The Vicious Cannon Fodder Despised by Everyone Really Doesn't Want to Go Viral - Chapter 25

Jiang Yubai froze for several seconds. He clearly had not expected Lin Zhiyu to suddenly attack and approach him with such intimacy.

Young Master Lin, whose hands had never touched a day of hard labor, had fingers that were excessively smooth, like fine grease-softened jade. The gentle friction sliding across Jiang Yubai’s cheek made him shiver involuntarily. The warmth from that hand instantly spread across his entire face and even showed signs of extending down his neck. The scorching touch of the fingertips felt like an electric current, making him tingle and causing his nerves to tighten in an instant.

Jiang Yubai hesitated and lowered his head, glancing at the confused budgerigar in Lin Zhiyu’s palm. He saw its body swaying in a slight struggle, its feathers, which had been smoothed to a glossy finish, now ruffling under Lin Zhiyu’s fingertips. For a moment, he was unsure if he had walked onto the wrong set, or if the sun had risen in the west today and Lin Zhiyu was starting up some new, bizarre trouble.

“You,” Jiang Yubai spoke with difficulty, his eyes filled with complex emotions. “Are you alright?”

Lin Zhiyu’s expression remained serious, seemingly unaware that there was anything inappropriate about his behavior. Jiang Yubai watched as he and the parrot simultaneously tilted their heads. Even the bewilderment flowing from their eyes was identical. It felt as if something had poked a hole in Jiang Yubai’s heart.

Lin Zhiyu took another step forward, tucking Boss Jiu a bit closer into Jiang Yubai’s chest. The hand on Jiang Yubai’s face moved back, gently rubbing his jawline. His tone was as natural as if they were truly brothers connected by blood. “What is it? Do you not like it? Next time, I will have Wei Zheng bring you back something even more interesting.”

The crew members quietly stopped their work, casting glances toward them from every direction. Jiang Yubai felt the back of his head heating up from the attention. The soft body of the parakeet was squirming in his arms, letting out occasional chirping cries. He stiffened into a wooden post, at a total loss as to whether he should hold the bird or push it away.

Seeing no reaction from Jiang Yubai, Lin Zhiyu’s gaze shifted from dazed to perplexed. The scene fell into a strange silence, broken only by the round parrot. It chose that inconvenient moment to flap its wings, lean into Jiang Yubai’s ear, and shout clearly, “Ears are red! Ears are red!”

The expression on Jiang Yubai’s face completely shattered. He stiffly took hold of Boss Jiu as if handling a terrifying, unidentified hazardous organism. He did not dare use any force and purposely kept a slight distance between himself and the bird.

Xie Jingyao, leaning on Lin Zhaoyan’s shoulder, could not help but burst into laughter. Hearing this, combined with the embarrassment of being exposed by the bird, made Jiang Yubai’s head throb with heat.

“Has Lin Zhiyu not snapped out of the script yet?” “Maybe he is faking it on purpose to show goodwill toward Jiang Yubai?”

However, Lin Zhiyu seemed deaf to the noise around him. He patted Jiang Yubai’s shoulder, his face still wearing that completely unchanged, tender expression. Even if he subconsciously realized he was acting out of character, his body could not stop this inexplicable impulse.

Jiang Yubai’s thumb brushed against the parrot’s soft feathers. A second later, he looked up, trying his best to ignore the inquisitive stares of the people around him as he looked into Lin Zhiyu’s eyes.

“I cannot take it,” he squeezed out with all his might. “Besides, this is Director Lin’s parrot.”

Lin Zhiyu’s lips moved as if he wanted to say more, but Lin Zhaoyan, no longer suppressed by Xie Jingyao, strode forward in a fit of pique and snatched the parrot back into his arms.

“Come back to earth!” Lin Zhaoyan snapped his fingers next to Lin Zhiyu’s ear. “You are using a gift from Xie Jingyao to do someone else a favor. Is the next step packaging me up as a return gift?”

