>>

----------

Arc 2 - Chapter Two

Shen Jiayan's next scene was with Su You.

In this "Cricket" film, Su You's role was precisely the male lead, Zhu Fu.

During that time period, it could be said that there was war and chaos everywhere. Amidst this, the Shen family generation was involved in the arms and pharmaceuticals business. Shen Yu had a mind for business, and taking advantage of the current turmoil, he made a lot of money from the war.

And Zhu Fu was an undercover agent prepared to hide in the Shen family.

Zhu Fu's mission was to find evidence of the Shen family's smuggling crime, and then end the Shen family in one fell swoop. In this way, when they fight against the enemy troops, they could have sufficient military supplies for distribution.

Those who were part of the revolution, whose hands could honestly be so clean? What was more, Shen Yu could not be considered a good person in any way, he was at best someone in the grey edges.

The scene about to be filmed was precisely the part where Su You lets Zhu Fu "take a fancy".

("看上", which seems to mean 'like', 'take a fancy to', 'settle on', 'have a crush on', etc which makes little sense to me so if any of you have any idea what this sentence really means, let me know.)

A j.a.panese car that could definitely be considered stylish was leisurely driving along the flagstone road.

All of a sudden, gunshots sounded everywhere, hitting the car's body repeatedly. The gla.s.s was also not fortunate enough to be spared, directly flying in through window, scratching a thin line of blood across Shen Yu's face.

"Eldest young master, alight quickly!" The driver ignored his own safety and climbed over, using his body to block the empty car window. Blood foamed from the corners of his mouth, yet he was still struggling to shout, "Flee!"

A hint of conflict flitted through Shen Yu's eyes; his almond eyes were full of hatred. However, in the end, he still got off the car under the imploring gaze of the driver.

Outside the car, the gunfire was as dense as a net, Shen Yu was doomed to have nowhere he could escape to.

"Follow me." A very dirty man appeared from who knows where, pulling Shen Yu with him as he dove into those small crooked and winding alleyways. After a short while, there were no more sounds behind them.

Shen Yu surveyed the man in front of him.

His first impression was: dirty. His whole person looked like he had just been dragged out of the mud, his body was dressed in rags and tatters, and even emitted a stench. It was only his pair of eyes that were really bright, just like the stars, a light that can't be extinguished.

Shen Yu fished out a handkerchief and carefully wiped his hand clean, squinting as he asked him: "What do you want?"

"I want to follow you." The man's reply was unexpectedly straightforward, not in the least sloppy.

("拖泥帶水", literally wading through mud and water, used to describe speech or writing that isn't concise.)

After Shen Yu finished wiping his hand, he immediately threw away the handkerchief. There seemed to be amus.e.m.e.nt in his eyes, it was just that there was no trace of warmth in the words he spoke: "You want to follow me, but why would I let you follow?"

"Then why would you not let me follow?" The man stubbornly asked, his pair of eyes seemed to s.h.i.+ne even brighter.

Shen Yu inclined his head slightly, the smile on his face somewhat cruel: "Why, let me think about it. Because I dislike those eyes of yours, how, are you able to dig them out?"

The man did not speak, and after some time, he lifted his hand to gouge at his own eyes, but his hand trembled slightly.

Shen Yu clearly noticed this detail, his mood unexpectedly improved, he took pity and was merciful, saying: "Forget it, there's no need to gouge anymore. I still don't feel like having a blind dog."

On that day, Shen Yu lost his loyal old servant who had accompanied him for more than ten years, but he obtained a useful and obedient dog.

At this point, the first mutual encounter part could be considered complete.

But all the way until Director Xie shouted, "Stop, the filming of this scene has been completed", everyone on site were still unable to react.

Although Shen Jiayan and Mo Ming's interaction in the previous scene allowed everyone's heart to be somewhat prepared. But no matter how, they did not expect him to actually be able to match with Su You, Film Emperor Su, and he did not even seem to have struggled or suffered at all.

Everyone could not help but think: Could it really be that two scenes before, when Director Xie gave Ji Luoge a round of vicious scolding, he was scolded to enlightenment? If we had known it would be like this……

Director Xie really should have scolded him even earlier!

