Ch43 - Reunion

Let’s go back in time an hour.

Wu Youpeng hoisted a sign that read “Mr. An” in the arrival hall of B city’s international airport. He scanned the bustling crowd, his gaze moving across each and every person’s face anxiously. The flight that just landed had taken off from Maple Leaf Country and landed in B city at 9:30 in the evening. An Ruifeng had asked Wu Youpeng to the airport to pick up his brother, who had flown from Maple Leaf Country to visit family. 

Yangtian Media had tried every method to force Ling Xi to drop the lawsuit, while also demanding that Ling Xi apologize to the company’s senior management for the recording, ever since Ling Xi filed the lawsuit with the goal of terminating the contract. Ling Xi was highly astute. He escaped like a wisp of smoke before they could arrive at his door. He sent his parents on a trip overseas before leaving. The company had now lost contact with their three-person family. They couldn’t do anything about it, so they turned around and targeted Wu Youpeng, looking for him every day for a chat, all their talk centered on one issue — “Aren’t you Ling Xi’s former agent? You’ve known him for 11 years; you should be able to contact him. Ask him to drop the case!”

Wu Youpeng was adamant, claiming that he, too, couldn’t contact Ling Xi. As a result of flying into a rage out of humiliation, the talent agency went so far as to stop all of Wu Youpeng’s routine business and seized the Mahjong pop group he had just brought on track from him, splitting the girls among other agents to oversee.

Previously, during the month following Wu Youpeng’s separation from Ling Xi, he’d wholeheartedly devoted all of his efforts to the Mahjong pop group, but after learning that the company planned to use Ling Xi as their gunman, he couldn’t revert to his old mentality. He knew in his heart that the five girls were unaware of the company’s scheme, but he couldn’t face them.

After all, close and far were not the same. 

Wu Youpeng had already thoroughly prepared himself mentally for the company’s collective punishment, so after receiving the company’s notice, he calmly sorted out Mahjong pop group’s information and handed over the girls to the new agents.

Originally, he imagined he would idle away his time for quite a while. In the end, he suddenly received a call from An Ruifeng. An Ruifeng was very polite to him, and after a few greeting words, he got right to the point: “I heard Ling Xi discussing Wu-ge’s recent job predicament. I’ll soon need to get a job done… No, it does not qualify as a job. I should say I want to ask you to do me a favor.”

“What is it?”

“My brother is flying in from Maple Leaf Country tomorrow night to see relatives. I’m not sure how long he will stay here this time. But he indicated that he needs someone to help him deal with matters in Panda Country. I thought of you.”

Wu Youpeng hesitated: “Deal with what? It’s not investment or art, right? I don’t understand those things.”

“No, no, no,” An Ruifeng’s casual voice sounded from the receiver: “He needs you like this.”

It was An Ruifeng’s vague and dismissive attitude that piqued Wu Youpeng’s interest in this position. After all was said and done, no one in the circle knew what kind of background An Ruifeng, who was airborne in the entertainment industry three years ago, had. He hadn’t revealed the names of any family members, yet he could have a smooth sailing. He was undoubtedly being escorted from behind. An Ruifeng’s mysterious family affairs were ready to be unveiled to Wu Youpeng now that An Ruifeng’s brother had arrived in Panda Country.

Wu Youpeng’s inner craving for gossip was raging, and he accepted the job without reservation. Today, he arrived at the airport’s arrival hall on time and followed An Ruifeng’s advice to prepare a small sign that said “Mr. An.” He waited for a long time at the pick-up gate, but he didn’t see a man who resembled An Ruifeng at all. 

He was stretching his neck and looked about when a tall and skinny man came to a halt in front of him. In comparison to the folks around him who were carrying various types of luggage, this man merely held a small handbag and looked lofty.

With broad shoulders and slim hips, the man appeared to be a little taller than An Ruifeng. His physique was incredibly appealing. But when Wu Youpeng looked up, his hair was disheveled, his brows were unruly and formless, and his face was obscured by a thick beard. Although it did not cover his cheeks, his lengthy beard crept all over his chin and even covered the top of his lips.

Only those deep and gorgeous dark blue eyes reminded him of An Ruifeng.

