After the Pretty Cannon Fodder Was Coveted by the Best Actor - Chapter 6

Xie Zhuangqiu let out a mocking chuckle. “I never knew that Actor Gu, who has always had room for nothing but work in his eyes, would also take an interest in someone.”

“Everyone has human desires.” Gu Fanzhou took a step closer to Xie Zhuangqiu, as if using this to apply pressure. “Otherwise, why would President Xie think there is any need for Peach Blossoms Unseen to take the risk of using a newcomer?”

Xie Zhuangqiu let out another meaningful laugh, clearly not a laugh of genuine amusement. Seeing that it was getting him nowhere, lingering and entangling further with Gu Fanzhou would only cause him to lose face, so he handed a delicate gift bag to Gu Fanzhou, stating that this was a gift for Xian Sui as extra compensation for his time on set.

Gu Fanzhou brushed him off and smoothly left the hotel lobby. “Where is your car?”

Xian Sui hurriedly fumbled in his pocket for his phone. “I’ll call one now.”

“Who on earth could you possibly call this late?” Gu Fanzhou wore an expression of exasperation. “Forget it, get in my car.”

“No, it’s very easy to call a car in the provincial capital at this hour.” Xian Sui still seemed set on operating his phone, showing that he rarely ever hailed cars himself, unlike someone who either drove their own vehicle or was picked up by a driver, not even knowing this much.

Clearly, Gu Fanzhou was unwilling to admit his lapse in judgment, snatching the phone from Xian Sui’s hand before he could successfully hail a ride. “Are you not satisfied with me giving you a ride?”

“Oh, alright.” Xian Sui furrowed his brow helplessly. Even hailing a car had to become a contest of winning and losing with this guy. “Then, combining what happened earlier, thank you.”

Gu Fanzhou didn’t reply, simply walking on his own toward his assigned parking spot, and Xian Sui hurriedly followed. Since Gu Fanzhou probably hadn’t been drinking earlier, he sat straight down in the driver’s seat. Xian Sui naturally settled into the passenger seat, watching with his own eyes as the other man set the navigation destination to his home address, after which a cold mechanical female voice announced: “Road construction in the nearby section, vehicles unable to pass. Recommending the nearest detour route for you.”

It then displayed a route that looped almost halfway around the city, with an estimated travel time of two hours and forty-eight minutes.

“Did my home get cursed, or did your car get cursed?” Gu Fanzhou modified the navigation destination. “There hasn’t been a single time I’ve managed to drop you home smoothly.”

Xian Sui looked closely at the navigation map, where the destination was displayed as a villa area in the nearby suburbs. “It’s only been two times, though.”

“More than enough to be a coincidence.” Gu Fanzhou didn’t want to argue with him, and without waiting for Xian Sui to say anything else, he started the car. Before long, the vehicle drove into the villa area, where Xian Sui realized that the place had a very high level of privacy. Located in a remote suburb, only registered vehicles could enter and exit, and the security management was extremely strict.

Xian Sui was assigned to a guest room on the third floor. As soon as they stepped inside, Gu Fanzhou instructed the housekeeper to tidy it up, and in no time it was ready for habitation. He followed Gu Fanzhou into the elevator, watching the other man press the buttons for numbers two and three. “Go back yourself after you wake up.”

“Got it.” Xian Sui watched Gu Fanzhou leave the elevator at the second floor, after which he rode it up to the third, stepping out to find the guest room designated by Gu Fanzhou. Since he still didn’t feel sleepy and noticed that the third-floor area was quite quiet, he began wandering casually along the corridor, eventually stopping in front of an unlocked door.

Even though he knew it wasn’t very polite, Xian Sui couldn’t resist his curiosity and slipped inside. The room was fitted with the latest home theater equipment, and a large stack of discs was placed near the projection screen, mostly classic old films since modern movies rarely came on discs anymore, at best only on DVD.

