Chapter 102: The Show Begins

The moonlight was bright, and the shadows were cast at varying heights.

The old wooden bed let out a heavy, creaking sound, and Jiang Shi’s head sank into the soft pillow as the man’s body covered him.

Their clothes above the waist were relatively neat, but below, things were messy.

Jiang Shi’s eyes were half-closed. The moisture welled up from below, misting his eyes. He felt crushed and fragmented, a sound escaping through clenched teeth. Then, remembering something, he bit down hard on his lower lip.

Cheng Ye reached out and nudged his lips open. Sweat slid from his forehead, splashing onto the young man’s slightly pink eyelids.

“Go on, call out. No one can hear you.”

“No… can’t… the old man…”

“The old man is hard of hearing. Unless you tear the house down, he won’t hear a thing.”

Things immediately spiraled out of control.

Jiang Shi’s mind was hazy, like a puppet on strings, being led by Cheng Ye, rising and falling. After an unknown amount of time, the man reached out and covered his mouth. “Shh, someone’s coming.”

Jiang Shi opened his blurred eyes and looked toward the door. The wooden door was shut tight, and the latticed window cast the deep and shallow shadows of the bamboo from behind the house.

Then, footsteps sounded, followed by a knock on the door. “Brother Jiang Shi, are you asleep?”

It was Li Zong’s voice.

Jiang Shi’s eyes widened, not because of Li Zong’s arrival, but because of the man’s actions behind him.

So deep, he suspected it was almost hitting his stomach.

Li Zong said from outside the door, “I know you misunderstand me. Can we talk?”

In the middle of the night, alone, Jiang Shi didn’t know what they could possibly have to talk about.

Seeing that he didn’t respond, Li Zong continued, “I didn’t want to treat you that way, but my adoptive father has no money for treatment, I’m only a senior in college, and my mother knows nothing. Huo Ji came to me…”

He gave a bitter laugh. “You know that money is life-saving money for me. At first, I didn’t know you and my brother had that kind of relationship. I like you, and Huo Ji said he could give me a chance to get close to you, so I was naturally ecstatic.”

“I am despicable, relying on feigning misery to get close to you, but what I told you is true. You can go and check.”

“Brother Jiang Shi…” He lowered his voice. “If you can pity my brother, can’t you pity me?”

Jiang Shi… Jiang Shi couldn’t speak. His mouth was covered by Cheng Ye. His expression was unfocused, and tears involuntarily rolled down, wetting the man’s palm.

Cheng Ye opened his mouth to catch his tears, leaning close to his ear, his voice so low only they could hear it.

“So pitiful, Brother Jiang Shi. Which brother does the big brother want to pity? Me or him?”

Jiang Shi couldn’t speak, but in his ecstasy, he bit down on Cheng Ye’s hand.

Seeing that he kept not responding, Li Zong became inexplicably anxious. He knew Jiang Shi was awake, but if he kept pretending to be asleep, he couldn’t break down the door.

“Brother Jiang Shi, if you won’t see me, don’t you care about what Huo Ji is planning to do to you?”

Cheng Ye licked Jiang Shi’s ear. “Let him in.”

Jiang Shi looked at him.

The man’s broad body completely enveloped him, unwilling to let the person outside see even a fraction of him, even through the door.

Cheng Ye loosened his grip a little. “The show is just beginning.“

---

…Ten minutes later, Jiang Shi’s voice finally sounded from inside the house. “Give me two minutes.”

Two minutes later, Jiang Shi opened the door, wearing a jacket. His expression was very calm, but his eyes were like the wetness after a heavy rain, glistening with a watery mist, carrying the turbulence of a recently quelled storm.

Li Zong’s gaze clung to him, a feeling of itchiness rising in his heart.

He followed Jiang Shi into the room.

The dim light illuminated the room. The furnishings were simple. A half-open suitcase sat in the corner, a corner of the quilt was turned back, and the latticed window was propped open, letting in the evening breeze, which carried the fresh scent of outdoor bamboo and a smell that Li Zong couldn’t quite place.

Jiang Shi sat on the bed, his jacket tightly wrapped, covering half his neck, his legs crossed.

“What exactly do you want to talk to me about?”

Li Zong stood in front of him, knowing that this would annoy Jiang Shi, yet his gaze couldn’t help but fall on him. His throat felt itchy, and he covered his mouth and coughed.

“Huo Ji found me, and he told me to seduce you.”

Jiang Shi sneered upon hearing this. “Does he overestimate you or underestimate me?”

There wasn’t even a chair in the room, and Li Zong naturally dared not sit on the same bed as Jiang Shi. The other party didn’t invite him to sit, so he half-squatted in front of Jiang Shi. The light cast their shadows on the wall, intimately close.

“We are brothers. Even though we’ve been separated for so many years and had different upbringings, some genes are etched into the bone.”

For instance, he also liked Jiang Shi, and he knew how to win Jiang Shi’s favor. It was just a pity that he came too late, making the tricks others had already used seem so laughable when he used them again.

Li Zong didn’t hate Jiang Shi.

He clenched his fists.

He only hated why that bastard didn’t die sooner.

He should have died a long time ago, died in that rainy night, died in the cold February of Xiliu Village.

Li Zong hid his hands in his clothes, revealing a gentle smile. “My coming to the crew was arranged by him, and the incident at the banquet was also orchestrated by him. But I swear, everything else I told you is true.”

