Chapter 34: Fever

After signing his name on the contract of 《Dream of the Red Mansions》, Yan Mu Lin felt light as a feather. It had been so easy to get the role; it felt like a dream. This kind of thing never crossed his mind, even in dreams.

There were two contracts: one for the anime, and one for the TV drama. He had a total of eight roles and four contracts. Originally, Ma Yu Huai wanted to give Yan Mu Lin more roles, but the other directors disagreed with him. Little Ma, no matter how good Mu Lin is, you can"t give all the roles to him. Other voice actors had to eat too!

With great reluctance, Ma Yu Huai listened to their words but refused to give less than four. He refused to bargain anymore.

When Zhou Wen Jing saw Yan Mu Lin return to the car happily, she said to him: “Why are you so happy?”

Yan Mu Lin winked at her, “Why not?” He stopped showing his happiness blatantly and took out his phone to thank Shao Nuo Yu. If it weren"t for him, he would not have the chance to be recognized by the other directors, especially Ma Yu Huai.

Yan Mu Lin shyly asked Shao Nuo Yu to eat. He would continue clinging to this thick thigh and make sure to hug it well!

When Shao Nuo Yu received the message, he was in the middle of a meeting; listening to his subordinates" annual earnings report. He already read everything and was just listening to the report so he concentrated on exchanging text messages with Yan Mu Lin.

Yan Mu Lin asked if he had any preferences so Shao Nuo Yu replied that he liked eating homemade food. In winter, he liked eating hot pot.

Yan Mu Lin"s cooking was just average, but hot pot was easy to do.

No problem, when are you free?

Shao Nuo Yu replied that he would be free in two days, during the weekend.

Yan Mu Lin immediately checked his own schedule. Tomorrow, he was going to record the second episode of 《Who Has that Good Voice?》which would take two days and one night. This means that he would be back on the weekend. His eyes were filled with expectation.

My house is too small, so I"m not too sure if receiving guests would be easy. Aiya! How annoying. I have no time to arrange it today.

The dubbing for《Dream of the Red Mansions》haven"t started, but he had to go and stay with the crew for a week. Ma Yu Huai said that it was for him to experience the simplicity of Rong Mansion and the life in that dynasty.

Yan Mu Lin did not refuse, nor did he think about refusing. Whether it was about the anime or the drama, Ma Yu Huai had absolute authority.

Yan Mu Lin hid all these thoughts behind a calm expression.

Zhou Wen Jing did not send Yan Mu Lin home. She brought him to school. He was a new voice actor, which was a career different from singers and movie stars who had to face the media every day. The company arranged the first episode of 《Who Has That Good Voice?》to be his first exposure to the public. That would be two weeks from now, together with the filming of the third episode.

Yan Mu Lin could still go back to school, which was very good.

Since the term was about to end, Yan Mu Lin had to prepare for the final exam. When he missed cla.s.ses, he would go to an exclusive cla.s.sroom to study so that he would not fail the course. The teacher approved of this when he applied for it previously.

Nowadays, in cla.s.s, no one did not know about Yan Mu Lin"s fame. None of them bothered when he was bullied which was why no one dared to curry favor with him. However, there were still several girls who wanted to cling on Yan Mu Lin, but he successfully escaped them every day. There was no chance for them to get close. Whether it was the prettiest girl in cla.s.s or the school belle, no one could catch him.

It was not that Yan Mu Lin did not want to take care of his cla.s.smates, but he simply had not thought of it.

When he returned to cla.s.s, the so-called prettiest girl in cla.s.s sat next to him and smiled shyly.

The prettiest girl in cla.s.s, Zhu Yuan Yuan, said: “Long time no see. Have you been busy recently?”

Yan Mu Lin politely replied, “Fortunately.”

Zhu Yuan Yuan did not give up, “The other students didn"t tell me that you were Pan Jinlian. Are you interested in coming to our drama club? We"re about to have an event.”

“Thanks. You don"t have to invite me.” He was not interested.

