The key slid into the keyhole with a crisp “click” as it turned.
At the same time, hurried footsteps echoed in the corridor.
They were a bit messy, as if the person was in a rush. Xu Sinian turned his head just in time to see someone appear around the corner.
The dim evening light streamed through the window, catching the floating dust and the tousled hair of the approaching figure.
A pair of light gray eyes locked onto him, visibly brightening.
“Great, you’re home!”
The person bolted up the stairs in two or three strides, stopping right in front of him. Grabbing Xu Sinian’s hand, he pleaded earnestly, “Can you do me a favor?”
With an expression of utmost sincerity, he added, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime request!”
Xu Sinian lowered his gaze, looking at the person in front of him.
—
The sun slowly dipped beyond the corridor, casting long shadows across the street. The quiet atmosphere was soon replaced by the noisy hum of the crowd.
“…”
Standing amidst the bustling throng outside the supermarket, Xu Sinian turned to look at his enthusiastic companion and confirmed once again, “Your so-called ‘once-in-a-lifetime request’ is… asking me to buy you a box of eggs?”
Chen Bai still clutched the precious supermarket flyer. Nodding decisively, he pointed to it and declared, “Half-price eggs! If I don’t buy them, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”
Half-price. Limit one box per person.
If he didn’t buy it, he’d regret it for life.
If he could only buy one box, he’d regret it for half his life.
This was where having a good neighbor came in handy. With profound gratitude, Chen Bai solemnly declared, “Thank you for saving me from a lifetime of regret.”
The helpful neighbor nodded in response.
Somehow, the situation naturally evolved into the two of them grocery shopping together.
—
Inside the supermarket, Chen Bai grabbed the biggest shopping cart he could find and made a beeline for the egg section.
As he wished, he got two boxes of eggs, and the grin on his face was unstoppable.
Two medium-sized egg cartons sat in a lonely corner of the shopping cart, surrounded by empty space. Staring at the nearly vacant cart, Xu Sinian had a feeling that things wouldn’t be this simple.
Sure enough, after securing the eggs, Chen Bai still had his eyes glued to the flyer. He studied it so intently while pushing the cart that he nearly crashed into a wall.
“…”
For safety reasons, the cart was handed over to the helpful neighbor, while Chen Bai focused on navigating using the flyer.
With his hat brim slightly lowered, Xu Sinian calmly pushed the cart, stopping occasionally while waiting for his shopping partner to pick out vegetables.
His neighbor looked young, but he was surprisingly savvy about grocery shopping. Every now and then, he’d mutter complaints about the vegetables being too expensive.
Xu Sinian didn’t quite understand what that meant, so he simply glanced at the prices and listened silently.
While passing by the household goods section, Chen Bai suddenly stopped.
He picked up a pair of slippers and showed them to his designated cart-pusher. After a quick assessment, he nodded approvingly.
Catching Xu Sinian’s gaze, he explained matter-of-factly, “I only have one pair of slippers at home. You won’t have to wear them when you come over later.”
The slippers were smoothly tossed into the cart.
—
Xu Sinian had been right—the cart had started empty but was completely full by checkout.
There were too many groceries to carry by hand, so Chen Bai had to make a painful decision—spending a whopping amount on a large reusable shopping bag just to fit everything in.
It was so tightly packed that he had to hoist it up. At first, he planned to carry it with both hands, but after a moment’s thought, he chose to let his right hand bear all the weight. As a result, he ended up leaning slightly to one side.
Eventually, his kind neighbor took the bag from him.
When the weight suddenly lifted from his hand, Chen Bai briefly considered whether he had developed superpowers or if there was a hole in the bag. It wasn’t until he felt a fleeting warmth brush against his fingers that he realized it was his good neighbor helping him carry it.
Something that had felt so heavy just seconds ago now seemed as light as air in someone else’s hands.
—
By the time they left the supermarket, the once-bright sky had already darkened, and streetlights flickered on.
Chen Bai tilted his head back, squinting at the dim yellow glow, which made his eyes sting a little. Lowering his gaze again, he caught sight of his neighbor’s hand gripping the shopping bag.
Maybe because the supermarket was warmer than the outdoors, at some point, Xu Sinian had rolled up his sleeves. Under the streetlights, his forearm muscles and the faint blue veins stood out distinctly.
Empty-handed now, Chen Bai subconsciously rolled up his own sleeves and made a quick comparison.
After two silent gestures, he sighed.
The person beside him turned his head and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Chen Bai slowly rolled his sleeves back down and said, “I just realized… you could probably knock me out with a single punch.”
Xu Sinian: “…”
For a brief moment, Xu Sinian struggled to understand how his neighbor actually perceived him.
—
They crossed the street, climbed the stairs to their apartment building, and when they reached their doors, Xu Sinian handed over the shopping bag.
Taking it, Chen Bai skilfully asked, “Want some noodles?”
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he added, “You haven’t had dinner yet.”
