So Chang Xiaoyue buried this feeling deep in her heart and quietly followed in Gu Yinqiu's footsteps.
Chen Xingting was indeed not lying to him. Zhang Chaohe's role was actually quite simple. After all, the difficulty in portraying the relationship between Gu Qiu mainly lay in "Chang Xiaoyue." Zhang Chaohe only needed to play his cool and charismatic commander well.
To truly express that sense of fatalistic helplessness and pain, it mainly depends on how Cheng Jixue interprets the character.
Zhang Chaohe held the script in silence for a moment before asking, "May I ask about Chang Xiaoyue's ending in the play?"
Chang Xiaoyue's whereabouts have always been a topic of much discussion. He was like a dazzling but short-lived shooting star, appearing out of nowhere to amaze everyone before disappearing in an instant.
Cheng Jixue thought for a moment: "Gu Yinqiu had already arranged an escape route for him before he was ambushed by the foreign invaders, but Chang Xiaoyue did not accept his arrangement. He deliberately lured the Japanese officer to kidnap him and perform. Although the assassination failed, he still died gloriously on his beloved stage."
Zhang Chaohe felt a little sad, but he was also considering how to portray Gu Yinqiu, a seemingly simple character who constantly drives and shapes the image of Chang Xiaoyue.
Cheng Jixue had carefully selected several scenes with ambiguous undertones, attempting to artificially warm up this wonderful night alone—he knew Zhang Chaohe liked his face very much, but to him, a beautiful appearance was also a part of him, and he was not hesitant to use his beauty to lure His Majesty into the trap of love.
As a result, His Majesty once again pushed aside the half-undressed and flirtatious Consort, and picked up the memorial on the table with unwavering integrity: "No, we won't rehearse tonight. I need to figure out the character of Gu Yinqiu first!"
Cheng Jixue: He angrily picked up his script and returned to his room, not daring to slam the door in protest, so he quietly closed it. However, he paced back and forth in the room, going around in circles ten times, but Zhang Chaohe still didn't make a move... Cheng Jixue held back for a long time, and finally couldn't take it anymore.
He pushed open the door again, only to see Zhang Chaohe sitting upright, earnestly reading the script in his hands with the pious posture of studying Buddhist scriptures.
Cheng Jixue was so angry she almost vomited blood—the president being alone in a room with an artist late at night sounds like it's all too likely to be a sex scandal, doesn't it?
Who would have thought that the CEO was actually reading the script so seriously?
Am I not good enough for a script? Why are you still looking at scripts?!
Cheng Jixue was internally frantic, but his face remained smiling, truly a master of disguise.
He once again put on his tea ceremony act, pretentiously leaning closer to prepare to start fishing, only to see General Manager Zhang straighten up with a cold, aloof expression, just in time to avoid his leaning posture.
"No, I have to ask Director Chen. I always feel that Gu Yinqiu also has some feelings for Chang Xiaoyue."
After saying that, His Majesty suddenly stood up, walked to his desk, picked up his phone, and even looked at the goose-shaped cabbage leaf with affection before exiting the monitoring program and starting to call Chen Xingting.
Cheng Jixue missed her target.
He stood stiffly against the air, looking down at his hands with a sense of existential dread.
He remembered that Zhang Chaohe was initially attracted to his good looks and even tried to keep him as a mistress, right?
So, is it because things are too easy to obtain that we no longer like them?
Is that so?
That idiot guy and your script are a thing of the past.
Cheng Jixue sneered as he took his script back to his room. However, when he opened the script, every word looked strangely grotesque, as if mocking his shattered plans.
To his surprise, Zhang Chaohe suddenly knocked on the door less than ten minutes later. Cheng Jixue hurriedly tidied her sideburns, put on a smiling face again, and went to open the door, her steps light and cheerful: "President Zhang..."
Then he looked down and saw Zhang Chaohe holding the rolled-up script in his hand, saying to him seriously, "I just called Director Chen to ask about Gu Yinqiu..."
Cheng Jixue could no longer hear what was said after that.
His heart was as cold as a stagnant lake, and no matter how much the goose's webbed feet kicked, it couldn't stir up a ripple.
"Just accept your fate," Cheng Jixue thought. "Men are all heartless and ungrateful; and the path to pursuing a goose is always a step-by-step, spiral-upward journey."
⚹
The next day, Zhang Chaohe met up with Cheng Jixue and Xiao Rufei. Except for Zhang Chaohe, everyone seemed to have slept poorly, and they all had dark circles under their eyes.
