Chapter 123: Regardless of Cold or Heat

The clown coughed quite awkwardly, and Zhao Liying also realized that she shouldn't have said that.

She apologized: "I'm sorry, I used a dirty word. It's mainly because those brainless fans of Chen Nuo are really too hateful and overbearing. Chen Nuo's public favor was all ruined by them."

"My friend actually advised me at the time, saying that Director Zhang Yiyi and Director Zhang Jizhong's groups must not be signed up for, because getting involved with Chen Nuo is never a good thing. His fans are all a bit crazy, and they will definitely do anything. Sigh, but I didn't listen to her, and to be honest, I regret it quite a bit now."

Team Leader Su laughed and said: "Can't tell, Xiao Zhao, you look like a junior high student, but you're actually quite fierce."

Zhao Liying said embarrassedly: "It's mainly because it's too infuriating. I'm sorry, Team Leader."

Huo Xiaosi said thoughtfully: "Chen Nuo, is he the one playing Yang Guo in the upcoming 'Return of the Condor Heroes'?"

"Yes, that's him."

Huo Xiaosi asked: "What does this talent show have to do with him?"

Zhao Liying said: "Because people online are saying that Director Zhang Yiyi's advertisement is being filmed with Chen Nuo, so they came. They aren't really here to film with Director Zhang Yiyi."

Team Leader Su laughed: "Do you really want to film with the director? Why?"

Zhao Liying was stunned, hesitated for a moment, and said: "Because I want to be an actor in the future."

She stared at the table in front of her, her face slightly red, her shy expression like spring light hidden in winter, lifted by someone, so even in the cold winter, it seemed as if a hundred flowers were blooming.

Time seemed to have frozen in the room. Huo Xiaosi looked at her appearance, his eyes a bit straight.

Team Leader Su picked up a chopstick of shredded potatoes, stunned on the spot, and finally put the shredded potatoes into his mouth, asking: "Um, be an actor... heh."

Looking at Team Leader Su's expression, Zhao Liying asked cautiously: "Team Leader, what's wrong? Do you think I can't?"

Team Leader Su shook his head and said: "It's a good thing for young people to have dreams."

Zhao Liying's expression was very serious, the light in her pupils as firm as a stubborn stone.

And once a person is serious, no matter how cheesy or "chuunibyou" the words they say are, they won't feel it themselves.

Just like Zhao Liying now.

The clown heard her say heavily in a very light voice: "This has always been my dream, Team Leader Su. I know it's not easy, but I definitely won't give up."

Team Leader Su drank a glass of wine silently. After a while, he suddenly said: "I've been in this line of work for six or seven years, and every girl I've recruited has wanted to be an actor. Before you, there was a girl in my troupe who was like you, also wanting to be an actor. I advised her many times that the path of an actor is not easy to walk, but she didn't believe it."

"For two or three years, she went to see many people, directors, assistant directors, bosses, producers, and not once did it succeed. Not even once, at most just letting her play a bit part, and the money she earned wasn't enough for the travel expenses. In this process, I watched her change beyond recognition, looking just like you do now."

"Before the New Year, she left our city's other troupe without saying a word, the reason being that the team leader there said he could introduce her to roles. Heh."

Team Leader Su poured another glass of wine, drank it in one gulp, and with a bit of drunkenness, continued: "Actually, I'm not qualified to talk about her, because I've had the same dream. I went to Beijing, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and fought in various film crews for nearly ten years. During this period, I got married and had children, but at that time I was like possessed, ignoring family and children, just feeling that I could do it, I could be famous."

"But in the end, when I wanted to turn back, I couldn't. My wife divorced me, and the child went with her. Now, I have nothing left."

Team Leader Su said a lot, drinking while talking. After he finished, his bottle of Erguotou was almost finished.

Team Leader Su's alcohol tolerance was good, and he didn't look very drunk. He went to the front desk to pay the bill. During the Spring Festival, such a home-cooked meal for four people cost over 110 yuan.

When paying, Team Leader Su's facial muscles were twitching, as if he was in great pain.

Finally, at the entrance of the restaurant, Team Leader Su said: "Tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock, gather at the entrance of Langfang Department Store. There are performances in the morning and afternoon tomorrow. I've taken a big order from the department store. Everyone work hard for the next week. Actually, money in the city is easy to earn. After a while, when there's no business in the city, we have to go to the countryside. At that time, the money earned will be hard-earned money."