—
That night, the brand-new supermarket slippers were put to use.
Because their grocery trip had taken longer than expected, there wasn’t much time to prepare dinner, so Chen Bai whipped up the quickest meal possible—egg noodles.
To express his gratitude, he generously put two eggs in one of the bowls—a true luxury.
Unlike their usual brief exchanges at the door, this time, they sat across from each other, and as natural chatterboxes, conversation flowed freely.
Midway through their meal, Chen Bai finally remembered to ask about his good neighbor’s job.
Xu Sinian replied, “Actor.” He explained that he was living here temporarily because it was close to the filming location.
Chen Bai paused mid-bite, then nodded understandingly. “Got it.”
Before this, he had never really interacted with people from the entertainment industry. He had assumed his neighbor wore a mask all the time because he hadn’t fully recovered from a cold.
Smiling, he said, “Funny coincidence—I just got a job on a nearby film crew too.”
Xu Sinian glanced at him.
If he remembered correctly, this guy already had a locksmith job and another job at night.
Three jobs now?
Completely unfazed, Chen Bai rested his chin on his hand and casually added, “I might not be around for dinner often, though.”
As he spoke, his loose sleeves slipped down, revealing his pale wrists.
Xu Sinian lowered his eyes, his gaze lingering on the conspicuous scar for a moment.
Noticing this, Chen Bai casually pulled his sleeves back down and smiled. “I got it accidentally a while back.”
It was the kind of scar that was hard to believe was purely an accident.
No wonder he had consciously freed up his right hand while carrying groceries earlier.
—
After dinner, just before his good neighbor left, Chen Bai finally remembered to add him on WeChat.
Adding a friend only took a few seconds.
Xu Sinian looked at the newly added contact on his list—[AAA Professional Lock Opening and Lock Changing Master Chen]—now occupying the top spot in his WeChat friends.
He stared at it in silence for a moment.
Chen Bai rubbed his messy hair and explained seriously, “When you change locks, you need to provide after-sales service. If your name sounds unreliable, customers might think you’re shady.”
Originally, he had set his nickname as ‘Locksmith Xiao Chen’, but after some guidance from the landlord, he changed it to the more professional-sounding Master Chen, making it sound far more trustworthy.
Now that the friend request was accepted, Master Chen cheerfully escorted his newest friend to the door. Before closing it, he flashed a bright smile and said, “Next time you have time, let’s have dinner together again.”
The newly added friend replied with something, but Chen Bai didn’t quite catch it—voices from the upstairs neighbors coming down the corridor had drowned it out. Either way, it seemed like tacit approval.
—
A pleasant dinner was always followed by a brutal morning.
Not only did he have to wake up early, but since he hadn’t prepared breakfast the night before, Chen Bai had to grab something on the way and eat while rushing to the film set.
Every time he went to work, he was either in a rush or on his way to rushing somewhere.
—
The director wasn’t kidding when he said he was rushing the production.
Yesterday, Chen Bai was just an on-site observer; today, he was spending most of the day in rehearsals.
This was probably the director going easy on him as a newcomer.
There were several assistant directors on set, and the one handling his scenes today was the same one present at his audition. However, the director himself was still watching from the sidelines, probably worried about the progress.
Although he was still half-asleep that morning, Chen Bai hadn’t forgotten to bring his script and dialogue sheet.
When he was sitting on a small stool in the corner going over his lines one last time, the director walked over and joined him, also sitting down on a small stool.
—
Ah Huai, his character, struggled to speak in the later part of the story, but he had quite a few speaking lines before that.
The scenes scheduled for today were all solo shots where he needed to deliver his lines properly.
The director didn’t expect much from a rookie actor and only asked, “Can you remember the lines?”
Chen Bai replied calmly, “I remember them.”
His memory was pretty good—as long as he wanted to remember something, he wouldn’t forget it.
If he had poor memory, the short time he had between his live broadcasts and his other jobs wouldn’t have been enough to memorize the script.
That was good enough for the director. Hearing this, he sighed in relief.
As the stagehands and camera crew continued setting up the scene, he advised, “Make sure you remember your lines. If you forget them mid-scene, at least remember the general meaning of each sentence and improvise. It’ll make dubbing easier later.”
—
Chen Bai asked, “Will my lines be dubbed over later?”
The director nodded and explained, “Using your real voice is always better, but getting the delivery right isn’t easy. You’re new to this industry, so we can’t expect too much from you.”
It was no surprise.
Even when he auditioned, they had picked a scene without dialogue, meaning they had already planned to have a voice actor dub over his lines.
Chen Bai paused, then asked, “Do all the other actors record their own lines?”
The director replied, “Yes.”
Chen Bai raised his gaze slightly, watching figures moving around the set.
At that moment, he saw the assistant director waving at him, signaling that it was time.
He closed his script, stood up, and smiled slightly.
“Then I’ll give it a try.”
