Sheng Min found a quiet stairwell, and because he didn't answer the phone, it was automatically hung up. But after a while, it rang again.
"Mom." Sheng Min took a deep breath and slid down the call button.
"Xiao Min," Wang Shuying asked, "what are you doing?"
"Work."
"Busy." Her tone was a little flattering, a sign that she wanted something from him. "I told you you're capable. I saw you filming a play on TV a few days ago. What was it called? Oh, I can't remember it at the moment."
Sheng Min felt a headache: "Mom, what's the matter, tell me."
"What can I do? I just thought your birthday was coming up, so I called you to ask how you were doing."
In fact, Sheng Min's birthday was still a month away, so it was too early to call and greet him. Sheng Min knew it was just an excuse, so he didn't expose it. Instead, he suddenly remembered that Li Xuan and he had the same birthday.
"Why don't you say anything?" Wang Shuying said.
"It's okay. I'm fine."
"I'm relieved if you're doing well. Time is running out. You're almost twenty-two, and your brother is nineteen. By the way, he did pretty well on an exam at school last time, and he said he wanted to tell you, his brother, to make you happy. But you're not coming back."
Sheng Min nodded. Sheng Hui's grades were terrible. He didn't even pass the junior college line in the college entrance examination last year. He didn't want to repeat the year. Sheng Min used his connections and spent money to get him into a private school, just hoping that he wouldn't cause any trouble. He didn't know how Wang Shuying made up the story that he did well in the exam.
"I have too much work." Sheng Min said. Hearing someone talking on the floor above, he slowly walked down the stairs and came to the flower bed at the bottom of the building.
"Yeah, you said you were so busy, and you two brothers rarely see each other, so you don't know what's going on." Wang Shuying pretended to be sentimental, "By the way, your brother went to a driving school some time ago, and you didn't know about it either."
Sheng Min realized why he called today: "Did you get your driver's license?"
"It's almost time. I don't understand the theory behind it. I just heard people say that if you don't drive a car often, you'll get rusty. I thought, you have so many cars, why not just give him one to drive."
In fact, Sheng Min only has one car. He is usually picked up and dropped off at work. He rarely goes out and doesn’t care about material things. He naturally understands that Wang Shuying doesn’t really want his old car for Sheng Hui: “I’ll buy him a new one when he gets his driver’s license.”
"Oh, I feel relieved now. Your brother has been talking about what kind of car he likes for a long time, but I don't understand it. I'll ask him to send it to you directly later."
Wang Shuying's eyebrows brightened, and she added, "You two brothers should be closer. Your brother is too shy. I always tell him to talk to your brother if he has any problem. Your brother is very capable and can solve anything. When you buy a car for your brother, let him take you around their school. When he looks for a house, you can help him with his advice."
"What house?" Sheng Min was stunned.
"It's not about the house, actually." Wang Shuying said, "He recently started dating a girlfriend. You know, girls nowadays are very snobbish and materialistic. Besides, he's a boy, he'll have a car and a house sooner or later, so it's better for them to buy one now."
Sheng Min gently pinched the bridge of his nose, frowned, and said helplessly: "He is only nineteen years old."
"What's the big deal? It's cheaper if you buy it early."
Sheng Min sighed, and was a little distracted when looking at the several saplings in the flower bed that had not received enough sunlight for years and were dying.
He didn't know what else to say. Wang Shuying on the other end got anxious when he didn't reply for a long time. "You know, your brother is useless and needs your help. You are brothers, what's yours is his. If you leak a little bit through your fingers, he can live for a long time."
"Mom, I..."
"You wouldn't be unwilling, would you?" Wang Shuying changed her tone in an instant, "Sheng Min, if I hadn't asked you to act as a child star, would you be where you are today? You should never forget your roots. Now that you are a big star and rich, you don't care about the life and death of your mother and your brother..."
Here it comes again. It's the same old routine, coaxing first and then scolding. Sheng Min has gotten used to it over the years and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
His financial situation was not as good as Wang Shuying thought. Although he had been in the industry for a long time, he had only become famous in the past two years. The company's share of the profits had always been high. He had basically used up all his income in the early years to pay off his family's debts. He also had to give Wang Shuying living expenses every month. He also bought a new house for his family two years ago. He really didn't have that much money to spend.
Sheng Hui's school is close to the city center, and the price is definitely not low. Now that he and Li Xuan have swapped bodies, he can't accept many announcements. Sheng Min himself is not sure about his future.
But he couldn't tell Wang Shuying about this. In fact, even if he told her, Wang Shuying wouldn't believe it. She always thought that he had endless money and just refused to share it.
