Chapter 49 – She’s not going to argue with you

The media didn’t expect Chu Ying to appear. At first, there was silence, then the ‘Ka-ka-ka’ sound of the cameras inundated the silent night. The sky was dark, the lights along the red carpet not bright enough; the flashes were very much visible. Afraid that the man wouldn’t be used to it, Su Yi smiled for barely a minute before tugging on his sleeve and taking him in on his arm.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’re coming over?” she asked only when they’re inside. 

“It was a last-minute decision. I finished a deal and saw that I had enough time to come over.” Chu Ying’s frown was tight as he stared at her legs. “Do you know what the temperature outside is?”

“More than ten degrees?” Su Yi said softly. “In the past, when it’s only a couple degrees you only wore a short-sleeved shirt.”

Chu Ying paused and side-eyed her. “When did you see me in a short-sleeved shirt?”

Su Yi then realised that she had accidentally let slip. She hurriedly turned her head and smiled, making a motion of zipping her lips. Then, holding his arm, she brought him to the centre of the back row to sit down. Since those in charge of this event weren’t too sure how many celebrities would be willing to show up, there was no requirement for the seating arrangement, it had all been left up to the guests.

Chu Ying didn’t say anything, allowing her to pull him along. In the past, when they had to go on a mission during winter, they would usually put on a jacket. They wouldn’t wear short sleeves unless it was one that involved tons of physical work, the kind that would make them sweat. Only then, because they found the jacket troublesome, most would choose to take it off. 

When had Su Yi seen him in short sleeves?

He had carried out too many missions to recall it at once. Because they had arrived a little late, most people had already found their seats. Although it wasn’t a large-scale event, the organisers had a huge network and there were still plenty of big names in attendance. Among the guests, the ones who were a bit more well known sat nearer to the front, while those who had just entered the industry or those who weren’t that well known and knew that they wouldn’t need to go receive awards had obediently sat in the last row.

Once there were people filling up the front and the back, the centre row nearer the back became mostly empty; between people there tended to be a few seats, and it was why Su Yi chose this seat.

After sitting down, she was about to sneakily hold hands with Chu Ying when the sound boxes around them sounded.

“Ke-Ke* .” A worker tested out the mike before saying, “Good evening everyone, it’s like this, in the centre rows the seating is a little more spread out and there’s a portion in the centre that’s a bit too empty. It’d look strange on the camera, so could we have people change their seats? The ones sitting at the back could move forward, the ones in the front needn’t sit so close to each other too … thank you for your cooperation.”

[T/L: Ke-ke: Coughing sound]

Once the person finished speaking, those at the back didn’t react, but those in front started moving. Not too long after, the seats around Su Yi were filled. 

The person sitting beside her was an actress she once worked with. She said with a smile, “Yi Yi, if you had said earlier that you’re coming I would’ve waited for you to walk the red carpet.”

The two were fine when they were filming, and had privately practised their lines together before, but after filming they hadn’t been in much contact.

Su Yi tilted her head and smiled. “I decided to come last minute too.”

“You’re filming ‘Undercurrent’, right?” The actress held her elbow very easily as if they were really close. “At the Shanghai Film Park? I’m going to Shanghai in a few days, I’ll go visit you.”

Su Yi said politely, “There’s no need to go to all that trouble, I’m going to finish filming soon anyways.”

“Oh right, I heard that yesterday Tu Jinglan poured water on you? She’s too much.”

Although she said so quite angrily, it was very clear she was trying to get Su Yi to say something.

“It might have been an accident.” Su Yi mumbled.

Seeing that she couldn’t get anything out of her, the other didn’t keep on this topic. “Your lips are really pretty today, what colour is your lipstick?”

Su Yi smiled. “My make-up artist chose it for me, I’m not too sure either.”

“Ah … your make-up artist, is it that ―” The actress’ voice suddenly dropped a few notches as she continued, ending with her near Su Yi’s ears. “That effeminate boy?”

