MMLDU Chapter 36

In the following days, the crew noticed that Pei Lang was frequently on the phone, holding it more and more, though it never affected his work.

“What’s going on? Are you in a relationship?” During a break, Zhong Yixiao finally asked the question he had been holding in for days.

He sat next to Pei Lang, watching as Pei Lang looked down to reply to a message, revealing a glimpse of his neck. Zhong Yixiao couldn’t help but swallow.

“Does it seem like that?” Pei Lang finished replying, turned off his phone, and looked up with a smile in his eyes. “No, but it’s more difficult than a romantic partner.”

It was a contract marriage.

When he heard that it wasn’t a relationship, Zhong Yixiao actually felt a bit relieved. There was a strange feeling when he interacted with Pei Lang. The longer they spent together, the more he wanted to get closer. Pei Lang’s charm and looks couldn’t be described in words—one could only understand after getting to know him. Zhong Yixiao found himself paying more attention to him. Once he snapped out of character, his eyes would unconsciously follow Pei Lang, always able to pinpoint his position instantly.

Pei Lang was easy to get along with, always polite and gentle with everyone, yet distant and aloof, making it hard for anyone to get too close.

Noticing that Zhong Yixiao had been staring at his face for a while, Pei Lang furrowed his brows without realizing it, casually pulling out a small mirror and inspecting himself in front of Zhong Yixiao. “Did I mess up my character’s makeup and hair?”

They had just filmed a scene where he collected medicinal herbs in the woods to treat the male lead, so his hair was indeed a bit messy. Pei Lang carefully ran his fingers through it.

Zhong Yixiao quickly turned away, his gaze inadvertently drifting elsewhere. He then noticed Pei Lang tucking the small mirror back into his sleeve, only to pull out a small bag of chips from the other sleeve, glancing around before opening it and eating without any restraint.

Zhong Yixiao: “…”

For the role, Pei Lang’s costume had wide sleeves that could hide a lot of things, unlike the male and female leads, whose clothes were neat and practical for fighting scenes.

Who could have guessed that Pei Lang was hiding so many personal items inside his costume?

“Weren’t you full earlier?” The shooting had been intense and everyone had eaten boxed meals at the set. He hadn’t seen Pei Lang eat any less than anyone else.

Pei Lang stuffed another piece into his mouth. “I’m hungry again.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I’ve seen you eat a lot, but you’ve been eating less these past few days,” Zhong Yixiao smiled, a bit more fondly, but Pei Lang didn’t understand why.

Pei Lang didn’t care about his image, often snacking on set. Recently, he had been eating less… That was because Lu Lu had been keeping an eye on him under the instruction of Sister You, not allowing him to eat. He had secretly hidden some snacks and could only eat them when Lu Lu wasn’t around.

Pei Lang’s heart wept—being a boss had never been easy. He was being controlled by the assistant he paid for. He was so pitiful.

But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that Yan Han seemed to have unlocked some kind of communication skill, talking more and more. He sent messages and made calls—he wasn’t as cold as before. To appease Yan Han’s father, Pei Lang had to play along with the act.

It felt like he was acting both day and night. Even when he tried to be himself for a moment, he had to be monitored by his assistant.

At night, after a long day of shooting, Pei Lang was tired. He had dinner with the crew and returned with his assistant. He told Lu Lu to rest early before heading back to his hotel room.

An hour later, a man wearing sunglasses and a mask, with a blue hooded windbreaker, stepped out of Pei Lang’s room. The hood of the windbreaker was tightly fastened, wrapping him up completely. His phone rang. The sound echoed loudly in the hotel hallway. The man quickly answered the call. “Don’t rush, don’t rush. I’ll be down soon.”

He hurriedly ended the call. As luck would have it, the elevator stopped on his floor. Ignoring the strange stares from those inside, he exited the elevator, made a transaction with a courier at the right side of the hotel entrance, and tucked a bag of items into his coat, wrapping it up with the windbreaker before heading back.

He missed the elevator. Since the floor wasn’t too high, he decided to take the emergency stairwell.

It was late at night. Still summer, his outfit felt oddly out of place. With his head lowered, he wasn’t paying attention and accidentally bumped into someone coming down the stairs. His sunglasses fell off. As he looked up, he saw Zhong Yixiao.

Zhong Yixiao stared at him, puzzled, and immediately recognized him. “Pei Lang, what’s with this outfit?”

“Ah, haha~~” Pei Lang felt awkward inside but remained perfectly composed on the outside. “Just handling some things. I’m about to head back to my room.”

Zhong Yixiao chuckled. He was about to respond when a woman beside him spoke up. Her eyes were hostile, and her voice was loud enough for him to hear. Luckily, there weren’t many people around the stairs. “So, you’re Pei Lang? Heh~ What’s this, since Yan Xiuyuan’s ignoring you, are you trying to seduce Zhong Yixiao to ride his coattails?”

The woman was Zhong Yixiao’s manager, who had come to talk to him about something and was now conversing in the stairwell.

Pei Lang smiled and looked at Zhong Yixiao, as if to say: Look at your people, they really know how to joke.

But the woman interpreted this gaze as a provocation, and she immediately became angry. She glared at Pei Lang as if seeing something filthy, exaggeratedly pulling Zhong Yixiao away from him, as if fearing to get “polluted” by Pei Lang’s presence. “You think playing Wen Yan makes you a star? There are stars everywhere in the film city. You’re just some celebrity who, even when stepping out to get something, wraps yourself up entirely, afraid of paparazzi following you. You really think too highly of yourself.”

