From that day on, Lan Xi quietly waited for a talent scout to come knocking.
He waited, and waited, and waited.
With his little demon face drooping, Lan Xi asked Fu Hui, “Why haven’t they come yet?”
Fu Hui asked Secretary Li and learned that there were too many bodyguards around.
Secretary Li was helpless about it too. “There’s no helping it. A lot has been going on lately, and your father is rather worried about everyone’s safety at home.”
That wasn’t much of a problem.
Since he had already promised Lan Xi, Fu Hui didn’t want to disappoint him. After thinking it over, he asked, “Secretary Li, do you know any particularly good talent agencies?”
Secretary Li smiled. “Do I ever! I’ll put together a list for you, Young Master. You and little Lan Xi can pick one you like, and we’ll make contact with them.”
Lan Xi more or less understood, but he wasn’t pleased. “We have to go looking for them? No, no.”
Lan Xi much preferred having other people come begging him.
Secretary Li laughed first. “We’re not the ones begging them. We’re simply picking out the best. Once they meet him, they’ll be falling over themselves to win him over.”
Lan Xi didn’t understand all these twists and turns. His excitement faded a little, and he yawned and went off to bed.
There had been so many extracurricular activities at school lately that Lan Xi was terribly busy. By now, he had completely forgotten the misery of being separated from Fu Hui.
Watching Lan Xi head toward his room, Secretary Li smiled softly and remarked with something of a parent’s air, “Little Lan Xi is growing up…”
Lan Xi heard him and declared proudly without even turning around, “Of course!”
Secretary Li had always treated Fu Hui much as he would an adult. He soon prepared a list for him and also began approaching people in the industry who specialized in this line of work.
In fact, without even needing to meet Lan Xi, these people were already slapping their desks and exclaiming, “Child modeling? Wonderful! I have a cousin who’s doing very well with her children’s clothing brand. He can shoot an advertisement for her.”
“Interested in acting in television dramas? A good friend of mine has a big production in the works. Shall I introduce you?”
“I think he could try films. That would raise his market value faster, and I could help connect him with some international brands… By the way, how old is he again? It doesn’t matter if he’s still little!”
“If the child likes it, we could even put together a show just for him…”
All these people were so excited about the prospect of forging ties with the Fu family that they didn’t even care what the child actually looked like.
Fu Hui selected several agencies from the list, and Secretary Li took Lan Xi to meet them one by one.
Naturally, the point wasn’t for them to decide whether they wanted Lan Xi. It was for Lan Xi to meet them and see which people he liked best.
Secretary Li was rather curious. “Young Master, aren’t you coming?”
“I’m busy,” Fu Hui said.
But there was another reason. “Lan Xi will be the most sought-after person there. The only one.”
That would make Lan Xi especially happy.
–
They soon arranged to meet the head of the first company.
When the executive saw the appointed time, he immediately understood. “The child has to finish school before he can come?”
“Yes.”
“That’s perfect, then. Why don’t we pick him up?”
Secretary Li smiled at the suggestion and declined.
As though he couldn’t see through that trick! The man was trying to find out which school the child attended.
At four in the afternoon, Lan Xi finished school.
Watching the little boy approach at an unhurried pace, Secretary Li awkwardly adjusted the camera pinned to his chest.
The Young Master hadn’t come in person, but his eyes had come along.
“Take his schoolbag,” Fu Hui said.
“Don’t worry, I remember.” Secretary Li reached out to take it. “Whoa, why is it so heavy?”
He opened it and found a large English dictionary inside.
Secretary Li: “…” All so he could understand the Young Master’s letters. Such devotion to studying!
Besides that, the bag contained quite a few props from Lan Xi’s previous performances.
Secretary Li understood at once. “Are you going to put on a performance for them?”
“Mm-hmm,” Lan Xi said.
Hearing this from the other end, Fu Hui felt a little uncomfortable and immediately told Secretary Li, “Don’t have Lan Xi perform.”
In fact, Fu Hui was worrying unnecessarily.
When Secretary Li brought Lan Xi into the restaurant, the people waiting at the table hurried to their feet. Then all their eyes settled on Lan Xi at once.
They had never seen such a beautiful child!!!
Actually, forget the category of children. They had simply never seen anyone so beautiful!
The force of that first impression held them spellbound. Before they’d exchanged more than a couple of sentences, they were already hoping to sign Lan Xi.
Lan Xi lost his chance to perform.
They met several more companies in succession afterward. Without exception, everyone was stunned by Lan Xi’s looks.
They completely forgot their earlier plans. Before meeting him, they’d even thought that if he wasn’t particularly good-looking, it would be fine. That would only give them a better opportunity to show how hard they could work!
Now they were swept up in a different sort of excitement.
They felt that they might personally have the chance to make a rare treasure famous.
That excitement made them impatient to win Lan Xi’s favor.
In the end, Lan Xi looked from one to another, then pointed at one of the photographs. “Her.”
Secretary Li was curious. “Did you feel you got along with her better?”
Lan Xi said, “The jewel around her neck is so big and pretty!”
Secretary Li: “…” What a casual way to choose.
Secretary Li had no choice but to call Fu Hui.
Fu Hui thought it was a fine choice. “That’s also a kind of luck and fate.”
Lan Xi soon began his first job: shooting a poster.
Lan Xi found the experience fascinating, and he didn’t complain of being tired even after two hours of shooting. When he got home that evening, he covered Fu Hui’s eyes and mysteriously led him toward the bedroom.
