Troubles

Zou Yan offered no opinion on the photos. He knew what was going on: someone was trying to trip him up!

"Xiaobai, I do know these people, but I have nothing to do with them anymore."

"Just know them?" Xie Yibai asked. "It's not that simple, is it?"

"It's pretty simple," Zou Yan said. "We were just acquaintances. We had some dealings, and that was it."

His past had been dragged into the open. Sheng Ke suppressed a laugh and sat down on another sofa to watch the show.

"Brother Yan, you don't need to lie to me. I'm not here to accuse you. With this many photos, someone with an agenda must have secretly taken them or paid to get them. I'm just worried someone wants to damage your reputation." Xie Yibai's expression changed in an instant. "I only wanted to warn you. I won't blame you."

Zou Yan couldn't think of anyone who bore him a grudge and would come up with such a moronic trick to get under his skin.

People he had old grudges with in the business world would have disdained such petty tricks.

Since he couldn't think of anyone, he would deal with the matter at hand first. With a faint smile, he said, "Xiaobai, tell me, who in our line of work hasn't been followed and photographed? What can photos prove? It's really nothing. I promise you, I don't even have them as WeChat friends anymore."

Xie Yibai blinked and asked in surprise, "Weren't they people you used to have something going on with?"

"Something going on? What about this says that?" Zou Yan pointed at himself in the photos, defending himself. "Look here, see how far away I am from them? And in this one, we're keeping our distance too! Does it count as having something going on when we never even held hands?"

Xie Yibai said, "Then you never pursued them either?"

"I pursued them?" Zou Yan sounded as though he'd heard an absurd joke. "Then why couldn't they have been the ones pursuing me? I'm not that indiscriminate, am I?"

Xie Yibai looked at Sheng Ke, full of curiosity. "What do you say, Director Ke?"

As though it were none of his concern, Sheng Ke said, "I know very little about these people. There's nothing much I can say."

Xie Yibai really hadn't come to accuse him. He only wanted Zou Yan to know he'd received these things; the rest had just been casual questions.

But he could tell that Zou Yan wasn't telling him the truth and was hiding something.

Oh, men.

He'd accomplished what he came for and didn't want to stay. He stood up to say goodbye. "I won't keep you from discussing business, then. I'm going home."

Zou Yan said, "I'll walk you down. We don't have anything else to discuss anyway. I'll see you off, then head home."

Xie Yibai refused outright. "There's no need. My driver's waiting for me."

Zou Yan inwardly thought this was bad, but he knew when to back off. He compromised. "All right, then."

Sheng Ke said, "I'll come with you."

Zou Yan asked, "You're going out at this hour?"

"I'm out of trash bags at home. I'm going to the convenience store to buy some."

Zou Yan's car was parked on the first basement level, while Xie Yibai's driver was waiting in the car outside the residential complex. So when the elevator reached the first floor, he and Sheng Ke got out, while Zou Yan had another floor to go.

"Good night, Brother Yan. Be careful on the way."

"Good night, Xiaobai. Sheng Ke, make sure you see him get into the car."

The elevator doors closed, taking Zou Yan down to the basement. Xie Yibai said to Sheng Ke beside him, "Director Ke, you don't have to trouble yourself. I can find where the car's parked."

Sheng Ke neither agreed nor disagreed. "Let's go."

The road from the apartment building to the complex's main gate was long and dark. Plants along the roadside partly concealed the lawn lights, while glowing square windows dotted the high-rises. The peace and quiet of countless lit homes filled the night.

It was dark and there were few people around, so Xie Yibai let his guard down and wore neither a hat nor a mask.

He caught that faint scent on Sheng Ke again. It turned out it wasn't perfume, but came from the incense and spice sachets found everywhere in his home.

"You buy your own trash bags?" he said, making small talk to pass the time. "Do you clean your place too?"

"What else would I do? I live alone," Sheng Ke said, as if it were perfectly normal.

Xie Yibai said, "When I'm not too busy, I do housework too. I find it relaxing."

Sheng Ke had hesitated the whole way, but finally asked, "Did you receive anything else?"

"Anything else? What do you mean?"

"So you didn't?"

Xie Yibai recalled Xing Zhanyun's visit that evening. Aside from the bag of photos, he hadn't brought anything else.

"No," he said. "Is there something else?"

Sheng Ke listened to the leaves falling from the trees and the mournful cries of insects in the grass. Feeling utterly listless, he said, "Then never mind."

Xie Yibai declined Sheng Ke's offer to see him to the car, saying it was parked just across the road. Sheng Ke watched him cross the zebra crossing, then turned toward the convenience store.

He wouldn't let them see him off because the person driving him today wasn't his driver, but Xing Zhanyun.

Xie Yibai got into the passenger seat, and Xing Zhanyun hurriedly asked, "How did it go? I didn't lie to you, did I? Did he deny it?"

He didn't answer, only sat there in silence.

Xing Zhanyun tried to take his hand. His hand was always slightly cool and dry, but not rough.

"Yibai, leave him."

