SM Chapter 3
by VolareThe summer night wind was dry and hot, the air balled up, suffocating the throat and lungs, making each breath difficult. The roads were deserted, and looking out over the streetlights, the night was bleak and desolate.
“Brother Hao, I’m in so much pain right now… Could you… come pick me up?”
Ye Lai sat on a roadside stone, mouth open, gasping for air. He was drenched in a cold sweat, beads trickling down the back of his neck from his scalp, a sticky, uncomfortable sensation, his skin itching.
He raised a hand to scratch his neck, instantly raising three finger marks on his skin. He only called Zhang Yihao when he couldn’t bear it any longer.
He ached, his whole body ached, he couldn’t say specifically where, it felt like someone was taking a blade and slowly slicing his body.
“Damn, where are you right now?” Zhang Yihao was alarmed by Ye Lai’s rapid breathing. “I’m coming right over. Did you drink again?”
“No, I didn’t drink.”
Ye Lai listlessly turned his head, saw the road sign a few steps away, and reported his address to Zhang Yihao on the phone.
Zhang Yihao cursed and grumbled over the phone: “Why aren’t you at home sleeping at this hour, what are you doing running around on the streets?
“Just because you’re a nobody, you think you can do whatever you want, huh? Aren’t you afraid of getting photographed?”
“If it wasn’t for the fact that my daughter is your fan, I wouldn’t bother with you.”
…
Zhang Yihao rambled on for a long time on the phone, like a worried old father. Ye Lai silently listened, holding the phone, his attention slightly diverted. The sudden pain wasn’t as intense, and the breeze helped dissipate it.
In less than half an hour, Zhang Yihao arrived and helped Ye Lai into the car. “Should I take you to the hospital?”
Ye Lai was still covered in sweat, partly from the pain, partly from the heat. After getting into the car, he curled up and leaned against the back of the passenger seat, slowly closing his eyes. “It’s the old problem, no need to go to the hospital. Brother Hao, just take me back.”
His body felt sluggish, and his brain was rusty. He blurted out the villa address.
Zhang Yihao didn’t move after hearing the address, turning his head to ask him, “Ye Lai, when did you move over there? Jing Wan Villa is not a place just anyone can live.”
Ye Lai suddenly opened his eyes, realizing he’d said the wrong thing. He had an apartment in the city center, which he claimed to live in. Zhang Yihao knew the address of that apartment. He’d unknowingly blurted out the location of Sheng Mingqian’s villa.
The neon lights outside the window pierced through the glass, like excess impurities flashing into Ye Lai’s deep dark eyes, tearing through the expression on his face.
“I…” Ye Lai only managed to say “I” before stopping.
Zhang Yihao started the car and said, “Actually, I’ve suspected for a while that there’s someone behind you.”
“That’s not true,” Ye Lai denied guiltily. Sheng Mingqian couldn’t be said to be the person behind him. “The villa is… my friend’s. I’m borrowing it…”
Ye Lai’s voice grew softer and softer, he didn’t even believe himself.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, I won’t pry. I’ve had a feeling for a while. Although your resources haven’t been great these years, no one has really made things difficult for you. A third-rate agent like me doesn’t have the ability to protect you so completely.”
Ye Lai was silent, turning his head to look at the steel and concrete, the cold lights of the high-rise buildings, constantly receding outside the window.
“Hey, I won’t ask you anymore. Just be careful and look out for yourself.”
Ye Lai was grateful for Zhang Yihao’s understanding, but the agreement between him and Sheng Mingqian clearly stated that if their relationship became known, the marriage agreement would be automatically terminated.
Ye Lai lowered his eyes, slowly exhaled, and only said, “Thank you, Brother Hao.”
“Thank my ass. Bring a gift to my house tomorrow to see Xin Xin. She talks about you every day, and your sister-in-law said to have you over for dinner.”
Ye Lai smiled. “I’ll definitely go see Xin Xin tomorrow.”
“Do you feel better now?”
Ye Lai touched his chest, a red glow returning to his pale face. “I should… feel better.”
Zhang Yihao dropped Ye Lai off at the villa gate, not driving inside. He could tell that Ye Lai didn’t want him to come in, guessing there must be something inside the house that would reveal the identity of the owner.
“Can you get in by yourself?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Ye Lai pressed his palms to his face, opened the door, got out of the car, and stood by the gate. “Brother Hao, thank you. Hurry home and be with Xin Xin. Drive carefully.”
“I only came out after Xin Xin went to sleep, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered. I’d have let you die of pain on the street,” Zhang Yihao waved impatiently, slowly raising the car window. “Hurry up and go in, I’m leaving.”
