You Guys Wouldn’t Have Taken My Casual Acting Seriously, Right Chapter 38

Jiang Shu ended up sleeping on a makeshift bed on the floor in Shen Fu’s room.

Shen Fu sat cross-legged on the bed and watched as he flicked his wrist and skillfully shook out a blanket, spreading it across the wooden floor. Then he placed his pillow on top.

After finishing everything, he lay down comfortably, resting his arms behind his head. His long legs stretched out lazily before bending slightly, and he closed his eyes.

“…”

Wasn’t he a little too comfortable?

Shen Fu couldn’t help asking: “You’re going to sleep already?”

Without opening his eyes, Jiang Shu rolled over so his back faced her. “What else? I came to your room just to borrow a place to stay for one night. Don’t tell me you think I have some ulterior motive toward you. Go to sleep.”

Typical. Nothing decent ever came out of his mouth.

Shen Fu reached over and turned off the light. Then she lay back and pulled the blanket over herself.

Ever since leaving the Jiang family, Shen Fu had always lived alone.

At first, the company had arranged a shared apartment for her. Since she couldn’t get along with the other trainees, Liang Xiaochun later arranged a separate apartment for her.

Later, when housing prices started rising more and more aggressively, Shen Fu used her acting income to buy two apartments, one smaller one to live in and another to hold as an investment.

Over the past few years, whenever she wasn’t filming, she rarely went out. Aside from hospital visits, she spent most of her time alone at home, daydreaming, stretching, or sleeping. Since she was frequently away, she couldn’t keep a cat or dog.

She had acted in family dramas before.

Although she performed well, it always felt unreal.

If the lights went out at night and someone was in the same room, or even the same bed, as her, would she actually be able to sleep?

Sometimes, hearing the slightest sound in the middle of the night would make her sit upright in bed and listen for a long time. She’d even grab an electric drill before cautiously going outside, afraid there might be a thief or that she’d forgotten to lock the door.

But now, in the darkness, Shen Fu quietly gazed at the moonlight streaming through the window and realized she wasn’t particularly bothered by Jiang Shu being in the room.

Though there were several meters between the bed and the floor mattress, simply knowing he was nearby made her feel unusually secure.

Just like when she used to live at the Jiang residence.

The Jiang villa had been enormous. The sound of the wind blowing at night could sometimes be enough to frighten someone.

But because Jiang Shu slept downstairs while she slept upstairs, she had never really worried about anything happening during the night.

“Jiang Shu.” Shen Fu lowered her voice and called out.

The Jiang Shu on the floor responded vaguely with an “Mm,” but he sounded as though he had already fallen deeply asleep and wasn’t fully conscious.

Reassured, Shen Fu carefully turned over.

With her back to the window, she now faced the direction where Jiang Shu’s floor bed lay in the darkness.

Whatever.

Even if the variety show only had a little over ten days left before ending, and everything would eventually disappear…

She might as well enjoy this sense of security for tonight.

After the breathing from the bed gradually became slow and even, 

Jiang Shu slowly opened his eyes.

He also turned over very slowly and very quietly.

Propping his head on one arm, he faced the bed.

His gaze settled firmly on Shen Fu’s face, softly illuminated by the pale moonlight.

Take it slowly.

This time, he would make her get used to him little by little.

He couldn’t scare her away again.

…

When Shen Fu woke up the next morning, Jiang Shu was already gone.

The floor was empty. The bedding he had slept on had been packed away as well.

Climbing out of bed, Shen Fu noticed a note left beside her pillow.

In bold, sweeping handwriting, it read: “Didn’t want anyone seeing me here and damaging your reputation, so I went back to my room first. Come downstairs for breakfast.”

The production team had prepared breakfast for the seven guests, planning for them to eat before returning to the villa.

Because of yesterday’s shirt-ripping incident, as soon as the livestream started, countless viewers rushed in.

The guests were already seated around the dining table eating breakfast.

[Yesterday’s livestream ended early, so we didn’t get to see Crown Prince’s body, but Shen Fu definitely did.]

The audience had waited all night, eager to see whether there was any change in the atmosphere between Shen Fu and Jiang Shu.

But in the end, nobody could tell what had happened.

Shen Fu looked completely normal, as expressionless as ever.

As for the Crown Prince, there was even less to see. He was wearing sunglasses while eating breakfast like a blind man, making it impossible to read his eyes or expression.

[D*mn it. How can someone see D’s body and still not blush or have their heart race?]

[Could she really have no interest in the Crown Prince at all?]