Su Yi’s smile faded a little and she said nothing.

“I’ve seen him a few times, doesn’t he really like to stick his pinky up*? When I hear him speak I always get goosebumps.”

[T/L: Pinky up (lan hua zhi): an action like when someone holds a teacup and sticks their pinky out, but when used as a gesture without actually holding a teacup, usually ends up as a derogotary description of a guy since it’s associated with gay/feminine men – like someone would say: ‘Hey, that guy likes to do that’ to hint that that person is really gay/feminine.]

“He’s a brilliant make-up artist.” Su Yi looked away from her and said, “He’s very dedicated.”

The actress’s words were rebuked before she could say it, and she could only nod hastily. “Ah … that’s pretty good.”

Su Yi leant forward to take a look, beside Chu Ying was a male celebrity.

Chu Ying reached out and held her hand, turning his head to ask, “What’s your award?”

Su Yi took out her phone and looked at Wu Xue’s message. “The best debut supporting actress.”

It didn’t sound like a very important award, nor was it a noted, it was chosen internally with no other ‘competitors’.

The gala soon began. The organisers had hired some old-time hosts, so once they stood on the stage, with just a few lines of conversation between the two hosts it felt like they were in a very important award ceremony. As it was a live-stream, if they spoke too much they wouldn’t be able to complete this show on time, so after only a few lines, the hosts went on to the actual award distribution.

The ones at the onset were mostly consolation prizes, with the important awards given out towards the end, so in the first half there wasn’t too much excitement.

The camera went around a lot, and the ones given the most screen-time were a few very important guests and some currently trending celebrities. Then it was Su Yi.

On the nth time the camera focused on Su Yi and the guy beside her, she tugged on her lips and forced a smile. Chu Ying, however, was completely expressionless – there wasn’t a single shot of him smiling.

Afraid that he would be impatient, she took a look at the time and said softly, “My award is very small, looking at the time it should be my turn soon, how about we leave after I get my award?”

Chu Ying tilted his head and smiled. “All right.”

Finally, they got to the announcement of the best debut supporting actress. The person giving out the rewards looked at the card and said with a smile, “The best debut supporting actress is –”

Su Yi let go of her guy and arranged her dress carefully, getting ready to stand up.

“– Chen Yang! Congratulations!”

Su Yi paused.

Chen Yang was almost fifty and specialised in acting as the mother, or the aunt. Sometimes she’s good sometimes she’s evil, and her roles are pretty deep – she’s pretty well known. She’d been around for almost ten years and received plenty of awards, for this best debut supporting actress award to fall onto her was … unusual.

The camera quickly focused on Chen Yang. She looked a little surprised too, but it was very quickly and quite perfectly covered up. She got up easily and waved at the camera.

Su Yi leant back on the seat as if nothing had happened, expressionless. It wasn’t the first time her award was given to someone else. Once, there was a pretty high-class award-giving ceremony where the organisers had informed her beforehand to prepare her acceptance speech for the debut supporting actress award, but on the D-day, it was changed to someone else. Even then she could calmly clap with a smile, never mind such a small event as today.

But the person beside was clearly not very satisfied. Su Yi notices his dissatisfaction and, holding back her laughter, hurriedly took his hand and said, “Want to go home with me in a while?”

He pursed his lips. “Yeah.”

Wanting to blow up but still keeping it down to appease her – he really was too cute.

Slowly, the ceremony neared its end. She planned to leave early, but no one around her left so if she got up it’d be too obvious.

“The award for the best supporting actress goes to –”

The entrance and the exit wasn’t the same. Su Yi looked to the side, wanting to see which exit was nearest to their seat.

“– Su Yi! Congratulations!”

She was still looking for an exit, so when she heard her name she was caught off guard and only reacted when the light shone on her.

“Stop looking around, it’s you.” The host joked.

