shouted: "No!"
Qiu Jian's face turned all dark: "Why?"
The cake on the table was only half eaten and the candlelight was still burning, but now as they both were facing each other, the ambiguous atmosphere was long gone.
Jian Qiaoxin avoided the other man's eyes: "I...I have a cold, and it's a little too early. I think we can do it after we sign the paper."
"..."
Qiu Jian breathed out, said in a low tone: "Up to you."
This birthday party ended shortly in unhappiness. The next day, Jian Qiaoxin was awakened by the alarm clock, it was already four o'clock in the morning. He gently got out of bed to get ready to come back to the filming site..
This place is a two-bedroom apartment. Even though he and Qiu Jian are a couple, they sleep in separate rooms. Mainly because he is an actor, it is inevitable that he often gets up early to go to the filming site, which might disrupt the other man in his sleep.
After washing up and heading out of the apartment, Jian Qiaoxin used his phone to book a taxi, then he hurriedly got into the car.
The taxi driver started a quick chat with him: "Young man, you start work early, eh?"
Jian Qiaoxin said: "Yes, you also start early, you're hardworking."
"There is no such thing as hardworking or not, it's all for supporting the family, right?" The driver said with a sigh, "the whole family's meal depends on this."
Jian Qiaoxin looked at the scenery outside the window and said quietly: "Yeah, not everyone has it easy."
The taxi took him all the way to the filming site, he quickly paid the driver and got out. Even so, he was still late today, and those who had makeup on already formed a line for their turn to be in the scene..
This meant he would have less screening time now.
The filming crew was also busy today. Jian Qiaoxin had been running around back and forth throughout this day, when he finally had a chance to take a break, his clothes got all shabby.
One person in the crew shouted: "Xiao Xin, your phone is ringing."
Jian Qiaoxin startled: "'kay, thank you, I'll take a look."
He walked quickly over to his coat and pulled out his cell phone from his pocket, the phone started to ring loudly again.
The caller was his agent Nong Bai, and as soon as he answered the call, a question was thrown his way: "What took you so long?"
"Sorry Brother Nong, I've just finished shooting."
"You haven't finished shooting yet?" Nong Bai's tone was a bit high pitched: "It's just a minor role. You don't need to take it too seriously. Even if you get to show your face, the director might cut it out. Don't expect too much."
Jian Qiaoxin did not get angry: "Brother Nong, I understand what you mean, but whether to cut my scene out or not is decided by the director, but I can decide on my own attitude towards work."
Nong Bai laughed: "Xiao Xin, I can see you also want to be popular, why don't you take on the right path?"
The "right path", Jian Qiaoxin was not a newcomer who had just entered showbiz. He obviously understood its meaning, but he chose to not understand it.
Jian Qiaoxin thought about it for a moment: "Brother Nong, I'm still young, I can try to gain some acting experience with various roles, thank you for your kindness, but I..."
Nong Bai sighed, "Stop, stop, stop. If you don't want to do it, I don't want to force you either, but there is something I must tell you, do you know "Wang Jang Pavilion"?"
Jian Qiaoxin's eyes brightened: "I know."
"Wang Jiang Pavilion" is a large-scale wuxia novel about love and hatred of a generation of children, this novel was written by the most famous contemporary literary writer Liu Yan, the book's fans alone are all over the country by its extreme popularity, and now it is going to be made into a live-action TV series.
"The director of this series is currently looking for actors, I got you an entry to a cocktail party, you go in and gain some connections. Maybe you can get a role in this series, but I did not tell you to dedicate yourself. Don't say that I'm not being nice to you, whether you can get a role or not, it's all up to you. By the way, I recently enlisted a few newcomers. If you can't get a role this time, you should take some time to rest after you're finished filming the current one."
Jian Qiaoxin's fingers turned all white as he held tightly onto his phone, his throat was dry as his mouth opened wanting to say something, but in the end he only managed to utter this sentence: "I...understood, thank you Brother Nong, I'll take this chance."
Taking some time to rest is just another saying for being placed on hiatus; in other words, if he could not get a role in this series, the company would freeze all of his activities.
This cocktail party, he had no other choice but to attend; it was to conquer or to die.
The phone call was hung up with a beeping sound. It was very lively on the filming site, but Jian Qiaoxin's heart was as cold as winter night. He could see a dark road unfolding towards him, and he was standing at one end of the road by himself.
