Chapter 26 The Terrifying Man
At this moment, the person with the most complicated feelings is none other than Pan Mingxuan.
He had met all sorts of people, but Xu Yuewei was one of the few who left a very positive impression on him.
These days, it's rare to find someone who possesses a friendly demeanor, beautiful appearance, and excellent skills all at the same time. He originally quite liked her—or rather, admired her.
It wasn't until he learned that the person his boss was supposedly "still pursuing" was none other than Teacher Xu.
He had recently seen his cousin Zhou Xu posting many photos of his daily work life on his WeChat Moments, and he guessed that the guy was also interested in her.
Sure enough, Zhou Xu messaged him directly asking: "Is Jiang Shiyan your boss? Who is he pursuing?"
Oh no, this is terrible.
Pan Mingxuan was preoccupied with deciding which side to take, and even the hamburger in his mouth didn't taste good anymore.
To facilitate discussing the wording of the statement, Jiang Shiyan came directly to the studio after leaving Meng Jiao's house. Anyway, no one was waiting for him at home.
The matter was temporarily resolved. He had barely slept last night, and his body was starting to protest. He lay sprawled on the sofa, closed his eyes to rest, and ate a few bites of the takeout before putting it back in the bag.
When Pan Mingxuan entered the room, he saw him sleeping. He quietly walked to the chair and sat down, looking constipated.
Jiang Shiyan heard the sound with his eyes closed, and opened one eye a crack: "What is it?"
Pan Mingxuan was preoccupied and didn't notice that he was awake. He was startled and said, "Nothing! No, something's wrong."
Jiang Shiyan closed his eyes and said, "Speak."
Pan Mingxuan made a few pointless, indirect remarks, and Jiang Shiyan clicked his tongue: "You're very free?"
Pan Mingxuan had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask, "Brother, have you ever thought about what if Teacher Xu isn't single?"
Jiang Shiyan: "Are you her boyfriend?"
Pan Mingxuan: "No, no, no, don't joke with me, I just..."
“If her boyfriend has a problem with it, he should come to me himself. Otherwise, I would assume she doesn’t have any issues…” Jiang Shiyan dragged out his words, lazily propping his head up on his side, “or, assume that guy is a coward.”
Pan Mingxuan: "...Okay, then I wish you success."
Then she turned to Zhou Xu and texted: 【Are you a coward?】
Zhou Xu replied with a question mark.
He was in the public classroom, which was empty after the theory class. The rest of the class had gone to the cafeteria for lunch, but he had no interest in eating. He was watching videos saved on his phone.
Online, it was reported that the blogger who originally posted the video deleted his Weibo post, and other reposted videos were also being dealt with one after another, as if someone was manipulating things behind the scenes. He managed to save one of them.
The more he looked, the more he thought it resembled Xu Yuewei. After searching for information about Jiang Shiyan, he immediately recognized him as the man who had caused trouble at the coffee shop that day. His intuition was right; there was indeed more to their relationship than met the eye.
Zhou Xu sat in his seat with his hands hanging down by his sides, his brows furrowed and his eyes closed.
He knew better than anyone how important the order of appearance was, but unfortunately he was always the one at the back, yet he thought he had the upper hand.
At that moment, he suddenly envied Jiang Shiyan. Jiang Shiyan could confess his feelings to the whole world, but he couldn't. At first, he didn't dare, and later he couldn't.
He had training in the afternoon, so he had to eat a full meal at noon. But on his way to the cafeteria, he kept looking down at his phone, glued to Weibo, constantly refreshing information that had nothing to do with him.
Zhou Xu took a shortcut across a bridge. The arched bridge was difficult for bicycles to navigate, and only students on foot went up and down it. Even if he suddenly stopped halfway down the slope, it wouldn't cause any traffic problems.
Zhou Xu's thumb, which was swiping the screen, suddenly stopped moving.
This woman is my friend's older sister. We even had drinks together last night (doge). No wonder she wouldn't even add me on WeChat; apparently, she's run into a shrew. My apologies (doge).
