Chapter 53

Translator: Abo Dammen

Looking at Qin Guchuan’s reply, Chen Lu could practically picture the scene. The thought of Qin Guchuan frowning while lighting a cigarette immediately sent him into fits of laughter. He hurried to the window, wanting to see how Qin Guchuan was fudging the plot. 

But after pulling open the curtains and looking down at the scene below, Chen Lu was momentarily stunned.

He saw Qin Guchuan already standing by the car door, leaning lightly against the vehicle, looking up towards Chen Lu’s direction. The cigarette in his hand was, unfortunately, already lit, held between his fingers in a clearly unpracticed grip.

The smoke drifted slowly under the glow of the streetlights at night, spreading before Qin Guchuan, creating a hazy, blurry effect that held a certain unique aesthetic appeal.

It actually… looked quite convincing. 

Chen Lu thought to himself, unconsciously staring a few moments longer from the windowsill. Then he saw Qin Guchuan, enveloped in the smoke, cough once, apparently irritated by the smoke drifting right into his face.

Chen Lu, who had just been captivated by the sight, immediately clenched his teeth, pulled the curtains shut before his laughter could escape, and ended this segment of the plot description.

No longer needing to suppress his emotions, Chen Lu threw himself onto the bed, laughing heartily. He picked up his phone again and, with fingers flying, swiftly sent Qin Guchuan a message.

Chen Lu: Ahem! 

Chen Lu: Cough cough cough!

Chen Lu: Cough cough cough cough cough!!!

Hearing the message notification sound from his phone inside the car, Qin Guchuan calmly stubbed out the cigarette in his hand, unhurriedly got back into the car, picked up his phone with an air of composure, and then: “…..”

He had only coughed that one time!! 

Qin Guchuan felt a wave of gritted-teeth frustration.

So that’s why that guy was staring at him for so long? Just waiting to see when he’d choke?

Qin Guchuan suddenly felt the impulse, often described by Chen Lu’s livestream viewers, to hang someone on the city walls for three days and three nights.

Fortunately, before Qin Guchuan could stew in his annoyance for long, he saw a new message from Chen Lu fly in. 

Chen Lu: You know, you looked kinda good just now. Pity I couldn’t use my phone, otherwise I’d have taken a photo for you to see (cupping intoxicated face.jpg)

Looking at the first part of the message, Qin Guchuan’s mood immediately improved. But the latter part brought back that familiar sense of helplessness.

Qin Guchuan: What would I do with a photo of myself?

Chen Lu: Hahahaha, I have tons of photos of myself on my phone! So good-looking! [Image][Image][Image] 

Qin Guchuan looked at the several selfies Chen Lu sent in rapid succession, speechless. He silently saved each one, and only then replied to Chen Lu.

Qin Guchuan: You should get some sleep soon. I’ll head back after you’re asleep.

In the plot, ‘Chen Lu’ unknowingly falls asleep amidst his heartache, then wakes to find Qin Guchuan has already driven away at some point, leaving him feeling a sense of loss.

Therefore, logically, once Chen Lu is asleep, Qin Gichuan can naturally go back. 

When it came to fudging the plot, the two had become seasoned experts.

Judging by the fact that Chen Lu had already finished dinner by the time he called Qin Guchuan over, it was clear this plot segment had started quite late. After going through the back-and-forth, agonized watching parts of the plot several times, it was naturally already 11 PM.

At this time, under normal circumstances, Qin Guchuan would be… oh, right, still working overtime.

Actually, at the very beginning of the whole plot, Qin Guchuan’s routine was to sleep by 11 PM. Back when Chen Lu got lost and ended up in Qin Guchuan’s room, Qin Guchuan had returned to his room around that time. 

But as the plot gradually unfolded, Qin Guchuan’s sleep time had unconsciously started shifting later bit by bit. After Chen Lu started crazily contributing ideas to the Qin Corporation, the suddenly increased workload was still making itself felt, and Qin Guchuan’s sleep schedule had become even more disastrous.

Chen Lu touched his conscience and sent Qin Guchuan a message.

Chen Lu: It takes over an hour to get back to the Qin residence from here. It’s too far.

After sending this message, Chen Lu quickly typed out the next one: ‘How about I leave the door unlocked for you, you park the car in the building’s garage, and come straight up to rest?’ But before sending it, he hesitated, pondering for a few seconds whether this kind of behavior was too disrespectful to the world’s plot, taking fudging it too far. Then he saw the message Qin Guchuan sent first. 

Qin Guchuan: I’ll go back to Yuan Qin International.

Chen Lu silently stared at the words ‘Yuan Qin International’ and quietly deleted the message he had drafted.

Yuan Qin International Hotel, a five-star hotel right at his doorstep, just one street away. A mere ten-minute walk. The 200-meter tall building stood right in front of Chen Lu’s eyes that every time he opened the curtains to look for Qin Guchuan, the first thing he saw was the highly artistic lighting display of that five-star hotel.

Just looking at the ‘Qin’ in the hotel’s name told you exactly who owned it. 

