Chapter 124

  Finally, Jian Ran was trying to open the door to a new world in Mr. Jiang's mind, but accidentally had his own "new world" door forcibly opened by the other party - he didn't dare imagine what pose he should use to shoot an MV underwater tomorrow, because at this moment when the man finally let him go, he maintained a posture of sticking his butt up and lying on the bed, always with a feeling of "**wind blowing**"... as if there was a mysterious air raid shelter on his body.

  "If I were to spend this lifetime being unable to reconcile..."

  The words had barely fallen when he was slapped on the butt, accompanied by a loud "slap" and a shrill cry. The young man with black hair turned around abruptly and saw his white buttocks shaking violently. Behind him was Jiang Chuan's cold and ruthless face. At this moment, the man used one hand to spread open his buttocks, looking at them with a numb and responsible expression like a professional doctor examining hemorrhoids. Then, still with the same expression, he said, "It's all your imagination, there is no hole behind you - I've already told you, I closed it very well when I came out."

  Covering his ears: "It's simply unbearable to listen."

  Jiang Chuan raised an eyebrow: "I'm complimenting you."

  The gesture of covering his ears became a bit tighter: "Shut up."

  "It's you who wants to tell a weird story and provoke my anger. You'd better be glad that it's not true, if you really are Ah Fei..."

  "How is it?"

  Shouldn't they be tearfully embracing and passionately kissing to express their longing, marvel at the wonder of fate in this world, and thank God for reuniting them once again?

  "Chong Ah Fei mysteriously ran away from home and hasn't returned yet, which makes me worried. I can also make your butt bloom."

  “……”

  "Let me ask you one last time, are you Ah Fei?"

  "No."

  Serious face expressionless and shook his head decisively.

  Looking at the man lying beside him with a sneering expression, Jin Yan finally understood that his decision to keep quiet was correct. He absolutely couldn't try to take advantage of being "a former pet" and reveal the truth: first, Jiang Chuan wouldn't believe him, second, even if he did, Jin Yan wouldn't gain anything from it. This man was petty and vengeful, even towards a mere hamster.

  ……

  The next day, Jing Yan yawned and asked the makeup artist to apply a bit more foundation to cover up his dark circles. However, this makeup artist was different from those in the country, as she didn't readily satisfy the actor's request. Instead, she pinched Jing Yan's chin, looked at him, and then smiled sincerely, saying: "It's okay, fishermen are supposed to be dirty, having dark circles under your eyes actually looks pretty good, no need to cover it up."

  “……”

  He suddenly felt that since he stepped into the international route, his image as a "fresh meat male god in the entertainment circle" has become more and more distant from himself - at least when shooting movies and TV dramas domestically, the camera would find various angles to make him look handsome, but after running abroad, there was no such treatment. Once, he even discovered with horror that the camera was shooting his face from a low angle, and afterwards, it was also the first time he saw his double chin and big nostrils on the director's monitor screen.

  "I didn't plan on taking the road to stardom," Jian Yan said seriously to his agent, "telling jokes can't make one famous worldwide."

  "You're saying that in the country, you're not a harmonious star." Fang Yu said, "Shut up, lying down and winning is now the first reaction when people mention Yuan Zhenran at home, who doesn't open their mouth and then haha?"

  "...He spoke with such reason that he suddenly found himself unable to refute."

  He licked his lips and asked again, "Why didn't you reply to my message yesterday?"

  "Why go back?"

  He stared at Fang Yu with a puzzled expression, and then only saw the other party reveal a subtle expression, and asked: "Have you not looked at your phone from last night to now?"

  It's even more inexplicable, he rummaged through his pocket and pulled out his phone, pressing the function key to try to see what Fang Yu had said to him last night. However, after continuously pressing a few times, the screen was still black - it turned out that the phone might have been out of power since last night and he hadn't noticed. Jian Ran raised his hand and showed Fang Yu the dead phone, shrugging his shoulders to indicate his innocence. He then asked the staff for a mobile power source to charge it. After it was turned on, under Fang Yu's gaze, he entered the text message interface and finally saw the long string of messages that Fang Yu had sent last night.

  Fang Dazui: Jiang Luocheng just contacted me, he's also in Spain, saying that he's here for a new movie shoot. He heard you're here too and asked if I could arrange a meeting between the two of you. What's weird is why didn't he ask you directly?

