Water Recovery System Chapter 2.3

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Arc 2 – Chapter Three

That investor's surname was Dong, his age was close to forty, he was dressed up to the point of putting on airs, but his reputation in the circle was notoriously foul.

This person liked to play with the circle's male stars the most, and it was a common staple for them to end up injured and ruined after he's had his fun. It was just extravagant spending, and in the entertainment circle, it was also an existence of being shaken with every stamp of feet, so there were still people who would be willing to follow him.

(“家常便饭”, literally so household-common it becomes rice, which means that the subject is as common as rice, which is a staple food in Asian countries.)

(If anyone is confused about the second sentence, it probably just means that it's not easy to stay intact in the entertainment circle, so some people believe they are better off with him despite the costs.)

In the past, Dong Yi had caught a glimpse of Ji Luoge at the celebration banquet. His only impression of him at the time was that the person looked very beautiful. However, in the blink of an eye, he was distracted by other matters and forgot about it.

But today, meeting like this, it unexpectedly made the whole heart of this person surnamed Dong begin to itch.

How had he not realised before that this Ji Luoge was so captivating?

Dong Yi walked towards Shen Jiayan, revealing a smile that he believed to be charming, his small eyes narrowed until they couldn't be seen, and his mouth about to split to the back of his ear: “Are you free tonight? Let's go have a meal.”

As for the meaning of this “meal”, needless to say, everyone could understand.

Su You heard his words and the pressure around his body plummeted, the dark black of his eyes was as concentrated as dense fog, and the corner of his mouth raised a mocking smile. Wasn't it also like this in the past? In the place where he could not see, Ji Luoge and this person surname Dong......

Thinking about it, it's still very nauseating!

Meanwhile, Shen Jiayan's reaction was to subconsciously retreat, before he realised that this was somewhat impolite, and forced himself to stand in his original place: “No, no need.”

Dong Yi wanted to stretch out a hand to touch Shen Jiayan's face. His face had a yearning expression: “It's nothing much to eat a meal together. Can't I also eat you up?” His pitch rose at the end, carrying with it an obvious teasing implication.

In that moment, blood completely faded from Shen Jiayan's face: “Chief Dong, I already have an appointment tonight.”

“Oh, is that so?” Dong Yi slowly looked around the entire site, smiling till his whole fierce-looking face trembled. “But I do want to know, who is it that you have an appointment with?”

Dong Yi looked past each person. Everyone who had been looked at, without exception, bowed their heads, acting like quails. Dong Yi smiled smugly : “It seems there's still n.o.body who...”

It was just that Dong Yi's voice hadn't fallen yet, but Su You had already moved in front of Shen Jiayan, directly blocking him, with a cold face he said, “Me.”

Su You's imposing manner was too intimidating, Dong Yi unexpectedly failed to react for a moment: “What you?”

“I'm saying, he  has  already  made  an  appointment  with  me.” Su You replied with a pause after every word. Facing Dong Yi expressionlessly, he said, “If Chief Dong's ears aren't good, I can still repeat it again.”

Looking at Su You's stance, he wasn't willing to yield half a point.

Dong Yi had never had his face beaten like this before, he was instantly furious yet laughing: “Fine, it's Su You, Film Emperor Su, right? You have enough guts, but I still want to see, after offending me, are you still able to continue mixing around in this entertainment circle?”

Dong Yi dropped such a sentence, then left in a rage.

Shen Jiayan walked around to face Su You, his eyes were a little red, his pair of almond pupils were bright with tears, like an innocent red-eyed rabbit: “Ah, Brother Su, the matter just now, thank you.”

Su You's gaze towards Shen Jiayan became more complicated. If Ji Luoge was really unwilling to accompany that pig from earlier, then in the end, why was there such a result in the previous life?

Su You was really finding it harder and harder to figure out.

It's just that facing Shen Jiayan's pair of eyes that clearly expressed a “baby has been wronged, want hugs” feeling, Su You's heart eventually couldn't help but soften. He reached out and stroked Shen Jiayan's hair: “It's nothing, you have me here.”

He did not expect to feel a handful of hair wet with cold sweat, Su You subconsciously thought: Just now, Ji Luoge must have been really scared?

Shen Jiayan blinked his eyes, diligently blinking away the mist in his eyes. He revealed a bright smile, like the first glimpse of clear sky after rain, those who saw this felt their hearts warm: “Okay, I believe A'You.”

