SM Chapter 57

Chapter 57: Perhaps, Sheng Mingqian Just Pitied Him

It rained all night, and the morning air was damp. As soon as Ye Lai came out of Sheng Mingqian’s house, he was hit in the face with a fine, silky morning mist. He walked to the intersection alone, hailed a taxi, and went straight to the film set. This time, Sheng Mingqian didn’t follow him.

During Ye Lai’s midday filming, Sheng Mingqian returned to his studio and took six scripts at once to Zhang Yihao, some for TV series and some for movies.

These scripts had already been reviewed several times by Sheng Mingqian, and the overall quality of each one was excellent. Although they weren’t projects he was going to direct himself, the directors who had been confirmed for these scripts were all people he knew well. Their character and professionalism were trustworthy.

“Director Sheng, what do you mean by this?” Zhang Yihao carefully looked at the scripts for a few moments. Any one of these was of much higher quality than anything Ye Lai had taken on in recent years. “Are you going to direct all of these?”

“I’m not planning to shoot anything new recently, I don’t have any inspiration. These were obtained from friends. Ye Lai can choose any of the roles marked in blue pen in the scripts. These roles are all… relatively positive and sunny.”

Sheng Mingqian spoke softly, and when he thought of the melancholic and dark characters Ye Lai had played, his heart tightened again.

When Ye Lai was filming “Live Dissection,” the last few conflict scenes were too intense, and Ye Lai was too immersed in the role. He couldn’t get out of it for a long time after filming. Although he still followed Sheng Mingqian around the set every day, he was much quieter than usual, sometimes sitting alone in a corner, looking dazed.

Once, at a dinner party for the Director Group, Ye Lai still followed him. That night, Ye Lai drank a lot of alcohol. Everyone else had left, and only the two of them were left in the private room. Ye Lai pulled him to continue drinking, raising his glass to toast him again and again.

That night, Ye Lai said a lot to him, mostly incoherent. Sometimes he spoke from Chi Wen’s point of view, talking about Chi Wen’s world, and sometimes he spoke as himself, talking about Ye Lai’s world. In the end, Sheng Mingqian couldn’t tell whether Ye Lai was talking about himself or Chi Wen.

Ye Lai’s appearance after that drunken stupor was dull and blank, like a wounded, silly child. A dark cloud always hung over the silly child’s head, never dissipating, and his face was covered with a layer of lackluster color.

Sheng Mingqian couldn’t stand the ashen color on Ye Lai’s face now. He wanted to see Ye Lai’s warm and radiant eyes, just like when Ye Lai stopped him in the hallway of the audition hotel and asked him to give him another audition opportunity.

Sheng Mingqian saw clearly back then, and remembered clearly, that Ye Lai’s face was facing the light, and those were eyes… that could make all things grow.

If Ye Lai didn’t have resources before, then he would help Ye Lai get resources. He wouldn’t take on any roles that Ye Lai didn’t want to play. Whatever Ye Lai wanted to film in the future, he would try his best to secure it for him.

“What do you mean?” Zhang Yihao tossed the scripts in his hand, gave a dry laugh, and said, “Listening to Director Sheng’s words, are you trying to steal my job?”

“Don’t misunderstand, I don’t mean that. You’re still Ye Lai’s agent,” Sheng Mingqian said, then thought for a moment, “At most, I’m just an assistant.”

Zhang Yihao couldn’t help but twitch his lips after hearing Sheng Mingqian’s words. Was there such a big-name assistant? Sheng Mingqian actually wanted to be Ye Lai’s assistant, it sounded absurd.

“Ye Lai is unwilling to pay attention to me now. If he has any roles he wants to try, you must tell me. If there isn’t a good script, I can write one myself.”

Sheng Mingqian spoke very sincerely, and Zhang Yihao almost couldn’t help but soften. Although he looked at the scripts with shining eyes and really wanted to accept these roles directly, he held back when he thought of what Ye Lai had said last night. He waved his hand and said, “Ye Lai’s affairs are his own decision. As for these scripts, I’ll show them to him. Whether Ye Lai wants to film them or not, he’ll decide for himself.”

–

–

Ye Lai had just finished filming when he received a call from the police station, saying that the person who had splashed paint on his door had been caught.

