The Legendary Actor - Chapter 25

Renly’s eyes fell on Rami’s bumm, in fact, their uniforms had long since been completely joined together after their backs were covered in mud, and it was hard to tell exactly whether it was the waist or the ass, but an absurd and comical thought came to him as he looked at Rami’s embarrassing posture.

“Rami?” Renly kept his eyes on the small branch, got down on his knees, and whispered into Rami’s ear, “Is there something sticking out of your butt? Or is it the one in the middle … ?”

Without waiting for Renly to finish his sentence, Rami anxiously interjected, “Yes, yes.” Renly didn’t hold back his gesture, puffing out a gasp, and then he clenched his lower lip, which prevented him from laughing completely.

Renly patted Rami’s shoulder, “For that, we need a specialist.” The mournful look fell into Rami’s eyes and he bit down hard, but in the end, he didn’t know how to argue, so he simply lay down and buried his head under his hands.

“What the hell is going on?” James frowned and asked with anxiety in his eyes.

Renly didn’t answer immediately, but raised his head to the onlookers and said, “It’s all right, it’s all right, Rami’s just a little hurt, and he can’t move very well.”

What Renly originally meant was that it was not easy to stand up and walk. It could be an ankle, or it could be an internal injury or something, well, it wasn’t really to cover up for Rami. But the onlookers all showed their understanding expressions, their meaningful looks and their sympathy toward Rami, and Renly didn’t quite understand – were his words somewhat ambiguous?

James leaned in close to Renly’s ear and said in a low voice, “Hurt his dignity? Is it serious?”

Renly turned the cause-and-effect relationship twice in his head. Looking at Rami, who was lying on the floor in shame, Renly felt that he was not really being helpful, but on second thought, he decided not to clear up this beautiful misunderstanding.

Renly whispered back into James’ ear and explained briefly about Rami’s situation, and this time it was James’ turn to be stunned and look at Renly incredulously, resulting in a nod of confirmation from Renly.

“So, I just won the bet,” Renly said in all seriousness, not forgetting their bet even at this juncture.

James hadn’t wanted to concede at first, since Renly’s bet was on hitting his head, but now that the position was so far down, it was too funny to watch the medics lift Rami onto the stretcher like a corpse, his legs straight and taut. So James nodded seriously, “You win.”

“Renly? Renly?” Rami whispered, looking around, “No one else knows, right? Huh?” However, Rami received no response and slightly braced his upper body, looking around for Renly, but the pain from his hip limited his movements and forced him to lie down again, “Renly?”

Not far away, Renly and James duck out of the way to share the bet – one cigarette each.

Rami was temporarily absent from the scene because of an injury, but it didn’t affect him much. The real star of the scene was James’s Robert Leckie, and everyone else was merely a mass. So, the crew quickly went back to shooting, and as expected, the scene could not be shot in a day, and the night hang there, so it would have to be continued tomorrow.

Rami lay down on his bed, closing his eyes as exhaustion set in, lulling him into a half-sleep, half-awake state, before the raucous, crow-like voice in his ears said, “This is definitely the best feature on the set! Journalists during the publicity period would love it.”

“It might be popular on talk shows too. I think there might still be fans who would like to see the wound …” “Or maybe have the big eyes reenact what happened, etc., did you see what happened then? Did that stick just go ‘poof’ in?”

The humiliatingly vivid portrayal finally made Rami unable to go back to pretending to be asleep any longer, opened his eyes with a hint of viciousness as he waited for Renly and James, who were sitting in the next bed, “Both of you!” Rami was almost gritting his teeth, but due to too much effort, his muscles cramped up and his butt started to twitch, and his momentum softened again.

Watching this scene, Renly and James laughed uproariously, almost collapsing on the bed with laughter, not having the strength to stand up. Rami, who was in great pain, wanted to shut them up, wanted to argue, but didn’t have the strength to do so.

“Man, honestly, it’s not easy to get hurt in such an indescribable part of the body.” Renly’s eyes were filled with sincerity, “So what the hell was going on? You jumped forward and raised your butt?”

