After Xia Rong finished speaking, he still got out of bed himself to open the door.
Out of his expectations, the one outside the door was actually Yu Chengchang, who they have not seen for many days1. The other wore a Tang suit as usual while leaning on a cane of Ceylon ebony; however, the other didn’t look as spirited as before, appearing to have a bit of tiredness.
Upon seeing the other, Xia Rong was stunned for a moment. “Yu Lao, you…2“
“Apologies for being presumptuous, have I disturb you two?” Yu Chengchang sighed and slowly started to say, “I heard that Su Chi got injured, and it would affect the recording of 《Liang Shanbo and Romeo》. It happened that I was nearby, so I thought to come and take a look.”
“No worries, no worries. You haven’t disturbed us, please come in.” Xia Rong shook his head and stepped to the side to let the other party come in.
Although he had accompanied Xia Rong to investigate the source of the jade pendant several times already, this was the first time that Su Chi actually met Yu Chengchang face to face. Amongst all the movies he has acted in, it wasn’t as if there hadn’t been some whose investors included the other, however, this “Yu Lao,” it had almost always been the case where one would only hear his name, but have never seen him in person, as the other would never appear on set. It was as if, from the beginning, Su Chi had only been a transparent existence that he didn’t need to regard with any seriousness.
And even now, although Yu Chengchang claimed to be here to “visit him,” his eyes still stayed fixed on Xia Rong for a much longer time. Perhaps, even this so-called “visit” now… is also from basking in Xia Rong’s light.
“I heard you two had encountered an accident?” Yu Chengchang looked at Su Chi and asked, “Kidnapped, was it? Is the injury serious?”
Even though the news that they were injured because of kidnapping was being kept a secret from the outside world, given all the tossing around that had happened, the number of insiders who knew the situation actually wasn’t small, so it wasn’t strange that Yu Chengchang managed to “hear” about it. There weren’t any new tea leaves in the ward, so Xia Rong could only pour him a glass of water, which could be considered as him tacitly admitting to it. “It’s not too serious. The doctor said it’ll be fine after resting for a while.”
“Oh.” Yu Chengchang received the hot water with both hands and stared with bright and expressional eyes at Xia Rong’s face. “I heard that there were four or five kidnappers, each of them is a desperado. Being able to come back so safely in one piece like this, it must have been difficult—” He sipped a mouthful of the hot water and pretended to ask casually with indifference, “How did you manage to do it?”
—Again another “I heard,” and even managed to “hear” it with such details, even knowing exactly how many kidnappers there were from just “hearing.”
“…” Xia Rong paused, hesitating whether he should reply the way he had when he answered the officer just before. However, since Yu Chengchang could even find out the number of kidnappers, he might have already heard all the kidnappers’ “nonsense” about “a crazy cat chasing the car” and how “a person disappeared into thin air.” Moreover, the other party obviously knew metaphysics and had studied it before, it seemed that it would be difficult for him to muddle through this.
“I also heard something,” Su Chi suddenly started. “You had said to Xia Rong, you sensed some strange spiritual energy around him, that he should have come into contact with some spirits3 or such more than once…” He looked at Yu Chengchang. “Do you have any follow-ups regarding that matter? Does Xia Rong still have what you had called ‘strange spiritual energy’ around him now?”
Unexpectedly, Su Chi avoided answering the question, and even used the same technique “heard” to cross-check Yu Lao.
Yu Lao’s brows furrowed and looked back and forth between Su Chi and Xia Rong. “…It seems that the relationship between you two is really quite good, that Xia Rong would tell you about everything no matter what it was.” He tapped the tabletop with his index finger and replied lightly, “Yes, I have said this to Xia Rong. At that time, I reminded him out of goodwill. ANd coming here now to see you, it is also the same. Since you two are suspicious of me, you two should have already investigated the jade pendant I had given? That really is a good thing一”
He looked up to glance at Xia Rong and said, “If it hadn’t been Xia Rong, I really wouldn’t have been willing to bear my reluctance to give it.”
As he said this, he took out another Gabon ebony hanging pendant from his pocket, putting it on the table. “I’ll also give this one to Xia Rong. If you don’t believe me, you can ask someone at any time. It wouldn’t do any harm to the body at all… If it still wouldn’t do, you can also throw it away.” He looked at Xia Rong and said profoundly, “In this world, there is no other person who can care more about you than me, do you understand?”
Xia Rong certainly didn’t understand, he even wanted to point to the bed beside him and say: There’s one right here, he quite cares about me. However, Yu Lao was obviously angered by their blatant distrust, and he directly bid farewell after leaving them the ebony hanging pendant, knocking “du” “du” du” as he walked away while leaning on his ebony cane.
=====
After Yu Lao left, Xia Rong was just about to go over and have a look at the ebony pendant the other left behind when Su Chi shouted to stop him. “Xia Rong, don’t touch it!”
“I’m not going to touch it, I’m just going to take a look.” Xia Rong looked at it from a distance, then he turned his head back and asked, “Do you also suspect Yu Lao?”