  Fang Dazui: Do you want to meet him?

  Fang Dazui: ...Where's the person? Scared silly? Speak up, are you going to see me or not?

  Fang Dazui: I don't care, the other party is a well-known director in the domestic circle with extensive connections. As an actor, you can't be so lazy and neglectful of others. Moreover, I think he seems to be careful around you. Tomorrow, you two will have lunch together. Put on a good attitude but not a bad face. Seriously play the role of the white lotus flower in his heart. Maybe you can use him in the future, don't waste it.

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Silently and smoothly, he deleted the last message from Fang Yu that was dangerous for anyone to see. He looked up at Fang Yu with a confused expression, then subconsciously glanced over at Jiang Chuan - this scene was caught by Fang Yu, who twitched his lip corner and called out to Jiang Chuan. At this moment, Jiang Chuan, wearing beach pants and flip-flops, was squatting behind the director's monitor, distractedly blowing smoke rings. When he heard his name being called, he looked up and saw the manager pointing at him, saying: "Brother Chuan, come over, your son has something to discuss with you."

  Jiang Chuan bit his lip, slightly narrowed his eyes and chuckled as he patted his butt and stood up. He walked over to Jin Ran with a lazy gait, his tall figure casting a shadow that covered Jin Ran: "What?"

  Jian Ran: "Jiang Luocheng is here and wants me to meet him for lunch."

  "It's no good."

  He turned his head to look at Fang Yu with a serious and enthusiastic expression, the latter showing an embarrassed expression, looking at Jiang Chuan with a "don't make it difficult for me to do my job" appearance. The man slightly furrowed his brow and asked: "Why does he want to come find you again?"

  Jin Ran immediately shook his head to indicate that he didn't know. After transforming back from a hamster, he and Jiang Luocheng basically had no positive interactions. They were both busy, and on the surface, it seemed like they had become parallel lines with no intersections - although Jin Ran also knew that Jiang Luocheng was asking people about him and occasionally sending messages through various people. Even when they formally met face-to-face, they only exchanged superficial pleasantries that weren't even as meaningful as those between strangers. Jin Ran really thought that he and Jiang Luocheng had already reached a mysterious yet logical ending... Now, Jiang Luocheng suddenly appeared out of nowhere - was this going to be an extra chapter?

  Fang Yu pulled Jiang Chuan to the side for a small meeting to do ideological work, while Jin Ran continued to sit there and remove his makeup. When he finished removing his makeup and looked up, he saw Jiang Chuan return, with an unpleasant expression on his face: "Did you used to attract bees and butterflies like this too?"

  He looked around cautiously and then realized that there were hardly any Chinese speakers around, so he relaxed: "I'm not attracting bees and butterflies now."

  "Jiang Luocheng, Xi De, is that not enough?" Jiang Chuan pinched his face, "Go tell him clearly at noon, and then don't see each other again -"

  "Don't squeeze, damn it, your face is all swollen - It's harder when we don't meet in person, he's the director."

  "Just don't film his drama and that's it, you're not lacking in dramas to film." Jiang Chuan said, "After filming the 'Mysterious Seed' series, then film a 'Leviathan', your film appointments will come pouring in, at that time Jiang Luo Cheng won't even be worth looking at."

  After some thought, although Jiang Chuan's words were a bit unreliable, he knew that the man had already made concessions, so he nodded in agreement. In his heart, he was thinking that having a formal ending with Jiang Luocheng would also be a good thing, so he nodded in agreement.

  ……

  Next was an afternoon of filming, but Xi De was being difficult and not cooperating much, plus his acting skills were a bit awkward to begin with, so the filming didn't go too smoothly. Jian Ran ended up spending another whole afternoon in the water, even reapplying sunscreen three or four times. Finally, after finishing filming and removing his makeup, Jian Ran wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk with Xi De about life, but instead, Xi De gave him a cold, haughty look, threw down a mysterious sentence "I've seen the domestic Weibo", and then stared at Jian Ran with an expression of discontent.

