FLME Ch7: Dinner Gathering

Towards the evening, Yu Wen received another message from Xie Heyu.

The male and female leads had a relatively high status and possessed RVs provided by their companies. Aside from them, all other staff and artists were uniformly arranged to stay in a hotel not far from the filming location. Yu Wen was naturally one of those eating from the communal pot.

He didn’t have any scenes scheduled for tonight, so he was able to knock off work early. He had just bought a bag of fruit at a street stall when a message popped up from the blurry silhouette profile picture.

[Just finished class. Going to pick you up now. I’ll be a bit late, sorry.]

This short sentence expressed a massive amount of information.

Yu Wen stood under the streetlamp, frowning in deep thought. For the first time, he couldn’t keep up with Teacher Xie’s train of thought. He absolutely refused to admit that he had a generation gap with a college student and firmly believed there was an information gap here.

Yu Wen: [Thank you, kind Samaritan. But it only takes Xiao Yu a ten-minute walk to get from the filming location to the hotel.]

To keep it from sounding too stiff, he immediately followed up with two memes:

[Kitten_sprinting.jpg]

[Kitten_dashing.jpg]

Xie Heyu: [Xie Jiamao told me to pick you up for a dinner gathering. He didn’t tell you?]

Yu Wen switched back to his chat with his boss to double-check, then replied with certainty: [He hasn’t leaked a single word.]

His boss’s lips were sealed tight.

Why was he mingling in the entertainment industry? He should have gone into espionage.

After waiting a few minutes, no new messages popped up in the chat window. Yu Wen guessed that Xie Heyu was currently wearing a wooden expression, an ellipsis floating above his head as he talked to the boss on the phone.

He stood where he was and waited. Even though the boss forgot to inform the person involved, Xie Heyu’s message came very timely; he was definitely already on his way.

Sure enough, in no time, a call from Xie Jiamao came through: “Xiao Yu, sorry, sorry, I forgot to tell you! You don’t have anything else going on, right? Come over for dinner…”

The boss was full of chicken blood, passionately looking forward to the future. In just a few sentences, Starlight Media had already entered the Fortune 500.

He really was someone who acted on every passing whim, and this dinner was clearly decided at the last minute. From his words, one could tell it was an internal company dinner.

But this was an honest boss who paid his social security and housing fund every month, and even covered accommodation!

What could Yu Wen do? Naturally, he forgave him with overflowing enthusiasm!

He waited for Xie Heyu under the streetlamp, peeling an orange out of boredom. When Xie Heyu arrived, Yu Wen was currently ascending to heaven on the spot from the sourness of the orange, his face—exquisite enough to rival a comic book character—scrunched up into a ball.

Xie Heyu: “…What’s wrong?”

Yu Wen was squatting on the ground, his free hand clenched into a fist, his eyes and brows drooping in the shadows, making them hard to see clearly.

“I think I’m going to die…” After a long while, he sorrowfully squeezed out a sentence, raising his teary eyes. “Died from sourness!”

Xie Heyu: “…”

Xie Heyu had just come from school. His upper body wore a simple T-shirt, the collar revealing his sharp collarbones. His hair was fluffy and messy, and standing there, he looked like a cluster of pine and bamboo.

The cool guy was rarely at a loss. He subconsciously reached into his pockets, putting two empty hands in and pulling two empty hands out. Finally, he went back to his car and dug out a breath-freshening mint.

On the way back, Yu Wen sucked on the mint and didn’t open the plastic bag of fruit even once.

He had clearly tasted one before buying, and the stall owner had patted his chest, vowing that every single one was just as sweet.

God damn it, he wanted to call the police and have that scammer arrested!

Although he had a peaceful temperament, Yu Wen was actually a little bit delicate when it came to his daily life. After all, he was considered pampered since childhood.

Just take his eating habits for instance.

He didn’t eat cilantro, nor anything with a cilantro flavor; there could be scallions, ginger, and garlic in the dish, but he couldn’t be allowed to see the scallions, ginger, and garlic; vegetables had to be fresh; he didn’t like eating meat, especially pork and chicken; fruit had to be juicy, not too sweet, not too sour, and definitely not flavorless…

He was very nitpicky, and for this reason, he had been beaten countless times by his mother and older sister.

