Chapter 26 – More Than I Like You

The consequence of indulging in unrestrained pleasures was waking up late the next day, long after the sun had risen high.

After Jiang Ruo got up, he first rushed to the balcony to check on his plants, surprisingly finding not only were they alive, but they were thriving with vitality. A few pots even sprouted new leaves.

It was the weekend, and Xi Yufeng had a social engagement in the afternoon. As Jiang Ruo buttoned up his shirt, he couldn’t help but stare at him, occasionally revealing an enigmatic smile.

Xi Yufeng knew what he was thinking: “Your plants are taken care of by Aunt Fang, I didn’t manage them.”

Jiang Ruo still had a curved smile on his lips, deliberately drawing out his words: “Oh, you — didn’t — manage — them — ”

Xi Yufeng: “…”

Just having finished a three-month-long shoot, and after exhausting himself physically the previous night, Jiang Ruo wasn’t going with Xi Yufeng this time.

Sending him off to the door, Jiang Ruo didn’t forget to remind him: “If you play cards, you can video call me.”

“Let you offend all my business partners?”

“No, I’m mature now, I can teach you how to subtly feed them cards.”

Xi Yufeng laughed: “If feeding cards is happening, it’s them feeding me.”

When opening the door, Xi Yufeng bumped into the backpack Jiang Ruo left at the entrance, which hadn’t been tidied away yet. A half-drunk bottle of beverage and a peculiarly shaped stuffed toy rolled out from its open mouth.

Looking down, Xi Yufeng bent over first to pick them up, holding them in his hand and asking: “What’s this?”

Jiang Ruo felt inexplicably guilty: “I-It’s just a stuffed toy.”

“Where did it come from?”

“The film city… bought it at the night market nearby.”

“Is it dancing?”

“It should… be dancing.”

Jiang Ruo hadn’t mentioned anything related to Chen Muxin to Xi Yufeng, because of a psychology he couldn’t quite understand himself.

Now, looking back, it was probably out of fear. There was no possibility of anything developing with Chen Muxin, and such trivial matters were something Xi Yufeng would hardly have the leisure to concern himself with.

Sure enough, after asking a couple of casual questions, Xi Yufeng returned the stuffed toy to Jiang Ruo.

After sending him off, Jiang Ruo closed the door, planning to find a place to deal with this troublesome thing first.

After all, it was a gift from someone else, neither throwing it away nor selling it was appropriate, and keeping it in plain sight felt even more awkward.

After much deliberation, Jiang Ruo hung the stuffed toy by the window in the dance room, in a remote corner. No matter whether the curtains were open or closed, it couldn’t be seen from a frontal angle.

He could consider it not betraying the giver’s good intentions; after tidying up, Jiang Ruo let out a long sigh of relief.

This period of ancient costume drama shooting took longer than expected, this week, “Orioles” would air and require a few promotional tours. Then, it would seamlessly connect to movie filming, and after a thorough calculation, there were still four days of rest.

The next day at noon, Jiang Ruo had lunch with An He. After telling him about the upcoming schedule, An He was flattered: “So, I’m occupying a quarter of your precious vacation?”

Jiang Ruo said coolly: “It’s one-eighth, I’ll have to go back after eating.”

“Isn’t today a workday? Isn’t that someone working?”

“We agreed to have dinner together.”

An He clicked his tongue: “That someone is really stingy.”

But when he saw the chain around Jiang Ruo’s ankle, An He immediately retracted his previous words.

“I’ve seen this chain before, it’s F brand’s limited edition.” An He bent down to take a closer look, “This seems to be made from two bracelets, how cleverly designed.”

Being stared at so intently was rather eerie, Jiang Ruo pulled his left leg back, crossing his feet under the chair, speaking somewhat unnaturally: “A few days haven’t passed, and you’ve learned a lot more, huh?”

An He straightened up: “Brother Meng has a sister, she really likes this brand, she taught me about it.”

Jiang Ruo was surprised: “You’ve even met his sister?”

“Mm, she’s not a real sister, a beautiful elder sister three years older than me. When I first saw her, I felt close to her, later she also said, she always feels like she’s seen me somewhere.”

“…Recognizing a brother isn’t enough, you also want to recognize a sister.”

An He smiled cheekily: “Of course not, I told her, maybe in my past life, I was her sister-in-law.”

Jiang Ruo was speechless: “So, am I treating you out today just to eat dog food?”

“You’re not bad either, that someone treats you so well.”

“It’s not really what you think, he’s pretty good to his lovers. With the previous one, didn’t she get plenty from him?”

“I understand the logic, but…” An He shrugged his mouth in a composed manner, “you sound so sour.”

Jiang Ruo almost choked on a mouthful of water: “I’m not jealous.”

An He shrugged: “I didn’t say you were jealous, is it not okay to be sour that others are getting more than you?”

After a moment of silence, Jiang Ruo found a way to justify himself: “Right, who doesn’t want to debut in a movie and rise to the second tier in half a year.”

An He nodded in agreement: “Right, it’s all because of money, you wouldn’t be the one to fall in love, would you?”

