CH 8.1

I lied to you, will you forgive me? 

Yes, because I know you like me. 

Jiang Qi received a call from Shen Lei and was half-forced to watch an audition. 

He just got out of bed and went out after a simple wash. He sat in the back seat of the car and was still in a state of drowsiness.  His jet-black hair fell to his forehead and drooped on his eyelids giving him a princely look. 

Shen Lei recalled Jiang Qi’s hair when he went to pick him up at the prison gate fourteen months ago. The boy only had hair shorter by an inch, but now it grew so long. 

Anyway, this guy is heartless... 

Shen Lei tentatively asked, "You didn’t look at your phone?" 

Now the name 'Jiang Qi' is discussed everywhere in forums and there is an endless uproar when the keyword 'Jiang' is searched. The words Jiang and Qi were expelled from the Chinese dictionary, otherwise, the black entries would not be deleted at all. 

In addition, Jiang Qi hadn’t signed with a company yet nor does he have a backer, so how could anyone help him pay a water army to fight against the netizens? It's best not to give critics the opportunity to pressure him and fall under pressure. 

That kind of black hot search can press anyone down like a shackle. Shen Lei became upset when he saw it and simply took the opportunity to forcibly call people out to relax. 

But looking at Jiang Qi's appearance... he doesn't seem to be affected by it? He can even sleep comfortably with his cap on. 

Jiang Qi's cold voice was muffled by the facemask as he replied dully, "I didn't look at it." 

He never liked looking at anything. 

Shen Lei was not surprised by his answer, but he was slightly relieved, "Go to sleep."  

It will take a while to reach Hengdian.  

A year ago, he knew that this kid was strange and has an odd personality. He is naturally anti-social. He is not curious about anything like other normal people and he does not expect anything. It was as if he was born with no desire for knowledge. 

The overwhelming rant of netizens on the internet may affect others, but it definitely did not affect Jiang Qi. 

Shen Lei is a talented young director. Although he is young, he is different from Jiang Qi. He is full of curiosity and he likes to study things and people. 

Whereas, Jiang Qi gave him a sense of mystery that people normally lack. Shen Lei has known him for almost two years and there’s one thing he is very curious about Jiang Qi. 

——That is whether he has anyone he cares about.

After all, Jiang Qi is like a lone wolf walking alone.  

If it's just about gossip on the Internet, Shen Lei didn’t need to ask.  When he saw Jiang Qi in prison two years ago, he knew why he was there. Hence, he thought it was funny to see the so-called 'exclusive reports' on the Internet that were buzzing like flies. 

The truth is often more dramatic, cruel, and even terrifying than the rumors.  

Shen Lei remembered what the prison officers had told him about Jian Qi being convicted of homicide from excessive self-defense.

…

After half an hour, Jiang Qi whose eyes were closed from napping was awakened by Shen Lei. 

The people outside the car can be seen clearly from the bright sun. Jiang Qi squinted a little uncomfortably. His light-colored pupils looked paler in the sunlight.  There were two men outside Hengdian who were about to smoke a cigarette to relieve their fatigue. They heard footsteps from the two people who had just come over.  They looked at Jiang Qi with great interest and even initiated to chat. 

"Hey, old Shen." The tall man on the left has a long face and looked familiar with Shen Lei. He patted his shoulder affectionately and asked, "This is your newly dug-up treasure recently? Tsk, he’s been talked about all over the circle, but you hide him tightly." 

His tone seemed to be talking about a mere commodity which made Jiang Qi frown slightly. 

"Heh, Feng Yan, don't put money on my face. My male protagonist hadn’t signed on to my company, but I'm in charge of him." Shen Lei laughed twice and playing Tai Chi in a good manner, “I heard that Director Wang is having an audition for a new play today, just taking the younger ones to see the excitement." 

He patted Jiang Qi on the shoulder as he spoke. 

This showed a protective attitude and an appearance of expressing his desire to leave which made the horse-faced Feng Yan's expression stiff. He then smiled, “Well, Director Wang is inside—then Lao Shen, we will go first."  He said as he pulled the man next and looked at Jiang Qi with meaningful eyes before leaving. 

"Don't worry about it, Feng Yan is so virtuous." Shen Lei has been in the circle for a long time, no matter which doorway is clear to him. He sneered when he saw Feng Yan walking away, “In the past two years, he has given Yanyi Media some news traffic and after being touted for a while as a 'golden broker', he started to act like he was special and there is no one who can handle him. I guess he wants to drill what’s inside your mind." 

Jiang Qi listened expressionlessly and had no response. 

Shen Lei didn't know whether he listened or noy, but from a friend's point of view, he still made the trouble to tell him - 

"I don't know if you have any plans to sign with a company, but if you change your mind, it's best not to sign with him. Although, Feng Yan is a bit capable and had a set of marketing and hype methods, but he is also famous for suppressing the artists under his hands. Many small stars were fooled into signing the contract. Unfortunately, when they’d had enough, they didn’t have the money to pay the breach of contract and they have nowhere else to cry. 

Jiang Qi has been in the industry for three months, but the most annoying thing is hearing these intrigues. 

He frowned and his short temper was a little aggressive, “Are you still going to watch the audition?" 

Then he left without looking at him. 

Shen Lei cursed inwardly and said hurriedly, "Look, what else are we doing here?"