I’m Afraid I’m Now a Salted Fish Chapter 2

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Chapter 2: Act Well

　　Chi Song sighed with relief.
　　
　　 The photo was taken by a small entertainment website, one that was familiar with neither Zhu Ziqi nor himself.
　　Zhu Ziqi was not a new actress at all. She was the child star Zhu Qi who had acted with him in the family drama “Coming and Going.” After that, she did not have any too well-known works, so she invited over some experts and changed her name according to their wishes. It wasn’t until last summer, when a spy drama that she starred in unexpectedly shot up in popularity, that she re-entered the public eye.
　　
　　Zhu Ziqi was also one of his good friends in the circle. Yesterday, she broke up with her boyfriend and then looked for Chi Song to rant about the scum man. She scolded the scum man for three hours straight and cried until Chi Song’s clothes were soaked with her tears.
　　Afterwards, Chi Song sent the drunk actress back to the hotel. Then he returned home to change clothes.
　　
　　Listening to Chi Song to explain the cause and effect, Mother Chi was still not very happy.
　　”Little Song, your younger brother brought a girl back home yesterday and said that he planned to get married as soon as he graduated, which gave me a shock. At night, I dreamed of you. In your line of work, you should be able to meet many pretty girls. You should look for someone you like and bring her back home. The money that your mother has invested in you all these years will all be repaid when you marry A’Yang.”
　　
　　 Chi Song didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Mom, you don’t need to say so much. Your facial mask is going to fall off from talking.”
　　
　　 On the other side, Song Zhihuai grabbed Chi Song’s ankle and tickled his foot.
　　 Chi Song was very afraid of being tickled. Like a rabbit, he stretched out his legs to kick him, but in a moment of carelessness, both feet fell into Mr. Song’s devilish claws.
　　Rabbit Chi tried to get rid of Song Zhihuai, constantly kicking to the point that tears came out, but still persisted in talking to Mother Chi. “It’s been cold recently. Your lungs are not good, so buy a few more autumn pears and stew them in sugar water. Drinking it will be good for your voice.”
　　Mama Chi sighed and said, “If you used the time that you spent worrying about me on finding a girlfriend, I would’ve long been able to hold a chubby grandson in my arms.”
　　
　　Chi Song hung up and sighed deeply.
　　Chi Song’s phone’s radio quality was not very good, so Song Zhihuai had already turned on the news according to Mother Chi’s instructions.
　　Seeing Chi Song sigh, Song Zhihuai swallowed the sourness that welled up in his throat and comforted, “It’s okay.”
　　Chi Song had been conscientiously mixing in the circle for so many years, only to be crowned as a “mysterious man” in the end. Feeling uncomfortable was normal.
　　
　　Chi Song returned to Song Zhihuai’s embrace, putting his slender arm around his waist. He said sadly, “It’s over. I won’t be able to let my mother hold a chubby grandson in my lifetime.”
　　After he finished speaking, he stared at Song Zhihuai with a pair of beautiful peach blossom eyes, feeling a bit wronged.
　　Song Zhihuai teased, “Then what will you do?”
　　Chi Song snuggled in Song Zhihuai’s arms, his eyelashes sweeping across his chest. “What can I do- “
　　
　　His tone was not distressed at all. His voice dragged out for a length, carrying with it a bit of a nasal tone, sounding quite coquettish.
　　
　　——If I fell in love with him, then what can I do.
　　
　　Song Zhihuai smiled and rubbed his hair, saying, “It’s okay. I can’t have a child either, so we’re the same.”
　　Chi Song kissed him, and shyly said, “… If you don’t try, how will you know?”
　　Song Zhihuai was stunned by his darling’s cuteness. He bit Chi Song’s ear gently. “Go go go, let’s try it.”
　　
　　The two continued contributing to the cause of making new people for most of the day.
　　
　　Chi Song was not originally bent. When he was little, he also liked to watch the beautiful little girls who filmed advertisements with him and bought them crystal hairpins to please them. Father Chi and Mother Chi repeatedly told ¹ Chi Song that he was not allowed to date a foreign girl, but after going abroad, there weren’t many Chinese girls. Thus, Chi Song hadn’t had a decent relationship in years.
　　
　　After returning home, Chi Song hit a wall everywhere in his career, so he had even less of an interest in dating.
　　His acting skills were guaranteed, but because he had no reputation or commercial value, nobody was willing to support him.
