After the Pretty Cannon Fodder Was Coveted by the Best Actor - Chapter 7

Xian Sui had spent almost all of his recent time on the film set, and even during his free time at home, he was studying the script and his character.

He sat on the mildewed balcony railing of the wall and lit a cigarette. Jian Shuyu liked smoking the fashionable brand of ladies’ cigarettes of that time, which could no longer be seen nowadays, so Xian Sui smoked Wuyeshen cigarettes that cost five yuan a pack from the small grocery store downstairs.

Sitting in the room looking out the window while smoking was something Jian Shuyu frequently did, aside from dealing with guests in the City of Night. Flipping through the script, Xian Sui figured that this was not only Jian Shuyu’s habit, but also his means of using nicotine to numb himself and escape reality.

He quickly flipped ahead to the part after Jian Shuyu’s date with Fu Minglou, finding that Jian Shuyu’s frequency of smoking had not decreased, but rather become even more frequent.

Xian Sui extinguished the cigarette in his hand and fell silent, looking at the last wisp of smoke remaining in the ashtray.

His assistant drove over to take him to the set. Xian Sui deliberately brought the sachet Gu Fanzhou had given him, for no other reason than that this fragrance was indeed very pleasant to the smell and just happened to mask the smell of smoke on his body. He had the habit of bringing scented sachets when going out precisely to keep strange odors from clinging to his body.

Xian Sui did not arrive particularly early, and quite a few people were already there. Seeing Gu Fanzhou’s assistant running around busily, Xian Sui could not help his curiosity and asked the staff members, only to find out that a group of fans had come to visit Gu Fanzhou. Since time was not very abundant, they did not arrange a separate location and were receiving them right here at the set.

“In the future, Brother Xian Sui, you will also be able to command such a massive turnout.” Xian Sui’s assistant comforted him from the side.

Xian Sui did not care much about these things; currently, he only cared about whether he could successfully complete the filming of Peach Blossoms Unseen.

He walked straight into the fitting room, and just as he casually pulled the door shut, he discovered that Xie Zhuangqiu was actually inside, having just taken off his suit jacket. Xian Sui stepped back half a step awkwardly. “Sorry, President Xie, I didn’t know you were in here.”

“It’s nothing. I forgot to lock the door, and besides, you didn’t see anything either.” Xie Zhuangqiu stopped the movement of unbuttoning his shirt. “Getting ready for filming?”

“Not yet. I came early to prepare.”

“Fanzhou’s fans are coming to visit the crew in a while. I’m afraid filming won’t be able to start until this matter wraps up,” Xie Zhuangqiu smiled with feigned familiarity. “Just now, his assistant was flustered and accidentally splashed water on me, so I borrowed the fitting room here to change my shirt.”

Xian Sui originally wanted to use the excuse of not disturbing Xie Zhuangqiu to exit the fitting room, but the other party abruptly shifted the conversation. “The gift sent to you, do you still like it?”

From the hotel, Xie Zhuangqiu’s gift had been sent over by someone entrusted by Gu Fanzhou, and Xian Sui had casually placed it aside without ever remembering to unwrap it.

Being asked about this matter at this moment, Xian Sui inevitably felt a bit guilty, but he still braced himself and replied, “Thank you very much, President Xie. I really like the gift.”

“Is that so?” Xie Zhuangqiu closed in on him by a few steps. “Then I wonder if I have the opportunity to watch you change into it?”

Although Xian Sui did not know what it was, his instinct told him he could no longer brush it off casually. “President Xie, you should change your clothes first. I still have some script questions to discuss with Director Yu.”

“Wait a moment.” Xie Zhuangqiu extended his arm across to press against the door panel, trapping Xian Sui almost in his embrace. “Did you throw the thing away, or did Gu Fanzhou not pass it on to you at all?”

