WAM CH39

“Playing bit parts? Really?” Shao Si almost choked on a mouthful of orange juice.

Gu Yanzhou: “Why would I lie to you?”

Shao Si sat up straight, a spark of interest ignited, and asked, “When was this?”

“Many years ago,” Gu Yanzhou pressed his fingertip against the glass cup, mentioning this stretch of history without appearing to care much, speaking in an understated tone. “I’ve been an extra, played corpses… tried all kinds of ways to die, and tried waiting for a single scene until dawn.”

This gossip was a bit wild.

Shao Si tried to imagine that picture, but found he couldn’t picture it no matter what: “…But why have I never heard anyone mention it?”

“Company packaging,” Gu Yanzhou braced one hand against the bar counter, drinking the last gulp of liquor, and said, “Besides, even if I pointed it out for you to see, you might not recognize me.”

Shao Si thought about it and realized it was true. Everyone knew what the video quality of that era was like, plus the bit parts Gu Yanzhou played didn’t necessarily show his face.

As for packaging, he was all too familiar with the word ‘packaging’. When he first entered the company, Qi Ming had told them that artists were like commodities; before having a voice or influence, they didn’t have the right to freely express themselves.

The only thing they could do was try their best to cooperate with their market positioning, creating and maintaining a false image according to the trends.

Gu Yanzhou was probably the same. From the moment he was packaged as a ‘miracle of the entertainment industry’, his past unknown efforts and low points were destined to be discarded without hesitation.

What everyone saw in their eyes was a Best Actor Gu who sparkled from the strands of his hair down to his toes.

He was all-powerful, gathering all glory onto himself.

“Must have been tough,” Shao Si said. After finishing his orange juice, he raised his hand to pour himself a glass of who-knows-what alcohol—it was just resting by his hand, close by. Perhaps because of their similar experiences, he couldn’t help feeling the distance between them shrinking. Shao Si tilted his head back and downed a gulp: “Is packaging really that important? …I used to think crafting a devoted-husband persona was enough, but only after going on a reality show did I realize that even reality shows have scripts and lines.”

Shao Si’s self-assumed connection differed slightly from reality. Gu Yanzhou was only halfway through speaking; in truth, the person who packaged him wasn’t anyone else, but his older brother, Gu Feng.

However, Gu Yanzhou wasn’t in a rush to explain. He caught the key point with pinpoint accuracy: “Crafting personas?”

With a few gulps of liquor in his stomach—he had a poor tolerance for alcohol to begin with, so half a small glass made him feel lightheaded—his words spilled out without passing through his brain, pouring out that heap of old grievances all at once: “My idiot ex-manager… wouldn’t know him even if I said his name.”

“When I entered the company, he gave me a sheet of paper. Do you know what an ‘ice-and-snow youth’ persona is? The kind where you can’t even lower your head when walking on the street, looking at people through your nostrils all year round.” Shao Si continued, “If the corners of my mouth curled up, I’d be warned—because the ice-and-snow youth’s bonus attribute included facial paralysis.”

Gu Yanzhou looked at him with a deep gaze. Just as he was about to say something, seeing Shao Si’s state looking a bit unpromising, he quickly stopped the hand that was about to pour more liquor: “This liquor has a high proof; you can’t drink too much.”

“Impossible, I’ve grown up this big and never been drunk…” Though he had never really drunk alcohol seriously growing up either.

Saying that, Shao Si’s cheeks turned a bit red, and he raised his glass: “My alcohol tolerance is super good.”

Then, in under ten minutes, this person with “super good alcohol tolerance” collapsed forward, his fingers slightly curled and resting on the bar counter.

Gu Yanzhou stared at the tuft of hair sticking up high on his head, the front bangs braid with slightly curled tips, for a long time before reaching out to nudge him: “Hey.”

“…”

The only response was Shao Si’s even breathing.

Gu Yanzhou had considered many possibilities regarding the reason behind Shao Si’s drastic change in personality. The reason of ‘crafting personas’ was completely unexpected.

Truth be told, his initial impression of Shao Si had been quite good.

The first time he saw him was on the TV screen in the makeup room. Chen Yang had casually flipped the channel, and the moment the TV turned on, what caught his eye was Shao Si wearing only swimming trunks, his hair dripping wet as he stepped onto the board and climbed out of the pool holding the handrail.

Chen Yang put down the remote control and said: “The ratings for this drama broke new highs… The lead actor is named Si something. He’s a newcomer with both acting skills and looks. Truly rare, with great prospects.”

Gu Yanzhou didn’t deny that he was his type of interest.

Of course, this kind of interest was strictly superficial—purely in terms of appearance and physique.

The second time he saw him was at the TV Drama Awards ceremony.

Gu Yanzhou wasn’t particularly picky about romantic feelings. If they hit it off, they’d try; when it ended, he wouldn’t drag things out either.

Back then, he had intentionally approached Shao Si.

He just hadn’t expected the guy to be an arrogant, almost brain-dead jerk.

Especially when Shao Si sat on the sofa, legs crossed, eyes narrowed, chin slightly tilted, crook of his finger gesturing towards him imperiously: “You, come over here.”

Gu Yanzhou was baffled.

