Chapter 96: Drunken Outburst
"Two years ago?" Yin Chang searched his memories, recalling the celebration banquet that had been held at the Emperor Star Hotel. To be precise, it had not been two years, but rather in August of the year before last.
Due to the success of Yin Chang's role in "The Difference Between One Thought and Another," which received both high box office earnings and critical acclaim, the production team held a celebration banquet at the Emperor Star Hotel. Apart from the main cast, many other celebrities in the industry were also invited to attend.
This was Yin Chang's first time participating in a film as a male lead. Unlike his invisible leading role in "The Blind Man," Yin Chang had many scenes in "The Difference Between One Thought and Another." It was this film that greatly improved Yin Chang's reputation in the film industry. Therefore, at the celebration banquet, he was surrounded by people toasting and congratulating him.
But that day, Yin Chang's mood seemed off.
Although the success of the film was pleasing, the overwhelming praise made him feel undeserving. He believed his success was mostly due to luck rather than his own talent. So in this kind of situation filled with surface compliments, Yin Chang felt tremendous pressure. Especially when those people repeatedly mentioned Yin Dong in front of him. They all smiled and said that Yin Chang's future was promising, that he would eventually surpass Yin Dong and become the first-ever father-son duo to win Best Actor awards in the history of film.
Those words did not make Yin Chang happy, but rather made him feel embarrassed. His father, Yin Dong, was an outstanding actor, and Yin Chang had never thought about surpassing him.
Since Yin Chang was stressed, he unconsciously drank more.
Even so, he maintained a certain level of sobriety. After all, this was in the entertainment industry, and as a celebrity, he paid great attention to his public image. The worst thing was to lose control due to alcohol.
Before the banquet ended, Yin Chang realized that he wasn't feeling well, so he immediately asked Lu Lingjuan to arrange for him to leave early. Lu Lingjuan took him to a private room to rest, and then called a driver.
After that, Yin Chang couldn't remember what happened.
The next day, he woke up at home. Later, Lu Lingjuan called to ask how he was feeling, but didn't say anything else. Yin Chang thought the driver Brother Qi had brought him back.
"Why did I have Shao Junling come to pick me up? Was it necessary?" Yin Chang looked confused.
"Yes! You couldn't stand up as soon as you entered the room and complained of dizziness. I couldn't carry you by myself, so I went out to find someone to help. I ran into Mi Xiu..." Lu Lingjuan explained.
Mi Xiu was also there that day. Although he wasn't an actor in "The Difference Between One Thought and Another," he was friends with Yin Chang, and the production team knew several directors and actors who were acquainted with him, so he was invited to attend. He saw Lu Lingjuan helping Yin Chang into a private room, and followed her, knocking on the door to ask if Yin Chang was feeling unwell.
Lu Lingjuan frankly said yes, and since she wanted to go down to meet Brother Qi, she asked Mi Xiu to look after Yin Chang temporarily.
"Did you forget that I let Mi Xiu in?" Lu Lingjuan said afterward, "Oh my god, you must've already been black out drunk by that time!"
Yin Chang: "..."
In fact, if it was any other celebrity, Lu Lingjuan would not have allowed anyone in, but Mi Xiu was different. Yin Chang and Mi Xiu had become great friends since meeting six years ago on "Super Star Life." They not only showed their friendship publicly, but also often chatted, drank tea, and watched movies together in private, and talked about everything under the sun.
Lu Lingjuan knew their relationship well, so she relaxed her guard toward Mi Xiu. She couldn't just leave Yin Chang alone in the private room, what if a waiter or someone else came in and harassed him? Such incidents had happened before in the industry.
When Lu Lingjuan left, Yin Chang was still resting with his eyes closed, so she thought he was still sober.
However, when she came back, she saw Mi Xiu squatting in front of Yin Chang, amusedly teasing him.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" Mi Xiu waved a finger in front of Yin Chang's eyes.
"One." Yin Chang's eyes went blank, but he could still answer correctly.
"How about now?" Mi Xiu held up two fingers.
Yin Chang frowned at Mi Xiu's V sign and said, "Are you trying to show off again?"
Mi Xiu burst out laughing, "Are you drunk?"
"No." Yin Chang spoke with clear diction.
"Then who am I?" Mi Xiu pointed to himself.
"Big Mi." Yin Chang said.
"Wrong," corrected Mi Xiu, "I'm your big brother!"
Yin Chang: "..."
Neither of them could've guessed how their random chit chat would trigger a complete loss of rationality in Yin Chang.
Brother Qi had planned to help Yin Chang down the stairs, but before he came any closer, Yin Chang shouted at him to "get lost" and stopped him in his tracks.
Lu Lingjuan tried to soothe him, "You'll see your younger brother when you get home."
"No, I want to see Shao Junling now!" Yin Chang suddenly became a bit domineering. He pounded the table stubbornly, demanding his brother come and pick him up.
