Chapter 38: Scammer Decides to Be a Good Person 13 – Du Heng’s Special Way of Making Friends

Shi Lan blinked, trying to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes.

“Weren’t you… saying it was too expensive and you didn’t want to buy it?”

Du Heng showed a guileless smile that completely clashed with his refined, handsome face.

“The more I thought about it, the more I realized you were right. And… I want a home too.”

Shi Lan was still testing him. “That’s several hundred thousand. If you took that money back home, it’d be enough to build two or three nice houses, or do something else. Either way, it’s a huge sum.”

Du Heng seemed genuinely puzzled by what she said and asked, “Do you want to go back home?”

She shook her head firmly.

“Then why would I save it to go back home? You’re not there,” he said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Shi Lan pressed a hand to her chest. What was with this swelling feeling in her heart? Even her eyes were stinging.

“Not feeling well?”

Shi Lan smiled at him. “My feet hurt from wearing high heels too long.”

Caught off guard by the answer, Du Heng looked a little at a loss.

“Then… should I carry you?”

In broad daylight, in the middle of a public place, that really wasn’t necessary.

Shi Lan said, “Just support me.”

And Du Heng really did support her the whole way, except his posture was strange, like Li Lianying¹ helping Empress Dowager Cixi walk.

Shi Lan: “…”

Shi Lan said, “Can’t you put your arm around me?”

Du Heng had his own logic. “Then you wouldn’t be able to lean on me properly. If I support you like this, you can use me like a cane.”

Was a cane really what she was missing?!

You couldn’t go house hunting blindly, so Shi Lan decided to gather some information first.

She bought a whole stack of newspapers and magazines from the newsstand, all with relevant real estate sections.

After seeing Du Heng off to his out-of-province job, Shi Lan spent her time studying current Commercial Housing policies and different developments.

She really did uncover some useful information. For example, some developments came with free furniture if you bought a unit, some threw in a parking space, and she even found one that came with household registration² if you bought a home!!

Compared to all the restrictions on buying property in later years, this era practically let you settle your residency with one click.

What kind of heavenly age was this?

Shi Lan only regretted that she didn’t have more money right now and couldn’t just buy an entire building in one go.

She even went to ask Xiao Liu at the agency, to see whether people in the business had any information she hadn’t managed to collect.

As it turned out, they really did.

They actually had research and analysis reports on inventory from new developments.

Shi Lan had dealt with the little agency shop many times by now, so she counted as an old client. When she stepped into the store again, it was no longer like her first visit, when no one bothered to greet her and only a thick-skinned newcomer had come to receive her.

It was raining that day, so most of the agents were in the shop. The moment she arrived, the bored staff all perked up, serving her tea and fruit with great enthusiasm. She could call almost all of them by name and exchange a few words with them. They were all regulars at her shop. Some single men who lived nearby even ate all three meals there.

Shi Lan explained why she’d come.

The group exchanged glances, and someone asked, “Boss Shi, are you planning to buy a place?”

“Nothing that dramatic. Just for my own use.”

That was basically an admission.

Everyone grew excited. The sales staff at the developers’ sales offices hadn’t been able to move enough units, so they’d signed cooperation agreements with the agency. But ever since those agreements were signed, not a single deal had closed yet. How much could they make from rentals? The real commissions came from buying and selling property!

So Shi Lan watched them all putting on eager little performances, each trying to win the deal.

Before long, Xiao Liu came back with the materials and promptly drove everyone else away. “Go, go, go. Do any of you even know what kind of place President Shi wants? You don’t even know she doesn’t like being called Boss Shi.”

There was even a trace of smug superiority in his tone.

Shi Lan covered her face. It was just a joke, okay? How embarrassing.

Liu Haifeng’s coworkers all booed him, but he didn’t care. Hugging the files to his chest, he led Shi Lan into the reception room.

They had quite a lot of listings on hand. After spending the whole afternoon in the reception room, Shi Lan picked out a few developments, and Xiao Liu called ahead to set up appointments to go see them.

House hunting was really exhausting, not physically, but mentally. It was tiring because you had to make choices.

Back when she watched short dramas, there was always that cliché scene where the lead deliberately pretended to be poor while looking at houses, got looked down on by the sales staff, and was even insulted and attacked by some rival. Then the lead would insist on waiting until the other side finished cursing, stumbling over their words while trying to package it as low-key dominance. Only after the other side had cursed themselves tired would the lead unexpectedly pull out a black card and casually buy an entire building, leaving jaws on the floor…

Every time she saw that, she thought it was awkward and hilarious.

Shi Lan had even been wondering whether, since she’d crossed worlds and all, she might get one of those cringey face-slapping³ moments herself. The thought had actually been a little exciting.

Unfortunately, the entire home-viewing process went smoothly, and the staff at the sales office even invited her to have lunch in their cafeteria.

