It was almost twelve o'clock when he returned to the community. Sheng Min had been reading in the lounge all day, and on the way back, he leaned on the passenger seat and closed his eyes to rest.
He didn't seem to be affected at all, but if he wasn't, he wouldn't have not fallen asleep after Yang Xu left, and wouldn't have said a word on the way. Li Xuan thought this as he stopped the car in the garage and looked at Sheng Min's slightly trembling eyelashes.
If it was something he really didn't care about, Sheng Min wouldn't be so reluctant to mention it.
"Are we there yet?" Sheng Min opened his eyes.
"We're here." Li Xuan looked at the Yugui dog on the center console and waited until Shengmin unbuckled his seat belt before saying, "You go in first. I need to go to the company."
Sheng Min stopped and said, "It's so late..."
"Something went wrong. Qi Boyuan can't handle it. I have to go check it out... The program is too big to fit on my laptop. And some of the information is on the office computer."
"So..." Sheng Min pursed her lips, "Then I'll accompany you."
"No. You go upstairs first."
After saying this, Sheng Min did not move, so Li Xuan urged him again.
"Is it really a company matter?"
"What else?" Li Xuan asked back.
Sheng Min's Adam's apple moved: "What happened during the day, actually..."
"I'm not interested. I don't want to listen." The second time, Li Xuan still didn't give him a chance to continue. He tapped the steering wheel with his fingers, looking a little impatient. "Go back. Don't delay me."
The words were a bit harsh, and I regretted it after saying it. I didn't want to explain. I saw Sheng Min silently, opened the car door and got out of the car, but didn't leave. He stood for two seconds, turned around, held the car window and asked him: "Then will you come back tonight?"
The fingertips on the car window turned white because of the force. He was nervous. Li Xuan realized this and his heart softened suddenly.
"Come back. Where would I go if I don't come back? Don't we have to record tomorrow?" Li Xuan lowered his voice, "It's just a small matter. It will be handled quickly. Don't worry."
Yang Xu was called out again after returning home, but she was not angry. She was just confused from sleep, and almost bumped into the glass when she entered the door.
Last weekend, on a day carefully selected by Qi Boyuan, the office in the software park was officially put into use. During the day, except for Li Xuan, the rest of the company basically worked here. Compared with Li Xuan's last visit, there were more signs of activity. On the thick pile of documents on the desk, there were unfinished cookies. Probably because of Qi Boyuan, he also placed several pots of green plants in his office.
"Where is this, bro? I just took a taxi here and I thought you sent the wrong address."
"I'm looking for a place to borrow from a friend." Before Yang Xu arrived, Li Xuan had already taken down the doorplate with his name on it and calmly evaded him, "You can sit anywhere."
"It's like a studio for a workplace drama." Yang Xu believed it, and sat down on the sofa and asked him, "Why are you alone, brother? Where's Li Xuan?"
"At home, why do you ask him?"
"It's so late, and you're all alone." Yang Xu looked a little nervous. "Did you have a fight?"
This sounded familiar. Li Xuan raised his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose: "Why do you think we quarreled this time?"
"Why else?"
"I'll let you speak."
"It's for Qin Zhengchen, your shameless ex-boyfriend!"
I had guessed it long ago, and it was confirmed more than once today. After hearing these three words clearly, Li Xuan still felt as if his head was hit.
"Is it really because of Qin Zhengchen?" Yang Xu said it firmly. After she finished speaking, she didn't see his reaction, but seemed to not believe it. "He is too stingy. Everyone has an ex. I was cheated of money when I was in high school. I went to the cafeteria to eat free soup for a whole week... ... Didn't the song say that you should avoid the wrong ones? But I think his behavior is not right. Why don't you get rid of him too?"
Yang Xu was so disappointed with him that he asked him, "But how did you tell him... Could it be that I..."
Li Xuan glanced at him: "What?"
"I reacted too much in the lounge today, and he guessed it?" He was annoyed and looked for Li Xuan to confirm, "Is it really because of me?"
Li Xuan neither admitted nor denied it, and Yang Xu became more and more uneasy: "... ..Brother, I know I was impulsive. You called me out now, not to settle accounts with me, right?"
Li Xuan played with the lighter, the flame ignited and then went out: "Why should I settle accounts with you... I just saw that Qin Zhengchen was in a bad mood today, and I couldn't sleep, so I wanted to talk to you."
"Don't talk about you. I'm so annoyed when I see him." Yang Xu walked around the desk and squatted beside him. She looked at him eagerly, "Brother, don't be like this. I feel uncomfortable."
Li Xuan lowered his eyes: "Nothing, I just remembered it again..."
"Don't think about it. It's just that he has bad intentions. It's not your fault."
"real?"
"That's right..."
It was not too difficult for Li Xuan to get information from Yang Xu by using Sheng Min's identity.
On the way to the software park, he actually hesitated a little, and even hesitated for a long time to call Yang Xu. He thought this was not good, and it shouldn't be. But he couldn't restrain himself. Li Xuan knew that his state was very wrong, or maybe it didn't start today, but he had been deliberately ignoring it. Even at this moment, he didn't want to pursue these strange reasons.
Since Qin Zhengchen appeared today, it was as if ten thousand termites appeared out of nowhere and gnawed at his heart.
He lied to Sheng Min. It's not that he didn't want to know. He just didn't want to know it from Sheng Min.
Li Xuan actually had no idea how long Yang Xu had been talking. He just mechanically asked questions at every pause, guiding him to continue without leaving any trace.