Even Mi Xiu didn't expect his casual joke to provoke Yin Chang into his current state. The three of them looked at each other helplessly, with Lu Lingjuan asking, "Now what do we do?"
"...Knock him out and carry him home?" suggested Mi Xiu with a silly idea.
As soon as he spoke, Yin Chang's intense gaze swept over them, frightening all three of them into hiding their heads.
The driver Brother Qi timidly raised his hands in surrender: "Yin Chang knows Thai boxing, I've sparred with him before and couldn't beat him. Maybe he even knows Drunken boxing, which is even more powerful!"
The others remained silent.
Yin Chang surveyed the room, but couldn't see his younger brother Shao Junling. He muttered his brother's name and decided to search for him. As he stood up, he began to sway and lose his balance. Lu Lingjuan panicked and yelled, "Hold him down!"
With courage, Mi Xiu pushed him down and urged, "What are we waiting for? Where's Shao Junling? Hurry up and call him!"
"What happened next?" Yin Chang asked, astonished.
"Your brother arrived," Lu Lingjuan replied.
Luckily, when Lu Lingjuan had called him, Shao Junling had just departed from the martial arts gym nearby the hotel where they were celebrating. Shao Junling's chauffeur, Fang Shu, also happened to be nearby. In less than half an hour, Shao Junling arrived.
But drunk people were unpredictable. Even in just that half an hour, Yin Chang had put Lu Lingjuan and the others through enough trouble. He didn't hit Mi Xiu, but Mi Xiu couldn't keep him down. Yin Chang stubbornly stood up over and over again, grabbing anything he could reach to steady himself. Eventually, he got irritated and started throwing things, knocking over the potted plants and tea cups.
Mi Xiu couldn't handle him and made Brother Qi take over for a while. In a moment of inspiration, Mi Xiu ran out and came back carrying a white plush teddy bear used as a prop in "One Thought Away", the movie Yin Chang had starred in. In the movie, Yin Chang's character was an exceptional elite with severe insomnia. He had to hug a teddy bear every night to fall asleep. To maintain his image and keep his secret, he endured all sorts of misunderstandings from his friends, secretary, and even his ex-girlfriend, but he refused to explain the reason for his peculiar habit. Later, he was sent on a short-term business trip overseas. He took the teddy bear with him in a large suitcase, but it was taken by the female lead Jing Ruoxi by mistake, leading to their love story.
Although the teddy bear was just a prop, it was an irreplaceable "character" in the movie. It was only natural for it to appear at the celebration.
After the party, an assistant of a female celebrity reportedly wanted to take the teddy bear home, but she and the bear were intercepted by Mi Xiu as they were taking it off the platform. He said, "Let me borrow it for a bit," and took it back to the private room. Gasping for breath, he stuffed it into Yin Chang's arms and said, "Your brother's here."
Sure enough, Yin Chang calmed down instantly, embracing the teddy bear with a dreamy look on his face.
The female celebrity and her assistant followed Mi Xiu and watched in amazement as Yin Chang clung to the toy bear, whispering a name.
The female celebrity's name was Xu Xiaolan, and she played Yin Chang's girlfriend in the movie. Although she was less famous than Yin Chang, she was his senior in the entertainment industry. Lu Lingjuan couldn't drive them away, so she invited them into the private room and closed the door to avoid attracting a larger crowd.
Xu Xiaolan asked, "What's wrong with Yin Chang?"
Mi Xiu gloated, "He's drunk!"
Xu Xiaolan saw that Yin Chang was drunk, but the way he hugged the teddy bear made her think of the male lead in "One Thought Away." She had worked with many actors before and knew that most of them were very different in real life from their on-screen personas, but Yin Chang...if he wasn't playing himself, Xu Xiaolan could only say that he might have been too immersed in his role. As long as it didn't cause trouble, it would raise his popularity.
After Shao Junling took Yin Chang away, Lu Lingjuan asked Xu Xiaolan not to tell anyone about Yin Chang's drunken embarrassment to save his face. Xu Xiaolan joked, "This will only boost Yin Chang's popularity. He didn't go crazy, he just hugged a teddy bear. How cute!"
Of course, Lu Lingjuan also warned the unscrupulous Mi Xiu, who winked at her and said, "Depends on my mood."
But now, looking back, both of them had kept the secret for almost two years, and Yin Chang still didn't know about his embarrassing episode.
"Seriously, Shao Junling has changed so much in the last two years," Lu Lingjuan sighed.
When Shao Junling arrived that night, he nodded at everyone and said goodbye politely as he left, leaving everyone impressed with his calm demeanor. No one could believe he was only fifteen years old...yes, that was his age at the time.
Later, Xu Xiaolan asked Lu Lingjuan who picked up Yin Chang. She said it was his younger brother, Shao Junling.
Xu Xiaolan was surprised, "The brother who was with Yin Chang in that variety show?"
Lu Lingjuan confirmed it, and Xu Xiaolan was even more surprised: "How did he grow so tall? I couldn't recognize him."
