Jiang Zui was stunned, taking a long moment to recall who the person before him was.
He remembered that his first collaboration with Xu Xizhe was for a third-male lead role. However, that role was not originally his; it had been assigned to the actor Yu Song. It was only after a scandal broke out concerning Yu Song that Jiang Zui was brought in as his replacement.
He had heard a few whispers regarding that incident involving Yu Song. It seemed that he had slept with a fan who had just come of age and ended up getting her pregnant, which was why the young girl was crying online and demanding recognition.
Yu Song’s acting was mediocre, but his looks were passable, and he had many female fans. With such a scandal, those fans naturally renounced him and turned against him.
For an ordinary artist, this would have been the end of their career, but Yu Song had powerful backing. His cousin was an executive at a large-scale production company, and through ruthless public relations, they managed to turn black into white, breathing new life into Yu Song’s acting career.
To think he would meet him again on such an occasion was truly awkward. Jiang Zui could understand Yu Song’s resentment at being replaced, but saying such things was simply going too far. Jiang Zui’s gaze darkened. “Please watch your language.”
The situation was chaotic, and he wanted to find someone to take the intoxicated Xu Xizhe away. Just as he was about to leave, his path was blocked. He looked up to see Yu Song digging at his ear, looking at him with disdain. “Did I tell you that you could leave?”
“You do not know the rules, do you? When I was winning awards, you were still running errands as an extra in some unknown corner.”
Jiang Zui tightened the fists at his sides. Thinking that it was better to avoid trouble, he replied as calmly as possible, “Is there anything else, Teacher Yu?”
Yu Song chuckled. “Why the rush? Come over here and have a few drinks with me.”
He had clearly made up his mind to use this opportunity to torment him. He gestured to his henchmen behind him, and several tall, burly men stepped forward, grabbing his shoulders and pinning his arms behind his back.
Jiang Zui’s eyes widened, and he struggled with all his might, so much so that his clothes tore, but it was futile against so many men.
“Yu Song!” Jiang Zui panted heavily, no longer caring about maintaining any pretense of civility. “This is a public place!”
Yu Song was using a bottle opener on a bottle of whiskey. Hearing this, he looked at him with amusement and said mockingly, “You have already entered the entertainment industry, yet you are still thinking about fairness and order.”
“You do not have anyone backing you right now. Who is going to give you any face?” After saying this, he forced the opened bottle of whiskey directly into Jiang Zui’s mouth. Before Jiang Zui could even process his words, his entire mouth was flooded with the pungent, burning alcohol.
The large quantity of liquid poured straight down his throat, making his mouth and esophagus feel as though they were being seared by a blowtorch. Following the searing pain came a sense of suffocation. Jiang Zui finally could not hold it in and began to cough violently. The remaining alcohol in the bottle slid down his collar.
“Cough! Cough!” Jiang Zui doubled over, his breath smelling entirely of whiskey. In that moment, he could barely speak.
“Hahahaha!” Yu Song held the nearly empty bottle, laughing hysterically at the pathetic sight. He raised his foot and kicked Jiang Zui hard in the calf. “Damn it, I have disliked that arrogant look of yours for a long time.”
“Understand now? This is what you should look like.” He was about to say something else cruel when he was interrupted by a male voice from behind. “Xiao Song, what are you playing at?”
Yu Song turned to look, his spine stiffening at the sight of the newcomer. He forced a smile. “Cousin!”
Jiang Zui’s heart sank. The person who had arrived was Yu Song’s benefactor. That man was notorious for his wretched reputation and his elaborate methods of tormenting others. He had no idea what kind of scheme he would be subjected to now.
The man was a middle-aged man around thirty-five, with a pair of shifty, squinting eyes that scrutinized Jiang Zui from top to bottom. Then, his eyes lit up.
Whiskey had a high alcohol content and a strong kick. After drinking so much, Jiang Zui looked dazed and flushed, and his clothes, soaked in alcohol, clung to his skin, faintly outlining his attractive frame.
Yu Song’s cousin was a well-known lecher who was indiscriminate in his desires. The more he looked, the more he was amused. He licked his lips and looked at Jiang Zui with an increasingly sticky, lewd gaze. “Xiao Song, you do not know how to cherish such beauty. To treat such a beauty like this.”
Yu Song had been by his cousin’s side for so long that he knew what the man wanted as soon as he spoke. He laughed and winked. “Cousin, does that mean…”
“Why are you holding him? Let him go. Bring him over to have a drink.” He gave Yu Song a meaningful look. “You know me. I have always been very easy to talk to and very reasonable.”
Although he told them to let Jiang Zui go, the men holding him did not loosen their grip. Instead, they pushed Jiang Zui to the sofa closest to them. Yu Song and his cousin sat down, and they signaled to a waiter, who promptly brought over a glass of alcohol.
Jiang Zui was forced to sit beside Yu Song’s cousin. The disgusting man took the drink and smirked. One hand began to stroke up Jiang Zui’s thigh, while the other held the glass to Jiang Zui’s lips. “Come, come, do not look so sour. I am toasting you.”
His hand felt like a damp, slithering insect, making Jiang Zui feel nauseated. Jiang Zui frowned without restraint and began to struggle again, doing his best to avoid the glass.
