In mid-November, the temperature in East City hadn’t dropped much, so exercising outdoors didn’t carry much risk of catching a cold.

Sunlight pierced through the gaps in the heavy clouds, spreading a clear river of gold into the humid air, illuminating tiny motes of dust floating within it. On the red and white track, the faint smell of rubber mixed with sweat, evoking memories of a youth long since passed.

Gu Qichi had maintained his fitness over the years; otherwise, those abs wouldn’t have appeared on his body for no reason. A 2000-meter run wasn’t actually that much; it was well within his limits. He kept a steady pace, neither rushing nor panting, comfortably holding a spot in the top three.

But there were always those who were impatient. Take Lou Shao, Ada’s artist, for example. He had bolted out first, initially leaving everyone far behind. But he had exerted himself too hard, causing a dull pain in his lower abdomen and making his limbs feel as heavy as lead, slowing him down more and more.

Then there was another type—the pretenders—like Gu Yuning. The Young Master operated under the banner of being precious and delicate. His skin was pale and fine, with not a hint of muscle definition on his legs; one look suggested he was not cut out for sports.

Logically speaking, this activity was unfriendly to Gu Yuning. He was bound to finish last, which would naturally mean missing out on selecting the good scripts.

But Gu Yuning wasn’t worried. The Gu family was one of the show’s investors, and Gu Yuan’an had already spoken to the production team. There was no way the directors would leave Gu Yuning without a role. As long as he didn’t finish too far behind, there would definitely be a spot for him in Director Jiang An’s group for [xxxx] Sword. His company could then help him market a persona of being “uncompetitive and calm as a chrysanthemum”—the best of both worlds.

However, seeing Gu Qichi far in the lead made Gu Yuning furious. He didn’t want to end up in the same group as Gu Qichi. At this thought, he couldn’t help but pick up his pace, panting heavily as he pushed into fifth place.

Gu Qichi and Lou Shao were stuck close together. Seeing that Gu Qichi was about to overtake Lou Shao, and with another male actor behind Gu Yuning threatening to catch up, the group became a tangled cluster. Gu Yuning instantly formed a plan.

Lou Shao, seeing he couldn’t win the sprint, glanced at the nearby cameras. Noting they weren’t focused on this specific spot, he got an idea.

Shoulders bumped shoulders, feet stepped on shoes. In the chaos, someone kicked a stone over, and someone shoved someone else.

Gu Qichi was wearing a black and white hooded sweatshirt and sharply cut black cargo pants. He looked youthful and vibrant, like a college student just starting school. He had been running earnestly, with no intention of fighting Lou Shao or the others. But suddenly sensing Gu Yuning’s malicious gaze, his mind moved. As if sensing something, Gu Qichi suddenly accelerated, creating a gap between himself and the three behind him.

He had barely taken two steps when he heard a loud crash behind him—the muffled sound of flesh hitting the ground was clearly audible. Gu Qichi looked back to see Lou Shao, Gu Yuning, and a male idol whose name he didn’t remember all in a heap. Gu Yuning was crushed at the bottom, his small face instantly turning pale, lips trembling, tears welling in his eyes.

“Get up… get up… it hurts…” Gu Yuning pushed at Lou Shao, who was pressing down on him, his voice hoarse.

Gu Qichi glanced at him thoughtfully. He could guess with his toes that Gu Yuning had tried to pull some dirty trick to hurt someone, but hadn’t expected the scheme to backfire, resulting in him falling flat on his face.

Too lazy to play the saint, Gu Qichi turned his head and walked away, nearly angering the grounded Gu Yuning to death.

…

Seeing people fall, the staff immediately rushed forward to help. The producer also came over, looking troubled.

Producer: “Director, what do we do? The pre-determined order is messed up. Do we need to reshoot?”

Reshooting scenes according to a script was common in variety shows; it wasn’t strange, just a waste of time. Currently, the fastest runner was that kid Wen Che, and Gu Qichi was second…

The Director frowned and thought for a moment. “Let Gu Yuning and the others re-record the part before the fall. Tell the editors to make it look good. We can’t afford to offend Wen Che, so Gu Qichi just got lucky.”

…

Unexpectedly, the first person to cross the finish line was Gu Qichi; Wen Che was a step behind him.

Before the directing team could call cut for a reshoot, Wen Che had already affectionately leaned in next to Gu Qichi, asking shyly, “Gu… Gu-ge, do you remember me?”

The boy had curly chestnut-brown hair and looked like a puppy, eagerly wagging its tail as he waited for Gu Qichi’s answer.

Gu Qichi was panting slightly. The hair the stylist had curled for him was dampened by a thin layer of sweat, a few strands sticking to his face. He looked at Wen Che and smiled. “I remember you, Wen Che.”

Wen Che had seen Gu Qichi the moment he came down from the stage and had wanted to approach him, but with so many people around, he hadn’t found a chance. Now that he finally had the opportunity—and heard that Gu Qichi remembered him—his eyes curved into a smile. Not shy at all, he pulled Gu Qichi into a friendly conversation. “Qichi-ge, which director do you want to choose? Can I be in your group?”

Gu Qichi didn’t say yes or no. After all, this was a process where mentors selected team members; it wasn’t up to an eighteenth-tier actor like him to say much.

When he stepped back onto the recording set, all four mentors looked at him. Han Hao smiled warmly, and Yi Zhiyin looked appreciative. Even Teacher Bu Huiyang extended an olive branch. Only Jiang An remained silent.

Gu Qichi didn’t mind. He had no qualifying film performances to show off, so it was normal for an internationally renowned director like Jiang An to look down on him.