The accompanying photo showed a woman sitting with her legs together, leaning slightly forward to sniff the wine, her eyes lowered, her shoulders and back slender, making one want to hug her.
Her face was a hundred times clearer than in the video, and most of the comments were about her, with some praising her beauty and others calling her a vixen.
Scrolling to the comments section, the blogger only replied to two comments.
Passerby: [Wow, these photos are amazing! I checked their profile and realized they're a photography pro; even candid shots turn out great.]
Blogger: [Keep it low-key (doge)]
Passerby: [Judging from the clothes, it really was the same day. What's going on? Is she stringing Jiang Shiyan along while also flirting with the blogger?]
Blogger: [Who knows, haha (doge)]
There were also dissenting voices, such as, "Since you say she's your friend's sister, is it okay for you to push her into the spotlight again? Your friendship with your friend is really fake," but the blogger ignored these comments.
Zhou Xu felt that his blood pressure was a bit unstable.
He took two quick steps, found a step under the bridge, sat down, and started typing furiously, launching a group chat to curse him.
He posted several messages in a row, but suddenly couldn't post the next one. He clicked a few times and realized that the Weibo post might have been deleted.
Deleted the unsent message: 【Besides, what's wrong with a beautiful woman being liked by many people? I'd support her drinking with eight men!】
He exited Weibo and switched to WeChat, staring blankly at his chat with Xu Yuewei for a moment, but still didn't say anything.
*
Time flew by and it was evening.
Around 8 p.m., the night sky was pitch black, and the air was filled with the promise of the first snow. The dry, cold wind blew for a while and then stopped.
The filming of "Guanshan" proceeded smoothly on set.
At the foot of the palace steps, a woman in plain white clothes knelt, her jade hairpin askew, her jet-black hair hanging down to her feet. She had been kneeling for an unknown amount of time, her eyes sometimes empty and sometimes filled with despair, stubbornly and silently shedding tears.
For a scene that didn't require sound recording, there weren't many staff members around, mostly cinematographers and lighting technicians, to ensure that the details of tear stains and hair wouldn't be swallowed up by the darkness.
The director yelled "Cut! That's a wrap!" Meng Jiao swayed to the side, trying to stand up on her own, but her legs went numb...
She couldn't find the right feeling even after filming this scene for a long time, and her final expression of despair didn't seem like acting.
She blamed herself for letting men affect her mood, and tapped her head twice in frustration.
Unexpectedly, this scene was later included in the behind-the-scenes footage, praising her for her high standards and pursuit of excellence.
A boy holding a lantern next to me also let go of his arm at the last moment, and the old man said to him, "Hey, hey, this lantern is more expensive than yours, be careful not to bump into it."
The boy smiled and admitted his mistake, but inwardly rolled his eyes, thinking, "Let whoever wants to be this beast of burden be."
After filming this scene, the crew wrapped up and he packed his things to go back to school, but was stopped by an experienced photographer.
The old master wasn't his mentor. They hadn't exchanged more than a few words when the boy became tense, afraid he might have made a mistake in some detail. But the old master simply told him, "Turn around so I can take a look."
These words sounded like something an emperor would say to a woman, and a wave of "fuck mud horse" swept through the guy's mind: unspoken rules in film crews!
To his surprise, the old man glanced down at his phone, then looked up at him and said, "Someone wants to see you. Come with me."
The boy felt a chill run down his spine: "Can I ask who it is?"
You'll see when you see it.
"Could it be the director...?"
The experienced worker ignored him and led him to an unfamiliar staff member.
The boy panicked even more: "Could it be the producer...?"
It wasn't until he handled the case with another person that the other party answered him: "He's an investor."
The boy froze for a moment as if struck by lightning, his voice clenching in panic: "I...I didn't break the equipment!"
The man didn't answer him, but led him to a black sedan with its rear door open.
The boy's heart leaped into his throat, and he refused to go in: "I don't do that kind of thing..."