Only Zhang Chaohe was full of anticipation for his upcoming role in the production team, greeting everyone with great enthusiasm: "Good morning?"
Not very good.
Everyone thought the same thing.
Xiaoru and Sister Fei tossed and turned all night, filled with fear and worry. Meanwhile, Mr. Xie racked his brains trying to figure out how to build a good relationship with Mr. Zhang in the limited time available...
Cheng Jixue, on the other hand, was simply thinking that things could be accomplished by human effort and that human determination could overcome fate.
Even if Zhang Chaohe is a clueless idiot, this isn't entirely without its advantages—after all, he's too high-class for anyone else to have a chance! However, as long as he's more cunning than the others, he'll definitely be able to eliminate the other ill-intentioned people!
The group of people, each with their own thoughts, arrived at Teacher Zhao's house. Although Teacher Zhao's hair was already gray, he was still in good health. He was very happy to see his proud students who had come to visit him, and he personally prepared a large table of dishes.
When Teacher Zhao heard that Zhang Chaohe was Cheng Jixue's lover, she held his hand and looked him over carefully. Although Zhang Chaohe felt unworthy of the title, he still displayed superb acting skills and fully demonstrated the deep affection between him and Cheng Jixue.
Teacher Zhao was overjoyed and praised him several times. Then she expressed her regret that Cheng Jixue had not been able to enter the Provincial Peking Opera Troupe. She sighed and said, "You are just too stubborn... You could have easily gotten into the National Peking Opera Troupe with a simple word. Why are you so fixated on how you got in?"
Fei Jie, who had just said she would be transferred to the National Academy of Fine Arts soon, turned pale—she really didn't understand why the teacher always favored her so much; she had worked so hard for so long but still couldn't compare to Cheng Jixue.
She had clearly reached the pinnacle of young Peking Opera actors, and her life was so outstanding, but it seemed that as long as Cheng Jixue was around, she could only ever be the one who had to settle for second best.
Cheng Jixue shook her head: "I never force things that don't belong to me."
He couldn't change Qian Dan's current restrictive situation, so when Zhou Kui pestered him to become his disciple, he refused without hesitation—he could treat all of this as a hobby because he had everything, but Zhou Kui couldn't.
He needs to think about how to live and eat in the future, and how to live a better life.
This is reality. Perhaps he will become a teacher at a drama school in the future, but he will never personally guide anyone into this industry.
Teacher Zhao sighed—she knew her students too well—and casually steered the conversation towards Sister Fei. Teacher Zhao encouraged her to keep up the good work, saying that the future of Peking Opera rests on their generation, and with the industry declining, the burden on their shoulders is even heavier, requiring them to work even harder.
Before leaving, Teacher Zhao wanted to say a few words to Cheng Jixue alone. Xiaoru rolled her eyes so hard they almost reached the sky, but because Zhang Chaohe was still there, she had to put on a warm smile.
The four of them went outside to wait for Cheng Jixue. President Xie was about to take the opportunity to get closer to him one last time when Zhang Chaohe interrupted him: "I know you don't like Cheng Jixue very much, and you even originally wanted to make things difficult for him that day."
Xiaoru's smile was stiff; the embarrassment of being exposed made her wish she could disappear into a crack in the wall.
Zhang Chaohe continued firmly, "Since neither of you likes each other, then let's not have any contact anymore—from today onwards, don't appear in front of him again, okay?"
Sister Fei nodded vigorously, thinking to herself that Mr. Zhang was so kind, even adding a "May I ask?" to discuss it with them...
She said very sincerely, "Xiaoru and I will definitely disappear."
For Zhang Chaohe, his thinking was very simple.
They did indeed harbor ill will towards Cheng Jixue, and Cheng Jixue did not like them either. Since it was inconvenient for him to say it outright, then he would play the villain!
Since they're all afraid of him anyway, why not go a little further and make them disappear from Cheng Jixue's world altogether?
But he didn't expect that Cheng Jixue was also talking to Teacher Zhao about him inside the room.
What Xiaoru and the others didn't know was that Teacher Zhao's favoritism towards Cheng Jixue wasn't just because of his artistic talent... but also because she was the great-aunt that Ji Boyang had once secretly complained about, "She only likes my second uncle and not me."
