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When Yan Mingxiu came home that night, he noticed that Zhou Xiang was looking at him strangely.
Because his sister and Wang Yudong's engagement ceremony was steadily drawing closer, Yan Mingxiu had been in a jittery mood these days. He hadn't looked at Zhou Xiang straight in the face for many days already. He knitted his brows, "What's wrong? Why're you looking at me like that?"
Zhou Xiang reacted strongly to his words, hastily explaining, "Nothing, you've been looking preoccupied lately. Even if you're busy with work, you shouldn't tire yourself out."
"Hm, " Yan Mingxiu indifferently responded.
Zhou Xiang walked over and patted his face, "You're acting very strangely lately. You should rest for a few days if you're too tired. With you like this, I'm scared that it'll be unsafe for you to drive."
"It's nothing." Yan Mingxiu grabbed Zhou Xiang's hand, and put it behind his back. He buried his head into Zhou Xiang's neck, lightly biting along his s*xy collarbone.
Zhou Xiang said lightly, "Have you eaten yet?"
As Zhou Xiang was busy with the annual party, the time he was out of the house everyday increased noticeably. Yan Mingxiu would sometimes come home and not see him there, and would then feel agitated.
When Yan Mingxiu returned home today, Zhou Xiang wasn't home again. Yan Mingxiu randomly grabbed something to eat, and then surfed online in the study.
He was browsing a certain website, and inadvertently saw a news report from over half a month ago. The headline was 'Lan Xirong drinks coffee, and chats happily with a friend'. The photo was obviously a candid shot. The people and background were very blurry but Yan Mingxiu could recognise in one glance that the person sitting opposite to Lan Xirong was Zhou Xiang. He looked at the date. It was precisely the day after their fight.
Yan Mingxiu suppressed his unhappiness and closed the webpage. His hand wavered between the mouse and his phone for a long time, but in the end he didn't call Zhou Xiang to interrogate him. However, the misgivings and loathing he felt towards Lan Xirong increased steadily.
Although Zhou Xiang constantly reassured him that his and Lan Xirong's relationship was pure, Yan Mingxiu could never forget the look in Lan Xirong's eyes when he and Lan Xirong met for the first time, that hostile and jealous expression. He absolutely did not believe that Lan Xirong only thought of Zhou Xiang as a friend.
As soon as he thought about how they belonged to the same company and could come in contact with each other in places he couldn't see, and chat cheerfully with each other like in that photo, Yan Mingxiu wished strongly that Zhou Xiang would resign. He was already filled with frustration from not being able to obtain Wang Yudong. If he couldn't even keep reins on Zhou Xiang, then he, Yan Mingxiu, was truly a loser through and through.
Zhou Xiang came home at this precise moment. Not only did he come back, he even brought back some midnight snacks for Yan Mingxiu.
Yan Mingxiu had no appetite. He went to straight to the point, "You met Lan Xirong last month on the twenty eighth, right?"
Zhou Xiang was startled for a moment. He thought back hard for a moment and remembered that that was the day he returned Lan Xirong's cell phone. He cautiously observed Yan Mingxiu's expression, scared that he would flip out again. He said in a low voice, "I gave him back his phone that day, how did you know?"
Yan Mingxiu laughed mockingly, "It's already up on the entertainment gossip news. What? Were you guys were so carried away with chatting with each other that you two didn't even notice you were secretly photographed?"
Zhou Xiang was a bit keyed up. He was truly too tired to deal with Yan Mingxiu's spontaneous temper. He really wanted to turn around and leave.
Fortunately, Yan Mingxiu didn't intend to make things difficult for him this time. He merely expressionlessly accepted the midnight snacks in Zhou Xiang's hand."I was just feeling hungry."
Zhou Xiang let out a breath of relief, but at the same time, a new worry emerged. If Yan Mingxiu found out that he and Lan Xirong were acting in the same movie, how would he react?"
But, he hadn't seen the script yet. It was possible that he and Lan Xirong didn't interact at all in the movie. Whatever the case, he couldn't give up such a good opportunity. Moreover, he had to be Wang Yudong's martial arts stunt double this time as well. He couldn't avoid Lan Xirong even if he wanted to. Even if Zhou Xiang could only conceal it from Yan Mingxiu for a day, Zhou Xiang still wanted conceal it from him even just that one day more.
Even just thinking about how Yan Mingxiu would be furious about this matter made Zhou Xiang feel exceptionally exhausted.
Ever since he found out about Yan Mingxiu's background, he felt that the distance between them was so far away it was already completely out of reach. He didn't harbour any hopes that he and Yan Mingxiu would be able have any future together, and he also didn't know if there was any meaning in continuing to entangle like this.
However, even though he understood all that, he couldn't convince himself to give up. Thus, Zhou Xiang very cherished every single of these seemingly tranquil days. He really didn't want to let side issues arise for the sake of any matter.
