Pretending Not to Love You [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Zuo Qiu opened his phone and scrolled through the film critics’ Weibo accounts. Sure enough, most of the critics were speaking highly of him, praising his superb, soulful acting, especially the final crying scene, which they said was very infectious. Below the text, some critics included official stills, and some even posted photos they took with Zuo Qiu.

Since the movie had not yet been released, the critics didn’t delve much into the plot, as per the rules. However, the highly complimentary words led many netizens to leave comments saying they were highly anticipating the movie and eager to see Zuo Qiu’s performance in it.

After checking all the Weibo posts that mentioned the movie or the duo, Zuo Qiu also refreshed the group’s Weibo. As expected, since last night, the latest promotional Weibo, which was a repost of Fledgling’s official account, had received many new comments. Apart from a small minority of disapproving netizens, most people expressed anticipation for the duo’s performance.

Zhao Zhixian glanced at the two and carefully began, “Do you two want to open your personal Weibo accounts and manage them yourselves?”

Xiao Bojun, who selectively listened to conversations, refused without thinking. “No.”

Zuo Qiu wasn’t particularly keen either. Now that Xiao Bojun had refused, it was even less possible for him to open one alone. As a duo, if one person opened a personal Weibo and the other didn’t, it would certainly lead to speculation from all sides. So, he also refused.

Since the parties involved disagreed, Zhao Zhixian, as their manager, couldn’t force the issue and let it go.

The car arrived downstairs at Xiao Bojun’s new apartment. Zuo Qiu declined the kind offer from Zhao Zhixian and Guo Chen to help carry the bags and went upstairs with Xiao Bojun and their luggage.

With quite a lot of clothing, it took Zuo Qiu half an hour to organize everything. It was only when he closed the closet door that he realized the “koala” had been out of sight since they got back.

Zuo Qiu searched the apartment and finally found Xiao Bojun in the ensuite bathroom. He was in the bathtub—washing the pillow!

“What are you doing?” Zuo Qiu looked at the tub full of foam and felt that “washing the pillow” seemed inappropriate. Given the current situation, it looked more like Xiao Bojun was “forcing” the pillow to take a bubble bath.

“Why won’t this pillow get clean no matter how much I wash it?” Xiao Bojun sounded confused. He had already changed the water several times, but there was still so much foam in the tub.

Zuo Qiu looked at the laundry detergent nearby. A 1kg bottle that was just opened yesterday was now only half full. He teased, “Why don’t you pour all the laundry detergent in?”

Oh, so he hadn’t poured enough!

Xiao Bojun had a sudden realization. “Do I need to pour the whole thing in to get it clean?” As he spoke, he picked up the remaining detergent, ready to add more to the tub.

Zuo Qiu stopped the persistent and clueless Xiao Bojun. He felt a little tired. “You go wait over there. I’ll take care of it.”

As a novice at housework, Xiao Bojun felt he had a lot to learn, and now was a good time to study, so he retreated to the second line, handing the main battleground over to Zuo Qiu.

Zuo Qiu drained all the water from the tub, picked up the pillow. The pillow was square, printed with a little yellow duck. It was a small gift Zuo Qiu received for donating blood in his freshman year. Zuo Qiu unzipped the edge of the pillow, took out the cotton inner cushion. The quality of the inner cushion was decent; it didn’t shrivel up when it met water.

“This is the first time I’ve seen someone wash the inner cushion, too,” Zuo Qiu said while forcefully squeezing the foam out of the cotton.

Xiao Bojun rubbed his nose. This was the first time he had heard that you only needed to wash the pillowcase.

Fifteen minutes later, Zuo Qiu took the semi-dry pillowcase and inner cushion out of the washing machine and hung them on the drying rack.

“By the way, I forgot to ask you, why are you washing this?” A person who never hand-washed anything suddenly became industrious; Zuo Qiu suspected his motive was unusual.

Xiao Bojun’s eyes darted away. “Nothing, I just thought it was dirty and wanted to wash it.”

Zuo Qiu didn’t believe this answer at all. After all, before this, Xiao Bojun’s approach to dirty clothes usually involved only three steps: step one, open the washing machine; step two, throw the dirty clothes in; step three, press “start.” Even hanging clothes would fall to Zuo Qiu because Xiao Bojun would forget while playing games. Now he was hand-washing. Zuo Qiu wondered which screw had come loose in his head.

Seeing that Xiao Bojun was unwilling to say more, Zuo Qiu didn’t press the issue. After all, a pillow held no threat to him. He just assumed the Second Young Master was trying out a new life experience.

