Chapter 5: 5

—Evening.—-

 

“If you come over, can I still experience what this life is like?” Under the interior lighting, Qu Xueyu sat at a somewhat cramped desk, flipping through the script with one hand and continuing his agent’s call with the other.

 

“Xueyu, are you sure you really don’t need me to come?” asked his agent Bo Yangzhi one more time.

 

“There’s no need.” Qu Xueyu casually marked a line, “Filming will start here in Jinghai in two months. I’ll just join the group when it does. You can come over with Director Zhou and join me then.”

 

Bai Yangzhi sighed, “Okay then… Just, please, make sure you take care of yourself, and try to make sure you don’t get recognized…” If he really does get recognized, he’ll be featured in all sorts of headlines for months.

 

“I will.”

 

The doorbell rang just a few minutes after he had ended his phone call with his anxious agent. Qu Xueyu opened his front door to see his cousin, Qu Xueying, standing in the hallway with his arms crossed tightly, scanning the rather humble surroundings of the small box apartment from the door, with a look of holding back something negative.

 

Qu Xueyu raised an eyebrow, “What?”

 

Qu Xueying took a deep breath, “Young master, even if you want to play as a waiter in my bar-” He again examined the place with open disgust, and said, “- do you really need to live in this shitty place for two months? ” Even he, an illegitimate son of the Qu family, has never lived in such a place, let alone his cousin Qu Xueyu, who was raised by the head of their family as a proud son of heaven.

 

Qu Xueyu was not fazed by his attitude, “Yeah. Is that all you came over for?”

 

Qu Xueying sighed with resignation as he passed over a large duffle bag from beside him filled with bar-appropriate work clothes and fished out a work badge from inside his jacket, which had a deliberately blurry profile picture with the name “Ruan Jiangjiu” written underneath. “Come over whenever you want to start, and remember to try and not be recognized. Otherwise, my poor little bar will be flooded by reporters and your fans…”

 

Qu Xueyu nodded with a small smile as he accepted the overly filled duffle and work badge.

 

~~~~

 

—A week after late at night, at ‘Gathered Fireflies to Reflect the Snow’.—-

 

The air was filled with the disorienting combination of alcohol and various different perfumes; the lights were dimmed, and the sounds of many conversations were competing with each other to be heard over the music.  Lu Bai was leaning back in a sprawling heap on the padded booth bench, fighting against sleep. On the table in front of him were many empty glasses, several of which were his. Of course, he had drank so much because of the prompting from the group of ill-intentioned “friends” he had with him.

 

He didn’t actually want to drink so much, but for the sake of the next scenario, he pushed past his discomfort and drank it all. With his nose full of alcohol fumes, Lu Bai drowsily thought to himself that his scenes could be too difficult at times.

 

“Xiao Bai!” A fashionable young man squeezed out of the crowd in front of the bar and sat next to Lu Bai. Taking in Lu Bai’s sloshed appearance with some gloating and disdain in his eyes yet still talking with flattery, “The Puzzled Firefly. It’s their signature drink. Try it?”, as he slid the cup of overly colorful mixed drink in front of Lu Bai.

 

Lu Bai lifted his bleary head to look at the drink and then his eyes fell shut again. Heh, Puzzled Firefly is indeed the signature drink here; it is also one of the highest-proof mixes they make. If he actually drank that on top of everything else he’s already had, he would likely end up in the hospital with a stomach bleed… However, this drink is an important prop for the upcoming scene. For this next part, he has no wiggle room to improvise as it is a part of the building blocks of the story.

 

So, Lu Bai reached out and picked up the glass, but he didn’t drink from it; only held it in front of his eyes, seemingly admiring the colors of the beautiful and disorienting drink. He was waiting, waiting for a waiter to accidentally hit his arm and spill the drink onto him. That was how the vicious male support, Lu Bai, was supposed to meet Ruan Jiangjiu tonight.

 

~~~~

 

Qu Xueyu carried his drink tray through the crowd of people and discreetly observed all the different kinds of personalities and faces within seriously. In the mix, there were countless gazes of either appreciation or covetousness cast toward him. Ever since the arrival of this good-looking but somewhat gloomy and silent young man, many new customers have been coming to the bar.