　　In the Tianya or Douban child star catalog, Chi Song’s name always appeared the most. But even though many commenters mentioned him, they all finally lamented with the same sentence: What a pity, if only you didn’t go abroad.
　　
　　Chi Song was actually quite happy.
　　
　　If he didn’t go abroad and open his eyes to more possibilities, choosing instead to grow up with his reticent father and conservative mother, he would never have dared to hook up with Mr. Song.
　　
　　 After finishing his research on making new people, Chi Song went to take a bath. He washed off the red wine from his hair and curled up to sleep under the blanket, still wet.
　　 He still had auditions tomorrow.
　　Song Zhihuai embraced Chi Song, pinching his ears and kissing him over and over again, before finally hugging him to sleep.
　　
　　Song Zhihuai was the second boss of Nebula Entertainment. He knew he liked men before meeting Chi Song, but he had never thought about looking for his other half in the entertainment circle.
　　 Therefore, he and Chi Song had taken the same elevator and passed by each other many times. He had also toasted him at the annual meeting, but Song Zhihuai hadn’t paid too much attention to him.
　　
　　The turning point was a movie audition.
　　 The reason why Song Zhihuai attended the audition was because of Huang Rongcan, his childhood friend. Huang Rongcan had always loved to play around. Recently, he had been keeping a little internet star. The little internet star was unwilling to just be an internet star for the rest of his life, and pestered Huang Rongcan for a long time. Huang Rongcan currently also liked this internet star very much, so he promised to give him a role to play around with.
　　 He asked around everywhere, looking for someone who could get his internet star a role. In the end, this responsibility fell squarely on Song Zhihuai’s head.
　　
　　Every year, there was a small number of masterpieces and hundreds of crappy works released in the film market. Out of 1000 films not even 100 got the chance to be released. Out of those 100, less than 10 became popular.
　　Nebula Entertainment produced masterpieces, but it also produced a large amount of garbage films for economic benefits.
　　This spicy chicken ² movie, to put it simply, was just used to make money. Pulling a few strings to decide a few protagonists internally was no problem at all.
　　
　　Song Zhihuai was originally planning to just send a random subordinate to watch over the proceedings, but Huang Rongcan’s heart wasn’t at ease this way. Furrowing his brows, he said, “Brother can only trust you. My family’s youth is exceedingly bright and attractive. What if a director or an associate director takes a fancy to him? If at that time, his heart is moved and gets together with them, kicking me away, then I won’t have any face left. Old Song, you are very powerful ³. If you attend, then you represent me. If the youth sees you, then he wouldn’t dare to be distracted by others.”
　　
　　 There was no other way. Song Zhihuai had to go.
　　The second male lead role was a good person, a blind man who wholeheartedly loved the female lead. But because of his sense of inferiority, he chose to stay silently in the dark, bringing light and hope to the female lead, living like a great Holy Father. His halo was comparable to a kilowatt light bulb.
　　This kind of person was simply the standard for love movies. He made the audience hurt, not the female lead.
　　
　　The associate director was in charge of casting. He was so exhausted it looked like he was going to suddenly drop dead. There were dark eye bags under his eyes, the result of staying up all night. A flowery man walked past him, yawning constantly. He used one tissue after another, wiping the tears that came out of his eyes.
　　Song Zhihuai was also a bit sleepy.
　　Most of the actors who auditioned chose intense dramatic scenes, like when the female lead and the male lead left the city. After learning the news, the second male lead went to chase the female lead’s car, falling down and getting up again and again. After this occurred repeatedly, he fell into despair and sat on the ground, wailing and crying.
　　After a few rounds of this, Song Zhihuai felt that his ears were full of the sounds of crying and mourning.
　　At this time, Chi Song arrived.
　　He wore a tight black shirt that showed off his narrow waist and long legs, but his tie was not well chosen. The color was dark, but fortunately, his skin was white and he did not look too ugly.
　　
　　Chi Song was very clean. He did not wear sunglasses or hold a cane like everyone else. He walked in and bowed to the several sleepy judges.
　　The associate director asked, “Have you read the script?”
　　Chi Song replied, “I’ve read it.”
　　The associate director said, “Just act out any part then.”
　　
