CH 63

When Xie Luyu woke up that morning, he discovered that Gu Qingchi had actually sent him a message.

[Do you have any tips for smoking?] 

This was a whole seven words!

Gu Qingchi rarely used WeChat. His WeChat Moments was even more barren. He simply didn’t have anything to post.

It was rare for him to even open WeChat. Getting a single word message from him was already a huge accomplishment.

However, Xie Luyu immediately became alert once more. A person would usually try cigarettes or alcohol out of curiosity. 

There was nothing Xie Luyu could do about alcohol. Gu Qingchi had already gotten his hands on that. Not even a lock could keep him out of the wine cabinet. Still, Xie Luyu felt the need to keep Gu Qingchi away from cigarettes.

[Why are you asking? Smoking is bad for you.]

It took a while for Gu Qingchi to respond.

[For my role in this movie.]

Xie Luyu felt much more relieved if it was for work.

Xie Luyu, a long-time smoker, wrote up a whole bunch of precautions and tips and sent it over.

He also littered his messages with the harmful effects of smoking.

He didn’t even smoke that often anymore. Xie Luyu actually had quite a bit of willpower. He decided to quit, and he actually succeeded. 

In order to take care of Gu Qingchi, who had pretty much zero self-control, Xie Luyu was now living a very healthy life.

[You don’t actually need to smoke. Just hold it in your mouth and pretend. Smoking isn’t good for your lungs. Even if you’re faking it, you can still get the same effect.]

Then, he sent a list of cigarette brands. Since Gu Qingchi was abroad, the list only consisted of foreign cigarette brands.

All the cigarettes on the list were of the mild type. These were the least likely to get him addicted. 

Gu Qingchi swept his eyes from top to bottom. When he headed out that morning, he went straight to the convenience store to buy some cigarettes.

As he was checking out, the boss confirmed his order with him.

“Sir, these are women’s cigarettes.”

Corenzo was very responsible. Every morning, he’d arrive early and wait for Gu Qingchi to finish filming. He never became impatient either. His behavior was very much worth the high salary he was being paid. 

He jumped off the table and tilted his head to the side, motioning for Gu Qingchi to follow him.

“My friends are here today. Let’s head out and find something fun to do.”

Right outside of the film set was the ballroom that Corenzo usually hung out at. During the day, there wasn’t much in terms of guests. The only people there at the moment was the guy with dreadlocks and seven or eight other people. They were sitting around a round table, talking, laughing, and playing around.

They were in the middle of a conversation when Corenzo and Gu Qingchi arrived. Once the two of them showed up, everyone became quiet. 

Corenzo was unperturbed.

“Hey, you guys don’t gotta be like that. He’s not the good boy that he used to be. Besides, that director wants him to hang out with us.”

As he spoke, he lightly nudged Gu Qingchi. Gu Qingchi walked into the center of the group. There was almost a sense of ceremony to the entire exchange.

It was like a lion introducing a new member to the pride. 

Gu Qingchi was still wearing the clothes he wore during filming. The clothes weren’t any different from something an ordinary teen would wear. It was just a simple pair of jeans and a hoodie.

His outfit was pretty similar to what everyone else was wearing.

The guy with the dreadlocks and the others were still a little restrained. Some of them even took a few steps back.

Gu Qingchi gave them a really unique sort of vibe. They couldn’t help but feel that this sort of person was very far away from them. 

Even if he was among them for now, within reach for now, he was like an albino deer among a herd of normal brown deers. There was a clear distinction.

“Hello.”

He greeted them.

Finally, someone moved. One of the guys pulled out a box of chewing gum and offered it to Gu Qingchi. 

“Wanna try it? It’s peppermint.”

“Thank you.”

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There weren’t a lot of people on the streets. There weren’t any vehicles. If there were, it’d be a bicycle or two at the most.

A few of them had brought skateboards, the short kind. Once they got outside, they started skating, weaving back and forth. Sometimes, they’d skate out very far, but they’d always end up circling back after a while, back to the heart of the group.

One of the guys bought some hot dogs. Corenzo ended up getting two of them. He stuffed one into Gu Qingchi’s hands. 

“Here’s lunch. Hold onto it.”

He kept talking as he chewed.

“We usually spend our days like this, roaming the streets. If we get hungry, we’ll grab a meal. It really isn’t anything special. If anyone’s causing trouble, we’ll teach them a bit of a lesson and make sure they don’t do it again. All we want is to peacefully live our lives.”

He finished off the hot dog in just a couple of bites. 

