In the dining room, there was already food on the dinner table along with two sets of dinnerware, obviously waiting for him.
Mu ZhenYu washed his hands and sat down in front of the dinner table. A shred of unhappiness flickered through his eyes – if "Blossom" didn't have anything to do with his grandmother, he wouldn't have felt as much of a letdown. Nonetheless, he thought she had done a lot of research before she decided to walk away from all the big-budget productions and picked this one instead. But he overthought it. She only picked this one before she wanted to be with Jiang YueXian. How would that not make him angry?
Surprisingly, before he ever said a word, she sat down across from him, her coconut in hand and volunteered, "I didn't know Jiang YueXian was going to be at that studio either. Had I known, I would have avoided any chances of any sort of rumors."
Mu ZhenYu's fingers that had been wrapping around the chopsticks tightly loosened up some.
The truth of the matter was, Xu WanZhi found out that Jiang YueXian was also at the "Blossom" studio only after Chang XiaoYa had posted on WeChat.
Jiang YueXian was such a minute character in the book that he was barely ever mentioned. Naturally, Xu WanZhi didn't know much about him.
That being said, after a couple of rounds, Xu WanZhi had it figured out. Mu ZhenYu had never let his guard down as far as she was concerned. Not only that, everything that she did was under his control.
Meaning, there was no reason he wasn't aware of this.
He came home looking very unhappy and there was a sense of viciousness in his eyes. She figured that Jiang YueXian was most likely the reason behind it.
She figured she might as well just be upfront about it before the interrogation began.
After Xu WanZhi had casually explained herself, she peeked at him to check out his reactions.
Mu ZhenYu, on the other hand, merely looked at her quietly, waiting for the rest of the story.
Xu WanZhi understood the meaning of it and carried on, "It was Sun-jie's idea to create rumors of being a couple with Jiang YueXian. She didn't like that I wasn't popular enough and wasn't making money for her, so she came up with that idea. She'd go out of her way to find out about Jiang YueXian's agenda and sent me there to leech off of his popularity. Well, I got the popularity, but also a lot of negativity. Now that Fang Lin is my agent, that has stopped. I have no idea where Jiang YueXian is filming."
"So?" Mu ZhenYu asked coldly.
"Luckily, the studio wasn't far from here. I have already put in my request with the production team that, with the exception of special circumstances, I would not be staying in the hotel that was prepared for me. That way, I will be filming in the daytime and coming home at night. I don't think I will run into Jiang YueXian very often."
Mu XiYuan leaned back against the back of the chair and crossed his legs, obviously only believing half of what she had said. "Why did you give up on all the big-budget productions and picked a web show instead?"
Xu WanZhi paused for a little before she said sincerely, "Because… we have elders at home that really enjoyed this show."
Having heard that, a slight surprise flashed through his eyes – she was being very subtle but he got her meaning of it. He put down his chopsticks and looked steadily at her. After a little while, hhe called out her name, "Xu WanZhi?"
Xu WanZhi also put down her coconut and her spoon and looked back at him sincerely, "Yes?"
He remained silent for a little while before he chuckled and said, "Why are you so docile?"
His question left Xu WanZhi speechless. She pondered for a little while before she finally said righteously, "My customer's experience is important to me."
Mu XiYuan raised his brows a little then squinted his eyes.
He was studying her.
Under the dim light, her silky sleepwear clung nicely to her body, accentuating her curviness and the fact that she was an extraordinarily stunning woman.
What's even more extraordinary was that she has become much more sincere as of late.
As though she was a whole different person.
Xu WanZhi knew that she had passed the test this time before she lowered her head to have the first bite of her coconut. She changed the subject smoothly, "How are you so skillful with the knife?"
Mu ZhenYu smiled and said in passing, "It's better that you don't know."
Xu WanZhi kept her head lowered. She recalled the scary-looking scars on his back and the direction that Huanyu Corp. was going.
Crime prevention and crime prediction…
"I thought you could crack open coconuts with your bare hands?" Mu ZhenYu pried in a teasing manner before he lifted his head and took a few big gulps of his wine. His Adam's apple moved up and down sexily.
Sitting across from him, Xu WanZhi gave him a dose of his own medicine. "It's better that you don't know."
Mu ZhenYu's lips curved as he chuckled – whether it was opening up the coconut or carrying the suitcases, she was quite good at pretending to be weak in front of him.
Oddly, that didn't bother him. In fact, he kind of liked it.
He put a slice of the filet mignon in his mouth and said, "Hmm, this is pretty good."
***
Before she went to bed, Xu WanZhi looked at Wechat one more time.
It was quiet on Blossom's official site. Between her water army and the production crew's marketing team, there was not a lot of drama.
It was a whole different story under Chang XiaoYa and Xu WanZhi's WeChats. As Xu WanZhi had joined Blossom's production crew and was going in and out of the same studio as Jiang YueXian, once her black fans had gotten hold of that news, they started bashing her again about her finding out the film emperor's agenda ahead of time and purposefully getting close to him, etc. etc. She was once again the Queen of Negative Publicity.