When fans of the other guests opened the livestream, they saw that the entire screen was still filled with discussions about Shen Fu and Jiang Shu’s relationship from yesterday, and none of them were particularly happy about it.

Especially Zuo Mei’s fans.

They had already placed Shen Fu on their list of sworn enemies.

However, because of the previous Kuang Yueyi incident, which had nearly dragged Zuo Mei down as well, they had behaved themselves recently and didn’t dare make any reckless moves.

But now, thinking that the other fandoms were probably also annoyed by the Shen Fu–Jiang Shu CP fans monopolizing the discussion, they seized the opportunity to mock them:

[The CP fans are still shipping them? You spent all yesterday talking nonsense. Have you produced any proof that he jumped from the building for love yet? Not a single person on the entire internet has a video. Does that seem reasonable to you?!]

At the dining table…

Thinking about last night’s noise incident, Shen Fu couldn’t help giving Xiang Lingyun a strange look.

Although her gaze probably contained more condemnation than anything else, Jiang Shu still wasn’t happy that she was looking at another man while he was sitting right beside her.

Just after that barrage comment demanding the rooftop-jump video appeared, 

The viewers suddenly saw Jiang Shu turn his head and say to Shen Fu: “Keep looking and I’ll jump off a building again.”

Shen Fu: “…”

The anti-fans: “…”

The CP fans shipping Jiang Shu and Shen Fu nearly died of excitement.

[HAHAHAHA DID YOU HEAR THAT?! We might not have the video, but the Crown Prince personally slapped all of you in the face!]

Meanwhile, at the company offices.

Wang Xuanheng and a group of executives had just worked overtime to completely resolve the public image crisis from the night before yesterday when his assistant burst into the room holding up the livestream.

Wailing, the assistant cried: “We’re doomed! President Jiang just casually exposed himself again! This time it’s daytime, there are already over a hundred thousand viewers, and we can’t delete it anymore!!”

Wang Xuanheng: “…”

He was numb.

Truly numb.

May he never meet another disaster named Jiang in his next life.

Wang Xuanheng said: “Then just give up. No point wasting any more effort.”

After all, Jiang Shu himself had completely abandoned any concern for dignity.

On the drive back to the villa, Jiang Shu handed Shen Fu a paper bag like the one he’d carried at the beginning of the show.

It was packed full of fruit.

There was also motion-sickness medicine inside.

When the other guests asked for some during the trip, Jiang Shu simply sneered and told them to buy their own.

The livestream comments screamed about it the entire journey.

[At this point, isn’t the Crown Prince the most straightforward and devoted male guest on the show?!]

[D*mn it! After all this time, I finally know what was in that bag on the first Spring Date, it was probably motion-sickness medicine too! Lock them together forever!!!]

Chu Wei’s fans struggled to survive amidst the chaos, furiously cursing the Jiang Shu–Shen Fu CP fans as a cult:

*[Are you all masochists or something? Do you really love forceful pursuit that much? Even you admit Shen Fu seems completely uninterested in D! You’re all feeding on fake sugar!]

Zuo Mei’s fans and Shen Fu’s anti-fans were practically speechless.

Dear heavens.

How had things developed to this point?

Why had Jiang Shu suddenly stopped pretending altogether and started pursuing Shen Fu so aggressively?

What angle was left for them to criticize anymore?

Even when pulling weeds, people leave a little space for the grass to grow.

Jiang Shu wasn’t interacting with any of the other female guests at all, what chance did that leave them?

Xiang Lingyun’s fans watched the argument unfold with annoyance.

[Alright, it’s confirmed. Crown Prince Jiang has also fallen at Shen Fu’s feet. Up until now, isn’t my Ge the only clear-headed and rational one still standing firm?]

Wen Zhenghan’s fans were still trying to salvage the situation:

[There’s still our guy. We still can’t prove that the reason he treated Shen Fu well in Cuirujia was because he was trying to make the Film Empress jealous after their fight.]

Xiang Lingyun’s fans replied:

[Give it a rest. Your film emperor started simping ages ago. Don’t try to associate him with our one remaining normal male guest.]

Amid all the noise and arguing, the guests finally returned to the villa.

After arriving, the production team kindly tried to preserve Chu Wei’s dignity.

They deliberately stopped the other guests from immediately returning to their rooms.

The staff announced: “The four groups’ photos will be uploaded to the official website tomorrow. We also have some behind-the-scenes footage from the photoshoots. Since Teacher Chu Wei wasn’t able to participate in that segment, we’d like everyone to watch the behind-the-scenes clips together so that Teacher Chu Wei can feel a bit more involved. Is that alright?”

