177. A Rousing Send-Off

Wei Changfeng went to the market in the suburbs to buy food early that morning. He started preparing the food from noon. Thus in the afternoon when Qi Le’an brought Chen Mama in, the rice had just been cooked.

When it came to cooking, the dishes of other countries were not enough to show the chefs’ ability. Undoubtedly, the most challenging test of the chefs’ culinary skills was to make Chinese food.

The house of Qi Le’an and Wei Changfeng was not big and the small tea table wasn’t wide enough to place all the dishes. Wei Changfeng thus went to buy a table that could be stretched out. Qi Le’an showed Chen Mama around their living place and Chen Mama said she liked the terrace.

“I often saw it in the video,” Chen Mama said with a loving expression, “And now I finally see it personally. That’s great!”

Qi Le’an further suggested, “Godmother can sit and drink red wine here tonight. It’s really enjoyable!”

Chen Mama was glad and replied, “Why not!”

As this was a new environment, the little sister felt a little nervous. She watched here and there vigilantly for a long time. She probably recognized this place that was often seen in the video. At last, she took a toy and sat on the carpet to play by herself.

Chen Mama saw it and smiled, “What a naughty girl.”

Wei Changfeng poured some fresh juice into the Minnie Cup for the little girl. He then asked Chen Mama politely, “What does Aunty want to drink?”

Chen Mama didn’t mind about it and replied, “Never mind. Anything will do to me. By the way, give Chen Shan a call and ask what time he will come back.”

Wei Changfeng nodded and then made some drinking for Chen Mama. Qi Le’an sent their position to Chen Shan and then told Chen Mama, “Brother Chen said he will be back in 20 minutes.”

Chen Mama took a look at the food in the kitchen and asked, “Okay. Then I’ll start cooking first?”

Hearing this, Qi Le’an quickly stopped her and seated her well while replying, “Godmother, you just sit here, Wei Sama can manage it!”

Chen Mama knew that Wei Changfeng could cook. Chen Shan had also told her how delicious Wei Changfeng’s food was. She was curious about it as well. She thus smiled and agreed, “Then I’ll just sit and wait!”

Wei Changfeng brought a drink over and greeted, “Aunty, try some drinking please.”

Chen Mama took a sip from the glass and her eyes lit up. “It’s sour and sweet, very delicious! Is this haw juice? ”

Wei Changfeng nodded, “It is haw juice, an appetizer drink.”

Chen Mama responded with satisfaction, “Xiao Wei is good at cooking!”

Chen Shan’s sister stared at the adults’ movements with her eyes wide open. She raised her chubby little fingers and said in a childish voice, “I want it.”

Qi Le’an squatted down and smiled. “Sis wants to drink too?”

The little girl nodded, “Yes!”

Qi Le’an looked at Wei Changfeng and the latter smiled, “It’s pure and natural. I think it’s okay for her to drink some. I’ll go and get some for her.”

Chen Mama also agreed, “Haw juice? It’s good!”

Wei Changfeng took a small cup and Qi Le’an handed it to the little sister. The little girl gulped and drank it all in one breath.

“I want more!” the little girl with bright eyes ordered.

Chen Mama tried to stop her, “You can’t drink more.”

The girl’s face puckered, and she was ready to cry.

Chen Mama quickly added, “Isn’t there still juice in your Minnie Cup?”

The little girl paused for a while and thought of it, so she took up her cup and went on with her drink again.

Wei Changfeng shook his head smilingly, and then he went back to the kitchen with his cooking. Chen Mama just went on chatting with Qi Le’an while his sister was sitting on the carpet playing with her toys.

Half an hour later, Chen Shan knocked at the door outside and came back. And at the same time, Wei Changfeng’s dinner was almost ready.

“Your place is pretty easy to find!” Chen Shan looked around the room and commented, “The house is not bad, warm, and comfortable!”

Chen Mama rolled her eyes and answered back, “You suppose others would make their place like yours as a doghole?”

