TSBDRA 39: “Because I Like You”

After saying that, Yan Yushan left Cheng Tianwen standing there in a daze and caught up with Xu Xishuang, walking with him back to the hotel.

Since Xu Xishuang was used to eating with Yan Yushan, and Xiao Wang had also gotten into the habit of cooking for three, it wasn’t until Yan Yushan walked into the room and the meal was nearly finished that Xu Xishuang realized something.

He stared at Yan Yushan and asked, “You just walk into my room like that?”

Yan Yushan replied calmly, “It’s fine. The hotel’s security cameras won’t leak anything.”

Xu Xishuang: ?

Is that the problem here? What if someone caught them in the same room and it spread online again, stirring up more rumors about him and Yan Yushan? Who knows what people would say this time.

Even “friends” don’t spend all three meals a day glued to each other, right?

As if reading his mind, Yan Yushan put down his chopsticks and continued, “Don’t worry. This entire floor is occupied by artists and assistants from my studio. Even if they saw something, they wouldn’t say anything.”

Xu Xishuang: …

With language skills like that, how does Yan Yushan make it sound like the two of them are… doing something shady?

Xiao Wang carefully observed the expressions of Xu Xishuang and Yan Yushan. Sensing that they wouldn’t start arguing, he relaxed and lowered his head, focusing on his bowl and pretending he didn’t exist.

Xu Xishuang opened his mouth as if to say something more, but then glanced at Xiao Wang, who had his head down. He suddenly remembered that Xiao Wang was hired by Yan Yushan to cook for him—and that the groceries Xiao Wang bought were paid for by Yan Yushan too.

He was benefitting from someone else’s help, eating food bought with their money. If he then told Yan Yushan he couldn’t even eat here, that would be a bit too much. So Xu Xishuang quietly shut his mouth and didn’t say anything else about kicking him out.

Yan Yushan waited for a while, but when Xu Xishuang didn’t try to come up with another excuse to drive him away, he allowed himself a faint smile, didn’t push his luck further, and got up to leave, returning to his room across the hall.

After Xiao Wang cleaned up and left, Xu Xishuang, who had developed the habit of walking after meals, thought about going out but the film studio was bustling with people right now. If he went for a walk, there was a high chance he woud be recognized, which would be a hassle. So he just stayed in the room and walked a few circles around the bed.

After resting a bit, he checked the time and it was almost 6:30. He picked up his backpack from the bed, loaded it with his script, phone, and hotel room card, and headed out.

As he locked the door and turned around, he bumped into Yan Yushan, who was coming out of the room across from his.

Yan Yushan had changed into a black shirt, the top two buttons undone, his chest muscles slightly visible as he moved to close the door.

Xu Xishuang glanced at him and quickly looked away.

Noticing him, Yan Yushan raised an eyebrow lightly, surprised by the timing. He asked, “Wanna go together?”

Xu Xishuang nodded. “Yeah.”

They both put on masks before leaving the hotel and walked together toward the Bureau, taking the elevator to the second floor and pushing open the half-closed door to the conference room.

Since this was the first script reading, everyone wanted to make a good impression, so the room was already nearly full. When they saw leads Xu Xishuang and Yan Yushan walk in, people quickly made space for them next to Director Cheng Tianwen.

Yan Yushan naturally took the seat to Cheng Tianwen’s right. Xu Xishuang hesitated, then chose the seat to Cheng Tianwen’s left, placing Director Cheng between himself and Yan Yushan.

Yan Yushan didn’t think Xu Xishuang needed to be this cautious, but he didn’t say anything. He just quietly looked down at his script.

The table was round, so everyone sat in a circle—this made it easier to see each other’s expressions and interact, allowing actors to bounce lines and scenes off one another at any time.

At exactly 7 p.m., the script reading began.

In the opening scenes, Chen Muzhou—Xu Xishuang’s character—hadn’t yet appeared. The first to show up was Yan Yushan’s character, the Special Ops team leader Yan Zheng, who coincidentally shared the same surname as him.

Director Cheng Tianwen admitted with a smile, “The reason I wanted Yan Yushan to play this role from the start was because they have the same surname. I love these kinds of coincidences.”

Everyone gave polite laughs, and the mood lightened. Qu Yue and the others were noticeably less nervous.

Yan Zheng, played by Yan Yushan, was promoted to the Special Ops Bureau after earning merit in a previous case and was made team captain. As soon as he arrived, he was handed a new case by his current superior and former partner, Lu Qingyu—played by Yan Yao.

It was a gruesome and disturbing dismemberment case. The killer had acted with extreme cruelty and had the audacity to dump the body in a public park. Doing something like that in a public place was a blatant challenge to the Bureau—showing complete disregard for the law. The problem was, aside from identifying the victim, the Bureau had made no progress at all.

Lu Qingyu wasn’t trying to make things hard for Yan Zheng—she believed in his ability to solve the case. At the same time, she was giving this newcomer a chance to prove himself. Otherwise, someone parachuted into such a high position would struggle to win people over.

Xu Xishuang had initially suspected there might be a romantic subplot between Lu Qingyu and Yan Zheng, but Director Cheng had firmly denied it, swearing that there were absolutely no romantic storylines among the living characters.

The words “among the living” were… oddly phrased.

Because the case was especially tough, Lu Qingyu assigned two assistants to Yan Zheng: Wang Meng, played by Qu Yue, who was scatterbrained and made frequent mistakes but could be relied on in critical moments, and Song Youwei, played by Luo Huai, who appeared calm but was actually easily agitated. He liked stealing credit at first but gradually improved over time.

