CH 37.2

“Yes, I’ll tell you … “ and Shen Lei told him about Xie Zhiwei.

The content of their conversation was almost the same as that found by Xie Jianwei when he first investigated XIe Zhiwei,  but he reckoned that Shen Lei had added some extra dramas to Lu Li and Xie Zhiwei’s relationship from his own imaginations.

Lu Li had probably been in loved with Xie Zhiwei for ten years. Although never dared to say it out loud, anyone who is familiar with Lu Li knows his mind. In the past, he couldn’t get together with Xie Zhiwei, but now that the Xie family has fallen and Xie Zhiwei is also experiencing a hard time, Lu Li would definitely accompany him.  With those two together, who knows what will happen.

Xie Jianwei’s face grew paler the more he listened, and with a trembling voice, he asked: “Brother Shen, you mean, all these time … Senior Lu just regarded me as that person’s substitute?”

Shen Lei saw felt bad for seeing him like this, but thinking about their situation and the troubles that came with it, breaking up early is the best choice. So, he nodded “Yes, that is the case.”

Xie Jianwei’s eyes became a little dull, like his soul was reaped away from him. He felt like he was soaking in a pool of stagnant water: “Now… that … Xie Zhiwei is beside Senior Lu?”

Shen Lei sighed: “Yes, Lu Li helped him a few days ago and settled him in a villa on the outskirts of the city.”

Xie Jianwei abruptly sat on the bed. He clutched the quilt, and his fingers were becoming white from gripping with so much force. He was like a person waiting outside the operating room, full of panic and anxiety.

“Xiao Xie, just stay away from him. Don’t meet with Lu Li after going back, he …”

Xie Jianwei asked him with a hoarse voice: “Did he ask you to tell me this?”

Shen Lei froze for a while. He understood what Xie Jianwei was insinuating: Lu Li wanted to break up with him, but he didn’t want to say it himself, so he asked Shen Lei to be the middleman.

This is really cruel.

Shen Lei was now almost completely sure that Xie Jianwei stayed with Lu Li because of love. The more certain he was, the more he couldn’t bear to see such a good young man suffer,

Based on what’s currently happening between Xie Zhiwei and Lu Li, rather than give Xie Jianwei hope, it’s better to tell him something that could make him more decisive!

Shen Lei steeled his heart to be cruel and nodded, “Yes, he requested me to tell you this.”

Xie Jianwei said nothing. He only lowered his head, and his short fringe fell, covering his eyebrows, but it couldn’t block the tears that started falling.

Shen Lei looked anxious: “Don’t cry, Xiao Xie, this … hey … about this, you …”

Xie Jianwei got up all of a sudden and said in a shaky voice, “I, I’ll got out for a walk.”

Shen Lei hurriedly wore his clothes to chase after him. There’s a moat outside their lodgings, and he’s afraid that some accident would happen to Xie Jianwei, since his current state … is really worrying.

Fortunately, Xie Jianwei didn’t go far—he just sat on the steps outside the door, motionless.

Shen Lei wanted to say something, but Xie Jianwei opened his mouth first: “ Brother Shen, I’m fine. Just give me some time alone, please.”

What could Shen Lei say? Nothing.

The only way to get over this kind of thing is to come to terms with it yourself.

Still, Shen Lei did not feel at ease leaving Xie Jianwei all by himself. Therefore, he would come out from time to time to check on him for fear that Xie Jianwei would jump into the water.

Dawn came, and when others were about to wake up, Xie Jianwei returned inside the house. He stayed outside for a whole night. Fortunately, the weather wasn’t that cold otherwise he would have been badly frozen.

Xie Jianwei silently entered the house with a pale face and swollen eyes, like a soulless body moving drifting senselessly.

Shen Lei couldn’t help but comfort him: “Look for others. Lu Li doesn’t deserve you …”

Xie Jianwei wobbly leaned his back against the wall and covered his face, choking in tears: “Brother Shen, I like him, and I really … really like him.”

Perhaps because he’d been bottling it all inside all night long  or maybe the despair in his heart was too deep,  that he finally couldn’t take it anymore and broke down in the end.