Smashing the cup onto the table, Jiang Ruo couldn’t bear it anymore: “Who did you learn this weird sarcastic tone from? Quickly blacklist them for me!”

An He naturally couldn’t bear to blacklist his Brother Meng.

Later, upon hearing that Xi Yufeng also gave Jiang Ruo a dance studio, An He sighed: “What a great opportunity, why didn’t you take advantage of it and ask him why he’s spending so much effort to make you happy?”

Jiang Ruo was stunned for a moment.

Yeah, why didn’t he ask?

Why didn’t he ask why he rushed over in the middle of the night, why the gift he gave hit so close to his heart… Perhaps it was because he dared not, always feeling that once some things were clarified, they would be nearing their end.

“You said yourself, he’s making me happy.” Jiang Ruo answered An He’s question, but was actually talking to himself, “Then why think so much, it’s fine to reciprocate and make him happy, right?”

As a true action-oriented person, Jiang Ruo brought a bouquet of flowers to pick up Xi Yufeng after work that day.

Although receiving the flowers didn’t make Xi Yufeng particularly happy, but rather he frowned slightly, his expression similar to when he smelled perfume.

Dinner was at the Japanese restaurant they had visited before. When Xi Yufeng walked into the store carrying the flowers, the doorman looked behind him, expecting a lady to follow.

Jiang Ruo didn’t have time to be smug, watching helplessly as Xi Yufeng shifted to the side, stuffing the flowers back into his arms.

The waiter immediately showed a knowing expression, warmly saying: “Two people, this way please.”

Jiang Ruo: “…”

Back at the residence, Jiang Ruo found a vase and filled it with water, intending to put the flowers in it.

Xi Yufeng came out of the bathroom and stood by the table watching for a while. Jiang Ruo thought he was watching him arrange the flowers, but when he looked up, he realized his gaze was on the vase.

Jiang Ruo then observed the vase, a complex patterned cloisonné vase, from the details, it could be seen that it had some age. But the exquisite craftsmanship and solid materials allowed it to still shine with delicate brilliance to this day.

It was nothing like something Xi Yufeng, whose study was decorated in only black, white, and gray, would buy.

Jiang Ruo boldly guessed: “Did Aunt Fang bring this?”

After watching for a while longer, Xi Yufeng said: “No. It was left behind by the person who used to live here.”

Recalling that when he first passed by here, the driver said that this building was completed ten years ago. Connecting it with what Lin Xiao told him about the Xi family, Jiang Ruo could almost confirm that the former owner of this vase was Xi Yufeng’s mother.

At the time, listening to those rich family gossip unrelated to him as a bystander, he could even joke about the “two dragons fighting for the throne.” Now, having seen the person involved, gotten close to him, and seen his loneliness hidden in the darkness, Jiang Ruo found it difficult to treat such matters as mere post-dinner jokes.

Later, Xi Yufeng sat on the sofa holding documents, reading them. Jiang Ruo cut a fruit plate and placed it on the coffee table, sitting beside him.

Several times, when he raised his head, he encountered that strangely eager gaze. Without asking, Xi Yufeng put down the documents in his hand and turned on the TV, entering the film library, and clicked on the first episode of “Orioles”.

Jiang Ruo immediately panicked: “I don’t want to watch this!”

Tonight, “Orioles” premiered on online video platforms. Jiang Ruo had planned to hide and watch it alone, but now, it was a public execution, it was extremely devastating.

While the opening credits were still playing, Jiang Ruo commanded: “Turn off the TV.”

Xi Yufeng pressed the remote control without showing any change.

Jiang Ruo persisted: “Turn off the TV, don’t turn it on again!”

Xi Yufeng turned it back on and locked the voice control function with one press.

Jiang Ruo, in desperation, pounced to cover Xi Yufeng’s eyes: “The acting is terrible, please don’t watch.”

Before he could cover them, he was held back by Xi Yufeng, unable to move.

He said with an attitude of “truth comes from practice”: “Whether it’s terrible or not, we’ll know after watching.”

Thus, for the next hour, Xi Yufeng watched TV, while Jiang Ruo sat facing away from the TV, watching Xi Yufeng’s expression.

It was reminiscent of school days when the teacher corrected homework in front of the class, especially subjective tasks like compositions that strongly reflected the writer’s true level.

Fortunately, Xi Yufeng usually had few expressions, toward the idol-like romantic scenes between the main characters, he had a detached indifference.

Only once was different, Jiang Ruo saw him curl the corners of his lips. Turning to look, the TV was showing the scene where he, portraying Xie Fangyuan, appeared.

In the hot summer afternoon, cicadas chirped, the wind stirred the curtains. In the dappled light cast through the gaps in the branches, the youth stretched his legs taut, lifted his arms, his slender neck arched upward, using standard movements and clear eyes to silently express his love for dance.

As soon as the first two episodes aired, Jiang Ruo received friendly greetings from friends across various circles.

An He exaggeratedly screenshotted the scene of his appearance and posted it on his friend circle, captioned “My Brother is going to be famous,” and tagged him to see.

