Chapter 26: Can I?

After more than half a month, Shen Xici ducked into the small bus used for transporting the film crew. The light inside was dim, and almost everyone in the bus was dozing off. Only Lan Xiaoshan in the back row waved his hand energetically, “Brother Shen! Over here!”

Shen Xici sat down in the empty seat beside him and pulled the window open a crack. The cool morning breeze blew in, finally dispersing some of the stuffy smell of leather soaked in gasoline.

Lan Xiaoshan craned his neck to look forward. Seeing that the front door was closed and no one else was getting on, he shrunk back and asked in a low voice, “Brother Shen, Brother Shao really didn’t come with you?”

Shen Xici nodded, “Yeah, what’s wrong?”

“It’s just that I’m not used to it,” Lan Xiaoshan hesitated, “…Brother Shen, did you two have a fight?”

“How could we? A’Shao said he had something to do today, so he couldn’t come to the set with me.”

Shen Xici wasn’t as nervous now. On one hand, Sui County was only so big, and since there was no trace of Sheng Shaoyan, the people from Sheng’s second uncle had most likely already left. On the other hand, it was only a few days before Sheng Shaoyan would regain his memory. Even if he was found and returned to the Sheng family, Sheng Shaoyan wouldn’t suffer much.

“It’s good that you didn’t fight!” Lan Xiaoshan was relieved. He was starting to understand the feeling of those people online who shipped CPs. This was a CP he saw every day! He was just short of watering, fertilizing, and catching bugs for them to grow well. They absolutely couldn’t break up!

He enthusiastically pulled at his hoodie and recommended, “Brother Shen, since Brother Shao isn’t here, you can put the leaves you use for practice in my hood.”

Shen Xici pointed to his own clothes, “Your Brother Shao specifically had me wear this. He said the hood of this jacket is great for holding leaves, easy to take in and out, so I don’t have to trouble anyone.”

Only then did Lan Xiaoshan realize that Shen Xici was indeed wearing Sheng Shaoyan’s clothes today. He was dumbfounded. No way… Brother Shao even calculated this? He’s not here, but he’s still indiscriminately on guard against everyone?

When they arrived at the set, the lighting crew had been adjusting the lights for more than two hours and still weren’t done. The assistant director was so anxious he was on fire, arguing with the head of the lighting crew. They were old partners, and they were already digging up old scores from a film set five years ago, about who had lost that roll of gaffer tape.

Shen Xici and Lan Xiaoshan stood by, watching the drama unfold. Wen Yage walked over, wrapped in a large shawl, and stifled a yawn. “The handsome guy with the mask isn’t here today?”

Shen Xici: “He had something to do today, so he didn’t come with me.”

“Is that so,” Wen Yage sized him up and asked the same question as Lan Xiaoshan, “You didn’t have a fight, did you?”

Why does everyone think we had a fight? Shen Xici was helpless. “Sister Wen, we really didn’t have a fight.”

Not to mention that after Sheng Shaoyan lost his memory, his personality and style of doing things were much more kind and beautiful compared to Shen Xici’s impression of him. Even in his previous life, that Sheng Shaoyan, who was used to being an unquestioned superior and had a somewhat cold personality, the two of them never really had any major conflicts. Both sides would consciously make concessions and even compromise.

Boredly clicking his lighter, Wen Yage listened to the assistant director and his crew arguing for a bit, then asked, “That incident with the knocking on the door, I heard from the director and the others that it was all handled by the handsome guy with the mask. He single-handedly pulled you out of the negative news and even gained you a lot of fans?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Shen Xici thought, Now it’s even harder to explain. Director Wan and the others had even praised Sheng Shaoyan’s abilities, asking Shen Xici where he had found such a capable manager.

“It seems your luck is much better than mine.” Wen Yage lit the mint cigarette in her hand, took only one puff, and didn’t touch it again, as if to relieve a sudden surge of emotion. She continued, “You must know, right? I approached the handsome guy with the mask before and asked him if he wanted to work with me.”

Not expecting Wen Yage to bring this up, Shen Xici nodded. “I know.”

“Filming is too exhausting. Every day when I go back to the hotel, I feel like I’ve been completely drained. Who has the energy to be in a relationship on set?” Wen Yage paused for a moment. “I hadn’t acted opposite you at that time. When I saw him, I thought he was the old me, so I meddled, wanting to pull him out of the mud. I didn’t expect that I was overthinking it.”

“I don’t mean to say you’re the mud.” As she spoke, her gaze shifted forward, her tone light. “I just wanted to fill a regret. It would have been nice if someone had come to pull me out back then.”

After explaining, Wen Yage didn’t know what else to say. She rarely explained her actions to people, and she was also concerned that her actions might have planted some hidden dangers or mines in their relationship. After all, encountering a scumbag was her own bad luck.

“It’s okay. you swam out on your own,” Shen Xici said, looking into the distance with her. “Congratulations. In this life, you’ll never have to cook or wash dishes again.”

The burnt ash on the cigarette almost burned her hand. Wen Yage turned her head, stared at Shen Xici, then as if not looking at him, she lowered her eyes after a while, suddenly smiled, her tone not quite serious. “Go back and tell the handsome guy with the mask that he really needs to keep a close eye on you.”

This person, Shen Xici, was like a vibrant tree, resilient, tolerant, and gentle, as if no disease could harm his trunk. For people like them, who had a somewhat broken place in their hearts, the attraction was really great.

