Gu Fanzhou had Xian Sui sit on the sofa, lowering his head to apply ointment to the red, swollen area on the other’s legs and feet. He had carefully inspected Xian Sui’s injury just moments before and subconsciously furrowed his brow. “Why is there still no improvement after a few days? Weren’t you applying the medicine on schedule?”
“I did.” For no apparent reason, Xian Sui felt like a primary school student being lectured by a teacher, his tone growing weak and guilty.
Gu Fanzhou clearly noticed his odd behavior, abruptly raising his head to lock eyes with Xian Sui. The latter originally wanted to put on an innocent act, but still couldn’t help blinking unnaturally. “There weren’t any blisters either, so I thought it would just heal on its own.”
“Someone of your age, and I don’t suppose I need to assign someone to supervise you.” After finishing the application, Gu Fanzhou capped the medicine tube, placed it back into the packaging box, and shoved it into Xian Sui’s hands. “You need to take responsibility for your own camera work.”
“I know I was wrong, Brother Gu.” Xian Sui held the medicine box in the palm of his hands and looked at it, where the small text stated twice daily, with a seven-day course of treatment.
Gu Fanzhou did not continue to dwell on this topic, instead steering the conversation back to the upcoming scenes in the next few days, asking if Xian Sui could handle them. During this period of collaborative filming, Gu Fanzhou had roughly figured out Xian Sui’s pattern. The other person could kiss him in front of the camera quite naturally, but whenever physical contact was involved, he would become extremely sensitive.
“I can manage.” Xian Sui had just been reminded by Gu Fanzhou regarding his leg injury, so it felt a bit awkward to express that he had difficulties right now. Gu Fanzhou seemed to see right through Xian Sui’s bravado, as if determined to strip away the other’s protective shell. The pant leg Xian Sui had rolled up while applying the ointment earlier had not yet been lowered, and Gu Fanzhou gently pressed his palm against Xian Sui’s thigh, causing the latter to involuntarily twitch sharply.
“There’s no need to lie to me.” Gu Fanzhou lifted one of Xian Sui’s legs, lowering his torso to kiss Xian Sui’s knee, then trailing downward to his calf. Xian Sui hurriedly grabbed Gu Fanzhou’s hand. “Brother Gu, don’t kiss anymore, I will…”
“There is no one else here, you are allowed to lose your composure.”
The hand Xian Sui used to grab Gu Fanzhou tightened even further. Just imagining his reaction right in front of the other man made him feel utterly mortified. “I’m begging you.”
Only then did Gu Fanzhou straighten his posture, letting his gaze linger briefly on the spot on Xian Sui’s leg where he had just kissed. “Heal well, see you on set.”
Prior to filming, Xian Sui applied the medication according to the prescribed usage and dosage, and the scald on his foot had fully recovered. Yu Zhifu had meticulously planned out the shooting positions and angles for the shots, refining them down to every single movement of the actors, so she went over the points the main leads needed to watch out for just like usual before shooting.
Xian Sui changed his clothes, and as soon as he stepped outside, he bumped into Gu Fanzhou. The latter didn’t bring up the previous topic, seemingly hoping not to make Xian Sui think he didn’t trust his co-star. This scene was almost entirely set in the City of Night. Jian Shuyu sat in the hall, continuously swirling a glass of wine in his hand, and finally downed the liquid in the cup all at once when movement came from the doorway.
Fu Minglou sat down beside Jian Shuyu, placing a large bouquet of roses right in front of him, catching even the dancing girl on the side by surprise as she wondered whose little boss this could be.
“Young Master Fu,” Jian Shuyu idly twirled a flower petal between his fingertips. “This definitely isn’t enough to cover tonight’s bar tab.”
“If it can’t cover the bar tab, can it cover a kiss?”
Jian Shuyu let out a soft laugh. “Shuyu should have mentioned to the young master that kisses have price tags too, and a single bunch of flowers naturally isn’t worth that much.”
Just as Fu Minglou was about to speak, the pad of Jian Shuyu’s index finger pressed against Fu Minglou’s lips. “However, you can use Young Master Fu himself to exchange for it.”
