Chapter 4: Plot

Chapter 4: Plot

Among the idols named by Lu Xu, Yao Yuan obviously had the highest popularity. The others silently and honestly repaid the money, but Yao Yuan, after issuing one statement after another about his hardships, still hadn't transferred a single cent to Lu Xu.

From start to finish, Lu Xu had only one keyword — "Pay back the money!"

Yao Yuan: "..."

He would pay it back.

Lu Xu was really unusual, even marking an anniversary for this. Yao Yuan was afraid that if he transferred the money too late, Lu Xu would post another so-called "769th day anniversary of Yao Yuan's first loan" at midnight.

Yao Yuan intended to continue his career in the entertainment industry and couldn't afford to lose face like this. However, since his previous statements had consistently emphasized his difficulties, paying Lu Xu early wasn't an option. Yao Yuan decided to wait until nighttime to transfer the money, thinking Lu Xu wouldn't post another Weibo update that day.

Result —

Refreshing his feed, Yao Yuan nearly had a heart attack seeing Lu Xu's latest Weibo post.

"Today marks the 768.5th day anniversary of Yao Yuan's first loan."

???

"Hahahaha, I'm living for Lu Xu's antics today."

"In another hour, it'll be the 768.542nd day anniversary of Yao Yuan's first loan."

"Truly a timing genius."

Yao Yuan didn't dare to hesitate any longer and immediately transferred the money he owed to Lu Xu.

Yao Yuan had been on trending topics for two consecutive days, and even the production team of the "Misty Passage" he was involved in was somewhat dissatisfied.

Yao Yuan had always presented a positive image, and the "Misty Passage" team wanted to leverage his popularity to attract more fans. Just when Yao Yuan and Xie Qingyang's CP gained some traction, Yao Yuan's scandal broke out, and the team had to create new focal points.

"Why are you arguing so much with Lu Xu?" The show's director was quite dismissive of Yao Yuan's quarrel with Lu Xu. "What future does Lu Xu have anyway?"

Yao Yuan thought about it and agreed.

Although Lu Xu's "Yao Yuan√" had pissed him off again, thinking about how Lu Xu could only take on a terrible-quality web drama — a script he wouldn't even glance at — Yao Yuan felt a sense of schadenfreude.

Lu Xu's desperate attempts to find attention on Weibo were just the barking of a defeated dog.

At present, Lu Xu had no resources, and no production teams were willing to approach him. The money he earned during the Verse era was probably dwindling away, so he had to find ways to get some cash, right?

During the Verse era, would Lu Xu have been so shameless?

...

If Lu Xu knew how much Yao Yuan was worrying about his own career prospects, he might have been quite touched.

In fact, as Yao Yuan said, Lu Xu really had no resources at the moment.

Although he had been on trending topics for two days because of the "pay back the money" saga, and some collaborators had approached him during that time, those offers were either from internet celebrities or random product endorsements, none of which Lu Xu wanted to accept.

He didn't place much importance on material desires. When he had dramas to film, he stayed on set; when he didn't, he stayed home.

In his previous life, Lu Xu's career as an actor had indeed seen some tumultuous times, especially when two hit dramas clashed, and fans could compare achievements for three days and nights.

Even though he's now an idol, Lu Xu still dreams of making it big as an actor.

After Verse disbanded, its members mostly moved on from the idol industry. Some focused on the fashion world, while others concentrated on the acting circle, each with their own prospects. Therefore, Lu Xu didn’t feel guilty about not living up to the original owner’s expectations. If he had taken over the original owner’s body while they were still a member of Verse, he would have been worried about the singing and dancing.

Lu Xu is studying the script of *My Precious Noble Son*.

Honestly, he’d never seen a script this bad—it was so illogical that he started questioning his own intelligence.

But he still didn’t have enough cash to cover the contract termination fee.

After successfully recovering the money owed to him, Lu Xu received a strange phone call—the two insurance policies that the original owner had bought were up for renewal. Although Lu Xu suspected that the original owner had been scammed, the insurance money had to be paid.

So, he had no choice but to wrack his brain trying to figure out how to play his part in *My Precious Noble Son*.

With just two weeks until filming, Lu Xu spent three days analyzing the script and finally found something redeemable about the second male lead, Yu Wei.

*My Precious Noble Son* tells the love story of an ordinary girl, Zhong Baobei, who mistakenly enters the elite Ariel Academy and meets the male lead—the Horse Riding Noble Son, Pan Lingfeng—getting to know him, falling in love, and becoming a couple.

Don’t ask why the male lead is called the Horse Riding Noble Son—that’s just what the script says.

It’s like saying ‘Puma, send money,’ which makes no sense.

Generally speaking, the male lead in an idol drama wouldn’t have the surname Pan.

Generally speaking, the female lead in an idol drama wouldn’t be named Baobei.

But the script was already set in stone because the show’s financier shares the same surname, Pan.

There is a main plotline—Zhong Baobei’s background story.