But that night, when Xiao Bojun placed the now-dry pillow under Zuo Qiu’s hips, Zuo Qiu realized something was wrong.

“What are you doing!”

Xiao Bojun pressed his index finger to his lips. “Shh, don’t talk. I know how much you want a baby. Today, we’re definitely going to conceive!”

Zuo Qiu was truly bewildered. What did a pillow have to do with getting pregnant? Wait, he couldn’t get pregnant! Padding his butt—what the heck!

Half a minute later, both men groaned. Xiao Bojun’s eyes were full of excitement, while Zuo Qiu’s face was contorted with the desire to curse.

“Screw you, you old bastard!”

While moving, Xiao Bojun took a moment to reply, “My dad was an only son; I don’t have an older uncle, so I don’t have an old bastard.”

Zuo Qiu punched him in the chest and changed his insult. “Screw you, you airhead!”

Xiao Bojun completely ignored the weak force, continuing his movements and talking. “Don’t even think about it this lifetime. I won’t give you a chance to take the top!”

…

An hour later, Zuo Qiu lay on the bed, sweating profusely and gasping for breath. His whole body felt scattered, and he didn’t want to move, expressing his dissatisfaction with Xiao Bojun only with his eyes. “Who taught you this!”

As far as Zuo Qiu knew, Xiao Bojun rarely even watched simple A-rated material before, apart from fighting and playing games. He had no idea who told him these tricks.

“Do I need to learn this? I thought everyone, like me, was naturally self-taught.” After reaching maximum satisfaction, Xiao Bojun lay lazily on the bed, recovering his strength. He, too, had only learned today that if you change things up even slightly during the act, or add a small element, the entire process becomes much more interesting.

Zuo Qiu didn’t believe him. He got up to go to the bathroom to clean up, but he stumbled the moment he moved and instantly fell back onto the bed—his legs were sore. He turned and looked at Xiao Bojun, finding him utterly despicable right now.

Seeing Zuo Qiu look at him, Xiao Bojun’s face lit up with a smile.

Seeing the perpetrator smiling so happily, Zuo Qiu flared up in anger and aggressively threw the “little yellow duck” at Xiao Bojun’s head. Self-taught, my foot!

Xiao Bojun adjusted the pillow, placing it over his face. It was slightly damp, and the part printed with the little yellow duck was clearly darker in color. Xiao Bojun took a deep breath. Besides the faint scent of laundry detergent, there was Zuo Qiu’s scent. Xiao Bojun stuck out his tongue and licked it, deliberately making a smacking sound with his mouth.

There are countless pillows in the world, but none are as delicious as this one!

Zuo Qiu watched from the side, his face flushed. This person is truly invincible!

The next morning, Zuo Qiu and Xiao Bojun met up with the Fledgling crew at the airport. They were preparing to go to S City for promotions. The movie would officially premiere three days later, and they would be traveling to several places to participate in local entertainment shows. The schedule was quite tight.

As soon as the two arrived, the film’s male lead, Ou Sheng, pulled them next to him. This made the other actors present feel unbalanced but helpless. Who could blame the two newcomers? They had backing, were boosted by Film Emperors and Empresses upon their debut, their first film received high praise from so many critics, and they were rumored to be the main leads in Ou Sheng’s first directorial movie! The ability and luck of some people are hard for ordinary people to reach, so any dissatisfaction could only be suppressed.

For this trip to S City, the crew arranged to participate in one talk show and one variety show. To save time, Director Gong divided the personnel into two groups. Ou Sheng was in charge of one, leading Zuo Qiu, Xiao Bojun, and Male Lead #3, Ye Jing, to the variety show. The rest were led by the director to the talk show.

Ye Jing, who was assigned to Ou Sheng’s group, silently raised his hand, indicating he had something to say.

Director Gong looked at Ye Jing and nodded for him to speak.

“Director Gong, can I request to go to the talk show with you instead?” Ye Jing asked.

Director Gong was a little unhappy upon hearing this. Ye Jing belonged to the same management company as him. Arranging him next to Ou Sheng and Zuo Qiu, and sending them to the variety show, which was more popular than the talk show, was an attempt to let him ride the wave of popularity and try to shed the label of “perennially unpopular.” But this person didn’t appreciate the effort.

Seeing the director’s displeasure, Ye Jing also felt a headache. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the effort; he just understood his current position too well. Going with Ou Sheng and Z.X, he could already predict that it would be another trip where he was the green leaf to their red flowers. Standing next to those three, he would be instantly reduced to dust.

