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When Luo Ding walked out of the audition hall he saw Wu Fangyuan anxiously pacing in place. On seeing Luo Ding, Wu Fangyuan immediately greeted him with concern: “Are you tired? Are you hungry? Let me take you to dinner! “
He didn’t even ask about the audition results. In his heart, his goal in bringing Luo Ding to the audition this time around was to force Luo Ding to open his eyes to the rest of the world. However, after Luo Ding was asked to enter the audition room alone, Wu Fangyuan had immediately regretted his actions. He knew that Luo Ding suffered from a social phobia and would have difficulty communicating while alone. Looking into Luo Ding’s eyes just now he was racked by guilt.
Luo Ding patted Wu Fangyuan’s shoulder, but before he could speak, the glass door opened and out came Hu Xiao.
When Hu Xiao saw Luo Ding he frowned with some disgust in his expression. Previously, when Luo Ding had emerged Yang Kang Ding had acted as though he could not see anyone at all, this time around, however, he suddenly seemed to be equipped with a radar. He quickly approached Hu Xiao and asked: “Were you selected?”
Hu Xiao’s complexion worsened.
Yang Kang Ding’s face fell somewhat: “Oh … don’t be discouraged, though it didn’t work out this time there would be other opportunities. Did you get to speak with Director Zheng and Director Deng?”
Hu Xiao didn’t say a word and walked past him. When Yang Kang Ding saw his anger, he didn’t dare to ask any more questions. He wanted to chase after Hu Xiao, but Wu Fangyuan tried to hold him back. “Yang ge, everyone has worked hard today. I ordered lunch, would you and Hu Xiao … … “
“Together? All you know how to do is eat!” Seeing that Yang Kang Ding was upset, Wu Fangyuan slapped his own mouth with his hand but Yang Kang Ding nevertheless started swear at him, “Do you not have eyes, Hu Xiao is in a bad mood, can you not see……”
Luo Ding frowned and stretched out his arm to pull Wu Fangyuan, who was being scolded, behind him. He pointed his chin towards the direction Hu Xiao had taken and said to Yang Kang Ding: “Go after him, what are you still doing here?”
“You–” with his rant interrupted halfway, Yang Kang Ding became even more incensed and he stared at Luo Ding, wanting to reprimand him too.
“What about me…?” Luo Ding stared impassively at him. The look in eyes as cold as an ice cellar. Yang Kang Ding froze and stopped in his tracks. He took two steps back in surprise. Though furious, he couldn’t help wondering where Luo Ding’s amazing momentum came from. However, because he usually didn’t pay any attention to Luo Ding, he had nothing related to Luo Ding in his memories and no matter how hard he strained he couldn’t recall what the difference was between Luo Ding now and Luo Ding in the past.
Some people are born cowardly, thus when Luo Ding was kind to him in the past Yang Kang Ding treated Luo Ding poorly. Yet now that Luo Ding stood up to him, Yang Kang Ding did not dare talk back.
Luo Ding kept his eye on Yang Kang Ding for a while, however, seeing that the latter did not turn around and had finally left, Luo Ding retracted his hand, which was still in front of Wu Fangyuan. He didn’t take this incident to heart at all, but Wu Fangyuan was very anxious: “Why are you so impulsive? Yang ge is very vindictive. A curse word or two will not hurt me. What if you offend him and he makes life difficult for you[1]? “
Luo Ding glanced at him, making life difficult for me? Was Wu Fangyuan serious? Or could it be that Luo Ding was always bullied? Yang Kang Ding relied on the strength of his artists to survive. As one of the few key artists in the company, even if his soul had not changed, Yang Kang Ding was not at the level of existence where he could challenge Luo Ding. Under such circumstances, it was Yang Kang Ding who needed to be concerned about the future. Obviously, Yang Kang Ding also understood this point, otherwise he would never have chosen to leave, as he just did, with his tail between his legs.
Luo Ding lowered his gaze, his eyes gloomy. Wu Fangyuan was the most important friend in the original owner’s life. Luo Ding had taken over the original owner’s life and inherited Wu Fangyuan at the same time and no one else was permitted to bully a person who Luo Ding had settled on. It was just that Wu Fangyuan had followed Luo Ding for too long and his understanding of the entertainment circle was still too shallow.
Wu Fangyuan was moved that for the first time Luo Ding had clearly stepped out to protect him. Thus, although he was complaining, it was borne out of worry for Luo Ding. He savored the warm feelings for a while, then sobered up and asked: “Hungry? Let’s go eat?”
