Chapter 11 – I’m lonely so I can’t sleep

Feng Dong had learned about “Long River and Falling Moon”, so he knew that as the greatest antagonist of the drama, Liu Chuandeng had lots of important scenes. Before he became Jiang Li’s full-time agent, he had another male celebrity under him who went to audition for this role, but he was not chosen and went to other auditions.

He had heard about the fact that the actor for the roles Liu Chuandeng and Liu Baizhu had been chosen, but the drama crew did not publicly announce the name yet and he did not expect that it would be Jiang Li!

Zhou Jin chose a newbie who did not go for professional acting classes, had no acting experience and had no popularity at all?

Feng Dong looked at Jiang Li unbelievably, his first reaction was to figure out how big of a power the person behind Jiang Li had.

Jiang Li saw his reaction but he did not explain much and planned to go back if there were no other arrangements.

Feng Dong asked if he needed an assistant to drive him home, Jiang Li shook his head. Jiang Zhan had given him a car and the original host had a driver’s license, he even drove here himself this morning.

After agreeing on tomorrow’s appointment time, Jiang Li left.

Feng Dong thought deeply as he looked at Jiang Li leaving.

The next morning, Feng Dong went to Jade River Garden according to the address that Jiang Li gave him. An assistant was there as well, the three of them met and went to the drama set.

When they arrived at the drama set, they met the crew member who passed the documents to Jiang Li during the audition previously. That crew member greeted Jiang Li happily as he saw him.

“Teacher Jiang, you’re here, the dressing room is over there.”

“Good Morning, Xiao Zhang.” Jiang Li had a faint impression that other people called him that last time.

The youngster didn’t expect that Jiang Li knew his name, he was dazed and smiled even brighter. He then nodded and answered, “Good morning Teacher Jiang!”

Feng Dong and the assistant Xiao Zhou were shocked. Why is he calling a newbie who had not even debuted Teacher Jiang? What background does Jiang Li have?

Other than Jiang Li’s photo shoot, there were also shoots of other roles. The makeup artists were still working busily, so Jiang Li sat and waited nearby.

The one who helped him with his makeup was a female makeup artist in her 30s. She was really fascinated by his smooth and bright skin. Although there were many celebrities with smooth skin, it was the first time that she had seen such flawless skin.

Jiang Li thought: I used my own life as payment for this beginner package, can it be bad?

Liu Chuandeng’s make-up was heavier than Liu Baizhu’s. Jiang Li first finished the photoshoot for Liu Baizhu and then went to have Liu Chuandeng’s makeup done.

When the makeup artist finished Liu Chuandeng’s makeup, Xiao Zhou was already holding the costume and waiting nearby. When Jiang Li came out after changing into the costume, everyone there was dazed.

The black palace costume which was embellished with red patterns looked luxurious. The palm-width belt outlined his waist clearly, causing his body shape to look slender and tall. His dashing eyebrows carried a sense of heroic spirit, but his hooked-up eyeline was demonic; two completely different temperaments were unexpectedly suitable for Jiang Li.

Jiang Li did not mind much about everyone looking at him, he held out his hand towards Xiao Zhou who was nearest to him and reminded, “The hat.”

Xiao Zhou was still astonished by Jiang Li’s modeling, he was hugging the Futou¹ Futou is the black hat worn by government officials in ancient court. dazedly and did not realize that Jiang Li was speaking to him. Feng Dong then went forward and took the hat and put it on for Jiang Li personally.

After wearing the hat, Jiang Li tilted his head and glanced at a mirror beside him. He looked at the Governor of the Eastern Depot’s Futou, the corner of his lips hooked up and walked out.

“Let’s go.”

Jiang Li had the experiences of his past life so the characters’ photo shoot went smoothly. His posture, expression and eyes were well-conveyed and spot-on. The photographer did not need to put much effort into it and not much time was spent for either of the photo shoot sessions.

“Great, this is the end of the photo shoot, thank you for your hard work!”

