Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Gu Xu took off his suit jacket and skillfully rolled up his sleeves. "I usually eat alone, so there's no extra table. You can sit there," he said, pointing to the desk.

"No need," Lu Yan glanced at the desk, where there was only one large chair beside it. "There's only one chair, you should sit."

It's impolite to take someone else's dining table when you're the guest.

Gu Xu lowered his gaze, walked to the desk, and made a phone call. "Bring in a chair."

"Really, no need. I can sit on the sofa."

Gu Xu looked at the glass table in front of the sofa. "The table is too low; bending over will be uncomfortable."

In less than two minutes, Xu Fei came in huffing and puffing, carrying his own large chair. He placed it down and quickly left.

Gu Xu carried two large shopping bags into the kitchen.

Lu Yan followed. "I'll help wash the vegetables."

Without turning his head, Gu Xu handed him a bag of tomatoes and carrots, stepping aside to let Lu Yan pass. The kitchen, after all, was set up in the office, so the space wasn't large. With two men over six feet tall inside, their arms would occasionally bump into each other.

Lu Yan carefully washed the carrots, scrubbing each one in his palm for several minutes.

Gu Xu couldn't help but laugh. "If you wash them like that, you won't even need to peel them; just rinse them off."

"Can you chop vegetables?"

Lu Yan: "A little..."

Gu Xu soon found out what "a little" meant.

A large carrot was cut by Lu Yan into five pieces, each thick enough to be used as a table leg.

Gu Xu couldn't stand it anymore and snatched the knife away.

"This is how you do it," he said, placing the carrot diagonally on the cutting board. With a swift motion of the knife, the kitchen was filled with the rhythmic "thud thud thud" of the knife hitting the board. Half a carrot later, the pieces were neatly and uniformly laid out on the cutting board.

"Impressive," Lu Yan was amazed and finally couldn't resist asking the question he had been wanting to ask. "How did you get so good at cooking?"

Gu Xu turned to continue marinating the meat. "Someone once put rat poison in my mom's food, so I learned."

His tone was calm, as if he were talking about the nice weather.

Lu Yan didn't expect such an answer and instinctively turned to look at Gu Xu. "Was everything okay afterwards?"

"It was fine, just a scare."

"...That's good."

The topic was quickly brushed aside. After clumsily finishing the carrots, Lu Yan conscientiously set the tableware, and afraid of dirtying the table, he asked Xu Fei for a large towel to spread over the desk.

Although they had bought over four hundred yuan worth of ingredients, most of it was seasoning. In the end, they only made four dishes.

Last time it was just ordinary porridge, but this time it was fragrant home-cooked dishes. The four dishes looked good, placed on the solid wood desk, making Lu Yan's mouth water.

He took out his phone, took a photo, thinking he could look at it to quench his hunger in the future.

Gu Xu's desk was large, almost like a small dining table. Lu Yan sat across from Gu Xu, watching him elegantly wiping his hands, thinking to himself that when this desk was chosen, the owner must have been thinking of it as a dining table.

He only ate half a bowl of noodles for breakfast and was getting a bit hungry. He grabbed a piece of twice-cooked pork and was about to eat when he suddenly thought of something. After a brief moment of thought, he looked up.

Sure enough, Gu Xu was smirking.

Gu Xu: "...Forgot to buy rice."

Since there wasn’t enough time, they had to eat the dishes without rice.

Fortunately, the dishes were perfectly seasoned, neither too salty nor too bland. Lu Yan still enjoyed them a lot, even eating a lot of tomatoes and carrots, which he usually avoids.

After eating, Lu Yan did the dishes. When he came out, Gu Xu was already dressed and ready, waiting for him by the sofa.

"I’ve got a meeting," Gu Xu said as he took his coat from the hanger and also grabbed the hat Lu Yan had just hung up, handing it to him. "Xu Fei will drive you back."

Lu Yan put it on and adjusted the brim: "Okay."

On the way back, Chen Jing gave him a call.

"When are you coming over?" Chen Jing asked. "There’s another candidate for the afternoon audition, you might know them."

The supporting male role was quite appealing and could easily gain fans, so many were competing for it, mostly newcomers looking to make a name for themselves.

Lu Yan had been in the business for years and knew a lot of people, but he didn’t know many new faces.

"Who?"

"His name is... what’s his name again?" Chen Jing couldn’t remember for a moment and turned to ask the staff behind her. After getting the reply, she said, "His name is Lin Qing."

"Don’t know him."

"Oh," Chen Jing just mentioned it casually. "I heard he’s from the same company as you, thought you might know him. The audition’s in the hotel conference room on the third floor, just head straight there."

When they got to the set, Lu Yan stepped out of the car and thanked Xu Fei.

Xu Fei got out of the car and handed Lu Yan a business card: "You’re welcome, Mr. Lu. Here’s my card, feel free to reach out if you need anything."

Lu Yan took the card and was about to say something.

"Assistant Xu?"

Both of them turned. A boy stood nearby, looking surprised.

Seeing the newcomer, Xu Fei was also a bit surprised: "Young Master Lin."

The boy smiled and walked over with big strides: "It really is you, what are you doing here?"