Moreover, his relationship with Ou Sheng was superficial. Ou Sheng definitely wouldn’t boost him the way he was boosting Zuo Qiu, so he would have even less presence. Therefore, it was better to follow Director Gong. In the talk show, as the third male lead, his role was the most important after the director and the second male lead. He would definitely receive more attention, which was genuinely better than a variety show that had high ratings but might not give him much screen time.

With “mountains” pressing down on both sides, Ye Jing felt he’d rather choose the small hill than the overwhelming Mount Tai!

If Ye Jing was unwilling to go to the variety show, someone else was willing. Male Lead #4 immediately jumped out and offered to switch places with Ye Jing.

Director Gong looked at Ye Jing, then at Male Lead #4, and refused. “Forget it, all of you come with me.”

He had brought Male Leads #1 through #4, the female lead, and Zuo Qiu and Xiao Bojun. Given Male Lead #4’s personality, which was prone to latching onto popularity and stealing the spotlight, if he did something excessive on the show, he would likely be criticized by the fans of the other three. Director Gong did not want such a thing to happen within his film crew.

Male Lead #4 was somewhat unwilling but didn’t dare offend the director, so he could only follow.

Before boarding the plane, Ou Sheng had his assistant upgrade Zuo Qiu and Xiao Bojun’s seats to first class and then negotiated with the person next to them to move the three seats together for easier conversation.

“The first battle was a success. Congratulations to you both,” Ou Sheng said, smiling at Zuo Qiu and Xiao Bojun. Earning good reviews from almost all the film critics meant they were now recognized by the critics, which was very rare for newcomers. Furthermore, their acting skills were affirmed, so even if the film’s final box office wasn’t ideal, it wouldn’t be blamed on them.

Zuo Qiu smiled. “This is largely thanks to Brother Sheng’s support.” At the premiere, Ou Sheng first led them on the red carpet and later specifically mentioned him when answering the host’s question. This increased Zuo Qiu’s favorability among netizens by more than a little, making it easier for people to accept the critics’ subsequent praise.

Ou Sheng shook his head. “No need. I was just telling the truth.”

After a brief chat, the two brought up the movie Wilderness King.

“If time permits, I’ll take you to see the set.”

The film was set to begin shooting in S City in about ten days. The set and most of the staff were already in place. As one of the investors and directors of the film, Ou Sheng was ready, and everyone in the crew, except for the actors, was already in position.

Zuo Qiu nodded and said fine. Zuo Qiu was looking forward to acting with his idol again. He flipped through the script, lamenting that they didn’t have any scenes together.

After getting off the plane, the two groups got into two different TV station cars and headed to separate shows.

As soon as Zuo Qiu got into the car and leaned against the seat, he felt drowsy. On the plane, he had quietly discussed the plot with Ou Sheng for the first hour. In the second half, he read the script from start to finish again. Since getting the script from Ou Sheng yesterday, Zuo Qiu had already read it once. After talking with Ou Sheng, he felt he had a new understanding of certain scenes, so he read it again. By now, he was a little tired.

Ou Sheng looked back and saw Xiao Bojun gently resting Zuo Qiu’s head on his shoulder, then adjusting his posture to make him more comfortable.

Noticing Ou Sheng’s gaze from the front row, Xiao Bojun looked up at him, with a hint of subtle blame in his eyes.

Ou Sheng smiled and turned his head. This Second Young Master Xiao was probably holding a grudge against him. Was it because he shouldn’t have been peeking, or because he kept Zuo Qiu talking and prevented him from resting, making him utterly exhausted? For some reason, Ou Sheng suddenly missed Mr. Cheng, who had been grumpy this morning after his request to come along was denied. What is he doing now?

The variety show on S TV was called Jigsaw Puzzle. The content generally involved chatting about movies and playing games, which was quite relaxed.

Zuo Qiu looked at the newly printed program schedule with some surprise. They were scheduled to sing the opening song. He hadn’t heard anything about singing before. It seemed this arrangement was recently changed.

Because of the added task, Zuo Qiu and Xiao Bojun practiced the song in an empty office before the recording. The production team had offered to let them lip-sync, but Zuo Qiu refused.

Although the music industry was struggling now and music awards weren’t as popular, their song had been on a certain music chart for a week. As their debut song, Zuo Qiu felt they shouldn’t be so perfunctory. Besides, there are no secrets in the world. As newcomers, it was better to leave fewer potential vulnerabilities exposed.

