Chapter 68

In the past, Ye Chen wouldn’t have paid attention to such baseless rumors, dismissing them as mere gossip or attributing them to Bi An’an’s eccentric and unconventional personality. However, since taking over Mountain and Sea Realm, his perspective has broadened, and now, any phenomenon that seems out of the ordinary carries a hint of possibility in his eyes.

Ever since he unexpectedly picked up Li Li from the pig farm, Ye Chen’s awareness of the reality that “some injured divine beasts are still wandering outside” heightened his vigilance. The fact that even Li Li’s human form was that of a handsome man made Ye Chen eager to strip off the facade of any good-looking person he encountered, just to take them home to work on his farm—truly earning him the title of Exploiter Ye.

If he were to judge solely by appearance, Shen Mofeng would be a prime suspect. However, Shen Mofeng couldn’t detect the spiritual essence in the food, nor could he see the divine beast cubs right under his nose, effectively ruling him out.

Shen Ge is even better-looking than a divine beast, but Ye Chen was certain he had nothing to do with them. Shen Ge is simply… purely good-looking.

Ye Chen’s gaze wandered.

On his phone screen was a photo of Shen Mofeng showing off his earring, his face captured at a forty-five-degree angle. Ye Chen stared blankly at the picture, remembering what happened the night he gave Shen Mofeng the earrings. Suddenly, his mouth went dry.

The spacious, imagination-stirring interior of the car, the absent driver and assistant, the dark and quiet alley… Shen Mofeng had turned off the car, climbed into the backseat, and trapped Ye Chen in the corner between the car door and the seat. With a flick of his finger, he pulled down Ye Chen’s mask, pinched Ye Chen’s right earlobe, and asked, “Where’s mine? Did you bring it?”

“I brought it.” Ye Chen reached out to touch his pocket, but with Shen Mofeng pressing him into the corner, it was difficult to move. Just as he was about to ask him to make some space, Shen Mofeng grabbed both of Ye Chen’s wrists, holding them together with one hand.

After a brief silence, Shen Mofeng gripped Ye Chen’s wrists tightly and shamelessly said, “Your hands are inconvenient.”

“How are they inconvenient?” Ye Chen said quietly. “Did I break a bone playing on my phone?”

At that moment, Ye Chen felt like a bamboo rat, just one excuse away from being stewed by Shen Mofeng on the spot.

“Mm, play less in the future.” Shen Mofeng stifled a laugh, wagging his metaphorical wolfdog tail. “Where did you stash it? I’ll help you get it.”

Ye Chen: “Right side…” pocket.

Before he could finish his sentence, his lips were sealed. Shen Mofeng pinned him down, making it impossible for him to move. With his long, slender fingers, Shen Mofeng slowly searched through all of Ye Chen’s pockets—and places that weren’t pockets. Ye Chen’s entire body was kneaded several times over, teased to the point of near collapse. Normally, when kissing Shen Mofeng, Ye Chen would hold back, trying to keep quiet and maintain the tough-guy persona he imagined for himself. But this time, he couldn’t hold on, becoming as soft as a pile of mush… making soft, sticky noises as he was squeezed, ground, and grabbed in Shen Mofeng’s hands.

The sweet, soft sounds drove Shen Mofeng wild. A few minutes later, Ye Chen had several fresh bite marks on his collarbone and neck, his tongue ached, and his clothes were wrinkled from all the rough handling. Shen Mofeng, satisfied after devouring his little morsel, nonchalantly played with Ye Chen’s matching earring, putting it on himself. Unlike Ye Chen, Shen Mofeng had pierced his ears after entering the entertainment circle, to facilitate style changes, and usually didn’t wear earrings.

Seeing Ye Chen looking thoroughly ravaged, the black wind old demon transformed into a human, apologizing, “Sorry, darling, did I bite too hard?”

“If it hurts,” Ye Chen fumbled to button up the shirt Shen Mofeng had roughly torn open, his face flushed, “are you planning to help me rub it better?”

Shen Mofeng smiled, “We’re getting more in sync.”

Ye Chen worried that if they kept getting any closer, things might escalate right there in the car, but he also knew Shen Mofeng had been missing him badly after several days apart. Hesitating for a moment, he added with concern, “Could you be a little gentler… You’re pulling too hard; the buttons are getting loose.” It was an expensive shirt, after all.

