ATAC Chapter 19: Shao Yanxi, Embarrassed?

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When Liu Yu’an pushes the door open, Shao Yanxi is already looking at him, having heard his knocking.

He can see that Liu Yu’an is dressed in the gowns, even more dramatic in person – a sharp red, with golden lining fleeced across the loose sleeves. On his head is a headpiece with a wig, the long, silver hair is quietly lying on his shoulders. And the most shocking is the make-up on his face that is both aggressively vivid and also extremely seductive.

Somehow, besides thinking about how handsome Liu Yu’an is appearing to be, he actually kind of felt as if Liu Yu’an should appear like this.

It is a thought that surprises him.

After throwing that ridiculous thought out the window, he seems to recall something else and starts chuckling.

Meanwhile, Liu Yu’an is in turn dazzled by the small laughter.

Shao Yanxi really is a handsome person, but with his usual icy appearance, the smile feels as if seeing the flowers bloom in early spring, sending away the deep frost of winter.

It makes Liu Yu’an gasp unconsciously, before snapping quickly out of it, and moves inside as he takes out the sweets he got and put them onto the coffee table. Then, he walks towards Shao Yanxi, and asks with a shameless smile, “well? Handsome?”

Shao Yanxi “…”

He says, expressionlessly, “fine enough.”

“Just enough?” Looking at Shao Yanxi’s stern expression makes Liu Yu’an feel like teasing him. He decides to adopt an impromptu act and widen his eyes as much as possible as he looks at Shao Yanxi with big, doggy eyes.

Then he also lifts his gown up a little and make a full turn around, asking, “how about this?”

Shao Yanxi “…”

His face is practically going ‘can you stop’ with a tinge of embarrassment.

Liu Yu’an is roarously laughing inside already, but he decides to keep pushing him, turning around again and again, “well? Is this more handsome?”

“Stop spinning around,” Shao Yanxi looks away and says.

Liu Yu’an refuses, saying, “tell me I’m handsome first.”

Shao Yanxi decides to ignore him. He tersely replies “shameless” before quickly stepping beside him and heads into the bathroom.

Liu Yu’an “!!!”

He’s shocked. Was Shao Yanxi actually capable of such cute awkwardness? Did someone else transmigrate into and take over him?

The Shao Yanxi who leaves the bathroom with his hands washed and making a beeline for the sweets is an indication that – there is no such thing. He is still him.

He only just said what he actually thought.

After speaking it through, Liu Yu’an covers his chest, and says, “Yanxi, the words, they hurt…” I can’t believe you’d even leave be behind for food.

Before he can finish his sentence though he hears Shao Yanxi say, slightly unnaturally in tone, “you’re the most handsome.”

Liu Yu’an “!!!!!”

He cracks open a big, big smile, and replies, “yes, I am, but compared to our number one handsome boy, Yanxi, I’m still a little bit off. Our Yanxi is the most handsomest guy in the world!”

Shao Yanxi “…”

He decides to stuff a profiterole into his blabbering mouth.

“!!!” That is not how you are supposed to put what you’ve learned into practical use.

After finally shutting Liu Yu’an up, Shao Yanxi starts to gorge on the feast in front of him.

Then, Liu Yu’an takes the profiterole out from his mouth. He really can’t handle sweets, but just throwing it away… He decides to take a little bite. It’s… awkward, but not inedible.

So, Liu Yu’an decides he will finish the one profiterole.

That is when he notices Shao Yanxi looking at him oddly, a curious ‘I thought you didn’t them’ written all over his face.

“Because you fed it, I think?” Liu Yu’an looks at him, smiling.

Shao Yanxi “…”

As if possessed, Shao Yanxi takes the profiterole off Liu Yu’an’s hand put it into his own mouth.

Liu Yu’an “…”

Should I tell him, that it was fresh out of my mouth?

But Shao Yanxi has already noticed that fact, of course. His body goes stiff and his face is red like a fresh ripe apple. He quickly takes a gulp of his bubble tea before snapping his head away from him.

Liu Yu’an knows he’s a bit too embarrassed right now and decides against teasing him further, and because his phone is ringing. Hearing that, Shao Yanxi hurriedly heads into the resting room, with the rest of the sweets in his hand.

