FV: Chapter 91

It was winter when he saw his former friend again in a crew.

They hadn’t seen each other for a long time. Ever since his friend moved out, their contact slowly decreased until there was finally no contact.

His friend seemed very angry at the time. He was constantly cursing his assistant and finally kicked him.

Shi Zheng watched from a distance and felt that this person was strange and vague. Therefore, he stopped in place and didn’t walk up.

However, a new friend he just met came up to him and called out, “Shi Zheng, over here.”

Shi Zheng saw the other person stiffly turn. After seeing him, the surprise on this person’s face was clear.

Shi Zheng walked toward him and exchanged a few pleasantries. Then he walked toward his new friend.

His friend put an arm around him and asked, “Do you know him?”

“We’ve met before,” Shi Zheng replied.

“Did he have such a bad temper before? Have you seen his assistant? It is just miserable. He isn’t very popular but he has such a bad temper. What would happen if he really became popular?”

Shi Zheng smiled and didn’t say anything. His friend used to have a very mild temper. When they were living together, he would even take the initiative to help wash their clothes and cook. He remembered to take the garbage with him whenever he went out. Unexpectedly, he had this type of temper when seeing each other after so long.

Shi Zheng thought it was probably because his friend was popular. He might not be too popular but he was still more popular than before. At the very least, there were a few fans and he was able to leap to playing the third or fourth male leads.

He didn’t talk much and pretended they didn’t know each other. Then after a few days, the other person came and found him.

Shi Zheng looked at him without knowing the reason. A staff member asked, “Teacher Zhao, is something wrong?”

Zhao Yu was silent for a moment before asking Shi Zheng, “Do you have time?”

Shi Zheng nodded and went with him to the business car.

Zhao Yu started to smoke as soon as he got in the car. Shi Zheng didn’t smoke and politely talked to him.

Zhao Yu seemed a bit annoyed by this politeness and asked him, “Did I come to you to say this?”

“So why are you looking for me?” Shi Zheng asked him.

Zhao Yu was asked this question but couldn’t reply. He could only continue to smoke.

He was smoking when the door was suddenly pulled open. His agent looked at him with displeasure and asked, “When did you buy the cigarettes? Give them to me.”

Zhao Yu seemed stimulated and sharply said, “Do I have to report to you if I smoke?”

The agent told him helplessly, “Don’t be like this and give me the cigarettes. Otherwise, Teacher Zhong will be unhappy again.”

Zhao Yu was like an exploding hedgehog after hearing this. He took two puffs fiercely and coughed heavily.

He closed the door and smoked hard, as if he wasn’t smoking a cigarette but his determination.

Shi Zheng watched quietly, waiting until he finished smoking.

Zhao Yu also didn’t know what to say and opened the door to let him leave. Shi Zheng examined his lowered head. He was still very handsome with clean eyes, but he seemed lifeless, like a dying plant. Shi Zheng was a bit worried about him and asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

Zhao Yu smiled at him. “I’m fine.”

Shi Zheng didn’t believe it and it turned out that he really shouldn’t believe it.

Zhao Yu looked for him several times. Each time, he seemed to want to say something but couldn’t say it.

Then one day, he cried and called Shi Zheng, asking Shi Zheng to go to his room. Shi Zheng entered and found many beer bottles at his feet.

He was drunk. In his drunk state, he finally told Shi Zheng about his sorrows.

He was favored by Ma Bozhong in that movie. Ma Bozhong promised him resources and fame. He struggled and hesitated, but eventually still chose to agree.

He wanted to be popular too much and wanted to be a named character. However, he was embarrassed to let his friend know that he took such a shortcut. He moved out and slowly broke off contact with Shi Zheng.

In the beginning, Zhao Yu felt he was happy. Ma Bozhong was only in his early 40s and looked around 37-38 due to proper self-maintenance. Standing with him, the difference wasn’t too big.

He gave Zhao Yu resources as promised and helped him change to a new agent. They weren’t good resources or male lead roles, but he at least had his own name and his own story.

Zhao Yu was very satisfied and even felt that he and Ma Bozhong were in love. It was just that the good times didn’t last. He soon found out that Ma Bozhong wasn’t what he imagined and they weren’t in love.

Ma Bozhong liked youthfulness, but only the youthfulness defined by himself.

He naturally liked young, clean, pure and sunny boys. He framed them in his own framework and didn’t allow them to have their own preferences and personalities. He only wanted them to live as he wished.

He was a very controlling person.

He didn’t allow Zhao Yu to swear, wear dark clothes, smoke and drink or even exercise.

Zhao Yu told him that he was doing it for the sake of the character. He had a swimming rescue scene and hoped to have a thin layer of muscles at the time, and not even have abs.

However, Ma Bozhong still disagreed.

He forced Zhao Yu to live according to his requirements. There wasn’t a single black or gray piece of clothing in his closet because it wasn’t the image of a teenager that Ma Bozhong liked.

