Getting no reply from Di Qiuhe, Niu Junjie sneaked a look at He Bai who was concentrating on study and scratched his hair out of frustration.
One wanted to apologize. The other was still in rage and not in a mood for reconciliation. How to fix that?
After escorting the doctor to the door, Di Qiuhe took a sip of water delivered by his assistant, and then asked, “How are things over there at the set?”
“Director Jiang lost his temper, scolding the crew in charge of properties and fired them”. Assistant An stood in front of him nervously and replied in a flattering way.
Di Qiuhe nodded as a reply. Then he put down the water bottle and said, “Let’s go. Back to the set.”
Assistant An froze for a second and swept a look at his wrapped, wounded arm. “But, your injury… Director Jiang said the following scenes are all action-intensive ones. Your arm was wounded. We could put off the shooting, so you can have a rest for two days.”
“No.” Di Qiuhe waved his hand and said casually with a move of his arm. “It’s not a big deal. I am the lead actor. If I call one day off, I will slow down the shooting progress. I can’t do that.”
Assistant An persisted, “Why not? The director said so himself that you could take a break…”
“I don’t want to rest.” Di Qiuhe cast a sideways glance at her and said with a determined tone. “Assistant An, I know that you care about me. Thank you for that, but I don’t want to repeat myself.”
Assistant An took a step back the moment she met with Di’s emotionless eyes. Then she bowed her head and said, “Sorry, sorry.”
Di Qiuhe looked away and strode out.
It just so happened that Wang Boyi came back with a list and he was struck dumb when he saw Di Qiuhe coming out with a poker face. Then he swept a look at assistant An who was right behind Di. With a twitch of eyebrows, he quickly looked away. When Di Qiuhe approached him, he quickly turned around and tried to catch up with him. He said while walking, “Mr. Di, I have all the things you want. Do you need to send them right away?”
Upon hearing that, Di Qiuhe’s face softened a bit, but he shook his head and said, “No. Bring me a recorder pen and a notepad later. I have other things to send.”
Wang Boyi nodded, then he looked back at the assistant An who was right on their heels and sighed inwardly.
The next day, He Bai ran into the courier when he went out for lunch and signed for a big box and other two small boxes.
“I guess the big box is stuffed with fruits.” Holmes Niu said while rubbing his chin, then shouted at Wang Hu and Chen Jie, “Brothers, move this box to the dorm! We have enough deserts for this week. Let’s thank Bai for sharing this with us!”
Wang Hu and Chen Jie looked at each other and shouted at the same time, ” Bai, Thank you for this!” After saying that, they suddenly burst into laughter over something and move the box to the dorm as quickly as they could like they had never eaten fruits before.
He Bai: “…”
A classmate saw this while passing by and murmured in jealousy, “Look at this. Someone’s definitely got a sugar daddy. If not, how could you explain these. Why did he always disappear at weekends. How could he afford fancy outfits and new cameras all of a sudden. And now, he even receives gifts every day……Pooh, disgusting toy boy.”
He Bai fixed his eyes on him looking emotionless and said, “Why not say it out loud? Huang Wei, do you really think your post will stay anonymous forever? You spread rumors about me. Aren’t you afraid the counselor would come to you?”
“What, what anonymous posting? What are you talking about? I didn’t spread any rumor!” feeling guilty, Huang Wei stuttered out his rebuttal and then dragged his bag belt and ran away.
Seeing him running away, He Bai was reminded of the fact that he got kicked out of school in his previous life for theft. Then with a frown, he went to sit down on the bench in front of the dormitory. While waiting for his roommates, he opened the rest of the two small boxes in his hands.
The wooden boxes were of ethnic style. They looked unadorned, but very sturdy. There were a recorder pen and a note in one box, and a tumbler with a note under it in the other one.
‘What’s this?’ Confused, He Bai picked up the notes in the boxes and unfolded them.
Di Qiuhe: Bai, I am sorry. There is a recording in the pen. Please listen to it when you are alone.
Di Qiuhe: Bai, I am sorry, I have drunk three cups of wine as punishment. I have had it on tape and stored the video in the memory card under the cup. To show my sincerity, I sent the cup to you, so you could tell me whether you are satisfied with its size. If not, I will use a larger cup next time.
