I am a Big Player
Chapter 550 - 544, Sympathy Among the Ailing (Second Update)_1

Chapter 550: 544, Sympathy Among the Ailing (Second Update)_1

It was not just a grand event, but also many Chinese stars would come to participate; however, most Chinese stars were there mainly to walk the red carpet on the last night.

Someone quietly told Ren He that two big shots from the Central Academy of Drama had already arrived in Amsterdam. It was Chen Da who told them this to motivate everyone to perform well in the upcoming show.

During the meal, everyone joked that Ren He really missed out by not going to lunch today, as just the afternoon meal cost that senior student over twenty thousand yuan, after all, there were more than twenty people, and the food was quite high-end.

That senior who had a crush on her male senior could now see nothing but him in her eyes, this deal was certainly not a loss...

Ren He laughed, admitting he did miss out, but he really had prior arrangements at noon and couldn’t help it.

He even joked with the senior about treating him to a meal another time, and the senior laughed and said it was fine, but Ren He felt there was a hint of bitterness in his smile...

Ren He was taken aback. Although he had always been good at reading people’s expressions, he hadn’t reached this level of perception—there was no sign of such a hint on the other’s face.

Was it because of his Advanced Level Investigative Psychology? This thing... seemed kind of useful!

If indeed Master Level Investigative Skills required Advanced Level Investigative Psychology as a foundation, then what magical aspects would Master Level Investigative Skills hold?

Ren He couldn’t guess yet, but this piqued his interest in Master Level Investigative Skills even more.

He didn’t continue to tease the senior; seeing that spending over twenty thousand yuan on a meal had also hurt the other’s feelings. Although his family was wealthy, that money didn’t just fall from the sky, and usually, this senior didn’t seem to be extravagant.

If he really wanted to eat something, Ren He could just buy it himself.

After arriving in the Netherlands, Ren He had begun to instinctively watch out for the same people appearing repeatedly in his field of view, or any suspicious targets.

Steve had given him the photos of all the members of Mark Pen’s operation team, so he could definitely recognize them if they appeared.

But he couldn’t overlook the existence of informants. What if the opposition only had informants watching him? Since he had chosen such a dangerous path, he had to be even more cautious.

Otherwise, knowing there was danger in coming to the Netherlands yet being careless would be truly playing with his life.

And for Ren He, doing this was not a burden at all, as it was all subconscious behavior.

After the big midday feast, the other students in the troupe found the evening buffet rather ordinary, so they ate less.

On the contrary, Ren He enjoyed it a lot, finding the Dutch buffet quite delicious; it was just the lack of fried rice and such that was a bit disappointing for Ren He.

Ren He had a habit when he was away from home: eating hot pot or buffet without some rice or noodles felt like he hadn’t eaten at all...

Was this the persistence of a northerner towards staple food? Ren He didn’t know if others felt the same...

In this hotel, Ren He also experienced the uniqueness of Dutch cuisine. His senior had said before that what the Dutch valued the most in cooking was "mom’s taste," which meant it would make you feel homesick when you ate it.

To put it plainly, they were proudly serving you home-cooked meals...

The buffet naturally offered a more diverse selection, including some French cuisine, but it still mostly consisted of bean soup, herring, pancakes, and bacon deep-fried with green beans.

It was fine for a meal or two, but several days in a row became a bit much. Now the novelty hadn’t worn off for Ren He yet, but by the second day, he was asking Chen Da, the experienced old hand, where they could buy Chinese instant noodles.

This was not unique to Ren He — in fact, most students began to miss the food from back home immensely by the time dinner rolled around on the second day, especially the most flavorful Sichuan and Hunan cuisines.

At this point, the seniors would share with everyone how, during their month-plus stay in Europe, by the time they departed for Greece, their bags were packed full of instant noodles...

Reality teaches us that while exotic customs are fine, if you’re not accustomed to them, you’re just not accustomed.

That night, Chen Da took everyone out to buy instant noodles...

Upon their return to the hotel, each person was contentedly carrying a big bag of instant noodles. There were no disparities of wealth among the students anymore, just mutual commiseration...

Ren He felt that this was the camaraderie students should have: cursing together when the school cut off the internet or electricity, collectively grumbling about lousy cafeteria food, cheating together during exams, and covering for each other when the teacher called the roll.

There were no interests involved, no disputes, just a kind of fellowship that made it joyful, regardless of wealth.

Can a friendship be established just by treating someone to a meal? Sharing hard times at least once has a much deeper impact than just offering a meal.

So for Ren He, he was enjoying the process, sharing the frustration with everyone, discussing instant noodles together; it was quite fun.

A group of financially comfortable students debating whether pickled cabbage flavor is better than braised beef was an utterly bizarre scene.

Everyone had decided: they’d treat the buffet as a change during the day; by evening, they would return to their rooms to gorge on instant noodles and the taste of home.

However, on the evening of the next day when they got back to the hotel, everyone saw an unexpected person appear! Xia Yuting!

Ren He was not the same year as Xia Yuting, but since most of the company were performance major students, at least half of them were her classmates, so the encounter was very cordial.

They saw Xia Yuting chatting with Chen Da, who explained to everyone, "Yuting has come to the Netherlands because a film she starred in was shortlisted, so she’s here to see if she can win an award."

In the Netherlands, awards work differently from back home: before the award ceremony begins, no one knows whether they’ve won anything or not.

This is different from China, where you’d know a week in advance of the ceremony whose house the flower will fall upon...

Many were crowding around Xia Yuting, asking her about the chances of winning the prize, after which she would indeed be considered an international film queen!

Yuting said she wasn’t quite sure herself, at this point all she could say was that there was a good chance, but she also faced many rivals. Before officially walking the red carpet, she could come and watch everyone’s theater competition.

At Central Academy of Drama, Yuting really was the most dazzling gem, and while the members of the theater troupe might hold their own among their classmates, they still paled in comparison to Yuting.

For some reason, Ren He always felt that Yuting’s eyes in the crowd kept sweeping over him from time to time.