WAM CH18

Shao Si held his phone in one hand, staring at the line of text on the screen for a long time.

With one leg half-bent and his bare feet resting on the floor, he hesitated for a moment before finally digging out Gu Yanzhou’s number and dialing.

“Beep… beep… beep…”

It rang for about twenty seconds. Shao Si finally couldn’t help but furrow his brows, his fingers unconsciously tapping against the beer can.

What the hell, telling someone to call him and then not picking up.

Just as Shao Si’s patience was completely exhausted and he was about to hang up, the call finally connected.

Water droplets were snaking their way down his neck. When two or three trickles slid across his chest, Shao Si finally shivered. Feeling a bit cold, he leaned over to grab his towel from the side while speaking: “Hello.”

“Hello?”

They spoke almost simultaneously, but one was a declarative sentence and the other was a question.

“…”

Shao Si dried his hair and reminded, “Senior Brother Gu, you told me to call you.”

Gu Yanzhou was currently standing at the door of a KTV private room.

The corridor was decorated extremely luxuriously, with vintage Western European orange wall lamps and Persian carpets made of fine, soft material with magnificent patterns.

As Shao Si spoke, Gu Yanzhou took two steps forward, though his gait wasn’t very steady. He ultimately stopped and leaned against the wall, thinking hard for a moment: “…Oh, there was such a thing.”

That was a message he had sent several hours ago. The signal in the private room had probably been bad, and it only successfully sent after he stepped outside.

Gu Yanzhou pulled a pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket, pulled one out single-handedly, and twirled it between his fingertips. He wasn’t in a hurry to light it. With deep, exhausted eyes, he said, “Director Ou’s Masks still has one role undecided. The audition is next week.”

Though these words were simple and didn’t explicitly point to anything, upon hearing them, the hand Shao Si was using to dry his hair abruptly stopped: “You mean…”

“I don’t mean anything,” Gu Yanzhou’s tone was calm. “There are no backdoors for you to take either. No need to thank me.”

“…”

Fortunately, Shao Si didn’t mind. Others might not know, but he was well aware: great directors like this were extremely strict when casting roles.

Take Director Wang for instance. Director Wang loved open auditions. Selecting a suitable person from a vast sea of people—regardless of whether they were professionally trained, regardless of looks or height—as long as the feeling was right, anyone would do.

People in the circle often joked with Director Wang, saying he picked roles like he was picking a wife.

Director Wang didn’t care at all, blowing his beard: Well, of course, it’s about finding that feeling that makes the heart flutter. For a role, just relying on acting isn’t enough; the most important thing is alignment, an alignment of souls.

“No need to thank you, then I won’t be polite,” Shao Si tossed the towel aside, sat up from the sofa, and cut straight to the point: “Which role?”

This time, Gu Yanzhou didn’t answer for a long time.

Shao Si initially thought Gu Yanzhou had hung up on him, but upon lifting the phone to look, the call was still connected. He coughed twice, wondering if the signal was bad:

“Senior Brother Gu?”

“…Brother Zhou?”

Shao Si weighed the phone back and forth in his hand repeatedly, feeling that the quality of his beloved Concubine X Plus was solid; there shouldn’t be any problems.

Then he boldly called out his full name: “Gu Yanzhou?”

…

Gu Yanzhou had just experienced a wave of dizziness, leaning against the wall for a long time to recover. Once his mind cleared, he heard these three words.

The enunciation was clear, the voice quality cold, yet the tone carried a habitual laziness.

“Mhm, I’m here.” Gu Yanzhou raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose and exhaled, jarred into waking up a bit by the voice. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you just now.”

His tone wasn’t quite right. Shao Si had vaguely felt this since earlier.

“Are you feeling unwell?”

Shao Si thought for a moment and brought out a universally applicable yet utterly useless phrase: “…Drink more hot water.”

“Thank you. The role is the second male lead. Director Ou originally selected someone, but during the second round of auditions…”

Gu Yanzhou’s voice came to an abrupt halt.

Another voice, one Shao Si was also quite familiar with, rang out, drawing closer from a distance: “Haha, Yanzhou, I’ve been looking for you for ages. Why are you standing at the door? Come in and play, everyone’s waiting for you.”

Following this, a rustling noise came through the phone, as if Gu Yanzhou had hurriedly hidden it somewhere.

“I came out to get some fresh air, I’ve drunk a bit too much… I’ll go in a bit. You guys go ahead and play.”

“Alright—I’ll be waiting for you. We still have a few bottles of liquor we agreed to down in one breath.”

Listening to this conversation, Shao Si’s heart suddenly sank. Waiting for Lu Jiahui’s footsteps to fade away, he finally said: “What are you doing with Lu Jiahui? Captain Wang said no unauthorized actions. You told me not to act recklessly, yet you…”

“I’m fine,” Gu Yanzhou interrupted him, instructing, “If I don’t contact you within an hour, go find Captain Wang. Tell him ‘Longyan’s Local Emperor’, he’ll understand.”

“What dog emperor? Where are you?”

“Longyue International KTV, Room 039.”

Shao Si hadn’t driven a car in a long time. Getting his driver’s license was something from his college days. After debuting and becoming famous, the chances of him driving himself out were few and far between. Most of the cars he bought were left in the underground garage to grow mushrooms by themselves.

