Chapter 59

Act VIII: The Cat Who Wants to Become Human (3)

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The rain was pouring down.

Xiang Cai hid under the eaves of the platform, waiting for the next bus.

The surrounding area was a vast expanse of white, with the rain forming a curtain. From a distance, Xiang Cai was observing the world through that rain curtain. For a moment, he was a little confused - was he an actor on stage or an audience member under the stage?.

At that moment, a silver-gray family-style SUV stopped by the platform, the window of the co-pilot seat rolled down, and a serious little head could be seen looking directly at him.

"Da gege, get in the car, don't get a cold! We will take you home."

The little boy looked to be about seven or eight years old. He had no slurred pronunciation that children his age did. His mandarin characters were smooth and fluent, with the posturing of a little adult.

Xiang Cai thought he was cute and answered with a smile: "Thank you, I'll just wait for the bus."

"There is a traffic jam up ahead!" The little boy took out his mobile phone, brought up the GPS skillfully, and pointed at the red route on the map. He declared, "The bus won't be able to get here even if you wait another half an hour!"

"..." Xiang Cai thought, was this a new means of black car solicitation? Send a sharp-eyed child to pick up such a poor bug like him from the road?

But he left home without his wallet today, and only managed to plug an emergency fifty yuan into his bus card. He was a dozen kilometers from the school. He doesn't have enough money on him to accept this car ride ...

The owner of the car seemed to understand why he was hesitating, and the window shook again, a mature and handsome face appearing in Xiang Cai’s view.

"... Get in the car." Tan Yiming raised his chin slightly. "I won't sell you."

It was just a brief moment of eye contact, but Xiang Cai felt like his whole body was electrocuted. His cold body that had been soaked by the heavy rain suddenly surged with warmth.

Those feelings of warmth were shame, embarrassment combined with some other feelings he couldn't fathom for the time being.

He never thought that he would meet Tan Yiming at a time when he was the most embarrassed. His body was wet and his heart was also wet. He obviously resembled more like a chicken than a graceful swan.

He lowered his head in panic, narrowing his eyes towards the soft woolen cushion on the back seat. He quickly rejected, "No need. My clothes are all soaked, and it won’t be good to get the back seat cushion wet."

Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, as a response, the boy sitting in the front passenger seat, relying on his small structure, actually squeezed through the gap between the front seats and leaned into the backseat.

The boy patted the front passenger seat generously: "There is no cushion in the front, you can sit here!"

Xiang Cai: "..."

Tan Yiming: "..."

Tan Yiming opened the car door from inside, and the hot air came out, blowing away the cold of the rainy day.

"Come on." The man's voice penetrated through the layers of rain and fog and reached his ears. "Cai Cai, I'll take you home."

So warm, so gentle.

When he heard the man's voice for the first time five years ago, Xiang Cai couldn't refuse the tenderness in his voice and he couldn't refuse it now.

So Xiang Cai dizzily got into the car.

The torrential rain was very urgent. Xiang Cai had been standing in the rain just now, and only felt a bit cold. However, after experiencing the warmth in the car, he suddenly felt colder.

He shuddered, and in the next second, a scented heated blanket was draped over him.

"Wipe yourself, don't catch a cold," Tan Yiming said. "There are only heated blankets in the car, just take it and turn it on."

Xiang Cai pretended to be calm, and plunged his head into the blanket.

The blanket had a nice smell, like soft sunlight, and a bit of a sparkling ocean—Xiang Cai recalled the scent of the embrace described by the lucky audience member at the scene of the show before. Xiang Cai thought, did she smell this scent?

He looked up and found that the source of the aroma was the air freshener in the car. A small bottle of light blue liquid was attached to the air outlet. As the car moved, the liquid swayed in the bottle and gradually releasing the aroma.

As a result, the heated blanket was stained with this aroma, Tan Yiming's arms were stained with this aroma ... and now, Xiang Cai’s hair was also stained with the same aroma. 

Xiang Cai tried to wipe off the rain that kept dripping, but he still managed to wet the seat.

"I will pay for the dry cleaning of the car." He was no longer the pitiful person who only had one hundred yuan a month as living expenses. His finances was no longer stretched, and he could straighten his waist when mentioning paying the bill.

"Okay." Tan Yiming wrapped him with the blanket, and said amusedly, "You child, you haven't even left school yet, what money can you talk to me about?"

"..." Xiang Cai couldn't remember how long it had been since he was regarded as a child.

In these five years, he had grown too fast, and he had also become matured too fast. When everyone’s eyes fell on him, he was already a trustworthy class monitor, a well-deserved male lead, and a guide in emotions for others.

Xiang Cai insisted: "Brothers settle accounts."

"But this is not a bill that requires splitting." Tan Yiming said, "I have a car and saw you getting wet in the rain, so I want to drop you back to school on the way—this is just a matter of effort, must you make such a clear dividing line? "

The question caused Xiang Cai to be dumbfounded.