The villa was shrouded in a heavy atmosphere in the dead of night. Ye Lai stood at the gate and looked up at it for a while, the cold, hard lines of the building standing there, devoid of warmth.
After looking for a long time, his neck started to ache, and Ye Lai lowered his head and entered the password to get inside.
–
–
The next day at noon, Ye Lai was awakened by the ringing of his cell phone. It was Zuo Qi calling.
“Ye Lai, what time did you leave last night? I was so tired, I fell asleep and don’t remember anything.”
“I left after you fell asleep.” Ye Lai had just woken up, his voice slightly hoarse.
“Did you see the news today? Director Sheng is trending again.” Zuo Qi said excitedly.
Ye Lai said, “I haven’t seen it yet.”
“I sent the link to your phone, take a look.” Zuo Qi’s tone was gossipy, even excited.
Ye Lai put his phone on speaker and clicked on the link Zuo Qi had just sent him on WeChat. The headline was quite eye-catching.
Sheng Mingqian’s Secret Rules.
Ye Lai glanced at the text below and didn’t bother to read it. It was nothing more than the same old rehashed garbage that entertainment news always peddled, a small essay about how womanizing Sheng Mingqian was, with a few photos interspersed.
The first photo was a side view of Sheng Mingqian himself entering a hotel room, taken from a distance, but it was still clear that it was Sheng Mingqian.
The second photo was of a man with milky gray hair entering Sheng Mingqian’s room, the man wearing a mask, only showing his back.
The third photo was of the man with milky gray hair leaving the hotel wearing a mask, getting into a taxi after exiting the door, at 3:30 in the morning.
“Did you see it?” Zuo Qi asked. “They didn’t get a clear shot of the man’s face, so they don’t know who it is.”
Ye Lai knew, he’d bumped into him head-on in front of Sheng Mingqian’s door last night. He slid the page to the end, uninterested in continuing to look, and put his phone on the bedside table. “Maybe… we’ll know when Sheng Mingqian announces the cast for his next movie…”
Ye Lai had just hung up with Zuo Qi when Sheng Mingqian’s phone call came in.
Sheng Mingqian rarely called him, so every time he saw his number, Ye Lai would blush and his heart would race, his fingers jumping quickly to press the answer button, afraid he’d miss hearing Sheng Mingqian’s voice if he answered too late.
This time he only glanced at it, didn’t answer, and put his phone on the bedside table. The ringtone and vibration went off together, hurting his ears. Ye Lai simply turned the phone to silent and pulled the blanket over his head.
He was too tired.
But even though his cell phone was silent, the landline in the room rang, and if he didn’t answer the first time, it rang twice. On the third try, Ye Lai answered.
Ye Lai crawled out from under the blanket, his eyes dull from oxygen deprivation, his mouth open, breathing. He picked up the receiver and put it to his ear, “Hello…”
“Just woke up?” Sheng Mingqian’s deep voice came through the receiver, the magnetic tone with a slight fuzz, tickling Ye Lai’s ear.
Ye Lai tightened his grip on the receiver. “Yeah, just woke up.”
“Where did you go last night?” Sheng Mingqian asked on the other end.
Ye Lai remembered the scene from last night, a wave of wordless bitterness in his chest, his throat as if filled with sand, his voice even hoarser than before. “I… I slept at home last night.”
There was silence on the other end, and Ye Lai was silent too. After a while, Sheng Mingqian said, “Did you get enough sleep?”
“Not yet.” Ye Lai’s voice was soft, his breathing hitched.
“Keep sleeping, I’ll be back on the weekend.” Sheng Mingqian hung up after speaking.
Completely unable to sleep, Ye Lai got out of bed, went downstairs barefoot, took a can of ice-cold beer from the refrigerator, leaned his back against the refrigerator door, and took a few big gulps, head tilted back.
The cold liquid poured down his throat into his stomach, extinguishing all the things that were about to burst into flames.
His phone dinged, and Ye Lai raised his hand holding the phone. After he fully saw the message on the screen, he didn’t bother swallowing the beer in his mouth. Only beer foam was jumping on the root of his tongue, and his eyes lit up.
It was a Weibo push notification. His Weibo burner account only followed Sheng Mingqian, so he could see any message Sheng Mingqian posted as soon as it was sent.
But Sheng Mingqian rarely used Weibo. He was too lazy to use these things and even lazier to look at them. His previous Weibo post was three months ago, promoting a movie, and it was still his agent who forced him to post it.
Three minutes ago, Sheng Mingqian had retweeted the entertainment news that said he was secretly ruling, with a lazy two-word caption: Fake.