Huayu: Starting from retirement, sweeping across the domestic entertainment industry

Li Ran wandered around the neighborhood for a full half hour without seeing a single person.

In the winter night in Beijing, the wind felt like knives on your face.

He was in such a hurry that he only wore a single layer of clothing when he left home. He searched the entire neighborhood, including the garden, the entrance and exit of the underground parking garage, and even walked around each building.

There's nobody here...

After thinking for a moment, he turned and walked towards the property management center.

The old man on duty in the monitoring room was dozing off when he was startled awake by a knock on the door.

He recognized Li Ran and asked slowly, "Young man, what's the matter now?"

Li Ran smiled and said, "I'd like to see the surveillance footage from tonight. I'll have Xiao Chen send you some good cigarettes in a few days."

The old man smiled and waved his hand, "I haven't finished the ones they gave me last time!"

He watched Li Ran check the surveillance footage, paused, and continued, "Recently, Old Zhang has been catching people who didn't climb over the wall to get in, so young man, you need to be careful too..."

Li Ran stared at the screen and nodded...

He fast-forwarded through the footage, and then he saw a scene that sent chills down his spine.

The three people were wrestling in the hallway.

Pulling hair, slapping faces, tearing at each other—the fighting was so intense, it was like something out of a street thug. Where was there even a trace of a celebrity?

Li Ran rubbed his temples and continued looking back. After seeing the three separate and rush into the elevator, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"I've deleted this surveillance footage."

The old man understood immediately and nodded: "I understand, such private matters shouldn't be kept secret."

Li Ran thanked him, gave him a few more instructions, and then left.

The apartment was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Tian Xiwei leaned against the wall by the bedroom door, arms crossed, looking at the three people on the sofa with a half-smile.

Zhou Ye sat on the far left, curled up in a ball, hugging his knees, his eyes red, but he had stopped crying.

Hu Lianxin sat in the middle, head down, seemingly lost in thought.

Liu Haocun sat on the far right, leaning against the sofa armrest, staring blankly at the coffee table.

The three people stood a great distance apart, ignoring each other completely.

Only Ta Xue, unaware of what was happening, ran around the three people's feet.

It first ran to Zhou Ye, tilted its head up to look at her, and wagged its tail like a little motor, but Zhou Ye ignored it. Then it ran to Hu Lianxin and rubbed against her leg, but Hu Lianxin didn't move. Finally, it ran to Liu Haocun, lay down at her feet, and made a pitiful whimper.

Liu Haocun glanced down at it but didn't reach out.

Ta Xue's little head was full of questions.

These people usually hold it, what's wrong with it today?

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

Ta Xue's ears perked up, and she dashed towards the door like lightning.

Li Ran pushed the door open and came in, bent down and picked it up. Ta Xue immediately stuck out its tongue and frantically licked his chin, whimpering pitifully as if it were complaining.

Li Ran carried it into the living room.

Four pairs of eyes fell on him simultaneously.

Zhou Ye, Hu Lianxin, and Liu Haocun sat on the sofa, while Tian Xiwei leaned against the wall.

Li Ran didn't say anything.

He stood in the center of the living room, quietly watching them.

The gaze was neither fierce nor cold, and it didn't even show any emotion; it was just a quiet look.

But it was this silence that made the group of people feel a little guilty.

They glanced at Li Ran, then quickly lowered their heads.

Li Ran didn't say anything, just stood there, holding Taxue, occasionally stroking its fur.

Ta Xue didn't understand why, but it felt quite comfortable being petted by its owner, so it simply squinted its eyes and made gurgling sounds.

Tian Xiwei leaned against the wall, a slight smile playing on her lips.

The show is about to begin!

Silence... a long silence.

Liu Haocun couldn't resist any longer; she secretly raised her eyes to see Li Ran's expression.

As it turned out, their eyes met Li Ran's.

Even Ta Xue's beady black eyes were tilting their heads as they looked at her.

Liu Haocun quickly lowered his head again.

Li Ran spoke slowly, his voice devoid of emotion: "Why are you secretly watching me?"

He paused for a moment, then said, "Let's keep playing."

He had just finished watching the surveillance footage, and the scene was still replaying in his mind: three people fighting fiercely, pulling hair and slapping each other. It was incredibly violent.

