Chapter 126
Chapter 126
“Don’t you know how much of your own pay got docked? I’m only making up the difference under the table because we’re friends.”
Beside him, Shang Yan put away the silver chain without expression.
That hundred-yuan bill seemed to be what they had left after eating crayfish last time…
“Of course, if you think it’s too little, you can give it back.”
“I don’t.”
“You look pretty reluctant to me…”
“You’re seeing things.”
“No, give me my money back.”
Qiao Yu changed his mind and lunged for the bill, but the Pen Spirit dodged him.
Give it back? Impossible!
It had been hard enough getting money back out of Qiao Yu. She would not return it even if she rose from the dead all over again.
Neither would yield over the hundred yuan. They were one step away from fighting.
Shang Yan suddenly felt that being jealous of the Pen Spirit had been entirely unreasonable.
Fortunately, just before the fight began, the Ghost Matchmaker’s urging voice came through the door.
“Is the makeup artist done with the touch-up? Ten minutes until the next scene.”
“Coming, coming…” As though granted a pardon, the Pen Spirit pressed Qiao Yu into the chair and smiled. “Come on, superstar. I’ll do your makeup.”
Qiao Yu: “…”
He did not want makeup. He did not want to be a superstar. He only wanted his money.
As a female ghost who had existed since before China’s economic reforms, the Pen Spirit was fascinated by modern cosmetics. She swept a blush brush back and forth until Qiao Yu’s cheeks looked like a baboon’s backside.
Qiao Yu stared at the reflection, whose makeup made him look even more like a matchmaker than the Ghost Matchmaker, and fell completely silent.
In the end, even Shang Yan could not bear it. He pushed the Pen Spirit aside and opened the makeup case. “I’ll do it.”
Qiao Yu wiped his face clean and regarded him suspiciously. “Can you handle it?”
Shang Yan’s face instantly darkened. “Didn’t you find out whether I could handle it yesterday?”
What a suffocating thing to say.
The Pen Spirit leaned over like a curious child. “Yesterday? What happened yesterday?”
For once, the ordinarily shameless Qiao Yu turned bright red. Fresh color returned to the cheeks he had just scrubbed clean. After a long pause, he yelled at the Pen Spirit, “The grown-ups are talking. Kids shouldn’t interrupt!”
The Pen Spirit: ??
Who the fuck was he calling a kid? She was an old lady more than a century old!
Unlike Xiao Zhang and the Pen Spirit’s icy bodies, Shang Yan’s fingertips were warm-almost scalding. The fingers supporting Qiao Yu’s chin were restless too, tracing circle after circle against his skin.
The makeup brush hovered above his face without ever quite coming down…
Goose bumps rose all over Qiao Yu from his touch. He slapped Shang Yan’s arm away, shot to his feet, and stamped one foot. “Forget it, forget it. I was born too beautiful for the heavens to hide. I don’t need makeup at all!”
The Pen Spirit rolled her eyes at his narcissism, but Shang Yan was extremely supportive. He tossed the brush back into the case and nodded. “You really are beautiful.”
Beautiful, his ass!
Thanks to the Jade-faced Rakshasa title, Qiao Yu felt besieged on all sides. Shang Yan, whose presence had once made him feel safer than anyone else, had somehow become the number-one person he needed to guard against.
Tch. Being a universal heartthrob was a genuine pain!
No wonder Shang Yan strutted around like he owned the world. Apparently, endless praise really had inflated his ego.
“Mr. Lou Yu, are you ready? Filming is about to start.”
Qiao Yu hurriedly answered and fled after the Ghost Matchmaker.
After a long silence, the Pen Spirit rapped her knuckles against the table, worry entering her voice. “This is bad…”
Shang Yan kept watching Qiao Yu’s back until he turned the corner, then withdrew his gaze and gave an unreadable “Mm.”
“You go to the set. I need to rest and recover my energy.” The Pen Spirit pushed Shang Yan out of the dressing room. Her remaining words squeezed indistinctly through the closing door. “What kind of Conan curse does Qiao Yu have? All he ever does is attract trouble!”
Qiao Yu read the script for Act Three as he walked.
(Act Three: Accompany the princess consort to the imperial palace to express gratitude for the emperor’s favor-protect your princess consort and… protect yourself.)
What did that mean?
Qiao Yu did not understand.
When he was led to the front gate, he immediately learned what it meant to have every eye upon him.
The dense crowd-human and ghost alike-turned in unison and fixed their gazes on him. Not one pair of eyes even blinked. They made him look like a thousand-year-old fox spirit enchanting the masses.
Current Charm: 50%… Be careful~
Fuck! Fuck!
That damned Charm rose for absolutely no reason. The system would not even tell him how long the Jade-faced Rakshasa’s side effects lasted. It was driving him insane!
While the scene remained so silent that one could hear a pin drop, Qiao Yu suddenly pointed at the signboard over the neighboring courtyard and said, “The Grand Marshal’s Residence… just how grand and handsome is the person living in there?”
-Pfft. The streamer sure knows how to ruin an atmosphere.
-9999999.
-Incredible. The streamer might be gorgeous, but I bet that mouth has scared off plenty of admirers.
-The kind who call a cab and flee the city overnight, hahaha.
Current Charm: 45%
With a single sentence, Qiao Yu neutralized the Charm that had nearly reached a dangerous threshold.
Such was the power of his mouth.
“Imperial City Storm, scene three, take one-action!”
As soon as the slate clapped, white mist suddenly rose across the set. The lush bamboo branches surrounding them disappeared behind its veil in the blink of an eye.
When the mist dispersed, the scenery had changed.
A towering palace stood before them. A eunuch Ghost draped in dark-red gauze flicked his horsetail whisk, his shrill voice echoing through the air. “The Princess Consort of the Prince of Lanling is summoned to audience.”
Hall of Eternal Light.
The eunuch Ghost’s piercing voice made Qiao Yu uncomfortable all over. He rubbed one ear, only to glimpse his arm from the corner of his eye and discover that it was translucent!
Only then did he notice that his body felt weightless.
He looked down. He really was floating!
Filming this movie was honestly… pretty interesting.
A matte sheen passed over Shang Yan’s amber eyes. He glanced in Qiao Yu’s direction before walking gracefully up the steps.
Servants and maids filed in behind him and followed him into the great hall.
Massive red pillars supported the chamber, each carved with a coiling, lifelike golden dragon. The sight was spectacular.
Coral-latticed windows. Marble floors.
Extravagance everywhere…
Once inside, Qiao Yu touched this and examined that, his eyes glowing green. He looked one bad decision away from singing the prison blues.
Shang Yan sighed and looked straight ahead.
A man of no more than thirty sat on the gold-lacquered throne carved with dragons.
His features were stern, and the gaze he directed at Shang Yan held brooding hostility and dislike.
On the other side of a screen woven with golden thread sat the dignified, composed empress. Strangely, a veil covered her face, hiding her appearance.
At that moment, one streamer grew too curious and looked around. He accidentally stepped on the hem of his own robe and fell flat on the floor with a thud.
Every bowed head in the hall immediately turned toward him. The figures stood in a line, their necks rotating at precisely the same angle. The smiles hanging from their lips vanished at once, mouths pressing into cold, hard lines.
The orderly tree shadows outside began to sway. Their silhouettes sprawled across the floor, suddenly hideous as malicious ghosts.
The abrupt chill made the streamer’s scalp prickle. His mind went blank, and he began trembling uncontrollably where he lay.
“I… I didn’t mean to.”