Chapter 69: Come Here

The next morning, Shen Xici woke up. The rain outside had stopped. Water pooled on the eaves dripped onto the banana leaves outside the window, making a soft “tap.”

As he was about to reach for his phone to check the time, Shen Xici suddenly sensed someone else in the room. He looked up and found Sheng Shaoyan standing by the window, on the phone. He had been watching him for who knows how long.

The room lights were off, and the old-fashioned window frames were closed, making everything seem dim. Only the window behind Sheng Shaoyan was pushed open, allowing the morning light to pour in and settle on his shoulders, giving him the air of a calm, deep sea.

Most importantly, Sheng Shaoyan had clearly just showered. His semi-long hair was damp, and his white shirt hadn’t been tucked into his black trousers. He hadn’t even buttoned it up. Due to his quarter-Slavic heritage, his skin was extremely fair. The morning light behind him acted like a spotlight, multiplying his beauty and presence.

Seeing that Shen Xici was awake, Sheng Shaoyan walked to the bedside and held out the tie in his hand. Mindful of the person on the other end of the phone, he only mouthed the words: “Come here.”

Unsure what had bewitched him in that moment, Shen Xici threw off the covers, crawled on his knees across the bed, and knelt by the edge. He first reached out to fasten the buttons on Sheng Shaoyan’s shirt.

He clearly felt Sheng Shaoyan’s voice falter, only continuing after a few seconds.

The mother-of-pearl buttons shimmered. Shen Xici patiently fastened them one by one. Inevitably, he saw Sheng Shaoyan’s beautifully toned chest up close, as well as the distinct V-line that disappeared into his trousers.

The cool, fair skin was like a jade carving. The combination of beauty and hormones was overwhelming; Shen Xici felt a little dizzy.

Steading himself, after buttoning the shirt, Shen Xici took the tie from Sheng Shaoyan’s hand and straightened up. As Sheng Shaoyan cooperatively lowered his head, he spoke coolly into the phone, “I pay them a high salary not to hear them say ‘the person is missing’.”

Holding one end of the tie, Shen Xici saw Sheng Shaoyan hang up and asked, “Did something happen to your second uncle?”

Just the fact that Sheng Shaoyan’s injury and amnesia were Sheng Junhong’s handiwork was enough for Shen Xici’s guard to go up immediately upon hearing the name “Sheng Junhong.”

Sheng Shaoyan’s voice was light. “He was shot in the left leg two months ago and has been recovering on Long Island. He’s lame now.”

Although it was a question, Shen Xici’s tone was certain. “You had it done?”

Sheng Shaoyan didn’t hide it. “Yes, it was me.”

Given Sheng Shaoyan’s personality, for his uncle Sheng Junhong who had nearly killed him, just shooting him in the leg was already a very gentle measure. For someone who was supposed to be recuperating in the Sheng family’s ancestral home to suddenly disappear felt unsettling. Shen Xici asked, “Are there any records of him leaving the country?”

“None have been found. I’ve sent people to look for him.” Sheng Shaoyan looked down at him. “Are you worried?”

“Of course. If it weren’t for Sheng Junhong, you wouldn’t have been injured,” Shen Xici answered without thinking, while trying to recall if Sheng Shaoyan had ever mentioned anything that happened after he regained his memory in his past life, searching for clues.

He didn’t notice how natural and certain his tone was.

Sheng Shaoyan thought to himself that it was just as he had guessed. Shen Xici not only knew his true identity and that he had amnesia, but also knew that the person who attacked him was Sheng Junhong.

Long ago, Sheng Shaoyan had realized that Shen Xici held many secrets. For example, Shen Xici was familiar with all his habits, could recite his ID number at the club, and could predict that Cheng Mingye’s brakes would fail during the race.

—These were likely just the tip of the iceberg.

He also knew that if he asked, the answer he received would certainly not be the true one.

However, regardless of whether it was the metaphysics Cheng Mingye spoke of or some other reason, in Sheng Shaoyan’s eyes, none of it was as important as the person before him.

His goal was clear. All he wanted was this person.

After a while of fruitless recollection, Shen Xici gave up. He changed his clothes, and seeing that it was still early, decided to have breakfast with Sheng Shaoyan.

Just a few steps out the door, they ran into Uncle Laisen. Shen Xici greeted him with a smile, “Good morning, Uncle!”

“Young Master, Young Master Shen, good morning.”

Butler Laisen watched the two of them emerge from the same room, surprised yet feeling it was somehow expected.

He followed them silently and soon discovered that the usually taciturn Young Master was not so taciturn anymore. He responded to, agreed with, and supported everything Young Master Shen said. When Young Master Shen mentioned the scenes he had to film today and needed to run lines, after Young Master Shen finished his line, the Young Master could seamlessly follow up with the next line.

He had clearly memorized the script.

Butler Laisen glanced at Shen Xici’s back and mentally labeled him—the boss’s boss.