Shen Mofeng glared at him intensely.

After that, the more Ye Chen asked him to stop, the more he pulled, acting as if he had lost his mind.

Later, Ye Chen was left dazed and disheveled, staggering home with several bags of replacement clothes.

It wasn’t even half an hour after Ye Chen got home when Shen Mofeng posted that photo of him showing off his earrings. That night, Ye Chen tossed and turned, unable to sleep from the tension. In the middle of the night, he quietly slipped out of bed, passed by the sleeping divine beast cubs, and sneaked into the empty west wing. There, blushing furiously, he replayed the evening’s events in the car, staring at the photo of Shen Mofeng…

It was the first time Ye Chen had done something like this with a man, and he felt a guilty thrill, though it was still a bit overwhelming and messy.

In the end, he accidentally got the screen dirty.

Shen Mofeng’s face in the photo was smudged beyond recognition, and Ye Chen’s heart nearly exploded with guilt. He was so mortified that he almost wanted to kneel and knock three times in apology to the image on his phone. Hastily, with trembling hands, he locked the screen and wiped it clean.

What neither Ye Chen nor Shen Mofeng knew was that the next day, in an entertainment forum, a thread titled “FengYe Girls Mutual Sugar Support Group #XX” had the fans in a frenzy—

1634th comment:

Question: My best friend works as a sales assistant at a high-end clothing store. Last night around 8:30, right before the mall was about to close, someone who looked a lot like S-MF (she said his build, eyes, and facial structure were exactly the same, but he was wearing a mask, so she didn’t dare ask) rushed in and bought several men’s outfits all at once. He didn’t even try them on, and they all seemed to be a size too small for him.

So, what does this mean if that person really was him?

1635th comment: Just a wild guess with no responsibility attached: If his assistant wasn’t with him + someone else needed clothes, it suggests they were secretly meeting up + YC’s clothes got torn by him. I’m good, I’m satisfied.

1636th comment: But why tear them?! Was the baby unwilling?!

1637th comment: The person above doesn’t get it; that’s called *passion*.

1638th comment: Let’s piece together this timeline: Yesterday, he bought clothes at 8:30 PM, and at 9:30 PM, he posted on Weibo showing off the earrings, saying he “snatched” them? Ahhhh, it really was “snatched”!

…

Hearing voices around him, Ye Chen snapped back to reality and quickly closed the photo album, reopening the browser.

After wrapping up his scene with Bi An’an, he had originally been using the browser to look up some information. But somehow, he ended up looking at photos instead. Perhaps it was because they had been busy with filming and hadn’t seen each other for five days…

…He missed Shen Mofeng.

Realizing this, Ye Chen felt a wave of embarrassment, as if sitting on pins and needles. He quickly refocused on the webpage, searching for gossip about Bi An’an and analyzing her behavior patterns.

From a mortal’s perspective, some of the quirks of divine beasts are difficult to understand. For example, Zhou Buchu is obsessed with wealth. Mortals might simply think he’s stingy, but Ye Chen knew that some of the strange behaviors of divine beasts aren’t due to their personality but stem from instinct or even physiological limitations. These behaviors are often key indicators in identifying divine beasts.

If you consider the name Bi An’an phonetically, there are two types it could be associated with… If she’s one of those divine beasts, her behavior could be explained… Ye Chen scrolled through gossip posts about Bi An’an, letting his imagination run wild.

Of course, Ye Chen wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that Bi An’an is a divine beast just based on this, but he wanted to test his theory. The third wave of the Jing Ling’s restoration tasks was particularly challenging. That troublesome spirit had given Ye Chen a detailed aerial view of Diao Shu Tong Mountain Cave before it was leveled and ordered him to restore the mountain’s ecological environment within four months. This included the distribution and approximate quantity of spiritual plants, several types of spiritual beasts, and successfully breeding several species of spiritual fish from the Wei River The reward? Another mountain.

Ye Chen had figured it out— the terrain given by the Jing Ling was both the task reward and the task itself. The more extensive the terrain he acquired, the more challenging the tasks became. So, he was in desperate need of divine beasts to help with the work, willing to overthink things if it meant not missing any opportunities.

