Liang Han shook his arm, trying to dispel the lingering sensation of being grabbed. He emerged from the restroom as if escaping a pursuit, but as he turned the corner of the doorway, his eyes immediately fell upon Shen Yu standing outside.
Shen Yu was leaning against the wall, having lit a cigarette and smoking it unhurriedly. He was clearly waiting for someone.
Liang Han’s gaze paused for a moment. Remembering what the boy had said in the restroom, he lowered his eyes, and that anxious feeling of wanting to flee dissipated.
It turned out the young boy wasn’t entirely lying to him; he really was being targeted.
And the guest who had set his sights on him was Shen Yu.
Perhaps earlier the boy had only wanted to use the situation to get close to him, so he asked for help.
It was even possible that he didn’t intend to pester him as Liang Han had thought, but was genuinely seeking assistance.
Shen Yu saw him as well but didn’t speak. He simply averted his gaze, acting as if he hadn’t seen him at all.
Liang Han didn’t stop his pace either; he walked straight toward his private room, though his face had inexplicably darkened.
Inside the room, Cen Ping was still looking at the script and didn’t bother with him.
Shao Dong glanced at him, sensing his expression was off strange, even. He asked with concern: “What’s up with you? You go out for a trip and come back with such a somber face? Constipated?”
Liang Han didn’t acknowledge him at all and simply sat down.
Shao Dong’s tone shifted: “So you ran into someone? …Or were you pestered again?”
As Shao Dong spoke, he stood up, wanting to go out and take a look: “Did that person from before follow you here?”
His expression was one of pure nosiness, not even bothering to hide it.
After all, getting to see Liang Han’s “excitement” was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; the chance was fleeting.
Liang Han frowned and rolled his eyes, dampening his companion’s enthusiasm: “No one. Don’t talk nonsense! That was years ago.”
“I’m talking nonsense?”
Shao Dong pointed a finger at himself, then turned it toward Liang Han: “Why don’t you look at your own expression and complexion? It’s incredibly odd. If nothing happened, would you look like this?”
Liang Han ignored him, lowering his head. His fingers traced the rim of the glass, and his gaze fell on his arm, where the warmth of those slender white fingers seemed to linger.
Shao Dong didn’t believe him for a second. He was relentless, leaning in to examine him: “Really nothing?”
Liang Han looked up and slanted a glance at him.
Staring into that gaze made Shao Dong’s scalp tingle. Knowing that even if something happened, Liang Han wouldn’t want to say it, he retracted his playful expression, sat back up, and put away his gossiping mindset: “Fine, if you say it’s nothing, it’s nothing.”
But to his surprise, after a few seconds, Liang Han suddenly asked of his own accord: “Is Shen Yu’s private life clean or not?”
“???”
Shao Dong couldn’t help but find it curious again: “Shen Yu? Why did you suddenly think to ask about him?”
He realized: “Oh, you ran into him outside just now? He’s here tonight too?”
Shao Dong remembered that Chang Yu was hosting a dinner here today; Shen Yu was likely among the invited.
He just hadn’t expected Liang Han to run into him.
“Sigh! I’ve disliked him for a long time. Did you finally figure it out and want to give him trouble? I told you back then not to be so patient and yielding. You should have let him know how powerful you are long ago, to save him from constantly eyeing your resources and undermining you behind your back.”
With just one simple question, Shao Dong could spout a pile of opinions, mainly because the grievances between the two sides ran deep.
Liang Han’s purpose was clearly elsewhere. Not wanting Shao Dong to have so many questions, he showed a slightly unnatural expression and said perfunctorily: “Don’t worry about what I’m doing for now, just tell me the situation.”
Shao Dong sighed, but he didn’t beat around the bush: “His private life is just like that. The outside world praises him for being as clean as you are, but that’s just putting gold on his face!”
Shao Dong looked down on Shen Yu. It was one thing to ride Liang Han’s coattails for publicity back in the day, but he had also done plenty of shady things in private, which at one point deeply annoyed Shao Dong.
Therefore, when talking about Shen Yu, his tone and attitude were not great.
Liang Han didn’t really have any strong feelings toward Shen Yu. He hadn’t ever truly kept Shen Yu in mind before, so he naturally didn’t have many thoughts they simply had incompatible “auras.” That was why he hadn’t greeted Shen Yu when he saw him earlier.
Of course, the key point was that he could see that Shen Yu didn’t want to see him either.
“How so?”
