How To Say I Love You

Xiao Jia Shu believed in a sentence – if you have never experienced it then your performance is unlikely to be realistic. That’s why after getting the role, he immediately asked his stylist to prepare a mid-length wig and a fake beard and went to mix in with the beggars. He lived in Nan Men plaza like that for three days, didn’t bring a phone, didn’t take his wallet, went to the public restroom or green belt to drink tap water when he was thirsty, begged from passers-by or rummaged the trash can when hungry. Basically, he lived however the beggars lived, totally forgetting himself as the Xiao Pharmaceutical’s young master.

Lasting till the final day he was already hungry which can be noticed by his chest being stuck to his back. He lied on the floor as if he was dough, his skin dirty, clothes smelly, and his former image lost. He looked at the clock tower which was standing at the plaza, secretly giving himself till the end time of this assessment – 12 o’clock, the experience needed to end at 12. As an outstanding actor, you have to experience different kinds of lifestyle, each and every experience will become your precious mental wealth. Hang on little sapling!

After the thought, his eyes lit up with a fire known as “fighting spirit”, but it was quickly extinguished in the next second as it revealed a scared expression. That, that person is not Ji Ge, right?

Even though the night had fallen and the lights were dim, in addition, Ji Mian wore a face mask and hat to hide his identity. But Xiao Jia Shu knew him too well, just by the figure of his back and the way he walked he could recognize who he was. He promptly carried the snake-skin bag on the floor, getting ready to move somewhere else, but Ji Mian turned his head and looked over, eyes scanning his body, and naturally moved away.

Slowly walking there, slowly…… Xiao Jia Shu told himself while staggering. He was almost going to faint from hunger, he could act as a spiritless beggar vividly without having to pretend. Therefore, the best performance isn’t imitation, but to experience the situation yourself, no wonder when shooting movies last time the actors all needed to have group training, making them experience that specific lifestyle when acting that particular role. The result that was filmed afterwards improved one after another.

It’s a shame that the movie industry now has foregone this type of tradition, therefore there are no more spectacular actors or works showing up.

His heart was a mess, as he unknowingly passed by Ji Mian and walked in front. He looked back, where the other person’s silhouette still remained.

As expected, Ji Ge was just passing by. He inwardly let out his breath, after climbing up the footbridge he sat down at the side of the road, waiting for the last few hours to pass by like a dead fish. Once it was 11 p.m., the pedestrians started getting less, he hunched his back and stood up.

First, he folded the snakeskin pouch neatly and clamped it under his armpits. Then he walked down the footbridge shakily. A few drunk youngsters passed by him, as if they were intoxicated by the stench coming from his body, they suddenly became furious, held him and began beating him up.

Things like this happen often to a beggar. They have no power and status, no home to go back to, and were placed at the bottom of society. No one cared if they are dead or alive, naturally, no one would come up and stop this.

Xiao Jia Shu hurriedly curled up his body protecting his head and face, in case he got hit at a vital point. He had interacted with a few beggars these past few days, he knew how to face these types of situations, as long as the vital point was not being hit then it would be fine.

Never think of defying or shouting for help, that will only add to the fury of the abuser. Of course, you can also choose to run away, but the premise is you have to able to outrun them if you run but at the end get caught by them, the only thing welcoming you is punches like the rain. 

Xiao Jia Shu was in immense pain, but he could only grit his teeth and bear with it because it was not 12 o’clock yet. The him now was not Xiao Pharmaceutical’s young master. When one of the abusers lifted a bottle of alcohol and was getting ready to hit him. Suddenly a large and tall man appeared and held the person’s wrist, he said with a low voice, “ I already called the police, I’d advise you to stop what you are doing.”

The few that had survival instincts panicked and threw away the alcohol bottle, running away as fast as they could.

Xiao Jia Shu inwardly let out a sigh, he felt moved. His heart gushed with the fact that the one that saved him wasn’t anyone else, but Ji Ge. As expected Ji Ge is a good person, “roar when you find the unfair, If you should fight, then you must fight. rush in Jiu Zhou with wind and fire ”[1]…… hmm? Why am I suddenly in a good mood? Hmm? Why am I suddenly singing? Xiao Jia Shu had been beaten up till he was out of it, his mind is wandering everywhere.

Ji Mian’s worried expression loosened a bit, the corner of his lips couldn’t stop shaking. It was as if he wanted to bring it down, but it kept going up unconsciously. How could Xiao Jia Shu be so simple-minded? He crouched down, “Are you hurt bad? Are you still able to walk? Do you want me to take you to the hospital?”

“I’m fine, only my head hurts a little bit, thank you, sir!” Xiao Jia Shu used a heavy Hai Nan dialect to answer. He didn’t dare to raise his head, or to lift his chest. He curled his back even more than before, but it doesn’t matter even if he didn’t try to hide it, other people would not be able to recognize his identity from his dirty appearance and decadent look. At least that was the case for Ji Mian. Unless if he possesses a superpower, there is no way that they can find the target in the middle of so many beggars.

“Are you really okay?” Ji Mian furrowed his eyebrows.

“Really, thanks a lot sir!” Xiao Jia Shu said continuously, making his posture humble.

Ji Mian couldn’t bear to watch it anymore, took out a hundred dollars and said, “Take this to buy something to eat.”

“Thank you, sir, sir you are a good person!” A few tears welled up in Xiao Jia Shu’s muddy eyes. It’s been three days, this was the first warmth that he had felt.

