World Hopping: Avenge Our Love
Translator: translationraven
First Published on Chaleuria
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No one knew when Shen Yi had arrived, and how much he had seen. One thing was for sure though — he couldn’t take it much more.
Since last night, the scenes of Xie Qianchen and Qi Luo’s interactions he’d witnessed had been replaying over and over in Shen Yi’s head. He had spent the whole of last night tossing and turning, unable to sleep well.
Towards the end, he had only to shut his eyes to see himself again at Xie Qianchen’s home, to recall how Xie Qianchen had practiced his lines with him, and how he had force fed him that mouthful of alcohol. Then there was the hug which had followed, and that visit in the deep of night.
Shen Yi recalled everything in detail, and his body grew hot with his thoughts.
So how was Xie Qianchen planning on instructing Qi Luo when he brought him to his home? Was he going to use the same methods as when he had instructed him?
A strange jealousy tore at Shen Yi, but this was soon followed by self-criticism. He was such an idiot! Xie Qianchen had been deceiving him from the start.
As the common saying went, ‘wh*res are heartless, and actors have no sincerity’. Xie Qianchen was an actor, and he’d been by Cao Kun’s side as his wh*re for many years, so how could anything which came out of his mouth be the truth?
Shen Yi recalled what he had heard others say about Xie Qianchen when he’d first entered the industry, and all of them had said that he was a natural born actor.
So was that why he had been so convincing when he’d gone along with his act? Was that why it had seemed so real when he’d felt himself being seduced by him, bit by bit? It had seemed as if Xie Qianchen’s heart had wavered, and he had felt a tenderness for him. Even that hug had been so warm, so caring.
But in actual fact, that f*cker had put on an act to play around with him!
Shen Yi threw his pillow to the floor in frustration. He was not going to think any more on this. However, sleep came not for him, and he was still wide awake at five in the morning. His treacherous brain even wondered why Xie Qianchen had nothing else but alcohol in his fridge.
So what was he going to eat in the morning?
Shen Yi could not figure out his own thoughts anymore. Was it because of his strategy to go after Xie Qianchen, or was he actually feeling something for him? Amidst all his confusion, Shen Yi made sandwiches for breakfast and brought them with him to the car park.
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It was six in the morning when Shen Yi got to the carpark. He stood alone in the empty car park, holding a sandwich and a cup of coffee, feeling like he was the biggest fool on Earth.
Even so, he did not leave. He stood stubbornly in a corner and waited. It was almost nine when Xie Qianchen’s car came in.
Shen Yi reacted, and moved to meet him, but he ended up seeing Xie Qianchen coaxing the sleepy Qi Luo out of the car. The warmth and pampering in Xie Qianchen’s gaze hurt Shen Yi’s eyes.
Xie Qianchen’s treatment of Qi Luo compared to his treatment of him was like heaven and earth. Shen Yi abruptly felt like he was a huge fool for losing sleep over this. His face, dark with anger, grew uglier.
He waited till Qi Luo went upstairs before he revealed himself.
“You’re here? I told you to get a good night’s rest. What did you do, hm?” Song Yucheng knew, but he still asked him that question with a malicious quirk of his lips. It looked like he was making fun of Shen Yi for showing affection to him when he wasn’t interested.
“Just what are you trying to do?” Shen Yi was angry, and he couldn’t take it anymore. He took a step forward and grabbed hold of Song Yucheng, fully revealing the ferocity he usually kept hidden under his veneer of frailty.
In the next second however, the roles were reversed and he was pushed against the wall. Song Yucheng held Shen Yi’s jaw in his grip, and he forced his head around to meet his eyes.
“Shen Yi, do you need me to teach you what rules and limits are?”
“But to Qi Luo, you…”
“It’s my business. As a manager, whoever I want to train is my own problem. You have no right to interfere. Plus, you’d better not challenge me with how you are right now. Shen Yi, I thought I’d been obvious enough in my hint to you yesterday. Too bad, it seems like you still haven’t figured it out. Since this is the case, I’ll just be direct.
“Don’t think you’re being clever with your methods. Those targets you think you can control could actually just be treating you like a little puppy playing to the gallery, you know.”
“Xie Qianchen!” The naked insult made Shen Yi explode. Song Yucheng would not have been able to hold him down if not for his advantage in position. Even so, the final winner was still Song Yucheng. Shen Yi, on the other hand, was pressed to the cold concrete wall of the car park, unable to move an inch.
