Ch28.2 - The Peak of Competition Between Beauty and Acting Skills (28)

Time always flies by when you are resting. Before Xu Qichen had fully recovered, he began the intense roadshow tour. However, he was very happy for the chance to openly be with Lin Ran with publicity as an excuse. With the unique nature of their line of work, there were very few opportunities to see each other.

They reunited in the makeup room. Lin Ran was getting his hair blown dry when Xu Qichen walked in. Lin Ran, who had been working for 30 hours continuously, and greatly lacked sleep, was nodding off. 

A scene resurfaced in Xu Qichen’s mind.

In Chinese class, to the background noise of a boring classical Chinese lecture, the person sitting behind him is nodding off, his head drooping again and again as he struggles to remain awake.

Weird, why did he make such an irrelevant connection again?

Xu Qichen disliked doing this. It gave him a sense of guilt for treating Lin Ran as a replacement for that person. 

Walking out from the memory, Xu Qichen looked at Lin Ran’s drowsy face and felt like pranking him, so he walked over without making a sound and stepped on Lin Ran’s shoe with the tip of his foot.

Lin Ran, who was merrily snoozing, woke up with a start. Through the noise of the hairdryer, his ears picked up the sound of Xu Qichen’s light chuckle. His sensitivity towards Xu Qichen scared him.

“You’re here ah,” Lin Ran rubbed his eyes.

“Has it been a long time since you slept?” Xu Qichen sat on the chair beside him.

Lin Ran shook his head, “I slept on the way here, but I’m still sleepy.”

Xu Qichen handed Lin Ran a cup of hot coffee, “I heard your schedule was packed recently and guessed you probably haven’t slept much. Have a drink.”

Lin Ran nodded.

The hairstylist applied some hairwax and patted Lin Ran’s shoulder, “Done.” 

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.

“Thank you.” Lin Ran stood up and sent the hairstylist off. After he closed the door, they were left alone in the room.

We Hlmtfc kjcafv ab rjs rbwfatlcu, yea yfobgf tf mbeiv bqfc tlr wbeat, tf kjr qeiifv lcab Olc Ejc’r fwygjmf.

“P wlrrfv sbe,” Olc Ejc rlutfv jcv yeglfv tlr tfjv lc We Hlmtfc’r cfmx ilxf j ijguf vbu olcvlcu atf qfgofma rqba ab gfra klatbea kbgglfr.

Llr ilqr abemtfv We Hlmtfc’r rxlc. 

In the quiet lounge, the two of them stood in each other’s arms.

“When will I be able to hug you by simply turning over?”

Lin Ran’s voice was solemn but had a kind of childish tone. The question stunned Xu Qichen.

Probably… not in this world. 

He wanted to stay like this a little longer, but a knock on the door came without regard for his wishes.

It was time to work. Lin Ran let go of Xu Qichen reluctantly, put on his professional smile, and opened the door.

The first roadshow was at a renowned highschool in the north. More fans showed up than they had expected. Xu Qichen, who had been resting for a while, was unused to the crowd. He held a microphone in his hand but after greeting everyone in the beginning, he did not speak further and instead stood there quietly watching Lin Ran and the director carry out their job seamlessly.

“Mengze’s condition doesn’t seem to be great today, he’s been quiet the whole time.” 

Xu Qichen, who was suddenly cued by the MC, was stunned. Lin Ran immediately spoke for him, “He just has a quiet personality. He’s like this on the set too, always daydreaming alone. It has nothing to do with his mood or condition.”

Chen Anping agreed, “Yes, from the start I thought Mengze and Yu Ning’s aura were similar, and he would really fit Yu Ning’s image with some mild tweaking.”

Xu Qichen smiled wordlessly.

After a few members of the audience were invited on the stage to interact and play games, Xu Qichen felt much more relaxed. Time flew by and soon they were at the final interview segment. 

The first few questions were mostly customary, just asking the director about the core idea of the film, the writer’s mental process, or the actor’s performance.

Until a young man with black-rimmed glasses who looked rather gentle stood up and said, “I have a question for Master Lin Ran.”

Lin Ran nodded at him and smiled, “En, go ahead.”

“As far as the career of an actor is concerned, your resume is quite excellent among your peers. Whether you want to continue to polish your acting skills or challenge new themes, there should be many good roles for you to choose from. Why did you choose a film with same-sex themes? Is it to cater to the current upsurge of equal rights for the same sex? ” 

Although the question sounded polite and proper, it was actually very pointed, Xu Qichen thought in his heart.

If he gives an official answer, it would seem that he is evading the essence of the question. If he says he wants to speak for the vulnerable groups, he would be accused of wearing a high hat. But if he directly confirms his question, he would probably be interpreted as simply using the heat of the LGBT topic.

It’s tricky.

The plaza gradually quieted as everyone awaited Lin Ran’s answer. 

“Firstly, thank you very much for the question.”

The smile on his face did not falter.

“But I don’t think there’s any meaning to answering this question.”

There was an instant uproar. 

Xu Qichen was also shocked. He did not expect such an answer. He glanced at Lin Ran, whose expression remained completely calm.

“Because I’m just acting in a movie,” Lin Ran continued, “It’s not a same-sex film, it’s just a film.”

The young man frowned, refusing to give up on his point, “But the romantic plot of this film is obviously unconventional.”

“If, right now, the one beside me was an actress; if the one that acted with me was an actress, and we had a love story in the film, you would not ask such a question, right?” 

“Isn’t it too narrow to divide a movie into conventional and unconventional based on its plot and protagonist’s sexual orientation?”

The young man still refused to give up, “So your purpose in acting in this film is to speak up for the LGBT group?”

“No.”

“What right do I have? This is a large group of living, breathing humans with their own voices. They do not need anyone to speak for them. As long as you’re willing to listen, their voices will open the ears of the deaf and the eyes of the blind.” 

The young man’s expression changed and his grip on the microphone tightened.

“You asked a very good question, one that I’m sure resonates with many.”

Lin Ran spoke gently and slowly, “But as time passes, be it ten years or decades, there will be such a day: when the people of that time look at this scene, they would genuinely not understand, why would he ask such a question? Because in that time, be it love or films, they would no longer be separated into ‘conventional’ and ‘unconventional’.”

Lin Ran paused, and his voice seemed to strengthen. 

“So, I hope that when any of you mention Nan Ke, you would introduce it like this.”

His smile is no longer customary but sincere and bright, full of the flavour of sunshine.

“It’s a romance film starring Lin Ran and Ji Mengze, and it’s great.”