Chapter 9 – Life is like a theatre, fully depending on one’s acting skills

— Why are you still here?

The question made Jiang Zhan feel like he was the one who crawled into beds, and that he was blamed for staying, “You’re disappointed that I’m still here?”

After Jiang Li’s words came out, the System reminded him quickly, “Host, please pay attention. The Male lead’s emotion is fluctuating, do deal with it well.”

Emotion is fluctuating?

After he was reminded, Jiang Li realized that the words he said earlier seemed to have been conveyed with a different meaning. He immediately changed his facial expression, showing a worried expression and added his previous words, “I thought that you had gone to your company and I didn’t expect that you’re still here. I didn’t delay your work, right?”

When Jiang Zhan saw that he was just worried about him delaying his work, his expression turned for the better. He shifted his gaze towards Jiang Li’s leg which only had half of his pants on and remembered that they were the legs which went around his waist on a particular scene. He coughed lightly and forced himself to look at other places instead, “Wear your pants, what are you flirting around for in broad daylight?”

“…”

Jiang Li lowered his head and looked at his pants, and silently pulled it up, he thought in his heart: You are the one who came in without knocking the door and you’re blaming me for being flirty. You were so flirtatious to a point that the bed was going to collapse last night.

As Jiang Zhan saw that he wore his pants obediently, he threw in the words “Come out and eat after washing your face” and went out.

Jiang Li was relieved and took up his T-shirt. He asked System as he was wearing the shirt, “The favorability did not decrease right?”

“No, it didn’t. Please don’t worry, Host.” System also had a lingering fear.

“Then it’s fine.”

Jiang Li was already traumatized by Jiang Zhan’s capricious personality. Luckily, his reaction was fast enough, or else if he were to have sex another time to increase the favorability, his butt would be painful.

Indeed, life is like a theatre, fully depending on one’s acting skills.

After Jiang Li finished washing his face and went out, lunch was already prepared on the table in the small cafe outside. Jiang Zhan sat on a seat and a waitress wearing a shirt and a black skirt was standing beside and waiting.

Jiang Zhan gestured for the waitress to leave when he saw Jiang Li come out. And now, there were only two people left in the living room.

Jiang Li walked towards the table and sat in front of him, he found out that today’s lunch was Cantonese dim sum, and more than twenty types of dimsums filled the table.

Jiang Li had worked hard last night and slept till the afternoon, so he was hungry when he woke up. After greeting, he quickly took a pair of chopsticks to eat.

The hotel’s food was really authentic. The shrimp dumplings had thin skin and fresh meat. The meat was like they were bouncing in his mouth on every bite, it was tasty and delicious.

Jiang Li ate three in a row, the fresh and tender shrimp and flavorful soup made him so satisfied that his eyes were half-closed, he did not forget to lick the corner of his lips after eating.

Jiang Zhan noticed his little expression like a cat who was satisfied, and a slight smile flashed in his eyes, “Is it really tasty?”

“The taste is quite good.” Jiang Li nodded and pointed towards the last shrimp dumpling that was in the food steamer, “Do you wanna try?”

“You go ahead.” Jiang Zhan could see that he liked the food so he didn’t snatch it, he stretched out his hands and placed the shrimp balls in front of him.

Jiang Li accepted his offer, he ate the shrimp dumplings and took the shrimp balls that he placed for him, both of them talked as they ate, the atmosphere was quite peaceful.

As they talked about Jiang Li getting the roles of Liu Chuandeng and Liu Baizhu, Jiang Zhan raised a toast, “I haven’t congratulated you for getting the roles, congratulations.”

Jiang Li swallowed the steamed spare rib that was in his mouth and raised a toast, “Thank you, thanks for giving me the opportunity to go for the audition as well.”

“Friendly reminder, the male lead’s favorability increased by 5%, the current favorability is at 25%.”

After Jiang Li heard System’s reminder, he wowed in his heart. He had figured out some ways to capture the male lead, a 100% favorability was just around the corner.

When Jiang Li thought of this, he unconsciously curled his lips and smiled a little.

Jiang Zhan did not expect Jiang Li’s mouth which could only say things that would make him angry to thank himself. It seemed that it was worth it to spend a whole morning waiting for him for lunch.

Jiang Zhan saw that his eyes suddenly curved and smiled like a kitten who cheated, he then asked curiously, “What are you smiling for?”

“I’m happy that I got the roles,” Jiang Li smiled, “Is this not worth being happy?”

“Hmm?” Jiang Zhan lifted his eyebrows, “You are someone who’s going to be the best actor, and this is just an eunuch role, is it so worth getting excited?”

“You don’t understand.” Jiang Li shook his index finger, “For someone who likes to act, it’s worth being happy for getting any roles that I like, especially the roles that are obtained with my own ability.”