Shen Lei scolded Lu Li in his heart. But, he also knew that this kind of thing couldn’t be forced, so the only thing he could do was to continue his clumsy efforts on comforting Xie Jianwei: “Don’t cry, don’t cry… Lu Li that bastard … Hey, don’t care about him in the future. I’ll cover and support you in the circle.”

Xie Jianwei couldn’t hear anything. He just cried silently with trembling shoulders. He was so overwhelmed by the sorrow that he’s feeling, he couldn’t even muster the strength to cry out loud.

Now, Shen Lei now only wants to fly back and beat that pair of “dog men”.

After a while, Xie Jianwei managed to recover a little.  It was about time to part with Shen Lei, but he stopped him:  “Brother Shen, if you have a chance, please help me bring a message to Senior Lu.”

Shen Lei depends on him for everything. “Of course.”

Xie Jianwei hesitated at first but eventually he said in a dry voice: “Please tell him, I want to break up with him …”

Yan Ke: [My heart is breaking.] (t/n: dayum I was already engrossed with XJW’s acting but Yan Ke.. haahh..)

Xie Jianwei: […]

Yan Ke said: [If the Marshal had really cheated on you.… My Lord… you …]

Xie Jianwei: [What are you thinking about?]

Yan Ke quickly answered: [It’s just me talking nonsense. The Marshal will definitely remain faithful!]

Xie Jianwei said: [Hmm.]

But Yan Ke still couldn’t hold back: [But if … um … just if …]

Xie Jianwei’s voice was calm: [What’s the point of crying? If that sort of thing really happens, it just means that I was blind.]

Yan Ke was inexplicably shocked, and felt so stupid for asking such a dumb question. Who is Xie Jianwei?

A man whose mind is too strong to be called a human.

If such a thing really happened, he should not worry about the Military Advisor, but the Lord Marshal.

********

After returning to City B, Xie Jianwei ‘disappeared’.  He did not contact anyone, saw no one, and locked himself in his apartment. He isolated himself from the world while … umm … playing games.

Lu Li sent Xie Jianwei a message but did not receive any replies. He tried calling him, but the phone was turned off. He looked for Yan Ke and found out that even the manager hadn’t seen the young man for several days.

Lu Li’s heart tensed up and quickly dialed Shen Lei’s phone.

Shen Lei was not nice to him: “Oh Film Emperor Lu whose heart is currently full of warmth and affection, so you can still think of contacting this brother of yours huh?” (t/n: I think SL was being sarcastic. He’s insinuating that Lu Li’s mind is full of thoughts about taking care of Xie Zhiwei that he’s surprised Lu Li could still think of other people.)

Lu Li frowned: “What nonsense are you spouting?”

Shen Lei pondered for a minute and realized that tormenting Lu Li was kind of meaningless. He was clear since the beginning that Lu Li’s support for Xie Jianwei was ‘priced’, so he didn’t have any reason to angry at this good friend of his. Besides, Xie Jianwei had decided to let go, and he was also doesn’t want to argue with Lu Li, so he just asked, “How is Xie Zhiwei?”

Lu Li He paused and said: “He’s okay.”

“Don’t say that this brother didn’t remind you: it’s a wonderful opportunity now. You must take a good grasp of this favorable situation and win that sweetheart of yours in one swoop.”

Lu Li was silent for a moment before saying, “It’s really not what you think.”

Shen Lei was not in the mood to bother with Lu Li since every time he thought of Xie Jianwei’s situation, it felt like even his liver was in pain, so he simply said “You go seek your own happiness ba!”

“Do you know where Xie Jianwei went?” asked Lu Li.

Shen Lei got startled. Shit, I can’t let this scum contact Xie Jianwei again! He quickly said: “Why?”

“I can’t contact him.”

Shen Lei remembered what Xie Jianwei asked of him and therefore planned to help him: “Why do you say so?”

“He’s not answering my calls, and I can’t find him anywhere, not even at the place where he’s currently working at.”

“Perhaps he’s hiding from you.”

Lu Li: “…”

“He said something to me a few days ago during our filming at the ancient city.”

Lu Li had obviously gone quiet at the other line. After a while he asked again: “What was it?”

“Xiao Xie said he wanted to break up with you. You’ve been in a relationship for a year, and both of you should be almost tired of it. Besides, you two are public figures. Even if you only meet up privately and exercised caution,  Xiao Xie is getting more exposure nowadays, not to mention you. It won’t take long before you get caught by some people, and that will be bad for the both of you.”