Zhu Yuan Yuan lost face twice. She was already furious in her heart, but she could only laugh to save face. The other female students were still staring at her as there were a lot who was coveting Yan Mu Lin. This was because he knew the crown prince. If they went out with him, they might meet the prince.

Every girl dreamt of a prince on a white horse, but Yan Mu Lin would not let him become a girl"s Prince Charming. Any girl who had thoughts on Shao Nuo Yu was his enemy.

Zhu Yuan Yuan was a little bit of a discerning person. Although Yan Mu Lin was polite, he absolutely did not want to pay attention to her. Since she invited the rebuff, she sat down and pretended to wait for cla.s.s to start, but she was actually monitoring Yan Mu Lin"s actions.

When Yan Mu Lin was no longer bothered by people, he received a text message from an unknown number: It"s Xue Bai Ping. I just met your agent, Sister Jing. In order to thank you, let me treat you to a meal if you are available later at night.

Xue Bai Ping? Yan Mu Lin thought for a second before remembering. He was the actor who got frightened by him. Suddenly inviting him to a meal, he should not have malicious intentions, right?

Since Zhou Wen Jing gave his phone number, it meant that this person was worth befriending. Yan Mu Lin saved his number and replied: I have to record a show tomorrow so I can"t drink. We can only eat ordinary meals if you don"t mind. It"s no problem with me.

He was a fool to fall for it the first time. Now, he paid more attention to his diet.

After setting the time, Xue Bai Ping said that it was possible for him to wear a disguise then pick him up at 5 PM.

Originally, the two of them felt like old friends the first time they met. Now, one of them took the initiative. The other would naturally be willing to meet up.

After getting rid of Zhu Yuan Yuan, Yan Mu Lin rushed to the school gate after cla.s.s. He saw a young man wearing a red jacket inside a car waving at him. Yan Mu Lin was speechless.

Is this what he called a disguise? Dear, don"t you feel that you are unconsciously showing off? Yan Mu Lin lazily waved back to tell that he saw the other party. Xue Bai Ping immediately returned the half of his body inside the car.

“Aren"t you afraid of other people recognizing you?”

Xue Bai Ping, who was now inside the car, grinned: “Didn"t you see me wearing a mask and sungla.s.ses? That obviously won"t happen.”

Yan Mu Lin rolled his eyes, “Today is a cloudy day and you"re wearing sungla.s.ses. It gets dark early in winter, ah.”

Xue Bai Ping let out a “hehe”, feeling a little silly. He took the sungla.s.ses and mask off, and closed the window after Yan Mu Lin got on the car. “Alright. It"s my mistake. You are more long-winded than my agent.”

“I"m doing this for you.”

“She also said that.”

It was their second meeting but it was like they were old friends. There was no awkward silence during their conversation.

When Yan Mu Lin was not busy, he would browse through Xue Bai Ping"s Weibo. He would do the same too.

They already chose where to eat, so Yan Mu Lin was just there to eat.

While they were on the way, Xue Bai Ping answered a call. He looked at Yan Mu Lin innocently, “Do you mind eating with one more person?”

“Who?”

“My senior in college.”

“Ah? He"s not in the circle?”

Xue Bai Ping shook his head, “No. He"s from the government.  A busy person. He just returned from abroad today.”

“It turned out to be like this. Your brother is so busy yet he still asked you out to eat. Very good.”

“I am also very busy. I just finished shooting my scenes for 《Dream of the Red Mansions》 . Really exhausting.”

Yan Mu Lin also finished his audition with the directors, but he was not going to tell Xue Bai Ping for the time being.

“Oh? Who do you play?”

Xue Bai Ping smiled at him and said, “Hey, try to guess.”

Yan Mu Lin stared at him.

Since Yan Mu Lin had no intention to cooperate with him, Xue Bai Ping lost interest and said, “It"s Jia Baoyu.”