　　Chi Song sat down on a chair and took a deep breath, pretending that beside him was the girl he liked.
　　He whispered the name of the female lead, “Annie, Annie?”
　　In the script, the female lead, Annie, fell asleep at the second male lead’s house. Only at this time, could the second male lead secretly steal a sweet kiss from her.
　　In this kind of scene, if the acting wasn’t good, the deep affection would seem lascivious.
　　
　　Chi Song leaned down. His fingers slowly searched for the imaginary girl’s cheek, as if afraid to wake her up. He first leaned down, but then felt that this posture was not good. So he simply knelt down on one knee beside the sofa.
　　The first time, he missed his target, his lips rubbing the girl’s nose. He straightened up immediately, listening nervously to the sound of the girl’s breathing for a long while. He confirmed that she had not been awakened by him before showing a relieved expression.
　　After relaxing, he wrinkled his brows, his face full of self-loathing.
　　But he still kissed her. Chi Song groped around in the dark, finally found the right place. He quickly pecked Annie’s upper lip, and withdrew shyly.
　　He didn’t make any extraneous movements, instead curling up beside the sofa. His two long legs were bent and his short hair was a mess.
　　Chi Song said to the sleeping girl with a tearful tone, “Sorry, sorry.”
　　
　　The associate director froze. He exchanged a glance with the assistant beside him.
　　
　　Song Zhihuai noticed that there were a lot of band-aids wrapped around the fingers holding his hair.
　　When Chi Song stood up and bowed to the assistant director and the staff, Song Zhihuai asked curiously, “Did you injure your hand?”
　　Chi Song glanced at his finger and said, “Because I can’t see, I can only rely on my hands to feel the world. So my hands are often injured.”
　　
　　Song Zhihuai took a while to react, finally realizing that Chi Song was talking about his role.
　　”Then your tie…”
　　Chi Song smiled. “I can’t see it, so the color of the tie will mainly be dark, so as to match more clothes. But like in this case, the tie and the clothes sometimes don’t match.”
　　
　　Song Zhihuai’s eyes followed Chi Song out of the audition venue while thinking, he really deserved to get this role.
　　
　　The assistant was obviously also a little surprised at Chi Song’s diligence. “Director Luo, what should we do with this person?”
　　The associate director knocked anxiously at the table. “The candidate has long been decided. Are you going to arbitrarily change choices? Besides, his acting standard is so high. What will Fan Rui do?”
　　
　　Fan Rui was a new actor, and he was playing the male lead in this movie. His face was cute and fresh enough, but his acting was a joke. The only good part about him was that he had a group of fans who could purchase a lot of tickets. Their only reason for buying the ticket was to call for their family’s Rui Rui.
　　Whoever they picked for the second male lead must not outshine Fan Rui.
　　
　　If one person was rotten then everyone must be rotten together. This was the correct way.
　　
　　Song Zhihuai didn’t speak. He looked through the resume that he was given and memorized Chi Song’s phone number.
　　He deserved a better drama.
　　
　　A little while later, Chi Song received a call from his company’s second boss, inviting him out to a meal. The second boss wanted to talk to him about his career.
　　Chi Song’s first reaction to the call was, I’m only a salted fish that wants to act well. Why do you want to soak me in water? ⁴

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Translator’s Note: Yay, finally done! I also got footnotes to work, so there are footnotes in this chapter~

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Footnotes:

[1]: repeatedly (三令五申, sān lìng wǔ shēn)- three orders and five applications, refers to ancient Chinese military discipline, meant to educate soldiers on the rules of operations in the military. Now, three orders and five applications is just a way of saying admonishing someone repeatedly.↩

[2]: spicy chicken (辣鸡, là jī)- a homonym for trash (垃圾, lā jī). Essentially calling it trash, but in a way that bypasses censoring.↩

[3]: powerful (定海神针, dìng hǎi shén zhēn)- the legendary needle that stabilized the sea before being taken by Sun Wukong from “Journey to the West” and becoming the famous Golden Cudgel. Huang Rongcan is likening Song Zhihuai to this here, saying that he is really steady and powerful, able to keep his family’s youth’s mind from going astray. ↩

[4]: soak (泡, pào)- remember that a salted fish is someone who does nothing, does not want to move, and has no dreams. Soaking a salted fish in water will remove the salt from it, so basically it means that after being soaked, Chi Song will have to work hard. ↩