Chapter 150 - My Costar And I Get Some Grim News

Obviously, the netizens have a lot to say about the short clip of Heimao gallantly defending Jincan.

[Freight train: For a moment there I thought this drama was going to be cancelled for good haha. What's up with the hot bodyguard tho?]

[Sundress missy: Ahhh did you see my geges, so cozy together hearteyes.emoji I'm so happy, this made my day]

[Island person: they certainly were standing next to each other]

[Sock puppet: they certainly are two people who work together]

[Your daddy: no one saw your geges because we were all paying attention to the live workplace romance going on, what's up with that?]

[Internet sleuth: do you guys remember those rumours that popped up a few months back about Xin Hulei and that cute blond guy? He's the same one from the video!!! Turns out he's Xin Hulei's PA, that's why they were together that day. About the other guy, it seems everyone's already guessed it, he's Xin Hulei's new bodyguard.]

[Leilei marry me: Leilei never used to have bodyguards. Maybe it's because of all that mess with the dead prostitutes? Ugh, every since he started working with that Yao Shen there's been nothing but trouble.]

[Shenlei forever: stop spreading baseless rumours. we don't know why Leilei has a new bodyguard, but there's no indication that it's related to Shenshen]

[Older sister is here: can you stop with the actor CP talk? Whether it's true or not you'll never know unless they get married so why lose sleep over it? Now these two other guys, they're just regular people. Has anyone found their social media accounts?]

[Internet sleuth: an extensive search didn't turn up anything. They must be very private people.]

[Little kitty: What if we make a supertopic for them? I think that would be fun.]

[Ying Ying: I'm just glad the drama is filming again. I don't care about anything else]

Yao Shen keeps reading for some time, but finds that people like 'Ying Ying' are rare, and almost everyone else is happy to speculate.

The rumours about Yao Shen and Xin Hulei being together gain more traction, now that everyone is sure that the only reason Xin Hulei was seen with Jincan was because he was his personal assistant.

Luckily, most of them are drowned out by the unlucky surge of interest in Jincan and Heimao. The clip goes viral even outside of drama fan circles, with a lot of people praising Heimao for stepping in and stopping an act of harassment, while a few others point out that Jincan looks really uncomfortable about the whole thing.

The main issue is that the pubic interest has only grown since the video was released. Some people have even called for the key grip to be arrested for sexual harassment, others want him to go on a talk show with Jincan and Heimao to tell his side of the story.

Yao Shen can see why Xin Hulei's manager gave him a call. This level of scrutiny can be troublesome for a group of supernatural creatures trying to hide in plain sight.

Everyone expects that actors will draw attention from the public, but management companies act accordingly to protect their interests and no one bats an eye. 

What will happen if people start looking too deeply into two so called 'regular' people and find no birth register, no school enrolment documents...just absolutely nothing?

Yao Shen hands the phone back to Xin Hulei with a sigh. "What a mess."

Xin Hulei takes back the phone. "Who recorded the video?"

Yao Shen didn't even consider that, but obviously someone that was right there with them on set must have been filming secretly. "There's always leaks."

Xin Hulei hums. "The timing is weird, they were filming us at first."

"You think it's related to the murders?"

Xin Hulei nods. "Maybe, but I can't say for sure." His gaze lingers on Yao Shen. "Be careful."

For a moment, Yao Shen debates telling him about the nightmares he's been having, and about thinking he saw the ghoul on the plane but then decides against it. 

There's no point in worrying Xin Hulei with things he's not even sure about himself.

---

After dinner, Yao Shen leads Xin Hulei back to the bedroom, his intentions written plainly on his face. It's been a long time but the drought ends today.

Xin Hulei lets himself be meekly led into the room, looking all the while as if he has no idea about Yao Shen's intentions. It drives Yao Shen wild with the desire to wipe all that calm off his handsome face.

He pushes Xin Hulei into the bed and climbs astride his hips, taking one of his wrists and pinning it above his head. He lets the other hand free in the hopes that Xin Hulei will find some creative uses for it. He doesn't disappoint.