At the police station, the police said that catching the person who splashed paint was purely coincidental. They had recently been investigating a motorcycle theft gang case and had caught one of the thieves. They eventually followed the clues to catch his accomplice, Huang Mao.

During the interrogation, the police officer who called Ye Lai recognized the person’s yellow hair at a glance, confirming that he was the person Sheng Mingqian had identified that night, the one who rode away on a motorcycle after splashing the paint.

Huang Mao quickly confessed, admitting to the paint splashing, but he wasn’t some kind of extremist fan. He didn’t even know who Ye Lai was.

Huang Mao was simply doing things for money. After splashing the paint, he took a few photos, saying that a man had given him five thousand as a reward. Huang Mao did it without thinking. Huang Mao didn’t know whose door he had splashed paint on until he saw the photos in the entertainment gossip news the next day, realizing it was Ye Lai’s front door.

He even boasted about it to other hooligans in private, but uploading the photos to the internet wasn’t something Huang Mao did, it must have been the person behind him.

Ye Lai insisted on pressing charges, but before that, he had to find the person who had made the deal with Huang Mao.

Huang Mao had only met that person once. The other party was heavily covered, never showing his face from beginning to end. He also paid in cash. He also used a virtual IP address to upload the paint-splashing photos online. Huang Mao sent the photos to the other party using a social networking account, which the other party only used once, and the IP address also couldn’t be found.

The police asked Ye Lai to think carefully about who he had offended. Based on the other party’s cautious behavior, it didn’t seem like something an extreme fan would do. The police’s speculation was more inclined towards revenge within the industry.

Ye Lai really couldn’t think of anyone in the industry who would do such a thing to him. The only possibility he could think of was Zhou Ran.

He had a conflict with Zhou Ran in the hotel lounge last time. Zhou Ran was provoked by him and made a move. Ye Lai had previously thought that, based on Zhou Ran’s character, he might be retaliated against, but after that, everything was calm, and there was no movement from Zhou Ran’s side at all.

Moreover, Ye Lai speculated in his heart that Zhou Ran’s personality didn’t seem like such a cautious person. If Zhou Ran wanted to retaliate against him, he might take a more direct approach to feel satisfied.

But besides Zhou Ran, who else would do such a despicable thing? Ye Lai really couldn’t guess.

The police said that they could only continue to investigate the account for the time being, but it would take some time, and asked Ye Lai to go back and wait for news.

As soon as Ye Lai came out of the police station, he saw Sheng Mingqian’s car. It seemed that Sheng Mingqian had just arrived and was reversing to park.

Ye Lai had become immune to Sheng Mingqian’s sudden appearances at all times and didn’t find it very surprising.

Ye Lai stood on the steps and waited for Sheng Mingqian to get out of the car and walk over. He lowered his eyelids and glanced lightly at his leather shoes, the corners of his eyes curving into a indifferent arc, a half-smile: “Director Sheng, is your foot better? Can you drive? You must be careful.”

Sheng Mingqian pretended not to hear the light sarcasm in Ye Lai’s tone. He raised his leg and stretched it, and also smiled back: “It’s nothing. What was the result?”

Speaking of business, Ye Lai straightened his face: “The person who splashed the paint was caught, but he was just doing things for money. The person behind him hasn’t been found yet.”

Sheng Mingqian walked up a few steps and stood beside Ye Lai: “I’ll handle the rest.”

“How will you handle it?” The corners of Ye Lai’s lips were pressed down, a little puzzled.

Sheng Mingqian didn’t answer, looked at the opposite side of the road a few times, and naturally grabbed Ye Lai’s wrist, reminding him: “There are paparazzi across the road, taking pictures of us.”

Ye Lai narrowed his eyes and looked at the opposite side of the road. There were indeed people guarding the area.

Sheng Mingqian tilted his head and moved close to Ye Lai’s ear: “Don’t be afraid, don’t care what they say. I’ll block everything for you…”

Sheng Mingqian’s breath brushed against Ye Lai’s earlobe as he spoke, and the scalding heat spread from that point, rushing to the top of his head. Ye Lai shook off Sheng Mingqian’s hand, turned his head and walked to the roadside, waving at a taxi that was coming from afar.

