You Guys Wouldn’t Have Taken My Casual Acting Seriously, Right Chapter 55

Of the three men, Gu Zhidao appeared the calmest on the surface. But inwardly, he was experiencing the greatest upheaval.

Chu Wei and Wen Zhenghan had been on the show for a long time. At first, they had thought Shen Fu came for them. Later, after being rejected by Shen Fu over and over again, they had become numb to it. The hardships they had gone through during that process were difficult to describe.

Their confidence had gradually withered away in the wind.

But Gu Zhidao hadn’t.

He still firmly believed that back then, Shen Fu had refused to take the five million yuan and had been forced to leave his side. Because of love, she had developed resentment. She had held onto that resentment for two or three years, which was why she was now treating him so coldly on the show.

He believed he still had a chance to return to the way things used to be.

Especially since, after leaving him, Shen Fu had only dated one person over the next two or three years, Chu Wei.

And from reading the transcripts of earlier episodes before joining the show, he had seen how merciless Shen Fu had been toward Chu Wei. Clearly, she wasn’t interested in Chu Wei at all. Perhaps dating him back then had merely been a way to pass the time.

There must still be a corner of her heart that belonged to him.

So at this moment, as Gu Zhidao stared at the keychain in his hand, his pupils practically underwent an earthquake.

Why did these other people also have the token of love she had given him?

After a deathly silence worthy of a graveyard, Chu Wei was the first to speak. “How about we ask Jiang Shu whether he has one too?”

Wen Zhenghan frowned. “He’s not an ex-boyfriend. He’s still in the middle of pursuing her. Why would he have one?”

“But what if he does?” Chu Wei said gloomily. “We need to figure out what’s going on.”

Wen Zhenghan fell silent. For the first time, he found himself wavering.

Could Jiang Shu also be…?

After all, everyone currently holding this keychain had dated Shen Fu before.

Wen Zhenghan had only recently learned from Gu Qingshuang that Gu Zhidao had briefly dated Shen Fu as well.

Including Xiang Lingyun, all three of them had become numb after learning the truth. Without much pain or struggle, they had calmly accepted the fact that four out of the five male guests were actually Shen Fu’s ex-boyfriends.

After all, three exes were already enough for a free-for-all. One more didn’t really change much.

In fact, because Gu Zhidao had only dated Shen Fu for half a month, they secretly regarded him as being at the very bottom of the hierarchy.

Half a month. Just thinking about it made it obvious that Shen Fu couldn’t possibly have invested any real feelings.

“…”

They knew about Gu Zhidao’s identity. But Gu Zhidao didn’t know about theirs!

“Wait, wait a second.” Gu Zhidao stretched out a hand and stopped the two men who were about to leave.

Both of them looked at him impatiently.

Gu Zhidao had keenly caught a keyword. “Mr. Wen, what did you mean by ‘he’s not an ex-boyfriend’?”

Why did that sound as though everyone present was an ex-boyfriend?

Among the male guests, weren’t only he and Chu Wei people who had dated Shen Fu?

And another thing, why had Wen Zhenghan’s first reaction been to call Xiang Lingyun?

Wasn’t Wen Zhenghan’s relationship with Shen Fu supposed to be that he had met her while filming, thought she was incredibly talented, and only began showing interest in her after joining the show?

Wasn’t Xiang Lingyun supposed to have developed feelings for Shen Fu only after joining the show as well?

Weren’t those the press releases their agencies had put out?!

Why was he still asking questions? So annoying.

However, Gu Zhidao hadn’t participated in the rooftop fight that day.

After suffering setback after setback, Chu Wei had finally managed to find a bit of superiority over this guy.

“Why?” Chu Wei rolled his eyes and said sarcastically. “Teacher Gu Zhidao, you still haven’t figured out what’s going on? Of course it’s because we’re all exes! Me, Wen Zhenghan, Xiang Lingyun! All of us!”

Although Chu Wei wasn’t speaking loudly, the swimming pool area was spacious enough that his voice seemed to echo.