Xie Yun was very clear on what he loved and detested, his likes and dislikes had also always been straightforward. After the filming of this scene, his expression towards Shen Jiayan had eased a lot, and for the first time, he praised, "Not bad."

Su You's eyes also held deep thoughts. He remembered that after he had been defamed by Ji Luoge for having an unrestrained private life and taking drugs, he had committed suicide via sleeping pills.

Then why is it that the next time he woke up, they were shooting Director Xie's film, and in front of him stood a Ji Luoge who was definitely younger by ten-odd years.

He also had an impression of this film. At that time, the character he specially chose for Ji Luoge was precisely this rich family's young master, but Ji Luoge had rejected it. By climbing into someone else's bed, he swapped his character with Mo Ming's second male lead.

However, at this time, Ji Luoge's role had not only remained unchanged, his acting skills had also rapidly improved by leaps and bounds. The investor who should have come to the set did not come. And Xie Yun had actually praised Ji Luoge's acting?

All these changes made Su You feel somewhat unprepared. Therefore, although he really hated Ji Luoge in his heart, he still went with the flow and finished acting the scene just now.

Su You planned on finding a time to organise his thoughts well, to figure out just what is really going on with this situation, then make further plans.

But Shen Jiayan absolutely did not wish to give Su You time to think clearly. He intended to take advantage of Su You's recent rebirth, when there are many things that have yet to be finalised, to completely subvert his cognition.

Thinking this way, Shen Jiayan reached out a hand and wiped away the dirty marks on Su You's face, smiling at him with almond eyes curved: "Brother Su, your face is still somewhat dirty, do you want me to accompany you to go wash it?"

The moment Shen Jiayan said this, the gazes of the people around him were filled with scorn. To think that they had believed that he had really changed over a new leaf, who knew that in the next second, he would hug the Film Emperor's thigh.

("抱上了影帝的大腿", as some of would already know, to hug someone's thigh is to curry favour with that person, the phrase originating from the concept of 'hugging' the legs of a huge Buddha statue when praying for help.)

People are like this. When liking someone, anything they do is good, and when disliking someone, then anything they do is wrong.

Su You's was clear in his heart that at this time, he and Ji Luoge had yet to tear off their faces, naturally he also would not let him lose face in public. So, he nodded lightly and said, "Okay."

("撕破臉皮", meaning to shed all pretences of cordiality; "沒臉", it actually says 'no face', but I felt 'lose face' sounded better, and it means to be shamed/embarra.s.sed.)

But what he really wanted was to do was to take this opportunity to observe further: This Ji Luoge, why was he different from the one in his memory?

The two of them had only just entered the bathroom, yet Shen Jiayan couldn't wait and lunged into Su You's arms, his pair of eyes blinking, long and thick eyelashes fluttering, like a spoiled little puppy: "A'You, how did I perform just now?"

Looking at such a Ji Luoge, Su You was absentminded for a moment.

He suddenly recalled the first time he saw Ji Luoge's dance practice at the company. At that time, Ji Luoge was dancing until his back was covered with sweat, but the smile on his face had been even more dazzling than the sunlight s.h.i.+ning in.

Then when was it that the clear and clean Ji Luoge began to change? And in the end, why did he and Ji Luoge walk step by step to that sort of plight?

Su You's thoughts were pulled back by the hand gently tugging the corner of his s.h.i.+rt. Shen Jiayan bit his lower lip, revealing a trace of nervousness: "A'You, were there still parts that were performed badly?"

"No, you performed very well today." Su You praised lightly, this sentence was also not unwillingly said, Ji Luoge's acting skills was not bad today.

In fact, thinking from another perspective, Ji Luoge's acting had always been good. Otherwise, how could he lie to him for so long, treating him like a fool, playing circles around him, yet causing him to be perfectly willing in taking all the dirty water for him, and finally, for his sake, he died?

Shen Jiayan watched as Su You's facial expression became increasingly dark, he knew that this was not good, and that he had to hurry and do something to keep Su You from continuing his line of thought.

