In the following days, Fu Wenshan never went back to his own room, staying in Xie Wanxing’s room instead. Fortunately, with Li Siheng as a legitimate cover, and few people living on the twelfth floor, no one noticed.

He didn’t have much to do at the film studio either. On the first day, he went out for a stroll, but there wasn’t much fun to be had. So, whenever he had nothing to do, he hitched a ride with Li Siheng to watch the crew filming.

As a result, others in the crew teased him, “Mr. Fu, are you planning to enter the film and television industry next? So, you’ve come to observe in advance?”

The one who said this was a supporting actress in the crew. She had avoided Fu Wenshan before, thinking he had a bad temper. But yesterday, she was almost hit by something on set, and Fu Wenshan helped her block it, acting like the hero in an action movie, instantly changing her impression of him. Today, she kept finding excuses to talk to him, and several people present could tell she was interested in Fu Wenshan, showing ambiguous smiles.

Only Fu Wenshan himself didn’t notice. His gaze was still on Xie Wanxing, who was filming. That day, Xie Wanxing was wearing a long robe the color of bamboo leaves, much gentler than the all-black attire before. At first glance, he didn’t look like an emissary with blood on his hands, but more like a handsome and elegant scholar..

This scene was Xie Wanxing going to the rouge shop of the female lead to buy something. Buying something was fake; wanting to spend more time with the one he loved was real.

After observing the set for a few days, Fu Wenshan had gone from wanting to beat up Li Siheng at every turn to being able to watch Xie Wanxing and the female lead embrace and confide in each other calmly. The only thing worth mentioning was that this was a period drama, and Xie Wanxing’s character was quite reserved. He still hadn’t seen the kiss scene between the male and female leads.

After admiring Xie Wanxing’s appearance today, Fu Wenshan realized someone was talking to him. “Sorry, I zoned out just now. What did you say?”

The girl repeated her words.

“Not planning to,” Fu Wenshan denied outright. “I just find it interesting to watch you guys filming, but I don’t like acting myself.”

The girl said a few more words, seeing that Fu Wenshan wasn’t in the mood for conversation, she wisely stopped and turned to chat with her assistant.

Li Siheng watched silently for a while, seeing Fu Wenshan only exchange a few words with someone before returning to focus on the set, couldn’t help but poke Fu Wenshan’s arm. “Is the show good?”

Fu Wenshan didn’t even turn his head. “It’s awful. What nonsense did you write?”

Li Siheng’s mouth twitched. “Then why are you so into it?”

Fu Wenshan glanced at Li Siheng like he was looking at a fool. “Besides playing with your phone on set, what else can you do but watch the filming?”

Li Siheng rolled his eyes inwardly, feeling that Fu Wenshan, this gay guy, was more like a straight man than himself.

But he couldn’t just back down. He had been observing Fu Wenshan for several days and felt that this silly buddy of his was already enchanted by Xie Wanxing.

As someone who had rolled in the field of love countless times, it was necessary for him to have a heart-to-heart with this old friend.

He pinched Fu Wenshan, “Stop staring and turn to me. I have something serious to tell you.”

Fu Wenshan winced as Li Siheng pinched him hard, furrowing his brow and casting a hostile glance, “You better have something important to say.”

Li Siheng also looked worried. People used to call him the love guru. The rest of their childhood friends would always give roses to girls since elementary school, but Fu Wenshan was like a big, stinky rock. When girls gave him roses, he would ask them what they wanted.

Li Siheng planned to start gently, “Don’t you feel that your attitude toward Xie Wanxing is different from that toward a casual hookup?”

Fu Wenshan was puzzled, “What does being different from that toward a casual hookup look like?”

In Li Siheng’s mind, he thought, You idiot, of course, it means being like a boyfriend.

But he continued to guide Fu Wenshan, “Look, I’ve kept many young stars before, aside from those on my set, which one have I visited during filming? Only those who actively sought me out.”

Fu Wenshan sneered disdainfully, “Those were all transactions for money. They had to cozy up to you for the sake of money. Xie Wanxing and I didn’t have any financial transactions. When I call him, he has to argue with me over the phone.”

Li Siheng: “…”

This conversation couldn’t continue. Now he just wanted to slap Fu Wenshan in the face. 

He immediately lost interest in beating around the bush.

He directly stated, “I’ll tell you the truth. After observing you for a few days, I think you probably have feelings for Xie Wanxing. Actually, Xie Wanxing is not bad. Although he’s not as pure as you, he’s much better than the chaotic people in the circle. If you really like him, having a real relationship wouldn’t be bad.”

From the bottom of his heart, Li Siheng felt that Fu Wenshan was not suitable for playing with sugar babies or friends with benefits. Although he seemed indifferent to everything and indifferent to others, their group of friends knew each other very well. Fu Wenshan was actually very emotional.

Fu Wenshan didn’t say anything.

Before Li Siheng spoke, he hadn’t expected this childhood friend to come and talk to him about this.

But he didn’t rush to refute.

Honestly, he didn’t have zero feelings for Xie Wanxing. Especially yesterday when they were lying in bed together, he was holding Xie Wanxing, and Xie Wanxing was singing out of tune in his arms, smiling as he sang. His laughter was so infectious, and Fu Wenshan even thought he sang well.

But could this turn into a romantic relationship?

