Chapter 38: The Truth of Brotherhood
[Oh my god, I got goosebumps!]
[Brother! Wuwuwu, Jin Shen’s visuals never disappoint!]
[Although there’s not much plot revealed, that one word, “brother,” is truly amazing!]
[Hurry up and air it! I can’t wait to watch, aaaaaah!]
[He’s constantly trending for his looks, but no one ever criticizes him. In the entire entertainment industry, is Jin Yanliu the only one like this?]
[I’ve said it before, Jin Yanliu is so good-looking that even in our area, it’s rare to see any haters.]
[The age of male beauty, a world full of face enthusiasts.]
After returning to the hotel, Jin Yanliu immediately went online to watch the trailer released by the official Weibo account.
It wasn’t the first time he had seen the trailer, but every time he watched it, he still loved it.
The scene in the trailer was filmed over an entire afternoon. It was a shot that Liu Qichang particularly liked. They filmed it almost twenty times. In the end, even Liu Qichang wasn’t sure which take was the best because each take Jin Yanliu delivered had subtle differences, sometimes in his eyes, sometimes in his tone. To be able to perform so many takes with variations each time showed that Jin Yanliu not only had the looks but also underestimated acting skills.
Zhou Beiyang also watched the trailer. That single word, “brother,” made his heart ache with longing.
He didn’t dare to imagine Jin Yanliu calling him that. To him, Jin Yanliu was the person he loved, also his brother. The title of “brother,” when he called Jin Yanliu that, it resonated deeply within him. If Jin Yanliu were to call him “brother,” he might not be used to it.
The reason it resonated was that he found Jin Yanliu’s performance in that scene incredibly moving.
They hadn’t seen each other for a week. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t experienced longer separations before, but back then, it was unrequited. The long separations didn’t feel like much. Now, it was different. They were on the verge of a breakthrough. Every minute and every second apart was agonizing. Besides missing him, he constantly worried that Jin Yanliu, after being alone for too long, would calm down and reject him again.
This current ambiguous situation made him anxious. He should strike while the iron was hot and win Jin Yanliu over.
“Are you tired today? Do you want me to give you a massage? The injuries on my hand are almost completely healed.”
Jin Yanliu, fresh from a shower, scratched his head and looked at Zhou Beiyang.
He had drunk alcohol today, and his heart was softer and more sentimental.
“Sure.”
How could he not know Zhou Beiyang’s little scheme?
But he wasn’t afraid.
He lay down on the bed and pulled off his towel, sprawling naked on the bed.
Seeing his bare bottom, Zhou Beiyang froze.
Jin Yanliu closed his eyes. “Start.”
Zhou Beiyang: “…”
He cleared his throat, picked up the towel, and placed it back over Jin Yanliu’s bottom. A smile played on Jin Yanliu’s lips.
A little wolf with lustful intentions but no courage.
Zhou Beiyang was hoist by his own petard. Let’s see how he would torment him.
He said, “Why cover me? It’s hot.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he hissed because Zhou Beiyang had pinched the flesh on his waist hard.
Zhou Beiyang knew many massage techniques. Some involved pushing upwards with his palms against the skin, some involved grabbing and kneading the flesh, some used his knuckles, and some used his fingers. He was strong, so his massage was both painful and pleasurable. This feeling was so subtle that Jin Yanliu bit his lip, his expression as if he were engaged in something indescribable, his toes curling.
Halfway through the massage, Zhou Beiyang leaned directly onto his back.
Jin Yanliu couldn’t help but laugh. “What are you doing? Do it properly.”
“How about I change it up a bit?” Zhou Beiyang suggested.
“Change to what?”
“Oil massage.”
Jin Yanliu said, “Where’s your oil?”
“It’s just a massage technique. You don’t necessarily need oil. Using oil makes everything sticky and uncomfortable, and the sheets would be ruined. Let’s do a refreshing version, a body rub.”
Quite the word-maker.
Jin Yanliu couldn’t agree to this. He wasn’t wearing anything, only covered by a towel below. If he moved even slightly, the towel would fall off, and then…
Then his bottom would be facing…
“Get up quickly and give me a proper massage, or go to sleep.”
Zhou Beiyang didn’t get up, but he didn’t move either, only letting out a barely audible sigh of contentment.
Just lying on top of Jin Yanliu like this felt incredibly satisfying. This position seemed to particularly satisfy a man’s possessiveness.
“During my recent tour, at the second show in F City, one of the backup dancers almost fell off the stage.”
With this, he successfully caught Jin Yanliu’s attention. Zhou Beiyang started telling him about some of the interesting things he had encountered this week. After finishing the interesting stories, he talked about his daily routine: what he ate, when he slept. Unconsciously, he talked for more than ten minutes.
Jin Yanliu, being pressed down by him, had gotten used to it and just lay there, saying, “Your schedule is too packed. Aren’t you tired?”
“Not tired,” Zhou Beiyang said. “I’m young. I have nothing but energy.”
As he said this, he moved slightly.
Jin Yanliu instantly felt it. He knew Zhou Beiyang was also aroused. This was a strange feeling: excitement, probably stemming from a man’s instincts, and a sense of unease, perhaps because he couldn’t completely disregard their brotherly relationship. But under the combined effect of these two feelings, he half-heartedly complied.
This was considered their first intimate act.
Afterward, Zhou Beiyang didn’t move, only shifting slightly to lie on his side, holding him from behind.
Jin Yanliu thought, I need to change the sheets, they’re dirty.
It was their first time doing something like this. It was so stimulating, completely different from doing it himself. Jin Yanliu thought, There’s no need to go all the way, this is good enough.
Neither of them spoke, perhaps both a little unaccustomed.
