The body had many problems.
While accompanying Jian Feiyang on set, Fan Qing, trying to stand upright, quickly noticed the original host’s habit of hunching.
When Jian Feiyang’s scenes ended, Fan Qing declined his warm invitation to eat and headed into a café.
He needed to gather reliable data.
“Your black coffee.”
“Thanks, just leave it there.”
Without looking up, Fan Qing tapped his right-hand fingers on the table.
The server placed the coffee gently and left.
Eyes scanning his phone, Fan Qing casually sipped the black coffee, expression unchanged.
The taste was ordinary, but for this price, acceptable.
The bitterness of the coffee chased away his bodily fatigue. Sip by sip, he drank, continuing his data collection.
He didn’t notice he had already become the center of attention.
A girl sitting behind him felt odd.
After holding back for a long while, she nudged her gaming friend.
“Hey, look at that person. Don’t you think he has… a very unusual aura?”
She whispered, gesturing toward Fan Qing.
“What? You found another beauty? You always talk about aura—wasn’t the last one your Nie Yan husband?”
Her friend, distracted, responded lightly.
The girl lightly tapped her, teasing.
“Look for yourself first. It’s really strange… I can’t describe it, but very unique.”
She didn’t say out loud that she had been staring at him for a long time, unable to look away.
“Let me see.”
Following her gaze, the friend’s eyes froze as well.
After a while, she blinked, stroking her friend’s hair.
“Finally, you’ve got some taste. As a medical student, I swear, his bone structure matches his extraordinary aura—perfect and unique.”
She had much more unsaid.
For example, he truly was exceptional.
Unlike everyone else relaxed in the café, this man’s posture—even picking up the cup—was perfectly straight.
Honestly, who sits like that naturally? He clearly valued etiquette and had an uncommon background.
Compared to her naive, innocent friend, he was in a completely different league.
“Go away, who asked you if his bones are perfect?”
The girl laughed and leaned into her friend’s arm, a trace of regret flashing in her eyes.
The man, though extraordinary in aura, was dressed quite plainly—probably not from the industry, just an ordinary person.
In that case… this might be the last time she ever saw him.
Fan Qing, meanwhile, had paid no attention to the minor café scene and had quickly gathered the information he needed.
Fifteen minutes later, he approached a barbershop tucked away in an alley, its sign faded with age.
Half an hour later, the barber enthusiastically led him into another old tailor’s shop, also in the same alley.
An hour passed.
The girl who had left the café arm-in-arm with her friend glanced around casually, only to freeze mid-step.
She was clearly daydreaming, but it didn’t look out of place—many on the street wore the same expression.
Her gaze was fixed on a man standing there.
He wore a dark blue suit with subtle patterns, perfectly neat and clean from head to toe.
Polished shoes highlighted the slenderness of his exposed ankles. His straight legs and upright posture, even with thick glasses perched on his nose, couldn’t conceal the pair of eyes under his swept-back bangs—eyes both seemingly sentimental yet distant.
There was a mysterious aura in him that drew the gaze but made people afraid to meet his eyes.
“Hey, snap out of it. Are you spacing out looking at someone again today? Am I not pretty enough to hold your attention?”
The girl’s cheeks stung as her friend’s firm voice cut through, snapping her back to reality.
She quickly smiled, trying to appease.
“Ah, look, it’s rare to run into two handsome guys! They’re both so unique. But of course, you still hold the top spot in my heart! Shall we go to that new dessert shop? I heard their cream puffs are amazing—you’ll love them!”
Her friend blinked, confused. Two handsome guys?
Her peripheral vision caught Fan Qing’s back, and she let out a quiet laugh—clearly, they had the same frame!
Carrying a set of clothes, Fan Qing then entered an optical store.
This time, the visit was short; he emerged quickly.
“Mistake.”
He paused briefly, thinking. “Without charm or pretext to back me up, is the price of something like contact lenses still a bit high for me?”
He glanced back at the row of three eyeglass stores but wasn’t too disappointed.
With a budget of just over a thousand, he had managed to cover hair and clothing needs while still saving money for groceries—an almost perfect haul in his estimation.
He pushed his glasses up again, smiling faintly.
“And such a drastic change… it wouldn’t be easy to explain, would it?”
A small excuse would be enough to pacify Jian Feiyang.
Sure enough, the next day…
“Whoa! Ah Qing, is that really you? What happened… wait, you just got a haircut, right?”
