The Stand-in Side Character Only Wants to Make Money – CH70

Chapter 70: Taking You Home

“…”

For a moment, the agent’s hand stopped in mid-air, frozen between knocking and not knocking, much like her heart at that moment.

The two assistants, noticing her hesitation, turned their heads and peeked through the glass window.

The room was dim, but the figure standing by the bed was clear—clear enough that they didn’t need to think too hard to know who it was.

Now they understood why the agent wasn’t knocking.

In this situation, even a deity would need to pause and reconsider what kind of relationship these two had.

Xiao Meng tried to speak, “Friends… I guess it’s normal…”

She wanted to say it was normal for friends to hug, but as she spoke, even she found it hard to believe, and in the end, chose to stay quiet.

At least none of her friends had ever hugged her like that. The only time she’d seen that kind of hug was with couples back in her college dorm.

Witnessing such a heart-stirring scene so early in the morning, she wasn’t sure if it was beneficial or detrimental to clear thinking, but one thing was certain—they were all fully awake now.

While standing outside the door, the person inside, who had been bending over to hug the patient, glanced slightly sideways and had already noticed them.

Being seen, it was clear they couldn’t continue standing outside. The option of waiting a little longer before entering was now gone. The agent knocked twice as a formality, turned the doorknob, and walked into the room.

Hearing the footsteps, the patient sitting on the bed propped himself up slightly using his neighbor’s shoulder, poked his head out from behind them, and greeted them with a smile.

He had recovered quickly overnight. Though his face was still pale, his energy and demeanor were much like his usual self.

The agent guessed that seeing his friend had likely lifted his spirits, making him appear more energetic.

“…”

For a moment, the agent couldn’t help but think back to the scene she had just witnessed and slapped her own face lightly.

After the patient, the good friend surnamed Xu also gave a slight nod as a greeting.

Once everyone was in the room, Xu Sinian finally let go of the patient and stood up straight again. He glanced down at his watch and said, “I’ll head down to get breakfast.”

As expected of a famous actor, even in this situation, he remained calm and composed.

The patient nodded, and the agent and assistant watched him leave.

After the door closed and with some time left before the doctor’s arrival, the agent quickly sat down by the bedside and immediately asked, “What was that just now?”

“What do you mean?” Chen Bai scratched his head. “We just hugged.”

He said it so casually and matter-of-factly that it left the others momentarily stunned.

“…”

Sensing something unusual, the agent cautiously asked, “No hidden meaning—just to confirm again, what exactly is your relationship with Xu Sinian?”

With a look of disbelief, the patient blinked, as if wondering why she’d ask such a question. He nodded without hesitation, “Good friends.”

“…”

The Gao Qian sighed. That’s what she had thought.

The situation became clearer. Chen Bai’s “friendship brain” was still in full effect, but this so-called “good friend” of his didn’t seem quite so innocent.

At the very least, his friend didn’t appear to be content with just being a good friend—there seemed to be a bigger ambition.

The agent tried to probe gently, “What if your friend doesn’t want to be just friends anymore?”

Chen Bai waved it off confidently. “No way.”

He sounded so sure of himself that even the assistant couldn’t help but rub her face in disbelief.

Their brief conversation ended as the doctor entered the room to check on the patient. After prescribing some medication, the doctor mentioned it should be taken half an hour after breakfast. The patient’s low fever had subsided, and there were no major issues. He could be discharged that morning.

Once the doctor left, Xu Sinian returned with breakfast.

The patient enjoyed the perks of being unwell. As he sat in bed, his good neighbor helped him set up a small table and placed the breakfast on it.

The meal included soy milk, a variety of stomach-friendly snacks, and porridge. The soy milk came in a mini version, not much, but the porridge was a large bowl. Predictably, Chen Bai immediately reached for the soy milk.

Truth be told, this unremarkable patient wasn’t a big fan of porridge—he usually survived on soy milk in the mornings.

The agent watched with wide eyes and commented, “This is exactly why you have gastritis.”

