Although he laughed inwardly at Fu Juncheng for biting off more than he could chew, Wu Jin still agreed.
Since the little sparrow wanted to play, he would let him play. Once he hit a wall and ended up battered and bruised, he would naturally come back in grievances and beg him for help.
Actually, it was not surprising that Wu Jin thought this way. After all, the original body’s past performance records were plain for everyone to see.
He was all looks and nothing else, and calling his skills “acting” was a stretch.
Wu Jin did not intend to dwell on this topic for too long. After a brief pause in thought, he asked, “What? Aren’t you going to ask about your father’s recent situation?”
Speaking of the original body’s father, Fu Juncheng felt at a loss for words.
The original novel did not spend much ink on this person. In short, he was a good father who fell apart completely after bearing the pain of losing his wife. Since then, he began to numb himself with alcohol, gave up on himself, and picked up a gambling habit, emptying out the entire family fortune and running up a mountain of huge debts.
The original body’s feelings toward his father should have been quite complicated.
On one hand, he still remembered the good times of the past, respecting and loving him. On the other hand, he was driven to absolute desperation by this man, with nowhere to turn except to treat Wu Jin as the ultimate lifeline in his life.
However, Fu Juncheng was not the original body.
Thinking of this person, Fu Juncheng only felt that the original body must have owed someone in his past life to end up with such a tormenting old father.
Still, he was ultimately the original body’s biological father.
Fu Juncheng thought to himself: As long as he doesn’t die, I suppose that’s fine.
However, when replying to Wu Jin, Fu Juncheng was a bit more tactful, casually tossing out a lukewarm remark: “Can I still control him?”
When he needed money, he would naturally come to contact him.
This attitude of Fu Juncheng’s was completely unexpected to Wu Jin.
Yet, upon careful reflection, it made complete sense.
Being dragged down by such an unrepentant gambler, any amount of affection would eventually be worn thin. If it were anyone else, they probably would have avoided him like the plague long ago.
Yet Fu Juncheng was a sentimental person who couldn’t bear to watch his father suffer.
Wu Jin’s fingertips lightly rubbed against the watch dial on his wrist: “If you didn’t care about him, would you have lived such a pitiful life?”
Fu Juncheng frowned and shot him a sidelong glance.
Wu Jin reminded him: “If it weren’t for me, you might have been beaten to death by debt collectors with clubs a long time ago. Actually, if you had just honestly begged for mercy and said a few nice things, they might have let you go.”
Wu Jin clearly had an ulterior motive behind his words.
Fu Juncheng was puzzled: “What are you trying to say?”
Wu Jin raised his gaze calmly: “Since I can give you what you want, I also have plenty of ways to discipline you.”
Fu Juncheng’s gaze tightened.
Wu Jin’s lips moved slightly as he smiled: “Don’t push your luck, understand?”
I don’t understand.
Fu Juncheng couldn’t figure it out. The person who originally told him not to put in deliberate effort to seduce him was Wu Jin, yet now Wu Jin was coming around to hint that only by trying every possible way to please him would he have a good life.
Was this guy out of his mind?
After much thought, Fu Juncheng finally had an epiphany.
He still needed to make Wu Jin truly understand that he was worlds apart from Xu Yaozhou and simply didn’t belong to the same world.
Even though that was already the factual truth.
Yet he couldn’t help the scum gong’s blindness!
That night.
After washing up, Fu Juncheng changed out of his clothes and carefully put away the bank card that had inexplicably appeared, planning to return it to Xu Yaozhou when he had the chance.
He stood in front of the wardrobe for a moment as Wu Jin’s non-negotiable words from after dinner suddenly echoed in his mind: “That outfit doesn’t really suit you. Change back to the white shirt I bought you tomorrow.”
Overbearing and unreasonable.
Fu Juncheng unconsciously muttered a silent complaint to himself: The scumbag Wu Jin is truly blind!
White shirts, white shirts, all you ever think about are white shirts!
Clearly, Xu Yaozhou’s taste is much better than yours! It’s completely normal that he looks down on you!
In a flash, Fu Juncheng found a charity platform online and filled out the second-hand clothing donation information.
Originally, Fu Juncheng wanted to list the clothes on a second-hand marketplace.
However, he felt it would be too flashy and too troublesome to process.
Donating them was fine, too.
Since Wu Jin bought them, he would just treat it as building up good karma for him.
May the heavens bless Wu Jin with a fitting end.
Much obliged.
On the day of the audition, Fu Juncheng wore a denim jacket he had managed to dig out from the corner of the wardrobe and jogged downstairs, surprisingly seeing Wu Jin sitting in the dining room at this hour, leisurely sipping a cup of bitter coffee.