Meanwhile, Gu Qingchi had just started eating his hot dog.

“Once we run out of money, we’ll find a job at the auto repair shop or the bar and earn a bit of money. Then, we’ll just keep cruising along like this. It’s pretty relaxed, but it’s also kind of boring. However, I was born here. This is all I know, so I just keep going.”

“We don’t really have any else to do but mess around. I don’t really see any future in this. There’s also this group of idiots. I don’t really understand what there is to learn from us.”

Corenzo’s tone of voice was lighthearted. He was mixed. His mother was Latino. 

His skin was smooth, honey-colored. His eyes were rather deep set. He had short brown hair and slender limbs. He looked young and healthy. His long legs were particularly attractive.

Corenzo was also well-known around town for his good looks.

Whenever he hit the streets, the girls would always turn their attention towards him.

However, Gu Qingchi was now by his side. 

Gu Qingchi seemed to have this kind of charm to him. He was magnetic. He could capture anyone’s attention with a single glance.

His race was unmistakable, black hair and black eyes. It was clear that he was Asian. However, beauty knew no bounds.

Just now, a girl who was selling flowers suddenly ran over from the other side of the street. She shoved a flower into Gu Qingchi’s hand. Then, she ran away.

Corenzo didn’t pay much attention to this exchange. He looked at Gu Qingchi’s half-eaten hot dog. 

“Are you going to eat that? If you don’t want it, you can give it to me.”

Gu Qingchi didn’t think much. He simply handed it over. He reminded him.

“It’s cold.”

By the time he finished speaking, Corenzo had already stuffed the hot dog into his mouth. It was gone within seconds. 

They reached the end of the street. There were several motorcycles parked there.

Corenzo walked over and swung himself onto his motorcycle.

He motioned for Gu Qingchi to sit in the back seat.

“Come on. I’ll take you for a ride.” 

The guy with dreadlocks hitched a ride with one of the other guys. He gave Corenzo an unhappy look.

“Boss, you never let me sit there. You said that, if I touched it, you’d make sure that I never get a girlfriend for the rest of my life. What’s the deal?”

Corenzo handed Gu Qingchi a helmet.

“If you pay me a thousand dollars a day, I’ll let you ride it too.” 

The streets were empty. Several motorcycles roared to life and zoomed out.

Finally, they stopped at a public square.

There were quite a few people here. The square was littered with pigeons. There were several peddlers selling snacks as well as bird food.

There was also a large fountain in the center. 

It was a well-known tourist spot. Occasionally, there would be tour groups ambling about, taking photos.

This was one of the more interesting yet not too messy places that Corenzo knew of.

The group bought a few bags of bread to feed the pigeons, messing around as they walked.

Gu Qingchi put his hands in the pouch of his hoodie and followed them. The pigeons were landing next to them and then flying off again. 

He looked at the pigeons and smiled.

Corenzo pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

“Are you still learning? Slater told me to teach you.”

“I’m still learning. I think I’ve got a handle on it now.” 

Gu Qingchi took one and bit it in his mouth.

Corenzo laughed, tapping Gu Qingchi’s shoulder with his fist. Then, he pulled out a lighter to light his cigarette.

“You’re probably the first person to have me light your cigarette for you.”

Gu Qingchi laughed. The cigarette in his mouth wobbled. 

He was much more successful this time around. Gu Qingchi straightened up. Smoke started rising up before finally dispersing in front of him.

If he were to be honest, it wasn’t that pleasant of an experience. It felt the same as inhaling ordinary smoke, suffocating and uncomfortable. It also felt a little itchy.

He kept it in his mouth for a moment. Then, he held it between his fingers.

Corenzo and his group of friends were rather eye-catching. 

They were a group of young people in their twenties. All of them had good figures, and they were currently in their prime.

There was a tour group nearby. Some of the people in the tour group were taking photos of them with their phones and cameras.

It just so happened to be a group of tourists from China.

Among them was a couple. 

The girl held a camera in her hands. She pretended to be photographing the pigeons, but she was actually photographing Corenzo and his friends. She sighed to herself as she was snapping photos.

“This foreigner is so photogenic.”

The guy that was with her wasn’t too happy.

“Chinese people aren’t bad either. Why are you always worshiping foreigners? You can just take some photos of me.” 

“That’s different. Chinese people are nice too, but you have to admit that foreigners have much more defined features. Plus, they’re taller, they work out more, and they have a lot of muscle. It makes sense for foreigners to be attractive.”