Chen Shan, “…”

Chen Shan knew well that he couldn’t win his mother in the bickering battle, so he could only turn to play with his sister. Qi Le’an fled into the kitchen and heard Wei Changfeng say, “The food is almost ready. Set the table.”

Qi Le’an nodded. Wei Changfeng then added, “Go to our neighbor’s to ask for two more chairs?”

Qi Le’an was happy to get this task, “Okay.”

From the grandmother next door, Qi Le’an got two chairs and then he began to set the table. Seeing this, Chen Shan came to help, too. Chen Mama, however, felt it troublesome to do all these, so she said, “Well, we might just eat on the tea table! This is a waste of money!”

Qi Le’an smiled, “Wei Sama has prepared a lot of food and the tea table is not big enough. Usually, we don’t have many guests at home, so our place is a little small.”

Chen Mama was quite moved. She felt that Qi Le’an and Wei Changfeng had indeed lived well and happily!

Wei Changfeng had prepared some seasonal food that day, such as stir-fried okra with oyster sauce, stir-fried beef with peppers, spiced vegetarian dish, fried pork ribs with sweet and sour sauce, etc. He also specially made sausage rolls with buns in rabbit shapes for Chen Shan’s sister. The steamed sausage rolls looked white and tender, just like a little lovely bunny. The little girl shouted for it as soon as she saw it.

Chen Mama did not expect Wei Changfeng to do so well, so she praised, “Xiao Wei is good at his culinary skills.”

Wei Changfeng smiled modestly, “The cream mushroom soup is in the pot, and it will be ready after it is cool. You know it’s not easy to buy the food available in New York. Aunty, excuse my clumsy work.”

How could Chen Mama mind about all these? She knew well that it was not easy for Wei Changfeng to get all these done. Wei Changfeng added some more red wine for everyone present. Chen Shan had long been looking forward to eating Wei Changfeng’s food, so he just said a few polite words and then quickly enjoyed himself in the eating. For this, Chen Mama could only roll her eyes at her son again.

However, she also couldn’t help but praise the food’s good taste when she began to put some food into her mouth.

She found that especially this spiced vegetarian dish was particularly good in summer!

“How was this dish made?” Chen Mama couldn’t help but ask, “Did you put some rock sugar in it?”

Wei Changfeng nodded and they two discussed the dish for a few minutes, after which their topic went on to other dishes.

After dinner, Chen Mama had completely acknowledged Wei Changfeng’s existence in Qi Le’an’s life!

The little girl should sleep early at night and she was feeling sleepy now though it was only after eight in the evening. Qi Le’an just sent them back to the hotel when he received a text message from Damien’s assistant,

“I’m sorry, Mr. Qi. There were some problems with the law affairs two days ago, so it took more time to verify the contract. Now that the contract has been approved, tell us when you’re free to come to sign the contract.”

Qi Le’an thought about it and then sent Chen Shan a text message asking when he was free.

Chen Shan replied that he would be free tomorrow because his mother just wanted to rest. Qi Le’an then asked about Wei Changfeng’s opinion. At last, he replied a message to Damien’s assistant,

“It’ll be fine tomorrow morning. My manager will go over there with me together.”

Damien’s assistant simply replied, “Ok.”

Before he came, Chen Shan had also studied Qi Le’an’s new movie, and he even researched the whole picture of the American film industry. When he heard that the female lead was Emma, he was even more excited.

That was her, Emma! If Qi Le’an cooperated with her, it would be enough for the domestic media to talk about the topic for half a year!

The next morning, Qi Le’an went to pick up Chen Shan, and then they went to the studio together.

“Wei Changfeng didn’t come?” Chen Shan asked on the way.

Qi Le’an replied smilingly, “Wei Sama is baking bread for our sister at home.”

Chen Shan nodded.

When they signed the contract, Damien himself was present too, but Tresse still hadn’t come back yet. Accompanied by his assistant, Damien sat opposite them and watched Qi Le’an sign the contract.