 

“Woah, don’t you think this Ruan Jiangjiu guy really looks like Film Emperor Qu?! He’s so handsome!” A young woman who had gone into the bar specifically to people-watch whispered excitedly to her companion.

 

“Where do they look alike?!” The companion, who happened to be a fan of Qu Xueyu, then craned her neck to finally see the face of the waiter named Ruan Jiangjiu and froze. Nevertheless, she stood her ground, “No, he looks nothing like him! Our Yu Yu is not so dark and gloomy! And he is much more handsome than that waiter!”

 

There were, of course, customers with ulterior motives that have approached the young man named Ruan Jiangjiu. But without exception, the boss has taught them all hard lessons. Over this brief amount of time, the regular customers have tacitly agreed with each other that the waiter and the bar owner must have some kind of ambiguous relationship. There are rumors on the street that the bar owner is a member of Jinghai’s Qu family who no one dared to provoke. This person belongs to the boss, so naturally, none of them will make a move on him.

 

But there are also, inevitably, arrogant and cocky newcomers.

 

“How much for a night?” A middle-aged man had stopped the young waiter who had finished delivering drinks and was holding a now empty tray. The man’s eyes were wide and leering as he sized up the much younger man’s delicate face and his strong, thin looking waist that had been nicely accentuated by the black vest.

 

Lu Bai flinched in surprise when he overheard that line from the table next to his. The scene he was waiting for is finally starting. Ruan Jiangjiu has encountered the guest who starts harassing  him. After he starts fighting with that guest, he will accidentally knock into the vicious male character, Lu Bai, and spills the other’s drink over them. In all that commotion, the original Lu Bai is shocked after seeing the young man’s face for the first time. Then, a twisted and vicious idea grew in his heart.

 

Ruan Jiangjiu looked at the older man with eyes as cold as ice as the man reached out his hand towards him. However, Ruan Jiangjiu didn’t move to avoid it but gave the man a frosty smile. With a crisp snap, the youth simply broke the man’s wrist. Not dropping his tray, and without even looking at Lu Bai, he casually took that cold, colorful drink from Lu Bai’s hand and poured it onto the man’s head who had fallen to the ground screeching.

 

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The crowd of onlookers gasped, but the young man wasn’t bothered. As he stood there with his arms crossed, he looked like an immortal who could do no wrong. He wasn’t panicking or worried as he looked down at the unsightly man writhing around; his eyes only filled with cold contempt and disgust.

 

Lu Bai: ???? The plot is off the rails again!1 Where is the promised pushing and shoving? The so-called Ruan Jiangjiu being in a tight spot? Of having his drink spilled on himself? Isn’t Ruan Jiangjiu just a poor college student who can be bullied by anyone at this time?? Why is he so powerful now? Then later… how can he dare to find trouble with Ruan Jiangjiu?!

 

Although the bar owner is usually almost never seen, whenever this young man named Ruan Jiangjiu has had a problem, he always appears in a more timely manner than Doraemon2. After the owner swiftly came over and dealt with the incident, he escorted Ruan Jiangjiu away to the employees-only door. A short while later, a different waiter brought Lu Bai a new drink.  “Our boss said that Xiao Ruan had borrowed your drink, so this is for you. Also, as an apology for the disturbance, your bill for tonight has been completely waived.”

 

Lu Bai looked at the new drink in his hand, completely dumbfounded. How can he continue following the plot now…?

 

He doesn’t feel any pain either, which means this twist in the plot didn’t trigger his punishment mechanism, but that’s not guaranteed later. More importantly, Ruan Jiangjiu is a very important supporting character. If this scene doesn’t  end correctly, the subsequent plot will almost for sure collapse entirely. Lu Bai grimaced, he must not let that happen. He dreams of his freedom at the end of his role and loves his own life, he cannot afford to gamble.

 

With this reaffirmed motivation, he got up and drunkenly swayed towards the front door. The people from his booth, his supposed friends, just continued cheerfully drinking. They didn’t stop him or even bother to check where he was going.