Startled by the voice, Lin Zhiyu turned into a primitive wind-up doll, his fingers freezing in mid-air. After standing blankly for a few seconds, he finally regained a bit of self-awareness. His eyes darted around the room before slowly turning toward Lin Zhaoyan.

The parrot, back in Lin Zhaoyan’s hands, was restlessly burying its head into his palm. Seeing the ruffled feathers on its backside, Lin Zhiyu felt momentarily dazed. The crew members had all lowered their heads, stifling laughs, while Jiang Yubai stood beside him, so embarrassed he wished he could sink into the floor.

Lin Zhiyu’s mouth twitched as he finally woke up from his trance. He realized in hindsight what he had just done, and his face instantly turned bright red. The shame that surged in his heart made him want to find a crack in the ground to crawl into, preferably deeper than the one Jiang Yubai wanted.

He usually snapped out of character very quickly and never knew he had this particular problem. Perhaps Lin Zhaoyan’s presence was so oppressive that it forced him to immerse himself completely, making it impossible to transition back. Lin Zhiyu moved his aching legs. The high-intensity fight scene had indeed exhausted his physical strength.

He coughed lightly and gave an unnatural smile, quickly taking a step back to put distance between himself and the other two. He used a casual tone to hide his embarrassment. “That, well, I was just playing a joke?”

After saying that, he instinctively wanted to raise his hand to cover his face. The excuse had failed. The sense of shame hit him like a flood breaking through a dam. Lin Zhiyu felt that he had finally exited the scene. He only wished he had some superpower like invisibility or teleportation to disappear from this socially fatal moment.

“I am sorry, Jiang Yubai,” he said, glancing at the tense Jiang Yubai with a guilty conscience. “I was just a bit distracted. I hope I did not offend you?”

The skin on Jiang Yubai’s neck was already flushed red, but his eyes darted aimlessly at the ground. He clenched his hands, trying to stay calm, but he could not suppress that strange feeling in his heart. On one hand, it was an indescribable embarrassment, but on the other, it was something even harder to put into words. He did not know if he was making a mountain out of a molehill, or if it was because he had never felt such unusual intimacy from Lin Zhiyu before. In this unfamiliar contact, he felt a mixture of a stress response and nervousness.

“It is fine,” Jiang Yubai finally spoke, sounding more natural than Lin Zhiyu’s forced casualness. “This parrot is very interesting. If it were Xie Zhuoyu, he would probably like it very much.” As he spoke, he forced a slight smile. “It is just that you were a bit unique today, so I did not react in time. I was a bit startled.”

Lin Zhiyu remained silent. He finally managed to forget about Xie Zhuoyu, so why did Jiang Yubai have to bring him up again? Lin Zhiyu’s smile was very strained.

Fortunately, Lin Zhaoyan stepped in to save him. Holding the parrot, Lin Zhaoyan walked back to Xie Jingyao’s side and draped an arm around his neck. “You can only blame his opponent’s aura for being too strong,” he said nonchalantly. “Without this level of immersion, it would be hard to match my performance. As expected of me.”

Xie Jingyao patted his face. “Stop being so full of yourself.”

Seeing the crew’s attention shift toward the two of them, Lin Zhiyu was so moved he nearly cried.

“Are you truly alright?” Jiang Yubai looked down, his gaze landing on Lin Zhiyu’s face.

Lately, he seemed to be constantly stripping away his old impressions of Lin Zhiyu. He used to think the young master, who had been pampered since childhood, was arrogant and fearless, with no one able to move his emotions except for Mu Yunji, whom he had once pursued relentlessly. Yet at this moment, looking at Lin Zhiyu’s frustrated face, he suddenly had a strange feeling. It turned out that Lin Zhiyu could also fall into embarrassment and lose control over such a small, inadvertent episode. He is quite cute.

As soon as that thought popped up, Jiang Yubai startled himself. Lin Zhiyu paused and looked up at him. His thoughts were the complete opposite. He smiled slightly, his face no longer as tense, thinking that Jiang Yubai was truly understanding. Even after being dragged into this social death, he could still care about Lin Zhiyu like this.