This rough big brother startled Wu Youpeng into backing up and asking nervously, “Excuse me, you are…?” 

“It’s me,” the man said directly to Wu Youpeng, “I’m really sleepy right now and don’t have time to talk to you.” His bone structure and the color of his eyes clearly indicated that he was of mixed ethnicity, as did his excellent spoken English, which exceeded Wu Youpeng’s expectations.

Wu Youpeng had seen this type of freak before, but he hadn’t expected An Ruifeng, who was nice and polite, to have such a rude older brother. For a brief period, he couldn’t accept such disparity. “Uh, where’s your luggage? I’ll help you load it into the car.”

“I don’t have any bags with me. It’s sufficient to bring only my bank card.”

Wu Youpeng wished he could hold his thigh and call him godfather after hearing this. 

Wu Youpeng led Mr. An to the parking lot. They were meeting for the first time and were completely unfamiliar with each other. Wu Youpeng began with stuff that both of them were familiar with in order to stir the topic: “An Ruifeng is fantastic. He’s gone to attend the Golden Panda Award presentation today. This year’s Drama King should be announced around this time. Your brother is the prime candidate for the honor.”

Mr. An marched forth on his long legs, unconcerned about whether or not the person at his side could keep up. “He’s already the Drama King,” he added confidently.

“Eh? You misheard; it should still be in the commentary stage with the judges…” The phone rang just as Wu Youpeng was about to finish speaking. Ling Xi had sent him a new text message, it turned out.

Ling Xi: n(*≧▽≦*)n Wu-ge, Wu-ge, I’m the Drama King’s man now! 

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.

Wu Youpeng: “…He is indeed the Drama King.”

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“It’s getting late. Do we have to go today?” 

Mr. An glanced at his watch: “I need to be there in an hour and deal with the entire situation in half an hour. If I don’t go today, I won’t be able to go later.”

Mr. An’s ability to be purposefully mystifying greatly surpassed that of his younger brother. Wu Youpeng inquired as to the destination. Mr. An reported the name of a boxing gym before reclining in the back seat and closing his eyes to sleep.

Mr. An’s face was obscured by darkness because the overhead light in the back seat was turned off. His face was only occasionally illuminated by street lights. Wu Youpeng covertly observed his expression through the rear-view mirror, but he couldn’t tell if he was awake or sleeping.

Mr. An, who was seated in the rear seat, suddenly opened his mouth and made another request – to raise the “shield” in the middle of the car – when they were 20 minutes away from the gym. 

Wu Youpeng: “…I’m sorry, the car I rented doesn’t have a divider.”

Mr. An said, “Tsk!” in disgust and removed the scarf from his neck. He tied the scarf’s corners to the grab handles above the rear windows. The wide scarf was like a curtain, blocking Wu Youpeng’s line of sight and dividing the carriage’s front and back into two parts.

Wu Youpeng was used to caring for Ling Xi, who was easy to raise. He’d encountered such a tough to serve individual for the first time: “Are you changing your clothes? We’re both guys. You simply change in the backseat. I’m not going to watch you.”

“I’m not changing my clothes,” Mr. An said from behind the scarf barrier, “I’m putting on makeup.” 

The car came to a halt outside the boxing gym twenty minutes later. Wu Youpeng looked at his watch and saw that it was nearly 10 o’clock. It’s impossible to come to the boxing gym to practice boxing at this time, right? This question lingered in his head, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask it.

An Ruifeng was kind and friendly, but his older brother was cold and arrogant. I’m not sure how these two brothers have such disparate personalities. Wu Youpeng got out of the car, walked to the back door, knocked on the window to signal, and then opened the door for Mr. An.

The parking spot happened to be beneath a street lamp. A bright and warm yellow light shone down from above and landed on the open space outside the back door, as if a half-meter-diameter circle had been drawn with light there. The car door opened, revealing a pair of long legs encased in jeans, followed by a straight back and a slender neck… He stood nonchalantly under the streetlamp, hands in his pockets, but he felt surrounded by a spotlight.

