The Villain Runs Wild

Ch 45 - Newest Top Celebrity x Washed Up Film Emperor: Yan Returns To Lin


@It’s Suisui Ya: I’m all ears.

Yan Qin sat on the sofa, composing the wording of his message and sending it.

@Swallows Return To The Forest: I met a very special person, and I’m a little unclear on my own thoughts.

@It’s Suisui Ya: Do you like him?

@Swallows Return To The Forest: This kind of feeling is far more complex than just ‘like’.

What circled around inside Yan Qin’s heart was not made up of a single feeling, but rather a complex and difficult to make out mood which affected his heart and made it hard for him to say what he felt.

@It’s Suisui Ya: It must be very complicated if even you think it’s complex, but an outsider can see things more objectively, so can you tell me about it?

@Swallows Return To The Forest: I don’t really know how to explain it, it seems like my words end caught up in a mess.

To him, Lin Sui was not simply attraction and infatuation, he bore all of his extreme emotions, the kind of gloom and control he’d never revealed to anyone else.

@Swallows Return To The Forest: To me, he’s just desire itself.

@It’s Suisui Ya: Wow, those are some smooth words!

@It’s Suisui Ya: Sister, you’re more mature than me. Other people can’t actually judge these kinds of emotional matters too well, and I can’t just say something without properly knowing the circumstances. But the most important thing is that if you feel uncomfortable or feel like he’s not good to you, just run!

@It’s Suisui Ya: I’ll turn to a quiz I found earlier, you can take a look!

Suisui sent him a picture, and Yan Qin clicked it open and zoomed in.

1. Do you have a desire to be intimate towards them? Do you want to do things with them that you can’t do with other people?
2. Do you want to share things with them? Even just trivial things?
3. If they were to disappear from your life, would you feel sadness or pain?
4. Would you wish them a happy life with someone else?

Attraction, desire for intimacy, sexual desire, desire to share things, to monopolise, to protect, feelings of tenderness, feelings of trust, and a sense responsibility were all important components of love. When one’s feelings towards a person corresponded with the previously-mentioned factors, one should be able to determine their own feelings.

Yan Qin turned it over in his mind, the thoughts in his heart becoming a little clearer.

The first one was a little embarrassing, he had no thoughts about doing intimate things with others, he was a little hesitant about the second because he wasn’t a person that attached much importance to sharing things and he was used to being alone, and the third one was a little too broad for him and he couldn’t envision it, so it was a little tedious.

But the fourth one… The veins on the hand he was holding the phone with bulged, and there was no doubt that if he continued using so much force to grasp it, the phone could be turned into scrap.

Yan Qin’s eyes clouded, looking shockingly cold under the lights.

He relaxed his grip, lowering his head and entering his reply into the interface.

@Swallows Return To The Forest: Thank you, I understand my thoughts.

He wanted to obtain him, he wanted to monopolise him, but what he had to do now was be able to get close to him.

The distance between Lin Sui and him was too far, like that of the distant, out of reach stars.

If he wanted to achieve his goal, just the current situation was not enough. Yan Qin stroked the back of his phone with his palm as a formula slowly came together in his mind.

He looked at his Weibo username, and clicked on ‘change’.

@It’s Suisui Ya: It’s great you could understand yourself so quickly! Hope your wishes come true!

@It’s Suisui Ya: Hey, why did you change your username?

@It’s Suisui Ya: Hahahaha but this name is more in the style of a wife-fan!

@Yan Returns To Lin1: The person I like is surnamed Lin.

@It’s Suisui Ya: Also a Lin? Hahaha, what a coincidence!

Yan Qin was non-committal, simply replying with an emoji.

It was really a coincidence, the person just so happened to be Lin Sui himself.

Seeing how the girls in the ‘Lin Sui Husbands Group’ were joking about being on Lin Sui’s bed again, Yan Qin revealed a grim smile.

He was the one that had really been on Lin Sui’s bed, and yet he still had to check in and raise his activity rank so as to not lose his admin privileges.

New Year passed, and the branches sprouted once again in spring, just as in the past.

After he finished filming the movie, Lin Sui just pushed most of the announcements aside, leaving Fu Nai to watch over picking up work and keeping himself busy with the studio.

