CH 1

Chapter 1:    Their first encounter on a rainy night

Proofreader: ChaiTea

It was already late into the night. The high wattage tower lamps shone brightly on the film set, making it look like it was still daytime in the afternoon. Only when a man stepped outside did he notice the moon hanging high up in the sky. It was another long day of filming which lasted till the second day.

“Thank you for your hard work, Brother Shen*.”

(T/N: It is common to call someone whom you respect older brothers and sisters. Usually, someone who is older and more experienced.)

Shen Yu nodded and smiled at the staff who was carrying equipment. He had yet to take off his costume. He was wearing a long wig that was loosely worn in a bun, his clothes whiter than snow, his slightly downturned eyes gave others the aura of being naturally harmless. At the intersection between the strong lighting and the night sky, the corners of his lips lifted, it was as if he was a handsome young man who had come out from the ancient books.

He was good looking.

That was Shen Yu’s manager’s most direct judgement of him.

Unfortunately, in this bizarre and motley entertainment circle, being good looking was nothing special at all. Even if you were lacking in the looks department, it was easy to go under the knife to make it work.

Shen Yu had a pretty and charming face, yet he was slightly lacking if he wanted to dominate the industry with just his looks alone; he had graduated from a proper academy of performing arts, but he was slightly short of capable of dominating the industry with his acting skills alone; he had a pretty good personality, yet it was not unique enough that could pave him a path in the industry. 

Simply put; you could not really verbalise his bad points, nor could you pinpoint his good points.

It was not impossible for such a person to become famous in the entertainment circle, but he needed luck. Clearly, Shen Yu did not have such luck.

It had already been six years since he had entered the entertainment circle since he graduated. He signed with a small company that had limited resources, acted in all sorts of different films, but only one television drama was given a fixed time slot to be broadcasted and its popularity was mediocre. Shen Yu’s curriculum vitae could only be described as insubstantial.

Such a dark and turbulent industry was extremely good at dulling a person’s edge. After six years of ups and downs, a 27-year-old Shen Yu had long forgotten those unrealistic dreams from when he was still in school. Right now, he merely wished for roles in films that could earn him an honest living which to feed himself.

The staff who was carrying the equipment returned to his work after his greeting while Shen Yu walked towards the makeup room. He ran into a few more people who called him Brother Shen and greeted him, and he would stop every single time to nod back politely as his response.

This film, “The Pursuit of the Wind”, was an adaptation of a novel with the same title, set in ancient times. The original work was not that popular, but since the author was from a rich family, the author got investments here and there to form a troupe, fulfilling the author’s own dream of having their own film.

Therefore, almost the whole team in charge of the original work were younger than Shen Yu, and the whole of the main cast, except for Shen Yu, were all rookies, which made Shen Yu one of the most experienced and oldest people in the crew.

However, Shen Yu knew his place. The only reason why they were calling him Brother Shen was due to his relatively more experience and his decent personality. It would, definitely, become a joke if he really was to act as if he was all that.

Shen Yu’s manager was working with a few artists simultaneously and he had never been his manager’s focus. His assistant, Dachuan, had to take leave for his family member who was down with a serious illness. Shen Yu was in a situation where he had absolutely no manpower he could rely on. 

Fortunately, Shen Yu was not some precious young master. He had been scaling walls and lifting roof tiles since he was ten. It was a common occurrence for him to be playing games overnight and only wiping his face simply before rushing to school the next morning. He had only become more spoiled after he became an artist where there would always be someone to help him to do whatever he had to do, spoiling him and changing the little guy into a pretty, flowery boy. 

The roughness in the flowery boy’s bones had yet to disappear. The scene he had just taken just now was the last night scene for today. It could not be helped that an amateur troupe such as this lacked professionalism and no makeup artists could be seen. Shen Yu could not be bothered to ask about it so he decided to change out of his costume and removed his makeup and wig by himself. He combed through his hair with both hands, thought that he did not look too bad and left with his phone and bag right after. 

The background and scenes used by the film, “The Pursuit of the Wind”, mainly took place in a large-scale antiquity area specifically developed by the government as a commercial base for filming, travelling, and shopping.

The advantage of not being popular can finally be seen at such times, as Shen Yu never had to worry about being surrounded by his fans nor did he have the trouble of being chased by the paparazzi. All he had to do was focus on refining his own acting and be a true actor, which was exactly what his teacher had always advocated. Unfortunately, more often than not, a “true actor”* was not given many opportunities to act in a notable film. Shen Yu could only try his best and, at the very least, make sure that the role given to him would not be ruined by his own hands.

(T/N: A “true actor” as in someone who actually works hard and focuses on building up their fame and career through hard work rather than neglecting their acting skills and using underhanded methods to get there.)

Shen Yu took time to reflect on his own acting during the daytime as he drove unhurriedly. Without warning, it started raining outside and the rain was pitter-pattering on the car, producing a rhythmic beat as the raindrops pounded on the glass windows. Shen Yu was not in a rush. On the contrary, he reduced the speed of his car even more, enjoying his alone time as he listened to the sound of the rain.

Finally, as he neared the city centre, he saw the bright city lights in front of him.

“Oi, stop, stop for a moment. There is a pothole on the road ahead. Don’t drive this way.”

The loud voice, which did not match the scenery at all, pierced through the heavy rain, pulling Shen Yu back into reality.

