Although Ye Zhou didn’t know exactly where the plot had gone wrong, he was fully prepared to face Jiang Tingyuan’s anger when he followed the latter back that night.
However, unexpectedly, Jiang Tingyuan didn’t seem to want to make things difficult for Ye Zhou after they returned to the villa. He didn’t even spare a glance at Ye Zhou before heading straight upstairs to his study and shutting the door.
A night breeze blew in through the window, and Ye Zhou shivered from the cold.
His eyes darted to the tightly closed study door upstairs as he mumbled softly, “Yuan-ge, if there’s nothing else, I’ll go get some rest first.”
Of course, Jiang Tingyuan, who was upstairs in his study, couldn’t hear Ye Zhou’s quiet muttering.
Ye Zhou felt relieved when he didn’t get a response. Following his memories, he found his original body’s bedroom and took a nice hot shower to calm his nerves.
Twenty minutes later, Ye Zhou walked towards the sink drying his wet hair with a towel. The youth in the mirror looked to be around twenty-four or twenty-five years old. He had a refined appearance and bright eyes, giving off an easily likable impression.
Ye Zhou tugged at the corners of his mouth, and the young man in the mirror imitated him. When Ye Zhou raised his eyebrows, so did his reflection.
As he withdrew his gaze from the mirror, Ye Zhou murmured softly, “So it really happened…”
After blow-drying his hair, Ye Zhou rummaged through his original body’s closet and put on a dark blue bathrobe. He pulled out the chair and sat down in front of the computer.
After thinking for a bit, he typed his name into the search engine. Surprisingly, there was quite detailed information that popped up – everything from his original body’s profession, alma mater, major works, and awards received was all there.
Since Ye Zhou was also a director himself, there was no more direct way to gauge another director’s skill level than by studying their work. His original body hadn’t been in the industry long and didn’t have many works – only three films in total.
Ye Zhou picked the movie released just this year and settled in to study it carefully. He soon came to fully recognize the fact that his so-called “up-and-coming” director original body was actually nothing more than an empty showboat.
Every director had their own unique personal style, but Ye Zhou discovered that his original body’s filming style varied drastically between each movie – something that was clearly impossible for someone with true directorial skill and vision.
Without even needing to investigate further, Ye Zhou could already guess what had happened with pretty good accuracy.
To give a simple example, as the film industry continued to thrive, more and more celebrities were flocking to direct their own films. But did that mean the bar for becoming a director was low? Of course not. Aside from the director, there were also many assistant directors on set. While they acted as helpers to veteran directors, for celebrity directors who knew nothing about filmmaking, the assistants essentially served as the true directors. All the celebrities needed to do was sit behind the monitor and occasionally yell “Cut!” – there were little real technical skills involved.
His original body’s situation was more or less like this. To put it nicely, he had the title of “Director” but in blunt terms, he was nothing but a credit-taking figurehead.
After closing the computer, Ye Zhou stretched lazily and glanced at the clock on the wall, realizing it was already past two in the morning.
He had intended to turn off the lights and go to bed when his stomach suddenly let out a loud growl. Left with no choice, Ye Zhou washed his face and tiptoed out the door, intending to go to the kitchen to see if there was anything to eat.
Ye Zhou quietly opened the fridge and found a luxurious double-door smart fridge that was completely empty except for a few cartons of milk. The kitchen was so clean, without a hint of cooking smells, that it resembled a model showroom unit meant for display only. Fortunately, there were plenty of pots, pans, and other cooking utensils neatly lined up.
After poking around the kitchen for a while, Ye Zhou finally found an unopened packet of instant oatmeal in the lower cabinets. Regarding food, Ye Zhou was quite picky and talented as a cook despite his otherwise crude appearance. However, with limited ingredients to work with, he had no choice but to settle for making himself a bowl of oatmeal-milk porridge. It was simple, but at least it was nutritious – he tried to comfort himself as he started cooking the porridge.
Meanwhile, in the study…
Jiang Tingyuan signed off on another document and massaged his slightly throbbing temples.
His gaze landed briefly on the time displayed on his wristwatch, but he didn’t pay it much attention as he picked up the next file to continue working.
Just then, some shuffling sounds drifted up from downstairs, followed by faint whiffs of sweet milkiness. Jiang Tingyuan’s hand paused briefly over the document before, after a slight hesitation, he got up and opened the door.
Oblivious to the fact that Jiang Tingyuan had come downstairs and was silently observing him, Ye Zhou was still busily cooking away after the porridge was done. Since he didn’t dare turn on the lights, he dished out a bowl for himself in the dark and happily started eating.
Suddenly, the lights in the living room switched on.
Ye Zhou looked up to see Jiang Tingyuan standing not far away, expressionlessly staring at him. The moment their eyes met, Ye Zhou’s hand jerked in surprise, nearly spilling the remaining porridge in his bowl onto the floor.
An awkward silence descended on them.
“Uh, did I disturb you?” Ye Zhou broke the silence first, an unconscious note of apprehension creeping into his voice.
