Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Some time ago, when Xu Ze saw the semi-nude video of Lu Yan circulating online, he thought to himself that someone like Lu Yan would be a total knockout for any gay guy.

Since then, he had several steamy dreams, all featuring Lu Yan.

That's why, even after witnessing Lu Yan's temper, he still wanted to engage in a hot and heavy encounter with him.

The result was getting the crap beaten out of him.

Xu Ze didn't know how long he was beaten, but when it ended, his whole body ached like hell, except for his face.

Lu Yan let off steam, put the detachable mop back together, and turned around to casually wash his hands: "There's someone outside. You go first."

There was only one restroom on the entire floor, and people were already talking outside. It sounded like someone had gone to get a waiter to unlock the door.

Lu Yan had Xu Ze pegged, knowing that he was afraid of losing face and wouldn't talk about the incident. Xu Ze stood up shakily, glanced at the mirror, and the guy in the mirror looked just as dashing as when he walked in—Lu Yan hadn't held back, but he hadn't laid a finger on his face.

He rubbed his waist and whined: "Yan Yan, have you learned martial arts?"

Lu Yan didn't even look at him: "Not hard enough?"

The waiter showed up, and just as he pulled out the key, the door clicked open.

Xu Ze walked out, met the curious stares of the crowd outside, raised his head, and said to the waiter: "Call a repairman to take a look, this stupid door keeps locking on its own."

Then, gritting his teeth against the pain, he hobbled out of view.

Once he was sure everyone was gone, Lu Yan came out of the stall, adjusted his collar, and just as he was about to leave, his phone rang.

Lu Yan walked to a less crowded place, cradled the phone with his shoulder while straightening his sleeves: "Mom."

Lu Miao: "Xiao Yan, have you eaten?"

"I'm at a banquet."

"Um, Xiao Yan," Lu Miao hesitated and asked, "Can you trust the people you hired?"

Lu Miao originally wanted to scold her son a bit, after all, messing up a wedding is no small matter, but as soon as she opened her mouth, it turned into words of concern.

Lu Yan: "What?"

Lu Miao: "Can you trust the people who smashed Zhou Ming's wedding? You're a celebrity now, you need to think carefully about everything you do, what if someone catches wind of this?"

The words Zhou Ming said before hanging up the phone made Lu Miao both angry and anxious, angry at herself for being blind, and afraid that Lu Yan might have left evidence.

Lu Yan's hand that was tidying his sleeves stopped: "Zhou Ming's wedding was smashed?"

Hearing the surprise in her son's voice, Lu Miao was stunned: "It wasn't you?"

"...No."

Lu Miao sighed: "I thought... never mind, it's good that it wasn't you." Lu Miao finally breathed a sigh of relief, and her tone became much lighter, "I'll be back in the country in a couple of days, what would you like to eat, I'll drop it off at the set for you."

Lu Yan picked up the phone, his eyes clouded with mixed feelings: "I've been liking soup recently."

After hanging up, Lu Yan returned to his seat in silence.

Gu Xu turned his face: "What took you so long?"

Lu Yan didn’t answer him but suddenly asked in return, "Did you send people to smash it?"

Gu Xu: "Yes, it wasn’t convenient for you, but it was for me."

Lu Yan: ...

He looked at Gu Xu, at a loss for words for a moment.

A middle-aged man approached with a glass to propose a toast. Gu Xu chatted with the man with a nonchalant smile, sitting relaxed yet still radiating a cold, aristocratic demeanor.

Sensing Lu Yan’s gaze, he told the man, "I have other matters to attend to; let’s talk another time."

The man quickly caught on, offered a few parting words, and left.

After the man left, Gu Xu looked at Lu Yan: "What’s going on?"

Lu Yan: "I’d like to give you an award."

"What award?"

Lu Yan said seriously: "The Boss of the Year Award."

Gu Xu: ...

Why did he feel like he was being handed a 'nice guy' card?

"Thank you, should I give an acceptance speech?" Gu Xu said with a forced smile, brushing off the topic, "When are you heading back to the set?"

Before Lu Yan could speak, Lin An hurried over.

He first greeted Gu Xu, then leaned close to Lu Yan and whispered, "Director Chen is throwing a tantrum, saying she wants to replace Lin Qing. The entire production schedule has ground to a halt. You should head back early to see what’s going on."

Lu Yan "hmm" in agreement; he had planned to return after the dinner anyway: "Then see if there are any flights tonight."

Lin An, who had already checked the flights, replied quickly: "Yes, there’s one at ten."

Gu Xu: "Book it for tomorrow instead."

Without hesitation, Lin An responded swiftly: "Okay."

"Don’t take the red-eye; go back tomorrow." Gu Xu glanced at Lin An, "Going tonight won’t make a difference. The hotel you’re at isn’t great; one less night there is better."

Catching the warning in his boss’s gaze, Lin An quickly nodded obediently: "Mr. Gu is right, I’ll book the 9 a.m. flight tomorrow. Xiao Yan, have breakfast before you go."

Lu Yan nodded: "Sure."

After Lin An left, Lu Yan casually remarked, "What’s the company’s plan for dealing with Lin Qing’s situation?"

Gu Xu, appearing indifferent, said offhandedly, "What situation?"

"He left the set without authorization, and Director Chen is really upset; she might replace him."

Gu Xu wiped his hands with a hot towel: "It’s his own problem; let him deal with it himself."

Getting no information, Lu Yan took a deep breath and moved his chair closer to Gu Xu, asking in a whisper, "Did you start this company just to promote Lin Qing?"