The audience laughed, Su Yi frowned slightly. Only after going on stage and seeing that trophy without a name did she understand: the organisers switched hers and Chen Yang’s awards last minute!

She had never expected to someday snatch someone else’s trophy and was a little taken aback.

“Come on, Su Yi, tell us what you feel.” The host reminded her in a jolly manner.

Her expression was a little unnatural, her smile strangely stiff. “Thanks to You Qi Various Artists for giving me this award.” Here, she paused, and only after a moment did she continue. “I’ll continue working hard and seriously film, thank you.”

Here everyone fell silent for a while.

The host said uncertainly, “That’s it?”

Su Yi nodded, her lips curving unnaturally.

After going off-stage, everyone around her was congratulating her. She thanked them sparsely and hurried back to her seat.

She didn’t quite hear what was happening afterwards and only after the gala was over did Chu Ying asked in a low voice, “What is it?”

She said, “I think I took someone else’s award.” It’s certain that the organisers changed the awards list because of Chu Ying’s appearance.

Chu Ying was silent for a while before raising his hand to ruffle her hair. “It’s not your fault, don’t be upset.”

Su Yi hummed once in agreement and was about to get onto the car when someone called out from behind her … 

“Su Yi.”

It’s Chen Yang. The other was still holding the trophy and smiling gently. “Do you have time for a chat?”

Su Yi’s face felt strangely hot. “Yes.” After that, she looked at Chu Ying and said, “Go first and wait for me.”

Chu Ying didn’t move.

“It’s fine, I’ll only be gone for a while.”

There was a river near the venue, and beside that was a small trail really suitable for a walk.

Su Yi didn’t go far before saying first, “Yang-jie, I didn’t know what was happening tonight, I’m sorry.”

“If you didn’t know what was happening, why apologise to me? It’s not a big deal, I didn’t care so much about it.” Chen Yang smiled. “And I’m not looking for you about this.”

Su Yi said, “Then you―”

“It’s just that I haven’t spoken to young people in a long time and happened to see you, so I thought about chatting you. I didn’t disturb you, did I?” Chen Yang didn’t wait for her to reply before continuing. “A while ago I was watching “Spring Onion Times”,  and you did pretty well in that.”

[Qing Chun is the word for ‘youth’, while Qing Cong (where the second character is changed) becomes ‘spring onion’; Sui Yue (岁月) is ‘years’]

Su Yi was a little shocked. “Thank you, I really liked your character too.”

“I’m afraid your boyfriend would get worried. I’ll say this straight out, I plan to go behind the scenes and am planning to film a tv show, currently I’m looking for actors.” Chen Yang smiled. “A while ago I gave you that script, did you read it? Are you interested?”

Su Yi paused. “What character?”

“It’s a female lead in a high school show, a different character from everything else you’ve acted as before. How is it, do you want to challenge yourself?”

“…”

She got it in a moment – the naïve pure and cute female lead for a high school show Wu Xue had mentioned before …

And in the car, Chu Ying received a call from his elder.

Mother Chu started with a series of questions. “What’s up with you? You’ve only been together for how long and everyone knows! We Chu family members always are very low-key, you, you – just dating and you’re on the headlines every day! Someday when you get married, is it that your dad and I have to find out from the news as well?”

Chu Ying glanced outside the window. “Not really.” 

“…” Mother Chu put her hand on her forehead, trying her best to calm down. “Do you know her, how long have you been dating, her family, her education, her values – how much do you know? Little Ying, it’s not that Ma doesn’t agree … all right, I don’t agree.” 

As she spoke, there was more anger in her voice. “She’s awful and evil in every TV show she’s in, I can’t win when talking to her. If you marry her we’ll have a very tense in-law relationship!”

Chu Ying was amused by the words ‘in-law relationship’. He laughed lightly, then said, “Ma, she’s not going to argue with you. And we’re not going to stay in the old family house after we’re married, relax.”

Mother Chu: “???”

edited by larkspur~~ hope you enjoy the second update in a row : )