SM Chapter 59

Chapter 59: Sheng Mingqian Has Never Been So Talkative Before (First Update)

Ye Lai stared at the ashen face in the mirror, not blinking, and only after a long while did he twitch the corner of his mouth at the mirror.

He wanted to smile at himself, but as soon as the corner of his mouth turned up, his listless, pale face, coupled with the deliberately mechanical arc of his mouth, looked ridiculous, like a clown.

The smile failed after only half a twitch, and the gurgling sound of the kettle boiling became louder and louder, cutting off the bloodless image of himself in Ye Lai’s eyes.

Ye Lai came out of the bathroom and walked to the table to pour himself some hot water. His right hand was wrapped in gauze, his left hand was sore and weak, and he couldn’t hold the kettle steady no matter what. It was almost full, but a few drops of boiling water still splashed out of the glass, splashing on his wrist, and the burning pain instantly covered the pain in the palm of his hand under the gauze.

Ye Lai put down the kettle and blew on it. The water was boiled by Sheng Mingqian before he left, and Ye Lai wanted to give himself some alone time.

He was too tired tonight, and the layer of shackles on his body was slowly tightening, trapping him firmly inside, with no room to rotate so he could breathe freely.

Ye Lai’s throat was dry and tight. The boiling water in the glass was still very hot, with a faint mist around the rim. He was thirsty, but he couldn’t drink the boiling water yet, just like his current state with Sheng Mingqian.

Ye Lai carefully recalled for a long time that Sheng Mingqian had said a lot to him before he left, in addition to telling him to be careful with his injured hand, he also told him a lot about Zhou Ran, about Qin Zimo, and about tonight and tomorrow.

Regarding Zhou Ran, Sheng Mingqian has indeed taken care of him a lot over the years, because when they were filming for the first time, Zhou Ran had an accident on the film set while suspended on wires and injured his head. He was in a coma. The doctor said that he might become a vegetable. In the end, Zhou Ran woke up after lying in the hospital for half a year, and after that, Zhou Ran’s temperament changed a lot.

Out of guilt, as long as Zhou Ran opened his mouth to ask Sheng Mingqian for a role, Sheng Mingqian would generally agree. Their relationship was limited to this, and Sheng Mingqian would no longer cooperate with Zhou Ran in the future.

As for Qin Zimo, it was a story that was neither long nor particularly new. The two people got together because they had similar interests, and finally broke up because of incompatible personalities.

Before the divorce, the paparazzi photographed them going home together. At that time, there were not only the two of them, but the paparazzi only released photos of the two of them. The third person was another friend of Sheng Mingqian who used to be a screenwriter.

After Qin Zimo returned to China, he gave Sheng Mingqian a script. Although Sheng Mingqian was interested in the script, he refused because he was unwilling to cooperate with him again after consideration. Qin Zimo looked for him several times, and Sheng Mingqian personally felt that the script was good, so he gave it to another director friend. After several twists and turns, it ended up in the hands of that screenwriter friend.

And Qin Zimo’s script was not written by him at all. His mind has not been on creation these years, and the original aura in him has long disappeared, and his mind has already been twisted. He can no longer write a script that can interest Sheng Mingqian. Later, taking advantage of the opportunity to drink, he plagiarized a friend’s creation, obtained the original manuscript, and wrote his own name on it for priority publication.

Because that friend had already changed careers, and because he no longer had the original manuscript and had no evidence to prove it, he did not pursue Qin Zimo’s responsibility. This time, when he heard that Qin Zimo actually wanted to take out that script and make it into a movie, he couldn’t bear it for a while and said he wanted to settle the score with Qin Zimo, so he asked Sheng Mingqian to invite him to his house to confront him face-to-face.

……

The smell of the air conditioner was not very pleasant. Ye Lai opened the window. The air after the rain was like a wet cloth, covering his face. Ye Lai only felt uncomfortable, so he closed the window again.

In the corridor outside the door, Sheng Mingqian leaned against the railing and smoked a cigarette. Under the cover of the dark night, the stiff and embarrassed figure by the window was surrounded by swirling smoke, drawing out a lot of loneliness.

The sound insulation of the door was very good. Sheng Mingqian could not hear the movement in the room, only the footsteps in the corridor that were either near or far.

“Ye Lai…” Five minutes later, Sheng Mingqian knocked on Ye Lai’s door.

When Ye Lai heard the sound outside the door, his shoulders stiffened, and he turned his head to look at the mahogany door, just watching quietly, without responding.

The knock sounded again, but Ye Lai still didn’t move. The temperature of the hot water in his hand was slowly decreasing. It was no longer as hot as it was at the beginning, and he could already drink it.

Sheng Mingqian knew that Ye Lai would not open the door for him, so he stopped knocking, turned around and left.

In a trance, Ye Lai in the room heard a “good night.”

Ye Lai drank half a glass of water, and his throat was no longer dry. His attention was focused on his right hand. Before going to bed, the wound under the gauze was still throbbing with pain.