On the other side of the phone, Lu Li was clenching his phone so hard. He hoarsely asked: “He asked you to say this to me?”

“Yes. He couldn’t muster up the courage speak about this with you, since you’ve been treating him kindly, and was very generous to him. He is also thinking about you— he’s afraid that he’ll cause you trouble, so he offered to …”

""

The call got cut off abruptly. Shen Lei pouted and he screamed at the screen: You deserve it, you scum man!

On the Victoria Hotel’s penthouse suite, a smashed phone was lying on the floor. Lu Li was breathing heavily, his mind full of Shen Lei’s words: “Xiao Xie said he wanted to break up with you ……”

Break up, he said. B-r-e-a-k-u-p.

So this whole year, it was merely his own imagination that his love and affection had been reciprocated.

********

Xie Jianwei counted the time, and felt that it was almost time for him to ‘reluctantly’ find Xie Zhiwei.

He also performed this play with a  good reason, and the biggest purpose was to let the ‘thing’ relax its vigilance, and let it think that he had sacrificed a white moonlight, and that Xie Jianwei had been moved with anger and fell into a trap in which he could no longer appease Lu Li after his actions while angry. (t/n: remember when Xie Jianwe mentioned this dream was particularly malicious, it’s like it wanted to totally separate XIe Jianwei from Lu Li? He concluded that it’s not an alter invading another personality’s dream but another force— ‘something’ was manipulating the dream to go into a bad direction.)

Xie Jianwei will proceed with the plan. He’s ready to meet that white moonlight. But before that, he had to let Shen Lei help.

After spending a few days in the house, Xie Jianwei finally turned on his phone. There were a lot of voiced and text messages. Except for Lu Li’s in the first few days, the rest were all Yan Ke.

Xie Jianwei was not surprised. He estimated that Shen Lei had already spoken to Lu Li, and Lu Li would definitely not contact him again.

Xie Jianwei composed his emotions and dialed Shen Lei’s number.

Shen Lei was enjoying his time with a girl the dressing room. He wanted to ignore the phone’s ringing, but after glancing at the name, he immediately stood upright and took his phone to go outside.

“Xiao Xie?” There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

Shen Lei became nervous. He continued: “Xiao Xie? Where have you been these days? Everyone can’t find you.”

Xie Jianwei finally answered, but his voice was dry and hoarse: “Brother Shen, I….I can’t forget him.”

Shen Lei’s heart jumped, and suddenly felt that all the blood from his body went straight to the top of head. A bad feeling instantly occupied his mind: “Xiao Xie, you …”

Xie Jianwei said: “Goodbye, Brother Shen. I’m sorry, I’m really useless. “ After that, there was a busy tone on the phone.

Shen Lei became motionless for a while. After a few seconds, his brain finally registered what was going on and he completely panicked.

Xie Jianwei is going to take his own life!

He originally thought that Xie Jianwei would be able to adjust his mood these past few days, but he never thought that the kid would, unexpectedly, get cornered to this point!

Shen Lei hurriedly called again, but to no avail.

He contacted Yan Ke in a hurry and contacted a circle of people familiar with Xie Jianwei, but no one knew where he lived.

This is really bad. With just his ability, he wouldn’t be able to find  Xie Jianwei, but he also couldn’t just let him die!

Shen Lei had no choice but to get in touch with Lu Li.

No one picked up even after a long while. Shen Lei’s heart was filled with fire. Lu Li and Xie Zhiwei finally got together, but an old love was going to death.

He drove all the way, preparing to go to the villa to catch the two, but Lu Li called him back.

Lu Li’s voice was very low and tinged with a heavy tiredness: “What’s the matter?”

Shen Lei phone was connected via Bluetooth to the car. When he heard Lu Li’s voice, he immediately shouted: “Hurry up! Help me find Xiao Xie! Hurry! If he dies, I’ll make it public that you’re gay!

Lu Li was stunned: “Xie Jianwei?”

Shen Lei said: “What? You think it’s your Xie Zhiwei?”

“What’s going on? What happened to him?”

