A Good-for-Nothing

212. A Weird Call Sheet (II)

Translator: Dragon Rider

Chen Xi went cold all over at Jiang Shuanglin’s words. Only the day before, Feng Ma took Han Jing away, who was the best of them in terms of both looks and figure. All of them had been very envious of him, and Han Jing had appeared quite smug when leaving. Feng Ma had told them that Han Jing was going to attend a secret training session.

Was this the training, by any chance?

The look in Chen Xi’s eyes gradually went cold. He subconsciously reached out his hands to hold his upper arms. The air in the room felt as though its temperature had just dropped drastically. The face mask had been removed from his face only a few moments ago, and the sticky residual liquid essence was making him feel very uncomfortable.

Jiang Shuanglin rose to his feet, went to the sink and washed his face. “Xiao Xi, I’m leaving. I just want to be an actor, and I’m not going to sleep with anybody to achieve that goal. You may make your own choice. I won’t judge you.”

Chen Xi gave a nod.

The next day, Jiang Shuanglin packed all his stuff and left. It was said that he also paid a large amount of penalty charge. Chen Xi had never heard any news of Jiang Shuanglin ever since.

He didn’t rashly choose to quit, because he was a trifle skeptical about Jiang Shuanglin’s words, but he had been more wary since this big secret had come to his knowledge. On this day, when they were practicing in the training room, Feng Ma showed up again.

Chen Xi took advantage of this opportunity and asked Feng Ma about Han Jing’s secret training session, but unexpectedly, Feng Ma was exasperated and threatened that he would disqualify him from attending the secret training session if he ever made an inquiry about this matter again.

Chen Xi was really at a loss what to do. He secretly contacted Wang Jian with the intention to have Wang Jian offer him some help, but it hadn’t occurred to him that Wang Jian had already come to know his jumping ship to Starlight Entertainment Company, despite the fact that Feng Ma had never told Wang Jian about it, so Chen Xi was ashamed to ask him for help.

After another couple of days, Feng Ma took away a second outstanding trainee from their group, saying that he was going to attend a secret training session. Chen Xi felt as though his insides had turned to ice, recalling that during their stay in this company as trainees, there had never been any activities or announcements, only a couple of instructors coming here to give them some direction, and none of those outstanding trainees who had allegedly been sent to receive secret training had ever been seen on TV.

Chen Xi was bitterly disappointed. Right at the time when Chen Xi clenched his teeth and decided to give up the last shot in the locker to pay the penalty charge and quit Starlight Entertainment Company, senior management of the company suddenly notified them that the coaching of trainees had become unnecessary owing to the need to adjust the company’s core business, that each of this batch of trainees would receive 10,000 yuan in compensation if they agreed to terminate their contract with the company. The management also promised that preference would be given to them if there were any opportunities for cooperation in the future.

Naturally, Chen Xi took the offer delightedly and without any hesitation. After staying at home for a couple of days, he found that his dream of movie stardom hadn’t died. He mulled over it for quite a long time and then decided to try making another phone call to Wang Jian. To his surprise, this time Wang Jian agreed to meet him.

…

After hearing Chen Xi spill out his woes, Wang Jian sighed repeatedly, but when Chen Xi mentioned that he’d once called Wang Jian but got turned down and told off, Wang Jian’s face took on a somewhat peculiar expression.

“I’ve never received any phone calls from you since you quit. I don’t even know you were in Feng Ma’s company. After you told me your parents didn’t agree, I went to your home to ask them, but they hemmed and hawed, so I figured you probably had jumped ship.”

Chen Xi had originally been enjoying his drink with his head down, but on hearing Wang Jian’s words, he abruptly raised his head, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end. Staring at Wang Jian’s face, he forced a set smile and said, “Haha…. Brother Jian, stop pulling my leg, will you? That’s quite spooky.”

He took his smartphone from his pocket and opened the call sheet. “Here. It was on the fifteenth of this month. I remember vividly I ca–”

As Chen Xi’s eyes fell on the list of dialed numbers, his pupils contracted drastically and then his cellphone dropped onto the table with a clap. He could have sworn that he had never deleted any calls he’d made, and he remembered very well that at something after six o’clock in the afternoon on the fifteenth day of this month he made a phone call to Wang Jian, but there wasn’t a single Wang Jian’s name on the list, which was showing that the only call he’d made around that time was to Feng Ma.

“Thi–This can’t be happening. I’m positive I called you.” Chen Xi instantly panicked. How was this possible? He was absolutely sure that he had made a phone call to Wang Jian and also heard Wang Jian speaking. How was it possible that the one he’d called was Feng Ma?

Chen Xi took a deep breath. With a somewhat odd look on his face, Wang Jian told him, “Pony died yesterday.”

Chen Xi was dumbfounded.

Seeing the horror on Chen Xi’s face, Wang Jian was at a loss what to do. He scratched his face and said, “How about we pay a visit to the police station?”

Chen Xi appeared terrified and could barely walk normally. The more he thought about this matter, the deeper his fear became. Wang Jian took Chen Xi out of the cafe and the two of them hastened towards the police station.

Shortly after they left, a plain-looking man walked up to their table, staring out of the display window. Wang Jian and Chen Xi had crossed the road at the crosswalk and got into a cab. The man kept silent, and it was only when the cab drove out of his sight that he left the cafe.