ABV Chapter 14

“Keep your phone on 24 hours a day, and contact me if something happens.”

“Okay.”

“Respect you seniors, work diligently, and don’t cry if you’re a little tired.”

“I know.”

“Don’t be lazy and take advantage of the fact I’m not there.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Remember to wear pajamas after taking a shower.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Eat less food!”

“…Uh, don’t worry!”

Finally, the elevator door opened, and the nagging ‘mother-in-law’ Zhu Yao brought Jiang Dao to a very low-key business car.

Chu Yinlong’s assistant, Xiao Yang, was already waiting by the side of the car. At this time, he greeted Zhu Yao with a smile, and told the driver to put Jiang Dao’s luggage away.

Zhu Yao traded words with Xiao Yang, exchanging contact info so that they could be in touch at any time, and told Jiang Dao to “be obedient” before turning around and leaving.

Jiang Dao was not in a hurry. He nodded generously to the assistant with a shout of “Brother Yang”, then got into the car and sat down beside Chu Yinlong.

Chu Yinlong turned his head, and before he could open his mouth, a hot paper bag was stuffed into his arms.

Jiang Dao squinted at him. “Here, egg tarts!”

Chu Yinlong touched the temperature of the paper bag. “Just baked?”

Jiang Dao nodded. “Yes, fresh out of the oven. It’s enough sincerity, right?”

Chu Yinlong raised his eyebrows. “You baked so many yesterday, and ate them all?”

Seeing Chu Yinlong’s surprised expression, Jiang Dao snorted coldly. “I originally baked it for myself, but by the time you sent that message, it… what kind of expression is that, I know it’s sweet! I’m exercising, and won’t get fat!”

Chu Yinlong’s expression was almost the same as Zhu Yao’s.

In this wonderful world, why is there so much malice towards sweets? It was not easy for him to eat a bite of sugar back then. He had to do a lot of tasks and kill a lot of mutant beasts before he could even get a handful of white sugar…

Seeing Jiang Dao’s raised hackles, Chu Yinlong couldn’t help it, and chuckled.

He opened the paper bag, took out an egg tart from the carefully prepared paper box, held it in front of him for a moment, and took a tentative bite.

“Tsk, it’s sweet, not poisonous.” Jiang Dao couldn’t stand it any longer. “It’s also pretty… I worked so hard to make it for you. If you can’t finish it, I’m going to scold you.”

Chu Yinlong smiled and glanced at Jiang Dao, took a bite of the egg tart in his mouth, carefully opened the paper bag, and revealed the whole box of egg tarts inside.

Then he took out his mobile phone and threw it to the assistant sitting in the co-pilot: “Take a picture of us both.”

Jiang Dao: ?

“Come on, you hold the box.” Chu Yinlong handed the egg tart box to Jiang Dao, then put his arms around his shoulders, and captured the person in his arms.

Jiang Dao was speechless. “Why are we taking pictures?”

Chu Yinlong held the bitten egg tart in his other hand, stretched out in the direction of the phone’s camera, and said, “Post on Weibo.”

Jiang Dao: …

Do people in the entertainment industry like to post on Weibo so much?

Although he felt that Chu Yinlong’s move was childish, Jiang Dao cooperated and took this photo.

In the photo, he is holding a box of egg tarts, snuggling beside Chu Yinlong obediently, and smiling at the camera, without any reluctance.

After taking the photo, Chu Yinlong took back his phone, typed a Weibo and sent it out:

“I got it. [Picture]”

His words were as concise as ever, and very serious sounding.

Jiang Dao stuffed the egg tart box into Chu Yinlong’s arms again, and asked casually, “Do you need me to forward it?”

Chu Yinlong smiled: “Of course you do.” After speaking, he swallowed the remaining half of the egg tart in his hand.

Jiang Dao pouted and forwarded Chu Yinlong’s Weibo: “Eighty per bite. Pay up.”