“Hold on.” Luo Ding said and glanced at his watch again. “Waiting for someone.”
Who are you waiting for? Wu Fangyuan paused and turned his head in the direction of the doorway. Both Hu Xiao and Yang Kang Ding were gone. Furthermore, in this place, Luo Ding did not know other people besides himself.
Just as Wu Fangyuan was thinking this, the glass door of the audition hall was pulled open again and a low-pitched male voice sounded: “I’ve let you wait for a long time. Director Deng pulled me aside to discuss the format for next week’s filming. Did he also mention it to you … “
“He mentioned it.” Luo Ding replied briefly, his attitude was not indifferent, but he was also not overly enthusiastic. “My assistant has already booked a restaurant, since we want to eat, why not go to the restaurant he chose?”
Wu Yuan shrugged uncaringly, he raised his hand and placed his arm around Luo Ding’s shoulders. In today’s entertainment circle, when ordinary small artists saw him they couldn’t wait to approach him with obsequious smiles on their faces. Initially, their enthusiasm was amusing, but after a while it became unbearable. Luo Ding’s method of maintaining a lukewarm relationship made him feel comfortable.
“Okay!” Wu Yuan agreed very quickly and asked without hesitation, “What restaurant did you book? I’ve been suffering inflammation[2] recently so if it is a Sichuan restaurant, let’s change it.
At the question, Luo Ding cast his gaze at Wu Fangyuan but found the latter staring at Wu Yuan vacantly.
Luo Ding frowned and poked Wu Fangyuan’s head: “What are you doing!”
Wu Fangyuan clutched his head and turned to look at Luo Ding. After a long while, he turned his gaze back to Wu Yuan, suddenly jumping up with a shudder. “Wu Yuan!”
Wu Yuan blinked: “… Ah?” Why is this fat blonde man startled?
“You, you, you, you …” Wu Fangyuan looked at Luo Ding in astonishment. “How did you become familiar with Wu Yuan?”
Wu Yuan raised a brow and smacked Luo Ding’s shoulder: “You didn’t tell him?”
“Not enough time.”
“What … what didn’t you tell me?” Wu Fangyuan couldn’t understand what they were discussing.
“The audition!” Wu Yuan glared at the audition hall. ” Luo Ding was selected to act in the drama. Because he is acting as my rival we were introduced and we’ve hit it off pretty well, right?”
Luo Ding glanced at Wu Yuan. As a former senior in the entertainment industry, he knew very well what people like Wu Yuan were thinking and as a result it was easy to foster a good relationship with him.
Wu Fangyuan stood there stupidly, completely taken aback by this explosive news.
*************
Su Shengbai pressed down the brim of his hat, looked around and sneaked into the hospital hurriedly.
He carried a fruit basket and a bunch of flowers and after climbing into the elevator he looked at the constantly changing red numbers in anxiety. When the elevator actually reached the 30th floor, he began to hesitate.
He slowly approached the ward. The glass shutters were closed tightly and seeing nothing he could only knock on the door.
The old woman’s voice was muted: “Who is it?”
“It’s me.” Su Shengbai replied softly. After a while, the door was opened and in the doorway stood a wrinkled old woman in her 50’s.
The old lady first looked Su Shengbai up and down and then looked over his shoulder to the outside. “Mr. Su, my boss won’t let you in.”
Su Shengbai smiled wryly: “Is he awake?”
“He’s awake. He’s looking through the album again.”
Su Shengbai’s eyes dimmed for a moment but that weakness was quickly replaced by helplessness. He handed the bouquet to the elderly caregiver and said softly: “You go in and tell him that there are some problems with film preparations that he needs to address.”
The old woman nodded and was relieved to see that the other party had no intention of forcing his way in.
The door slowly closed in front of him and Su Shengbai pressed his forehead against the door jamb, a void in his heart.
The person lying in the ward was Xu Zhen. Cao Dingkun was too ruthless in his assault as such Xu Zhen’s bones were broken in several places and he had developed some issues with his internal organs. After being sent to the hospital he required emergency overnight care in order to stabilize his condition.
His injury was in an embarrassing spot. In addition to the two broken ribs, a broken thigh and arms, he had also injured … that place.
The doctor did not conceal the truth and bluntly told them that if Xu Zhen could not raise his morning wood before he was discharged from the hospital, his lower part might become a convenient decoration in the future. As it was a man’s fundamental concern, Xu Zhen had to let go of the reins of the movie he was filming in order to recuperate.