When he said these words, his eyes were filled with tenderness and determination. They also had a decorous feeling as if he had poured a lot of effort in the industry and treated it as a lifetime career.

Jiang Zhan met his eyes for a while and asked suddenly, “If you had the ability, why did you want to make a trade with the vice-director for the role?”

Jiang Li “…”

When Jiang Zhan thought about Jiang Li nearly getting onto other people’s bed, he had that anger stuck in his throat. Whenever he thought of Jiang Li’s delicate scenes underneath him nearly belonged to other people, that anger in his throat was on the verge of exploding, the original sunny mood seemed to be suddenly wrapped by a layer of haze.

As Jiang Zhan saw Jiang Li did not say anything as if he was silently admitting, he got even angrier, “Why are you not saying anything? You had the guts to crawl beds but you don’t have the guts to admit it?”

Jiang Li felt uncomfortable being stared at by Jiang Zhan, he really couldn’t say that he crawled his bed for the sake of someone he liked, right? Although it wasn’t him who made that decision, the soul in the body had changed and he would need to take the blame.

Sigh, time to act again.

Jiang Li slowly put the glass in his hand back to the table, his eyes turned gloomy and said with a heavy tone, “I can only blame myself for being blind at that time.”

“…”

Such a simple answer made Jiang Zhan speechless.

Jiang Li sighed, he looked faintly at Jiang Zhan, “If I were to meet you at first, would there be any chance for vice-director?”

Jiang Zhan “…” You’re blaming me now?

“But it’s okay. Although the plan was not perfect, the result was still good.”

“…”

Jiang Zhan felt uncomfortable as he was stared at by Jiang Li’s passionate and faithful eyes. He snorted lightly when he saw his self-reflection, “You’re sensible enough.”

Jiang Li smiled on his face, but his heart thought: It’s nothing about being sensible or not, I’m only doing this to survive.

After having lunch, Jiang Zhan passed two sets of contract that was brought by Ji Shu this morning to Jiang Li, “Take a look, if you have a request, you can ask. If there’s no problem then sign it.”

Jiang Li took a look, the first one was an artist contract and the other one was a … contract to be a kept man.

The artist contract was naturally signed under the Jiang Group’s studio. Jiang Li flipped open to read and found out that the terms stated inside were really beneficial for a newbie who had no popularity like him. There was no problem overall.

Since he wanted to walk the road of the entertainment industry once again, signing the contract was necessary. Jiang Group was powerful enough, resources were abundant, and being able to be signed under the Jiang Group would be a really good choice for Jiang Li. Moreover, if Jiang Li chose to work under Jiang Group, it would also be helpful for him to capture Jiang Zhan as it was closer.

Hence, Jiang Li signed the contract without any objection. But for the other contract…

He lifted up his head and looked at Jiang Zhan who was working on his laptop, he then asked, “You wanna keep me?”

Jiang Zhan was focusing on his laptop screen, he said without lifting up his head, “It’s written so clearly, don’t you understand?”

“I understood.”

Jiang Li was involved in the entertainment industry for so many years in his previous life, although he did not involve himself in the unspoken rules, he had heard of it before. He was not surprised by the fact that Jiang Zhan wanted to keep him as he could feel that he was interested in him after communicating deeply twice. But he did not expect that he would take action this soon.

“What other requests do you have?” Jiang Zhan sent an email and closed his laptop. “You can request money or houses, if you’re unsatisfied with the house stated above you can change to anywhere you like.”

Other than the large amount of allowances given to Jiang Li every month, a house at ‘Jade River Garden’, and a car was written in the contract. The contract duration was half a year and Jiang Zhan had the right to stop the contract anytime.

Jiang Li knew that ‘Jade River Garden’ was a house located at a mid- to high-end area of Jiangdong Road near the suburbs. The price was very high, although it was located near the suburbs, the transport system was convenient.

No matter if it was a work contract or a personal contract, Jiang Zhan was really generous towards him. Jiang Li did not have any objection and continued signing his name with a pen.

Jiang Zhan felt satisfied as he saw him signing his name, he stood up from the sofa, “The company will arrange an agent and assistants for you in these two days, I’ll need to go to the company for work now, Ji Shu will come and fetch you later. He will help you to move to your new place as well.”

“OK, President Jiang, do take care.” Jiang Li nodded his head and had no objection towards his arrangement. Why should he stay if he had a new place?

Jiang Zhan did not move, he lowered his head and looked at him.

Jiang Li noticed that he was still there and was confused, “Aren’t you going to the company?”

Jiang Zhan was dissatisfied towards Jiang Li’s slow reaction, he pointed towards the contract on the table and lifted his chin.

Jiang Li came to his senses and said “Oh.” He stood up and kissed on his cheek, he then laughed, “So sorry, it’s my first time on the job, I’m not too familiar with the business.”