Xu Sinian, sitting nearby, pushed the porridge slightly forward and said, “Aunt Song made it for you. It’s good for your stomach.”

Aunt Song was the cook in charge of breakfast at Xu Sinian’s home. During the New Year holidays, Chen Bai had stayed over for a few days and had since become friends with Aunt Song.

Feeling obligated to drink the porridge his friend had painstakingly prepared, Chen Bai closed his eyes, opened them, and quickly took a few sips.

He drank it as if he were making a great sacrifice. Xu Sinian watched and smiled, offering a word of praise.

“…”

Xu Sinian’s gaze was far from concealed—on the contrary, it was so intense it couldn’t be hidden. The agent caught a glimpse and felt her eyelid twitch.

Now she understood why she had felt something was off before. Misled by Chen Bai’s constant talk of friendship, she hadn’t considered this angle. Now that she thought it over, she couldn’t believe how blind she had been.

Xu Sinian’s pursuit was so obvious, yet she had genuinely believed the whole “just friends” story.

It seemed that the only way to deal with someone as oblivious as Chen Bai was through his friends. Normally, he’d rely on soy milk and black coffee to get through the morning, but today, he had miraculously finished a whole bowl of porridge. Afterward, he flopped back onto the bed.

Half an hour after eating, he took his medication. His time as a patient was up, and after changing back into his own clothes, the fresh and renewed Chen Bai was back.

They picked up his medication, completed the discharge process, and headed back to the hotel in his good friend’s car.

The agent watched him get into the car, noting how Xu Sinian thoughtfully opened the door for him. Leaning back against the company car, she pretended to light an imaginary cigarette and said lightly, “Should I call this ‘the lamb entering the tiger’s den’ or ‘releasing the tiger back into the wild’?”

The assistant, standing nearby, said hesitantly, “They might not actually end up together… right?”

She wasn’t entirely sure herself, her tone uncertain.

The agent let out a pretend puff of smoke and waved dismissively, “Once Chen Bai clears his debt, Xu Sinian will probably make his move.”

No relationships while clearing debts—none were allowed—but once that’s over, someone might finally have a chance.

The assistant thought about it, analyzing the situation, and still found it tricky. After all, Chen Bai seemed completely oblivious and showed no signs of waking up to the situation. He always treated Xu Sinian as just a friend, so who knew what might happen.

The agent waved her hand again and asked, “What do you think Xu Sinian would do if he got rejected?”

Rejected.

The assistant replied, “He’d be heartbroken?”

The agent responded, “Do you think Chen Bai would really let someone get heartbroken?”

“…!”

The assistant froze for a moment, then suddenly had a moment of enlightenment.

The agent sighed and smacked her head. “All these admirers keep crashing headlong into this blockhead.”

Chu Mingyuan had once crashed into it and got completely bounced off, still not fully recovered even now. It’s said that he’s since given up the habit of dating on set. Others didn’t even get that far—they were crushed to pieces before they even reached the blockhead.

The assistant said, “Why do these people insist on such hopeless pursuits?”

The agent nodded in agreement. As the other car drove off, the patient sitting in the passenger seat waved at them.

She waved back symbolically, then turned to the assistant and said, “Let’s get in the car.”

The “blockhead” had hopped into the good neighbor’s car, and as the car started, he only had time to wave goodbye to the agent, who seemed to be watching them the whole time. After the window was rolled up, a phone started vibrating inside the car.

The two phones were placed together, and it was the good neighbor’s phone that was vibrating.

Since Xu Sinian was driving, Chen Bai kindly glanced at the phone for him.

There was no contact name, but the profile picture was familiar. After all, they chatted almost every day. He recognized it as Aunt Jiang’s number, so he looked up and said, “It’s Aunt Jiang calling.”

Since Xu Sinian was driving, Chen Bai answered the call for him. He greeted her first: “Auntie!”

“A’Bai?” Aunt Jiang seemed a bit surprised, and with a quick tap, the voice call turned into a video call, and Aunt Jiang’s face appeared on the screen.