Beside the discs was a thick stack of classic opera records, the one right on top, The Story of Cloud Tower, appearing almost worn smooth, as if it had been played very frequently. This famous piece told the story of a demimonde woman. In order to understand the role of Jian Shuyu, Xian Sui had also tried watching the disc of The Story of Cloud Tower and could even quietly hum the segments inside.

The reason he knew about The Story of Cloud Tower in the world of the book was because, in the original work, Gu Fanzhou’s mother loved this aria and would often hold the young Gu Fanzhou in the courtyard to sing it for him. Back when Gu Fanzhou was still too young to understand, his father had an affair and brought a woman home, which his mother discovered. The two argued fiercely and finally ended up signing divorce papers.

Gu Fanzhou’s father married that woman and brought her home. The stepmother paid no attention to Gu Fanzhou whatsoever, and she had no feelings for his father either, marrying him purely for money. According to the original description, the stepmother seemed to have used unseemly tactics to win over Gu Fanzhou’s father, which was how she managed to enter and take over the household.

As for Gu Fanzhou’s biological mother, the book didn’t provide many details, but after the divorce, Gu Fanzhou never saw her again. Perhaps because of this, he relied on a mere disc to cherish the memory of his family.

Xian Sui played the disc, and the opera singer’s vocal style on the screen was melodious and lingering. Listening in fascination, he unconsciously began to hum along with a few lines.

As the disc reached its ending, the female protagonist parted ways with the young master she loved, the lyrics exhausting all sorrow and tragic sentiment. Even though it wasn’t his first time listening, Xian Sui couldn’t help feeling a sigh of emotion. Just as he was about to take out the disc, someone behind him moved a step faster: “Who told you to come in here?”

“Sorry, it was my fault.” Knowing he was in the wrong, Xian Sui immediately stood up to leave the room, but Gu Fanzhou suddenly spoke up to stop him: “Wait.”

Xian Sui instinctively met Gu Fanzhou’s gaze as the other man fished two scent sachets out of his pocket and tossed them in his direction. Xian Sui reached out in a hurry to catch them, only to realize they were the exact two he had thoughtfully placed on the bedside table in Gu Fanzhou’s hotel room, both filled with the scent of lavender. “Your things. Returning them to you.”

“They aren’t even fragrant anymore.” Xian Sui brought them up to his nose with a straight face and gave them a sniff.

“I had my assistant buy new ones to replace them.” Gu Fanzhou neatly put the disc away, pushed the room door wide open before Xian Sui, and said, “Now, get out.”

To focus on the crew’s filming work, Gu Fanzhou declined all non-essential commercial activities until Peach Blossoms Unseen wrapped up. Aside from an afternoon scene that needed shooting, his schedule for the entire day was completely free.

He had originally intended to go to the study to review the script once more, but just as he took half a step out of his room, Gu Fanzhou abruptly changed direction and took the elevator up to the third floor.

Xian Sui’s room door was wide open, but no one was inside. Walking down the corridor, Gu Fanzhou’s gaze swept continuously across every corner, assuming the person had quietly left the villa on his own, only to find him sitting on the balcony railing at the very end, smoking a cigarette.

Smoke drifted upward from the corners of his lips, shrouding the tear mole beneath the outer corner of his left eye in a hazy blur, making half of his delicate face visible and hidden in turn.

Gu Fanzhou moved forward unconsciously by a step.

It was right at that moment that Xian Sui coughed violently. Seeing Gu Fanzhou, he didn’t even have the leisure to greet him, hacking away for a good long while before barely managing to catch his breath.

“Good student, never smoked before?” Gu Fanzhou couldn’t help laughing, sitting down right beside Xian Sui. “Didn’t I tell you to leave? What, did you think learning to smoke at my place was more exciting?”

“I wanted to leave, but the security here is too strict. I couldn’t get past facial recognition to go outside.”

Gu Fanzhou didn’t seem intent on pursuing the matter further. Instead, he turned sideways, pulled another cigarette out of Xian Sui’s pack, and lit it.

