Darkness

As for sleeping with him, he neither wanted nor didn't want to. What did Zou Yan like about him? Nothing more than his face, his personality, and his body. He could just treat it as a job.

Everything Xie Yibai had bought online would help him do his job more safely and efficiently. If he knew Zou Yan's parents were urging their son to bring him home to meet them, he would be frightened into making an unintelligible prairie-dog scream.

They were clearly in an employment relationship as sugar daddy and kept canary! There was no need to make it known to everyone!

Fortunately, he still knew nothing about it. He was only planning how to make the experience better for both of them that night.

Zou Yan treated him so well, so he couldn't shortchange him in this regard.

Xie Yibai closed the shopping app running in the background, opened WeChat, found his chat with Zou Yan, and typed and sent: Brother Yan! I have a surprise for you! Are you free next Wednesday night?

But it wasn't until he finished work for the day and darkness fell that Zou Yan replied: Yes. I happen to have something to tell you too.

: What is it?

Zou Yan: I'll tell you when we meet.

Chapter 39: Darkness

As if aided by the gods, Xie Yibai finished filming Lin Wen's scenes and made plenty of friends and earned a great deal of goodwill along the way.

Perhaps his acting hadn't been all that good, but everyone had come together to do a job. He could finish filming on schedule without botching takes or forcing the whole crew to work overtime, got along with everyone as equals and treated them kindly, didn't cause trouble or act like a diva, and even had fans who sent heartwarming support. Who wouldn't want to work with a lead actor like him?

Working together in harmony and happily making money-what more could anyone ask of a job?

On the day Xie Yibai wrapped up filming, the whole crew came to congratulate him, and he received another anonymous bouquet of purple roses. Xing Zhanyun was truly persistent in his relentless pursuit of him, and his courage was admirable.

He left the roses at the hotel and boarded a plane home.

It was Tuesday, and he had arranged to meet Zou Yan tomorrow night.

As soon as he opened the front door, the long-bodied, short-legged puppy shot into the entryway, wagging his tail furiously at him.

"Did you miss me?" Xie Yibai scooped up his doggy son and nuzzled him nose to nose, only to get a faceful of slobber from the dog's tongue.

Whenever he came home after spending some time filming out of town, he could smell the doggy odor on Little Biscuit, a slightly rank, fishy smell.

Xie Yibai guessed that Auntie had bathed the dog at home again.

The live-in auntie he had hired was hardworking and down-to-earth, meticulous in her work, had no bad habits, and didn't bring other people home while he was away. She had only one flaw: she was excessively frugal and always trying to save him money.

Auntie couldn't sit idle and liked to do extra housework: scrubbing windows, taking down curtains, cleaning the range hood, and bathing Little Biscuit. Xie Yibai hired specialists for heavy jobs like those, but Auntie said he was rarely home, so she had little to do and was basically just looking after his house. Since she was idle anyway, she might as well clean everything.

Xie Yibai had no objection to the rest, but Little Biscuit had a bewildering assortment of bathing and grooming products, all expensive imports with instructions entirely in English. Even he couldn't tell the steps apart, and Auntie was more confused still. Every time Auntie bathed the dog herself, he felt he wasn't clean and asked her to take him to the pet store for another wash.

"Does he smell? He smells lovely to me." Auntie buried her face in the dog's belly and took a deep sniff.

"I can smell it. I don't like that smell." Xie Yibai was unpacking his suitcase in the living room, taking out all his clothes and tossing them onto the sofa.

Auntie knew better than to make trouble for herself by arguing with her employer. She took the leash hanging on the wall and the dog's outdoor clothes, then crouched down to put them on Little Biscuit. "I'll take him out for another wash right now and buy groceries for dinner while I'm at it. Yibai, is there anything you want to eat?"

"Anything's fine. It's up to you." Xie Yibai closed the empty suitcase again.

Auntie took the dog out, and he tiptoed into the dining room and carried all the unopened delivery boxes back to his bedroom.

He quickly opened the packages one by one, checking that everything was there and undamaged.

He didn't know what Zou Yan would think when he saw them, but just looking at the pile of implements made Xie Yibai blush despite himself.

Wow... I'm so dedicated to my job.

He cupped his bright red cheeks and slapped them to keep a clear head. He had to figure out how to use everything first, or it would be awful if he made a fool of himself tomorrow.

Xie Yibai was busy, and so was Zou Yan.

Ever since he had gone home and been roundly scolded by his parents, he had not only avoided feeling dejected but had become even more energized than before.

He was the kind of person who handled pressure exceptionally well; otherwise, he couldn't have endured his mother's suppression all these years.

Favoritism, unequal treatment, valuing one person over another-Zou Yan had long since stopped caring.

Sheng Ke's surname was Sheng. He had a mother of his own and a pair of adorable twin younger sisters, and he wasn't going to steal Zou Yan's own mother from him. So his mother's favoritism was one-sided, and she was putting it on for him to see, all to make him give in and obey.

See? Love was in Mommy's hands, and Mommy could give it to whomever she wanted. Only if you were Mommy's good son would Mommy love you; otherwise, Mommy would go love someone else.

