SM Chapter 58

Chapter 58: I Just Feel Sorry For You (Revised)

Ye Lai stopped in his tracks, then quickly regretted it. Why did he have to back down at this moment? Was it because Sheng Mingqian was standing with Qin Zimo?

At this moment, he felt like a coward, afraid to touch the vulnerable side in his heart that he loathed.

Ye Lai wanted to shake off his self-disgust, forcibly steadying his retreating feet. He took a big step forward out of the elevator, Lin Han closely following behind him.

“Ye Lai,” Sheng Mingqian didn’t expect Ye Lai to come. Now, seeing the color on Ye Lai’s face that he least wanted to see—hollow, faded, dull, lifeless—his heart sank. He moved closer to Ye Lai’s side. “Why are you here?”

“Can’t I come?” Stepping out of the elevator, Ye Lai entered another edge. Before falling, he had to steady his steps. For the moment, he managed.

Ye Lai didn’t look at Sheng Mingqian. His eyes, as if they had been hollowed out, stared fixedly at Qin Zimo. Ye Lai slightly tilted his head, his voice still directed at Sheng Mingqian: “Director Sheng, thank you for helping me find out the truth. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known who threw the paint. I won’t bother you with my own affairs. I’ll handle it myself.”

Lin Han, standing to the side, finally noticed the different atmosphere in the air. His gaze towards Qin Zimo was full of disgust, while his gaze towards Sheng Mingqian was questioning. He quickly understood from Ye Lai’s words that Ye Lai probably didn’t know anything and that he had let something slip.

Ye Lai lifted his eyelids, a coldness sweeping across Qin Zimo’s face. He looked him up and down. “Qin Zimo, right?”

Qin Zimo crossed his arms, a relaxed smile on his face. His decent appearance was nonchalant, coupled with the mockery and ill intentions in his eyes, stimulating the sensitive nerves in Ye Lai’s body and completely destroying the last bit of reason he had left. All of his emotions found an outlet at this moment.

Why should he endure it? He had already endured for so long…

Sheng Mingqian saw the change in Ye Lai’s eyes, raised his hand to pull him back, but Ye Lai’s clenched fist was faster, smashing towards Qin Zimo’s face.

No one expected Ye Lai to make a move. The power gathered in that instant was fast, ruthless, and accurate.

The man, who had just been full of mockery, cried out and staggered back a few steps, his back hitting the hallway wall before he steadied himself. He then charged back at Ye Lai fiercely.

Sheng Mingqian stood in front of Ye Lai, not allowing Qin Zimo to touch him. Lin Han, who had been reaching for a recording pen in his pocket, stopped, let out a cry, and rushed forward to break up the fight, grabbing Qin Zimo’s arm.

Although they were in the right, Ye Lai had now made a move, and the nature of the situation had changed.

This was a primal release of emotions.

The violence in Ye Lai’s body had reached its peak. Sheng Mingqian, afraid of hurting him, didn’t use much force when pulling his arm. Ye Lai pushed Sheng Mingqian away and charged forward, landing another punch in Qin Zimo’s stomach: “You cut off my resources, right? You threw paint on me, right? You despicable thing, you filthy creature.”

Qin Zimo’s arms were held by Lin Han, so he couldn’t fight back with his hands, kicking at Ye Lai with his legs. Ye Lai used both his hands and feet. He felt a sense of pleasure when he heard Qin Zimo’s pained groans.

But in the chaos, Ye Lai landed a punch on Sheng Mingqian’s shoulder. The tremor from that punch traveled from the back of Ye Lai’s hand to his entire body.

Ye Lai realized he had hit Sheng Mingqian. Suddenly, goosebumps rose all over his body, and the anger in his eyes instantly extinguished. He stared at Sheng Mingqian’s shoulder for a few seconds. Sheng Mingqian, unable to maintain his balance, tripped over the trash can next to the elevator entrance. The glass bottles inside shattered, and shards scattered on the floor.

Ye Lai wanted to help Sheng Mingqian up, but his legs were weak. With a slight movement, he lost his balance and stumbled forward, his right palm landing on the ground, pressing down on the glass shards. A piercing pain spread throughout his body.

