Chapter One: Unfulfilled Ambition

  He put down the phone and sat on the bed, suddenly feeling a little dizzy.

  These past few months, everything has flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern. The filming of the first play since his rebirth is about to end, and he has an indescribable feeling.

  He picked up the phone, opened the phone book, and saw several names on it: CAMI, Hua Lingrong, Sun Lei, Cai Dekuan, He Jiong, Zhao Wei... As he looked at the last one, his mouth curled up.

  Qin Xin

  He dialed the phone "Tuzi."

  "Who is the rabbit?!" Qin Xin expressed his greatest anger.

  Lin Xiao ignored her "Want to go out for a midnight snack tonight?"

  "Eat!" Qin Xin responded very briefly, but hesitated immediately "Forget it..."

  "Hehe, no big deal, just strolling around in the village, not eating anything, won't get fat."

  Qin Xin had been doing ideological work for a long time and finally compromised.

  So, when he was walking on the country road in his slippers, he saw Qin Xin under the old street lamp at the village entrance, shrouded in dim light.

  She was wearing a light beige loose sweater with an open neckline, revealing the delicate clavicle inside, and under the support of a piece of fair skin, a delicate golden necklace hung around her neck.

  "It's true what the ancients said, 'A beauty is best appreciated under lamplight.' Lin Xiao whistled softly, and at this moment, Qin Xin, quiet and still in the soft glow of the lamp, had a delicate beauty that seemed untouched by worldly desires."

  Hearing the whistle, Qin Xin turned her head and smiled slightly.

  Lin Xiao's smile froze for a moment.

  "I just now understand what 'a glance and a smile can charm the world' means." He said with a bitter smile, earlier he really had a feeling of being electrocuted.

  "Long time no see?" He walked over and pretended to sniff "Even put on makeup? So fragrant?"

  "It wasn't long after that... but she just didn't remove her makeup." Qin Xin's face turned red. She also didn't know why, as soon as the other person said to go out and walk around, she decided to put on makeup again.

  Haven't removed your makeup? Lin Xiao chuckled and didn't expose her. The two of them slowly walked towards the outskirts of the village together.

  The atmosphere was quiet and peaceful, the night wind whistling across the grassland, the stars twinkling, and the silver moon like a plate. Neither of them spoke, as if they were both immersed in this tranquil beauty.

  "I'm leaving tomorrow." Lin Xiao looked at a twinkling star and finally said.

  "Oh." Qin Xin also followed his gaze to look at the same star, consciously or unconsciously responding.

  "Back to Beijing, Huaxia Film and TV, next may go to Hong Kong."

  "Oh."

  "It's also possible that I'll be staying in Beijing for a while."

  "Oh."

  Ask one answer, ask concisely and answer conveniently.

  Qin's heart was very calm, a vague something was sprouting, but she didn't want to recognize what it was, only feeling that this feeling was very comfortable.

  Lin Xiao also felt very comfortable, and his words were brief. His itinerary was unknown to both CAMI and Li Hao, but at this moment, he had a desire to confide in someone.

  The two sat down, and the grassland was very flat. At this time, it really matched the atmosphere of "the sky as a curtain and the earth as a bed".

  In her previous life, Lin Xiao had seen "the most romantic thing", one of which was to kiss under the starry sky on the grassland, as if all the gods in heaven were witnessing for them, although there was no one, but it was especially solemn.

  It wasn't until he withdrew from his thoughts that he realized he had already grasped Qin Xin's soft hands.

  He was stunned, what happened?

  Everything was so natural, as if it were a daily occurrence, that he himself didn't even feel it. Even Qin Xin hadn't reacted yet, unaware of when they had started holding hands.

  "Whatever, it's fine." He felt Qin Xin's temperature, a bit hot, a bit moist, very smooth. His eyes smiled, and when he looked over, he happened to see the other person's gaze.

  No disguise, no embarrassment, Qin Xin also knew they were holding hands.

  No one apologized either.

  Some things just appear without any warning signs. Maybe in a different place, it can't happen again.

  "Thank you," Qin Xin said softly after a long silence.

  "It's unnecessary." As if influenced by this quiet and warm atmosphere, Lin Xiao's voice also lowered, he knew what the other person was saying.

  "Will we meet again?" Qin Xin suddenly asked with sparkling eyes.

  "Of course."

  Lin Xiao grasped her hand tightly, but Qin Xin pulled it out and took off a chain from her wrist.

  "This is for you."

  Lin Xiao received it.

  "Look, fireflies." He whistled, and on the pitch-black grassland, from time to time, a few twinkling lights flew up, hovering in mid-air, as if they were sprites dancing around.

  "Really beautiful... At the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, you can still see fireflies." Qin Xin murmured.

  Lin Xiao looked at Qin Xin's warm and moist lips, red and plump, and really wanted to kiss them in one go. In the end, he just pressed his thumb against them gently.

  Qin Xin was slightly startled, but then smiled faintly, her two beautiful dimples especially captivating.

  The night wind suddenly rises, slowly sending people into dreams, also ruffling a pool of spring water.

  Luo Li is an entertainment reporter who has been in the industry for over three years, but unfortunately, he doesn't have any impressive reports to show off.