Just then, a man got off the car from the other side, carrying an oval-shaped object in his hand. He tossed it up and caught it repeatedly as he walked. His leather jacket had a retro and luxurious feel, and his legs were long and straight, like a runway model stepping out of a screen.
He didn't look very old, not the stereotypical greasy-haired old man, so the boy relaxed his guard a little. But when the man walked up to him and he saw his face clearly, he felt a chill run down his spine.
How could it be him?
The boy knew this person not because of his identity as a music producer, nor because of the scandals trending on social media, but because of an interview report about him earlier this year.
The entertainment industry is a place of constant change. After Jiang Shiyan made his name through singing and songwriting variety shows, he moved behind the scenes and became virtually unknown. Few people had high hopes for him, with some saying it was a pity and others saying he lacked ambition.
But in just a few years, he won an award and proved the public wrong. He licensed his works to film and radio dramas, produced albums for singers, and his name appeared everywhere on the production credits. He also interacted more with popular celebrities on the platform. He started to take on commercial performances and I heard that he also invested in several music studios offline. You could say he's a madman who works 365 days a year.
Then he invested in the film and television industry, losing money repeatedly, then making money again and again.
What impressed me most about that report was when the reporter asked him about the secret to his success, and he replied, "I have to thank one person. They gave me the strength to stand at a high place."
From the forefront to behind the scenes and then to a businessman, he has experienced ups and downs for eleven years, and he is only twenty-seven years old.
The boy broke out in a cold sweat. If he had known earlier that Jiang Shiyan was one of the investors in "Guanshan," he definitely wouldn't have posted that Weibo post, or he would have deleted all the selfies and casual diary entries he had written on set from his homepage before posting it...
Less than a day had passed since he posted that Weibo message, yet he managed to sift through the large and diverse crew and pinpoint his location – what a terrifying man.
Moreover, he's very sensitive. He deleted the comments section as more and more people criticized him. How did Jiang Shiyan find him in such a short time?
The boy patted his chest exaggeratedly, forcing a stiff smile: "Oh my god, this is the first time I've ever met a celebrity! I've heard so much about you! Bro... you, you..."
“I’m not a celebrity,” Jiang Shiyan corrected him. “I think you’d love to be one.”
"No, no, I'm not here..."
His polite words were cut off before he could finish.
"You really can't do it. Want to know why?"
Jiang Shiyan pulled the tab on the can with his index finger and opened it with one hand with a snap.
The boy then noticed that what he had just tossed in his hand was a beer, which appeared smaller than the beer on the shelf, covered by the man's large palm bone.
Jiang Shiyan tilted his head back and took a sip, his Adam's apple bobbing. He glanced at the person out of the corner of his eye and said indifferently, "You're too ugly."
Boy: ?
Jiang Shiyan rolled his eyes at the moon, feeling somewhat depressed. Today was almost over; if he waited until the next night, he would miss the best opportunity to comfort her.
But I had no choice but to vent my anger.
"Your eyes are too puffy or you have double eyelids, and your lips are too thick; it will make you look..."
He raised one corner of his lips, and his deep, magnetic voice sounded pleasant even when he spoke vulgar words.
"Like a pig's head."
The boy's hands, clenched tightly into fists behind his back, were unconsciously clenched into a fist.
"Why aren't you saying anything? Most people would be angry by now if they heard someone insulting them like that, right?"
Jiang Shiyan leaned back lazily against the car, swirling his canned beer like a wine glass: "Unless you know why I cursed you. Looks like I didn't pick the wrong person."
At this point, pretending to be ignorant was useless. The young man bowed and apologized: "I'm sorry, I was wrong. I will post another apology on Weibo to that lady..."
Jiang Shiyan: "No need."
He finally managed to get Zhou Weinian to bring the controversy down.
He bent down, reached for another bottle of wine from the built-in coffee table in the car, handed it to the boy, and smiled nonchalantly and arrogantly.
"Relax, this is a society governed by law. I'm not going to do anything to you, right?"
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Author's Note: I gave Teacher Jiang a little cheat code [droopy-eared rabbit head]
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