Jiang Chiyan spun around and saw, behind his car...
Xiao Cheng, aloof and ethereal as an immortal.
Afraid his fans would recognize him, he had put on a mask and sunglasses, covering himself up tightly.
Jiang Chiyan got out of the car, his lips curving. "Figured it out?"
Xiao Cheng approached. "Late Silence, Chiyan." After a pause, he added, "Can we... talk?"
Jiang Chiyan pressed the unlock button, and the car door unlocked. Xiao Cheng got in without prompting.
He sat in the passenger seat, enveloped in the fir scent clinging to Jiang Chiyan. His heart raced so hard that even the fingertips hooked around his seat belt had turned white and trembled slightly.
Xiao Cheng looked up and caught the surprise in Jiang Chiyan's eyes. A little uneasy, he asked, "Wh-what is it?"
Jiang Chiyan couldn't help chuckling. "You're the first person to sit in my passenger seat in six years. I'm not quite used to it."
Xiao Cheng took off his mask and sunglasses and turned toward Jiang Chiyan. "That Su Jing you seem to have... something going on with. Hasn't she ever..."
"What do you mean, something going on?" Jiang Chiyan turned the ignition key, laughing as he cursed while turning the car around. "She's my cousin, my actual blood relative. She's so obsessed with you it's like she's possessed. Her whole room is covered in your posters!"
Xiao Cheng couldn't hold back a burst of laughter. It was genuine, heartfelt delight, as though every burden had fallen from his shoulders. He said, "I thought-I thought you..."
Jiang Chiyan found a tearoom and handed over a matte black-and-gold card.
The attendant took it with trembling hands and hurried off to fetch the manager.
The manager attended to them personally, leading them into a luxurious private room.
Inside the private room.
Jiang Chiyan held a cup of black tea with a five-figure price tag and took an elegant little sip. "Xiao Cheng, you don't need to make assumptions with me. If there's anything you want to know, you can ask."
Xiao Cheng silently swallowed a mouthful of tea. It left a sweet aftertaste and was wonderfully fragrant.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
Xiao Cheng had so many questions that he didn't know where to begin.
For instance, you're a third-generation scion of a prominent revolutionary family. What exactly do you like about me?
Over these six years, has there ever been anyone else in your heart?
After a long silence, Jiang Chiyan and Xiao Cheng spoke, one just after the other, without planning it.
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry."
Xiao Cheng's long lashes lowered, trembling badly.
Six years ago, Xiao Cheng had played an extra with just five seconds of screen time, yet completely outshone both the film's nationally famous male lead and its veteran actors.
Because of that, Jiang Chiyan, a sucker for a pretty face, had given up a job paying ten million a year, dressed like a poor kid, and gone to work as Xiao Cheng's legal counsel.
Later, Jiang Chiyan had turned Xiao Cheng gay.
And later still... Xiao Cheng had discovered that Jiang Chiyan's father was the city's top official, his mother was its richest tycoon, and he himself was a third-generation scion with impeccable revolutionary roots.
That was also when Xiao Cheng mistakenly believed he had been played.
Back then, Xiao Cheng had said to Jiang Chiyan, "Jiang Chiyan, there are plenty of good-looking people in the entertainment industry, and plenty willing to flatter you and trade sex for influence. But... don't play that game with me. I find it filthy."
Jiang Chiyan had answered, "Is that what you think? Then I'll leave. Sorry for bothering you."
The two of them, six years ago.
Neither had understood love, yet they had fallen in love all the same.
And so.
They had ended up battered and bruised, an utter mess.
Jiang Chiyan had been too proud to stoop to declaring how deeply he loved him.
Xiao Cheng had felt too inferior, afraid he was imagining feelings that weren't there.
Jiang Chiyan pulled himself out of his memories of six years ago.
Looking at the man before him six years later, the man he loved, Jiang Chiyan gave a soft laugh and said with complete sincerity, "I never wanted to trade influence for sex with you, or take advantage of you through any casting-couch arrangement. Xiao Cheng, I genuinely... wanted to treat you well."