After breakfast, Shen Xici went out through the inner garden’s gate, circled around to the front, and entered the film set without anyone noticing anything amiss.

The moment Lu Jiming saw him, he immediately threw all his tasks to the assistant director and ran over excitedly. He looked Shen Xici up and down several times and clapped him on the shoulder. “Good, good. To survive a great catastrophe means you’re destined for good fortune. Even a falling steel frame couldn’t hit you. Brother, your good fortune is coming!”

Shen Xici staggered from Lu Jiming’s pat. “You haven’t been editing your footage properly these past couple of nights? How do you have so much strength?”

The intensity of work on set was high. After a full day of shooting, physical energy was nearly depleted. Staying up all night to edit would usually leave Lu Jiming looking like a dehydrated plant the next day, with limp branches and leaves, only finding strength when he was angry enough to yell at someone.

Lu Jiming’s expression was flustered for a moment, then he widened his eyes innocently. “How could that be? I’ve been working hard, editing and editing!”

Shen Xici wasn’t fooled. “Let me see your progress.”

Ten minutes later, Lu Jiming’s personal Weibo was updated: “A certain actor @ShenXici really does dare to scold the director, and scolds him fiercely!! I, Lu Jiming, solemnly repent. I shouldn’t have procrastinated, nor should I have gotten mesmerized by a live stream of catching crayfish late at night and forgotten about editing. Even more, I shouldn’t have lied to Shen Xici, trying to hide the fact that I hadn’t edited! I will definitely edit properly from now on and never procrastinate again!”

“—Well now, I push my kid, and Shen Xici pushes his director! I see myself in Shen Xici, so worried and操碎了心 (cāo suì le xīn – worried sick)!”

“—The attitude is good, but the format of the apology is wrong. Redo it.”

“—Hahaha, you guys are hilarious! Is ‘Fleeting Life’ being edited as it’s filmed? Is the release date soon? What are you delaying for, Director Lu? Hurry up!”

“—Director Lu, did you edit the film?”

“—Director Lu, did you edit the film?”

The production team seized the opportunity and bought a trending topic with #DirectorLuDidYouEditTheFilm# to get some exposure for the movie.

Lu Jiming replied to a few comments, then said with delight, “After that whole huge scandal, our movie’s popularity shot up. The official Weibo account also gained a ton of followers. We should be grateful to Xu Lingjia and his gang. We got a wave of free publicity and saved a huge amount on promotional fees!”

Shen Xici was reminded and remembered, “After Wu Cisheng terminated his contract, do you have any ideas for who will play the chamber of commerce president?”

“I do! I watched ‘Mountain Range Line’ and the actor who played the old village chief was excellent. I contacted Teacher He Yunli. He wasn’t willing to come at first, but after I pleaded with him, I had a flash of inspiration and told him you were the male lead. Only then did he relent and say he’d consider it.” Lu Jiming concluded, “These veteran actors who usually perform in theater troupes and only join film crews for roles they like are purely in it for the love of acting. True artists! Their favorite thing to do is to have an acting showdown with someone, just for the thrill of it!”

Lu Jiming then instructed, “When he joins the cast, you have to perform well. We must keep him here!”

Shen Xici said coolly, “I can, but you have to pay me more.”

Lu Jiming gasped, clutching his chest, his voice trembling, “Aren’t we best bros anymore? Do you have someone else on the outside? Who is it? Tell me, who!”

Shen Xici: “…”

A miscalculation. Lu Jiming was a better actor than he was.

After shooting all morning, it was lunchtime. Shen Xici told Lan Xiaoshan and quietly slipped back to the inner garden for lunch. While it didn’t fully recharge him, his health bar shot back up to eighty percent. Because the distance was so short, no one even noticed he had left the set.

After doing this for a few days, Shen Xici increasingly discovered the benefits of living in the inner garden. If his makeup call on the schedule was at eight, he could wake up at seven-thirty, wash up, get dressed, then quickly eat a breakfast prepared by Uncle Laisen, and arrive at the makeup room right on time. After half a day of filming, he could go back to the inner garden for lunch. The menu was different every meal, and everything was delicious.

Moreover, Shen Xici hadn’t eaten food that was so “just right” in a long time. The texture was just right, the temperature was just right. Even the fish was deboned, and the shrimp and crabs were all shelled.

He didn’t have to divide his attention while eating, worrying about how much force to use, whether he would prick his hand or gums, or worry that the food was too hot and would blister his mouth and throat without him knowing, or too cold and cause stomach cramps.

One day after a meal, before heading to the set, Shen Xici suddenly stopped and asked with a light, smiling tone, “Uncle Laisen, did A’Shao tell you about my physical condition?”

Butler Laisen stood by the table and said respectfully, “Yes, the Young Master said your health is not good and asked us to take good care of you.”

