After getting ready and having lunch, Liang Xiao emotionally hugged the door of the master bedroom before being thoroughly escorted back to the film set by the company car.
Duan Ming still couldn’t understand: “What’s going on between you two…”
Fearing Duan Ming might have a heart attack, Liang Xiao kindly shook his head: “You can’t ask.”
Duan Ming was only worried that there might be some conflict between the two, but seeing Liang Xiao in good spirits, he felt somewhat relieved: “…Alright.”
Duan Ming stopped asking: “Tone it down, don’t get too carried away.”
Director Jin had been in a fury all morning, and even if Liang Xiao was the victim, going to the set with such a cheerful face might still invite some bad luck.
Duan Ming looked at Liang Xiao’s irrepressible smile and reminded him: “When you get to the set, remember to avoid Director Jin.”
Duan Ming, having spent the morning at the set, still felt uneasy thinking about it: “Director Jin is nearly mad with anger, like a bomb ready to explode at the slightest touch.”
Liang Xiao was still savoring last night’s events. His ears turned hot, and he couldn’t help but touch his lips, nodding vaguely.
Duan Ming: “What did I just say?”
Liang Xiao, distracted: “Bomb.”
Duan Ming: “…”
Liang Xiao: “Explode at the slightest…”
Duan Ming couldn’t be bothered with him anymore. He took out a face mask and covered Liang Xiao’s face tightly before turning over to catch up on some sleep.
–
The film set had been in chaos all morning, but after the storm, things had calmed down considerably.
Jin Zhenbo’s crew was a long-standing team, and being caught off guard at the start of filming was truly an oversight. However, they were still handling the necessary matters without any hesitation or delay.
By the time Liang Xiao arrived, a new hotel had already been arranged, and urgent letters explaining the situation had been sent to each artist’s team. The original hotel was also being held strictly accountable for their negligence.
“Nothing too important,” Duan Ming said, having received and briefly reviewed the letter. “They’re asking us to keep this confidential and not disclose details to the media. As compensation, they’re increasing the first month’s pay by ten percent…”
Liang Xiao, who had been distracted the whole way, suddenly snapped to attention: “Isn’t that important?”
Duan Ming hadn’t expected Liang Xiao and President Huo’s relationship to have progressed to this point while still remaining so focused on work: “…It is important.”
Liang Xiao stopped daydreaming, took the letter, read it carefully, and handed it to his assistant to keep safe.
Having such an incident right at the start of filming would inevitably lead to media speculation if it got out, so keeping the news under wraps and signing additional confidentiality agreements was necessary.
This incident had been contained in time, but it had still given quite a scare to many people. Director Jin’s crew was known for their straightforwardness, and they wouldn’t shy away from necessary compensation.
“Everything that needed to be dealt with last night has been handled, and the crew has explained the situation,” Duan Ming said, taking the shooting schedule and handing Liang Xiao a notebook. “I’ve told the production manager that Xingguan will provide accommodation, so we’ll be staying separately from now on… The crew completely understands.”
Not only did they understand, but after accepting the premise that Liang Xiao had just transferred and was dependent on others, the production manager was very concerned. He repeatedly confirmed whether this incident would affect Liang Xiao’s impression at the company.
Last night, he had even almost called Xingguan directly to explain on Liang Xiao’s behalf.
Duan Ming thought about the effect of the production manager calling President Huo last night and pressed his forehead hard, regaining his composure: “Just focus on your acting, don’t worry about anything else.”
Liang Xiao nodded: “Brother Duan, thank you for your hard work.”
Duan Ming didn’t stand on ceremony with him. He waved his hand and gave him the schedule: “Both of your scenes are at night, with simulated natural light in the studio.”
Liang Xiao nodded, noting down the scenes to be shot.
Indoor scenes weren’t much affected by whether it was day or night. Sometimes, when daylight wasn’t sufficient, they would use artificial light sources to simulate natural light for the best shot effect.
After the chaos of the morning, filming had just started, so the afternoon scenes were naturally moved to the evening.
Liang Xiao opened the script and suddenly couldn’t help but lose focus: “It really is…”
Duan Ming asked: “What’s really what?”
“When I go back, President Huo will already be asleep,” Liang Xiao said, more accurately than ever before, clutching the script and reflecting. “Is this the price?”