Liu Haocun immediately raised his head, his eyes instantly filling with tears, and said pitifully, "Those two hit me! I was just acting in self-defense..."

Looking at her pitiful face, Li Ran thought to herself: Sister, if I hadn't seen the surveillance footage, I almost would have believed it.

The surveillance footage clearly shows that although Zhou Ye made the first move, Liu Haocun reacted extremely quickly and held his own against two opponents.

If Hu Lianxin hadn't joined the fray, she probably could have easily taken down Zhou Ye by herself.

Of course, Zhou Ye's initial advantage eventually turned into him getting beaten up.

Coconut is the same; when faced with a problem, it resorts to action, but once it takes action, it can't win and always suffers losses.

Hu Lianxin is also quite decisive.

As soon as Zhou Ye started the group chat, she immediately followed suit without any hesitation, truly showing their "deep sisterly bond".

But what about that last time when Zhou Ye's hair was pulled?

Li Ran was too lazy to expose her.

He sighed and looked at Tian Xiwei behind him: "Come over here and sit down."

Tian Xiwei, who was leaning against the wall watching the show, was taken aback by what she heard: "I didn't fight!"

Li Ran looked at her. "You've never had one before?"

Tian Xiwei guiltily looked away and muttered under her breath, "Weren't we talking about the three of them? Why are you bringing up old grievances again..."

"Come and sit down." Li Ran didn't waste any more words with her.

He remembered the time Xiaotian kicked the door.

If she went all out and fought Zhou Ye, she could probably send Coconut to the hospital.

Seeing his cold expression, Tian Xiwei pursed her lips, walked over and sat on the sofa. She deliberately kept her distance from the three people to show her stance.

Li Ran looked at Zhou Ye.

Let's start with the first one.

"Coconut," he softened his voice, as if coaxing a child, "why did you strike first?"

Zhou Ye raised his head.

Her eyes were red, and tears still clung to her face. Hearing Li Ran ask her so gently, that feeling of grievance welled up again.

"She...she provoked us first..."

She choked back tears, saying, "She...she hit you too, I was just...I was just angry..."

As she spoke, tears began to fall again.

Li Ran's heart softened when he saw her crying.

"Okay," he said softly, "don't cry anymore..."

He should have said something, because once he did, Zhou Ye cried even harder.

"You all...you all bully me..."

When Hu Lianxin saw Zhou Ye crying, she quickly went over and hugged her.

She looked up at Li Ran.

With a hint of guilt in her voice, she said, "It's not Coconut's fault. I started arguing with her, and Coconut was the one who started it."

She paused, then gritted her teeth: "Hit me if you want."

After she finished speaking, she cried, and Zhou Ye hugged her and cried too.

The two cried louder and louder, hugging each other, heads together, shoulders heaving.

Liu Haocun looked at the two of them, stunned for a moment, and said, "You two are doing this, right?"

Anyone can cry!

Then, with a "waaaah," she burst into tears.

She didn't say anything, just watched Li Ran cry, tears streaming down her face, crying so heartbrokenly, looking utterly pitiful...

Anyone who didn't know better would have thought something had happened to Li Ran.

Tian Xiwei sat to the side, watching this crying scene competition, and suddenly felt a little confused.

She looked at Li Ran and tentatively asked, "How about... I cry too?"

Li Ran glared at her.

Tian Xiwei pouted, "You're just glaring at me, aren't you?"

She lowered her head to gather her emotions, and when she looked up again, her big, round eyes were already brimming with tears.

She didn't cry out loud, but just looked at Li Ran with tender affection, appearing pitiful and endearing.

Li Ran has completely lost his mind.

He took a deep breath and yelled, "Alright! Stop crying, all of you!"

"So you've used all your acting skills on this, haven't you?"

Zhou Ye was stunned by his shout, then cried even louder.

She was the one who was wronged today; she hit him because she knew Liu Haocun had hit Li Ran, and now he's yelling at her...

The more she thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt, and she burst into tears.

Hu Lianxin hugged her and started wailing too.

Upon seeing this, Liu Haocun said, "You two are howling, aren't you?"

She also started howling, her voice even shriller than theirs.

Not to be outdone, Tian Xiwei also burst into tears. Just a moment ago she was on the verge of tears, but now she was sobbing uncontrollably.

Quartet.

Ta Xue was astonished by the scene.