The more he struggled, the more excited the man became. Jiang Zui felt every hair on his body stand up. In desperation, he seized a moment and kicked the man in his vital area. He used about seventy or eighty percent of his strength; Yu Song’s cousin immediately doubled over on the sofa, clutching his legs in agony.
“Damn it!” The man managed to recover after a long time. When he turned back to look at Jiang Zui, his face was red with shame and anger. Breathing heavily, he suddenly raised his hand and slapped Jiang Zui hard across the face.
Slap!
Yu Song followed up with another backhand!
Slap!
A buzzing sound echoed in his ears, and the pain was intense, but Jiang Zui let out a short, sharp laugh. He spat on the ground and glared at them sideways.
“Damn it, how dare you!” Yu Song glared at him fiercely. “Do you know what you are doing?”
“Why are you pretending to be a chaste maiden? Have you not already been ruined by that man surnamed Pei? You ungrateful slut.”
The man had lost face and only wanted to torture Jiang Zui. With a ferocious expression, he grabbed Jiang Zui’s hair, pulling so hard it felt as though he were tearing the scalp away.
“You slut, I am going to have you today, no matter what. So what? You are just a pair of worn-out shoes ruined by Pei Youting. Why can I not play with you? Ruining your career in this circle is just a matter of one word from me!”
Jiang Zui continued to look directly into his eyes. “Do you think I am afraid of you?”
“I have no interest in anything bought with flesh.”
Slap!
The man struck again, roaring loudly, spit flying onto Jiang Zui’s face. “Try being arrogant with me again!”
He was infuriated and about to strike again when Yu Song, standing beside him, caught something in Jiang Zui’s words. After a moment of silence, he burst into loud laughter. “Damn, wait, Cousin, this kid is not pretending. He actually thinks he is a virtuous woman!”
Yu Song wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes and stepped forward to pinch Jiang Zui’s face. “Hey, you do not actually think you went from a nobody to where you are now because of your own talent and effort, do you?”
“Damn, who in this industry does not know you are a whore who got to where you are by leaning on Pei Youting?” As he spoke, his grip tightened, his face distorted. “With your credentials, did you really think you had the ability to take my role?”
By the end, he seemed almost incredulous. “How can there be a naive idiot like you in this industry?”
Jiang Zui’s complexion gradually turned pale at his words. “What did you say?”
Yu Song looked at him as if he were a ridiculous clown. “Only you do not know it. Anyone with a bit of connection knows that you only have today because you latched onto Pei Youting.”
“You are just a whore that Pei Youting grew tired of.”
Jiang Zui’s fingertips were ice-cold, his lips trembling. “What did you say? What did you say? No, it is not. Those were achieved by my own hard work, through my own efforts. It is not true.”
It is not true! It is not true!
He did not sell his flesh! He had climbed step by step by honing his acting skills!
But was that really the case? A voice deep in his heart asked Jiang Zui: Had you not already realized it? The unusually few haters, the miraculous opportunities that kept falling into your lap, the inexplicable admiration from various directors.
And before he reunited with Pei Youting, he was just an extra that no one could remember.
How could this be? How could this be? He did not want to think about it, but it had finally become the truth, cutting him like a blade, leaving him bloodied and broken.
Whore. Male prostitute.
His struggle finally ceased. Jiang Zui stared blankly at the ceiling, his vision blurred, as if his backbone had been suddenly pulled out.
Someone poured alcohol into his mouth; the liquid slid down the corners of his lips, looking incredibly ambiguous under the light. Yu Song laughed slyly, holding his phone up to record, saying he looked truly seductive.
Then, Jiang Zui heard the voice of Yu Song’s cousin. “Why are you telling him all this? Damn it, get him drugged and send him upstairs. You go and call some people; I want him crippled if he is not dead today.”
Just then, an elegant, pleasant voice suddenly sounded, cutting through the dark and ugly scene like a sword. “Mr. Yu?”
“What are you doing?”
So hot. So hot. After the alcohol was ingested, the drugs began to take effect in his body. Jiang Zui felt as if he were floating on soft clouds, yet also as if he had suddenly fallen into a hot, humid rainforest. Everything felt so strange.
“Pei… Mr. Pei.” The arrogant Yu Song’s cousin immediately hunched his shoulders and began to bow to the newcomer. “Luck…”
Pei Youting was wearing a three-piece suit, his expression incredibly indifferent, yet his lowered eyelashes masked the murderous aura in his eyes. “Mr. Yu seems to be playing a bit too hard.”
He lifted his gaze, sweeping it calmly over Jiang Zui. “And an old acquaintance, at that.”
They were all clever people; how could they not know why Pei Youting had come over to say these things? The man wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. “Yes, I was being abrupt.” He signaled to the people beside him, “Damn it, let him go!”
The bodyguards who were restraining Jiang Zui looked at each other and released him. Pei Youting strode over, wrapping his long arms around Jiang Zui, who was already delirious from the drugs.
Pei Youting started to take Jiang Zui away, but just before leaving, he suddenly turned back. A smile was clearly playing on his handsome face, but his eyes were as cold as ice. “Mr. Yu’s information seems to be a bit outdated.”
“I do not believe I have ever said that I was tired of him.”