But soon, before he could fully feel the pain, Sheng Mingqian wrapped his arms around his waist and carried him away.

“Let me see your hand.” Sheng Mingqian’s eyes were filled with the blood dripping from Ye Lai’s fingers, his gaze icy.

Ye Lai’s palm had been cut by a large gash from the glass shards, diagonally crossing his palm.

Having heard the sounds of fighting, a crowd had gathered in the hallway. Some people recognized Ye Lai and Sheng Mingqian and took out their cell phones to take pictures. Lin Han tried to stop them, but it was no use.

When the hotel security personnel arrived, Qin Zimo had already taken advantage of the chaos and left through the elevator. The security guards thought Sheng Mingqian was fighting with Ye Lai, but seeing Sheng Mingqian looking down and blowing on Ye Lai’s palm, it didn’t look like a fight.

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Ye Lai didn’t know how the crowd in the elevator hallway had dispersed, nor did he know when the security guards had left. His palm had been cut by the glass shards, as if severing his senses at the same time, forming a blank space in the middle.

By the time his senses reconnected, Sheng Mingqian had already taken his room card, grabbed his wrist, and entered the guest room he had booked.

As soon as the door opened, it was pitch black inside, with light extending from the doorway to the end of the bed, a gradient from bright to dark.

The unique, cloying smell of cleaning fluid in the hotel room suddenly filled Ye Lai’s nose and mouth. Ye Lai stood in the hallway at the entrance and took a deep breath, trying not to be suffocated by the smell.

After a while, he realized that what was making it difficult for him to breathe was not the smell of the hotel, but the sensation from his right wrist.

Sheng Mingqian inserted the room card into the slot, and the room instantly lit up. The patch of light on the floor was quickly completely covered, without a trace.

The hotel service staff were very quick. They delivered disinfectant iodine and gauze, as well as a box of waterproof bandages, as soon as they entered the room.

Sheng Mingqian took the things from the service staff and said, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Director Sheng, if you need anything, just use the phone in the room to call the front desk.” The service staff said.

“Okay, I’ll call if I need anything. Thank you for your trouble.”

“No trouble at all. By the way, if you’re staying overnight, our hotel has a regulation that requires you to bring your ID card to the front desk to register.”

Sheng Mingqian was about to say “Okay,” but before he could open his mouth, Ye Lai quickly interrupted him: “He’s not staying. There’s no need to register.”

“Okay, then I won’t disturb you any further.” The service staff said before leaving, closing the door behind them.

With a “click,” the door closed, and Ye Lai’s suspended breath heavily fell. Sheng Mingqian pulled Ye Lai to sit on the sofa, unpacking the iodine and gauze that the service staff had brought.

“I can do it myself,” Ye Lai said, trying to pull his hand away.

“It’s your right hand that’s injured. You can’t,” Sheng Mingqian said sternly.

Sheng Mingqian forcefully held Ye Lai’s wrist, not allowing him to move. Ye Lai sat on the sofa, Sheng Mingqian kneeling in front of him with one knee on the ground, holding his wrist with one hand and carefully disinfecting Ye Lai’s palm with the clamp holding the disinfectant cotton ball.

Sheng Mingqian lowered his head, his face in shadow. Ye Lai looked at that shadow, his numb body like a puppet, allowing Sheng Mingqian to manipulate him.

Only after the blood on Ye Lai’s palm had been wiped clean did Sheng Mingqian speak, his tone calm as he stated the facts.

“I only recently found out that Qin Zimo also went to the after-party of ‘Stripped Alive’ the day after the wrap-up banquet. He saw us leaving the room together. He said that he wanted to get back together with me back then, so he has been holding a grudge against you since then. Qin Zimo knows the investor who tried to get someone else into the cast and replace you. I didn’t tell you that I was coming to find Qin Zimo today because I wanted to side with him. I consulted a lawyer. Throwing paint is most likely just a warning, resulting in a fine and compensation for damages, at most a few days of administrative detention. It’s not enough to give him the punishment he deserves. What I want to do is to make sure he won’t cause trouble in our lives ever again.”

Ye Lai listened in silence, his voice adding hastily, without any weight: “Sheng Mingqian, I’m the person involved. I have the right to know the truth. Is it that difficult for you to tell me the truth?”