Sitting in the back row, Fanfan did not interrupt the conversation of adults. He continued to fiddle with his mobile phone, opening King’s Glory on the screen, and carefully controlling the hero.

A loud ‘Kill’ came from the phone, Fanfan had taken down a head.

Tan Yiming asked Xiang Cai: "Did you come to watch the musical alone?"

Xiang Cai answered, "No, I came with my boyfriend and a few of his friends."

"Then why didn't he see you off, why did he let you catch the bus alone?"

In the back row, Fanfan took a second head, and a ‘Double Kill’ came from his phone.

Xiang Cai was upset by the ‘Double Kill’. He said, "Manchuan and his brothers still had something to do, so they left separately."

Tan Yiming nodded casually, not asking anymore about the relationship between the young couple.

Tan Yiming typed the address of Xiang Cai’s school into the GPS, and the wheels slipped through the curtain of rain, turning onto the viaduct.

Because the windows were tightly closed, the car was silent. Except for the sound effects of the game coming out of Fanfan's mobile phone in the back, there was nothing else.

Xiang Cai took out his mobile phone, but looked away from the screen for a while. The screen was filled with Cen Manchuan’s caring words.

Teacher Cen: Cai Cai, have you gotten on the bus?

Teacher Cen: Did you get caught in the rain?

Teacher Cen: I knew that I shouldn't have gone to eat hot pot with the gang of turtle grandchildren, but I should have taken you back to school first.

Teacher Cen: What's taking you so long to answer the phone? Your phone is dead, right?

Teacher Cen: Your cell phone battery is too useless, or should I switch to another cell phone.

Xiang Cai gently pursed his lips.

guess: It's getting a little rainy. I’m already on the bus.

guess: Don’t change your phone. I can’t play games on my phone. You can’t eat chicken with your friends. [?]

Teacher Cen: Then go back and drink more hot water, don't catch a cold.

Teacher Cen: Are there empty seats on the bus?

Xiang Cai glanced sideways at Tan Yiming who was driving.

He wanted to tell Cen Manchuan that he didn't take the bus. He met Teacher Tan, who was taking him back to school.

But all of a sudden, he felt very tired, so tired that he didn't want to say much.

So he returned with only two words.

guess: yes, seat.

Teacher Cen: Un, alright!

Teacher Cen: That ... I'm sorry.

Teacher Cen: Old Gao and Datui [T/N: thighs] are just a bit straight, they definitely do not have a bad opinion of you.

Teacher Cen: They haven’t seen musicals before, and didn't understand it when watching for the first time, so they slipped away halfway through.

Teacher Cen: I was thinking all of us eating hot pot together and me introducing you to them.

Teacher Cen: I didn't expect that something unexpected would happen at school, and you would have to go back.

In fact, there was nothing unexpected happening at school—but Xiang Cai really couldn’t face Cen Manchuan calmly right now, so he casually made up such an excuse. Fortunately, Cen Manchuan was very straight, and could not see through the pretense.

The two had been together for nearly three months, and their relationship had been very harmonious, they never had a fight.

Xiang Cai saw many quarreling couples on campus. They were angry, or hysterical, and it involved tears and yelling.

Xiang Cai couldn't imagine himself displaying such an ugly appearance in front of Cen Manchuan, so when he realized that he was sad and angry because of Cen Manchuan's behaviours, Xiang Cai took the initiative to avoid him.

Teacher Cen: Don't be angry with them.

guess: It's okay.

Teacher Cen: Hehehehe, love you.

Cen Manchuan sent a dog expression, a golden retriever with a bright smile and a red rose in his mouth.

Xiang Cai sent back an expression of a swan spreading its wings, and the conversation ended silently.

In the back seat, from Fanfan's mobile phone, a deafening ‘Triple Kill’ could be heard.

Tan Yiming glanced at Fanfan through the rearview mirror and suddenly asked: "Fanfan, I just wanted to ask you. Why is your mobile phone the latest version of Apple? Do primary schools allow students to bring their phones?"

"I don’t take my phone to class, I just play after class." Fanfan didn't even look up. "As for why it’s Apple's latest model, you should ask my mom about this. She always likes the new and discards the old, so she bought a beautiful new Android with a great camera, and just handed down the Apple to me."

"..." Tan Yiming thought it was even stranger. "Normally, shouldn't your mother's mobile phone be handed down to your dad? Your dad's mobile phone often freezes."

"Uncle leader, you are mistaken." Fanfan said calmly, "My mother handed down her phone to me, I handed mine down to my grandma, my grandma handed it down to my grandpa, and my grandpa handed it down to my father..."

The food chain of his family was evident.

Tan Yiming took a breath of air, and murmured, "I only heard that marriage was a grave. It seems that after giving birth to a child, it will be frustrating to the point of becoming ashes."

He whispered into Xiang Cai’s ears.