Lowering his lashes, no one could see the emotion in Shen Xici’s eyes. After a while, he smiled. “Thank you for your trouble.”

Shen Xici had asked Lu Jiming for leave on September 30th to return to Ningcheng. He had originally only asked for three days, but unexpectedly, time flew by, and he didn’t return to work until the seventeenth. Everyone else’s scenes were already finished, leaving only his.

Every extra day the crew was delayed was another day of burning money. The result was that a glance at the call sheet showed his scenes scheduled from morning till midnight. Every few scenes he shot with other actors, a chorus of “Congratulations, you’ve wrapped!” would erupt.

At his peak, Shen Xici sent three actors off the set in one day, quickly earning him the nickname “Master of Wrapping” from the crew.

By working day and night like this, the progress bar was finally almost full.

After breakfast, Shen Xici and Sheng Shaoyan left together. He had stayed up late filming a night scene, so he was yawning as he walked, still a bit dizzy and not fully awake.

Stepping down from the doorstep, Sheng Shaoyan suddenly grabbed his wrist.

Shen Xici turned his head slowly, confused. “A’Shao?”

Sheng Shaoyan reminded him, “Steps. Watch your step.”

He made sure the person over there had seen his action clearly before he gestured, “Lan Xiaoshan and Lu Jiming are over there.”

“Xiaoshan and Director Lu? They should be on set at this time—” Shen Xici followed Sheng Shaoyan’s gesture and his eyes met two shocked gazes in the distance. The words caught in his throat, and he was instantly wide awake.

Why were they here?

Around the corner, Lu Jiming and Lan Xiaoshan were holding steamed buns, staring at him dumbfounded. The buns they’d lifted to their mouths almost fell.

Two minutes later, Shen Xici met them at the corner.

Three black Maybachs drove past. As they passed, Sheng Shaoyan even deliberately rolled down the window and nodded at Lan Xiaoshan and Lu Jiming.

After the Maybachs were out of sight, Lan Xiaoshan lowered the hand he had been waving, his eyes vacant. He slowly chewed the steamed bun, swallowed, then scratched the back of his head in confusion and muttered, “That’s weird, why did that person look so much like my Brother Shao…”

Lu Jiming looked in the direction the car had gone, then at the gate of the inner garden. “It’s so early in the morning, why did you come out of there?” Something occurred to him, and his eyes widened. “Did you stay the night—”

His voice was loud enough to be heard across the street. Shen Xici quickly clamped a hand over Lu Jiming’s mouth. “Keep it down!”

Nodding several times, Lu Jiming pried the hand off his mouth, excited like he’d just stumbled upon a juicy piece of gossip. “No wonder! I was saying, no wonder you’ve been so secretive and mysterious lately. You disappear at mealtimes, and whenever I ask where you’ve gone, you always dodge the question and change the subject. And you vanish lightening-fast after we wrap for the day! You really do have a secret! You actually stayed in the inner garden last night! No, wait, have you been living here recently?”

This time, he consciously lowered his voice. “Who was that just now?”

Shen Xici tried to bluff his way through. “My former agent. You know him.”

“I know he’s your former agent, I’m asking who is he!” Lu Jiming recalled the man’s well-tailored three-piece suit, his commanding presence, the Maybach he sat in, flanked by two bodyguard cars. He was clearly a big shot. Something clicked in his mind. Lu Jiming nudged Lan Xiaoshan with his elbow. “Hey, what were you muttering about just now? Your what brother?”

Lan Xiaoshan: “My Brother Shao! That person looked exactly like my Brother Shao!”

“‘Brother Shao’?” Lu Jiming stroked his chin. “Shao, Sheng family, Sheng Shao… Sheng Shaoyan…” His voice cracked. “Sheng Shaoyan? The legendary Mr. Sheng? The person who lent us the garden?”

Seeing Shen Xici not denying it, Lu Jiming theatrically put a hand to his forehead, took two steps back, and leaned weakly against a tree trunk. “You really do have another brother on the outside. I’m not your most important one anymore… Don’t try to fool me like before. I saw it. When you were coming down the steps, you were holding hands!”

He urged, “Quick, quick, tell me what’s going on. How did your former agent become Mr. Sheng?”

Shen Xici’s mind raced, trying to figure out how to explain this appropriately.

Beside them, Lan Xiaoshan was still holding the steamed buns, trying to piece things together in his head. He muttered to himself, “Brother Shao is Sheng Shaoyan, Sheng Shaoyan is Mr. Sheng, Brother Shao is Brother Shen’s boyfriend, so… Mr. Sheng is Brother Shen’s boyfriend?”

Lu Jiming shot up from his feigned sick state, no longer weak at all. “What! Shen Xici has a boyfriend? And his boyfriend is Sheng Shaoyan?”

He slapped his forehead. “Oh, I get it. What ‘former agent’? You two are role-playing? I never would have guessed, Shen Xici. I can’t believe you’re into this kind of thing!”