Chapter 34 – Let It Go

On their way back, when asked about the aftermath, Jiang Ruo said, “I just went back to send some money; otherwise, how could I have returned so quickly?”

This attitude didn’t seem like it belonged to someone with a harmonious family relationship. Xi Yufeng didn’t press further, only saying, “If you need help…”

“How can you always think about helping others?” Jiang Ruo laughed, “You really do look like a rich idiot with too much money.”

Xi Yufeng asked, “Who said I’m a rich idiot?”

Jiang Ruo hurriedly covered his mouth, “Not me, I was just speculating on how people outside might view your support for me.”

Xi Yufeng remained silent on the matter.

After a while, Jiang Ruo said, “It’s really fine. Several jobs came in recently, and now I can finally say goodbye to poverty and move towards a modest life.”

“Look ahead, it’s okay to be greedy,” said Xi Yufeng, “You’ll earn even more in the future.”

Jiang Ruo gladly accepted this promise, then sighed, “I feel like I want to work at your company.”

Xi Yufeng gave him a questioning look.

“Working under a boss like you must fill people with confidence and energy every day.”

“…”

Upon returning to Xi Yufeng’s place, Zheng Yiting sent a message asking if they had time for a short meeting.

Five minutes later, the three-person voice conference began. Jiang Ruo and Xi Yufeng shared a microphone, sitting too close together. Jiang Ruo couldn’t help but tease Xi Yufeng, playing with his fingers one moment and stretching his foot out of his slipper to touch his calf the next, simply unable to sit still.

This forced Xi Yufeng to issue a warning, growling lowly, “Stop fooling around.”

Zheng Yiting, on the other end, probably sensed something, and said with a laugh, “Why don’t we talk tomorrow during the day? It’s nothing urgent.”

Xi Yufeng restrained Jiang Ruo’s wandering hand, allowing her to continue speaking.

Thus, Zheng Yiting summarized briefly, mainly covering three things: an acting training class for Jiang Ruo would start next week, an invitation to participate in a web variety show had been received, and a decent movie script had arrived.

After hanging up the voice call, Jiang Ruo saved the address for the class, opened the electronic version of the script Zheng Yiting had sent, and flipped through it for a while before remembering to ask Xi Yufeng, “That variety show where you date ordinary people, should I go or not?”

Xi Yufeng was about to take a shower, but upon hearing this, he glanced at him sideways, as if saying — do as you please.

Jiang Ruo immediately made his decision, “Dating isn’t as interesting as filming, I won’t go!”

That night, the two didn’t engage in intimacy, lying down early to drift off to sleep.

Closing his eyes, he vividly replayed the scenes from the script in his mind, and Jiang Ruo exhaled deeply, “I’ve decided, I want this role.”

Without waiting for Xi Yufeng to speak, Jiang Ruo preemptively said, “Don’t interfere, let me fight for it myself.”

Xi Yufeng indeed had plans to increase investment and directly insert Jiang Ruo into the production team, but upon hearing this, he paused and asked, “So confident?”

“It’s not about confidence, I want to see how much real talent I have,” said Jiang Ruo, turning to look at the person beside him, “If I’m not good enough, President Xi can step in, after all, it wouldn’t be wasted investment.”

To not use available shortcuts is foolish, and wasting resources is the most shameful thing.

Xi Yufeng chuckled.

In silence for a while, Jiang Ruo asked out of nowhere, “So, how do you think I act?”

Almost without hesitation, Xi Yufeng said, “You’re very talented.”

“It may not be talent, it could be accumulated experience,” said Jiang Ruo, turning to look at the ceiling, “Sometimes I feel like I excessively project my subjective consciousness onto the character; it doesn’t feel like acting, rather, it’s like I’m using the character to vent.”

“As long as you can act well, the method doesn’t matter,” said Xi Yufeng.

Jiang Ruo laughed, “Hey, Xi Yufeng, did you know that right now you sound exactly like a certain type of person?”

“What kind of person?”

“Like a parent with the ‘My baby is the best’ filter.”

“…”

“But you’re right, as long as I can act well, and let more people see it.”

“Mm.”

“Even if I die and reach the gates of heaven, I’ll grab every person going in and ask if they’ve seen my movies.”

Although Xi Yufeng had to admit that sometimes he couldn’t keep up with Jiang Ruo’s thoughts, he could vividly sense Jiang Ruo’s desire for performance from his few words.

Thus, he reached out to embrace him, rubbing his chin against the top of his head.

“Mm,” said Xi Yufeng, “Everyone has to watch your movies.”

Clearly just an appeasing response akin to soothing a child, it still made Jiang Ruo’s heart tremble.

Perhaps due to the recent experience of death, vulnerability was inevitable, and his heart felt loose, as if it would fall off at the slightest touch.

But he thought that in their relationship, there could be dominance and submission, but warmth shouldn’t exist.

