The Big Boss' Medicine 16

Originally, President Yan, who was so distressed watching from the audience that he wanted to tell the young man to stop performing, instantly lost his rationality the moment he saw his little hamster starting to shed tears.

What play! What slap! What kicking people out!

If they had followed the little hamster's wishes and let him stay at home, properly feeding and petting him, today's incident wouldn't have happened.

If someone displeasing was spotted, directly banning them would have sufficed! Using such a roundabout way to teach someone a lesson, it simply doesn't seem like something a CEO could do if word got out!

President Yan angrily decided to do something befitting his identity as a CEO, such as casually banning Xie Zhu!

...No, that doesn't seem quite right.

Suddenly remembering something, President Yan's surging heart paused slightly, getting a bit sidetracked, thinking.

"Becoming a Demon" was still being filmed. If Xie Zhu was banned now, the invested movie would suffer losses, and the young man would definitely accusingly say he was wasting money again. No matter what, he had to at least wait until the movie broke even.

Their little hamster was a genuine little money-grubber.

The little money-grubber opened his eyes that were like black crystal, truly washed by water this time, with a lingering dampness in their depths.

Dazed, he was dazed even when crying, blankly staring with eyes open, not wrinkling his nose, not making a sound, tears just pattering down, his long lashes stuck together in strands, some stained with teardrops, teetering on the edge of falling.

Terrifyingly quiet.

President Yan felt he was about to be torn in two by the surging emotions in his heart.

Su Duan looked too obedient when he cried, so obedient that it seemed he could be kneaded and molded at will, so obedient that it stirred up an almost perverse possessiveness in his heart, making him want to grab this person's thin wrists and imprison him in a place only he could access.

Even crying would be fine if it was only for him to see.

In that case, it would be okay to cry. He could hold the person, meticulously licking the rolling teardrops dry with his lips and tongue, coaxing the person with limitless time and patience.

Yet at the same time, there was an even stronger distress spreading in his heart, diluting this sick possessiveness a bit.

What was he thinking... With Su Duan's lifestyle of staying cooped up at home all day, only willing to crawl out a few steps when coaxed by him, if he wanted to keep the person locked up at home, the little hamster would probably happily reach out his paws to him.

He couldn't bear it.

Sighing imperceptibly in his heart, Yan Shen broke away a little from a certain bizarre obsession. He used his palm to rub Su Duan's soft cheek, gently wiping away the transparent liquid oozing from the corners of his eyes with his fingertips.

However, in the next second, new liquid welled up, soaking his fingertips, simply increasing the more he wiped.

The director, who had praised Su Duan effusively and then was ignored by everyone, awkwardly stood alone for a while. Finally reacting slowly at this time, he snatched a pack of tissues from the screenwriter beside him and handed it to Yan Shen with great perceptiveness, "Xiao Su has immersed himself in the role, don't worry, it's fine, it's fine... Come, quickly wipe it for Xiao Su."

Yan Shen freed one hand to take the tissues, saying, "Thank you."

"You're welcome, you're welcome." The director, finally being paid attention to, rubbed his hands, trying to forget all the earlier awkwardness.

Yan Shen pulled out a tissue and wiped Su Duan's tears.

With the director's interruption, Su Duan realized there were other people present besides him and Yan Shen. Finally having a belated sense of embarrassment, the inexplicable sorrow was greatly diluted, and the tears gradually stopped.

He grasped the back of Yan Shen's hand that was holding the tissue and said softly, "I'm not crying anymore."

However, as soon as he finished speaking, he couldn't help letting out a small hiccup.

A hiccup, the kind that carries moisture, making the shoulders jerk when hiccuping, like a little hamster whose tail was poked.

Su Duan: "..."

For some reason, although his little hamster still had teardrops hanging from the corners of his eyes, looking pitiful, President Yan felt a certain helpless and tender emotion welling up in his heart, and even had the urge to laugh.

