God is Being Pampered by the Group - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: A Gathering Under One Roof

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Beside the door hung a wooden plaque with the inscription: [Autumn Chrysanthemum]

Zuo Chengyi reclined in his chair, with Li Yong in front of him handling various toasts and shielding him from drinks.

Suddenly, he turned his eyes slightly toward the window. A black shadow had just leaped down from the rockery, its slender tail swaying in the air.

A cat demon.

After a moment, Zuo Chengyi rose from his seat and said to those present with a gentle smile, “I’m going to the restroom.”

…

At the entrance of the private room, Director Zhou spoke up, breaking the faint, frozen atmosphere.

“You kid finally made it. Get in here, we were just waiting for you two.”

Guan Zhou withdrew his gaze and smiled pleasantly at Director Zhou. “Alright.”

Stepping inside the private room, his eyes swept around. As expected, he saw many unfamiliar faces, likely the significant others of certain staff members. They seemed quite restrained, but some of the girls were looking this way with hidden excitement. There was no need to guess where their gazes were landing; it was definitely on the “rat spirit” next to him.

Despite having no liking for this rat spirit, Guan Zhou had to admit the guy was indeed a top-tier star right now, beloved by many young girls.

Many of the men had looks of helplessness on their faces. They were probably regretting immediately telling their girlfriends after hearing Director Zhou’s words. They could only patiently explain as their girlfriends urged them to go over and ask Qi Yue for an autograph.

None of them expected Qi Yue to actually show up at a wrap party! They were completely unprepared. The haters outside always spread rumors that Qi Yue had a terrible personality, a huge temper, and played the big shot by looking down on everyone. The latter was up for debate, but regarding his bad temper, they, as insiders, knew that was indeed the case. Only those fans with ten layers of filters thought their “Big Brother” was just being “authentic” and “unpretentious.”

Normally, if there was no business, they wouldn’t dare get within three meters of Qi Yue, let alone ask for an autograph. That was a feat only for the truly brave.

One can imagine the shock of seeing Qi Yue, who had never attended a wrap party, suddenly appearing on-site. Even Director Zhou couldn’t hide his surprise when he heard the news personally, let alone the other staff members.

Regardless of how others felt about Qi Yue attending the banquet, Guan Zhou led Bai Yan to a sparsely populated table to sit down. He then saw Director Zhou return to the stage at the front, flanked by the producer, the screenwriter, and other key personnel. The room instantly fell silent.

Naturally, Director Zhou had to give a speech for the wrap-up, saying how the actors and staff had coordinated happily during filming, thanking everyone, and looking forward to future collaborations.

All eyes were focused on the stage, including Guan Zhou’s. However, as he watched, he suddenly felt as though something was missing.

When the female lead took the microphone to give her short speech of thanks, Guan Zhou finally had an epiphany and realized what was missing—he had just seen that rat spirit, the male lead Qi Yue, but the man was not on the stage now.

Guided by a flash of intuition, Guan Zhou abruptly turned his head. Sure enough, in the seat on the other side of Bai Yan sat the rat spirit Qi Yue, who had moved there at some unknown moment.

?!!

His vigilance spiked instantly. Guan Zhou glared at the other man. Since their last confrontation where they had dropped all pretenses, Guan Zhou felt no need to save face for him. His expression was as sour as could be.

Fortunately, whatever scheme this rat spirit was plotting, he was sitting quietly next to Bai Yan and had not subjected him to any verbal harassment.

In truth, Bai Yan had known since the moment Qi Yue approached and sat down. However, seeing that the others didn’t seem to notice, he realized it was likely a demonic ability.

As for Qi Yue himself, this was the second time he had seen Bai Yan. Compared to the deep impression left last time on set which was mainly due to the incredibly attractive aura emanating from this person he could still clearly remember it until now.

However, the moment he saw this person just now, Qi Yue couldn’t help but feel a wave of disappointment. That aura from before was now almost imperceptible, disappearing before he could even identify its source.

Qi Yue had never been obsessed with anything, nor did he think anything could make him obsessed. But in that instant, he felt a sense of loss he had never experienced before.

