Translation: Finsock

Su Pei woke up thirsty in the middle of the night. He stretched out and blindly reached for something to drink, and touched a bottle of mineral water. 

　　After drinking half a bottle of mineral water, Su Pei found himself trapped in a strange room with a soft sofa, covered with a blanket. Which was much better than lying on the floor. 

　　He sat up slowly, looking around the rom which was much more luxurious than his normal hotel room. 

　　”You’re awake.” He Yiming’s voice came from the corner. 

　　Su Pei turned his head slowly and saw He Yiming sitting in the corner with a notebook on his lap. He was still dizzy, as if he was sitting on waves. He wasn’t even sure if he was awake or dreaming. 

　　Su Pei covered his face and rubbed it, and he made a sound similar to a moan/groan. 

　　”I…” He paused, “Why am I here…” 

　　He Yiming replied “You just grabbed me, didn’t let me go, and you wanted to chat with me. The only thing i could do was take you back to my room.” Su Pei blanched, that really sounded like him. He should have expected it. 

　　Su Pei rested on the cushions, lying back down in a comfortable position on the sofa. He positioned himself so he could face He Yiming, and talk face to face. He was in a daze,as if he was back in college. The drama club is late for rehearsal. They would stay overnight in the rehearsal room, and they would have night talks together on the floor. 

　　At that time, it seemed that he and He Yiming never needed to be careful about avoiding any topics. They talked about everything and were very happy. 

　　”I saw the private museum you recently launched on the Internet. The remote virtual experience system is great.” Su Pei said. He was still drunk and couldn’t help talking. 

　　He Yiming replied “That’s not the system I developed. I just spent money to sponsor it.” 

　　Su Pei countered, “At least you’re not sponsoring bad products.” 

　　He Yiming smiled and said “I have something about my work. That’s a very clear assessment. How are you?”

　　Su Pei carefully pulled the blanket on his body “You can see, I am with a crew. It’s estimated that there will be two more months before filming is finished. This drama has a lot of investors, and the actors are also good…　　

　　He Yiming frowned. Su Pei added to his statement “Don’t look at Fang Ziling’s attitude too closely, the actor for the male lead is more troublesome than her…If a line has more than 30 words, his brain freezes. Today has been re-shot too many times…Fang Ziling’s acting skills are actually fine. I have learned a lot from this drama, and next time I’ll write a spy movie. That will be easier to write.” 

　　However, He Yiming has no interest in his screenwriting experience, he asked “Your novels were well written. How’s that going?” 

　　Su Pei’s voice suddenly weakened. “I’m writing one.” 

He Yiming contradicts, “I don’t believe it. You told me two years ago that you were writing a book where the protagonist is a doctor. A novel about the medical system and the relationship between doctors and patients. Haven’t you finished it yet?” 

　　Su Pei emphasized again “I’m still writing.” 

　　He Yiming aggressively said, “How much have you written? Has the first draft been finished? 100,000 words? 50,000 words? You’ve been writing trash scripts for a trash crew, and have the energy to write novels too?” 

　　Su Pei’s pale face finally turned flush, and he could even feel his shoulders trembling slightly. The last time he and He Yiming had a quarrel about his script writing. He thought He Yiming would change his attitude this time. 

　　”Your good friend, Bo Wenchen, invested in this show, you’re saying he is part of a trash crew?” Su Pei’s voice also went cold. 

　　He Yiming shut up. 

　　But Su Pei could still hear his voice. Because He Yiming’s presence is strong, his sculptural profile and the eagle-like eyes under the bushy eyebrows are enough to express strong emotions even if he doesn’t make a sound. 

　　Su Pei often feels that He Yiming knows how to use this skill to express himself better than most actors could. 

　Su Pei finally couldn’t stand the silence. He yelled out, “This is my job! You, don’t know the pressure that’s put on the crew!”