Hearing Shao Dong’s tone, Liang Han’s brow twitched slightly: “His private life is very messy?”
Shao Dong nodded: “Yeah. On the surface, he even has a girlfriend, but in private, he doesn’t care about gender. He just plays very discreetly and has even fooled his fans. So the outside world thinks he’s clean and praises him for having no scandals, just like you.”
In fact, they didn’t just praise Shen Yu for being like Liang Han; they praised him for being devoted and monogamous, unlike Liang Han who remained single.
They even made snide remarks saying Liang Han was just putting on a show, and that he was actually a player in private, which was why he stayed single because he didn’t want to be tied down.
It was truly a reversal of black and white, turning the actual situation upside down.
Shao Dong had always suspected that this kind of talk was orchestrated by Shen Yu’s side, intentionally using Liang Han as a topic to cover for himself.
Liang Han remained silent after hearing this, but his expression was somewhat heavy.
Shao Dong found him strange and couldn’t help but ask with a laugh: “What’s wrong? Did you just see him playing with men? Did it scare you?”
Liang Han’s face changed. Perhaps feeling his ears were soiled by the phrase “playing with men,” he refuted coldly: “Don’t talk nonsense. What he does with men has nothing to do with me; I’m straight. Besides, what is there to be afraid of? What could scare me?”
His reaction made Shao Dong fall silent. He felt something was wrong and narrowed his eyes at him: “That’s not how it works. You’re just a stubborn, oblivious straight man; how would you know how wildly those gay men can play? Seeing it suddenly, wouldn’t it be normal to be shocked?”
Liang Han was silent for a while, then asked, as if out of curiosity: “How wildly can they play?”
Shao Dong stared at him with increasing oddity: “Why do you care about this? Your straight attributes haven’t been shaken, have they?”
“Don’t talk nonsense, nothing like that. I’m just asking.”
Liang Han picked up his glass to drink water, but his mind involuntarily recalled the look of desperate anxiety on the boy’s face in the restroom when he grabbed his arm.
Although the boy might have been aiming for him, he truly looked unwilling to follow Shen Yu; it didn’t seem faked.
His taste was actually quite good knowing Shen Yu was no good and looking down on him.
But then again, if someone could take an interest in him, they generally wouldn’t have the bad judgment to take an interest in Shen Yu.
But he had refused. Now, how was that young boy going to escape Shen Yu?
Shao Dong didn’t believe it was “nothing.” Changing his tone, he said: “It’s fine if you want to understand; gaining some knowledge will prevent you from being startled in the future. Actually, I’ve only heard some things, let’s not even mention props or drugs. Some of these people have played so hard they sent others to the hospital before.”
Liang Han’s expression changed: “Sent to the hospital?”
That dainty little body looked like it could easily run into trouble; if he really went to the hospital, that would be disastrous.
Shao Dong nodded: “Yeah, haven’t you heard? This is where the club’s power comes in. I heard if someone from the club gets hurt, the club steps up to arrange the hospital visit. The person involved doesn’t have to handle it, which is why so many people in the industry come here to play. It’s not easy for people to discover it’s related to them. Look at Shen Yu; not a single scandal has leaked out. If you really saw something just now, you should have taken a photo with your phone. Once you have dirt on them, they won’t dare do anything to smear you behind your back again.”
Liang Han remained silent. After a long while, he put down his glass and stood up: “I’m going out for a moment.”
Even if that boy shouldn’t have set his sights on a straight man like him, being gay and liking men wasn’t a capital crime.
If he was going to be ruined by Shen Yu’s lot because of that, it was truly a bit much.
Shao Dong was startled by his sudden move and stood up with him: “…Hey? What are you doing now?”
“You didn’t really run into something, did you?”
“It’s too late to go take a video now.”
Liang Han ignored him and left the private room. Then, remembering that Shao Dong was the number one gossip around him, he added an instruction: “Stay here and keep Director Cen company. Don’t follow me. I’ll be back in a moment.”
After being rejected by Liang Han, Song Yuanxi froze for a while. When he regained his senses, he saw only the empty corridor; Liang Han had already disappeared around the corner.
…Did Liang Han really think he was a special service worker?
To think he ran away so impatiently.
However…
He hadn’t expected the man to be quite decent, at least he hadn’t set his eyes on him like Shen Yu or wanted him to accompany him, but instead advised him to find a decent job.
Although his words were a bit too righteous and his attitude lacked human touch, he really was a straight man.
