CH 7

Shi Yuanbai almost reflexively wanted to push Jiang Jingtong away. How dare he gave him a hug full of sweat!

He really shouldn’t have come here. Shi Yuanbai found that several of his Potential Stocks were nearby. It was too late for him to regret it to death.

It’d be fine if he didn’t have any interaction with Jiang Jingtong, but God knew why this guy suddenly had the guts to approach and hug him without warning.

Shi Yuanbai had no choice but to pick up the towel provided by Gu Siyuan earlier, offering it to Jiang Jingtong to wipe his sweat.

“You’re sweating. Wipe it quickly.”

Afterward, he also took out a bottle of water for him to drink. Good grief, if it wasn’t for Jiang Jingtong’s changed attitude these days, he wouldn’t be bothered to come here.

On the other side, seeing the towel Shi Yuanbai handed him (the one with Be The Winner! on top) Jiang Jingtong was visibly moved.

“I didn’t expect you have such a high expectation of me in this last match!”

It turned out Gu Siyuan’s method was right. Recently, he had been treating Shi Yuanbai according to the relationship advice and the detailed strategies given by Gu Siyuan. The result was that Shi Yuanbai did indeed start to care more about him!

Yuanbai didn’t even resist or push him away when he gave him a big hug just now. This time, he was truly convinced that the approaches provided by Gu Siyuan were useful.

Most importantly, looking at how Shi Yuanbai had thoughtfully prepared things for him, Jiang Jingtong finally had the feeling of seeing the dawn of their relationship.

***

Forget about the two different moods of the protagonist Gong and Shou. At the moment, Wu Siyuan had already fled to the other side of the auditorium to join his roommate. There he saw Chen Xuyao talking to a man who looked a bit similar to their Xuejie[1], Zhang Lianyue.

The two of them seemed to be engaged in a serious conversation. But Chen Xuyao’s somewhat excited and schadenfreude expression actually looked like he was currently fooling a good child instead. The other man, with a solemn face, had an expression as if Chen Xuyao was talking about something unpleasant to him.

Seeing Gu Siyuan approaching, Chen Xuyao ​​hurriedly waved him over. “Siyuan, have you finished your duty in the Student Council?”

“Uh-huh. I don’t really have much to do in the first place.”

Chen Xuyao then eagerly ​​introduced Wu Siyuan to the man. “This is my roommate, Gu Siyuan. By the way, he is also an avid fan who’s active in the Super Topic.”

Super Topic? When Wu Siyuan heard about this Weibo function, the first thing that popped into his mind was the Super Topic of JiangShi CP.

The man glanced at Wu Siyuan. He took the initiative to reach out and have a handshake with him. “Hello, Gu Xuedi, I’m Zhang Lianze, a senior in the fourth year. I’ve heard a lot about you from my sister. Today, I’ve finally seen the real person.”

“Oh? You’ve heard Zhang Xuejie talks about me? So Xuege must be the twin brother of Xuejie, right? No wonder you guys really look alike!”

Zhang Lianze’s expression softened slightly when Zhang Lianyue was mentioned.

But at this time Chen Xuyao ​​quickly brought up the affair between Shi Yuanbai and Jiang Jingtong. “Did you look at their interaction just now? They just hug each other.”

Wu Siyuan responded accordingly, “I did! JiangShi Love is real!”

Zhang Lianze, “…” 

He silently folded his arms. 

Actually, Shi Yuanbai had been courting him recently. He seemed to be interested in him. But when he heard Chen Xuyao’s words earlier, in reality, Shi Yuanbai and Jiang Jingtong had always been in an ambiguous state, and even seemed like they were about to confirm the relationship. If so, then what was Shi Yuanbai’s purpose in approaching him?

Throwing oneself into another’s arm and climbing the rank was something often done in their circle. However with Shi Yuanbai’s family status, there shouldn’t be any need for this kind of action, right? As the Second Young Master of the Shi Family, even if he had no career or ability, he could lie down and receive dividends every year. 

His older brother Shi Yuze was both capable and resourceful. With him around, the Shi Family could rest assured to keep their status and power intact. Shi Yuanbai could actually be regarded as a worry-free person. There was no need to please other Families at all.

“They…really date each other?” Zhang Lianze tried to make sure once again.

“Not yet. But it should be soon!” Wu Siyuan replied with confidence.

Inwardly he added, ‘Brother, if you can exit the stage quickly, it should be even earlier than expected.’ 

Zhang Lianze nodded slowly. Hearing this unexpected finding, despite feeling a little bit uncomfortable inside, he breathed a sigh of relief in the end. He had no interest left to watch the match any longer. So he made an excuse to leave early.

