He lived in the office for almost a week, but apart from a pile of books and documents on the corner of the table, there were not many signs of habitation in the office.
The bed in the lounge wasn't even made, the sheets and quilts were all there, but they were all neatly packed in the delivery boxes and hadn't been opened yet. The only unpacked packages were clothes.
The advantage is probably that it is very convenient to clean up. Li Xuan only took the computer and threw the remaining boxes into the cabinet.
"Let's go." He carried a schoolbag on one shoulder and held a garbage bag in his hand. Through the translucent plastic film, he could see countless coffee bags and scattered cigarette butts inside.
Sheng Min sighed in disapproval, but held back and said nothing. He just reached out and took it so that he could lock the door: "Don't you have to wait for Qi Boyuan to come back?"
"No need. Once he comes back, he may not be able to leave. Just give him a phone call." While Li Xuan was speaking, he had already taken out his cell phone and dialed.
There must be something going on on the other end, so I walked out of the company and reached the elevator before I got through.
"You're leaving now? Where have you been? No..." Qi Boyuan's voice sounded unclear, "I'm already in the elevator and will be there soon."
"Are you in the elevator?" Perhaps because of a bad signal, the call was naturally hung up.
"What did he say?"
"arrive."
Li Xuan glanced at the elevator screen in front of him, and the number had jumped from eight to nine. He frowned and looked around, and it was too late to take the stairs. The elevator door opened, and Qi Boyuan was standing inside, with a young girl next to him.
"Ah, they didn't run away." Qi Boyuan smiled when he saw them standing at the door, and said to Sheng Min, "What's the hurry? I don't think you're in a hurry at all. Why don't you have a meal before you leave... Will you come with this guy?"
"No, we..." Sheng Min was about to refuse when the young girl next to him suddenly exclaimed in a low voice.
"Sheng Min?!" Zhou Jia looked at Li Xuan with a surprised expression, even covering his mouth unconsciously, but his tone was affirmative and excited, "You are Sheng Min, right?!"
About ten years ago, Sheng Min was still a little-known child star. Once, I heard the leading actress being interviewed on the set, vividly describing how she firmly denied being recognized by fans and successfully escaped.
After a long time, Sheng Min recalled this old story.
When he was recognized at the elevator entrance, he was actually a little confused, and Li Xuan was probably the same. Although after becoming famous, there have been many cases where fans caught him on private trips, but today's situation was not what Sheng Min had expected.
At the moment, Li Xuan wanted to deny it, but Sheng Min couldn't explain what he was thinking. Perhaps he felt that the other party was Li Xuan's friend after all, and lying with open eyes would really make both parties embarrassed. Several thoughts flashed through his mind, and he spoke before Li Xuan could speak: "Yes, he is."
Things seemed to go smoothly afterwards. The previous excuses and refusal all had legitimate reasons, and having already confessed his identity, it would seem too inhumane to continue to say that there were facts.
In fact, Li Xuan was worried that he was uncomfortable, so he probably tried to refuse once. However, Qi Boyuan, who seemed gentle and easy to talk to, insisted for some reason. So to no avail, half an hour later, the four of them sat down in a nearby restaurant with few customers.
"Your phone is ringing."
Qi Boyuan patted the table in front of him. Sheng Min came back to his senses and turned his head to look at Li Xuan. The latter hung up the phone almost at the same time, but the ringing soon rang a second time. Sheng Min gently pushed him under the cover of the tablecloth, indicating that he should answer it and that he could handle it. Li Xuan then stood up and walked out of the box, closing the door and pressing the call button.
Zhou Jia went to the bathroom to touch up her makeup. In the not-so-big box, only he and Qi Boyuan were left.
The soundproofing of the box is not good. I can vaguely hear Li Xuan's voice in the corridor, but it is blurry and I can't make out the content clearly.
Qi Boyuan glanced at the door and asked: "Do you two have the same ringtone?"
"It's the system default." Sheng Min said vaguely, and reached into his coat with his other hand to mute the ringtone.