The echo buzzed inside Gu Zhidao’s head.

“…”

The expression on Gu Zhidao’s face looked as though it had shattered and yet somehow not shattered.

Broken, yet not entirely broken.

He stood frozen in place, staring at Chu Wei and Wen Zhenghan in shock.

This exact expression was one that Chu Wei and Wen Zhenghan had already seen on each other’s faces the night of the rooftop fight.

Too lazy to care how badly Gu Zhidao’s spirit had been crushed, the two shook their heads and directly dragged him along to find Jiang Shu.

…

Jiang Shu was driving back from the climbing facility.

With a perfect drift, he parked outside the hotel entrance. Turning off the engine, opening the door, and getting out happened in one smooth motion. The production team’s ordinary minivan somehow looked like it belonged in a fashion magazine shoot under his control.

He stepped out wearing sunglasses. Ridiculously handsome.

At the same time, the other three were riding the elevator down from the rooftop.

Wen Zhenghan, the calmest among them, stood in the middle with his arms folded and analyzed the situation. “Don’t tell Jiang Shu where the keychain came from. Given his personality, if he learns Shen Fu gave it to us, he might explode. Let’s not create unnecessary trouble.”

He continued: “Just casually wave the keychain in front of him. If he’s received one before, his expression will definitely change. If he just looks confused, then he doesn’t have one.”

Chu Wei kept one hand in his pocket, tightly gripping the keychain.

“Mm.” He nodded solemnly.

Beside them, Gu Zhidao remained in a state of continuous shock. “…”

What the h*ll even was all of this?!

Previously, among the male guests, Jiang Shu had seemed like a mentally unstable lunatic with unpredictable moods, Chu Wei had seemed like an idiot, and Xiang Lingyun had seemed like a pretentious show-off. But now even Wen Zhenghan had gotten involved?!

The scariest part was that, at this moment, he, the only normal person, was planning to join their operation just to figure out what was going on.

Gu Zhidao removed his gold-rimmed glasses and rubbed his face, trying to calm himself down.

After Wang Xuanheng’s phone call last night, the production team had shut down several cameras.

As a result, the viewers had no idea what the three men had discussed inside the elevator.

The male guests had suddenly disappeared, and the barrage comments were busy complaining that the production team had turned off too many cameras.

Then they saw the three men emerge from the elevator. The trio walked toward the hotel entrance and encountered Jiang Shu head-on.

【Where did these three just go? Why are they coming down together?】

Chu Wei’s fans were actually feeling somewhat relieved. During the first half of the show, their idol had indeed embarrassed himself quite a bit and had been repeatedly humiliated. But over the last two episodes, he had clearly become much more mature and composed.

At this point, the people suffering the most were probably Xiang Lingyun’s fans. Their idol was still over at the climbing gym, confidently believing that because Shen Fu had invited him, he could finally turn the situation around.

And besides that, Chu Wei hadn’t had any conflicts with Wen Zhenghan or Gu Zhidao lately. One was a Film Emperor. The other was a composer. Both were people who could potentially help his career.

Could it be that, with the variety show nearing its end, their guy had finally rediscovered his professional ambition?

Just as Chu Wei’s fans were about to start praising him in that direction, they saw Chu Wei walking at the front of the trio. As he brushed past Jiang Shu, he suddenly pulled a keychain out of his pocket, a cheap thing that looked like the kind sold four for ten yuan on a market stall, where you couldn’t even tell whether it was a moth or a butterfly, and tossed it onto the ground in front of Jiang Shu.

Jiang Shu: “…”

The comments exploded: 【…What is he doing?】

Chu Wei’s fans: “…”

D*mn it. Good thing they hadn’t started praising him yet.

Wen Zhenghan and Gu Zhidao simply couldn’t bear to watch.

Did Chu Wei even know what “casual” meant? Everything about him screamed deliberate intent.

Jiang Shu glanced down at the keychain through his sunglasses. He had absolutely no interest in figuring out what idiotic scheme Chu Wei was up to this time.