Afraid that the hiccups would make him uncomfortable, Yan Shen, while bending over, reached out and gently patted the young man's thin back, helping him catch his breath, not daring to use too much or too little force. Yan Shen had no experience taking care of someone like this, so he just fumbled along, patting him.

Su Duan also leaned in a bit, resting his head against his muscle-taut shoulder, still hiccuping, but the frequency was gradually slowing down.

The director: "..."

For some reason, the feeling that had just been dispelled with great difficulty came back again. He felt that standing here seemed to be a bit... Okay, very superfluous.

Even though the two didn't engage in any explicit public displays of affection like kissing or touching, at most just half-embracing each other out of the objective need to pat the back, the director always felt that as long as these two stood together, they had a magical aura that evolved everyone around them into light bulbs.

Not only him, but the deputy screenwriter and Xie Zhu in the audition room felt no better.

The deputy screenwriter felt similar to the director, mainly feeling that he was shining brightly, like a thousand-watt light bulb, standing beside this couple who were clearly being affectionate with each other, and couldn't help but feel a bit of an eyesore.

Really wanted to go home and find the wife, to also be affectionate.

Xie Zhu's feelings were more complicated.

At first, he thought Su Duan was being kept by Yan Shen, but now it seemed that was clearly not the case, or rather, far more than that.

How could a sponsor be so attentive and considerate to a kept little celebrity?

Personally accompanying him to go through the back door could still be explained as excessive pampering of a little pet, but lowering his posture like this in public to wipe tears and pat backs for the person, it would be too bizarre to call it a monetary transaction relationship.

Sponsors were not doing charity. People all had a base nature. An object that could be bought with money was certainly not very precious, so there was no need to cherish it much. Being able to serve oneself comfortably was the most important.

This posture of both accompanying to provide resources and coaxing as if wanting to tuck the person into his heart, it was more like desperately doting on a hard-won little wife.

Without exaggeration, even when Xie Zhu himself dated girlfriends, he had never been so considerate to them.

Xie Zhu gloomily ground his heel, trying hard not to reveal anything on his face.

He couldn't say clearly what he was angry about, anyway, he was just terribly vexed, with a strong sense of unwillingness surging in his heart.

If... if he had been the one to attend that dinner party that day—

Would he be the one enjoying this treatment now? Although it was clear that when faced with the same opportunity, different people would likely end up with different results, it was still an unbearable feeling of regret and jealousy to watch an opportunity that could have been seized slip away before one's eyes and fall into the hands of someone who had never been taken seriously before.

......

Su Duan easily hiccuped when he cried, but as long as he stopped crying, the hiccups would quickly cease. He lay in Yan Shen's arms for about five or six minutes without making a sound, then raised his head and pushed Yan Shen.

Yan Shen straightened up, gently wiping away the tears that had seeped out from the corners of Su Duan's eyes due to the hiccups, and asked in a low voice, "Shall we go back?"

Su Duan nodded.

Because he had cried obediently without rubbing his eyes, and Yan Shen had wiped them gently, his eyes weren't noticeably red, with only a slight trace remaining on the tip of his nose.

Yan Shen reached out and rubbed Su Duan's nose, then turned him around and said to the director beside them, "We'll head back first, please carry on with your work."

The director let out a sigh of relief. These past few minutes had been the most difficult minutes he had ever endured in his life.

However, he couldn't show it on his face. The director smiled and said, "Alright, alright, be careful on the way back. Let Su Duan have a good rest when you get back. I'll contact you when I've made the revisions here."

Yan Shen: "...Mm, goodbye."

Actually, he no longer wanted Su Duan to act in the film. He subconsciously wanted to say there was no need to contact them, but then he thought this was Su Duan's role, so he still had to go back and ask his little hamster's opinion before reluctantly swallowing back his refusal.

Su Duan, with his hand held by Yan Shen, half-hidden behind him, also softly said, "Goodbye."

Director: "..."

Director: "Ah, goodbye."

Even when leaving, they still hurt him like this.