“…” Is he an imbecile? Three cups of wine as punishment? Video? And cup? How much did the courier fee cost him?
He Bai stared at the two boxes for a while with mixed feelings. Finally, he stuffed the boxes into his backpack forcefully, and then walked towards the dormitory. He wondered why they had not come out yet.
Niu Junjie retracted his head and gave a high five with Wang Hu and others. He happily took out his phone to send a message to Di Qiuhe: Bai has received the two small boxes. Good for you. Keep it up!
Di Qiuhe: Thanks. I will.
After putting away his phone, Niu Junjie wrapped his arms around the necks of Wang Hu and Chen Jie and exclaimed, “Let’s go! Your big brother is in a good mood today. Let me treat you with seafood!”
Wang Hu and Chen Jie got away from him and laughed. “Big brother? How dare you call yourself ‘big brother’ in front of us? You’ve been very cocky recently, LaoSan. You should be punished.”
Niu Junjie struggled to break free and ran outside. He then waved to He Bai who was looking at this direction. “Bai, run away! LaoDa and LaoEr have gone crazy!”
“You are the crazy one,” replied He Bai as he approached him.
After dinner, Niu Junjie took Wang Hu and Chen Jie to the badminton hall, leaving He Bai alone in the dormitory to work on his assignments he took back.
He was busy with the works until 9:30. He Bai swept a look at the time. It was late, but none of them came back. With a frown, he made a call to them.
“We are having nigh snacks. We’ll be back in a jiffy,” yelled Niu Junjie with all the noises going around in the background. “Would you like something to eat? I can bring it back for you. When you are done, you can go watch some videos for a rest. Don’t go too hard on yourself!”
“Ok, bring me a bowl of porridge.” He Bai was touched by his considerate roommate, and then he shouted, “No drinking, please. It’s bad for your stomach. Come back early. Don’t be too late.”
Niu Junjie nodded in agreement.
With a smile, He Bai hung up the phone. After taking a shower, he sat down in front of the table to get all the materials organized. He was preparing to turn off the computer when he noticed the two boxes at the corner of the table. Then he paused and picked them up.
He hesitated for a while, not knowing what he should take first between the recorder pen and the memory card. Finally, he chose to watch the drinking video in the memory card first.
He clicked on Play and could see nothing first. Then Di Qiuhe appeared in a strange room, wearing a camouflage uniform and with a bottle of wine and a cup on his hands. He sat up straight in front of a small table in the middle of the picture like a national leader who was going to announce some important decisions. With a serious face, he bent down and apologized sincerely, “Bai, I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”
He Bai: “…”
“I shouldn’t lie to you. I’m sorry that I didn’t apologize to you in person last time. Now, I would drink three cups of wine as punishment,” said Di Qiuhe seriously. Then he opened a new bottle of wine, filled it up and drank up.
He Bai couldn’t help but look away and frowned.
He couldn’t bear himself to watch this act of sanity.
After a cup of wine, Di Qiuhe’s face immediately turned red. His watery eyes looked quite attractive.
After finishing that, he turned the cup upside down and looked at the camera with a solemn face. He said, “This one is for our relationship!”
He Bai: “…” He was rendered speechless.
“This one is for betraying your trust.” After drinking up another cup full of wine, his neck turned red.
He Bai took a deep breath and held up his phone. It was all he could do not to make a call to Di Qiuhe immediately to ridicule him.
“This is the third cup.” It looked like the alcohol was beginning to take effect as Di Qiuhe’s voice was getting slightly muffled. However, he tried to remain steady. With a serious look, he kept his hands still and proposed a toast. “Cheers for our encounter!”
Once again, he drank it up. After that, he dropped down the cup and looked at the camera with a solemn face. “Bai, I’m sorry!” said he. Then he took out an A4 paper from under the table and wrote something on it. After that, he showed the paper to him.
He Bai saw three scratchy characters on the paper: I am sorry!
He Bai was dumbfounded when he saw that. He couldn’t help but pick up his phone, pulled Di Qiuhe’s number out of the blacklist and called him.
“Sorry, the subscriber you dialed is power off.”
“…” fuck!
Putting down the phone, he wiped away the tear on his face and swept a glance at the video which had finished playing. Then in a rage, he blacklisted Di Qiuhe’s number again!