TF01 79

Ying Ming had been hesitating, unsure whether to call Shi Yi to come out or walk in and pretend not to know him. But before he could think it through, one of the staff beside him pulled him along into the room. He had no time to decide. Shi Yi had already spotted him.

And the atmosphere turned a little awkward.

Even people who hadn’t met Shi Yi before would probably find his face familiar. This crew in particular had seen him drop by during their last shoot, so they already knew he was someone important. The staff member who had dragged Ying Ming in quickly picked up on the situation. The moment he saw Shi Yi stand up, he instinctively let go of Ying Ming’s arm and took a step to the side.

“Ying Ming, your friend.”

Shi Yi had never been deep in the entertainment scene, but he’d known Ying Ming and Liu Li for long enough. He might not have eaten pork, but he’d seen the pig run. It wasn’t hard for someone like him to guess the basics.

Ying Ming adjusted his scarf in response to Shi Yi’s movement and nodded. “You haven’t had breakfast yet, have you?”

“No, I came to find you so we could eat together.”

“You came all this way just to have breakfast?”

“Heh, romantic, right?” Shi Yi grinned. Ying Ming had the sudden urge to kick him, but ended up just burying his face deeper into the scarf.

“By the way, do you still remember where this is?” Shi Yi turned to glance around. The place was pretty remote, and in winter, the bleakness hit especially hard. Everything looked washed out and pale, with a kind of desolation that was hard to describe. Because of his question, Ying Ming looked up and scanned the area, then shook his head. “I don’t remember.”

Normally, if he had been somewhere once, even if he didn’t remember exactly, he would at least have a vague impression. But this place didn’t ring any bells.

Shi Yi wasn’t surprised that he didn’t remember, but he still sounded a little annoyed. “Do you remember us going to a hot spring once?”

Only then did Ying Ming recall it. He glanced around again, a little surprised. “Wait, this was the place?”

“Yeah, just nearby. Five minutes on foot.” There was a rising note of irritation in Shi Yi’s tone again. Ying Ming picked up on it, glanced at him, and though he had a few sarcastic jabs ready, he ended up holding them back.

“It was the middle of the night when we came, pitch dark, not even a single streetlamp. Who the hell could remember this place?”

The longer Ying Ming spent with Shi Yi, the more obvious it became how childish he really was. He often lost his temper over trivial things, and if there was something he thought you ought to remember, failing to recall it would earn you a cold face. The one saving grace was that his moods came and went quickly. Within five minutes, he would usually forget what had bothered him in the first place.

So by the time the two of them arrived at the resort, Shi Yi was already acting like nothing had happened.

They had booked the place in advance. By the time they stepped into the private dining room, the food was already laid out. Breakfast wasn’t the kind of meal that offered much room for novelty; it was just the usual spread. Shi Yi had traditional tastes, maybe because of how he was raised, but in any case, the table was covered in the most ordinary home-style dishes. The setting, though, made it all feel slightly out of place.

Ying Ming took off his coat and unwrapped his scarf. “What time did you set the meeting with your client?”

“Ten.”

It was just past six now, which meant they had over three hours to kill.

It took nearly two hours to drive here from Shi Yi’s place, and once Ying Ming did the math, he stared at him like he was out of his mind. “You didn’t sleep at all last night, did you? Why the hell would you choose a place like this for a meeting?”

Shi Yi was halfway through a bowl of porridge when he heard that. He looked up, his expression casual. “I went to sleep after our call. Then your Smoke Ring started throwing a fit and woke me up. I opened my eyes and saw that photo on the living room table and thought, no, I need to come here.”

As for scheduling the meeting here, maybe part of him had already planned on stopping by to see Ying Ming afterward.

Shi Yi genuinely disliked being too involved with this circle. In his mind, any place swarming with people from the entertainment industry was bound to be trouble. Still, knowing that Ying Ming was working with this crew, he could more or less force himself to tolerate it.

When Ying Ming heard him bring up the photo in the living room, he nearly choked. The first time he saw it, it had startled him too.

It looked damn near like a funeral portrait. The only thing saving it was that it wasn’t in black and white.

He took a sip of warm porridge to settle his stomach and glanced up at Shi Yi. “So what exactly are you planning to do?”

Shi Yi looked up and thought about it. “I was originally planning for us to go soak in the hot springs together, but now…” He glanced at Ying Ming, then turned and called out to the waiter.

“Get me a room.”

From hot springs to booking a room? Ying Ming honestly could not tell whether that counted as an upgrade or a descent into depravity.

He said nothing about it, though. The two of them finished breakfast, and just as they were done, the room card was delivered. Shi Yi was a regular at this resort. The manager even knew his room preferences well, such as wanting large windows but not facing the road. Since no special request had been made, they were given a twin room. When Shi Yi opened the door, he let out a long breath and tilted his head lazily. “You want to shower first, or should I?”