Shen Lei was so anxious like an ant in a hot pot, so he repeatedly said: “I don’t know where he’s going, but he may want to seek death, he…  Hey! Let’s find the person first!”

Lu Li was shocked: “Why … why does he want to …”

“Come on! Help me find him!”

Lu Li took a deep breath, “When was your last call? What time? Was it from his number?”

Shen Lei quickly said the time and number.

""

Lu Li hung up. It was only a few minutes, but Shen Lei anxiously called him again, and Lu Li gave him an address.

The two rushed to Xie Jianwei’s apartment together.

They weren’t slow— they arrived in about ten minutes, but the two people who broke in did not find anyone inside the apartment at all.

Xie Jianwei had always been thorough in his work. Although all he did was actually play during the past few days  but he did a good job before leaving. His entire apartment gave the two people a glimpse of the owner’s sadness and disappointment.

Nobody was there … so Shen Lei got more anxious: “Walk around. Let’s search the area and see if there’s water, rivers, or high-rise buildings.” He was more afraid that Xie Jianwei went out and found a car to crash.

Lu Li’s eyes were dark: “What the hell is going on?”

Shen Lei said: “This is really not the time to talk! We’re looking for someone!”

Lu Li became even more afraid of Xie Jianwei being in an accident. When they went back inside the car, Shen Lei couldn’t stop his mouth: “This is really terrible! How could Xiao Xie fall for a scum like you!”

Lu Li’s gripped the steering wheel hard and his voice was extremely tense: “What are you talking about?”

“While you and Xie Zhiwei rested after getting tired from performing some crooked acts, he stayed alone outside for a whole night! He cried so hard to the point that he was having trouble breathing. It was so painful to watch! He really likes you; he’s really feeling miserable…”

He continued nagging non-stop, and Lu Li’s mind went blank after hearing the a sentence: “He … didn’t he want to break up with me?”

Shen Lei sighed: “You have Xie Zhiwei, can you still ask him to stay by your side? That person won’t agree. Can you do it? Rather than being humiliated in the future, it would be better for Xie Jianwei to cut it off now.”

Lu Li’s complexion became extremely strange,  and he asked: “Does he like me?”

Shen Lei’s tone was full of anger: “Like you, to the point where he does not want to live anymore without you!”

It was only a few words, but like thunder, it struck right into Lu Li’s heart.

Xie Jianwei likes me and I… actually made him so sad.

.

.

.

Xie Jianwei finally saw the White Moonlight.

Although he was only looking from afar, Xie Jianwei still felt weird. Looking at himself from another angle was really strange.

Yan Ke: [Dear mother! You two really looked alike.]

Xie Jianwei was about to walk towards Xie Zhiwei to say a few words to him, but Yan Ke suddenly exclaimed: [This is bad!]

Xie Jianwei raised his eyebrows: [What’s wrong?]

Yan Ke: [I installed a detector before I entered this dreamscape. Once the dream shows a sign of collapsing, I would get notified in advance …]

Xie Jianwei was tongue-tied: [What’s going on? This dream is about to collapse?]

Yan Ke said: [Yes! There are already signs, so it won’t take long … But why? Why would it collapse? What went wrong?]

Xie Jianwei reviewed the whole scenario in his head. He could predict that by now, Shen Lei and Lu Li had already met and he must have told Xie Jianwei’s true feelings to Lu Li.

But they have been together for a year, and this year, Xie Jianwei had been inserting his own character incessantly. Hence,  Lu Li shouldn’t be as skeptical of Xie Jianwei’s feelings as he did in the first world.

It should be going in a logical progression, but why is this dream collapsing?

Then, there was a sudden flash in his mind—he now knew the problem.

Yan Ke was still in a hurry, but Xie Jianwei picked up his phone and called Shen Lei.

Shen Lei was nearly going crazy. When he saw the caller, he quickly picked it up.

However, Lu Li was a step faster than him. He grabbed the phone and was about to speak. He heard Xie Jianwei’s voice: “Brother Shen, did you take it seriously? I was just kidding. My current gold master is gone, so I’m looking for another one again”

As soon as he said this, Yan Ke was shocked: [The dream has stabilized!]

Xie Jianwei sighed deeply, and his guess was right.

The reason why the dream is unstable is because Lu Li feels that Xie Jianwei is sad ….