HOYSE CHAPTER 13

Chapter 13 – Give Me a Pinch

Rong Jing headed to the Acting Academy’s fourth-floor office to find his class advisor from back then, Teacher Hu, and hear what he really thought of the original Rong Jing.

It was Teacher Hu who had strongly recommended the original for that ill-fated showcase lead. After the performance crashed and burned, the teacher became a running joke for years. Even so, in private he kept encouraging the original to break his shackles and try facing the camera again.

It was thanks to people like this, warm and stubborn, that the original never lost hope.

“You’re looking for Old Hu?” It was Teacher Zhang from Audiovisual Language. He studied Rong Jing’s memorable face and recognized the student once dubbed “Rong Accident” by his year. “Something happened at home. The police took him to identify a body today. Sigh, how does a good man get no good end.”

Maybe remembering he was talking to a student, the teacher stopped there.

“Identify a body?” Rong Jing suddenly thought of the emergency news ticker he had seen on the subway.

“I don’t know the details. If it’s important, wait till he’s back.”

A moment later, Teacher Zhang remembered something. He tore a sticky note from a desk. On it was an opportunity Teacher Hu had fought to secure for Rong Jing: an audition slot.

“He mentions you often. You’ve got a conscience, huh. Graduated and you still came to see him. Most of your class is doing well. He said if you showed up it meant you hadn’t given up. This is a good chance. Don’t blow it again.” Teacher Zhang clapped Rong Jing hard on the shoulder. “Kid, he asked me to pass along a line: flowers don’t stay in bloom a hundred days. Acting, like life, has no eternal winners and no eternal losers.”

Words like that only come from someone who has weathered real storms; they keep echoing after they land.

Rong Jing tightened his grip on the note and suddenly remembered his parents in his last life saying almost the same thing.
That was when he missed Best Newcomer and then lost Best Supporting Actor and more in a row. Three years, seven nominations, nothing to show for it. People called him an eternal runner-up.

But his parents never lost faith. They had told him since he was little that he had a gift for acting, that even if he started late, he could take the inside curve and overtake the pack. He was their pride.

He had always wanted to be their pride and to give everything he had.

He kept his head down for another year and finally won his first trophy. More honors followed after that.

He would never forget the tears in his parents’ eyes as they watched him on that stage. Pride. Relief.

He had been too busy surviving this world to think about feelings.

But those familiar words pulled up a fierce homesickness and a loneliness he could not shake.

His family and career were all back there. He rubbed at eyes that had gone a little wet.

I want to go back so badly.

Who exactly is Gu Xi? It felt like a thin film inside his skull, some rule that would not let him remember.

He walked out of the school gate a little dazed. He had only ever asked why he became the new Rong Jing.

What about the old him? Did he die too?

After his lecture, Gu Xi accepted the school’s invite to play a friendly basketball game with the acting students and film a few segments.

Leaving campus, he saw that mysterious student who had flashed across his mind like lightning, now wandering down the road like a lost lamb.

Gu Xi felt he was being very rational. He had not even raised this one’s likelihood to eighty percent.

He wanted to watch a bit more, but he needed a reason to cross paths.

As he hesitated, he saw the student take a call while walking and get bumped by a few rowdy classmates. Books scattered everywhere.

“Sorry, pause the shoot for a moment,” Gu Xi told the crew.

It was the fifth call from Qi Ying. Four had rung during the lecture.

Rong Jing figured it might actually be urgent. Otherwise, with Qi Ying’s sky-high pride, he would never be calling the original. He finally picked up. Qi Ying exploded, demanding to know why he still had not gone to the audition and whether he had any idea how much trouble he had caused.

Rong Jing opened WeChat and saw Qi Ying’s message from last night telling him to audition. Assuming the original would never refuse, Qi Ying had not considered being ignored.

Rong Jing remembered an unread notification last night, but he had been watching a movie. A glance at the avatar told him it was Qi Ying, so he just closed it.

Qi Ying felt cursed today. His sponsor had secured investment from the Xie family’s entertainment arm, but this morning the Xies pulled out.

Maybe he had offended Xie Ling by overreaching yesterday.

He had waited all morning downstairs hoping to apologize and salvage it, but not even a hem of Xie Ling’s coat appeared. The front desk kept smiling and saying that without an appointment, they could not notify anyone.

He had thought persistence would at least earn sympathy. But Xie Ling was an icy Alpha who did not play that game.

Now he got word that Rong Jing had skipped the audition, which felt deliberate. His tone got even worse.