Looking at Shen Jiayan's smile, the corner of Su You's mouth also followed along in rising slightly. Even if he really was stupid, he was willing to trust Ji Luoge one more time.

As long as Ji Luoge could look up and smile unguardedly at him, as he was doing now, he would want to keep protecting him.

Xie Yun shook his head in disapproval towards Su You. He really did not understand, this friend of his was so good, yet why was his vision so poor? Forget about how he had taken care of acting matters for the sake of Ji Luoge this flower vase in the past, now he had even unnecessarily offended such a mountain for him, in the end, what was it for?

“Isn't it just eating a meal? Su You, regarding your protection of him, aren't you protecting him like the apple of your eye?” Xie Yun couldn't help but lecture Su You.

(“眼珠子”, literally eye pearl, but it means the same as the English figurative phrase, that is, a favourite person.)

Su You did not speak, and only looked at Xie Yun quietly. After a long while, he asked in return: “Whether it really is just having a meal, are you honestly unclear in your heart?”

“Even, I mean, even if Dong Yi is truly interested in him, it is still difficult to guarantee that Ji Luoge would not think of this as an opportunity, then throw himself forward? Things of mutual consent, how are you going to stop it?”

These remarks of Xie Yun just happened to tear open the scars from Su You's previous life, and they were the deepest and most painful ones.

Su You sneered aloud: “Whether Ji Luoge will throw himself, I do not know. But as long as he is unwilling to throw himself for a day, I will protect him for a day!”

Su You's att.i.tude also infuriated Xie Yun. He seized Su You's collar and roared: “Su You, what do you think you're worth? What else do you have aside from the reputation of a Film Emperor and the talent for filming? Do you know that Dong Yi only needs to move a finger to find someone to ruin you? Why did you go and be a hero?”

Su You calmly pulled away Xie Yun's fingers one by one: “I am not a hero. Dong Yi, he is also unable to destroy me.”

Someone who is capable of ruining me, there is only Ji Luoge. Except for him, I fear no one else.

Xie Yun was silent for a long while, before he finally breathed out a long sigh: “Forget it, it's all up to you.”

On the surface, Xie Yun appeared at ease, but the anger in his heart did not dissipate. And the most concrete manifestation of his anger was him dragging Shen Jiayan and Su You to shoot a whole afternoon of film.

The most important thing was that these were all Shen Yu and Zhu Fu's final showdown's drama, parts, of, bitter, feelings!

Recently, Shen Yu had been suffering frequent losses in the business field, no matter how he moved, it was always perceived by the enemy a step ahead of him, and the loss couldn't be considered not grievous. Based on Shen Yu's vigilance, it was impossible for him not to know that a mole had arisen by his side.

(“内鬼”, literally inner ghost, which means mole/spy/traitor/rat.)

Therefore, Shen Yu used a piece of the Shen family's internal strictly-confidential data, which led Zhu Fu to eventually reveal a cloven hoof. After all, this piece of information was too important, it was so important to the degree where they would rather sacrifice one Zhu Fu in order to obtain it.

(“马脚”, literally horse foot, so I took the liberty of using a similar English phrase with a similar meaning instead, even though horses don't actually have cloven hooves. Also, the sacrificing here is probably done on the part of whoever is behind Zhu Fu. So, Zhu Fu was basically cast aside just so that they can get their grubby hands on the info.)

The information was sent out, but Zhu Fu was also exposed.

Before Zhu Fu was sent to Shen Yu, he had already been privately punished. His clothes were ragged, with pieces stuck to his wounds in threads, and there was a limp in his footsteps, but those eyes of his were still as bright as ever.

Shen Yu sat on the sofa, holding with both hands a cup of qing ming to his mouth. The fragrance of tea curled upwards, the dense tea scent muddled the five senses, seeming to give the effect of quite an unexpected lingering charm. He didn't look like a businessman with a whole body stinking of copper, rather, he looked more like an elegant young master from an aristocratic family.

(“清茗”, literally clear young tea leaves, referring to a type of Chinese tea that is brewed without other ingredients i.e. ‘pure' tea. Not to be mistaken with “清明”—although p.r.o.nunciations are exactly the same, tone and all—which refers to a Chinese tomb-sweeping festival, because there exists a type of tea harvested in this period with a similar name.)

