Chapter 18
“Mr. Lu,” Lu Bai had not yet returned with his person, and although Lu Zhi is really scary, Xu Wen still mustered up the courage to ask, “May I dare to ask, what does that Xiao Ruan… look like?”
Lu Zhi tsk‘ed, “How should I know?” After a pause, he looked at Xu Wen in an inquisitive manner, “Why do you ask?” A little director would not dare to think about his nephew’s person, right?
“Well, Mr. Lu, it’s like this.” Xu Wen explained, “The third male in this play is the most outstanding, but his persona is based on the premise that the face must look good.” He did not have any expectations for temperament, as long as his face was good enough. When he thought of this he smiled a little embarrassed, “In fact, I wrote it according to the movie emperor Qu.” Of course, he did not dare to hope that Qu Xueyu could act in a small web drama that he had never heard of, and there were not a lot of scenes for the third male.
Lu Zhi raised an eyebrow, “Then coincidentally, you don’t even need to think about Qu Xueyu, because his substitute will be coming later. While it’s not as good as the real thing, nevertheless since my nephew fancies him, his face should be able to get by.”
Xu Wen was full of confusion: “Sub-substitute?” The world of rich people is not something he can understand very well…
Then he looked up, his eyes widened, and his mouth formed an “O” shape.
Pah! The cup in Lu Zhi’s hand dropped directly to the ground.
“I would like to introduce to everyone, this is Ruan Jiangjiu.” Lu Bai said then he looked at Xu Wen, who was already staring in disbelief. “Director Xu, this is the man who will act in that role in your show.”
Ruan Jiangjiu smiled faintly: “Hello, Director Xu.”
Xu Wen: “…” He must be dreaming…
Lu Bai pulled out a chair and sat down, Ruan Jiangjiu took a seat next to him. Lu Zhi observed the man who was pouring water for Lu Bai, before taking a deep breath and turning to Lu Bai. His expression shifted again and again before he finally asked, “Xiao Bai, is this the ‘Xiao Ruan’ you’ve been talking about?”
“Yes.” Lu Bai nodded, then moved closer to him and lowered his voice, “Second uncle, although he resembles Qu Xueyu, don’t you think my Xiao Ruan is much better looking than him?”
Lu Zhi wanted to slap his stupid nephew awake. The fuck. This is not just a resemblance, this is the same damn person! His nephew used to be a bit stupid but he wasn’t blind! What’s wrong with him now? No wonder, Xiao Bai’s canary could not be dug out no matter how he tried. His nephew did not hide him well, but it was because young master Qu was very good.
“Second uncle?” Lu Bai reached out and waved his hand in front of the other, Lu Zhi stared at the man who was currently placing a glass of water by his nephew’s hand with a complicated look, and then looked back at his nephew who was simply foolish, but still decided to say, “It’s nothing.” Then he looked at the little director who was frozen across the table, tsk and impatiently bit out, “It is no matter. Why do you look so foolish? It’s just a substitute. My nephew wants a substitute, so, of course, he’s going to get the best one.”
That his nephew really became that way towards this “Xiao Ruan”, he can only grit his teeth and play along. He has not yet figured out what is going on, and will only hurt his nephew by directly exposing it.
Xu Wen reacted like a robot moving jerkily: “Ah? Oh, oh! Sorry, I’m sorry, so sorry, Mr. Lu!” he took another look at the young man called Ruan Jiangjiu, who is really just too similar. If Mr. Lu had not identified this person as Ruan Jiangjiu, he would have been so excited that he would have asked for an autograph.
The waiters began to serve food, and even though they were used to seeing celebrities come to the restaurant, several waiters could not help but look at Ruan Jiangjiu a few more times when serving food. This is not a dimly lit bar or a late-night street, and Ruan Jiangjiu did not use micro-expressions to deliberately disguise himself. As long as one has eyes, there is almost no mistaking him, and there is practically no way there could be an exact duplicate in the world.
“The script is such a script, and the character is such a character.” Lu Zhi sipped his red wine, squinting his eyes at Ruan Jiangjiu, and said in a cold voice, “If,” he paused subtly: “—’Ruan Jiangjiu’ thinks it’s suitable, he can sign the contract.” In this web drama, even if Qu Xueyu doesn’t make a big hit, he can still earn a lot of money. It’s not too much to ask for him deceiving his nephew like this.
“You, you will be very suitable.” Xu Wen could not help but weakly speak up, there was even some excitement in his voice. This young man and Qu Xueyu are simply too similar, so naturally, he could not be more suitable.
Ruan Jiangjiu just gave a faint smile without saying anything. Lu Bai saw that the director was satisfied and also felt happy, so he spoke up, “Director, I have another request. If you agree, I will give you additional…” Lu Bai calculated the balance on his card, “One million investment.” Most of his money has been given to Ruan Jiangjiu, so right now he can at most, come up with one million. Lu Bai lamented to himself that it was too difficult to be someone’s gold master.
Lu Zhi twitched his eyebrows and clenched his teeth, but finally resisted before saying anything – he was not afraid of offending Qu Xueyu, or even the Elder Qu, but he was afraid of hurting his nephew.
