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

When I woke up in the morning, my phone screen was already black.

Li Ran pressed the power button, but there was no response. It seemed that he had been playing all night and the phone had run out of power and shut down.

I don't know when I fell asleep last night. We were chatting and then the conversation just went silent. I didn't even realize my phone was out of battery.

Upon arriving at the film set, Li Ran went to get her makeup done first.

While the makeup artist was applying his makeup, he closed his eyes and mentally reviewed the scenes he was going to film that day.

I had a scene with Li Yitong this morning, and it was quite important.

After getting his makeup and styling done, he arrived at the film set.

The staff were still setting up the set, the lighting technicians were adjusting the angles, and the sounds of shouting "left, right, left, right" were mixed together, noisy yet orderly.

Li Ran stood to the side waiting, holding the script in her hand. She wasn't actually reading it; she was just flipping through the pages. When she got to a particular page, she stared at those few lines of text, but her mind was elsewhere.

He was still in a daze when Li Yitong walked over.

She wore a light blue theatrical costume, her long hair was loose and tied up in a high bun, with a few strands of hair hanging down by her ears. As she walked, the hem of her skirt swayed gently, and she looked like she had stepped out of an ancient painting.

Li Yitong walked to Li Ran's side, stopped, and turned her head to look at him.

The two were very close, she lowered her voice, and a slight smile played on her lips.

"You seemed angry last night?"

Li Ran looked at her, her eyes crinkling with a smile, like a cat that had stolen a fish.

He suddenly found it a little funny—was she testing him, or was she provoking him?

"Actually, it's alright," he paused, then deliberately sighed, "after all, Xiaotian didn't agree."

That sigh was convoluted and tinged with regret, helplessness, and a hint of ambiguous "you know what I mean."

Li Yitong didn't expect him to provoke her back.

She narrowed her eyes slightly, a barely perceptible glint flashing in her crescent-shaped eyes.

"If Oda agrees, would you dare? You're not just all talk, are you?"

Li Ran gazed into her eyes, which were truly captivating, curved and bright, like two crescent moons.

Her features weren't particularly stunning—there were many in the industry with more refined features—but she possessed an indescribable charm that made people want to look at her more, exuding a sexual allure.

Unlike some actresses who are beautiful but like mannequins in a shop window—pretty, yes, but don't inspire any fantasies—she is different.

Li Yitong is different. She exudes a strong sense of desire, not something she deliberately creates, but something that comes from within. She's like a lazy, mischievous little cat that's curious about everything, and you can never guess what she'll do next.

He looked at her, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Whether I dare or not, do you want to give it a try?"

Li Yitong smiled, tilted her head slightly, and her crescent-shaped eyes curved even deeper. Her tone was both teasing and serious.

"Little brother's got a lot of temper. Do you want me to help you cool down tonight?"

Li Ran looked at her smiling face.

He leaned forward, lowered his voice, and his lips almost touched her ear. "Then I'll wait for you tonight, sister."

Li Yitong didn't flinch or blush; she simply smiled slightly, looked away, and acted as if nothing had happened.

The crew was calling for them to get ready, and the director was sitting behind the monitor, looking this way.

The two stepped back, returning to a normal distance, like two parallel lines that briefly intersected before separating again.

The filming begins, the lights come on, and the camera zooms in.

Li Ran stood in the camera's view, dressed in a black robe, her hair tied up in a high bun, her expression cold and stern.

Li Yitong stood opposite him, her light blue costume making her look like a tender willow in early spring, gentle yet aloof.

Si Ming, played by Li Yitong, said to Yue Zun, played by Li Ran, "Beat him up."

Her voice wasn't loud, but every word was like a nail driven into the air. She raised her hand and pointed at him, her crescent-shaped eyes devoid of any smile, only a cold, unquestionable command remained.

In that instant, Li Ran suddenly had a feeling—she really wanted to punch him.

This isn't acting; it's serious.

"Cut!" the director called out, nodding in satisfaction. "That take is good."

Li Yitong withdrew her hand, the coldness on her face instantly vanished, and she returned to being the smiling woman with crescent-shaped eyes.

She glanced at Li Ran, a slight smile playing on her lips, said nothing, and turned to walk towards the rest area.