Jian Shuyu led Fu Minglou to a private room that had already been reserved, where a bottle of foreign liquor had been prepared. Fu Minglou closed the door, his gaze clearly noticing the lonely wine bottle resting on the table. “Worried I’ll get drunk?”
“Shuyu invited Young Master Fu over tonight not for drinking.” Wealth shouldn’t be flashed publicly, so Jian Shuyu wasn’t wearing the necklace Fu Minglou had given him, only taking it out now to fasten it around his neck. At the same time, he pressed his palm against Fu Minglou’s chest pocket, pulling out the handkerchief he had slipped inside last time.
The latter had clearly brought it along intentionally, and Jian Shuyu shoved the handkerchief back into Fu Minglou’s hands. “If Young Master Fu likes, you can tie Shuyu’s hands up.”
“Why?”
“To pay off the wine debt.” Jian Shuyu had already extended his hands out in front of Fu Minglou. “Shuyu doesn’t like things too boring.”
Using the handkerchief, Fu Minglou bound Jian Shuyu’s wrists behind his back, then immediately pinned him down onto the sofa. “What kind of thing wouldn’t be considered boring?”
“That’s for Young Master Fu to figure out yourself. Shuyu’s bar tab isn’t that easy to pay off.”
Fu Minglou leaned in to kiss his lips, and Jian Shuyu tilted his neck back, causing Fu Minglou to instinctively nibble gently on Jian Shuyu’s Adam’s apple.
Clearly unsatisfied after kissing for a moment, Fu Minglou lifted Xian Sui’s leg, lowering himself to kiss his ankle and tracing the curve all the way up to his inner thigh.
Xian Sui barely managed to control his body’s reaction. Looking slightly down, he could see Gu Fanzhou practically hovering over his leg, feeling the soft warmth of the other’s lips against his skin, accompanied by an indescribable, damp sensation. He almost felt like crying out for Gu Fanzhou to stop, just like he had back at the villa, but with the red light of the camera unblinking, he couldn’t break character.
He suddenly felt grateful that this scene required his hands to be bound, otherwise he couldn’t guarantee whether he would have ended up pushing Gu Fanzhou away.
Gu Fanzhou seemed to notice Xian Sui’s imperceptible movement, pressing down on Xian Sui’s leg with even more force than before, almost leaving red indentations with his fingers.
Xian Sui could feel that the kisses Gu Fanzhou pressed against him were much lighter than before. Yet Yu Zhifu was unsatisfied with Gu Fanzhou’s performance in this segment, questioning why he had suddenly reduced his strength. The script annotated that Fu Minglou’s lust was extremely heavy in this scene, and as a young master with little worldly experience, Fu Minglou always fell deeper and deeper every single time he faced Jian Shuyu.
“Fanzhou, you rarely make this kind of mistake.” Yu Zhifu furrowed her brow. “Get ready and we’ll retake this segment, starting from the ankle.”
Gu Fanzhou rested his gaze on Xian Sui, clearly seeking his opinion. Having adjusted quite a bit from earlier, and unwilling to hold up the production schedule, Xian Sui replied, “I have no problem, let’s begin.”
The kiss landed once more on Xian Sui’s ankle, the tactile sensation just as distinct as before, forcing Gu Fanzhou to grip and press down on Xian Sui’s leg with firm pressure once again.
Xian Sui managed to hold his composure until Gu Fanzhou’s lips stopped at his thigh, and he uttered a low call. “Minglou.”
Hearing Jian Shuyu call his name directly for the very first time, Fu Minglou instinctively raised his gaze to meet Jian Shuyu’s eyes.
“I like peach blossoms.” Jian Shuyu’s gaze landed on the roses upon the table.
“Yet right now is not the season for peach blossoms to bloom.” Fu Minglou straightened up, untying Xian Sui’s hands. “There is a peach blossom grove outside the city, I will take you there when they bloom.”
“Wouldn’t that mean waiting until next spring?” Jian Shuyu chuckled lightly.