In the end, she settled on a top-floor duplex. The registered floor area was only a little over one hundred square meters, but the usable area was over one hundred eighty, and it even came with a large rooftop terrace.

The only downside was that it was rather expensive, nearly two thousand per square meter. Paying in full would come to a bit over two hundred thousand. The upside was that at that price point, the quality of the neighbors was basically guaranteed.

And even though the building only had eight floors, it still had an elevator. Buying the home came with a parking space, household registration, branded appliances, and three years of property management fees.

They were throwing in so much that Shi Lan was starting to feel embarrassed.

The sales office staff beamed as they held the contract, and they started calling her President Shi too, just like Xiao Liu.

“President Shi, when would it be convenient for you? I can go to the bank with you to make the transfer.”

“I’m doing a mortgage.”

“Ah? Oh, oh, okay.” The staff member took a beat before reacting.

Shi Lan’s little shop might be small, but after getting on track, its monthly revenue was already well into the tens of thousands. Even though the two-hundred-thousand-plus purchase price wasn’t easy for her to put together right now, if she saved a little longer, it wasn’t as if she couldn’t manage it.

But when there was a bargain to be had, why wouldn’t she take it?

Could loan interest possibly keep up with inflation? The longer the loan term, the better the deal for her.

A mortgage, definitely a mortgage.

Now that the house was chosen, she couldn’t help wondering what that person who had been so eager to pay was doing right now.

Meanwhile, over at the Heaven Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre Crew, lunch was being handed out.

It was all more or less the same boxed meals. People lined up to get theirs, then gathered in twos and threes to chat while they ate.

There were also better-off “stars” who had assistants bring food from the city to the set every day instead of squeezing in with everyone else over the big-pot meals.

Those were basically all veteran performers. The younger ones were still used to eating together with everyone else.

Yang Chong was the male lead, playing Zhang Wuji⁴, and he had brought an assistant with him as soon as he joined the production. He didn’t put on airs, though. His assistant mostly just helped him pick up meals or fetch hot water, and at most helped run lines when no one else was free.

He ate the same big-pot meals as everyone else. The moment filming paused, he grabbed Du Heng and hurried off. “Du, hurry, hurry, hurry. My assistant already picked up our food. I’ll go with you to get the chili sauce.”

The chili sauce was the jar of flavored chili Shi Lan had given him, with shredded meat and peanuts mixed in. It wasn’t spicy, but it went incredibly well with rice.

The jar held over two liters, but less than half a month after returning to the set, nearly half of it was already gone.

It wasn’t because he personally ate that much. Ever since that jar had first appeared in front of everyone, he simply hadn’t been able to protect it.

When they reached Du Heng’s spot, Yang Chong, now familiar enough with him after spending time together these days, didn’t stand on ceremony at all. He said he was accompanying him back to get it, but in reality he got there first, scooped up the jar before Du Heng could, slung an arm over his shoulder, and turned right around toward the dining area.

There, several people were already waiting with boxed lunches in hand.

As soon as Du Heng and Yang Chong walked in, several pairs of eyes fell on… the jar Yang Chong was carrying.

Du Heng: “…”

The celebrity life he had imagined was not like this.

This all went back to the day he returned to the set. This time, the crew was staying here for a month, and the actors were living in a hotel near the filming location.

Since Du Heng was a supporting actor, his scenes were fragmented. He had to work around the lead actor’s schedule and filming progress and be ready at any time to do scenes together. Most days he spent the whole day waiting on set just to film a few minutes.

He ate all three meals a day with the crew, so he brought the chili sauce along too.

Before bringing it, though, he had actually been a little hesitant.

Back when he was studying in the county seat, one of his classmates once brought stir-fried pickled vegetables with pork cracklings from home to eat with his rice in the cafeteria. Nobody said anything to his face, but he still got pointed at and mocked behind his back for a long time. At first, it was a few county kids from better-off families who laughed at him.

Later, the others joined in, including classmates who were also from the countryside. It was as if, if they didn’t laugh along, they were silently placing themselves on the opposite side from the county students, siding with the classmate who brought pickles. To avoid becoming the next target, to avoid being branded poor and shabby themselves, they became accomplices too.

Du Heng wasn’t afraid of being laughed at. After working for several years, he’d already seen all kinds of arrogant people.

If other people looked down on the food Shi Lan had specially made for him, though, it would hurt him.

They had no idea what good stuff it was, or how generous the ingredients inside were.

When she prepared these things, there was always a smile of satisfaction on her face. It was an expression he knew he would never get tired of seeing for the rest of his life.

So even while he wrestled with himself over it, he still brought the jar to the set. Otherwise, he simply wouldn’t have time to eat it.

What he hadn’t expected was that on the very first day, the very first meal he brought it there, his treasured jar would already catch someone’s eye.

And not just anyone. It was Yang Chong, who’d gone numb from eating boxed lunches.