　　He Yiming said, “What’s the point? Are the scripts you’re writing your own work? You’re just writing what others tell you to write, and there is no difference between gunners and ghostwriters. After you finish writing this kind of script, you will not know how to write it.” 

　　His voice is not loud, but it is late at night, and this luxurious room is too quiet. Every word from He Yiming was hammered into Su Pei’s ears. 

　　Su Pei felt a rush of sorrow and a lot of memories flooded in, this was almost exactly the same as their last quarrel. 

Su Pei murmured, “Maybe I don’t deserve to be your friend anymore.” 

　　He slowly got up from the sofa. 

　　He Yiming asked, “What are you doing?” 

　　Su Pei said, “I’ll be leaving.” 

When he thought of how He Yiming looked at him now, he couldn’t stand it for another second. 

　　But the alcohol hindered his actions. He was dizzy. Because of excitement and anger, his fingers were trembling, and he couldn’t even find where his shoes were. He could only kick the hotel slippers aside. 

　　He Yiming came over and looked at him condescendingly, “You are drunk!” 

　　Su Pei shook his head, and he gasped “I’m not drunk… He Yiming… You don’t know what I’ve been doing these two or three years. You are not qualified to say that my work is meaningless…no meaning…”

　　Su Pei was drunk, repeating these words unconsciously, but he didn’t have the strength to stand up and slam the door and leave. He seemed to be trapped in a cruel dream. 

　　He Yiming looked at Su Pei in front of him. His face was pale, even his lips didn’t seem to have any color to them, his slender body, and thin shoulders were like a ghost who wandered in the night. He Yiming didn’t know if it was because of anger, or alcohol, but Su Pei was still shaking slightly in his half-asleep- half-awake state. 

　　He would only needed one hand to overpower Su Pei when he’s like this… Su Pei could easily be pushed down by He Yiming right into the soft cushions of the sofa… 

　　But what’s the point in that? Su Pei was in a state of drunkenness, he was dazed, and his voice faint.  Only then did the evil thoughts in He Yiming’s heart dared escape.

　　Su Pei was still competing with his shoes. He Yiming finally couldn’t stand it, he rudely pressed Su Pei into the sofa, “You’re drunk, don’t go anywhere, just sleep here.” He said harshly. 

　　Su Pei suddenly pushed He Yiming away and pressed his own hand to his chest. 

　　He Yiming retracted his hand like he was struck by an electric shock. There was a ghost in his heart and he dared not touch Su Pei again. 

　　Su Pei spit out, “I’m carrying a mortgage on my back, I dont have the luxury to sit around and write. My Little Cookie can’t be put into the public eye, and I divorced Shen Lan. We settled the divorce quietly, but she asks for more money each month. With Little Cookie growing older, I have to provide her the basics of any well rounded child. Dance lessons, swim lessons, I have to pay for them. My mother helps take care of Little Cookie, but I still have to subsidize her rent and expenses every month. Sometimes I want to run away from all of this, but how could I?” 

　　 Tears slid down Su Pei’s nose to his chin, but he didn’t feel it. He seemed to have forgotten He Yiming in front of him. 

　　He Yiming finally lowered his voice and said, “Okay, I won’t talk about your work anymore. You continue being a screenwriter, with which crew you like. I won’t say anything anymore.” 

　　He back of  his hand gently touched Su Pei’s chin and stroked away the tears. He pressed Su Pei down again, “…Go to sleep, take a good rest.” 

　　After venting, Su Pei finally calmed down. He closed his eyes and murmured “Don’t… laugh at me…” 

　　He Yiming’s low voice comforted him, “I haven’t laughed at you.” 

　　Su Pei closed his eyes and turned on the sofa, and let out a groan, “He Yiming…”. 

He Yiming immediately answered “What’s wrong?” 

