Chapter 32

Translator: Abo Dammen

Chen Lu chatted with the shopping assistant, drawing her attention, while simultaneously observing Fang Qizhi through the glass behind her.

Naturally, Chen Lu noticed the other man’s indescribable expression, the way he glanced at him, then at the clothes, then back again. 

Well, though the approach seemed full of holes and utterly absurd, so what? As long as it worked, wasn’t that all that mattered?

Chen Lu felt not a shred of guilt.

As for the success rate of this method, Chen Lu was quite confident.

Although the plot had deviated, Fang Qizhi was, after all, the same person from the original story. In the original storyline, he had seen ‘Chen Lu’ still drawing attention even in ‘cheap’ clothes and had seized the opportunity to cut them. 

Now, even if Fang Qizhi’s feelings toward him were different, the actions he would take remained the same. So Chen Lu believed that with just a little nudge, they could put the idea into Fang Qizhi’s head.

When it came down to it, the overall situation now was quite similar to when Zhu Yi had chosen to go abroad alone. Give a little push, and this person would follow the script and act accordingly. Sure enough, while Chen Lu kept the shopping assistant occupied, he saw Fang Qizhi, after some internal struggle, reach for the scissors.

See that!

Move! 

Heavens!

And!

Earth!

Fang Qizhi was still reliable! 

So-called love and hate are but a moment apart. Chen Lu declared that at this moment, Fang Qizhi was the most reliable person in the plot of his heart!!!

Chen Lu was overjoyed. Beaming, he said goodbye to the shopping assistant, turned around, happily picked up his bag of clothes, and before leaving, couldn’t resist giving Fang Qizhi a radiant smile and a little wave goodbye before skipping away light-footedly.

Fang Qizhi! What a good guy!

This series of friendly gestures from Chen Lu filled Fang Qizhi’s heart with guilt. 

What had he done…

Chen Lu had been so happy, so full of anticipation, and he had personally destroyed it.

“Chen Lu! Wait!” Regret welled up in Fang Qizhi’s heart. Watching Chen Lu step out of the store, he couldn’t help but call out to him.

Hearing his name, Chen Lu instinctively stopped and turned to look at Fang Qizhi. But meeting Fang Qizhi’s full of remorse eyes, he immediately sensed something was wrong. 

But it was already too late.

Chen Lu only heard Fang Qizhi say to him, “Chen Lu, that outfit is too ordinary. Let me buy you a better one.”

Who wants a better one!!!

Chen Lu immediately protected the clothes in his hand that already got slashed several times, clutching them tightly to his chest. With great determination, he said to Fang Qizhi, “No, I will only wear clothes given to me by Mr. Qin.” 

Fang Qizhi was choked up by Chen Lu’s lovestruck declaration, feeling like a truck had run over his face but he had no proof.

Stunned, Fang Qizhi took a few seconds to recover and was about to say something more, but Chen Lu clearly had no intention of giving him the chance. Clutching the clothes to his chest, he immediately treated Fang Qizhi to a demonstration of what it means to take off running, vanishing from Fang Qizhi’s sight in a matter of seconds.

Fang Qizhi and the two bodyguards, who also hadn’t reacted in time: “…………”

With Chen Lu gone, Fang Qizhi was naturally helpless. He still cared about his image and couldn’t bring himself to immediately sprint after him like the bodyguards could. 

Although he couldn’t stop Chen Lu, he felt he could still try something with Qin Guchuan.

When you got right down to it, this was all Qin Guchuan’s fault for treating Chen Lu as a substitute!

Having completely forgotten his own setting of being an admirer of Qin Guchuan, Fang Qizhi posted a message on his Moments feed, setting the visibility to ‘Qin Guchuan Only’.

Thus, Qin Guchuan, checking his Moments that day, abruptly saw a photo of Chen Lu. 

It was completely different from Chen Lu’s usual style of dress. A well-fitted suit accentuated his slender waistline, and his straight, long legs were quite eye-catching. Yet the most striking thing was still that face.

An extremely beautiful countenance, radiant and vibrant, seemed to burst forth from the screen. His eyes, looking into the camera, shone with bright anticipation, giving one the urge to grant him anything he wanted.

Qin Guchuan stared for a long time. When he finally came back to himself, five minutes had passed.

Only then noticing the time, Qin Guchuan: “…” 

He felt a bit strange inside.

Why would Chen Lu suddenly post his own photo on Moments? Wasn’t he only ever crazy in his livestreams? Qin Guchuan felt puzzled, then slightly raised his eyes and saw the owner of this particular Moment.

Fang Qizhi: My wifey is so beautiful! [Pic]

Qin Guchuan: “…” 

Qin Guchuan: “……”

A stifled breath immediately caught in Qin Guchuan’s chest, unable to be expelled.

He immediately remembered which part of the plot this photo corresponded to.

It was indeed as described in the plot—Chen Lu’s appearance in this outfit was stunning at first glance, so much so that the villainous supporting character couldn’t restrain himself from directly destroying the clothes. 

But before this, Qin Guchuan had never imagined he would witness the effect of this plot point in such a way.

Qin Guchuan let his gaze fall once more on the photo Fang Qizhi had posted, his eyes deep and unreadable.

Hah. Chen Lu, so this is how you smile for everyone, is it?