Yan Mu Lin blinked and sized him up from head to toe. He reached out to his face, “Yo, smooth skin, red lips, and white teeth. You really suit the role of Jia Baoyu. However, isn"t the crew of《Dream of the Red Mansions》really strict? How can you film for 《Spy》?”

“I told the director about that but I was just scolded that time.”

Due to Xue Bai Ping"s words, Yan Mu Lin finally knew why Director Ma gave him the Jia Baoyu"s role. He felt flattered. “Drive safely. I think you would be scolded without end when you run away to film for 《Spy》.”

Xue Bai Ping hesitated and said, “How do you know that? Do you think that I got Jia Baoyu"s role through the backdoor?”

“That"s not the case. I personally think that you act very well. You just suck at scripts.”

Xue Bai Ping"s shoulders hung down like a deflated ball, “Yes ah. I"m going to die. Going to script reading cla.s.ses were useless.”

Staring at the road ahead, he suddenly said: “Ai, Mu Lin, it would be better for you to teach me. I think you are better than those teachers.”

“Are you sure?”

“I already thought of this when I saw you last time, but I did not have the chance to ask for your number.”

“Let"s wait after the weekend before discussing this again.”

The two got along very well. When they arrived at the restaurant, someone was already waiting for them in the private room. It was Xue Bai Ping"s senior. A handsome man with some kind of aura, the kind that one got when immersed in bureaucracy. He was not an ordinary official like Xue Bai Ping said.

Xue Bai Ping excitedly introduced his new friend and his senior to each other. However, Yan Mu Lin could feel it. The other party seemed to be slightly hostile towards Yan Mu Lin. He could not understand why.

Due to Xue Bai Ping"s slowness, he did not notice the atmosphere between the two. It only disappeared when Xue Bai Ping told Shao Nuo Cheng that he was an actor in 《Dream of the Red Mansions》.

Shao Nuo Cheng asked, “Who do you play?”

“Guess?”

Yan Mu Lin could see that Shao Nuo Cheng was an able and efficient man. He thought that the other party would not play such a stupid game with Xue Bai Ping, but he was wrong!

Shao Nuo Cheng actually played along with him…..

He pretended to think, “Is it Jia Lian? No? Then how about Qin Zhong? That"s not it….. Then tell me.”

Yan Mu Lin: “…..” This was genuine acting. An eye-opener. His ability reached perfection.

He silently rubbed his arms. To say such a corny joke in this winter, he felt like he was going to freeze to death.

However, Shao Nuo Cheng"s name only differs a character from his male G.o.d. They aren"t relatives, right?

Yan Mu Lin lost his appet.i.te. Xue Bai Ping, who was not aware that he was showing PDA, told him to eat more. He also said that he would rely on him for guidance and so on. Then that senior of his… His possessiveness was not normal. It was very strong.

Yan Mu Lin could not wait to capture Shao Nuo Yu. But that"s just wishful thinking.

After that uncomfortable dinner, Yan Mu Lin and Xue Bai Ping parted ways. Since it was a winter night, Yan Mu Lin did not want to ask Ah Ya to pick him up, so he took a taxi back.

Zhou Wen Jing called to check up on him. Yan Mu Lin told her that he was on his way back. She knew that he did not go to bars. He hanged up.

Standing near the bus stop, Yan Mu Lin"s phone died.

Thirty minutes pa.s.sed but he still has not hailed a taxi.

Light rain mixed in with the cold winter wind, causing his nose to feel very cold. Yan Mu Lin was sadly reminded that he did not bring an umbrella.

Therefore, he stood there waiting for a taxi. Yan Mu Lin recalled the hardest time in his previous life. It was snowing in the middle of the night, as he went through crews looking for a job. He was together with his friends, waiting to be hired as extras. Nothing was worse than that.

Childrens are straw without moms…

An umbrella was raised above his head, taking away the cold winter wind and drizzle.

He quickly turned around. What Yan Mu Lin saw caused him to break into a smile. He was choked with emotion for a while, before saying in a trembling voice: “…What a coincidence.”