Ye Chen put away his phone, planning to bring a few spiritual apples for Bi An’an tomorrow to see if she could taste the difference.

Poor Bi An’an had no idea that the seemingly polite and gentlemanly Ye Chen sitting across from her was actually plotting to drag her off to work the land…

…

Bi An’an’s acting was passable, and her scenes with Ye Chen went smoothly. The filming pace of the drama was quick, and the director’s demands were not as high as for a movie. The two of them pushed through several scenes in one go, and before they knew it, it was noon. The production assistant came over, pulling a cart loaded with boxed lunches.

Bi An’an seemed to smell the food from a distance, her head held high, eyes gleaming like Ye Chen a few months ago when he wasn’t getting enough to eat.

“Chen Ge, how many boxes?” Gao Ran whispered.

Ye Chen glanced at Bi An’an, his suspicion growing even stronger. “Just one is fine.”

Life was getting better and better, and he no longer needed to let the divine beast babies rely on the crew’s boxed lunches. After all, they weren’t particularly tasty.

As Ye Chen absentmindedly ate his meal, he couldn’t help but send a WeChat message to Shen Mofeng, asking if he could visit his set today.

Once he realized he was thinking about Shen Mofeng, it became impossible to stop.

Shen Mofeng: I just finished here.

Clearly, he had been up all night and through the morning for a night shoot.

Ye Chen: Then you should go home and rest. Can I visit tomorrow?

Shen Mofeng smiled: You miss me?

Ye Chen wiped his face: Mmh.

Shen Mofeng: Say it all.

Ye Chen: I miss you.

Shen Mofeng felt a flutter in his heart. He wanted to tell Ye Chen he didn’t need to use formal language anymore ^[1]YC uses the courteous you[nin] as opposed to the informal “ni”, but halfway through typing, he looked at the “I miss you” message and deleted what he had written.

Sweet talk with formal language—when you think about it, it’s kind of…

Sitting in the back seat of the car, Shen Mofeng bit his cigarette holder and laughed quietly to himself, then instructed the driver to change the route.

The Black Wind Demon was ready to eat the child again!

Ye Chen: So, see you tomorrow?

Shen Mofeng: I’m coming over now. I’ll be there by one. Is that okay?

Ye Chen, rarely firm in front of Shen Mofeng, replied: No, you should go home and rest.

After a brief silence, Shen Mofeng simply called and joked, “Well, well, little one, daring to give me orders now?”

“No,” Ye Chen nervously picked at the hem of his shirt, “I’m just worried you’re tired.”

“You’re rarely this forward.” Perhaps worried about being overheard, Shen Mofeng’s voice suddenly dropped low, almost muffled as if he were cupping his hand over the phone, “I might sound calm, but do you know how fast my heart is beating right now? Telling me to go home and sleep—do you think I could actually sleep? If you really care, then take the initiative more often.”

Ye Chen gripped his phone tightly and obediently said, “Okay.”

He knew Shen Mofeng. Every time they got close, Shen Mofeng’s heartbeat was always frighteningly fast, just like his own. But he couldn’t understand how Shen Mofeng’s face could stay so calm and composed—maybe that’s what they call having a thick skin…

“I’ll bring you something tasty, baby. What do you want for lunch?” Shen Mofeng’s tone softened, “…Have you already eaten? Crew lunchboxes? Don’t worry about saving any for me… I’ll bring you some snacks, and we can take our time eating them at home.”

…

At one o’clock, Ye Chen went outside to bring Shen Mofeng into the set.

There weren’t many scenes left to shoot at this location, so the crew wouldn’t be there long. Since Ye Chen was easygoing, the rest area arrangements were pretty basic, with the two leads sharing a room. Noticing that Shen Mofeng hadn’t brought his assistant and was wearing a mask, Ye Chen guessed he didn’t want to draw attention. He reminded Shen Mofeng that there might be others in the rest area.

Shen Mofeng glanced around the room after hearing this, then pushed open the door to the props room. He stuck his head in, took a quick look around, and confidently said, “There’s no one here.” With that, he pulled Ye Chen inside, locked the door behind them, pressed Ye Chen against the door, and gave him a fierce kiss. Urgently, he said, “Say it again, that you miss me.”