Yet in the next moment, his thoughts paused. He seemed to sense something, and that inexplicable feeling of emptiness vanished. Deep in his eyes, hidden from everyone, bright flames of excitement flickered.

No, it hadn’t disappeared. He felt it again. Although the aura that initially attracted him was gone, there was still a flickering, faint sensation—incredibly comfortable. As time passed, he could feel that wonderful sensation more and more…

Staying by this person’s side.

Just staying by this person’s side.

Unconsciously, without even Qi Yue realizing it, his attention shifted back from Guan Zhou to Bai Yan, his eyes burning with intensity.

Then, after watching the other sit down at a table with a few people, his feet followed. He lowered his presence and sat down beside the person, greedily soaking in that incredibly comfortable, completely irresistible temptation…

Until—

“Bai Yan, let’s switch seats.”

Discovering that the rat spirit had somehow sat down next to Bai Yan, Guan Zhou’s expression turned grim. He certainly wasn’t going to sit back and do nothing.

Bai Yan looked at Guan Zhou and nodded slightly.

Thus, when Qi Yue snapped out of it, he saw that Bai Yan and Guan Zhou had already swapped positions.

“…”

Originally, due to Bai Yan’s attraction, he had temporarily ignored Guan Zhou. Now, Qi Yue couldn’t help but narrow his eyes, feeling a vein in his temple throbbing.

As expected… it won’t do without dealing with this trash.

Guan Zhou flashed a business-like smile. “Isn’t the Great Star Qi going up on stage to say a few words? I think Director Zhou is looking for you.”

Since it was rare for Qi Yue to attend a wrap party, Director Zhou did indeed want him to say a few words after the speech. Setting aside Qi Yue’s personality issues, his acting skills were beyond reproach.

But Director Zhou scanned the room from the stage and couldn’t find a sign of the kid anywhere.

At this moment, Qi Yue’s lowered presence was still in effect. When Guan Zhou discovered him, Qi Yue had unconsciously included Guan Zhou and Bai Yan in that bubble. However, perhaps because all his focus was on Bai Yan, he didn’t notice this.

Ignoring Director Zhou on stage, Qi Yue smiled back after Guan Zhou spoke. “I do what I want. I don’t need you to give me pointers.”

Then, his tone suddenly shifted. “By the same token, Bai Yan naturally has his own thoughts on what he wants to do. Though you are his cousin, interfering too much in Bai Yan’s decisions might not be very good, don’t you think?”

Guan Zhou, of course, understood the hidden meaning in those words—they were clear and grating to his ears. This rat spirit really hadn’t given up on leering at Bai Yan!

Fire sparked in Guan Zhou’s eyes, but thinking of Bai Yan behind him, he suppressed it for the moment and snorted. “I have no idea what the Great Star Qi is talking about.”

Then, Guan Zhou seemed to think of something, and a smile returned to his face as he said, “However, if you’re referring to the business card Sister Wang gave earlier, I’m sorry, but my cousin has no intention of entering the entertainment industry. I know Sister Wang only manages Great Star Qi, so now, you should be able to rest easy.”

His words carried an implicit meaning if you understand, you understand~

Yes, Guan Zhou was blackening the rat spirit’s name to prevent him from using more flowery words to deceive his pure and kind silver-haired beauty. Although he knew the guy was a rat spirit, the idiom “human hearts are sinister” was not limited to humans.

Besides, there was another famous saying: “Those who are not of our kind must have a different heart.”

Applying this to the rat spirit, it was absolutely true

While the two were crossing swords with smiles, neither backing down, Bai Yan sat on the other side having switched seats with Guan Zhou, his expression remaining indifferent and calm. He acted as if it had nothing to do with him, seemingly oblivious to being the fuse for this conflict.

He had been silently looking at a plate of exquisite pastries on the table when he suddenly seemed to sense something. He slightly raised his pale gold eyes and looked toward the corridor outside the window.

And there, he locked eyes with Zuo Chengyi, who was standing there at some unknown moment.