Pleasing Start Over

The Modern Entertainment World 6.8

Liu Yi sat in a private room while he waited for Qiao Chen. Once Qiao Chen entered the room, he glanced up and saw Shu Qichen’s vibrant, vivacious, and carefree expression. He didn’t have the air of defeat like he had before when he worked as a stand-in.  Liu Yi immediately felt his heart go sour. He thought that he could finally step all over this waste of a person. He never expected that the man would be able to turn a new leaf so quickly.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Qiao Chen said and sat down opposite to Liu Yi in a leisurely manner. He had deliberately come an hour late. He did apologize for his tardiness, but he didn’t look a bit sorry. When Shu Qichen had gone to Liu Yi to ask for help in his darkest and greatest time of need, Liu Yi didn’t just make him wait for one hour.

“It doesn’t matter. You should be quite busy now, so that fact that you came at all is good enough.” Liu Yi smiled and said insincerely. He was an actor who had no backing, but was still able to cultivate his current reputation to its heights. These were all his own efforts, so he knew very well how to be humble when he needed to.

Qiao Chen smile back and asked, “What did you need me for?”

“It’s nothing important. I just haven’t seen you for such a long time, so I wanted to invite you out to hang and talk. I hope I haven’t delayed your schedule?”

“I don’t have much to do today. Just tell me what you wanted to talk to me about today.” Qiao Chen replied.

Liu Yi began recalling their history together immediately after Qiao Chen finished his sentence. He regaled the way Qichen cared for and helped him. He gushed about how eternally grateful he was to Qichen for doing all that for him. Unfortunately, he failed to mention how he reacted when Qichen himself went to Liu Yi in his time of need. He seemed to have forgotten how he heartlessly ignored Qichen’s pleas for help. It was like he never exposed his true intentions when they worked together at Weidian. Liu Yi pretended he wasn’t the same person that plotted against Qichen and caused him to fall.

Qiao Chen didn’t say anything. He just looked at Liu Yi as he spoke. Liu Yi continued to carry the conversation on his own without feeling an ounce of awkwardness.

Qiao Chen’s patience was finally running thin when Liu Yi’s blathering was finally interrupted by a phone call. Liu Yi asnwered the phone and spoke for a bit until he looked at Qiao Chen with some embarrassment and asked, “Can you accompany me somewhere?”

“Where?” Qiao Chen asked. He had been patiently listening to Liu Yi run his mouth for this exact moment.

“There’s this dinner party I was invited to. People over there heard that I was with you, so they’re trying to get you to come with me. You’re the hottest topic right now. There’s a lot of big names trying to contact you, but can’t.” Liu Yi said as he carefully observed Qiao Chen’s expression. “This dinner is pretty important to me and Weidian.  You can just come and sit for a bit if you want.”

Qiao Chen didn’t reply. He picked up his phone and looked at it.

“You just have to show up. C’mon, do it for our friendship. We’ve known each other for so many years. I was your classmate when we were younger. Please help me. I don’t know how to explain it if you don’t.” Liu Yi persuaded with an anxious and sincere expression. He knew from past experiences that once he used this attitude and method to ask Shu Qichen for help, Shu Qichen usually agreed to his requests.