"That's why they say anyone with Ji Family blood is heartless. You're so cold, little brother. Your second brother is going to be hurt."
So he was the second oldest.
There was still someone above him, yet he was this arrogant.
Xie Zhuzhou couldn't be bothered with him and continued eating.
Once the man's porridge arrived, he settled down to eat too, leaving only the German shepherd staring at Xie Zhuzhou pitifully.
Xie Zhuzhou couldn't take the German shepherd's gaze anymore! And there was the drool dripping onto the floor. How many days had Ji Wangyun gone without feeding his dog? Why was he always so stupidly hungry?
He called a server over and asked for the chef to prepare a doggy dinner.
Money really could make the devil turn a millstone. The server agreed without another word.
"So cold to your brother, yet so caring toward Aolai."
Xie Zhuzhou felt he'd truly had enough. Ever since Ji Wangyun appeared, he hadn't even remembered that he had social anxiety.
You social butterflies don't care whether socially anxious people live or die, do you?
"Just eat," Xie Zhuzhou couldn't help saying.
He didn't know how far Ji Wangyun's investigation had gotten, but he probably knew most of it.
The original owner hadn't run into his brothers all these years. Perhaps his biological father had given him something like a beginner protection period?
"Are you on a show?"
Xie Zhuzhou took a bite of mashed potatoes and calmly swallowed. "Yeah."
"Such a boring show. How come I haven't seen you? Your director won't give you any screen time?"
He talked so much.
The reserved Ji Wangyun he'd met the first time seemed like an illusion.
"If you appear on-screen, Grandpa might see you and make you enter a marriage alliance. After all, little brother, you're even better-looking than I am."
Xie Zhuzhou: ...
Seriously?
Hey, hey, hey, man, stop joking around, okay?
Xie Zhuzhou, who had originally planned to see his biological father one last time, froze for a moment and felt glad he hadn't gone to find his father right away.
"I can't. I have a private medical condition."
Ji Wangyun nearly spat out the porridge he was drinking.
He looked up at Xie Zhuzhou in shock and confirmed that he wasn't lying.
Wait, had his little brother ruined himself fooling around out there? So young, not even twenty, and already...
The enormous shock left Ji Wangyun dumbfounded.
Xie Zhuzhou was perfectly calm. He would deal with whatever came his way.
It was just household intrigue. As long as he lay flat enough, no one could hurt him.
"It's fine. It doesn't matter if you can't perform in that department. Who cares about that in marriage alliances these days?"
Xie Zhuzhou stared steadily at him with dark eyes like a pool of stagnant water, neither flinching nor looking away. "Whoever suggests such a wonderful thing can do it themselves."
Ji Wangyun couldn't hold back anymore. He clutched his stomach and burst out laughing.
"Grandpa would be delighted to know he has such a filial grandson out there. Here's something interesting: Grandpa actually doesn't know you exist. Hehe..."
Xie Zhuzhou rolled his eyes at him. He had no idea whether this brother had come out of a madhouse, casually revealing so much to him like that.
But he wasn't interested. In any case, none of this was his business.
By then, the server had brought over the doggy dinner, with both meat and vegetables, and the dog was happily wolfing it down.
"Aside from Dad, you look most like me, but your personality is a lot like our eldest brother's. He wears that same expressionless face all day and hardly ever looks kindly on anyone."
Xie Zhuzhou slowly curved his lips. His stiff, dry smile made Ji Wangyun feel as though he'd seen a sinister ghost, and he immediately called for him to stop.
"Forget it, forget it. If you don't like smiling, don't smile."
Xie Zhuzhou was speechless. Was his smile that frightening? He just wasn't very practiced at it.
Ji Wangyun really had to hand it to him. He'd thought Xie Zhuzhou would be an ignorant, good-for-nothing rich kid who might have picked up some bad habits out there. It was easy to go astray with no one looking after you.
But he'd never imagined Xie Zhuzhou would be version 2.0 of his eldest brother, Ji Wangchen. When those eyes looked his way, he seemed capable of taking on more than twenty people single-handedly.
Enough. One Ji Wangchen was enough for this family.
