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Ye Mingzhao lowered his eyes with a faint smile, the happiness between his brows practically overflowing.

Chu Hengyi found it an eyesore and silently turned to leave.

Ye Mingzhao watched Chu Hengyi's briskly departing back, hesitated for a moment, then followed him.

He discovered that Chu Hengyi had actually walked over to his lounge chair and sat down, casually picking up the script on the chair and flipping through it.

Watching Chu Hengyi silently read the script, Ye Mingzhao spoke amiably. "Are you interested in filming too?"

Chu Hengyi put down the script and spoke bluntly. "I'm not interested in acting. I'm just somewhat interested in the second male lead's character setup."

Before Ye Mingzhao could speak, Chu Hengyi directly asked, "What kind of person do you think the second male lead is? Can someone really be so bad that they covet everything someone else has and wish they could take their place?"

The daylight was just right. Having just finished lunch, the crew had all retreated into their trailers or tucked themselves away in corners to rest. The vast set was completely empty.

Ye Mingzhao stood over him, looking straight into Chu Hengyi's eyes. Chu Hengyi did not look away, and Ye Mingzhao's figure was clearly reflected in his amber pupils.

Ye Mingzhao smiled faintly. "If there is such a person, what would you do?"

Chapter 17

"Didn't we agree to go look around the film city together? Why are you two sitting here again?" Ye Mingxi came over noisily to find them.

He was thick-skinned and did not notice the strange atmosphere between Ye Mingzhao and Chu Hengyi at all. Seeing Chu Hengyi sitting imposingly in Ye Mingzhao's chair, he grinned and plopped down beside him.

—The combined weight of two grown men immediately flattened the chair.

Ye Mingxi sat on the ground with a blank look on his face. Rubbing his numb tailbone, he still did not forget to complain about Ye Mingzhao's chair. "Where did you buy this piece of junk? Can anyone even sit on this?"

With a dark expression, Chu Hengyi climbed up from the ground. He glanced at Ye Mingzhao, who was trying hard not to laugh, then took a deep breath. "No chair can withstand the weight of two grown men!"

"That's not necessarily true!" Ye Mingxi argued. "What if there is one?"

Too lazy to deal with Ye Mingxi, who only knew how to argue for the sake of arguing, Chu Hengyi left with a livid face.

Ye Mingxi pointed at Chu Hengyi's back. "Why is his face so dark? Was I wrong?"

Ye Mingzhao blinked, looking utterly innocent. "Probably sunburned!"

Ye Mingxi blinked as well and chuckled. "Since you're filming here, you should remember to use sunscreen too. Don't let your face get tanned."

After a pause, Ye Mingxi added, "Though even if you did get tanned, you'd still be better-looking than Ye Mingyi!"

Ye Mingzhao burst out laughing.

The laughter had barely escaped his lips when he caught sight of Chu Hengyi returning with a dark face from the corner of his eye.

Noticing Ye Mingzhao's teasing gaze, Chu Hengyi walked straight up to Ye Mingxi without looking sideways.

Ye Mingxi only felt a shadow hanging over his head. Still seated on the ground, he looked up at Chu Hengyi, who seemed increasingly tall and broad from his angle, his mind full of question marks. "What?"

He isn't going to fight me, is he?

Looking down at Ye Mingxi as though he were an idiot, Chu Hengyi said with obvious disgust, "Lift your ass!"

Ye Mingxi stared blankly. "Huh?"

"You're sitting on my phone!" After saying that, Chu Hengyi grabbed Ye Mingxi by the shoulder and effortlessly hauled him up.

A black smartphone with a shattered screen saw the light of day again.

Chu Hengyi stared deeply at the already broken phone and said nothing for a long while.

Feeling somewhat guilty, Ye Mingxi patted his butt and carefully said, "How about I buy you a new phone... the latest model!"

After saying that, Ye Mingxi complained somewhat aggrievedly, "I was wondering why my butt hurt so much when I sat down. Turns out your phone was digging into it."

Someone's phone really did resemble its owner. It looked all hard and tough, but it shattered the moment someone sat on it!

Wasn't the quality too poor?

Chu Hengyi looked at Ye Mingxi expressionlessly.

Unable to hold it in, Ye Mingzhao laughed again.

