Mr. Lu Was Devastated After I Left - Chapter 6

Lu Beiye stared at Xu Zhuoyang across the table as he ate, saying seriously, “I have read your script. Your character seems to be designed as someone quite impulsive, and there are many scenes involving conflict and physical altercations with the second male lead. Director Li is a perfectionist; he might ask you to actually strike the other person to ensure the scene looks authentic. You are not to use real force, understand?”

Xu Zhuoyang stopped eating, looking surprised. “Brother, why are you suddenly interested in my script?”

This was the first time Lu Beiye had taken an interest in his work or offered such detailed advice. Xu Zhuoyang understood that even if the director requested it, he would only go through the motions; he would never actually hit someone. It was better to have one less enemy and one more friend. Given how murky the waters of the entertainment industry were, he would certainly not provoke trouble impulsively.

“I invested in this production, and a significant amount at that. Of course, I need to take a look.”

Xu Zhuoyang lowered his head, feeling a surge of disappointment.

Damn it. It was just me thinking too much. This man has absolutely no heart.

He shoveled a few bites of rice into his mouth indignantly, but he noticed Lu Beiye suddenly pick up his phone, his expression turning solemn.

“What is wrong?”

Lu Beiye silently put his phone away and set down his bowl and chopsticks. “The company has an urgent matter. I have to go back. You can go to sleep when you are tired. I might not be coming back tonight.”

Before Xu Zhuoyang could respond, Lu Beiye hurried out the door.

Xu Zhuoyang silently picked up a spare rib and chewed it absentmindedly. He noticed that Lu Beiye had barely touched his rice, and the bone broth he had painstakingly simmered to help him through the cold weather remained completely untouched.

Is there some major crisis at the group lately? I have not heard anything about it.

Fengying Entertainment was, after all, a subsidiary of the Shengfeng Group. Entertainment industry news usually traveled even faster; there was no way he would be completely out of the loop. It felt like he was living without an internet connection.

In reality, Lu Beiye did not go to the company at all. Instead, he rushed anxiously to Building B in District C, a residential complex in the same neighborhood.

He had not expected Mu Yuan to find a place so close to his own home.

He found the apartment listed in his messages and rang the doorbell. Soon, the door creaked open, and a young man in pajamas looked at him weakly, smiling. “Brother Lu.”

The boy had peach blossom eyes swimming with moisture, his nose slightly red, and his cherry pink lips curled upward, revealing a pair of small, sharp canine teeth.

While this face was identical to Xu Zhuoyang’s, it felt different. For instance, Xu Zhuoyang had never worn such a pitiful expression; when he was sick, he was either listless or grumpy.

Seeing that he was standing barefoot on the cold floor, Lu Beiye hurried inside, closed the door, and reprimanded him. “You are running a fever, yet you do not know how to take care of yourself? Why are you walking barefoot when the floor is this cold?”

Mu Yuan lowered his head slightly. “I heard the doorbell and rushed over because I was anxious.”

His face was flushed with an unnatural heat, his body was burning, and he looked completely drained.

Lu Beiye bent down, and Mu Yuan obediently opened his arms for him. Lu Beiye carried him to the bedroom, instructed Assistant Yan to call a private doctor, and then folded a cold towel to place on Mu Yuan’s forehead. He acted with such extreme caution, terrified of causing the slightest discomfort.

If Xu Zhuoyang had been there, he would have been shocked. The man who had once been able to sleep soundly while knowing Xu Zhuoyang was suffering from a high fever was now treating someone else with such desperate anxiety. The contrast was night and day.

Back then, a helpless Xu Zhuoyang had been forced to drag his dizzy, feverish body downstairs to catch a taxi to the nearest clinic for an antipyretic injection. The driver had felt sorry for him and even helped him back inside his apartment, while the man who had shared his bed for years had not even made a single phone call.

Assistant Yan was efficient. A private doctor arrived shortly with a medical kit, administered an IV drip, collected his fee, and left after giving a few instructions.

Lu Beiye tenderly stroked his hair. “Your health has always been delicate. You have only been back in the country for a few days, yet you are already down with a high fever. Is the climate and environment here not agreeing with you?”

Mu Yuan pouted, looking aggrieved. “No. I wanted to meet you after you got off work to have dinner together this afternoon, but I waited a long time and you never came out. I asked around, and they said you had already left. I must have been standing in the wind for too long.”

Mu Yuan’s eyes darted away. How could he tell Lu Beiye that he had actually gotten sick because he had been playing around and soaked his clothes in cold water?

Lu Beiye did not notice anything amiss; he believed the story completely. He had indeed gone straight home after work because Xu Zhuoyang had started an inexplicable argument with him that morning.

He sighed. “Do not wait for me outside again. If you want to see me, just call me. No matter where I am, I will definitely come to you.”

Mu Yuan pursed his lips and nodded shyly.

Lu Beiye asked, “Have you eaten dinner yet?”

“Not yet. I felt dizzy as soon as I got back, so I did not get up to eat.”

Lu Beiye stood up. “I will cook you some porridge.” With that, he walked to the kitchen, scooped two generous measuring cups of rice from the bin, and threw them into the pot to boil.

Once the water started to steam, he suddenly felt confused.

He remembered that when Xu Zhuoyang cooked, he usually rinsed the rice first.

He used a spoon to scoop up some rice and looked at it; the grains were already beginning to soften. If he took them out to rinse them now.

Forget it. Rinsing rice does not really clean anything anyway. Eating it as is should be fine.