TSBDRA 3: Shou Protagonist

Xu Xishuang returned to the hotel and began following the doctor’s instructions to the letter.

To “stay in a good mood,” he opened his phone and started watching dumb short videos. Naturally, he ended up choking on water mid-laugh and nearly died—almost becoming the first transmigrator in history to die from choking on water.

Xu Xishuang: …

This world is seriously dangerous.

After reviewing his physical condition, he found that he wasn’t that different from a normal person overall. There’s no dietary restrictions and he could eat regular food just fine. 

His main issue was his low stamina. “Three steps and out of breath” might’ve been a slight exaggeration, but a 50-meter sprint could absolutely cost him half his life.

He got tired easily. Walk a few more steps and his legs would go soft like noodles in a pot, wobbling like they were about to give out. His skin was fragile too—press a little too hard, and red marks would appear on his arms. That was why the marks Yan Yushan had left on him were still visible.

All of that was manageable. The real problem was that he discovered he would randomly cough up blood at completely unpredictable times and places, with no pattern whatsoever.

Fortunately, the frequency wasn’t too high, so Xu Xishuang let out half a sigh of relief and began earnestly studying the script.

The film Yan Yushan was directing was called “Bitter Summer.” The story centered on a same-sex romance. The protagonist, Yu Xiang, was a boy who had suffered long-term bullying at school. His mother had died young, and his father was a gambling, alcoholic scumbag.

One unbearably hot and miserable summer, Yu Xiang met his first love—a new transfer student named Xia Qinglang. The bright and sunny boy instantly became popular. He was from a big city, had top grades, was cheerful, and got along with everyone.

Naturally, Xia Qinglang noticed the gloomy, withdrawn Yu Xiang, who was constantly bullied. He took the initiative to befriend him, stood up for him, and helped pull him out of that toxic situation. Thanks to Xia Qinglang’s presence, Yu Xiang began to open up and regain some brightness.

As they spent more time together, Yu Xiang gradually fell for him. He dreamed of escaping his miserable home life and getting into the same university as Xia Qinglang so they could leave this swamp of a town behind together.

They both worked toward that goal. Their feelings grew stronger but the good times didn’t last. In their senior year, Xia Qinglang was transferred back to the city. His parents believed the low-quality education in the town would harm his chances of getting into a top university, so he had to return to get a “proper” education.

Just like that, Yu Xiang and Xia Qinglang were separated. Their delicate, unspoken romance ended without a conclusion.

The script ended there. Xu Xishuang closed it with a sense of unfinished longing. He was playing Yu Xiang—the bullied, thin, and pitiable main character. He really wanted to know what happened after, but as far as he knew, Yan Yushan had written the script himself, then had it polished by a professional screenwriter. If he wanted answers, he would have to ask Yan Yushan.

In the end, Xu Xishuang held back his curiosity. Not that he had the chance to ask anyway. Yan Yushan hadn’t shown up on set these past few days.

Xu Xishuang found a new group chat on WeChat—clearly for the film crew. After quietly observing for a while, he noticed one of the actors left the group the next day. He clicked on the guy’s profile and saw it was a fairly well-known idol, a former lead dancer of a boy group, with a huge female fanbase.

Xu Xishuang could basically guess what happened. This daring idiot was probably the one who tried to drug Yan Yushan and failed to sleep with him. Amused, he used his alt account on Weibo to follow the guy.

On day four, a new actor joined the group, replacing the boy group member.

Then on day six, while browsing the internet on his alt, Xu Xishuang saw that the idol in question had quietly announced his retirement. His fans were in chaos, nearly tearing the internet apart but the news didn’t even make it to the trending list. Everything had been forcefully suppressed.

Xu Xishuang’s expression froze in shock.

This industry was too scary. Was Yan Yushan really that terrifying? Wait, could he be involved in something illegal?!

After watching the whole thing unfold, Xu Xishuang immediately revised his attitude. He made up his mind to stay far, far away from Yan Yushan. This was someone he absolutely couldn’t afford to mess with.

