Chapter 131: The Father Who Exploited His Child Star 24

Gu Jingtong: Due to being busy with the production, I’ve only just seen the rumors online about the audition. I’m honored to receive so much attention and love even before all the actors have been cast. But to say it’s nepotism is truly unfair. If you’re interested, you can watch the audition video.

This time, Gu Jingtong and his team planned to shoot a historical palace drama. The video clearly showed Xie Chu changing into two different outfits and auditioning for two roles.

The first role, a cold prince, was rejected by Gu Jingtong for not fitting the image. He then changed into a sunny and innocent prince, which was finally settled upon.

Even though the video quality was a bit blurry, it was still clear that Xie Chu indeed fit that character.

At this time, the company also hired a marketing team to create momentum, completely separating Xie Chu’s name from Xia Li.

This allowed most people to clearly understand that the talented Child artist they remembered was Xie Chu, not Xia Li.

Because this person was Xie Chu, Gu Jingtong also very cooperatively engaged in some hype. Taking advantage of the heat from the clarification, he talked about his past encounter with Xie Chu.

The child artist Xie Chu, who played Di Shu back then, has now grown up, but that drama is still a dish many people have on their tables, enjoyable to watch repeatedly.

[I went to apologize to the mother of the originally cast child artist, smelled the aroma of that Fried Skewers Stall, and ran to buy Fried Skewers. Seeing how sensible and well-behaved young Xie Chu was, on a whim, I spent three thousand yuan to coax him into auditioning with me. Later, my uncle cast him.]

Yang Yu successfully transitioned through that drama and is now a stable A-list celebrity in the industry. After announcing a break during her pregnancy, she made her first appearance on her personal social media account, reposting Gu Jingtong’s clarification.

[Yes, the first child artist was a bit afraid of wirework, and the book fans were also dissatisfied with the casting of Di Shu. After Xie Chu was replaced, he even invited me to buy Fried Skewers at his small Fried Skewers Stall. Of course, he didn’t give me a free meal.]

At this point, the company’s hired marketing team timely stepped in, popularizing and promoting the roles Xie Chu played when he was young. There were also dedicated personnel arranged by the company who edited clips of Xie Chu’s past roles.

He was adorable and well-behaved as a child, and he didn’t grow up to be unattractive. “Gentle as jade” is the most fitting description for him.

Incidentally, some netizens spontaneously joined in, bringing up Xie Chu’s college entrance examination results.

He was once a talented child star, then went back to school and became the top science student. Now, after attending film academy, he has auditioned for a role.

From the audition video released, his appearance in a moon-white brocade robe with a large cloak over it can fill people with anticipation.

The joy of watching someone grow, coupled with Xie Chu’s undeniable excellence, is truly remarkable.

This completely distanced him from Xia Li, who acted like a diva on variety shows as a child and whose acting was stiff like a puppet as an adult.

Most people have a natural fondness for those who excel academically. Not to mention, this person who excels academically also happens to be good-looking. The double buff stacked together made the adult Xie Chu famous before his debut.

Xie Chu felt somewhat unaccustomed to this and called his dad.

When he received his son’s call, Xie Hui was in a private vineyard abroad, personally brewing wine, an old man having a lot of fun.

“Isn’t being famous a happy thing?”

Xie Chu was lying on the table, unusually showing a bit of childishness.

“But, Dad, I always feel like I haven’t shown anything yet, and I’m famous for no reason.”

“It’s a good thing to be famous in the industry. The reason doesn’t matter.”

Xie Hui took a sip of water, skillfully and naturally comforting his emotions, just like when Xie Chu had nightmares as a child.

“If you feel that your current achievements don’t match others’ liking for you, then you should work harder, instead of wasting time in hesitation.”

“Oh… Dad, are you doing well over there? Are you used to the food?”

“No, I cook everything myself. Yesterday, I even made iron pot stewed goose. It tastes exactly the same as in China.”

Xie Chu originally just wanted to check on his father, but when he mentioned iron pot stewed goose, he remembered the taste he once had and started to intensely miss his dad.

“Dad, when are you planning to return to China?”

“What’s wrong? Why do you want me to come back? Did something happen?”

Xie Hui, having raised his son personally, guessed what he wanted to say but didn’t from the tone of his voice.

“No, Dad, you also need to take care of yourself over there.”

Xie Chu sniffled, controlling his longing for his dad, and reminded him.

His dad has already had a tough time. He couldn’t possibly bring his dad back from having so much fun abroad just because he suddenly wanted to eat goose!