“Why do you have this hanging by your bed?” Zhou Beiyang asked. “Don’t phones have calendars now?”
Jin Yanliu glanced at the old calendar hanging by the bed, the one he had asked Fatty to buy for him. He had brought it to the hotel as well.
The calendar was already much thinner. Jin Yanliu said, “I had a dream a while ago that I didn’t have long to live.”
Zhou Beiyang’s gentle expression immediately turned serious. He leaned on his shoulder, looking at his face.
Jin Yanliu’s body was still slightly damp. He said, “I dreamt that someone else transmigrated into me, took over my body. Isn’t that funny?”
Zhou Beiyang, who had been worried, chuckled softly. “You believe in that kind of dream? You even got a calendar because of it.”
Jin Yanliu hadn’t intended to tell anyone, including Zhou Beiyang. He knew no one would believe him. He lay flat on his back, smiled, and said, “If my personality changes drastically one day, you’ll definitely notice. That’s when someone else has taken over. Remember? Stay away from me then. If you’re mine, you’re only mine. Don’t let an imposter have you.”
Zhou Beiyang smiled and said, “Mm, I’m yours, all yours.”
As he said this, he climbed back on top. This time, they were face to face. Jin Yanliu pushed him. “What are you doing?”
“This time, it’s from the front.” Zhou Beiyang looked a little embarrassed. He met his gaze and then leaned close to his ear, whispering, “Polishing the spear.”
He had never noticed this side of Zhou Beiyang before.
What was frightening was that he had already accepted Zhou Beiyang’s duality.
It seemed that when a person was about to die, all bottom lines and principles became easily broken. Life was short, what was left was precious. All worldly rules could go to hell. The will obeyed the body, a painful yet pleasurable descent into decadence.
The entire internet buzzed about the trailer all day. The hype hadn’t died down yet when the premiere launch event aired on TV. One day later, at 8:30 pm, Into the Devil officially premiered. The first episode was an hour and five minutes long.
As soon as it aired, Into the Devil exploded in popularity.
On the night of the premiere, it occupied six trending topics. All major entertainment sections were dominated by discussions about Into the Devil. Even an unknown actor like Yan Huihua gained nearly 100,000 Weibo followers overnight.
Of course, the most popular were Jin Yanliu and Zhou Beiyang. In its early stages, Into the Devil relied on their popularity, so they benefited the most.
The second episode broke the TV station’s weekly viewership record. The drama’s momentum was so strong that the TV station immediately sent executives to negotiate with the production team, hoping to extend the number of episodes.
One advantage of airing a drama while it’s still being filmed was that the length could be adjusted based on viewership ratings. Generally, dramas with low ratings were often cut short, while those with exceptionally high ratings were extended by the TV station and production team. However, Jin Yanliu rejected the TV station’s proposal.
His goal in making this drama wasn’t just high ratings, or even return on investment. The explosive success of Into the Devil ignited greater ambitions within him. He hoped to make this drama a Xianxia classic.
A plot without any filler, exquisitely beautiful cinematography, unparalleled visuals, and a reputation that would be praised for years to come.
Moreover, if the first season gained a good reputation, the second and third seasons would be even more successful. Starting from the second season, it would be Zhou Beiyang’s stage. Since he was paving the way for him, he wanted to create a smooth path to success.
On the media visit day to the set of Into the Devil, the filming location was silent.
Into the Devil was almost halfway through its run. The scene being filmed today was Mu Wushuang’s death and the revelation of Mu Huaying’s true identity.
This was a climactic scene, second only to Ye Hengyang’s death.
This part of the plot was brilliantly written, full of twists and turns, and escalating tension.
Ye Qingdu deduced the relationship between Mu Huaying and Mu Wushuang from his swordsmanship. He used Mu Huaying as bait to lure out Mu Wushuang, followed by Mu Wushuang’s death. This woman, both pitiful and vicious, unleashed a final blow in her dying moments.
Teacher Sang Yuan, in her final scene, delivered an explosive performance, tragic, beautiful, and crazed. With blood at the corner of her mouth, she sneered, “Look at this child’s eyebrows, his chin. Doesn’t he look familiar? Ye Qingdu, take a good look, think carefully.”
Ye Qingdu looked at Mu Huaying, who sneered.
“Back then, I came to you pregnant, hoping you would change your mind. I never thought you, a treacherous and ungrateful wretch, would try to kill me. You were afraid A’Ruan would find out about us, that’s why you wanted to kill me, hahahaha,” Mu Wushuang recounted the past events, her eyes still red with hatred. “But I want to thank you. If you had told A’Ruan everything, she wouldn’t have been so unguarded when I went to find her.”
“You killed her?!” Ye Qingdu looked at her in disbelief. “You venomous woman! If you want revenge, come to me. She was like a sister to you, always worried about you. A’Ruan… she didn’t know anything.”
Mu Wushuang laughed again. “Yes, she didn’t know anything, which makes it even more hateful. You should have seen her before she died, reaching out, begging me to spare her son. You have no idea how tragically the woman you remained chaste for all these years died. And all of this, it’s all because of you. A beast like you deserves the cruelest punishment in the world.” She suddenly pointed at Mu Huaying and Ye Hengyang. “Look at him, and look at him. Look at the two of them, which one is A’Ruan’s son?!”
Both Ye Hengyang and Mu Huaying were stunned, frozen in place.
“Mother!” Mu Huaying looked at her.
Mu Wushuang laughed. “Silly child, just as silly as your real mother.”
Tears streamed down her face, her expression even more ferocious. “No one can escape, no one can escape.”
The sword in Ye Hengyang’s hand clattered to the ground, a glaring streak of blood staining the blade.
