After the Pretty Cannon Fodder Was Coveted by the Best Actor - Chapter 3

Having broken away from the script, Xian Sui seemed a little unaccustomed to such prolonged eye contact, and he instinctively blinked his eyelids. “Sorry to trouble you, Brother Gu.”

“Relax. Just remember right now that you are Jian Shuyu, someone who has spent many years rolling around in the demimonde. He won’t fall for you easily.” Gu Fanzhou kissed Xian Sui’s neck, starting out gently and gradually increasing the pressure. Xian Sui couldn’t help but let his eyelashes tremble, but he was adapting much better than during the previous take.

Gu Fanzhou clearly noticed Xian Sui’s reaction. To help the other man further desensitize, he placed his palm flat against Xian Sui’s thigh, monitoring the condition of the person before him from the outside in.

Their warm skin pressed against one another. Xian Sui secretly took a deep breath, and finally managed to avoid losing his composure like he did the first time. He raised his palm and gently pressed it against Gu Fanzhou’s chest, stopping the other man from taking things any further: “I’m ready.”

Only then did Gu Fanzhou stop, and Xian Sui naturally slipped out from Gu Fanzhou’s confinement. The crew members took their positions again, and this scene started filming over from the kissing part, so Xian Sui was once again trapped between Gu Fanzhou’s arms.

Fu Minglou’s kiss continued to move downwards along the side of the neck, his fingers pausing at the frog buttons of Jian Shuyu’s cheongsam, just about to untie them, when Jian Shuyu himself stopped the motion: “Let’s stop here, Young Master Fu.”

“Weren’t you going to coax me into a good mood?” Fu Minglou didn’t feel indignant; instead, a trace of puzzlement showed between his brows.

“If Shuyu were to play all his cards at once, he wouldn’t be worth much anymore.” Jian Shuyu smiled superficially. Fu Minglou greatly disliked this expression of his, and even more so disliked Jian Shuyu talking to him about money, so he got up from the sofa and straightened his jacket: “Then I’m heading back.”

“I won’t see you out, Young Master.” Jian Shuyu got up from the sofa with an expressionless face, as if nothing had just happened. He tidied up his wrinkled cheongsam and his slightly messy long hair all by himself. Fu Minglou pushed open the private box door and walked out without looking back.

The next scene shifted to the outside of the City of Night. Despite Jian Shuyu saying he wouldn’t see him out, the moment Fu Minglou opened his own car door, he saw the very same man stepping into a rickshaw parked closest to the entrance. Unlike when he was talking to him inside, Jian Shuyu lowered his voice and instructed the puller to take him to East Third Street.

Fu Minglou didn’t rush to get into his car; instead, he deliberately tapped on the rickshaw door to draw Jian Shuyu’s attention: “It’s so late, shall I give you a ride?”

“Thank you for the kind offer, Young Master Fu, but Shuyu has already gotten on the carriage.”

“The puller hasn’t even started running yet, get in.” Fu Minglou opened the passenger seat of his car of his own accord. This time it was Jian Shuyu’s turn to feel bad about leaving him hanging. He gave the rickshaw puller a small tip, got down, and sat in the seat next to Fu Minglou.

“Do you still have to pay even when he hasn’t pulled anyone?” Fu Minglou sat in the driver’s seat without rushing to start the car.

“I did end up wasting a bit of his time, after all.”

“Then I should be the one to pay.” Fu Minglou casually grabbed a banknote and shoved it into Xian Sui’s hand, evidently a much larger sum than the tip Jian Shuyu had just handed out. The latter didn’t accept it and pushed it back: “Young Master Fu is giving me a ride back, so I should naturally be the one to pay the fare.”

Fu Minglou couldn’t help letting out a soft laugh, and stopped arguing with the other person about the matter. Before he could even drive the car out of the City of Night, countless overlapping footsteps arose not far away, and in no time at all, the entrance was abruptly surrounded by a large number of military police officers.

He instinctively furrowed his brows, but Jian Shuyu, on the other hand, wore a look of utter nonchalance. Unfazed, he spoke up, asking if the garrison troops were trying to assert their authority, noting that whenever they had nothing better to do, they always came to sweep through the establishments just to extort some easy benefits on the side.

“It’s my father.” Fu Minglou hurriedly made a sharp turn with the car, driving towards another gloomy, shadowy alleyway. Jian Shuyu didn’t take it seriously at all, and with quite a bit of interest, he rested his chin in his hand and looked towards Fu Minglou, who was anxiously searching for a way out: “Is there something unclean between me and Young Master Fu, that you’re afraid of being spotted by Old Master Fu?”

Fu Minglou remained silent for a long while; what was likely on his mind was that scene from the private box earlier. “He recognizes my car. In any case, let’s avoid them first.”