Sheng Mingqian followed him. Ye Lai thought in his heart about what he was going to say to refuse Sheng Mingqian’s offer to drive him, but Sheng Mingqian didn’t say he wanted to drive him. He took out the key to the house and handed it to him: “Ye Lai, you go back and rest first, I’m going to handle some things.”

The words that Ye Lai had just organized in his heart didn’t need to be said now, they were piled up in his throat, a little choking.

He didn’t take Sheng Mingqian’s key. As soon as the taxi stopped, he got into the car.

–

–

Zhang Yihao had a wife and children at home, so it wasn’t convenient for Ye Lai to stay there. He went back to his apartment first, ate something, packed up some things, and went to the hotel that night.

Ye Lai was afraid of being recognized, so he wore a hat and mask all the time, wrapping himself up tightly. He also walked with his head down. After checking in at the front desk, he entered the elevator and pressed the floor number. The person inside recognized him and called out to him.

“Ye Lai? Is that you? Why are you here too?”

This voice was very familiar. Ye Lai recognized it. It was Lin Han.

Lin Han had helped him a lot before. His conflict with Sheng Mingqian had nothing to do with others. Ye Lai had always regarded Lin Han as a friend. He took off his mask and smiled at him: “Brother Han, what a coincidence, you’re here too.”

“Didn’t Mingqian say he was going to handle this? Are you also here to find Qin Zimo? I know you must be angry now. Don’t be impulsive later. Let’s figure out what’s going on first. I brought a recorder,” Lin Han said, patting his pants pocket.

The name Qin Zimo wasn’t unfamiliar, Sheng Mingqian’s old flame. Ye Lai pursed his lips and didn’t say anything, nor did he understand Lin Han’s following words.

“I’m still not very clear about how Mingqian found out about Qin Zimo, he hasn’t told me the details, just told me to come over. I didn’t expect Qin Zimo to be such a hypocrite, doing such despicable things. Last time Mingqian asked me to investigate who was always cutting off your resources behind your back, I didn’t expect it was also Qin Zimo. This time it’s even more despicable, directly finding someone to splash paint. It’s really despicable, too despicable…”

Lin Han said a lot more, scolding as he spoke. Ye Lai listened to each sentence, and it took him some time to sort out everything.

So, the person who had been cutting off his resources all these years was Qin Zimo, the person who had been hindering his career was Qin Zimo, and the person who had splashed paint on his house was also Qin Zimo.

Ye Lai couldn’t figure out Qin Zimo’s reasons for doing this for the time being, but there was one thing Ye Lai understood, Sheng Mingqian knew the truth, and had known it for a long time, but Sheng Mingqian didn’t tell him.

Ye Lai smiled bitterly in his heart. No wonder, no wonder Sheng Mingqian said to him at the entrance of the police station that he would handle this matter.

But even if Sheng Mingqian wanted to protect Qin Zimo, as a party involved, did he not even have the right to know?

After the divorce, Sheng Mingqian knew that he was the child on the sixth floor, watched the video, knew that “The World on the Bough” was written by him, knew that he had been secretly in love with him for so many years, growing from the gutter, knew everything he had done revolving around him.

And during this time, Sheng Mingqian’s changes, Sheng Mingqian’s reluctance to let go, Sheng Mingqian’s heartache, all became light and airy at this moment.

Because of what? Ye Lai tried hard to think in his heart, and finally came up with an answer. Perhaps, Sheng Mingqian just pitied him, or felt guilty.

Ye Lai had heard the word “pity” from many people’s mouths. He didn’t like it, he never liked it.

The word “pity” placed on him was actually another kind of cruelty…

He didn’t need anyone to pity him, and he didn’t need Sheng Mingqian to pity him even more. If he had wanted to use pity to tie down Sheng Mingqian, he would have confessed everything to Sheng Mingqian long ago.

With a “ding,” the elevator cut off Ye Lai’s thoughts. The elevator arrived at the floor Ye Lai wanted to go to. The elevator door slowly opened, and there were people outside. The strength in Ye Lai’s legs wavered, and a certain part of his chest was trembling. Inside and outside the elevator, the four of them faced each other in silence.

Ye Lai and Lin Han stood in the elevator, and Sheng Mingqian and Qin Zimo stood outside the elevator.