Liu Yu’an takes his phone out, to see it is from his agent, Ren Jianzhang.

When he accepts the call, Ren Jianzhang says, “An’an, what are you doing? Your stylised photo of ‘Evernight’ is out now. Get onto your WeChat and share it.”

Only Liu Yu’an has the password to his account.

“Sure,” he replies.

Then, Ren Jianzhang asks, “did you run into trouble with the stylist or the cameraman?”

“Of the stylised photo?”

“Yeah,” he replies, “people would usually make good-looking photo edits, but yours is, well, they made it uglier.”

“It’s just the lousy technique of the make-up artist.”

He thought the make-up artists would be able to handle a simplified version of the Emperor’s make-up, but they ended up making that.

Like he said before, though even the director was furious, they had to make do with it.

Ren Jianzhang says, “I’ve talked to Mr. Ning about this, and we’re planning to ignore this for now. We’ll only start marketing after Evernight’s airing, what do you think?”

Since Liu Yu’an already has a massive amount of disparaging material, adding this to it has practically negligible effect, but washing it white would not only cost effort but it might prove futile as well.

Since the director seems satisfied with Liu Yu’an’s acting, then it is at least passable enough for him to get some fans as Evernight airs. They can hitch a ride on that wave and have an easier time washing him clean.

“Sure,” Liu Yu’an replies.

This is his first transmigration job to directly become someone within the entertainment industry, so he doesn’t really have a sense of what needs to be done. Since Ren Jianzhang’s suggestion sounds reasonable, he accepts it as-is.

Then, after he finishes the call, he opens up his WeChat account. He has just over 6 million followers, most of whom are actually anti-fans.

This is evidenced by the comment section.

Bigtallsis: Fuck fuck fuck, my dear Emperor of the Yaoguai ended up in a pile of dog shit. I’m going to go bad. Please, I beg you to fuck off from the entertainment industry. Don’t ruin our Emperor.
Littlefishy: i thot hes handsome but he sleeps w/ fans, ew disgusting
linse: srsly? u the emp? f**k off, go play quietly in some corner, would u?
FebAutumn: Don’t you already have a sugar daddy? Leave the fans alone; I really really have never seen someone as disgusting as you.

Looking at all these things he has supposedly done, Liu Yu’an furrows his brows.

The protagonist Top, Jiang He, really isn’t much of a good person himself, is he.

The cannon fodder likes Yue Zhun, sure, but at this stage he has not actually acted on any of those thoughts yet.

While it is understandable the Top would get jealous at anyone liking the Bottom, and it is a good plot device to drive character development and conflicts, but the methods here are lowly; despicable.

After leaving the comment section Liu Yu’an looks up Evernight’s crew account and shares the stylised photo from there, with a “Believe me, I am the Emperor of the Yaoguai.”

The stylised photo of the main leads were already published the day before yesterday. Today is for the third and fourth leads.

After that, Liu Yu’an exits WeChat.

The comments would again just go on about his lack of acting skills and how unfit he is to be the Emperor or about some other nonsense.

He doesn’t have the mind to explain himself to every single one of them. Nor could he.

When Evernight airs, that will be the best proof. He doesn’t need to do anything himself.

Most importantly, because he’s infamous to no end already, he hasn’t an image to keep up either.

So he also has no idea how great of a wave of responses his one reply is causing online.

When he puts his phone back, Shao Yanxi happens to also enter back into the room. Liu Yu’an asks, “are you busy today?”

“Not really.”

After excessively working the last time around, Shao Yanxi has finally realised that everything passes when he died.

So, this time around, besides promoting a few vice executives, he also hired more assistants.

Besides anything he must sign, he has handed over his work to the vice executives, and he now only supervises.

So he actually isn’t busy at all.

“I see,” Liu Yu’an says, “I don’t have work this Saturday. Want to take a stroll?”

The third male lead is pretty free to be honest.

Shao Yanxi seems to fall into thought for two seconds before asking, “where at?”

“At…” Liu Yu’an doesn’t actually have a place in mind yet either, so he says, “how about deciding on Friday night?”

“Saturday… Alright, we’ll see if I’m free.”