Chen Bai waved with a smile, tilting the phone slightly to explain, “Comrade Xu is driving and can’t answer right now.”

Aunt Jiang acknowledged this and asked, “Are you on your way back from the hospital?”

She looked closely at him and then asked, “How did you get gastritis? How are you feeling now?”

She genuinely looked worried; her usual relaxed expression had been replaced with a furrowed brow.

“We’re heading back to the hotel,” Chen Bai nodded, smiling with his usual calm demeanor. “I’ve been a bit irregular with my schedule and diet lately, but it’s fine now. Just need to take medicine for a few more days.”

Despite his calm and reassuring smile, his face was noticeably pale, and his lips were a bit colorless. Aunt Jiang studied him for a moment and said, “You’ve lost a lot of weight.”

She attributed this to the film crew mistreating the actors.

This conclusion was a bit subjective. Chen Bai slid slightly down in the passenger seat and lightly defended the crew with a smile, saying, “Not much has changed.”

In the eyes of elders, no change meant he had lost weight. Aunt Jiang asked, “When will your work end, A’Bai?”

She added, “Once you’re done, Uncle and I will come pick you up and bring you home so you can properly recuperate.”

It seemed her suspicion about the crew mistreating him hadn’t been fully dispelled.

Before Chen Bai could answer, his good neighbor, who had been quietly listening, softly suggested that taking a break for a while would be a good idea. Chen Bai smiled at this and nodded in agreement, saying the filming would likely end around mid-August.

Aunt Jiang wrote down the date. She seemed to be in an office, with paper and a pen ready at hand. As she wrote, she said, “In the future, if anything happens, remember to tell Uncle and me. The driver next to you is always running around and often not around, so it’s faster to reach out to us.”

If her son hadn’t called Aunt Song to prepare breakfast, she wouldn’t have even known he had been hospitalized.

Xu Sinian glanced sideways at the person chatting away, his eyes briefly lingering on the curve of Chen Bai’s smiling face before looking back at the road.

Chen Bai nodded repeatedly, smiling as he agreed.

——

With work still at hand, Xu Sinian had arrived in the morning and left by the evening.

It was a brief meeting, and the next day, Chen Bai resumed work, taking his medication while on the job.

In the following days, something strange happened on set. The crew seemed to be showering them with fruit and snacks every day, and when filming outdoors, large fans were constantly blowing cool air.

Though the weather was hot, it was cool under the shade of the trees with the fans blowing.

Holding a plate of fruit and munching away during a break, Chen Bai squatted by the roadside with his agent, glancing at the fans and outdoor mobile air conditioners that the crew was still unloading. He asked, “Did our crew suddenly get rich?”

The agent glanced at him and said, “We’ve had some generous donations from the public.”

Chen Bai stabbed another piece of apple with a toothpick, “Huh?”

The agent explained, “You could think of it as a fan… well, I suppose you could call him a fan who donated it.”

The two assistants behind them said nothing and tactically drank their water.

Surprised that it was an individual donation, Chen Bai raised his eyebrows slightly, “That’s generous.”

The agent nodded subtly.

When you’re pursuing someone, generosity is a given.

Though he didn’t know who it was, Chen Bai expressed his thanks and continued munching on his fruit. Just then, his phone, resting on the script, lit up. He picked it up to check the message.

It was from Huo Chuan. The last time they had chatted was quite a while ago. Somehow, the God of Wealth had found out about his hospitalization and sent a message of concern, asking about his condition again.

Surprised that someone as busy as the God of Wealth had the time to check in on a minor incident like this, Chen Bai responded truthfully, saying he felt completely fine now.

Huo Chuan didn’t say much in reply, just a simple “good.”

Putting his phone away, Chen Bai noticed the director walking by with a slice of watermelon. The sweet, cool scent lingered in the air, and his gaze unconsciously followed the watermelon until it was out of sight.

