Chapter 21: Transmigrated as a Cheapskate Phoenix Man (21)
“If I had actually done that, he would’ve twisted my head right off.” Seeing that Lou Baichuan wasn’t at the office, Cen Yu relaxed a bit. He turned his head to glance at Gao Lanyuan, who was still holding his coffee cup.
He wondered if he should probe for his impressions of Yu Xinyu.
In the original novel, Gao Lanyuan idolized this senior so deeply, which directly triggered his turn from neutral bystander to full-on hater toward Cen Yu.
Why hadn’t he shown the slightest reaction yesterday upon meeting the senior he’d admired for so long?
Why did he only bring up Lou Baichuan today instead of Yu Xinyu? Could Gao Lanyuan have forgotten what Yu Xinyu looked like?
As Cen Yu pondered this, he heard Gao Lanyuan ask directly, “Brother Cen, was that your roommate last night?”
Here it comes! The plot point is here!
Hearing Gao Lanyuan ask this, Cen Yu knew the plot setup was arriving right on cue.
He cleared his throat. “Of course. If he’s not a roommate, what else could he be?” He cast a subtle hint at Gao Lanyuan. “Why do you ask?”
“Nothing,” Gao Lanyuan smiled. “Just curious.”
“After all, I didn’t expect a roommate to help with the laundry.”
Cen Yu naturally picked up on the underlying meaning in Gao Lanyuan’s words. The thought that the guy was throwing subtle jabs out of jealousy instantly put Cen Yu in a better mood.
Taking advantage of the moment, he blurted out the probing question he had prepared earlier.
“Speaking of which, Little Yu told me he seems to know you,” Cen Yu decided to bluff. “Are you his junior from school?”
The smile on Gao Lanyuan’s face didn’t fade. “Junior?”
Leaning back in his chair, he seemed to pause in thought… Using his peripheral vision, he observed Cen Yu, finding this excuse completely laughable.
Yu Xinyu actually remembered him?
Haha. Who didn’t know that Yu Xinyu was an arrogant snob who didn’t care about anyone? Though to be fair, the guy certainly had the capital for it.
Yesterday was actually his first time seeing Yu Xinyu put on that gentle, submissive facade.
He intentionally took a few more sips of his coffee as if trying hard to recall. Only after seeing impatience and anxiety creep into Cen Yu’s eyes did he slowly set his coffee cup back down on the desk—
“It seems like I am.”
“Though Senior Yu is way too famous… he probably wouldn’t remember me, right?” Gao Lanyuan turned to look at Cen Yu. “Does he really remember me?”
He deliberately put on a look of flattered surprise.
Heh, who knows?
Cen Yu thought to himself. In the original book, it had mentioned that Yu Xinyu possessed an exceptional memory, rarely forgetting anyone he had crossed paths with even once—which was a key reason fanboys like Gao Lanyuan were utterly devoted to him.
After all, no matter who you were, discovering that an idol you once revered actually remembered meeting you once and could accurately call you by name would make it hard not to be moved.
Moreover, because of this photographic memory, Yu Xinyu had gained a massive fan following when he appeared on the reality show with Sang Qianshan.
At that thought, Cen Yu put on an impatient frown—
“He just said you looked familiar, like he’d seen you somewhere before.”
As the two chatted, quiet gossip was breaking out elsewhere in the office—
“I told you Sang Qianshan didn’t have any friends!”
“Ahaha, I’m dying. Who came up with the idea of hiring a fake friend?”
Cen Yu’s ears perked up instantly.
Hiring a friend?
In the original plot, the arc where he brought a close friend onto the reality show wasn’t supposed to happen until much later. Why was it suddenly bumped up so early?
Curiosity getting the better of him, he leaned right in—
“What’s this about Sang Qianshan hiring a friend?”
“Come, come, grab a seat for the tea.” The red-haired designer immediately flipped her screen to show Cen Yu the forum page.
[Title: Who gets it! The very first side gig an acting student got was… playing a top star’s best friend!]
[Someone with insider connections here! OP is an acting student, a total nobody. Not to brag, but besides having good looks slightly above average, I really have zero fame… yet recently I was approached by a top star’s manager.]
[At first I thought the top star wanted some casting couch action with me. Even though I always thought he was the ultimate straight guy in the universe—the very last straight man on Earth—I still got a little excited when his manager contacted me… Only to find out he wanted me to play his friend! A pure friend! Totally PG!]
This OP made a quick exit, deleting the account at lightning speed right after posting.
However, the gossip-hungry netizens were already thoroughly hooked by keywords like—
[Top Star], [Hiring a Friend], [Ultimate Straight Guy], and [PG Friend], flooding the comments to piece together the truth.
And the most plausible theory pointed straight to Durian TV’s new reality show!
[Wrap it up, guys. Durian TV is just generating hype for publicity, heh.]
[Breaking a cold sweat here, folks. Durian TV wouldn’t even spare a small forum like this! Let me tell you right now, I don’t want to watch some fake, sanitized friendship!]
[…Wait, am I the only one curious who the top star is?]
[Heh, who else could it be? Having to resort to hiring a friend—isn’t that our foul-tempered Princess: Sang Princess? Isn’t the Princess slated to join Durian TV’s reality show soon? It’s 1000% him.]
[Leave Brother Sang out of this. Please focus on Brother Sang’s upcoming movie instead…]
As the thread piled up with replies, although some people thought it was fake news created by Durian TV to build hype for the show, a vast majority believed this top star was 1000% Sang Qianshan.
After all, everyone knew he was an arrogant rich boy who had to return home to inherit a fortune if he didn’t work hard.
He basically had zero friends in the entertainment industry, and certainly none among non-celebrities either.
Cen Yu hadn’t expected this plotline to surface so soon… In the original novel, Sang Qianshan hadn’t planned to hire a fake friend because the reality show invitation came later in the story, when his plan was already to invite Yu Xinyu.
He just hadn’t expected this segment of the plot to be moved forward by so much.
Sang Qianshan didn’t even know Yu Xinyu yet, so naturally, he couldn’t invite him either.
—I need to figure out a way for the two of them to meet first.
When Sang Qianshan’s manager saw the forum post, his soul nearly departed from his body!
He obviously hadn’t looked for a fake friend yet, nor had he ever planned on hiring one!
Besides, could he really be that stupid—hiring an acting student to play Sang Qianshan’s friend? Wouldn’t that just be begging for a leak?!
He suspected that rival agencies in the industry had guessed Sang Qianshan lacked non-celebrity friends, deliberately stirring the waters with a post like this to spark a viral debate. Now, to avoid getting exposed, he couldn’t possibly hire a contract friend for Sang Qianshan anymore.
While the manager was pacing frantically in circles, he spotted Sang Qianshan lying on the sofa, playing on his phone—
“My lord!” he panicked. “What are we going to do about this?!”
Sang Qianshan ignored him completely because Cen Yu had just sent a message saying he hadn’t introduced his partner to him yet.
He suggested picking a time to have dinner together.
Hearing his manager’s whining, he said with utter impatience, “Whatever.”
Then, brimming with murderous intent, he shot a reply back to Cen Yu—
[Sang Qianshan: Mm-hmm~ Sure thing! I don’t have any schedule conflicts lately, so I’m free anytime~ Whenever you’re free works for me~]
[Cen Yu: OK]
Sang Qianshan tossed his phone aside.
The manager observed Sang Qianshan’s expression for a moment—
“What’s with the face? Did your ex-girlfriend get married or something?”