Everyone nodded one after another.

Afterward, the four of them went their separate ways.

Holding the 30 yuan in his hand, the clown hesitated and hesitated, and finally decided to take the bus against the cold night wind.

This time he came out, he brought a total of 1,000 yuan. After renting the house and buying daily necessities, only 200 yuan was left, and he had to eat four meals a day now.

He really couldn't bear to take a taxi.

It wasn't too late now, but it got dark very early in winter, and it was pitch black by 7 o'clock. There was no shelter from the wind along the way. Although he was wearing thermal underwear inside, the suit on his body couldn't withstand the night wind at all, and he shivered with his arms crossed all the way.

After walking for more than ten minutes, he finally reached the bus stop.

Zhao Liying had actually been following behind the clown. She looked at his lonely back and wanted to call out to him several times, but always felt a bit embarrassed.

It wasn't until this moment, when they arrived at this bus stop one after the other, that she pretended to have just discovered him and said: "Hi, you're taking the bus here too."

The clown turned his head, also a bit surprised, "Ah, you're taking the bus here too?"

"Um, where are you going?"

"Tongbai Village. How about you?"

"Me too!"

The two compared addresses and found that the houses they rented weren't far apart, only 50 meters away. But it wasn't strange; Tongbai Village itself was the first choice for renting houses in Langfang, mainly because the rent was cheap, so many young people rented houses there.

At this time, the bus came, and the two hurried onto the bus. The bus was very bright, and the air conditioning was very sufficient, which made the clown sigh with relief. He sat in an empty seat in the middle of the bus with Zhao Liying.

In the row in front of them, there was a woman holding a little girl.

The girl was about 5 or 6 years old, looked quite cute, with bangs, and was very curious about him, staring at him with a pair of bright big eyes.

He stared at the little girl for a while, then suddenly made a face at her.

The little girl giggled.

But her mother turned her head, looked at him vigilantly, and walked to the front of the bus holding the child.

Zhao Liying couldn't help but laugh, curious: "Do you wear this makeup every day when you're out?"

The clown nodded and said: "Yes."

"Will many people be like just now, a bit afraid of you."

The clown smiled and said: "Actually, not really, I don't look scary, right?"

Zhao Liying suddenly discovered that the clown might be younger than she thought.

At first, she thought he was about 26 or 27, but now that she was close, she found that the wrinkles on the opposite face seemed to be drawn on, and the laughter just now was also crisper than his speaking voice.

She asked: "By the way, what's your name? I heard Team Leader Su and the others call you Xiao Wang."

"Oh, my name is Wang Xiang."

"Wang Xiang, um, my name is Zhao Liying."

"I know, I heard you say it before."

Zhao Liying felt that his tone was a bit intimate, as if he were an acquaintance of hers. This strange feeling flashed through her heart, but she didn't pay attention to it and asked: "Where did you dye your hair? I think it looks quite good."

"Barbershop."

Zhao Liying laughed: "Of course I know it's a barbershop. Which barbershop? It feels like it was dyed quite well. Another day when I have money, I also want to go dye my hair."

The clown thought about it.

He dyed this hair in Beijing before the New Year. It was a barbershop that Qi Yuntian found that specifically handled hair for stars and didn't close during the New Year. It cost several thousand to dye it into its current state. He really didn't pay attention to the name of that shop.

"Forgot the name." The clown said truthfully.

Zhao Liying said "Oh" and asked again: "Then what about the makeup on your face? Did you draw it yourself?"

The clown nodded and said: "Um."

Zhao Liying sighed: "Removing makeup every day must be very troublesome."

It was indeed troublesome.

He used Li Er's connections to find a teacher in Beijing to specifically learn makeup techniques. The other party was said to be the most awesome makeup artist in the National Peking Opera Troupe, who specifically took two days off during the New Year for him. He followed and learned for more than a day, and now he could manage to draw a clown makeup that was barely passable in an hour by himself. But applying makeup every day took almost an hour, which was incredibly troublesome.

The clown sighed and said: "Yes."

Zhao Liying asked again: "How long have you been working at the Mingming Comedy Troupe?"

