Pretending Not to Love You [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Xiao Baijun was very childish. He used three of the fifty “I love yous” early in the morning. While the two were fooling around in bed, Xiao Baijun forced Zuo Qiu to say it once. When Zuo Qiu was brushing his teeth in the bathroom, Xiao Baijun leaned against the doorframe and made Zuo Qiu say it with foam in his mouth. During breakfast, he forced Zuo Qiu, who was drinking milk, to say it again.

Zuo Qiu was exasperated and couldn’t bear it anymore. “I request to say the remaining 47 times all at once.”

Xiao Baijun’s thought process was incomprehensible. Zuo Qiu wasn’t sure if Xiao Baijun would force him to say it while he was on the toilet or in other awkward moments, so completing this punishment immediately was very necessary.

But this proposal was ultimately ignored by Xiao Baijun, who stated he wouldn’t accept it.

Zuo Qiu looked at Xiao Baijun’s retreating figure, helpless.

…

The first scene in the morning was Zuo Qiu and Dai Ni’s. Once they entered filming mode, Dai Ni clearly felt that Zuo Qiu was thoroughly prepared. His expressions, movements, and blocking were all precise. He even sought retakes from the director for the slightest flaw, which put unprecedented pressure on the half-hearted Dai Ni.

Finally, when the break came, Dai Ni slumped on a deck chair, not wanting to move. Zuo Qiu saw Xiao Baijun sitting outside the set, seriously looking at documents, so he didn’t disturb him. He sat next to Dai Ni and chatted with her.

“Zuo Qiu, do you have to be so intense?” Dai Ni complained.

They were shooting a youth idol drama, not a major feature film. There was absolutely no need to be so serious about everything!

Zuo Qiu looked down at the ground. “You probably haven’t experienced the feeling of being denied.” The original author’s disapproval yesterday still affected Zuo Qiu. He hoped to change the author’s mind through his acting skills.

Dai Ni rolled her eyes, gazing at the sky from the lounge chair. “Who says I haven’t? Since my debut, I’ve acted in five dramas. After every one aired, netizens would scold me. The better ones complained that I was expressionless, the worse ones told me to get out of the entertainment industry, and the most vicious ones threatened to mail me knives and shrouds.”

Zuo Qiu was a little stunned. Are netizens that cruel? Zuo Qiu hadn’t managed his Weibo and didn’t know if netizens had sent him such messages privately.

“You must have been very sad?”

Dai Ni smiled. “At first, I was a little upset and a little scared, but later I became numb. I stopped reading private messages; out of sight, out of mind.”

“Didn’t you think about changing?”

“I really hadn’t before,” Dai Ni’s gaze shifted from the sky directly to Zuo Qiu’s face. “But after joining this crew, I’ve been forced to change. Zuo Qiu, you’ve given me a lot of pressure and motivation.”

Few people who enter the entertainment industry truly contemplate acting skills consistently. People enter either for fame or for profit. As long as they are famous and rich, most don’t care about netizens criticizing their acting skills. Although Dai Ni wasn’t driven by fame or profit, being in this industry meant she had long been following the crowd. Since everyone was mediocre, no one was dragging anyone else down. But meeting Zuo Qiu, this serious person, forced her last bit of self-respect to push her to change.

Zuo Qiu smiled. “I think it’s great that I can encourage both you and me to grow.”

In the first few years of an artist’s debut, they can rely on their looks. Criticisms of acting can be dismissed by claiming they are inexperienced. But after a while, that’s hard to maintain. Looks fade over time, and without acting skills as a backup, it’s easy to be washed away by the next generation.

Dai Ni looked at Zuo Qiu and asked him, “As far as I know, since your debut, you’ve only had a cameo in one movie, and that movie hasn’t been released yet. What are netizens basing their disapproval on?”

Zuo Qiu recounted yesterday’s incident to Dai Ni. “Actually, I don’t know why they disapprove of me. I guess it’s pre-conceived notions.”

It’s impossible for everyone to be satisfied, not even money can satisfy everyone. But the competitive Zuo Qiu hoped not to disappoint his supporting fans and also wanted to use his acting skills to gain approval from the original author and original fans who had initially rejected him.

Dai Ni had been in the entertainment industry for a year or two and knew the rules of the game better than Zuo Qiu. “It’s possible someone is trying to create a trend to attack you. Don’t take it too seriously.”

Zuo Qiu was half-skeptical, but his intention to improve his acting skills remained unchanged.

…

After class in the evening, the two returned to Xiao Baijun’s room. Zuo Qiu saw the documents Xiao Baijun had been reading during the day carelessly tossed on the table. Curious, he picked them up and casually flipped to the character profile of Cheng Bo.

Xiao Baijun came out of the bathroom and saw Zuo Qiu sitting on the sofa seriously reading his documents. He didn’t mind. He walked over and sat next to Zuo Qiu, glancing at the page Zuo Qiu had turned to. He didn’t interrupt him, resting his left arm on the back of the sofa behind Zuo Qiu.

After reading Cheng Bo’s profile, Zuo Qiu gained a new understanding of the book fans’ dissatisfaction with him.

Xiao Baijun saw Zuo Qiu close the folder and asked him, “What do you feel after reading it?” Xiao Baijun thought Zuo Qiu would feel better, knowing that many of the people who disliked him were hired trolls, or maybe he would sigh about how complicated the entertainment industry is. But Zuo Qiu’s final words surprised him a little.

