FIMA Ch27: Following

The next morning.

Squinting his eyes, Xie Jinzhao habitually nuzzled the blanket, preparing to stay in bed and catch a few more winks of sleep.

Wait… I don’t seem to have a habit of sleeping naked, do I?

Xie Jinzhao’s brows gradually darkened as he began to recall what happened before he lost consciousness last night.

He had never liked drinking, but the people who came last night were all executives from the production company and the industry. He couldn’t easily refuse, so he drank a few glasses. Then, feeling truly dizzy, he went out for some fresh air and bumped into Qi Ran…

And then, then… there was no ‘then’.

Click. A soft sound of the door opening.

Having finished washing up, Gu Siyuan came out of the bathroom. Seeing the person on the bed wearing a dark expression on his beautiful face, he greeted coldly: “You’re awake?”

A very sexy, very handsome man.

But… why would he appear in his room?

Xie Jinzhao’s eyes were instantly filled with vigilance and defensiveness. The next moment, he reflexively tried to jump up from the bed, only to find himself completely uncovered. He could only immediately roll back awkwardly and forcefully yank the blanket up to cover his body.

Was he…

Early in the morning, Gu Siyuan hadn’t had much energy either, but now, Xie Jinzhao’s jumpy, monkey-like, lively movements had piqued a bit of interest in him.

Not to mention, the panicked and clumsy look of this person made him subconsciously feel very familiar.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and took a few steps toward the person with his long legs.

Seeing this, Xie Jinzhao unconsciously shrank back slightly, his slender fingers gripping the blanket even tighter.

Clearly possessing such a cold and unearthly face, yet showing an expression as if allowing anyone to pluck him?

The smile in Gu Siyuan’s eyes deepened. Like teasing prey, his large hand gripped Xie Jinzhao’s exquisite, fragile neck, pulling the person right in front of him. He said in a deep voice, “If you feel we didn’t exercise enough last night, we can continue now.”

Forced to raise his head, Xie Jinzhao felt waves of pain from his cheeks, and an indescribable sense of unease and panic surged in his heart.

He gritted his teeth and shouted fiercely: “Let go of me! You… don’t touch me! What happened last night?”

Hearing this, Gu Siyuan raised his eyebrows slightly and very freely let go.

The next moment, thud… a muffled sound.

Xie Jinzhao had wrapped himself too tightly and securely in the blanket just now, making his movements inconvenient. After Gu Siyuan let go, unable to react in time, and due to inertia, he fell directly off the bed, his shoulder blades smashing into the hard, solid wood nightstand.

Because of the effects of the drug from last night, his entire body was already uncomfortable. This sudden impact made him cry out in unbearable pain, his cold, beautiful brows instantly twisting together.

Gu Siyuan narrowed his eyes, watching him struggle with an innocent expression.

Xie Jinzhao trembled with anger. The two glares he shot at Gu Siyuan wished they could instantly turn into laser beams.

Because of his annoyance, shame, and anger, his already peerlessly beautiful face became boundlessly alluring.

Gu Siyuan lowered his eyes for a moment and ultimately stepped forward to pick the person up.

Consider it a rare act of mercy toward his task target, and also for that trace of familiarity in his heart…

Considering that Xie Jinzhao had just accidentally suffered a secondary injury because of him, this time his movements of letting go were unusually gentle, and he even considerately tucked him back under the blanket.

Xie Jinzhao, however, was clearly not so easily placated. His gaze remained fixed on him, extremely sinister.

After a long while, leaning against the headboard, he lowered his voice and said: “Who exactly are you? What do you want?”

Gu Siyuan took a few steps back and sat on the armrest of the sofa nearby. He replied expressionlessly: “Gu Siyuan, a good Samaritan. This is my room.”

A good Samaritan?

It was the first time Xie Jinzhao had seen someone boast about themselves so openly and candidly.

He patiently continued to ask: “Then why am I like this…”

Knowing what he wanted to ask, Gu Siyuan directly interrupted and asked back: “I also want to ask why you are like this. I was originally resting here alone yesterday, but you were suddenly thrown in. Then you stripped off your own clothes and very wantonly rubbed against me, getting handsy with me.”

“…” Xie Jinzhao.

What kind of bullshit is this guy spouting?

I, Xie Jinzhao, a peerless handsome guy who has been beautiful since childhood, looking in the mirror 365 days a year and sighing at why I’m so handsome—it’s always been others who have designs on me. How could I possibly force myself on someone else?