Chen Lu: You wretched capitalist!!!

Chen Lu: I’m going to sleep!!!

Completely unaware of what he had just missed, Qin Guchuan looked at Chen Lu’s two messages and smiled, replying with a ‘Good night’.

Qin Guchuan wasn’t in a hurry to leave. He finished processing all the documents he had brought in the car, sent another message to Chen Lu, waited a moment without getting a reply, then sent a message to his omnipotent assistant Zhou Ji, instructing him to deliver a change of clothes to Yuan Qin International before work the next day. Only then did he leisurely drive away. 

Early the next morning, Qin Guchuan took two bags of clothes from Zhou Ji. Opening them, he found each bag contained a set of clothes.

One was the black suit he usually wore. The other was a very familiar, bright yellow, artistically styled casual outfit.

Hmm. He’d seen Chen Lu wear the latter.

Qin Guchuan looked up at Zhou Ji, whose face was the picture of principled, and who had maintained a strictly ‘see no evil’ demeanor ever since entering this presidential suite: “…” 

Chen Lu, unaware that despite his failed cohabitation invitation the previous night, he and Qin Guchuan had already ‘spent the night together’ in some people’s minds, solemnly prepared the tools and books needed for the day according to his class schedule and went to school.

As a university student just like the original ‘Chen Lu’, Chen Lu was quite familiar with the routine of attending classes. He had done his preparatory work thoroughly and accurately found his way to the classroom for today’s creative arts class.

But speaking of which…

In the plot, all the classes ‘Chen Lu’ attended seemed to be creative arts classes. There wasn’t a single description of any other type of class. 

He was getting a tiny bit of a sense of how half-hearted the original plot was regarding ‘Chen Lu’s’ major.

As soon as Chen Lu entered the classroom, he immediately attracted the attention of his fellow students. Someone immediately exclaimed, “Chen Lu! You actually came back to class!!!”

This wasn’t in the plot.

——In the original plot, the teacher appears, sees Chen Lu, his expression softens, and he tells Chen Lu he knows about his family’s situation, doesn’t require his personal attendance, and will pass him for the course as long as he can produce one painting that meets the teacher’s passing standard. 

——Naturally, what follows is ‘Chen Lu’ painstakingly creating, only for his work to be destroyed by Fang Qizhi just before its completion. There are actually some minor, scattered plot points of Fang Qizhi bullying Chen Lu in between.

——After the painting is destroyed, ‘Chen Lu’ has an emotional breakdown, followed immediately by Qin Guchuan’s heartfelt pity, playing the hero to save the beauty and writing Fang Qizhi out of the plot.

——After Fang Qizhi is gone, ‘Chen Lu’ picks himself up again. By then, it’s too late to start a new painting. ‘Chen Lu’ looks at the painting ruined by Fang Qizhi and does a second round of creative work on top of it, naming it “Nirvana”. It becomes the most outstanding work of the graduating class and is exhibited at the school.

The plot didn’t really feature classmates, but just like the aunties who brought him delicious food yesterday, these seemingly background character classmates also had their own behaviors that required spontaneous responses. 

But for a social butterfly like Chen Lu, this was no problem at all.

With the files Qin Guchuan provided, Chen Lu had long since memorized the appearances and personalities of his classmates and teachers. He immediately recognized who had greeted him. Chen Lu responded with a smile, “Yufei, long time no see. My family’s situation is a bit better now. Of course I’d come back to class when I have the time.”

The classmate who greeted him was momentarily stunned. Looking at Chen Lu smiling at him, he scratched his head in embarrassment. “Ah, Chen Lu, you’ve never called me by name before. I always thought you didn’t remember who I was.”

Amidst the uproarious laughter of the other students, Chen Lu’s expression stiffened slightly. 

Oh, right.

He, Chen Lu, was a social butterfly. But ‘Chen Lu’ clearly was not.

Having accidentally broken character again, Chen Lu pondered for a moment. Looking at the excited students gathering around him one by one, asking him what their names were, their faces radiating the joy of teasing a beauty, Chen Lu immediately made a decision.

They’re just a bunch of background characters anyway. It’s not like I haven’t exposed my true nature in front of background characters before. 

Right, my dear ‘Skinny’, ‘Noodle’, ‘Brawny’~

After making his decision, Chen Lu instantly blended in with these future artists. The entire classroom was immediately filled with a joyful atmosphere.

The teacher, who stepped into the classroom right on the bell: “……”

The creative arts teacher, a seasoned educator, immediately identified the source of this chaos with one glance. 

Looking at Chen Lu, who was now standing on the central model display platform, striking poses according to the students’ requests, the teacher’s lip twitched. He immediately raised his voice and said to Chen Lu, “Chen Lu! If you don’t hand in a piece that satisfies me this semester, don’t even think about getting a passing grade from me!!”

Chen Lu: “……..”

But in the plot, when the teacher said this, his tone was gentle, considerate, and full of sympathy!!!

Wah!!!