After they ate, Ji Wangyun pestered him relentlessly, refusing to let him leave unless he added him on WeChat. He looked ready to call in the bodyguards outside, have them carry him back, and dump him in front of Grandpa for a marriage alliance.
Xie Zhuzhou had no choice but to yield temporarily and steel himself to add Ji Wangyun on WeChat.
For every policy from above, there was a countermeasure from below.
After Ji Wangyun left, Xie Zhuzhou rode back to the dating show's villa gates, took out his phone, and saw the dozen or so reaction images Ji Wangyun had sent him.
He blocked him without mercy.
There. WeChat was finally quiet.
Meanwhile, back home, Ji Wangyun stared incredulously at the red exclamation mark. Hugging Aolai around the neck, he said indignantly, "Aolai, look at your youngest uncle. He's gone too far!"
Early the next morning.
Xie Zhuzhou was picked by lot and finally became a background prop with a name!
When it was time to send one another romantic-interest texts last night, no one could find Xie Zhuzhou, so Director Wang had no choice but to let him off for the time being.
But today, Xie Zhuzhou had to wear a GoPro and be the boyfriend for a day.
When viewers discovered that there was actually another hidden guest, the livestream chat exploded.
[I knew it!! I was just saying it seemed like we were missing a guest! I really did see him, but no one believed me!]
[Can we see what the boyfriend looks like?! The director's keeping him under wraps so tightly. What's with all the mystery?!]
[Aaaaah, such long fingers, gege!! Look at us!]
[I'm losing my mind. The production team really knows how to play!]
Over the past few days, Love 5's popularity had reached unprecedented heights.
Yesterday, the film emperor's appearance as the boyfriend for a day had already drawn a huge number of fans. Now, with a hidden boyfriend whose identity was unknown, his voice and those long, fair, delicate hands with well-defined knuckles had only driven the buzz higher.
Everyone worried it was a dream, then worried it was a joke.
Yet that only made them look forward to it more.
Xie Zhuzhou felt helpless. What went around really did come around sooner or later. Since he hadn't given Director Wang any face or opportunities, Director Wang wasn't going to let him off either.
That morning, Wen Ruohuai had strongly demanded that Director Wang remove Xie Zhuzhou from the show, even offering an enticing condition: an investment in a script belonging to Director Wang's friend, Director Li.
Though tempted, Director Wang had his priorities straight. The Wen Family might be powerful, but Wen Ruohuai wasn't the only person the production team couldn't afford to offend.
Even if he refused him, there wasn't much Wen Ruohuai could do to the production team. He knew that perfectly well.
Besides, as long as Old Li's script was good, would it really lack investors? If it wasn't good, not investing would save time, effort, and money.
When Wen Ruohuai learned that Xie Zhuzhou wasn't a staff member but actually a guest, he nearly coughed up blood in anger.
Not only that, today's boyfriend for a day was this man!
Compared with Wen Nan, this Xie Zhuzhou left him even angrier with nowhere to vent!
It took Wen Ruohuai a long time to suppress his fury.
Wen Nan frowned, very displeased that Wen Ruohuai kept looking at Xie Zhuzhou with that complicated gaze.
As though there was something between them?
As if unable to control himself, Wen Ruohuai gave a somewhat hideous, frightening smile and said softly, "The production team really will let anyone in."
After he said that, everyone present looked over, including Zhang Yin.
He was rather surprised by Wen Ruohuai's unusual behavior today, even making such a cutting remark that would damage fans' and casual viewers' opinion of him.
Or had Xie Zhuzhou done something to drive him to this point?
Fortunately, the camera mounted on Xie Zhuzhou's arm was far away, and the remark wasn't picked up on the livestream.
"Yeah, that's why they dragged trash like you in." Wen Nan never passed up a chance to mock Wen Ruohuai, especially when the man was openly insulting someone under his protection.
Even aside from being his little fan, Xie Zhuzhou struck Wen Nan as distinctive and charming in the way he did as he pleased, neither bowing to power nor fearing him, so his favorable impression of him soared even higher.
Wen Ruohuai, meanwhile, had no idea that by merely breaking character to make one complaint, he had wiped out all the goodwill he'd built up with his seniors over the past few days in a single stroke.