As Renly explained, James was recreating the situation, puckering his buttocks high, “And then what? Suddenly ‘bang’?” Renly gave James a hard slap on the buttocks, and James fell into the hospital bed with an exaggerated howl while trying to imitate Chaplin.

Rami opened his mouth, his thoughts spinning around in his head, and then he didn’t find a chance to argue, so he simply hung his head and said to himself, “Yeah, that’s right.”

“Haha!” Renly and James burst out laughing, actually high-fiving each other, which forced Rami to laugh against his will, and then also give up, helplessly shaking his head.

It was only after the laughter had subsided that Renly asked with concern, “You look like you’re in pain. Maybe some painkillers?”

Rami adjusted his posture, he had just laughed so hard that his stomach muscles hurt a little, he didn’t want that really, so he grimaced, “No.” Rami gritted his teeth, “The doctor didn’t give me any painkillers because the injury wasn’t very serious, and I’ll be fine with a night’s rest.”

“That’s not as bad as the injury goes.” James joked, standing beside him.

Renly looked at James as if disappointed “What a lack of sensitivity.” Rami breathed a small sigh of relief, but before he could rejoice, Renly’s words followed, “If the injury is too serious, people will get the wrong idea.”

Misunderstandings, what misunderstandings?

Rami turned his head and looked at Renly and James, who were talking serious nonsense, and tried to get up in agitation, but as soon as the wound was pulled, the indescribable pain swept over him. Renly stepped forward and squeezed Rami’s shoulder, “You need to rest and recuperate.”

Rami felt that his wounds were fine, but the real damage wasn’t external, as he looked up in grief at the duo.

Noticing Rami’s torn and depressed expression, James finally couldn’t hold back and laughed out loud, “Rookie, I finally know why Richard’s gang is afraid to mess with you now.”

Renly spread his hands with an innocent look on his face, “I didn’t do anything, I always insist on friendly, amicable relations, after all I’m just a newcomer, I don’t have any experience or resume, I still have to get along with everyone, don’t I?”

After the grueling training camp, Richard and the others had a quiet time, but when they arrived in Australia, they resumed their old ways and joined forces to isolate Renly. However, rumor has it that the reason Richard is targeting Renly is that he confessed his love to Renly only to be rejected in the end.

Richard was completely infuriated, and in his opinion, the news must have been fabricated by Renly, so he confronted him. But Renly hit back even harder “I respect everyone’s right to give love, regardless of gender or age. I am not able to accept it, but I would like to suggest that we are no longer in high school, and the means of expressing our emotions could be more mature”

Faced with Renly’s appropriate and courteous behavior, Richard was completely out of his mind, as he rushed quickly to explain himself, accusing Renly of fabricating facts, even yelling at him. In contrast, Renly did nothing and did not respond, forgiving and accommodating all things generously, and in the eyes of others, everyone believed that Richard had lost his mind out of love and hatred.

Richard missed the boat because of his impulsiveness, and after that it was all bark and no bite. Richard was a typical male chauvinist and a proponent of white supremacy, which was not only racist but also sexist. So being looked at differently by other people was worse than killing him.

“Renly, how long did you rest the last time you were injured?” Rami inquired curiously.

“Uh, less than forty-eight hours.” It was only a few weeks ago, but after being on the set for so long, he gradually became one with Eugene, and with the hardships of the battlefield, that the details of his memory began to blur.

Tim had told Renly that when you’re wounded, you feel lucky at first, then you feel bored, and then you start to feel guilty.

Renly now understands what that means. After the hardships of war get into your bloodstream, a powerful sense of crisis can become habitual, even instinctive, and never go away. What’s worse, his own comrades were still fighting on the battlefield, their lives hanging by a thread, while he was lying in a hospital bed, trying to survive.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be back in shooting tomorrow, before this open field scene is over.” Renly gathered his thoughts and patted Rami’s shoulder, “You’ll do better when you get back.”