HTI: Chapter 93

After investigating all morning, the crew still hadn’t found who took the sneak photos. The venue might’ve been cleared that day but there were still unrelated personnel entering and exiting the Su house. The culprit couldn’t be found.

Things didn’t stop but after this incident, Director Zhou made the management of the studio a lot stricter. He cleared the scene three times a day, regularly counted the number of people and installed monitors in every shooting corner of the Su house. Zhou Huairen also emphasized that if there was another leak of shooting details, the entire crew would close the shoot and reject all media and private visits.

The incident passed and the atmosphere of the crew quickly settled down. Everyone was paying more attention to the shooting.

Inside, the storm seemed to have passed but outside, the impact of the news continued. Wen Yao might’ve helped explain for Xie Yang but the public hadn’t really seen Xie Yang’s acting. Thus, there were still continuous questions about his acting. Starting from this news, articles about Xie Yang’s acting skills started to emerge endlessly.

In this atmosphere, Xu Heng’s movie ‘Crazy Musician’ that was shot last year started its pre-screening promotion.

Unexpectedly, the first promotional video released by ‘Crazy Musician’ wasn’t a movie trailer but a behind the scenes video. In the video, Xie Yang was standing beside Shen Yan holding a violin in a normal manner. Then once he closed his eyes and opened them again, his aura changed drastically, he had a treacherous expression and his eyes reflected madness. As he pulled the bow heavily over the strings, the emotions of the entire world seemed to be controlled by him.

A completely different Xie Yang! Everyone who saw this was shocked.

Shen Yan forwarded the video with the text: A rising star that is growing rapidly. I’m looking forward to the day when Xie Yang and I will officially perform on the same stage.

Because of the affirmation of the three-time Golden Movie Emperor, the articles questioning Xie Yang’s acting skills finally disappeared.

It was only after receiving a call from Qin Cheng that Xie Yang learned the first wave of promotion for ‘Crazy Musician’ was actually based on the music he composed. Recently, he had been concentrating on his role and rarely paid attention to things on the Internet.

After reading Shen Yan’s Weibo, Xie Yang called him and sincerely said, “Thank you Brother Shen for helping me.”

Shen Yan replied, “I just told the truth. The articles questioning you were obviously bought by someone. Don’t underestimate this type of thing. ‘I See Xuanyuan’ won’t be available until the end of this year at the earliest but the shooting will be finished in July or August. Generally, actors will start looking for the next work halfway or not even halfway through the filming. If your acting skills are questioned, it is likely that directors interested in you will hesitate to use you. This will make you miss out on good opportunities. You will waste the time between filming and the release of the movie.”

Xie Yang thanked him again for his advice.

The two of them chatted about their current situation. Before hanging up the phone, Shen Yan suddenly changed the topic. “I saw Mu Zhouyi again due to the movie promotions. She has… changed a lot.”

Xie Yang’s mind moved and he asked, “In which way has she changed?”

Shen Yan thought about it before replying, “She has become… more real.”

***

In late April, Qiu Xing finally dealt with the series of problems caused by Qiu Jingbang falling ill. He got on the plane and flew to J City. For this reason, Xie Yang took leave with Director Zhou in advance and went to the airport to pick him up.

At 11 o’clock in the morning, Qiu Xing and Zhou Miao appeared at the airport exit. Xie Yang lowered the car window and waved to Qiu Xing.

Seeing Xie Yang, Qiu Xing’s footsteps paused. Then he strode forward, opened the rear seat door and got inside. He went to the window seat for a second before turning around to hug Xie Yang. Xie Yang was about to hug back but Qiu Xing let go and instead raised a hand to press against Xie Yang’s head.

“Skinny.” Qiu Xing was serious as if the hug had been to just measure the amount of flesh on Xie Yang’s body. He frowned and inquired, “Did you eat well in the crew?”

