World Hopping: Avenge Our Love
Translator: translationraven
First Published on Chaleuria
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“I’d better look into this.” Lu Mian grew increasingly unsettled the more he thought about it, but the basic information on Song Yucheng on the website only showed that he was currently in China.
Lu Mian decided to make a trip back to China.
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China, Xie Qianchen’s home.
The night passed quickly and it was morning. Shen Yi could not recall where he was when he opened his eyes. He slowly remembered at his mental faculties geared up — this was Xie Qianchen’s home.
He sat up distractedly. He’d thought that he wouldn’t be able to sleep well in an unfamiliar place, but he had slept surprisingly well. Even the pain in his shoulder had lessened.
Xie Qianchen’s application of medication had been quite good, and his hand had moved in such a practised way. It seemed he had done quite a lot of this before.
Shen Yi’s confidence in his future plan of attacking Xie Qianchen was much reduced when he recalled the night visit which he had paid him. He also felt that this easy way in which Xie Qianchen had started to act all tender towards him when he had been so harsh before was definitely because he was a sheep in wolf’s clothing.
Shen Yi got out of bed with that thought in his head.
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On Song Yucheng’s end, he was awakened by a strong smell. Unfortunately, this worldly comfort was not enough to soothe his nerves. The dark room furnishing scared him as always when he opened his eyes.
This room really made the heart weary. Song Yucheng decided that he would definitely get someone to renovate this room in a day or two, or his nerves would be shot sooner or later.
With that thought, he washed up and got changed, and walked out of the bedroom. What he saw in the kitchen doorway was a sight which pleased his eyes.
Shen Yi was making food.
Song Yucheng had thought that Shen Yi would only be capable of buying him food at most, but he had very surprisingly cooked for him. He looked at the spotless living room, and the well-stocked refrigerator, and felt that Shen Yi would make quite the housewife.
“He hates you but he’s still cooking for you! Let’s hope he didn’t put poison in your food! Yikes!” The System couldn’t help nagging.
Song Yucheng made no move to respond and let the System get all bothered on its own. He leaned against the doorway and watched Shen Yi with interest.
Shen Yi heard a sound, and looked in the direction of where it came from. His eyes met Song Yucheng’s by coincidence, and awkwardness instantly ensued.
“This is thanks. My shoulder didn’t hurt anymore when I woke up. Thanks for your medicine, and yesterday…” Shen Yi’s face reddened as he trailed off. He quickly added more words of explanation when Xie Qianchen said nothing.
He actually didn’t know why he was standing here in the kitchen making breakfast. He’d only wanted to have some water, but he had opened the refrigerator door to see that there was nothing else other than beer and couldn’t stand it for some reason. And there was not one grain of rice in the rice container! This emptiness was just so…
And so he’d simply taken the spare keys by the door and gone to the nearby 24-hour convenience mart to buy some simple ingredients to make breakfast.
“You have to take better care of yourself, Brother Xie.” Shen Yi sneaked a glance at him as he spoke. His helplessness was adorable.
“Yeah. You’re quite capable.” Song Yucheng had nothing to fear when it came to a contest of acting.
Song Yucheng walked to his back, reached out his hand to pick up a piece of bacon, and tasted it. It had been fried just right. The deliciousness which exploded in his mouth brought him great enjoyment, and a smile appeared in the corners of his lips.
Shen Yi stared, as if entranced. Xie Qianchen really was a sinner. How was he so tempting just standing there? He wasn’t able to escape the effect he had on him though he had other things planned.
Why did Cao Kun want others when he had a person like this by his side?
Shen Yi had a fleeting thought that Cao Kun was blind. He was soon knocked on the head. “The egg.”
“Ah! Sorry!” Xie Qianchen’s breath tickled his ear, and made his spine weak. Shen Yi reacted afterwards and looked down to see that the egg had blackened some while he’d been distracted. He quickly removed the egg from the frying pan but the blackened edges made it clear that this fried egg could not be eaten anymore.