Repeating what he had just said to the God of Wealth, he looked at his agent and confidently declared, “I’m fully recovered now. I should be able to eat watermelon.”

The agent smiled at him and said, “Stick to your apples.”

So Chen Bai continued eating his apple.

The crew’s newfound wealth came in phases. First, they improved working conditions and added more fruit and snacks. Then, starting from a certain meal, the food quality suddenly improved, switching from local restaurants to direct deliveries from hotels.

The head producer visited after that, making a quick inspection of the set. After confirming that the actors were well taken care of, he left satisfied.

Thanks to these consecutive generous donations, the crew experienced their first time working with such luxury. They wrapped up the outdoor scenes during this period. By June and July, most of the scenes were indoors, filmed comfortably in a studio with central air conditioning.

Finally, in the heat of August, the filming officially wrapped up.

On the day of the wrap-up banquet, Chen Yi Bai experienced the busiest wrap-up banquet of his career.

Aside from the usual socializing, the simplest way to put it was that he spent several hours as a human photo booth and an unrelenting flower-receiving machine.

When it finally came time to eat—the most exhausting part of such events—he actually felt relaxed. The investors were unusually kind this time, especially the executive producer at his table. Not only did they let him substitute juice for alcohol, but they kept encouraging him to eat, asking repeatedly if the food suited his taste.

Despite the friendly atmosphere, he still ended up being generously toasted to the point of collapse, like everyone else, courtesy of sister Qian.

The hotel was noisy, the sound of glasses clinking constantly filling the air. As the people at the table dropped one by one, Gao Qian set down her glass with the precision of sheathing a sword. She turned to Chen Yi Bai, who was quietly eating, and asked, “We can leave soon. What are your plans for tonight? Is your friend coming to pick you up again?”

Given that every time after a wrap-up banquet, this person was swiftly picked up by that good friend of his, she’d learned to ask before he could mention it.

“No, he’s out of town these two days.”

Meeting her gaze, Chen Bai ruffled his hair and said, “Someone else is coming to get me.”

The agent glanced at the others at the table and said, “Wait for me to finish these two drinks, and I’ll take you downstairs.”

Her “two drinks” was just a figure of speech. After one more round of drinks, everyone still at the table had had enough and was escorted out by their assistants and secretaries.

Once the table was nearly empty, she stood up and said, “Let’s go.”

The room she had arranged was upstairs, and Chen Bai had already packed his suitcase before the banquet began, fitting everything neatly into one bag. His assistants were still eating, so he didn’t bother them and carried the suitcase himself into the elevator, sending a message as he descended.

“Has your ride arrived?” his agent asked.

He nodded, “Just arrived.”

He added, “They’re downstairs; shouldn’t be hard to spot.”

By now, the sky was fully dark, and the streetlights were on. As they exited the hotel lobby, the agent saw a sleek, low-profile extended business car parked quietly by the roadside. Apart from being longer than usual, it was extremely understated.

But the price tag on it was far from understated.

Automatically ruling it out, she asked, “Where is it?”

Just then, a woman stepped out of the business car, wearing a beige coat and suit trousers. As she looked over, she smiled and waved after a brief moment of recognition.

She had an elegant demeanor, and her wave was oddly reminiscent of someone they both knew.

That settled it. The agent didn’t even need an answer anymore; she already knew. She turned and quietly asked, “Who’s that?”

Following the woman, a man wearing glasses also stepped out of the car. Smiling, Chen Bai introduced them, “They’re my friend’s parents, but also my friends.”

Gao Qian “Ah.”

The agent blinked. “…Ah?”

She suddenly found herself, in this strange time and place, engaging in friendly conversation with the family of a certain well-known film star. Although she’d never met them before, she learned she already had a name in their household and, surprisingly, a good reputation.

Originally, she had come down to make sure the sometimes absentminded Yibai wouldn’t leave with some dubious person. Now that she knew it was Xu Sinian’s parents, she felt at ease handing him over. She also remembered she smelled like alcohol, so she didn’t linger long. After their brief chat, she made a quick exit.