“Will Cheng Bo be using pins to stick my effigy?” Zuo Qiu asked half-jokingly.

Blocking someone’s financial path is like murdering their parents, and blocking someone’s future is the same, perhaps worse.

Xiao Baijun: “This industry has always been like this. The so-called fairness is mostly a self-serving beautification by the winners. The things they pay for behind the scenes are unknown to outsiders.”

He had been intensively studying many industry secrets in the past two days. Currently, most top-tier stars and the most active trending artists almost all have powerful backers. It’s simply not enough to rely on effort alone to rise from being an unknown film school graduate to the pinnacle of the pyramid.

Zuo Qiu turned to Xiao Baijun and joked, “I’m so lucky. I signed with my roommate’s entertainment company right after my debut, and soon after, I hooked up with the future boss of the entertainment company. Tsk tsk, my backer is really strong.”

Zuo Qiu didn’t think having a backer was a bad thing. In every industry now, having someone guide you is better than fighting alone and getting beaten bloody. But Zuo Qiu also knew that having a backer was not an excuse not to work hard. On the contrary, he needed to put in more effort to repay the person willing to support him.

Xiao Baijun understood Zuo Qiu’s meaning and continued his line of thought: “Then should you do something to please the ‘Sugar Daddy’ in front of you?”

Zuo Qiu remembered the 47 remaining phrases and smiled, “I love you, Sugar Daddy.”

Xiao Baijun feigned anger, “No sincerity.”

Zuo Qiu leaned closer to Xiao Baijun and whispered into his ear, “I’ll use my ‘five-finger lady’ (hand) to serve you tonight.”

Zuo Qiu was too close. Xiao Baijun felt his breath on his ear, which tickled. He crossed his right leg over his left, concealing the object that had involuntarily hardened, “Let’s see your performance.”

Zuo Qiu didn’t notice Xiao Baijun’s physical reaction. Seeing that it was still early, he suggested they rehearse their scene for tomorrow. Xiao Baijun really wanted to refuse, but he held back. He went through the scene with Zuo Qiu absentmindedly, fortunately, his dialogue wasn’t much, so he managed.

An hour later, Zuo Qiu prepared to go back to his room to shower first, then come back to sleep.

“No need to go over there. I have clothes here too. Just wear mine.” Xiao Baijun stopped him, preventing him from leaving.

Zuo Qiu thought about it and agreed. Their heights were similar. He could wear Xiao Baijun’s clothes; they were just a little big, which wasn’t a big problem.

“You go shower first. Don’t close the door. I’ll find clothes and bring them in for you,” Xiao Baijun said, then went to the closet to find pajamas for Zuo Qiu.

Zuo Qiu agreed. They had reached this point, and being defensive seemed overly sentimental.

The hotel bathroom was usually a partitioned area within the washroom. Zuo Qiu entered the washroom, preparing to relieve himself before stepping into the glass shower stall. Just as he unzipped his pants, Xiao Baijun came in.

Xiao Baijun pressed close to Zuo Qiu’s back, reaching out his right hand to grip Zuo Qiu: “I want to hear the fifth time.”

Zuo Qiu, whose “lifeline” was controlled and was being threatened to verbally please him, was incredibly speechless. Saying “I love you” while urinating—the scene felt weird no matter how he thought about it. Zuo Qiu declared he couldn’t do it.

“Can you be any more shameless?”

“Yes, you can do it while saying it to me. I like that.”

So, the fifth “I love you” was said with the two of them squeezed into the narrow shower room. Zuo Qiu said it the way Xiao Baijun liked.

Xiao Baijun had heard these three words many times recently, but now, with the two of them under the hot water, naked and pressed against each other, with Zuo Qiu’s face flushed and leaning on his shoulder, saying it while catching his breath, it almost made Xiao Baijun unable to last five minutes.

Xiao Baijun pressed Zuo Qiu against the wall. Zuo Qiu tilted his head back, letting Xiao Baijun kiss his neck, collarbone, and chest.

Fifteen minutes later, they both came, and two streams of white liquid sprayed onto the bathroom floor, merging into a small white river that flowed down the drain with the hot water from the shower.

After satisfying their physical desire, Xiao Baijun continued to hug and kiss Zuo Qiu. At this moment, Zuo Qiu was lazy and docile, like a little lamb. Xiao Baijun felt that he could no longer be satisfied with just this.

The two lay in bed. Xiao Baijun suggested, “When we go back to B City in a couple of days, how about we stay a few extra days?”

Zuo Qiu was confused. They had already agreed on taking two days off. Was Xiao Baijun suddenly changing the plan?

Xiao Baijun cleared his throat uncomfortably. “B City makes it easier to buy various ‘tools of the trade’.”

The timing of their relationship was sudden, and Xiao Baijun hadn’t prepared any sex toys. Besides, he wasn’t familiar with this area and didn’t know where to buy them. So, although they had been together for a while, he had nothing on hand. Xiao Baijun planned to take Zuo Qiu home after filming the commercial in B City. After tasting the “meat,” they would wait for Zuo Qiu to rest for a few days to recover before coming back, as he heard the recovery time for the first time was the longest.

Zuo Qiu understood his meaning just by looking at Xiao Baijun’s expression. He nodded shyly. Having watched so many films, Zuo Qiu admitted he was a little excited about the real action.