Jian Feiyang’s eyes widened, even more exaggerated than the assistant director earlier.
He was stunned!
The clean, refreshing young man with slightly romantic almond-shaped eyes before him—there was no way this was the Ah Qing he knew, right?
Fan Qing watched, corners of his eyes narrowing, a faint, calm smile tugging at his lips.
“Yes, I got some cash yesterday and thought my hair was too long, so I went to an old barber shop—only fifteen bucks. Pretty good deal, huh?”
Jian Feiyang choked on the words.
Fifteen bucks? For a barber who could turn a slightly gloomy, introverted Ah Qing into this charming, outgoing version?
It seemed impossible. If it weren’t for filming, he would have gone immediately.
He hesitated for a second before giving up and started circling around Fan Qing.
“Wow, the master there is way more skilled than several of the Tony barbers I know! With your eyes and this haircut, your whole aura changes! Honestly, the master’s good and the price is fair. I’ll have to go there myself someday!”
Indeed, the real skill lies among the common folk.
Fan Qing smiled in reply.
“After your filming wraps, I’ll ask my agent to take you there too.”
Casually, he added, “The master also recommended an old tailor shop with excellent suits. I ordered two sets there—perfect for when you need to attend formal events with me.”
The change might seem trivial to others, but for someone close like Jian Feiyang, a bit of preparation was appropriate.
Though, perhaps not strictly necessary.
Fan Qing thought this as he heard Jian Feiyang respond cheerfully.
“Ah Qing, do you mean I might get commercial gigs? No way, I’m just a little-known actor now, as long as I have acting jobs, that’s enough.”
He then felt a little guilty—after all, Fan Qing had already ordered clothes for him.
“…I mean, it’s still good to be prepared. I’ll work hard so you can accompany me to commercial gigs!”
Fan Qing reached out, ruffling his hair.
Soft. Human soft.
“Then focus. Your scenes are coming up—go get ready.”
“Okay, I’m off.”
Jian Feiyang raised a hand to say something else, but Fan Qing guided him along, and he hurried to the director.
Watching him leave, Fan Qing twirled his fingers, smiling a bit more boldly.
Following Jian Feiyang was convenient for him.
His scenes weren’t much, and with average acting, two hours in the morning were all it took to complete them.
As soon as the scene wrapped, Fan Qing approached with a clean towel and a bottle of soda water.
Jian Feiyang blinked, not taking them immediately. Instead, he leaned in slightly, whispering,
“Why bother spending the money? I can just wait for my hair to dry. No need to get a towel, and that water—you paid five bucks a bottle, didn’t you?”
Fan Qing’s pupils widened slightly, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes.
He quickly masked it, explaining calmly,
“No cost at all. The crew provided it. The water too. Just take it.”
“Really?” Jian Feiyang still seemed unconvinced.
Fan Qing draped the towel over his damp hair and twisted the cap off the bottle.
“When have you ever seen me spend recklessly?”
Jian Feiyang thought for a moment, then grinned.
“True! But the crew’s perks are pretty good. How come I never noticed before?”
Of course he wouldn’t have noticed.
Fan Qing smiled faintly, eyes scanning toward the assistant director. Their gaze met for half a second before Fan Qing simply nodded and looked away.
Perks like these required connections to access.
And…
Fan Qing’s eyes narrowed slightly.
After meticulously absorbing both sets of memories the night before, he noticed something off.
For Jian Feiyang to land the role of the sixth male lead in a high-level production, it wasn’t just his looks—he clearly had a backing.
He was the youngest son of the Jian family in Yu City, a real estate dynasty with no small fortune.
Otherwise, with his acting skills alone, it would’ve been nearly impossible to join such a historical epic.
Yet, despite his background, Jian Feiyang was subtly targeted within the crew.
And Fan Qing, being just his assistant, was hardly relevant in the crew’s eyes.
So why would Jian Feiyang even think that Fan Qing personally bought him a five-yuan bottle of water?
Countless thoughts flashed through Fan Qing’s mind until one name surfaced—one that neither he nor Jian Feiyang should know at this stage: Jing Yuan.
In the original story, Jing Yuan was the absolute protagonist and the target of Jian Feiyang’s schemes later on.
Interesting, Fan Qing thought.
A character who shouldn’t even appear at this point in the story was already affecting a future antagonist.