There were only a few types of fruits he was willing to eat—non-sour oranges, and the tips of strawberries. It wasn’t much to begin with, and after being brutally deceived this time, he felt he had acquired psychological trauma and decided not to eat fruit for the next month.

Yay.

At a red light, Xie Heyu’s gaze glanced over through the rearview mirror. Yu Wen unexpectedly met his eyes. In an instant, his scalp went cold, feeling a sense of guilt as if he were being stared down by an emissary of justice.

“Are you… a picky eater?”

Yu Wen: “Absolutely not.”

“Mn.”

Xie Heyu didn’t press the matter, which allowed Yu Wen’s suspended heart to settle down.

Halfway there, the boss called. Xie Heyu put it on speaker. Xie Jiamao was currently strolling through the supermarket, rambling on and asking what ingredients he should buy. Next to him was an irritable voice that sounded exceptionally familiar.

“Any dietary restrictions?”

It was such an abrupt question out of nowhere that it took Yu Wen a moment to realize he was being asked.

He hesitated, then said tactfully, “Quite a few…”

The other party fell silent.

Passing a traffic light intersection, the car stopped before a crosswalk. Xie Heyu picked up his phone and sent a message.

Yu Wen’s phone vibrated.

[Tonight’s menu. Add what you like to eat. You can write your dietary restrictions at the end.]

What a nice guy.

Yu Wen was moved by Teacher Xie’s meticulous attention to detail.

And at this moment, he unilaterally elevated their friendship to an unattainable height.

Yu Wen deleted and revised, trying his best to satisfy his precious stomach without affecting the others.

Xie Heyu scrolled down the message. Taking only one look at his “dietary restriction dissertation”, he directly deleted four or five dishes from the menu.

The boss grumbled on the other end of the phone, dissatisfied with the crossed-out menu.

Teacher Xie was concise: “Teacher Yu is a picky eater.”

Yu Wen: “…”

“What? Picky eater? Is it serious?” Xie Jiamao’s tone was uncharacteristically serious. “It’s no good if it affects your health. You’re coming to the hospital with me for a check-up later.”

Yu Wen slowly closed his eyes.

His suspended heart had ultimately been hanged.

Picky eating would bring about some minor ailments, but nothing serious—Yu Wen decided he would just tell the boss exactly this later.

But right now, he needed to get an explanation from Xie Heyu.

He tattled! To my! Boss!

An artist’s physical management was part of the signed contract. Pointing out that he was a picky eater was no different from accusing him of a breach of contract!

Why must a wage earner make things difficult for a fellow wage earner?!

Xie Heyu kept his eyes straight ahead. The city neon lights fell on his face, outlining his tall and sharp profile, making it even deeper—not only did he lack any sense of guilt, he was also recklessly radiating handsomeness.

Yu Wen hugged a bag of oranges and sulked. Before making wild accusations, he was going to chat with Xie Heyu about some adult topics to accurately shatter his defenses.

“How did Teacher Xie see that I’m a picky eater?”

“People with sensitive taste buds tend to be picky eaters.”

“Oh, then how much is Teacher Xie’s salary?”

“…”

Tremble! This is the cruel social topic among adults!

Unexpectedly, Xie Heyu quickly glanced at him from the side, looking somewhat surprised. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, his two silver rings fully displaying his trendy boy nature.

“I don’t have a salary.”

Yu Wen’s smile stalled.

…He felt a surge of pity.

Before getting out of the car, a surging flood of pity repaired the precarious brotherhood between him and Teacher Xie. Yu Wen forgave him, unilaterally.

Xie Heyu politely took the fruit from his hands. Yu Wen saw the irregular geometric patterns of his decorative rings shining and once again sincerely praised: “Teacher Xie’s rings are really nice.”

This time there was no need for eye contact or silence. Xie Heyu raised his hand, slid the rings right off, and handed them to him.

“Here.”

…This wasn’t just simple friendship.

This was a match of aesthetics, a resonance of souls!

Yu Wen put on the silver rings and shyly fiddled with them a couple of times. “I feel like there’s a bit of that kind of…”

Xie Heyu: “American street-style trendy boy vibe.”

…Teacher Xie, his kindred spirit! His best friend! His sworn brother!

Right up until they entered the elevator, Yu Wen was still playing with those two rings, feeling smug like a proud cat, completely oblivious to the fact that Xie Heyu had opened his plastic bag at some point and secretly eaten his oranges.