Teacher Zhao dedicated her life to the Peking Opera stage and had little desire for material possessions. She and her husband even lived in an ordinary upscale residential community, and outsiders could not tell that she came from a wealthy family.
She was very interested in Zhang Chaohe, but she could tell at a glance that there was a bit of awkwardness and fakeness between the two young people. She teased, "You haven't even won him over yet, and this young man is specially helping you to coax me?"
Cheng Jixue readily admitted, "Yes."
Teacher Zhao laughed so hard she couldn't stand up straight: "You've always been the most clever one since we were little... I didn't believe Xiao Yang when he said your old house caught fire."
“What old house?” Cheng Jixue said reproachfully, “I’m not even 26 yet.”
Now, anyone who mentions his age in front of Master Ji is like pulling the tiger's hair out—last night he even seriously reflected on whether it was because Zhang Chaohe thought he was too old.
Then he suddenly realized that this was just worrying unnecessarily. It must be because Ji Boyang always called him "uncle" and made him feel old!
Teacher Zhao looked at him for a while: "Are you sure?"
Cheng Jixue gave a muffled "hmm".
"Did you let your grandfather take a look at the young man?"
Cheng Jixue thought to herself, "I want to too, but man proposes, God disposes." Zhang Chaohe always managed to overcome all difficulties and then create new ones.
Teacher Zhao knew what was going on, and gave him a few more instructions before letting him leave.
When Cheng Jixue came out, he found only Zhang Chaohe standing outside waiting for him. The young boss was spying on Caiye's life with a camera, so focused that he didn't even notice Cheng Jixue approaching.
"They're gone?" Cheng Jixue looked around.
"Let's go," Zhang Chaohe said, putting his phone away. He clenched his left fist and showed it to Cheng Jixue: "Guess what's here?"
Cheng Jixue thought about it carefully for a while... After applying countless formulas related to geese, she tentatively concluded: "Is it some kind of cute little insect?"
"You guessed right!" Zhang Chaohe opened his palm, revealing a large grasshopper that was almost dizzy from being shaken. It seemed a little unaccustomed to the sudden sunlight, shaking its head for a while before hopping away.
Zhang Chaohe patted the dirt off his hands, and Cheng Jixue chuckled as he took out a wet wipe from his pocket and handed it to him. He gazed tenderly at Zhang Chaohe as he diligently wiped his hands, thinking to himself that he was just too adorable.
"Let's go for seafood barbecue for lunch!" Cheng Jixue suggested. "Then we'll go to the aquarium in the afternoon and go home in the evening."
“There are aquariums everywhere, we can come again whenever we have time.” Zhang Chaohe was very enthusiastic about the seafood barbecue at noon: “How about we go beachcombing this afternoon!”
Cheng Jixue: Never expect a goose to have a romantic soul. He would rather go beachcombing than go to the aquarium, a popular dating spot, with me!
When they arrived at the barbecue restaurant that Cheng Jixue had navigated to, Cheng Jixue took the initiative to select fresh seafood to weigh, while Zhang Chaohe sat obediently at the table and waited—the barbecue restaurant table was almost marinated with sauce, but he did not mind and was still looking at the menu on the table with curiosity.
After all, the menu has many kinds of seafood with strange names.
However, after watching for a short while, he heard an old man's voice beside him: "Young man, are you alone?"
When he looked up, his first reaction was to be struck by how handsome the old man in front of him was—he was wearing a very trendy shiny old-fashioned jacket, and he also had a pair of very handsome and dashing long eyebrows.
It's the kind of long eyebrows that only the God of Longevity in New Year paintings have, making him look like a heroic character such as Zhao Zilong of Changshan or Guan Yu in the old version?
Zhang Chaohe subconsciously stood up and spoke to the elder: "I'm with a friend."
The old man with long eyebrows gave a cold smile. Although he was probably just as handsome as Zhang Chaohe when he was young, the old man's words stunned Zhang Chaohe into silence.
"I lost my wallet, can I have dinner with you?"
Zhang Chaohe: ...
Grandpa, do I look like a complete idiot?
A note from the author:
Xiao Cheng: "Temptation: Stroking a thigh •jpg"
Goose: Give me another hundred catties of memorials!
Thank you for the food, my little cuties!
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 48
When Cheng Jixue returned after ordering fresh seafood, she found only Zhang Chaohe at the table and did not see the old man she had carefully arranged to meet.
Cheng Jixue sat down calmly and handed over the bill: "Is there anything else you like that we haven't ordered?"