 

This was one of Jinghai’s clubbing districts bordering the cheaper residential zone, and the streets were filled with the smell of alcohol and bad decisions . ‘Gathered Fireflies to Reflect the Snow’ was tucked away at the edge, so there was fresh and cool air on Lu Bai’s face, allowing him to sober up a bit. He took a deep breath, then turned into the dark alley next to the bar. In the original story, after encountering Ruan Jiangjiu in the bar, Lu Bai followed the person outside then blocked him in this alley. Through  the combined means of coercion and bait, he forced Ruan Jiangjiu into being his canary.

 

As for the reason why… the corners of Lu Bai’s mouth twitched as he tsk’d; it was too twisted. The original Lu Bai wanted to insult Qu Xueyu, just because he also liked Qin Gu, by keeping and supporting this poor student who looked just like Qu Xueyu.

 

Lu Bai lamented to himself, he is not actually vicious or perverted at all, but he still has to do such twisted things, which is really, really difficult.

 

Even though he was reluctant, Lu Bai still took a few hesitant steps deeper into the darkness of the alley, and when his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he spotted a quiet figure leaning against a wall. Ruan Jiangjiu must have been on his phone, and Lu Bai had come in just in time to see the other putting it away.

 

He’s already made it this far, he just needs to keep moving forward no matter what.

 

With this little pep-talk to himself in mind, Lu Bai took a big step forward and slapped his hand down next to the man’s ear3; the other man was a head taller than him, and he had to stand on his tiptoes to properly achieve this maneuver.

 

Ruan Jiangjiu’s eyes narrowed in irritation.  Just  before he was about to do something very rude to this presumptuous stranger, he heard a shaky, trembling voice. “You… your name is Ruan Jiangjiu?”

 

Ruan Jiangjiu felt that this voice brought to mind a fluffed-up kitten. The younger man’s breathing was turbulent and his racing heartbeat was so clearly heard this close together. Moreover, this voice seems to be a bit familiar.

 

“You-you lack money, right?” Lu Bai stiffened his face like in the original and slapped a card on the other man’s chest. “Let Laozi4 sp-spend the night…” Lu Bai gritted his teeth: “- and keep, keep y… this million will be yours!” Lu Bai added on, rather sheepishly, “There will be more in the future!”

 

Ruan Jiangjiu, “…”

 

Ruan Jiangjiu felt a burst of amusement. He finally recognized who this person is. This kid can really be capable. Only, what kind of person threatens others when they themselves are so afraid that their legs shake? Listening to this kid’s voice, what about himself did he think was intimidating? Finding it interesting, he asked, “You want… to keep me?”

 

Lu Bai was stunned as he listened to the other’s voice. As expected of Qu Xueyu’s perfect substitute, even his voice is similar.

 

“Ye-yes.” Lu Bai confirmed stiffly.

 

“Alright then, you can keep me. The card fell on the ground, pick it up and give it to me.”

 

Lu Bai felt lost. “Uhh wha-?” He was prepared to take a beating like the original had, and then use many twists and turns to force Ruan Jiangjiu to give in. What is happening now?

 

“Are you not going to keep me then?” Ruan Jiangjiu clasped his arms in the darkness with an amused look at the gaping young man and pointed to the ground, “The card, are you not going to pick it up? If you don’t have any money, I won’t follow you.” Lu Bai slowly squatted down and finally picked up the card, offering it to him again in a daze. This time, he accepted the card and said confidently, “Alright, I’m yours now. Where are you going to take me?”

 

Lu Bai stammered, “Where- where are we going??”

 

Ruan Jiangjiu’s exquisite eyes curved up in the darkness, with a strong interest flowing in them. “To sleep, ah. Aren’t  you going to sleep with me?”

 

Lu Bai: “…!”

 

——

 

1

Refer to chapter 1 for the first time the plot deviated

2

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doraemon_(character) ), Childrens cartoon cat robot character. Follows a boy around and saves the day. Micky Mouse level of popularity

3

The legendary wall kabedon meme. With the shorter person doing it to the taller person

4

Laozi = Father/daddy , used by males to show superiority (example “Call me daddy”/”Whose you’re daddy?) in context, “Let this daddy spend the night”

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