Rong Jing did not intend to let his ears suffer. “Qi Ying, first of all, you need to understand one thing. I never agreed yesterday.”

At the very least, ask for my own opinion before deciding my life.

Qi Ying sneered. “If you had not treated me decent once upon a time, you think I would give you this chance? I am so glad we broke up. Rong Jing, I’m telling you—”

Someone bumped Rong Jing again. His books fell, and the phone must have grazed something, flipping to speaker. Qi Ying’s voice blared out:

“You could send a thousand resumes, and no crew would take you. You’ll be a loser your whole life!”

Classmate, that is too much.

Rong Jing had kept quiet out of respect for the original’s misguided devotion and because Qi Ying was the clinging kind, a vampiric vine. The original had been drained half to death before he got free.

Rong Jing had been new to this world and did not want to give Qi Ying any hope to latch onto, so silence had seemed safest. Either way, cheers to the breakup.

He was about to reply when a pair of elegant hands took his phone and said to the other end, “This is staff from the Royal Power crew. We have formally invited Student Rong Jing to audition. He is discussing matters with us now. Please call back later.”

Then the caller hung up, clean and decisive.

Excuse me, the person I worked so hard to find is not yours to trample.

Did I say you could?

Once the call ended, embarrassment landed.

Behind sunglasses, Gu Xi saw Rong Jing looking at him in puzzlement. Oh no. So awkward. How do I end this?

Should he say, I’m Gu Xi, the one on stage just now, the one you told to eat breakfast. I saw you in trouble and came over. Then I overheard all that. I did not want to pry, but doing nothing felt wrong.

None of that matched his public image.

Rule one of being an idol: manage your image. No matter how tired, shine when others are around. He really should not have gotten out of the van.

Gu Xi crouched and gathered the scattered books, gently dusting them off.

Just like when he had picked up that wristband, careful not to let dust cling.

Rong Jing watched the delicate care with a flicker of surprise and glanced at Gu Xi.

Gu Xi stacked the books and handed them back. Seeing Rong Jing still looking at him, he ducked his head.

Please let the sunglasses, mask, and cap, plus the change of clothes from the basketball game, be enough.

Do not recognize me.

Rong Jing seemed to sense his awkwardness. “Is that crew really recruiting?”

Relieved that he apparently had not been recognized, Gu Xi relaxed a little. “Yes. Sorry I took it on myself just now. If you want to call him back, you can.”

On a campus like this, plenty dressed like he did. He had even shifted his voice down. He really had not been recognized, right?

“It’s fine. You were right on time,” Rong Jing said. He knew goodwill when he saw it.

“Then… would you like to swing by and take a look?” Gu Xi exhaled. So he really had not recognized him. A tiny, inexplicable disappointment pricked him.

From that phone call, it sounded like this person either acted badly or had a bad reputation. Gu Xi decided to check the school forum later.

Also, this person’s classmates seemed to shun him. That said something. Maybe even about character.

But Gu Xi did not judge a person on a handful of clues. He thought Xun Jiarui’s character might be questionable, but that did not rule out that he might be the rescuer. More importantly, Xun matched many key points.

If it was Xun, Gu Xi would repay the kindness and call it even.

Likewise, he would not completely write Rong Jing off. For now, he would trust that 79.9999 percent gut feeling.

Besides, this was only an opportunity. The audition really was an open call. If Rong Jing could not hack it, no recommendation would help. He handed over a director’s card. Seeing Rong Jing accept it without the slightest excitement, he blurted, “Actually, the male lead in this film is very good-looking.”

Gu Xi, what are you saying. Why bring that up.

He covered his face, mortified, and prayed Rong Jing had not recognized him at all.

This next project was a big male-lead film, another major pillar for him. He took it very seriously.

Rong Jing found “very good-looking” irrelevant to whether he went. He was not the female lead. Why should he care?

He was still operating on old-world logic, not realizing that in a male-led film here there could be three genders at play. The opposite lead might not be a woman. It might be another man.

As the man climbed into a nanny van, Rong Jing finally put it together a beat late.

He had thought so earlier. Was that Gu Xi?

He picked up his phone and blocked Qi Ying.

As he deleted the contact, he thought, Gu Xi stooping to pick up your books and recommending you for an audition?

Rong Jing, do not let it go to your head.

He looked from Gu Xi’s card to the note from Teacher Hu and realized they were the same contact. What a coincidence.

Then he remembered he had a banquet that evening. Where were his clothes?

Zhou Xiang had taken the shopping bags for him and then… apparently forgot.

