绝代双骄 林志颖

After a long time, the sound of slow footsteps came from behind the thin door panel.

Door opened a crack with a small “creak”, and a young man with tousled hair appeared in his view. He was loosely wearing an oversized cartoon T-shirt that was wrinkled and he looked very sleepy. There were still red sleep marks on the white side face pressed there from a long sleep.

He didn’t seem to be very surprised by Zuo Yan’s appearance, he just yawned lazily and stepped aside without saying a word, then opened the door. He turned around to go back to the room, rubbing his messy hair.

Zuo Yan stared at the open door in front of him, paused for a few seconds, and then stepped through the door and walked in.

The door panel was closed behind him.

The room was dark, the curtains were drawn and only a small night light was on.

In that weak light, only the vague fuzzy lines of the furniture could be seen, but even if one couldn’t see clearly, it was seen at a glance that the room was surprisingly chaotic. The space that was not very large to begin with was filled to the brim, making it even seem even more cramped.

In the middle of the living room lay a mattress on which items such as quilts and pillows were piled up messily.

The young man dragged his steps to the edge of the mattress, and then smashed himself onto it.

With the rusting sound of fabric rubbing against fabric, he arched under the stacks of quilts and covered himself tightly, making a human-shaped bulge rise instantly on the mattress.

——Didn’t even say a word the whole time.

Zuo Yan: “…”

He felt both amused and ironic.

Not knowing when when, the dark fire in his heart unknowingly went off without a trace and it was replaced by a strange soft feeling at the bottom of his heart.

Zuo Yan walked over and sat down on the edge of the mattress, feeling that the young man lying on it silently shrank inwards, making room for him.

“Why didn’t you go to the apartment I gave you?”

The man’s low and hoarse voice sounded in the silent room. There was no excess of joy and anger in his voice, and his emotions couldn’t be discerned.

“Ah, I forgot.”

The youth replied nonchalantly in a drowsy voice.

The next second, he put his head out of the quilt, the small night light on the side plated a layer of gold on the top of his fluffy hair.

Ge Xiu continued to move into the mattress and asked lazily: “Come up?”

This question was simple and casual, as if it was just a casual remark that he suddenly thought of, completely unaware what impact would his simple actions have on other’s heart.

Zuo Yan’s heart almost stopped from shock and an astonishing huge wave of emotions surged from the bottom of his heart, instantly drowning and swallowing his reason.

At that moment, he couldn’t even sort out his emotions.

Only hear the beating of his own heartbeat that suddenly accelerated could be heart in his ears. Hot blood pumped by the heart rhythmically hit his eardrums, making irregular sounds:

“bu-dong” “bu-dong”

——by the time he realized what have happened he had already taken off his jacket and shoes, and lay on the mattress next to the other.

Zuo Yan calmed down, stretched out his hand and pulled the quilt: “Hey, give me half of it.”

The young man grumbled in dissatisfaction, but he still let go of his hand obediently, allowing Zuo Yan to pull away half of the quilt.

The quilt was very soft and it feels almost weightless on the body, it warmly wrapped Zuo Yan with warmth of body temperature.

He was unexpectedly at a loss.

Zuo Yan turned his head slightly and looked at the blurred and hazy facial features of the young man under the gleam of the night light.

The dim environment made it almost impossible for him to see the other’s face, but at such a close distance, he could clearly perceive the even ups and downs of the other’s back when breathing, and even the tiny airflow brought by the fluttering eyelashes, so subtle, but so clear, so clear, that it hit his heart like a heavy hammer, easily disturbing the frequency of his heartbeat.

How was this…

Zuo Yan frowned, perplexed in his heart.

Ge Xiu yawned, took out his phone from under the pillow and glanced at it: “Let me sleep for three hours, forty-five minutes and twenty seconds and then we’ll talk again.”

He threw away the phone and buried himself in the quilt again, mumbling drowsily:

“I’m sleepy…”

After speaking, he fell into a deep sleep without any hindrance.