He laughed so hard that tears nearly came out. Turning around, he went to the props department to get some disinfecting alcohol and handed it to Chu Hengyi.

Chu Hengyi thanked him with a dark face. After spraying the phone with alcohol, he even wiped it with tissues.

Rubbing his butt, Ye Mingxi muttered, "I think my butt needs disinfecting too."

Before he could finish speaking, a bottle of alcohol was suddenly tossed into his arms.

With an indifferent expression, Chu Hengyi put the phone with its shattered screen into his pocket and left again without expression.

Feeling a little guilty, Ye Mingxi turned to ask Ye Mingzhao, "He isn't really mad at me, is he?"

Looking at Chu Hengyi's retreating back, Ye Mingzhao suddenly said, "That phone was the first phone he bought after dropping out of middle school and working to save up money."

Ye Mingxi suddenly understood. "No wonder it was so old. What else does he have that he can't bear to part with?"

As he spoke, Ye Mingxi suddenly realized something was off. He looked at Ye Mingzhao with a strange expression. "How did you know that?"

"Of course, because I hired a private detective to investigate him!" Ye Mingzhao said with smiling eyes, casually dropping a bombshell without even realizing it.

Ye Mingxi: "???"

Led by Yu Mingze, who was serving as their part-time tour guide, the six members of the Ye family spent the entire afternoon touring Hengzhou Film and Television City.

Director Li Zhengzheng had probably wanted to film behind-the-scenes footage or curry favor with the new investors, because he actually assigned a cameraman to follow the Ye family around and record everything.

Yu Mingze even suggested that the six members of the Ye family change into ancient costumes and take photos at the major scenic spots in the film city.

"It's such a rare chance to come here. It would be a real shame not to dress up!" Yu Mingze enthusiastically suggested, adding that he was well acquainted with several historical drama crews currently filming there and could borrow the best costumes.

The Ye family had exceptional genes. Aside from Ye Mingzhao, a peerless beauty with flawless bone structure and features, Chairman Ye was refined and elegant, Madam Ye was glamorous and dignified, Eldest Brother Ye was steady and handsome, Second Brother Ye was dashing and carefree, and even Chu Hengyi, who had only recently been brought back, possessed strikingly handsome features and a model-like physique. It was only that the vicious aura around him was too intimidating for anyone to dare look directly at him.

Yu Mingze had always believed this family had been born to be stars. Put them in ancient clothing, and they could stand in front of a camera to play emperors, generals, ministers, or beauties capable of toppling kingdoms. But given the Ye family's status, barring some unforeseen circumstance, they would never enter the entertainment industry.

Thus, with this rare chance to talk—oh, no, persuade—the Ye family into dressing up, Yu Mingze pulled out all the stops until his mouth was nearly dry.

However, aside from Madam Ye, who loved beauty, and Ye Mingxi, who liked looking cool, the others were not particularly interested. That included Ye Mingzhao, who was currently filming.

The reason was simple: Hengzhou Film and Television City was simply too hot in summer. Temperatures over thirty-eight degrees Celsius turned the place into a natural furnace, making it truly unbearable.

Chu Hengyi, who tolerated heat the least, had even taken off his suit jacket. He wore only a white shirt and dress pants, with his shirt unbuttoned down to his chest, faintly revealing his pectoral muscles. The oppressive weather made the impatience on his face even more obvious... which made him look even fiercer.

As a result, whenever he passed through a scenic area in Hengzhou Film and Television City, there was no one within a one-meter radius of him.

By comparison, Ye Mingzhao, who was also wearing a shirt and dress pants, looked refreshed and at ease. In such scorching weather, he had not even sweated a single drop, and he still had the mood to hold an umbrella for Madam Ye—the perfect attentive and considerate son.

Holding umbrellas and carrying small electric fans, the group strolled through the antique-style streets of the scenic area, stopping from time to time. They did not notice that they had become a sight in other people's eyes.

"...Do you people have any sense of contract at all? We already signed the contract! I even transferred your pay to you! Just because Director Cheng's movie is short one third male lead, you're breaking the contract whenever you feel like it? You didn't even give me a heads-up. If Director Cheng hadn't called me, I'd still be completely in the dark!"