Right at this moment, Gu Siyuan cast him a sidelong glance and added: “However, I have always been a person who keeps himself clean, upright, and principled. So, if your mind is still clear, you should understand that nothing happened to you. Just now, I was merely playing a little morning joke on you.”

“Heh, then thank you so much,” Xie Jinzhao twitched the corners of his mouth.

Seeing him like this, a sense of familiarity flashed through Gu Siyuan’s heart again. Thinking for a moment, he suddenly denied it with a straight face: “Mn… you can’t exactly say nothing happened.”

Xie Jinzhao’s heart flew up: “You… what else did you do?”

With his arms crossed, Gu Siyuan said in a flat tone: “Given your excessive enthusiasm, I later found joy in helping others. I stripped you naked, threw you into the bathroom, and gave you a shower. You may express your gratitude to me.”

“…” Xie Jinzhao.

Xie Jinzhao felt that the total number of times he had been left speechless in his entire life didn’t add up to as many times as this morning.

However, thinking of the special nature of his profession, Xie Jinzhao couldn’t care less about arguing over that. He only followed up closely, asking: “Then besides showering… you didn’t take any photos or videos last night, did you?”

You must know, the great careers of many of his peers had been ruined by unintentionally left photos, short videos, and the like.

Gu Siyuan lazily glanced at him and said coldly: “I don’t have that kind of hobby.”

Xie Jinzhao’s mind settled slightly.

He didn’t know why, but even though it was their first time meeting, he subconsciously held a hundred percent trust in Gu Siyuan’s affirmative words.

Gu Siyuan raised his wrist to check his watch; it was getting late.

Seeing that Xie Jinzhao’s emotions were fairly calm, he stood up, untying the belt of his bathrobe as he walked toward the adjacent dressing room, saying coldly: “Instead of wasting time with me here, you’d be better off thinking carefully about what went wrong around you. Who was the person that threw you over here? You seem to be some kind of star, right? Fortunately, you ran into me last night, otherwise…”

The rest of his words dissipated in the sound of the door closing.

Xie Jinzhao furrowed his beautiful brows. Everything from last night—he would figure it out after he went back.

Looking down and seeing his clothes scattered on the carpet, and then looking up to confirm the person had indeed closed the door, he rapidly jumped out of bed, rushed into the bathroom like the wind, and casually threw on a bathrobe.

Then, he went back to pick up his clothes from the carpet, took out a garment steamer from the nearby storage cabinet, and casually ironed them until they were at least presentable.

By the time Gu Siyuan came out neatly groomed, Xie Jinzhao had already changed into his own clothes—a white hoodie and light blue jeans. His cold and unearthly vibe was still there, but it also exuded an aggressive, youthful aura.

He was holding a phone, charging it while making a call: “Sister Wei, why didn’t you wait for us to go back together last night?”

Fang Wei first greeted the people around her, covered the phone, and walked outside the photography studio before frowning: “Didn’t you have Xiao He tell me that you drank and weren’t feeling well, so you had to leave first?”

“Xiao He told you that?” Xie Jinzhao narrowed his phoenix eyes.

“Yes,” Fang Wei replied.

Thinking for a moment, she seemed to realize something was wrong and immediately added, “What’s wrong? Did something happen? Didn’t you go back last night? Where are you now?”

Xie Jinzhao frowned.

After a moment, he brushed it off, “I went back. I took a taxi back by myself. I was just asking.”

“Oh, that’s good then. But how does this Xiao He do things? Newcomers to the industry are just unreliable.” Fang Wei felt relieved and instructed again, “By the way, don’t forget you have a joint interview with Qi Ran at 3 PM. You must be in good condition. Don’t play games for too long this morning. I’ll bring the driver to your place at 1:30.”

“Okay,” Xie Jinzhao nodded and hung up the phone.

He had signed a five-year contract with the company, and it was due to expire in two months. The company kept urging him to renew, but he had no intention of continuing.

The company he was currently signed to had discovered him when he participated in a campus singing competition.

The company mainly focused on cultivating idols and singers; their film and television resources were practically nonexistent. In the current sluggish music industry, not acting was almost equivalent to half-retiring from the circle.

Not to mention, the reason Xie Jinzhao was able to become popular now was also due to a campus web drama he starred in over two years ago. Therefore, he inevitably had to take the film and television route. Thus, renewing his contract was naturally impossible; it would be delaying his own future.