The man in the rear seat was obviously a travel-worn and slovenly ordinary man 20 minutes before, but the Mr. An who stood in front of Wu Youpeng now had a stifling charm. His chin was smooth, the bridge of his nose was high, his sword eyebrows boldly challenged, and his layered hair hung softly and docilely on the side of his face. His dark blue eyes seemed to be brimming with thousands of words, and just looking at him exhausted people’s confidence. 

How is this makeup?! It’s clearly a disguise!

Wu Youpeng’s eyes were wide, and his words were faltering. “You…you’re An, Andr…”

Mr. An gave him a cold look: “What? Have you never seen a film emperor?”

“……” 

Andrew sped towards the boxing gym’s entrance without waiting for Wu Youpeng’s response. Wu Youpeng’s thoughts were jumbled and hazy. He didn’t know what to do, so he turned into a small tail and ran after him to the entrance. Andrew was tall and had long legs. Despite his 178 cm height, Wu Youpeng had become a short-legged clan in comparison to him. Wu Youpeng had to hurry after Andrew as he walked faster and faster.

The front of the boxing gym was incredibly simple, and the internal decoration was even more so. The aged white and green walls were covered with specks of mildew that looked like stars in the sky. The floor was the most common concrete. Because it was nearly ten o’clock, strong men in groups of twos and threes walked out, conversing quietly. When they noticed Andrew, who was obviously out of place in that environment, they all turned their heads to look at him many times.

Andrew had become accustomed to being scrutinized by others. He walked to the front desk without looking around and tapped on the table to rouse the young lady who was hidden behind the front desk watching a serialized drama secretly. Wu “sharp-eyed” Youpeng saw that the series she was viewing featured An Ruifeng in the lead role. It was truly a wonderful coincidence.

Miss Front Desk had been watching TV intently and was enraged when she was abruptly interrupted. She was about to detonate when she noticed that the person who had disturbed her was a handsome blue-eyed guy. She leapt up from her seat and stood up, ignoring the melon seeds in her hand that she’d been cracking with her teeth. “Hello, May… May I… Uh, may…” 

Andrew, who had appeared to be a grim demon in the car just moments before, revealed his kind side at this point. He lowered his head slightly, his eyelashes drooped, and his eyes drifted over Miss Front Desk’s mouth and nose, his cheeks flushing slightly and his soft voice tinged with shyness: “I’m sorry, my friend asked me to come, but I forgot his room number. Can you tell me?”

Miss Front Desk was so taken with him that her eyes were filled with heart symbols: “Yeah, sure, sure, what’s your friend’s name?”

Andrew’s eyes curved because of his smile, saying briskly: “Wang Li Li, my friend’s name is Wang Li Li.”

“It’s Li-ge!” Miss Front Desk cried out before hurriedly piping down: “That’s right, except for his friends, who’ll know that he comes to a small gym like ours every Friday to open a room for sandbag practice. Oh! You’re Li-ge’s friend; are you also a celebrity?” 

Andrew shook his head bashfully: “How can I be counted as a star? I’m just running around playing minor roles thanks to Li-ge.”

“Aiya, don’t be modest. I think you look a bit like An Ruifeng, who is particularly popular these days. Li-ge is so good! Let him take you along for some play-acting; who knows, you might end up being the next An Ruifeng.”

“Thank you.” Andrew nodded, saying earnestly, “I also want to play-act more with Li-ge.”

Wu Youpeng, who was standing nearby observing this entire performance, was about to have sour teeth. The film emperor deserved to be called the film emperor. His flip from haughty and indifferent to people-friendly was flawless, and the lies were handy and said without a shred of guilty conscience. Look at how he deceived the young girl and had her running around in circles. She literally disclosed a guest’s personal information in such a muddle-headed manner. 

However, that said, how did Andrew know Wang Li Li?

Wu Youpeng had met Wang Li Li. He was considered a brilliant supporting male actor in the circle. He had acted in theater in his early years and supposedly subsequently had a falling out with the theatrical troupe’s head, running away to act in movies. He started by playing minor roles and moved up step by step. However, because of his ordinary appearance and dull personality, he couldn’t obtain the appreciation of big investors. After playing secondary roles for more than ten years, the biggest honor was only the Best Supporting Actor in a certain year. Instead of talking more about it, let it be noted that he recently appeared in “Heroic Thief Saga” in which he played a supporting role for An Ruifeng. Despite playing the second male lead he had to battle with quite a few opponents for the role.

