Chapter 92 – Gu Xiao’s Leading Lady

Yan Yimo parted his lips slightly and extended a hand. “Hey, Miss Mu, you handled that quite well just now. If you’d like to…”

“She’s already refused. Why do you talk so much?”

Gu Beicheng’s face was utterly expressionless, his tone so flat it made one’s heart quiver.

“Uh… all right then, Miss Mu, perhaps we’ll have the chance to work together another time.”

Mu Ran curved her lips in a faint smile. She doubted there would ever be another chance.

Gu Xiao opened his mouth. “Then, Miss Mu, I’ll contact your agent about the details of our collaboration. Don’t back out on me.”

Mu Ran let out a cold laugh. “As long as you don’t make things difficult for me.”

Gu Xiao was about to retort, but then caught sight of Gu Beicheng beside him, fixing him with an icy, warning stare.

He raised an eyebrow. “Of course not. Aren’t you practically my sister-in-law?”

In an instant, Gu Beicheng’s frosty aura dissipated.

A strange glint flashed in Gu Xiao’s eyes. As he suspected, if you wanted to get to Gu Beicheng, you had to start with this little woman, Mu Ran.

“Wipe that lecherous look off your face. Don’t even think about using me to get at Beibei.”

Gu Xiao’s upturned lips fell at once. He feigned puzzlement, glancing at the woman in Gu Beicheng’s arms as if to say, “What are you talking about? I have no idea.”

Mu Ran shot him a white-eyed glance, not bothering to respond.

Gu Beicheng and Gu Xiao, though brothers, couldn’t look more different.

Gu Beicheng had the classic handsome features of a traditional man of Huaguo—dashing and dignified, with a commanding presence.

As for Gu Xiao, at best he looked like a mixed-blood man, not at all attractive, and rather effeminate.

“Hey, Miss Mu, I may not be as good-looking as Gu Beicheng, but there’s no need to look at me like that,” Gu Xiao said, seeing the disdain and contempt in Mu Ran’s gaze.

Ding—

Mu Ran’s phone rang. It was Lin Chong.

“I’ll step out to take this call,” she said softly to Gu Beicheng, ignoring Gu Xiao.

Gu Beicheng stroked her slender, beautiful back, his voice clear and gentle. “Go ahead.”

Only after Mu Ran’s figure disappeared from the room did Gu Beicheng glance at Yan Yimo, who sat silently beside him, smoking but not lighting his cigarette. “You didn’t come here for Mu Ran, did you?”

“No, it’s about Chengxing Pictures,” Yan Yimo replied, putting his cigarette away and speaking to Gu Beicheng in a serious tone.

“Oh?” Gu Beicheng habitually narrowed his eyes, his aura growing cold again.

Gu Xiao, gleefully fiddling with his phone, felt that chill and shifted further away in distaste.

“Recently, there’s been a film company called SY Pictures. Its financial backing is formidable, and its background is strong.”

“SY?”

Gu Beicheng’s tone lifted.

Yan Yimo continued, “Yes. I’ve noticed this company poached many artists from Chengxing Pictures. Even the award-winning duo Mu Yuewei and Bai Zehan were snatched away.”

Gu Beicheng leaned lazily against the sofa, his demeanor relaxing. “That’s Chengxing’s business. You should talk to Shen Mubai. Why bring it up with me?”

Yan Yimo was a shareholder in Chengxing Pictures. Though his stake was small, his word carried significant weight. The poaching by SY Pictures was a serious threat to the company’s interests.

“Shen Mubai! I don’t know what’s up with him lately—he’s melancholic and distant. He doesn’t answer my calls, and when I went to the office, his secretary told me he’d gone abroad on vacation!” Yan Yimo felt his head swimming with frustration at the thought. His face was flushed, his emotions running high. “The legal representative of SY Pictures is An Lan! But the real boss behind the scenes can’t be that girl.”

They were all insiders. Yan Yimo knew An Lan’s methods—she was always brash and reckless, never involved in anything too significant. Such a powerful company couldn’t possibly be hers.

“No need to worry. You’ll know everything tonight. Oh, and Lao Yan, stop bothering Mubai. He’s heartbroken.”

Shen Mubai had never been one to mix emotions with work. This time, Gu Beicheng understood and allowed him some leeway.

“Heartbroken?”

“Heartbroken!” Gu Xiao and Yan Yimo said in unison.

Yan Yimo looked stunned, disbelief written all over his face.

Gu Xiao, on the other hand, was gloating. “I told him that woman was even more troublesome than Mu Ran, but he just wouldn’t believe it.”

Gu Beicheng shot Gu Xiao a cold glance. “Maybe you should take a good look at yourself first.”

“What about me?” Gu Xiao hated it when Gu Beicheng looked at him with that dismissive gaze.

He knew Gu Beicheng always saw him as a rebellious child, but he was nearly thirty!

He wasn’t rebellious—he was struggling against an unfair fate.

Just like the Gu family.

