That evening, Lu Yuqi received a call from his cousin. Before he could even speak, Gu Fei's icy voice reached his ears:

"If you're really lonely, I can find you a girlfriend or boyfriend."

Tsk, he really doesn't come here unless he has a reason. His dear cousin probably saw the trending topic on Weibo. Lu Yuqi couldn't help but chuckle. "You should at least find me ten. I'm so lonely."

Gu Fei: "...I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it."

"Come on, I have no feelings for An Qingyan, don't be so jealous." The president of the prestigious Gu Group is so petty; he only smiled at An Qingyan.

Gu Fei closed his eyes helplessly. "Don't swear."

Lu Yuqi completely ignored these words. Everyone else was afraid of this famous Master Gu, but he had been running around in front of this cousin since he was a child.

"You're so boring. I don't know how An Qingyan could like an old-fashioned person like you."

Gu Fei, without changing his expression, uttered a sentence: "If you talk to me like that again, tomorrow's trending topic will be a video of you wetting the bed as a child and being chased and beaten by your mother."

Lu Yuqi: "..."

Gu Laogou, you're ruthless!! (Original URL)

Gu Fei gave him a few more instructions, asking him to take care of Yan Yan. This time, the person he was particularly concerned about changed from An Nanyi to Duan Ci. These little things were nothing to the arrogant king.

Even if Gu Fei didn't say anything, how could he let his good friend be bullied?

Just after hanging up the phone, An Qingyan knocked on the door and came in. The two lived across from each other. "The script reading starts at seven o'clock. Let's go over there."

“Okay.” Lu Yuqi put his phone in his pocket, picked up the brand-new script on the table, and got up to walk to An Qingyan’s side.

Taking advantage of being a few centimeters taller than An Qingyan, Lu Yuqi reached out and hooked his arm around An Qingyan's shoulder, leading him outside. "Tell me, what's going on between you and Duan Ci?"

"Maybe he feels that I stole his role, so he always targets me, but it's not a big deal." Speaking of this, An Qingyan couldn't help but recall the scene where Duan Ci seduced Gu Fei at the dinner party, which was really a bit funny.

Lu Yuqi glanced at him and asked, "What are you laughing at?"

"It's nothing, it's just that something happened last time..."

After hearing An Qingyan's description, Lu Yuqi couldn't help but laugh, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world. He laughed until his stomach hurt. "He shouldn't be called Duan Ci, he should be called Duan the Idiot. He actually thinks he can..."

An Qingyan suddenly nudged his arm with his elbow, signaling him to look ahead. Then he saw the complete idiot, Duan Ci, walking over from the opposite side, and they bumped into each other.

The other party had most likely heard Lu Yuqi curse "idiot," and was now standing in front of the elevator waiting for it to come down, arms crossed, glaring fiercely at the two exceptionally handsome young men opposite them.

He snorted coldly, rolled his eyes, and said sarcastically, "Another one who got in through connections, now they're a perfect pair."

Lu Yuqi wasn't angry at his words. He just narrowed his eyes slightly, looked at the person opposite him, and smiled. "Excuse me, ma'am, which page of the Classic of Mountains and Seas are you on? I'll go back and look it up."

Seeing Duan Ci's face turn green, An Qingyan almost burst out laughing. Putting everything else aside, never try to play those sarcastic tricks with the arrogant king; he's an old sarcasm master.

Duan Ci glared at him fiercely, "Sister? Are you blind? Can't you see I'm a man?!"

Lu Yuqi: "Oh, so you do know you're a man? Otherwise, why would you wear such heavy makeup? You look like an old witch, it's so scary."

"you!"

Just then, the elevator doors opened. "You just wait!" Duan Ci said, then entered the elevator, pressed the button hard, and closed the doors.

Young Master Lu shrugged. "It's nothing special."

An Qingyan gave him a thumbs up from the bottom of her heart.

The script reading was held on the rooftop terrace of the hotel, which was beautifully decorated and had a large swimming pool. The weather was nice today, not cold, and we could even see the stars.

"Now that everyone's here, let's begin."

The script reading mainly involves reading the lines. Any lines that are inappropriate or awkward can be revised. The script is reviewed from beginning to end to clarify the character settings and relationships.

Everyone sat together in a circle.

Lu Yuqi had only recently received the script and had made some simple markings for his part. He was somewhat surprised when he saw An Qingyan next door take out the script and open it.

An Qingyan's script was wrapped in a transparent book cover, and there were many marks drawn inside with a highlighter, and many annotations written in a ballpoint pen in the blank spaces.

Wow, no wonder he's a model student.

The script reading went fairly smoothly, with everyone offering many insights and questions. Only Duan Ci was distracted, occasionally glaring at An Qingyan across from him, then at Lu Yuqi, before rolling his eyes.