Chu Wei, who had been sitting on the sofa playing with his phone: “…”

He really didn’t want to watch behind-the-scenes footage of Shen Fu and that guy surnamed Jiang taking photos together.

But the livestream was still running.

There was no way he could refuse.

So Chu Wei awkwardly stood up. “That sounds great. I’m really curious to see how everyone’s photos turned out.”

Everyone else had their own thoughts as well.

Xiang Lingyun and Wen Zhenghan, in particular, wanted to see what Jiang Shu and Shen Fu had been like during the photoshoot.

So everyone sat down in small groups.

Separated by several people, Chu Wei glanced at Shen Fu and Jiang Shu, then took out his phone and sent a message to the group chat: “Did what we did yesterday have zero effect? The two of them are still sitting together.”

Xiang Lingyun didn’t even want to mention last night’s events anymore.

He simply replied with four words: “You’re a f*cking idiot.”

He never should have believed that Chu Wei had any good plan for breaking Jiang Shu and Shen Fu apart.

It had cost him an entire night’s sleep.

Wen Zhenghan’s phone kept vibrating. He frowned, glanced at Chu Wei and Xiang Lingyun, then took out his phone and discreetly checked it while avoiding Zuo Mei’s line of sight.

Chu Wei asked: “When did Jiang Shu come out of Room 208?”

Room 208 was the room Shen Fu had stayed in at the resort the previous night.

Wen Zhenghan replied: “Not sure, but he definitely didn’t stay there all night. I saw him leave sometime before dawn. And nothing should have happened between them.”

Chu Wei finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Nothing happened.

What did that mean?

It meant Jiang Shu had practically delivered himself to her door, and Shen Fu still couldn’t care less.

Not long after taking his seat, Jiang Shu quietly stood up and walked behind the sofa.

He wanted to see what those three idiots were up to.

He also took out his phone and messaged Wang Xuanheng: “Does the tech department have anyone who can remotely control screen sharing?”

Wang Xuanheng replied almost immediately: “What are you trying to do?”

Jiang Shu sneered.

He wanted to see exactly what nonsense those three idiots were constantly discussing in private.

They dared to cut off his button?

Then he’d flip the entire table and drag all of them down with him.

Although the viewers had already watched yesterday’s livestream, they assumed the production team had probably included some entertaining off-camera moments in the behind-the-scenes footage.

So everyone eagerly focused on the projection screen in the living room, ready to watch together with the guests seated on the sofas.

However, for some unknown reason, after only two seconds of behind-the-scenes footage showing Xiang Lingyun and Xu Tiaotiao taking photos by the swimming pool, 

The screen suddenly switched to a WeChat group chat.

The barrage comments slowly filled with question marks.

[?]

Completely unaware of what was happening, Chu Wei continued typing: “This can’t go on. We have to find a way to separate those two. If Shen Fu ends up liking Jiang Shu, we’re finished.”

He tagged Xiang Lingyun. “You said my idea was stupid. Then come up with something yourself. Don’t tell me you’re all looks and no brains.”

Xiang Lingyun frowned and typed back: “Idiot. I think your entire approach was wrong from the start. What do you mean, find a way to eliminate Jiang Shu first? The problem is that there’s no way to eliminate him at all! I think we should just rely on our own abilities and pursue Shen Fu directly.”

At this point, Wen Zhenghan also felt like he’d been used by Chu Wei.

Even if Shen Fu had merely been acting around him, there was no way he ranked below Chu Wei.

Chu Wei had repeatedly emphasized that Shen Fu had no feelings for him at all. Clearly, he’d only been trying to belittle him as revenge for what happened in the storage room.

Wen Zhenghan coldly typed into the group: “Let’s disband this group. There are only four dates left. The least attractive people are the ones who panic.”

The three of them were just about to demand that Chu Wei dissolve the group chat when they suddenly realized how unusually quiet the room had become.

It was practically dead silent.

A pin dropping would have been clearly audible.

Xiang Lingyun and Wen Zhenghan were the first to look up at the screen.

Chu Wei immediately sensed something was wrong and hurriedly raised his head as well.

Meanwhile, the audience watching the livestream:

[………………]

The group chat’s name was actually, “Anti-Jiang Alliance.”

The fans of Xiang Lingyun and Wen Zhenghan finally suffered a complete mental breakdown.

They beat their chests.

They stomped their feet.

They hugged their heads and cried.

AHHHHHHHHH WHAT THE H*LL IS THIS?!

THEY’RE! ALL! SIMPS!

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