The next day, despite her hangover, An Juexiao did not wake up late. Instead, she woke up unusually early. Rubbing her dizzy head, she sat in a daze, her unfocused gaze wandering around the room.
The entire room had been turned upside down by her the previous night, like a storm had swept through it. Her eyes moved around before finally landing on the breakfast placed on the bedside table.
She touched it, it was still warm.
Under the breakfast was a note, “Every day is a new day, cheer up.”
At the bottom was a cartoon smiley face. Such a cute drawing was clearly her roommate’s work, while the ugly and mocking smiley squeezed next to it was obviously drawn by her roommate’s boyfriend.
Looking at her roommate’s encouragement, An Juexiao smiled, feeling a bit better.
Her roommate’s name was Gu Keqing, a graduate student in screenwriting at Beicheng Film Academy. Gu Keqing’s boyfriend, Xu Junyu, was a directing major and in the same cohort as An Juexiao.
Speaking of which, it was quite funny. The campus heartthrob of their year was Xu Junyu from the directing department, not someone from acting, and he had been won over by a girl from the screenwriting department instead of the many beauties from acting.
This incident became a running joke at their school, jokingly saying that the acting department of the class of 201X was no good.
Thinking back to those school days, An Juexiao could not help but smile foolishly.
Suddenly, three polite knocks came from the front door.
An Juexiao heard Gu Keqing ask, “Who is it?” Then came the sound of the door opening, followed by Gu Keqing’s startled voice from outside, “Who are you looking for?”
Sensing something was off, An Juexiao quickly got up and went out.
She saw two tall, cool-looking men in black suits standing inside their cramped rental apartment, their imposing figures making the place feel even more crowded.
Their stylish, aloof appearance felt strangely familiar to An Juexiao, but she could not recall where she had seen it before.
“Miss An, Mr. Gu invites you to have breakfast at No. 8 Jiaoxiang Alley.” The man in the black suit spoke with his hands folded neatly in front of his abdomen.
If a group of men in black showed up at your door early in the morning inviting you to a meal, of course you would refuse.
So An Juexiao rejected them without a second thought, and then she was forcibly “invited” away.
An Juexiao was baffled.
Was this a kidnapping or an invitation to breakfast?
I do not owe any loan sharks, do I? It cannot be that they want to harvest my organs and sell my kidney, right? Her thoughts spiraled wildly. Only after she had been carried about ten meters away did she finally remember where she had seen those black-clad men before.
Yesterday, in the corridor on set, those same cool bodyguards had been following behind that mysterious man.
No. 8 Jiaoxiang Alley was a restaurant near An Juexiao’s home, ranked among the most outrageously expensive in Beicheng. It was a four-story Western-style mansion that had once belonged to a prominent family a century ago. After the family declined, the mansion was sold and eventually renovated into a restaurant.
When An Juexiao and Gu Keqing had just graduated, they had said that once they made it big, they would definitely come here to eat.
She had not expected that wish to come true so quickly.
“Miss An, Mr. Gu is waiting for you inside.” The bodyguard stopped at the entrance of a private VIP room and said politely, “You may go in, but your two friends will have to wait outside.”
The bodyguard was referring to Gu Keqing and Xu Junyu, who had followed along out of concern for An Juexiao.
An Juexiao complained, “You dragged me here by force, and now you are pretending to be polite.”
“It could not be helped,” the bodyguard replied concisely, then gestured for her to enter.
Gu Keqing quietly asked, “Do you really not know this Mr. Gu?”
An Juexiao shook her head in confusion. However, she felt that the other party did not seem malicious. If there had been ill intent, they would not have openly allowed Gu Keqing and Xu Junyu to follow, nor would they have chosen such a famous restaurant full of surveillance cameras.
“Why not go in and take a look? Xiao Yu and I will wait outside,” Gu Keqing whispered in her ear. “Set up an emergency speed dial. If anything feels wrong, press it and we will rush in to save you.”
An Juexiao thought for a moment before nodding. She also reminded Gu Keqing to stay safe and not act rashly. If something really happened, they should act strategically. Besides, if the other party truly had the power to make the three of them disappear without a trace, resisting desperately right now would be useless.
So whether it was a dragon’s den or a tiger’s lair, she would only know after stepping inside.