It tilted its head and looked at the four people. Suddenly thinking they were playing a game, it started barking and wagging its tail happily.

Li Ran simply shut it up manually.

Ta Xue let out two "woofs" and looked at him with a pitiful expression.

Li Ran put the dog down, walked over to Zhou Ye and Hu Lianxin, and reached out to separate the two.

He pulled Zhou Ye up and walked towards the bedroom.

Let's tackle them one by one!

The bedroom door was closed.

The crying outside was somewhat blocked out.

Zhou Ye had stopped wailing and started sobbing softly. Li Ran pulled her to sit on the edge of the bed, her head down, her shoulders still trembling slightly.

Li Ran sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms.

"Okay," he patted her back gently, "Don't cry. Tell me what happened."

Zhou Ye leaned against him, sobbing softly, "You...you bullied me..."

"How did I bully you?"

"It was clearly Liu Haocun who provoked you first... she even hit you... that's why I took action..."

She looked up, her eyes red and her face streaked with tears: "You...you still yelled at me..."

Li Ran was stunned for a moment.

Liu Haocun hit him? When?

Then he remembered that the last time Xiao Hu provoked Liu Haocun, and Cunzi came to his door, he did get slapped.

"Okay," he reached out and wiped the tears from her face, "then I won't yell at you anymore, I'm sorry."

Zhou Ye nodded.

She looked at him, hesitated for a moment, and whispered, "Li Ran... let's not... let's not break up, okay?"

Li Ran smiled and said, "No, we're not breaking up. When did I say we were breaking up?"

Zhou Ye leaned back into his arms: "Then...then why did you look for so many..."

She paused, her voice even softer: "And Xiao Hu too...you all lied to me..."

"Do you... not like me anymore?"

Li Ran hugged her tighter: "Coconut, how could I not like you?"

Zhou Ye's voice was muffled: "But now online, everyone's comparing me to Zhang Jingyi. Some people are even saying... saying I'm her replacement..."

She looked up at him, tears welling up again: "Her fans keep insulting me..."

She was clearly Li Ran's first girlfriend. Zhang Jingyi was just someone he knew earlier.

Looking at her, Li Ran felt his heart melt completely.

"It's all nonsense online. What do they know? You've always been my first girlfriend."

Zhou Ye looked at him: "Then tell me, why did you take her to meet your parents first?"

Li Ran fell silent.

He really couldn't deny this.

He thought for a moment and then said, "After the roadshow for 'A Little Red Flower' is over on New Year's Day, I'll go with you to meet your uncle and aunt."

Zhou Ye was taken aback: "Really?"

"real."

You can't lie to me anymore.

Li Ran nodded: "I won't lie to you anymore. After the premiere, we'll fly to Guangzhou, okay?"

Zhou Ye burst into laughter through his tears.

"good!"

She held out her hand: "Let's pinky swear. Just like before. Even though you lied to me that time, I believe you this time."

Li Ran reached out and made a pinky promise with her.

Thumbs up to thumbs up, with utmost seriousness.

After making a pinky promise, Li Ran said, "Then you stay in the bedroom for a while. I'll go out and deal with them."

Zhou Ye nodded.

Suddenly she grabbed him: "Could you give Liu Haocun a beating?"

Li Ran was stunned for a moment.

Zhou Ye brushed his hair aside to show him: "She pulled out a whole clump of my hair; here, I'm almost bald."

Li Ran brushed her hair aside and took a look.

It's true that a tuft of hair was pulled, but it's far from bald.

He lowered his head and kissed her forehead: "Okay, I'll listen to you. My bald little darling."

Zhou Ye shoved him: "You're the bald one!"

Li Ran smiled, stood up, and walked out.

As he reached the door, he glanced back.

Zhou Ye sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes still red, but a slight smile had appeared on his lips.

He smiled and opened the door.

Thinking to myself: Coconut, oh Coconut, it was clearly Little Hu who pulled your hair, you silly little thing, and you still don't know who it was.

In the living room, the three people remained seated in their original positions.

Hu Lianxin had stopped crying, but was keeping her head down. Liu Haocun leaned against the sofa armrest, looking sullen. Tian Xiwei sat beside her, scrolling through her phone.

When they saw Li Ran come out, all three of them looked up.

Li Ran walked over and sat down opposite them.

"Alright, now it's your turn."