They didn't find it tiring at all.

The script reading didn't end until around 11 p.m.

"Everyone has worked hard, and it's getting late. Go back and get some rest."

"Alright, see you all tomorrow!"

An Qingyan closed the script and followed behind everyone. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Duan Ci following behind him. The surrounding lights were dim, but they could not hide the ill intent in the other person's eyes.

There's a swimming pool right next to it.

He roughly guessed what the other party wanted to do.

What happened next proved his guess correct.

When Duan Ci suddenly lunged at him and bumped into him, a glint of light flashed in his eyes, and he swiftly and nimbly dodged to the side.

As Duan Ci missed his target, he bent his elbow and rammed into the other man. The movement was casual yet swift. Duan Ci, who was already somewhat unbalanced, immediately cried out and fell into the swimming pool with a splash.

Lu Yuqi, who was walking at the very back and witnessed the whole thing, was speechless.

The group that was walking ahead heard the noise and turned around: "???"

Duan Ci was seen thrashing about in the water in a panic, shouting for help, "Help! Help!!!"

Everyone: "???"

An Qingyan stood to the side, his concerned gaze as if he were looking at someone mentally challenged. He coughed lightly and kindly reminded him, "The water isn't deep, you can just stand up."

Then Duan Ci stood up, the water only reaching his chest. Lu Yuqi couldn't help but laugh, and the others also chuckled.

Duan Ci stood disheveled in the water, shivering involuntarily. Although the weather wasn't very cold, falling into cold water in winter was still unpleasant. He pointed a trembling finger at the boy opposite him, whose eyes held concern, "You..."

"Brother Duan, be careful when you walk in the future."

"Don't stay in the water, come up here."

"Alright, alright, hurry up and get on. You're really something, falling down even on flat ground!" Wu Weiguang urged impatiently, his patience with Duan Ci long since exhausted.

Duan Ci suffered in silence, unable to do anything to An Qingyan, since he was the one who pushed her first. If he made a big fuss about it, and the surveillance footage was reviewed, he wouldn't get away with it either.

He gritted his teeth in frustration and climbed the steps beside him. "Damn, it's freezing!"

An Qingyan! I'll never forgive you!!

But the other person still had a sincere expression on their face, and you couldn't tell at all that he was the one who pushed them down. "Brother Duan, go back to your room and change your clothes, don't catch a cold."

Duan Ci was trembling all over, not from cold, but from anger.

He snorted coldly, turned around and strode away, his wet body still dripping water.

"It's alright, everyone go back now."

"Alright, let's go, let's go back to sleep!"

An Qingyan suppressed her concerned expression, casually glanced back at the still bewildered person behind her, and gently reminded him, "Yu Qi, let's go."

Lu Yuqi snapped out of his daze, manually closed his slightly open mouth, and quickly followed after him. He bumped An Qingyan's shoulder with his own and muttered in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Not bad, An Qingyan, you're something else!"

Gu Fei's worries were unnecessary; An Qingyan didn't need his care at all!

Bamboo shoots, they're so delicious!

An Qingyan smiled helplessly, "An eye for an eye."

Duan Ci had been making underhanded moves behind his back, and he wasn't someone to be trifled with.

I will not offend others unless they offend me.

This is his principle.

"That guy surnamed Duan must be furious." Lu Yuqi was still gloating. After thinking about it for a while, he said to An Qingyan, "You seem a little different than before."

"Really? How is it different?"

Lu Yuqi felt that when he first met An... no, back when he was still Lin Qingyan, he seemed a bit insecure. Even when others openly or secretly insulted and bullied him, he would just silently endure it and not retaliate.

In the end, Lu Yuqi stood up for him.

Things are different now.

It's different inside and out.

"I like you even more now." Lu Yuqi chuckled and casually uttered three words: "Little...cousin...sister-in-law."

An Qingyan: "..."

That's really weird, isn't it?!

"You..." He hesitated, unable to finish his sentence.

Lu Yuqi glanced at him and said, "What are you thinking about? It's just friendly affection."

"...Of course I know."

He and Gu Fei were able to get together so quickly thanks to Lu Yuqi, but he ended up getting an angry kick from Gu Fei. What a great spirit of selfless dedication!

Only the CP fans firmly believe that their relationship is true love. Just thinking about this makes his head ache. Even though he doesn't feel pain, this mysterious group is growing every day.

An Qingyan felt he should repay Young Master Lu's selfless dedication, so he very loyally asked Lu Yuqi if he had anyone he liked, and offered to help him pursue them.

Young Master Lu crossed his arms, gave him a meaningful look, and after a moment of silence, uttered a single sentence: "There is indeed one."

An Qingyan was immediately surprised; the arrogant prince had been hiding his true intentions well.

"who?"

"Guess for yourself, I don't want to tell you."