You Guys Wouldn’t Have Taken My Casual Acting Seriously, Right Chapter 47

“…”

Seeing that neither his grandson nor Shen Fu looked the way he had expected, especially Shen Fu, whose face was filled with confusion and bewilderment, the old master frowned.

What?

Was there a problem?

The old master glanced again at Jiang Shu, who looked mortified, embarrassed, and furious, and suddenly realized…

So this brat had been fooling him all along!

This kid hardly ever returned to the old residence. But every time he did, he’d wear a sour expression and go on and on about how he and Shen Fu were mutually in love, a match made in heaven, destined soulmates that nothing could separate. He’d even say that if he wasn’t allowed to be with Shen Fu, he’d jump off the rooftop.

The old master had listened so much his ears were practically calloused.

He’d thought: I never said you couldn’t be with Shen Fu.

Isn’t it just that you’re useless and couldn’t keep her around?

The moment she turned eighteen, she couldn’t wait to leave.

Who else could you blame?

If Shen Fu really liked him, then let them get married.

What a nuisance.

At least then this brat would stop bothering him and his wife every day.

But looking at Shen Fu’s completely unmoved and bewildered reaction now, it was obvious she hadn’t fallen for this kid at all.

This fool had been carrying a one-sided crush for a full eight years!

His grandson had made him lose face in front of so many people.

The old master’s face alternated between green and white. He turned and glared at Jiang Shu. If there weren’t so many people present, he’d have taken off a shoe and chased him around with it.

How could Jiang Shu have known the old man would suddenly pull something like this?

The reason he always rambled the moment he returned to the old residence was because he was afraid that one day Shen Fu might agree, only for his family to object. So he’d been giving advance warnings to his grandparents, second uncle, and second aunt.

Once he’d nagged the old master enough for his ears to grow calluses, the old man wouldn’t oppose them anymore.

Who knew this old man would actually take it seriously and completely ignore common sense?

Jiang Shu had overturned all the other male guests’ tables with his efforts, and yet the moment the old man arrived, he flipped over the very table Jiang Shu had painstakingly built.

Was there a grandfather who would ruin his grandson than this?

Afraid that Shen Fu would be put off, Jiang Shu couldn’t spare time to explain things to the old master. He grabbed Shen Fu by the wrist and, right in front of everyone, pulled her downstairs.

The cameramen wanted to follow.

Without even turning his head, Jiang Shu made a “stop” gesture.

The cameramen immediately didn’t dare continue filming.

Shen Fu was dragged by Jiang Shu all the way to the third floor.

Jiang Shu had long legs and strode ahead rapidly. Shen Fu had to jog the whole way just to keep up.

Looking at the person hurriedly leading her away, her gaze settled on his tall back.

She couldn’t quite describe what she was feeling.

Besides confusion, there was also a hint of nervousness.

Shen Fu was not someone who often felt nervous.

“…What’s going on?” Shen Fu shook off Jiang Shu’s hand.

Not only had the company executive who was supposed to come for her somehow turned into Jiang Shu’s grandfather, but what exactly had Jiang Shu’s grandparents meant by those things they said?

When Shen Fu had lived with the Jiang family, Old Master Jiang had treated her very well.

He’d helped solve the problems caused by troublesome relatives, paid for her medical expenses, and even had his assistant transfer the same amount of monthly allowance into her account as Jiang Shu received.

However, Old Master Jiang was a powerful and busy man who spoke little.

Over three years, Shen Fu had met him fewer than five times.

How could she possibly guess what was on his mind?

So she’d never thought deeply about why the old master had kept her living in his grandson’s villa.

But from what he’d said just now…

Could it be that he’d wanted to matchmake her with Jiang Shu?

The hand Jiang Shu had just been holding suddenly felt empty.

Subconsciously, he glanced at his now-empty palm, pressed his lips together, and said, “The old man probably misunderstood something.”

As he spoke, the eyes hidden behind his sunglasses remained fixed on Shen Fu’s expression.

Truthfully, Jiang Shu’s behavior on the show recently really was easy to misunderstand.

Forget the old master, even Shen Fu herself had felt as though she were a pool of calm water being stirred into unrest by him.

Just now, she’d almost thought the old master was trying to force Jiang Shu to marry her.

At the Jiang family’s current status, political marriages were completely unnecessary. Even while living with them, Shen Fu had heard that the old master’s only requirement for his second uncle and others when choosing wives was that they be of good character.

Since it wasn’t coercion, Shen Fu felt relieved.

The last thing she wanted was for all of Jiang Shu’s strange behavior toward her on the show to be the result of pressure from his grandfather.

Jiang Shu took in every detail of her expression.

Yet he stiffened. “Why do you look relieved?”