Lin Qing was here for the audition today. He originally didn’t want to come—this place was too remote, staying here would drive him crazy! And he didn’t think the role he was auditioning for was that great either, just a male supporting role. No matter how well he acted, how popular could it get?

He didn’t expect to meet Xu Fei here. Xu Fei was Gu Xu’s right-hand man, almost always by Gu Xu’s side. If he was in J City, did that mean Gu Xu was here too?

"Is Brother Xu also in J City?" Lin Qing’s eyes sparkled, his tone full of excitement.

Xu Fei: "Young Master Lin, I’m here on a business trip." He didn’t answer the latter question, not daring to reveal his boss’s whereabouts.

But seeing that Xu Fei didn’t deny it, Lin Qing understood a bit. He happily took out his phone and was about to call Gu Xu when his agent gently nudged him with an elbow, reminding him that there was someone else present.

"Brother Yan!" The agent was a smooth talker and walked up with a smile. "Brother Yan, this is Lin Qing, a newcomer from the same company as you. Please take care of him in the future!"

Lin Qing immediately greeted Lu Yan with a smile: "Brother Yan."

Lu Yan recognized this agent—a capable one with a solid reputation in the industry—but he wondered when he’d started managing big-name talent.

Lin Qing matched the person Director Chen had mentioned on the phone as someone he 'should know.' He gave a nod, "Here to audition for Qiu Rong?"

Lin Qing wasn’t too invested in this audition and hadn’t even glanced at the script. When Lu Yan brought up Qiu Rong, Lin Qing blanked for a moment, unsure how to respond.

After an awkward pause, his agent chuckled nervously, "Yes, yes."

Lu Yan caught Lin Qing’s confusion but didn’t call him out on it. He just said, "Well, give it your best shot."

After Lu Yan left, Xu Fei, dreading Lin Qing’s questions about Gu Xu, made up an excuse and bolted.

Knowing Gu Xu was probably in J City, Lin Qing’s mood lifted, and he hummed a tune as he bounced toward the audition hotel.

Chen Li trailed behind him, smiling, "Xiao Qing, the audition’s about to start. Maybe give the script a quick look?"

"Why do I have to trek all the way here for a supporting role?" Lin Qing couldn’t wrap his head around it. "Didn’t Brother Xu snag me the lead? Plus, I’m a regular on that hot reality show."

"Listen, don’t sleep on this supporting role. The character’s a fan favorite, and it’s a major production with Lu Yan and Shi Qing. Newbies are clawing for this. The lead Boss Gu got you is great, but that show doesn’t start filming for two months. The reality show’s a quick shoot, and you can just take time off from the crew," Chen Li whispered, "There’ll be a lot of competition. If it doesn’t pan out, why not hit up Boss Gu?"

"Fine, I’ll skim the script."

Lin Qing grabbed the script, gave it a quick once-over, and then cheerfully dialed Gu Xu.

*

Lu Yan went back to his room and then ran into Xiao Liu at the third-floor elevator.

Xiao Liu grabbed Lu Yan’s backpack, "Bro Yan, you eat yet? I saved you a lunch box."

"Already ate," Lu Yan grinned, "Even if I hadn’t, I couldn’t touch your lunch. If Director Chen caught me munching during the audition, who’d he yell at—you or me?"

Xiao Liu cringed at the thought, "..." He figured they’d both catch hell.

The role of Qiu Rong was appealing, but the turnout was low, likely because Director Chen had done a quick private screening—though that ‘quick’ screening probably axed at least twenty people.

A dozen or so people were milling outside the conference room, most of them there to support their artists. When Lu Yan walked by, they all nodded in greeting.

He smiled back and headed into the conference room.

The conference room was small, with the stage hastily cleared out. The podium had been shoved aside to make room. Director Chen and Shi Qing sat center stage. Including Lu Yan, there were only four people in the room—the three of them and a staffer handling the lineup. Not even the assistant director showed up.

Lu Yan took a seat next to Director Chen and asked, "Just us three?"

Director Chen snorted, "We agreed before filming that I’d have the final say on roles. They’d just be wasting their time."

Shi Qing, "So why’d you drag us here?"

Director Chen glared at her, "You two were just sitting around doing nothing anyway."

Shi Qing, "I'm not idle, Director Chen. Did you know I can earn a lot of ad revenue from a single Weibo post? This afternoon could have been enough time for me to post several Weibos..."

Her words were cut short by Director Chen's fierce glare.

Director Chen signaled to start, and the staff member ran to the conference room door and called, "Number one, Lin Qing!"

Lin Qing immediately entered and walked onto the temporary stage, bowing to them.

Lin Qing looked sunny and handsome, full of youthful energy. His appearance was indeed good, but it didn't match the character setting of Qiu Rong.

Qiu Rong was Chen Zhong's trusted general, a brave and skilled warrior on the battlefield. Director Chen had previously favored Tang Ming because of his strong build and a face that looked loyal and capable.

Lin Qing looked like he hadn't reached 180 cm, with a slim build and pale, thin arms. In this movie, only the role of the delicate young emperor would suit him.

So when Director Chen's eyes met him, he seemed uninterested. He twirled his pen and called out, "Start, act... the fourth scene."