Frightened

"I found this place by chance a few days ago when I was walking around on my off day. It's quite good, right?"

"Haha. You're right, you're right. The fried chicken here is very tasty." Yu Xiuran laughed awkwardly, doing his best to ignore the dagger-like stare from the agent of Feng Xi. He moved uncomfortably on the plastic chair but stopped himself once he felt it dangerously creaking under his weight.

'...' For fuck's sake– he barely weighs 50 kgs! What kind of shoddy chair would complain under that level of weight? Was it made of glass or what?

"I have to say– Mr. Yu is quite generous." hearing the caustic tone of Feng Xue, Yu Xiuran jerked out of his trance and sat up straight in his chair. He had to admit, he was quite scared of this woman. She looked even shorter than him– but seeing her behaving in this manner, he was reminded of a certain female devil who'd regularly wreak havoc in his life. In other words– his older sister.

If there was someone in this world who could frighten Yu Xiuran into hysterics -disregarding bugs- would be his older sister. And the way this Feng Xue talked and behaved after meeting him today eerily reminded him of that particular demoness.

"Ahahaha." He once again laughed awkwardly, but this time it was more to lessen his own fear than anything else. "Miss Feng is praising me too much."

"Ahaha– Not really! You were able to forgive my sister for ruining your favorite brand name coat by simply letting her invite you to a meal." Feng Xue tore a piece of meat out of the chicken leg she was holding and chewed, and Yu Xiuran suddenly felt like it was his own leg. "This level of generosity… it's really admirable."

"..."

Fuck! Wasn't he supposed to enjoy his time with a beauty, and if he gets the chance, maybe even get down to do some stuff that would make him all hot and bothered? But, what kind of shit is this? Why did this Feng Xi bring along her agent (relative?) to their date instead of coming alone? That day, did he misunderstand it all?

Most importantly, how could this stupid woman bring him to eat at this kind of dingy shop tucked in a corner of some obscure alleyway? Did he look like the type of person who'd visit this kind of place? It looked like a spot teeming with thugs and criminals and all sorts of other degenerates!

Even more than that, this woman– she already looks this beautiful. Wasn't she afraid of attracting unwanted attention and getting attacked by some hooligan!?

Yu Xiuran tried hard to ignore a shady-looking customer seated nearby, who had been looking their way for some time now. But, why did he feel that this man had been staring more in his direction, instead of ogling the two beauties seated with him?

'...' Mommy, he was scared! Was he going to get mugged or worse? Even more than that, would his brand new sports car survive this trip? Some nasty thief won't run away with bits and pieces out of it, right?

'Calm down… calm down me! Little Zhang is still there and he can fight well. It- it'll be fine!'

'*sigh* When is this going to end?'

More importantly, this Feng Xi, was she not afraid of being despised by him and thought of as some poor bum? It's fine if she didn't have any intention to do hidden rules in the first place, but how could she bring the investor/scriptwriter of the drama she was starring in, to eat at this type of shady place?

Yu Xiuran listlessly took a bite out of a piece of chicken and tried his best to retain his depression. No way was he going to let himself enjoy this darned fried chicken– ev-even if it tasted this good!

"Big sister is right. Teacher Yu is very kind ne." Feng Xi quipped in happily, making the frown on her agent's place deepen another notch.

Yu Xiuran: "..." Grandma, just keep quiet already. If she keep talking like this, he would be afraid to even sleep at night lest her agent finds some way to do him in for good!

Yang Jingshen snickered lightly as he entertained himself by looking at the dejected and pitiful expression on the face of the younger man, who was starting to look like a bullied maiden. But he didn't feel remorseful in the slightest.

This rascal– how could Yang Jingshen not know what he had been planning when he kept moaning about his coat that day on the set? He had lived far longer than this type of milk brat, and having lived tens of years of his life as a certified playboy, how could he not know what the other was getting at?

Of course, this behavior of Yu Xiuran had involuntarily made it easier for him to achieve his own target and he was even able to earn thirty guardian points as a reward. It was not much but was still better than nothing. Actually, this was the only thing that stopped Yang Jingshen from hiring some thug to wreak havoc on the other's luxury car. After all, he was a generous person who would clearly remember his grudges as well as gratitudes.

Since he still had some use for this little brat, he'd simply let him get away with just getting cockblocked and having a nerve-racking meal at this type of drab eatery.

"I actually think that teacher Yu is really talented too." Yang Jingshen took a sip of the beer and wiped his mouth, his face showing genuine admiration. "You're already this young, but still wrote a good script like that. It was written really well ne."

Hearing this, the desolate look on Yu Xiuran's face was wiped away in a moment as the hunched set of his shoulders straightened out a bit.

"Mr. Yu is already quite wealthy. So, I don't think he would care too much whether this would be successful or not." seeing the way the younger kid slouched after hearing this biting reply from Feng Xue, Yang Jingshen had to fight to hide his laughter. This brat– he was kind of cute. Kind of… especially his pitiful look when he was bullied like this.

'... I think I'm getting kinda rusty.' To think of this type of misbehaving young master as cute.

"Big sister… you can't say something like that. Even if teacher Yu did it for fun, I still think he put quite a lot of effort into it."

Yu Xiuran glanced at Feng Xi, the expression in his eyes unclear. Hearing her keep bantering with her agent about the quality of his script, he then silently lowered his head, feeling his eyes getting a little sore.

'Must have got some dust in them.'

***

It was the 27th of December 2031, just two days after Christmas. The streets of F district belonging to the capital municipality looked rather deserted, but this was not solely because it was the famous holiday season. Instead, it had more to do with the fact that it was early morning, even before six o'clock to be honest.

'Even if the world's background related to arts changed, there're many things that remain the same as in my previous world.' Like… Christmas for example? Or, to be more precise, how the people in this country viewed this particular holiday? In other words, they still treated it as a day to have fun with family and friends without considering any deeper religious meaning.

And, Yang Jingshen actually thought that it was good that way. After all, according to him, what was scariest wasn't being in a completely unfamiliar environment– no, it was being in a place that looked eerily similar to your familiar surrounding, but with every step you take, it keeps popping up unpleasant surprises that leave you reluctant to even move in the slightest.

So, this type of unfamiliarity tinged with intimacy was also quite good.

"Little Xi, are you sure about this?" Yang Jingshen, who was dragged back to earth by the anxious voice of his cousin looked at the other who was sitting together with him in the back seat of the taxi. "I know one reason you accepted this job was also because of me, but you really need not bother. If you don't want to do it, just tell me. I'll discuss this with Andy."

"..." No, not really– he didn't accept this job because he felt that he needed to help Feng Xue's friend or any other complicated reason like that. But if that was what his cousin thought... Why should he go ahead and enlighten her to the truth? What good would that do to him, eh? It would be much better for him if this girl kept on thinking that he did this for her sake.

"Little Xi?"

"It's not like that." Yang Jingshen looked at the other person and smiled, and Feng Xue suddenly felt that even though her younger cousin looked obedient as usual, there was an underlying hint of indulgence in those large, almond-shaped eyes. "If I do this job, I can have a lot of exposure before 'My forever spring' is aired. So, I really want to do this."