Zuo Yan propped up his arms and stared at the young man’s face very close to him, raised his hand and gently stroked his long bangs. The slightly cool fingertips swept across his warm and soft profile as the other’s even and moist breath sprayed on the fingertips.

Already asleep.

Are you so trusting of me…

Zuo Yan looked down at the young man’s sleeping face thoughtfully, his eyes softened unconsciously.

For some reason, he also felt a wave of drowsiness gradually hit him.

His eyes turned slightly darker, he put down his arms, lay back in the position he was just now and closed his eyes as well.

Either way, let’s rest for a while.

Three hours and forty-five minutes later.

The cell phone buzzed under the pillow, the piercing alarm sound broke the silence in the dark room.

Ge Xiu suddenly opened his eyes.

He took out his phone, turned off the alarm clock, yawned heavily and stretched under the covers.

Sure enough… He didn’t have a nightmare this time.

He hadn’t experienced the feeling of a peaceful night’s sleep in several worlds now.

Ge Xiu yawned again turned his head to look behind him, but unexpectedly met a pair of sober eyes: “How long have you been awake?”

“Not too long.” Zuo Yan replied.

Ge Xiu also didn’t investigate about the truth of this statement, because he was really pressed for time now — right now was the time point he concluded after three full days of high-intensity calculations. He also compared the estimated time speed and designed a set of algorithms to calculate the time difference between the inside and outside of the virtual world based on the frequency of tasks issued by the outside world and the difference in the time flow rate between the two.

And within forty-five minutes from now, it happened to be in one of the blind spots in time.

In other words, a period of time that certainly couldn’t be directly observed by the outside world.

Ge Xiu originally planned to use this time to call Zuo Yan, but he didn’t expect Zuo Yan to come to his house before the time came — but this was even better, at least it saved the possibility of extracurricular problems.

He blinked and said bluntly: “I want to quit the entertainment industry.”

Zuo Yan was startled and raised his eyebrows in surprise:

“…Huh?”

“The 80 million I owe you, I naturally have a way to pay it back. “

As he said that, Ge Xiu slowly got up, leaned over and turned on the switch of the overhead light.

The room was suddenly flooded with lights.

Zuo Yan squinted his eyes uncomfortably.

“Since I’ve come to this point, I’m ready for a showdown.” With two big dark circles under his eyes, Ge Xiu raised his finger and pointed to a few blueprints that were thrown haphazardly on the ground beside the mattress and said lightly: “Does it look familiar? I designed it.”

He dropped the bombshell without hesitation.

Zuo Yan sat up, bent down and picked up one, his eyes swept across the paper.

The familiar lines on it made his heart skip a beat.

His eyes widened slightly and he suddenly turned his head to look at the young man sitting beside him. The other still had a tired expression on his face, and the curly messy hair on the top of his head were sticking in all directions, appearing extremely unruly.

Ge Xiu blinked lazily and continued:

“I’ll give you three more design drawings of a similar level. You can find any film and television project to arrange me in, no matter how small the role is, and then charge the remuneration to my account in the name of the salary, deducting the 80 million I owe you.”

Zuo Yan quickly recovered from the shock just now.

He quietly put down the blueprint, narrowed his eyes slightly and asked:

“You know that I was the buyer?”

“Of course.” Ge Xiu lay on the bed again, pulled the quilt above his neck yawned lazily: “I have set up an automatic tracking program in the auction program, and as long as it is activated, the personal information of the account can be located.”

Zuo Yan lowered his eyes and stared at the bump under the quilt, with a gloomy expression in his dark eyes:

“Why did you decide to tell me at this time?”

“Being a star is too boring.”

Ge Xiu said gloomily: “It’s boring to rush on announcements, act and smile at the camera. You have to train your body and take acting classes, which is all meaningless!!”

He became more and more excited, as if he had been stabbed in the sore spot, he sat up straight, and then said gnashing his teeth: “And… when you are a star, you have to control your sugar intake! Agent Li came to my house yesterday and confiscated all of my inventory!!”

Zuo Yan: “…”

He laughed lowly.

