Tang Mengwan, a mysterious beauty with a silk mask. Chen Xiaobei, an enigmatic side character with a black mask. Both of them exchanged looks and froze. The script was being improvised.
*WHAM*
Chen Xiaobei put his strength into his arms and slammed the ground hard. With the force borrowed from the recoil, Chen Xiaobei shot up to his feet easily. He then turned towards the horse and zoomed towards him like a bullet.
"What is going on?"
Zhuang Bufan had always looked down on other actors that were not on his level. Seeing that a random actor performing an act that looked straight out of a martial arts world made him a little disgruntled.
"Hiak! Thud!"
In a split second, Zhuang Bufan saw the man leap to the sky and a foot was flying towards him. Chen Xiaobei landed a dropkick on his face and knocked him off the horse.
"Gahh!" Zhuang Bufan flew off the horse and landed seven to eight meters away with his face flat on the ground.
"Easy there…"
The next second, the man grabbed onto the rampaging horse and with brute force, he calmed the horse down.
Everyone was stunned. No one even dared to breathe for a second there. It was so quiet that one could hear the sound of a needle dropping to the ground in the next filming set. Their eyes were affixed to the man in black.
The falling cherry blossom petals continued and thanks to it, the scene was truly serene. It was a grand turn of events.
A random side character had performed such a cool move and kicked the main male character off his horse. With the horse calm and the reins in Chen Xiaobei's hand, he led the horse to the female lead's side and stopped.
"Who…Who are you?" said Tang Mengwan in a baffled tone. Her voice was quivering. She was unable to accept such a man capable of performing such a move! It was as if CGI had already been added to it.
"Hush now. Kiss me," said Chen Xiaobei as he closed the distance between her.
"Huh?"
Tang Mengwan was stunned, but only for a split second. She then giggled and pushed him slightly. "Young boy. Surely you jest. If you want me to kiss you, you may need to pull down that black mask?"
"If that so? If I remove this mask, will you kiss me?" said Chen Xiaobei. He was stunned at how the woman would respond. He merely wanted to tease her but he had no idea that she was capable of actually following up with his play.
(WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!) It was time to throw that mask away!
Just when Chen Xiaobei was about to rip the stupid mask away from his face, Tang Mengwan immediately stopped him.
"I'm kidding! You cannot take off the mask!"
Chen Xiaobei was about to feel dejected when Tang Mengwan immediately whispered in his ears.
"The man you had just kicked in the face was Zhuang Bufan. The man is famous for his attitude. He will have revenge for being humiliated. You best keep that mask on and run away now."
Before Chen Xiaobei could even nod his head, the voice of Zhuang Bufan Bufan filled the set. "Mao Dao! What am I paying you for? Eat crap? Slap an ass? Find that f*cker that kicked me and break his arms and legs!"
Only when he roared at the sky, everyone was awoken from their stunned state.
"Master Zhuang Bufan, rest assured that we will catch the man responsible for your disgrace." A few men came running to Zhuang Bufan's side. One of them stood out and helped him up to his feet. The rest of the men quickly ran towards Chen Xiaobei.
"Hurry up and leave. I'll buy some time for you! It's all I can do for saving my life." Tang Mengwan winked and quickly pushed Chen Xiaobei behind her.
Huh. Not everyone in the entertainment industry were bad. Chen Xiaobei was not expecting someone like Tang Mengwan to be on the side of justice.
Chen Xiaobei relaxed a little and tapped her shoulders from behind. "I'm fine on my own. They can never touch me. On the other hand, I'd advise you not to get involved in this. You might actually get hurt."
"No!" Tang Mengwan cried, "You don't know who Zhuang Bufan really is! Any commoner will be destroyed in his hands!"
The few bodyguards that were charging at Chen Xiaobei stopped in their tracks when they saw Tang Mengwan was protecting him.
"Bufan! This incident is on you as well! Don't forget that! Forget about this. Call it off! Do it for me at least." Tang Mengwan begged.
"Forget about it?"
Zhuang Bufan dusted off his clothes and pointed at the footmark on his face. "Since the day I was born, I have never been treated like this! Even if I want to forget about this, I could never do it in my family's name! For you? Never, I would not stop, not even in the face of god!"