Jiang Tingyuan leaned against the wall with a slight frown. “What are you doing?”
“I woke up feeling a little hungry, so I got up to whip something up to eat…” Afraid that Jiang Tingyuan wouldn’t believe him, Ye Zhou lifted the bowl in his hand to prove that he wasn’t lying.
Suddenly recalling that the man before him would be his future benefactor, a flash of inspiration struck Ye Zhou. His considerateness rising to the occasion, he offered, “The porridge isn’t bad. Yuan-ge, would you like to try some too?”
Although Jiang Tingyuan wanted to refuse initially, for some reason, he didn’t immediately leave upon meeting Ye Zhou’s hopeful gaze.
Ye Zhou dished out all the remaining porridge from the pot, just enough to neatly fill one bowl.
“I couldn’t find any sugar, so this is from the instant coffee packets in my room. It’ll have to do for now,” he said, placing the packets of white sugar he had managed to scrounge up beside Jiang Tingyuan.
To be honest, the big boss rarely got to eat something so simple as a late-night snack like this. Strangely though, he didn’t find it unpalatable.
As Jiang Tingyuan ate, Ye Zhou’s mind raced as he tried his best to recall his original body’s work arrangements recently.
His original body was currently filming a crime genre movie which had already been in production for some time.
According to the plot, he had been caught attempting to cheat by Jiang Tingyuan who then flew into a jealous rage and gave him the cold shoulder. But it seemed his original body had forgotten his own standing – not only was Jiang Tingyuan his benefactor, but also the biggest investor for his film.
Having offended Jiang Tingyuan, there was no way things would end well. Boss Jiang had straightforwardly withdrawn most of the investment funds. His original body was dumbfounded.
With such a sudden large withdrawal of funds, his film production was almost canceled. The entire production crew was forced to halt filming for months.
Although his original body eventually managed to cobble enough funds to complete the shoot, the final product quality was highly questionable.
The original owner had intended to prove to Jiang Tingyuan with this film that even without the latter’s investment, he still had the capability to produce an outstanding work. But he had overestimated his own abilities.
After the movie was released, not only did it fail at the box office, but it was also even rated as the best bad movie of the year by netizens. From the director to the actors, everyone was sprayed.
The bit of reputation and respect his original body had painstakingly accumulated was also reduced to a joke level with this one film.
In the end, it was still Jiang Tingyuan who stepped in to help him clean up the mess, otherwise he might have long been booted out of the circle.
Seeing how things had played out, Ye Zhou turned green with envy. What kind of fairy gold master was this!
As he looked at Jiang Tingyuan who was dining elegantly, Ye Zhou spent a few minutes psyching himself up before slowly speaking.
“Yuan-ge, there’s something I must apologize to you for.”
Jiang Tingyuan’s hand stirring the spoon paused as he lifted his head to look at Ye Zhou.
Ye Zhou scrubbed forcefully at his eyes, trying to make himself appear as sincere as possible.
“I lied about what happened today.” Ye Zhou lowered his head, his voice somewhat hoarse. “Actually, I’d long known that the boy liked me.”
“He had hinted at it indirectly many times before. I knew about his feelings a long time ago.” Ye Zhou let out a short, bitter laugh. “But I did not refuse,” he said, his voice halting for a moment, “I knew it was wrong, but I still…wanted to try.”
Ye Zhou lifted his head, his eyes faintly moist, “I just wanted to see if this could make you pay more attention to me.”
“You know, Yuan-ge, when I first saw Liang Sen, I seemed to see my former self from the first time I met you in his eyes.” By the time he uttered these words, Ye Zhou’s eyes had reddened.
He had used up almost all his lifelong acting skills in this performance, being even more serious than when demonstrating for actors before.
“After we got together, you treated me very well, but my heart has never been at ease for a moment.” Ye Zhou’s voice trembled slightly from agitation, though he still tried his best to maintain his calm.
He looked at Jiang Tingyuan and said, “Eyes cannot lie. Although I don’t know why you chose me, I know you don’t like me.”
A long silence descended upon the living room after he uttered those words. In his mind, Ye Zhou silently counted to a hundred before Jiang Tingyuan finally reacted.
Putting down his spoon, Jiang Tingyuan leaned back slightly in his chair, his tone giving no indication of his feelings, “So?”
From this single-word response, Ye Zhou knew he had guessed correctly.
His original body’s relationship with Jiang Tingyuan was clearly not as intimate as depicted in the novel.
Though the actual reason Jiang Tingyuan was sponsoring his original body still remained a mystery, one thing could be confirmed – it definitely wasn’t because of affection.
With this one clarified, what came next became much simpler to handle.
Ye Zhou suddenly let out a self-deprecating laugh. He shook his head and met Jiang Tingyuan’s gaze directly.
“I guarantee that from now on, I will completely mend my ways and turn over a new leaf. I will never cause trouble again in the future!”
“You can count on me to deliver!”
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