Wu Siyuan and Chen Xuyao ​​looked at each other and smiled.

There was one less Big Fish[2]in the Sea King’s pond[3]!

Previously they had discussed that when Jiang Jingtong and Shi Yuanbai were to be closer with each other as soon as possible, then the number of Fishes and Stand-Ins those two scumbags had outside would decrease along with JiangShi’s exposure.

Wu Siyuan did it in order to complete his mission. On the other hand, though he was not really sure of it, Wu Siyuan guessed that Chen Xuyao was doing it on the behalf of his family member.

He heard that Chen Xuyao had an older sister who was infatuated with Jiang Jingtong.

Liking such a scumbag was already a bad news. When the Scumbag was actually bent[4]it was even more impossible.

Moreover, seeing how Chen Xuyao seemed to deeply hate Jiang Jingtong, it should have been Jiang Jingtong who originally deceived his older sister at the beginning.

***

Today’s harvest was quite abundant. Two Fishes were successfully saved from the Sea King’s clutch. Wu Siyuan went back to the dormitory in a good mood, and continued to proceed with his career plan.

His family’s business was in a chain cinema. They must screen and select the location properly if they were to add new chains and widen the business scope. They must choose either a satisfactory commercial district or a Shopping Mall with sufficient visitors daily.

The reason why his father had been so busy in the past two years was largely due to location inspections. If it were not carefully selected and meticulously inspected, then forget about making a profit every month, it’d even be possible to suffer a huge loss instead.

Aside from locations, there was also a need to properly arrange the movies displayed. If the promising movies were arranged at some unsuitable hour, or if the movies with the unpromising market were arranged at the prime time instead, then even the Gods would not be able to save them.

Sometimes screening the movie was like betting and gambling. After all, some movies seemed popular but turned out to be bleak, while some others were less known but turned out to be hidden gems.

The Gu Family’s cinema business was considered a new one. Relying on advanced equipment, and new ways to enjoy Movies to attract visitors. Their first location was unfortunately a debacle. Originally the Shopping Mall chosen had enough popularity as well as a high number of customers. Alas, the Shopping Mall owner was unable to retain and manage the business well. The contracted stores couldn’t maintain their quality, and the visitors keep dwindling as a result.

It was this unfortunate start that caused Gu Yingzhuo to spend a lot of time and effort to turn the situation around. There was finally a sign of improvement these few years, thus their Cinema had slowly begun to add more chains. 

Such serendipity was that apparently, Chen Xuyao’s family business had a focus on the Entertainment Company. During this period of getting along with him, they had a lot of topics to talk about thereby.

He had been listening to a bunch of gossip in the entertainment industry from Chen Xuyao. As a person who honestly didn’t have an interest in Stars chasing, Wu Siyuan was often dumbfounded at first. He felt that the people in the circle really knew how to find excitement.

However, it was those gossip that occasionally gave him the opportunity to analyze whether a newly released movie would have a scandal affecting it or not.

After all, when the actors or actresses accidentally leaked their quirks right before the movie’s release, it might have a considerable impact on the market. Consequently, this also impacted the Cinema’s movies schedule and the daily income.

Wu Siyuan realized it was not enough for him to just know about handling his own Company. He had to understand Entertainment Industry as well. Therefore, Wu Siyuan sincerely asked for advice and guidance from Chen Xuyao, who was familiar with Entertainment Business. 

Chen Xuyao himself didn’t mind sharing his knowledge and experience either. In the past, this roommate of his never flattered him intentionally for his family background. Even right now when knowing his business focus, he maintained the attitude of sharing knowledge and asking for advice, still without any flattery involved. Chen Xuyao felt he liked it this way. A friend should be one with a cordial attitude, not a bootlicker.

Chen Xuyao had been introduced and involved in his Family’s business since he was a child. Their Entertainment Company could even be regarded as the leader in the Industry. There were few details he was unfamiliar with. One had the information and the other did not shy away from asking. They hit it off.

Meanwhile, looking at these two people being immersed in their discussion, the other 2 roommates were unwilling to be left behind. 

They said, “Come and teach us as well! We can also give advice either.”

Thenceforth, the four of them were truly in the state of advancing and retreating together[5].

***

That day, during the basketball match the Cameramen-Brother dutifully captured JiangShi’s moments per Wu Siyuan’s request. After sorting and processing the photos taken, he fulfilled his promise and sent him the ones Wu Siyuan wanted.

