Pardon Me, Everyone

The black Maybach drove farther and farther away like a dragon. In the passenger seat, Su Yuan finally could not contain his curiosity and turned around. "Lu, do you really believe that fortune-teller?!"

He lowered his voice, not daring to sound too incredulous.

He was afraid of angering the Lu Group's sole heir behind him, who was resting with his eyes closed like a sleeping beast.

"Do you have a problem with whether I believe him or not?" Lu Yanting lazily lifted his eyelids, revealing a sharp gleam.

"No!" Sensing danger, Su Yuan immediately shut his mouth and obediently turned back around.

The driver, who had been silently concentrating on the road, glanced over with an odd expression, as though saying, You've worked for the boss all these years, and you can still ask for trouble with such precision. Pretty impressive, buddy!

A little irritated, Su Yuan glared back, then leaned against his seat and played dead.

Behind him, however, Lu Yanting slowly opened his eyes, as deep as icy pools, and looked out the window, gazing thoughtfully at the endless stream of people.

The story was actually very clichéd.

A mysterious, ancient family had been haunted by a curse for generations.

Unless they found their destined person, they would die an unnatural death after reaching adulthood.

Who had cast the curse had long since become impossible to determine. As a child, Lu Yanting had only vaguely sensed something because he occasionally encountered all sorts of Taoist priests and Buddhist monks in the old family residence...

At first, he had not believed it. After all, curses were far too mystical.

But just after his eighteenth birthday, that woman in red appeared in his dreams.

Her face was indistinct, and she said nothing, simply standing behind him.

No matter how fast or how far he ran, she followed him like a shadow.

Fortunately, Lu Yanting was naturally reserved, his emotions rarely fluctuating. Even with something like that appearing in his dreams, he had not felt frightened.

Only very irritated.

He hated strangers intruding on his life.

Including his dreams.

As his thoughts gradually returned to the present, Lu Yanting suddenly remembered something and pulled the aged, yellow Talisman from the inner pocket of his bespoke suit. A hint of something strange crossed his incomparably handsome face.

What had that fortune-teller said again?

Burn it to ashes and drink it?

He'd only scattered it on the red carpet, so why did I have to drink it?!

Was he messing with me?!

At that thought, Lu Yanting's expression darkened.

The President's Office, Maple Blue Building.

A roar suddenly rang out. "What?! You had Jian Ran receive him?! Are you crazy?! Don't you know he's gone mad?!"

Standing outside the door, Jian Ran gave a polite yet awkward smile, returning each of the looks directed his way as though openly admitting,

"That's right. I'm the lunatic they're talking about in there. Pardon me, everyone, pardon me."

Before long, Xu Xuda emerged looking miserable. He immediately saw Jian Ran coming toward him and snapped, "Happy now?"

"Now I'm fucking getting booted out with you!"

Jian Ran slung an arm around the short, five-foot-seven man. "For now, we're not ready to strike out on our own. Starting a Studio can wait until..."

Xu Xuda's face turned green. He made to shake off the arm weighing on him and was about to unleash a torrent of abuse when the President's Office door suddenly swung open from inside. "Wait, you two!"

Xu Xuda looked back pitifully. "President Gu, I wasn't planning to strike out on my own..."

Gu Feng looked at Jian Ran with an odd expression. "Come in first."

And so, a few seconds later, Xu Xuda's exaggerated howl could once again be heard outside the office.

"What?! Emperor Lu really agreed to join Lucky Inn?! Jian Ran's scribbled Talisman actually worked?!"

Heads popped up throughout the office area, faces filled with shock and a hunger for gossip as everyone exchanged frantic looks.

Gu Feng tapped his bent finger against the desk. "Keep your voice down. Don't spread this around yet. Nothing's been signed, so anything could change."

He narrowed his eyes, looking at Jian Ran through his Prada lenses, and changed tack. "How did you do it?"

"You even managed to fool Lu Yanting?"

"And he actually believed you?"