Li Ran stood there, watching her back, shook his head, and walked towards the director.

……

The afternoon sun slanted into the film set, bathing the eaves of the antique-style buildings in a warm golden light.

After finishing filming the last scene of the day, Li Ran walked towards Lu Yuxiao, who was waiting on the side.

"I'll go change my clothes first."

Lu Yuxiao nodded and gave him a sheepish smile. "Go on! Sister Tong and the others have already gone to remove their makeup."

Li Ran removed her makeup and changed into clean clothes. She came out of the dressing room and stood in front of Lu Yuxiao.

"Xiaotian and Sister Tong haven't come out yet?"

"No," Lu Yuxiao looked up at him and shook her head. "Where are we going to eat later?"

Li Ran slowly said, "Xiao Chen booked the restaurant. I've never been there before; it was recommended by Sister Tong."

Li Ran slowly said, "Xiao Chen booked the restaurant. I've never been there before; it was recommended by Sister Tong."

The wind was a bit strong at the entrance of the film set, blowing Lu Yuxiao's hair onto her face. Li Ran reached out to help her hold down a strand of hair, his fingers tracing behind her ear.

Lu Yuxiao didn't dodge, letting Li Ran do as he pleased, only blinking and smiling faintly.

The two stood in the shade at the exit of the film set, waiting for Tian Xiwei and Li Yitong to come out.

Li Ran leaned against the wall, his posture relaxed. Lu Yuxiao stood next to him, a head shorter than him. She would occasionally look up at him and then quickly look away.

The two didn't have to wait long before Li Yitong and Tian Xiwei walked over from the direction of the dressing room.

Li Yitong had changed out of her costume and into casual clothes, while Tian Xiwei, who was next to her, hadn't changed. She was still wearing her costume, a light green gauze dress with layers upon layers, and her hair was still in a bun with a few strands of hair hanging down her forehead. She looked like she had just been dragged out of the film set.

Li Ran couldn't help but laugh when he saw Xiao Tian's depressed expression.

"Why are you in costume again?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

Tian Xiwei pouted, looking unhappy.

Her gaze lingered on Li Ran for a moment, then shifted to Lu Yuxiao's face beside him, giving her a quick glance before looking away.

"Don't even mention it. The director said they added two more night scenes for me tonight." She sighed softly. "You guys go eat."

Li Ran smiled knowingly, "Alright then, there's nothing we can do about it."

Hearing his somewhat perfunctory answer, Tian Xiwei looked at him with a puzzled expression.

She didn't say anything, looked away, pulled Li Yitong aside, and whispered something to her.

Li Ran watched the two figures walk away, a slight smile playing on his lips. The smile was so small it was almost invisible, but it was still caught by Lu Yuxiao, who had been watching him closely.

"Li Ran, what mischief are you thinking about?" Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried a confident certainty.

Li Ran turned to look at her, his expression innocent. "What's wrong?"

Lu Yuxiao rolled her eyes and remarked, "You look like you're about to do something naughty."

Li Ran chuckled awkwardly and took half a step closer to her.

"Really?" He lowered his voice, with a hint of teasing.

Lu Yuxiao subconsciously took half a step back, as if startled by his approach.

Her back was almost pressed against the wall, with nowhere to retreat, so she could only look up at him, her voice trembling: "What are you going to do? Tian Xiwei is still here!"

"What? She's not here, so I can do whatever I want?" Li Ran joked, the corners of his mouth curving up, but there was no unsettling aggression in his eyes, only a familiar, playful ease.

Lu Yuxiao's cheeks flushed slightly, and the redness started from her cheeks and slowly spread to her ears.

She bit her lip, her voice lowering, "That won't do either..."

On the other side, Li Yitong was pulled to a corner by Tian Xiwei, completely bewildered.

Looking at Tian Xiwei's worried face, she couldn't help but smile. "Xiao Tian, ​​what's wrong?"

Tian Xiwei glanced in the direction of Li Ran and Lu Yuxiao, making sure they weren't paying attention, before lowering her voice and saying, "Sister Tong, why don't you go eat with Li Ran and Lu Yuxiao? Keep an eye on Li Ran for me..."

