My Landlord is an Idol Singer - Chapter 125

“Landlady?” Lai Jingming’s voice suddenly came from behind.

Gu Zhinan turned around to see Lai Jingming stepping out onto the balcony too, looking puzzled.

“Xia An’ge?”

Last time, Gu Zhinan had told him that he and Xia An’ge were just landlord and tenant.

“Yeah, I needed to talk to her about something.” Gu Zhinan slipped his phone back into his pocket. The two of them leaned against the balcony railing, watching the sunset.

“I heard you asking her for money,” Lai Jingming said bluntly, pulling a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it.

After taking a long drag and exhaling a smoke ring, he added slowly,

“She’s a major rising star now. Ever since The Summer Wind, she’s been blowing up. She’s won three awards on the China New Song Chart, she’s only going to get more famous. Who knows, she might be the next pop queen.”

Gu Zhinan looked a bit surprised, his gaze fixed on the setting sun, a faint smile lingering on his lips. “She really does have a beautiful voice.”

“And she’s gorgeous, too!” Lai Jingming chimed in.

Gu Zhinan gave him a look, as if staring at a degenerate. But Lai Jingming just shrugged.

“What? She’s not? I was blown away just by her photos. And you’ve been living with her all this time without making a move? That’s wild. I’ve smoked two packs trying to wrap my head around it.”

He patted Gu Zhinan’s shoulder lightly. “You’re wasting an opportunity, Zhinan. With her kind of fame now, dating her means getting flooded with attention and scrutiny.”

“So much attention, huh.” Gu Zhinan murmured softly. Lai Jingming didn’t quite catch it, but after a moment of silence, Gu Zhinan cracked a smile. “So, how are we filming this? I’ve got the money.”

“You’re serious?”

“What else?”

Lai Jingming paused, took one last drag, and stubbed out the cigarette hard under his foot. “Alright! Let’s do this!”

“You sure this guy’s legit?” Gu Zhinan looked skeptical. Since deciding to go ahead with filming A Little Thing Called First Love, they were now assembling the crew.

Lai Jingming had told him he knew a very professional photography team, plus a makeup artist, basically a full-service setup. Intrigued, Gu Zhinan had quickly agreed. After scarfing down dinner, they rushed to the place Lai Jingming had mentioned.

But when they arrived, Gu Zhinan froze. He wasn’t sure about “professional,” but Lai Jingming definitely wasn’t lying about the makeup artist.

He stared at the scene in front of him, lost in thought. It was a wedding dress boutique in Hangzhou. Not big, but fully equipped.

“Dream Wedding Boutique”

The neon sign flickers over Gu Zhinan’s face as he turns to look at Lai Jingming, who just chuckled. “Trust me, the owner of this place is insanely good at what he does!”

“…” Gu Zhinan braced himself and followed Lai Jingming into the boutique. He never imagined his first time entering a bridal shop would be with a chubby guy.

“Hey, where’s your boss?” Lai Jingming shouted cheerfully at a guy behind the front desk. The guy looked up from his phone, only to be greeted by Lai Jingming’s round, grinning face.

“Fat Bro, the boss is working out at the gym nearby. You’ll find him there.”

“Great.” Lai Jingming immediately dragged Gu Zhinan off to the nearby gym.

“Zhinan, listen… this guy is the real deal. He’s a few years older than us, but totally down-to-earth. I met him by chance, actually. He was shooting wedding photos in a park, and I couldn’t help myself. I went over and gave him a couple of pointers. That’s how we became friends.”

On the way there, Lai Jingming kept hyping up the wedding shop’s owner to give Gu Zhinan a better idea of what to expect.

“Oh right, his name is Situ Hongwei. He’s 35.”

Situ? A rare two-character surname?

Gu Zhinan was intrigued. He hadn’t met someone with a compound surname before. At 35, the guy would be mature and experienced, and he ran a wedding dress shop to boot.

Successful and capable at a young age!

They pushed open the gym door. It was nearly empty, just a few people working out on various machines. Lai Jingming seemed totally familiar with the place and led the way confidently.

Looking at the fat on Lai Jingming, Gu Zhinan had the urge to pin him down and make him work out right there.

“Hey, Wei Bro!”

Gu Zhinan saw Lai Jingming walk up to a muscular guy in a tight tank top. The man was holding a dumbbell in each hand, doing walking lunges on a treadmill.

Gu Zhinan suddenly wondered if Lai Jingming had picked a fight with this beast and got his ass kicked, that would be just like him.

The guy’s posture was so steady, like he had a camera rig built into his body.

Damn. Gu Zhinan was stunned. Wasn’t this basically a human stabilizer with legs?

He started to believe everything Lai Jingming had said, this Situ Hongwei guy was something else.

Upon hearing his name, Situ Hongwei frowned and turned around. His square face radiated authority.

“Call me ‘Wei Bro’ one more time and I’m chucking this dumbbell at you.” He glared. This damn fatso, every day with the same nonsense.

“Okay okay, Situ Bro!” Lai Jingming quickly corrected himself.

Situ Hongwei stepped off the treadmill and finally noticed Gu Zhinan. Gu Zhinan nodded with a smile as a greeting. Situ nodded back, not quite sure why Lai Jingming had brought someone along. Was this going to be another of his overblown stories?

“Situ Bro, how about we go somewhere and talk about dreams and life?”

Dreams? Situ Hongwei nodded, convinced now that this was definitely going to be a load of hot air. Still, he respected Lai Jingming’s talent, so he was willing to listen.

They left the gym and found a private room in a nearby café. Situ sat calmly, waiting to hear what this was all about.

“Let me introduce you, this is my buddy, Gu Zhinan. Have you seen him before?”

“Nice to meet you, Gu Zhinan,” Situ said, shaking his hand.

“Nice to meet you too, Situ Hongwei.”

Situ glanced back at Lai Jingming, puzzled. “This is the first time I’m meeting him. Why would I recognize him?”

“Oh? So you haven’t seen the news lately?” Lai Jingming said mysteriously. Situ Hongwei shook his head, even more confused.

He really hadn’t kept up with the headlines, too busy. He’d rather read a good book. But something about what Lai said made him glance again at the delicate-looking Gu Zhinan.

Could this guy be someone important?

“Come on, stop dragging it out. What do you want? More talk about directing and cinematography?”

“Nope.” Lai Jingming shook his head and pulled a script from his bag, placing it on the table in front of Situ Hongwei.

“This is a script, very detailed. Take a look, Situ Bro.”

Situ picked it up. The title on the cover read, A Little Thing Called First Love, “You’re making a movie now?”

He knew about Lai Jingming’s background, currently a partner in a small studio. But last he checked, Lai had mostly been doing assistant work.

“Just read it. No rush.” Lai Jingming teased. Gu Zhinan stayed quiet, just thinking to himself that this coffee was way more bitter than Chinese herbal tea.