Jian Shuyu found it ridiculous, letting Fu Minglou drive the car toward a secluded spot. After driving in circles for a long while, they ended up right behind the back door of the City of Night.

Fu Minglou got out of the car himself, and finally opened the door for Jian Shuyu, telling him to wait right here for a bit and that he would send him back once the military police finished clearing the area.

Fu Minglou brought Jian Shuyu to lean against the perimeter wall, and Jian Shuyu raised his eyes to sweep a circle across the dim surroundings: “This really feels a bit like having a secret tryst.”

“Is that how you talk normally?”

“I can’t very well recite the Confucian classics to my customers, and besides, Shuyu hasn’t studied many books anyway.” Jian Shuyu’s fingertips tapped lightly on Fu Minglou’s shoulder. “How Shuyu talks on regular days, surely Young Master Fu understands by now.”

“Someone’s coming.” Fu Minglou didn’t reply, his attention having been drawn away first by the sound of footsteps. Instinctively, he pushed Jian Shuyu deeper into the shadows, and the latter hurriedly stepped back a few paces.

According to the script, Xian Sui should have bumped against the top of the brick wall. However, Xian Sui suddenly sensed something much softer than a brick wall cushioned right against the back of his head. He couldn’t help turning his head back: Gu Fanzhou’s palm was oozing fresh blood in a steady stream, and upon closer inspection, he realized that some kind of sharp, thorn-like object had pierced deep into Gu Fanzhou’s flesh.

The surrounding crew members couldn’t help letting out gasps of surprise, and immediately someone sprinted off to fetch a first-aid kit and find a professional medic. Subconsciously, Xian Sui tried to press down on the wound for Gu Fanzhou, but the other man ruthlessly pulled his hand away from Xian Sui’s palm: “I don’t need your help.”

Xian Sui was practically ready to lose his temper. Not only was the guy ungrateful for someone else’s kind intentions, but he also had to put on such a repulsive, disgusted attitude.

For some reason, the crew members were nowhere to be seen for a long while. Finding it unbearable to watch, Xian Sui stubbornly used his prop handkerchief to give Gu Fanzhou a simple makeshift bandage first, and then pressed down to stop the bleeding. Gu Fanzhou clearly showed a very uncooperative demeanor. Forcibly suppressing his rising anger, Xian Sui pretended to speak with great patience as he tried to advise him: “You’re bleeding way too much, we can’t just leave it like this. Who knows if you’ll need a tetanus shot or not.”

Gu Fanzhou didn’t reply. Xian Sui couldn’t help frowning; throwing a tantrum even while getting a wound bandaged made him just like that little boy of a few years old from his neighbor’s house.

Only then did the crew members rush over with the first-aid kit, quickly performing further treatment on Gu Fanzhou and advising him to go to the hospital for a check-up first, as being stabbed by ironware could be either major or minor.

Gu Fanzhou’s hand clearly wasn’t in a state to drive, and word was that his assistant happened to be on leave for personal reasons during this period. Xian Sui quickly reacted: “I’ll drive you.”

“No need, I’ll contact my driver.” As he spoke, Gu Fanzhou was already operating his phone with his one uninjured hand.

“You’ll still have to wait if you contact a driver. I can drive you over, it’ll be really fast.”

“No need.” Gu Fanzhou simply walked right out of the crowd, vanishing from Xian Sui’s sight and directly cutting off any further opportunity for conversation between the two of them.

Originally, given that Gu Fanzhou could be considered to have saved his life just now, Xian Sui had wanted to repay that favor. But since the other party didn’t take him seriously at all, Xian Sui saw no reason to subject himself to a cold reception.

Because of his hand injury, Gu Fanzhou was basically unable to film his scenes for this period. Before he recovered, the shooting content was mainly focused on Xian Sui and a seasoned veteran male actor who played Old Master Fu.

The other man had been filming in the industry for decades and could truly be counted as a heavyweight master of his craft. He was very kind to young actors like Xian Sui, offering plenty of guidance during the filming process from which Xian Sui benefited immensely.

Following the accident, Yu Zhifu had the crew inspect the set again. Behind the scenes, the set designers had probably taken quite a severe scolding; ever since then, coming to shoot meant Xian Sui didn’t just see a complete absence of safety hazards, even a single speck of dust was cleaned away thoroughly.

Xian Sui’s filming went quite smoothly during this time, with very few retakes. Yu Zhifu expressed that Xian Sui’s performance had already exceeded her expectations, and he thanked Yu Zhifu for the praise with a rather bashful expression.

Just because Gu Fanzhou couldn’t film doesn’t mean he didn’t participate in the production; as an investor, he would come to inspect the filming conditions most of the time.

