Pei Yubai had spent over an hour reading the script.
He had gone through the monologue in act four three times and the scene with his co-star in act five twice. The lines in act six were too long, so he had only had time to read them once.
He lightly underlined the parts that needed particular attention with a pencil. As he turned to the next page, he heard a knock at the door.
"Mr. Pei, the livestream has started."
It was the cameraman assigned to follow him. Pei Yubai glanced at his phone. Eight o'clock sharp.
He closed the script, set it beside his pillow, and stood up.
When he reached the door, he looked down at his clothes: black trousers and a thin, dark gray sweater. He had not combed his hair yet, and it hung over his forehead.
After a moment's thought, he turned back to change.
He chose a light gray linen shirt, leaving the top two buttons undone.
With the wig from yesterday's period costume removed, his hair was back to his usual neat, short cut.
Only a few wisps remained by his ears.
When he opened the door and stepped out, the cameraman was already waiting outside with his equipment set up.
The lens pointed at him, its red indicator lit. The livestream was already running.
The bullet comments began their usual drooling over the screen.
[Morning morning morning]
[That shirt looks so good]
[Eye candy, eye candy]
Pei Yubai did not look at the camera. Standing at the courtyard entrance, he was about to turn left. Then he paused.
The gate of the courtyard opposite opened.
Qiguan Yuan stepped out. He wore a dark red changshan, different from the one that morning. This one was a deeper shade, like the skin of a fully ripened pomegranate.
Its standing collar covered half his neck.
His silver hair was pinned up with a black hairpin, a few loose strands hanging beside his ears and stirring gently in the breeze.
His movements were slow. Pushing open the gate, stepping out, turning to close it-he took his time with every step.
After closing the gate, he raised his head, his gaze settling on Pei Yubai.
Then he smiled. His eyes curved slightly, and his lips lifted only a little, but his whole face seemed to light up.
Morning light fell across his face, his silver hair gleaming. His dark red robe looked rich and somber against the gray courtyard wall.
"Pei Yubai?"
His intonation as he said the name was different from that morning. That morning, he had said it slowly, savoring each syllable before letting it leave his lips, leaving plenty to the imagination.
Now he said it in one breath, his voice rising slightly at the end, as if confirming his identity, greeting him. There also seemed to be a hint of a question. Why was he here?
Pei Yubai stood where he was, his steps briefly arrested. His gaze moved from Qiguan Yuan's face to his collar, then back again. "I'm staying here."
He pointed at the courtyard behind him. His tone was even, but his voice was a little lower than usual.
Qiguan Yuan glanced at the courtyard behind him and nodded.
His gaze moved from the courtyard gate to Pei Yubai, then from Pei Yubai to the camera beside him.
The camera was pointed straight at him, its red indicator blinking.
He tilted his head, silver hair slipping off his shoulder. "I remember this is a camera, right? Why does it keep following you around?"
When Pei Yubai and the others had barged into his home last time, Shen Yuzhou had explained that it was a camera. He had remembered.
Pei Yubai looked at him.
Someone who lived deep in the mountains, without a signal or Wi-Fi, who barely even knew what a camera was, was asking him why a camera kept following them around.
The question would have seemed strange coming from anyone else, but from Qiguan Yuan, it somehow did not seem quite so strange.
He really did not look as though he was deliberately putting on an act.
"We're filming a variety show," Pei Yubai said. "A livestreamed one."
Qiguan Yuan looked at him, a little curiosity in his eyes. "Livestreamed?"
Pei Yubai considered how to explain.
He was not good at explaining things, but faced with those eyes of Qiguan Yuan's, he felt he would be a little remiss if he did not explain it clearly.
"It means... the footage the camera captures is transmitted online in real time. Lots of people can watch it at the same time."
After hearing him out, Qiguan Yuan said, "Oh."
He drew out that "oh," his voice sliding down at the end, as though digesting the information.