He calculated and said: "Came on the eighth day of the New Year, exactly a week."

"Oh."

The two chatted for a while, mainly Zhao Liying asking and the clown answering, and then the two got off the bus at the same stop.

They walked side by side for a few more minutes. Zhao Liying waved and said bye-bye, then went to a small building on the side of the road. The house the clown rented was in an urban village.

A three-story small building, where the landlord had turned the second and third floors into small, dark single rooms, 150 yuan a month including heating, with a wooden bed, a portable wardrobe, and a table inside.

Besides that, the bathroom and kitchen were public.

He went to the bathroom first before entering the room and sat down at the table.

He took out a brown notebook from the drawer and began to write something in it. He had been writing for maybe 10 minutes when the door was knocked.

"Dong dong dong."

"Xiao Wang, Xiao Wang, are you there?"

He put the notebook away, put it back in the drawer, and walked over to open the door. It was the landlord, a man in his 50s named Uncle Zhou.

Uncle Zhou asked with some surprise: "Yo, Little Wang, why are you dressed like this?"

He chuckled and said: "I just went to perform on stage and didn't have time to remove my makeup. Is there anything, Uncle Zhou?"

"There is a little something."

Uncle Zhou naturally stepped over him into the room, first turned around in the cramped room, looked around, and sat on the brand-new bed sheet he had only slept on for a few nights.

"A few days ago when you rented my house, you said you were looking for a job?" Uncle Zhou said.

He nodded: "Yes, Uncle Zhou."

"Looking at you tall and big, you should have quite a bit of strength. I have a job here that suits you quite well. My relative runs a sanitation company and wants to find a sanitation worker, collecting trash on the street every morning, 800 yuan a month. The work is very easy, just go around the street at 6 o'clock in the morning, pour the trash in the trash cans into the truck, and transport it to the trash station, at most work until noon and you can get off work. Will you do it?"

The clown said: "Uncle Zhou, I've already found a job."

Uncle Zhou said disdainfully: "Just this thing you're doing now? What future is there in being a clown? The job I'm introducing to you is really good, stable. But I have to say in advance, you have to give me 500 yuan as an agency fee first. After all, such a good job, right? It's only right for me to collect some introduction fee. What do you say, Little Wang?"

"Thank you, Uncle Zhou, really don't need it."

Uncle Zhou's smile disappeared, and he said with a straight face: "500 is still too much? This kind of work is easy and comfortable, where can you find it without connections? Do you want to go ask Little Zeng upstairs? His sales job was also found by me. He is a high school graduate, and he is so handsome, but his base salary is only 1000 yuan a month."

Before Uncle Zhou came, he thought quite simply.

His new tenant hadn't finished the New Year before running to his house to rent a house.

Although he was wearing a mask and couldn't see his face clearly, he felt quite honest. Originally, the rent of 150 was considered expensive in this area, but he didn't bargain, so he should be able to take the opportunity to fish for more from him.

As a result, after he finished speaking and looked at the other party's expression, Uncle Zhou knew there was no hope at all. He hummed unwillingly and said: "Forget it, if you don't do it, there are plenty of people who will."

Before going out, Uncle Zhou took the roll of paper on the table, tucked it into his cotton jacket pocket, and said: "Little Wang, borrow a roll of paper from you." He walked away with his hands tucked.

The clown looked at the empty table and was stunned for a long time before he began to remove his makeup.

When removing makeup, he didn't know where the sound of a man and a woman arguing came from. In this kind of rental house, the sound insulation was extremely poor, and the sound was everywhere, so it wasn't strange.

After a while, Chen Nuo used makeup remover to remove the makeup.

Looking at himself in the mirror, he examined himself left and right and found that his cheeks were much rounder.

This was the secret to gaining weight for actors that he heard when listening to Zhang Songwen's interview in his past life. It was said that besides three meals a day, eat a pack of instant noodles before going to bed, and don't do anything after eating, just fall asleep, and it was guaranteed to be effective.

He tried it during this period, and his weight was indeed increasing day by day.

He opened the door, preparing to go to the bathroom to wash his face again. The vague arguing sound outside suddenly became clear.

A very sharp female voice was shouting: "Zeng Wei, give me back the bag, otherwise I'm calling the police!"