Zou Yan had indeed suffered over it as a teenager, but he had later come to terms with it. What was so special about love? Why should he fight for something so useless? He would be better off looking to the future, nurturing his ambition, and putting his grand plans into action.

Once he stood high enough, wouldn't he have whatever he wanted?

So a scolding meant nothing to him. That very night, he threw himself into work and returned to a life of overtime, meetings, and social engagements.

The endless busyness left him refreshed and full of energy, and he no longer took even Xie Yibai's rejection and avoidance to heart.

It was all right. If Xiaobai wasn't willing, he would wait.

If a fine bird chose its tree to roost in, he was undoubtedly the finest tree of all.

Where else could Xiaobai fly?

Sooner or later, he would fold his wings and land lightly in the palm of his hand.

Confident as Zou Yan was, when he received the room key card Xie Yibai had sent someone to deliver, his first thought wasn't that Xie Yibai was inviting him to spend a romantic night together.

They had shared a room on their island vacation too, and nothing had happened.

Between him and Xie Yibai, there was no unspoken rule that getting a room meant sleeping together. He had long since left the initiative for physical contact to Xie Yibai, which could create a tenderness distinct from a transactional relationship.

He was sincerely courting him, not taking him by force.

Silly Xiaobai had probably prepared another gift for him, something like a tie clip, cufflinks, or a brooch, and then wanted to have a couple of drinks with him and let bygones be bygones.

Zou Yan felt both exasperated and amused, but he still bought flowers in advance as a belated congratulations on wrapping up filming.

But for a busy man like him, who had countless matters to attend to every day, having an emergency disrupt his plans at a crucial moment seemed to have become an immutable law.

At five in the afternoon, Zou Yan finished a meeting at the company and returned to his office with some documents. A large bouquet for Xie Yibai sat on his desk, with a pearlescent paper envelope underneath it containing a gold-stamped card printed with the room number.

Zou Yan's phone rang nonstop from morning to night, and today it had left him without even a moment to drink water. When he answered this call, he was holding a glass of warm water to soothe his stomach, but droplets on the outside made his palm slippery, and he accidentally knocked the glass over.

He caught it with quick reflexes. Although the water spilled all over him, it was fortunately warm, so he wasn't scalded.

Zou Yan stood up and let the water drip onto the floor as he listened to the panicked voice on the other end speak rapidly. "President Zou, are you busy right now? There's been an accident on the crew in Dunhuang. A careless stagehand didn't check the props, and a paper lantern caught fire during filming and burned an actor."

"I'm here. Don't rush; take your time." He pulled out some tissues, wiped the water from the hem of his shirt and his trousers, and walked over to the window.

Outside the high-rise window, the wind roared above a jungle of steel and concrete. The background noise on the phone was chaotic, and amid intermittent voices, he learned the full sequence of events that had led to the accident.

He could be considered a seasoned producer and had always put the personal safety of those working in the industry first. But even the most meticulous precautions could miss something, and over time, accidents were bound to happen.

The director on the Dunhuang set was a newcomer, and the crew's line producer had no experience handling complicated situations. Perhaps the matter had been handled badly, prompting the artist's manager to call the police. The injured person had already been taken to the hospital for treatment, but each side stuck to its own story and refused to let the matter rest, and they had gathered in one place to argue.

In short, the scene was a complete mess, and they needed him to fly over and take charge.

Zou Yan immediately called a lawyer and asked Jiang Ni to book him a plane ticket. He needed to catch the next flight to Gansu.

Sharp-eyed and quick-eared, Sheng Ke heard his agitation and haste. He came to the doorway and knocked on the open door.

"What happened? Nini said you have an emergency and need to go out of town?"

"It really is urgent. I don't have time to explain; I have to go meet someone first." Zou Yan had no time to look up and focused on tidying his messy desk. "Don't come rummaging around in here. If you need anything, ask Nini. I've already given her all the instructions. I might have to stay in Dunhuang for two or three days. If you need me, call. Don't send me a WeChat message; I won't have time to read it."

"Need any help?" Sheng Ke asked.

"I can handle it myself. I'll thank heaven and earth if you don't make things worse."

Sheng Ke said, "Who are the flowers for?"

"Ah." As Zou Yan spoke, his train of thought veered off. He stopped what he was doing and remembered. "I don't have time to explain to him either. If you're free, help me deliver the flowers. The room key card's here. Tell him something important came up, and I'll make it up to him when I get back."

Sheng Ke walked over to the desk, picked up the envelope, and examined the room key card inside. "A hotel? Is it a date? Can I really go in your place?"

"You're overthinking it. Nothing that good. He probably just wants to talk. Leave once you've delivered the flowers, and don't say anything nasty to upset him."

"Oh."

Zou Yan slapped his forehead, remembering that he was particular and always kept a change of clothes in his office. He opened a cabinet, pulled a hard-sided monogrammed suitcase from the bottom, undid the clasps and opened it into two halves, then found a couple of changes of clothes and stuffed them inside.

Sheng Ke searched for the hotel's location on his phone's map. By the time the route loaded, Zou Yan had packed and was ready to go.

A hand passed behind Sheng Ke and squeezed his shoulder. By the time he turned his head, Zou Yan had already carried the suitcase out of the office, shouting, "Jiang Ni! Call me a car!"