Ye Lai now knew the truth, but the current truth wasn’t what he said he wanted. Who was the one who cut off his resources and threw paint on him? As long as it wasn’t Sheng Mingqian, it didn’t mean much to him. It was just someone irrelevant to him. Regarding the aftermath, he had also anticipated the outcome in advance, which was the rational way an adult should think.

Just now, at the elevator entrance, his loss of control, his anger, and the panic hidden at the bottom stemmed from Sheng Mingqian’s concealment from him, the chain reaction that Sheng Mingqian brought him.

This clear realization was the result that Ye Lai didn’t want. He knew best how deep Sheng Mingqian’s influence on him was. The so-called peace these days had covered up the underlying fact.

Tonight, Qin Zimo, the fuse, completely detonated him. The result of the explosion also left Ye Lai with no way to avoid it.

Ye Lai had to face the most difficult problem from the beginning, regarding Sheng Mingqian.

In the end, he just said weakly: “Mingqian, I don’t need you to handle my own affairs for me.”

Sheng Mingqian’s movements were very gentle, afraid of hurting Ye Lai, his voice small: “This trouble was caused by me. I originally wanted to handle these problems well. I don’t want you to be hurt in any way again.”

Ye Lai couldn’t think of what to say for a moment, remaining quiet. Sheng Mingqian then said, “I worry. I worry about you getting hurt, like now.”

Several red cotton balls had already been thrown into the trash can. Sheng Mingqian’s trembling fingers paused before continuing.

“Before, I didn’t know that Qin Zimo and that investor had been cutting off your resources. In the past, I deliberately ignored you too much, Ye Lai, I’m sorry, I was always presumptuous…”

Ye Lai didn’t want to hear “I’m sorry.” Sheng Mingqian had said it before. Sheng Mingqian rubbed his thumb on Ye Lai’s wrist a few times, soothing the uneasy throbbing under his fingertips: “Before seeing you tonight, I thought I could handle this matter properly, but looking at your eyes at the elevator entrance, looking at the gray in your eyes, I realized I was wrong. The most appropriate result isn’t necessarily the best result. I should have told you.”

Looking at the red wound on Ye Lai’s palm, Sheng Mingqian’s bandaging movements were clumsy. Even trying to steady himself, he would still tremble. The gauze wrapped around Ye Lai’s palm a few times was still loose, so he had to unwrap it and wrap it again, this time slowly and carefully.

But the slower he was, the more Ye Lai hurt. Ye Lai hissed a couple of breaths, a layer of fine beads of sweat appearing on the tip of his nose, the water marks in his eyes moving.

Sheng Mingqian finally managed to bandage it well, enduring the soreness in his feet and patiently instructing: “Don’t touch water these few days. The gauze has to be changed every day.”

The shadows of the two people on the floor overlapped, looking like they were hugging. The intimacy on the floor stung Ye Lai’s eyes, his voice sounding unreal when he spoke: “Mingqian, you don’t need to pity me.”

The red seeping from the edge of the white gauze, the extreme contrast between red and white, made Sheng Mingqian’s eyes focus on only one point.

Sheng Mingqian understood Ye Lai’s words, and precisely because he understood, the place in his heart felt so uncomfortable, as if dense needles were stabbing him at the same time.

“I’m not pitying you. I just feel sorry…” Upon closer listening, Sheng Mingqian’s voice was wavy.

Sheng Mingqian used the tweezers to clamp a new disinfectant cotton ball and gently turned over the back of Ye Lai’s hand, gently disinfecting the abrasions on Ye Lai’s knuckles.

The air in the room unknowingly expanded, oppressing the cells in Ye Lai’s body. Those limbs that had just impulsively hit someone, at this moment, were like wild grass without roots and exposed to the sun, clinging to the dry, cracked earth, without any vitality, piecing together a chaotic Ye Lai.

Confirming that the injuries on Ye Lai’s hands were all taken care of, Sheng Mingqian finally raised his lowered head, dark desires swirling in his eyes: “But feeling sorry isn’t pity, isn’t guilt, isn’t any other word that can replace it. Just like now, looking at you being hurt, I would rather be the one who’s hurt…”