“I’m An’s manager,” Chen Shan handed out a business card, “You can contact me for the follow-up.”

Damien took a glance at Chen Shan without saying a word. His assistant, however, noted down Chen Shan’s address and telephone number in America.

Both parties signed the contract happily, and Damien was very generous. That afternoon, Qi Le’an received a third of the deposit as his front money.

Looking at so much money on his bank account, Qi Le’an felt that his career had gotten off to a flying start. He hadn’t earned money for the past three years, and he could feed himself with the money he just earned for the next three years!

No, he told himself that maybe this sum of money could support him to live without work for ten years if he chose to live a frugal life?

Chen Shan had expected to stay in America for a week, but as something had happened back in China, he had to rush back on the fifth day. And he had to hand over his mother and sister to Qi Le’an.

Qi Le’an and Wei Changfeng spent their time playing with the little girl and Chen Mama. Apart from New York, they also took them for a holiday in California. After the little girl visited Disneyland, she was so excited that she even grabbed the doll of Princess Belle when she was sleeping.

After spending half a month together, the little girl was very clingy to both Wei Changfeng and Qi Le’an. Qi Le’an couldn’t help but post a picture of the little girl in silhouette playing in Disneyland with a balloon on Weibo. As he had not posted anything on his Weibo for a long time, all his fans gave it an enthusiastic response.

Since Qi Le’an went abroad, he had only appeared on his Weibo once every six months!

However, after disappearing for so long, his popularity did decline. There were more than a thousand comments on it, and half of them were fans of Wei Changfeng who were asking where Wei Changfeng was.

Half a month later, Chen Mama had to go back home. The little girl was crying so hard at the airport that her eyes were swollen like two peaches, which made Qi Le’an broken-hearted.

Wei Changfeng’s heart ached as well. He crouched down to kiss the little child and gave her a big Peggy Pig doll, which at last helped stop the little princess’s tears.

Chen Mama sighed and reminded them, “If you’re not busy, remember to return home and play with your sister!”

Qi Le’an agreed, but he knew that it would be at least half a year later that he could go back to China.

After seeing Chen Mama and the little girl off at the airport, both of them were able to sleep well at home. After spending the past half month visiting around, they were both a little tired. And after such a rest at home for a week, it was already mid-August.

According to his agreement with Damien, Qi Le’an was going to attend the script reading meeting.

The so-called script reading meeting required all the actors and actresses to sit together when the director and scriptwriter would talk about the script and their plan.

As always, Hollywood’s scripts had strict rules. From the birth of a script to its finished product, it would cost countless people’s efforts. There were even specialized script editors who kept on picking up errors from the script. Every moment before the movie started, the script might change.

These scripts with so many people’s efforts had brought about one Oscar award after another, and they were also classics of the scenes on the silver screen.

On the first day of the script reading meeting, Qi Le’an went out at seven in the morning and came out of the studio at eleven at night.

Wei Changfeng personally picked him up with a sandwich he had specially prepared. Qi Le’an ate it up in less than a minute after getting in the car.

“I’m starving to death! Apart from coffee, it was tea! If this continues, I have to bring some food with me next time!”

After Qi Le’an finished eating and felt satisfied sitting well on the passenger seat, Wei Changfeng started driving him back.

“How’s everything today?” Knowing that the foreign film and television requirements were strict, Wei Changfeng was afraid that Qi Le’an wouldn’t be able to keep up with the working pace there.

Qi Le’an smiled and then said, “Although it’s a little tiring, it’s quite fun! Seeing them arguing is particularly interesting… It was said that next week, Emma is going to attend the meeting!

And I can see my goddess then!”

Wei Changfeng felt relieved at seeing Qi Le’an’s situation. After thinking about it, Wei Changfeng felt that he was overthinking. At least Qi Le’an was also a student at Tisch, such high-intensity work wasn’t a problem for him.

Speaking of which, Wei Changfeng was going to focus on his work too.