A City - Feng Huazhi Hotel, 19th Floor
There were loud talking voices and sounds of feasting everywhere, it was very lively in this place. This cocktail party gathered all people from all walks of life. The women had exquisite makeup on, and the men were in suits and leathers.
Jian Qiaoxin stood on one of the stairs at the reception, gasping for air. He was not very comfortable with the atmosphere in this place, and the illusion of being suffocated would make him feel even more depressed.
There was some commotion at the entrance, within a short moment, everyone's attention was turning to the entrance.
Under the scattered lights in the hallway, on a magnificent marble floor, a man in a burgundy suit walked in, surrounded by a group of people. He was wearing a smile on his lips, matching with his elegant facial features, the sharp eyebrows added a sense of scornfulness into his appearance.
He was talking with a person next to him, they seemed to discuss something interesting as they both laughed.
Jian Qiaoxin recognized the beer belly man walking next to this elegant man. That person was his target tonight, Wang Can, the director of "Wang Jiang Pavilion".
Half of the people in this party came here to meet Wang Can, hoping they could participate in his new series; however, right now everyone's eyes were still on the man in the burgundy suit.
"Is that President Yan?"
"It really is President Yan, I've heard that he will come, I didn't expect he actually came here. Rumors have it that President Yan is only 26-year-old this year. Even though the one in charge of the Yan Group is the Elder Yan, the one actually in charge of the group is him in the background."
"Don't let his young look fool you, he is quite a devil in the business world, also...I heard that our Elite Circle's Lin Ye is President Yan's uncle. If you're on good terms with President Yan, it means you can enter the Elite Circle."
To ask what the people in the entertainment world want the most: wealth and popularity are just number two; to be able to enter the Elite Circle is the number one. By entering the Elite Circle, one will have a much better opportunity and resources to advance in the showbiz.
Furthermore, if there was a ranking for the giants in A City, Yan Gan would definitely be in the top three.
Jian Qiaoxin eavesdropped on other people gossiping and looked at Yan Gan in deep thought. He is 24-year-old this year, only two years younger than the other man, yet there is such a huge gap in between the two of them.
Across a sea of people, Yan Gan, who was talking with his business partner, suddenly turned his head to look upstairs. His sharp eyes directly confronted Jian Qiaoxin, causing him to get stiffened in place for staring at the man. Obviously Jian Qiaoxin did not do anything bad, but he felt somewhat guilty at such unprecedented action.
Jian Qiaoxin almost choked on his own drink, he coughed lightly and quickly escaped.
Downstairs, Director Wang Can also glanced up suspiciously, "Mr. Yan, what's the matter?"
"Oh, nothing," Yan Gan leisurely took away his gaze, a smudge arose from the corner of his mouth, "I just saw a timid kid."
---
A City - Jin Xiu District
It was now late autumn, Jian Qiaoxin carrying a backpack entered the apartment building, he started to sneeze as soon as he got into the elevator.
His immune system was quite low compared to others, if someone with a cold were to be near him, he would for sure be the first person to catch it.
Jian Qiaoxin rubbed his nose thinking he should have taken some cold medicine earlier, he watched as the elevator number rose up.
*Ding Ding*
At the 19th floor, the elevator door opened, Jian Qiaoxin tightened his scarf and stepped out. The light in the corridor was a bit dim. He was carrying a box in his hand, as he stopped in front of a door, he tried to knock twice, but there was no sound replying to him.
He waited for a while, then he decided to put the box down and tried to insert the key into the lock.
"Click", the door was opened from the inside, Jian Qiaoxin was still trying to unlock the door with his key, when the door almost hit his nose.
A tall and handsome man wearing a sweater was a bit surprised to see him, this man named Qiu Jian: "How come you are back already?"
Jian Qiaoxin did not suspect the meaning behind this sentence, he smiled and shook the box in his hand, "A Qiu, happy birthday, I got you a birthday cake."
"Thanks."
Qiu Jian took the birthday cake box and moved over for Jian Qiaoxin to come in.
The two of them rented this apartment together; although house prices in A City were pretty expensive, they both wanted to give each other a home to stay in, so they pooled in a lot of money to rent this place.
Jian Qiaoxin took off his shoes and went straight to the kitchen to look for a cake cutting knife. When he came out to the living room, Qiu Jian had already set the candlelight.
The candle's dim yellow light burned slowly, adding a little warmth to the room.
Jian Qiaoxin smiled slightly: "Feeling romantic?"
Qiu Jian held a lighter in his hand: "Well, today is my birthday, and I thought you would be busy with work again. But now that you're back, we might as well just go for it."