"Isn't your ringtone the harmonica you play yourself?"
Sheng Min's eyebrows jumped involuntarily. He first looked at Qi Boyuan's expression. This didn't seem like a lie to him. He just changed from his original casual and leisurely expression to a little serious.
"It's been so long, I forgot about it. Yeah... He said it sounded nice last time, so I shared it with him. Do you want one too? I've never heard you mention it before."
As Sheng Min spoke, he thought again that Qi Boyuan's insistence on having this meal after his identity was revealed was indeed a Hongmen Banquet, and not because his girlfriend was a fan.
He was guessing Qi Boyuan's next question, and thinking about whether there was anything else that could be revealed. He was thinking about it in many twists and turns, but he couldn't help but be distracted. It turned out that Li Xuan could play the harmonica.
Judging from his expression, Qi Boyuan didn't quite believe this excuse, but he didn't dwell on it. He looked at him thoughtfully for a few seconds, then walked around the dining table and sat down next to him.
"What's wrong?" Sheng Min instinctively moved his chair back, creating a little distance.
Qi Boyuan seemed to sigh: "I should be the one asking you this question. What's going on? How do you know Sheng Min?"
"Friends of friends..." Sheng Min coughed to cover up.
"Which friend?" Qi Boyuan asked to get to the bottom of it.
"Even if I tell you, you probably don't know him..."
"Li Xuan." Qi Boyuan made a downward gesture, interrupting him and said directly, "It doesn't matter if I don't know you, but you have been acting strange lately."
Of course something is wrong.
Sheng Min was unsure what he was referring to, so she hesitated and didn't speak. Qi Boyuan fell silent after saying this, and took the cup to drink some water, but it was too hot, so she put it back, still frowning at him.
"It shouldn't be what I thought, right?" He said after hesitating for a while.
"What?" Sheng Min and Qi Boyuan were not familiar with each other, let alone guessing his true intentions from his vague words. But seeing his serious expression, she was unconsciously infected and a little nervous. She tried to ease the atmosphere and said, "It's not so strange to know Sheng Min. You can see that he is an ordinary person without three eyes."
This joke obviously didn't have much effect, and Qi Boyuan's expression didn't relax at all.
"Last month." He recalled for a moment and said without warning, "Last month... the 17th?... Yes, the 17th. I passed by the entrance of the Film Academy with his poster posted and I said this was Jia Jia's real name. You were busy changing the program and didn't even glance at him. You weren't interested in hearing his name. So if you say he's a friend of a friend and you've known him for a long time, I don't believe it."
Hearing from others about the encounter between him and Li Xuan before the soul exchange, Sheng Min felt a little strange, although it was not actually an encounter. As soon as he was distracted, he missed the opportunity to refute that he should not have said that they had known each other for a long time.
Fortunately, Qi Boyuan followed up with the next sentence: "But if you say you just met, I really don't think you would let someone you don't know well to participate in the company's interview. Before I took off the mask, I thought you were looking for some professional, but it turned out not to be."
There must be a reason why two people can be friends. Sheng Min looked at Qi Boyuan who was close to him. Although they looked completely different, in essence, he and Li Xuan were similar people. He had rigorous thinking and careful logic. When he spoke seriously, it was like he was negotiating, automatically blocking every avenue of his opponent.
But compared to Li Xuan's outward sharpness, Qi Boyuan seemed much more restrained under his gentle appearance.
"On the way here just now, I was thinking that you must have your reasons for not telling me. I don't want to meddle in other people's business, but I've seen it all, and I really can't rest easy without asking." Qi Boyuan stared into his eyes and hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Is there a problem with our company's capital chain? Sheng Min... Could it be that you found the investor for the company?"
Before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, Sheng Min's eyebrows jumped when he heard the words, but Li Mingge's actions would not be so fast. So he cautiously probed, "Why do you think so?"