The directing team presented four sets of films: two original scripts and two classic remakes.

Gu Qichi had no interest in competing with predecessors, so he skipped the classic remakes and chose the one that interested him.

In the end, Gu Qichi, Wen Che, Lou Shao, and Xiao Meng were assigned to Yi Zhiyin’s group to perform Jianghu [xxx].

Gu Qichi had never met Lou Shao before and didn’t care who he was, but Lou Shao constantly released a vague hostility toward him. At first, in the rehearsal room, he feigned politeness: “Hello everyone, I am Lou Shao.”

But later, he stopped hiding it. The hostility exploded when they were choosing roles.

When the scripts were handed out, Gu Qichi flipped through his casually. The script had three male roles and one female role. Xiao Meng was the female lead, so she didn’t need to choose. Gu Qichi wasn’t interested in the male lead; his gaze fell on the character “Drunken Immortal” (Zui Zhong Xian).

Lou Shao suddenly spoke up, putting on a humble face. “Senior Brother Gu, what a coincidence. We’re from the same company, and now we’re in the same group.”

Gu Qichi looked up, confused, and spoke indifferently. “It’s not a coincidence. I don’t know you.”

The smile on Lou Shao’s face stiffened instantly, but he continued awkwardly, “We’re in the same group now, so there will surely be plenty of chances to get to know each other.”

He glanced at the page Gu Qichi had turned to, his gaze pausing on the male lead’s name. His expression shifted, and he brought up a topic with a sincere tone and earnest words, though the meaning was off:

“Senior Brother wants to play the male lead, right? I heard before that Director Lin likes you very much and even added scenes for you…”

This was obviously making conversation out of nothing, implying that Gu Qichi was a “scene-stealer” who used connections and now wanted to grab the lead role.

Logically, among the four, Lou Shao was an up-and-coming young actor who had made a name for himself, while Gu Qichi was eighteenth-tier, and Wen Che and Xiao Meng were college students. Any way you looked at it, Lou Shao should have had first pick.

Gu Qichi hadn’t even thought about playing the male lead. He turned his head to look at him.

His gaze was faint and clear, staring at Lou Shao without a ripple of emotion, lips curling into an arc. “I never said which role I wanted to play. If you want to play the male lead, you don’t need to test me.”

“Or if you’re still dissatisfied, you can go find Mentor Yi Zhiyin yourself. I’m not interested in you.”

Wen Che also looked up. He was sitting very close to Gu Qichi, almost touching. The young man had an open mind. He lifted his eyelids, looking at Lou Shao’s flushed face with a half-smile, and lazily opened his mouth: “Yeah, Lou Shao. No one is stopping you if you want to play the male lead. Is it necessary to play these mind games here? You’re making it look like Qichi-ge is trying to rob you or something.”

The staff on the side looked at each other, not expecting such tension on the first day of shooting. For a moment, they didn’t know what to say, but the director and producer were happy to watch the drama.

They wished the artists would argue more; creating explosive points for the program was what made it interesting.

Today’s recording simply assigned roles. Jiang An had to rush to another schedule, and Yi Zhiyin had an awards ceremony to attend. After the recording, everyone went back to their respective homes.

Luo Qianqian had parked the car downstairs early, looking around and waving at Gu Qichi.

As he turned to get into the car, his figure was caught by Gu Yuning, who had just come out. Gu Yuning looked the car up and down, feeling as if his suspicions had been confirmed.

Gu Qichi was definitely not favored in the Bo family. He rode in this shabby nanny van every day—old and broken. Even the Gu family’s maids wouldn’t deign to drive such a vehicle.

Furthermore, ever since he married Bo Yu, aside from that one time Gu Qichi came to show off in front of him, Gu Yuning had never heard of Bo Yu taking Gu Qichi to any banquets or back to the Bo mansion to meet the old madame.

Gu Yuning relaxed slightly. Gu Qichi was just one of Bo Yu’s playthings. After being played with for a while, he would be thrown out. There was nothing to worry about.

…

After returning home, the moment Gu Qichi opened the door, he saw a bouquet of fresh white eustoma on the kitchen island. A faint fragrance permeated the air, fresh and elegant.

Beneath the flowers, the table was covered in gift boxes of all sizes: gems, cufflinks, tie clips, watches, haute couture suits, vintage bags…

And, unlike last time, not hidden in the corner…

Some strangely shaped clothes.

The house was almost overflowing with these things. Gu Qichi was surprised. He called out “Bo Yu” a few times, and finding no answer, he didn’t move to open the jewelry boxes. Instead, he picked out the strange clothes one by one.

Gu Qichi pursed his lips, his mood indescribable for a moment.

He had to admit, Bo Yu’s taste was good. At least from a design perspective, these clothes were beautiful. It was just that the fabric was truly minimal. Gu Qichi strongly suspected the designers had cut corners and made the clothes out of leftover scraps.

He felt like they might tear with a gentle tug.

Digging further, there were many other “fun” things—

Black leather collars, long silk ribbons of just the right width…

A whole box packed densely with items, many of which Gu Qichi couldn’t even name.

The phone rang at that moment. Gu Qichi, whose legs were numb from squatting, straightened up to reach for the phone on the island, simultaneously kicking the box of items into the corner.

When the call connected, it was clearly daytime where Bo Yu was, while it was already dark for Gu Qichi.

Gu Qichi looked down, glancing at the other man’s expression. Bo Yu’s face didn’t look very good. He stared dead at Gu Qichi and spoke with ambiguous meaning:

“Did you see them?”

Gu Qichi pursed his lips, his gaze shifting away. “See what?”

“The gifts for you.”