The scene Xian Sui was shooting today depicted Jian Shuyu attending to Old Master Fu in the City of Night. He leaned against Old Master Fu while speaking, letting the other man wrap an arm around his waist.

“Did Young Master Fu lose his temper at you again today?” Jian Shuyu filled Old Master Fu’s wine glass to the brim and held it up to the older man’s lips. “Shuyu guesses it’s nothing more than a child’s temperament. Humoring him a bit won’t hurt.”

“Him? As soon as he came back after studying, he’s been at loggerheads with me everywhere. His marriage has been delayed and delayed again, is he planning to live out his life in solitude?”

“Young Master Fu is a scholar; he must want to pick someone he likes.” Jian Shuyu poured another cup of wine. “Since you’ve come to the City of Night, please don’t let these matters trouble your mind for now. The young master is already grown up, he knows his own limits.”

“You’re always the one who pleases me.” Old Master Fu’s palm brushed across Jian Shuyu’s cheek, and the latter instinctively forced a smile.

This shot ended right there, followed by Fu Minglou bursting into the City of Night, pushing open the private box door forcefully without a word to notify his father about his mother’s illness.

This was Fu Minglou’s first time seeing Jian Shuyu.

Their second meeting with Jian Shuyu still took place at the City of Night. Fu Minglou had come looking for his father, but only Jian Shuyu came to inform him that Old Master Fu was not in, and asked him to please return.

“Or perhaps Young Master Fu wishes to stay and have a couple of drinks with Shuyu?” Jian Shuyu toyed with an empty wine glass right in front of Fu Minglou.

Fu Minglou had no interest in entangling himself with him any further, and turned to leave through the main entrance.

These shots couldn’t be filmed for the time being, so the focus next shifted to other scenes excluding Fu Minglou.

Xian Sui’s filming for the day had already concluded, and Gu Fanzhou had watched all of his performances from start to finish on the sidelines without offering any particular comments.

Xian Sui went to the dressing room to change into his clothes. As he passed by Gu Fanzhou, he still couldn’t hold back from asking: “Brother Gu, is your hand injury doing okay?”

“It’s nothing much.” Gu Fanzhou acted as though he couldn’t even be bothered to entertain him.

Xian Sui had nothing more to say and walked straight into the dressing room to change back into his own clothes. When he came back out, he heard the sound of a heavy downpour splashing down outside, upon looking, he realized a torrential rain had suddenly started.

Ever since joining the cast, Xian Sui had been living at his own home. Firstly, it wasn’t far away; secondly, since Xian Sui had just transmigrated into the book, he wanted to use his residence to gain a better understanding of his current situation.

He notified his assistant to drive over, but the other party replied that there was a traffic jam halfway and it might take another hour or so.

Xian Sui hadn’t brought any rain gear, so he simply waited foolishly under the eaves, passing the time by watching the intensity of the rain outside.

Before the rain could let up, a black sedan pulled up right in front of Xian Sui, clearly a high-end luxury vehicle.

“Get in.” Gu Fanzhou rolled down a fraction of the car window to ensure his voice could carry outside.

Xian Sui couldn’t help asking: “Brother Gu? Why are you here? I thought you had already gone back.”

“Don’t ask so many questions, get in.” Gu Fanzhou involuntarily furrowed his brow. “About your hand injury, I don’t want to owe you any favors.”

“That matter was something I should be thanking Brother Gu for. If it weren’t for you, I’d probably be lying in a hospital right now.” Finding it awkward to keep Gu Fanzhou deadlocked with him in the rain for too long, Xian Sui thought for a moment, got into the car, and gave his home address to the assistant who was driving.

Unexplainably, Xian Sui suddenly superimposed this current scene onto the scenario where Fu Minglou invited Jian Shuyu into his car at the entrance of the City of Night.

Gu Fanzhou didn’t pay much attention to Xian Sui’s expression of gratitude, and didn’t speak another word in reply.

Silence filled the car interior; the only sound in Xian Sui’s ears was the patter of raindrops beating against the car windows.

Following the navigation system, the assistant arrived at the destination. This was an old neighborhood; generally, only people facing tight economic straits would live in these old houses.

Gu Fanzhou’s gaze clearly caught the scene outside the window, where the rainwater had already accumulated into a thick layer in no time: “You live in this alley?”

“Yeah, the house all the way at the very end.” Earlier, when the assistant had driven to the entrance of the alley and led him inside the doors of the dilapidated little cottage, Xian Sui had memorized the location of his residence.

The sedan couldn’t fit into the narrow alleyway, so the assistant parked the car outside.

“I don’t think you can stay here for the time being.” Gu Fanzhou tapped his knuckles absentmindedly against the car window. “Turn around, and go to my place.”

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