“I’m sorry, but can you wait outside the kitchen, Brother Xie?” He made mistakes whenever he came close to Xie Qianchen. Shen Yi’s face reddened again.
“Sure.” Song Yucheng agreed, as expected, and took his plate out of the kitchen with him to eat, all the while thinking that Shen Yi was just not that skilled in seduction.
“Yep, that’s right.” The System had observed this too and it agreed. “Ludwig is waaaay better at seduction. Milord, you almost couldn’t stop yourself from jumping his bones whenever you met him!”
“…”
Song Yucheng was silent.
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Song Yucheng brought Shen Yi to the company after breakfast.
Shen Yi’s hostility towards Song Yucheng had lessened a lot after their interactions the night before, so it had become much more peaceful between the two of them. They were even able to exchange some words once in a while before they neared the company, though it was mostly Song Yucheng talking and Shen Yi listening. What Song Yucheng talked about was basically his plan of getting more lessons for Shen Yi.
“You do have some spirit in your acting, but you are still lacking. You won’t necessarily win the role with just connections. If you lack the skill, the scene will fall apart, no matter how good the script is.”
“Mm.” Shen Yi thought of how he had been swept along and overwhelmed the night before by Xie Qianchen saying just a few lines, and he lowered his head. He really couldn’t measure up. The professionalism and skill he’d thought had been sufficient was nothing at all when compared to Xie Qianchen. When put next to those with real acting chops, he was…
At that thought, Shen Yi silently admitted to Xie Qianchen’s greatness, and decided to work hard on his practice. On the surface though, he put on the act of a modest child being lectured, his head down and his face pink.
The two of them said nothing more. They went their separate ways when they got to the company — Shen Yi to his lessons and Song Yucheng to work.
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On Shen Yi’s end, he was faced with a full schedule of lessons almost as soon as he stepped through the company doors; he didn’t even have time to get himself acquainted with his new management. There was only a hurried self introduction before he started his first lesson of the day.
Xie Qianchen’s swift and decisive action had taken Shen Yi by surprise. The lessons he had arranged for him filled his schedule too, and more importantly, these lessons were all private lessons. Each teacher had just one student — him, Shen Yi.
Shen Yi was exhausted after the morning’s lessons, and he wouldn’t have been able to survive the afternoon lessons if he hadn’t had his willpower.
He only got a breather at 3:30 p.m., after the dialogue teacher was done with him. He really couldn’t go on anymore; just standing made his legs tremble.
Shen Yi felt that he must go home to rest and he planned on going back to the dorm to sleep after he had greeted his new assistant. When he walked past the break room, however, he happened to overhear a snippet of conversation.
It was about him.
“Shen Yi is done for this time. He looked down on us back when he’d just signed on, and now look at him. I wonder what the sponsor that Xie Qianchen got for him is like? Looks like he had quite a bit of exercise last night too.”
“He brought it upon himself. He would still have some sort of future with Cao Kun at least, but he’s really dead now that he’s gone to Xie Qianchen. Think about it — how many people came out whole from his hold in all these years?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Don’t you think that Xie Qianchen is making real big moves this time though? He’s only taken over the management of Shen Yi for one day, and I hear that he’s already gone down to pick a new talent. I think it’s a young kid of 15 or 16. I don’t know what for.”
“What for? To be groomed, duh. Xie Qianchen is no fool. Shen Yi is a calculating guy, and if he can’t be controlled, then he’s definitely going to get all his activities frozen. What else do you think it can be when he’s looking for a new talent at this time? It must be because he’s planning on training that kid up and sending him to President Cao to make up for what Shen Yi lacked.”
“Ha! Shen Yi won’t ever make a name for himself now!”
The two people walked out of the break room as they chatted. Hidden behind the door, Shen Yi’s heart filled with a sudden panic. Those two were right. There was something going on with Xie Qianchen picking a new talent now. He should go over and have a look.
With that thought in mind, he changed the direction of his footsteps and headed to the floor where Xie Qianchen was.
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