Then he walked toward the camera. His dark red robe swayed slightly with his steps.
He stopped in front of the camera, lowered his head a little, and leaned his face toward the lens.
That face suddenly filled the entire screen.
His brow bones, the corners of his eyes, the bridge of his nose, his lips-every feature was perfectly clear.
His skin was almost translucent in the morning light. Loose strands of silver hair hung over his forehead, lifted slightly by the breeze.
His eyes looked into the lens, as though he could see the millions of people on the other side through it. "You mean millions of people can see me right now?"
His voice was quiet, but clear.
Because he was so close, every word sounded as though it had been spoken right against their ears, his voice lifting slightly at the end with a touch of casual curiosity.
It truly made their ears tingle.
At that moment, the bullet comments went completely out of control.
The instant Qiguan Yuan's face filled the screen, the livestream's viewer count jumped by an entire order of magnitude.
Viewers eating breakfast, squeezing onto subway trains, or still lying in bed were all struck by that face in the same second.
Wang Miao was one of them.
She sat on her dormitory bed with her tablet propped up in front of her, holding a bowl of hot and sour glass noodles.
It was the weekend, and her course load was light. She finally had time to follow this variety show.
She was a casual fan of Pei Yubai. She did not follow celebrities, but she watched every drama he appeared in.
She had wanted to watch this variety show for a while, but she had been too busy over the past few days to find the time. Today, she planned to watch the livestream first, then catch up on recordings from the previous days afterward.
She did not like bullet comments because they blocked the picture, so she had turned them off as soon as the livestream began.
Onscreen, Pei Yubai had just stepped outside. She slurped up a mouthful of noodles, her eyes fixed on the screen.
Then the person onscreen suddenly walked toward the camera.
Wang Miao stopped mid-slurp.
That face slowly approached from the depths of the frame, going from a full-body shot to a medium shot, then from a medium shot to an extreme close-up.
His brow bones, the corners of his eyes, the bridge of his nose, his lips... every detail was perfectly clear, so clear it hardly seemed real.
Loose strands of silver hair hung down, stirring gently in the breeze. Those eyes looked into the lens, as though he was looking at her through the screen.
Her heart seemed to stop for a moment.
"Miaomiao! Your nose is bleeding!"
Her roommate's voice came from the bed opposite. Wang Miao looked up blankly and touched her nose.
A little red stained her fingers. She looked down at it, then back at the screen. Qiguan Yuan's face was still there.
Her roommate was saying something, but she could no longer hear it. She frantically pulled out a few tissues and pressed them beneath her nose, yet her eyes never left the screen.
Oh my god. How could anyone be so damn good-looking?
The instant Qiguan Yuan leaned toward the lens, the bullet comments became an outlet for pure emotion.
Words were no longer enough, nor was punctuation. Only a string of "aaaaaaaah" could express the impact that had caught them so completely off guard.
[HELP!!!]
[I'm dead]
[Move away from the screen my heart can't take it]
Some tried to put words together, only to delete them halfway through and finally post nothing but: [...]
Perhaps they felt nothing they could say would be enough.
Qiguan Yuan studied the lens for a while without making anything of it.
He straightened and took a step back. The close-up of his face became a medium shot, then a full-body shot again.
He raised a hand to smooth the loose strands the breeze had tousled, his movement casual.
"Seems interesting," he remarked, his tone mild. It was impossible to tell whether he genuinely found it interesting or was merely saying it in passing.
He turned to look at Pei Yubai.
Pei Yubai stood watching him, his expression largely unchanged, but his fingers tightened slightly around his phone.
Qiguan Yuan gave him a slight nod. "Enjoy filming."
Then he turned and walked away along the gravel path.
He slowly receded into the distance, his figure growing smaller and smaller.
Pei Yubai stood where he was, looking at the path.
Then he followed him. He did not know where Qiguan Yuan was going, but Meng Xu had told them to gather in the front hall of the Yue Lao Temple.