“I just keep having the feeling that the timing of his appearance is fishy, and his attention towards you is unusual.” Su Chi nodded and then asked, “Did you have any prior intersection or relations with him in the past?”
Xia Rong went to the side of the other’s bed and looked up to look at the drip. “None, I’ve never met him until he sent me the jade pendant一 Oh right, I only remembered now that we’re speaking of it, it was only after he gave me the jade pendant that I began to turn into a cat. Could there be some sort of connection between these two?”
“If turning into a cat is because of Glass wanting to protect you, then could the jade pendant be one of the reasons the protection mechanism was stimulated?”
“Your meaning is, he also took a fancy to my fate, and wanted to harm me?”
“Perhaps he’s also getting old now, and so wants to use your life to extend his?”
“…That’s possible.” Xia Rong then questioned, “However, if he wanted to extend his life, why didn’t he just directly kidnap me when I wasn’t on guard like that one surnamed Huang? It would have saved much trouble. Why be so circuitous, sending first the jade pendant and then the hanging pendant? And even saying ‘he’s the person who cares about me most in this world’?”
“Moreover, he dared to leave this and those words behind before he left, it doesn’t seem he’s afraid of us investigating. It’s quite possible that these things really are good for you.” Su Chi added.
“Then what should we do?” Xia Rong asked.
“On the one hand, we’ll have some people check whether he has had any suspicious activity lately and what he has been doing; on the other hand, we should increase our vigilance… It may not be enough to just hire bodyguards alone. Physical barriers may not be able to resist against magic.”
“What magic, what’s directed towards me should be spells4, right? Have you been watching too much Harry Potter?” Xia Rong retorted a sentence, then continued to say, “Then I’ll go home and ask my parents if they know any reliable masters, who would be willing to be invited? We’ll also get a ‘Master Wang’ or ‘Master Li’ of our own as a personal consultant, and whenever we plan to do anything, we can check in with them beforehand to see whether it bodes good or ill5. What do you think?”
“All right.” Su Chi started to laugh. “It’s just that a gossip headline of ‘Xia Rong and Su Chi engrossed in divination and feudal superstition, intolerable’ would probably start making its rounds.”
“Ah, I also don’t want to. But who asked for us to have such bad luck and run into such things?” Xia Rong sighed. “There’s no other choice, I can only write an autobiography in my later years, leaving a record of this extraordinary life of mine.”
“How nice, what would be the title?” Su Chi looked at Xia Rong with a smile in his eyes as he asked.
Xia Rong was all prim and proper. “Just call it《Can You Stop Teasing So Arbitrarily》, how about it?”
After Xia Rong finished speaking, he still got out of bed himself to open the door.
Out of his expectations, the one outside the door was actually Yu Chengchang, who they have not seen for many days1. The other wore a Tang suit as usual while leaning on a cane of Ceylon ebony; however, the other didn’t look as spirited as before, appearing to have a bit of tiredness.
Upon seeing the other, Xia Rong was stunned for a moment. “Yu Lao, you…2“
“Apologies for being presumptuous, have I disturb you two?” Yu Chengchang sighed and slowly started to say, “I heard that Su Chi got injured, and it would affect the recording of 《Liang Shanbo and Romeo》. It happened that I was nearby, so I thought to come and take a look.”
“No worries, no worries. You haven’t disturbed us, please come in.” Xia Rong shook his head and stepped to the side to let the other party come in.
Although he had accompanied Xia Rong to investigate the source of the jade pendant several times already, this was the first time that Su Chi actually met Yu Chengchang face to face. Amongst all the movies he has acted in, it wasn’t as if there hadn’t been some whose investors included the other, however, this “Yu Lao,” it had almost always been the case where one would only hear his name, but have never seen him in person, as the other would never appear on set. It was as if, from the beginning, Su Chi had only been a transparent existence that he didn’t need to regard with any seriousness.
And even now, although Yu Chengchang claimed to be here to “visit him,” his eyes still stayed fixed on Xia Rong for a much longer time. Perhaps, even this so-called “visit” now… is also from basking in Xia Rong’s light.
“I heard you two had encountered an accident?” Yu Chengchang looked at Su Chi and asked, “Kidnapped, was it? Is the injury serious?”
Even though the news that they were injured because of kidnapping was being kept a secret from the outside world, given all the tossing around that had happened, the number of insiders who knew the situation actually wasn’t small, so it wasn’t strange that Yu Chengchang managed to “hear” about it. There weren’t any new tea leaves in the ward, so Xia Rong could only pour him a glass of water, which could be considered as him tacitly admitting to it. “It’s not too serious. The doctor said it’ll be fine after resting for a while.”
“Oh.” Yu Chengchang received the hot water with both hands and stared with bright and expressional eyes at Xia Rong’s face. “I heard that there were four or five kidnappers, each of them is a desperado. Being able to come back so safely in one piece like this, it must have been difficult—” He sipped a mouthful of the hot water and pretended to ask casually with indifference, “How did you manage to do it?”
—Again another “I heard,” and even managed to “hear” it with such details, even knowing exactly how many kidnappers there were from just “hearing.”