Jian Qiaoxin knew this was his fault. He touched his nose in guilt as said softly: "My bad, but as you know, I've finally managed to get a supporting role in this movie, where I have more lines and more screening time; therefore, I must perform well. However, today is your birthday, I specifically asked the director to let me leave early..."
"..."
Qiu Jian walked over and pulled him to sit down: "Work is not that important, our relationship is much more important than work. You know that I make enough to support the two of us, you don't need to work so hard."1
Jian Qiaoxin pursed his lips and remained silent.
In fact, Qiu Jian is a really good boyfriend. Although he is not rich, his income can really support two people.
However--
Jian Qiaoxin does not want to be supported financially. He has his own ideal to pursue, and he only wants to spend the money that he has earned.
Jian Qiaoxin heaved out a sigh: "A Qiu, let's not talk about this; today is your birthday, you should have a bite of your cake."
On the side, Qiu Jian's eyes turned dark: "What the hurry, we can't have candlelight dinner without wine, wait here."
Jian Qiaoxin frowned: "How come I didn't know we have wine at home, when did you buy it?"2
"I just bought it today," Qiu Jian said while filling up the glasses, "you should also learn to drink a bit of wine; it's not good to never have some."
The wine glass was placed in front of him inconceivably. Jian Qiaoxin had to drink it even if he was unwilling. Today was Qiu Jian's birthday, he did not want to ruin the mood.
After three rounds of wine, Qiu Jian came in closer to kiss him, Jian Qiaoxin did not move away, he inched in and gave the man a kiss at the corner of his lips.
Qiu Jian was not satisfied with just that, his hand slipped downward, as he wanted to take a step further.
Jian Qiaoxin instantly sobered up as he jumped and shouted: "No!"
Qiu Jian's face turned all dark: "Why?"
The cake on the table was only half eaten and the candlelight was still burning, but now as they both were facing each other, the ambiguous atmosphere was long gone.
Jian Qiaoxin avoided the other man's eyes: "I...I have a cold, and it's a little too early. I think we can do it after we sign the paper."
"..."
Qiu Jian breathed out, said in a low tone: "Up to you."
This birthday party ended shortly in unhappiness. The next day, Jian Qiaoxin was awakened by the alarm clock, it was already four o'clock in the morning. He gently got out of bed to get ready to come back to the filming site..
This place is a two-bedroom apartment. Even though he and Qiu Jian are a couple, they sleep in separate rooms. Mainly because he is an actor, it is inevitable that he often gets up early to go to the filming site, which might disrupt the other man in his sleep.
After washing up and heading out of the apartment, Jian Qiaoxin used his phone to book a taxi, then he hurriedly got into the car.
The taxi driver started a quick chat with him: "Young man, you start work early, eh?"
Jian Qiaoxin said: "Yes, you also start early, you're hardworking."
"There is no such thing as hardworking or not, it's all for supporting the family, right?" The driver said with a sigh, "the whole family's meal depends on this."
Jian Qiaoxin looked at the scenery outside the window and said quietly: "Yeah, not everyone has it easy."
The taxi took him all the way to the filming site, he quickly paid the driver and got out. Even so, he was still late today, and those who had makeup on already formed a line for their turn to be in the scene..
This meant he would have less screening time now.
The filming crew was also busy today. Jian Qiaoxin had been running around back and forth throughout this day, when he finally had a chance to take a break, his clothes got all shabby.
One person in the crew shouted: "Xiao Xin, your phone is ringing."
Jian Qiaoxin startled: "'kay, thank you, I'll take a look."
He walked quickly over to his coat and pulled out his cell phone from his pocket, the phone started to ring loudly again.
The caller was his agent Nong Bai, and as soon as he answered the call, a question was thrown his way: "What took you so long?"
"Sorry Brother Nong, I've just finished shooting."
"You haven't finished shooting yet?" Nong Bai's tone was a bit high pitched: "It's just a minor role. You don't need to take it too seriously. Even if you get to show your face, the director might cut it out. Don't expect too much."
Jian Qiaoxin did not get angry: "Brother Nong, I understand what you mean, but whether to cut my scene out or not is decided by the director, but I can decide on my own attitude towards work."
Nong Bai laughed: "Xiao Xin, I can see you also want to be popular, why don't you take on the right path?"
The "right path", Jian Qiaoxin was not a newcomer who had just entered showbiz. He obviously understood its meaning, but he chose to not understand it.