Perhaps he also felt that this guess was a bit outrageous, Qi Boyuan frowned unconsciously: "Isn't it? Otherwise, how can I understand why you brought an unrelated celebrity to the company?"
This was indeed a misunderstanding that was difficult to explain, and Sheng Min had a headache. But then he heard Qi Boyuan say, "If he is really our investor, I understand why you asked me to delete the post late at night last time - I was surprised at first, you never do such unnecessary things."
"Delete the post?" Sheng Min was puzzled. "What post?"
Qi Boyuan was also stunned: "Are you playing dumb with me today?"
Of course it would only be the post from that day. Sheng Min had already reacted when he finished speaking.
He originally thought that the video was not leaked by the audience at the scene because Zhang Zhihua contacted the website under Li Xuan's warning. He never heard Li Xuan mention it. He even used his own connections to clean up the mess for him.
The voice of Li Xuan outside the door disappeared without a trace, probably because he had walked far away. However, the words Li Xuan said before leaving that night resurfaced in my ears at this moment.
"I am not worthy of reading the same sutra with you." He should have been sarcastic and indifferent when he was angry. Thinking back, it was never the case. Sheng Min knew it a long time ago, and after verifying it from others, he still felt mixed emotions. He sighed lightly. Qi Boyuan was right. This was unnecessary for Li Xuan.
The air conditioner in the box was set to a low temperature, and a faint mist came out of the boiling hot fruit tea in the glass teapot. The aroma spread, it was kumquat and lemon, and there was too much honey, so the sourness and sweetness were particularly strong.
Qi Boyuan didn't notice his loss of composure and continued to analyze. In the past, Li Xuan simply rejected those possible olive branches because he didn't want to be swayed by investors too early. Finding someone who doesn't know anything about the business is not a bad solution.
Then he started to worry again. After all, Sheng Min has only been famous for a few years. Even if the money made in the entertainment industry is fast, is it enough to support the early development of a technology company
"No matter what, you have to tell me if you have anything to say. Since we are starting a business together, if there are any problems, don't think that you should bear all the responsibilities yourself," he concluded.
Qi Boyuan said the last sentence very seriously. Sheng Min felt that he could actually be a screenwriter. He could find several supporting reasons for his inferences that were far from the truth. His logic was much more rigorous than most practitioners he knew.
"Really not." Sheng Min perked up and pressed his temple. He could see that Qi Boyuan, as a partner, was very important to Li Xuan. Regardless of the future, Sheng Min didn't think it was a good idea to let him misunderstand and worry about the funding issue at this moment.
The truth was hard to explain. He thought quickly about Qi Boyuan's suspicious look and barely found a reason to refute it. But he spoke a little awkwardly: "If he is really an investor, there is no need for me to go out of my way to watch his TV series, right?"
"Is it to analyze the viewing time or the crowd? You won't be giving him any more data later?" Qi Boyuan's thoughts wandered and he interrupted him, "Is this a condition?"
"What... No, it's really not." Sheng Min really didn't expect this line of thought. Surprised, he just wanted to correct him. He made up his mind and simply asked, "Do you think it's possible that I am actually his fan?"
Although Qi Boyuan had teased Li Xuan about being a star chaser more than once, it was mostly a joke. At least at this moment, after a brief silence, his face had an expression that said, "Am I easy to fool?"
The door of the private room seemed to make a sound, and then there was no sound again. Sheng Min didn't care about that, and continued to talk nonsense: "Actually, I can't be called a fan. I just met him by chance. I was bored that day and thought of it, so I found a TV series to watch. I have been writing programs for too long, so it's okay to use it as background music... I deleted the post purely to help. He came to the company because he accepted a drama with a related theme. He wanted to come and feel it, so I let him come... As for the interview, I didn't think too much about it. I just felt it was awkward to let him be alone outside... So..."
Qi Boyuan listened to him quietly, his eyes changing from strange to incredible: "Li Xuan, there is something really wrong with you."