Sheng Min sometimes wondered why, although they were both sons, his and Sheng Hui had such different status in Wang Shuying's heart.
"Mom." Wang Shuying was still scolding. Sheng Min was tired of listening to her and gently kicked the pebbles under his feet. "Can we talk about the house later? I have work to do soon. When Sheng Hui gets his driver's license, I will buy him a car first."
Wang Shuying cursed for a while before she stopped. She thought that getting the car was the most important thing, so she calmed down and complained, "I don't mean anything else. I just thought that you two brothers are the closest to each other. After I die, you two will still have to rely on each other. My health is not good. I went to the doctor for chest pain some time ago. I don't know when I will die. It's expensive to go to the hospital now. Do you think those doctors are cheating me out of money?"
"How much is the medical expenses?" Sheng Min asked numbly.
"Almost 60,000. I have a little bit myself, so I can't just ask you to give it to me. Just give me 50,000."
Sheng Min didn't know what kind of illness would cost so much money: "You're not going to gamble again, are you?"
"What do you miss your mother? I just play mahjong occasionally because I'm bored. What do you mean by going to gamble again? If I gambled, why didn't the police arrest me?" Wang Shuying started to make a fuss.
"Don't gamble."
Sheng Min closed his eyes. The afternoon sun was very dazzling. The long white light shone on the dust on the flower bed, which was messy and dirty. He couldn't help but wonder how Li Xuan would face such a family member and deal with these things that were more difficult to clean than dust.
But he is not Li Xuan, who is used to being submissive and just wants to keep things quiet: "I will transfer the money to you later. I have something else to do, so I'll hang up first."
In the lounge, the makeup artist had already removed the makeup. Li Xuan waited for a while, but Sheng Min didn't come back. He wondered why the phone call took so long. The door was suddenly pushed open. He thought it was Sheng Min, but Yang Xu rushed in like a gust of wind.
"Brother." He panted, "Brother Zhang is gone."
"Let's go," Li Xuan said, "You have to follow me."
"Did you make him leave?" Yang Xu was a little excited, "Brother, you looked so handsome when you confronted him today."
Li Xuan glanced at him, not quite understanding the source of his excitement.
"Of course you are always handsome, especially today." Yang Xu laughed and handed him a thermos box. "By the way, your favorite sweet-scented osmanthus dumplings. I saw it was nearby, so I just bought them for you. They are warm."
"I don't eat sweet things." said Li Xuan.
"Ah?" Yang Xu looked at him in surprise, "You are not..."
"I don't want to eat now." Li Xuan changed his words, "Give it to Sheng... to Li Xuan later."
"... ..Okay." Yang Xu looked around hesitantly, "Where are the others?"
"I went to answer the phone."
Yang Xu said "oh" and put the insulated box on the coffee table next to him. Li Xuan was not familiar with him and did not want to talk. So he took out several resumes sent by Qi Boyuan and looked at them.
After sitting quietly for a while, Yang Xu couldn't stay any longer and tiptoed to the chair next to Li Xuan and sat down: "Brother."
Li Xuan raised his eyelids impatiently and glanced at him: "Speak."
"That Li Xuan, is he really your assistant? Why do you suddenly want to find a new assistant? Am I not doing my job well?"
"Is there a problem with having more people share the work with you? It's not like they're splitting your salary." Li Xuan placed his phone face down on the dressing table.
"Oh, that's not what I'm talking about." Yang Xu said, "The key point is that he doesn't look like an assistant.
"Like what?"
"Looks like he's trying to steal your job."
Li Xuan was amused by this statement: "You assistants still have restrictions on appearance."
Yang Xu chuckled when she saw him laughing: "But he's quite nice, easy to get along with. It feels like we've known each other before."
Nonsense, because he is your brother. Li Xuan hummed. He thought the topic should be over, but Yang Xu was still looking at him.
"Anything else?"
Yang Xu hesitated for a moment, looked around, and ran over to close the dressing room door. "No, brother, you better tell me the truth. Is Li Xuan really your assistant?"
Li Xuan wanted to ask him if he had lost his memory. Wasn't this a conversation they had just had a minute ago? He thought Sheng Min said his assistant's slow response was a matter of emotional intelligence. Could it be that Sheng Min was actually talking about his IQ
"Didn't I answer you just now?" Li Xuan said patiently.
“But he doesn’t look like it.”
God. Really IQ.
Li Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Yang Xu continued by himself: "You two seem to know each other so well. Look, you even saved some snacks for him, and he even touched you..."
