After Chu Yan finished speaking, he stared directly at Xu Linshen without moving a muscle, his lips tightly pressed together. His gaze held a mix of suppressed pain and sarcasm.
Meeting Chu Yan’s gaze, Xu Linshen felt a shock ripple through his heart. He had always believed that he understood Chu Yan well, thinking that perhaps Chu Yan was naturally emotionally detached. With his usual arrogance and indifference, there might not be anything in the world that could truly make him sad or upset.
But now, he realized that Chu Yan could be hurt as well, and it was somehow connected to him…
Xu Linshen’s expression shifted slightly, and his heart throbbed with a tight, finely woven pain. He looked at Chu Yan and said with a slightly hoarse voice, “Zhong Yu, how could you think that way?”
Pausing for a moment, he chuckled almost self-deprecatingly, “When did I ever just play around with you… How I feel about you, do you genuinely not sense it, or are you just pretending not to see anything?”
Chu Yan fixed his gaze on Xu Linshen, his eyes subtly shifting. After listening to Xu Linshen’s words, he remained silent for quite a while before resting his elbow on the table and lowering his head, speaking softly, “Mr. Xu has indeed been very good to me. I’ve said it before as well, without Mr. Xu, there wouldn’t be the Zhong Yu you see today.”
As Chu Yan spoke, his tone seemed to agitate Xu Linshen for some reason. It was as if Chu Yan’s words were implying that, apart from these circumstances, there was nothing else worth discussing between them.
Back when he helped Zhong Yu in his career, Xu Linshen felt it was only natural. In his eyes, a relationship should inherently involve supporting and caring for each other, without boundaries or limits.
“I don’t know, what else is there besides this?” Chu Yan retorted, maintaining his gaze on Xu Linshen. After a moment of silence, Xu Linshen looked at Chu Yan steadily and spoke with an unsteady tone, “There’s much more beyond all of this… Do I really have to be the one to tell you?”
If nothing else could prove it, then what about his legs? And in these days, what sustained him was only the lingering hatred.
He didn’t want to face his own legs because they constantly reminded him of how insignificant and laughable he had been for someone who didn’t love him and who was callous and selfish to the point of cruelty.
However, later, he suddenly realized that it wasn’t that Chu Yan turned a blind eye to everything. It was that he truly never sensed it, never knew whether to label Chu Yan as emotionally dull and indifferent, or whether he should label himself as foolish and pathetic.
“Regardless of how you see me, and whether you’re still unsatisfied, I believe there’s no need for us to meet or contact each other in the future. Perhaps this is the best way for us to part ways amicably.”
Amicably part ways?
Xu Linshen felt an inexplicable sense of mockery and absurdity. What did it mean to part ways amicably, and furthermore, what was good about it?
He could part ways amicably only because he didn’t care enough. For someone like himself, it had long become impossible to extricate himself from it.
After Chu Yan finished speaking, he stood up from the sofa and addressed Xu Linshen, “I hope you won’t engage in meaningless actions anymore, there’s no need for further self-deception.”
Xu Linshen raised his head, and as Chu Yan brushed past him, his voice grew hoarse and deep, “Zhong Yu, sometimes I wonder if you even have a heart.”
Chu Yan’s steps paused abruptly. He turned around to face Xu Linshen, his gaze icy. Then, with a cold smile, he retorted, “I have no heart?”
As Chu Yan reached this point, his gaze fell onto Xu Linshen’s legs. His eyes flickered, and after what seemed like an eternity, he finally managed to speak, his lips trembling slightly, “I have only one last question for you…”
“After that incident, you became the way you are now, and there’s even a possibility that you might never stand up again… So, have you ever… regretted it?”
Xu Linshen’s heartbeat suddenly surged fiercely in his chest. It was such a strong beat that his fingers couldn’t help but curl involuntarily.
Chu Yan stared at him, his eyes reddening slightly, a trace of sadness unconsciously appearing in his gaze, “Do you ever feel… that it’s not worth it?”
Despite his commanding stance, Xu Linshen noticed Chu Yan’s hand hanging by his side was trembling uncontrollably due to how tightly it was clenched.
Xu Linshen stared deeply at him and asked in a low voice, “Zhong Yu, do you really want to know?”
Chu Yan only continued to look at him, not uttering a word, but his back was so tense that it seemed on the verge of breaking.
Xu Linshen remained silent for a moment before he spoke slowly, his voice carrying a touch of gentleness perhaps due to the deliberate pace, “By asking this, even if I give you an answer, how can you be sure it’s my true feelings?”
Chu Yan stared at him, his voice hoarse, “Just give me your answer.”
