Fu Juncheng failed to notice Xu Yaozhou’s burning gaze.
He lowered his head to stare at the flashing mobile phone screen, his expression gradually shifting from impatience to helplessness.
Late at night, did Wu Jin still have the time to bother with him?
Yet he really didn’t want to waste his breath on Wu Jin.
Being a substitute body was simply too miserable; there wasn’t even a proper off-work hour!
Massaging the space between his brows, Fu Juncheng simply pressed the mute button and let the call ring out until it automatically hung up from unanswered status.
The screen darkened, and Fu Juncheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Xu Yaozhou didn’t miss a single subtle expression on Fu Juncheng’s face. Deep in thought, his gaze turned slightly dim, sweeping lightly over the phone tightly clenched in Fu Juncheng’s palm. He seemed somewhat displeased, and his brow furrowed slightly along with it.
Pausing for a few seconds, Xu Yaozhou fixed his gaze back onto Fu Juncheng’s face, stared for a brief moment, and took the initiative to speak: “Did you and Wu Jin have a fight?”
Fu Juncheng was startled. He hadn’t expected Xu Yaozhou to ask that, so he hesitated for a moment before lightly scratching the tip of his nose with his index finger and replying: “Sort of.”
Then he heard Xu Yaozhou ask in a low voice: “Last time you said, your relationship with Wu Jin is very good?”
Last time?
Was it that time Xie Chen came to look for trouble with him?
Hearing this, alarm bells rang loudly in Fu Juncheng’s head.
What did Xu Yaozhou mean by that?
Why was he suddenly caring about Wu Jin’s romantic life?
Although he didn’t know Xie Chen well, as the proper scum gong favored by the author’s loving mother, Fu Juncheng was crystal clear that Xu Yaozhou actually had a pretty decent relationship with Wu Jin when they were kids.
Because their families were old acquaintances, the elders of both households frequently interacted, and since Wu Jin was a few years older than Xu Yaozhou, Xu Yaozhou viewed Wu Jin as an older brother.
It was a pity that Wu Jin wasn’t satisfied with that and only wanted to be Xu Yaozhou’s one and only sweet-talking brother figure.
Fu Juncheng carefully weighed his words for quite a while before replying: “Not particularly good.”
Xu Yaozhou looked down at the quietly resting soup bowl on the coffee table, as if he had suddenly been distracted by this ginger soup.
To prevent Xu Yaozhou from repeating past mistakes and falling for Wu Jin’s tricks, Fu Juncheng tactfully warned him: “Wu Jin has a rather bad temper, and he is a playboy. He is completely untrustworthy.”
Actually, what Fu Juncheng originally wanted to say was that Wu Jin had something wrong with his head, he is as crazy as a dog, you must never pay attention to him in the future.
However, given the current plot, Wu Jin had not yet developed into the late-stage unhinged lunatic gong, and Xu Yaozhou hadn’t torn ties with Wu Jin over that yet. The two occasionally still had phone contact; right before going to Mrs. Xu’s birthday banquet last time, he had accidentally caught a glimpse of a call log between Wu Jin and Xu Yaozhou.
If he casually badmouthed Wu Jin like that, it might seem a bit abrupt and easily incur Xu Yaozhou’s displeasure.
Yet the moment those words left his mouth, Xu Yaozhou’s expression inexplicably grew a few degrees colder.
Fu Juncheng’s heart immediately skipped a beat.
No way?
Even that level of warning wouldn’t do?
Fu Juncheng attempted to salvage the situation, subconsciously reaching out to tug at Xu Yaozhou’s sleeve: “Fine, actually it’s not that bad either.”
Before his words fully faded, he was cut off by Xu Yaozhou: “I’ll go heat up the soup.”
Without changing his expression, he shook off Fu Juncheng’s hand and walked straight into the kitchen without looking back.
Fu Juncheng: “…”
Could it be that this made him mad?
Doubts bubbled up in Fu Juncheng’s heart.
Surely not.
Though it was normal.
After all, being a pure and flawless white-lotus shou, he couldn’t stand hearing others speak ill of his friends behind their backs.
Even though he thought that, Fu Juncheng still couldn’t help but harbor doubts deep down.
