Chapter 31
Chapter 31: Maybe Same Sex Repels?
Maybe pretending every day was too tiring. On his burner account, Pei Yi Yuan really let himself go and dared to say anything.
“I don’t know what he was thinking. He’s just a little idol from a talent show with no acting school training. If the company were not pushing him hard, and if he hadn’t happened to land in the entertainment company run by the author’s own brother, how could he ever get such a big cake? But once he got the push, he started floating. That day President Xi came to find He Xuan, he saw it and turned green with jealousy, like he wanted to eat someone.”
When she heard this, Du An Rao looked surprised: “He did all this just because President Xi came to find my second brother and not him?”
“Exactly. I don’t know who gave him the courage to think he could compare himself to He Xuan. What level is he, and what level is He Xuan? Even if He Xuan just came to guest star as a side character, the promotion for the drama would still have to add the words ‘special appearance’ for him.”
Zhou Shun Zhe got angrier the more he thought about it: “But he really thought that just because he played the lead, he was a level higher than He Xuan. He felt it was an insult when the investors came looking for He Xuan and not him. He doesn’t even think about whether he deserves it. Deserve it, my ass!”
“Cough, cough, cough…” As soon as Zhou Shun Zhe finished talking, Du He Xuan shot him a death glare, as if to say, “Why are you swearing for no reason? You’re going to spoil my kid.”
Zhou Shun Zhe fell silent. [Can’t afford to mess with him.]
Du An Rao did not care about that. She asked: “He crashed just because of this?”
Although what Pei Yi Yuan did was really irritating and showed how petty he was, saying one thing and doing another, at most it proved he had bad character. It was still a bit different from what Du An Rao had imagined, where he would become a legal case and be completely banned.
“Of course it isn’t just because of this. Let me tell you, don’t be fooled by how gentle and boyish he looks. In private, he is a total mess…”
Du An Rao had long known that Pei Yi Yuan’s private life was a mess, but she had not known that he was a living loser filled with male chauvinism. He enjoyed his fans’ praise on one side, while on the other, he insulted them with his words as much as he could.
“He even gave numbers to the women who had been with him. Every time he slept with one of them, he had to write a little essay to record his thoughts.” Even as a man himself, Zhou Shun Zhe felt this guy was truly hard to describe. “Does he think he is an emperor, picking concubines?”
Du An Rao was silent for a long time and finally came to a conclusion.
“Why didn’t President Jiang set his eyes on him? They would surely get along so well.”
Zhou Shun Zhe froze for a moment, then burst out laughing: “Right, right. One is choosing concubines and the other is choosing husbands. How did they not end up tied together?”
“…Maybe it’s same sex repulsion?”
After Du An Rao’s joke, Zhou Shun Zhe and the others felt a little better, but there was one person who could not laugh.
Du An Rao looked with pity at Director Gao’s ashen face. She thought for a moment and still chose to comfort him: “Director Gao, my condolences. If you think about it another way, it is not all bad that it came out now. At least you still have a chance to fix things. Also, your drama has not been filming for very long. If you really have to change actors and reshoot, the loss will be smaller. But if you waited until the whole drama was finished and everything was ready for airing, and it exploded then, that would really be…”
Director Gao felt like crying but had no tears. What she said was true, but the constant problems in the crew had already drawn the investors’ attention.
Before, the issue with Du He Xuan had still been manageable. Even though public opinion was bad at first, at least they now knew what had really happened and that it had turned around. They could give the investors an answer.
But this time, the evidence was solid. There was no way to deny it.
Just now, when Du An Rao had gone to the bathroom, several investors had already called to talk about pulling out their money, making things even worse for a crew that was already short on funds.
Director Gao was so worried that the few hairs left on his head seemed to be in danger.
The Assistant Director, hearing this, suddenly thought of something and cautiously asked: “Little Du, did you… maybe know something ahead of time?”
Reminded by him, Director Gao also remembered the words Du An Rao had given him earlier. His eyes lit up: “Ominous Clouds Overhead, Ominous Clouds Overhead, that is what this means, right? Then Auspicious Purple Qi from the East…”
When she had said it earlier, Du An Rao had not thought that her casual prediction would come true so quickly. She looked again at the dark cloud over Director Gao’s head that was slowly being broken up by purple air and sunlight. Not very sure herself, she said: “Don’t worry yet. Maybe before long, a noble person will come to help you, and all this bad luck will turn good.”
“Really?”
“Really… I guess?”
Director Gao was about to ask more, but Du He Xuan stepped in front of his sister first: “Director Gao, sometimes it is not good to say things too clearly.”
Only then did Director Gao awkwardly pull back his hand, but in his heart, a bit of hope still rose: “He Xuan is right. I am too anxious. Now that something like this has happened, filming will have to stop for a while anyway. I will just wait a few more days. Maybe, like the Grandmaster said, things will turn from bad to good and a noble person will come to help. When that time comes, I will definitely give you a big red envelope.”
Du An Rao was speechless. [That really is not necessary.]
Because of Du An Rao’s words, Director Gao at least got some of his energy back, and the matter was put aside for the moment.
On the way back, after she relaxed, Du An Rao finally had time to think carefully about what she had seen not long ago.
[So when I suddenly saw my second brother’s forehead light up before, it was not my imagination?]
The hearts of everyone in the Du family also tightened. They were all very curious about the dark air and bright light that Du An Rao talked about. Would it affect her health?
[But why? This has never happened before. Could this be what Master meant when he said the time would come?]
When it came to Du An Rao’s Master, the expressions on Father Du and Mother Du’s faces also turned a bit strange.
That day, they had met Du An Rao at the foot of the mountain, carrying a small bundle as she came down. After recognizing each other, they wanted to take her up the mountain to visit the Temple Master and thank him for raising Du An Rao all those years.
At that time, Du An Rao had already said that she had been driven down the mountain by her Master to train. Without her Master’s permission, she could not go back, and even if she did, she would not be able to find him.
Back then, the Du couple had thought their child was speaking nonsense because she had just learned about her background and was not calm yet, so they insisted on taking her up the mountain.
As a result, the three of them ran into a Ghostly Maze and wandered in the mountains for a long time, but still could not find the mountain gate.
They could clearly see the temple not far ahead, but every time they walked toward it, they ended up looping back to their original spot.
After this happened several times, the couple finally believed in the supernatural. With mixed feelings, they took Du An Rao down the mountain.
After returning to City S, the two of them had thought about looking into the identity of the temple and its Temple Master. But even after checking for a long time, all they could find was that the temple seemed to have a history of a hundred years.
As for who built it, who had lived there, who had inherited it before, and whether any pilgrims usually went there to worship, they knew nothing at all.
It was as if it had appeared there out of nowhere, cut off from the world, empty and misty, making people feel that even scrying about it would be an offense.
Now, hearing Du An Rao bring it up again, Father Du and Mother Du exchanged a subtle look and, at the same time, had the same guess in their hearts.
Could it be that the Master who had raised their An An was really a hidden expert with real skill?