But before Qin Guchuan could brood for long, Chen Lu’s call popped up. 

Qin Guchuan stared at Chen Lu’s name on the screen for several seconds before stoically accepting the video call. However, Chen Lu on the other end was completely unaware of the meaning behind those few seconds of delay. Immediately, a sound of agonized wailing erupted from Qin Guchuan’s phone speaker.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH, QIN GUCHUAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!! WHAT DO I DO? I HAVE NO CLUE HOW TO DRAW!!!” Chen Lu shoved his phone’s video call screen right up against the clothes that Fang Qizhi had cut. “I CAN’T DO IT!!!”

On the cut section of the clothing stood a grotesquely twisted stick figure.

Confronted with this visually impactful scene, the peculiar feeling that had been simmering in Qin Guchuan’s heart immediately dissipated. He sobered up in an instant and began to question his life. 

Why had he felt displeased just moments before? Was this a case of ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’?

This all-too-familiar, splitting headache feeling…

Qin Guchuan was speechless. It took him a long moment to finally ask Chen Lu, “What is this?”

“A soaring dragon! In the original plot you told me about, didn’t I artistically transform this cut-up outfit? Drawing a magnificent, soaring golden dragon over the cut parts?” Chen Lu’s voice was full of despair. 

Qin Guchuan took another look at the twisted stick figure… no… stick dragon…

Actually, the subsequent development in the original plot was quite conventional.

—— After ‘Chen Lu’ discovered his clothes were ruined, he was in despair. That money had been all the savings he could muster; there was absolutely no way he could buy a new outfit.

Of course, the Chen Lu with a live-streaming income had more than just that little bit of money, he could easily buy eight or ten more outfits. But if the plot said he couldn’t buy one, then he couldn’t buy one. 

—— But ‘Chen Lu’ didn’t want to give up. He decided to salvage the situation. He took out all his painting tools and worked magic on the clothes that had been cut to shreds. Thus, the ragged curves formed by the cuts became the embodiment of his art.

—— The moment he stepped into the banquet, the soaring golden dragon attracted everyone’s attention. Many people marveled at his unique attire and began asking each other which master craftsman was behind this miraculous and imaginative garment.

—— Seeing all this, Fang Qizhi grew even more resentful. He immediately guessed that the pattern on Chen Lu’s clothes was painted by Chen Lu himself, leading to the subsequent incident where he pushed him into the water.

“If I wear an outfit like this to the banquet, I’m sure it will achieve the effect of attracting everyone’s attention. And it will definitely achieve the result of everyone asking each other which ‘master’ created this clothing,” Chen Lu said, his voice filled with despair, beginning to talk nonsense completely irresponsibly. 

Qin Guchuan: “……..” He actually, subconsciously, felt that Chen Lu’s words made a certain amount of sense.

“Please consider ‘Chen Lu’s’ mentor. He’s already seventy years old,” Qin Guchuan said, rubbing his forehead, feeling utterly drained.

“Then what should I do now? There’s no way I can learn how to paint overnight either!” Chen Lu clutched his head. “Why is the ‘Chen Lu’ in this world a painter?!”

Qin Guchuan: “…” He hadn’t expected this Chen Lu to have absolutely zero drawing ability either. 

But the situation wasn’t completely hopeless yet.

The simplest solution would actually be to find another painter to come to the Qin residence and handle the redesign.

But Qin Guchuan felt a crucial point of this plot was that the clothing transformation was done by ‘Chen Lu’ himself, so his gut feeling told him this method probably wouldn’t work.

His mind racing, Qin Guchuan recalled the various art exhibitions he had attended before, and his attention slowly settled on one particular art movement. 

“Actually, the soaring golden dragon might not be the important part. The world’s plot does allow for some margin of error; achieving the overall result is what matters. Why don’t you try abstract painting?” Qin Guchuan’s gaze fell once more upon the twisted stick dragon. He felt… that Chen Lu might indeed have a talent for abstract art.

It was drawn very abstractly.

This time, it was Chen Lu’s turn to be speechless.

He silently looked at his own masterpiece. 

He did have some sense of aesthetics, after all.

“Are you sure?” Chen Lu felt Qin Guchuan’s suggestion was unreliable. “What if I paint a complete mess, and then nobody at the banquet appreciates it?”

Qin Guchuan looked at Chen Lu’s conflicted expression in the video call, then thought back to the photo Fang Qizhi had posted on his Moments. Suddenly, this problem didn’t seem troublesome at all.

“Chen Lu.” Qin Guchuan called his name softly. 

“Huh?” Chen Lu looked at his phone quizzically, not understanding why Qin Guchuan was suddenly calling him.

“I think you don’t need to worry about this problem at all,” Qin Guchuan said with a slight smile. “I’m sure it won’t be a problem.

“You are the absolute center of this world, after all.”

Otherwise, in a world full of countless talented, capable, and gifted people, why would someone like Fang Qizhi develop such an obsession with this one particular individual, Chen Lu, and be determined to ‘save’ him? 

The protagonist, even in this story of tormented love, is absolutely the darling of this world.

Chen Lu nodded, somewhat comprehendingly, then posed a question from the depths of his soul to Qin Guchuan.

“So… what’s the difference between your suggestion and my original idea, then?”

Qin Guchuan: “……”