The end of the year was quickly approaching. Zhou Xiang was also awfully busy. Even just <f title="采购这一块: Not too sure what this means. Direct translation: " Purchasing procuring this block", it doesn't specify what "block" is so I went with what seems possible.">procuring the stuff necessary for the annual party</f>, caused him to have to run around a good number of days without stopping to rest. He found out from Chief Wang that Wang Yudong's engagement feast was scheduled on New Year's day. Wang Yudong planned to go on vacation with his fiancée after the New Year holidays, which just happened to coincide with the date of the <f title="In China, they hold always an opening (starting filming) ceremony when right before they start filming a new movie or drama etc.">opening ceremony of the new movie</f>, which had already been set a while ago. Director Wang was extremely displeased. Zhou Xiang heard that he even tore up the engagement feast invitation to shreds.
Chief Wang was extremely unhappy when he was telling Zhou Xiang all this."We invited so many celebrities and media for the ceremony. How is it proper if the lead actor isn't there on the day? We found a Master to divine that date, and everyone decided on it together. Just because he added an extra vacation with the Yan Family's Big Miss, he's now demanding everyone to change the date. Who would be able to accept this? Now those two are deadlocked again. We don't even know if we'll be able to start smoothly start shooting."
Chief Wang probably felt that Zhou Xiang was tight-lipped and could be trusted, and most importantly, Zhou Xiang didn't have much influence in the circle, so Chief would come and find him to tell him things that which was usually unsuitable to say to other people. Zhou Xiang also parroted Chief Wang. After all, he was also resentful towards Wang Yudong.
Chief Wang suddenly remembered something, "Hey? Didn't you say that you didn't want to be his martial double? Why did I hear from Cai Wei that you're planning to accept the job now? Did he keep you back last time to talk about this matter?"
Zhou Xiang answered, avoiding the important and only talking about trivial, "Yes, he said that he was afraid that a new person would be inexperienced, and wants me to do it."
Chief Wang patted his shoulder, "This isn't a bad thing. It'll just be a bit tiring for you. Cai Wei has helped negotiate a good price for you, you'll definitely be satisfied."
Zhou Xiang forced a smile, "Of course, if I can earn money then I'm satisfied."
It wasn't the New Year yet, but news of Wang Yudong's engagement was already spreading widely online. It was only after his engagement had been publicised enough, and he had given his fans enough mental preparation, that Wang Yudong finally confidently acknowledged to the public that he would be getting engaged on New Year's. In order to protect his fiancée's privacy, only relatives and friends were invited to the engagement ceremony and he did not wish for his family to be disturbed.
This news shattered the hearts of many female fans. They guessed one by one who Wang Yudong's mysterious fiancée could be. Although most of the news was not too reliable, one thing was certain, the bride didn't come from a small background. At the end of the year, Wang Yudong succeeded once again in arousing another topic for discussion.
After Zhou Xiang came home, he couldn't resist asking Yan Mingxiu, "Your sister and Wang Yudong are going to get engaged, right?"
Yan Mingxiu turned his head around. His expression which was calm a second ago abruptly changed, "What're you asking that for?"
Zhou Xiang thought that Yan Mingxiu was worried that he was poking his nose into his family matters, and immediately said, "She is your sister after all, I'm just asking, it's okay if you don't want to tell me."
Yan Mingxiu was distraught with anxiety, to the point that he didn't want to attend the engagement ceremony. He was afraid that he would lose control of himself. He said very stiffly, "What rumours have you heard?"
Zhou Xiang shook his head, pretending he didn't know, "Didn't hear anything."
Yan Mingxiu didn't quite believe him. Even online, there was heaps of speculation about his sister's identity. Zhou Xiang was in the circle, how could he not know? Yan Mingxiu wasn't actually deliberately concealing his family background. Before, he merely felt that it wasn't necessary for Zhou Xiang to know, and now the reason he didn't want to tell Zhou Xiang was because he was worried that Zhou Xiang's attitude towards him would change. He would feel disgusted if Zhou Xiang tried to butter up to him like all those other people.
However, Zhou Xiang's uninterested attitude now made Yan Mingxiu curious. He couldn't help but ask, "A lot of people are trying to guess who my sister is, you don't want to know?"
Zhou Xiang drank some water and replied smoothly, "I'm sure she must be well-matched with Wang Yudong."
Yan Mingxiu raised a brow. Zhou Xiang's attitude really saved him trouble, but it also made him very puzzled.
Zhou Xiang glanced at him. He seemed to have made out what Yan Mingxiu was thinking, and walked over to him and straddled on his thighs. He wrapped his arms around his neck, and laughed, "We've been together for almost a year. You don't bring up your family matters, so I reckon that you don't want to tell me, and I also don't want to ask. This also doesn't affect anything, right?"
Yan Mingxiu looked at him with narrowed eyes. He lightly said, "That's right."
Zhou Xiang licked Yan Mingxiu's lips. Yan Mingxiu tilted up his chin slightly. The two of them kissed lingeringly, and in the end, to no surprise, it developed into an intense round of lovemaking.
Yan Mingxiu was getting more and more dependent on Zhou Xiang. Before, he would look for traces of Wang Yudong in Zhou Xiang. Now, he relied on Zhou Xiang to forget about Wang Yudong and his sister's matters. There was such an intense contrast between these two aims, yet it changed abnormally peacefully, so peacefully that he couldn't work out when that mental change occurred. He only knew that when he and Zhou Xiang were madly making love, he would forget about a lot of the troubles on his mind.
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