Your Rival in Love Gets Prettier Every Day

Chapter 83: A Smoking Gun Beauty

Yan Qiuchi felt that his chances were completely over. He thought that even if Shen Jintai didn’t like him, he could still recover if he worked hard. But now, Shen Jintai had become so harmonious with his former “rival in love”… This could only mean one thing. Shen Jintai had completely let him go.

How could Shen Jintai become friends with Bai Qingquan without any grudges? Regarding their friendship, Yan Qiuchi couldn’t understand it, especially since Shen Jintai used to hate Bai Qingquan to death. But ever since they acted together, they have such a good relationship.

Mrs. Yan waited expectantly into the evening. When she heard the sound of their return, she immediately knocked on Yan Qiuchi’s door.

Yan Qiuchi opened the door and let her in when he saw it was his mother. Mrs. Yan went in, close the door and asked: “How was dinner tonight?”

Yan Qiuchi said: “Alright.”

Mrs. Yan: “Did you do what I said?”

Yan Qiuchi said: “I think no matter what I do, it may be useless.”

He told Mrs. Yan the events that had transpire tonight, including what had happened in the past. It was pretty embarrassing for him given that he knew how much Mrs. Yan loves Shen Jintai and he wasn’t used to talking about his feelings.

Sure enough, when Mrs. Yan heard this, she was surprised: “You said those things to him? I didn’t know this at all!”

After her initial shock, she felt distressed for Shen Jintai: “You’re too much!”

Yan Qiuchi: “I was really angry at that time and just said whatever came to mind…”

Mrs. Yan: “What you said is too hurtful. You knew what he really cared about was you liking Bai Qingquan. No wonder Xiao Jin had changed so much and why he suddenly didn’t like you anymore. Being stimulated by this event must have hurt him badly and broke his heart that he suddenly had to change completely.”

The more Mrs. Yan thought about it, the more pieces of the puzzle came together, and the more she felt distressed. The greater Shen Jintai’s changes were meant the deeper the damage he must’ve suffered in the first place.

Yan Qiuchi felt uncomfortable when he heard what she said. With a gloomy face he said: “You see, I’ve already said this…”

“You deserve it!” Mrs. Yan said: “You have to bear the consequences for your words and think twice about saying things out of impulse. I can’t help you. Xiao Jin has completely gone cold. Just look at how different he became!”

Yan Qiuchi had omitted the details of Shen Jintai crawling into his bed, so Mrs. Yan only got half the story.

Mrs. Yan said: “I can’t see how this can work out. If you say he is not as good as Bai Qingquan, he probably couldn’t stand it. Forget it. I won’t care about your affairs in the future.”

Mrs. Yan left in a huff. When she walked into the corridor outside, Mrs. Yan became even more angry the more she thought about it and it made her even more distressed, so she walked to Shen Jintai’s room and knocked on his door.

Shen Jintai opened the door and seeing it was her said: “Auntie, you haven’t slept yet?”

Mrs. Yan: “I heard you came back, so I came to visit. Am I bothering you?”

Shen Jintai: “No. Come in.”

Mrs. Yan said as she came in: “I won’t beat around the bush so I’ll just say it. Auntie have always tried to set you up with Quichi.”

When Shen Jintai heard this, he thought she was here to play matchmaker again. He smiled and said: “Auntie…”

“Don’t worry about this anymore. Auntie had stopped caring.” Mrs. Yan said.

Shen Jintai: “…”

Mrs. Yan: “Honestly, although he’s my own son, I must say he actually has a lot of shortcomings. He seems to be excellent in all aspects but is relatively indifferent towards everyone so it’s hard for him to make friends with others. He has never been in a relationship, and he doesn’t know how to talk sweetly. He’s also a workaholic. At such a young age, he’s already so old-fashion and conservative. I think with your current conditions, you can definitely find someone better than him. Auntie will also pay attention and help you find some good men around you.”

Shen Jintai: “…”

Mrs. Yan suddenly stepped forward and gave him a hug.

Shen Jintai was tall and bent his waist quickly. After hugging him she continued: “No matter what happens in the future, you can tell Auntie. Auntie will always be on your side. Let’s strengthen ourselves and love ourselves in the future so we won’t make terrible mistakes again.”

Shen Jintai said solemnly: “Don’t worry, no matter who I fall in love with in the future, I won’t post it upside down.”

When Mrs. Yan heard this, she was almost cried tears of agony. How much harm did Shen Jintai go through to have such awareness! It felt like she was holding a child in the palm of her hand but when he goes outside, he was slew with insults and disgust. Only she understood the heartache and pain! The source of it all was her own son.

