Chapter 136: Good News
Xuan Xia still remembered the day Ren Tongli left Yanjing; Qu Xingxuan was so happy he almost went to buy firecrackers to set off, and even forwarded her the secretly filmed scene of Ren Tongli leaving.
He’s only been gone a few days, so how come he’s back already?
What did he come back for?
“Qu Xingxuan: I want to know too. They’re holding a welcome feast for Ren Tongli tomorrow, and I’ll go as well. Wait for me to check things out and then I’ll tell you.”
They’re even holding a welcome feast?
Xuan Xia rolled her eyes dramatically.
She immediately replied to Qu Xingxuan: “Alright then, I’ll wait for your message.”
After replying, Xuan Xia thought about it and still told Hu Yue this news.
Regardless of whether Ren Tongli would continue to pester Hu Yue this time, notifying her first would at least let Hu Yue be prepared.
Hu Yue quickly replied with a message, thanking Xuan Xia for the notification, and said she would be careful.
Xuan Xia sighed while messaging Hu Yue: “Contact me anytime if there’s a problem. Or just check in to say you’re okay.”
“Hu Yue: Okay.”
“Stop sighing. Failing the audition isn’t a big deal.” Ji Ziyao thought she was sighing over the audition.
Xuan Xia glanced at him, hesitated, and decided not to refute it.
***
Xuan Xia hadn’t told anyone else about her audition, but to her surprise, just before bed that night, she suddenly received a call from Director Pan.
Director Pan asked her directly over the phone: “Xuan Xia, did you go audition for Worldly Fireworks?”
Xuan Xia’s first thought was, is the directors’ circle really that small?
She replied very politely right away: “Yes, Director Pan, I went for the audition this afternoon.”
After a pause, she couldn’t help but ask: “Director Pan, how did you know?”
Director Pan hummed and didn’t hide it: “Director Wan and I have known each other for quite a while. He happened to know you’d just finished cooperating with me, so he specially called to ask about your situation.”
“Ah, I see.”
The directors’ circle really is quite small.
But the key point should be that Director Wan actually asked Director Pan about her?
Xuan Xia didn’t know how to interpret Director Wan’s inquiry for a moment—why ask Director Pan about her?
And what exactly did he ask about?
While she was pondering, Director Pan asked from the other end of the line: “Xuan Xia, how do you think you performed at the audition?”
This question…
Xuan Xia hesitated, not knowing how to answer for a moment.
If she didn’t remember the director frowning, Xuan Xia might have said she felt she did well.
Director Pan seemed to know she was conflicted and reassured her: “No worries, we’re just chatting. Feel free to speak boldly.”
With that, Xuan Xia spoke boldly.
“I think I performed okay, but I saw Director Wan frowning the whole time, so I must have been overconfident.”
Director Pan laughed upon hearing this. “That’s just how he is.”
“Ah?”
Director Pan explained with a smile in his voice: “Director Wan loves to act on the surface; he doesn’t want people to figure him out completely. Whether you perform well or poorly, he always has that expression.”
After explaining, he said to Xuan Xia, “You’re too young. With little experience, you got fooled by him.”
Xuan Xia: “…”
“Director Wan is pretty impressive then,” Xuan Xia said dryly.
Director Pan laughed a few more times before finally telling her the purpose of the call: “Director Wan is quite satisfied with you.”
Yes, Director Pan was calling to share the good news.
Xuan Xia: “Ah?”
“But there were some rumors online before, so he came to ask my opinion.” Director Pan said: “Let me do a quick calculation—earliest tomorrow, latest in a few days, and you’ll get the notification.”
Xuan Xia was stunned for a few seconds, then said: “Director Pan, I was just about to sleep.”
Director Pan was puzzled: “Hm?”
Xuan Xia said: “Don’t trick me, or I’ll have insomnia for nothing tonight.”
Director Pan burst out laughing and said grumpily: “Do you think I specially contacted you just to joke? Let me tell you, if you join Director Wan’s crew, you have to treat me to a meal later.”
“Of course that’s fine,” Xuan Xia agreed immediately.
Director Pan then expressed satisfaction and gave Xuan Xia another reassurance: “Just relax. Director Wan always has the final say on casting.”
“Mm. Thanks, Director Pan.”
“No need to thank me; you can’t escape that meal anyway.” Director Pan emphasized, “When you get a good opportunity, remember to seize it and perform well. And don’t forget me, your first collaborating director. If there are suitable scripts and roles in the future, I hope you won’t mind.”
“Director Pan! Saying that makes me feel so honored. I’m the one who should shamelessly recommend myself to you, hoping you’ll give me more opportunities in the future.”
“If you put it that way, I’ll really take you up on it. If the next film fits, I’ll really contact you.”
“Great.”
……
The two exchanged more mutual professional compliments for a while before the call ended.
As soon as the call with Director Pan ended, Xuan Xia quickly called Ji Ziyao and told him the news Director Pan had shared.
Ji Ziyao had already gone to bed, but upon hearing the news, he sat up in surprise right away.
He hurriedly said: “Then why are you calling me? Hang up quick. Don’t delay me getting the call from Director Wan’s side.”
Xuan Xia rolled her eyes speechlessly. “Please check the time. Would Director Wan’s side call you in the middle of the night?”
Ji Ziyao checked the time and realized he was so surprised he’d forgotten.
He lay back down and suddenly felt the bed become much more comfortable.