According to the timeline, Wang Li Li had just switched from theater to movies during the years when Andrew was active in Panda Country. It would make sense if they knew each other at the time.

After clearly inquiring about Wang Li Li’s room number, the “shy and restrained” Andrew politely declined Miss Front Desk’s enthusiastic offer to lead the way, and hurriedly headed towards the last row of rooms. Wu Youpeng hastened to catch up, curious as to why Andrew was looking for Wang Li Li as soon as he landed. 

At this point, Andrew’s face regained the cold look of an iceberg. His lips were tightly pursed, his brows were slightly wrinkled, and his entire body resembled a fully drawn bow. With a tiny boost, the sharp arrow on the bow would cut through the air and hit the target’s center. Of course, he looked young, but his serious expression added many shades of maturity to him.

This old boxing gym was reconstructed from a low-rise factory building. It stood ten meters tall. The formal boxing ring was reached after passing through a little door next to the front desk. Inside the large workshop, the six-square-meter boxing rings were arranged in a picturesque disorder, with the majority of them empty. Andrew didn’t stop here, but instead walked through the boxing rings and headed to the row of small rooms labeled with numbers at the back of the workshop. The “VIP rooms” of this cash-strapped boxing club were all these modest rooms that were neither soundproof nor insulated. Each room included a set of punching bags and boxing balls, which was sufficient for basic training.

Room 5 was occupied by Wang Li Li. Andrew stood outside the door, staring at the large ‘5’ on the entrance, a nostalgic look flashing past in his eyes. He remained there for what seemed like an eternity before rapping on the door.

One couldn’t decide whether to describe Wang Li Li, who was inside the room, as completely lacking in vigilance or careless. Instead of first asking who was outside the door, he simply unlocked it from the inside. He was drenched in sweat from head to toe as a result of his high-intensity boxing workout. He pulled the door open with one hand and lifted the corner of his vest to wipe the sweat from his forehead, asking: “Who…” 

The words that followed were all swallowed back into his mouth.

Andrew was incredibly quick. He entered through the crack in the door opened by Wang Li Li, relying on his slender body. Wu Youpeng wanted to keep up, but the door banged mercilessly in his face. Wu Youpeng was so worried about missing out on the “live” gossip that he felt ill all over. He decisively placed his head on the door panel and began to eavesdrop in on the dialogue inside.

The discussion began calmly.

“You…what are you doing here?” Li-ge burst out laughing after asking this question: “I should have known. There has recently been a lot of conjecture online concerning the video of you appearing at the Bald Eagle Country’s film institute’s graduation ceremony. Your fans have also started to become active. One after the other, a slew of recollections and great videos emerge. Now I see they’re preparing for your return.” 

“Yeah, I’ll surely be back when I come back.”

“……How long are you going to stay this time?”

“It depends on how long you want me to stay,” Andrew said calmly.

This sentence was like a fuse, igniting the rage in Li-ge’s heart. “How long do I want you to stay? What the fuck do I have to do with you? Can I control your thoughts? Back then, you said you were leaving and simply left. You didn’t even leave your contact information. Didn’t I just turn down the role of the second male lead in your upcoming film?! You went abroad the next day and hid for seven or eight years?” 

The more Li-ge spoke, the more his emotions stirred up: “And that good brother of yours! An Ruifeng, right? I’m not sure if those paparazzi are playing silly because those eyes seem just like yours. When I saw him on TV for the first time, I thought you had plastic surgery!… I didn’t want to talk to him much while I was filming, but he approached me repeatedly, just like you did back then!”

“‘Back then’?” Andrew sighed softly, “I didn’t expect you to remember things from so long ago.”

“I’d rather not remember.”

Li-ge’s voice was decisive, as if to drive Andrew out of his territory. “Leave, just like you did back then. I’d rather believe that my good friend, my junior who addressed me as brother, died somewhere. I don’t want to see you calmly stand in front of me after all these years.” 

Wu Youpeng plainly heard clothing friction sounds coming from the room. He assumed Wang Li Li was yanking Andrew’s clothes to push him out the door. When they first started shoving, the two men spoke in hushed tones. Wu Youpeng could faintly hear their argument of “you get out of here,” “I won’t go,” “you get lost,” and “I won’t.” As the voices grew louder, the two of them moved closer and closer to the door.