Exhaling a sigh, a mixture of emotions swirling within him, Xu Linshen spoke calmly, “Although I felt regret, and sometimes even harbored resentment, I’ve never truly regretted it.”
After he finished speaking, Chu Yan’s tightly clenched hands suddenly relaxed, and he closed his eyes tightly, his voice carrying an indescribable tone of bleakness and desolation, “It’s good… that you don’t regret…”
Xu Linshen let out a sigh and comfortingly squeezed Chu Yan’s limp right hand. Perhaps due to being exposed to the air conditioning for a while, his wrist felt surprisingly cold to the touch in this sweltering summer. However, this cold touch and sensation caused even Xu Linshen’s heart to tremble slightly.
But in the next second, Chu Yan abruptly shook off his hand, smiled faintly, and then spoke with an extremely weary and hoarse voice, “I hope you’ll never regret…”
—
It’s the hottest season of the year, yet Zhong Yu’s work schedule remains packed, and Cheng Yang is following him everywhere, busy to the point of not having a moment’s rest.
“Thunderstruck”, scheduled to air in the mid-July prime time slot during the summer, will be simultaneously broadcast on two major TV stations and streamed online. Both the platform and timing are excellent.
On the first day of airing, the TV ratings were overshadowed by the simultaneous broadcast of two other urban family emotional dramas that began in early July. However, the view count achieved an impressive start.
After the first two episodes concluded, the initial focus of discussions about this drama centered on the male lead, played by Le Hou. The comment section was a mix of praise and criticism. Some viewers believed that within the ensemble of seasoned actors, Le Hou managed to hold his own and highlight his strengths, which was already commendable. On the other hand, some viewers felt that Le Hou’s acting, when compared to the seamless performances of the veteran actors, fell short, even to the point of feeling awkward and out of place.
On Douban, the ratings for “Thunderstruck” were moderate, though in comparison to other works by Director Zhao, both in terms of Douban ratings and first-day viewership, it lagged significantly behind. Many netizens even started to criticize the show, attributing the negative response not only to Le Hou’s performance but also to what some perceive as poor casting choices at the beginning of this drama’s storyline.
And this situation was almost one-sided. The viewership ratings of “Thunderstruck” remained firmly in the lower ranks even on the fourth day of airing, and its online discussion was still lower than that of a low-budget web drama airing during the same period.
However, this situation changed on the fourth day of airing. Despite not having the same level of national recognition as other seasoned actors and facing doubts about his ability to boost viewership, as the male supporting role in the drama, Zhong Yu’s influence online was undoubtedly remarkable.
In addition to the opening day trending topics related to the drama’s premiere, on the night of his character’s appearance in the seventh episode, four out of the top ten trending topics on Weibo were related to “Thunderstruck” and Zhong Yu’s portrayal of the second young master of the Su family.
#”Thunderstruck” Zhong Yu’s Acting Skills#
#Second Young Master Su Gets Beaten#
#Second Young Master Su’s Handsome Looks Allow Him to Do Whatever He Wants#
#Zhong Yu Republic Era Second Young Master Appearance#
—I don’t know if it’s because his acting was really bad before, which made me have very low expectations for Zhong Yu’s acting skills. But surprisingly, I think… he’s actually doing quite well this time. Is it true that he’s using his own voice for the lines?
—This role suits Zhong Yu very well. The proud and noble young master, he’s not annoying at all. His little actions and details are so great. He cried so pitifully when he got beaten up. I want to hug him!
The comments below were full of praise for Zhong Yu’s acting skills and his portrayal in the Republic era costume. Perhaps because his starting point was so low, his improvement seemed particularly noticeable, which was a pleasant surprise for Fang Dingyao.
After all, in her expectations, as long as Zhong Yu could perform this role decently and not be heavily criticized, it would already be quite good. She really didn’t expect him to have any outstanding performances.
The car stopped outside Zhong Yu’s apartment building, and Fang Dingyao took out several shopping bags from the back seat of the car and handed them to Zhong Yu. “Why is your condition so bad recently? Is there something wrong again?”
Zhong Yu took the bags and shook his head. “No, it’s just that the weather is too hot and I didn’t sleep well at night.”
Fang Dingyao looked at him up and down and noticed that he had lost a considerable amount of weight. “It’s fine for artists to lose a little weight for a better appearance, but you shouldn’t lose too much. You don’t have much to do tomorrow, so why not take a day off and rest properly…”
Before she could finish her sentence, her phone rang again.
Chu Yan waved at her and took out the keys from his pocket, heading towards the residential area.
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