“Take a puff,” Gu Fanzhou said, holding the cigarette between his fingers and exhaling a stream of smoke. “Like this. Give it a try.”

Xian Sui immediately reached out to fish another cigarette from the pack, only to find that no matter how he groped around, nothing came out; the pack was already empty.

Gu Fanzhou handed him the cigarette he had been smoking. After a moment of hesitation, Xian Sui took it and placed it between his lips.

Imitating Gu Fanzhou’s previous movements, Xian Sui found things going much smoother this time. He took two puffs and stopped, only to realize that Gu Fanzhou was watching him.

“That’s all there is to it.” Gu Fanzhou withdrew his gaze. “I’ll take you to the set.”

Xian Sui changed into a purplish-red cheongsam. This scene began shooting from outside the entrance of the City of Night, where Jian Shuyu had just finished work and instructed a rickshaw puller to take him to East Third Street.

The moment Jian Shuyu stepped off the rickshaw, he saw that Fu Minglou was actually waiting right at the entrance, with traces of a slap visible across his face and blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

“Why has Young Master Fu made such a scene?” Xian Sui hurried forward, using a handkerchief to press against the corner of Fu Minglou’s mouth to wipe away those few drops of blood, before hastily welcoming him indoors.

“Had a few words with my old man,” Fu Minglou seemed unwilling to offer too much explanation. “It’s nothing.”

“This is hardly just a few words. They hit you this fiercely.” Xian Sui raised a hand to touch Fu Minglou’s face, but the latter instinctively dodged away.

Jian Shuyu let out an imperceptible sigh. “How did Young Master Fu ever think of coming to Shuyu’s place?”

“I have nowhere else to go.” Fu Minglou remained silent for a moment before answering.

“If Young Master Fu doesn’t want to go back, you can spend the night at Shuyu’s place.”

“Just for one night?”

“Does Young Master Fu mean to latch onto me with those words?” Jian Shuyu brewed a pot of hot tea and poured a cup for Fu Minglou.

Fu Minglou let out a soft laugh, picked up the teacup before him, and took a small sip. “Without name or status, I wouldn’t go as far as acting shamelessly.”

“Is the young master asking Shuyu for a status?”

“Willing to give it?”

Jian Shuyu pressed his index finger against Fu Minglou’s lips. “That depends on Young Master Fu’s performance.”

Fu Minglou curved the corners of his lips. Jian Shuyu handed him a clean set of clothes, prepared a floor mattress for him, and so they spent the night like that.

When he woke up, two portions of breakfast were laid out on the table, still steaming hot and completely untouched. Jian Shuyu was sitting by the half-open door, smoking a lady’s cigarette in his hand.

Fu Minglou sat down beside him. “Aren’t you going to eat something?”

“It wouldn’t do to let Young Master Fu get injured and still eat breakfast all by himself.” Jian Shuyu exhaled a puff of smoke, abruptly noticing that Fu Minglou’s gaze had landed on the lit cigarette still between his fingers. “Want a puff?”

Without replying, Fu Minglou leaned in closer and bit down on the cigarette, taking a drag before exhaling it.

Turning his head slightly to look at him, Jian Shuyu felt for no reason that Fu Minglou’s face looked mesmerizingly hazy amidst the smoke.

He leaned in closer and closer, finally pressing a kiss to Fu Minglou’s lips. This time, Fu Minglou didn’t push him away, instead yielding completely as this kiss arrived abruptly and ended just as suddenly.

As if nothing had happened at all, Fu Minglou sat back down at the table and picked up his chopsticks to eat his breakfast.

“Miss Shuyu, see you tonight.”

Once filming wrapped up, Xian Sui extinguished the cigarette in his hand. Gu Fanzhou walked back over to his side, stuffed something into his palm, and walked away.

Lowering his head to look, Xian Sui found it was an exquisitely embroidered scent sachet.

Lifting it up to his nose for a sniff, he found the scent was identical to the incense Jian Shuyu had lit during the previous scene.

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