SM Chapter 72

Chapter 72 I Believe

Chapter 72 I Believe

Ye Lai had been in Bin City, returning with Sheng Mingqian before the typhoon to prepare for the new film.

As soon as the news that Sheng Mingqian and Ye Lai were going to film a new movie spread, many investors came knocking. Sheng Mingqian making a film wasn’t a rare occurrence, but the fact that he was going to act, and Ye Lai was going to direct, was shocking enough.

Lin Han had suggested Sheng Mingqian act before. There was a movie where the lead role hadn’t been cast yet, and Lin Han thought Sheng Mingqian’s image was more suitable for the character, but Sheng Mingqian refused no matter what.

Lin Han initially thought it was fake news until he heard Sheng Mingqian admit it himself.

“A man in love is indeed different,” Lin Han joked with him.

Sheng Mingqian looked at Lin Han, who had shaved off the beard he’d had for many years, smiled, and said, “Same to you…”

The pre-production work of the film was still being prepared by the production company and Sheng Mingqian’s studio team together.

Ye Lai, on the other hand, devoted himself to learning opera in order to play the role well.

Although he had played opera actors before and learned a few moves, those skills were not enough to support the entire film. Although the singing would be dubbed later, he had to learn the stage skills. Ye Lai didn’t want to use a stunt double, so Sheng Mingqian specially hired a Peking opera teacher for him.

Sheng Mingqian was extremely strict about the details of the film, and Ye Lai had even higher demands on himself.

Back then, in order to play Chi Wen in “Raw Deal” well, and to enter the role as soon as possible and better understand the character’s psychological journey, he specially picked a dilapidated house to live in for one night before the audition. The next morning, as soon as he went out, the dilapidated house collapsed behind him. The rumbling sound and the blinding dust from the shattered tiles that he saw when he turned his head blocked the blue sky above. Ye Lai still remembers that scene to this day.

Ye Lai could endure hardship and learn quickly, but opera was not something else; it required a lot of effort. They only had a few months.

The Peking opera teacher who taught Ye Lai was a famous veteran artist in the industry. He was originally worried that the young people in the entertainment industry were too impetuous. The reason he agreed to come and teach was because he had a friendship with Sheng Mingqian.

He didn’t expect Ye Lai to study earnestly and seriously without saying a word, from morning to night every day without resting. After a week, he gave Ye Lai a thumbs up, praising him for being rare, down-to-earth, and progressive.

Except for eating, Ye Lai had no rest time. When the teacher rested at noon, he practiced on stage by himself. As soon as it ended in the evening, he was always so tired that he fell asleep directly in the lounge, even learning the gestures, raising his hands, and waving his sleeves in his dreams…

Sheng Mingqian often carried the sleeping Ye Lai home.

Two months later, Ye Lai was already able to put on makeup and go on stage. His steps, eyes, every frown and smile were all quite decent.

Sheng Mingqian played a high-ranking warlord in the film. There was a scene where he collaborated with Ye Lai, Sheng Mingqian playing the Jinghu, and Ye Lai singing opera.

Ye Lai didn’t know where he got a Jinghu from, and he played it quite well as soon as he picked it up, obviously having learned it before.

The two tried to collaborate for the first time. Sheng Mingqian saw Ye Lai in full makeup for the first time. Ye Lai’s figure in the gorgeous headdress and opera costume was classical and graceful, and he was waving his sleeves between movements. The whole person was shining, almost immediately reminding him of the sentence “Clouds want clothes, flowers want faces.”

And what they were going to collaborate on today was “The Drunken Concubine.”

Ye Lai had been preparing for half a day, but Sheng Mingqian was still staring at him in a daze, holding the Huqin. The teacher playing the Yueqin next to him reminded him with a smile, “Jinghu teacher, don’t just stand there in a daze. If you want to see him, let Teacher Ye put on the makeup for you at home.”

Ye Lai also heard the teasing and his face burned with shame, but he had greasepaint on his face, so others couldn’t see that his face was burning. He turned his head, raised his eyebrows, and glared at Sheng Mingqian, signaling him to start quickly.

Sheng Mingqian looked at Ye Lai, cracked a smile, raised his hand to prepare…

–

–

During the early stage of film preparation, some dinner parties were inevitable, and many people took advantage of the drinking opportunity to try to get people into the crew.