Yet this warmth that Jiang Ruo received was truly excessive, so much that he wanted to break it, to tear it apart.

And more than anything, he wanted to grasp Xi Yufeng’s shirt like he was doing now, holding it tightly in his palm.

During the days he spent at home, Jiang Ruo invited An He out for a meal.

Upon hearing the news of his mother’s passing, An He saw that he wasn’t showing any signs of sadness and was instead worried, “If you’re upset, you should say so. The more nonchalant you appear, the more scared I get.”

An He knew a bit about Jiang Ruo’s family situation. And he understood Jiang Ruo’s personality — he was too strong-willed, the more miserable he was, the less he would show it on his face.

After listening to this, Jiang Ruo laughed, “Really, I’m fine. I’ve come to terms with it, love or hate, neither can change the fact that she was my mother. And she, is already dead.”

When he was young, he loved to dig deep and question everything, but as he grew up, no matter how many puzzling things he encountered, he was left with only one phrase — let it go.

Perhaps this was what maturity meant.

What Wu Ping thought, whether she regretted anything in her lifetime, was now unknowable. It was better to burn it all away, scatter the ashes into the sea, let them be devoured by waves, buried by time. Whether good or bad, beautiful or dirty, from now on, they would cease to exist.

Later, they changed to a happier topic.

This time, the location was chosen by An He, apparently a popular restaurant in Feng City, where they waited over an hour just to get a table.

Although Jiang Ruo didn’t think the dishes here were much better than those at Shaxian Delicacies.

The drinks, however, had some character — a beautifully colored cocktail allowed Jiang Ruo to taste coffee, tobacco, and alcohol, especially the base spirit, which reminded him of the whiskey Xi Yufeng fed him that night by the poolside.

Seeing his interest, An He offered that a bartender he previously worked with had set up his own winery, and if he needed good wine, he could contact him to order.

Jiang Ruo took the phone number, asking, “Do they support customization there?”

“When drinking there, they should be able to mix it fresh, but with bottled wines, I’m not sure…”

“What I mean is, can they engrave words on the bottle and such?”

“You’re sending a gift?”

“Mmh, to thank the investor for nurturing me, I’ll work harder next year.”

“…Don’t tell me you’re going to engrave that sentence on the wine bottle.”

“That wouldn’t be necessary, I’ll try to express it more subtly.”

An He observed for a while longer, unable to resist saying, “But looking at your expression, it doesn’t seem like you’re preparing a gift for an investor, it’s more like you’re preparing for a boyfriend…”

“Is that so?” It provided Jiang Ruo with a new idea, “Then I might as well be honest, anyway, the choice is in his hands.”

An He pondered these words, startled, “Are you going to confess?”

Jiang Ruo raised his eyebrows half-seriously, “It’s not impossible.”

To figure out Xi Yufeng’s preferences in drinking, Jiang Ruo took advantage of Aunt Fang coming over to deliver food and specifically asked her.

However, Aunt Fang was also somewhat ignorant about wine, only saying that the whisky Xi Yufeng usually drank should all be scotch, since he studied in the UK, and it was likely his classmates there who corrupted him.

Like all normal elders, Aunt Fang deeply detested Xi Yufeng’s habits of smoking and drinking, and when talking about this, she even wanted to enlist Jiang Ruo’s help to persuade him to quit smoking.

“Xiao Jiang, you’re sensible. When I’m not around him, help me persuade him more. Cigarettes aren’t good, if he can smoke less, he should smoke less.”

“I don’t think he’ll listen to me. Last time I took away a pack of cigarettes, he just opened a new one right away.” Jiang Ruo shrugged, “And actually, I’m not that sensible…I think he looks particularly cool when he smokes.”

Aunt Fang lamented, “Don’t ever say that in front of him, or he’ll smoke even more fiercely.”

Jiang Ruo laughed.

Anyway, before the acting training classes started, Jiang Ruo finalized the wine he was going to send Xi Yufeng.

A single malt scotch, aged 25 years, Jiang Ruo calculated that it was older than his own age.

The winery didn’t have stock, saying it would arrive around Christmas, but fortunately, Jiang Ruo wasn’t in a hurry, thinking it would make a good New Year’s gift.

On the way to the first class, Jiang Ruo relayed what Aunt Fang had told him to Xi Yufeng, “Aunt Fang said that things haven’t been peaceful at home lately. That person and her son have been crying and complaining to the master every day. She advised you to be on guard and beware of falling into their trap.”

After listening to this, Xi Yufeng looked at him, “You and Aunt Fang get along well?”

Jiang Ruo could hear the hidden meaning in these words.

“…” Jiang Ruo said somewhat sullenly, “But this isn’t the point. Anyway, I didn’t ask anything inappropriate, I didn’t ask anything out of line.”

“Who said you asked anything inappropriate?” Xi Yufeng’s tone softened, “Next time, tell her that I have my own plans, she doesn’t need to worry about me.”