Last time he had Zhuo Hu’s character changed, turning that third male character into a female one, and the role had been given to Ying Ziyu by Lin Sui.

Ying Ziyu thought about it for a long time and decided to hop onboard. She wasn’t young anymore, and although 35 years old might have been the starting point for many people’s careers, it wasn’t the same in the entertainment industry. In this business, good looks and youth were a kind of capital.

Ji Ying had also been put into a variety show as a permanent guest, and, as for Yan He, there was no rush. He was gathering evidence from during that time, waiting to clear it up in one move.

The ex who had framed Yan He had already become a director’s wife, and she would definitely try to bury what happened back then, so Lin Sui had to be absolutely sure when he began taking action.

Lin Sui would also pick good seedlings in his spare time, not for his studio, of course, but rather for the TV & film company he secretly purchased.

That company was originally called Yue He, and Lin Sui didn’t change the name or even the legal representative, and continued to be the main player behind the scenes.

The company could be considered a small one in the industry, they found it hard to continue after several successive investment losses and were almost to the point of having to cease operations.

Lin Sui took it over, he naturally knew what was worth experimenting with and what was worth cultivating, so it would be enough as long as the person on top listened to him, he naturally had a way to make the company rise to fame.

In March, Lin Sui received the news that Yan Qin had set up his own studio, and that he had gotten the role of major villain in a crime investigation movie.

Lin Sui wasn’t surprised, his blocking had only been temporary, and although the Lin family was quite wealthy and his godfather, Yu Yushuo, was considered one of the largest bigshots in the entertainment industry, in this day and age there was no one who could block out the sky with one hand2.

Although Yan Qin had been in hiatus for three years, he still had connections and relationships in the entertainment industry, and his accumulated wealth was also quite significant, plus, in the original text, it seemed that his parents had left behind a considerable inheritance which had been invested by Yan Qin. But the story of the original book had been mainly focused on how Yan Qin rose to the top again, so these things weren’t really described.

As for the previous Yan Qin who didn’t have roles to perform or even an assistant, it was just that Yan Qin was used to being low-key, and he was picky when it came to scripts.

In Lin Sui’s view, there was a difference between sharpening and grinding. Weren’t the choices Yan Qin made now much better than the ones he made in the original book?

But this was just the beginning. Lin Sui lowered his eyes, looking out at the boundless radiance of spring, and blinked.

When Lin Sui had gathered enough evidence, Fu Nai opened a Weibo for Lin Sui’s studio and began promoting it.

At the same time, the Ying Ziyu, Ji Ying, and Yan He’s company certification on Weibo changed, and they reposted the studio’s first post.

The related terms rose to the top of the list one after another, and the hashtag #Lin Sui’s Studio# was even marked with the word ‘explosive’.

Most people clicking in were asking questions, even Lin Sui’s fans were not an exception.

@Hit Yao Brag First: Shit, a few months ago I brushed off the raising gu thing as a joke, but it turned out to be real, holy shit holy shit holy shit, Lin Sui is insane, even if Ying Ziyu and Ji Ying are fine, there’s also Yan He, couldn’t he have rejected an actor with such bad reputation?

Below the post, it could be said that a war waged on with all kinds of people. Most were asking who Yan He was, some explained things, some scolded Yan He, and some even tried to start fights with the die-hard Yan He fans; Some Ying Ziyu fans thought it wasn’t good for her to stick to Lin Sui, so Lin Sui’s fans retaliated, and Lin Sui’s anti-fans fanned the flames. In short, it turned into a complete, sensational mess.

Lin Sui was actually glad to see this happen. In this era of extremely developed news, having topicality and being talked about was the only thing that could get you into the public consciousness.

Among the fans in the brawl, the most peaceful ones were Ji Ying’s fans. There weren’t many of them, and they had all been ridiculed for the failures back then, so they had been laying flat3 for a long time, thinking change boss if you want to, just do whatever you like, and occasionally intervening in quarrels, treating Weibo like an outdoor plaza, rocking on their chairs with some herbal tea.