Chang XiaoYa, on the other hand, was classified by the film emperor's fans as "friendly" and gained popularity and a bunch of fans from that.
Xu WanZhi couldn't be bothered to clarify anything and just went to sleep.
***
The startup ceremony came and went uneventfully, and Blossom's filming began officially. With the exception of the male lead, who was still wrapping up with another crew, all the other actors and actresses had arrived.
On the second day of filming, Xu WanZhi got up early as usual, had her breakfast, and went downstairs. She saw Mu ZhenYu standing there next to her car on a call.
She yawned and walked over there. Xiao Yuan walked up to her and said, "Mr. Mu said he'd like a ride."
Xu WanZhi didn't say anything until Mu ZhenYu was off his call before she asked him, "What happened to your work car? You still had it when we moved."
Mu ZhenYu said casually, "I borrowed that one. I returned it."
Once he was done saying that, he got into the backseat of her van very naturally. He even patted the seat next to him and said, "Don't worry. We will get you to your filming location first before I go do my things. You'll definitely have your car back before noon."
Xu WanZhi took a look at her wristwatch and climbed inside the car.
Foxes are nocturnal animals. She has taken the human form for a while now. She was used to going to bed at night, but she'd still feel sleepy during the daytime. As the car rocked back and forth, she fell asleep again.
By the time she woke up, they had already arrived at the front of the studio. Xu WanZhi yawned and opened her eyes. What she saw was a half-opened collar, very manly lines, and a muscular chest that was half visible.
She paused for a second before she was fully awake. And that's when she realized she was leaning all over Mu ZhenYu.
She sat up immediately, tidied up, and said, "I am sorry. I didn't do that on purpose."
Original translation is from fuyuneko dot org. If you're reading this elsewhere, this chapter has been stolen. Please stop supporting theft.
Unlike usual, Mu ZhenYu did not get angry. Quite the contrary, he reached out his right hand and gently ran it over the side of her lips – Xu WanZhi felt a hint of moisture that spread next to her lips.
She didn't just fall asleep; she even drooled?
She felt so embarrassed that she just opened the door and fled.
Xiao Yuan was startled and ran out after her.
The chauffeur looked at the backsides of the two of them expressionlessly and said profoundly, "Oy, Miss Xu had forgotten her coconuts.
Sitting in the backseat, Mu ZhenYu glanced over at the ice chest in the car that was filled to the brim, looked up, and asked the chauffeur, "She likes coconuts?"
"Very much," replied the chauffeur honestly. "Lately, Miss Xu seemed to be very bothered by the hot weather. She wouldn't go anywhere without a chilled coconut in her hands."
Mu ZhenYu gave an almost undetectable nod and for inexplicable reasons, he remembered her look when she was sound asleep on his chest.
She was curvy. Her waist was soft beyond words. Her skin was so pale that it was almost translucent. Her lips mumbled something softly from time to time, and he had no idea what kind of dreams she was having.
So cute that she could soften one's heart.
And him, on the other hand, was looking at her the entire time. He didn't even realize that he never once looked away from her until they had arrived at her destination.
He looked down, opened up the ice chest, grabbed out the bag of coconuts, and moved his legs out of the car before he said to the chauffeur, "Wait for me here."
Xu WanZhi was running so fast that not even Xiao Yuan was able to catch up to her.
She didn't stop to take a breath until she had arrived at a corner of the filming location.
Mu ZhenYu had been acting strangely as of late…
She was pondering over that when she suddenly heard a low growling coming from nearby.
Reflexively, her knees grew weak and her hair stood up on her back. She trembled as she looked over to the source of the noises – standing across from her was a greyish black "monster". Humans called them "Er Ha" (Silly "Ha"), "Let Go Yet", "House Destroyer". As a fox demon and facing a husky that was staring at her full of hostility, she could only think of one word -- "nemesis".
It looked too much like a fox's nemesis – wolves. Even though it was just a mid-size dog and she was a fox demon who had been cultivating for 500 years, her innate fear caused her to freeze in place.
The husky, though, didn't care that she was but a stranger. It started walking toward her with a playful low growl.
"No. Don't come over here. Don't!" Xu WanZhi was forced into a corner, and her heart was about to leap out of her throat. "Please, go play with someone else, alright?"
The husky couldn't understand her and continued to walk toward her cheerfully. Finally, it took a leap and glomped onto her leg.
"Oh, lord!" Xu WanZhi was about to start crying. Reflexively, she was going to summon her magical power and push it off without any physical contact. She tried and tried and nothing. Finally, with a loud "BAM" noise, she turned back into her original form.
Xu WanZhi, who was covered in tears: Mu ZhenYu, you and your damned pure yang constitution. Why haven't you left yet???