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"No."

Xu Shi denied it.

"I was just asking. I happen to be studying the script lately, and I just wanted to know whether Xia Cen ever loved his husband."

"Oh..." Xiao Chi nodded blankly.

As long as he wasn't talking about President Xie.

Actually, he still had no idea what exactly Xu Shi's relationship with Xie Yanci was. He had only heard Wen Yu's manager mention it once. Something about being his kept lover...

He didn't really want Xu Shi to get too deeply entangled in this circle, but as a lowly assistant, he really wasn't in any position to say anything.

The mention of the script suddenly reminded Xiao Chi of something. "Oh, right. Everyone at the company has been saying President Xie is investing in Director Song's new movie. Apparently, they've even sent the contract over."

Xu Shi: "!"

Finally!

He had been getting dragged online for so long. This time, no matter what, he was going to win over a ton of fans with the role of Xia Cen.

Then he would sell off the pile of luxury goods Xie Yanci had given him first, and spend the money paying promotional accounts to post flattering articles about him every day.

"Xu Shi." Xiao Chi sounded a little worried. "Will Mr. Xie really choose us?"

Everyone at the company was saying Xie Yanci was investing in this movie for Wen Yu...

President Xie had paid a staggering eighty million US dollars at auction for the diamond crown Wen Yu had donated. Xiao Chi really couldn't be sure.

"Of course he'll choose me!" Xu Shi didn't even need to think about it.

[I already offered myself up. He wouldn't dare not choose me!]

[I'm his actual spouse!]

Remembering how he had been fucked into the hospital that day, Xu Shi felt a lingering ache in his lower back.

That damned man was so rough every time!

Forget it. He had said he wouldn't curse Xie Yanci anymore.

After hanging up, Xu Shi opened his WeChat conversation with Xie Yanci. His fingertips rested over the message box, and he couldn't help tipping his head back and snickering again.

"Hehehe..."

Xie Yanci had really been so handsome today.

He had looked so handsome protecting him, so handsome showing him such unreasonable favoritism at the Xu Family's house, so handsome with all his power and influence.

[He's practically my daddy.]

[I like him. Hehe.]

[...]

What Xiao Chi had said suddenly came back to him.

Xu Shi instantly calmed down.

Actually, he thought Xiao Chi wasn't wrong. Xie Yanci really was a fairly responsible person, and all his tolerance toward him might have been based on this marriage.

Just as a certain someone had said that day, he simply didn't want to affect the Xie Family's reputation.

After the divorce, he might not even have a chance to say a single word to Xie Yanci anymore.

"..."

His mind in turmoil, Xu Shi tossed and turned on the couch. He stared at Xie Yanci's WeChat profile picture for a long time before finally making up his mind to send a message.

[I heard you signed the contract with Director Song. Will I get the second male lead?]

[Hubby...]

At the Xie Corporation.

The new contract with their partners in France had only just been drafted. In his office, Xie Yanci lowered his gaze and reviewed its provisions one by one.

Across from him, the department manager watched his expression, barely daring to breathe.

He looked just like a student having his homework checked by a teacher.

Suddenly, a familiar ringtone broke the silence in the office.

Xie Yanci spared a glance at his phone's lit screen. He picked up his phone while handing the contract to Secretary Zhou beside him.

"Mm. Well written."

At those words, Secretary Zhou and the department manager both breathed a sigh of relief.

The two of them left the office respectfully.

Only then did Xie Yanci open WeChat. A little red dot glowed over Xu Shi's "looking for horny men" profile picture in his pinned conversations.

That profile picture had been annoying Xie Yanci for a long time.

He was just about to reply when a message from Song Zhixing suddenly popped up at the top of the screen.

It was about the movie.

Xie Yanci tapped into it.

[Song Zhixing]: The contract's signed. I was going to talk to you in person and have lunch while we were at it, but your assistant said you were busy.

[Song Zhixing]: Inner monologue: Don't let me find out you're busy being lovey-dovey and holding up my work.

Xie Yanci: "..."

[Song Zhixing]: The contract says the investor gets to cast the movie. Just give me the names for the first, second, and third male leads.

Xu Shi had taken the initiative to message him about this too.

Recalling that attempt at seduction a few days earlier, he could still vaguely see Xu Shi's fair, delicate skin before his eyes. He had been very pleased with the little bell tied around that ankle.

At the thought, Xie Yanci slowly raised a hand and adjusted the thin, pale-gold frames resting on the bridge of his nose.

His long fingers tapped lightly on the screen as he replied: [I'll only choose the second male lead. You choose the others.]

He had no interest whatsoever in anyone else in the entertainment industry.

The weather was most changeable in late autumn. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows on the fifty-second floor, the lightning and thunder were distinctly perceptible. It seemed a downpour was coming.

Xie Yanci reopened his conversation with Song Zhixing, his long, well-defined fingers pressing lightly on the phone's keyboard.

"x-u, s-h-i"

He typed Xu Shi's name and was just about to send it.

Beep-

The male protagonist cannot choose anyone else.

Beep-

That voice again.

Ringing filled his ears, accompanied by a wave of dizziness. Xie Yanci held his head, which felt ready to explode, veins bulging at his temples.

Ten years ago, when he had rushed into the fire to save Xu Shi, that strange voice had sounded too.

Beep-

The male protagonist cannot rewrite the lives of people in the three-dimensional world!

He hadn't known who the male protagonist was. He had only known that Xu Shi was about to die.

An unfamiliar city, an unfamiliar villa, unfamiliar people all around him. He had no time to look around.

He had charged without hesitation into the smoke-filled villa. Holding the unconscious Xu Shi, he had been about to jump out of a window when a burning support beam crashed directly onto him.

He and Xu Shi had been trapped in that inferno.

But he hadn't died.

Neither had Xu Shi.

Later, he had woken up in the hospital. Everyone said there had been no fire, and the Xu Family's villa was still standing there, completely intact.

It had only been a dream.

"Ugh..."

His head hurt as though someone were about to crush it. Xie Yanci struggled to open his eyes. He seemed to see the keyboard on the screen moving on its own.

"w-"

"?"

Was he hallucinating?

He took off his glasses and shook his head. When he opened his eyes again, everything before him was pitch-black.

Such a familiar little dark room.

Suddenly, densely packed text flashed before his eyes. Through an enormous ink-wash screen, Xie Yanci seemed to see his own name.

"At the funeral, he fell in love with... at first sight."

Whose funeral?

Who fell in love with whom at first sight?

The text flashed too quickly for Xie Yanci to make it out. All he saw was the final line that lingered on the screen.

"...died in a car accident."

Who died?

Who?