Generally, these things were dealt with by Lin Han. Most of them were pushed away if they could be pushed away, and if they couldn’t be pushed away, they were given an audition opportunity. However, Lin Han was recently diagnosed with gastritis, and the doctor didn’t allow him to drink alcohol. A dinner party organized by the investors was really impossible to refuse, so Sheng Mingqian went with his Assistant.

At eight o’clock in the evening, Ye Lai finished his day of class, yawning as he walked out. He had practiced stage steps all day, and his legs and arms were sore and swollen, and his fingers were numb. Knowing that he couldn’t drive, he stood by the roadside and took out his Cell Phone to call a car.

Before the app was opened, he received a message from an unknown number.

Ye Lai opened it and took a look. He yawned halfway, and the tears from the yawn were still hanging on the corner of his eye, gathering into a drop of water, shimmering in the dark.

It was a bed photo. The protagonists inside were two people. Sheng Mingqian was half-naked, lying on the white bed in the hotel, sleeping soundly. A handsome boy was lying in his arms, winking at the camera. The photo was obviously taken by that boy.

Ye Lai had been staying in the air-conditioned room all day. Now he was just standing by the roadside, and the stuffy heat drilled into his body. After a while, a layer of fine sweat had formed on the tip of his nose.

The heat under the streetlights was steaming, blurring his vision. Only the outlines of the people on the screen were left. The sound of cicadas overhead was noisy, aggravating the agitation wrapped around his skin.

Ye Lai didn’t notice when Zhang Yihao came.

“Bed photo? Wait… who is this person? Sheng Mingqian? Who is this man next to him?” Zhang Yihao pointed at Ye Lai’s Cell Phone, his voice changing its tone.

Ye Lai put away his Cell Phone and stuffed it into his pocket: “Brother Hao, how did you get here?”

“Did you forget? I sent you a message this afternoon, saying I would come to see your class in the evening. I just went in, and Wang Laoshi said you were already dismissed today.”

There were too many things today. When Ye Lai was seriously studying, his attention was highly concentrated. Zhang Yihao did send him a message in the afternoon. He just forgot that Zhang Yihao said he would come to see him when he came out just now.

Getting into Zhang Yihao’s car, Ye Lai closed his eyes and shrank into the seat.

“Don’t worry about it. Ask him properly when you get home. I can see that the hairstyle isn’t Sheng Mingqian’s recent one. It should be an old photo.”

“That boy, he looks like some Little fresh meat actor, I’m not sure, I haven’t seen him before.”

“Also, the person who sent you the photo definitely doesn’t have good intentions.”

Zhang Yihao said a lot, originally wanting to comfort Ye Lai, but in the end, he got angry as he spoke. Even if it was an old photo, sending it to Ye Lai now was like stabbing Ye Lai.

At the red light intersection, Zhang Yihao finally quieted down. Ye Lai responded vaguely from his nose. Zhang Yihao didn’t know which sentence he was responding to.

–

–

Sheng Mingqian returned home from the dinner party. Ye Lai was already asleep, breathing slightly with his mouth open because he was too tired, looking a little silly.

He knew that Ye Lai was very tired after a day of class. In these few months, they had very little time to even talk. Ye Lai left at dawn and came back in the dark, falling asleep as soon as he hit the pillow.

But today, he had to wake Ye Lai up.

In his sleep, Ye Lai smelled the strong smell of alcohol drilling into his nose. He raised his hand and pushed it away, slapping Sheng Mingqian’s face, pushing him away a little, and also waking up faintly.

Ye Lai slowly opened a slit in his eyes, and through the faint light, he could make out that it was Sheng Mingqian. Then he closed his eyes again, rubbed his cheek against the pillow, turned over, and continued to sleep with his back to Sheng Mingqian.

Seeing his reaction, Sheng Mingqian’s heart suddenly jumped to his throat.

Zhang Yihao couldn’t hold things in. On the way home just now, he had called Sheng Mingqian and told him everything, and warned him not to do anything to hurt Ye Lai.

Sheng Mingqian drank a lot of alcohol that night, and Zhang Yihao’s words made him confused. Only at the end did he understand that Ye Lai had received a bed photo of him and a strange Little boy.