Ou Sheng agreed with Zuo Qiu’s decision. He felt more and more that Zuo Qiu resembled himself when he first debuted.

For Ou Sheng, who had been in the entertainment industry for years, appearing on shows was as normal as drinking water and eating. But for the newcomers Zuo Qiu and Xiao Bojun, their inexperience meant they often couldn’t keep up with the pace. Fortunately, they were quick-witted, and the host didn’t make things too difficult for them. Most of the recording went smoothly, except for the interview segment.

Because Xiao Bojun was exceptionally impressive during the physical challenge segment—performing high-risk acrobatic moves on a pull-up bar while wearing only a black vest, making the female host stare with “star eyes” and cheer “So MAN, so strong”—she kept targeting him with questions during the interview segment.

After asking a series of questions about his favorite sports, colors, and animals, the female host successfully transitioned to asking about his ideal type of girl.

Xiao Bojun, who disliked answering pointless questions, was already impatient. Hearing this question, he couldn’t help but snap, “Definitely not your type.”

The female host didn’t pick up on Xiao Bojun’s impatience and asked in a sweet voice, “What type am I in your mind?”

Zuo Qiu, who knew Xiao Bojun best, shot him a look, warning him not to go too far. Xiao Bojun reluctantly swallowed the words he was about to say and lowered his head, pretending to be a wooden dummy.

Ou Sheng smiled faintly, his expression meaningful.

Seeing that the female host couldn’t read the room and was about to continue pressing, the male host had to awkwardly steer the conversation toward Ou Sheng.

After the atmosphere had been pleasant for a few minutes, the female host began questioning Xiao Bojun again: “I saw you in a previous show where you were asked a question about choosing between hitting Film Emperor Ou or Senior Deng Chong, and you answered you’d hit whoever was saving the other. So, the question is now changed: If Zuo Qiu and Ou Sheng both fell into the water, and you could only save one, who would you save?”

The male host, who was just about to stop his colleague, was also stunned by the question. Hmm, this seems like it could be a bit of a scoop.

Ou Sheng, who was enjoying the drama, also looked at Xiao Bojun with interest, awaiting his answer.

This question seemed common, much like the “Who do you save, your wife or your mother” question, which has many discussions on platforms like Zhihu but is notoriously difficult to answer satisfactorily. It’s a true test of one’s emotional intelligence. Unfortunately, Zuo Qiu felt that emotional intelligence was a luxury item that Xiao Bojun lacked.

But Xiao Bojun’s answer surprised Zuo Qiu; it was better than he had expected.

“Can’t you hosts think of any other questions besides asking who to hit or save when someone falls into the water? Also, Brother Sheng knows how to swim. Why would he need me to save him? Besides, if I saved him, wouldn’t Brother Ye turn me into firewood?”

The relationship between Ou Sheng and Cheng Ye was well-known in the industry. Bringing them up now served two purposes: first, it reduced the pressure on him and Zuo Qiu concerning a sensitive question; and second, Mr. Ye might even be happy he was giving him some free publicity!

As soon as he finished speaking, the audience below began to cheer and laugh kindly.

Ou Sheng looked at Xiao Bojun. Not bad. He actually managed to deflect the trouble and dodge the major issue?

Zuo Qiu was also quite surprised. He had been worried that Xiao Bojun would answer by immediately saving him and then standing on the shore watching Brother Sheng drown. Thankfully, the Second Young Master wasn’t that foolish. The last time, Brother Sheng had smoothed things over, and netizens hadn’t said much, but if Xiao Bojun had been that “blunt” again this time, netizens might have said his emotional intelligence needed a top-up.

On a later occasion, Xiao Bojun asked Zuo Qiu the same dilemma question about saving him or his mother. Zuo Qiu unhesitatingly answered that he would save his mother, which made Xiao Bojun furious.

“Reason!” Xiao Bojun ground out.

“There is only one mother, but there can be thousands of wives,” Zuo Qiu stated righteously.

Just as Xiao Bojun was about to pin Zuo Qiu down and execute summary justice, Zuo Qiu quickly added a sentence that instantly turned Xiao Bojun’s mood from cloudy to sunny.

“I will only ever look for a husband in this life, and I will only have one.”

Okay. Hearing Zuo Qiu call him “husband” for the first time, Xiao Bojun was immersed in unspeakable joy and no longer worried about who to save. He knew how to swim anyway and could climb ashore by himself, so Zuo Qiu didn’t need to exert any effort to save him!

See? He’s a good husband, isn’t he!