Jian Qiaoxin thought about it for a moment: "Brother Nong, I'm still young, I can try to gain some acting experience with various roles, thank you for your kindness, but I..."
Nong Bai sighed, "Stop, stop, stop. If you don't want to do it, I don't want to force you either, but there is something I must tell you, do you know "Wang Jang Pavilion"?"
Jian Qiaoxin's eyes brightened: "I know."
"Wang Jiang Pavilion" is a large-scale wuxia novel about love and hatred of a generation of children, this novel was written by the most famous contemporary literary writer Liu Yan, the book's fans alone are all over the country by its extreme popularity, and now it is going to be made into a live-action TV series.
"The director of this series is currently looking for actors, I got you an entry to a cocktail party, you go in and gain some connections. Maybe you can get a role in this series, but I did not tell you to dedicate yourself. Don't say that I'm not being nice to you, whether you can get a role or not, it's all up to you. By the way, I recently enlisted a few newcomers. If you can't get a role this time, you should take some time to rest after you're finished filming the current one."
Jian Qiaoxin's fingers turned all white as he held tightly onto his phone, his throat was dry as his mouth opened wanting to say something, but in the end he only managed to utter this sentence: "I...understood, thank you Brother Nong, I'll take this chance."
Taking some time to rest is just another saying for being placed on hiatus; in other words, if he could not get a role in this series, the company would freeze all of his activities.
This cocktail party, he had no other choice but to attend; it was to conquer or to die.
The phone call was hung up with a beeping sound. It was very lively on the filming site, but Jian Qiaoxin's heart was as cold as winter night. He could see a dark road unfolding towards him, and he was standing at one end of the road by himself.
A City - Feng Huazhi Hotel, 19th Floor
There were loud talking voices and sounds of feasting everywhere, it was very lively in this place. This cocktail party gathered all people from all walks of life. The women had exquisite makeup on, and the men were in suits and leathers.
Jian Qiaoxin stood on one of the stairs at the reception, gasping for air. He was not very comfortable with the atmosphere in this place, and the illusion of being suffocated would make him feel even more depressed.
There was some commotion at the entrance, within a short moment, everyone's attention was turning to the entrance.
Under the scattered lights in the hallway, on a magnificent marble floor, a man in a burgundy suit walked in, surrounded by a group of people. He was wearing a smile on his lips, matching with his elegant facial features, the sharp eyebrows added a sense of scornfulness into his appearance.
He was talking with a person next to him, they seemed to discuss something interesting as they both laughed.
Jian Qiaoxin recognized the beer belly man walking next to this elegant man. That person was his target tonight, Wang Can, the director of "Wang Jiang Pavilion".
Half of the people in this party came here to meet Wang Can, hoping they could participate in his new series; however, right now everyone's eyes were still on the man in the burgundy suit.
"Is that President Yan?"
"It really is President Yan, I've heard that he will come, I didn't expect he actually came here. Rumors have it that President Yan is only 26-year-old this year. Even though the one in charge of the Yan Group is the Elder Yan, the one actually in charge of the group is him in the background."
"Don't let his young look fool you, he is quite a devil in the business world, also...I heard that our Elite Circle's Lin Ye is President Yan's uncle. If you're on good terms with President Yan, it means you can enter the Elite Circle."
To ask what the people in the entertainment world want the most: wealth and popularity are just number two; to be able to enter the Elite Circle is the number one. By entering the Elite Circle, one will have a much better opportunity and resources to advance in the showbiz.
Furthermore, if there was a ranking for the giants in A City, Yan Gan would definitely be in the top three.
Jian Qiaoxin eavesdropped on other people gossiping and looked at Yan Gan in deep thought. He is 24-year-old this year, only two years younger than the other man, yet there is such a huge gap in between the two of them.
Across a sea of people, Yan Gan, who was talking with his business partner, suddenly turned his head to look upstairs. His sharp eyes directly confronted Jian Qiaoxin, causing him to get stiffened in place for staring at the man. Obviously Jian Qiaoxin did not do anything bad, but he felt somewhat guilty at such unprecedented action.
Jian Qiaoxin almost choked on his own drink, he coughed lightly and quickly escaped.
Downstairs, Director Wang Can also glanced up suspiciously, "Mr. Yan, what's the matter?"
"Oh, nothing," Yan Gan leisurely took away his gaze, a smudge arose from the corner of his mouth, "I just saw a timid kid."
---
