Chapter 18

In just a few short minutes, it felt like an entire century for Liang Hao.

Ever since middle school, he had relied on his good looks to juggle multiple girls. His experience in this area was nothing short of extensive.

He’d slipped up before, but always managed to come up with excuses to smooth things over. With girls, a few sweet words usually did the trick.

Of course, that was if he got the chance to explain.

Today, it was clear he wasn’t getting that chance.

Faced with this kind of death trap, even with all his past experience, he was completely at a loss. His mouth opened and closed, but for the life of him, he couldn’t get a single word out.

Not that it mattered. The three women there quickly figured things out.

After just a few exchanged words and a glance at their chat logs, it was crystal clear what had happened.

The round-faced girl clearly had a temper—she exploded first. Swinging her little handbag, she smacked Liang Hao with it. “You scumbag! Who do you think you are? Just a D-list actor, trying to pull off ‘schedule management’ like you’re someone important? Damn it! Why do the others get two hours while I only got one?!”

She might have been willing to tolerate the cheating, but the unequal treatment? That was too much!

Standing nearby and watching openly, Jiang Shuwan frowned in confusion. “Wasn’t it six hours total, divided into an hour and a half each?”

The system piped up with a timely explanation:

[It’s six hours total, not divided evenly. The curly-haired girl is an assistant director on the neighboring production. Liang Hao wanted to curry favor and get a role in their next project, so he scheduled her for two hours. The round-faced girl has a difficult personality, and Liang Hao thought it was too exhausting to keep coaxing her, so he cut her time to just one hour.]

Jiang Shuwan: “……”

She thought to herself, “The teachings of our ancestors clearly went over Liang Hao’s head. As the saying goes, it’s not about scarcity—it’s about inequality. If you’re going to play the time-management game, at least respect each ‘managed’ party equally!”

Suddenly, she heard a low, quiet cough behind her. Turning around, she was surprised to find Ji Hanzhang standing just behind her.

In the instant she turned, it seemed like this cold, aloof movie star—aloof like snow atop a mountain—actually gave a slight smile.

But when she blinked and looked again, his expression was as composed as ever: gentle eyebrows, mild eyes, yet inexplicably distant.

She must have imagined it.

Jiang Shuwan gave him a polite nod, then turned her attention eagerly back to the drama unfolding before her.

It wasn’t just the round-faced girl—both the oval-faced girl and the curly-haired one had joined the fray.

The round and oval-faced girls, clearly “frenemies,” attacked in perfect sync, swinging their handbags directly at Liang Hao’s head and face. But the curly-haired one was even fiercer. Even with Liang Hao raising his arms to block, she still found an opening and landed two sharp slaps right on his face.

Liang Hao was losing it. “What are you doing? Let me explain! It’s all a misunderstanding… Look, we’re all single, right? What’s wrong with getting to know a few more people? I don’t believe you haven’t gone on dates with other guys! And hey—don’t hit my face! Even if I was wrong, do you have to hit me?!”

The more he talked, the harder they hit.

Even the nearby waitstaff were dumbfounded.

Honestly, they were just stunned by how bold Liang Hao had been.

Sure, they’d heard of guys playing the field—but this? This was on another level.

What could they say?

This guy really was… something else.

Frankly, those slaps were well deserved.

Once the initial shock wore off, and the staff finally realized what was happening, the group had already descended into chaos. One of the male servers belatedly shouted toward a nearby female colleague, “Hey, come help break them up!”

The female server looked just as stunned. “Oh my god, there are actually guys this scummy?!”

Break them up? Why should she? Scumbags like that should be beaten.

She dragged her feet deliberately, taking ages to cover the short distance as if it were a two-mile hike.

Although the private rooms were separated by partitions, they weren’t actually far apart. With all the commotion, the neighboring guests naturally heard and peeked out to see what was going on.

Wang Youde and Xia Xiangyang, hearing the ruckus, also stepped out of their room.

Upon recognizing the scene, Xia Xiangyang gasped, “Isn’t that Liang Hao? Why are those girls beating him up?”

Wang Youde, being the assistant director and more familiar with people, quickly identified them: “Those two girls—they’re supporting actresses in our production, right? The round-faced one’s Tian Tian, and the oval-faced one is Hu Nianzhen. Oh right, they’re both playing minor consorts of the Prince Regent, aren’t they? Ji Yingdi, am I right?”

Ji Hanzhang: “……”

He truly hadn’t expected this mess to have any connection to him. Still, his expression remained composed as ever. He simply said, “I don’t know them.”

Wang Youde wasn’t bothered. “Oh, right—they only just got sent to the Prince Regent’s manor by the little emperor. You probably haven’t met them yet.”

After hesitating for a moment, he added, “Why are they getting into it with Liang Hao? Should we go break it up?”

Jiang Shuwan glanced at him and Xia Xiangyang, then lowered her voice and quickly explained the situation.

After hearing everything, Wang Youde was shocked. “…Well, damn.”

He never would’ve guessed that Liang Hao, with those thick eyebrows and sincere face, would be this kind of person.

He immediately dismissed the idea of stepping in.

Xia Xiangyang clicked his tongue. “I knew that guy wasn’t anything good. You were absolutely right to stop being a fan. But seriously, how do you always manage to figure out so much from watching just a few minutes of drama?”

No wonder she’s known as Miss Jiang, the Enthusiastic Citizen.