Mrs. Yan felt that her face was beginning to sunken, so she patted Shen Jintai on the back and said: “I won’t bother you anymore. You can rest early.”

Shen Jintai: “Auntie, is there anything wrong? If there is you must tell me.”

Mrs. Yan said: “No. Just seeing you work so hard during filming; I just hope you will find partner who will love you sooner.”

After sending Mrs. Yan away, Shen Jintai was still heavily confused. He cleaned up the room and planned to welcome Bai Qingquan’s arrival.

“Hello, Xiao Ai!”

With a ding dong, Xiao Ai came online: “Kiss~ Good evening!”

Shen Jintai: “I finally will be making new progress. What is the next reward I’m about to get?”

It’s been so long he’d almost forgotten about his progress.

Xiao Ai: “A bright tidy rows of perfectly white teeth that will remain that way until 60!”

Indeed, this new beauty reward will be very useful. It put Shen Jintai in a good mood so he decided to play a cheerful song as he did sit ups on the floor. He had too little abdominal muscles, his chest was too small and his skin looked too fair.

At least now he seems more aggressive than when he was filming The East Palace. When Bai Qingquan sees him now, his love value most definitely will go up.

According to the plan, Yan Qiuchi and Mrs. Yan would leave in the afternoon on the second day and arrive back to the city in the evening. However, Shen Jintai had little time to rest. He had to arrive on set early before dawn as he had a scene in the morning.

Mrs. Yan didn’t want to wait for him at the hotel, so she planned to go visit the set. After a few moments of hesitation, she decided not to ask Yan Qiuchi to go with her. Despite a good night’s sleep, she was still angry with her son. She felt the paraphrase words that Yan Qiuchi told her were too unpleasant, especially given the circumstances.

Who knew that when she arrived on set, she caught sight of Yan Qiuchi before she even saw Shen Jintai. He was wearing black pants with a white t-shirt and sunglasses looking handsome and stylish. Mrs. Yan walked over and heard Yan Qiuchi speaking fluent English. He was chatting with a middle-age European and American man with a white beard, making gestures from time to time. It looked as if he was a young and energetic staff member of the crew.

Mrs. Yan came over and heard them discussing the operation of the fighter jets. Xiao Tang was holding an umbrella over her as he said: “Brother Jin is over there.”

Shen Jintai was in an army green jumpsuit as he stood with a group of young men of similar height and age. In front of him stood several foreigners in officer uniforms commanding them to train. The sun had just come out, but Shen Jintai and the other young actors were already sweating profusely. The rocker camera slowly moved down from above their head, stopping in front of Shen Jintai. In the monitor was a image of sunlight shinning behind him. He looked thinner than when he was filming The East Palace. His chin looked tougher as it was covered with beads of sweat.

The assistant director raised his megaphone and shouted: “At this moment, the enemy plane is coming, so look straight ahead.”

Someone in the crowd shouted: “The plane is coming!”

Shen Jintai raised his head abruptly and looked ahead with bright eyes and a solemn expression.

The enemy aircraft were special effects that would be added later. What they were doing now was regarded as non-physical object performance. The staff further away was coordinating the noise. Suddenly, there was a sudden boom, and two earthen houses in the distance was blown up. The sound frightened Mrs. Yan as she grabbed Xiao Tang’s arm.

Xiao Tang was also surprised as he hurriedly helped her. There were several explosions in a row that cause massive rumbling making the land under their feet tremble. The group of actors scattered as men’s shouting, women’s screaming, and children’s crying rang out. The actors playing the local people rushed up towards the camera, causing a draft of sandy gust to blow onto their faces, almost blinding them from the scene.

The next part was Shen Jintai’s highlight. The makeup artist ran over and applied his makeup making his face dirtier. Mrs. Yan came over to say hello and shook hands with Lu Ming, the director. Knowing that Shen Jintai was going to shoot an explosion scene next, Mrs. Yan was very nervous: “Be careful.”

“Don’t worry. We have everything lined up. The demolitionist had tested the explosions several times so there shouldn’t be a problem.” The staff member said.

Still, Mrs. Yan couldn’t help but be anxious. No matter how safe it was, an explosion scene was still dangerous nonetheless. The moment the demolitionist presses the button, the actors must respond to the explosion. One step too fast or too slow was not good. Mrs. Yan saw that there were medical staff near her that were on standby. Seeing them, she became even more concerned.

She didn’t understand an actor’s career, but she never expected it to be this hard and dangerous either.