Soon, filming officially began. As one of the leads, Xu Xishuang woke up early. He was exhausted, yawning nonstop. This body was seriously weak and he couldn’t even stay up late, but he was still sleepy even with a full night’s rest. Dragging his fatigued body, he slowly stepped into the elevator and locked eyes with none other than Yan Yushan.

Xu Xishuang’s scalp prickled with awkwardness. He really wanted to back out and pretend he hadn’t seen him but that would make it look like he was still hung up on their one-night stand. Worse, if he left without a word, what if Yan Yushan held it against him and made things difficult during filming?

Xu Xishuang decided to assume the worst about that dog Yan Yushan, then silently gave himself a pep talk. He straightened his back, walked into the elevator confidently, gave Yan Yushan a cold and elegant nod, and said in a soft voice, “Good morning, Director.”

Yan Yushan clearly hadn’t expected him to speak first. He froze for a second in surprise, then nodded back and said, “Good morning.”

That was the end of their conversation.

Facing away from him, Xu Xishuang stood still, while behind him, Yan Yushan looked at his back and rubbed his temples, suddenly feeling tired again.

He’d been dwelling on this for days. That reckless night with Xu Xishuang was the most troublesome situation he’d ever encountered and no matter how he looked at it, there was no easy way to deal with it. 

He had thought about taking the initiative to talk it through with Xu Xishuang, offering whatever compensation he could to settle things completely so they could both move on but Xu Xishuang’s attitude made it clear he was avoiding him like the plague.

If he pushed too hard, it might only make things worse and affect their months-long filming schedule.

He had poured everything into this film. It wasn’t just his directorial debut—it was tied to a certain bet…

Ding—the elevator reached the first floor.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Yan Yushan looked at Xu Xishuang, standing near the door.

The young man was looking down at his phone, soft black hair falling over his ears, dressed in a loose white long-sleeved shirt tucked into jeans that outlined his slim figure and his ridiculously narrow waist. As the elevator door opened, Xu Xishuang stepped out. Yan Yushan’s eyes caught something behind his neck.

A faint red mark.

His bite mark.

A jolt shot through Yan Yushan’s fingertips.

The memories he had tried to suppress came flooding back—the feeling of soft skin, parted red lips, breathy moans, pale skin covered in traces he’d left…

Yan Yushan’s throat bobbed as he swallowed.

The elevator began rising again, taking him back to his floor. He finally came back to his senses and quickly stepped out to head toward the set.

Meanwhile, Xu Xishuang had already taken a cab to the filming location. It was a small town nestled against the mountains, with beautiful scenery. Since it was summer break, Yan Yushan—loaded as he was—had rented out the entire school and even hired local students as extras.

Xu Xishuang strolled slowly, stopping now and then to catch his breath. He figured this could count as a workout.

The set was full of people. He recognized a few actors from their online photos, but since he wasn’t close with any of them—or really, with anyone at all—he didn’t go over to say hi.

The moment the makeup artist and stylist saw him, they gasped audibly. Because of confidentiality agreements, they hadn’t known who the lead actor would be but working on a natural beauty like this was a dream compared to fixing up plastic surgery faces, acne, or diva personalities. Especially when this beauty had a reputation for being easy to work with—he just had poor health.

The stylists treated Xu Xishuang like a fragile porcelain doll, so carefully that the other actors looked on in disbelief, wondering if their own makeup artists were fake. The pampering made Xu Xishuang a little sleepy. It was the perfect time for a nap. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, letting the stylist do her work.

He had barely shut his eyes when an overly enthusiastic voice rang out right beside his ear, “Hello, Yu Xiang! I’m Xia Qinglang!”

Xu Xishuang needed a second to process before he remembered—Yu Xiang was the name of his character, and Xia Qinglang was the other male lead.

Got it.

He opened his eyes slowly and saw a sunny, handsome young man with a huge grin on his face.

Xu Xishuang had a soft spot for cheerful guys like this. He reminded him of his silly cousin. So he smiled a little, reached out his hand, and said, “Hi, I’m Xu Xishuang.”

Then he saw the golden-retriever-type boy freeze, his face turning red bit by bit. His eyes darted away, then back again, and he said shyly, “H-Hi. I’m Chi Siyuan.”

Xu Xishuang’s smile froze.

Chi Siyuan?!

The shou protagonist?!