Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

After Yun Anqing's work was finished, Lin An didn't return to Beijing but hurried to Z City, fearing that the star he had painstakingly nurtured would be ruined by Xiao Liu.

He hurried to the set carrying a large bag of fruit, just in time for dinner. As he walked, he greeted the staff along the way, and by the time he reached the dressing room, most of the fruit had already been distributed.

He pushed the door open and wailed, "Son! I heard you've become as thin as a chopstick, let your old man take a look!"

Lu Yan grabbed a pillow from beside the chair and threw it at him, "Get out!"

"Huh?" As Lin An entered the room, he was greeted by a wave of fragrance. In front of Lu Yan was a huge thermal container filled with steaming hot soup. Upon closer inspection, the soup was packed with various ingredients—red dates, mushrooms, goji berries—all in a simple chicken soup.

"Brat, you call this bad food? This soup base must cost at least a couple of hundred bucks, right?"

Xiao Liu, who had been patted on the head by Lin An, looked upset, "The food wasn't great before, but it's better now. The crew has allocated more funds, and recently, President Gu’s been sending soup every day."

Lin An sat down next to Lu Yan, repeating in surprise, "President Gu sends soup every day?"

Xiao Liu, "It's the President Gu's assistant who delivers it."

Lin An glanced at Lu Yan, who was enjoying the soup.

Lin An was about to say something more when he noticed Lu Yan's phone buzz. Lu Yan wiped his hands with a tissue and picked up the phone.

A text from Gu Xu popped up, "Have you had the soup?"

"Having it now," Lu Yan replied, then after a moment of thought, added, "Have you eaten?"

"Just finished. I'm done here, I’ll drop by the set tomorrow."

"Okay."

Seated close to Lu Yan, Lin An didn't even need to stretch his neck to see the content of the messages. Seeing the faint smile on Lu Yan's lips, he got the picture right away.

After Lu Yan put down his phone, Lin An grinned and asked, "Are you with President Gu now?"

Lu Yan sipped his soup, "We’re just friends."

"Who are you kidding? What friend would go out of their way to send soup every day, driving half an hour?" Lin An paused, then added in a lower voice, "And you’re actually drinking it."

Lu Yan smiled, "Why wouldn't I?"

"When Xu Ze was pursuing you, did you keep anything he sent?" Lin An grabbed a bunch of grapes from the fruit he brought, rinsed them with water, and ate while talking, "You returned the flowers, the watches, and later he even sent food to the set. Let me think... what did you do with it then? Oh, I forgot, I remember that guy even had a three-Michelin-star chef make it."

Hearing this, Lu Yan's hand with the spoon hesitated for a moment.

Prompted by Lin An, he also recalled that when Xu Ze refused to take the food back, he simply threw it away.

Lin An went on, "I remember you even said something like, 'If you don't like it, don't give others hope'? Oh, that line made me cringe."

"...It's different, Gu Xu isn't pursuing me." Lu Yan was quiet for a few seconds before speaking calmly, "But why do you have so much to say? What, is Yun Anqing difficult, and you're venting?"

Mentioning his new artist, Lin An immediately dropped the previous topic, "Not at all. Anqing is great, obedient, follows my lead."

"Well, that’s that, I need to remind him not to be ruined by you."

"What are you saying? Didn't I raise you, did I ruin you?" Lin An exclaimed, then immediately remembered the main issue, softening his tone, "Xiao Yan, Yun Anqing is really quite good. After you finish filming, I'll have him treat you to a meal. He's hardworking, has potential, and is even your little fan."

"Alright, cut to the chase. If you have something to say, just say it directly." Having known Lin An for so long, Lu Yan could guess most of his thoughts just by listening.

Lin An grinned, "How about you follow him back? It would really help him gain some followers, and liking his post would be awesome."

At Lin An's suggestion, Lu Yan remembered he hadn't touched Weibo for over half a month. He scoffed, imitating Shi Qing's tone, "Do you know how much an advertisement on my Weibo costs?"

Even as he said this, he was already opening Weibo and typing Yun Anqing's name into the search bar.

Lin An replied honestly, "You never take advertisements on Weibo, how would I know the cost? But someone contacted me before, and the highest offer was almost a million, leaving your peers in the dust! Honestly, if you started taking ads, your annual income would at least increase..."

Lu Yan paused, "Either keep quiet or fork over a million for the ad."

Lin An didn't dare to breathe, staying silent.

Lu Yan opened Yun Anqing's Weibo, which had hundreds of thousands of followers. The first post was a bright, smiling selfie of the boy, holding a guitar, looking fresh and clean. The caption read, "New drama, I play the guitar boy in it [/playful]." Fans below were all exclaiming how cute he was, with a few lamenting that his role was too minor and unnoticeable.

Liking what he saw, Lu Yan directly reposted the selfie, nonchalantly adding, "Keep it up, guitar boy [/playful]."

Right after the repost, comments started pouring in.

