After a Top Idol Married the Sickly Young Master of a Wealthy Family to Bring Him Good Luck - Chapter 19

Yinshan Quan was truly a god-tier creator in the fanfiction circle. Their writing was elegant, the plot was irresistibly enticing, and it left one craving more.

Ling Suiyao felt as if a door to a new world had been opened. “Bamboo Leaves Enter My Arms,” a masterpiece revered by the “Zhu-Ye” (Zhuo-Ye) ship fandom, started very aesthetically pleasing. However, toward the later stages, it began to go wild—speeding along at high velocity. He watched with wide eyes, stunned, not daring to savor the words but instead skimming through ten lines at a single glance.

Combined with his own illustrations, there was a truly intoxicating sense of being mesmerized.

Even though the names written were Meng Ce and Zhao Zhaoyan, influenced by the very first sentence of the opening chapter, he felt more and more that this was just him and Pei Xinglu in disguise! His brain uncontrollably and automatically substituted their identities. Ling Suiyao curled his toes in embarrassment, his skin crawling with goosebumps.

And at that exact moment, Pei Xinglu actually returned.

Ling Suiyao felt a sudden rush of shame. Pah, pah, pah! How could I have such wild thoughts? It’s so offensive, so excessive, so sinful… I’ve let Brother Pei down…

Pei Xinglu snapped his fingers. “Are you okay?”

Ling Suiyao shook his head like a rattle, cleared his throat, and said with a red face, “I’m fine! It’s just a bit hot.”

Then, for fear of being discovered, he guiltily changed the subject: “Brother Pei, why are you back? Aren’t you staying at the crew’s hotel tonight?”

Pei Xinglu scrutinized the off-kilter Ling Suiyao. “Just picking something up. You… are you really okay?”

With a face that red, what on earth was he just looking at?

Ling Suiyao shook his head frantically, his eyes darting around, not daring to look Pei Xinglu in the eye. With a “gulu” sound, he flipped over and buried himself tightly under the covers, saying in a muffled voice, “Brother Pei, I’m going to sleep. Goodnight!”

Pei Xinglu checked his watch; it was just past nine.

“Aren’t you going to suffocate sleeping like that?”

Ling Suiyao then pulled the quilt down a bit, revealing two clear, black-and-white eyes. He blinked, his eyelashes clearly visible, and shook his head at Pei Xinglu. “Not suffocating, not suffocating!”

Pei Xinglu found it increasingly strange. What was this little sickly thing up to?

Being so mysterious and secretive—was there something scandalous going on?

Pei Xinglu turned off the night light by Ling Suiyao’s bed and went to take a shower. When he came out, Ling Suiyao’s quilt had been tossed aside, and the person was gone again.

He took a look outside and found him curled up on the sofa in the living room downstairs, holding his phone.

“…Okay, then I’ll pick you up tomorrow. We’ll go to the restaurant in the evening.”

It looked like he was on a video call.

Pei Xinglu leaned against the railing and looked down. On the other end of the phone was an exquisitely dressed, beautiful girl. Her voice sounded bright and enthusiastic: “Sure! Finally coming back to the country. I’ve missed Sui Sui and Banshan Garden to death! By the way, let me tell you, I don’t know where Jiang Yan got the news of my return, but he’s been messaging me nonstop for a week. It’s either a dinner invite or various banquets; the sound of his calculation beads is practically hitting me in the face.”

Listening to her, Ling Suiyao said, “That won’t do. We’re going to eat at Banshan Garden; he’s not allowed to compete with me.”

“Exactly! Sui Sui, don’t be jealous. How could he possibly compare to our Sui Sui? Let him stay wherever it’s cool…”

The two talked for a long while. The girl on the other side talked a lot, and while Ling Suiyao was quiet, he looked very happy.

Pei Xinglu couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. So, Ling Suiyao was… in a relationship?

No wonder his face was so red earlier.

He let out a “tsk” sound.

When Ling Suiyao finished the call with his cousin and returned to the room, he let out a yawn. He saw that Pei Xinglu had already finished his shower and come out. He was wearing pajamas, his hair blown dry, clean and thick—a hairstyle that looked like a fashion editorial with just a casual sweep. His long legs were resting on the bed, and he was leaning against the headboard, lazily flipping through a manuscript. A thick, dog-eared script had been placed on the quilt.

Ling Suiyao thought he was reading the script.

The Zhe Dao Xing work group had sent out tomorrow’s shooting schedule. Pei Xinglu had to be on set at 4:00 AM. Traveling from the setback to Pingye Residence took over an hour; it was a waste of time and energy.