“I…” Ye Chen’s gaze unconsciously shifted, and he suddenly locked eyes with someone in the corner. He was so shocked he almost swallowed his tongue. “There’s someone…”

“Where?” Shen Mofeng turned around, skeptical.

The room was practically empty; he had already scanned it thoroughly. There wasn’t a single person, and barely any props—just a few broken and abandoned items. It was clearly an unused space.

—However, at that moment, Bi An’an was indeed sitting in the corner.

Her legs were stretched out on the floor, with two stacks of boxed lunches, a total of seven, piled on her lap. She held one in her hand, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster, her mouth greasy, and her wide almond eyes stared at them. A chicken bone was half-biting in her mouth, too scared to either chew or swallow.

Shen Mofeng’s gaze swept over her, completely unfazed, and finally stopped on a plastic mannequin prop not far from her. His brow twitched slightly as he asked, “…That mannequin?”

Ye Chen was stunned: “…”

—Shen Mofeng couldn’t see Bi An’an.

—Bi An’an was single-handedly tackling eight boxed lunches, too afraid to go to the resting area where people might enter, so she snuck into the unused props room to eat in stealth.

Would you like to come and farm at my place, Xiao Jiejie?! Ye Chen’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Anyone who could eat eight boxed lunches must have considerable strength—surely, she’d be a great farmer!

Ye Chen’s tone took a sudden turn, flashing a bright smile that was begging for trouble, “Uh, my mistake, sorry.”

“I haven’t slept for thirty-six hours.” Shen Mofeng turned back, pointing to his bloodshot eyes. “Because you rarely say you miss me, I didn’t even go home—I brought you your favorite snacks from that place you love. And now… you’re giving me attitude?” Shen Mofeng’s tone was icy. “Say something nice to cheer me up. Don’t make me bully you.”

…

Bi An’an silently spat out a chicken bone, her eyes full of the weary wisdom of someone thinking, “You young folks have such energy.”

Ye Chen was almost knocked out on the spot by that look from Bi An’an. Blushing furiously, he desperately tried to push Shen Mofeng away, attempting to turn around and open the door. “Shen Ge, let’s go to the rest area. I’ll do anything you want there, but it’s too messy here… Please, I’m begging you, don’t kiss… don’t lick, don’t bite me…”

Shen Mofeng slightly hunched over, holding Ye Chen’s face in his hands, and in the same tone, said, “Don’t move.”

“Little rascal.” Shen Mofeng gently nibbled on Ye Chen’s lips, murmuring, “You’re deliberately provoking me… Tired of me being too much of a gentleman and prefer the domineering type? The domineering movie star falls in love with you?”

“No!” Ye Chen, even in the chaos, didn’t forget to muster up the courage to retort, “Besides, you’re only… a gentleman on the surface.”

“Oh really… Talking to me like that, I won’t hold back.” Shen Mofeng tugged at the hem of Ye Chen’s shirt, sliding a hand underneath.

Ye Chen, blushing furiously, glanced up to see that Bi An’an had, at some point, turned away from them. She was facing the wall, her hands exaggeratedly covering her ears, as if deliberately doing so for Ye Chen’s sake.

Ye Chen: “…”

Xiao Jiejie is truly considerate.

She must be a great farmer!

The author has something to say:

Black Wind Old Demon Shen Mofeng!

So, has everyone figured out what Chen Chen did to Shen Ge’s photo?  

I’m thinking that Chen Chen and Shen Ge can take it a step further; otherwise, it might make Shen Ge look like he’s… lacking in some way… (.)

Chen Chen: “Xiao Jiejie is so pretty; she must be a great farmer!”  

Chen Chen: “Xiao Jiejie’s acting is so good; she must be a great farmer!”  

Chen Chen: “Xiao Jiejie is so kind and righteous; she must be a great farmer!”  

Chen Chen: “Xiao Jiejie…”  

Bi An’an: “Enough, I get it. I’ll farm, you shut up.” 🙂

After Chen Chen and Shen Ge revealed their true selves to each other—  

Chen Chen: “Shen Ge is well-endowed and skilled; he must be a great farmer!”  

Chen Chen: “Shen Ge has amazing stamina; he must be a great farmer!”  

Chen Chen: “Shen Ge lasts forty minutes each time; he must be a great farmer!”  

Shen Mofeng: “…So, you’re dating me just to trick me into coming home to farm?”