Before Shao Si left, he informed Captain Wang. Gritting his teeth, Captain Wang cursed, “You little brat, just messing around.”

Before he could finish cursing, Captain Wang heard the sound of a car horn from Shao Si’s end. His throat instantly tightened, and he hurriedly asked, “Where are you now?”

Shao Si rolled down the car window, stepping on the gas pedal, letting the wind blow freely through his half-wet hair.

He held the steering wheel with one hand, resting the other against the car window in a posture typical of someone on the phone: “…My house is very close to there, I’ll go take a look.”

Before Captain Wang had time to curse ‘you two little brats’, Shao Si had already hung up.

It was nearing midnight, and the police station was naturally very quiet. The other officers on the night shift saw Captain Wang’s terrible expression and couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong, Captain Wang? Did something happen?”

Captain Wang put away his phone and resignedly waved his hand: “Never mind, never mind. Two people, come with me to Longyue.”

Shao Si arrived right on time. The group was walking out of the first-floor lobby with their arms around each other’s shoulders, standing at the entrance chatting.

Standing among this group of people, Gu Yanzhou surprisingly didn’t look out of place.

Or rather, the Gu Yanzhou tonight was quite different from usual.

Shao Si had parked somewhat out of the way, but it didn’t prevent him from sizing up the scene over there.

He saw Gu Yanzhou wearing a black shirt, his collar in considerable disarray. Holding his coat in his hand, the cuffs of his shirt were rolled up twice, revealing his wrists.

As for his facial features, it was too far and too dark. Even with Shao Si squinting, he couldn’t see very clearly.

…Even without seeing his face, this person was still so eye-catching in a crowd.

But then Shao Si thought, perhaps it was precisely because he couldn’t see the face; that face truly was nothing much to look at.

At this time, Daddy Shao’s face-blindness had yet to be cured.

Shao Si sat in the car, waiting and waiting. After about ten minutes passed, they finally finished chatting in the cold wind, each stumbling outward with unsteady footsteps.

Gu Yanzhou stood at the entrance. Only after watching their cars drive away one by one did he leave the entrance and walk outside.

Shao Si restarted the engine and slowly drove to follow him.

Once he got closer, Shao Si finally noticed that Gu Yanzhou’s hair was parted slightly in the middle today. Of course, it could also have been blown by the wind.

Out of professional habit, Gu Yanzhou specifically chose dark places to walk. After following for a while, Shao Si lost his patience. He simply honked his horn and turned on his low beams.

Then he rolled down the window and popped his head out. Because he had just washed his hair not long ago, it was especially smooth: “Hey, handsome, where are you going? Need a lift?”

Gu Yanzhou faced the strong light without changing his expression. Whether he was drunk out of his mind or had simply developed this skill from facing spotlights all day, it was hard to say.

“…Shao Si?”

Shao Si was just about to tell him to get in the car when, unexpectedly, a car behind them honked at them.

Captain Wang stepped out of the car accompanied by two police officers. They were all wearing plainclothes, looking inconspicuous. Had Shao Si not called them half an hour ago and still retained an impression of them, he might have had to squint and size them up for a while.

“You guys sure are capable now. The tasks you were supposed to cooperate with the police on have all been completed. You are not allowed to get involved again without orders, do you hear me?” Captain Wang pointed at Gu Yanzhou, then pointed at Shao Si. “Acting without authorization, no one can guarantee your personal safety.”

Shao Si opened the car door, stepped out casually, and gave a perfunctory reply: “Oh, got it.”

Captain Wang turned to ask the other one: “And you? Can you guarantee it?”

Shao Si chimed in: “Gu Yanzhou, he’s asking you.”

“Don’t interrupt,” Captain Wang took two steps forward. Noticing that Gu Yanzhou’s state was clearly not right, his heart skipped a beat. “…What did they give you to drink?”

Gu Yanzhou didn’t answer. Closing his eyes, he pitched forward and collapsed without any warning.

When Captain Wang and the others carried Gu Yanzhou and tried to stuff him into Shao Si’s car, Shao Si refused.

“…Why are you stuffing him in my car? I don’t even know where he lives. Are you telling me he’s staying at my place?” Shao Si stood by the car door, looking a bit reluctant. “Do you have his manager’s number? Call his manager.”

His willingness to drive over and check on him was entirely due to the mission, and because he hadn’t touched a car in too long and his hands were itching to go for a joyride.

Smelling the stench of alcohol on him, Captain Wang said: “He’s probably just too drunk… we can’t exactly take him back to the police station. The paparazzi in your industry are too formidable, the risk is too high.”

Captain Wang and the others gave a few more instructions, telling Shao Si to call them immediately once the man woke up, and then they left.

Leaving Shao Si alone in the car, figuring out what to do.

When Li Guangzong received the call, he was already deep in his sweet dreams. Groggily, he heard someone ask him: “Do you have Chen Yang’s phone number?”

Li Guangzong smacked his lips. His brain couldn’t process it, and he subconsciously gave a perfunctory reply: “Sorry, you have the wrong number.”

However, the other party’s next sentence chased all his sleep bugs away:

“Wrong number my ass. Wake up for your Daddy.”