Chasing the Light

Liang Xincheng’s movie was wrapped up in the middle of June while Peng Lai’s movie was scheduled to start in early August, so he could still take some time off.

The plane landed in Beijing at 4:30 p.m., and it was almost 6:00 p.m. when he arrived home. Liang Xincheng dragged two large luggage, not letting his assistant take it upstairs. While waiting for the elevator, he silently thought about ordering takeaway at night, when someone behind him reached over and pressed the elevator button again. He subconsciously turned his head to take a look at the other party, and after seeing who it was, he blurted out in surprise: “Xia Yuanhang?”

Xia Yuanhang, who had been lowering his hair and typing on WeChat, lifted his head. When he saw him, he raised his eyebrows: “You live in this building too?”

“Yeah, I live in 901. You’re not moving here, are you?”

The elevator door had already opened, Xia Yuanhang helped Liang Xincheng push the luggages in, pressed the button on the ninth floor, and said with a smile: “Yes, I live in 902.”

Because he had sent Liang Xincheng once before, Xia Yuanhang knew that he lived in this neighborhood. His assistant told him that the new house he found for him was here and Xia Yuanhang didn’t care. But, he didn’t expect that they would become neighbors.

After helping Liang Xincheng bring the luggage into the house, Liang Xincheng invited Xia Yuanhang to sit and went to the kitchen to boil water to make tea, while Xia Yuanhang looked around. The structure of this house was exactly the opposite of the one he rented, but the decoration style was very consistent. It should be the same landlord. Liang Xincheng cleaned up the house very cleanly, everything was neatly arranged, and also did some soft furnishings1I googled 软装布置 and got a different style with if you google soft decoration. Not sure how to translate the style, but it’s something like nordic/scandinavian style . It looked quite warm, very much his personal style.

“You just came back, don’t be busy. Have you had dinner yet?” Xia Yuanhang walked into the kitchen and asked Liang Xincheng casually.

“Not yet, I was going to order takeaway.”

He couldn’t cook. On days when he was not working, he either ordered takeaway or cooked some simple quick-frozen food. But this time he went out to film for a few months, so there was nothing in the refrigerator.

Xia Yuanhang smiled: “It just so happens that I don’t have one either. I said before that I would invite you to dinner, so why not today?”

Liang Xincheng also smiled: “The two of us? Go out to eat?”

It was not impossible, but it was annoying to be photographed.

Xia Yuanhang hesitated a little and proposed: “Let’s order takeout, what do you want to eat?”

“Anything is fine, you decide, ba.”

At the end, Xia Yuanhang ordered a takeaway from Haidilao and asked Liang Xincheng what drink he wanted. As Liang Xincheng said he wanted to drink, Xia Yuanhang smiled uncomfortably and placed the order directly. Liang Xincheng muttered in a low voice: “If the beer has a very low alcohol content, you won’t get drunk.”

An hour later, the takeaway was delivered. They sat at the table together, eating and chatting about their experiences. Liang Xincheng talked about his experience of filming outside, and then asked Xia Yuanhang: “When will your new drama start? I see it’s already been officially announced.”

“I’ll join the crew next week.”

Liang Xincheng nodded: “Then I wish you all the best.”

After eating and drinking, there was still a lot of beer left. Liang Xincheng turned on the TV and chose a station that was broadcasting a variety show. He sat on the carpet in front of the sofa with Xia Yuanhang, drinking beer and watching TV to pass the time.

“This host is very funny, very frank.”

Liang Xincheng was amused by the jokes thrown by the host on TV. Xia Yuanhang shook his head: “I have worked with him. He is very serious in private, it is very different from the stage.”

Liang Xincheng tilted his head and smiled cheerfully with the corners of his mouth still stained with beer foam: “Many people are two kinds of people before and after you meet them. This is normal ah.”

Xia Yuanhang glanced at him and then subconsciously looked away: “What about you? Are you the same before and after people meet you?”

“En…what do you think?”

“…I don’t know.” Xia Yuanhang really didn’t know. He actually knew very little about Liang Xincheng, and most of his original inherent impressions were prejudices.

“I understand, we are not familiar with each other.” Liang Xincheng took a sip of beer, as if it was just a casual sigh.