When the last word fell, he was actually very confused. He felt like he didn't hear anything clearly and had no memory of what Yang Xu said at all.
He didn't know what his expression was like, but it must not be good. Because Yang Xu looked like she was about to cry: "Brother, are you okay?"
"fine."
The weather forecast said it would rain tonight, and the wind was blowing hard, blowing the white blackout curtain like a sail. Li Xuan stood up to close the balcony window, only to find that the rain had already fallen without him noticing. The wind blew through his hair, and the silvery white raindrops were like a thread, stringing together every word that Li Xuan thought he had forgotten.
So that's how it is, Li Xuan thought, so that's how it is.
Sheng Min and Qin Zhengchen met because of "Picking the Moon". Yang Xu didn't know when they got together. During the recording period, the trainees were under closed management. Yang Xu could only call him once a week. Sheng Min did mention Qin Zhengchen, but he also mentioned other trainees. There was nothing special. But as time went on, Qin Zhengchen appeared more and more frequently next to Sheng Min in each episode. When they officially formed a group, they still seemed very close.
Fans of boy bands are always trying to match them up, and the company will deliberately guide them to interact intimately to cater to fans when attending events or live broadcasts. Sheng Min actually doesn't like it. If other teammates get too close or overstep the line, he will try to avoid them, but his tolerance for Qin Zhengchen is obviously higher.
Because of his good looks and high popularity, Sheng Min had more than one popular couple in the team at that time, Qin Zhengchen. But Sheng Min's fans were most dissatisfied with Qin Zhengchen, because he debuted at a low position, did not meet the aesthetics of the boy group, and was basically sidelined in the program. They thought that Sheng Min would be dragged down by his good relationship with him. Therefore, they were very dissatisfied.
However, even so, Sheng Min's attitude has not changed. He will recommend Qin Zhengchen if there are any job opportunities, and sometimes even needs to sacrifice some of his own interests for this.
Yang Xu couldn't think of any other explanation except that they were a real couple. As time went on, even Zhang Zhihua began to doubt it and scolded Sheng Min several times for it.
When Yang Xu met Sheng Min, he was not yet an adult. Yang Xu did not get into college after graduating from high school. His parents found him a job as a courier, but he did not want it. He went to Hengdian to be an extra. He often had no work for several days, and when he was not paying attention, his money was stolen. When he was about to go to the edge of despair, he met Sheng Min. He was not famous at that time, and the company had no plan to arrange a full-time assistant for him, nor did it plan this part of the salary. But Sheng Min still gave Yang Xu a job and subsidized him with his own money.
After filming a kissing scene with an actress one day, Sheng Min returned to the hotel and was very silent. A few days later, he suddenly woke Yang Xu up at night and said without warning that he seemed to like men.
At that time, Sheng Min looked very confused and just wanted to find someone to talk to. Yang Xu was half asleep and half awake, and asked him who he liked. Sheng Min shook his head and said no, and then said I don’t like women.
Yang Xu thought about it and said that it didn't matter. I liked our cat very much for a while and wanted to live with it forever. Sheng Min smiled, and Yang Xu also smiled, saying that you are still my brother anyway.
Later they never mentioned this matter again. Sheng Min was too busy and too tired. Every time his family called, they asked for money. He shuttled between one unreliable crew after another, and the bottomless pit could never be filled. He had no energy to talk about love.
Even to Qin Zhengchen, Sheng Min never admitted it.
It's not like that, you think too much. He smiled helplessly and said to Yang Xu. Yang Xu just thought he was embarrassed.
According to the requirements when they debuted, the group needed to be active for a year. But in fact, after half a year, due to the uneven development, conflicts of interest between the original artists' management companies and the group's company, and various contradictions, the group was already in a state of existence in name only. Sheng Min also moved out of the villa.
There was almost no work that required them to work together, and the contact with most of the teammates decreased, but Qin Zhengchen still contacted him frequently. At that time, Sheng Min became popular with the leading role in a campus drama, and received more notices than before. However, Qin Zhengchen's career was very dull, and there were even rumors that he relied on unspoken rules to get to the top.
Yang Xu also saw Sheng Min and Qin Zhengchen talking on the phone more than once, arguing about these things. Sheng Min seemed to be very distressed about this.
He then found Qin Zhengchen in private and foolishly warned him that since they were together, he must be good to Sheng Min, otherwise he would not let him go. The other party was stunned for a moment, then smiled and nodded in agreement.
The result is of course not good.
One night not long after that, Yang Xu woke up in the middle of the night thirsty and saw several messages from Sheng Min on his phone. He sent him the address of a hotel halfway up the mountain and asked him to go there. There were several more calls before that. But Yang Xu had muted the phone before going to bed and didn't hear them at all. Sheng Min didn't get through and gave up. The last message said that Yang Xu should call him back if he saw it.
The message was sent an hour ago. Yang Xu hurriedly called, but the call was not connected. He was extremely worried and quickly took a taxi to the hotel. He urged the driver to go faster. When he was about two or three kilometers away, he received a strange call. It was an old lady's voice, asking if his name was Yang Xu, saying that his friend was with her and was not in good condition.
The old lady was using an elderly-model mobile phone which did not have the location function. With her vague description, Yang Xu finally found Sheng Min next to a farmland on the hillside behind the hotel at dawn.
Only then did he understand what the so-called bad situation meant. Sheng Min's clothes were torn by branches, there were bloodstains on his naked arms, his body was covered with dust and dirt, half of his face was swollen, and there were spots of blood on his lips. He was not very clear-headed, and Yang Xu called him several times but he didn't respond. The worst thing was that his right leg was broken.