So much for the miracle secretary. Did you not swear nothing slipped your mind when it came to the boss?

Zhou Xiang had not forgotten. He was staring at the bags right now.

He glanced at his vice president, who kept checking his phone, staring at his younger brother’s avatar for a bit with a faint curl of the lips, then returning to work.

His boss was a straight-edge Alpha, not detail-oriented, not tender, not attentive. Steel that refused to bend.

Paired with a little master who basically never took the initiative, it was a collision of planets. They could cold war to the ends of the earth.

No one said what they truly felt, so misunderstandings piled up.

If the little master never shifted his fixed ideas, these brothers might remain strangers for life.

No one takes the first step; no change ever comes.

He had not expected the first step to come from Rong Jing, who had always rejected Xie Ling.

Zhou thought it over and texted Rong Jing that he had forgotten to return the clothes and could not get away. Could the little master come by the company?

Rong Jing was already thinking about the clothes. He hailed a ride as the message came in.

He meant to look up information on Royal Power, then noticed the driver’s license and operator permit on the dashboard.

With six genders and Omegas being rare, most ride-hailing drivers here worked for licensed companies.

He thought back to last night and pulled out the photo he had snapped of that cab’s permit. It had been a street hail with no online record and no receipt.

He had kept a precautionary photo of the on-road permit and plate.

Comparing them carefully, he could tell even in the dim light that the one he had photographed last night lacked a photo and had the wrong format.

At a red light he showed the picture to the driver. The man studied it. “Not one of ours. Our permits always have an employee number and photo. That looks like a private black cab.”

Private cars were technically not allowed, but without company cuts they were popular with people doing temporary work. They were cheaper too. Late at night when enforcement eased, they popped up.

Hard to manage but if nothing serious happened, people looked the other way.

But if it was a black cab, there was no need to fake a permit. That was pointless.

Rong Jing thought of the driver’s last look back at the red-dressed Omega last night.

It all made him uneasy. He had the driver detour to a police station.

By the time he left the station and headed to Xie Ling’s office, it was late. Qi Ying, who had waited all day without a glimpse of the man he wanted to beg for forgiveness, finally left in frustration.

Rong Jing arrived, told Zhou Xiang, and under the guidance of a lovely gentle receptionist, signed in.

The moment he wrote his name, Zhou came downstairs.

He told the receptionists, “This is the young master. He’s been in school and has not come by. Get familiar with him, and do not ask him to sign in again.”

The receptionists had assumed he was a newly signed actor for the entertainment division. The looks were off the charts and his clothes were relaxed but tasteful. Who knew he was this low-key, seriously writing his name like a model student. Where had the president found such an obedient younger brother?

They laughed and greeted in chorus. “Hello, young master.”

Rong Jing had grown up in an acting family and had seen plenty of big scenes, but not greetings like this. Teased by a few Omega ladies, the tips of his ears went red.

He had never dated and was a little overwhelmed. He hurried after Zhou.

Laughter trailed them. Seeing how welcome he was, Zhou asked, “Young master, what kind of Omega do you like?”

As a competent assistant trying to thaw a decade of frost between brothers, he needed to start with understanding.

“Why can’t it be an Alpha?” Rong Jing said.

In his view, male A and male O were both men. What was the difference? Why could one be your spouse and the other could not? People here should not be so gender biased.

It was a genuine question from the soul.

“If you really insist… I mean, not that… no, that really does not work!” Zhou could not even picture it.

He stared at Rong Jing, stunned. Should he tell the VP the young master might be gay?

He seemed to prefer Alphas over Omegas.

Rong Jing had no idea he had just detonated Zhou’s worldview.

He was speaking from his old-world logic and did not see the problem.

They took the private elevator to the 26th floor.

Zhou, forcing calm, brought him a glass of milk and a plate of small pastries from the pantry.

“The vice president is still in a meeting. If you are not in a rush, would you like to wait and leave with him?” Zhou was asking nervously. The old Rong Jing would never have agreed to share a car with Xie Ling.

Rong Jing checked the time. His next event was tied to the Xie family anyway, so he agreed.

Xie Ling emerged from the meeting with a severe expression, brows drawn tight. The manager behind him was white-knuckled. The project under the second young master had taken a serious loss and the group would have to cover it.

Xie Ling would be the one to mop up.

At his office door, Xie Ling paused. On the sofa lay his little brother, asleep.

His face did not change as he entered and addressed Zhou, who was sorting files. “You. Come here.”
Zhou walked over.

“Pinch me. Hard as you can.”

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