Chapter 37

Even though filming was over and the lights were dimmed, Xia Xingcheng still sat there unmoving. He closed his eyes and raised his head. Although his tears had long since ceased falling, he was still deeply immersed in the emotion, and it was hard to extricate himself from it.

The fake wound applied with special effects makeup on Yang Youming's hand was washed off, and Li Yun gave him a clean and soft towel for him to wipe off the water on his hand. Lowering his head, he dried his hands carefully, then handed the towel back to Li Yun and said, "Do you have any wet wipes?"

Li Yun stared blankly, but then dug out two wet wipes from the big bag next to him and handed them over.

In fact, there was already someone by Xia Xingcheng's side. Xiao Tang was waiting for him with a wet wipe on hand, but Xia Xingcheng didn't respond. Xiao Tang also didn't dare to help wipe his face.

When Yang Youming made his way toward Xia Xingcheng with the wet wipes, He Zheng grabbed his arm, shaking his head at him.

Yang Youming silently waved He Zheng's hand off, still wanting to go. As a result, He Zheng dragged him back once again, this time exerting a lot of effort. He said, "Don't go. If you go, he'll have a harder time breaking away from the character."

At this time, Shen Yan, the actress who played Xu Jia in the movie, came over and greeted Yang Youming with a smile.

Yang Youming crumpled the wet wipes in his hand and no longer persisted to go over to Xia Xingcheng's side.

Xia Xingcheng opened his eyes at last. He took the wipes offered by Xiao Tang and stood up to wipe his face in front of a prop mirror. He wiped his face very carefully, erasing all the fake blood and wet tears on his face.

•••

The next day, in the wee hours of the morning, Xia Xingcheng woke up before it was even 4 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep. He turned on a floor lamp near the bed, lifted the quilt, and sat up, sliding his feet into slippers and leaving the bedside.

He slightly raised the temperature of the air conditioner. Dressed only in a pair of briefs, he sat down by the bay window, then reached out to the closed curtains to open a narrow seam and looked out.

The hotel was very close to the film and TV studio where the movie was being shot. In actuality, the vicinity was not at all lively. Gazing out into the distance, you wouldn't be able to see that many tall buildings nor bright lights.

When Xia Xingcheng drew back slightly and pulled away from the window, he caught sight of his own reflection. His wan and frail body no longer resembled himself.

Xia Xingcheng lit a cigarette, sandwiching it between his fingers, slowly taking a drag of smoke. He wasn't much of a smoker. If he could choose, he'd rather have a glass of wine. But he had to get out of bed and start filming in about an hour, and he couldn't let himself be drunk in front of the camera, so he could only rely on smoking to dull his nerves.

This wasn't the first day he had suffered from insomnia. He'd already been continuously suffering from it for several days in a row, beginning right after he'd finish shooting the sex scene with Yang Youming.

That night he had a dream. In that dream, he had sex with Yang Youming on set, and there was no one else around him. He was stripped naked and pushed down, and they kissed and touched each other, yet his heart was incredibly irritable. He heard the sound of footsteps and voices coming from outside, and as he told Yang Youming that someone was approaching, the footsteps grew closer and closer.

Xia Xingcheng was so frightened that he woke up. As he lay in bed, he realized that it had been a dream, and he breathed a sigh of relief. However, he could no longer sleep.

He didn't have that dream again in the next few days, that is, he would wake up in the middle of the night, eyes wide open and so completely sober that he couldn't fall back asleep. That was, until today—he had the same dream again, but this time they were really caught, and the person who saw them was Yang Youming's wife. In Xia Xingcheng's dream, Yang Youming's wife's face was blurred, as if it was Shen Yan acting as Xu Jia yet also Yuan Qian, and he couldn't quite tell whether he was sleeping with Yang Youming or Yu Haiyang.

Whether it was a dream and reality, or the movie and reality, he was completely muddled.

In the following days, Xia Xingcheng's mood kept rising and falling, and filming was extremely difficult to endure.

Yu Haiyang was bitten by Fang Jianyuan. When Yu Haiyang came back from the hospital that day, his hands were wrapped in thick gauze and he didn't have an opportunity to talk to Fang Jianyuan until early the next morning. Before Fang Jianyuan got up, Yu Haiyang snuck into his room.

Xia Xingcheng was only dressed in briefs and a tank top. Wrapped in a thin quilt as he lay on the bed, his eyes shut, but he knew that Yang Youming would come in.

Very lightly, Yang Youming entered the room. Crouching at his bedside, he softly called, "Xiao Yuan." As he was about to go to work, he wore a light gray shirt and linen trousers.

Xia Xingcheng slowly opened his eyes, appearing as if he had just woken up. When he caught sight of the man next to his bed, his heart beat with a bit of fear. Then his eyes cleared up, brimming with anger. He lifted the quilt and jumped out of bed, and regardless of clothes or even slippers, he pushed Yang Youming out in silence.

The entire filming set was silent. Shen Yan also sat behind He Zheng, watching them film. She was 30 years old this year and has been filming for almost ten years. Her acting skills were good and her popularity wasn't minor, yet it has always been so-so, not mild, yet not that hot either. In the past two years, she has played the second female lead in many TV dramas.

Yang Youming hugged Xia Xingcheng. He didn't want to leave, but he also couldn't make too much noise. He whispered in his ear, "I'll say two words to you, just two words, Xiao Yuan."

Xia Xingcheng struggled without saying a word. He genuinely exerted a lot of strength, so much so that he even tore off a button on Yang Youming's collar.

And Yang Youming's hand wrapped in gauze was also increasingly oozing red, which was of course due to the effect of a blood bag prop.

As they were mutually struggling, Xia Xingcheng accidentally kicked his toe on a bedpost and immediately felt a burst of unbearable pain. He couldn't help but let out a low cry, then let go of his strength, crouching on the ground and reaching out to grab his toe.

This accident was not scripted, but Xia Xingcheng continued to act. Yang Youming quickly cooperated with him, bending down to pick him up and sitting him down on the edge of the bed.

Xia Xingcheng stopped resisting.

Yang Youming squatted down half way, holding Xia Xingcheng's foot. He examined his toe carefully and said, "There's no bleeding."

Xia Xingcheng retracted his foot, the soles of his feet tread on the edge of the bed, and clasped his arms around his bent legs.

Yang Youming, still crouched by the bed, looked up and said, "Can you listen to me now?"

Xia Xingcheng did not meet his eyes, and with a hoarse voice, he emotionlessly said, "What do you want to say?"