After making up a story for a long time, I was led back to the same place. Fortunately, the reason was different this time: "You never explained so much to me before."
"Because you're asking." Sheng Min pretended to be calm and said, "Anyway, the company is running normally and there's no problem with the funds. Just trust me and do your job well. I've been a little busy recently, so I can't tell you about my personal matters. I'll show up less often, and the company's business won't be delayed."
Qi Boyuan didn't say anything, his eyes still wandering on his face. Sheng Min felt a little guilty, but looked at him calmly. After about a minute or less, Qi Boyuan suddenly smiled.
"Okay, whatever you say is what's going on." He relaxed his tense back and leaned back in his chair. "You haven't been around much lately, and I was a little nervous. I hope you're okay."
"It's okay. Don't worry."
"I'm relieved." Qi Boyuan took off his glasses, wiped the lenses and put them back on. "When I decided to give up my postgraduate study and start a business with you, I told you that I only had two requests. When you write code, please consider my feelings and don't create a bunch of things that work smoothly but look difficult to me. And... you must tell me if there is anything."
"Okay." Sheng Min nodded.
"Anyway, you just agreed so readily." Qi Boyuan shook his head and finally didn't pursue the matter any further. He changed the subject, "But Sheng Min is really pretty. Every time Jia Jia forced me to watch Sheng Min's show with her, she would emphasize that she is not photogenic and looks better in person, but I still don't believe it..."
The door was pushed open at this time, and Li Xuan walked in. It was a bit embarrassing to be caught talking about someone behind his back, so Qi Boyuan coughed deliberately: "... Are you done with the call?"
Li Xuan nodded casually without saying anything, walked over, and glanced at him. Qi Boyuan finally realized that he was taking his seat: "You want to sit here?"
"Yeah." Li Xuan spoke this time, his eyes wandering around Sheng Min beside him with a half-smile, and he said helplessly: "Didn't you insist that I sit next to you?"
When did Sheng Min say this? He looked up in surprise. Li Xuan looked very embarrassed and said to Qi Boyuan: "Do you understand? ... ... Or are you also my fan? Then..."
Qi Boyuan was stunned, his mouth opened in surprise, as if he had swallowed an egg raw. Then he looked at Sheng Min's ears, which were so red that they seemed to bleed. He quickly stood up and gave up his seat, a little flustered: "No, no, no, I'm not, my girlfriend likes you... It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, you sit down."
Dinner ended quickly, Zhou Jia had to go back to school, and Qi Boyuan sent her off after dinner. She was very restrained throughout the night, not as enthusiastic as Qi Boyuan described, but before leaving, she was very embarrassed to take a photo with Sheng Min.
"I promise not to post it online, okay?"
Li Xuan glanced at Sheng Min, and with his tacit consent, awkwardly made a scissors gesture.
"Why do you say that?"
They walked back to the software park and drove. Li Xuan happened to be replying to messages, so Sheng Min took the car keys. After driving a distance, she saw that he had finished his work and asked softly.
"What?" Li Xuan was stunned, then reacted, "What do you think? ... ... I really admire you. You can't even make up a decent lie... ... Now he believes it."
Probably believed it. When they parted at the end of the road, Qi Boyuan looked at Sheng Min several times, wanting to say something but hesitant, but in the end he said nothing. Sheng Min guessed that she and he had been making up stories all night, but it was probably not as shocking as Li Xuan's words.
Li Xuan said this, but he didn't seem angry.
"Did you hear everything?" Sheng Min turned on the left signal and changed lanes.
"Nothing. I didn't mean to eavesdrop... The call was disconnected halfway through. I was about to come in when it called again. I just happened to hear a few words."
"Which ones..." He didn't mean anything else when he asked, he just said it casually. Before he finished speaking, he saw Li Xuan's lips pursed into a slit and then realized something. He felt a little shy and wanted to laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"No."