“Sure,” Liu Yu’an replies.

That is when Liu Yu’an’s phone rings again. It’s still Ren Jianzhang.

“Liu Yu’an… What in the world were you doing?!” Ren Jianzhang seems to be furious, or he wouldn’t have called him by his full name.

“What?” Liu Yu’an is confused.

“What did you write on your WeChat?!”

“Uh, I shared the post of the cast,” Liu Yu’an replies.

“And you did just that, then what is that ‘believe me I am the Emperor’?!” Ren Jianzhang is yelling so loudly even Shao Yanxi can hear it faintly, “what, you think you don’t have enough bad materials on your yet?”

Liu Yu’an “…”

He was just telling the truth.

“I know you aren’t exactly into acting, but my dear young master, since you’ve decided to take this job, can you at least be slightly more responsible? This… I believe even Mr. Wealthiest Daddy doesn’t like people that do things irresponsibly,” Liu Yu’an’s actions these few days past made him think Liu Yu’an has already been ‘reborn anew,’ but… Great, he’s back to being his bratty self soon enough.

Liu Yu’an pauses before saying, “Ren-ge, I should have told you something earlier. Mrs. Jiang Chunli has taken me in as her disciple.”

“Jiang Chun… You mean the Mrs. Jiang Chunli has taken you in?” Ren Jianzhang is shocked.

Mrs. Jiang Chunli. One of the greatest actresses of the last century.

Now she mostly spends her time in the national theatre.

She has had several disciples in the past. Each one more high-achieving than the last.

And all becoming award-winning actors and actresses is just the bare minimum.

According to her, her only requirement is that – her disciples must have talent.

These years she hasn’t encountered one at all. She’s been laying low for a long time now.

She took Liu Yu’an in?

Does that mean… Liu Yu’an’s acting, is actually a gemstone still in the very rough?

The dramas he acted in before…

Ren Jianzhang is feeling quite unreal. He can feel his guts tangling up inside him.

“Yeah, she is. I accepted. We’ll have a master-disciple ceremony later.”

“I see, good,” Ren Jianzhang decides to leave the matter of the WeChat post behind. If Liu Yu’an could end up a disciple of Mrs. Jiang Chunli, then that is definitive proof that Liu Yu’an is both good at acting and is still capable of improving.

Anyway, in that case, the higher the anti-fans got right now, the harder the fall in the end.

Then, Liu Yu’an continues, “one more thing.”

“What?”

“We don’t have a son yet.”

“?” Ren Jianzhang fails to comprehend, until Liu Yu’an continues “and of course, it’s impossible for us to have a son older than the both of us” and he understands Liu Yu’an is teasing him for saying ‘daddy’ just now.

He tells him off a bit and angrily cuts off the phone.

Liu Yu’an chuckles.

Then, Shao Yanxi seems hesitant before asking, “what’s wrong?”

“Ren Jianzhang told me to share the post of the stylised photo of the movie. I did and wrote ‘believe me, I am the Emperor of the Yaoguai’ which was apparently not well-received,” then, Liu Yu’an looks up at Shao Yanxi, asking, “what do you think? Do I look the part?”

“You do,” but your acting would probably bog it down, hard.

Liu Yu’an doesn’t know what he’s thinking about, so he says, “I think so too.”

Then they chat a bit, and Shao Yanxi has to get back to work.

Liu Yu’an then enters the resting room and changes his clothes, then he goes into the restroom to finally wash his make-up off.

After all that, he goes back out and starts playing with his phone on the sofa as he waits for Shao Yanxi to get off work.

It took a while undressing already, so Liu Yu’an feels as if Shao Yanxi got off work early.

He puts the phone back into his pocket and stands up, asking Shao Yanxi who’s already packed up, “done?”

“Yeah,” then Liu Yu’an walks before him and opens the door.

The secretaries are all back in their posts already. Shao Yanxi really did somehow empty out the secretariat before.

He… Sigh. Liu Yu’an shakes his head a little.

They leave the Heng’an Building as the secretaries all say ‘bye’ ‘see you’ to them.

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TL’s notes: Aaaaaaah I have my exam tomorrow!!! Though you’ll be seeing this after the fact. Still, wish me luck…