　　Su Pei muttered, “The sofa is too soft…I can’t sleep well… my back hurts…” 

　　He Yiming didn’t say a word. He almost forgot that Su Pei was a very picky and annoying person about the environment. They used to travel together, and for a five-hour train, Su Pei also had to buy luxury sleeper tickets. Such a person is now suffering in a crew of people.

　　Early the next morning, Su Pei woke up with a headache. He doesn’t handle his drink well. Although he woke up, his body was still heavy. He laid on a double bed, slowly recalling the events of last night. His memory wasn’t clear from the second half of the banquet onward. 

　　He was thinking hard, and He Yiming came out of the bathroom. 

　　He Yiming glanced at him and said, “You’re awake? I went to the gym, I got back a little while ago.” He wiped his body and changed into his clothes. 

　　Su Pei looked at He Yiming’s body and felt that He Yiming’s muscles were more defined than when they were in college. This kind of visual impact made his mind sober up. 

　　Su Pei immediately remembered that he should be at work. He hurriedly prepared to leave, and then asked He Yiming “When are you leaving?” 

　　He Yiming said, “The plane will be leaving in about two hours, maybe.” 

　　Su Pei was a little regretful, “Then, let’s get together again next time you’re in town.” 

　　He was in a much better mood, Yao Zhicheng is right. He exaggerated the gap between him and He Yiming before. As long as they spoke face-to-face, nothing was a problem. 

　　He Yiming smiled “Are you not worried about if I say I don’t want to hear from you anymore? 

　　”Did we even have the time to talk properly? Next time we’ll talk slowly.” 

　　Su Pei vaguely felt that he was talking to him last night. He Yiming seems to be implying that he said something. But he always talks a lot when he is drunk, but it’s all just drunken babble, usually. 

　　He Yiming had already put on his shirt and pants, and was tying his belt. Hearing Su Pei saying this, he suddenly felt a little lost. He just helped Su Pei on the bed last night. 

　　”Okay,” He Yiming said, “we’ll get together again next time. But don’t delay it for too long.” 

　　Su Pei and He Yiming made an agreement, and everything seemed more relaxed. 

　　When he returned to the crew, the director’s attitude towards him changed slightly. More than one person even said to him, “Mr. Su, why haven’t you mentioned that He Yiming is your younger brother?”

(T/n: Not a blood related brother, but someone who’s a close friend, but younger than him.)

　　But this relaxed mood did not last long. The whole crew quickly became busy again, because their heroine Fang Ziling suddenly came down with a  ‘fever.’ The crew asked for three days of leave. The original shooting plan was disrupted. You can only shoot other people’s scenes first, and the actors took the opportunity to request a change in the script. 

　　However, the ‘fever’ is just an excuse, and it was no secret to the crew. Fang Ziling did not feel unwell, but a driver took her from a hotel early in the morning. It turned out that she was going to accompany Bo Wenchen on a trip, so she took three days off. 

　　As soon as Su Pei arrived on set, he was arrested and forced into a meeting. Everyone and scene changes they wanted, he finished a few scenes before he took a rest. Xiaoyan brought him lunch and started to gossip.

 “Fang Ziling doesn’t have a fever at all, she is in perfectly fine health!” Xiaoyan complained.

　　Su Pei remembered how stuck on each other Fang Ziling and Bo Wenchen were last night. He wasn’t surprised, it was just that he originally thought Fang Ziling would be more subtle. 

　　Xiaoyan asked “Mr. Su, you and He Yiming are alumni of the same college, and have always been good friends apparently. How come you never mentioned it?!” 

　　Su Pei didn’t want others to think that he deliberately got close to He Yiming. 

He replied, “When I was in school, he and I were pretty good friends. After graduation, we didn’t cross paths much.” 

　　Xiaoyan smiled and said, “But you don’t have much self control, even if you drank too much yesterday, you seemed to have renewed your old friendship. He also helped you with Fang Ziling.” 

　　Su Pei was startled “How did you know?” He remembered that Xiaoyan was not at their table during dinner last night.