“Okay, good.”

“Dad, it must be late there. Get some rest early.”

After saying the last sentence, Xie Chu hung up the phone.

After hanging up, he lay on the table, thinking carefully that he actually felt quite lucky.

As he grew up, he rarely heard his dad talk about his childhood. Based on Xie Chu’s own vague memories and what other uncles occasionally told him, Xie Chu managed to piece together a complete childhood for himself.

When his parents divorced as a child, his father didn’t let his mother take him away. Others said his father wanted to keep him so he would suffer with him.

But Xie Chu never believed it. He only felt that his father loved him too much, which was why he wanted to keep him by his side to grow up.

His dad used to work on a construction site, where he met Uncle Li. Later, he started selling fried skewers. Just as life was beginning to settle down, Xie Chu suddenly insisted on becoming a little star.

Back then, Xie Chu never thought about how much money he made. He only remembered how hard his dad had to work because of him—flying around all day, accompanying him from one film crew to the next.

Now that he’s in college, his dad can finally relax and travel to enjoy a comfortable life, and Xie Chu doesn’t want to disturb him.

The last time they met, Xie Chu saw that his dad already had a lot of gray hair, and he suddenly realized that as he grew up, his dad was also getting older.

Before this, Xie Chu had never thought about these things. It seemed that in his memory, his dad was always tall, strong, and omnipotent.

But after realizing this, he inexplicably noticed many details. His dad’s face already had more age spots, his movements were not as nimble as before, and his wrinkles were deeper.

The more he thought, the more Xie Chu couldn’t control his emotions, and his eyes even started to sting.

That night, after he fell asleep in bed, he dreamed of his father waving goodbye to him, which directly woke Xie Chu up in a fright.

When he suddenly opened his eyes and sat up, the darkness that met his gaze made Xie Chu realize it was just a dream.

Sitting there, staring down at the quilt in a daze, although those were things that happened in a dream, the feeling of panic and fear still tightly enveloped Xie Chu’s heart after waking up.

Counting carefully, his dad was not young anymore. Perhaps because he worked too hard when he was young, his dad, who could easily lift him over his head, now had a slightly stooped figure.

Lying down again, Xie Chu had completely lost his sleepiness. The thought of the iron pot stewed goose earlier had stirred up his longing for his dad, and he still couldn’t calm down.

From the time he could remember, his father’s role occupied every corner of his life. They were always together, even when he lived in the dorms during high school, he could still go home on weekends and see his father.

But now, they hadn’t seen each other for almost half a year.

Xie Chu took out his mobile phone, looked at the time displayed on the screen, and silently calculated in his mind. According to the time difference, it should be morning where his dad was.

His dad didn’t have a habit of sleeping in. At this time, he should already be awake!

So, Xie Chu made a call, snuggled under the covers, and quietly began to anticipate.

He wanted to hear his dad’s voice, even if it was just calling him “Chuchu” in a familiar voice and tone.

But the call didn’t go through at all. Xie Chu, not giving up, tried twice more, but it was still the same. He put the mobile phone aside with a bit of annoyance and reached out to cover the light with his arm.

Even Xie Chu himself didn’t know when he fell asleep. It was only when he woke up the next day that he felt a terrible headache.

After struggling for a long time to get up and change clothes, his roommates had already started washing up. There was class in the morning, and the alarm had rung early.

Throughout the entire morning, Xie Chu forced himself to concentrate on listening to the lecture, but he found that the more he forced himself, the less he could do it. He could only try his best to concentrate.

At lunchtime, he tried again, but the call still didn’t go through. At this point, Xie Chu was starting to get anxious, fearing that his dad might have encountered some danger in a foreign country.

Thinking of the terrible news he had seen before, Xie Chu’s hands were trembling when he dialed his dad’s friend’s number there.

“Oh? Your dad? I don’t know either.”

Xie Chu said thank you and hung up the phone. Since he had a full schedule of classes in the afternoon, and the classes were quite important, he planned to try calling his dad again after his afternoon classes ended.

If it still didn’t connect, he would ask for leave and go find him.

When his afternoon classes ended, on his way back to the dorm, he took out his mobile phone and hadn’t even had time to call his dad when the mobile phone rang first. It showed that his dad was calling.

“Dad, where are you? Why was your phone always off when I called you?”

Then, Xie Chu heard a very familiar voice from the mobile phone.

“I was on the plane, so my phone was off.”

“I’m at your school gate now, and I have the iron pot stewed goose you wanted to eat the most.”