Trap

The filming of the movie went smoothly. For Lu Yan and Han Yuan, it was a hearty and exciting showdown. In the movie, they were both enemies and friends, and every scene they played against each other was very enjoyable. Privately, their relationship continued to heat up. Han Yuan was not a difficult person to get along with, and Lu Yan had always known how to get along with different people.

In Han Yuan’s eyes, Lu Yan was a hard-working and talented junior who would surely shine in time. He was also very considerate in dealing with others, which even Han Yuan admired and envied. For Lu Yan, the benefits of being on good terms with Han Yuan were self-evident.

When the two of them were together, what they talked about most was, of course, movies. Han Yuan was surprised that Lu Yan knew his work well, and he had not only seen it, but had even studied it to a certain extent. He jokingly said that it was no wonder he could master his rhythm so well when filming. Lu Yan also smiled and admitted that he did have this advantage. If he had been working with someone else with the same weight as Han Yuan today, he might not be as good as he was now. Han Yuan appreciated Lu Yan’s straightforwardness even more.

Lu Yan did have some concerns about interacting with others, but when it came to movies, he was also really pure. Therefore, anyone who truly loved film art would find it difficult to dislike Lu Yan, which was why he could be friends with so many heavyweights.

Half a month after the filming of the movie started, basically the shots in the studio had ended, and the remaining parts would be shot on location in Las Vegas, so the crew also took a few days off to give everyone some time to arrange and adjust.

As it happens, Valentine’s Day also arrived.

Originally, Lu Yan hoped to spend the first Valentine’s Day with Su Mo after dating, but the movie “The Bureau” was scheduled to be released on Valentine’s Day. When Lu Yan was hospitalized, he had already promised Gao Xizhe that he would attend the premiere. At that time, he had not confirmed his relationship with Su Mo, so he naturally did not expect so much, and it was hard to shirk it now. It just so happened that Su Mo had to go on a business trip out of town on Valentine’s Day. They could only wait until next time to celebrate the holidays together. Fortunately, the two people in love were both grown men and were not very keen on these things.

The premiere of the movie was quite grand. Gao Xizhe’s movies every year still had a great impact. Everyone in the industry who had some friendship and time came, including Li Ran.

Lu Yan heard that Li Ran was filming a strange movie recently, and the protagonist was the passer-by whom he knew before his rebirth and who Li Ran picked after observing him at the intersection for three days. It seemed that the training of the newcomer was not going very smoothly. Li Ran’s hair was a little messier and he looked more difficult to get along with. Fortunately, he still remembered that this was the premiere of his friend’s new movie, although he was on the edge, he endured it without breaking down. But Lu Yan knew that it was all worth it, because the final results of Li Ran’s film were also quite good. It was also because of this that the passerby who was lucky enough to become famous overnight forgot who he was, and in the end he was also just a passerby in the entertainment industry.

After the premiere, there was a thank-you reception. Lu Yan walked towards Li Ran with a wine glass in his hand. Unexpectedly, he was so impatient, but still did not leave. Lu Yan smiled and clinked his glass with the other person, “Director Li, long time no see.” Li Ran glared. He glanced at him, and as if he had finally seen who he was, he frowned and pulled him to a corner where there was no one around.

Lu Yan was a little embarrassed. This development seemed a bit wrong, even though the geeky director in front of him never played his cards according to the rules.

Li Ran’s first words were direct and impactful, “I heard from Second Su that you and Boss Su¹ are together is it true?” Lu Yan nodded, thinking that this was what happened. With his relationship with the Su brothers, it was not surprising that he would know about it. Maybe he was too embarrassed to ask Su Mo, so he asked himself directly. “it is true.”

Li Ran relaxed his frown and said, “Well, it seems that Second Su didn’t lie to me this time.” This reaction was too calm. Lu Yan was not used to it and couldn’t help but ask, “Doesn’t Director Li want to say something to me?”

 Li Ran gave him a strange look, “I don’t have anything to say. Since Boss Su wants to be with you, he must have his own reasons. No matter what the reason is, his decisions are never wrong. Anyway, no matter who he wants to be with or what he does, I will support him unconditionally. But speaking of it, are you ready to make your current relationship public or private? If it is made public, it may have some benefits or bad effects on you, but if it is not made public, it will be fine. Anyway, whether it is made public or not, it will have little impact on Boss Su. No one dares to point fingers at his private life.”

At the end of the sentence, he felt a little proud, as if he was the one who was so powerful. Lu Yan couldn’t help but laugh. This was probably the highest level of an idiot fan. He really didn’t know what Su Mo did to make Li Ran, who was so awesome in front of others, feel like a child suffering from chuunibyou when met him and things related to him.

“I have no plans to make it public for the time being. Now is not the time.”

Li Ran nodded, “It’s really better not to make it public now. However, there are so many temptations in this circle, so don’t do anything that will disgrace Boss Su.”

Lu Yan couldn’t laugh or cry, “Does Director Li think I am that kind of person?”

Li Ran thought for a while and said, “Probably not. The person that Boss Su likes will definitely not be wrong.” Well, in the end, Su Mo’s words worked.

“By the way, I heard that when you and Han Yuan were filming together, your momentum was not suppressed at all, which is very good.” Li Ran rarely took the initiative to change the topic.

Lu Yan smiled and said, “You’re praising me too much, it was the senior who let me go.”

Li Ran sneered and said, “This is quite hypocritical, but it’s good to talk like this in the circle. It’s not easy to offend people. You really have the qualifications to join this circle.” So, who said that Li Ran didn’t understand the world? He just had a high enough status that he didn’t need to understand it.