"Let me correct you." This was the second time the topic was brought up that day. Li Xuan was much calmer than when Qi Boyuan accidentally exposed him in the office. However, his tone was somewhat stiff. "I didn't go out of my way to watch it... I wanted to watch something else, but when I opened the website, your drama popped up automatically."
"The crew paid too much advertising fees, and the publicity is everywhere." Sheng Min agreed with him.
Li Xuan snorted and turned his head to the window to watch the passing traffic. After driving through a tunnel, Zhang Zhihua's name suddenly popped up on Sheng Min's mobile phone screen.
"Hello?"
He connected to the Bluetooth in the car, but the voice-changing software could not be used at the same time, so Li Xuan answered it for him directly.
"Where are you?" Zhang Zhihua asked bluntly.
Li Xuan had always had a bad impression of him: "There is no announcement today, why do you care where I am?"
The other end choked for a moment. Li Xuan urged him, "If you have something to say, please speak up. If not, hang up now."
"I have something to say. It's about your next job. You haven't taken on any TV dramas recently, but there are a few scripts that are really good, and the money is good..." Seeing that he didn't respond, Zhang Zhihua lowered his voice a little, "Actually, I really think it's okay. Of course, if you really don't want to take it, there's nothing I can do... You can always take a variety show, right?"
Li Xuan hummed. Sheng Min turned his head to look at him and seemed to want to say something.
"Concentrate on driving." Li Xuan mouthed to him.
Hearing that he had no objection, Zhang Zhihua's tone became high: "I have chosen two. One is "Around the Small World", which is scheduled for your schedule next Wednesday. It will be recorded for two days and aired on the 1st. The other is "Picking the Moon" Season 3, and I invite you to be the initiator. It will start recording at the end of June, and the specific time has not been determined yet. There are a total of twelve episodes, and it will be recorded in six sessions, once every half a month, and each session will be three days. You are familiar with this. The two programs do not conflict, I think you can take it."
The full name of "Picking the Moon" is "Pick Your Moon", which is the talent show that Sheng Min participated in. The contestants from the previous season are actually far behind Sheng Min's batch in terms of fame and development, but they can still attract a large number of viewers during the annual talent show.
As for "Around the Small World", Li Xuan had never heard of it. He looked it up and found out that it was a slow variety show with good ratings and reputation.
Zhang Zhihua continued, "These two variety shows are really good, especially "Picking the Moon". They have a lot of traffic, and if you're on it, you'll definitely attract a wave of fans. And most importantly, I heard that Su Run is also in contact. The production team definitely wants you more now, and if you don't go, he'll just take advantage of you. So no matter what, you have to go. He's been competing with you for endorsements for the past two years, and you two are on the same path."
As he spoke, he became more excited: "Their press releases are all ready, with something like 'Starting from the Beginning' and 'Starting Over'... It's so jealous. They built up all this hype, but in the end, you got on the show and you slapped him in the face. Oh, did he really think that he could always be the center just because he was the center of the group? They've been disbanded for 800 years, and the producer lost all his money on the last movie, and he still thinks he's the center."
Li Xuan was not interested in the twists and turns of the entertainment industry. After Zhang Zhihua talked for a long time, he roughly understood that Su Run should be in the same group with Sheng Min. He glanced at Sheng Min's expression and saw that he frowned slightly, obviously not very happy with these contents.
"That's almost enough." Li Xuan interrupted.
Zhang Zhihua shut up: "What are you talking about? So, the production team is waiting for your reply... ... The money is also enough. You really have too little work recently, and there are so many people in the team who need to eat."
Li Xuan sneered: "I earn so much money for you. If I don't work for a month, you will starve to death, right?"
"That's not what I meant." Zhang Zhihua was somewhat afraid of Li Xuan after being taught a lesson last time. "Mr. Zhang was still talking about it today. After Wei Yang Liu is broadcast, you have no more inventory. It's time to take on a new role. I've tried to find a way to make it work for you."
"Oh? Really? How did you make it round?"