“I am fine, I am fine,” Lin Zhiyu waved his hand, deciding to find an excuse to leave. “I will go rest for a bit and catch my breath. See you in the next scene.”

Jiang Yubai watched his retreating back, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

The Aftermath

Half an hour later, perhaps because he had not yet recovered from the earlier embarrassment, Lin Zhiyu’s state during this scene was not quite right. He finally finished a long section of dialogue, only to have his tongue get tied on the very last sentence, ruining the entire take. Before Lin Zhiyu could even react, he heard Zhao Jinyu’s merciless “Cut!”

This was the first time Lin Zhiyu had received a “No Good” take due to personal reasons since joining the set. Although he did not mind it himself, the crew members began to exchange glances and whisper. Lin Zhiyu’s previous filming had been too smooth, so now that a normal mistake had happened, they found it surprising instead.

Lin Zhiyu took a sip of water and tried to untie his tongue, his eyes wandering aimlessly. He felt that as long as he looked at Jiang Yubai’s face, he would remember the scene where he had been hands-on with him. It was incredibly awkward. Beside him, Jiang Yubai was flipping through his script with a serious expression, looking restrained. Only the slight twitching of his mouth betrayed his current state of mind.

Zhao Jinyu frowned and shouted, “Everyone take a five-minute break to adjust your state.”

The set became chaotic. Zhao Jinyu tapped the arm of her chair with a pen. The assistant director leaned in and whispered, “They say those two used to have a bad relationship. Although they filmed well before, this is the first scene where the brothers are alone together. Is it possible they are having trouble adjusting?”

Zhao Jinyu said hesitantly, “Bringing personal feelings into a scene, I do not think they would make such an unprofessional mistake.”

The assistant director glanced at Lin Zhiyu. “But acting as loving brothers with a former love rival is not easy. Their states are indeed poor. Jiang Yubai is as stiff as dough, and Lin Zhiyu is completely distracted.”

Zhao Jinyu pondered for a moment before getting up and walking toward the two of them.

The Delivery

Lin Zhiyu’s gift finally reached Mu Sui’s hands on the third day after he placed the order. The carved antique pendulum clock ticked away. Sunlight filtered through the sheer curtains, casting hazy shadows on the mahogany desk.

When Zhou Ming knocked and entered, Mu Sui was reading documents. Hearing the door open, he only turned his head slightly and did not pay much attention until he saw the exquisite gift box in the other man’s hand. He then put down his documents and looked up at him inquiringly.

“It was sent by Mr. Lin,” Zhou Ming said softly as he placed the gift box on the desk.

Mu Sui nodded and slowly unwrapped the packaging, his face showing no particular emotion. The interior of the box was very elegant. On a dark velvet lining sat a set of vintage jade cufflinks and a tie clip. The jade was a deep color, and each piece was intricately carved, giving off a cold green light in the sunshine. He picked up the tie clip and examined it for a moment, then suddenly gave a meaningful laugh.

“This set seems to have cost quite a bit of money?”

“Looking at the craftsmanship, it should be quite expensive,” Zhou Ming agreed, though he silently added to himself that compared to the ones in his drawer, this was truly a minor thing.

Mu Sui played with the tie clip, his thumb brushing over the jade surface and tracing the carved patterns. “He is quite generous,” he said playfully. “I wonder what he looked like when he was paying for it.” He was probably gritting his teeth, with the grievance of being forced to comply. At that thought, the smile in Mu Sui’s eyes deepened.

Zhou Ming asked professionally, “Do you need me to reply to Mr. Lin?”

Mu Sui instead asked, “How is he doing on the set?”

“Mr. Lin is not on the set today,” Zhou Ming hesitated before saying slowly. “He and Jiang Yubai seem to have gone to the mountainside racecourse.”

Mu Sui’s hand paused, and he suddenly looked up.