Jiang Zhan said hmm and kept his laptop. He then turned his body and left the room.

When Jiang Zhan reached the door, he used the tip of his tongue to lick the place where Jiang Li kissed earlier.

Compared to last night, the light kiss was exceptionally pure, but he somehow felt a subtle fluttering in his heart.

Like a cat in his heart that kept its paw and used its tail to sweep his heart.

“President Jiang.”

The secretary who was waiting outside the door called him. Jiang Zhan kept the corners of his lips that were slightly raised and handed in the laptop that was in his hand towards the secretary.

Ji Shu came without Jiang Li waiting too long, both of them went back to the rented room to move his belongings.

The duration of the room that the original host rented was not long, there was not much to bring over as well. Ji Shu called a moving company and moved his things over without much effort.

The house in ‘Jade River Garden’ had a living room, a dining room and four rooms. They were the master bedroom, a bedroom, a study room and a gym room. The space of the house was really big, the bedroom even had a large French window, it adopted the Western style. It was not too extravagant and not too heavy, giving him a very comfortable place of belonging.

When Jiang Li became famous and used to live in large houses in his previous life, he was not familiar with living in the original host’s small room with only a little more than ten meter square. So he was really satisfied with the house that was given by Jiang Zhan.

After Ji Shu left, Jiang Zhan went to take a bath and watched a movie to relax himself.

As the night came, Jiang Zhan went to Phoenix Coast after finishing his work. Shen Yuzhi had called him that morning to have a gathering over there.

Phoenix Coast was the largest, most luxurious entertainment clubhouse in town. Shen Yuzhi, who was the boss, had specially left the largest room for them to get together.

As Jiang Zhan reached there, Shen Yuzhi quickly hooked his neck with his arm and apologized. He said that he made a mistake by letting a beauty that he gave to escape. To make up to that, he brought a better one today.

Jiang Zhan put away his hand and was uninterested in his words, “No need for that.”

“Don’t say that, decide after you see that person.” Shen Yuzhi snapped his fingers and the manager who was serving beside quickly went out and brought in the person.

The person who came in looked like he was not over twenty, he was wearing a clean, white shirt and a pair of jeans, he had a chestnut-colored, chopped hairstyle which made his skin look exceptionally white. His beautiful face had a hint of fear, making him very pitiable.

When he came in, the people in the room shouted to mock him. Shen Yuzhi patted on Jiang Zhan’s shoulder and smiled ambiguously, “How is it? He’s a university student who just came, are you satisfied?”

Jiang Zhan simply glanced at the person and the person was coincidentally looking at him. Although his expression looked fearful, his eyes exposed his wild ambition.

It can’t be compared.

As Jiang Zhan remembered Jiang Li who rode on his waist and said that he was sleeping the future best actor proudly, he tsked and raised a toast towards Shen Yuzhi. After finishing the drink in one gulp, he threw the words “I’m going home” and left the room. He did not care about Shen Yuzhi who was shouting behind.

Jiang Zhan drove towards ‘Jade River Garden’ after exiting the clubhouse, Ji Shu had already told him in the afternoon that Jiang Li had moved in.

As Jiang Zhan passed a pharmacy on the way, he remembered the marks he did on Jiang Li this morning. He stopped his car beside and went in to buy some medication that would help to activate blood and resolve stasis.

Jade Lake Garden was Jiang Zhan’s house, so he had the room card and password. He did not knock on the door when he reached there, he pressed the password directly and went in. He then saw Jiang Li crossing his legs and sitting on the sofa.

As Jiang Li heard a sound, he lifted his head and saw him. He felt a bit unexpected and thought that it was reasonable, he then placed the documents about Liu Chuandeng beside and asked, “You’ve finished your work?”

“Hm.” Jiang Zhan went nearer towards him, he saw he tied a pigtail on the top of his head and felt a bit cute, so he glanced at it for a few times.

Jiang Li noticed his glance and raised his hands to untie the pigtail, “My hair is a bit long, it blocks my eyes.”

When he was talking, he rubbed his shoulder which was sore as he maintained a posture for too long. He was wearing a huge t-shirt that was bought in a night market. The shirt was big, and the neckline was big as well. As he moved, the neckline was lifted, showing the bruises.

Jiang Zhan saw them and scolded himself for being inconsiderate in his heart. He frowned, “Take off your clothes.”

“Hmm?” Jiang Li stopped his actions, he lifted his head and saw he was looking at the area around his neck. He realized something and adjusted the neckline, he then said sincerely, “President Jiang. Although I was also really comfortable last night, giving in to your desire will harm your body.”

“……”

Jiang Zhan looked at Jiang Li who showed an expression of disagreement, as if he himself was a child who was immature. He had the impulse to slam his face with the bag of medications in his hand.