Taking a sip of his iced drink, he simply stepped over the keychain and kept walking.

This reaction… Did he recognize the keychain or not?

With the sunglasses on, they couldn’t even see his eyes.

Feeling frustrated, Chu Wei walked over, picked up his keychain, and dusted off the dirt.

The other two, who had been watching Jiang Shu closely, couldn’t draw any conclusions either.

Chu Wei walked back and whispered to Wen Zhenghan, “I can’t tell. My test didn’t work. Jiang Shu already knows I’m Shen Fu’s ex, so even if he had the same keychain, he wouldn’t think anything of it. We need Gu Zhidao to do it.”

Gu Zhidao’s expression darkened. No way. Did he really have to do something this stupid too?

“At least wait until there aren’t any cameras around,” he said heavily.

Chu Wei grew irritated. “When are we going to get another chance? Once the people from the climbing gym come back, we’ll immediately be heading somewhere else.”

At least while they were whispering here, the audience couldn’t hear them. Once they got on the plane, there would only be fixed cameras, and even the smallest facial expression would be visible.

The hotel lobby cameras were too far away, so the viewers genuinely had no idea what they were plotting with such serious expressions.【What are those three doing?】

Gu Zhidao’s small group of fans commented:【No idea what’s going on, but it feels like the Film Emperor has already been corrupted by Chu Wei. At this point, it feels like Teacher Gu Zhidao is the only normal person left lol.】

The comment had barely appeared when they saw Gu Zhidao steady himself and stride after Jiang Shu.

Then, he pulled out an identical keychain and tossed it onto the ground in front of Jiang Shu.

Gu Zhidao’s fans:【…】

The livestream comments:【…】

Jiang Shu:【…】

Wen Zhenghan:【…】

Jiang Shu finally looked annoyed. Turning around, he kicked the keychain back toward them. “So the two of you bought matching couple keychains? Is that really exciting enough to announce it in such a bizarre way?”

Gu Zhidao: “…”

Chu Wei and Gu Zhidao exchanged a look. Both wore expressions like they had just swallowed a fly.

With a grim face, Gu Zhidao picked up the keychain Jiang Shu had kicked back. He felt even more depressed than Chu Wei had earlier.

He hadn’t wanted to do something this stupid either.

But when he had approached Jiang Shu from behind, Jiang Shu seemed to sense him coming. Before Gu Zhidao could even walk up, Jiang Shu had slightly turned his head and cast him a cold glance beneath his sunglasses.

It had to be said, when Jiang Shu wasn’t having one of his episodes, the aura of someone from the Jiang family was genuinely intimidating.

Gu Zhidao had instinctively flinched. In that moment, he forgot all about acting casual. Before he knew it, his brain had completely bypassed conscious thought and simply thrown the keychain.

Now he kind of understood Chu Wei.

Gu Zhidao shot Chu Wei a look of sympathy and understanding.

Chu Wei only found it baffling.

He had planned to throw it from the start!

Gu Zhidao had just been criticizing him for being embarrassing. Why was he copying him now?

Although they had thoroughly embarrassed themselves, the test was complete. Watching Jiang Shu walk away holding his iced drink, the three exchanged looks and headed to the beach outside.

Avoiding the cameramen, they gathered together again.

Wen Zhenghan lowered his voice and delivered the verdict. “He probably doesn’t have the same keychain.”

Wen Zhenghan had been responsible for observing Jiang Shu’s expression.

Just now, when Jiang Shu saw that both Chu Wei and Gu Zhidao had the keychain, his first assumption had been that they had bought matching couple merchandise.

Not once had he connected it to Shen Fu.

Clearly, he had never seen this keychain before.

Which meant, Jiang Shu wasn’t one of the ex-boyfriends.

The three of them couldn’t help letting out a sigh of relief.

But after that sigh, they looked at one another. Their expressions immediately became strange again.

What exactly were they happy about?!

This only proved that Jiang Shu wasn’t one of the suckers. Now the only suckers were the four of them!