“Do you feel wronged? Do you want me dead? Remember this feeling.” Song Yucheng casually threw Shen Yi into the car when he was done talking. He pulled out a steam eye mask and slapped it on Shen Yi’s face. “Sleep! Your screen test is soon. You can kiss goodbye to the onscreen world if you mess this up.”
Song Yucheng paid no further attention to him after saying that and drove to the place where the production crew was waiting. Shen Yi did not speak. He leaned silently back in the passenger seat with his eyes shut.
But in his heart, he wanted nothing more than to tear Xie Qianchen to pieces.
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They travelled in silence. The production crew had started the screen testing when Song Yucheng arrived. Anyone else would have been refused entry for sure, but Song Yucheng just turned up with Shen Yi in tow, and he was granted access.
Shen Yi was shaken by this special treatment. He had a sort of feeling that this venue was no different from Xie Qianchen’s own backyard.
And it was very obvious that he was not the only one with this feeling. Quite a few people stared at Xie Qianchen with wide eyes.
New faces were always popping up in the entertainment industry and replacing older ones. Xie Qianchen had not been active for two years, so this batch of newbies didn’t really know him and they could not place him when they saw him come in with Shen Yi.
But the seasoned hands were different.
The name ‘Xie Qianchen’ might have represented prestige two years ago, but it was now a notorious name. Many of the seasoned people treated him like an eyesore, and Shen Yi could fairly readily sense the contempt and ridicule in the gazes of these people. The contempt was as if they were watching a flea-ridden dog crawl out of the bowels of dankness.
Xie Qianchen didn’t seem to mind it. He did not even give those people a greeting, and went straight backstage to look for the director.
Wasn’t he being too arrogant? This was Shen Yi’s first time coming to meet the crew with Xie Qianchen. The manager he had before would definitely be all cautious for fear of offending someone important if they came to a screen test like this.
However, Xie Qianchen was acting like he was strolling about his own backyard; it was so natural for him that he was like a fish in water.
“It’s all because he’s Cao Kun’s dog. Trash like Xie Qianchen won’t be able to act so arrogantly otherwise.”
“What can you do? He’s got a rich sponsor, so you can’t do anything even if you think it’s unfair. He would have been sent to prison otherwise for that incident two years ago!”
“Now I want to know what role he’s bringing this kid here for. He’d better not be running into us.”
“You don’t have to be bothered even if you do. Your people can just whisper in the ears of the popular people. I can tell right away that the kid he brought has no experience. Look at how tired he is. Ha! Maybe he was in someone’s bed last night!”
The whispers of the people around them came in a steady stream to Shen Yi’s ears. Those words of malice, too, made Shen Yi’s face darken.
“They’re all talking nonsense. Doesn’t it bother you?” Shen Yi asked Song Yucheng rather unhappily when he saw his still-calm face.
“Nope. You’re a nobody if no one’s jealous,” replied Song Yucheng. He greeted the backstage crew and brought Shen Yi right in. It looked like he was going to meet the director ahead of schedule.
But Shen Yi felt like he was being called out by Song Yucheng. What the f*ck was that about being a nobody if no one was jealous? Those people were not jealous — they were insulting him!
When they got backstage, however, the other side he saw of Xie Qianchen made Shen Yi quickly forget the earlier episode.
Xie Qianchen was completely different from how he had envisioned him. Shen Yi finally understood why Xie Qianchen had been named as one of the top three elite managers.
His connections were shockingly wide.
Even the director, who was supposedly very difficult to get along with, and the manager of the big film star, smiled unexpectedly when they saw Xie Qianchen. The words they exchanged also seemed especially familiar, and respectful.
This definitely was not something a mere dog of Cao Kun would be able to do. The professionalism which Xie Qianchen displayed later also shook Shen Yi to the core.
Shen Yi knew that Xie Qianchen could act, and instruct others in acting, but he had never in his wildest dreams imagined that he would actually be able to discuss settings with the director too, and talk with the scriptwriter about character profiles. It seemed that there was nothing Xie Qianchen could not do when it came to film.
This was very surprising.
Shen Yi stood, watching Xie Qianchen busy at work, and felt like he was a total outsider of the industry.
And on Song Yucheng’s end, he made some simple small talk and spoke of his purpose in coming here.
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