Chapter 49: Danger

Without answering the “agent” question, Sheng Shaoyan asked, “Mr. Zhong, what brings you here so late?”

Having navigated the world of fame and fortune for many years, Zhong Yue immediately realized that “agent” was obviously just a pretext.

It was Shen Xici’s first day on set, in the early hours of the morning, in a hotel room, and the man before him was showing undisguised hostility because of his late-night visit.

Could it be that Shen Xici had a boyfriend?

Zhong Yue thought back carefully and managed to grasp a faint impression—on the last set, Shen Xici was indeed always accompanied by someone. However, that person was like Shen Xici’s shadow, wherever Shen Xici was, he was there, always wearing a hat and a mask that covered his face completely, very quiet, with a weak presence.

But the man in front of him had a sharp and intimidating aura, and his features were strikingly handsome. If not for their identical build and figure, it would be hard to connect the two.

Lifting the paper bag in his hand, Zhong Yue explained, “It’s especially stuffy in the studio. Even if you don’t feel faint, the makeup on your face can easily smudge. This little fan is the best one I’ve found recently, so I thought I’d bring it for Shen Xici to use.”

Just then, Shen Xici walked to the door from inside the room. “Teacher Zhong, you’re still not resting so late?”

Sheng Shaoyan reluctantly stepped aside, making room for Shen Xici.

Zhong Yue smiled. “You’re filming a big all-night scene, and I’m filming a dawn scene. By the time you come back to sleep, I’ll have to get ready for work.”

As fellow actors, they understood well the feeling of a chaotic schedule once the call sheet was out, and the pain of having to get up when the alarm rang even if you couldn’t. Shen Xici lamented, “Director Rao Qingping is over fifty, but his energy is amazing. He can really pull all-nighters.”

Zhong Yue agreed. “I’m starting to wonder who the old man is. My energy can’t even compare to the director’s!”

Shen Xici joked, “If you dared to call him an old man to his face, he’d definitely make you do thirty takes in one day.”

Sheng Shaoyan didn’t know the Director Rao Qingping they were talking about, nor did he know which small fan was better. The feeling of being excluded from the conversation’s atmosphere made him anxious.

He watched Shen Xici, watching him smile, watching the subtle expressions on his face as he spoke. Noticing a stray lock of hair falling below his brow bone, not far from his eye, Sheng Shaoyan raised his hand, reached over naturally, and with a curve of his fingers, pushed the strand of hair away.

His movement was so natural, and Shen Xici, who was talking to Zhong Yue, did not shy away. Even the tone of his speech didn’t pause for a moment.

It was as if his subconscious and instincts had set up a police cordon, but the name “Sheng Shaoyan” was placed on a whitelist, granting him the right to act freely.

Only Zhong Yue’s eyes flickered, noticing this scene, which made him even more certain of his guess.

Strangely, the anxiety in Sheng Shaoyan’s heart immediately dissipated.

Like a soothed lion, Sheng Shaoyan suddenly relaxed. He leaned lazily against the doorframe, patiently listening to them chat about the set and their roles.

It wasn’t until the topic ended that Sheng Shaoyan moved his gaze from Shen Xici’s face to Zhong Yue’s and asked politely, “Would Mr. Zhong like to come in and sit for a while before going to the set? Is there anything you’d like to drink?”

The tone of a complete host.

Shen Xici, standing beside him, found this strange. When did Sheng Shaoyan start caring about what others wanted to drink?

It was said that the benefits at Shenghe Group were excellent, but when Shen Xici had visited, the beverage area on the dining floor of the group’s building was filled mostly with coffee, coffee, and more coffee, completely disregarding whether the employees wanted to drink it or not.

Zhong Yue was tactful. “Thank you, but if I don’t get to the set soon, the director will scold me. Definitely next time, if there’s a chance!”

He hadn’t planned on letting him in anyway. Sheng Shaoyan nodded. “Okay, I wish Mr. Zhong a smooth shoot.”

Closing the door, the two walked back into the room one after the other. Sheng Shaoyan didn’t mention Zhong Yue at all and asked, “You have an agent?”

“I will soon, but not yet.” Shen Xici bent down and continued to arrange the things he had taken out of his suitcase, replying, “I have an agent I want to work with, but she’s still on leave. I’ve calculated the time, and her leave should be ending soon.”

In his previous life, after Shen Xici finished filming “Mountain Range Line,” although the fact that he had been swapped at birth was exposed, the coldness of Xu Yuanjin and Cheng Ningyu towards him and their favoritism towards Xu Lingjia were no secret. It had been discussed by the media and marketing accounts eight hundred times, but many companies still hoped to work with him. Cheng Ningyu had also said that a senior executive at Jiarui Media was her best friend and also Xu Lingjia’s godmother. As long as he behaved and didn’t always try to snatch Xu Lingjia’s things and resources, he could also sign with Jiarui.

Shen Xici directly refused. Among the companies that had extended an olive branch, he chose one with a decent reputation and resources and signed a five-year contract.

The agent assigned to him by the company initially kept emphasizing that he had handled things incorrectly. A newcomer offending the Xu family and Ye Mei of Jiarui Media, how could he possibly survive in this industry? He could forget about good roles, he would definitely not get them, but making money was still no problem.

But it wasn’t long before he discovered that many good scripts sent his way had been rejected. The reason was that the agent preferred to book him for roles in commercial films with short shooting schedules and simple plots, with the aim of using him to make a quick buck.