Taking a deep breath, An Juexiao gathered her courage and entered the room.
As expected of a century-old mansion, every detail of the interior decoration exuded elegance. Yet, despite the refined setting, there was no one inside.
The floor-to-ceiling windows leading to the balcony were open, and a gentle breeze lifted the white curtains, making them flutter ethereally. An Juexiao walked toward the balcony.
There, she saw a tall man standing quietly. The warm morning sunlight fell upon him, outlining him in a beautiful glow.
Hearing movement behind him, the man slowly turned around and extended his hand toward her.
An Juexiao felt the scene was exceptionally beautiful, like something out of a drama.
“Miss An, we finally meet.” Gu Zhanran smiled faintly. “Hello, I am Gu Zhanran.”
There was a trace of familiarity in his tone, as if they had known each other for a long time.
Gu Zhanran was cool but not arrogant, elegant but not distant. That faint smile of his was like a flower blooming within ice.
An Juexiao had seen plenty of pretty boy types at school. Seeing someone like Gu Zhanran, refined and effortlessly charming, felt refreshing, almost cleansing to the soul.
So his name was Gu Zhanran. Suddenly, a thought struck her.
“‘Clear as the jade case, like autumn water that does not flow?’” she quoted, recognizing the origin of his name from a poem by Bai Juyi describing an ancient sword.
Gu Zhanran smiled, a subtle glimmer in his eyes. “That is right, it comes from that line.”
He led An Juexiao to sit on an iron chair, then spoke a startling sentence right away.
“The reason I invited you here is to fulfill a promise made more than ten years ago.”
Hearing this, An Juexiao asked in surprise, “Do we know each other?”
Gu Zhanran seemed to think for a second before answering carefully, “Not exactly.”
“The promise I mentioned actually belongs to the Gu family, not to me personally.”
An Juexiao nodded. Thinking about it, that made sense. More than ten years ago, Gu Zhanran would have just been a child. What kind of promise could he have made?
“Your mother once saved me. At the time, my parents wanted to repay her with money, but your mother refused,” Gu Zhanran said. “My parents have always felt that your mother is a person of high integrity and great…”
An Juexiao slapped her thigh and suddenly understood. “I get it, you are that ten million! I did not expect you to grow up so big and handsome! If my mom knew, she would definitely be very happy.”
Gu Zhanran fell silent for a moment, then could not help asking, “Me? Ten million?”
“Yeah, back then your parents promised my mom ten million.”
Since An Juexiao did not know the little boy’s name back then, she simply gave him a nickname, Ten Million.
She waved her hand and joked, “Actually, after turning down that ten million, my mom regretted it quite a bit. She mentioned it to me several times, so you do not need to praise her for being noble and unmoved by money.”
Both An Juexiao and her mother were straightforward, down-to-earth people.
“Ah, ten million,” An Juexiao looked at Gu Zhanran from left to right, feeling endless emotion. The more she looked at this “ten million,” the more handsome he seemed.
If only her mother had accepted that money back then.
More than ten years ago, ten million was no small sum. Even today, despite inflation, it was still a huge amount.
Listening to her chatter, Gu Zhanran could not help but smile. “Although your mother refused the ten million at the time, my parents made other promises to her. Did she ever tell you about that?”
An Juexiao froze for a moment, her tongue stumbling. “Y, you mean the three wishes?”
“Yes.”
“It has been over ten years. Those wishes have not expired?”
“They have not.”
“So that means if I ask you for ten million now, it is still possible?”
“It is.” Gu Zhanran added, “Adjusted for inflation, it should be over twenty million now.”
An Juexiao’s jaw nearly dropped.
There is even interest added to money being given away?
“They say all businessmen are shrewd, but why do I feel like you are an angel?”
Gu Zhanran fell silent.
Author’s note: Ding ding, let us start a little guessing game. You can guess what the female lead’s first wish will be. Those who guess correctly get a small red packet reward. It should be quite easy to guess.
Pay attention to what the male lead said when they officially met.
Mini theater:
Before meeting Gu Zhanran.
An Juexiao: “I sell my skills, not my body, thank you.”
After meeting Gu Zhanran.
An Juexiao: “Selling my body is also acceptable!”