But his manager, Fang Wei, didn’t only manage him; she also had a female singer and a boy band. Fang Wei’s connections were all in the variety departments of major TV stations and with music producers; she was extremely lacking in film and television resources.

Fang Wei was also a shareholder in the company. Once he terminated his contract, his affinity with Fang Wei would also end there.

Therefore, it was inevitable that Fang Wei’s attention on him had gradually decreased recently, leading to oversights.

Xie Jinzhao puffed his cheeks and continued to scroll through his phone, checking if there were any questions that urgently needed replies.

As he scrolled, he returned to the call log and looked at the two unanswered outgoing calls. Both were to Qi Run; one he made yesterday afternoon, and one he just made.

Suddenly encountering such a strange incident, it was normal for him to want to communicate with his boyfriend. Moreover, the events of last night were somewhat related to Qi Ran, so he also wanted to ask what the situation was.

However, from last night until just now, Qi Run hadn’t answered a single one of his calls, nor had he called back.

Xie Jinzhao couldn’t help but curl his lip, thinking inwardly: Having this boyfriend is worse than not having one. If the person calling was Qi Ran, he would definitely be as eager as a lapdog…

Imagining Qi Run turning into a lapdog, Xie Jinzhao couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

After laughing, he was startled. Why did he suddenly seem to be full of dissatisfaction and malice towards Qi Run…

On the other side, Gu Siyuan put on his shoes. Seeing Xie Jinzhao revealing such strange expressions, he couldn’t help but narrow his eyes.

Holding his car keys, he said directly, “I’m leaving. If you continue to zone out, I’ll have to trouble you to check out of the room later.”

Hearing this, Xie Jinzhao immediately jumped up from the bed: “I’m leaving too.”

The banquet hall of this hotel was very famous, and various entertainment and fashion events frequently rented the venue. He had just glanced down and saw quite a few reporters gathered nearby.

Not to boast, but his popularity could be considered at its peak right now. Once he was photographed checking out of a hotel alone, who knows what rumors would spread?

After Gu Siyuan handled the checkout procedures in the lobby, he walked toward the parking lot.

Halfway there, he noticed a small noise behind him. He narrowed his eyes and quickened his pace slightly.

Inside the underground parking lot, the lighting was average to begin with. As he passed a corner, Xie Jinzhao found he had lost sight of the person ahead, and couldn’t help feeling a bit anxious.

“Why are you following me?” At this moment, an icy, deep male voice came from inside the fire door diagonally behind him.

Xie Jinzhao trembled all over and slowly turned his face around.

Only to find Gu Siyuan’s tall figure had actually appeared behind him, currently staring at him with an unkind gaze.

Xie Jinzhao felt a bit awkward.

After a long while, avoiding the previous question, he slowly asked back: “Why are you here?”

But Gu Siyuan wasn’t someone who could easily be bypassed. He continued to ask expressionlessly: “Speak, what do you want following me?”

Xie Jinzhao giggled, then widened his watery eyes and asked pitifully, “You have a car, right? Can you give me a ride?”

Gu Siyuan raised an eyebrow: “Hmm?”

Xie Jinzhao earnestly explained: “There are many reporters outside. I can’t go out and hail a taxi.”

Gu Siyuan: “You’re a star, don’t you have an assistant or manager? Have them come pick you up.”

Xie Jinzhao grew even more awkward: “I’m about to terminate my contract. There are some things it’s best not to let people from my original company know too much about.”

Hearing this, Gu Siyuan sneered: “Your circle is truly messy.”

Seeing this attitude, Xie Jinzhao thought he had been rejected.

Suddenly, the sound of fine footsteps came from not far away in the empty parking lot, heading exactly in this direction.

Xie Jinzhao felt slightly anxious inside, preparing to duck into the fire escape to hide.

Right at this moment, the black Audi two steps to his left let out a soft beep.

A strong force came from his arm, and then he was stuffed entirely into the passenger seat of the Audi.

Another soft thud, and almost in the blink of an eye, Xie Jinzhao found that a tall figure had also sat down in the driver’s seat next to him.

Gu Siyuan fastened his seatbelt and began to start the car, his tone cold: “Why are you looking at me? Don’t you know how to fasten a seatbelt?”

“I do,” Xie Jinzhao hurriedly replied.

The black Audi sedan slowly drove out of the parking lot and onto the city avenue.

There was silence in the car.

Xie Jinzhao slightly turned his head, looking at the handsome and indifferent face of the person beside him, and said slowly, “Thank you.”