One would say the fans followed after the original, Ji Ying was also an optimistic person with good attitude, and he had a very funny character, it was just that his acting skills were really disappointing, and it seemed to Lin Sui that there was not much difference between him and this body’s original owner.

Lin Sui specifically chose to make the announcement at 7 PM, this way it would boil overnight, and then Lin Sui had people release the evidence from back then in a steady trickle.

For things like debunking, one always had to make sure the melon-eating crowd4 first understood the antecedents of the matter, then proceed with the reversal after stirring up their emotions.

Although it had already been a very long time since the matter happened, there were many people with insider knowledge who’d kept some proof, and Lin Sui purchased evidence from the woman's personal assistant at the time, and didn’t even let minor details slip by.

The netizens turned into badgers in the melon fields, eating happily.

There were recordings, witnesses, and pictures from that time, everyone knew Yan He wasn’t a cheating scumbag, and everyone ate to their heart’s content once it was reversed.

As these things happened, Lin Sui didn’t keep an eye on them, he didn’t even care that much.

Fu Nai had accepted a guest role in a drama for him, he was playing a big celebrity.

He didn’t have many scenes, the female lead was his fan, something happened to her on the way to meet him and she had a confrontation with the male lead, and after that she stumbled to see him.

All he had to do was act like a big celebrity, take a photo with the female lead at the male lead’s request, and give the female lead his autograph and one of his figurines. Even if he was only on for a moment, the salary he was getting was considerable.

After Yan He had been completely cleared, Lin Sui had Fu Nai start to arrange work for him, conveniently setting up a collaboration between Yan He and a certain variety show where he became a new guest to settle down the current fervour.

Lin Sui didn’t pay much attention to what happened afterwards, because “The Stand-In” had finished being edited and reviewed, and it was ready to begin promotion.

Liu Buqun could really manipulate a shot, he still had a certain standard as a famous director, so the promotional clips that were released were particularly attractive.

Ruan Qingqu and Shu Tang’s scenes intertwined on the screen, it was clearly the same face, but there was a difference in attitude.

As Lin Sui’s die-hard fan, Suisui immediately opened the video and was surprised to find that the wife’s acting skills had greatly improved, and that he was a completely different person from the one that acted in that costume drama.

His passionate look could charm one’s soul straight through the screen.

In the promo video, the detective was saying ‘You’re actually…’, then the screen turned, and he was on the ground, and the camera panned upwards with his line of sight.

The clothes of the young man sitting on the bed slid down onto his arms, revealing his collarbones and shoulders, and he looked down with a cold appearance, indifferent and malicious, as elegant as a blade, as bright as the flare-up of oil being cooked on a blazing fire, or like a posy of fresh flowers pinned on an embroidered brocade5.

“Come.”

“Crawl over.”

In a split second, the screen turned black, and the words “The Stand-In” appeared in white over the black background, followed by the release date.

Suisui stared blankly for a few seconds, then angrily hammered down on the table twice.

@It’s Suisui Ya: Is this a cliffhanger?! Show me the next part! Aaaaaahhhhh my wife is humanity’s Gu King aaahhhh, I’m gonna blow my load aaaaahhhhh! Fuck so sexy and horny, Xu Shuangxing, you’re not a real man if you don’t do it!

 

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The author has something to say:

Yan-ge: I’ve done it, from the 28th to the 1st [Proud.jpg]

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1 He changed the forest ‘lin’ in his username with Lin Sui’s ‘lin’ so I just changed the reading to both their names. Also, the ‘returns to’ part can also be translated as ‘belongs to/is part of’, but I went with ‘returns’ bc I liked it better. Top.

2 Cover the sky with one hand (and pretend it’s not there), a metaphor for a person with power acting to hide things from the public. Top.

3 An expression that means to stop trying, to lay down flat on the ground and stop putting effort in, usually as a counter-response to the work grind hustle culture. Top.

4 The people who sit by and engage in gossip from the sidelines. I would’ve just translated it as “peanut gallery” and not included this footnote but the eating metaphor is expanded on later (the badger thing means there’s lots of gossip going around) and I couldn’t think of anything similar to relate back to the peanut expression lol. Top.

5 Passage from “The Dream of the Red Chamber” by Cao Xueqin. Translation by David Hawkes. Top.