Chapter 37 - My Costar Is An Open Book

Xin Hulei gives the message on the screen a disinterested once-over before turning once again to Yao Shen. "I'd rather talk more about your yin yang eyes, that can see the world of the living and the dead."

Yao Shen glares at him while shaking the phone in front of his face. "Don't change the subject. What's the meaning of this?"

"Aren't you changing the subject, too?" he asks, after slowly chewing a mouthful of noodles. "Besides, I didn't send the message so that's a question better suited for Gao-laoshi."

Yao Shen lets out an exasperated sigh. Talking with Xin Hulei is like going in circles inside a labyrinth.

"He was acting all weird today, what did you do?" Yao Shen insists. He isn't letting Xin Hulei drop the issue so easily.

"I caught him snooping around your trailer this morning, while you were shooting."

He says it as naturally as if he were mentioning the weather. 

It is odd for Gao Wu to be in Yao Shen's trailer without permission, that's a given, but there's another implication to Xin Hulei's words.

"And what were you doing there?"

"Investigating you," he admits, completely nonchalant. "I asked Gao laoshi if he had a likewise valid reason to be there, but he didn't provide one."

Yao Shen mouths the words 'didn't provide one'. He's fully convinced that if Xin Hulei didn't exist he would have to be invented. Every second word out of his mouth is insane.

Xin Hulei flicks his eyes briefly up to Yao Shen from beneath the fan of his lashes. "I made the executive decision to warn him off doing it again."

"You made him believe we were in a relationship so he would stop snooping on me?" 

Xin Hulei tilts his head in minute assessment, still eating his meal leisurely.

"You warned him off doing the exact same thing you were doing?"

Chopsticks hovering over the bowl, Xin Hulei gives Yao Shen a confused look. "Yes, because I know what I was doing there."

"Neither of you is supposed to spy on me!" Yao Shen says, leaning forward across the table to hiss the words accusingly in Xin Hulei's face.

Xin Hulei quirks an eyebrow at him. "You are so mysterious, how can I resist?"

Yao Shen sputters at him. "I'm the mysterious one?" It's not a question but Xin Hulei still nods. "What about you?"

"I'm an open book," Xin Hulei says. "You can ask me anything."

His face is as neutral as ever, but Yao Shen very much doubts the sincerity of Xin Hulei's words.

He has no qualms about putting it to the test, though. "Then what is a demon like you doing being the country's movie emperor? What do you have to gain from that?"

Yao Shen thinks it's for the best that he omits the fact he knows Xin Hulei isn't just any regular demon, but a demon king. He isn't sure that yin yang eyes would give him that information.

Meeting his eyes, Xin Hulei downs the last of his wine before saying, "There are several demons  working in the entertainment industry."

That's not the answer Yao Shen expected to hear. "What?"

"The Gods in heaven have the monopoly on their worshipers' prayers, the ghosts in the underworld get worshiped as ancestors, what do you think is left for demons?"

Naturally, this isn't the kind of subject Yao Shen has ever thought about.

But he is supposed to be the grandson of a Daoist priest, so he should come up with something to say.

"Uh, the resentful energy of people who have died unfairly, before their allotted time ran out-"

Xin Hulei interrupts him before he has the chance to dig himself a deeper hole. 

"Nothing. There's nothing left for us."

Right, that also makes sense.

Wisely, Yao Shen decides to stay quiet and interpret all of Xin Hulei's questions as rhetorical moving forward.

"So we had to adapt. Find a different kind of worship, it was like this in the past too, but in these times more than ever demons need to find a source of sustenance." The corner of his lips quirks up, in a barely there smile. "And there's nothing stronger than human obsession."

"So you feed, on...your fans?"

Xin Hulei nods. "In a way. Being a fan of someone is a kind of worship."

It makes sense, but it's a worrying revelation for Yao Shen. Not only does he have to worry about competing for roles with human actors, but with demons as well?

His life just isn't fair.

Xin Hulei misinterprets Yao Shen's look of vexation for confusion and elaborates. "It's like this: Gods are immortal, Ghosts can reincarnate, but us demons can only rely on whatever we can to keep living. Once a demon dies, that's it, no wheel of reincarnation for us."

Yao Shen who thought that reincarnation, along with gods, ghosts and demons, was just reactionary superstition until a few weeks ago, can only say one thing to that:

"Bummer."

Xin Hulei hums, his eyes closed. "Exactly."

They both eat in awkward silence for a few moments, until Yao Shen stops trying to find a delicate way to return to the previous issue and just barrels ahead like an out of control oxcart. 

"What exactly were you investigating in my trailer?"

In a show of extreme avoidance, Xin Hulei summons an ancient looking timepiece out of thin air. It looks like someone's precious heirloom, the face inlaid with gold representations of all the twelve zodiac animals shines under the restaurant's low light. Xin Hulei inspects it almost distractedly. 

"Our lunch hour is almost over, we should finish eating and return to set."

Yao Shen would call him out on his blatant evasion if he thought that would get him anywhere.

'An open book'.

Yeah right, only if it's one written in a dead language no one can speak anymore.