To gain something, you must lose something else.
One kiss requires sacrificing three whole days of not seeing each other.
At this rate… if one day they **.
Liang Xiao worried: “Wouldn’t that mean at least ten years…”
Duan Ming had given up trying to understand: “Do you want some yogurt?”
Liang Xiao sighed deeply: “Yellow peach flavor.”
Duan Ming rummaged through the assistant’s snack bag, chose a bottle of yellow peach oatmeal yogurt, opened it, and handed it to him.
Liang Xiao used the yogurt to drown his sorrows, took two big gulps to compose himself, and continued reading the script.
Although it was an undeserved calamity, it served as a wake-up call for the entire crew. They worked diligently and meticulously all day, and the progress was actually faster than usual by nearly half a scene.
Liang Xiao had originally calculated that it would take until at least midnight. He had just reported the approximate time to the butler when a crew member hurriedly came over: “Are you available to standby now?”
“So fast?” Duan Ming stood up. “Wasn’t there another scene before this?”
“They’re filming faster than expected, and the makeup for the previous scene isn’t ready yet.”
The crew member, who had been running back and forth, explained sheepishly: “If possible, we’re trying… not to let Director Jin have any idle time.”
After all, if Director Jin had free time, he would inevitably think about last night’s incident, get angrier the more he thought about it, and the angrier he got, the more he couldn’t help but scold people.
The assistant directors worked diligently, scheduling the scenes tightly, ensuring that as soon as Director Jin looked up from the monitor for one scene, the next scene was already setting up positions and lighting.
Liang Xiao, his voice slightly hoarse, nodded: “Alright.”
The lines for these scenes weren’t particularly difficult. Liang Xiao had been worried that he’d be too preoccupied thinking about President Huo at home to focus, but surprisingly, he found memorizing them unexpectedly smooth.
“I’ll go right away,” Liang Xiao put away the script. “Thank you for your hard work.”
The crew member was both surprised and delighted, waving his hands repeatedly before quickly running back to report the news.
Duan Ming took the down jacket Liang Xiao was wearing: “No problems?”
Liang Xiao nodded: “No problems.”
Or… maybe he was actually able to calm his mind better.
The person was there, visible with just a glance up, knowing they were separated by less than ten minutes’ travel.
The tension that had been constantly present finally settled, making it much easier to focus completely.
As Liang Xiao was about to leave, he calculated the time and turned back: “Wait… there’s one more thing.”
Duan Ming asked: “What?”
Liang Xiao lit up his phone and checked the time.
Although they were only separated by a wall when he returned at night, their President Huo, after accepting this arrangement of not interacting despite being so close, still followed the original rule of one at the film set and one at the villa, and had arranged a time to call and discuss work.
The original arrangement was fine, but now with going to standby early, if they actually started filming… he might not be able to find time.
Liang Xiao thought for a moment.
Given Director Jin’s current hair-trigger temper, if he dared to make a phone call on set, Huo Lan would probably receive a physically well-done version of him tonight.
“Brother Duan, when things calm down, ask Xiao Gong to make a quick trip for me…”
Liang Xiao considered for a moment, then pulled out a folded note and handed it to Duan Ming: “Please give this to President Huo.”
Duan Ming was stunned: “Have you two regressed to this mode of communication?”
Liang Xiao: “Huh?”
Duan Ming watched as these two regressed from meeting in person to phone calls, and from phone calls to passing notes. He couldn’t help but worry: “Next time, will you be carving words on a wooden board?”
Liang Xiao just wanted to relive the exciting heartbeat of passing notes with President Huo. He didn’t react, staring blankly at Duan Ming.
Duan Ming grew increasingly worried: “And the time after that, you’ll tie knots on a rope and ask us to pass it to President Huo…”
Liang Xiao: “…”
Duan Ming was genuinely afraid he might resort to knot-tying to convey messages: “Will you?”
“…No,” Liang Xiao took a deep breath. “I’ll video call President Huo next time.”
Duan Ming watched him return to the embrace of modern technology and sighed in relief: “That’s good.”
Liang Xiao was a bit worried that he might have been putting too much pressure on his staff lately. He wanted to tell Duan Ming to take a rest, but fearing he might overthink it, he didn’t say it immediately. Instead, he added a vacation for his team to the schedule.