The Zhuang Bufan Family. One of the four great families in Dragon City. Not even Feng Yaolun, a man that had been directing all the famous movies in China, could not voice out his discontentment in the face of a Zhuang Bufan.
He knew Zhuang Bufan and knew that he was a man with pride as big as the Great Wall of China. Advising him would do no good but have an adverse effect on Feng instead.
"Mao Dao! Get him! Push Tang Mengwan aside! There's no need to hold back! I'll take responsibility if anything happens!"
"Sir! Yes, sir!"
The man named Mao Dao was brave. Without fear, he reached his large hands out and pushed the fragile Tang Mengwan aside.
"Don't touch me! Get away!" she cried as she saw the massive arm reaching to touch her. Afraid and shaken, she insisted on staying at the grounds. Her determination to protect Chen Xiaobei was as strong as steel.
An eye for an eye. The saying was supposed to be of revenge. However, she meant it when she wanted to protect Chen Xiaobei. For he had already saved her life from an unspeakable accident.
"Brother Han! Please help me!" Tang Mengwan cried from the top of her lungs.
In the entertainment industry, she was not someone that could be treated as a fool. She was still considered as one of the top-tier actresses in the industry. A group of men in black suits came from the backstage and ran towards Tang Mengwan. They were her bodyguards.
The man that took the lead had a copper-brown skin tone. It was not his natural skin tone. It looked like the man had spent some time in under the scorching heat. Without a doubt, he looked like one of those men that had served in the military. Brother Han was a tanned man whose body was well built.
"Mao Dao! Stand down!" Brother Han approached like a gorilla and stood beside Tang Mengwan.
"Han. Move or you'll be moved. There's no telling what will happen to you." Mao Dao smirked arrogantly.
"In your dreams. As long as I'm breathing, I would not allow you or anyone else touch Miss Tang Mengwan!" Brother Han crossed his arm, displaying a domineering stance.
"Have it your way. Ask your men to attack me!" said Mao Dao conceitedly. "I've always heard rumors that you guys were ex-special forces. I had always wanted to have a brawl with you!"
"How could you still be so conceited? Enough with your facade. I alone shall deal with you!" Brother Han charged towards Mao Dao.
Without moving an inch, Mao Dao arched an eyebrow and snorted. "Is that all you got? You have me disappointed."
*BANG*
A loud crisp clear explosion was heard. Mao Dao had kicked Brother Han up to the sky. When he landed, the man spat a mouthful of blood. He had suffered from a few broken ribs and could no longer get up to his feet.
"Brothers! Let's go!"
The remaining bodyguards from Tang Mengwan side charged into the fight. Mao Dao did not need to move. His own team had joined the fray when they saw Mao Dao was being outnumbered.
"Is that what the special forces are capable of? Such a waste. I wonder if I could be the commander of all the soldiers if I decide to join the army."
Chen Xiaobei immediately shot to the front and shouted, "DON'T GO! YOU LOT ARE NOT STRONG ENOUGH!"
Unfortunately for Chen Xiaobei, he was too slow. Mao Dao and his lot of ruffians had roughed up all of Tang Mengwan's bodyguards. They only took less than 30 seconds.
"So strong…" Everyone was scared. The director on the set remained quiet even though a large brawl had taken place in the set.
Zhuang Bufan started to laugh.
"Mao Dao is a Jianghu elite that I had spent a large fortune on! Only the Zhuang Bufan Family is capable to hire such an elite to be our bodyguard! You low class bodyguards could not even clean Mao Dao's shoes to begin with!"
Mao Dao felt extra proud when his master publicly praised him. He then glared at Chen Xiaobei and called out to him. "Boy! You know my strength! You best come out now and kneel before Master Zhuang Bufan! Beg for his forgiveness or you shall know pain!"
"Heh." Chen Xiaobei chuckled. He pulled down his mask slowly and stood in front of Mao Dao fearlessly. "Mao Dao was it?"
Chen Xiaobei took in a deep breath and said, "You know nothing about power."