“…” Xia Rong paused, hesitating whether he should reply the way he had when he answered the officer just before. However, since Yu Chengchang could even find out the number of kidnappers, he might have already heard all the kidnappers’ “nonsense” about “a crazy cat chasing the car” and how “a person disappeared into thin air.” Moreover, the other party obviously knew metaphysics and had studied it before, it seemed that it would be difficult for him to muddle through this.
“I also heard something,” Su Chi suddenly started. “You had said to Xia Rong, you sensed some strange spiritual energy around him, that he should have come into contact with some spirits3 or such more than once…” He looked at Yu Chengchang. “Do you have any follow-ups regarding that matter? Does Xia Rong still have what you had called ‘strange spiritual energy’ around him now?”
Unexpectedly, Su Chi avoided answering the question, and even used the same technique “heard” to cross-check Yu Lao.
Yu Lao’s brows furrowed and looked back and forth between Su Chi and Xia Rong. “…It seems that the relationship between you two is really quite good, that Xia Rong would tell you about everything no matter what it was.” He tapped the tabletop with his index finger and replied lightly, “Yes, I have said this to Xia Rong. At that time, I reminded him out of goodwill. ANd coming here now to see you, it is also the same. Since you two are suspicious of me, you two should have already investigated the jade pendant I had given? That really is a good thing一”
He looked up to glance at Xia Rong and said, “If it hadn’t been Xia Rong, I really wouldn’t have been willing to bear my reluctance to give it.”
As he said this, he took out another Gabon ebony hanging pendant from his pocket, putting it on the table. “I’ll also give this one to Xia Rong. If you don’t believe me, you can ask someone at any time. It wouldn’t do any harm to the body at all… If it still wouldn’t do, you can also throw it away.” He looked at Xia Rong and said profoundly, “In this world, there is no other person who can care more about you than me, do you understand?”
Xia Rong certainly didn’t understand, he even wanted to point to the bed beside him and say: There’s one right here, he quite cares about me. However, Yu Lao was obviously angered by their blatant distrust, and he directly bid farewell after leaving them the ebony hanging pendant, knocking “du” “du” du” as he walked away while leaning on his ebony cane.
=====
After Yu Lao left, Xia Rong was just about to go over and have a look at the ebony pendant the other left behind when Su Chi shouted to stop him. “Xia Rong, don’t touch it!”
“I’m not going to touch it, I’m just going to take a look.” Xia Rong looked at it from a distance, then he turned his head back and asked, “Do you also suspect Yu Lao?”
“I just keep having the feeling that the timing of his appearance is fishy, and his attention towards you is unusual.” Su Chi nodded and then asked, “Did you have any prior intersection or relations with him in the past?”
Xia Rong went to the side of the other’s bed and looked up to look at the drip. “None, I’ve never met him until he sent me the jade pendant一 Oh right, I only remembered now that we’re speaking of it, it was only after he gave me the jade pendant that I began to turn into a cat. Could there be some sort of connection between these two?”
“If turning into a cat is because of Glass wanting to protect you, then could the jade pendant be one of the reasons the protection mechanism was stimulated?”
“Your meaning is, he also took a fancy to my fate, and wanted to harm me?”
“Perhaps he’s also getting old now, and so wants to use your life to extend his?”
“…That’s possible.” Xia Rong then questioned, “However, if he wanted to extend his life, why didn’t he just directly kidnap me when I wasn’t on guard like that one surnamed Huang? It would have saved much trouble. Why be so circuitous, sending first the jade pendant and then the hanging pendant? And even saying ‘he’s the person who cares about me most in this world’?”
“Moreover, he dared to leave this and those words behind before he left, it doesn’t seem he’s afraid of us investigating. It’s quite possible that these things really are good for you.” Su Chi added.
“Then what should we do?” Xia Rong asked.
“On the one hand, we’ll have some people check whether he has had any suspicious activity lately and what he has been doing; on the other hand, we should increase our vigilance… It may not be enough to just hire bodyguards alone. Physical barriers may not be able to resist against magic.”
“What magic, what’s directed towards me should be spells4, right? Have you been watching too much Harry Potter?” Xia Rong retorted a sentence, then continued to say, “Then I’ll go home and ask my parents if they know any reliable masters, who would be willing to be invited? We’ll also get a ‘Master Wang’ or ‘Master Li’ of our own as a personal consultant, and whenever we plan to do anything, we can check in with them beforehand to see whether it bodes good or ill5. What do you think?”
“All right.” Su Chi started to laugh. “It’s just that a gossip headline of ‘Xia Rong and Su Chi engrossed in divination and feudal superstition, intolerable’ would probably start making its rounds.”
“Ah, I also don’t want to. But who asked for us to have such bad luck and run into such things?” Xia Rong sighed. “There’s no other choice, I can only write an autobiography in my later years, leaving a record of this extraordinary life of mine.”
“How nice, what would be the title?” Su Chi looked at Xia Rong with a smile in his eyes as he asked.
Xia Rong was all prim and proper. “Just call it《Can You Stop Teasing So Arbitrarily》, how about it?”