He should’ve inherited some of the family fortune, but the old man left everything to Gu Beicheng.

All because he wasn’t a blood relative!

He was adopted!

“Gu Xiao, stop thinking about those pointless things. When your ability matches your ambition, I’ll give you what you deserve.”

Gu Xiao’s face darkened. He stood up to leave.

Just outside the door, he happened to overhear a man and a woman talking in the corner.

It was Mu Ran.

A playful smile crept onto Gu Xiao’s face as he quietly moved closer to where Mu Ran stood.

“Lin Chong, couldn’t you just say this over the phone?” Mu Ran’s voice was tinged with helplessness.

A man’s anxious, gruff voice followed. “Miss Mu, Xiao Ran, I really need your help. Do you have Xu Yunshu’s contact information?”

Mu Ran was suspicious. “Xu Yunshu? What do you want with her?”

“Oh! I did a reading for myself, and Xu Yunshu’s birth chart is a perfect match for mine! If I could be with her, heh, my abilities would rise to a whole new level!”

Gu Xiao’s smile deepened. What sort of weirdos surrounded Mu Ran? This was just ridiculous.

He inched closer to Mu Ran and Lin Chong.

“Xiao Ran, I’m begging you. You must have Xu Yunshu’s WeChat. Please give it to me.”

Lin Chong looked at Mu Ran with embarrassment, scratching his bald head awkwardly.

“Brother, it’s not that I don’t want to give it to you. It’s just that she really isn’t suitable.”

Mu Ran sounded even more helpless. She couldn’t fathom how Lin Chong had gotten Xu Yunshu’s birth information.

Lin Chong’s eyes widened, mouth agape. “Why not? What’s wrong with her?”

Mu Ran looked up, giving him a cold, sidelong glance. Her voice was frosty. “She’s not a good person.”

“Brother Lin, where did you get that woman’s birth chart?”

Lin Chong pulled out his phone, showing Mu Ran his screen.

Mu Ran: “…”

Baidu search?

“Brother Lin, you found it on Baidu?”

“Yeah, isn’t Baidu accurate? It took me ages to find someone whose fate matches mine so well.”

Mu Ran couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Brother Lin, Xu Yunshu’s age and birthday listed on Baidu are fake.”

“What?”

It was as if a bolt of lightning struck Lin Chong’s bare head.

“I’m telling you, her age and birthday are fake. The only real thing is that she’s actually female.”

Lin Chong’s face turned crimson down to his neck, and he stammered, “It’s… it’s fine, I…”

“This was the only reason you came to see me?”

Mu Ran had already told Lin Chong that there was no need to protect her when Gu Beicheng was by her side.

“There’s more! But maybe I shouldn’t say.”

Mu Ran smiled. “Go ahead.”

Lin Chong looked deeply at her, his expression grave. “I did a reading—Young Master Mu Jingcheng’s fate is even more entwined with yours than Gu Beicheng’s. Maybe you and Mu Jingcheng are actually—”

He didn’t finish, for he saw Mu Ran’s face grow unmistakably dark and cold.

“Don’t go around making wild predictions again.”

Mu Ran turned and left. This Lin Chong, always reading people’s fortunes, never feared retribution for revealing heaven’s secrets.

“Hey! Xiao Ran! I’m not afraid of retribution! I exist only to give you advice!”

Mu Ran ignored the man behind her and prepared to find Gu Beicheng.

“Well, Miss Mu, you’re something else—keeping a fortune-teller by your side for advice,” Gu Xiao said, stepping out to block Mu Ran’s path.

“Think he could read my fortune, too?”

Seeing his boss blocked, Lin Chong hurriedly stepped in front of Mu Ran.

“Young man, I see bloodshed in your near future!”

Gu Xiao sneered and shot Lin Chong a sidelong look. “Careful, or I’ll make sure you see blood right now.”

Lin Chong grinned and pointed at Gu Xiao’s forehead, then shook his head. “Believe it or not, but you’d better walk everywhere for the time being. Avoid all vehicles.”

Gu Xiao was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. The look he gave Lin Chong was even more speechless than the one Mu Ran had worn the first time she met him.

Did this bald guy really think he was some kind of sage?

Just a fraud!

No vehicles, only walking? Did he expect him to give up his legs?

“Miss Mu, you don’t believe this bald fraud, do you?” Gu Xiao asked.

Mu Ran seemed thoughtful.

Lin Chong’s words hadn’t been made up out of thin air.

In her previous life, after marrying Bai Zehan, she’d retired from the screen but kept a close eye on the entertainment industry.

Around this same time last year, the president of Chengxing Pictures, Gu Da, was in a car accident before shooting began on a new film. His left leg suffered a comminuted fracture, leaving him disabled.

But Gu Xiao hadn’t been defeated by this setback. He went on to shoot the film he’d been preparing for so long, and it was a huge success, propelling him into the ranks of top directors.

That film was called “Cycle.”

“Gu Xiao, I advise you to listen to him.”