Shen Fu looked baffled. “Why can’t I be relieved?”

Jiang Shu’s face immediately darkened.

He suddenly felt rejected.

Hearing that the old master had merely misunderstood the relationship between them, that she wouldn’t have to marry him, was she really that delighted?

She didn’t even bother to hide it.

Right in front of him, she let out a heavy breath of relief as if a huge burden had been lifted.

Jiang Shu snapped, “You sighed in relief right in front of me.”

Shen Fu replied, “What, was I supposed to hold my breath in front of you instead?”

Jiang Shu: “…”

Jiang Shu was about to explode from anger.

He felt like his head was covered in green.

Those other four guys all had qualities that could make her like them.

But him?

From head to toe, there wasn’t a single thing about him that attracted her?

The two of them stared at each other.

Jiang Shu lowered his eyes and frowned coldly at Shen Fu.

Then, out of nowhere, he asked: “Do you think I’m handsome?”

Shen Fu: “…”

Are you sick in the head?!

She turned around and walked away.

“…”

Jiang Shu stood where he was, embarrassed and indignant.

See?

See?!

Even his most flawless feature, his appearance, couldn’t attract her!

Could it be that after seeing him for too long, looking at him felt no different from looking at one hand with the other, completely numb and devoid of feeling?

…

Meanwhile, back in the reception room, everyone finally processed what had happened. 

And immediately panicked.

Chu Wei was the first who couldn’t suppress his shock and blurted out: “Marriage? What marriage?”

The same question had gotten stuck in Gu Zhidao’s throat, as well as the throats of the other two men. If Chu Wei hadn’t spoken first, they probably would have voiced their shock too.

They glanced at Chu Wei, then immediately fixed their eyes back on the old master.

Gu Zhidao’s mother was twice as anxious as everyone else.

Shen Fu, who should have been with her son, and Jiang Shu, who should have been with Qingshuang…

How had everything already ended before she’d even had the chance to start planning?

She hurried forward and hooked her arm around Jiang Shu’s grandmother’s arm. “Auntie, what did the two of you mean by what you just said?”

The old master looked awkwardly at everyone. “A misunderstanding. I may have misunderstood something.”

As he spoke, he couldn’t help pulling Gu’s mother hand off Jiang Shu’s grandmother’s arm.

Don’t you have your own wife?

Why are you hugging my wife?

Grandma Jiang glanced at the old man and also realized what had happened. She quickly smoothed things over: “We were joking.”

Only then did everyone present finally breathe a sigh of relief.

That’s what they’d thought.

Who starts talking about marriage the moment they meet?

So it had been a joke.

The livestream comments also relaxed:

【That scared me to death. I was completely stunned. These two elders are really old pranksters.】

【But from the looks of it, Shen Fu’s grandfather and Jiang Shu’s grandmother really are old acquaintances. They seem very familiar with each other. And those sunglasses were coordinated beforehand, weren’t they?】

Rumors had long circulated that Shen Fu had lived in Jiang Shu’s home when she was younger, only to later be driven out by Jiang Shu.

Now the audience completely believed the first half of that story.

【The second half is way too fake. I somehow feel that if Shen Fu moved into the Jiang family, the one getting kicked out would be the Crown Prince.】

【The comment above is killing me. Why don’t you exaggerate even more and say that when Shen Fu left the Jiang family, the Crown Prince chased after the car like that meme: “Yanzi, without you, how am I supposed to live?”】

The comments continued speculating, but they were all unsupported guesses. No one actually knew what had happened between the two of them in the past.

【D*mn it, my curiosity is about to explode. I want to tie up either one of them and interrogate them until they tell us everything.】

Forget the audience, even the old master didn’t know what had happened.

After Shen Fu left, Jiang Shu had basically lain around like a corpse for an entire month before moving out without even giving anyone notice.

The old master inwardly cursed that troublesome brat and impatiently said: “How about we just start eating?”

It was only eleven o’clock. Logically, it should still have been time for the guests’ families to mingle and chat.

But only the director knew who this old master really was.

He quickly turned to the production crew.

“Alright, let’s move on to the lunch segment.”

At the dining table, the male guests once again gathered around “Shen Fu’s grandfather.”

Chu Yi had originally prepared extensive notes and planned to eloquently discuss all kinds of topics with Shen Fu’s grandfather today to help his younger brother’s chances.

But after the commotion just now, he’d forgotten everything.

Chu Wei looked up from the cheat sheet in his hands and exchanged helpless looks with his Ge.

The dining table was completely the home turf of people like Wen Zhenghan and Gu Zhidao, who came from prestigious families and handled social situations with ease.

There was simply no opportunity for the Chu brothers to interject.

Meanwhile, Gu’s mother constantly served food to the two elders while slipping in praise for Gu Zhidao and Gu Qingshuang whenever she could.