Gu Siyuan completely focused on the road ahead, his eyes as still as an abyss: “Mn, where are you getting off?”

Xie Jinzhao hurriedly gave an address. It wasn’t far from the hotel, only about eight or nine kilometers.

Then, the car fell into silence again.

Whether it was poor air circulation or an emotional issue, Xie Jinzhao’s mind was a chaotic mess, subconsciously beginning to let his imagination run wild.

As he thought and thought, for some reason, he recalled what this person had said earlier about stripping him naked and giving him a shower. At this very moment, with the two of them cooped up in this confined space, even their breaths seemed to intertwine.

Even though Xie Jinzhao had always had a good mindset, he couldn’t help but feel slightly unnatural.

Right at this moment, an extremely faint cold fragrance suddenly reached his nose. It cleared the mind like fresh snow and clear tea, but it was fleeting. When he tried to smell it carefully again, there was nothing left.

Xie Jinzhao abruptly snapped out of it, smiling and asking the person beside him: “What kind of car perfume are you using? It smells pretty good. I’ll try using it too later.”

After speaking, he was met with total silence.

Xie Jinzhao couldn’t help feeling a bit awkward.

Just when he thought the person wouldn’t answer, a faint voice came from beside him: “No, there’s no perfume in the car.”

“Oh,” Xie Jinzhao blinked, thinking the cold fragrance just now was just an illusion.

It happened to be a red light ahead, and the car slowly came to a stop.

Gu Siyuan reached out and handed over a business card, saying flatly: “This is my contact information. If you encounter any problems later that I need to be responsible for, contact me anytime.”

Responsible?

Xie Jinzhao turned sideways slightly and reached out to take the business card.

Right at this moment, he smelled that faint cold fragrance again, coming from Gu Siyuan’s wrist and collar.

So it wasn’t car perfume; it was his body scent.

Xie Jinzhao froze slightly.

“Hmm?” Gu Siyuan lowered his gaze, clearly dissatisfied with this person’s tendency to zone out at the drop of a hat.

Xie Jinzhao hurriedly grabbed the business card, lowered his eyes to scan it, and said quite surprisingly, “You’re actually a teacher at the Film Academy?”

He turned his head to look at Gu Siyuan in his neat, crisp suit, his hair styled without a single strand out of place. He truly looked like a cultured intellectual, albeit a bit reticent and infuriating…

Gu Siyuan didn’t respond to his boring sigh.

The green light ahead turned on. He lightly tapped the accelerator, the car restarted, and slowly merged into the sea of cars.

Although the original owner was Gu Hongxuan’s stepson and had also attended the Film Academy, he ultimately didn’t enter Tianli Entertainment to work. Instead, after graduating with his master’s degree, he stayed on directly at the school.

Now, he was already an instructor.

Of course, this wasn’t because the original owner was indifferent to fame and fortune or uninterested in the Gu family’s entertainment industry. It was just that, given Gu Hongxuan had three biological sons, if he, a stepson, jumped too high, he would only invite disgust for no reason.

And the Film Academy was the most famous talent reserve base for the domestic entertainment circle. Currently, more than half of the directors, screenwriters, and actors had practically all come out of their school. This was one of the best places to make connections in the entertainment industry.

The original owner kept a low profile, hiding his ambitions and sharp edges, simply to find another path to scheme for more.

It was Wednesday morning, past the morning rush hour, and city traffic was basically unimpeded all the way.

The low-profile black Audi steadily stopped in front of an old residential complex.

Gu Siyuan glanced at the practically non-existent access control and absent-minded security guard not far away. He raised an eyebrow at Xie Jinzhao, who was unfastening his seatbelt, and said flatly: “It seems you aren’t very popular yet?”

Xie Jinzhao’s movements stiffened. After a long while, he curled his lip and said, “And you call yourself a teacher at the Film Academy. You don’t know a thing about popular stars in the entertainment circle. If I wanted to move, wouldn’t it be the easiest thing!”

Gu Siyuan nodded, saying dismissively: “A popular star? Even though I haven’t seen a single one of your works.”

Xie Jinzhao finally flew into a rage from shame and anger, slamming the car door shut with a bang!

Gu Siyuan didn’t mind this rude reaction. He watched the person enter the complex before leisurely stepping on the gas, turning around, and leaving.

About ten minutes later, the car drove unimpeded into the Film Academy and turned off its engine in the parking lot beside a teaching building that could be called an architectural masterpiece.