Li Yitong smiled, her crescent-shaped eyes curving into a beautiful arc, and nodded, her tone light: "You're afraid of Lu Yuxiao and Li Ran..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was clear.

Tian Xiwei nodded, her expression serious. "Tell me immediately if anything happens."

Li Yitong did not explain anything.

She had already guessed that the sudden addition of night scenes to Tian Xiwei's schedule was probably at Li Ran's request—given his status, he could easily ask the director if he could film a few more of Xiao Tian's scenes tonight, and the director wouldn't refuse.

His target was not Lu Yuxiao, but herself.

Li Yitong didn't tell Tian Xiwei her guess; she wanted to see what her younger brother was up to.

She just smiled and nodded, looking at Tian Xiwei's serious little face, and suddenly found her kind of cute.

"Okay, I understand." She spoke slowly, her voice as gentle as if she were coaxing a child.

Tian Xiwei finally breathed a sigh of relief, loosened her sleeve, and turned to walk towards the film set.

Li Yitong stood there, watching her figure disappear behind the door of the film set, then turned around and walked towards Li Ran and Lu Yuxiao.

She had a smile on her face, and her crescent-shaped eyes were like two new moons hanging on the twilight sky.

She walked up to the two of them, looked at Li Ran, then at Lu Yuxiao, and the corners of her mouth curved into a deeper smile. "Let's go, Xiaotian asked me to go eat with you."

Li Ran looked at her and the corners of his mouth curved slightly.

He didn't say anything, just nodded and turned to walk towards the parking lot.

Lu Yuxiao followed behind Li Ran, took a step, and then looked back at Li Yitong.

Li Yitong smiled and quickly followed.

……

The three arrived at the restaurant and went into a private room.

The waiter handed over the menu, which Li Ran took without even glancing at it, and then passed it to the two ladies. "You two order, anything is fine with me."

Li Yitong smiled and pushed the menu in front of Lu Yuxiao. "Let Xiaoxiao order, I'm fine with anything."

After she finished speaking, she looked at Li Ran, her crescent-shaped eyes curving slightly with a hint of probing, "Would you like something to drink?"

Li Ran nodded casually. "Sister Tong, feel free to drink if you want."

Lu Yuxiao took the menu, flipped through a couple of pages, then looked up at Li Ran as if to confirm something.

Li Ran wasn't looking at her; he was replying to messages on his phone.

She looked away and started ordering seriously, naming a few dishes, thinking they were all things Li Ran would like to eat.

All the dishes were served and laid out on the table.

Lu Yuxiao picked up a piece with her chopsticks, tasted it, and her eyes lit up. "This is delicious."

She picked up a piece and put it in Li Ran's bowl, "Try it."

Li Ran hummed in agreement, lowered his head and ate, without saying anything.

Lu Yuxiao picked up another dish and put it in his bowl. "This is good too, this is delicious..."

Her chopsticks kept reaching into his bowl, like a diligent porter.

Li Ran's bowl quickly piled up into a small mountain, but he didn't refuse, eating bite by bite, occasionally letting out an "Mmm" as a response.

Li Yitong sat opposite, watching this scene, and the corners of her mouth curved slightly.

She picked up her wine glass, took a sip, and glanced between the two of them, recalling Tian Xiwei's worried expression when she left—it seemed there was a reason for it.

"Xiaoxiao." She put down her wine glass, her voice soft and casual, "You like Li Ran?"

Lu Yuxiao was putting a piece of sweet and sour pork rib into Li Ran's bowl when she looked up at Li Yitong, blinked, and seemed not to have realized what was happening.

"Yeah, how come..." She suddenly realized what she had said halfway through her sentence, and her face turned red.

Li Yitong laughed out loud, "It seems Li Ran is really popular with girls."

She looked at Li Ran with a hint of teasing and a touch of scrutiny in her eyes.

Li Ran put down his chopsticks, leaned back in his chair, looked at Li Yitong, and smiled slightly.

"And what about you, Sister Tong?" he asked her in return.

Li Yitong paused for a moment, then smiled.

"Didn't I already give you the answer?" she said casually, as if it were a matter of course.