Ling Suiyao said, “Brother Pei, if you leave anything here, just let me know. I can have someone deliver it to you so you don’t have to keep running back and forth.”

Pei Xinglu didn’t answer him, flipping a page.

Only then did Ling Suiyao see clearly that what he was reading was the “Luck-Changing Marriage” contract. He was just feeling surprised when he heard Pei Xinglu speak unhurriedly: “The contract stipulates that Party B provides ‘luck-changing’ for Party A, and the marriage between both parties becomes effective. During the three years, the Marriage Law must be observed.”

Ling Suiyao pulled up the quilt, lay back down, and nodded in confusion. “Big brother’s lawyer read this contract to me; I remember there is such a clause.”

Pei Xinglu closed the contract, his expression nonchalant, and picked up the script to read again.

To suddenly bring this up, there must be a subtext. Ling Suiyao thought about it and began to catch the drift.

Their relationship was a deal; they needed to be tied together for three years. But what if Pei Xinglu met someone he liked or a true love during these three years? As a fan, he certainly couldn’t stand in the way.

Pondering this, Ling Suiyao said slowly, “Brother Pei, if you have someone you like, we can discuss it properly.”

What does that mean?

Is he hinting at me? Looking for a way out for himself?

Pei Xinglu’s lips curled into an ambiguous smirk, and his tone became somewhat heavy: “No need to discuss. I have a sense of contractual spirit. Even if I have someone I like during this period, I will not break the contract.”

Ling Suiyao was completely lost, offering a dry “Oh.” He somehow felt like the other person was implying that he lacked contractual spirit.

“It’s fine, Brother Pei. It’s only human nature; it can all be discussed.”

Pei Xinglu put down the script and said coldly, “Since it’s for luck-changing, is your heart so insincere?”

Ling Suiyao was now thoroughly baffled. “Huh?”

Touching Ling Suiyao’s bewildered gaze, Pei Xinglu suddenly felt uncomfortable all over.

Early the next morning, Pei Xinglu left silently.

Sitting in the car, he yawned several times. After drinking a cup of coffee, he closed his eyes to rest.

His complexion wasn’t very good.

It wasn’t until he arrived at the set and changed into his costume that he officially entered his acting state.

Today was another full day of scenes, including several action scenes requiring wirework. Before filming began, Pei Xinglu had undergone special training in martial arts, so except for exceptionally high-difficulty moves, he basically didn’t use a stunt double.

After practicing with the action choreographer for twenty minutes, he could perform the moves perfectly.

After a few fight scenes, his movements were as fluid as flowing water, and the crew’s efficiency improved.

During the break, Pei Xinglu went back to the lounge to lie down. He grabbed his phone and scrolled for a bit.

Ding-dong—

“Qingti TV reminds you: The anchor you follow @SuiSuiNianNian is currently streaming, click to view—”

Pei Xinglu had previously registered an account on Qingti TV. After the jewelry hype incident, he had accidentally clicked follow and forgot to cancel it.

He happened to be lying around idle, so he clicked in to take a look.

There were over ten thousand people in the stream.

As soon as he entered, he heard the crisp “kaka” sound of a keyboard. Ling Suiyao was hitting the keys with fast hand speed, occasionally pausing to rhythmically press the backspace key.

The bullet chat was scrolling.

【Ever since Sui Sui became popular, a bunch of people have crowded into the stream just to watch the excitement, complaining about this and that, rushing Sui Sui to give out red envelopes and prizes. So annoying.】

【Wooo, I don’t want this pure land to be destroyed. It’s all Yu Zhihan’s fault for using our Sui Sui! Hahaha, he deserved the backlash.】

【Those who can’t stay patient have left. Now there are only about ten thousand people in the stream. When I first came in, there were over a hundred thousand.】

【I’m a new fan, what is Sui Sui writing?】

【He’s revising the text and organizing the outline. Sui Sui, take a break. It’s been three hours straight. Why does it feel like you’re in such a rush today?】

After another ten minutes, the keyboard sound on Ling Suiyao’s end stopped.

Pei Xinglu’s gaze finally moved away from his hands, and he cleared his dry throat.

Ling Suiyao took a sip of plain water, then applied eye drops, returning to the bullet chat questions: “I have to go to the airport to pick up my sister later. I probably won’t have time to work for the next two days, so I didn’t take a break today to get the work done in advance.”

Ling Suiyao chatted idly with the bullet comments, his tone gentle and warm.

“It’s about time. I’m going offline now. Bye-bye.”

The stream ended.

Pei Xinglu gave a “tch.” A sister? Is it a “noona” romance?

“Brother Pei, the next scene starts in five minutes.”

Xiao He came over to remind him. Seeing Pei Xinglu’s sour expression, she was startled. Who had provoked this ancestor again?