Xie Jiamao opened the plastic bag and let out a sharp screech.

“Xiao Xie! Why did you peel open every single orange?!”

The boss of Starlight Media complained loudly, “There’s only four of us; what a waste if we can’t finish them! One, two, three… thirteen! Everyone has to eat three or more; what if we get internal heat tomorrow?!”

As soon as Xie Heyu entered the door, he familiarly put on an apron and went into the kitchen. Who would have thought that his designated role for this dinner gathering was the chef! Yu Wen stood at the kitchen door and violently pitied him for ten whole minutes.

Immediately after, he was informed that Teacher Xie shared a certain blood connection with his direct boss—the kind that put them on the same household register.

—They were uncle and nephew.

Yu Wen: The clown is actually me.

An internal company dinner naturally invited all company members. The four backbones of Starlight Media gathered together to jointly envision their brilliant tomorrow.

…In reality, it was just that Xie Jiamao had stubbornly ground away for several months and finally managed to recruit Director Gao. Unable to hold back the urge to share his battle record with the other two members of the company, he organized this dinner gathering.

The moment Gao Kaiyu agreed to sign a contract with him, he genuinely felt he was the most handsome man in the entire universe.

Anyway, there weren’t many people, just four. Since it was a sudden event, the location was chosen as Xie Jiamao’s own apartment. They would simply eat hotpot, then have Xie Heyu make two home-style side dishes. Over the course of a meal, the several backbones would open their hearts to each other, talk late into the night, and whether the company could grow bigger and stronger depended on whether they could forge a bond stronger than gold!

Director Gao had worked with Yu Wen before. Before signing the contract, he had also heard Xie Jiamao talk about this “sole golden egg of the entire company”, so they were fairly familiar. After briefly exchanging pleasantries, he pulled the plastic bag from Xie Jiamao’s hands. Seeing that the oranges had been gutted one by one, with almost every one missing a slice, he immediately aimed his spearhead at Xie Jiamao:

“Have you been mistreating Xiao Xie?!”

“How is that possible! Xiao Xie is my blood nephew!”

The two middle-aged men started arguing back and forth. Yu Wen silently looked toward Xie Heyu, who was busy in the kitchen, and spent a second reflecting on judging others by himself.

In their Starlight Media, nepotism hires had it even worse.

A nepotism hire had no salary. Look at how craving Teacher Xie was, he even stole his oranges.

So pitiful.

Yu Wen navigated through the battlefield where the two middle-aged men were throwing down, picked two oranges from the plastic bag, carefully tucked them in his arms, and strolled over to the kitchen like a thief.

“Teacher Xie, here, eat a bit more.” He offered the oranges in front of Xie Heyu with a face full of grandmotherly affection.

Xie Heyu stared at the oranges in his hands, looking like his brain crashed for a second.

He then reacted, washed his hands, and returned to the living room. Amidst Xie Jiamao’s screams of “Xiao Xie, say something! Xiao Xie, say something!” and Gao Kaiyu’s care of “Don’t be afraid, Xiao Xie, if you have no money, tell Uncle,” he opened the plastic bag without changing his expression and picked out two oranges from inside.

The two middle-aged men were scuffling together. He didn’t even spare them a glance, carrying a heartbreakingly habituated calmness.

“I tasted them. These two are the sweetest.” He reached his hand out to Yu Wen. His broad, long palm steadily held two oranges, their peels peeled back like blossoming flowers. “Eat these.”

So peeling the oranges into such an ugly state was to make a mark.

Yu Wen was struck by a flash of insight and enlightened once more.

Before his emotion could be put into words, a clang resounded from the living room.

The scuffling middle-aged men had accidentally knocked over the hotpot broth that was heating up.

Gao Kaiyu was quick-eyed and deft-handed, snatching the power strip off the floor. He said with an angry expression, “You—”

Looking up, he saw Xie Jiamao standing far away, raising a finger to point at him and tattling to Xie Heyu, “Xiao Xie, he did it.”

Gao Kaiyu: “…”

Director Gao closed both his eyes, unable to see the future of Starlight Media.

Yu Wen silently closed his opened mouth, repeatedly jumping back and forth between “having you is his bad luck” and “so audacious, this is your direct boss!”