This was impossible. Since meeting Ye Lai, he had not been with anyone else, let alone having anything happen with some Little boy.

Sheng Mingqian nudged Ye Lai’s shoulder: “That photo, let me see it. I also want to see who is in the photo. That person is definitely not me.”

Ye Lai raised his arm and groped around on the bedside table, found his Cell Phone, opened it, and searched, only to find that he had already deleted the message, and the photo was gone.

It might have been a mistake, or it might have been a subconscious psychological behavior of not wanting to see it. In short, that photo was no longer there.

“I deleted the photo.”

Now there wasn’t even a chance to confront him. Sheng Mingqian rubbed his face, and said hoarsely to argue, “I really didn’t.”

“Yeah, I believe you.”

Ye Lai continued to face Sheng Mingqian with the back of his head: “I don’t know who sent me that photo. I don’t recognize that number. It’s a prank, or something else. The face in the photo is indeed you, I…”

As soon as Ye Lai opened his mouth, Sheng Mingqian hurriedly interrupted him: “I really haven’t slept with any Little boy.”

“I believe you,” Ye Lai still said, muttering.

“Lai Lai, tell me what you’re thinking. I drank a lot of alcohol tonight, and my brain is a little dull now, I can’t think…”

Sheng Mingqian’s voice was discouraged and weak. Only his heavy breathing was left in the room. The smell of alcohol floated everywhere, wanting to find an exit to rush out, but after scurrying around, it slammed back into Sheng Mingqian’s body, blocking his chest. The alcohol he drank into his stomach grew claws, constantly scratching his heart and lungs from the inside out.

Sheng Mingqian stared straight at the back of Ye Lai’s head.

In these few months, his harmonious and sweet relationship with Ye Lai had given him an illusion, as if the two of them had always been so stable, something was emptying in his body, and something was slowly filling it in.

This kind of feeling was too illusory, as if he could reach out and touch Ye Lai on the other end, as if he could always touch him.

At this moment, on this late night with rampant alcohol, Sheng Mingqian remembered his five-year marriage with Ye Lai again.

In those years of marriage, he was cold and ruthless to Ye Lai, often ignoring him on purpose, but he couldn’t help but want to pay more attention to him.

As soon as Sheng Mingqian thought of the time he had wasted, his tongue and heart were bitter, and a burst of fishy sweetness surged to his head.

“Lai Lai, I’ve already wasted five years with you, there’s no time for me to waste again. You said before that you wanted to maintain this kind of ‘bed relationship’ with me. During this time, we seem… to be most compatible only when we’re in bed. You used to be afraid, but now it’s my turn to be afraid…”

After hearing this, Ye Lai suddenly opened his eyelids. Now he was completely sleepless. He lifted the quilt and sat up in a hurry. His hair was still sticking up high, shaking with his movements.

The light in the room was very dim. Sheng Mingqian’s tall figure stood at the head of the bed, but he looked unusually fragile, unable to withstand the touch of a finger.

Ye Lai on the bed folded his hands on his legs, his brows furrowing and loosening, loosening and furrowing again. Suddenly, he moved to the edge of the bed, supported himself on the edge of the bed with his arms, reached out and grabbed Sheng Mingqian’s hem, pulled him closer, and untied his shirt buttons.

Sheng Mingqian didn’t know what Ye Lai wanted to do, but afraid that he would fall off the bed, he opened his hands to protect him, and bent down to cooperate with Ye Lai’s movements.

Ye Lai grabbed Sheng Mingqian’s collar and tore his clothes down with force, revealing his broad and powerful right shoulder muscles.

“I didn’t finish what I was saying just now. The face in the photo is indeed you, but after all, I’ve slept with you for so many years, I still know what your body looks like. There’s no mole on your right shoulder, but the person in the photo has a mole. I’ve already deleted the photo, because I get upset when I see that face with someone else. I can’t tell if the photo is photoshopped, but I know that person isn’t you, so I said I believe you.”

Ye Lai spoke for a long time in one breath, his speech speed getting faster and faster. Finally, he asked with a straight face, “I’ve been tired all day, it’s the middle of the night, are you going to sleep or not?”

Sheng Mingqian looked at Ye Lai’s misty eyes, his head buzzing: “Sleep…”