–

–

There were no scenes to shoot the next day. Ye Lai didn’t wake up until after eight o’clock. As soon as he turned on his cell phone, a flood of notification sounds came one after another, and the sound didn’t completely stop until after five full minutes.

A pile of unread text messages and calls were piled up on the screen, and a trending search was hanging at the very top——

#Qin Zimo Splashed Paint on Ye Lai and Publicly Apologized#, #Qin Zimo Infringed Copyright and Plagiarized Script Recording Exposed#. These two topics had been trending for half the night.

Qin Zimo’s public apology letter to Ye Lai was sent in the early hours of the morning. Subsequently, the recording of his plagiarism of the script went viral online.

Ye Lai simply glanced at it. Qin Zimo admitted to splashing paint on his door and inciting public opinion on the Internet, pointing the finger at Ye Lai, and publicly apologized to him.

Without thinking, he knew how explosive this topic was and how lively the comments below would be. Ye Lai only flipped through a few comments before stopping.

Qin Zimo became a rat crossing the street, reviled by everyone.

As for the content of the recording of Qin Zimo’s plagiarism of the script, it was the dialogue from the night of the confrontation. In the recording, Qin Zimo personally admitted that he stole the script.

After the night of the confrontation, Sheng Mingqian no longer participated in their subsequent solutions, but only heard that Qin Zimo gave the screenwriter a large sum of money and guaranteed that the script would no longer be sold or filmed, and that person no longer pursued him.

The exposed recording was obtained by Sheng Mingqian from a friend yesterday afternoon after a lot of effort.

Ye Lai flipped down again, wanting to find the video of him fighting at the elevator entrance last night. His finger slid to the bottom, but no one had exposed the video from last night.

Without Ye Lai having to think or ask too much, he knew that Sheng Mingqian must have already dealt with it.

Just as he was about to let go of his finger, he paused on the screen again. In an inconspicuous corner at the bottom of the topic, Ye Lai clicked on a police report. The striking white characters on a blue background stated that the vice president of a film and television company was suspected of indecency, embezzlement and bribery, and accommodating others to take drugs, and was taken away by the police at a clubhouse last night.

This topic was squeezed at the very bottom and was ignored by everyone. Ye Lai flipped through the comments and learned from the first comment that the person who was taken away was the investor who wanted to replace him in the role before the filming of “Live Dissection.”

Exiting the software, it took Ye Lai a long time to come back to his senses.

Those troubles had all been resolved by Sheng Mingqian after he slept. Although Sheng Mingqian had told him last night what he would do, and also predicted the turmoil that might happen today, Ye Lai still felt empty in his heart. He stomped his feet and could hear the echo in the empty area.

Ye Lai held his cell phone in his left hand, flipping through the missed calls and messages from last night one by one, replying to messages from a few friends, and finally flipping to Sheng Mingqian’s name. Sheng Mingqian had sent him five messages last night.

Ye Lai pressed his thumb against the screen for a long time, wanting to delete them, but still held back. When he opened the message, the empty space in his heart slowly shrank.

Sheng Mingqian’s messages were sent to him between 4:00 a.m. and 7:30 a.m.

The first message was at 4:00 a.m. Sheng Mingqian sent him a photo. It was the bouquet of Hermosa that was placed on the dining table yesterday morning with a few petals fallen off, quietly inserted in an elegant blue vase. Compared with yesterday morning, the bud of Hermosa was a little bigger than yesterday morning. Perhaps it was just an illusion, and the color of Hermosa was also more intense.

After looking at the flowers, Ye Lai moved his gaze to the upper right corner of the photo. The light and shadow were from top to bottom. In addition to the shadows of the vase and flowers on the table, there was also a figure, which was Sheng Mingqian’s.

His hair looked a little messy. Just looking at the small, dark shadow, Ye Lai could feel the fatigue and loneliness attached to it.

Ye Lai blinked his sore eyes and looked away.

Below the photo, Sheng Mingqian sent a few text messages.

“I searched for flower arrangement tutorials online yesterday morning, and today’s Hermosa has opened up a little more and is even more beautiful.”

“The new movie is about to be released, and I’m starting to run promotions and roadshows in various cities. I’ll be busier later. I’m flying to S City at 7:30 this morning.”

“I asked Director Sun. You don’t have any scenes today, so take a good rest first. The restaurant on the 26th floor of this hotel is pretty good. I called the chef and reserved a private room for you during this period. If you don’t want to be photographed, someone will deliver it to your room. Breakfast is at 9:00, lunch is at 12:00, and dinner is at 6:00. You can call this number, 159…”

“Don’t get the gauze on your hand wet. Don’t forget to change the medicine. A hotel attendant will send the medicine up in the morning. There are also oral anti-inflammatory drugs. Take them for two consecutive days.”

“I’m at the airport.”

“Boarding…”

One after another, Sheng Mingqian had never been so talkative before. Ye Lai scrolled up and down for a long time and read those messages for a long time before finishing them.