The training course that Zheng Yiting registered Jiang Ruo for was offered by the Feng City Film Academy, and the instructors were professors from the college itself. Classes were held twice a week, each session lasting half a day.

This kind of proper academic course was filled with valuable content, extremely demanding on faculty, and therefore not often offered. Because it was rare, once the enrollment news was released, the spots were snapped up.

Most of those who signed up were artists who entered the field halfway through their careers, or newcomers who switched over from related industries. For example, idols transitioning to actors — Jiang Ruo saw the third male lead of “Orioles,” Tang Jiani’s underground boyfriend Su Yi, among them.

They weren’t close, only nodding acquaintances.

Unexpectedly, he met a true acquaintance here. Being patted on the shoulder from behind, he turned to see Song Shiyun, and Jiang Ruo exclaimed in pleasant surprise, “Sister Song, what are you doing here?”

Song Shiyun wore a camel-colored coat today, with a fitted wool skirt underneath, and a beret on her head, playful yet ladylike.

She placed her bag on the empty seat next to Jiang Ruo and sat down, “I said that art is a family, the organization sent me to learn some lens performance techniques, and we’ll see if they can be applied to our stage performances.”

“The organization” naturally referred to the Xinghui Dance Troupe.

Although Jiang Ruo wasn’t afraid of strangers, having someone familiar by his side made him more comfortable.

After a morning of classes, the two exchanged notes to fill in gaps, jokingly calling each other “senior sister” and “junior brother,” finding a bit of the feeling of catching up on homework during school days.

Leaving the classroom together after class, Jiang Ruo seized the opportunity to ask Song Shiyun, “Has anyone contacted you before, asking about my past?”

“Nope,” said Song Shiyun, “If they did, I would definitely have told you.”

It seemed that Xi Yufeng only recorded the names of those who knew, and hadn’t actually contacted them one by one. Jiang Ruo let out a sigh of relief.

At the door, Song Shiyun asked Jiang Ruo where he was going, and Jiang Ruo pointed to the nanny van parked by the roadside opposite, “I have a photoshoot in the afternoon.”

For the sake of keeping a low profile, Jiang Ruo had previously instructed the driver not to park right at the entrance. Other artists also had similar thoughts, so crossing the road and approaching, Jiang Ruo saw several cars parked near the green belt here, hiding under the cover of tree shade.

Coincidentally, the car that came to pick up Su Yi was parked right behind Jiang Ruo’s nanny van.

Jiang Ruo lagged behind, watching Su Yi stride over and open the car door.

Then he didn’t immediately get in the car, but instead shared a passionate kiss with the woman leaning out of the car.

Because he was close, Jiang Ruo could see clearly that the woman wasn’t Tang Jiani.

Sitting in the nanny van, Jiang Ruo hesitated with his phone in hand, but decided to send the photo he had just taken to Tang Jiani.

Just a few days ago, Tang Jiani shared with him the birthday gift her boyfriend Su Yi gave her through WeChat, and said she planned to propose to Su Yi in the New Year.

When asked if it was too early, she said, “Fate is hard to come by, if I don’t secure it quickly, I’m afraid he’ll be snatched away by someone else.”

Whether it was fate or not, Jiang Ruo didn’t know, but being snatched away was already a certainty. Moreover, it was the most despicable affair, and Tang Jiani was clearly still in the dark.

Recalling the car Su Yi got into, Lin Xiao had once informed him that this was a rich woman’s car, and the other party’s family background was likely even better than Tang Jiani’s. His worries on the set of “Orioles” had come true, and Jiang Ruo felt that if he were to lose his job in the future, he could switch careers and set up a fortune-telling stall on the street.

Considering Tang Jiani’s unreserved affection for Su Yi, as well as the scene he witnessed of the two secretly kissing on set, although Jiang Ruo had made up his mind, he still couldn’t bear it.

Hesitating for a moment when taking action, he accidentally chose the wrong person in his haste, sending the photo to An He, who also had a cartoon avatar.

Realizing this, Jiang Ruo broke out in cold sweat, but fortunately, he discovered it in time, and An He should not have seen it.

Unexpectedly, trouble arose out of nowhere, just as he withdrew the photo, An He sent a question mark.

Jiang Ruo: …Did you see it?

An He: You guess.

Jiang Ruo: If you saw it, you saw it. It’s fine between us, just don’t spread it around.

An He: People in their circle are all like this, they don’t have the concept of loyalty.

These words came out of nowhere, leaving Jiang Ruo slowly typing a question mark.

An He: Previously, I thought you knew, because you both signed an agreement, right?

Jiang Ruo still didn’t understand: What do you mean?

An He: Didn’t you notice? Actually, I didn’t see the face clearly either, but I recognize this car. It belongs to Meng Lan.

Before Jiang Ruo could ask, An He continued, “Maybe you only know this person by number and not by name? She’s Meng Chao’s sister, Xi Yufeng’s fiancée.”