Xia Yuanhang’s lips moved, trying to explain, but it seemed that he couldn’t explain anything at all.

He didn’t think there was anything wrong with the original sentence ‘I’m not familiar with him, Liang Xincheng is too complicated, he has too many thoughts. He is not suitable for deep friendship’ when he said it before. But whenever he thought about it now, it always made him feel uneasy.

They tacitly did not continue this topic. Xia Yuanhang casually picked up the book resting on the coffee table in front of him and flipped through it. It was a novel titled ‘Little Er Bao’s Miracle and Fantasy World’. Xia Yuanhang remembered that this novel was quite popular when he was studying. At that time, boys and girls in the class loved to read it, and it was often passed around to each other. He also had read a little bit.

This novel was actually quite on the chuunibyou2Chūnibyō is a Japanese colloquial term typically used to describe early teens who have grandiose delusions, who desperately want to stand out, and who have convinced themselves that they have hidden knowledge or secret powers. side and had a big brain hole, but the protagonist’s unconstrained fantasy was really interesting.

Unexpectedly, after many years, he would still see this book at the home of Liang Xincheng, who had been an adult for a long time. It was even placed on the coffee table in the living room. It looked like it was often flipped through with the pages of the book already having a lot of creases.

“Do you like reading this kind of novel?”

Liang Xincheng was probably tipsy. His face was tinged with a circle of red as he squinted at Xia Yuanhang with a smile: “Yeah, I like it very much. This is my favorite novel. It’s the latest version I bought last year. I bought two copies, one for collection and one for reading.”

Xia Yuanhang felt inexplicably soft-hearted after being stared at by him, that the corners of his mouth involuntarily rose: “Really? Is it really that good?”

Liang Xincheng nodded: “Although Little Er Bao is inferior and an introvert, he is very brave. He can try anything he wants and make the impossible possible. Even if good luck didn’t favor him at first, it was on his side in the end, and all his fantasy worlds became reality. How wonderful, ah. I also want to be like him, strive for what I want. Even if there is no hope at all, how do I know if I don’t try…”

Xia Yuanhang was sure that Liang Xincheng was really drunk, otherwise he wouldn’t tell him this. He was a little curious: “Do you have low self-esteem and are introverted?”

Liang Xincheng raised his hand and wiped his face: “I used to be that when I was studying. I was thin and short so I was always bullied. No one played with me. Anyway, you wouldn’t understand even if I tell you.”

Xia Yuanhang really didn’t understand. In his impression, Liang Xincheng had always been sophisticated and tactful. He mixed up like a fish in this circle and he could handle everyone with ease. It was really hard to imagine what he said about his low self-esteem and introversion.

Xia Yuanhang knew that they were students from the same school in high school, but during his student days he had no interactions with this junior who was two years below him. So, he couldn’t imagine what Liang Xincheng would be like at that time.

“My greatest wish is to put this novel on the screen, and I will act it by myself. It would be great if it could come true.”

Liang Xincheng sighed softly. Xia Yuanhang did not intend to make him feel bad, but still could not help but say the truth: “It’s hard, ba…”

This kind of chuunibyou novel, which was popular ten years ago, was now long out of date. No investors will take it seriously.

“I know, I just want to think about it; can’t I make enough money to shoot it by myself in the future?”

“Well, there will be such a day.” Xia Yuanhang didn’t want to say any more depressing words, and patted him on the back. “As long as you have hope, it may come true someday.”

Liang Xincheng chuckled softly, and unconsciously leaned in front of Xia Yuanhang, so close that Xia Yuanhang could almost smell the alluring smell of wine in his breath as he spoke: “Thank you.”

“Thank me for what?”

“In short, just thank you.”

 

T/N: hi, i missed updating but i was so busy with practice for some competition these past two months (it was a very sudden decision tbh) so i didn’t have much energy left to update this. but now that the competition is over, i can continue updating this. anyway, there’ll be update another update tomorrow!

1I googled 软装布置 and got a different style with if you google soft decoration. Not sure how to translate the style, but it’s something like nordic/scandinavian style 2Chūnibyō is a Japanese colloquial term typically used to describe early teens who have grandiose delusions, who desperately want to stand out, and who have convinced themselves that they have hidden knowledge or secret powers.