The photographer signaled towards Jiang Li. Jiang Li nodded his head. When he left the photo shoot area, Xiao Zhou who was waiting beside quickly handed him water and tissues to wipe his sweat.

Jiang Li drank two mouths of water and planned to change his clothes and leave. A youngster who was wearing a Prussian blue robe appeared from beside, he had a nervous expression and stammered towards Jiang Li, “Governor, I’m Yanxi, your personal eunuch, Liu Tongxin.”

In the novel, Liu Chuandeng had two close subordinates. One was his little eunuch Liu Tongxin who served him personally, another one was his personal guard Liu He. As both of them were his close companions, they had more chances to appear in the drama.

Yanxi was the actor for the role Liu Tongxin, he was here for the photo shoot as well. He was also the drama’s producer, Huang Lisheng’s, nephew. When Jiang Li went to the audition a few days ago, he was also there. He was deeply convinced by Jiang Li’s acting skills and had successfully evolved into Jiang Li’s fanboy.

While Jiang Li was carrying out the photo shoot, he was standing beside and could not resist greeting him after the photo shoot session ended.

As Jiang Li was suddenly stopped, his footsteps halted and his head lifted up. He saw a youngster who had an obedient look and looked like he was only sixteen or seventeen.

Jiang Li smiled as he saw the boy staring at him with big eyes and a nervous expression.

“Hi, I’m Jiang Li, nice to meet you.”

After a brief greeting, Jiang Li left first.

Yanxi looked at Jiang Li leaving and said with an admiring expression of a crazy fan, “Governor is so good-looking.” 

After leaving the photo shoot area, it was time for lunch. After the three of them had lunch, Jiang Li then returned to Jade River Garden. 

Jiang Zhan was on a business trip these days so he was the only one in the house. 

Jiang Li was busy with work in his previous life and he had not encountered anyone he liked enough to have a relationship with, so he was always alone when he returned home. 

Jiang Li had thought of finding someone to live his life with, but as the saying goes, there are many nice-looking skins but only one interesting soul in ten thousand. Although he had seen a lot of good-looking people, he was not able to find someone with an interesting soul. Moreover, he needed both qualities to be there. 

He thought that if he could not find someone like that, he would return to his hometown and get a cat or a dog to accompany him after he retired from the entertainment industry.

But he did not expect that he would get into an accident just after he announced his retirement. 

Being able to be ‘reborn’, Jiang Li wondered if he could implement this retirement plan early. But he did not know if Jiang Zhan would agree to it or not. Since this house was Jiang Zhan’s house, he would spend the night here sometimes. As the kept man of his sugar daddy, he should at least get his permission to own a pet. 

Once Jiang Li decided to ask for Jiang Zhan’s permission when he came home, he then went to his room to get his clothes for a bath. He had gotten very sweaty during the photo shoot. 

After bathing, Jiang Li saw a missed call and an unread message on his phone. 

The one who called was the original host’s mother and the message was a credit notification of his bank account. The amount was not a lot, three thousand yuan²three thousand yuan is about 460 USD.  

Jiang Li understood that this was the money that Mother Jiang sent over, because she was the only one who would send money to this card. 

Jiang Li looked at the ‘Mother’ on the screen, his finger stopping abruptly at the ‘call back’ button. He did not know how to reply to her as it had been so long since he had the chance to call his parents. 

When he was ten years old in his previous life, his parents passed away due to a plane crash and he became an orphan. His relatives were not willing to accept him and sent him to the orphanage. 

In the original host’s memory, Jiang Li knew that he was from a single-parent family. His hometown was a little town located in the south. His family condition was ordinary and his mother managed a small shop in the village. Although they could maintain their family life, not much money could be earned. 

In his memory, Mother Jiang was a gentle and strong woman. Her husband died early and she had also encountered someone who had a better financial situation to remarry. However, that person’s family was unwilling to accept Jiang Li who was a step-child. She then gave up on the intention to recompose a family and brought up Jiang Li alone. 