After falling in love with Pan Lingfeng, Zhong Baobei discovers that Pan Lingfeng is her long-lost brother, sharing the same mother. In extreme sadness but forced to part, Zhong Baobei turns to the embrace of male lead number two, Yu Wei. Love breaks through the taboo, and Pan Lingfeng rushes toward her without hesitation. In the end, they discover that Yu Wei is actually Zhong Baobei’s real brother.

But by then, Yu Wei had already fallen deeply in love with Zhong Baobei.

Facing this reality, Yu Wei decides to go full villain. He recklessly becomes the destroyer between Zhong Baobei and Pan Lingfeng…

Lu Xu: “……”

He also has another question: no matter who is the long-lost brother of the female lead, why are all three of them the same age?

While still trying to find the character’s merits in order to play the role from a suitable angle, Lu Xu is contacted in advance by Director Hua Zhu.

In the director’s circle, Hua Zhu has always been a nameless figure. He was thankful that someone was willing to invest in *My Precious Noble Son*.

There was only one point of attention for this drama—the investor’s surname was Pan, so no matter what, Pan Lingfeng’s character couldn’t be ruined.

When the drama started its preparation, both the male and female leads were relatively unknown actors, though their reputation was much better than Lu Xu’s. At that time, the crew considered Lu Xu for the role of the second male lead because of the heat from his Verse days. Now, Hua Zhu vaguely hinted to Lu Xu that the male lead had recently acted as the male lead number three in another drama, gained some popularity, and then terminated his contract. Meanwhile, Lu Xu had been trending well lately and could try out for the role of the main lead, Pan Lingfeng.

Lu Xu: “…I refuse.”

Sorry, but he really couldn’t handle the title of Horse Riding Noble Son without breaking character.

Was their casting process really this laid-back?

Lu Xu had braced himself for the crew’s unprofessionalism, but he was still taken aback.

At least having a role to play wasn’t all bad, Lu Xu told himself.

Even for a character like Yu Wei, Lu Xu had already prepared a character analysis in advance and thoroughly analyzed the role.

He had portrayed many different types of characters in his past acting experience. Some characters were inherently delicate, and the actors didn’t need to do much preparation, while other characters had very little room for interpretation in the script. In those cases, the director didn’t like to give much guidance, so the actors had to figure things out on their own.

Although Lu Xu had never acted in such a terrible script before, and *My Beloved Noble Son* might give his acting career a sloppy start, he had no choice but to push forward.

…

It was no secret that Lu Xu had signed up for a trashy web drama. The fans of Verse’s members had already mocked him on various platforms.

However, when the title and cast of *My Beloved Noble Son* were revealed, the former fans of Verse were still shocked.

"Can we just pretend Lu Xu isn’t part of Verse anymore?"

"Yang Shu and Xia Xuewen as the leads, and Lu Xu as the second male lead?"

"…At least he was a member of Verse. This rapid decline really astonishes me."

"…This is driving me crazy. Is Lu Xu crazy? Does he really want to destroy his own career like this? Is he planning to make a quick buck in the entertainment industry and then quit?"

Yang Shu and Xia Xuewen had almost no presence in the entertainment industry. In contrast, Verse had genuinely been popular before.

Gu Sinian from Verse had also taken the actor route after the group disbanded. For idols, it was clearly impossible to take on major roles from the start. Gu Sinian also began by taking on supporting roles, but the productions he joined were the best configurations that Ling Ge Entertainment could secure—top directors, famous actors, and major platforms. Acting in supporting roles didn’t affect Gu Sinian’s popularity, and fans were even more eager for his rise in his acting career.

However, no matter how shocked the group’s fans were, according to the feedback and images from bystanders, *My Beloved Noble Son* had indeed officially started filming.

This was the smallest crew Lu Xu had ever been a part of.

The investment in the production was limited, so everything was simplified. There was no screenwriter on set because Director Hua Zhu was the scriptwriter for this drama.

Yang Shu and Xia Xuewen, both recent film school graduates, were cast as the leads. Some of their classmates had already made waves in the entertainment industry, but the two of them hadn’t found decent roles for a long time.

As actors, who wouldn’t want to act in big productions with good scripts?

Unfortunately, real-life options were limited. These days, it was already quite good not to be unemployed right after graduation. The *Noble Son* crew was indeed not that great, but at least they had something to work on.

Having Lu Xu play the role of Yu Wei had already brought *Noble Son* a level of attention that ordinary web dramas didn’t have. Even if it was mockery, it was still better than flopping silently.

Before filming started, the actors had their makeup tested one by one.

There were only a few main characters, and the rest were extras. The first half of the plot mainly took place in a school setting, with half of the costumes being school uniforms, and the other half being whatever the crew scrounged up from who-knows-where.

According to Hua Zhu, he had originally wanted to seek sponsorships, but no brand was willing to sponsor them.

Lu Xu: “……”

It suddenly occurred to him that he had quite a few unworn luxury brand men’s clothes at home.

Lu Xu wasn’t about to donate his clothes for free. It’s just that, even though the male lead was nicknamed the “Puma Prince,” he couldn’t be wearing Puma all the time.