Ch14 - Popcorn

In the end, Liang Yu suppressed the trending topic, #TenTheaters, himself. Xu Jingzhe didn’t know about this at first. It was only after Zhang Man told him that he found out.

“Why?” Since Xu Jingzhe promised to donate ten theater’s worth of tickets, he’d spent the past couple of days contacting different cinemas. He intended to anonymously invite the fans to watch the movie as a treat, so, when he heard about this, he found it rather surprising. 

Zhang Man: “Who knows what they’re thinking? They wanted you to help promote the movie, but they’re afraid of you stealing their thunder. If it wasn’t for the fact that they paid us a lot of money, I’d be cursing them out right now.”

Xu Jingzhe said very understandingly, “Just let them suppress it. People are going to get annoyed if we keep trending all the time.”

 

 

It was easy enough for him to say, but it wasn’t so easy in practice. The topic could be suppressed on Weibo, but it couldn’t be completely suppressed on other sites.

After Zhu Xiaoxiao joined the industry, the first thing she learned how to do was lurk on various forums. She was also very dedicated. She didn’t just keep an eye on Douban. She also kept updated on other anonymous forums. For example, there were two threads that she’d been watching lately. One of them was exactly as the name suggested. It was named Official YuJing Shipping Hub. As for the other thread, it was solely dedicated to exposing their relationship as a fraud. 

The name of the thread was actually pretty interesting. It was called Ptoo! We’re Not Buying!

 

Of course, the most amazing thing about it was the fact that these two threads were able to exist on the same forum, the same discussion board without disturbing each other at all.

One of the fans that attended the promotional event caught a photo of the ultra rich fan who was going to “donate ten theaters”. It was first posted to the thread, We’re Not Buying. The original post was pretty ordinary in content.

“Can anyone confirm if this is Rem?”

 

Someone else immediately replied. “It looks like it. Didn’t they say that he wasn’t attending?”

“If he went to the promotional event, why did they get rid of the trending topic? This doesn’t really seem like Liang Yu’s style. Would he really be willing to blow that much money?”

“You shippers better not come over here and start pushing your agenda under the name of uncovering the truth! Ptoo! We’re not buying it!”

 

By the time the thread reached here, the discussion started getting off topic. It was followed by a flood of comments saying, “We’re not buying it!” Zhu Xiaoxiao went to check up on the other thread in a complicated mood. The photos had also been posted over there. Although everyone was in fact fangirling over the photos, there were still people asking why the trending topic needed to be removed. 

“This makes it seem like Jingzhe acted on a moment of impulse. It doesn’t seem like it’s a publicity stunt. Ah, our ship is real! Although, Liang Yu didn’t just not buy a trending topic, he even paid to have the trending topic removed. I don’t really get it. What’s he removing his wife’s trending topic for?”

Zhu Xiaoxiao silently left the forum. Her eyes were entirely blank. She thought to herself, “It makes sense that you guys don’t understand. I don’t even understand.” In fact, she couldn’t even tell which was sweeter anymore, reality or this beautiful delusion.

Ever since Xu Jingzhe promised to “donate ten theaters”, Yang Jierui suddenly started becoming a lot more polite. After all, he had only just given the money away, and, now, he was going to be able to make it back. What kind of agent could possibly refuse such a profitable exchange?

It wasn’t really clear whether Liang Yu was happy about it or not. Regardless, he was still as snarky and strange as ever. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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Liang Yu laughed. “The money comes in and immediately goes out. Do you think you’re buying stocks or something?”

Xu Jingzhe couldn’t be bothered to keep arguing with him about the money. Since it was almost Chinese New Year, pretty much all work had stopped. Xu Jingzhe felt that Liang Yu was probably picking trouble with him because he didn’t have anything better to do. Thus, he suggested, “Do you want to invite some friends over to play mahjong?” 

“…” Liang Yu’s expression was a little complicated. On the one hand, he wanted to get angry. On the other hand, he really did want to play mahjong. In the end, he simply said, “How are we supposed to play if there’s no mahjong table?”