Ying Ming followed him in and raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t shower at home?”

“I did, but after running around all night, I still feel gross. You’ve been filming, haven’t you? Probably didn’t get to, right?”

They had talked about Ying Ming’s shooting conditions before. In some of the rougher productions, even something as basic as a shower could be a challenge. In remote areas, even the best hotels had poor water systems. In winter, sometimes cold showers were the only option.

In the end, being an actor just meant living a hundred different lives. Not only on screen, but off it as well.

Since Shi Yi had already thought it through, Ying Ming saw no reason to act polite. He shrugged off his coat and went into the bathroom to start the water. Just as the door was about to close, he paused, stuck his head back out, and glanced toward the living area. “You might as well come in.”

Shi Yi had been leaning in front of the mirror smoking. When he suddenly heard that, he turned his head, a little surprised.

For a moment, something in his memory flickered and overlapped.

With a cigarette still between his fingers, he gave a small laugh. “Was that an invitation?”

“Then stop talking and get in already.” Ying Ming tossed the line over his shoulder and disappeared into the bathroom, though he left the door ajar.

Shi Yi wandered over slowly, the room thick with steam. Ying Ming’s bare back came into view, sharply outlined through the mist. Before he realized it, Shi Yi had stepped inside, still fully dressed. A second later, water from the showerhead hit him squarely in the chest.

“Fuck!”

Ying Ming snapped around and cursed when he saw him. It had genuinely startled him.

He frowned, eyes locking onto Shi Yi’s dazed expression. “What, you shower with your clothes on now?”

“You’re supposed to meet someone later, aren’t you? What are you planning to do, just show up soaking wet?”

Shi Yi tilted his head in confusion. Water had soaked his hair, leaving it hanging in half-damp strands across his forehead. He had just gotten a haircut recently. It was a habit from childhood. He couldn’t stand having his hair touch his ears. Ying Ming’s hair, on the other hand, was plastered all over his face in the steam. Shi Yi took off his glasses and braced himself against the glass door behind Ying Ming. “You know, this whole setup… I swear it feels so familiar.”

Back at the door, it had only flashed through his mind for a second, but now that he was standing here, the familiarity hit him all at once.

It felt just like one of those dreams. The kind that are almost too good to be true. Then you wake up and forget everything, until some moment unexpectedly brings it all back. He licked his lips. “I feel like… we’ve showered together before.”

Ying Ming tilted his head slightly and curled his lips. “So you do remember.”

“That night, wasn’t it?”

There had been a time when he got completely wasted at Ying Ming’s place. The next morning, most of it was a blur. Some fragments would float back now and then, but he could never quite piece together what had actually happened.

He had asked about it afterward, but Ying Ming had never given him a straight answer.

Shi Yi wiped the water from his face and leaned into him. “Tell me. What the hell did you do to me that night?” He had always assumed the first time something had happened between them was that incident on the couch. Now it seemed like there was something even earlier.

They were standing too close. Their body heat, mixed with the warmth of the water raining down over them, created an almost searing friction. Ying Ming stayed half-reclined against the wall, eyes locked on Shi Yi’s face, which was clearly overthinking everything.

But he didn’t answer.

He didn’t deny it, but he didn’t confirm it either.

Maybe it was a kind of dark amusement. He just found something strangely compelling about watching Shi Yi spiral like this over something unresolved.

The two of them kept bickering through the entire shower about what exactly had happened that night in the warehouse. Shi Yi eventually took off his clothes, though it felt almost pointless in the end. Strangely enough, even in such a perfectly intimate setting, nothing actually happened. They really just helped each other rinse off, then stepped out wrapped in bathrobes.

Ying Ming had been filming all night and was already exhausted. The heat of the shower had drained the last of his energy. The moment he flopped onto the bed, he could barely stop himself from closing his eyes.

Shi Yi called Ou Yang and told him to bring a suit over from the office. When he turned back around, Ying Ming was sprawled out across the bed, completely out cold.

His hair was still wet.

Shi Yi walked over, dragged him upright without asking, and despite the obvious look of irritation on Ying Ming’s face, he wrapped a towel around his head and dried it roughly. Then he lifted the covers and climbed into the bed beside him.

Ying Ming cracked one eye open and looked at him. “I’m so tired…”

“Then sleep,” Shi Yi muttered, stifling a yawn. He had driven all night to get here and still hadn’t rested at all.

It was absurd, really. He had driven hundreds of kilometers just to eat breakfast with this man, take a shower, and fall asleep.

Before lying down, he asked room service to give them a wake-up call at nine forty. Then he shut off the lights, drew the curtains, and, out of habit, lay down next to Ying Ming with their bodies pressed close together.

The room was quiet. The only sound was the soft tangle of their breathing, rising and falling in the dark.