Actually, when he signed the contract, he had a vague sense that the company’s major resources were being funneled into one person. When Lin Qing showed up, he pretty much figured it out.

Gu Xu: "Yeah."

Lu Yan had already had an idea in his mind, but seeing the other party admit it without hesitation, he still felt a deep sense of frustration.

He nodded lightly and wanted to move his chair back.

"His family has done some favors for ours," Gu Xu said as he handed him a hot towel. "Here, clean your mouth."

Lu Yan muttered an "Oh," took the towel, and casually wiped his mouth a few times.

Gu Xu was silent for a while, then suddenly used the towel to wipe the corner of Lu Yan's mouth, his expression natural. "You didn’t get this part."

After wiping, Gu Xu turned the towel over and wiped his own mouth.

Lu Yan's eyes followed the towel, scanning Gu Xu's lips. After Gu Xu finished wiping with the hot towel, he used a tissue to clean off the moisture left by the towel.

After completing these actions, perhaps feeling his lips were a bit dry, Gu Xu lightly moistened his lips.

This time, Lu Yan didn’t even make a sound.

He suddenly felt his mouth go dry and grabbed a glass of water, taking a big gulp.

Noticing the movement beside him, Gu Xu snorted softly.

-

After the banquet ended, though they lived nearby, it was impossible for them to take the same car back.

Xiao Liu hadn’t seen his girlfriend for a long time and had asked Lu Yan for a day off, so today Lin An was responsible for driving him back to his apartment.

In the car, Lin An kept talking: "There’s a batch of newcomers at the company these days. I think several of them are quite good. I even brought their photos today, they’re in that black bag next to you. Take a look and let me know who you think has potential."

Lu Yan absentmindedly replied, "If I could spot talent just from photos, I wouldn’t have debuted in the first place. I’d have stuck to being your colleague."

Lin An laughed: "Hey, don’t say that. When I first saw you, I knew you were going to be a star."

"Yeah, I’m so handsome, it’s no wonder I’m famous."

"..." Look at you, so full of yourself, "Nowadays, just having a good face isn’t enough. There’s this female celebrity recently, Liu Mingyi, do you know her? She’s quite pretty, but her acting is really bad, and she has a lot of scandals. She’s in a tough spot. Probably can’t get any good resources anymore. She’s even younger than you, but she just got married. Who would’ve thought her wedding would turn into a mess. Not only was her wedding crashed, but there were also people hiring trolls to trash her online. Tsk tsk."

Lu Yan raised an eyebrow: "What are they trashing her for?"

"Lots of things. How long has it been since you checked Weibo? It’s trending all over Weibo right now."

Lu Yan opened Weibo, and sure enough, the top trending topic was "Liu Mingyi’s Wedding Crashed."

He looked at the comments. Everyone was guessing why it happened, and it was hard to tell if they were netizens or trolls, but the content was pretty much the same. Some said she was a mistress who climbed her way up, others said the wife of the wealthy man she used to be with was causing trouble for her. Hardly anyone was standing up for her.

Even the headlines had several big V articles, all rehashing her old scandals for clicks.

He searched for Liu Mingyi’s Weibo and found that she had already deleted her account.

Lu Yan asked: "What about her PR team?"

"The agency has given up on her. What PR team?" Lin An said. "All her past scandals have been exposed, and now she’s the talk of the internet. I wonder how her fiancé feels about all this. Even if he doesn’t, they’ll likely have the wedding abroad now."

Lu Yan pursed his lips as he looked at Liu Mingyi’s garbled Weibo username.

Online bullying might seem harmless, but it cuts deep.

In this mess, Zhou Ming walked away clean, while Liu Mingyi was left battered and bruised. This wasn’t Lu Yan’s intention. Regardless of whether Liu Mingyi’s past scandals were true or not, at least she hadn’t offended him, yet he had unintentionally pushed her over the edge.

The back seat of the car was silent for a long time, so long that Lin An thought Lu Yan had fallen asleep.

"Find a PR firm to help Liu Mingyi manage the public perception."

Lin An thought he had misheard: "What?"

Lu Yan specifically mentioned: "Find Yunxing Team to help her rehabilitate her image."

Yunxing is an independent PR firm and also the largest in the industry. The online public opinion, appearing to reflect public sentiment, is actually manipulated by the firm's online trolls behind the scenes. A certain actress who had an affair was successfully rehabilitated under Yunxing's manipulation not long ago, and now she continues to make movies and lives a comfortable life.

Because of their professionalism, Yunxing's pricing is also very high.

How high? Well, the rising stars in the industry simply can't afford them.

Lin An opened his mouth to ask more, but Lu Yan directly cut him off: "Go and negotiate the price tomorrow."

Seeing that Lu Yan didn't want to say more, Lin An didn't ask further, feeling a pang of sympathy for Lu Yan.

Late at night, Lu Yan lay on the big bed, restlessly shifting, unable to sleep.

As soon as he closed his eyes, the image of Gu Xu licking his lips would appear in his mind.

After several repetitions, it made his whole body heat up. He grabbed his hair and lowered the air conditioning a few more degrees.

After changing positions for the fifth time, he suddenly sat up from the bed.

Although Xu Fei had made a few thoughtful gestures towards Lu Yan, the two had hardly been in contact, so when he received Lu Yan's text message at 2 a.m., he thought he had seen the wrong name.

Until he saw the content of the message, his sleepiness completely disappeared.

"Assistant Xu, hello, is President Gu currently single?"

Xu Fei has a strong sense of professional ethics, but he is not blind. He knows very well what his boss's attitude towards Lu Yan is, so he decisively replied: "Yes."

The other party replied quickly: "Apologies for the late message, thank you."