Xin Hulei cups his ass, his fingers trying to sneak under his shorts to reach skin.

He makes an appreciative noise. "You've got some of your weight back. I've been feeding you well."

Yao Shen reaches behind himself, and moves Xin Hulei's fingers towards the valley between his cheeks. "You could be feeding me even better."

Some of Xin Hulei's composure cracks. He starts pawing at Yao Shen's shorts, trying to get them out of the way as soon as possible.

Yao Shen does the same to help him out of his own shorts and underwear. He's so aroused already that his fingers become clumsy and uncoordinated.

Their clothes are almost all the way off when Xin Hulei's phone starts vibrating loudly from the living room, signalling a call.

"Ignore it," Xin Hulei says, pulling Yao Shen down into a kiss.

For a moment, Yao Shen manages to lose himself in the pleasure of Xin Hulei's hot mouth and clever hands.

Finally, Xin Hulei's phone stops vibrating, but moments later Yao Shen's starts up from somewhere in the kitchen.

"What the fuck," Yao Shen grumbles, thoroughly annoyed. "Both of us, really? Someone better have died."

Begrudgingly, Yao Shen climbs off Xin Hulei and stomps all the way towards the kitchen to answer his incessant phone. Xin Hulei follows him.

"Yes, what is it?" Yao Shen says into the speaker, accepting the call without even checking the caller ID.

"Oh, good, I thought I was going to have to go there and drag you two out of...whatever you were doing," Tan Liansi says from the other end of the line, sounding slightly breathless.

"This better be important," Yao Shen says, snappish. His eyes keep drifting towards Xin Hulei's bare chest.

"Gao Wu is dead."

Yao Shen almost drops his phone. That's the last thing he expected to hear. "What? How?"

Tan Liansi sighs. "Just come here, both of you." Yao Shen hears the sound of her footsteps. "Knock on my hotel room's door, Ye Fang is here," she adds, her voice lowered.

Yao Shen mumbles an affirmative and disconnects the call.

"I heard," Xin Hulei says.

For a moment the two of them stand in silence halfway between the kitchen and the living room. "What do you think happened?" Yao Shen asks, his chest tight with a million different emotions.

He resented Gao Wu for what he subjected Xin Hulei, Jincan and Heimao to, but now he's dead and he doesn't know what to do with those feelings, or what he should be feeling to begin with. For a while there, Gao Wu was his friend. Maybe he already had second intentions when he approached Yao Shen, but he thought of him as a friend nonetheless.

Xin Hulei's warm hand on his bare shoulder brings him out of his reverie. "We should go."

---

Tan Liansi opens the door of her hotel room before Yao Shen is even done knocking. Her face looks sombre. 

"Watch what you say, she's really upset," she whispers.

The layout of Tan Liansi's room is no different than Yao Shen's, except her room actually looks like someone has been spending time in it.

Ye Fang barely lifts her head from her arms to look at them. She's bent over the arm of Tan Liansi's sofa, crying copiously.

"What happened?" Yao Shen asks, raising his voice to be heard above Ye Fang's sobs.

"She, uh, she found him," Tan Liansi says, nodding towards Ye Fang.

"You mean...dead?" 

Tan Liansi nods. 

"Where?" Yao Shen asks, speaking directly to Ye Fang.

It doesn't look like she heard him, but after some time she raises her head. Her eyes are puffy and her face is swollen and streaked with tear tracks. Yao Shen has no doubt she saw something horrible, but there's still the possibility she might have seen wrong, or gotten confused somehow.

She's very superstitious, after all.

"It was...it was just outside the little children's park behind the hotel.  I wanted to go for a walk, and uh, have a smoke where no one would see me. My room doesn't have a balcony like yours."

"And you saw him in the children's park?" Xin Hulei asks.

She shakes her head, her face crumpling, on the verge of tears once again.

"There's an overgrown garden near the children's park, the trees are really tall there, really secluded," her voice trembles. "I found him sitting on the same bench I usually sit at. At first I thought he just fell asleep..."