“No, no, no! We have enough money,” Xu Wen hurriedly waved his hand. What a joke. He does not know how to understand the world of rich people, but it is impossible to receive money from someone’s nephew in front of the Boss: “You just say.”
So Lu Bai grinned, “When Xiao Ruan is filming I want to follow the group.” The original plot has so many people who have thoughts about Ruan Jiangjiu, how can he be assured when he is filming his first drama on his own? The identity of his family was still good to use, there should be no one to mess with Xiao Ruan. Lu Bai wanted Xiao Ruan to have a good life, so he could not be oblivious to injustice.
Lu Zhi BANG! put his glass on the table, his face dark, only to say a sentence. “Following the group is not necessary, Xiao Bai, don’t you have to go to school?” Fortunately, his silly nephew who does not want anyone to worry about him will start college in a couple of days.
“It’s no problem, Mr. Lu, you don’t have to worry!” Xu Wen said with a rather oblivious smile, “Most of the scenes in this play are taken in Jinghai! Young master Lu can come over anytime he wants to visit the set.” After a pause and added, “It’s very convenient.”
“Yeah, second uncle,” Lu Bai nodded: “It’s very convenient for me to stop by.”
Lu Zhi: “…”
So Lu Zhi’s face turned even darker, and the veins at the corners of his forehead cheerfully pumped.
Ruan Jiangjiu just watched the young man sitting next to him, his eyes only reflected the appearance of this youth, and nothing else. His eyes were thick and dark like ink as if he wanted to completely devour the young man who was sitting in the light at the moment.
When Lu Bai left for the bathroom later, Lu Zhi’s pleasant mask finally dropped to reveal a cold expression. He raised his chin towards Ruan Jiangjiu, his eyes freezing: “Young Master Qu, is it fun to play with my silly nephew?”
Xu Wen was surprised again, feeling the sudden change of atmosphere here since Lu Bai left and shrunk into a quail, silently watching the fight between the gods.
Ruan Jiangjiu raised his eyes to look at Lu Zhi and spoke, “Uncle Lu1 Here QXY/RJJ is calling LZ “Uncle” like Lu Bai does. Using “叔叔 / Shu Shu” instead of a polite “大爷/ Da Ye” to address an older male., I have no ill will towards Xiao Bai.” He would confess everything to him soon. He was interested in that young man, and he could no longer lie to him. His pride would not allow him to lie to the other anymore. Getting to know each other, getting along, and being with each other are all true, only that hint of falsehood, like choking on broken glass, will cut a fatal wound in their relationship at any time.
Lu Zhi jerked one corner of his mouth in a sneer, his brow furrowed: “Who is your uncle?” Are their two families so close? No, they have no relationship with each other as ‘uncle’ and ‘nephew’.
Ruan Jiangjiu was not concerned, only continued: “I will sign the contract. The drama is free to use me to promote, and, I do not want to be paid a penny to film it.”
Lu Zhi’s heart clenched: “What do you want?”
Ruan Jiangjiu chuckled: “I want 20% of the dividends after the show airs.”
Lu Zhi was instantly angry. Damn, how worthy of that old man who raised him. His heart could be really black. As long as there is Qu Xueyu in this drama, 20% of the bonus is definitely not a small amount. He was about to say something, when he saw the younger man raise his eyebrows, his features under the light more refined: “And the contract is to be written clearly, these bonuses will be given to Xiao Bai.”
Ruan Jiangjiu wanted his little gold master to support him, but most of the small treasury is gone, so he should earn some pocket money for him.
Lu Zhi looked at the other person with a complicated expression for a long time before saying, “Deal.”
At that moment, a text message suddenly came in. Ruan Jiangjiu looked down and saw that it was a message from his father, who had just invited his cheap brother home while showing off his fatherly love in front of him, sending him a message especially to teach him a lesson in anger. Ruan Jiangjiu blithely swiped through it, when another message popped up, and Ruan Jiangjiu narrowed his eyes at this message: it was Qin Gu asking him to meet.
~~~~~
When Lu Bai came out of the bathroom, he opened his phone to reply to Lu Guanguan’s message. Then suddenly, a trending headline popped up, with a very eye-catching title: #Shocking big reveal! The movie star’s sweetheart is actually him!#
Lu Bai scowled in disgust even as he clicked on the announcement while thinking that these media were too unethical, trying to pull the wool over the eyes of unrelated celebrities. However, when the announcement finally opened, he was stunned and blinked tsk, the media has finally dug up the real thing.
The two dazzling and proud teenagers were standing side by side, behind them was the rising sun and a swath of bright red camellias, and beneath the glow of the light and blooming flowers, the two appeared simply fated to be a couple.
The photo is accompanied by the text: The movie star and the domineering president’s childhood love – for more information, please visit the link.
Well, he has long said it ah. But second uncle and Xiao Ruan refused to believe…
A glance at the slightly grainy old photo of the teenage Qu Xueyu can not block the cold and delicate but eye-catching face even with the bad resolution – Lu Bai as a melon eater in his heart sighed. tsk, Qin Gu is really too blessed.
However – Lu Bai looked towards the ceiling and twitched the corners of his mouth – this matter bursting into the open means that he will have to go to work again for the plot, tsk, not happy.
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Once again a big thanks to CeXiong for being my first Kofi! Please enjoy this extra chapter!
Edited: Krone