He sighed comfortably and said: “Not bad, not bad. I told you you’d be fine.”
Xuan Xia mercilessly exposed him: “No, you didn’t say that. You said I definitely wouldn’t get it.”
Ji Ziyao: “…”
Is that the point? Of course not.
Xuan Xia remembered that Director Pan had promised to consider her for suitable roles in his next film, so she shared that with Ji Ziyao too.
Ji Ziyao wasn’t surprised by this, as it was well-known in the industry that Director Pan liked to reuse actors he was satisfied with; he’d even mentioned it to Xuan Xia before joining the crew.
After chatting for a bit, Ji Ziyao urged Xuan Xia to control her emotions and go to sleep quickly, since there was filming tomorrow.
Xuan Xia agreed verbally, but this surprise was really hard to contain.
The last time she felt this way was when she successfully received the admission letter from Jiang University.
But that time she had expectations, so it wasn’t as surprising as this.
With this surprise, Xuan Xia didn’t fall truly asleep until dawn began to break in the east.
Fortunately, her scenes the next day were in the afternoon, so she could sleep in a bit in the morning to rest.
But she didn’t sleep too long either, because Director Pan said the earliest notification from Director Wan’s side could come today.
Xuan Xia calmed down later and thought that until she actually got the call, she couldn’t be too optimistic. What if?
The whole day, Xuan Xia and Ji Ziyao spent waiting.
Unfortunately, by the time night fell and the film crew wrapped, they still hadn’t gotten the call.
After a full day and into the night, Xuan Xia had completely calmed down.
Ji Ziyao rubbed his face and calmed down too.
***
Around seven in the evening, Xuan Xia received a message from Qu Xingxuan.
“Qu Xingxuan: I’m about to head out. Wait for me to report the firsthand news to you.”
He was going to attend Ren Tongli’s welcome feast.
Xuan Xia realized she hadn’t asked who was hosting Ren Tongli’s welcome feast.
After sending the question to Qu Xingxuan, she quickly got a reply.
“Qu Xingxuan: Who else? The Cui Family, of course. It’s Cui Cheng Zhi; Ren Tongli is clinging to Cui Cheng Zhi’s thigh.”
Xuan Xia replied with an “oh.”
She remembered this “Cui Cheng Zhi”—ranked second on the performance chart.
She even more remembered that the one ranked first was called Cui Chenglou.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t had the opportunity to meet either of them yet.
She recalled once wanting to suggest to the person who made the performance chart to add personal information, and since Qu Xingxuan was going to the welcome feast, she simply asked if he could take photos of Cui Cheng Zhi and the others so she could recognize them.
“Qu Xingxuan: That’s easy. I’ll take some for you later.”
Xuan Xia was satisfied and casually told him to have fun before putting down her mobile phone to continue reading the script.
Because she’d been too excited last night, she felt sleepy earlier tonight, but Xuan Xia still held out, first asking Ji Ziyao if there’d been a call. After getting a no, she went to sleep with disappointment.
When she woke up, it was a new day, and Xuan Xia’s first thing was still to ask Ji Ziyao about the situation.
The answer was unchanged.
Xuan Xia: Sigh.
Though disappointed and let down, it didn’t make Xuan Xia lose her direction, because she had to shoot her final scene.
Modern drama makeup and styling was less troublesome than period drama, so Xuan Xia quickly got ready and waited on the side for departure to the filming location.
Bored, she scrolled her mobile phone and then realized that Qu Xingxuan hadn’t reported any news since going to the welcome feast, nor replied to her later messages.
Before bed last night and after waking up today, she’d messaged Qu Xingxuan asking about the situation, but never got a reply.
Could it be that he had too much fun at the welcome feast and still wasn’t awake?
Xuan Xia checked the time on the display, and it was indeed still sleeping-in time.
But it just didn’t seem like Qu Xingxuan’s style, so she thought about it and simply dialed his number directly.
The empty ringing went to the end, and the call wasn’t answered.
Xuan Xia couldn’t help but “tsk,” feeling inexplicably irritated.
She dialed again, but the situation was the same.
This was suspicious.
Unwilling to speculate wildly, with Qu Xingxuan’s number not answering, she directly called Yuan Zhongshu.
This guy better not have any issues!
Fortunately, Yuan Zhongshu’s call connected.
“Uncle Yuan, is Qu Xingxuan there?” Xuan Xia skipped the small talk and asked directly about Qu Xingxuan.
“Xingxuan? Didn’t he go to the Cui Family’s welcome feast?”
Yuan Zhongshu was puzzled that Xuan Xia was looking for Qu Xingxuan—shouldn’t she know too?
After hearing Yuan Zhongshu, Xuan Xia became the puzzled one. “Wasn’t it last night’s welcome feast? How many days does a welcome feast last?”
Yuan Zhongshu laughed. “These young people love to play. The welcome feast is just a name; I heard they’re camping in the mountain and coming back tonight.”
“Ah, I see.” Xuan Xia couldn’t help but complain about Qu Xingxuan for not explaining clearly to her.
The welcome feast she imagined was just eating at a hotel and then everyone going home.
She hadn’t expected them to go to the mountain.
That could explain why Qu Xingxuan’s phone wasn’t connecting and he wasn’t replying to messages.
Poor signal in the mountain.
Xuan Xia breathed a sigh of relief, chatted briefly with Yuan Zhongshu, and quickly ended the call because they were about to head out for filming.
She’d caught the “want a weekend off” bug. Sigh.
