Chapter 72 - My Costar Worries About Me

Yao Shen keeps chancing looks at his mobile just to check the time.

Fifteen minutes have gone by and Jia Hao still isn't back.

Of course it's possible that he's doing as Yao Shen said, and trying to gather as much information as possible.

He told Jia Hao to return right away if he couldn't find the three people he described, so the fact that he's still gone is a good sign -- or so he tries to tell himself as the time for him to return to set approaches.

Yao Shen is sure of what he saw. That was the ghoul spying on him, and by now the Ghost Kings must have come to a decision regarding how to deal with him.

If they follow their previous steps, they'll want to wait until he's alone in his hotel room again.

Maybe if he finds out what they're planning he can stay one step ahead, and maybe prevent another premature death?

He's fairly certain they'd rather not kill him. By their own admission, this is the closest he has gotten to Xin Hulei in several lifetimes. 

If only Jia Hao would get back -- that is, assuming he wasn't caught and no one believed his excuse. 

He's pacing around the cramped trailer, trying not to panic too badly when someone knocks on the door, this time much more politely.

"Laoshi, is everything okay? Filming is about to start," Bi Jialu says, her tone cheery but with a note of uncertainty behind it.

Yao Shen approaches the door but doesn't open it. "I'm feeling really ill. I think it was something I ate."

"Does laoshi want to go to the hospital?" He hears the sound of Bi Jialu climbing the trailer's metal stairs. "Should I come in?"

"No! No, I mean, it's really embarrassing," Yao Shen says, trying to think of something. "It must be a mild case of indigestion, it'll be fine after some time."

He keeps things vague on purpose, but he hopes the mental image of him puking his guts out grosses out Bi Jialu enough for her to go away.

"That sounds really serious, laoshi," she says, and pulls on the door handle. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?"

Fuck, maybe Yao Shen should have just told her he had a headache. 

Maybe it isn't too late to backtrack. "Actually, I have a migraine too, maybe the nausea doesn't have anything to do with anything I ate and it's just a result of the migraine. I barely slept last night, I'll be fine after a short nap."

Ah, much better, and less life threatening.

"If laoshi is sure..." Bi Jialu says, unconvinced, but Yao Shen hears her go down the stairs, her voice growing distant. "I'll tell Director Chen that laoshi isn't feeling well."

"Thank you," he says, through the closed door. "I'll be back on set as soon as I feel better."

He doesn't hear anything else after that, and sighs in relief. Now he only needs Jia Hao to get back.

---

He's tempted to go in after Jia Hao himself and throw caution to the wind when the bathroom door finally opens.

Jia Hao steps out whistling to himself, as if he just went for a leisurely walk.

"Did you get into any trouble?" Yao Shen asks.

"None."

"Then what took you so long?" he asks, extremely aggravated by Jia Hao's casual demeanor.

Jia Hao shrugs, and hoists himself up onto the tabletop, sitting down and kicking his legs back and forth. "I had a look around. The underworld really isn't like I thought it would be. It's much cooler." He smiles as if remembering something. 

Yao Shen lets out a groan. Maybe he should have gone himself.

"Did you at least find anything useful?"

"Yeah, those guys don't like you." Jia Hao sighs and shakes his head in an odd display of sympathy. "I don't think you're as a bad as they said. There was a lot of name calling."

Yao Shen can imagine.

Jia Hao is on a roll now, his eyes shining with barely restrained curiosity. "Honestly you seem too boring to have ever worked in a brothel."

His tone implies he's making fun of Yao Shen, but it's obvious he's actually hoping that Yao Shen will either indignantly confirm or deny the accusation.

He can keep hoping.

"What else did they say?" Yao Shen asks.

Slightly disappointed Jia Hao continues his report. "They were just talking about how to interpret what someone else told them. There seemed to be a division of opinions."

"Oh, how so?"

"Well, I didn't understand very well, but a few of them were saying that you were doing the same thing all over again, while others thought it was just part of a plan." He shakes his head. "Anyway, I hope that makes some sense to you, because it didn't to me." 

Yao Shen starts pacing around the trailer again. He didn't consider the possibility of the Ghost Kings not knowing what to make of what the ghoul saw.

It never crossed his mind that they might not have reached an agreement regarding how to deal with him.

"Did they say anything else?" 

Jia Hao shakes his head, leaning back on the table and kicking his legs back and forth. "No, after a while two of them left, and the other two just started talking about something else."

Wait.

"Weren't there three of them?"

"No, there were four. The three you described, and then a fourth guy."

A fourth Ghost King who knows about Yao Shen's current incarnation, and also wants him to bring down Xin Hulei -- just what he needed.

He assumed the three Ghost Kings were the only interested parties in Xin Hulei's demise, but perhaps he underestimated the Underworld's determination, and manpower.

"Thank you, I'll give Gao Wu your number," Yao Shen says, still distracted from Jia Hao's revelations.

"Don't forget you owe me now. Whatever I want," Jia Hao says, and then he's gone.

Yao Shen just hopes he hasn't run out of the tiger's den and into the dragon's.

---

Thankfully, he manages to get through the rest of the day with no major fuck ups. It helps that his scenes aren't that important, and that perhaps no one is being too critical of him -- takes off some of the pressure.

By the time he gets back to his hotel room, he has come to a decision: if no one comes for him, he'll take the initiative to go to the Underworld himself.

Maybe it's risky to reveal he has the means to get there on his own, but that way it will be more convincing when he berates them all for ruining his plans to trap Xin Hulei.

It's a gamble, but from what Jia Hao said it might be his best shot of avoiding a premature death, and maybe even saving Xin Hulei.

[Again, the opposite of Host's mission]

Yao Shen ignores the system and goes take a shower, determined to let go of the day's tension before going to the Underworld -- only then will he be able to deliver a convincing performance.

Minutes later he comes out of the bathroom, toweling his hair dry, and finds Xin Hulei standing in the middle of the room, under the archway that separates the living room from the bedroom.

"I heard you weren't feeling well today."

Yao Shen lets the towel fall to the floor with the shock of Xin Hulei's sudden presence.

His expression doesn't reveal anything, and his tone is even, but he must be really worried about Yao Shen to come see him directly.

It's a little intrusive, but Yao Shen would probably be charmed (because he has terrible taste in men, he accepts this now) if it wasn't such bad fucking timing.

"I'm fine, it was just a migraine."

There's still a chance the ghoul will come back, and if he sees Xin Hulei in his bedroom again it might make things more complicated. 

"Are you avoiding me?" Xin Hulei asks, going in for the kill.

Yao Shen flinches, expression guilty. "I....," his shoulders slump. "Yes."

Xin Hulei's expression doesn't change. "Why?"

"I'll tell you about it some other time. Now I really need to rest."

He expects Xin Hulei to put up a fight, but instead he takes something out of his pocket and gives it to Yao Shen. "Wear this on you, it should improve your health."

It's a little carved jade token attached to a beautifully knotted red silk ribbon.

Yao Shen closes his fist around it and tries not to feel like an asshole as he tells Xin Hulei, "Thank you, I'll see you tomorrow."

Xin Hulei nods once before disappearing, the flames licking around him until only a faintly singed scent remains.

Yao Shen leaves the little token on his desk and changes into a track suit, which is only a slight improvement in regard to the pajamas he wore the last time he went to the Underworld.

He's preparing himself to create a portal on the bathroom door, when he feels the temperature in the bedroom go down several degrees.

"You've been summoned," the ghoul says, materializing by Yao Shen's knee.

Uh, that's some great timing.