Chapter 28

If anything sounds off, be it grammar, word choice, or anything, you guys can tell me ok, I’m very open to constructive criticism since I barely had formal lessons in English. I am uneducated you can be mean to me within reason, I will not change the raws too much because I already change it a lot to fit English narration, but if it really burns your eyes and offends you, just tell me.

-Helli

A field of red covered his eyes. The blood rushing to his head blurred his vision, preventing him from seeing clearly the path before him.

It felt as if he was standing in a large crowd, with countless voices streaming into his ears, piercing through his eardrums, they were all screaming: Sinner! Sinner! You should just die!

He opened his mouth but no voice came from it, he had no way of justifying what he had done, even though he knew that it was not the truth.

His heart was in so much pain it gradually turned numb.

Since he had no way of getting out of this, then he should just give in……

Gu Yan opened his eyes abruptly and gasped. He looked at the white ceiling above his head and the uncontrolled emotions within him finally disappeared without a trace.

It had been so long since he had last dreamt, he didn’t even understand why he would dream of such a thing.

Sun Jie’s betrayal was just a farce that he’d expected. He had never any trust for that despicable human being. Sun Jie tried to frame him, not knowing that he was not someone whom he could afford to offend, so the only thing he do was to pay for mistake.

There was no way of concealing where he and Sun Jie had been on that night, those were all things the policemen could find out and Qin Yao definitely had the ability to find out as well. And since that was the case, it was better for him to just be open about it and count on that little play he gave Qin Yao that night. He believed that his act on that night was impeccable. The only thing that appeared to have happened that night was Sun Jie falling to his death after taking some drugs, and he had been with Qin Yao when the whole ordeal had happened, there was no way the police could pin anything on him at all.

But that was just the police. With Qin Yao’s character, this could only serve to make him an even more suspicious target. So to counter that, he had to pull out some sympathy points from him……

He did not expect for Qin Yao to drop his suspicions on him after just a short act, but at least he was able to reduce the hostility and wariness Qin Yao had against him. He could tell simply from how Qin Yao never followed him that……His trick had still been effective. Turns out this cold and powerful man was not that invulnerable after all.

As for how Sun Jie had been doing this under Zhu Huan Wei’s orders, it was not that surprising to Gu Yan.

He had understood that Zhu Huan Wei was full of malicious intents towards himself the first time he made contact with the company, and all the scandals and media attacks thrown at him were also extremely strange. Now that he knew everything, the only thing that still confused him was why Zhu Huan Wei was doing this to him.

He combed through his memory carefully but there was too much and it was quite chaotic. Despite that, there was no doubt that Zhu Huan Wei did not know him when he had first signed up to become an artist, and that could only mean one thing——Zhu Huan Wei is being controlled by someone.

But who was behind Zhu Huan Wei? Gu Yan wondered for a while but came out with his hands empty. Regardless, it was no rush, he could just seek him out when the opportunity posed itself and ask him directly.

Though he was trying to destroy his reputation, he was clearly wary about doing it. He was timid about it and beat around the bush. He was clearly second guessing himself, so there was no way he would ever be a real threat to him.

This was all just a menial trifle, and so it was not worth wasting too much of his precious time.

…………………………

Gu Yan rested at home for a day, and received another call from Liu Wei. Liu Wei told Gu Yan that he had already approached the recruiters for the film. Shihe entertainment was one of the investors for that film, so Director Zou had expressed that he will consider it. But before he made his decision, he needed a meeting with Gu Yan.

At the same time, Liu Wei had also hinted that Director Zou was the leading director within the country and had always been more meticulous about his choices. He reminded Gu Yan to make his preparations and perform well in front of him, in case even Director Zou decided against hiring him, the company had no way of helping him out either.

Gu Yan agreed but he did not find his words to be true.

Even though he chose this film, it didn’t mean he couldn’t live without it. And it wasn’t as much of a struggle for him now as when he had just started either with the company boosting him up now. A lot of things required less effort to do these days, but regardless……He never had the serious intention to hang around in the entertainment industry.