“Besides, you can go stand next to him right now. I don’t discriminate. I’ll take photos of both of you. Do you really have the guts to be in the same frame as him? People with belly fat don’t have the right to tell me what I can or cannot take photos of. Look at him. I can count his abs from underneath his shirt.”

The boy choked. Still, he stubbornly replied.

“I’ll go to the gym as soon as we get back. You can take as many photos as you like then.” 

After a while, he added.

“They age faster. And they gain weight more easily. In a couple of years, he won’t be anything to look at.”

The girl didn’t care.

“Tch. Can you quit it with the insults? It’s fine if he looks good right now. Who cares about all that?” 

She was in the middle of snapping photos when she suddenly froze.

“Fuck.”

The girl didn’t even blink. She immediately tugged at the guy standing next to her.

“Look over there, the one in the middle. Isn’t he Chinese? He’s pretty much single-handedly raising the bar for all Asians.” 

The boy looked in the direction that she was pointing at.

“We’re abroad right now. Don’t assume that every person with black hair and black eyes is Chinese—”

Then, he froze.

After a long pause, he straightened his back and started speaking with conviction. 

“Who was it that said all foreign guys are handsome? What’s wrong with Chinese guys? He’s way better looking than the rest of them, okay? You can keep taking photos of that foreigner if you want. In fact, don’t even bother taking photos of the Chinese guy.”

“Shut up, you don’t even know if he’s Chinese. Besides, just because he’s good-looking doesn’t mean you’re good-looking too. You’re dragging the whole team down. Not even he can save you.”

“Can’t I feel proud on his behalf?”

The girl ignored him, focusing instead on her photography. She couldn’t even be bothered to hide the fact that she was photographing him. Wherever Gu Qingchi went, the camera would follow. 

Captured within the camera lens was Gu Qingchi and Corenzo. Gu Qingchi had a cigarette tucked between his fingers. Sometimes, he’d place it in his mouth. One of the other guys skated in a circle around him, patted him on the shoulder, and then skated away.

Gu Qingchi looked up with a light smile and bright eyes.

Every now and then, one of the guys would say something to him.

It was plain to see from those little interactions that he was the center of this group. 

Aside from his overly beautiful face, he looked entirely like a small town boy with a lot of friends.

However, he really was too beautiful. His skin was even fairer and smoother than the other white guys that were with him. His proportions were sheer perfection, like that of a statue. Every inch of him seemed to have been carefully crafted by the hand of god.

However, when compared to a statue, he looked more real. Whenever he smiled, you would come to realize that, yes, it was possible for such beauty to exist in this world.

The girl’s camera stayed glued onto Gu Qingchi. 

She zoomed in.

Gu Qingchi was at the center of the frame. He was talking to the other people next to him.

The girl then posted the video onto her personal Weibo.

The video was filmed really well. The girl added a filter to the video when she posted it, so the colors were even more distinct. There weren’t any modern facilities in the surrounding area. When accompanied by the architecture and the environment, there was a very strong vintage feel to the video. 

It had become a trend to post photos of grandparents from when they were young because it reminded netizens of old school movies. She decided to play around and add a caption.

[My friend’s grandfather when he was young.]

The video didn’t go viral.

However, there were quite a few comments. 

[I thought it’d be some ordinary looking guy, but I ended up getting blinded by his beauty. He looks even better than old school movie stars, okay?]

[Fuck, I walked in not expecting much, and I walked out on my knees.]

[I won’t beat around the bush. Does your friend have a brother?]

[I was born in the wrong time period…] 

The girl didn’t keep them in suspense. All the people in her comments were her friends. After being tagged a couple of times, she honestly confessed that she had actually taken the photos while she was traveling abroad.

The commenters quickly caught onto the key point.

[This means that I have a chance!]

Afterward, there wasn’t much activity on that post. The girl didn’t actually have that many followers. That was until she received a private message from one of her followers. 

[Hello, I want to make an edit with this video. Can I use it?]

The girl was more than happy.

[Go ahead, haha.]

Soon, a user on a certain video sharing website with over a million followers posted a video clip—Beauty Of A Century. 

It was accompanied by a caption.

[This is your parents’ generation, your grandparents’ generation, your great-grandparents’ generation that you look down upon.]

The user had taken clips from various old school movies. There were a total of seven or eight people featured in the video. All of them were beauties. They were the kind of beauty that stood out from the crowd.

At the end of the video, there was a line of text. 

[Don’t leave just yet. There’s one last clip. It’s not from a movie. Rather, this clip is of a netizen’s grandfather, but I just needed to feature him in this video!]