Zhao Yu couldn’t understand or accept it. He argued with Ma Bozhong and started a cold war. However, Ma Bozhong just frowned in disappointment and acted as if he had done something wrong. He shouldn’t be so unreasonable.

Later, Zhao Yu compromised for the sake of resources.

Compromise was indulgence. Ma Bozhong’s new resources still weren’t good resources. After all, he never really wanted to raise Zhao Yu up. In addition, Ma Bozhong started asking for more and more.

He forbade Zhao Yu from going out with friends on days when he wasn’t working because his friends smoked and drank. If he stayed with such people then he wasn’t like the pure teenager in Ma Bozhong’s heart.

He didn’t allow Zhao Yu to play games for more than two hours, because that wasn’t how a teenager should be.

He even asked Zhao Yu to learn to draw and to read quietly for a few hours every day. He meticulously created the boy he liked, but he didn’t know that Zhao Yu was about to collapse.

“One of us will definitely go crazy. It is either him or me.” Zhao Yu stared up at the ceiling and said in a dazed manner.

Shi Zheng never thought his friend had actually experienced such a thing in a place he didn’t know. He looked at his former friend and his heart was full of remorse.

He wondered what would’ve happened if he had asked a few more words at that time, preventing him from moving out. Perhaps Zhao Yu wouldn’t be what he was today.

But it was too late.

“You have a more delicate appearance and better temperament than Zhao Yu. I don’t know what type of appreciation Ma Bozhong is showing you when he approaches you again and again, but I know very well that the human heart can’t withstand the test. Zhao Yu had also rejected Ma Bozhong, rejecting the shortcuts and temptations. Yet in the end, he still agreed. I don’t know if you will say yes. I didn’t want to gamble, so I chose to eliminate this possibility from the beginning.”

“I seriously thought about it several times, wondering if you will think I am nosy and blame me for cutting off your chance of obtaining a shortcut. However, I don’t want you to go through the same thing as him.”

“Lin Luoqing, you are a very good person. You are like the winter sun, rare and precious. If you hadn’t noticed me from the beginning and hadn’t known me, I probably wouldn’t have interfered in your affairs. However, you’ve always been good to me.

“You are so rare. I don’t want you to be like him. Maybe you will blame me when you know about it, but at least I have a clear conscience. If I really do nothing and let you accept the temptations and tests, it will be fine if you are happy. However, if you end up like him then I will have a guilty conscience for the rest of my life.”

“I’m sorry,” Shi Zheng said softly. “I did it on purpose. Now that you know, you can make the choice you want by yourself.”

He said calmly while staring at Lin Luoqing with relief in his eyes.

In fact, Shi Zheng didn’t like to meddle in other’s affairs, let alone do something with other purposes. His actions with Lin Luoqing were the first time and the only time he made his own decision without asking for the other person’s opinion.

Even so, he thought he would do the same thing if he had to do it all over again.

He didn’t want Lin Luoqing to see the temptation. Once he saw it, there was a possibility he might accept it. He was so young and brilliant. He shouldn’t be locked in someone else’s framework and lose his own appearance.

He hoped that if Lin Luoqing one day stood on top of this circle, it would be through his own efforts, not the support of others.

Therefore, he would rather that Lin Luoqing never saw the shortcuts or the temptation.

Lin Luoqing heard these words, looked into his calm eyes and thought that this was the reason why.

He had guessed that Shi Zheng was doing it for his own good, but he never expected this to be the case.

Ma Bozhong turned out to be a teenager con and his desire for control was so strong.

This really wasn’t obvious at all. It was hidden too deeply!

“You don’t have to apologize,” Lin Luoqing said softly. “You were doing it for my own good, so I don’t blame you. I guessed before that you must’ve wanted to help me out, but I didn’t understand the reason. Now I know.”

“Don’t worry,” Lin Luoqing assured him. “I will definitely not be tempted by him. How capable is he that I would want to be with him?”

Shi Zheng heard his words and sighed with relief. “That’s good.”

He seemed to be afraid that Lin Luoqing would regret it and specially added, “You really don’t need to follow him. He might really give you resources, some of which might be good, but he isn’t really willing to make you popular. You will still suffer.”

“I know.” Lin Luoqing was very calm. “I am so young and handsome. It will be a loss if I am with him! I’m also filming because I like it and it makes me happy. If I really have to look at him every day just to become famous, I definitely won’t be happy. This is putting the cart before the horse.”

He knew himself very well. He was a faithful face con, which was why he felt no pressure marrying Ji Yuxiao. In addition to being Ji Leyu’s uncle, Ji Yuxiao was handsome. Just looking at that face every time made him feel seduced.

Ma Bozhong was average looking and older than him, old enough to be his father. Being with him was simply driving up the price of pigs.

Lin Luoqing refused this behavior of helping pigs increase their price.

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Proofreader: Jesse