Xian Sui kept his lips tightly sealed and said nothing. Xie Zhuangqiu indeed did not care about the real answer, instead letting out a scoff. “Please go back and relay this to him. I truly do not like eating the fish in someone else’s bowl, so I generally just snatch the bowl over first, and the meat inside naturally becomes my property.”

Xian Sui offered a polite parting remark out of courtesy and hurried out of the fitting room. Running away like this turned out to be a mistake, as the moment he ran out, he bumped into Gu Fanzhou surrounded by enthusiastic fans. Blundering right into the crowd like a headless fly, amid his embarrassment, he knocked over a handmade doll from the pile of gifts, which was sewn to look quite a bit like Gu Fanzhou.

“I’m, I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going for a moment,” Xian Sui hurriedly squatted down, picked up the doll, and raised his hand to pat away the dirt on it, only to find somehow that no matter how he rubbed and scrubbed, it wouldn’t come clean.

If Gu Fanzhou minded, Xian Sui could still say a few nice words in private, but a fan’s sincere gesture had been ruined by him like this, leaving Xian Sui feeling apologetic. He hurriedly apologized to the crowd. “I’ll wash it clean. Could you please not be mad?”

Laughter immediately rose from among the fan group, and Xian Sui vaguely heard someone telling him it’s okay, not mad, and even someone saying so pretty and so cute.

“No one is blaming you.” Gu Fanzhou turned his face sideways to look at Xian Sui, who appeared somewhat flustered. His attitude in front of fans was always amiable after all.

“No matter what, I’m the one who dirtied it,” Xian Sui was still holding the doll in his arms. “I’ll take responsibility for cleaning it up and returning it to you.”

Gu Fanzhou seemed amused by Xian Sui’s serious streak. “Alright then, I’ll leave it to you.”

Only then did Xian Sui leave the crowd carrying the doll, turning straight toward the public lounge. He could not help locking eyes with the object in his hand, as the traces of handmade crafting were very obvious, and the clothes were what Gu Fanzhou wore in the leaked preview videos, which was Fu Minglou’s outfit.

He pinched the doll’s face before finally starting to prepare for the next scene.

Jian Shuyu came to the City of Night as usual, and coincidentally, a regular customer was coming tonight. He went to the entrance to greet him, and before stepping into the dance floor, he happened to see Fu Minglou enter the door as well.

“Miss Shuyu,” Fu Minglou ignored the regular customer’s presence and walked right up to Jian Shuyu. “Do you really have to accompany him?”

“What do you mean? I came to find Shuyu first tonight.” The regular customer was obviously very dissatisfied with Fu Minglou and pulled a large stack of banknotes out of his pocket.

Fu Minglou clearly did not back down because of this. He leisurely fished out a gold ingot from his own pocket, causing the man to freeze for a moment upon seeing it.

“Must you snatch her away?” The regular customer deliberately raised his volume, as if doing so would prevent him from losing his momentum. “Then let’s open some wine. Whoever gets drunk first walks out of the City of Night on their own.”

Jian Shuyu still remembered how Fu Minglou’s face had flushed red before he had even swallowed a few cups earlier. He quietly tugged at Fu Minglou’s clothes, but still failed to talk him out of it. “Fine.”

Fu Minglou sat down with the regular customer, and waiters continuously brought drinks to their table, each bottle more expensive than the last, pouring them into their stomachs as if their lives depended on it.

Jian Shuyu tried to dissuade Fu Minglou more than once, yet the other party still poured alcohol down his own throat unblinkingly.

After a long while had passed, the regular customer finally nearly collapsed in a semi-conscious state, and the waiters helped escort him out the door. Only then did Fu Minglou finally stop his actions. “You belong to me.”

“Young Master Fu, you’ve drunk too much,” Jian Shuyu supported him into his embrace. “Why go to such lengths?”

Fu Minglou managed to lift his gaze to look at him. “Wanted to win a smile from the beauty.”

“Shuyu cannot laugh seeing Young Master Fu like this.” Just as his voice trailed off, Jian Shuyu directly supported the man up and headed into a private booth.