Du Heng wasn’t very good at socializing. Even after being on the set for quite a while, he was still only on nodding terms with everyone.

At noon, he sat there holding his boxed lunch and eating with the chili jar beside him.

He kept feeling like someone was watching him from where Yang Chong was standing, but every time he looked over, nobody was. He would turn back, and not long after, he’d feel it again. When he looked, still nothing.

After that happened several times, Du Heng assumed he was imagining things. But when he turned his head again, he nearly jumped. At some point, Yang Chong had come over carrying his boxed lunch and was squatting down right beside him.

With an awkward dry laugh, Yang Chong started, “Hey, man, eating lunch?”

Du Heng shifted a little to the side. He didn’t like people being too close to him.

Yang Chong took the opportunity to sit in the spot he’d vacated. Du Heng wanted to move again, but the bench was too short. There was nowhere left to go.

He was wondering whether he should just stand up, but if he did that, would Yang Chong think he was being rude?

Before he could finish agonizing over it, the overly familiar Yang Chong had already shown his true aim, staring at the chili jar. “You brought this from home? It smells really good.”

So it was still happening after all?

He hadn’t gone straight to mocking him?

Back in high school, that classmate who used to bring pickled vegetables had warmly invited people to try his side dish when they first asked about it. The person he’d invited did take a bite, but then spat it right out in front of everyone, going ptoo, ptoo, ptoo, and saying it was so salty even pigs wouldn’t eat it.

Was Yang Chong pulling the same trick?

Looking at the sincere anticipation in Yang Chong’s eyes, Du Heng wasn’t so sure.

He’d been on set for several months by now. Other than the director cursing people out whenever he was dissatisfied, he really hadn’t heard of anyone doing that kind of thing. With Yang Chong’s status, there was no way he’d be so brazen.

Based on that, Du Heng decided to keep an open mind.

“Yeah, my family made it themselves. Want to try some?”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly.”

That was what Yang Chong said, but his hands didn’t slow down in the slightest. Using a clean spoon he’d clearly prepared in advance, he dug a huge spoonful straight out of the jar and dumped it over his rice.

Du Heng, who had originally only meant to politely give him a single shred of meat so the other man wouldn’t find it distasteful and waste it, quietly withdrew his hand, wanting to speak but stopping himself.

Yang Chong couldn’t wait and shoveled a mouthful of chili mixed with plain rice into his mouth.

“Delicious!”

Of course it was delicious, Du Heng thought.

The shredded meat wasn’t fatty in the slightest, and together with the peanuts it was saturated with fragrant oil. The chilies were crisp, carrying the aroma of sesame without being too spicy.

Every bite filled his mouth with rich fragrance. It was incredibly appetizing.

That one big spoonful of chili was enough for Yang Chong to finish nearly half a bowl of rice. Once he was done, he didn’t help himself again, but looked at Du Heng eagerly.

To be honest, Du Heng was a little reluctant, but for the sake of Yang Chong appreciating Shi Lan’s cooking, he nodded.

What he hadn’t expected was that with that single nod, what he was giving away wasn’t just another spoonful of chili.

What he had opened was Pandora’s box hidden at the bottom of foodie Yang Chong’s stomach.

And just like that, from that meal on, the overly familiar Yang Chong automatically became Du Heng’s meal buddy, a meal buddy apparently equipped with radar that could detect the location of the chili jar.

And one day, when Du Heng had some of the spicy beef jerky Shi Lan had made for him as a snack delivered from the hotel to the set, Yang Chong’s suspiciously sharp nose detected that too.

With a blank expression, Du Heng shared some out. Then, without even realizing how it had happened, he was forced into becoming Yang Chong’s friend. Yang Chong dragged him along for everything, meals, makeup, even riding to and from work together.

The only thing was, every time Yang Chong greeted him, what he said was always a little weird.

“Morning. So what tasty stuff did you bring today?”

Du Heng: “…”

With Yang Chong, the resident social butterfly of the set, taking the lead, Du Heng very quickly became familiar with everyone else in the crew, passively.

Word spread like wildfire, and soon everyone on set knew that Du Heng had a girlfriend who was an amazing cook and had prepared lots of snacks and dishes to go with rice for him.

After painfully sharing some of it out, he found that the way his coworkers greeted him had all started to follow Yang Chong’s example.

Du Heng: “…”

And that was how the scene above came to be, with a whole crowd waiting for Du Heng to feed them before eating.

His coworkers didn’t just mooch off him for nothing either. They reciprocated, giving him piles of snacks he’d never even seen before, along with fresh fruit.

Who would have thought? After spending months getting along with everyone politely and courteously, it was only when the drama was nearly finished shooting that Du Heng, in a way he had never expected, finally merged into the little pond that was this film crew like a tiny drop of water.

Yang Chong, the male lead of the production, with a slightly wicked streak.

Translator’s Notes