Chapter 66: Invited to Act

In less than a quarter of an hour, the administration office pulled out the files of Chen Yuqing and Teacher Qin. Right in front of the entire class, Feng Yuan expelled both of them on the spot.

"Your integrity must match your status. If anything like this happens again, the school will deal with it severely!" When Feng Yuan said this, he deliberately glanced at Shen Rou and Xia Yu a few more times.

Shen Rou understood that Feng Yuan was standing up for Xia Xia, and she felt utterly miserable inside. She had thought that once Xia Xia arrived at school, she would fall right into their palms. Who could have imagined that Feng Yuan was actually a major shareholder of this school? She certainly wouldn't have any good days ahead of her!

"Mr. Feng, could you explain this?" After everyone had dispersed, Xia Rusheng quietly sent a text message to Feng Yuan.

However, Feng Yuan did not offer any explanation. Instead, he sent a string of mobile numbers accompanied by two words: "Ask him."

Him?

Was it him?

Xia Rusheng's hand holding the phone trembled slightly. She quickly saved the number, but what name should she save it under?

Let's just save it as "Him" ...

He always inadvertently appeared in her life, yet was only ever willing to leave behind a retreating figure. When the moment finally arrived to converse with her directly, Xia Rusheng suddenly had no idea what tone to use with him.

"Thank you." After pondering for quite a while, Xia Rusheng squeezed out two very polite words, but the moment she sent them, she wished she could chop off her own head.

What kind of brainless nonsense was this?

If he casually replied with "You're welcome," wouldn't she just be able to wash up and go to sleep?

Xia Rusheng began to lose her cool over her own intelligence, followed by a stretch of time that felt like sitting on pins and needles.

One minute...

Ten minutes...

One hour...

By the time the class was almost over, the owner of the number still had not replied. If Feng Yuan hadn't given her the number, she would have thought it was a dead line.

Had he not seen it? Or did he simply not want to reply at all?

Xia Rusheng struggled with herself over and over again, her eyes darting to the screen from time to time. Waiting in itself was a torment, and waiting filled with this kind of hope was a torment within a torment. When the bell for the end of class finally rang, she abandoned all hope, packed up her things, and prepared to go home.

"Xia Xia, let's have lunch together. I want to talk to you about something," Lin Yichen called out, stopping Xia Rusheng as he looked at her with a rare seriousness.

"Don't you still have auditions? Do you have time to eat lunch with me?" She regarded Lin Yichen as a friend and business partner, so having a meal together was no big deal. Besides, since Lin Yichen had stood up for her earlier, she could just use this meal to thank him.

"No need, I've already found the most suitable candidate." Lin Yichen gazed into Xia Rusheng's eyes, the image of her playing the piano flashing through his mind once again.

Xia Rusheng had no reason to doubt him and said, "Then let's go. My treat."

"Is there room for me?" Lu Si'ang chimed in.

"I'm going too." Seeing Lu Si'ang speak up, Xia Yu also clamored to go. Although she didn't want to eat with Xia Xia, she wanted to eat with her dear Brother Si'ang!

"No." Xia Rusheng originally wouldn't have minded bringing Lu Si'ang along, but since Xia Yu wanted to get involved, that was a completely different story. Today's incident had ten-to-one been orchestrated by Xia Yu. After framing her, she still wanted a free meal? Did they take her for a fool?

"Hey, do you have to be so heartless? I bought you a gift, shouldn't you treat me to a meal to return the favor?" Lu Si'ang stamped his feet in anger. This little girl rejected him way too fast!

"I didn't force you to give it. If you need to, I can return the gift to you." Xia Rusheng was not polite to him at all.

Standing aside and watching her bicker with Lu Si'ang, Lin Yichen smiled at the corner of his lips and said, "Let's bring this kid along. The matter I want to talk about involves him too. Since I'm in a good mood today, you don't even have to treat. We'll go to my apartment to eat; the things I want to show you are all there."

Xia Rusheng looked at him sideways and asked, "Are you cooking?"

"Ordering takeout, do you mind?" Lin Yichen broke into a slight sweat; how on earth could he cook...

"If it's expensive, I don't mind." Xia Rusheng hadn't counted on him cooking anyway. Going to his apartment was fine; where couldn't they eat?

"Hey, I'm going too, didn't you hear me?" Feeling left out, Xia Yu shouted at them. How could these people ignore her so completely!

The three of them looked at each other without acknowledging Xia Yu's words, then began walking out together. Unwilling to be left behind like this, Xia Yu trailed right behind them. With so many eyes in the class watching, wouldn't it be terribly embarrassing to be abandoned?

Lin Yichen's apartment was not large, but it was very tidy. Located near Hanyu Media, he only came here to stay when he worked overtime too late. The meal had been ordered half an hour ago, so as soon as they arrived at the apartment, Lin Yichen opened his laptop and got straight to the point.

"Xia Xia, are you interested in making a cameo appearance in this role? Although it's a supporting role, the screen time is heavy, and I think you are a great fit."

Only then did Xia Rusheng realize that the most suitable candidate he was referring to was actually her? But she had never acted before...

Just as she was about to refuse, Xia Rusheng happened to catch a glimpse of an actor's publicity photo, which turned out to be Su Xi's. She looked more closely at the character description and discovered that Su Xi was playing the second female lead in this drama.

"Alright, I'll give it a try." Xia Rusheng instantly changed her mind. Judging by the character setting, the role Lin Yichen was offering her had quite a few scenes opposite Su Xi. She was just worrying about finding no opportunity to get close to Su Xi when the opportunity walked right up to her.

"Once the remaining roles are finalized, this drama can start filming. The shooting location is City H, and I'll send my assistant, Xiao Lin, to handle your schedule then. How does that sound?"

At this point, the tag-along Xia Yu chimed in, "Brother Yichen, I want to make a cameo too. Is there a role suitable for me? I've never acted before, and I heard it's a lot of fun. Don't forget I can play the piano too. I can play that role you mentioned."

Xia Rusheng cast a sarcastic glance at her; Xia Yu was obviously trying to compete with her.

"I'll look around to see if there's any role suitable for you."

Lin Yichen brushed her off with a single sentence and then continued discussing other matters with Xia Rusheng. Xia Rusheng could sense Lin Yichen's special care for her, as everyone from the costume designer to the stylist was specifically assigned. Once the discussion wrapped up, their lunch arrived.

Xia Yu had been left out the entire time, unable to wedge a single word in. When lunch finally arrived, she sat down next to Lu Si'ang without thinking and asked as if to assert her presence, "Brother Si'ang, I heard you invested in this TV series. How come I've never heard of you being interested in this field before?"

After chewing the steak in his mouth, Lu Si'ang turned his head and smiled at Xia Yu: "To boost my girlfriend into the female lead role, of course."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xia Yu instantly felt as though she was choking on air.