Chapter 315 - It was to fulfill a bet

...

"Mum, I'm stuffed!" Xiao Zhihao groaned as he pushed his mother's hand away. From the moment they sat down on the couch in her room, she had been feeding him and Tian Le snacks like donuts and chocolates. "You know, most mothers wouldn't feed their kids junk food, and here you are, stuffing me with all these unhealthy stuff."

"Well, your mother is special," Xiao Lei replied with a smirk. It was the first time they came to visit her... and the food was free... so, why not? With that thought in mind, she then asked Assistant Yoon to get them something to drink.

"I'll go with her. I want to take a look around this place," Tian Le said as he stood up. He then looked at Xiao Zhihao and asked, "Do you want to come along?"

"No..." Xiao Zhihao shook his head. "I'm a little tired." 

Prior to coming over, they had gone to the mall, and they spent quite some time at the arcade, so Xiao Zhihao was pretty wiped out by now. 

Tian Le laughed. "Gosh, you need to work out more. Once the twins are back, we are going to organize a full night gaming session. How are you going to last if your energy is this low?" 

"Must I join?" Xiao Zhihao sighed. He liked to play games, but he wasn't the type of person to play games for long hours.

"Of course!" Tian Le replied before jogging off behind Assistant Yoon. 

Once they were gone, Xiao Lei's makeup artist and hairstylist came in to help her prepare for the next scene. 

Xiao Zhihao stood beside his mother as he watched them. He was watching them with such a serious expression that Xiao Lei could not help but reach out to pinch his cheek. 

"Calm down. They are sent by Han Ye, so they wouldn't harm me," Xiao Lei reassured her son. She figured that Xiao Zhihao probably thought that she was constantly in danger from everyone here. 

Upon hearing her, Xiao Zhihao relaxed slightly. 

"Do you want to try some makeup on?" Xiao Lei asked after she was done. "You know... I've always wondered what you would look like if you were a girl..."

Xiao Zhihao's eyes went wide open when he heard her, and upon sensing the seriousness behind it, he immediately took a step back before crossing his arms in front of him. "I'm fine with the current me." 

"Aww, come on. Let Mummy fulfill her fantasy of having a daughter," Xiao Lei grinned as she reached out to catch his hand before he ran off. 

"No! No! No!" Xiao Zhihao yelled, but he was no match against his mother, mostly because he was afraid of hurting her if he were to accidentally exert strength. At that moment, he wished that he had followed Tian Le instead of staying here with his mother.

...

Tian Le's eyes kept wandering around, to the point that he lost track of Assistant Yoon. He was fascinated by the contraptions that people used for those action scenes. When he realized that he lost her, he quickly walked around to look for her, taking direction from passersby occasionally.

When he was about to turn a corner, he stumbled into a conversation where he overheard them mention Xiao Lei's name.

"Xiao Lei?! Are you nuts?!" a voice gasped loudly. 

Hiding at a corner, he pretended to play with his phone as he strained his ears to try and catch what those people were saying.  

"Sssh!" one of the voices hissed. She immediately looked around, even turning a corner to look at the vending machines. When she saw that there was no one near them, she immediately said in a low voice, "Just put this in her dinner later...

"You won't have to worry about your debt after this!"

The other woman looked at the small packet that was handed to her, and after a while, she nodded. "Alright then. But just this once! You're sure this won't hurt her?"

"No, no, no! It's just a little something to help her use the toilet better. At most, she would just lose weight from this! Which isn't a bad thing in this industry," the first woman reassured her. "Go now, or you won't be able to get everything ready in time."   

After they left, Tian Le stood out from between two of the vending machines. It was a good thing that he was lean enough to hide himself, or that woman would have found him. "Don't they know how to be more discreet? There are ears behind the walls; have they never heard of that idiom before?"

He then slowly turned around, nearly bumping into an older man who was behind him. 

"Watch it, kid," the older man said with a gentle smile. Standing next to him was the director. 

"Oh, you're the kid who came with Xiao Lei's son," the director said. "Did you lose your way?" 

Tian Le glanced at the older man before looking at the director. "Yes, sir. I got too excited and got separated from Assistant Yoon. I didn't expect this place to be so big." 

The director laughed. He was in quite a good mood now that his male lead had decided to show himself. 

"We just walked past her earlier," the director said with a smile. He then pointed toward a direction. "Go straight, turn left, then turn right at the second turn. Then go toward the opposite building. That's where the actresses' rest rooms are located at. You should be able to find Xiao Lei's room easily from there."

Tian Le thanked them before jogging off according to the direction that he was given. 

"Who's that?" the older man asked. 

"A friend of Xiao Lei's son I supposed." 

"Xiao Lei's son? He's here?" 

The director nodded. "Those photos you saw on my laptop earlier? I thought that her son looked a little like your brother, so I decided to compare their photos a little. To my surprise, they looked almost alike in some shots."

He then sighed wryly. "Too bad my assistant couldn't see it." 

That's right! The older man was Fan Shaohang, who was specially recruited by both the director and President Wei for this. 

"You know, I was so shocked when you agreed to join us. No offense, Mr. Fan, but your portrayal as one of the best and memorable villainous characters have remained in my mind even after thirty years." 

Fan Shaohang smiled slightly. "I'm a little honored that you guys would go so far as to hire an unknown person as me." 

"Unknown?" The director laughed. "Anyone who has watched that movie you starred in would have agreed that you are one of the best when it came to villainous characters. If only you continued acting, you would have been extremely famous by now." 

Fan Shaohang smiled politely. "That movie was only to fulfill a bet with my younger brother. None of us expected it to get so big. Honestly, I don't really like to be constantly followed by people."

It was a bet made in the spur of the moment, but it pushed Fan Shaohang into the limelight for quite a long time, much to his discomfort. He was much more used to people calling him the black sheep of the family.   

"Anyway," the director said with a nonchalant wave, "I'm really glad that you decided to come out of seclusion for us. But may I ask why now, why after so long?" 

Fan Shaohang thought for a moment before replying with a lower tone, "Because there's someone I want to see here."

"Oh, who?"

"An old acquaintance."