Li Ran said sternly, “When will you make another movie with me? Last time you won a Best Supporting Actor, I will let you at least bring back a Best Actor next time.” Look, only Li Ran dared to say such things unscrupulously, one was because of strength, and the other was because of identity.

Lu Yan smiled and said, “Okay, thank you to Director Li for not giving up.”

“Come on, don’t talk to me like that. Since you are with Boss Su, you will be our own people from now on.” 

“Okay.” Lu Yan responded.

“Right,” Lu Yan suddenly thought of something, “Some time ago, a friend asked me to read a script and asked me to help him see if I could recommend it to a director. I was planning to make an appointment with him in the next few days. Would you like to go and see it together, Director Li? This friend of mine is very powerful. My friend’s abilities shouldn’t be too bad, and it might be a good script.” 

“Okay,” Li Ran said cheerfully, “For your sake, as long as it’s not too bad, I’ll take it.” 

Lu Yan was thinking about this some time ago. The last scolding war made Lu Yan see the power of literati, especially senior literati. He wanted to make good friends with Qu Shuanghua, since the other party wanted to give him an opportunity to express his gratitude, he naturally couldn’t let it go.

He was still thinking about what kind of script it would be, and what to do if the subject matter was too niche. When he met Li Ran today, he suddenly thought, wasn’t this the best candidate? Li Ran was known as a “geek”, he could shoot almost any subject matter, and he was always creative and innovative, but movie fans still liked him. It happened that Li Ran was trying to show his goodwill to him because of Su Mo, so he mentioned it casually, and Li Ran agreed very readily.

When the reception was about to end, Xu Yuan found Lu Yan who was hiding in the crowd. He drank a little too much and was probably excited. “Brother Lu, let me toast you. Thank you for your help and guidance. This is the first time I saw myself like this in a movie theater. It’s great, the feeling of making a movie is great!” Xu Yuan said, his eyes shining. For a moment, Lu Yan seemed to see himself in the past. He was also so small, but so earnestly longing for the feeling of making a movie.

Lu Yan smiled, took the wine glass in his hand, and drank it, “Don’t say that, you worked very hard yourself.” He was humble in front of his seniors and kind in front of his juniors. Lu Yan never forgot to play his role well  at any time. 

After that, Xu Yuan drank a lot with Lu Yan, mostly by himself, with Lu Yan accompanying him for a few drinks. As a result, by the time the reception was over, Xu Yuan was too drunk to walk.

Everyone else had almost left. Xu Yuan was originally a minor player, but he got lucky enough to play an important supporting role. All the envious and jealous people who were originally in the same class as him stopped paying attention to him. Xu Yuan, who is more upscale, has not yet had time to establish friendship. It can be said that the only one who was familiar with him at the scene was Lu Yan.

He kept dragging Lu Yan to drink. Now that he was so drunk, Lu Yan couldn’t just let it go. He frowned and asked patiently, “Xu Yuan, where do you live? I’ll call a taxi for you.” Fortunately, although the other party was dazed, he was not completely confused yet. He spread out on the chair and waved his hand. “No, thank you, Brother Lu. I booked a room at the hotel opposite. Can you please send me there?” There was indeed a hotel opposite. Lu Yan saw that Song Hui’s car hadn’t arrived yet and sighed, so he had no choice but to help Xu Yuan up.

After sending Xu Yuan to the hotel room, watching him vomit in the toilet, and then helping him wipe his face casually and sending him to the bed, Lu Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief, “Okay, you have a good rest, I’m leaving first.” Lu Yan walked to the door and was about to open the door when a sentence suddenly sounded behind him, “Brother Lu, I’m sorry!” Lu Yan turned around suddenly and saw Xu Yuan, who had just been lying on the bed, sitting up. His eyes were bloodshot, but he was no longer drunk at all, looking at him with a guilty and stubborn expression.

Lu Yan was shocked and secretly said something is bad. He rushed out and wanted to leave the hotel as soon as possible, but it was too late. As soon as he got out of the elevator, he saw a large group of reporters gathered at the door of the hotel. Lu Yan subconsciously avoided it. He was not allowed to be seen by the group of reporters.

Lu Yan quickly called Song Hui and asked him to go see what was going on.

Song Hui quickly called him back and said that someone had photographed Zhao Tianer entering the hotel with a man. Zhao Tianer’s demeanor looked a bit wrong, and the man looked a bit like Lu Yan.

Lu Yan immediately understood that he had fallen into a trap.

The only thing to blame was that he was soft-hearted for a while. As for who wanted to harm him, it was not the time to think about it now. The most important thing now was how to solve this matter.

If he just walked out, and Zhao Tianer walked out from here later, then the matter would basically be settled. 

The most important thing is that Song Hui said something was wrong with the way witnesses saw Zhao Tianer. He feared it wasn’t just a scandal involving male and female celebrities at the nightclub hotel, but there might also be a criminal case.

No matter what, the most important thing was to find Zhao Tianer first. Lu Yan concealed himself a little and went to the front desk to ask questions. He said that he was a guest and a friend came over and forgot his room number. His phone was out of battery and he asked him to check it. Fortunately, the ID card used to open the room was Zhao Tianer’s, and Lu Yan quickly found it again.

Notes

1. Li Ran calls Su Jue’Sū lǎo èr’, ‘lao er’ is a way to refer to the second child of a family, so it would be like ‘The second child/son Su’, sounds a weird, so I´ll use Second Su.
   In the same way, he refers to Su Mo ‘Sū lǎodà’, Laoda is used to refer to the first child in the family, but it can be translated as Boss, so I´ll leave it like that. ↩︎