Su Shengbai had thought that after suffering such serious consequences, Xu Zhen would hate Cao Dingkun. He had never expected that Cao Dingkun’s death will instead cause Xu Zhen to react so violently. If it were not for the fact Su Shengbai’s involvement in Cao Dingkun’s death would have an immensely negative impact on the film and on Xu Zhen as the director and investor, Su Shengbai had no doubt that Xu Zhen would have immediately tied him up and sent him to the police station.
After he entered the hospital till present, Xu Zhen had not seen Su Shengbai’s nor answered his calls. Su Shengbai was even informed by the nurse that when he sent gifts to the ward, Xu Zhen will roar in anger and instruct the nurse to throw the gifts out of the window.
Su Shengbai hated this. He could not accept it.
Did he not kill Cao Dingkun in order to allow Xu Zhen to continue to film smoothly? But now the main beneficiary was displaying his hatred of him! If he really loved Cao Dingkun, why ever did Xu Zhen take off his pants to bed him? Did he not care then about the movie and his reputation? Now that he resembled Zhu Bajie[3], Xu Zhen felt no guilt in pushing all the blame on him.
Su Shengbai sneered, he knew that Xu Zhen would meet him today. Nothing was more important to that man than his career.
Sure enough, it didn’t take long for the old nurse to open the door again.
Her cloudy eyes fell on Su Shengbai: “Mr. Su, please be careful. My boss is in a bad mood. A moment ago he asked me throw your flowers into the toilet.”
Su Shengbai smiled bitterly and said nothing.
T/N NOTE: This was an excessively long chapter to translate :/ Leave me nice comments 🙂 Enjoy!
[1] The word used here is “chuānxiǎoxié” which literally translates into “to wear tight shoes” – It is used in the sense that your opponent may retaliate against you in some form.
[2] The term used here is 上火(shàng huǒ) which literally means to be on fire and in Traditional Chinese Medicine, refers to when someone has “too much heat” in their body. There’s no real English equivalent and the closest I found is inflammation. According to Chinese tradition if you have too much “heat” its recommended that you avoid spicy food e.g. food from Sichuan
[3] The pig god from Journey to the west.
Credit: David Meng
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I think that to me, all though CDK was grievously wronged, I feel the most sorrow for the original host. Poor boy had some serious mental health struggles that he needed help with. He finally started to feel better, but unfortunately it was tied to that nasty GTB Su SB and he was completely crushed by him. I’m glad that mc can get revenge for them both. I hope that the original soul got to go somewhere nice and have a better life with a family and people who care for him.
Thanks for the great translation ♥️
You are right. I also think that to a certain extent, one of the author’s failings is that, so far, she has not examined closely what was the source of Luo Ding’s depression. We are made to understand that he is depressed and that Su Shengbai’s departure caused him to spiral downwards but we don’t get a deep analysis of why he was depressed to begin with. Thus, we are unable to evaluate whether CDK’s actions will help Luo Ding in the underworld to exorcise his demons. We can be sure when Cao Dingkun gets his revenge because we know… Read more »
Commenting on this a year later but I just had to agree. Sadly, this goes for most of the transmigration stories out there and I’ve learned to just ignore it or else I’ll just be irritated the rest of the time oof..
I’m a new reader and I just have to say, you don’t NEED to have a reason to be depressed. Yes it’s common for people with trauma, or death of loved ones, etc. But we also need to remember that people with supportive family and friends can also develop depression. Depression is chemical imbalances in your brain. Your brain just does whatever it wants sometimes. When reading this story about the original Luo Ding, I just thought “oh, he’s suffering from depression. Makes sense.” I don’t think I need too much of a “reason” unless the author finds it important… Read more »
Good Point.
tbh I feel like MC should’ve hated & injured SSB more than XZ???? He even admitted that although XZ is scum, SSB is even worse. why didn’t he beat SSB a couple more times too…
I feel he cared more abut XZ because he’s has been his partner for 20 years. The sense of betrayal must be higher than for SSB a young starlet he was merely fond of.
I just started reading this novel and I am pushing my sleep time again (lol) because I really am interested but before I hit the bed I just want to say thank you for the translation translator-san! I am really looking forward to reading this ^^
Su Shengbai has the face to call Cao Dingkun ruthless. Sheesh. Maybe Xu Zhen doesn’t want to see you because you’re a goddamn murderer.