“I know it’s wrong to deceive you, but my father is lying in the hospital, and my mother cries at home every day. I had no other choice…”

He moved forward a step, closer to Jiang Shi. “I can tell you all of Huo Ji’s plans. I only ask that you don’t treat me like you did this morning. I… I don’t ask for anything else, only that we can be friends.”

His tone was humble. “Just be friends…”

Outside the window, tree shadows overlapped, and Jiang Shi heard the sound of something stepping on stones.

He leaned down toward Li Zong. “What is Huo Ji’s plan?”

Seeing that Jiang Shi was willing to listen to him, Li Zong’s eyes lit up. He stood up, intending to explain clearly to Jiang Shi, but perhaps because his legs were numb from squatting, he lost his balance the moment he stood up and stumbled toward Jiang Shi.

Jiang Shi reached out and caught him.

The next second, the door was slammed open.

Cheng Ye stood in the doorway, his face extremely grim. “What are you doing?“

The corner of Jiang Shi’s mouth twitched.

Li Zong subconsciously stood up. “Brother, don’t misunderstand. I just came to explain things clearly to Brother Jiang Shi…”

Cheng Ye grabbed his collar, yanked him away from Jiang Shi, and punched him.

The force of this punch was not at all the same as Jiang Shi’s, and in an instant, Li Zong’s face swelled up.

Cheng Ye’s expression was frighteningly dark.

“What kind of talk needs two people to be on a bed in the middle of the night? If I hadn’t come, would you two have taken your clothes off to talk?”

After saying this, Cheng Ye looked toward Jiang Shi.

Jiang Shi was stunned for two seconds, then his face also went cold. “Cheng Ye, what do you mean? Do you suspect something is going on between him and me?”

Li Zong stood between the two, covering his face. “Brother, you really misunderstand. Brother Jiang Shi and I are not like that…”

“Brother? Who is your brother? And ‘Brother Jiang Shi’? You’re calling each other so intimately after just a few days?”

With that, Cheng Ye delivered another punch to Li Zong.

Jiang Shi turned his head and coughed, his shoulders trembling several times.

Li Zong was at best a scholar, no match for Cheng Ye. After only two blows, foamy blood appeared at his mouth. A flash of resentment crossed his eyes, but he quickly concealed it.

Cheng Ye took two steps toward Jiang Shi. Li Zong quickly grabbed him. “Brother, whatever you have against me, take it out on me. Don’t make things difficult for Jiang Shi.”

The man in front of him turned his head, his shoulder damp with the deep night’s dew. But colder than the dew was the look in his eyes.

“Who are you to him? Does he need you to speak for him?”

Li Zong only said, “There’s really nothing going on between us. I came to see him only to explain things clearly…”

The next second, Cheng Ye pulled out his phone right in front of him. “Then you tell me, what is this?”

Jiang Shi squinted a look. It was a photo of Li Zong squatting next to him in the morning, both of them smiling, making them look genuinely close.

He glanced at Cheng Ye, who put his phone away.

Li Zong said, “We were just having a normal conversation. If you think there’s a problem, you can ask people on the set. Besides, do you have to control who Brother Jiang Shi talks to and meets? In your heart, do you really not trust him that much?”

Jiang Shi didn’t hear a word of the chatter. He shifted uncomfortably, feeling something flowing out.

He closed his eyes. This time, his expression was genuinely unwell.

Li Zong saw this and thought he had struck a chord with Jiang Shi.

He stood up straight, meeting Cheng Ye’s gaze. “It’s true that you’re a couple, but even the closest people need their own space. He is your partner, not a puppet for you to control…”

Cheng Ye’s face was ashen. He yanked Li Zong by the arm. “Get out.“

Li Zong was unwilling and looked toward Jiang Shi.

Cheng Ye, like a lion defending its territory, dragged him out of the room. He gritted his teeth and warned Li Zong, “Get far away. Do you believe I won’t actually kill you?”

Li Zong was startled by the coldness in his eyes. When he recovered his senses, the door had already closed in front of him.

Sounds of commotion came from inside, Cheng Ye’s suppressed, angry questions, and Jiang Shi’s silence.

Li Zong curled his lips into a smile.

He licked his mouth and walked away from the house.

The mountain night was too quiet, the moonlight so bright it cast his shadow clearly on the ground. The mountains were silent, gazing quietly at everyone.

Li Zong hated this silence. The mountains here, like those in Xiliu Village, disgusted him.

And those eyes, like a wolf’s.

Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting!

He stood in the wind for a long time before dialing a number on his phone.

“Mr. Huo, everything was done as you instructed.”

Huo Ji laughed on the other end of the line.

“Well done. I found the best specialist for your father. Once Jiang Shi and Cheng Ye break up, I’ll give you the rest of the money.”

“As for you…” Huo Ji scoffed. “Don’t get any wrong ideas. Without me, someone like you wouldn’t even have the chance to meet Jiang Shi. Don’t covet what doesn’t belong to you.”

Li Zong’s voice sounded weak. “How could I? If it weren’t for you, my father would be dead by now. How could I possibly think of anything else…”

He always spoke this way in front of Huo Ji, who didn’t find anything unusual and hung up after giving a couple of instructions.

Li Zong looked at his phone, touched the injury on his face, and turned to look at the lighted house behind him, baring a grin through gritted teeth.