He always felt that love was a serious matter, something where both parties admired each other, not something rushed into recklessly but rather something built on mutual understanding and companionship.

But the beginning between him and Xie Wanxing was absurd and sloppy. They accidentally slept together one night and felt they weren’t bad for each other, so they agreed to be friends with benefits. Neither of them had taken this relationship seriously.

Even if he had a slight fondness for Xie Wanxing, how long could it last?

In the past, there were people who had passionately professed their love for him, people who didn’t care about his family background or wealth and sincerely treated him well.

But how did those passionate feelings end up? It always ended in an embarrassing outcome.

Li Siheng was still chattering beside him. “With my bias towards you, I certainly think you should pick a heavenly beauty. But to be honest, Xie Wanxing is wealthy and handsome, and he wouldn’t be beneath you. Although I saw him with a young boy before, what if I was mistaken…”

Before they could finish their conversation, they noticed that the scene with Xie Wanxing had finished filming. With a cut from the director, both of them instinctively looked up.

Then they saw, at some point, the male supporting actor in the scene had rushed into Xie Wanxing’s arms. Maybe because he hadn’t stood steadily, but even after regaining his balance, he didn’t let go, just clinging to Xie Wanxing’s waist and acting spoiled.

This male supporting actor was the youngest on set, only sixteen or seventeen years old, with a cute baby face and dimples when he smiled. He was especially favored by female staff members. He said something to Xie Wanxing, and Xie Wanxing didn’t push him away but instead laughed and touched his head.

Li Siheng instinctively felt the coldness around Fu Wenshan.

Fu Wenshan withdrew his gaze and said lightly to Li Siheng, “You’re not mistaken. Xie Wanxing has probably slept with more people than you. He used to be a top, always liking cute and delicate boys. Someone like me wasn’t even in his consideration.”

Li Siheng fell silent. He felt like everything he said was wrong.

He was too busy caring for his buddy’s mental and physical well-being, but forgot an important question – Fu Wenshan clearly showed some interest, but what about Xie Wanxing?

Was he also infatuated?

Li Siheng looked despondently at Xie Wanxing, who was still chatting with the male supporting actor. He felt extremely worried. If Xie Wanxing really liked this kind of cute young guy, even if Fu Wenshan managed to win him over, just dealing with romantic rivals would be troublesome enough for him.

Li Siheng pondered for a moment and realized that his own love life had never been this complicated. Indeed, love bought with money was much simpler.

Fu Wenshan glanced at Xie Wanxing again. Whether Xie Wanxing noticed his gaze or not, he suddenly lifted his head in Fu Wenshan’s direction and smiled.

He was still wearing the bamboo green robe, his features charming and elegant, his figure slim and tall. His smile was as radiant as blooming flowers.

But suddenly, Fu Wenshan felt that he didn’t look like a scholar anymore.

He seemed like a demon, specifically sent to seduce ordinary mortals like him.

He stood up and said to Li Siheng, “I’m going out for a smoke.”

He sat in the corridor outside, smoking and distracting himself with his phone. But as he scrolled, he stumbled upon Xie Wanxing’s fan posts. He saw a cute chibi version of Xie Wanxing drawn by a fan, but instead of seeing many solo pictures of Xie Wanxing, he was bombarded with pictures of Xie Wanxing and Zhao Jinghua’s CP (couple pairing).

This girl was a “Jingxing” fan, a fan of the Zhao Jinghua and Xie Wanxing CP, who spent her days either praising her “baby” Zhao Jinghua for his beauty or lamenting how perfect JIngxing were together.  Moreover, she was a prolific artist, with enough CP fan art to build a skyscraper.

Fu Wenshan felt even worse and closed his phone.

He didn’t know when it started raining outside. Sitting under the eaves, he watched as the misty rain gradually intensified, obscuring the world around him.

After some time, a hand suddenly reached out beside him. It was slender and fair, with delicate and slender fingers, even the nails were rounded and full.

“Mind if I borrow a smoke?” the owner of the hand said with a smile.

Fu Wenshan looked up and saw a face that stirred his heartstrings. With fair skin like snow, eyes sharp and clear, and slightly upturned corners, he was strikingly handsome.

Fu Wenshan handed him a cigarette and moved aside slightly. Xie Wanxing didn’t hesitate to sit down next to him.

“Why did you come out?” Fu Wenshan asked.

“Break time, just came out to take a break,” Xie Wanxing replied.

He held the cigarette but didn’t ask Fu Wenshan for a lighter. With his rosy lips, he bit the cigarette and slowly moved towards Fu Wenshan’s cigarette, using the sparks to light his own.

He lowered his head, letting his long hair fall down from his shoulders, revealing a slender white neck, accentuated by the green robe. Then he gently exhaled a puff of smoke, and within the faint white smoke, his eyebrows, eyes, and lips all appeared hazy.

After lighting his cigarette, Xie Wanxing leaned back. He didn’t engage in conversation with Fu Wenshan, just leaned against the wall and continued to hum the melody he had been practicing, always off-key.

“…The rain is light, the wind is strong, in the season of green plums… the heart is like a double silk net, with a thousand knots.”

The sound of rain seemed to grow louder, hitting the roof tiles with a chaotic and disturbing noise.

In the midst of this rain, Fu Wenshan suddenly remembered that he and Xie Wanxing had indeed met during the season of green plums, but now that summer was ending, the green plums should have ripened.