He had Fu Minglou lie flat on the sofa with his head resting on his thigh, his hand gently touching the other’s burning face. “Looking like this, Young Master Fu, it seems you won’t be able to do anything tonight.”

“Having you accompany me is already wonderful.” Fu Minglou grasped the palm of Jian Shuyu’s hand that had paused on his face.

“How did Young Master Fu think of Shuyu again? Aren’t you unhappy?” Jian Shuyu used his free hand to massage Fu Minglou’s temples.

Fu Minglou did not make a sound, kissing the back of Jian Shuyu’s hand.

Jian Shuyu naturally did not pursue the question further, merely accompanying Fu Minglou in silence until the other fell soundly asleep without realizing it.

When filming ended, Xian Sui was just about to head straight back to the fitting room when Gu Fanzhou rose from the sofa. “Don’t take the fan visit matter from earlier too much to heart.”

“I will wash the doll clean.” Xian Sui was inexplicably stubborn on this point.

Gu Fanzhou turned his face away, too lazy to argue with the other person. “Whatever.”

His assistant packed up Xian Sui’s things, carrying the bag as they walked towards the parking area. Xian Sui personally held Gu Fanzhou’s dirty doll in his arms, and when he came out, he happened to run into the other person also preparing to leave.

Unlike the sparse and quiet atmosphere on Xian Sui’s side, Gu Fanzhou’s assistant was carrying hands full of gifts and cradling a bouquet of paper roses folded by fans himself.

Gu Fanzhou’s gaze lingered in his direction from afar for a moment before automatically cutting off the view once he got into the car.

“Let’s go, brother.” The assistant started the vehicle and drove all the way to the entrance of the small alley where Xian Sui’s house was located.

With nothing to do in the car, he browsed through his phone and discovered that his Weibo had unexpectedly gained dozens of followers, not a huge number, but at least someone was willing to pay attention to him.

Xian Sui soaked Gu Fanzhou’s doll in water and hand-washed it until it was sparkling clean, even retaining a faint fragrance after drying.

Suddenly thinking of something, he took a photo of the doll clipped to the clothesline, posted it to his own Weibo, and added the caption: [Bath time is over.]

At first, no one paid attention to him. Later, for reasons unknown, the red notification dots kept multiplying, and when Xian Sui clicked to open them, he found out that Gu Fanzhou had actually reposted his Weibo: [Thoughtful of you, no wonder I feel so much fresher myself.]

Xian Sui suddenly gained another massive wave of followers. His homepage was completely empty, with no other content besides the update he had just posted, and some people were complaining in the comments about why he wasn’t posting pictures of himself.

He tried taking a selfie and posting it up, and soon several people left comments.

[Even a death angle cannot mask this beauty’s face, but seriously, brother, take some time to learn how to take selfies]

[Oh my god, the tear-mole little beauty! Truly the destined Jian Shuyu]

After finishing reading through the comments, Xian Sui could not help letting out a soft laugh.

When returning to the set, Xian Sui brought along the dried doll belonging to Gu Fanzhou and personally handed it back to Gu Fanzhou before filming started.

Gu Fanzhou handed the doll over to his assistant, then fished another doll out of his own bag, wearing a red qipao which was clearly Xian Sui’s outfit in the film.

“Some fans asked me to pass this to you.”

Xian Sui accepted the doll, seeing that the workmanship was quite meticulous. He had not expected that he could also receive gifts from fans, and immediately became fond of the doll, unable to put it down. “Thank you for the trouble, Brother Gu.”

“As long as you like it.” Having completed his task, Gu Fanzhou walked on his own accord towards the private fitting room, lowering his gaze to look at his fingers along the way.

The small cut stabbed by a needle a few days ago was already barely visible, and he safely retracted his hand with peace of mind.

Ultimately, he began to wonder again why he had bothered to sew such a rag doll in the first place.

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