AD Chapter 32
The sound of Chu Zichen's voice was loud, causing everyone around them to stop and look over.
This kind of everyday bullying by Chu Zichen towards Su Ning had become something the crew was used to seeing, though Chu Zichen never failed to surprise them with new ways to torment others, making everyone marvel at his creativity in cruelty.
In the silence, the sound of a phone camera snapping echoed. Chu Zichen, sharp-eyed, turned his gaze toward the source, just in time to see Fan Xin take a picture and then look at the photo on her phone.
"What are you doing?" Chu Zichen frowned, his face full of displeasure as he questioned her.
Fan Xin shook her phone and gave him a sincere fake smile. "Since you're so bold, don't be afraid of others finding out. Don’t worry, as a fellow actor, I won’t expose my colleagues' secrets. As long as... that person takes a look, that’s enough."
Realizing who she was referring to, Chu Zichen’s expression shifted, and he dropped Su Ning, walking toward Fan Xin furiously. "Who told you to take that? Mind your own business, delete it now!"
"Nope. What can you do about it?" Fan Xin deliberately waved her phone in front of him, making sure he saw the picture she had just taken. When Chu Zichen angrily reached for it, she quickly pulled it back out of his reach.
"You were so cocky when bullying others just now, what happened? Now you’re afraid?" Fan Xin smiled slightly, moving closer to Chu Zichen, speaking in a voice only they could hear, "As your 'senior,' let me give you a little advice. If you want to stay close to that person, you'd better be obedient and stop causing trouble everywhere. You think you can act like a diva in the crew and bully your assistant? Does he know about this?"
"You!" Chu Zichen's eyes widened, glaring angrily at Fan Xin.
Fan Xin crossed her arms, smirking at him. "What, you still want to teach me a lesson? You probably don’t know that I’m still in contact with him, right? If I make a call... who do you think he’ll side with, you or me?"
Chu Zichen glared at her in hatred, but Fan Xin was completely unafraid.
In terms of experience and status in the entertainment industry, Chu Zichen couldn’t compare to her. She had been Gu Lingfeng's former lover, while Chu Zichen was merely his current one. To Gu Lingfeng, there was no difference between the two.
Fan Xin had already understood Gu Lingfeng well when they were together. As long as you didn’t anger him, he was easy to deal with—resources could be easily obtained, and even after breaking up, she had received a generous breakup fee. But once he grew tired of you, he'd discard you without hesitation.
No one was exempt.
Though Chu Zichen was spoiled, he understood Gu Lingfeng's temper well. He could act like a diva on set and bully Su Ning, but he would never dare to do the same in front of Gu Lingfeng.
"Wait for it!" Chu Zichen spat through gritted teeth, throwing down those words before turning and storming off, not sparing Su Ning another glance.
Fan Xin felt victorious, ready to turn around and show off her triumph to Su Ning, but when she turned, she saw him still kneeling on the floor, cleaning up the mess. Her expression immediately changed. "Hey, why are you still cleaning? He’s already gone, get up."
She reached out to pull Su Ning up, but he had already cleaned the water and noodles from the floor. Standing up with her help, he wiped his forehead and smiled at her.
"Thank you, Xin Jie."
His smile was bright, without a trace of bitterness, as if he hadn’t been humiliated moments ago.
Fan Xin stared at his smile, feeling deflated. She sighed and shook her head, tapping his forehead with her delicate fingers. "Forget it, forget it. You’re so soft, I guess I’ll have to worry more about you. After all, you were once my assistant." She shook her head, looking at him with exasperation. "Without anyone protecting you, you’d be eaten alive."
Su Ning chuckled, not arguing.
The truth was, he wasn’t as easy to bully as Fan Xin thought. He simply didn’t care about many things. He focused only on what mattered to him and didn’t waste his limited energy on things that didn’t concern him.
However, seeing Fan Xin so concerned about him, Su Ning felt that some things didn’t need to be said aloud.
The commotion of the day seemed to be over—at least, that’s what Su Ning thought. What he didn’t know was that after giving him a lesson, Fan Xin immediately sent a message to Gu Lingfeng.
As she had told Chu Zichen, although she was no longer Gu Lingfeng’s lover, she was smart and practical, and they still kept in touch. Of course, now it was purely “business,” but because of their past relationship, Gu Lingfeng would still show her some consideration.
Fan Xin’s message to Gu Lingfeng didn’t mention how Su Ning was being bullied on set. Instead, she jokingly suggested that Gu Lingfeng return Su Ning to her, saying he was capable and cute and that she felt sorry for him.
Fan Xin intentionally left out any mention of the troubles Su Ning faced in the crew or how Chu Zichen had bullied him, instead making sure to leave enough room for Gu Lingfeng to imagine the situation on his own.
If Gu Lingfeng cared about Su Ning, he would naturally investigate how Su Ning was doing on set. If he didn’t care, no amount of talking would help.
Gu Lingfeng had been busy with an acquisition recently, with so little free time that he couldn’t even spend a holiday with his fiancée. Even when Chu Zichen came to him, he was forced to sit quietly on the sofa, watching the TV on mute. It wasn’t until Gu Lingfeng had a rare moment of downtime that he checked his messages.
... A rare quiet moment, sitting in his office by the floor-to-ceiling windows, reviewing documents.
Another message came through on his phone, but Gu Lingfeng didn’t immediately open it. Instead, he furrowed his brow, still thinking about the message Fan Xin had sent earlier. It had been a while since Su Ning had been by his side.
After a brief pause, Gu Lingfeng returned to his work, pushing all other thoughts out of his mind.
In the afternoon, his assistant reported on the upcoming work schedule. Gu Lingfeng handed over the documents for them to sort and casually said, "Cancel half of my weekend schedule."
"Yes, sir."
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