Shen Yu knitted his brows and squinted as he looked forward. He was at the crossing just before entering the city. He could only see an uncle wearing a reflective orange safety vest waving at him with his arms as he shouted at him. He was, most likely, one of the construction workers who were repairing the road.

Of course, that was not the only way into the city but the other roads would take him more than half an hour to get back to his hotel and Shen Yu had an early scene tomorrow. As such, he really did not want to take the longer route. He stopped the car on the side of the road, picked up an umbrella, got out of the car without any hesitation nor the burden of being a celebrity and planned to ask if he could quickly drive through.

“Excuse me, may I know if the damage is severe? How long would it take before I can drive through?”

“Ah, the air in the water pipes expanded because of how the road wasn’t dug properly last winter when they were buried, so the heavy rain today ruined it completely. Youngster, if you don’t mind waiting for a couple of minutes, we can cover the road temporarily for you to drive through first if you’re rushing for time.” The construction worker wiped off the water from his face, gesturing while he spoke a few more sentences before he went ahead to look at the road’s situation.

Sure enough, he was not recognised. Shen Yu laughed internally and shook his head. He followed behind the worker to look at the damage done on the road. It was, indeed, not severe. It may only cause a problem to those who drove hastily at night, which was why they had to make some fixes to the road in the rain as a preventive measure.

“Sigh, our Jing-City isn’t a big city to begin with, but it became really popular in recent years because of that filming base. Unfortunately, the various facilities couldn’t keep up so the more people there are, the more problems arise. Things are just getting spoiled here and there. Celebrities? What celebrities? Not a single cent from them went into our pockets and yet, we are left with all sorts of troubles.”

The construction workers mumbled as they continued their work. Shen Yu felt a bit awkward as he listened. It was not really appropriate for him to walk away so he could only smile politely and look around.

This area could already be considered to be part of the city centre. The lights from a convenience store from a few tens of metres away were still lit up, the warm yellow light shining through the big glass windows that reached from the top to bottom and through the rain. He could also see a few fellow night owls seeking shelter under the roof, walking up and down, as if they were anxious about being trapped in the rain.

Shen Yu’s gaze swept through those people and was about to look away when he saw the door of the convenience store open. A man stepped out without an umbrella and Shen Yu’s gaze paused on him.

That person was wearing a pair of fitting jeans and a tailored black shirt, half of it tucked into his jeans. The first two buttons were loose, displaying half of his collarbones and a silver necklace around his neck. His back was straight, yet his head was hung low, his fringe and a black mask covering the entirety of his face. The man was drenched in rain the moment he stepped out from under the roof, but he did not pause to seek shelter. Instead, he walked directly towards Shen Yu. His back remained straight, his arms and legs swung with strength, each and every one of his movements seemed to be exuding an aura of a person who was walking down the red carpet of a certain big film festival.

Shen Yu stole another few glances before he removed his gaze from that person, and he even took a few steps backwards.

The man’s face was covered tightly and the rain was heavy so Shen Yu could not recognise who this person was. But given his aura, the way he was dressed and the fact that he was in such a place, Shen Yu was 80% sure that this man was from the same industry as himself. After floating around for six years in the industry, he understood the unspoken rules even if he was not one of those popular actors. Curiosity kills a cat in this industry, it was best for him to keep his nose to himself and to avoid knowing things he should not know. 

Unfortunately, his wise decision to keep his nose to himself was fated to be a futile attempt.

Shen Yu watched as the person took big steps in his direction, his head still drooped. Unexpectedly, the man did not turn away even when there was a pit in between them and walked straight into it.

“Thud.”

“Oh god, be careful.”

In the last second, Shen Yu finally responded by reaching out to pull his comrade, who nearly walked into the pit by himself, away. As he was doing that, Shen Yu unintentionally loosened his grip on the umbrella in his hand and accidentally knocked into one of the construction workers behind him, causing the worker to grumble at him.

“Sorry, I was trying to pull him away since he was about to walk into the pit and I accidentally lost my grip on the umbrella.”

Shen Yu apologised at once and the worker did not harp on it. Instead, he glanced over at the man who was half-dragged into the crook of Shen Yu’s arm, shook his head and said, “Yo, isn’t that a drunkard? Drunkards are brainless no matter what they do. Thank god you pulled him or he would have fallen in there. Who knew how many of his bones would be broken then?”

“I’m just doing what I can.” Shen Yu pulled the man a little bit closer, further away from the pit, as he propped up his umbrella. This comrade, who was so drunk that he would walk into the pit himself, was not that cooperative with Mr Yu’s movements, nor did he give any response to the worker’s comment on how brainless he was. He remained standing with his head drooped, not making a single sound. When he was near, Shen Yu could clearly smell the mixture of cologne and alcohol on him.

On a day with heavy rain, the road was damaged and he was carrying an umbrella in the rain while hauling around a drunkard who probably worked in the same industry as he did. Shen Yu did not know how he ended up in such a situation and was at a loss to know what to do.

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Translator’s note:

I will continue to update this series weekly AFTER FTBF is complete (3 more chapters so 3 more weeks or so). But before that, please enjoy the synopsis and chapter 1 of the series. 

It is interesting to note that all the titles for each chapter in this novel only have 4 Chinese characters. I would really like to imitate that but it is sometimes difficult to do that in English. 

Once again, thank you ChaiTea for proofreading for me. YOU ARE A LIFE SAVIOUR.