Couch Potato Boards the Plane (Bonus Chapter)

Chapter 18

After arriving at the airport, Li Wenchuan unexpectedly ran into Jiang Hansheng, who was on the same flight.

Since the production crew did not allow assistants or managers to accompany them, Jiang Hansheng was dragging his luggage alone and sitting casually in the waiting lounge. With his mask and cap concealing him, others could only vaguely tell from his build that he was a handsome young man.

After all, even other big-name stars might bring assistants right up until the production crew chased them away at the venue. People who used VIP passages and flew first class would not be this casual.

To be honest, Li Wenchuan was here alone because he was poor. Although He Meng had some free time now, she had not stopped looking for opportunities for him. And for some reason, perhaps because she had heard some news, He Meng had been especially busy these past few days.

Before he left, she gave him a few reminders and let Li Wenchuan go.

In He Meng's exact words: "If all else fails, just lie there and coast through the whole thing."

He Meng: It was truly difficult to expect too much ambition from my artist.

"What a coincidence." Jiang Hansheng spotted him and waved in greeting.

Li Wenchuan pushed his suitcase over and sat down beside Jiang Hansheng. After all their back-and-forth, they could be considered half-acquainted. Besides, Li Wenchuan had always been adept at dealing with people. He did not feel pressured just because Jiang Hansheng was a bigger star, nor did he put on a fawning act.

In his previous life, he had first been a prince, then the crown prince, and finally ascended the throne. Only others had ever fawned over him.

Seeing the smile in the man's eyes, Li Wenchuan sat down calmly, removed the earbud closest to Jiang Hansheng, and nodded. "Are you experiencing life, so you're not flying first class?"

"You don't understand." Jiang Hansheng leaned back slightly, his voice gentle as a breeze. "The human world is life."

Only places filled with everyday bustle and crowds could truly be called life. Jiang Hansheng lowered his eyes.

Li Wenchuan paused, though his expression remained unchanged. With a trace of teasing, he said, "Has anyone ever told you that, despite being so young, you really sound like an old man?"

"No. I will always be a youth." Jiang Hansheng raised an eyebrow and suddenly leaned toward him.

Their eyes met. They could faintly hear each other's soft breaths, barely there yet seeming to brush against their ears. Li Wenchuan's hand in his pocket tightened at once. For some reason, a strange sensation slowly crept up his limbs toward his heart.

"Passengers of HM5616, flying from xx to xx..."

The mechanical announcement suddenly rang out, startling the gulls and egrets. That soft, dense, whispering air abruptly dispersed.

Jiang Hansheng leaned back again and gripped the handle of his suitcase. "Come on, let's go later."

The two artists who had recently been constantly dominating Weibo simply followed behind the boarding passengers. If not for the timing, they might have been mistaken for college students returning to school.

He had thought their chance encounter should have ended there, but they stopped in front of the same seats. Comparing their boarding passes, Jiang Hansheng said, "What a coincidence. We're together again."

Li Wenchuan was putting away his things and had not freed up a hand to take his boarding pass, so he instinctively held it between his lips. Another passenger behind him needed to pass through the aisle and softly said, "Excuse me, please move aside," but the person took up too much space, forcing Li Wenchuan to shift to one side.

With that one movement, he happened to lean against Jiang Hansheng beside him. Jiang Hansheng had not expected it either and instinctively wrapped an arm around Li Wenchuan's waist.

A faint warmth spread from where they touched. Li Wenchuan turned to apologize, but the boarding pass lightly brushed Jiang Hansheng's face and came to rest against his thin lips.

"Sorry..." Li Wenchuan could feel the other man's breath against his cheek.

At once, he felt strangely suspended. Whenever he saw this face, he thought of Jiang Chengyu, and again and again, he could not help sinking into memories of those years.

But this person was not him...

Jiang Hansheng steadied himself and removed his hand from Li Wenchuan's waist. His hand clenched into a fist, his palm still retaining that fading warmth.

He removed the boarding pass from Li Wenchuan's lips, his gaze clear and upright. "It's dirty. Just put it in your pocket." Then he folded the boarding pass and slowly slipped it into Li Wenchuan's clothing pocket. After that, he naturally turned, stowed his own luggage, and sat beside Li Wenchuan.

The plane's takeoff did not bring much of a weightless sensation, but Li Wenchuan still felt heavy inside. Like the clouds outside the window, soft and drifting through the air, he was in the jade towers and celestial halls above the skies, where the heights held a solitude too cold to bear.

Jiang Hansheng put on his mask after takeoff and began catching up on sleep. In truth, he was not asleep. He had always slept lightly. The engine noise was faint here, yet it amplified endlessly in his mind.

He had not had a peaceful night's sleep in a long time, ever since he was young.

Perhaps it was an occupational ailment developed over many years. After supporting the new emperor's ascension, he had suffered countless assassination attempts. Fortunately, the covert guards Li Wenchuan had left him back then had allowed him to escape death time and time again.

Living high in the halls of power, sleepless day and night, he often thought of the days when he had wandered far from the world with you, carefree and content.

He narrowed his eyes and secretly studied the person beside him gazing at the scenery. The turbulence made the plane tremble, and the person before him seemed to become the youth in that old carriage, curiously peering outside. In a delighted voice, the youth said, "Chengyu, the common folk are so lively."

Yes, and my heart had begun to stir as well.

Gradually, the memories blurred.

Li Wenchuan felt something resting on his shoulder. Turning his head, he found Jiang Hansheng asleep against him. The air conditioning was on in the summer cabin, making it much cooler than an ordinary room, so he called a flight attendant over and asked for a small blanket.

He did not understand why he wanted to do it, but he did.

When Jiang Hansheng woke up, he discovered that he was leaning against Li Wenchuan's shoulder, with a small blanket over him as well. He did not ask any questions. As the plane descended, he woke Li Wenchuan, who had also fallen asleep.

Seeing the other man's languid appearance, he could not help curling his lips.

He wanted to tease him a little, only to realize that he had been the first to fall asleep, and he had even... slept rather deeply.

His thoughts suddenly drifted. It had been two lifetimes. He had not slept this peacefully in a long time.

"Get ready. There should be photographers following us soon." Jiang Hansheng folded the blanket and reminded him.

After they got off the plane, people from the production crew naturally came to pick them up. Sure enough, cameras were waiting at the exit, and the cameramen's eyes practically lit up upon seeing the two of them.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the cameraman pointed the lens at Li Wenchuan's cowlick sticking up from his head. "Looks like you slept well on the plane."

Li Wenchuan pretended to yawn lightly. "It was my first time flying. I got a tiny bit airsick."

Jiang Hansheng, on the other hand, was more at ease. "It took too long. The place you picked is too far away from us. Shouldn't the director compensate us?"

The cameraman thought: Here it comes. It's starting again.

"When you put it like that, I feel like the director is trying to fleece me. If I'm unhappy, I'll want to go on strike." Shamelessly, as if it were perfectly justified.

"Then what do you want?" the cameraman played along.

Jiang Hansheng held out his hand and rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, his face saying: You know what I mean, right?

The cameraman: No, I do not want to know.

Li Wenchuan: He was surprisingly down-to-earth.

And so, amid all the noise, the production crew's car drove from the city's landscaped greenery toward wild roadside grass. There were fewer and fewer pedestrians.