"OMG, my hubby posted on Weibo!!! I thought you forgot your password [/smile]"

"When I got the notification, I thought I was seeing things, thumbs up if you have Lu Yan on special follow."

"Ah, this Yun Anqing is so cute too, I'm going to check out his Weibo."

"Hubby hasn't posted in forever, feeling wronged, rolling around, crying."

...

Lu Yan browsed around; there wasn't much going on lately. With the college exams just around the corner, the buzz around Tang Ming's incident quickly died down.

He opened his album, planning to post about his life.

The last few photos in the album were all of various types of thick soup.

Every time he received soup, he would take a photo, a modern-day "disinfect before eating" ritual. He didn't have this habit before, but since he had those home-cooked dishes made by Gu Xu last time, he'd instinctively grab his phone to take a pic before drinking the soup.

His finger hovered in the air for a moment, then he selected eight photos of thick soup. To fill out the nine-square grid, he added photos of those home-cooked dishes in the middle.

"Lu Yan V: As the college exams approach, here's my meal situation during the exam period for your reference. Wishing everyone to ace the exams and guess all the right answers, and good luck on the exams [/cheer]"

After reading the post, Lin An happily hooked his arm around Lu Yan's shoulder, "Good buddy! By the way, I have something else to tell you. In a few days, it's Star Entertainment's anniversary gala, and they've sent you an invitation."

Mentioning the Star Entertainment anniversary brought back not-so-good memories for Lu Yan. He sneered, "Not going."

Lin An had already guessed his response, "Xiao Yan, I think it's better to go. Firstly, to the outside world, you and Star Entertainment ended the contract peacefully, but many still speculate it's because of your breakup with Xu Ze. This time, Star Entertainment has foolishly posted the invitation list on Weibo. If you don't go, who knows what the reporters will say. Also, isn't 'War Song' keeping a low profile? You haven't shown your face for over half a month, it would be good to make an appearance this time."

Having worked with Lu Yan for so many years, Lin An knew it wasn't just because their personalities matched. The key was that when Lu Yan made emotional decisions, Lin An could sharply point out the pros and cons, reminding Lu Yan to make the most correct choice.

Lu Yan sighed, asking in a muffled voice, "When is it?"

...

Lin Qing looked coldly at Weibo, not saying a word.

Lu Yan's Weibo post had nearly ten thousand comments within ten minutes. What the hell kind of popularity was this?

Moreover, the thermos box in Lu Yan's latest post was particularly glaring. He had been seeing Assistant Xu carrying this style of thermos box in and out of the set every day this week. Now, Lin Qing had to admit, Gu Xu was very attentive to Lu Yan.

Chen Li came over with a lunch box, "Let's have dinner, we have a few night scenes later."

Lin Qing stared at the unappetizing, cold boxed meal, then glanced at the rich soup on his phone screen, feeling even more annoyed. He glared at Chen Li: "I'm not eating!"

The sudden outburst of anger made Chen Li somewhat dissatisfied, but he kept his cool and advised, "If you don't eat, you'll get hungry later, and it might affect the shooting."

Lin Qing ignored him and dialed Gu Xu's number again. Gu Xu hadn't answered his calls for a whole week, and Xu Fei couldn't provide any information either. He was on edge, which was why he kept messing up his takes lately.

The call still wouldn’t go through.

He hung up the phone in frustration, and the screen went back to Lu Yan's Weibo page.

Lu Yan had just reposted a newcomer's Weibo, and Lin Qing saw that the newcomer had gained over a hundred thousand followers!

Without thinking twice, he followed Lu Yan and sent him a private message.

"Hey Bro Yan, it's Lin Qing~"

However, by dinner time, Lin Qing still hadn't received a follow back from Lu Yan.

The first scene of the night shoot was between Lin Qing and Lu Yan. While Chen Jing was directing the final adjustments to the set, Lin Qing eagerly approached Lu Yan.

"Bro Yan, I followed you on Weibo!" Lin Qing thought, that should be obvious, right?

Lu Yan petted the horse's mane: "I saw it."

Lin Qing coughed lightly, "Let’s follow each other back..."

Before he could finish, Lu Yan interrupted: "You'd better unfollow. During the movie shooting, all communications are kept under wraps. If we suddenly follow each other, it might raise suspicions among the reporters, and if something gets exposed, it could be very troublesome."

After saying that, he handed the horse over to the staff and went to discuss the scene with Chen Jing.

Leaving Lin Qing standing there, his face turning red with embarrassment.

The next day, as soon as Lu Yan finished the last scene of the afternoon, he saw Gu Xu sitting next to Chen Jing.

Their eyes met, and they smiled at each other.

Lu Yan changed out of his armor and came out of the makeup room, ready to walk towards Gu Xu.

Suddenly, a cool breeze swept by as Lin Qing ran past him, stopping in front of Gu Xu before he could.

He naturally hugged Gu Xu's arm and smiled, "Bro Xu, you finally showed up on set!"