AD Chapter 26
After throwing the milk tea, Chu Zichen turned and stormed off, leaving Su Ning with tea splattered on his face and clothes. The smile on his face gradually faded until there was no expression at all. He stood there for a long time without moving.
After a brief moment of eerie silence, the surrounding area quickly returned to its usual chaos and noise. Yet whether they had work in hand or not, everyone’s eyes drifted—intentionally or not—toward Su Ning.
Without much expression, Su Ning raised a hand and wiped the milk tea off his face. Just then, someone handed him a tissue. “Here, wipe it off.” He turned his head and met Fan Xin’s face, frowning in anger.
“That Chu Zichen is way out of line. He’s the one who can’t act, dragging the whole crew down, and still has the nerve to take it out on you.” Fan Xin was so angry her face turned pale, and she shot Su Ning a look full of frustration and exasperation.
“And you—why just stand there and let him bully you? Sure, you were assigned by Gu Lingfeng to assist him, but Chu Zichen’s behavior has clearly crossed the line. There’s no reason for you to keep putting up with it.”
Hearing Fan Xin speak up for him warmed Su Ning’s heart a little. He slowly smiled. “It’s okay, Xin-jie. It’s just work. I won’t take it personally.”
He was just a pitiful worker, after all. To live the life he wanted, there were some things he had to endure. In Su Ning’s eyes, Chu Zichen was just an immature child, throwing tantrums and burning bridges simply because he had capital and people doting on him. Sooner or later, he’d reap what he sowed—because in this world, most things already had a price tag. If you wanted something, you had to pay the corresponding cost.
Like how Su Ning, in order to save enough money to live his dream life as soon as possible, had to offer up his body even while working as an assistant.
And had to follow that man’s instructions, working as the assistant to his boss’s lover, getting ordered around every day.
It was because he was so clear-eyed about his own position that when Chu Zichen lashed out, it wasn’t Su Ning who got angry—it was everyone else. Su Ning himself had little outrage left.
At most, when he was too tired to deal with it, a hint of bitterness and helplessness would rise in his heart.
Chu Zichen stormed off and didn’t return for the rest of the afternoon shoot, infuriating the director so much that he smashed the megaphone on the spot. The crew had to scramble to get him a new one.
The production staff kept calling Chu Zichen, and urged Su Ning to help look for him too. Aside from making phone calls, there wasn’t much Su Ning could do. He called several times, but no one picked up.
There was an important scene scheduled for that afternoon—just setting up the set had taken days. Chu Zichen had a significant role in it, and without him, they couldn’t shoot that part at all.
And yet, just because filming that morning hadn’t gone smoothly and the director had scolded him a bit, Chu Zichen had the audacity to disappear?
The entire crew was dumbfounded.
They’d seen egotistical stars before, but never one so brazen as to ghost the entire crew without a word. The whole shooting schedule was thrown off, and they had to switch to filming other scenes instead.
No one dared to look directly at the director, whose face was as dark as thunder.
Even Su Ning thought the director showed restraint by only smashing the megaphone and not going on a screaming rampage—though maybe that, too, was the power of capital?
The show’s investor was Gu Lingfeng, and Chu Zichen was Gu Lingfeng’s lover. Others in the crew might not know that, but the director certainly did.
Su Ning hesitated, debating whether to call Gu Lingfeng. They’d searched everywhere, made every call possible, but still hadn’t located Chu Zichen. No one even knew where he might have gone. Su Ning suspected that Chu Zichen might have gone to Gu Lingfeng.
But making that call would feel like tattling, whether or not Chu Zichen was actually there, so Su Ning hesitated.
Just as he was holding his phone, unsure what to do, Fan Xin walked over. “Forget it. No need to call Gu Lingfeng.”
Su Ning looked up, surprised. “Xin-jie? How did you know I was going to…”
Fan Xin crossed her arms, pulling a mocking smile as she motioned toward the director. Her eyes were full of sarcasm. “He just called the director directly. Didn’t you see how the director’s scowl suddenly vanished? The man’s like an old tree trying to blossom into a chrysanthemum.”
Su Ning gave her a helpless look. Clearly, the director was just upset—the shoot had been seriously delayed.
Fan Xin rolled her eyes at him. “You really should learn from that guy.”
Su Ning blinked, confused. “Learn what?”
Fan Xin jabbed him in the forehead with a finger, leaving a red mark. “He gets a little upset and immediately goes running off to whine and cuddle on someone’s pillow. And you—after everything you’ve been through—you can’t even say a word.”
Su Ning stared speechlessly at the foul-mouthed Fan Xin, also feeling slightly puzzled. She seemed to have misunderstood something about his relationship with Gu Lingfeng.
That night, Chu Zichen didn’t return to the hotel. The next morning, Gu Lingfeng’s driver brought him to the set.
Chu Zichen walked onto the set looking refreshed and clearly “well taken care of.” Despite having run off and delayed filming for half a day, the director suddenly seemed to suffer selective amnesia and didn’t mention the incident at all. Instead, it was Chu Zichen, whether it was because he was in a good mood or his agent had knocked some sense into him, who walked up to the director first thing, apologized sincerely, and said he’d been childish and sorry for delaying everyone.
The director’s expression was neutral. He glanced at Chu Zichen twice and just told him to focus on the shoot—nothing more.
After that, Chu Zichen walked toward Su Ning, his eyes gleaming with smugness.
Su Ning: “…”
“I spent the whole night with Gu Lingfeng,” Chu Zichen said directly. His chin tilted slightly as he looked down at Su Ning, a smug smile playing on his lips.
Su Ning showed no reaction. Yeah, I figured.
Seeing that Su Ning didn’t look heartbroken or disappointed, Chu Zichen wasn’t satisfied. He stared hard into Su Ning’s eyes, as if trying to catch any flicker of emotion. “You know, Lingfeng stayed with me all night. I told him a lot about what’s been happening on set. I even brought up you—but he didn’t seem to care. Didn’t ask a single question about you.”
Su Ning’s expression grew even more unreadable. He knew exactly the kind of person Gu Lingfeng was—he didn’t make small talk, and he definitely wouldn’t bring up someone unrelated to work. Su Ning could already picture it: Chu Zichen chattering in his ear while the man focused entirely on the documents in front of him.
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