The atmosphere in the car that had just been dull, suddenly came to life.

Thanks to this episode, Xiang Cai temporarily forgot about his unhappiness. He asked curiously, "Is this kid your relative?"

Tan Yiming shook his head: "No, do you remember Gu Yan? This is the son of Gu Yan, his nickname is Fanfan."

"Gu Yan?" Xiang Cai certainly remembered him. The first radio drama he had ever heard was played by Gu Yan and Wang Qingyun, the first time he had touched on the love between men. Later, he was a bit jealous because of the CP building of Gu Yan and Wang Qingyun, but soon found out that it was just that he had supplemented his brain too much ... He didn't expect to hear this name after so many years. "Are you still in contact with him now?"

"Of course." Tan Yiming raised an eyebrow. "He is now the vocal director of our studio, and occasionally dubs."

"Why is Fanfan calling you ‘class leader’? I thought it was only called that in the drama circle."

[T/N: *facepalms* Guess, this is why he says ‘uncle leader’]

Tan Yiming nodded: "You are indeed right. The first batch of voice actors in China were actually from the drama industry. The drama industry followed the traditions of plays, and the person who was in charge of a team was called the ‘class master’. The group of old voice actors brought this habit to the voice-acting circle, and we young people call it like this."

"'Young people’?" Xiang Cai repeated those words with a hint of conjecture.

"Child, don't rely on your youth to look down on a thirty-year-old." Tan Yiming freed his right hand, wanting to knock on Xiang Cai’s head, but retracted his hand at the last minute.

His fingertips almost rubbed the boy's hair, then fell on Xiang Cai’s shoulders, with an awkward, straight-male-brother-like intimacy.

He shifted the topic: "How about you guys, doesn't the musical industry call it that?"

Xiang Cai shook his head: "We don't call it that. We only have directors and producers. In fact, these two are the class leaders, one is responsible for rehearsals and one is responsible for spending money."

Looking at it this way, it was still better to only talk about the class leader. After all, to be one, you would be burdened with the livelihood of dozens of people, and must manage both the play and the money.

The two talked a lot, but this time they talked about different topics than the ones they'd talked about in KFC that night.

At that time, they were netizens who had been separated for many years, catching up on the main themes of each other's lives.

This time, they were talking about art, work, concerns about the industry, and their expectations for the future.

And a topic that all adults couldn’t get around—poverty in their industry. 

"Opening a company is glorious on the surface." Tan Yiming had never revealed these words to any outsider, but Xiang Cai was like a key, unlocking his inner secrets. They just sat side by side, and he couldn’t help but want to share all those things with him. "Did you know that most film and television companies allocate 50% of their budget to big-name actors, 40% of their budget to the initial investment, and the remaining 10% is split between dubbing, soundtracks, and post-editing together? But for this little money, the film and television companies often drag things out for a long time. "

"That's still better than us." Xiang Cai shrugged. "You are in the final payment, but still get paid in the foreseeable future. We're only holding onto empty checks—musical actors won't get any reward for joining the group, only get paid after each finished play. Once we’re onstage, we’re paid for each show. How long will a play run for? Two months, three months, and five months are possible. But how long can we perform it? Fifty times are good. But if fortunate, we can perform it one hundred times, then the crew should to go to the temple and make a wish."

The two chatted, and at the end of their conversations, sighed at the same time. "Ay".

They froze, and then laughed at the same time.

Fanfan sitting in the back row thought that adults were really weird. Why did they even bother laughing so happily on such a boring topic?

Tan Yiming said: "It's not easy to talk about life. Now I have to pay five figures every month for my mortgage."

Xiang Cai said, "Hey, you're clearly showing off! I perform 20 times a month to get a five-figure salary."

Tan Yiming found it very interesting to see the child’s bulging cheeks.

"My house is quite large. The second bedroom is always empty with a small bay window. I plan to ask my real estate agent in a while to list a roommate to rent it, but I am worried that the agent will recruit people randomly."

"You certainly have to be cautious," Xiang Cai agreed. "Now there are a lot of black agents. I am graduating soon and am looking for a room. Houses in Huacheng are too expensive, no longer as cheap as a school dormitory. Good accommodation is hard to find."

Fanfan who was addicted to his game, suddenly raised his head from his mobile phone and asked curiously—"One of you is looking for a landlord and the other is looking for a tenant. Why don't you live together?"

Tan Yiming: "..."

Xiang Cai: "..."

The pleasant conversation suddenly fell into an awkward silence.

The car was silent.

After a long time, the two spoke at the same time.

"Well ... I actually told my classmate we could rent a two-bedroom and one-living room apartment together."

"Occasionally, my relatives and friends would come to my house. Perhaps, it is not convenient to rent out the guest room."

"..."

"..."

Fanfan was once again pulled into the game by the battle on his phone, and casually threw down a sentence: "Oh, then forget it."

—Then forget it.

***

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