Ge Xiu raised his eyebrows and looked at him in confusion: “What are you laughing at?”

Zuo Yan restrained the smile on his lips and raised his eyes to look at Ge Xiu. His eyes narrowed slightly and the emotions in his deep pupils were unfathomable:

“What if I don’t cooperate?”

Ge Xiu shrugged and the oversized neckline hung loosely on his shoulders. He had obviously thought about the answer to this question a long time ago: “It’s very simple, I will directly terminate the contract with your company, pay the termination fee and then transfer to Xingchen Entertainment and earn 80 million by the same method.”

“Aren’t you worried about my revenge?”

“No.” Ge Xiu raised his eyebrows and looked at him: “Would you take it?”

Let him be free again and again, not even sparing his life to do so.

Would he take revenge?

Ge Xiu was fearless.

In other words, deep in his heart, he actually hoped that Zuo Yan would take revenge — if he could stand on his opposite side without any scruples, Ge Xiu would feel much more comfortable.

He had thousands of ways to deal with his enemies, but he had not a single idea how to deal with a sincere heart that only wanted to give him everything without expecting anything in return. If he wanted to, he could stir up the current situation and subvert the entire world for him. He had always been accustomed to confronting authority, but he was not used to being protected under somebody’s powerful wings.

He was also very unfamiliar with this feeling of being at a loss.

He even hoped to get rid of his current predicament by unscrupulously probing the opponent’s bottom line leading to harvesting an enemy.

There was secret anticipation in Ge Xiu’s eyes.

Zuo Yan lowered his eyes, raised his hand and rubbed his frizzy hair, his voice soft like a sigh:

“I won’t.”

Ge Xiu’s head sank, his long forehead hanging down, blocking his eyes.

His eyelids were drooping, dark eyes hidden in deep shadows.

He pouted in frustration.

——That’s what worries me.

·

Zuo’s entertainment company announced that it will start filming the much-anticipated extremely epic IP. Almost the entire entertainment industry’s worth of well-known traffic stars gathered together, famous screenwriters writing the script, and international famous directors and top special effects teams participating in the production. The unscrupulous style of throwing money had set off a frenzied discussion on the Internet, attracting much attention.

Zuo Yan walked into the humble milk tea shop and frowned.

Ge Xiu stuck his head out of the corner and beckoned to him: “Here.”

Zuo Yan walked in this direction, and then sat opposite Ge Xiu. He was tall and his long legs didn’t fit in the narrow place, making him feel a little awkward.

“Why did you choose this place?”

“It’s close to my house.” Ge Xiu yawned boredly: “If you have nothing to say, I’ll have to rush back to draw the designs.”

Zuo Yan chuckled: “So busy?”

“Of course. “Ge Xiu stretched his waist: “I’m very dedicated.”

“Except for the profession of star?” Zuo Yan raised his eyebrows, and a teasing curve appeared on his lips.

Ge Xiu: “…”

He felt slightly angry from embarrassment: “…Why did have to bring that up?”

Zuo Yan shook his head with a smile.

He took out the contract and bank card, and went straight to the topic:

“Sign it, you can get paid.”

Ge Xiu swiped a few times to sign his name, turned the bank card twice in his hand, and handed it back to Zuo Yan: “Are we even now?”

Zuo Yan didn’t answer, but took out a contract again.

It was the keeping contract that Ge Xiu had signed.

He said slowly:

“Since we are partners now, this one will be naturally voided. According to the compensation clause in the contract, these will be regarded as my liquidated damages.”

He pushed the bank card back to Ge Xiu:

“This time, we’ll be clear.”

Zuo Yan raised his lips and a smile swept past his eyes.

His facial features were deep, and the lines of his eye socket and the bridge of his nose were fierce and profound, giving off a strong sense of oppression, but when he looked downwards, it seems to faintly convey affectionate meaning: “If that’s the case, then I can officially pursue you now, is that right?”

·

In the bushes outside the window, the lens flashed covertly and disappeared quickly under the strong sunlight.