Director Zou was not the small-time director like Zhang Yuan was so the movie had always been attracting attention since the project had been established. Liu Wei didn’t dare to neglect him at all and personally drove Gu Yan over to see Director Zou. On the road, he also did not forget to remind Gu Yan carefully to do his best.

“Director Zou is normally a very busy guy, he came over this time to our city just to discuss about the movie. Our company is a large sponsor for his movie so he attaches great importance to the candidates we can offer him. When he heard it was you, he asked me immediately to bring set you up on a meeting with him, but he’ll be heading to Flower City in the afternoon so time is tight for him.”After finishing his speech, Liu Wei hesitated for a moment, but still decided to say:”It hasn’t been too long since your debut and you don’t have much to show your worth with, so it would be better for you to appear a bit more modest when you see Director Zou. He’s not a fan of those youngsters in the circle without much ability but are still frivolous and arrogant.”

And Liu Wei stopped at that. He did not know too much about Gu Yan, all he knew was his boss had personally told him to take care of Gu Yan well. Even though the big boss was a powerful guy, he still couldn’t force things if Director Zou really didn’t find Gu Yan good enough and insisted not to use him, right? So the final straw that decides whether Gu Yan could grasp this opportunity or not was still himself.

Moreover, it was clear from Director Zou’s attitude that he was probably dissatisfied with Gu Yan. He was currently negotiation with the other sponsors of the film, so calling out Gu Yan so casually now was most likely just to give his company some face. If he still decides after this that Gu Yan was unsuitable for the film then that wouldn’t be unexpected. If he was really interested in a candidate, then he definitely wouldn’t have done things so casually.

But Gu Yan had no way of saying this to Gu Yan, some things were better left out. He had already told him everything he had to, it wouldn’t be any of his problem if Gu Yan still couldn’t understand the importance of putting in an effort.

Liu Wei pulled into Songshan Club’s parking and walked with Gu Yan to the eighth floor.

“Hello, I’m here to see Director Zou, we’ve already made an appointment before this.”Said Gu Yan with a smile to the attendant standing outside.

“Please wait for a moment.”The attendant went in to report and came out a short while after,”Director Zou has invited you in, please come with me.”

Only after the two entered the room did Gu Yan realize that there were more people in the room besides Director Zou. But more coincidentally, he saw a familiar face amongst them.

A middle-aged man was seated on the left side of the sofa. He had a gentle and elegant aura and grizzled hair. It was the great director himself, Zou Meng. On the right side of the sofa were two others. The man had a big belly and a receding hairline. Though his appearance was ordinary, he had quite an imposing aura. Sitting next to him was a woman who stuck to him like a pile of boneless paste but with eyes that held a great, ravishing charm. It was Zhou Yu.

And so it was not hard to guess the identity of this man. This was the CEO of Yuanlin Group, Zhong Jian Ye, one of the other sponsors of this movie.

Zhong Jian Ye turned for a quick look at Gu Yan and Liu Wei, but showed no intentions of getting up or giving them any attention. As if nothing happened, he lit a cigar for himself and puffed out a cloud of smoke.

Zou Meng smiled and stood up to shake hands with Liu Wei,”Our great Agent Liu is here.”He appeared to be very polite but he had never spared a single glance to Gu Yan, it was like he never even existed in the first place.

The look in Gu Yan’s eyes changed slightly, he had already noticed that the atmosphere was a bit wrong.

Liu Wei had been in the circle for many years so the resounding name of his signboard did not come from nowhere, he was a smooth and capable businessman. As if he did not notice how Zou Meng was ignoring Gu Yan, he told him enthusiastically:”This is Gu Yan, director Zhou. He’s a rather promising newcomer.”

It was like Zou Meng had only noticed Gu Yan now. He spoke indifferently:”Nice to meet you, please, take a seat.”

The few of them settled down and found their seats. Liu Wei greeted Zhong Jian Ye politely:”Hello Director Zhong, fancy seeing you here. And Miss Zhou as well, you’re getting more and more beautiful by the day.”