This was way too petty.
No wonder he was a shou.
The next day.
When Fu Juncheng woke up from the couch, Xu Yaozhou was already gone.
A sticky note was left on the table, saying he had an emergency and had to leave first, and breakfast was already prepared on the table.
Fu Juncheng couldn’t help marveling that Xu Yaozhou’s handwriting was actually quite nice, and the next moment he spotted the lean pork congee being kept warm.
He tasted a few bites, and the flavor was quite good.
From then on, Xu Yaozhou’s virtues gained two more items in Fu Juncheng’s book.
Yet as he ate, Fu Juncheng suddenly remembered another matter.
Early in the morning like this, what kind of urgent business could Xu Yaozhou possibly have?
Fu Juncheng’s heart sank.
Could he still be mad about what happened last night?
Last night, he originally thought coaxing him just a little bit would fix things, but Xu Yaozhou remained sullen the entire time, yet still acted stubborn in front of him with an attitude of I am not unhappy, do not talk nonsense.
Because of this, he had even proactively ladled a few extra scoops of ginger soup for Xu Yaozhou, and then in a gentle and pleasant tone told Xu Yaozhou to sleep early and not work too hard.
Even because there was only one room to sleep in, he willingly took over the sofa and left the bed for Xu Yaozhou to get a proper rest, sparing Xu Yaozhou the awkwardness of squeezing into a bed with someone else.
Friends as considerate as him were rare to come by these days!
Biting down on his spoon, Fu Juncheng suddenly felt the congee in his mouth lost its flavor.
Could it really be?
Did Xu Yaozhou actually have a crush on Wu Jin?
Fu Juncheng wrung his brains, and it seemed he vaguely remembered that in the early stages, Xu Yaozhou treated Wu Jin quite well indeed.
That made sense. He and Xu Yaozhou were unrelated strangers, so why was Xu Yaozhou treating him so well?
Could it also be because of Wu Jin?
Because he found out about his relationship with Wu Jin through Xie Chen, he purposely approached him to test him out?
Could it be? No way?
Thinking up to this point, Fu Juncheng felt his whole mind go blank.
Yet on second thought, Fu Juncheng felt something was off.
At least when it came to helping him out, Fu Juncheng couldn’t explain why, but he always subconsciously felt that Xu Yaozhou ought to be sincere.
Perhaps it was because he understood Xu Yaozhou’s character setting all too well.
After all, in the original book, this character Xu Yaozhou was nearly flawless and didn’t have so many hidden plots and twists.
It was just that Fu Juncheng ultimately couldn’t control his own hands.
After struggling for a long time, Fu Juncheng found the phone number he had exchanged with Xu Yaozhou just yesterday from his phone and dialed it while holding his breath.
The sound of a ringing tone came through his ear.
It gradually synchronized with the beating of his heart.
Just when Fu Juncheng thought Xu Yaozhou wouldn’t answer and his mood inexplicably plummeted to the bottom:
From the other end of the phone, a crisp and clear voice suddenly came through, carrying an unmasked trace of surprise: “Older brother?”
Fu Juncheng was momentarily stunned, suddenly feeling his whole being calm down.
Xu Yaozhou asked: “Is older brother awake?”
Fu Juncheng gave a vague hum in response, then heard Xu Yaozhou say: “Did you see the sticky note I left? Did you eat breakfast? How did it taste?”
Xu Yaozhou asked so eagerly that Fu Juncheng moved his lips without managing to squeeze in a word. He had to wait until Xu Yaozhou’s voice trailed off before saying, between laughter and tears: “You asked so many questions, which one do you want me to answer first?”
“The last one.”
Xu Yaozhou’s vocal tone leaned toward the cooler side, yet unusually it didn’t give people a sense of distance, especially at that moment, when it seemed to harbor a certain kind of expectation, like a child begging for candy.
So, Fu Juncheng automatically transformed into a hype machine: “It tasted exceptionally good.”
“That’s right,” Xu Yaozhou said, “Will older brother find it inconvenient being home alone?”
Fu Juncheng: “Huh?”
Xu Yaozhou said unhurriedly: “The door lock passcode is my birthday.”
Fu Juncheng was slightly taken aback.