Lin Xiao also sent congratulations, saying she contributed several bullet-screen comments praising the second male lead’s beauty. She replied to every comment asking who the second male lead was.

Zheng Yiting, besides congratulating him, also informed him that he would briefly trend on the hot search list. In line with the crew’s “Keep the Summer Burning” promotional phrase, the tag prepared for Jiang Ruo was “Meet the Refreshing Second Male Lead.”

Jiang Ruo was even more embarrassed.

He didn’t dare to look at the bullet-screen comments or anything, simply logging out of Weibo and video software to avoid seeing them.

His official Weibo account had always been managed by Xiao Shen, previously posting some inconsequential daily shooting moments. Presumably, he would gain a few fans today.

In the extras group he was previously in, someone also posted Jiang Ruo’s stills, everyone praised him as the light of the extras in a few words, not lacking sincere blessings amidst the jokes. Jiang Ruo went to the group and sent a red envelope, promising that if he was still shooting at Feng City Film and Television Base in the future, he would try his best to get them jobs.

Switching out of the group chat, another new message popped up on the interface.

It was from Chen Muxin, who added him on WeChat at the wrap party, also offering congratulations, and “Xie Fangyuan’s appearance is the most stunning scene in the first two episodes.”

Heartfelt praise was undoubtedly touching, but Jiang Ruo was still struggling with how to respond.

In the end, he only replied with “thank you,” swiped left to delete the conversation box after switching out, pretending nothing happened.

A seemingly ordinary day passed, Jiang Ruo put down his phone and moved away from the noise, lying down on one side of the large bed, exhaling slowly.

“Tired?” Xi Yufeng asked beside him.

Jiang Ruo shook his head: “No, I just feel it’s unreal.”

There was a feeling of returning to the spotlight overnight, being the center of attention after many years, still palpitation-inducing.

To this, Xi Yufeng said: “This is the result of your own efforts.”

Jiang Ruo laughed when he heard this, turning his face to look at Xi Yufeng: “I certainly deserve this honor, but President Xi, you also played a role.”

Xi Yufeng also turned to look at him, his tone tinged with a hint of amusement: “Then, how do you plan to repay me?”

Naturally, it was on the bed that he would repay him.

The early autumn in Feng City only left a faint trace of restless heat. The top floor windows were wide open, and in the throes of passion, they could still hear the sounds of car horns from the bustling roads nearby, as well as muffled music, reminding them of the waves of heat that washed over their heads during the hot summer.

This night, Xi Yufeng spoke a bit more, telling Jiang Ruo that the first time he saw the video of him dancing at seventeen, he felt an overflowing spirit.

Jiang Ruo said that he liked the feeling of dancing more than dancing itself.

Spontaneous reflections unintentionally sparked the greed ingrained in human nature. Xi Yufeng pinched Jiang Ruo’s chin from behind, forcing him to turn around: “What about me?”

Knowing what he was asking, Jiang Ruo straightened his waist, and leaning against the connected bodies, leaned in to kiss him.

Since it was flirtatious, a smile remained on his face, even if it wasn’t in his eyes.

Jiang Ruo narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at Xi Yufeng from very close proximity, his voice broken in the tumult: “Of course, I like the feeling of being with you… more than I like you.”

That night, both of them were satisfied, satisfied to the point where Jiang Ruo vaguely thought he was addicted to sex.

For the next few days, it was the same, even when he went out of town for promotional tours, Jiang Ruo tried to return the same day, dragging his exhausted body, and messing around with Xi Yufeng until dawn.

All the way until the promotional tours ended, Jiang Ruo had to travel to a small town in the southern part of the country to begin a half-month-long movie shoot.

At this point, Jiang Ruo was already a new actor with over 200,000 fans. “Orioles’s” reputation and popularity continued to rise, and as the performer of the beautiful, strong, and tragic second male lead, Jiang Ruo benefited from the audience’s fondness for transferring emotions, gaining considerable attention.

However, this circle was always one where exposure and danger coexisted, the more exposure one gained, the less privacy one had.

Today, Xiao Shen just conveyed Zheng Yiting’s reminder to Jiang Ruo, telling him to act low-key recently, paying special attention to his contact with Xi Yufeng. Although even if they were caught, they could pay to settle it, his acting career was just picking up, and it was better to avoid trouble.

Jiang Ruo, of course, understood this principle, and was also very careful on set every day.

But that day, after wrapping up, he still received bad news.

Zheng Yiting was in a hurry to meet with the public relations team and didn’t elaborate on the phone, only sending Jiang Ruo a link, saying this video was anonymously posted on a gossip forum and was now re-posted on Weibo.

Jiang Ruo clicked on the link — in the evening, outdoors, less than three meters away from the crowd, he saw himself in the video straddling a man, grabbing the collar of the other’s clothes, punching him fiercely one after the other.

Later, someone tried to intervene, and the camera pushed forward, Jiang Ruo saw his own murderous gaze, as if ready to kill, and the splattered bloodstains on his face.