Xu Jingzhe continued to coax him. “I’ll buy you a mahjong table. Or we could move your mahjong table over to my place. Who do you want to invite? Luo Yaoye won’t be going back to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year, so we can call her up at any time.”

 

Liang Yu: “…”

Once Yang Jierui got the news, he actually ended up moving Liang Yu’s automatic mahjong table to Xu Jingzhe’s villa. Xu Jingzhe’s villa also had a basement. It had been tidied up for the mahjong table. The room had heated flooring and everything. For the sake of welcoming guests, Xu Jingzhe had the housekeeper clean up the place. Then, he had people install a TV and KTV in the basement. 

Liang Yu couldn’t just call it quits anymore, so he ended up calling up a couple people for a game of mahjong. Besides Luo Yaoye, there was also Mai Jiu. Xu Jingzhe was somewhat familiar with Mai Jiu, but he hadn’t known that a big star like him actually had a hobby of playing mahjong.

“Mr. Xu’s way too clean.” Mai Jiu was also a big-screen celebrity. He made his name through a famous movie, and he also had a series of box office hits. He was also one of the few people in the industry that didn’t put on airs. “He probably never gets involved with parties or industry events.”

Xu Jingzhe said, a little embarrassed, “I’m kind of boring.”

Mai Jiu laughed. “If you’re really that boring, then how did Liang Yu end up falling in love with you?” 

Xu Jingzhe obviously couldn’t refute this. He and Liang Yu were now bound together. Everything that they put out there had to be “real”. They couldn’t reveal any cracks in the facade, even in front of their closest friends.

Since he’d decided to invite friends over, Xu Jingzhe would have to play the role of loving boyfriend with Liang Yu.

Even if it was a holiday, Luo Yaoye was still as beautiful and glamorous as ever. For the sake of celebration, she had her hair pressed into waves, making her facial features even more charming. On the very first day, she ceremoniously arrived in a mink fur coat. She had even prepared some red envelopes and gifts.

Liang Yu was a little annoyed by all the fuss. “If you’re going to come, then come. What are you bringing all of this over here for?” 

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Luo Yaoye shot him a look. “It’s not for you. It’s for Jingzhe.” Luo Yaoye seemed to have misunderstood something. After the last livestream, Luo Yaoye decided that Xu Jingzhe was now one of the girls. Xu Jingzhe couldn’t even explain himself to her. In any case, he ended up getting along with her despite his bewilderment.

“A few days ago, I was getting my nails done at Yanhua Beauty Salon, and you-know-who also showed up. You know who I’m talking about, right?” Luo Yaoye showed Xu Jingzhe her nails as she shuffled the pieces. “She totally copied my outfit at the last event. Now, she’s even copying my nails! Don’t you think she’s being too much?!”

Actually, Xu Jingzhe didn’t know who Luo Yaoye was talking about, but his excellent acting skills made it seem as though he totally understood. He kept nodding his head the entire time to show that he was listening.

Even as she was discarding tiles, Luo Yaoye still did not forget to keep chatting. She playfully replied, “I just knew you’d understand!” 

Xu Jingzhe could only keep smiling.

Liang Yu glanced at the two of them and decided to come to his rescue. “Don’t tell him about this stuff. He doesn’t understand.”

Luo Yaoye shot back at him. “Do you think every gay guy acts as hetero as you do?”

Liang Yu had just completed his hand. He was in a good mood, so he decided not to argue with her. Instead, he pulled out his ledger and slapped it in front of Luo Yaoye. “First, take a good look at how much money you owe me.” 

Luo Yaoye: “…”

Liang Yu asked very bluntly, “Tell me. How many theaters are you donating?”

 

Of course, no matter how fun mahjong was, they’d have to stop playing eventually. Mai Jiu suggested that, since it was the night before the new year, they should go watch their new holiday film, help boost its box office sales.