Xu Yaozhou asked: “Does older brother know my birthday?”
Fu Juncheng: “…”
Since you put it that way.
How could he have the face to say he didn’t know.
Figuring he could just look it up online later, Fu Juncheng responded with a hum first.
Who would have guessed Xu Yaozhou seemed to guess his thoughts and suddenly chuckled: “It’s not the one online.”
Fu Juncheng: “…”
A moment later, Fu Juncheng received a text message sent by Xu Yaozhou.
He looked it up, and it indeed wasn’t the date listed online.
Still, Fu Juncheng didn’t think too much about it. After all, barely any celebrity profiles nowadays were authentic; even ages and heights could be written haphazardly, so what was a birthday?
Fu Juncheng originally thought there was nothing wrong with this arrangement.
Only right before heading out did he realize:
What did he even need Xu Yaozhou’s home door lock passcode for?
If he wanted to leave, couldn’t he just walk out?
Just at that moment, a notification pop-up appeared at the top of his phone screen, prominently displaying Xu Yaozhou’s name.
Before Fu Juncheng could fully read the content, he subconsciously clicked into it.
A certain celebrity had posted a Weibo status ten minutes ago, which was pushed onto the hot searches in the blink of an eye, causing quite a stir.
It was a group photo.
In the photo, a male celebrity was holding his phone up for a selfie, flanked by Zhang Chenze and Xu Yaozhou.
Zhang Chenze was looking toward the camera very cooperatively, whereas Xu Yaozhou still had his phone clutched in his hand as if messaging someone, his phone screen thoughtfully covered with a P-edited sticker.
The accompanying text above read: Meeting “myself” and Director Zhang.
This “myself” referred to none other than Xu Yaozhou.
Years ago, a suspense film that was originally not expected to perform well turned out to be a box office dark horse upon release, sweeping through major ranking charts.
As the actor who played the male lead during his youth, Xu Yaozhou, who was under eighteen at the time, harvested countless fans with his ultra-high looks and deeply empathetic acting skills, deserving to be called a breathtaking flash of brilliance that left countless people unforgettable.
Soon after, netizens dug out Xu Yaozhou’s illustrious family background.
Growing up abroad since childhood, his participation in this movie was merely a casual attempt during a visit back home.
This matter had been talked about with great relish up to this day, and whenever there was a roundup of handsome male stars in the industry, Xu Yaozhou’s name would invariably be hauled out for a spin, a veritable second-generation tycoon making all male protagonists in novels suddenly have a face.
So much so that every time Xu Yaozhou’s name appeared online, it could whip up quite a massive wave.
This time was naturally no exception.
“Waaaaah! I finally caught a glimpse of big brother!”
“Xu Yaozhou actually returned to China? When did this happen?”
This was the first time Fu Juncheng had ever felt so tangibly that Xu Yaozhou seemed genuinely popular.
Rather than just being a name in the original book, an inherently perfect character setting.
The very next second, another trending topic squeezed its way up the hot searches:
The official announcement of Zhang Chenze’s new drama.
Curious, Fu Juncheng cast a casual glance at it.
His brow tightened instantly.
The role he had auditioned for…
Had been quietly replaced by someone else.
Fu Juncheng looked at it a few more times and suddenly recognized who it was.
It was that minor eunuch who had covertly sneered at him in the livestream room last time, named Hu Feng.
That evening, Hu Feng opened another livestream.
Everyone could tell Hu Feng was in an exceptionally good mood, acting as if he had drunk fake alcohol, and he spoke much more than usual.
Until he was asked about the casting for the new drama, at which point he got completely carried away.
“There was indeed news fixing a certain person beforehand, and the director tacitly agreed.”
“As for specific details, I’m not too clear either; it’s probably because his acting skills were simply too trashy.”
“I haven’t watched his acting, so it’s not convenient for me to casually evaluate him.”
“Everyone stop spamming names, I didn’t say who it was.”
The internet became lively for a while.
Basically, it was all cheers expressing the sentiment that Fu Juncheng finally didn’t have to come and ruin Zhang Chenze’s new drama.
It wasn’t until evening that a netizen suddenly posted a video.
It was the footage of Fu Juncheng’s original audition.