Her ability to pick up on information was seriously top-notch.

Jiang Shuwan had never seen such a dramatic scene before. In her excitement, she couldn’t help but spill everything she’d learned from the gossip system to the two men like beans pouring out of a bamboo tube.

Only after the fact did she realize she might’ve said too much.

It wouldn’t have been a big deal otherwise—after all, Wang Youde and Xia Xiangyang had no idea how much she actually knew. The problem was, Ji Hanzhang had come out not long after her. He did know the whole story.

Jiang Shuwan couldn’t help but sneak a glance back at Ji Hanzhang.

Ji Hanzhang was looking straight ahead, his expression so calm it was as if he hadn’t noticed her probing glance. There was no sign that he’d heard the familiar voice in his head:

[Would Ji Movie Emperor think I’m exaggerating and making things up?]
[No worries, there’s no way he knows about my gossip system. He probably just thinks I’m unreliable at most.]
[He really is outrageously good-looking… No no no, this is exactly how you end up with a love-brained disaster.]

Ji Hanzhang gave a soft cough and slightly turned his body.

At that moment, with the help of the servers, Liang Hao finally broke free from the “combo attack” of the three girls. Clutching his reddened face, he bolted. The servers first blocked the girls, then one suddenly realized something and shouted, “The bill! A333, pay the bill!”

Liang Hao, flustered and fleeing blindly, had his face covered and his head down. He didn’t see clearly where he was going and somehow ended up running straight toward Jiang Shuwan.

She had just been thinking about how love-brains end up getting scammed. As she looked up, she saw a figure charging toward her.

She was stunned and didn’t have time to react. Just as the impact seemed inevitable, someone beside her gave her a strong pull, dragging her backward and to the side.

Her body staggered backward uncontrollably, narrowly avoiding Liang Hao, but due to inertia, she collided into the person behind her.

In that instant, Jiang Shuwan realized who was behind her—and had the most inexplicable thought:

[Am I about to fall into Ji Movie Emperor’s arms?!]

The man behind her stiffened ever so slightly, then placed both hands on her shoulders to steady her, not letting her fall into his embrace.

A faint, cool sandalwood fragrance drifted to her nose.

Click.

The faint sound of a camera shutter.

Jiang Shuwan’s attention was drawn to it. She turned her head toward the sound and vaguely saw a flash—perhaps from a camera. When she focused her eyes, she only saw the door of the private room opposite just closing… and the retreating figure of Liang Hao fleeing in panic.

Oh, and a few servers chasing after him yelling about the bill.

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Aftermath of the Scandal

After the incident, Liang Hao was visibly dejected for a while.

No wonder—he had been beaten so badly he looked like a pig’s head, and he couldn’t even film the next day. The news spread through the entire production crew like wildfire.

Several other girls on the crew whom he had tried to flirt with almost beat him up again. In the end, the crew’s makeup artist managed to talk them down.

If they kept hitting him, his face wouldn’t heal for at least ten days to half a month—there was no way makeup could cover that up.

Though he avoided another round of beatings, Liang Hao’s reputation on set was in ruins. His manager, Brother Long, called and scolded him harshly after learning what had happened. Even if Liang Hao still had any flirtatious thoughts, he didn’t dare act on them anymore.

Luckily for him, perhaps because he was such a nobody, even though this kind of gossip-worthy drama occurred, nothing much got posted online.

A few random posts on Weibo from bystanders just referred to him as “that scumbag who got exposed,” and no one even realized this “exposed scumbag” was actually a minor celebrity.

Liang Hao didn’t know whether to be happy or upset about that.

Afterward, since he couldn’t find any new girls to flirt with and the nights became unbearable, he actually began reading the copy of The Actor’s Self-Cultivation that Jiang Shuwan had given him. He read surprisingly fast and was already a third of the way through it.

That day, the wounds on Liang Hao’s face had mostly faded. The makeup artist gave him a full face of makeup while grumbling.

Liang Hao, under the director’s cold glare, walked on set nervously.

“Action!”

The clapperboard snapped.

Just then, someone rushed in from outside and whispered a few words into Director Luo’s ear. Director Luo’s face visibly changed. “What?!”

He waved his hand. “Pause shooting!”

His already serious expression darkened even more as he pointed at Liang Hao. “You—get out.”

Liang Hao stammered, “D-Director, I, I—”

He thought Director Luo was kicking him off the project.

Director Luo rolled his eyes. “There are police outside asking for you. Get moving!”

Liang Hao was baffled. Why would the police be looking for him? Sure, he’d been dating multiple women and got exposed, but that wasn’t a police matter, was it?

Just as he stepped out of the set, he saw Jiang Shuwan walking over quickly. Liang Hao greeted her.

In these past few days, everyone else had been giving him the cold shoulder. Only Jiang Shuwan had treated him the same as always—cold, yes, but not unfriendly.

He’d weathered countless storms, but Jiang Shuwan never looked down on him.

She asked bluntly, “I heard the police are looking for you. Want to go together and see what’s going on?”

Liang Hao was instantly touched. See? Shuwan still cared about him.

Jiang Shuwan, completely unaware of Liang Hao’s feelings, was thinking to herself—Liang Hao had dated four girls that day, ran into three at the restaurant and got beaten up by them, but had completely forgotten the fourth girl.

Now, that fourth girl’s roommate had reported her missing.

That girl had disappeared.