Then Shao Si pointed to the buffet pastries to the side, looking completely like he was treating him as a waiter: “Get me two slices of tiramisu.”

Gu Yanzhou didn’t hesitate for a single second, putting the name ‘Shao Si’ straight onto his blacklist.

Gu Sheng was also there that day. Although she was still very young and couldn’t understand much of what was said, children were sensitive and could read people’s expressions.

Gu Sheng had cursed several times in her milky voice, “Bad uncle!” Originally, the matter would have ended there, but who would have thought that because Shao Si often appeared on TV, Gu Sheng would curse every time she saw him, and ended up never forgetting it.

“Can’t tell, but you’re pretty heavy.” Gu Yanzhou first supported Shao Si and walked toward the elevator. After two steps, feeling that this posture was a bit inconvenient, he simply scooped him up in a princess carry around the waist.

Waist was quite thin.

Shao Si grunted groggily.

Gu Yanzhou stepped out of the elevator and asked him: “Which room are you in?”

Just when Gu Yanzhou thought Shao Si wouldn’t respond to him, the person in his arms cracked his eyelids open slightly. Whether it was the effect of alcohol or something else, the outer corners of his eyes appeared slightly red, like a stroke of crimson ink gently outlining the contours.

Shao Si pointed randomly with his hand: “I, I live here.”

“…Don’t point blindly. Are you sleeping in the same room as Director Ou?” After saying that, Gu Yanzhou felt it was pointless talking to this drunkard right now, and it was better to settle him down somewhere first.

Gu Yanzhou swiped his room card and brought him in. Since every suite layout on the fifth floor was identical, after Shao Si woke up groggily on the sofa, he navigated his way straight into the bedroom.

Gu Yanzhou took a quick shower. Coming out after washing up, he found that the unidentified object previously lying on the sofa was gone.

“Shao Si?”

He called twice, walked into the bedroom, and turned on the light.

Shao Si was sleeping on his bed, his lower legs and a section of his arm exposed outside, along with a few tufts of black hair.

He had seen so many versions of Shao Si sleeping.

In the police interrogation room, on set, in the makeup room, in the car, and during the livestream.

Most of the time it was just a bout of chronic laziness where he didn’t want to move, or he was too exhausted.

None of them were like right now—quiet, comfortable, and even somewhat reckless.

“Sorry to bother you so late…” Gu Yanzhou flipped to Li Guangzong’s number, speaking while walking forward, sitting by the bed drying his hair: “It’s like this, Shao Si he—”

His voice suddenly paused.

Li Guangzong’s heart sank. Snapping back from the joy of Gu Yanzhou calling him, he hurriedly sat up in bed: “What happened to him? Is something wrong? Did he cause trouble again…”

“Hello?”

Li Guangzong babbled for a long time, but no sound came from the other side. Extremely anxious, he shouted again: “Best Actor Gu? Are you still there?”

Shao Si was dreaming that he was walking in a desert, thirsty and hot, but managed to find a cool, thirst-quenching place.

So when he sat up, wrapped his arms around Gu Yanzhou’s waist from behind, and buried his head in his neck to lick back and forth with his tongue, Gu Yanzhou froze completely.

Li Guangzong: “Why aren’t you talking? Did you hit some problem? Caught by paparazzi again or…”

Li Guangzong: “Speak! I’m so anxious qwq.”

Li Guangzong waited and waited, but in the end only heard Gu Yanzhou’s deep and ambiguous voice, speaking to someone unknown: “Stop messing around, get off… hiss, why are you biting now?”

“…”

Li Guangzong was left completely dumbfounded.

3:00 AM! Best Actor Gu, who is in your room?!

This sounds like an R-rated scene!

However, even if Li Guangzong had been given another brain, he wouldn’t have guessed that the co-star in Best Actor Gu’s R-rated scene was his own Daddy Shao.

The back of Gu Yanzhou’s neck was bitten hard by Shao Si.

“Are you a dog or a cat?”

Gu Yanzhou pushed Shao Si’s head aside, intending to press him back onto the bed. Unexpectedly, Shao Si took advantage of the momentum to hook his arms around his neck, and the two collapsed down together.

This posture was actually even more convenient. After licking his neck, Shao Si licked further up along the neck, and finding that it was wetter near the ear, he concentrated on nibbling his ear.

“You’re drunk.”

Gu Yanzhou had originally planned to get Li Guangzong over in a moment to deal with this person first.

“No, I’m not drunk.” Shao Si dragged out his tone, sounding surprisingly soft: “…I’m just a bit thirsty.”

“If you’re thirsty, get up and drink water. What kind of strange fetish is licking people randomly?”

The two were locked in a stalemate back and forth for a while, but Shao Si just hugged his waist and refused to let go no matter what.

Gu Yanzhou even threatened impulsively in the middle that he was going to get hard, but it didn’t work at all.

Combined with the fact that it was indeed very late, drowsiness swept over them. The two finally quieted down. Gu Yanzhou closed his eyes, and just as he was about to fall into deep sleep, he rolled over and pulled Shao Si into his arms with a backhand.

Thus, only Li Guangzong was left as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, tossing and turning in his blanket, unable to sleep well all night.