(“铜臭味”, literally copper stench, which refers to greed, particularly the money-loving sort.)

Shen Yu took a light sip of tea from the cup, his voice smooth as he asked: “Why must you betray me?”

“I wasn't one of yours from the start, what betrayal is there to talk about?” Things had been exposed, so Zhu Fu did not continue to hide his original temperament, his pair of eyes were like skies full of crushed stars, dazzling and attractive.

Shen Yu violently smashed the teacup onto Zhu Fu's head, and fresh blood suddenly seeped out from his forehead: “The first time I saw you, I actually thought you were an obedient dog. I didn't expect to have fed and raised an audacious wolf instead.”

“Cut—” Xie Yun shouted for them to stop. “Ji Luoge's execution of details wasn't good enough here, the force of the smash wasn't ruthless enough. Come, repeat it again!”

The moment Xie Yun said this, everyone could not help but stare blankly.

Although this cup was unlike those types that were commonly used, but smashing it on the forehead would still inevitably hurt. Everyone could see that Shen Jiayan had deliberately held back the force used. They didn't expect Director Xie to be so strict and meticulous, wanting to perfect something that was already outstanding!

(“一丝不苟”, literally not one thread loose, an idiom describing the great attention to detail and precision)

Su You watched Ji Luoge wring and twist his slender fingers, knowing that Ji Luoge was definitely blaming himself for his mistakes. But in actual fact, Xie Yun was only targeting him, and it had nothing to do with Ji Luoge at all.

Su You winked at Shen Jiayan with his right eye: “It's nothing, it doesn't hurt.”

Looking at Su You's somewhat funny expression, Shen Jiayan couldn't help but laugh aloud, but it did relax his frame of mind. He prepared his feelings again, then signalled to Xie Yun that they could continue.

Anger rolled within Shen Yu's pair of almond eyes, just like black clouds bearing down upon a city, seeming as if it might gush out within the next second. Due to his rage, he could not control his hands from trembling slightly, and violently threw out the cup.

Using a close-up lens, one could even see that hidden deeply beneath the fury in his eyes was profound disappointment.

He once thought, Zhu Fu could be trusted; he once thought, Zhu Fu had been brought to him by that loyal servant who had accompanied him for more than ten years; he once thought, Zhu Fu would not disappoint his confidence.

It's a pity, he was wrong.

The cup hit Zhu Fu's head, and a trail of blood meandered out. Then it dropped onto the ground, “peng—” it cracked with a sound into many pieces, just like them, no longer able to return once more.

“The first time I saw you, I actually thought you were an obedient dog. I didn't expect to have fed and raised an audacious wolf instead.” Shen Yu slowly lowered himself into a squat, he stained his index finger with a drop of blood and brought it to his lips. That trace of bright red blood on his pale lips carried a sort of unspeakable flirtatious flavour.

“Zhu Fu, do you remember, when I first saw you, what did I say?” Shen Yu did not wait for him to reply, but went on to say, “I said that I really dislike your pair of eyes.”

Zhu Fu did not know what to say in that moment, and just remained silent.

Shen Yu chuckled lightly: “Looking at them now, they are still very annoying. You and I, have really never been people from the same world.”

Zhu Fu opened his mouth, but wasn't able to say anything. What could he say? Say that he actually did not dislike Shen Yu that much, and it was just because their standpoints were different?

But Shen Yu also didn't give him another chance to speak, and gave orders to his subordinates: “Then just have him thrown back into his world.”

The meaning beneath his words, was to actually have Zhu Fu released.

Shen Yu waited for Zhu Fu to be brought away before he gently whispered a sentence: “The expression in those eyes, it really is exactly the same as the stupid me of the past...”

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T/N: So it really does seem as if Shen Jiayan had tried out this role first before he hooked up with the slimy investor and got his hands on Mo Ming's role. I think we can also a.s.sume that memories are not to be entirely trusted especially after going through a process of sleeping-pill-suicide and rebirth, so Su You's idea of when things happened may be a bit off.

Also, are my explanations for some words too distracting? Would you prefer them in a lighter colour, or as a glossary at the end or another page, or perhaps you feel they aren't necessary at all? Feel free to let me know! And if you spot any mistakes, do inform me too! Thanks!

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