Just as Xu An was lost in his memories, the door of the recreational vehicle was pulled open with a loud bang.
Before Xu An could snap out of it, a slightly plump woman walked in.
She wore a white tweed jacket with a grid pattern outlined in yellow thread, paired with white wide-leg trousers and black high heels.
She was quite good-looking, appearing to be in her early thirties, with thin lips and long black hair tied up in a bun at the back of her head, wearing an expression of pure fury.
"Sister Lan?"
Xu An asked, somewhat surprised, sitting straight up on the bed. He recognized this person; she was Du Hui's manager, Fang Lan.
"Oh, I wondered who snatched our Du Hui's spot. Turns out it was you," Fang Lan said in a sarcastic tone, her upper eyelids, brushed with light purple eyeshadow, rolling downward.
"Uh... It wasn't me..." Xu An hurriedly got out of bed, but before he could finish putting on his shoes and speaking, she cut him off.
"I don't want to hear your nonsense. One word: have some self-awareness and get out of here. The next episode will feature Du Hui. Don't you have any idea what kind of status you have? Go look in a mirror—do you even deserve this?"
From entering the RV until now, Fang Lan had not once looked Xu An in the eye.
Well, that wasn't entirely true; she had glanced at him briefly when she first walked in.
Xu An had originally thought that if the rightful owner came back, stepping aside was fine. But her tone made him extremely unhappy.
He put his shoes back on, then kicked them off again, crossed his legs, sat on the edge of the bed, and looked at Fang Lan standing before him. "Who the hell are you? Coming in here and barking orders at me? Telling me to have some self-awareness and get out of here—what, are you the chief director of the show? You stick two scallions up your nose and think you can stand there acting like an African mammoth?"
Xu An had always lived by the principle of minding his own business unless provoked, and besides, this had nothing to do with him anyway.
The assistant director had hired him and paid him twenty thousand yuan; even if he quit, they still had to hand over that twenty thousand!
If Fang Lan had come in and spoken nicely and reasonably, promising him a trouble fee, Xu An would have grabbed his bucket and left without a second word.
The crux of the matter was that he hadn't gotten his money, and as soon as she walked in, she started lecturing him like a son. Who could put up with that?
"You... you dare curse at me?!" Fang Lan stared at Xu An in utter disbelief.
Having spent so many years in the entertainment industry, no one had ever called her an African mammoth before!
"Curse you? That was letting you off easy! You barge in here without rhyme or reason and start screaming at me—do I owe you something? You cursed at me, I talked back, and now you're mad? What, does the whole world revolve around you? What are you, the sun?"
When it came to verbal sparring, Xu An considered himself second to none.
The old Xu An might have been quiet as a clam, but push him too far, and he could verbally crush someone into the dirt.
Neither Xu An nor Fang Lan bothered to lower their voices, which led to a crowd of onlookers gathering outside the RV, among them Chu Xingjun.
"You, you, you... you little punk, I'll fight you to the death!"
Fang Lan's face flushed red with rage, looking just like a boiled crab.
Seeing that she couldn't out-argue him, she hoisted the white leather handbag in her hand and lunged straight toward Xu An, only to be stopped dead in her tracks by him.
"You dare come over here? I'll stick my neck out right now and let you hit me—do you dare lay a finger on me? Let me tell you, you better not even touch me. The moment I fall to the ground, unable to lift a shoulder or carry a burden, needing someone to take care of my every bodily function, do you want me to calculate how much compensation you'll have to pay for laying hands on me? You want to hit someone? If I don't sue you until you lose everything down to your last cent, call me a complete failure!"
The scene at that moment was utterly bizarre.
Xu An sat cross-legged on the bed, stretching out his neck and tilting his head like a rooster willingly offering itself up for slaughter.
Standing right in front of him, Fang Lan held her handbag high in the air, completely frozen and too terrified to bring it down. For a brief second, the two of them were locked in a stalemate.
"Come on, come on, hit me." Xu An even stretched his neck out a little further with a cheeky grin, patting the spot with his hand. "Right here, don't hit the wrong place. Go ahead and strike, and see if I don't fleece you for every penny you're worth."
Fang Lan couldn't hit him, and she couldn't not hit him; she was in an extremely awkward position.
Right at that moment, a man's voice suddenly rang out from outside the RV: "Sister Lan, grab the luggage and let's go."
Xu An glanced sideways and saw a man stepping into the RV from outside.
He stood one meter eighty tall, with a well-proportioned figure and handsome features. His slightly long hair was gathered at the back and tied with a leather cord.
This person was none other than Du Hui.
After speaking, Du Hui glanced at Xu An with an unchanging expression. "If I remember correctly, your name is Xu An, right?"
Xu An nodded. "What, are you here to cancel my household registration?"
At that moment, Xu An was like a prickly cactus—whoever touched him got pricked.
Du Hui didn't look at him again, instead turning around and stepping down out of the RV.
Fang Lan lowered the handbag she had been holding aloft, let out a heavy huff, and then picked up the white suitcase beside her, dragging it away.
Just as she was stepping down from the vehicle, Xu An suddenly called out, "Watch your step."
As soon as the words left his mouth, for reasons unknown, Fang Lan missed her footing. If she hadn't reacted quickly and grabbed onto the doorframe, she likely would have tumbled all the way down the steps.
"I told you to watch your step..." Xu An shook his head helplessly. He had purely meant well, with no ulterior motives.
As Fang Lan and Du Hui departed, the crowd of onlookers dispersed as well.
Just as Xu An was feeling annoyed about having been chewed out for no reason, he heard someone knock on the RV door.
The door swung open, and the assistant director poked his head in to take a look. Seeing Xu An sitting on the edge of the bed looking thoroughly disgruntled, he stepped inside.
Walking over to a seat nearby, the assistant director looked at the gloomy Xu An and chuckled. "What's this? Judging by your face, you look none too pleased."
Xu An shot him a sideways glance. "If you got chewed out by someone for no reason, would you be pleased?"
"But from what I heard standing outside just now, you seemed to be enjoying yourself quite a bit when you were chewing *them* out," the assistant director said with a curious look.
Hearing this, Xu An turned his head and glared at him. "You're a deputy director, for crying out loud, and yet you go around eavesdropping!"
"Eavesdropping? What kind of vocabulary is that? I am indeed the assistant director, but to put it nicely that's what I am; to put it bluntly, I'm just the logistics captain—the good stuff never comes my way, but getting chewed out is guaranteed."
With that, the assistant director let out a sigh and continued, "Aren't you curious as to why Du Hui didn't come to record the show?"
Xu An nodded; he was indeed curious.
"I'll tell you, you listen, and don't go spreading it around. Even if it gets out, I'm never admitting it," the assistant director said, looking extremely guarded.
He didn't quite trust the other guy's mouth; he had heard it loud and clear just now—that tongue of his was like a machine gun.If Fang Lan hadn't been a veteran of the industry, any ordinary young girl would have been scolded to tears by him.
"Oh, just spit it out already! My ears are known as the Pixiu—they only take in wealth and never let anything out!" Xu An urged impatiently, pressing him for answers.
"Ahem... The reason Du Hui didn't show up to participate is because he was caught red-handed cheating in bed, and the other party is threatening to sue him. That's why they had you step in to take his place."
Hearing this, Xu An furrowed his brow tightly. "You mean Du Hui's wife cheated, and he caught her in bed?"
*Pfft—*
The assistant director, who had just taken a sip of water, spat it straight out.
"Whose ears did you say you have? And you call that a Pixiu? To me you look more like a Taotie—all you know how to do is listen, without any idea how to process what you hear?!"