Song Yuanxi couldn’t help but smile slightly. The result of testing Liang Han was quite good, much better than Shen Yu.
But the smile soon vanished as he remembered Shen Yu was still standing at the door, and he felt another headache coming on.
Song Yuanxi’s delicate eyebrows were about to knit into a ball. After a moment, he chose not to go out but instead slipped into a stall to send a message to Xu Rao.
[Do you have any good ideas on how to get rid of Shen Yu?]
He really didn’t want his situation to get worse; if there was a way, it was best to think of one.
Xu Rao happened to be on break, waiting to film the next scene. He had just picked up his phone to ask how things were going and if he had seen Shen Yu.
He was stunned by the question.
Xu Rao: [Get rid of Shen Yu? What did he do?]
Song Yuanxi made it short: [I came in pretending to interview as a waiter, and as a result, Shen Yu thinks I’m here to sell myself. Now I’m hiding in the restroom, and he’s waiting for me at the door.]
Xu Rao: […]
Xu Rao: [??? Shen Yu?]
Song Yuanxi: [Yeah.]
Xu Rao: “…”
Buddy, you really are at the level of a ‘disastrous beauty’… you attract this kind of thing everywhere.
However…
Xu Rao was silent for a few seconds before replying: [I really didn’t expect him to be this kind of person…]
Yeah, Song Yuanxi let out a soft breath; he hadn’t expected it either.
He thought the man was so noble and pure, but it turns out he was so vulgar he couldn’t be compared to Liang Han at all.
Xu Rao: [Why don’t you find the manager of the club? Let him help you get away. You’re just a waiter; they can’t force you to do this kind of thing.]
“…”
Finding that manager would definitely be a waste of time.
Song Yuanxi: [The manager is the one who sent me to Shen Yu’s room just now. They won’t use force, but they definitely won’t help me either.]
If he went to him, the man would likely just advise him to take good care of Shen Yu.
Xu Rao: […]
Xu Rao scratched his forehead and kept clicking his tongue. A nearby assistant thought there was a problem and leaned in, but was shooed away: “Don’t mind me, go take a break.”
Xu Rao had never encountered this kind of thing before and wasn’t good at handling such situations. For a moment, he couldn’t think of any good ideas: [Then… it seems there’s no way out. You’re on their turf; you can only find a way to fudge your way through first.]
Song Yuanxi thought about it: [Then I can only reject him directly.]
Xu Rao was worried: [Maybe don’t be too direct? Just find a reason and say you have something to do and need to head back?]
Song Yuanxi felt it wouldn’t work: [I can’t find a reason. If I do, what if he continues to follow me? If I say I’m unwell, what if he wants to send me back or to the hospital? He might even ask for my name; wouldn’t it be more trouble then? It’s better to reject him directly now, lest he thinks I’m playing hard to get.]
These words also made a lot of sense.
Xu Rao said: [Alright then, you use your judgment. But be careful. If things really go south, just shout. Shen Yu is a celebrity after all; he’ll definitely want to save face.]
Song Yuanxi: “…”
He wanted to save face too.
Since even Xu Rao didn’t have any good solutions, he could only see to it himself.
Song Yuanxi took a deep breath, his expression helpless. He didn’t know how Shen Yu would react to being rejected.
Worst case, it would be another scene of shamed anger; he would probably be like those people before, threatening to retaliate against him.
He turned his head to look around, but unfortunately, there were no windows in the restroom; even if he wanted to slip away, he couldn’t.
Forget it. If he offended him, then he offended him. He had already offended the company’s high-level executives anyway, so he didn’t care about offending another. At most, he would just continue to be blackballed; the situation couldn’t get any worse.
Song Yuanxi turned back, straightened his back, and exited the stall with a calm expression.
“You’re out? Feeling better?”
Shen Yu was indeed still waiting at the door. Seeing him come out, he showed a concerned expression.
As he spoke, he even reached out, appearing as if he wanted to take Song Yuanxi’s hand and support him.
Song Yuanxi secretly took another deep breath. It was nothing just rejecting a Best Actor with a background and connections.
The worst that could happen was continued blackballing.
He made up his mind, steeled his heart, and was just about to open his mouth to reject Shen Yu.
Suddenly, he heard another voice ring out: “What are you standing there for?”
The male voice was deep and powerful, full of magnetism, as if it were coming from another space.
It was somewhat familiar; he had clearly heard it not long ago.
Following that, the voice said another sentence: “Come over here.”