Pei Xinglu was indeed very unhappy.

Ling Suiyao looked so obedient and cute; how could he have such a lack of contractual spirit? He, a top-tier celebrity, was providing “luck-changing” for him, and they agreed to follow the Marriage Law for three years, yet he was going out to date? Simply outrageous! Might as well just have that person do the luck-changing for him; the young master would kill two birds with one stone.

Heh, but maybe their horoscopes are a terrible match and don’t meet the luck-changing requirements…

“Xiao Pei, this segment is too fierce!”

Zhang Bo called a “cut” and said seriously, “What’s going on? This is the third take, and it still hasn’t passed. If the male and female leads act like this, how are the viewers supposed to ship them? This drama already has very few romantic scenes; you have to make them stand out! That ‘Meng-Zhao’ CP stuff is just fans using their imaginations; don’t let it affect you.”

Pei Xinglu took the criticism, knowing that he had indeed been distracted. “Sorry, Director, it’s my fault.”

Zhang Bo repeatedly urged: “Restraint, discipline. That expression you had yesterday when you were rehearsing with Sui Sui would work here, but make it even more obscure and deep. Hidden but uncontainable. The kind of feeling for a loved one that can’t be hidden and eventually causes one to lose their composure.”

Zhang Bo even went forward to act out a scene with the actress playing Chu Erya.

Then he spread his hands wide: “Understand?”

Pei Xinglu suppressed his stray thoughts, re-entered the zone, and finally passed the scene.

There were two more fight scenes in the evening.

After practicing the moves with the action choreographer, Pei Xinglu sat on a small stool to catch the breeze.

He didn’t know what was wrong today; he was constantly influenced by Ling Suiyao, thinking of muddled, messy things, and finding everything annoying.

He attributed all of this to Ling Suiyao not following the contract, which made him feel psychologically unbalanced.

After being depressed for a while, the props team called him over for the wirework.

This was a show-stopping long-take fight scene. The night was deep, the stars were brilliant, and danger was hidden in every flower and tree, omnipresent. The male lead and the enemy fought from stone tables to rooftops and then into the woods. Every sword strike was ruthless, every punch hit home. The movements were graceful yet full of power; every move was intended to be lethal. It was a thrilling performance.

“Cut!”

Zhang Bo was clearly very satisfied with this performance. He watched it over and over, already thinking about what techniques to use for editing.

The prop master came over to unhook Pei Xinglu from the wires. That segment had been very physically demanding; he used a tissue to wipe away sweat.

“That was too cool!”

An exquisitely dressed “urban beauty” of a girl, who looked completely out of place on a film set, popped up out of nowhere, staring straight at Pei Xinglu. And Ling Suiyao was right beside her, nodding like a chick pecking grain in agreement, sounding almost proud: “Right? Brother Pei’s fight scenes are very cool.”

Pei Xinglu froze.

Ling Suiyao actually brought someone to the set—and brought them right in front of him??? What kind of move was this? What did it mean?

Seeing that Pei Xinglu’s expression wasn’t great, Ling Suiyao thought he was angry and explained: “Sorry, Brother Pei. My cousin was curious and always wanted to see a film set. We’ll leave in a bit; I promise not to affect the crew’s progress.”

Pei Xinglu’s movements stalled, and for a moment, his face looked strange. “Your cousin?”

“Yeah, this is my cousin, Ling Shu. She just came back from abroad.”

Ling Shu blinked excitedly and pulled a pen and paper from her bag. “Big star, for Sui Sui’s sake, can I have an autograph?”

Pei Xinglu: “…Sure.”

After he signed one, Ling Shu flipped the page and grinned. “Another one.”

He signed nine.

She lived up to her reputation; he signed nine in total.

Ling Shu happily tucked the notebook back into her bag. “I have quite a few sisters; the big star should be understanding.”

“…” Pei Xinglu’s wrist felt a bit sore.

Ling Suiyao felt bad for his idol. “Cousin, how can you ask for so many signatures at once?”

Ling Shu laughed it off. “Oh, come on, the sister group has to be kept together; I have to be fair to everyone.”

“It’s fine.” Pei Xinglu was about to put the cap back on the pen when he suddenly turned it and asked Ling Suiyao, “Do you want one?”

“Huh?”

Pei Xinglu added, “I might as well make it a round number.”

Ling Suiyao’s eyes lit up, and he said bashfully, “That would be a bit embarrassing… I’ll take one too. Thank you, Brother Pei.”

As Pei Xinglu was signing, his heart inexplicably felt lighter, as if a weight had been lifted. His handwriting even took on a rebellious, upward flourish.