“The medical staff are here just for insurance.” Xiao Tang comforted her: “This shows that the crew is diligent and is prepared for any accidents.”

“Aren’t there stand-ins for this kind of scenes?” Mrs. Yan asked.

Xiao Tang: “Director Lu has strict requirements and Brother Jin doesn’t like to use body doubles.”

Mrs. Yan felt that it was safer to shoot ancient costumes or modern urban dramas. War dramas, not to mention the difficult filming conditions, were tough and dangerous.

Yan Qiuchi had also came over. When Mrs. Yan saw him, she said: “You see how risky and demanding this is?” Especially considering Shen Jintai had already been injured on set in the past.

Shen Jintai nodded solemnly when he got instructions from the staff regarding his position. His makeup was done giving him an injured look. His hair was covered in mud, blood flowed from his side forehead, and his fair neck was stained in red. The pyrotechnician create smoke that accompanied the loess creating a smoldering scene. Holding back his tears caused by the smoke, Shen Jintai immediately entered the act.

“Prepare to shoot. Ready, three, two, one, action!”

“Chen Zheng, run!”

Shen Jintai immediately ran over from the middle of a row of houses. The sound of explosions: “Boom, boom, boom,” sounded out several times in a row causing sand to scattered onto Yan Qiuchi’s pants. Mrs. Yan’s legs went soft, afraid that Shen Jintai would get caught in an accident.

“One, two, three, pounce!”

Shen Jintai rushed forward as the nearest blasting point ignited. With a boom, a straw basket that exploded almost took out his face as he flew past. Mrs. Yan was so scared that she almost screamed out, only to find out that the straw basket was a prop. It was pulled over by a staff member with a rope.

Shen Jintai rolled on the ground and quickly got up and continued running forward. The cameraman running behind was filming him. He ran for about ten meters towards a thatched house. A child actor was sitting inside on straw mat crying. Shen Jintai hugged him as he staggered forward. He kept running until the director yelled “Cut!” before he stopped and panted nonstop.

A staff member quickly picked up the child as someone went forward to check on Shen Jintai ensuring that he’s safe. Shen Jintai was silent and only waved his hand. Someone immediately handed him a bottle of water. He raised his head, pouring the water into his eyes to get rid of all the sand that was stuck in them.

Shen Jintai took a few sips of water, rinsed his mouth and then said: “I’m okay. I’m okay.”

Lu Ming wasn’t satisfied with that scene just now. He thought Shen Jintai had move too early: “It should explode first before you pounce. It’ll be too obvious in slow motion. Let’s film it again.”

Shen Jintai put one hand on his waist as the other held a bottle of mineral water. He took a few more sips then screwed on the lid and nodded seriously. The light from the sun shone on his face revealing dark stains from the thick smoke.

Yan Qiuchi felt that the biggest change in Shen Jintai was not in the way he dressed or in appearance but was this kind of energy that was devoted and serious when he starts working. It made him look highly attractive.

To redo the scene, it would require time to rearranged everything again that by the time Bai Qingquan came, Shen Jintai was still filming. Mrs. Yan couldn’t stand the heat, so she went back to the RV. As a pampered rich housewife, this kind of condition was too difficult for her, and she felt that she was getting heatstroke.

Yan Qiuchi remained behind as he stood by the monitor as beads of sweat dripped from his forehead. Xiao Tang wanted to hold an umbrella for him, but he was only 1.7 meters tall while Yan Qiuchi was over 1.9 meters. It would be too difficult for him. Sensing Xiao Tang’s distress, Yan Qiuchi turned around and said: “You don’t need to hold the umbrella for me.”

Yan Qiuchi then thank him and resumed watching the monitor. Xiao Tang felt flattered and thought Yan Qiuchi was very polite. 

Shen Jintai was standing still in front of the camera. When he was about to shoot, he saw a car parked in the distance. The door opened and the first person to come out was Li Meilan holding her iconic small flower umbrella.

Shen Jintai, who originally had put on a serious face, suddenly burst out laughing. His teeth looked whiter due to his dirty face creating a warm and brilliant smile. Yan Qiuchi froze, then turn his head and saw a handsome man wearing a suit walking towards them. He was handsome, thin, and radiant as he walked slowly while surrounded by several people.

The author has something to say：

The long-lost Bai Yueguang: The smoking gun beauty. My appearance was no worse than Shen Jintai’s appearance at the end of chapter 79!

Kinky Thoughts: Aww it’s cute Yan Qiuchi didn’t tell Mrs. Yan the full story to protect her image of Shen Jintai’s. He’s earning his brownie points!