Xie Yang raised his eyebrow and stared straight at Qiu Xing.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Qiu Xing took something out of his pocket and used it to cover Xie Yang’s face.

Xie Yang took it off his face and saw that it was a soft and delicate cloth pouch. He squeezed it and  asked, “What is it?”

“Return gift.”

A return gift? Xie Yang didn’t remember giving Qiu Xing anything recently. He lowered his head to open the pouch and pulled out a jade pendant in the shape of a baby sheep.

Xie Yang remembered the jade pendant he had given to Qiu Xing as a red envelope for the Spring Festival. He smiled and said, “That was a red envelope I gave to you. You didn’t need to give me a return gift.”

“What nonsense. Come here.”

Xie Yang looked at Qiu Xing and leaned in obediently. Qiu Xing took the pendant from Xie Yang’s hand and put it on his neck before carefully adjusting the position. “This one has been consecrated. Keep it safe.”

Xie Yang touched the jade around his neck before reaching out to hug Qiu Xing’s waist.

Qiu Xing paused and lowered his eyes to watch Xie Yang. His gaze slowly fell on Xie Yang’s lips and his head leaned down uncontrollably. After leaning down a few centimeters, he abruptly raised his head and glanced at Wu Shui driving in the front seat and Zhou Miao in the front passenger seat. He released Xie Yang and straightened. “Sit down… remember to fasten your seat belt when you sit in the back row.” He reached out a hand to help Xie Yang fasten his seat belt.

Xie Yang spoke in a low voice. “Coward.”

Qiu Xing froze and glanced at the front seats before looking back at Xie Yang. “Don’t mess around.”

The car finally stopped in front of a chain restaurant owned by Rongding. Several people entered the box to eat. When ordering, Xie Yang found that Qiu Xing didn’t only order light dishes. He also added some heavier dishes.

Xie Yang wondered, “Don’t you need to avoid it?”

“No.”

Xie Yang understood and smiled. He took the initiative to pour a glass of water for Qiu Xing.

After dinner, the two of them went to the presidential suite of the resort hotel that Qiu Xing had booked in advance. It had three bedrooms and two main living rooms. They could watch movies, play games, swim and get a massage. The facilities were very complete.

Xie Yang washed his hands after entering the room. Then he sat on the sofa to play with his mobile phone.

Qiu Xing glanced at Xie Yang, washed his hands, glanced at Xie Yang, went to unpack his luggage, glanced at Xie Yang and coughed. He stood still for a few seconds before taking the initiative to sit down next to Xie Yang, their legs pressed together.

Xie Yang looked sideways at Qiu Xing before continuing to play with his phone.

“Xie Yang, do you want to watch the—”

Xie Yang turned to look at Qiu Xing.

“—TV.”

“……”

Qiu Xing avoided Xie Yang’s gaze, got up and grabbed the remote control to turn on the TV.

Once the TV was turned on, it happened to be an entertainment channel. The good-looking host was broadcasting news about the announcement of the love affair of a certain star in a tone of blessing.

Qiu Xing paused and stared at the TV screen. He only slowly put down the remote control once the news was over.

The next news started to be shown. Unfortunately, it was actually related to marriage. The host said that a certain male star and his boyfriend outside the circle announced their marriage. In the photos, the actor and his boyfriend outside the circle were generously holding hands on the road, watching movies, eating and kissing on the streets. They didn’t dodge the paparazzi and were calm and happy.

Qiu Xing was angry and changed the channel.

“It is indecent to kiss on the street!”

Xie Yang smelled a strong smell of jealousy and deliberately said, “Actually, I really want to try this.”

Qiu Xing turned to look at Xie Yang.

“However, you said that you don’t want to disclose our relationship. It seems that this idea of mine will never be realized for the rest of this life.” Xie Yang watched Qiu Xing empathetically. “It’s okay, I understand. Your identity is special and we are going to get a divorce. We really have to hide it.”