Duan Ming pocketed the note, patted Liang Xiao’s shoulder, and went back to find the assistant.
–
In the master bedroom.
Huo Lan looked at the report in his hand several times, put it aside, and glanced at his phone again.
The butler hesitantly spoke up: “At the film set… there have been too many unexpected situations.”
Fearing a misunderstanding, the butler explained in a low voice: “Mr. Liang surely didn’t intentionally not call.”
Huo Lan: “I know.”
The butler was taken aback.
Huo Lan closed his eyes, pressed his temples hard, and forced his attention away from the unusually quiet phone.
Liang Xiao was at the film set, already busy with many tasks to do, and schedules could change at any time.
With last night’s incident, there were things to handle during the day, naturally leading to even more uncertainties.
Huo Lan rationally understood this and tried not to dwell on it. After a moment of silence, he asked: “What time is it?”
The butler sighed inwardly: “9:37.”
It had been exactly seven minutes and three seconds since the time Mr. Liang had originally agreed to call.
In these brief seven minutes and three seconds, their President Huo had already asked for the time three times and checked his phone five times.
Back in the capital, before the film crew officially started, although Mr. Liang was busy every day, he still had some control over his time and hadn’t encountered this kind of situation.
This time, with the two of them less than ten minutes apart, Mr. Liang was instead tied up by the film crew, without the freedom to arrange his time.
The butler actually wanted to ask their President Huo why he couldn’t visit the set, but he barely held back: “Should I call Mr. Duan? He should know…”
Huo Lan shook his head: “No need.”
The butler felt frustrated: “Understood.”
Huo Lan had been restless since 9:29. He closed his eyes in silence for a moment, then reflected: “Mr. Liang was right.”
The butler was taken aback: “What did Mr. Liang say?”
Huo Lan: “Not seeing each other won’t affect us.”
Today when Liang Xiao left in the company car, he couldn’t help but watch from the window, from the moment Liang Xiao left until he got into the car.
After the car left, he still stood by the window for five minutes.
Huo Lan said softly: “I’ve been too indulgent.”
The butler vaguely felt that this couldn’t have been Mr. Liang’s intention: “It… doesn’t affect much either.”
The butler glanced at his watch and softly reminded their President Huo, who seemed to be experiencing time very slowly: “From when you started having trouble focusing on the documents until now, only eight minutes have passed…”
Usually, during his sensitive period, Huo Lan’s poor sleep caused severe headaches that forced him to rest for much longer than this.
This morning when Mr. Liang hugged the master bedroom door, their President Huo was standing on the other side, leaning against it.
After Mr. Liang left, President Huo was in such a good mood that he processed dozens of complex quarterly reports in succession.
Looking at the big picture, the butler felt that since Huo Lan came here, his overall work efficiency had improved significantly.
Huo Lan didn’t quite believe it and frowned: “Only eight minutes?”
The butler corrected himself: “It’s nine minutes now.”
Huo Lan: “…”
To Huo Lan, it felt like nine hours had passed. His eyes darkened as he pressed his brow forcefully.
“Besides, it’s not really a big problem.”
The butler, not fully understanding but vaguely grasping Huo Lan’s train of thought, continued: “Look, when Mr. Liang leaves in the morning, it’s your work time, and by the time he returns, you’re already resting.”
The butler tried to go along with him: “There’s no need to hold back. You wouldn’t see Mr. Liang much anyway.”
Huo Lan: “…”
The butler: “…”
The butler wiped the frost from his head, reflecting on which of his words might have been inappropriate.
Huo Lan tried his best to suppress his pheromones, looked at the report a few more times, and finally closed his eyes: “Suppressant.”
The butler was worried: “It’s best… not to use it.”
Huo Lan was extremely insensitive to suppressants and couldn’t adjust the dosage based on his own pheromone fluctuations, making it easy to overdose.
Once overdosed, the side effects combined with sensitive period symptoms would significantly worsen his physical discomfort.
Huo Lan waited for a while, and seeing no movement from the butler, he got up to get it himself.
The butler anxiously called out: “President Huo–”
Unmoved, Huo Lan took out a specially made Valu suppressant and opened the packaging.