Andrew’s back slammed into the door with a loud “thud.”

Andrew opened his mouth just as Wu Youpeng felt he was about to be forced out of the room in this manner. He didn’t raise his voice or shout hysterically. He appeared to be sighing and confiding at the same time.

“Li Li, you were depressed at the time, hitting snags everywhere. Every day, you hurried around the set, refusing to return to the theater company and insisting on acting in movies. I invited you to play against me in my new movie, but you rejected because you were concerned about people accusing you of using under-the-counter connections. You stated that you wanted to rely on your own efforts to impress the director and convince him to cast you as the male lead… That’s OK. I’m now the director. I was impressed by you, and I’d like to invite you to be my male lead; are you interested?” 

The room grew silent after these words were said. Wu Youpeng tried hard to listen, but he couldn’t make out anything.

Gradually, fragmented crying could be heard coming from the door. The sound appeared to be gently scraping at the softest area of a person’s heart. Simply listening to it made people want to dig out their hearts and offer it to him, pleading with him to smile.

Just as expected, following Andrew’s faint sounds of weeping, Li-ge’s uneasy voice rang out: “You, you don’t cry… In any case, seeing a thirty-six-year-old man like you cry at the drop of a hat is terrible.”

However, the more he said, the more Andrew sobbed. Andrew was not so much crying as he was feeling wronged and in pain. His voice sounded stuffy, as though he was resting his head on Li-ge’s shoulder not wanting to exhibit weakness. 

Wu Youpeng could imagine how bewildered Wang Li Li may be.

Li-ge said in distress: “You…what are you crying about? I should be in tears! You didn’t tell me why you were leaving back then; you just left. A letter inquiring about your situation had to be routed through your company. I assumed you didn’t like me and didn’t want to be my friend.”

“How is that possible? I’ve been sending you emails while I’ve been abroad for these few years. You were the one who did not reply!”

“Email?… Huh? Which email account?” Li-ge inquired. 

“Your private mailbox!” Andrew complained: “You didn’t reply to a single one!”

Li-ge sighed and remarked dejectedly: “We stopped using email a long time ago. We have only used QQ and WeChat in recent years.”

Wu Youpeng laughed so hard that he almost rolled down the door. He desperately wanted to call this reunion “two persons separated by an era.”

When the phone in his trouser pocket vibrated, he was about to resume eavesdropping. He took it out, and he discovered it was another text message from Ling Xi. 

Ling Xi: Wu-ge!!!! Wu-ge Wu-ge Wu-ge Wu-ge Wu-ge Wu-ge Wu-ge Wu-ge! You won’t believe it. Just after the celebration banquet ended, AnAn actually admitted to the dozens of media on the scene that his gege is film emperor Andrew!!!!!! Not only am I the drama king’s man, I’m also the film emperor’s brother-in-law!!!!

Wu Youpeng thought, if you wait a little longer, you might also become the best supporting actor’s sister-in-law…

He was holding his phone, composing words to congratulate Ling Xi, when the door to the VIP boxing room unexpectedly opened. Wu Youpeng, of course, was leaning against the door and nearly tumbled in head first as soon as it opened. Andrew exited the room with his head bowed. Wang Li Li did not pursue him, but instead remained in the room. Wu-ge couldn’t see the look on his face because his back was turned to the door, so he didn’t know what he was thinking.

Wu Youpeng couldn’t reply to the text message since Andrew was walking faster and faster. He hastened to catch up with him. 

Wu Youpeng glanced at the other party’s red eyes and pale face, unsure whether or not to console him at this moment, or how to console him. He reached into his trouser pocket. He remembered that the last time he went to the bathroom, he left a useless piece of toilet paper, but he wondered if Andrew could accept wiping his tears with crumpled toilet paper…

When Andrew noticed Wu Youpeng staring at himself, he turned his head and faced him squarely. There was no sign of frailty on his face at this point; he didn’t appear to have been crying his heart out.

Andrew scoffed as he wiped the corners of his eyes: “What? Have you never seen a film emperor?”