Qiu Xing, “……”

***

The two of them sat on the sofa and talked for a while. Xie Yang unknowingly fell asleep. Since entering this world, Xie Yang had always been careful and tense. This was the first time he was so relaxed and undefended in front of someone.

As he was sleeping in a daze, Xie Yang was awakened by an itch from his lips. He opened his eyes slightly, saw a familiar face in his vision and closed them again carefreely.

The two of them spent two days in the hotel during which the closest thing they did was Qiu Xing stealing kisses while Xie Yang was ‘asleep’. If Xie Yang was awake then don’t even talk about kissing. Qiu Xing even had to find a reason to hug him.

At the end of the holiday, Xie Yang sent Qiu Xing to the airport. Qiu Xing was about to get out of the car and leave. This time, Qiu Xing finally didn’t make any excuses. He hugged Xie Yang directly and said, “Make a good movie, eat well, be obedient and don’t get close to strange people.”

Xie Yang hugged Qiu Xing back. “You too. Have a good treatment.”

Qiu Xing left and Xie Yang returned to the hotel where the crew was located. He unpacked briefly and went to the crew to tell Zhou Huairen his holiday was over. A staff member who was familiar with Xie Yang asked him where he had gone while on leave. Xie Yang smiled and just said he went to receive a friend.

Early the next morning, Xie Yang was awakened by Qin Cheng’s phone call. Qin Cheng’s tone was very strange. “Xie Yang, your love affair has been exposed.”

Xie Yang woke up instantly. “Was I filmed with Qiu Xing?”

“No. A netizen found a girl who is suspected of giving you the soup. Her nickname is ‘mouse’ and she is a student of C University. She is in the same grade as you and also an acting major, but you are in different classes. Still, you were in the same club. Some reporters went to C University for an interview. Someone from the same club said you had chased after that girl.”

“……”

On the way to the crew, Xie Yang looked through the Weibo of the girl nicknamed ‘Mouse.’

The girl’s Weibo ID was ‘Little Mouse Who Stole the Wool’ and it was the similar soup thermos post that caused the ‘love affair’ to be exposed. Of course, if it was just this then others wouldn’t associate the girl with Xie Yang. Later, some curious people found a photo of the girl and Xie Yang in the girl’s past posts.

This photo was crowded with melon eaters and the comments already exceeded 10,000.

A group photo, a thermos of the same style and a ‘Mouse’ nickname. Thus, Xie Yang’s ‘love affair’ was exposed.

Qin Cheng spoke through WeChat voice call. “It should be another one taking advantage of your popularity. A person I asked to investigate found that this girl has signed with Huangtian and is about to make her debut.”

What low-level but disgusting tricks. It seemed that Huangtian had finished recuperating and was looking to make trouble.

Xie Yang thought about it. “I’ll clarify this myself.”

He finished speaking and quit his Weibo side account. He switched to his main account, waited a few seconds for the page to slow down from the information flooding in and started to type.

A few minutes later.

[Xie Yang: Adding another criteria for finding a partner. A male mouse secretly sending sugar.]


Proofreader: Paranoid Kitten & Mnemo

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qyuraa
qyuraa
2 years ago

OH MY GOD
Thank you for the chapter!

Fliona
Fliona
2 years ago

Ommggg he just indirectly annonced that he’s gay

Araminthe Ispwitch
Araminthe Ispwitch
7 months ago
Reply to  Fliona

Really glad that the story’s setting has no homophobia, too 🥹

Dirtyoldfujoshi
Dirtyoldfujoshi
1 year ago

What? Xie Yang is gay?! I couldn’t tell

Breaking News-XieYangIsGay?!
Breaking News-XieYangIsGay?!
1 year ago

Really?! Oh my god!! I can’t believe the lying thugs lied to me!!!!! T^T sellingmeng.jpg

Ehhhhhh!
Ehhhhhh!
10 months ago

Qx stealing kisses 👀❤️