“Then let’s wait until next year, I will accompany you through the spring.” Fu Minglou kissed Jian Shuyu’s cheek very lightly, and Xian Sui couldn’t help gently closing his eyes.
Checking the monitor, Yu Zhifu noted that Xian Sui’s small action of closing his eyes wasn’t too obvious and wouldn’t affect the overall effect. After checking the playback a few times, she didn’t call for a retake. With this scene concluded, Gu Fanzhou hurried off, leaving Xian Sui behind in place to gather the roses from the table into his arms, asking the staff if they still needed them.
“No need, we won’t be using roses anymore later on, and the neighboring crew shouldn’t need them either, right?” The staff member checked with those around them while answering.
Xian Sui immediately volunteered to take the flowers back to raise them. The staff members didn’t care about the fate of the bouquet, leaving Xian Sui free to handle it as he pleased.
In truth, Xian Sui wasn’t someone obsessed with flowers, but since this bouquet had been handed to him through Gu Fanzhou’s hands, he simply couldn’t bring himself to throw it away.
Carrying the flowers with the intention of returning to the fitting room, he originally assumed Gu Fanzhou had already left, but ended up bumping into him in the hallway. “You like flowers?”
“Ah, yes.” It was hard for Xian Sui to explain his true thoughts, so he simply gave a brief reply. “The flowers are very pretty, and the crew won’t use them anymore later. It would be such a waste to throw them away.”
“Mm.” Gu Fanzhou’s gaze swept over the roses, not lingering further on the topic. “During the filming just now, you did very well.”
“It’s thanks to Brother Gu taking care of me.” Xian Sui wasn’t trying to flatter him deliberately; if it weren’t for Gu Fanzhou just now, he wouldn’t have known what kind of embarrassing scene he might have made. But Gu Fanzhou clearly didn’t see it that way, shaking his head slightly. “You can be more confident.”
Before Xian Sui could reply, Gu Fanzhou continued down the hallway and left.
He entered the fitting room to change out of his qipao, and his assistant packed up the items and followed right behind Xian Sui, who was holding the roses as they exited the set.
Just as they were about to get into the car, Xian Sui didn’t expect to run into Gu Fanzhou in the vicinity once again. The other man was sitting inside his vehicle with no engine noise, appearing to have no immediate intention of driving away.
Gu Fanzhou stepped out of the car and handed a bouquet of lilies to Xian Sui. “Sent by fans, I just ran into the staff.”
The lilies and red roses placed together created a stark contrast, prompting Xian Sui to take a few extra glances. “How troublesome for you.”
“Didn’t you specially bring them to the villa last time?” Gu Fanzhou subconsciously scanned Xian Sui’s expression to confirm the other didn’t dislike it. “One go, one return, we’re even.”
After a few polite pleasantries, Xian Sui got into the car holding the flowers and deliberately snapped a photo to post on Weibo, thanking his fans for their kind thoughts.
Sitting in the backseat of his car, Gu Fanzhou opened Weibo and happened to swipe right onto this new update, the corners of his mouth curving upward in an imperceptible arc.
“Brother Gu,” the assistant watched Gu Fanzhou through the rearview mirror. He had temporarily rushed to a nearby flower shop to buy a bouquet of lilies for Gu Fanzhou earlier, so he couldn’t help asking out of curiosity, “are you a fan of Brother Xian Sui?”
Gu Fanzhou’s smile instantly dropped. “Drive.”
Sensing that the situation wasn’t right, the assistant immediately started the vehicle without another word. Continuing to browse Weibo in the backseat, Gu Fanzhou discovered that a post by a major influencer account had surged onto the trending topics in a very short span of time.
The content pointed out that the Best Actor Gu Fanzhou was suspected of having an unsavory relationship with Xian Sui, the other lead actor of Peach Blossoms Unseen, and suggested it was highly likely even his casting was due to Gu Fanzhou’s special favors.
The accompanying images showed Gu Fanzhou and Xian Sui leaving a hotel together, though there were realistically no intimate actions displayed.
“Turn around,” Gu Fanzhou didn’t seem surprised by this turn of events. “Head to Star Entertainment.”