Li Ran picked up his wine glass, took a sip, and didn't reply.

He turned to look at Lu Yuxiao, who was still looking down, her earlobes as red as cherries.

"Eating? Why are you looking down? Are you shy?" His tone was slightly mischievous, as if he was deliberately teasing her.

Before he could finish speaking, someone stepped on his foot under the table. Not too hard, not too soft, just enough to make him feel pain.

He gasped and looked down—Lu Yuxiao's shoe tip was firmly planted on his shoe, completely still.

Her face was expressionless, but her ears were still red.

After a few seconds of silence, she looked up at Li Yitong.

The shyness in her eyes had mostly faded, replaced by undisguised honesty. "Sister Tong, I do like Li Ran, there's nothing wrong with saying that."

She paused, then lowered her voice, "Did Tian Xiwei ask you to ask?"

Li Yitong shook her head, her crescent-shaped eyes crinkling with a smile, "No, it's just that I like Li Ran too."

There was a moment of silence in the private room.

Li Ran was stunned. The chopsticks were hanging in mid-air when a piece of pork rib fell back down.

He looked at Li Yitong, his mind racing—Sister, weren't you gay? Weren't you interested in Xiaotian? How come you like me now?

Lu Yuxiao was also stunned.

Her mouth was agape, her eyes were wide open, and she stood there frozen as if she had been struck by a magic acupuncture point.

This is different from the information she got from Li Ran—didn't he say she didn't like men?

How could this happen so suddenly...? She blinked, her mind still processing the words, but her mouth had already started moving.

"Sister Tong, Li Ran is a scumbag." She said somewhat flusteredly, "He has so many girlfriends, just the ones I know are Tian Xiwei, Zhou Ye, Hu Lianxin, and Wang Churan—"

She counted on her fingers, "Liu Haocun too."

Li Ran listened as she rattled off the names of several girls with great familiarity, and helplessly rubbed his temples.

He leaned back in his chair and, in a defiant tone, added, "Oh, and Zhang Jingyi and Zhang Ruonan too."

"I know, you don't need to say it." Lu Yuxiao glared at him, her eyes filled with reproach and a hint of disdain, as if to say, "How dare you say that?"

After saying that, she stomped on his foot again, this time harder than before.

Li Yitong couldn't help but laugh as she watched the two of them exchanging barbs.

She picked up her wine glass, took a sip, her gaze lingered on Lu Yuxiao's face for a moment, then shifted to Li Ran's face.

Several girls, all of them were her type—Li Ran's taste was indeed excellent.

Lu Yuxiao turned to look at Li Yitong, her expression as serious as a student giving a self-criticism. "So, Sister Tong, Li Ran is a complete jerk. Why do you like him when you're so great?"

Li Yitong was amused by her serious expression, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons with laughter. "Xiaoxiao, aren't you being a bit too direct?"

Lu Yuxiao wasn't embarrassed at all; she puffed out her chest confidently. "That's just how it is!"

Li Yitong shook her head, a hint of helplessness in her smile. "Okay, I won't tease you anymore. I don't like him at all."

Lu Yuxiao stared at her for two seconds, as if to confirm whether she was telling the truth.

"Really?" Her tone was tinged with doubt.

"Little brother, is what your sister said true?" Her voice was light and teasing. "Your girlfriend seems jealous. Aren't you going to explain?"

Before Li Ran could speak, Lu Yuxiao blurted out, "Sister Tong, I'm not her girlfriend yet."

Her voice lowered, the last syllable sounding slightly weak, as if she were explaining something to someone, or perhaps trying to convince herself.

Li Yitong waved her hand, "They're all the same."

Looking at the two women, Li Ran suddenly felt a headache.

He noticed a detail—when Lu Yuxiao revealed the names of those girls, Li Yitong's eyes visibly lit up.

It wasn't the bland "oh, I see" kind of light, but rather a more exciting and intriguing kind of light.

He couldn't quite put his finger on what it felt like, but something just felt off.

"Can you still eat properly?" he asked, his voice not loud, but with a hint of "this is the end of it."

Li Yitong smiled, said nothing more, and lowered her head to pick up some food, but added it to Li Ran's bowl.

"Is my little brother angry?"

……