The woman’s words grew sharper. Despite the insult, Pei Lang held back for Zhong Yixiao’s sake. In consideration of not causing trouble for the production team, he didn’t retort. Instead, he sighed in resignation: “I’m not hiding from the paparazzi, I’m hiding from…”

“I’m actually curious about what you’ve got in your arms.” The woman’s nails were exaggeratedly manicured, resembling a set of sinister claws. She unexpectedly yanked open Pei Lang’s windbreaker, revealing a chaotic assortment of snacks and milk tea. She sneered. “Heh~~ You only deserve to eat this junk food.”

“That’s enough!” Zhong Yixiao finally spoke up, clearly angry. The woman, though still displeased and defiant, quieted down a bit.

“Brother Lang, what are you doing here? I knocked on your door and you didn’t answer, and you didn’t pick up your phone either.” Lu Lu had somehow found his way there, rushing over in concern. Upon seeing the pile of things in Pei Lang’s arms, he put one hand on his forehead and the other on the wall. “Brother Lang, why did you buy all this junk food again?”

Pei Lang, afraid the items would be taken from him, tightened his grip. “I’m hungry.”

Lu Lu put his hands on his hips, adopting the look of a child scolding an adult. “No way, these puffed snacks, sweets, and milk tea are bad for you, they make you gain weight. I’m confiscating all of them.”

Pei Lang, displeased, had been called out by the woman earlier without feeling wronged. But at that moment, his eyes suddenly reddened, and tears welled up. His voice softened. “Really, I can’t have any? I’ve been doing so many action scenes during the day, going through each angle over and over again, sweating in front of the camera without complaining. Why am I working so hard? Just so I can stay alive and eat something. But now, at this moment, you—my hired assistant—are taking away my freedom and right to eat. The money I earn can’t be spent on my own desires, so what’s the point of earning it?”

Lu Lu had never seen Pei Lang like this. For a moment, he was at a loss for words, flustered and unsure how to respond. He wanted to comfort him but didn’t know how, pacing in confusion. “I just want what’s best for you, Brother Lang. You know that. I don’t have bad intentions. So… you can eat them, but just for tonight. Don’t sneakily eat spicy strips and milk tea behind my back again, okay?”

Pei Lang nodded, holding back tears. “Okay, I’ll only eat in front of you from now on, openly.”

“Brother Lang!” Lu Lu puffed out his cheeks, looking angry but not really mad, just staring at him with wide eyes.

“I know, I know. Go back to your room. I have some things to do.” Pei Lang urged, wanting to get rid of the innocent Lu Lu, as Zhong Yixiao and his manager were still around.

If Lu Lu found out about the insults the woman had hurled at him, he’d probably be too upset to sleep. The next day, he’d come to work with dark circles under his eyes and be slow to react.

“Okay, Brother Lang, I’m going back to my room. You’re not allowed to eat too much tonight, got it?”

After several more reminders, Lu Lu finally left.

Pei Lang, having successfully gotten what he wanted, smirked and muttered, “Silly kid.”

The woman wasn’t done humiliating him. Seeing the way Pei Lang looked, she felt disgusted all over again. She thought he was hypocritical, even deceiving his assistant. “I can understand your desire to clean up your image, hehe~ But relying on the ‘foodie’ persona won’t work. That’s such a tired cliché. Fans don’t fall for that anymore.”

Many celebrities adopt personas. The ‘foodie’ persona has been widely used in the entertainment industry. A figure with an insatiable appetite but a body that doesn’t gain weight, coupled with a cute, naive appearance, can certainly attract fans, but that was all in the past.

Today’s fans aren’t so easily deceived.

Pei Lang finally couldn’t take it anymore. Frowning, he relied on his good upbringing to remind himself not to engage with the woman physically. “Auntie, you must be suffering, right? To maintain such a body, you must have been hungry for half your life. Sigh~ I wonder what the point of living is.”

“Who are you calling Auntie? I’m only thirty!” The woman was furious, pointing her finger at Pei Lang’s nose. To be honest, as a well-known manager, her social status was higher than Pei Lang’s, so she had no respect for him.

“Don’t get angry, don’t get angry. When you frown, the wrinkles on your forehead are really noticeable. And besides, thirty is still older than me.”

This sentence was the final straw for the woman. She pulled out her phone, intent on taking pictures of Pei Lang, planning to expose his true nature, even though Pei Lang didn’t have a good reputation anyway. “You just can’t learn respect, huh? I’ll teach you some, like your parents should have. Don’t think that just because you crawled into someone’s bed, you’re safe. The entertainment industry doesn’t lack people like you. Your ‘sugar daddy’ can get tired of you and they can easily find someone else. Someone like you, a broken shoe, who knows how many people have had their way with you, and you’re still hoping that your ‘sugar daddy’ will be completely devoted to you?”

“Zhong Yixiao, it seems like your people have a dirty mouth,” Pei Lang said with a smile, but his eyes were cold. Zhong Yixiao furrowed his brows, taking his manager’s phone away.

“I’m sorry, it’s my fault,” Zhong Yixiao apologized, but the woman was clearly unhappy.

“What are you apologizing for? You’re an actor, an award-winning one. What is he? Does he deserve an apology from you? Besides, did I say anything wrong? Aren’t all these things already known by everyone on the internet?”

“Enough. If you say one more word, the moment the contract expires, I’m leaving the company.”

Sure enough, that statement silenced the woman. Zhong Yixiao decided to sincerely apologize to Pei Lang, but Pei Lang seemed to have received a call and ignored the two of them, heading back to his room in a straightforward manner.

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