After all, scummy as Wu Jin was, he was an absolute powerhouse when it came to his career, being the type who could run twenty-four hours a day without stopping. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have reached the pinnacle of life in the end, even managing to bring the Xu family down.
Fu Juncheng came to a screeching halt on the very last step of the staircase. Hearing the movement, Wu Jin looked over, his brows furrowing tightly in displeasure.
The scene fell silent, and the atmosphere instantly plummeted to rock bottom, truly being a case of mutual loathing at first sight.
Until Wu Jin spoke first: “Why are you dressed like this?”
The clothes must have belonged to the original body. Fu Juncheng thought for a moment and explained: “Director Zhang probably won’t like me dressing like that.”
Although the reason was made up on the spot by Fu Juncheng, it wasn’t actually wrong.
Prior to this, Director Zhang had already collaborated with Xu Yaozhou once, and rumor had it that their relationship was quite good. If Director Zhang associated Fu Juncheng with the previous hot search about him riding on Xu Yaozhou’s coattails, it would inevitably leave a bad taste in his mouth.
Wu Jin said nothing more about it.
He seemed to have reluctantly accepted Fu Juncheng’s explanation.
He slightly raised his chin, signaling for Fu Juncheng to hurry up: “Eat breakfast first, and come over with me later.”
Fu Juncheng: “???”
Wu Jin: “Don’t keep Director Zhang waiting.”
Fu Juncheng truly hadn’t expected that Wu Jin, as an investor, would also participate in this audition assessment.
To avoid drawing too much attention, Fu Juncheng parted ways with Wu Jin immediately after getting out of the car.
Fortunately, Wu Jin didn’t have time to mind him either, as he was politely escorted by several staff members toward a different elevator bank.
When Fu Juncheng entered the lounge, there were already quite a few people waiting inside.
Although it was only a minor supporting role, the entertainment industry was fiercely competitive, and only a minority managed to stand out. People who had struggled for years while remaining unknown were everywhere, and everyone was eager to seize this hard-earned opportunity.
Moreover, this television drama involved Director Zhang.
Who was Director Zhang? No one didn’t know.
Director Zhang’s real name was Zhang Chenze. He was the youngest recipient of the Best New Director Award in domestic history and the one most favored by the industry among all the emerging directors.
This was also the first television drama directed by Zhang Chenze.
Even if the screen time wasn’t much, just showing one’s face in the production was already great. If Director Zhang took a liking to someone, there might even be opportunities for future collaboration.
Wearing a baseball cap, Fu Juncheng walked further inside. Seeing that all the chairs were taken, he simply chose an empty corner, leaning against the wall to play a mobile game.
He pulled the brim of his hat down very low, and with a black mask covering most of his face, very few people could see Fu Juncheng’s appearance. They were only left with an initial impression of him having a tall and slender physique, and his overall silhouette looked quite impressive.
Yet the one thing the industry was never short of was handsome men and beautiful women.
The room fell silent for a moment. Seeing that Fu Juncheng had no intention of greeting anyone, everyone went back to chatting among themselves about the gossip topic from just a moment ago.
“I heard this role has already been predetermined internally. Is that true or false?”
“Who?”
“It seems to be Fu Juncheng.”
Although Fu Juncheng didn’t have many die-hard fans, his name recognition was not to be underestimated.
Everyone present knew him.
“Just him?” Someone snorted disdainfully and made a vomiting gesture. “His acting skills are absolute trash. Would Director Zhang even look at him?”
“Keep your voice down. What if Fu Juncheng is also here for the audition and happens to overhear you?”
“As if he’d dare to come audition! Aren’t you afraid of being completely humiliated and outshined? How embarrassing!”
“He won’t come. If he really was predetermined internally, why would he need to audition? Wouldn’t he just wait for the notification to join the cast directly?”
“Then aren’t we all just running as props?”
“Figures. No matter how hard we try or how well we perform, we still can’t compare to someone with a sugar daddy. Just moan daddy a few times in bed, and everything is set.”
“Is Fu Juncheng here?”
Someone suddenly shouted from the entrance.
On the phone screen, the match-three game flashed the words: “Congratulations, stage cleared.”
Fu Juncheng boredly swiped his fingertip lightly across the screen, then slipped the phone into his pocket.
The moment he took off his hat and mask, that pair of bright, glossy, ink-black eyes was instantly and clearly revealed to everyone present. Following a lazy, sideways glance toward the outer corner of his eye, his gaze locked directly onto the person who had spoken last.
The other person’s face turned pale, his entire body tensing up like a stone, completely at a loss for how to react for a long time.
Inside the room, besides silence, there was only more silence.
After a slight pause, Fu Juncheng slowly straightened his body and lazily lifted his foot.
Even his voice sounded lazy.
“I’m here.”