Ji Mian lift his hand wanting to pat his head, but hesitantly put down his hand after seeing the hair was in lumps, and changed to waving, then he left soon after. Right at that time, the clock tower had reach 12 o’clock, three days of wandering around have ended, the bodyguards that have been hiding around walked out, and said with lingering fear, “ Mister Xiao, I told you I should’ve followed you tighter but you disagreed, something almost happened just now.”

“Where were the few people that ran away just now?” Xiao Jia Shu held the snakeskin pouch in one hand, and the hundred-dollar bill in the other, expression a bit absent-minded. 

“I have asked Lao Liu to send them all to the police station, Mr Xiao, I have booked a hotel room in the hotel opposite, go and get a shower first, then eat?” the bodyguard felt a sense of respect to young master Xiao.

He originally thought that he wouldn’t withstand the whole three days, who knew that he not only persisted but also performed well, drank tap water when he was thirsty, rummaged through the trash can when hungry. It was certainly harder than the year he went to the army.

“Thank you, it has been hard for you guys these few days. Did you take the video? Show it to me.” Xiao Jia Shu definitely didn’t forget about his assessment.

The bodyguard quickly sent him the video, ”Everything has been recorded. The few students in your class have uploaded their video on to the internet, do you want to upload yours too?” He sincerely thought that those people’s acting and hard work cannot be compared to young master Xiao even by half.

If these few shots of the video were to be uploaded to the internet, it would definitely change the image of young master Xiao. He was not proud, and delicate, it was actually the opposite. His attitude towards work and life was more serious than anyone else, once he has confirmed his goal he will use all of his power to achieve it.

“I won’t upload it.” Xiao Jia Shu determinedly rejected, he then carried the snake-skin pouch and walked into the five-star hotel.

The doorman’s face fell as soon as he saw him when he was getting ready to chase him away, he noticed a brawny guy behind him that looked like it was his bodyguard. He froze on the spot, “ Sir, you……” the doorman had many thoughts running in his head, as cold sweat gathered on his forehead.

The bodyguard took out a room card and waved in front of him, the doorman immediately recovered, while insulting secretly: fuck, the rich people nowadays are getting crazier and crazier! 

Another bodyguard quickly followed from behind, walked to the young master’s side and explained the situation. As there were CCTV’s on the street, the few drunkards have already been detained, they might need to stay for 3 or 4 days in jail before being able to get out.

“Ok, I understand.” The row of people entered the suite, Xiao Jia Shu quickly had a shower, and reported his safety to Xue Miao, and said after pondering, “Mum, I want to donate money to build a home for the homeless. I would also like to set up a charity fund to help them, do you have any ideas to go about this? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, I know, thanks, mum.” He contemplated a while, and said softly,” Mum, thanks for shaping such a good living environment for me to grow up in, I love you.”

The two bodyguards’ eyes became wet after hearing that, luckily they were wearing sunglasses so it didn’t ruin their image.

Xiao Jia Shu earned his mum’s kiss which was full of love, the trauma from these three days had been lessened. He took out the hundred dollar bill and looked at it, he was unable to hold it in at the end, and took a picture of it to post it on Weibo, and added: This is the warmest present I have received for the past twenty years, thanks, sir!

Ji Mian hid at a dark spot and observed Xiao Jia Shu, he found out that there were bodyguards near at his side, only then was he rest assured enough to leave. He went through his phone after going back home and found out a picture of a hundred-dollar bill accidentally as he and Shi Ting Heng followed ‘Don’t lower your head or the little crown will fall off[2]’. Little crown now had a few ten thousand followers, everyone was curious after seeing that post, asking if he thought of money till he went crazy.

This single-minded bun! Ji Mian was speechless, he used a lot of strength to stop his finger from pressing the like button.

The next day, the four students uploaded the assessment video one after another, Huang Zi Jin smiled sarcastically as he said, “Great, the publicity performance got better one after another, there was someone that could even invite Film Emperor Ji, that’s terrific! Xiao Shu, why are you still doing nothing?”

“I dressed up as a beggar, my image was too ugly, how would I have the nerve to release it publicly,” Xiao Jia Shu handed in his USB drive, and reminded, ”Zi Jin Ge look at it privately, don’t spread it out, okay!”

“Come on, I don’t even have a big mouth, I will grade your marks after a bit. Jesse, Jin Shi Jun, you both failed, you don’t need to come anymore, I can’t teach students like you that only resort into deceit.” Huang Zi Jin looked towards Lin Le Yang, “You have barely passed, you were natural at the front half, but argumentative near the end, you didn’t treat yourself as a woman. If I was Ji Mian, I would see through you straight away. Maybe he had recognized you earlier on, but was just playing along with you, who are you fooling with that acting of yours?”

Jesse and Jin Shi Jun were very angry, and left immediately, saying that they want Lao Zong[3] to complain. Huang Zi Jin didn’t care at all, and opened the computer putting in the USB stick, but didn’t expect that Little Tree Seedling[4] was roaming around Nan Men Plaza on the first day. He completely blended into the homelessness’s lifestyle, experienced their hardships and pain. Even when he was getting beat up, he still strictly followed the reactions and behaviours of the homeless, not bothering to even fight back.

Even though he was only meant to be an experience, he actually lived it in reality.

The video was done playing, but Huang Zi Jin couldn’t say anything for a while, Lin Le Yang that stayed back because he was curious was even more shocked.

  [1] Song lyrics from Hao Han Ge.

[2] Don’t lower your head or the little crown will fall off: Xiao Jia Shu’s ID on Weibo. Shorten form is ‘Little crown’.

[3] Lao Zong: Old Boss.

[4] Little Tree Seedling: Xiao Jia Shu’s nickname