Shen Xici simply went to find roles himself. It happened that a movie was in the middle of shooting and an actor for the fourth male lead role had been caught in a scandal, requiring a last-minute replacement. The role was a Chinese doctor in an underground clinic in Southeast Asia, and it required the replacement actor to preferably have some medical and surgical knowledge to avoid wasting time on training. Shen Xici’s profession was a perfect match. He seized the opportunity and got the role.

Later, after accepting Wen Yage’s invitation and finishing filming “The Great Swindle,” as soon as he received his pay, he used it to pay the penalty for early termination of his contract.

After terminating the contract, Shen Xici was in no hurry to find an agent. It was not until he ran into Ge Lanjing while eating out one day. Ge Lanjing had already left her company to work independently at that time. After learning he didn’t have an agent, she took the initiative to invite him and presented him with a career development plan the very next day. After Shen Xici read it, the two hit it off and signed a contract directly.

To this day, he still remembered clearly how, in order to get good roles, Ge Lanjing was deliberately given a hard time by someone close to Ye Mei. She drank until she had a gastric hemorrhage and was sent to the hospital. He received a call in the middle of the night, rushed to the emergency room, and saw Ge Lanjing lying pale on the hospital bed, telling him, “We got the role we wanted.”

So, even though he had more opportunities in this life, he wanted to wait for Ge Lanjing.

“You plan to wait for her leave to end before approaching her for collaboration?” Seeing Shen Xici nod, the subtle displeasure in Sheng Shaoyan’s heart was smoothed over.

So what if Zhong Yue knew?

He definitely didn’t know as many details as he did.

“Do you want to sleep a little longer?”

Shen Xici took his temperature as usual, and then looked at the sofa, which looked very uncomfortable, with some difficulty.

Before Sheng Shaoyan regained his memory, there was no problem with the two of them sleeping in the same bed. But facing the current Sheng Shaoyan, if he were to suggest they sleep together—he’d better not.

Also, Sheng Shaoyan had suddenly come to find him after so long, most likely because of his headaches and insomnia. He was forced to come here as a last resort, with no other choice.

Who knew if he would step on some landmine…

Sheng Shaoyan said, “I’m not sleeping. You sleep.”

Not sleeping? Didn’t he just say he had only slept for two hours?

Shen Xici was surprised. “Are you leaving?”

Was Shen Xici… asking him to stay?

The original plan was to rush back to Ningcheng for a ten o’clock meeting in the morning, but at that moment, Sheng Shaoyan changed his mind.

He replied, “I’m not leaving.”

Sitting on the sofa, Sheng Shaoyan sent a message to Yu Zhou, changing his participation in the morning meeting to online.

The sound of water came from the bathroom.

The frosted glass faintly glowed with light.

Estimating that Shen Xici should be done in a few minutes, Sheng Shaoyan got up. Following Shen Xici’s habits from Sui County, he adjusted the air conditioner’s temperature, turned on the bedside reading lamp, placed the script by the bed, and then turned off the main light.

Just as he was about to turn off the corridor light by the entrance, the bathroom door on one side opened without warning.

Moist, hot steam billowed out, mixed with the scent of shower gel that Sheng Shaoyan had become very familiar with over the past month.

But all of that became irrelevant.

Before him, Shen Xici’s hair was half-dry, and his body was wrapped only in a long white bath towel. His upper body had a thin layer of muscle, with tight lines. His skin was dazzlingly white, like jade that had been bathed in moonlight.

A drop of water on his cheek trickled down his jaw, across his collarbone and chest, forming a line of glistening reflection.

The towel was perched right on his hip bones, his lean waistline disappearing into the folds—

Sheng Shaoyan didn’t dare to look any further.

The clothes Shen Xici had taken in with him had gotten wet. He thought that once he was out of the bathroom, it would be just two steps to his suitcase, where he could just grab a new set to wear.

He didn’t expect to see Sheng Shaoyan as soon as he opened the door.

The entryway corridor was already narrow, and now it felt even more cramped.

He was just shirtless. At first, Shen Xici didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.

Unexpectedly, Sheng Shaoyan raised his hand, reached over his shoulder, and touched the wall behind him.

There was still some distance between the two of them, but because of this action, it felt as if he were being held in Sheng Shaoyan’s arms.

Perhaps because the water vapor in the surrounding air was too abundant, Shen Xici’s mind went blank for a moment.

Until a “click” sounded, and the corridor light above his head went out.

Shen Xici’s thoughts slowly began to function again—so Sheng Shaoyan wanted to turn off the light. The switch was behind him.

Sheng Shaoyan found that after the light was turned off, it was indeed harder to see clearly. But the light from the nearby reading lamp spread out a little, making Shen Xici appear even whiter in the dimness, as if a white night-blooming cereus had blossomed in the dark night, and jade was glowing.

With little light around, Sheng Shaoyan no longer hid the possessiveness in his eyes. He lowered his gaze to the person in front of him and asked in a low voice, “Where are your clothes?”

Shen Xici felt inexplicably uncomfortable, along with a sense of danger, as if being targeted by a large predator. He touched his itching ear. “They got wet. I came out to get a new set.”

Sheng Shaoyan’s gaze slowly traced over the crown of Shen Xici’s head, his brow bone, the bridge of his nose, and finally, landed on those thin lips, glistening with moisture.

His Adam’s apple bobbed.

“Okay, I’ll get them for you.”