Beside him, Chu Yinlong, who was peeping at the screen, couldn’t help bursting into laughter.

…

Half a minute after the two Weibo posts were sent out, Chu Yinlong’s official fan group was in a frenzy.

“[Shocked][Shocked] Father Long actually took the initiative to interact with others! [Picture]”

“!!!”

“Fuck [spitting blood] [spitting blood]”

“Sisters, retract your swords! Jiang Dao is our people [shocked]”

“Cough cough, I really didn’t expect this…”

“Yesterday, I was spitting on Jiang Dao, but now I have to delete it all! We were pitted by Brother Long into the Mariana Trench again [vomiting blood][ Spitting blood]”

“…Why is the style of Xiaolongbao¹Another nickname for Chu Yinlong. Basically calling him little baby Long always so weird?”

“Who made us follow an old father [heart tired]”

“Brother Long didn’t say anything, why are you sure Jiang Dao isn’t using us?”

“A new fan? You may not know much about our Father Long [heart tired]”

“Yeah, Father Long rarely interacts with celebrities. Today’s Weibo is equivalent to Father Long saying Jiang Dao is covered by him… What can Xiaolongbao do? Xiaolongbao is wronged, Xiaolongbao didn’t dare to say [cry] [cry]”

“It’s useless to say it, Brother Long is like this [cry]”

“[cry]”

“[cry] But even Father Long is like this, he’s very handsome too!”

So, almost in the blink of an eye, Chu Yinlong and Jiang Dao’s Weibo was occupied by a series of “tearful apology” troops, including a few inexplicable “kdl”²KDL is ‘net slang for “I just saw / heard / read something cryptic that proves how sweet-in-love my ship is, omfg!”. However, because their voices were too few, these comments were quickly drowned out by waves of “tearful apologies” without leaving the slightest ripple.

As for the two protagonists at the center of the incident, they no longer paid attention to the changes on Weibo.

Thirty minutes later, the vehicle arrived at the airport. Chu Yinlong and Jiang Dao entered the waiting room from the VIP channel in a very low-key manner, and quickly boarded the plane.

For the previous filming of “Come on, Eat!”, Jiang Dao sat in business class. This time, traveling with Chu Yinlong, Longqi Entertainment bought first class tickets for both of them.

Jiang Dao curiously lowered the seat, and tutted his mouth: “You can lie down and sleep…”

People in the book world really can enjoy life. Even traveling is so comfortable.

Chu Yinlong’s seat was right next to Jiang Dao. Seeing Jiang Dao lounging in the seat, he couldn’t help smiling: “Go to sleep if you’re sleepy, it takes four hours to fly there.”

“I’m not sleepy…” Jiang Dao closed his eyes, laying back on the half-lowered seat. “But I really haven’t slept well recently.”

“What? Too busy with work?” Chu Yinlong asked.

“I’m not busy, I actually have nothing to do.” Jiang Dao closed his eyes and muttered in a low voice. “It’s just that the surroundings are too quiet at night, and I can’t sleep well.”

Hearing this, Chu Yinlong shot him a strange glance: “The environment is too quiet, so you can’t sleep well?”

Jiang Dao let out an “en”, dragging the lazy nasally sound. “Very strange?”

Chu Yinlong: “It’s very strange.”

The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and Jiang Dao replied faintly, “It’s not serious. I can sleep enough to make up for it during the day.”

Otherwise, even if he didn’t care about having two dark circles under his eyes every day, Zhu Yao would be furious.

At this time, Chu Yinlong’s assistant came over with a tablet and whispered something in Chu Yinlong’s ear. Chu Yinlong took the tablet and immersed himself in business.

Jiang Dao didn’t speak again, shrank his shoulders, and changed to a more comfortable angle to nest in the seat.

After Chu Yinlong dealt with the matter at hand, he told the assistant a few more words, and when he turned back, he found that Jiang Dao had actually fallen asleep.