Zhong Jian Ye was a prideful man and always kept a solemn face. But clearly, it was different when it came to Zhou Yu. Hearing Liu Wei’s compliment to Zhou Yu, a smile rose up on his stiff face.

Gu Yan noticed this detail and looked towards Zhou Yu with a flat smile.

Zou Meng saw the scene and felt even more unhappy. He was a strict and demanding director with never-ending enthusiasm in his requirements in the line of the film arts. He couldn’t tolerate the behaviours of those that were desperate for those box office sales and earnings. He didn’t care about any of those fancy stunts they could show him, actors hired only for their ability to attract the viewer’s attention with their looks could only create shoddy movies……These were all terrible behaviours in his view.

His current status had come from how seriously he took his work. At his level, there was already no need to cater to his audience, but rather to lead them. He did not necessarily need a big shot actor for his movie, but they definitely had to have the skills.

He had prepared for a very long time for this movie, and as for the role of this split personality serial killer, there had been some people he was considering. This was a very demanding role even if it was less than that of the protagonist. So when he heard that the company wanted to recommend a candidate to him, he was actually not too happy about it. Even so, he was not someone who did not have to follow the rules of the world, there were some things that still had to be done by routine within this industry, and he wouldn’t be too resistant towards any candidates recommended to him by any companies. Besides, they had to go through him regardless, it wasn’t like he would oppose to him if he really was suitable for the role.

But when he heard his name, the flames of anger rose up instantly in his heart!

Gu Yan? Who the hell is that? Did he have any works worth a look at? Other than how he had been a little male flower vase for that recent TV series, he had nothing! All he had were scandals over scandals!

How could the company recommend such an unreliable person to him? Were they trying to insult the quality of his work?!

He had wanted to refuse them directly, but after thinking about it, he still decided to meet up with Gu Yan personally. He wanted to show the company clearly how absurd this was, he wanted to refuse Gu Yan to his face! He would tell him that he was unsuitable for this role, and that he definitely would not hire him. Seeing him at this moment, he was even more convinced that Gu Yan was just a frivolous and arrogant person without any ability. Besides that, he was even a lecher! His eyes had been stuck on that woman since the very beginning. He felt even more disdainful towards him as time passed.

“Gu Yan, is it? How do you view this character?”Zou Meng coughed, and his cold eyes landed on Gu Yan.

Gu Yan turned back and curled up his lips with a soft chuckle.

He did not reply immediately. Instead, he poured out two glasses of wine and handed one to Zou Meng, while he brought the other to his face, lowering his head to give it a light whiff.

“What a beautiful colour, my favourite shade of red. Scarlet, like blood. Just watching it could make a person feel intoxicated.”Gu Yan’s dark eyes observed the wine in his glass, and his eyes were hot and passionate like eyes one would have for their lover, but it also seemed to see past the scarlet wine, and into the distance……

“Especially the moment when it pours out from the body. That hot essence, full of vitality, the freshest sweetness one could find……”He lowered his head for a sip, the look of intoxication still swirling in his eyes as if what he tasted was not red wine, but real, fresh blood.

After a while, he slowly opened his eyes and got up to walk to Zou Meng. There was not a single hint of emotion in his dark eyes, it did not look like he was looking at a person, but rather an object……His eyes showed complete indifference to life.

And in his eyes, there was not a single trace of a human.

“Can you give me your blood?”Gu Yan lightly raised the glass in his hands as he looked into Zou Meng’s eyes, and the curve of a drunken smile played by his lips,”Let the moment of your death transcend you in your life.”

When Zou Meng looked into Gu Yan’s eyes, all he saw was a bottomless vortex without any emotion, it made it hard for him to look away.

And he knew that in the eyes of this man, he was only an ant. He could never escape his fate of being slaughtered, but he could not muster any courage at all to resist, he could only let the fear and despair cloud over him, and consume him.

The energy left his hands, and with a crash, the wine glass crashed to the ground.