Shen Fu and Jiang Shu only returned one after the other when lunch was nearly over.

Undercurrents flowed beneath the seemingly calm dining table.

Since viewers hadn’t seen Shen Fu and Jiang Shu’s private conversation, their attention once again shifted to the two of them.

【What did they go off to talk about? Why does the Crown Prince look so upset?】

【Come to think of it, when the word “marriage” came up earlier, Shen Fu didn’t really react either. Why are the Jiang Shu × Shen Fu shippers so dominant right now? Their tag already has 150,000 popularity points. Honestly, I haven’t seen any romantic chemistry between them at all.】

The user named “No One Ships Better Than Me” was originally a supporter of the Shen Fu × Gu Zhidao pairing.

Seeing doubts emerge in the comments, they immediately began steering the conversation:

【Maybe she just went to reject D. (Just guessing.)】

【Holy cr*p, now that this big-brain commenter says it, I think that’s very possible. Honestly, the Crown Prince is still too domineering. No one likes being pressured into marriage like that.】

“No One Ships Better Than Me”:【Exactly. Plus there’s a theory that if you didn’t fall for someone during your youth, you’re unlikely to fall for them later. Since the Crown Prince and Shen Fu knew each other when they were young, that only supports the theory even more.】

The Jiang Shu × Shen Fu fans had also been thrown off by the sudden incident earlier and hadn’t been paying attention to the comments.

A little later, they finally appeared to argue back:

【Then how do you explain Shen Fu secretly asking a staff member to swap slippers when she saw the Crown Prince was unhappy, and favoring him during the water-splashing challenge?】

“No One Ships Better Than Me”:【Has it occurred to you that it might simply be family affection?】

Jiang Shu × Shen Fu fans:【…】

D*mn it.

They wanted to tear this Gu Zhidao fan apart with their bare hands.

Everyone else ships east; this person ships west.

The family meet-and-greet ended after lunch.

The whole purpose of the segment had simply been to let the guests’ families meet and get acquainted.

After all, they were all influential and busy people.

The gathering couldn’t possibly last very long.

After seeing everyone off, the guests returned to the villa.

The production team began introducing the next stage of the show: “Everyone can take a break and start packing your things. Tomorrow we’ll officially enter the ‘A Long-Distance Date with Spring: Travel Cohabitation’ segment. We’ll be heading to the snowy mountains for a trip.”

The previous broadcast suspension had delayed filming by two days. Concerned about running short on time, the production team moved forward a segment that had originally been planned for the next day.

“The packing process is also part of the ‘Travel Cohabitation’ segment. We’ll use a lottery draw to divide the guests into male-female pairs. Each pair will help the other person pack.”

Originally, the guests’ rooms had cameras installed as well, and the production team intended to livestream them.

But afterward, every single guest had removed the cameras with Jiang Shu leading the charge.

The viewers had never even seen what his room looked like.

So before everyone left the villa, the production team decided to satisfy the audience’s curiosity through a small game.

The CP fans who had been fighting endlessly in the comments finally quieted down a bit.

Everyone was hoping their favorite pairing would end up together.

【Praying for Jiang Shu and Shen Fu to be paired together. Childhood sweethearts checking out each other’s rooms, hehe.】

【Praying for Gu Zhidao and Shen Fu to be paired together. The newly popular CP couple!】

【Praying for Wen Zhenghan and Shen Fu to be paired together. The strongest chemistry, let’s go!】

【Praying for Xiang Lingyun and Shen Fu to be paired together. I’ll ship them no matter what.】

【Praying for Chu Wei and Shen Fu to be paired together. No matter how many years pass, I’ll always love reunion romances.】

As soon as the comments from all sides appeared, everyone froze.

【D*mn.】

And then they immediately started fighting again.

…

The lottery results came out quickly.

To the delight of the Gu Zhidao–Shen Fu shippers, Shen Fu and Gu Zhidao were assigned to the same group.

Since there was one extra male guest, Chu Wei ended up left out again.

Chu Wei: “…”

On Chu Wei’s mental blacklist of grudges, Gu Zhidao steadily climbed higher.

Before this guy showed up, at least it had been four against four. He wouldn’t have been the one left out.

Jiang Shu hadn’t even drawn his lot yet, but the moment he saw Shen Fu paired with Gu Zhidao, he was already annoyed.

Walking over behind Chu Wei, he grabbed the blank lot from Chu Wei’s hand with a sour expression.

“I’ll volunteer to be the one left out. You keep drawing.”

Chu Wei looked up at Jiang Shu in disbelief.

For the first time ever, he felt a trace of friendliness from the Crown Prince.

Shen Fu also glanced at Jiang Shu’s back.