"What about the show, then? Should I stop filming?" Xie Yibai was as calm as if he were negotiating, speaking each word with perfect clarity. "Xing Zhanyun, it hasn't been easy for me to get where I am today. I won't give up so easily; these tricks of yours won't work, and they won't fool anyone. I helped you tonight because I hoped nothing would happen, and we could finish filming this show without trouble and each get what we need. If you say any more nonsense to me, I won't forgive you again."

The last time Xing Zhanyun fought Zou Yan, he'd been hit on the head with a vase. The blow had knocked some sense into him, and he no longer clung to Xie Yibai.

All he wanted from this was for Xie Yibai to change his view of Zou Yan and develop a dislike for him. He had succeeded in that, and pushing any further would only backfire.

So he leaned forward against the steering wheel, like a large animal lying prostrate.

He tilted his head and stared at Xie Yibai, lifting those slender, fair, clean fingers. There was a tiny cut at the edge of the ring fingernail. He said, "All right, I'll listen to you. Baby, a kiss from you costs so much-sixty million."

Chapter 35: Troubles

If Xie Yibai had still been in his early twenties, hearing such flippant and explicit words would surely have made him blush with embarrassment.

But once he passed twenty-five, many things were no longer an issue.

Success had done him good. Everyone who knew him said he looked better now than when he'd first debuted. His eyes had grown longer, and his lashes drooped, casting deep shadows that concealed half his innocence.

He cast Xing Zhanyun a long sidelong glance. "Too expensive? Then withdraw your investment."

Xing Zhanyun had been neglected by him for so long that even being glared at a couple of times now secretly pleased him. He said meekly, "How could it be? I just missed you so much... Could I..."

"No." Xie Yibai cut off his unrealistic fantasy. "Take me home."

"Yibai..." Xing Zhanyun tried to appeal to his soft side. "Let me hug you..."

Long ago, they had often hugged. The house belonged to Xing Zhanyun, so he had plenty of opportunities to find excuses to tease him.

Yibai, the air conditioner's too cold. Let me hug you.

At twenty, he had been gentle and easy to handle, so Xing Zhanyun would hold him tight and refuse to let go, pulling him onto the sofa to binge-watch shows together.

If he lost at a video game, he would even trick him into coming over and bite him on the arm.

He thought that under someone else's roof, he had no choice but to yield. He also thought Xing Zhanyun was good-looking, and that their playful roughhousing added spice to life.

But his twentieth year was behind him, and he no longer needed Xing Zhanyun to add spice to his life.

"Another hug? You cut my finger, and I want to go home." Xie Yibai pressed his hand against the door handle. "If you don't get moving, I'll get out and take a taxi myself."

Xing Zhanyun had tried every trick in the book with him: throwing tantrums, rolling on the floor and crying, making unreasonable scenes and scheming against others. But this was as far as he'd gotten. Xing Zhanyun was deeply unwilling to accept it, but going mad now would ruin everything at the last moment, so no matter how unwilling he was, he had to swallow it. Obeying his instructions, he said, "No. I'm the only one who can take you home today."

A perfectly good day off had been thrown into confusion by all this, leaving Xie Yibai in a mess of feelings and thoroughly unhappy. He didn't want to deal with anyone or say a word. Once the car started, he simply closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

Zou Yan sent him several messages that night, but he didn't answer any of them.

I'll leave him hanging for now and deal with it when I'm in a better mood.

Zou Yan felt aggrieved too. He hadn't done anything, yet he had to humble himself as though he'd done something wrong.

He had considered that Xing Zhanyun might be behind it, but the new show was about to start filming, and he had the title and responsibilities of executive producer. Without any proof, he couldn't just go looking for trouble with an investor for no reason.

Besides, he really was busy and had no time to investigate and sort it out. All he could manage alongside his work was Xie Yibai: spending time with him, following him around and sticking close to him whenever he had a moment.

Xie Yibai wasn't the type to make a fuss. He didn't go so far as to shut him out, and he didn't throw a temper at him either. He just wouldn't accept his gifts or let him pay for meals. When they were alone, he spoke less and no longer called him "Brother Yan" at every turn. As for holding hands and hugging, those were out of the question.

Zou Yan felt dejected, as though his home had been robbed and he'd suffered heavy losses.

Was it his fault for not locking the door properly? No, it was the thief's fault for being so calculating!

What the hell was this? Why hadn't they dug up the time his parents were summoned to school in elementary school and added that to his embarrassing history too?

He went to Sheng Ke to drown his sorrows in drink and poured out his grievances. "You be the judge. What did I do? I was just sitting at home when blame fell out of the sky! Why am I being punished?"

Sheng Ke mocked him. "Try harder and keep simping. Maybe he'll change his mind."

"That's not simping. It's called having someone I love. You've never fallen for anyone, so you don't understand," Zou Yan said. "But if it were you, would you get angry over something so inexplicable? I don't understand you eligible bachelors."

"What bothers him isn't that you've had so many rumored flings, but that you keep making excuses." Sheng Ke poured him a drink. "But it doesn't matter, does it? He can't do without you anyway, so you have the upper hand. Even if you forced a kiss on him, he wouldn't push you away."

"Don't think I'm that despicable!" Zou Yan felt like he was talking to a brick wall, but he made an effort to explain. "Do you think I'm doing this for kisses and hugs? I want us to be in love with each other! What do you know? There's really no point talking to you."