As the four began reading their lines, Xu Xishuang flipped through the thick master script.

The show was titled Who’s Standing Behind the Door not only because every time Yan Zheng led his team to break through a door, thinking they finally caught the mastermind, they would discover the real villain was someone else entirely. It always felt like they could never figure out who was truly behind it all. But also because the favorite mystery novel of the ultimate villain—Chen Muzhou—had the same title.

After reading the entire plot, Xu Xishuang felt that when the drama aired, viewers might only understand the hidden meaning of the title after finishing the entire series.

He then opened his character script, where he had tucked in a character bio he had written for Chen Muzhou.

Using the content from the script, clues from Yan Zheng’s investigation, his own imagination, and a bit of polish, Xu Xishuang crafted a rough life story for Chen Muzhou.

Chen Muzhou started out in a happy, middle-class family. His father was a boxing coach who also taught self-defense in his spare time. Chen Muzhou had learned how to fight from him.

But the good times didn’t last. His father was accused of sexually harassing a female student. He lost the lawsuit, and no one believed in his innocence except for Chen Muzhou. His mother divorced him and took most of the family’s assets. Humiliated and under constant scrutiny, his father couldn’t take it and committed suicide.

If this were a story of justice and redemption, Chen Muzhou would’ve spent his life trying to clear his father’s name. But he didn’t.

After the divorce and lawsuit, their family had almost nothing left. His father had been the sole breadwinner—and now he was dead. Chen Muzhou realized something was off about himself. When he saw his father’s blood, he felt a kind of deep, instinctive thrill. He cared more about the lost money than his father’s death.

His craving for money and death began to twist his mind, and he started to do whatever it took to gain both.

“Xiao Xu, Xiao Yan’s group just finished. It’s your turn. Read this next part,” Director Cheng said suddenly. “It’s that emotional scene with Xiao He.”

He smiled at Xu Xishuang. “You haven’t acted in this kind of emotional scene before, have you? Ever played a scumbag who lies to women?”

Xu Xishuang answered honestly, “No.”

Unfortunately, the next scene was exactly that—the moment Chen Muzhou began his descent into crime.

He was still a minor at the time, so there were limits to what he could do. That’s when he set his sights on the daughter of a neighborhood gangster, his classmate Xiao He.

Using his father’s suicide as a tool, he crafted the image of a bullied, pitiful outcast at school. He deliberately revealed his wounds to Xiao He, triggering her sympathy and protective instincts, slowly leading her to fall for him.

Director Cheng laughed, “Well, lucky us, we get to see your first scumbag performance. The actress playing Xiao He, move a little closer.”

The girl playing Xiao He often worked as an extra in different crews. This role had more lines than usual, so she was excited. Now, seeing that her scene partner was someone as good-looking as Xu Xishuang, she blushed before he even spoke, causing a ripple of warm laughter around the table.

Once the laughter died down, Xu Xishuang set down the script, looked at the actress across from him, his expression filled with sorrow and tenderness, and spoke slowly.

“Xiao He, I’ve already lost everything. I can’t even protect you… and now you have to protect me.”

As soon as he spoke, all eyes in the room locked onto him, completely captivated.

“Xiao He, thank you for taking care of me these days, but I can’t let you keep doing this,” Xu Xishuang lowered his head, pushed his glasses up, and said, “Because I…”

He paused.

The actress playing Xiao He couldn’t help asking, “Because what?”

Xu Xishuang slowly looked up, eyes filled with cautious hope. His expression was full of reluctance, like a man on the verge of despair reaching out for the last bit of light—desperate but afraid. Even his voice trembled, “Because I like you.”

Yan Yushan’s heart clenched violently.

He held his breath, trying to calm the erratic beating of his heart, as Xu Xishuang continued. “But someone like me… how could I deserve to like anyone?”

His voice was soft, like he might shatter from despair at any moment.

Yan Yushan’s fingers twitched slightly but before he could speak, the Xiao He actress beat him to it, her face flushed, voice filled with emotion, “How could you say you don’t deserve it?”

Xu Xishuang’s eyes seemed to light up—but the light quickly dimmed again. “But… your dad won’t agree. He hates me.”

“He’ll agree,” the Xiao He actress said, clenching her fists. “Because I like you too!”

Xu Xishuang’s voice trembled, “R-Really?”

“It’s true!” the actress nodded furiously. “I’m going to tell my dad right now that we’re together! He dotes on me—he won’t say no! And if he does, I’ll run away with you!”

According to the script, Xiao He was supposed to run off right then to confront her father, declaring her love for Chen Muzhou. As soon as she turned around and left, the expression on Chen Muzhou’s face turned cold, and he let out a soft, mocking laugh.

When the room heard that chuckle from Xu Xishuang, they snapped back to reality. Looking at his now indifferent expression, everyone suddenly understood just how terrifying a charming liar could be. You’d never know whether his words were sweet talk or calculated lies.

Director Cheng looked at the blushing actress. “That reaction was great—really natural. So, how did it feel to be confessed to by Xu Xishuang?”

The actress was too embarrassed to answer, fleeing back to her seat with her face buried in her hands, not daring to look at him.

Director Cheng turned to Xu Xishuang. “Xiao Xu, not bad at playing a scumbag. It doesn’t feel like your first time.”

Xu Xishuang had already composed himself. He pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and smiled politely. “That’s a hard compliment to take, Director Cheng.”

Yan Yushan watched him and let out a quiet breath, suddenly overwhelmed with a strong sense of jealousy toward the actress who’d just played Xiao He.