Gu Zhidao blocked her line of sight. “Let’s go. I’ll help you pack first.”

Shen Fu said, “I don’t really have much stuff. I can handle it myself.”

Gu Zhidao shrugged. “It’s a program segment. Since we agreed to play, we should accept the results.”

He knew Shen Fu hated him right now.

He couldn’t be too aggressive.

Someone like Jiang Shu was a perfect negative example.

That kind of behavior only made people dislike you.

Shen Fu frowned but said nothing more and turned toward her room.

After they entered, the production crew followed them inside and even reinstalled the camera that Shen Fu had previously removed.

The moment Gu Zhidao entered, he paused.

The gift he had given Shen Fu the previous night hadn’t even been opened. It had been casually placed on the cabinet near the entrance.

The comments paused as well.【What’s going on? Shen Fu didn’t even open Gu Zhidao’s gift?】

Some Shen Fu–Gu Zhidao fans tried to save face:【She probably didn’t have time. It was really late last night, and the female guests got up early to do makeup today. Can people stop nitpicking every little detail?】

She’s still angry at him.

Gu Zhidao forced himself not to focus on it. He said to Shen Fu, “It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to pack your clothes. You handle those yourself. I’ll organize the books and scripts on the round table.”

Shen Fu had already gone into the bathroom and hadn’t really heard him. Distracted, she simply responded with an absent-minded “Mm.”

Although the contestants’ rooms were considered relatively private spaces on the show, Shen Fu wasn’t new to variety programs. She naturally knew what could be displayed and what couldn’t.

Items like underwear and other personal clothing had always been kept inside her suitcase. She never left them out.

The other guests were the same. Everyone worked in the entertainment industry and understood these things.

Shen Fu’s room was unbelievably neat. Naturally, the audience’s attention shifted entirely to the relationship between her and Gu Zhidao.

It was rare to see such an extended interaction between the two of them. “No One Ships Better Than Me” was extremely excited.

【Hahaha. One person’s packing the bathroom and walk-in closet, the other’s packing the outside area. Couple mode activated.】

【The people mocking Shen Fu for not opening Teacher Gu Zhidao’s gift are definitely Crown Prince fans. Why don’t you mention that the ginger your Crown Prince gave her was probably thrown into the trash by the production crew already?】

Just then, Gu Zhidao packed the books and scripts from the table into a cardboard box provided by the production team and walked toward the window.

Suddenly, he noticed a white paper bag by the window. Inside was a gift box. It looked exactly like the one the production team had provided him the previous night.

Gu Zhidao had read the transcript and remembered that this should be the cartoon watch Shen Fu received from Wen Zhenghan during the “Gift Selection” segment.

A trace of jealousy surfaced in his heart. But throwing it into the trash in front of the cameras would seem far too petty and unmanly.

So he picked up the box, intending to place it in the packing carton with the scripts.

However, when he grabbed it, he only caught the lid.

The box slipped and fell to the floor.

【That’s the Film Emperor’s watch from that day, 】

The comment wasn’t even finished. Shen Fu emerged from the bathroom, frowned, and strode over. She pushed Gu Zhidao aside, hurriedly picked up the fallen box, and held it protectively.

Gu Zhidao had never actually seen what was inside.

He’d only read transcripts, and the production team had edited out the segment where Jiang Shu gave Shen Fu the ginger.

But the audience had watched the livestream from beginning to end.

The moment they realized the box didn’t contain a cartoon watch at all, but rather the box Jiang Shu had given her that day, the entire comment section exploded.

【Why is it Jiang Shu’s ignored box?!】

【AHHHHH WHAT’S GOING ON?!】

However, before everyone had time to recover from that shock, their attention shifted to three items that floated out of the box and slowly drifted to the floor.

Shen Fu quickly picked them up and stuffed them back inside.

But some viewers with fast reflexes had already taken screenshots.

One photo at the bottom showed a middle-aged couple. They appeared to be Shen Fu’s parents. The audience didn’t know what her parents looked like, so they couldn’t be sure.

Another photo showed “Shen Fu’s grandfather,” Jiang Shu, and Shen Fu together.

The third was a graduation photo. Only Shen Fu and Jiang Shu were sitting on the steps. In the picture, Jiang Shu wasn’t wearing sunglasses. He still had the youthful air of a teenager. The camera had captured him candidly, and his eyes were unconsciously glancing toward the person sitting beside him.

Carrying photos of her parents and grandfather around with her was one thing.

But… the audience was instantly stunned by that graduation photo.

Why would Shen Fu carry around and keep a photo of Jiang Shu from their younger years?

The comments section completely exploded:【Holy cr*p, holy cr*p, holy cr*p, don’t tell me it’s a mutual crush?!】

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