  He paced back and forth outside the Kangxi drama crew, not daring to go in. Everyone knew that Chen Jialin was very strange towards people outside the crew, so he didn't dare to touch this unlucky person.

  But his heart at this moment is like being scratched by a cat, and it's a group of cats. If there was only one, it would be Garfield.

  It wasn't just him, all the entertainment reporters were restless, their eyes fixed on the entrance of the crew, and every time someone came out, everyone's gaze would suddenly shine like a searchlight, but then they would be disappointed and withdraw again.

  At least a dozen journalists stood at the entrance, each holding different magazines in their hands.

  "A Li." A small mustache walked over, patted his shoulder and sighed, saying "Come back this afternoon, Chen Jialin's crew has always been very mysterious. Don't mention us, even the big-name reporters from 'Ming Ri Xing Wen' can't get in. This isn't a good way to do things."

  Luoli snorted in annoyance and opened the "New Star Strip" in her hand, pointing at a large version on it with dissatisfaction. "Such a good opportunity, how can you just let it go!"

  "Insider Makeup Artist Exposes: Behind the Scenes of Kangxi, a Dark Hand Reaches Out to Newcomers from Investors!"

  Xiao Huzi also opened another magazine in his hand, with a large spread on the cover "Newcomer infighting, how hard is it to stand out?"

  The makeup artist who had her face revealed but with black lines covering her eyes was surprisingly Liu Yiyi.

  "A Li, this kind of news is hard to expose. Although it's not a big deal for the crew, but for ordinary readers, it's the most delightful news. But once such a thing happens, the crew will definitely shut down and keep a low profile. It's not easy for someone in the circle to reveal it."

  "Take another look." Luo Li reluctantly looked at the entrance of the crew and said, "You said we've memorized the photos of all relevant personnel, how can one person not be seen..."

  He hadn't finished speaking, but his words came to an abrupt halt, as if a large egg had been stuffed into his mouth. His eyes stared fixedly at the door, and then he suddenly grabbed the camera microphone and took off like a madman.

  "What the hell is this?" Little Huzi looked puzzled and followed Luo Li's direction, suddenly he also shuddered and ran over.

  But he was too late, when he arrived at the entrance of the crew, the person who just came out had already been surrounded by seven or eight people.

  "I'm a reporter from Entertainment Weekly, what's your take on today's news of multiple papers exposing the new artist's infighting?"

  "I'm a reporter for mass entertainment! Is it really like what's written in the newspaper?"

  "Are investors suppressing newcomers and taking advantage of old actors? What is the truth behind this?"

  Lin Xiao had just walked out of the crew when he was immediately surrounded by a group of people. He only brought a pair of sunglasses with him, and hadn't expected this to happen at all.

  A hundred secrets, one leak. He sighed, yesterday's pleasant time with Qin Xin made him forget that he had to go to the airport early this morning to buy a ticket, and now he had forgotten about Liu Yiyi and Bai Qing's grudge, they would definitely expose this matter immediately.

  So it's reasonable for journalists to lay siege at the gate.

  A dozen or so microphones, like a dozen guns, were pointed at him. Every reporter's face was flushed with excitement, as if they had been injected with chicken blood. None of them had expected to actually meet the person involved in this matter today.

  "It's actually not as complicated as you imagined. The specific thing is that I was taken to the makeup artist for makeup, and then the makeup artist used Gong Jie's makeup products."

  "I heard that your makeup location was originally Chen Daoming's teacher! Is this true?"

  "Is it true that Gong Xuehua's makeup set worth over 10,000 was completely scrapped?"

  "Was it true that Director Chen Jialin later flew into a rage and became enemies with the investors?"

  When they heard his ambiguous words, the reporters would not let go and immediately asked him intensively.

  "The makeup room for the crew is shared, wherever there are fewer people, they go there to make up, and there's no special one. As for Gong Jie's makeup products, I don't know the price of course. Director Chen has always been very gentle, where does this talk of turning against each other come from?"

  The reporters looked at each other in dismay. Luo Li gritted his teeth, and Lin Xiao, who was only 20 years old, gave such a slick response?!

  He reluctantly asked, "So you're saying that there's no hierarchy in the crew? Anyone can just go to any makeup room and get made up?"

  This is a typical distortion of right and wrong. Lin Xiao furrowed his brow, if he said it was, it would seem that Chen Jialin was magnanimous, but Chen Daoming had no status; if he said it wasn't, then Chen Daoming was being arrogant, and Chen Jialin had no way out.

  As soon as Luo Li opened his mouth, other reporters immediately followed suit and started firing questions too.

  "Is Director Chen always so calm because the investors are too powerful?"

  "I heard there's also a DV recording of the actual scene this time? Who has it?"

  "I'm very sorry," Lin Xiao said. "I'm just a small actor, how could I possibly know about these things? I've already told you everything I know. I have to rush to catch a plane back to the company, there's an urgent matter."

  Luoli slowly withdrew his head, and the other party's identity, Liu Yiyi and others all burst out, a newcomer, how could he know these inside stories, even if he was involved, it would be vague and incomprehensible.

  It seems that we still have to wait for the old actor to come out and ask again. The reporters were a bit disappointed, asked a few casual questions, and finally let Lin Xiao go.