"I've never shared food with you before?" Li Xuan didn't know that leaving a sweet-scented osmanthus dumpling would make Yang Xu spread so much. Are people in the entertainment industry more hypocritical? Sheng Min would never be a harsh person. It is impossible for him to deduct a bowl of snacks from the staff. As for when did he touch him? "Where did he touch me?"
Yang Xu had an expression that said, "I saw it, don't deny it," "It was when I first came here today. Brother Zhang was there too. He touched your waist in front of so many people."
Li Xuan was completely speechless. That was not touching at all. Sheng Min poked him because she was afraid that he would quarrel with Zhang Zhihua. He felt that something was wrong, but now he just felt that it was difficult to talk to Yang Xu, and he was too lazy to think about it. He raised his hand and tapped Yang Xu's shoulder: "Okay, now I'm touching you. If you are hungry, you can eat the glutinous rice balls, and you don't have to leave any for him, okay."
"Hey, brother. Why can't you tell me the truth?" Yang Xu was not comforted at all, "Brother Zhang told me everything."
What do you mean I won't tell you the truth? At least you should tell me human words. Li Xuan was speechless: "What did Zhang Zhihua say?"
"He said Li Xuan lives in your house."
"Then what?"
"What then?" Yang Xu looked aggrieved. "Brother, I'm not an outsider. Even Brother Zhang knows about it, but you insist on hiding it from me. I won't say anything. I'm always on your side."
"What ivory did Zhang Zhihua spit out for you to see?" Li Xuan became more and more confused as he listened. His patience had reached its limit. "If you have something to say, can you please just say it? Is your mind a maze that you can't figure out? Just say it!"
He suddenly raised his voice, which frightened Yang Xu so much that she almost slipped off the chair. Her voice rose involuntarily: "He said that Li Xuan is probably your new boyfriend!"
"You believe whatever he says. You have no brains..." Li Xuan stopped talking halfway.
He knew what was so weird about the conversation with Yang Xu just now. No, that was not the point.
New boyfriend? New? Then there's the old one. That's not the point either.
Sheng Min likes men
Li Xuan frowned. But Yang Xu kept talking beside him: "I didn't, I observed it. Brother, why didn't you tell me? I will never betray you. And I think Li Xuan looks good, much more reliable than your last one."
"Shut up." Li Xuan said.
"I'm serious."
"I told you to shut up!" Li Xuan took a deep breath, he was a little confused. He walked to the window to calm down, but the door was pushed open at this time, and Sheng Min walked in.
Li Xuan grabbed the window sill and turned to look at him.
Judging from Sheng Min's expression, I'm afraid he heard it.
The poplar catkins were so loud just now that it was hard not to hear them through a door. Fortunately, the filming of the commercial was over and the staff were busy cleaning up the scene. They would not come to the lounge, so it should not have spread further.
Li Xuan actually didn't plan to ask Sheng Min about this matter directly just now. He felt that he needed to think about it again. But now, it is obviously not necessary.
"Yang Xu." Sheng Min didn't look at him, "You go out first."
His tone sounded a little tired, but he didn't complain. He was even gentle, as if he was afraid of scaring the other person.
Yang Xu saw that he looked unhappy, and his heart was beating fast. He thought, does this person not know about his brother's past love history? Should he go and help explain it
"Go out." Li Xuan also spoke.
"Oh." Yang Xu responded, "Then I'll go wait for you in the car."
The door closed again, and they were the only two people left in the room. Li Xuan suddenly realized that this lounge was not as wide as he had initially thought. For example, now, even though they were standing almost at opposite corners, he seemed to be able to feel Sheng Min's breathing.
"You know?"
"Did you hear that?"
They spoke almost at the same time, and then fell silent. In fact, both of them had questions that did not need to be answered.
Sheng Min pursed her lips, but the first thing Li Xuan said when he spoke again was: "Do you still have an ex-boyfriend?"
It didn't seem like this was the right question to ask. But he did ask it.
"No." Sheng Min said softly.
Li Xuan's lips moved but he didn't say anything. Sheng Min noticed and paused, "They think so, but it's not. I don't have an ex-boyfriend."
Li Xuan's Adam's apple moved up and down, and he frowned slightly: "So, do you like men?"
"Yes." Sheng Min's expression calmed down. "I like men."
Li Xuan seemed to be choked by his frank attitude, frowning even more tightly. After a long silence, he exhaled, cursed in a low voice, pressed his eyebrows, and walked straight past Sheng Min and out.
The author has something to say:
See you the day after tomorrow.