Through the curtain, he looked at the flight attendants who were constantly walking in the business class at the back. Hearing the noise coming from the passengers boarding in economy class, his eyebrows raised involuntarily as he turned back to look at Jiang Dao, who was sleeping soundly.

Jiang Dao slept well during this nap.

He didn’t wake up until the plane was about to take off and the stewardess came to remind him to put away his seat and fasten his seat belt. He stretched out, and was refreshed.

Soon, the plane taxied, took off, and rushed into the sky.

After enjoying a lunch on the plane, Jiang Dao flattened his seat again and took a good nap amid the rumble of the engine.

…

At 3:50 in the afternoon, the plane arrived in Jiashi³city name.

The commercial car of the Taoyuan Dreamland program team was already waiting for them, and had already picked up Mu Zhixing who came from Lushi⁴another city.

Seeing Mu Zhixing, Chu Yinlong nodded and greeted: “Director Mu.”

Putting down the cup in his hand, Mu Zhixing  nodded to Chu Yinlong, and then quickly turned his eyes to Jiang Dao who was following Chu Yinlong.

Jiang Dao looked over, and the moment he met Mu Zhixing’s gaze, he straightened his body unconsciously.

Although, Zhu Yao took him to learn about the director’s life and preferences after knowing he was also a guest on the show, at this moment of meeting, Jiang Dao had a clearer understanding of Mu Zhixing—this person is not easy to deal with.

“Are you Xiao Dao?” Mu Zhixing asked with a smile, “Hello, I’m Mu Zhixing.”

“Hello!” Jiang Dao immediately put on a look of surprise and awe, “Ji… uh, jiu yang!”⁵jiu yang is a very polite/respectful (also more old fashioned) greeting that vaguely means “I’ve heard about your respected name for a long time and am glad to have finally met”

Director Mu was at a loss and flattered, but shook his head with a smile: “Acting skills are not good enough, little guy.”

He is over fifty with gray hair, and saying “little guy” was quite appropriate. It also made him seem kinder.

Jiang Dao was slightly startled.

Looking at Director Mu for a moment, he also smiled.

“The agent said that I should be in awe of my seniors.”

Since he couldn’t deceive the other party’s sharp eyes, Jiang Dao simply stopped pretending: “But I don’t think you are fierce, and am not afraid… But I have watched your movies and interviews, and truly respect you.”

While talking, he found a place to sit down at will, and the crampedness just now disappeared.

“Oh? You’ve watched my movies?” Mu Zhixing asked with a smile. “Which one is your favorite?”

“My favorite…” Jiang Dao thought for a while and replied, “Homecoming.”

Upon hearing his answer, not only was Mu Zhixing surprised, but Chu Yinlong also looked over in surprise.

“Really?” Mu Zhixing glanced at Chu Yinlong, and asked Jiang Dao with a smile. “Don’t just pick a movie we worked on together to make us happy.”

“That’s not true, “Han Xiao”  is also a collaboration between you and Teacher Chu, and it’s also a war themed film. But I don’t quite understand it,” Jiang Dao said bluntly. “As for “Homecoming”… those war scenes… are very real, and moved me. “

Mu Zhixing’s eyes fell on Jiang Dao’s face, and was silent for a long time.

“Dishonest little guy.” In the end, he shook his head with a smile. “You haven’t seen war, so how do you know if it’s real or not?”

Author has a habit of naming the chapter title based on the last sentence/paragraph in the chapter. 🙃

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• 1
  Another nickname for Chu Yinlong. Basically calling him little baby Long
• 2
  KDL is ‘net slang for “I just saw / heard / read something cryptic that proves how sweet-in-love my ship is, omfg!”
• 3
  city name
• 4
  another city
• 5
  jiu yang is a very polite/respectful (also more old fashioned) greeting that vaguely means “I’ve heard about your respected name for a long time and am glad to have finally met”