A man was begging: "A-Qiu, can we talk properly? As long as you don't leave, I'll promise you whatever you want."

The woman's voice was like a fingernail scraping across a blackboard: "I don't want anything, I just want you to stop pestering me, let me go, can you?"

The man muttered something in a low voice.

Chen Nuo walked to the middle of the corridor and couldn't hear clearly, but immediately, the woman's voice became louder. The residents in the small building should have all heard it, because people upstairs and downstairs had opened their doors and walked out.

The woman's voice kept coming: "I know you're a good person, but I'm really tired, I've lived too tired, do you know? Zeng Wei!"

"Calculating every day, what to eat, what to buy, counting every yuan or two, I've spent three whole years with you living this kind of life! From high school graduation until now, have I complained even once?"

"Now I really can't take it anymore. I know Li Qiangdong doesn't have your good temper, and he doesn't care about me as much as you do, but being with him, I'm very relaxed, do you know?"

"I don't have to think about what to do if I'm late today, and I don't have to pour water into the facial cleanser when it's used up to continue using it. I can eat KFC whenever I want, without having to check if it's Crazy Thursday!"

"Zeng Wei, I beg you, let me go, okay? I know I've let you down, you can scold me, hate me, but for the sake of the feelings over the past many years, let me go, can you?"

Suddenly there was silence for a while, and then the woman screamed: "Don't use this trick to scare me, think about your parents, put down the knife!"

At this time, the onlookers, the neighbors upstairs and downstairs, found that something big was wrong, and it looked like someone was going to die, so there was a sudden chaos. Chen Nuo even heard Zhou Shuwan's shouting in it.

Taking advantage of this chaos, Chen Nuo washed his face and walked back to the room quickly, but he didn't close the door tightly, leaving a crack, because he still wanted to hear the follow-up.

Actually, there was nothing good to hear, because nothing unexpected happened. In the end, the woman left, and the one named Zeng Wei didn't really do anything with the knife.

Just like most of the love affairs in this world, it seemed like a life-and-death separation at the time, a mess, but in the end, there was a tomorrow for each. No matter where they were going, no matter whether they were rushing toward light or darkness, they would eventually find a way out.

Chen Nuo didn't turn on the light.

He sat in the dim room, the light in the corridor reflecting in his pupils, looking like a small fire burning.

He had been here for seven days.

Every day, some things would happen in this crowded and dilapidated small building.

These things were like dust.

Insignificant.

They came from the bottom of the world, from the lives of those most insignificant people, from the dust under their feet.

They weren't sensational, nor were they worth remembering like those great achievements in the news.

These things were so ordinary and small.

So ordinary that they couldn't make it into any social news, so small that perhaps no one would be substantially harmed by them.

They were like tiny grains of dust, difficult to identify with the naked eye, permeating the air, so much so that even we ourselves wouldn't pay too much attention to them.

However, they would dye a pure white person into a gray, dusty appearance, and would quietly erode every person's flawless heart.

They would make originally innocent eyes become worldly, and make originally light steps become heavy.

They would make people smoke a whole pack of cigarettes on the balcony in the middle of the night, but not know who to scold. They would make people drink a whole bottle of wine, but not know who to hate.

They could only spit and curse.

This damn world.

The flame in Chen Nuo's eyes was soaked by such dust, and there was a shadow as black as ink dancing wildly, as if it couldn't wait to grow claws and teeth.

After sitting for a long time, he turned on the light and sat at the table again to continue writing the diary that had been interrupted by Zhou Shuwan.

After coming to Langfang, this was the second diary entry he wrote, and the title was "Dust Affairs."

After finishing, it was past 10 o'clock.

Afterward, he soaked a bowl of Baixiang instant noodles and turned off the light to go to sleep.

When he got up the next morning, after he finished his makeup and arrived at the gathering place at the back door of Langfang Department Store, he found that Zhao Liying, Su Mingming, and Huo Xiaosi had all arrived. However, the atmosphere was particularly dull.

"What's wrong?"

"Today Chen Senlin and the others are also performing here, just a street away from us."

How should I put this chapter?

If you have a feeling of being fed shit, if you want to scold me, just scold me here.

But I have to write it, sigh.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 124 =====