---

He didn’t know if it was because Lan Xiaoshan had reminded him, and then Wen Yage had reminded him, but Shen Xici found that he really was a bit unaccustomed to Sheng Shaoyan not being there.

After filming a scene, everyone stayed still, waiting for the director, who was watching the monitor, to speak, to either continue with the next take or reshoot. Shen Xici’s gaze unconsciously swept over the surrounding crew members. Not seeing the person he expected, he realized who he was looking for.

During the short break, the person who came to spray him with mosquito repellent had also become Lan Xiaoshan.

When he changed back into his own clothes for lunch, after sitting down, he habitually asked, “A’Shao, what are you having today?”

Lan Xiaoshan was in the middle of a big bite of food. He looked up. “Brother Shen, you forgot again. Brother Shao isn’t here today!”

The hand holding the bamboo chopsticks stopped. Shen Xici sat on the plastic stool, waiting for his lunch box to cool down. He thought, Maybe, it would be a good idea to start breaking this habit from now on.

Taking the crew bus back to the county town, climbing the concrete stairs one floor after another, he opened the door and called out, “A’Shao, I’m back.”

The house was empty. No one answered. Only the wind blew straight from the balcony, lifting the fringe of his hair.

“Not back yet?” Shen Xici muttered to himself, throwing his keys into the tray, washing his hands, disinfecting, and then opening the fridge to see what he could make. He decided to just boil a plate of frozen dumplings.

Lan Xiaoshan sent a voice message: “Brother Shen, quick, quick! That master uploaded a new mashup video early this morning. I’ve shared it with you! It’s a work of art! A complete work of art!”

The water in the pot was already boiling. Shen Xici tore open the package, poured all the dumplings in, stirred them with chopsticks, and then casually clicked on the video Lan Xiaoshan had sent.

After watching for a while, he found that the crew’s promotion had just released new behind-the-scenes footage of his archery scene yesterday, and this person called “Dong Yu” had already edited a new video early this morning. Their speed was too fast.

The bullet comments were dense, all saying things like “Teacher Dong Yu is feeding us again! A day of universal celebration!” “Don’t be polite, shoot this arrow straight into my heart,” and “My screen is full of handsome face attacks, hissing and panting!”

After watching, Shen Xici scrolled down to the top comment, which had hundreds of replies.

“—Am I the only one who thinks that in this video edited by Dong Yu, Shen Xici is so alluring! It’s the same footage, the same person, but, for some reason, it’s just inexplicably sensual!”

“—Seconded… Is it because of the slow motion? A casual smile, and I feel like he’s seducing me!”

“—He’s so good at editing. No one else’s edits of Shen Xici have this flavor like Dong Yu’s! So sensual and seductive!”

Shen Xici watched the video again, completely bewildered—What sensual, alluring, seductive? How come I don’t see it at all?

Putting the cooked dumplings on the table, Shen Xici inexplicably thought that when he went back to Ningcheng, he should rent a one-bedroom, one-living room apartment. Otherwise, it would be too empty. He couldn’t fill it by himself.

The house was too quiet. Shen Xici turned on the TV. The sound of the financial news report filled the room. With the familiar background noise, he analyzed the script for tomorrow’s shoot, trying out a few different acting styles, roughly determining what kind of effect he would present on camera.

By the time he was done, he realized it was already past nine. Shen Xici stood on the small balcony. The wind blowing in his face was full of moist water vapor. Just as he was thinking it might rain, the rain that had been brewing for a long time came pouring down.

The neon lights were instantly wet. Pedestrians on the street held their heads and ran into the shops on either side to take shelter from the rain. Motorcycles roared past, their tires kicking up a spray of white water.

Shen Xici didn’t know if Sheng Shaoyan had taken that motorcycle out, but it was sunny during the day, so he definitely didn’t bring an umbrella.

Shen Xici dialed the number.

After a moment of silence from the receiver, the prompt that the user he was calling could not be reached sounded.

The rain was too heavy. Just the splashing raindrops could get a person wet. Shen Xici closed the window, sat back on the sofa, and stared at the script for a few minutes, only to find that he had only read two lines.

He tried calling again, still unreachable.

When he left in the morning, Shen Xici hadn’t asked where Sheng Shaoyan was going. Even if he had amnesia, he was still an adult. He shouldn’t interfere too much. But now Shen Xici regretted it a little. He should have asked one more question then.

However, it was now very difficult to find a place with such poor signal that a call couldn’t get through.

Shen Xici suddenly thought of another possibility for the prompt that the user he was calling was temporarily unavailable.

The phone card had been removed.

In his previous life, Sheng Shaoyan had only said he had a brief period of amnesia for a month. But was this month specifically thirty days, thirty-five days, or… twenty-five days?

He didn’t know.

Just as he didn’t know if the phone card had been taken out by a Sheng Shaoyan who had already regained his memory.

Time suddenly seemed to slow down. After listening to the rain for an unknown amount of time, Shen Xici couldn’t sit still any longer. He got up, grabbed his jacket and two umbrellas, opened the door, and went downstairs.

The heavy rain hammered on the umbrella, making a dull “pitter-patter” sound. The raindrops streamed down in strings. Shen Xici stood on the side of the street, not knowing which direction to go.

“Young brother, where are you going in such heavy rain?”

After a few seconds, Shen Xici turned around and raised his voice to speak to the old lady at the fruit stall. “Granny, I don’t know either.”

He really didn’t know where he could find Sheng Shaoyan.