Later, the given pictures were quickly shared with Wu Siyuan’s dormitory roommates. Four guys went to browse and post the pictures to the Super Topic in unison. The same Four Guys also wrote a comment;

[Ahhhhhh! This couple is super sweet! JiangShi must be real! Don’t convince me otherwise!]

[Sugar! Our CP is providing Sugar supply!]

[JiangShi CP forever, ever after!]

[It’s too sweet! Baby can’t stand too much sweetness~]

When Shi Yuanbai checked the Super Topic as usual, he felt his eyes had been greatly stained by both the pictures and the braindead comments.

It was exactly because of the basketball match incident that his two Potential Stocks who had a promising future with him previously, all of a sudden, kept their distance. There was no longer any lingering affection in their actions and speeches, only reserved politeness to strangers remained. 

‘It shouldn’t have been this way!’

Even if he tried to explain that he was unprepared and Jiang Jingtong was the one who suddenly rushed over, it still couldn’t erase their doubt. Their attitude still changed from being ambiguous to polite courtesy. Such a huge gap in the treatment obviously flustered even Shi Yuanbai.   

Biting his finger in anxiety, he was determined to find the cause and effect.

It was impossible for those two Potential Stocks to change their attitude just because of a trivial thing, a hug. There must be more than that, an unexpected slip-up must have happened.

At that time he didn’t pay attention to who was sitting next to the two men. Moreover, recently it seemed that many people knew about the JiangShi Super Topic on Weibo.

‘Could they really be affected by this?’

There were several leaders of the brainless fans in the Super Topic. One of them was, of course, Gu Siyuan. He had to figure out a way and prevent those brainless fans from causing any more chaos!

He didn’t have Gu Siyuan’s phone number, but Zhang Lianyue had it. So, Shi Yuanbai hurriedly contacted Zhang Lianyue and asked for his contact information.

Speaking of it, he was unsure whether it was due to his anxiety playing on him, but since Zhang Lianze kept a distance from him, he felt even Zhang Lianyue’s attitude became lukewarm.

“Gu Xuedi’s contact information? Wouldn’t it be better if you ask him directly? Would you like me to inform him about it?”

The previous Zhang Lianyue would never speak in a roundabout way just to say a polite rejection. But now she actually did.

Shi Yuanbai’s eyes were cold as he put down his phone. There’s a high chance that Zhang Lianyue would deliberately forget to inform Gu Siyuan. This left him with 2 choices, either he went to Gu Siyuan directly, or send a private message to him on Weibo.

In the end, Shi Yuanbai was a shrewd person after all. He would never let any clue for others to speculate the reason he asked for this contact information. Therefore, he went directly to the dormitory building where Gu Siyuan was located and waited for a chance encounter.

As the protagonist Shou, Shi Yuanbai was also blessed with a lucky attribute. It didn’t take long for him to really meet Wu Siyuan.

“Gu Xuedi, Can I talk to you about something?” Shi Yuanbai greeted him with a smile. 

If other people were here and saw such a smile, they would definitely say, ‘Aiyaaa what a gentle and benign smile.’ In Wu Siyuan’s case, however, looking at his smile, there’s only one thing in his mind, ‘What kind of scheme this person is currently harboring?’ 

It turned out to be a matter of CP posts on Weibo. 

Honestly, Wu Siyuan really wanted to laugh out loud and roll around as he heard Shi Yuanbai’s request. 

‘He’s in a hurry! He is anxious! He must be flustered!’

At this point, Wu Siyuan could actually slow down his plan in guiding Jiang Jingtong on how to capture Shi Yuanbai. As long as he swiped clean all Small and Big fishes in Shi Yuanbai’s pond, The Sea King would be left with nothing. At that time, the remaining Big Fish Jiang Jingtong would undoubtedly become a treasure.

Having said that, Wu Siyuan was ignorant of how many Fishes Shi Yuanbai had currently, and who they were. For example, the Cameramen-Brother that day, was an unexpected harvest. That guy had never been mentioned in the original plot.

In this case, he could only first clean up all the spare tires who had appeared and were mentioned in the plot. Before they fell deeper and were unable to extricate themselves, hurry and slap them awake.

Afterward, the marriage of the Protagonists Gong and Shou would definitely be a matter of course.

Wu Siyuan promised Shi Yuanbai directly thereupon, that he would reduce his activity in the Super Topic.

“As for other fans, I will try my best to persuade them. But whether they are willing to me or not, I can’t guarantee.”

Shi Yuanbai’s demand was not that high either. “As long as you stop your weekly post to draw random comments, it’s fine.”

References