  Jian Ran's head was big, and he had no idea what Weibo was saying again. He glanced at it and saw that they were still mocking him and Jiang Chuan. At this time, the topic "#JianRan and JiangChuan will be together for a hundred years and have a noble son#" was brushed to the second place on the hot list. Jian Ran put away his phone and smiled, telling Xi De that everyone was just joking, but he found that the red-haired boy's originally tightly pursed lips had become a straight line. He looked at Jian Ran with a complaining tone: "No matter what you say, there must be a first come, first served. I am your legitimate husband."

  After soaking in seawater all day, Jian Ran was desperately drinking water to rehydrate when he finally couldn't hold it in and spat out a mouthful of water.

  After Xi De left, Jin Ran carefully looked at himself in the mirror and finally came to a conclusion: his face was still the same as before, and there were no brilliant peach blossoms blooming under his eyes.

  What's wrong with these people?

  Staring at the face in the mirror that had been sun-kissed to a healthy, slightly reddish complexion, Jian Ran patted his face and took a deep breath before heading out to meet Jiang Luo Cheng at the restaurant they had agreed on - a Thai place that Jian Ran liked. The restaurant was still quite crowded at noon, and when Jian Ran saw Jiang Luo Cheng again at their table in the corner, he couldn't shake off the feeling of being in a different world. That face, which should have been so familiar to him, suddenly gave him an unfamiliar feeling for some reason.

  "You're here."

  Jiang Luocheng saw Jin Yan coming, waved at him, and then called the waiter to order dishes. He ordered all of Jin Yan's favorite dishes before, which would have touched Jin Yan in the past, but now he just felt a kind of inexplicable embarrassment rushing over him. He cleared his throat, sat up straight, and muttered: "No need to order so much, I'm not very hungry."

  "I went to take a look at your filming location, you and Xide, it seems like a pretty interesting topic."

  "Uh-huh."

  "I didn't expect you to sing again, at the beginning of 'The Sound of Years' I had to persuade you for a long time before you agreed, I remember that at that time you were still making a fuss saying something, unless I personally wrote the lyrics, otherwise you wouldn't sing."

  Jiang Luocheng smiled and spoke of past events in a relaxed tone, staring intently at his chin. His mind was slow to process whether Jiang's words contained any other emotions, but he couldn't help thinking: it had only been half a year since they last met, yet Jiang seemed to have aged ten years. The arrogant young director from back then seemed to have vanished completely, replaced by a more mature and stable person with a blue-colored beard.

  When Xu Qianqian had an accident, there were not a few people who besieged Jiang Luocheng. People kept saying that he was blind to support such a waste of human life, and at that time, he should have been under great pressure too.

  He held the cup in his hand, with a complex mix of emotions in his heart. Probably only Xu Qianqian, Jiang Luocheng and he knew why Jiang Luocheng was with Xu Qianqian - before Jiang Chuan officially took action to shut Xu Qianqian up, Xu Qianqian had threatened Jiang Luocheng with Jin Yan's sexual orientation issue, all of which Jin Yan was aware of.

  But when everyone was besieging Jiang Luocheng because of Xu Qianqian, Jin Ran didn't stand up to say a word for Jiang Luocheng either.

  This is something he has always felt guilty about regarding Jiang Luocheng.

  But if he calculated it, he didn't know who owed whom more, him or Jiang Luocheng.

  At this moment, sitting together to eat again, he felt particularly awkward. He looked at Jiang Luocheng's mouth opening and closing, but couldn't hear what he was saying. So at this time, he had to raise his head to interrupt the other person's speech and ask: "What brings you to find me this time?"

  "Yes." Jiang Luocheng stopped speaking and smiled at Jin Ran, saying, "I came to formally apologize to you. The dispute with Xu Qianqian after drinking was my fault, I wasn't careful enough, and I'm sorry; then I also want to clarify that the reason I ended up being with her officially is because she used a painting of us two made from secretly taken photos to threaten me into exposing your sexual orientation, so I had no choice but to be with her."

  "Oh, I see."

  Then what?

  Jiang Luocheng paused for a moment, inexplicably pulled out a small box from his pocket, opened it, and pushed it in front of Jin Ran.

  "Lastly, I want to tell you, Xiao Ran, I've thought about it for a long time whether or not to come find you, but in the end, I couldn't help myself and couldn't suppress my feelings. I really like you, let's make up, this time we'll be together properly, as long as you agree, tomorrow we'll fly to Las Vegas and get married."

  She stared blankly at the exquisite platinum ring in the box in front of her.