Mrs. Jiang nodded with a smile and said, “Thank you for taking care of Yibai.”

Her sincerity was obvious; she wasn’t just being polite. The agent returned the smile and said, “No need to thank me.” With her assistant messaging her, she quickly headed back to the hotel after saying goodbye.

As she disappeared from sight, Mrs. Jiang’s eyes were bright as she turned to Chen Bai and said, “She’s a very reliable friend.”

Chen Bai smiled and nodded. Before he could say more, the practical Mr. Xu, who was more of a man of action, had already picked up the suitcase by the car before the driver could, asking, “Is this all?”

There was a slight tone of regret in his voice.

Chen Bai thanked him and said it was indeed everything.

“No need for thanks,” Mrs. Jiang lightly patted his cap and said, “It’s hot out here—get in the car.”

So, Chen Bai got into the car.

Inside, the air conditioning was on, and the bright lights gave a pleasant sense of coolness as he greeted the driver.

He had spent a few days at their home last time, so he knew the people in the household quite well. With his good memory, he could still match names to faces. The driver, who was talkative and outgoing, greeted him with a smile as well.

There were plenty of seats in the extended business car, but Mrs. Jiang and Mr. Xu chose to sit in the back with him to chat.

After taking off his cap and mask and pocketing them, Chen Bai asked, “How did Aunt Jiang recognize me with all this on?”

Auntie Jiang smiled, “No matter what you’re wearing, Auntie can always recognize you.”

She then asked, “Did you eat on time today?”

Ever since his bout with gastritis, this had become a routine question. Chen Bai was already used to it. Today, he had indeed eaten on time, so he nodded confidently.

The car started and merged back onto the road. While they were on the way, Auntie Jiang took out her tablet and began showing him clothes she had recently bought.

Not for herself, but for him—everything from pajamas to loungewear, all kinds of clothing.

As Chen Bai scrolled through, the corner of his eye twitched, and he quickly raised his hand to say that his current wardrobe was already more than enough.

“Just let her enjoy it,” Mr. Xu leaned over and whispered, “It’s one of her few hobbies.”

Her eldest son hadn’t needed her to buy him clothes in years, and now Xu Lang had developed his own tastes, avoiding anything colorful. Like his brother, he stuck to black, white, and gray, apart from his school uniform, leaving Mrs. Jiang with little opportunity to indulge.

Now, with a chance to shop for someone, she happily spent her free time browsing and, before she knew it, had bought a pile of things.

Appreciating her efforts, Chen Bai immediately retracted his earlier statement and gave her a thumbs-up, saying, “They all look great!”

Auntie Jiang chuckled, “Right?”

While chatting, she placed another order for a piece of clothing and finally felt satisfied as she put her tablet away. She then began discussing the upcoming menu with Mr. Xu. The menu had already been planned, but she believed there was room for improvement and wanted to perfect it to ensure he could quickly regain his strength.

Chen Bai “…”

Outside the car, the high-rise buildings kept retreating into the distance. The conversation inside the car brought back faded memories from over a decade ago. Chen Bai was sitting, listening to the couple talk, until they entered a tunnel and emerged on the other side. His half-open eyes slowly closed.

“Does Yibai have any preferences for…”

Having finalized the menu for the next few days, Mrs. Jiang turned to ask him, but her sentence abruptly stopped midway. The rest of her words dissolved into silence.

Chen Bai, sitting beside her, had fallen asleep. His body slumped against the seat, his face pale beneath his messy hair, exuding a cold aloofness that had accumulated over the years.

Mr. Xu glanced over and said, “He must be tired.”

Mrs. Jiang nodded, gently adjusting his posture to make him more comfortable. When she lowered her gaze, she noticed his pale, slender neck. It looked so fragile, as if a light touch could cause some harm.

She quietly withdrew her hand, exhaling softly, suddenly understanding why her son insisted on keeping him close. He couldn’t help but worry whenever he was away.