Jian Ran curved his lips into a smile, his pretty face brimming with inexplicable confidence. "Probably because of my innate... charm?"

Normally, Gu Feng would have hurled a stack of folders at him, but today he was unusually calm in the face of such lunatic talk.

"Just shut up!" Xu Xuda could not take it anymore. His blood pressure shot up, and he was about to start cursing.

Instead, he heard the man behind the boss's desk make an unbelievable change in attitude. "Xuda, not to criticize you, but treat the artists under you better. Don't keep putting them down. What if they leave for another company?"

"Jian Ran is talented. We need to nurture him properly!"

"Here, sit down. I'll have the secretary pour you some tea, and we can discuss your styling and persona for the variety show in detail."

Gu Feng glanced sideways at Xu Xuda, whose mouth was hanging open wide enough to fit an egg. "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and tell the secretary to make tea."

Three in the afternoon, at a well-known Photography Studio.

On the curb.

"Are you going in or not?!" Xu Xuda roared.

He felt sure Jian Ran was deliberately making trouble. They had arranged a time for his variety-show styling and arrived early at the Photography Studio, yet he would rather bake in the sun than go inside.

He was roasting,

and he still fucking dressed it up as avoiding disaster.

Fuck.

Go in or don't. I'm getting some air-conditioning.

Cursing inwardly, Xu Xuda left him behind and walked into the Photography Studio.

The tall, slender figure remained where he was.

He was suffering too, sweat pouring down his back.

With a hat, sunglasses, and a mask, he was covered up tightly, terrified of being recognized.

A typical celebrity getup.

Others wore it because they were popular, to keep disturbances to a minimum.

He wore it because he was hated, to avoid being cursed at.

"Forget it. There's no escaping it." Jian Ran sighed softly, lowering his long, evenly jointed fingers before slipping them into his trouser pockets, then sauntered toward the Photography Studio.

As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw the staff bustling around. From the looks of it, the person being photographed was quite a big name.

"Ji, look over here. Looking good!"

"Fantastic!"

"Perfect!"

Taking off his hat, sunglasses, and mask, Jian Ran leaned against the wall and surveyed the room coldly, though his mind was actually racing.

What was the real name of Supermodel B in my contacts again?!

Ah, I'm getting rusty at this. I actually forgot the script. It's all their fault for not paying me...

While he was examining his own failings, an unidentified object suddenly approached.

"Oh, isn't this Jian Ran? You actually managed to find this place." A heavily made-up woman reeking of pungent perfume stood haughtily before him, her tone peculiar. "As I recall, Ji already warned you not to show your face in front of him again."

"You really have no shame..."

Jian Ran raised a hand to pinch his nose, interrupting her. "Sorry, who are you?"

The woman's expression changed at once. "Don't play dumb! I'm Ji's assistant. Don't you recognize me?!"

"Should I recognize you?" Jian Ran blinked.

Give me a break.

There are so many male leads, every one of them showing off with an assistant.

How the fuck am I supposed to remember them all?

The woman choked with anger, momentarily unable to find a forceful retort. Just then, the shoot on the other side finished.

A beautifully proportioned, shirtless man with a gleaming eight-pack slowly approached.

When he saw Jian Ran, the disgust on his British-looking features was plain to see.

"Who leaked my schedule to you?"

After saying this, Ji Yuanming looked away and reached for the clothes his assistant handed him, continuing in an irritated tone, "Don't cause a scene here, or you'll only embarrass yourself."

Jian Ran said, "Ask that again."

"What?" Ji Yuanming lifted his eyelids and looked back at him.

"The sentence before 'don't cause a scene here,'" Jian Ran explained with a smile and great patience.

A little bewildered, Ji Yuanming asked, "Who leaked my schedule to you?"

Before he had finished speaking, Jian Ran's smile vanished. "Your fucking mom!"

With those words, he strode away, leaving behind a swaggering, badass retreating figure.

Ji Yuanming stood rooted to the spot. "..." Had he-had he fucking taken the wrong medication?!