This year’s holiday films were all scheduled for the last day of the lunar year. A lot of people were on vacation and had gone to see the movie at noon. The movie theaters that Xu Jingzhe booked had been completely packed from noon all the way until now. 

Luo Yaoye pulled out a palm-sized compact mirror from her handbag. She pressed a bit more foundation on, a little worried. “Are we just going in like this? We won’t be discovered, will we?”

Mai Jiu: “There are so many people here, and your face is super small. If you just duck over to the side, no one will be able to see you. Besides, it’s the holidays. The paparazzi don’t have the time to photograph you.”

Luo Yaoye was naturally very happy to be complimented for her small face. She tucked her hair behind her ear and leaned forward to ask Xu Jingzhe, “How’s the color of my lipstick?”

Before Xu Jingzhe even had a chance to take a look, Liang Yu, who was driving the car, suddenly stretched out a hand and pressed her head down. “Don’t come between us. You’re so annoying.” 

Luo Yaoye shrieked, cursing Liang Yu out as she retouched up her makeup.

Xu Jingzhe was a little helpless. He whispered to Liang Yu, “Be gentler with her.”

Liang Yu found this inexplicable. “It’s not like she’s my wife.”

Among the four of them, Mai Jiu looked the most low-key when dressed casually. He was assigned to buy popcorn and water. Luo Yaoye, as a female celebrity with high requirements, did not eat things like popcorn. Mai Jiu took two buckets of popcorn for himself. The other two were given to Xu Jingzhe and Liang Yu. 

In order to not stand out, the four of them sat in two separate rows. Xu Jingzhe and Liang Yu waited until the lights went down and the dragon logo appeared before entering the theater.

Their seats were at the very edge of the theater. When Xu Jingzhe sat down, the girl next to him gave him a glance.

Xu Jingzhe quietly uttered an apology. He pulled his mask up and nervously sat in his seat. His back was ramrod straight.

Most holiday films generally followed the same formula, family movies, comedies, the like. It was hard to say whether the genre suited Liang Yu or not. However, if there was one thing Liang Yu was good at, it was enmeshing himself into his role. 

His artsy films won awards, and his commercial films won in the box office. In Xu Jingzhe’s opinion, there was no other actor that was more worth it than Liang Yu.

There were a lot of funny moments in the plot, and every scene was lively. The main plotline and the subplots were all excellent. The characters weren’t flat. Although Jiang Yueming was a newcomer, it was clear that she was very much in the play thanks to Liang Yu. Her eyes seemed to almost be able to speak.

Xu Jingzhe watched very earnestly from outside the act. He was like the characters on the screen, full of swelling emotions and unspoken words.

He was fully invested in the movie when something happened next to him that pulled him out of it. Liang Yu had finished his popcorn. 

It was dark. He couldn’t find Xu Jingzhe’s popcorn bucket. He ran his hands back and forth across his thighs for quite a while. Eventually, Xu Jingzhe couldn’t take it anymore and whispered, “What are you doing?”

Liang Yu said, “Eating popcorn.”

 

Xu Jingzhe: “Don’t move. I’ll give it to you.”

Liang Yu obediently stopped moving. Xu Jingzhe grabbed a handful of popcorn from his bucket and planned to hand it to Liang Yu. Xu Jingzhe didn’t know if it was a miscommunication issue, but Liang Yu didn’t reach out his hand. Instead, he just opened his mouth. 

Xu Jingzhe felt his fingertips grow warm. It was then that he realized that his fingertips were captured in Liang Yu’s mouth. The popcorn was a little sticky. Liang Yu’s tongue nimbly swept across Xu Jingzhe’s fingers and skillfully took the popcorn into the mouth.

Xu Jingzhe: “…”

Liang Yu chewed a bit. Then, he suddenly started complaining in a low voice. “Why is your popcorn sweeter than mine?”

The Author Has Something To Say: 

Xu Jingzhe—Master of Deception

 

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