The deputy screenwriter could still find some warmth from his wife, but as a middle-aged single man in the arts, he could only hug himself and weep.

It was simply miserable.

No, come to think of it, Xie Zhu's current feelings must be even more miserable than his.

From what he had heard, Su Duan had attended the dinner in place of Xie Zhu.

It was said to be to support a newcomer, but it didn't seem to be the case at all. Who knows what plans were behind it? In the end, it accidentally succeeded in truly "supporting" Su Duan. With a shining golden thigh, Su Duan was whisked away, leaving Xie Zhu's expression looking as if he had eaten something unpleasant.

The director, who found his male lead hitting rock bottom, instantly felt much more psychologically balanced. Glancing at Xie Zhu's dark face, despite his best efforts to hide it, the director cheerfully called for everyone to start filming.

......

In the end, Su Duan still decided to act.

Although the role was somewhat tragic, tragedies often moved people's hearts more and left a clearer impression on the audience. From the setting, this role was undoubtedly very outstanding. Although it was added midway, not only did it not seem out of place at all, it perfectly blended into the original plot, enhancing and enriching it.

For such a role, even if there was an open audition, the competition would undoubtedly be very fierce.

Of course, Su Duan didn't need to consider these factors. He simply quite liked the role of the fool due to some strange overlaps in certain experiences. He also felt it would be impolite to make the director add a role and then not act in it, letting the man work in vain. So he firmly rejected Yan Shen's suggestion to give up the role.

Yan Shen, who had initially tried hard to persuade Su Duan to go out and work: "..."

What on earth had gotten into his head back then to make him want to push Su Duan out to work so badly?

In any case, it was too late to regret now. Fortunately, he had agreed to visit the set every day and pick Su Duan up, which made Yan Shen feel a little better.

......

The director and screenwriter spent a week making minor adjustments to the role. After sending the completed script to Su Duan, they told him to prepare to join the crew.

After all, it was just a temporarily added role. The previous plot had already been set, so considering the total length of the film, no matter how much it was adjusted, this role's scenes couldn't be too many. It was estimated that Su Duan would only need to stay on set for less than ten days to finish filming all his scenes.

Although the director knew it would be difficult for anything to go wrong in such a short time, considering the somewhat peculiar relationship between his male lead and Su Duan, he still decided to pay more attention to this little newcomer who was about to join the crew, to prevent him from being bullied on set and being unable to explain to the boss later.

After all, this was someone the boss cherished. That day, in order to pat Su Duan's back, Yan Shen had bent over for nearly ten minutes. Even with a healthy body, maintaining such an awkward posture for so long was no easy feat.

Regardless of their relationship, whether it was sponsorship or true love, since Yan Shen could do this for Su Duan, the director felt he should have some tact.

Estimating the time was about right, just as this scene finished filming, the director happened to receive a call from Su Duan's manager, saying they had been stopped by the security guard and asking the director to explain to the guard to let them in.

The security work on his set had always been very strict, preventing the entry of all non-internal personnel. Things like fans visiting the set or media interviews were also tightly controlled and not easily allowed in.

The director thought for a moment and said, "How about this, wait there for a bit. I'll come over and pick you up. It'll be a good opportunity to let the security guard recognize the car and people, so it won't be so troublesome in the future."

After hanging up, the director announced a half-hour break, preparing to personally bring Su Duan to the set. It would also let the crew know that this little newcomer had backing and couldn't be messed with.

However, when he strolled over to the entrance of the set, the door of the black Maybach parked to the side opened. The first to get out was not the slender, black-haired little newcomer, but a man with a cold, hard face, wearing a gray casual suit.

The man bent down and reached into the car, his hand gripping a slender wrist, leading out a youth wearing a well-behaved light gray pure cotton t-shirt and camel-colored trousers.

This time, the one who emerged was the person he had been waiting for.

Director: "..."

Wait, why did the little newcomer's backer come in person?

A sense of foreboding reflexively welled up in his heart, and the director's smile instantly froze on his face.