It was currently a long break between classes. Students were walking or biking through the campus. The Film Academy had far fewer students than a regular university, and even fewer remained on campus. After their sophomore year, most found various channels to go out and act.

As one of the youngest instructors at the school, the students basically all recognized Gu Siyuan and stopped to greet him one after another.

Gu Siyuan nodded indifferently in return and walked toward his office.

Before going to sleep last night, he had logged into the original owner’s teaching system to check, confirming that today’s first class was at 2 PM. Therefore, he still had a four-hour buffer period.

According to his habits from his past life, Gu Siyuan first opened the original owner’s email inbox, re-checked recent emails, and processed and replied to a few that urgently needed answers.

Aside from some meeting notices and invitations, the rest were graduation theses sent by students. Gu Siyuan carefully annotated and revised two of them.

However, he spent a longer time looking at one particular email—not because it was written so well, but because it was truly absurdly bad…

Not only was the data completely fabricated, but with graduation approaching, the professional vocabulary was actually this chaotic, and there were even several citation errors?

Gu Siyuan narrowed his eyes and directly rejected this email.

Next, he closed his inbox and began to review the original owner’s lesson plans and courseware. These were all things he was accustomed to doing in his past life, so there was almost no sense of unfamiliarity.

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

Knock knock… A knock sounded at the door.

“Come in,” Gu Siyuan immediately said.

“Teacher Gu.”

Chen Yuan pushed open the door and called out with a gentle smile.

Gu Siyuan looked at him, “Mn, what is it?”

Chen Yuan handed over a thick stack of A4 paper, “Teacher, this is my graduation thesis. I also just sent the electronic file to you.”

Gu Siyuan took the thesis with one hand, put his recently removed glasses back on with the other, and said in a flat voice: “Mn, Chen Yuan?”

Hearing this, Chen Yuan smiled in surprise, his tone very casual, “Brother Siyuan, haven’t seen you for a few days, don’t you recognize me anymore?”

Gu Siyuan narrowed his eyes slightly, only then raising his gaze to seriously scrutinize the young man in front of him. Quickly, he dug out all of this person’s information from the depths of his memory.

Chen Yuan, a senior student in the acting department, and also the hardcore childhood friend of the protagonist bottom, Qi Ran. He was one of the people who helped Qi Ran stomp Xie Jinzhao into hell after Xie Jinzhao and Qi Ran fell out.

Gu Siyuan and Qi Ran had known each other since childhood, which Chen Yuan naturally knew about. This was also the reason why he specifically used Qi Ran’s connections to find Gu Siyuan to be his thesis advisor.

The Film Academy’s rule was that freshmen were not allowed to go out and act; they must stay on campus and attend classes for a full year.

But due to his family background, Chen Yuan began asking for leave to act starting in the winter of his first semester freshman year. Therefore, he missed a massive amount of classes, failed his attendance, and his final exam scores were also very poor.

When he reached his senior year, he vainly hoped to graduate directly through his relationship with his thesis advisor.

Gu Siyuan’s expression remained unchanged. Looking at him, he said: “Regarding your thesis, I replied to you in the email. There are huge problems with the data. You haven’t done a large number of questionnaires or data screening at all. Take it back and redo it!”

Chen Yuan’s smile froze on his face: “Brother Siyuan… it’s already April. The defense is in a little over a month, and you want me to redo the questionnaires now?”

This wasn’t what was originally agreed upon.

Gu Siyuan crossed his hands and asked, “Not enough time?”

Chen Yuan nodded affirmatively.

The corners of Gu Siyuan’s mouth curved up slightly, his voice incredibly gentle: “This is very easy to solve. I will contact your counselor and help you apply for a delayed graduation. You now have one year and two months to prepare it again. I heard your attendance over these four years has also been very poor; I believe your counselor will be very happy about this.”

…

“The content of this interview is very rich. I believe the fans will definitely be very happy. You two teachers have worked hard.”

Inside the photography studio, the beautiful host from Xingxing Entertainment put away her microphone, stood up, and smiled as she thanked Xie Jinzhao and Qi Ran.

The two also hurriedly pulled up fake smiles.

It was called an interview, but it was really just the same questions back and forth. They had answered them countless times since they met; they could know the answers with their eyes closed.

Xie Jinzhao draped his jacket over his arm and walked briskly out of the studio. He still had a commercial promotion to shoot later.

Right before entering the commercial vehicle, Qi Ran stopped him: “Jinzhao, I… have something to tell you.”

Support me on Ko-fi