Jiang Li felt sad as Mother Jiang still did not know that her son had died.

System could feel that he was a little depressed and asked,  “Host, what happened?” 

“Nothing, I just remembered something from the past.” 

Jiang Li took the phone and walked to the balcony. He called Mother Jiang and listened to the “Beep– Beep–” from the phone, he suddenly felt nervous.

The call was accepted quickly and a gentle female voice echoed out, “Is it Xiao Li?” 

“It’s me.” Jiang Li clenched the phone tightly, opened his mouth, and called out “……Mum.” 

He felt his eyes dampen when he called out. He could feel the bitterness in his heart. This sudden relationship made Jiang Li feel at a loss, he did not know if it came from himself or this body which sensed the blood relationship. 

If there was something called a soul, he believed that the original Jiang Li’s soul must be crying now. 

“Hey.” Mother Jiang answered him, “Why didn’t you accept the call earlier? Are you busy now? Did I disturb you?” 

“No.” Jiang Li suppressed the emotions that were flowing in his chest, trying his best to not let her notice the strange mental state he was in. “I was bathing just now so I didn’t hear the phone ringing, have you eaten?” 

“I’ve eaten.” Mother Jiang heard his concern for her, and overjoyed she said with a happy tone, “I’ve sent some money to your card earlier, did you get it?” 

Jiang Li’s guess was correct, however, he remembered that the original host had told her not to send money over anymore during their last call. The original host had good grades, he received scholarships every year and usually went to work part-time jobs to earn some extra money. 

“I’ve gotten it. Didn’t I tell you not to send money to me anymore?” 

“I thought that you would still need money before going to work, so I sent some over.” Mother Jiang laughed, she obviously did not take to heart what he said last time. “Although the amount is not large, don’t save it up. Eat more and buy new clothes. I heard that you need to wear a suit for interviews, go buy two sets of them. If you don’t have enough money, I’ll send more, Okay?” 

Jiang Li listened to her nagging and was not annoyed at all. His eyes warmed up, tears nearly falling out. 

He had already forgotten how many years had passed since he last felt his mother’s concern. In his previous life, his parents went to visit him before going on their business trip. They said it would only last a few days and they would be returning on the weekend. He waited every day, yet in the end he didn’t even get to see his parents’ corpses. 

“I know.” Jiang Li answered with a hoarse voice. 

He had also decided in his heart that he would treat Mother Jiang like his own mother. 

Mother Jiang was still at her small shop and people in the village would come in and buy some stuff. Both of them then ended the call to prevent disturbing her from managing the shop. 

Jiang Li went back and sat on the sofa. He looked at the empty house and suddenly wanted to find someone to talk to. 

However, he had only been in this world for so long. The original host had his heart set on Zhang Ziyang so he did not have other friends to talk to. Jiang Li himself was not yet familiar with anyone else, either. He thought for a while and still couldn’t think of someone who could accompany him for a drink and a chat.

He scrolled through his contacts and finally stopped at Jiang Zhan’s name. 

Jiang Li realized that the only person he was familiar with in his contacts was Jiang Zhan, although he was only physically familiar with him. 

After Jiang Zhan went on the business trip, the both of them hadn’t met for three days. The favorability was then stuck at 22%. Jiang Li thought about it and called him. 

He was probably busy so he didn’t accept the call. He returned the call after a few minutes. 

“What’s the problem?” Jiang Zhan asked on the other side of the phone, with the sound of documents flipping.

“Can’t I find you when I don’t have any problems?” Jiang Li leaned on the sofa. He looked at the chandelier hung in the center of the ceiling and said half-heartedly, “Would you believe me if I say that I’m lonely so I can’t sleep?”

Jiang Zhan “…”

You’re lonely so you can’t sleep? That day when I woke up early and went to the airport, you were sleeping so deeply on the bed you were like a dead pig!

• 1
  Futou is the black hat worn by government officials in ancient court.
• 2
  three thousand yuan is about 460 USD.