"Look at you." Zhang Zhihua smiled awkwardly, "Anyway, just accept 'Picking the Moon'. You don't want to film now, so if you accept this, at least you can delay it for another month. The company has to give an explanation. You've already turned down so many offers. If you don't accept any more, you'll be the one who suffers."
After the body swap, Sheng Min's work was basically still communicated between himself and Zhang Zhihua, and then told Li Xuan. Although he never managed it, Li Xuan actually understood that the current workload was indeed too little for a popular artist like Sheng Min.
"As the initiator, I don't need to sing or dance, right?" Li Xuan asked after thinking for a while.
Zhang Zhihua was very happy to hear that this was a good idea, and said, "No need, you are just responsible for hosting. At most, you can improvise a sentence or two occasionally, and your legs can't dance for a long time. I have already negotiated with the production team."
What's wrong with his leg? Li Xuan was startled and subconsciously looked at Sheng Min. The latter was looking at the rearview mirror and avoiding his gaze, whether intentionally or not.
Before Zhang Zhihua said it, he had never noticed any problems with Sheng Min's legs. The only thing was that his right ankle would occasionally hurt on rainy days. Li Xuan himself had a lot of injuries, so he didn't take these minor pains too seriously.
"Sheng Min?" Zhang Zhihua didn't hear his answer and felt a little nervous, so he quickly called him.
"Okay, then..." Li Xuan didn't finish his words because Sheng Min held his hand and said angrily, "Don't answer it."
"What's wrong?" Li Xuan looked at him inquiringly, but Sheng Min still shook his head stubbornly.
"I'll give you an answer later." Li Xuan hung up the phone with his other hand, and Sheng Min just happened to pull the car over.
"Your legs..." He couldn't help but asked this first.
"It's okay." Sheng Min said, "You can feel it, it's not limping or broken... I just accidentally fell before."
Being able to walk normally and being able to run and jump are two different concepts. Li Xuan didn't know what kind of injury could make him unable to dance. But Sheng Min rarely resisted a topic so obviously, so he stopped talking about it. Instead, he asked him, "Why don't you accept it? You don't like both?"
Sheng Min hummed softly: "I don't like it, don't answer it."
"Then what do you like?" Li Xuan lowered the window and propped it up with one hand. "I see your agent is very anxious. He should be able to find you whatever type you like, as long as you accept it."
"It's not urgent." Sheng Min pinched his fingers, "I think we can slow down a bit. I want to take a break."
"You want me to take a break." Li Xuan pointed out, "I haven't even asked you how many announcements you have postponed so far."
"Not much." Sheng Min smiled.
"Actually, there's no need. You could have told me." Li Xuan shrugged indifferently. "Really. I can handle it."
"You didn't have to deal with it." Sheng Min's smile faded, and his tone sounded a little frustrated. "I actually caused you a lot of trouble." He asked a question, but his tone was not questioning. "I still owe you a thank you for deleting the post."
"I got it now." Li Xuan was not surprised that he knew about this. "You're welcome."
Sheng Min pursed her lips and said, "I am serious. Even if I don't accept the notice for a while, it's not as serious as Zhang Zhihua said."
"We all know whether it is true or not." Sheng Min was about to figure it out again, but Li Xuan suddenly loosened his seat belt and raised his hand to turn his shoulder.
"Sheng Min." He called his name, "I can judge whether it is troublesome or not. You always say this, and I have to wonder if it is because you think that I am a big trouble to you."
It was already dusk, the night wind faded away the heat, and blew in from the window with the fragrance of unknown flowers. Traffic passed by, and the light and shadow of the street lamps were cut into pieces. Unconsciously, they were already very close, and Sheng Min was silent.
"If you don't say anything, I'll take it as your consent." Li Xuan had a faint smile on his lips that he didn't even notice. "Really?"
"You clearly know that there is none." Sheng Min finally said softly.
"Yeah. So you should know that there is none." He let go of her hand, sat back down, and stretched. "Take it. It's okay."
The author has something to say:
Sorry for the wait, I'm back.