Chapter 64: Transmigrated as a Stingy Phoenix Man (64)
Hearing those words, Cen Yu glanced over at Yu Jinheng.
The original novel had spent very little ink on Yu Jinheng, merely mentioning that he was in poor health. However, seeing the man’s current condition and listening to his calm narrative tone gave Cen Yu the distinct impression that he didn’t have much time left.
Yu Jinheng seemed to notice his gaze and tilted his head to look back at him. “Something on your mind?”
Cen Yu frowned. On second thought, he felt it wasn’t appropriate to pry too deeply given the nature of his relationship with Yu Jinheng.
Turning his head back, he looked down at the sand beneath his feet, digging his toes into it a few times before saying, “Nothing.”
With that, he stepped away from Yu Jinheng and walked back over to the BBQ grill… Jian Zhou and his best friend happened to be coming over to swap ingredients with Sang Qianshan.
When the two saw Cen Yu walk over, they gave him a brief nod.
Sang Qianshan wasn’t particularly fond of Yu Jinheng. He had naturally noticed Cen Yu going over to talk to the man earlier. While brushing sauce onto the skewers, he feigned indifference and asked, “You went over to bring him food?”
“Worried he’d starve to death,” Cen Yu replied.
He noticed Pei Zhuo holding a paper plate, eating very little. “On a strict diet?”
Pei Zhuo hadn’t expected Cen Yu to speak to him. Although he felt the previous friction between them was just a small misunderstanding, he knew Cen Yu didn’t particularly care for him—and being Sang Qianshan’s close friend put them on “opposing sides,” so to speak.
Taking a bite of the mushroom and broccoli skewer Sang Qianshan had just grilled, he mumbled, “Need to prepare for an upcoming movie shoot.”
Hearing this, Jian Zhou’s interest was instantly piqued. He looked toward Pei Zhuo, though he seemed hesitant to ask anything directly out of consideration for the live broadcast.
Cen Yu didn’t catch on at first and instinctively looked toward his sole connection in the entertainment industry. His connection glanced back, then took a moment to hook his finger at Cen Yu, gesturing for him to come closer.
Cen Yu leaned in.
“…A supporting male role in Pei Zhuo’s new movie is currently casting, and word is Jian Zhou auditioned for it,” Sang Qianshan whispered softly.
Since the news hadn’t been officially announced yet, it naturally couldn’t be leaked to the viewers in the livestream.
Cen Yu glanced at Jian Zhou, finally understanding why he was looking at Pei Zhuo with such anticipation.
Jian Zhou’s best friend seemed to know about it as well, though she was currently helping Sang Qianshan grill the meat.
Right now, this stretch of beach was filled with the production crew. The area had been specially lit with heavy equipment set up around them. Whether it was due to prior coordination by the crew or because this was a private beach, not a single tourist was in sight.
Chewing on the grilled meat in his mouth, Cen Yu felt a bit bored and wanted to find an excuse to head back inside and lie down.
Just then, Pei Zhuo set down the paper plate in his hand and mentioned that he needed to excuse himself for a moment to head back to the villa and grab something—
It all happened in a split second.
Dressed in a short-sleeved T-shirt, Pei Zhuo was about to trudge through the sand toward the villa when he suddenly felt that something was missing from the clothes he had set aside earlier.
At first, he thought he might have misremembered.
He instinctively looked over at Yu Jinheng, who was sitting nearby, wanting to ask if he had noticed anyone coming by.
However, Yu Jinheng had only just arrived himself.
Because the crew had been busy setting up lighting and preparing the grilling gear, things had been somewhat chaotic before the guests came down to the beach.
Pei Zhuo’s jacket had been left on a nearby beach chair, and his assistant happened to step away right around then to make a phone call to his agent…
Had he remembered wrong?
Pei Zhuo felt his pockets, ultimately deciding to head to the villa first.
Holding a plastic fork, Cen Yu idly chewed on the meat in his mouth. He noticed Pei Zhuo pause on the spot for a moment as if searching for something, but the man then lowered his hands and turned to walk back toward the villa.
Shifting his gaze, Cen Yu spotted a crew member in the crowd who was dressed rather strangely.
Although night had fallen and the ocean breeze had turned cooler, it certainly wasn’t cold enough to warrant wearing a heavy hoodie. Even someone like Yu Jinheng, whose health wasn’t great, was only wearing an open cardigan.
Yet this person was wearing a pullover hoodie, complete with a baseball cap pulled low over his head.
On top of that, Cen Yu noticed that the person’s gaze was fixated entirely on Pei Zhuo, who was standing off to the side.
A fan?
The thought crossed Cen Yu’s mind instinctively.
Because the man was standing right behind one of the floodlights, and darkness had already fallen, no one would have noticed him standing quietly there if Cen Yu hadn’t happened to look over.
Pei Zhuo was now making his way toward the villa.
Bypassing the camera lenses, he was about to step through the shadow beside the large floodlight… when Cen Yu suddenly sensed that something was dangerously wrong.
He recalled the stalker fan Pei Zhuo had mentioned that day.
At that exact moment, the man—who had kept his hands buried in the front pocket of his hoodie—suddenly whipped something out. Cen Yu took a closer look and realized it was a bottle!
Holy shit! Something’s wrong!
The thought exploded in Cen Yu’s mind!
His body moved faster than his brain. Right as Pei Zhuo approached the edge of the shadow and the man was about to lunge out—
Cen Yu lunged forward, grabbed Pei Zhuo’s arm, and yanked him backward with brute force. Following up with a swift sidekick, he launched the bottle—which the man was just about to twist open—flying far through the air. Before the man could even react—
Cen Yu grabbed the man’s hood, slamming him straight down onto the ground.
He practically mounted the guy’s chest, pinning his ribcage down with a knee, while the plastic fork in his hand aimed straight at the man’s eye—
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Practically everyone was struck dumb by the sudden turn of events.
No one could have anticipated Cen Yu taking action so abruptly.
Even Pei Zhuo hadn’t expected someone to suddenly charge out from behind the floodlight!
Because the crew’s lights were so intense, prolonged exposure to the blinding glare left his eyes briefly disoriented and blinded the moment he stepped into the dark.
It wasn’t until Cen Yu grabbed his arm and threw him aside that he stumbled back a few steps, finally realizing what had happened.
With Cen Yu’s weight crushing his chest after being slammed violently to the ground, the man instinctively thrashed and coughed.
Cen Yu kept the fork leveled at the man’s eyeball without flinching, then yelled directly to the crew—
“Check what’s inside that bottle!”
Only at this moment did everyone snap out of their shock from the chaos that had unfolded in less than thirty seconds. Someone screamed and rushed over to check the bottle.
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew and guests swarmed forward to help pin down the hooded man.
Sang Qianshan rushed to Cen Yu’s side the second the scuffle ended, his face dark as he glared at the man Cen Yu had subdued—
“Where the hell did this guy come from?!”
The crew members were now scrambling to kill the live broadcast feed, far too overwhelmed to worry about what kind of internet storm this incident would spark.
Several people rushed forward frantically to take over holding down the man Cen Yu was pinning.
Seeing that the man was securely restrained, Cen Yu finally stood up from the ground. Scraped by the sand earlier, his knees were slightly abraded and bleeding, with grains of sand clinging to the skin.
He casually patted the sand away.
Then, looking at Pei Zhuo, who was already surrounded by his anxious assistants—
“Big star, you owe me a favor.”
Saying this, he jerked his chin at Pei Zhuo.