Shen Jiayan held Su You's face, tip-toed and gave him a kiss, smiling like a sly child, his eyes were filled with pure joy: "That's good, A'You, it is for your sake that I spent a long time practicing my acting skills!"

"Practice acting for me, why?" Su You did not remember that there was still such a thing.

Shen Jiayan said in a matter-of-fact way: "Because A'You is the Film Emperor. I want to act with A'You, but I don't want to Ayou's drag-along oil bottle all the time, therefore, I have to diligently practice my acting."

("拖油瓶", apparently this is a derogative term referring to step-children/children from a woman's previous marriage, but I'm guessing that it just means a parasite in this context.)

Upon hearing this, Su You's original conviction once again began to waver. If things really were as Ji Luoge had said, and he really cared about himself, then in the end, what was it that caused him to change?

Su You felt that he really needed to find out that answer, intuition told him that this was very important.

"Alright, the time we've come out for has not been short, we should return." Su You did not reply Shen Jiayan, and pushed away the hand on his body, "Let's go!"

Su You walked in front, striding like a meteor, seemingly with no intention of waiting for Shen Jiayan.

Shen Jiayan, who was left behind, let out a sigh of relief. Su You's dislike for him was obviously not as deep as it had been at the beginning. Could he count this as a successful first step?

Mo Ming had been following them the whole way, and after he had finished listening to the whole conversation, he gently pressed the "Complete Recording" b.u.t.ton on his phone. He originally intended to only record the fawning appearance of Ji Luoge towards the Film Emperor and did not think he would be able to obtain unexpected gains. Tsk tsk, should this conversation be released, then this material would really be awesome enough!

("嘖嘖", p.r.o.nounced as 'ze ze', supposed to mean tongue clicking, to express disappointment or approval. 'Tsk tsk' seemed close enough an approximation?)

Are the Film Emperor and the currently popular little youth a pair in private? Ah, just public opinion and criticism would be enough to crush them.

However, Mo Ming was not anxious. This good steel should always be used for knife blades.

("這好鋼，從來都是要用在刀刃上的" is from an idiom, which is a slightly shorter version of this sentence, that means to make the best out of what you have, to use resources where they are needed most.)

"Your Excellency Host, the conversation you and Su You just had, it has been recorded down from the beginning to the end. Do you need me to destroy it?" The black cat asked as it noiselessly appeared beside Shen Jiayan.

Shen Jiayan pondered for a while: "No need, without destruction there can't be construction. Perhaps if he released it, he could still help a bit, let Su You change his view towards Mo Ming's kind-heartedness."

"Okay." The black cat flicked his tail, praising, "Your Excellency Host, you really are becoming smarter and smarter."

Everything seemed to be progressing towards a better direction.

But Shen Jiayan had only just went out and was already dumbfounded. Under the circ.u.mstance where Shen Jiayan did not fool around with him, that film investor still unexpectedly came to the studio! And looking at the expression in his eyes, it's exactly like a fly having seen meat, causing people to feel uncomfortable all over.

Should he lament about fate playing with people?

Shen Jiayan subconsciously shot a glance at Su You, Su You's facial expression was unsightly enough to scare people, it looked like he had was once again thought of the bad things before his rebirth.

----------

T/N: Not-so-white Mo Ming showing his true colours, eh? 

Btw, if anyone is as confused as I am about when exactly did Shen Jiayan enter this world, well, we'll have to wait and see if there's any explanation. (Because he's supposed to enter after Su You reborns, but then where did he find the time to make all those changes like not swapping roles with Mo Ming and not seducing the investor?)

Also, sorry about the links. 

Majority of them open in new tabs, while some don't, and I've no idea why, because there's this option when creating a link to open in new tab or not but something seems to be overwriting that and I don't know how or what rules its following (you'd realise if you go to the project page, 'Prologue' and 'Chapter One' brings you to a new tab while 'Chapter Two' doesn't). 

If anyone has any idea how to fix this, do let me know. Thanks!

----------

   >>