“All right, Fu Hui can open his eyes now.” Lan Xi let go, and the tips of his toes came back down to the floor.
Fu Hui took a good look.
Their enormous bed had been completely taken over by a poster of Lan Xi.
Lan Xi announced very generously, “Fu Hui is allowed to hug Lan Xi’s poster while sleeping.”
Back at the studio, everyone had said they wanted to sleep hugging a poster of him.
But Lan Xi had immediately objected in the strongest terms. “No! Only Fu Hui can do that.”
No one had expected the child to be so serious. They had stared in surprise and couldn’t help wondering who this Fu Hui was and why he alone deserved special treatment.
Now Fu Hui was studying the poster carefully.
The photographer had probably felt that Lan Xi hardly looked human and was more like some kind of elf. So Lan Xi wore a little crown of flowers, with petals and leafy branches hanging beside his cheeks. He held a crystal ball in one hand and had his eyes gently closed. Everything about the picture was beautiful.
Fu Hui noticed that Lan Xi’s little mouth had been moving when the picture was taken.
He pointed at Lan Xi in the poster and asked, “What were you saying?”
Lan Xi looked thrilled that Fu Hui had noticed. He hurried close to Fu Hui’s ear and murmured a string of words.
“Is that the language of hell?”
“Mm-hmm!” Lan Xi paused, then said, “It’s a demon’s incantation!”
Fu Hui looked at the picture again. Lan Xi actually looked more like a little angel.
But another question occurred to Fu Hui.
If Lan Xi lived among humans for so long and never spoke the demon language, wouldn’t he gradually forget his native tongue? If he accidentally returned there one day, he wouldn’t be able to communicate with the other demons. Wouldn’t that be dangerous?
Fu Hui lowered his head and carefully smoothed a creased corner of the poster. Then he said, “Lan Xi, teach me the demon language.”
Lan Xi froze for a moment, then sprang up in delight and threw himself onto Fu Hui. “Yes, yes! Lan Xi gets to be the teacher!”
“Lan Xi should write down the words too.” Fu Hui supported his bottom with one hand.
“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm! Like writing a book… Lan Xi will write a book.” The more Lan Xi thought about it, the happier he became. “Let’s study now! Come on!”
That night, the two of them slept with the poster spread over them like a blanket.
The next day, Fu Hui added another project to his already busy life: learning the demon language.
He deliberately carved out an hour for it.
Although both of them had more and more things to do, their bond only grew closer.
One day, Lan Xi came home and told Fu Hui excitedly, “An adult said he wants to make a movie for Lan Xi!”
Fu Hui had already heard almost everything from Secretary Li, but he listened all over again. He didn’t miss even the slightest proud note in Lan Xi’s little voice. He took it all in.
A director had been inspired by Lan Xi’s photograph and wanted to create a story specifically for him.
Only then did Lan Xi learn that if he made a film, it would be shown on television and everyone would be able to see how beautiful Lan Xi was…
He and the director hit it off immediately.
“Lan Xi is going to be in a movie!” he announced happily.
Song Xu even arranged a little celebration to mark Lan Xi’s upcoming film appearance.
Unfortunately, Lan Xi’s happiness lasted less than two weeks. He came home puffed up with anger and declared, “Lan Xi doesn’t want to make a movie anymore!”
Children changed their minds faster than anything. Fu Hui wasn’t surprised at all. He pinched Lan Xi’s puffed-out cheek and asked, “Why?”
Lan Xi squeezed himself onto the same sofa as Fu Hui. “No more memorizing!”
Lan Xi was close to breaking down. “Lan Xi already has so much to memorize!”
The director wanted to make an entire movie for Lan Xi, who would naturally be the undisputed lead. And the lead naturally had plenty of lines… When the director handed Lan Xi the first draft of the script, Lan Xi was dumbfounded.
Only then did he understand that making a movie and acting in a children’s play were on completely different scales.
Looking thoroughly aggrieved, Lan Xi slammed his enormous dictionary down in front of the director. “There’s too much to memorize!”
The director was stunned too.
He wanted to suggest that perhaps Lan Xi could memorize a few more lines and a few fewer vocabulary words.
But on second thought, how could an adult possibly say something like that? What was wrong with a child loving to study?
And so the film, which hadn’t even begun shooting, died before it was born because its leading actor refused to memorize his lines.
When Secretary Li heard, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Apparently, becoming a child actor was still rather difficult for this little boy…
But for some reason, the director absolutely refused to give up on having Lan Xi appear before his camera.
After a great deal of back-and-forth, Lan Xi went from starring in the film to making a cameo appearance.
Not a single line of dialogue. Just his face on camera.
Lan Xi was exceedingly satisfied and told the director to come to him with more work like this in the future.
It was fun and required hardly any effort.
Lan Xi went home quite contentedly. That same day, the magazine featuring his poster shoot officially went on sale, and he received his very first paycheck.
A whole seven thousand yuan!
For a brand-new child model, earning 3,500 yuan an hour was already an extraordinary achievement.
Full of confidence, Lan Xi tucked his money away and set out to buy Fu Hui a wristwatch.
He called the brand as though this were perfectly routine and asked them to bring over their watches for the new season. Then he flipped open the price tag and discovered in horror, “Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten-thousands… two ten-thousands… Why can’t Lan Xi afford it?!”