The butler was extremely worried and wanted to persuade him further when the head of security suddenly knocked and peeked in: “President Huo?”
Fearing further disruption, the butler quickly intercepted at the door: “What do you need President Huo for?”
“Someone from Mr. Liang’s side came. They said he’s still filming and can’t make a phone call.”
The head of security pulled out a neatly folded note: “They asked to pass this to President Huo…”
The butler hesitated, looked back at their President Huo, whose storm seemed to have subsided, and quickly helped pass the note.
Huo Lan was momentarily stunned as he took the note.
Huo Lan held the note gently, not applying pressure. After a moment, he carefully cupped it in his palm and returned to his desk.
The butler firmly closed the door on the head of security: “What are you looking for?”
“A book,” Huo Lan said. “He’ll check on the notes he gives me in the future.”
The butler was stunned: “Huh?”
Huo Lan held the square-folded paper, quietly looking at it for a while. His suppressed anxiety dissipated as he searched his desk.
Young Liang Xiao was very strict. Whenever they did homework together under the lamp, he would secretly pass notes, and a few days later, he would randomly check if Huo Lan still knew where they were and if he could find them.
Young Huo Lan didn’t pay much attention to keeping the first few notes, but later it became a habit, and he carefully flattened and tucked them all into a book.
Later… when young Liang Xiao left, he took all those notes with him.
Huo Lan suspected he had remembered the wrong book and had searched desperately. In the villa’s small study, all his old textbooks, exercise books, reference materials, and reading collections from both in and out of class were kept. As a teenager, Huo Lan had once locked himself in the study for three days, carefully going through every page.
Except for the “QAQ” at the bottom of some exercise books, there was no trace of anything Liang Xiao had left behind.
Now it had returned.
The note had passed through several hands, and the careless head of security had crumpled it slightly.
Huo Lan placed it on the desk, slowly smoothing it out, fixing the creases, and carefully tucked it into a book he had brought.
The butler stared blankly for a while: “President Huo…”
Huo Lan looked up: “What?”
The butler, unaccustomed to his calmness, hesitated and stammered: “You– aren’t you going to open and look at it?”
“What if Mr. Liang has something urgent…”
The butler made half-hearted assumptions for a while but ultimately couldn’t convince himself: “…Never mind.”
If Mr. Liang had something urgent, he would certainly call directly.
Even if, for some unimaginable reason, it came to an extremely urgent situation where he had to pass a note, he would attach three chicken feathers to it, signaling utmost urgency.
It wouldn’t be passed along so leisurely.
The butler sighed and swallowed the rest of his words.
“I won’t look at it now.”
Huo Lan understood his meaning and fell silent for a moment: “I’ll look… next time.”
The butler was puzzled: “What next time?”
Huo Lan didn’t want to explain. He shook his head, picked up the documents again, and addressed a few oversights.
The butler hadn’t expected Mr. Liang’s note to be so effective. He made a mental note to ask Liang Xiao to write a hundred or so notes later, to use one in emergencies when needed: “Please continue your work.”
The butler said with relief: “It’s all good now. Mr. Liang is fine, so you don’t need to worry anymore…”
The look in Huo Lan’s eyes had just softened a little, but upon hearing the words, it darkened again: “He’s not well.”
The butler’s heart rode a roller coaster: “Who?”
“Mr. Liang,” Huo Lan said. “Every time he gives me a note, it’s because he doesn’t want to talk.”
The butler paused, tempted to ask when Mr. Liang had ever given him notes before, but swallowed the question for now: “Why doesn’t Mr. Liang want to talk?”
Huo Lan: “He’s afraid I’ll notice.”
Having vaguely understood Liang Xiao’s past experiences, Huo Lan could roughly reconstruct what kind of life young Liang Xiao had lived when they were together.
Little Liang Xiao had to work part-time jobs, fight off sleepiness during classes, and when he returned home at night, he forced himself to study and memorize lessons.
Now that Huo Lan thought back, each time little Liang Xiao gently nudged him under the lamp and passed him a scribbled note, it was always after Huo Lan had either been schemed against by his family or ignored indifferently by his parents.
When little Liang Xiao wasn’t tired and noticed Huo Lan was troubled, he’d endlessly pester him and fool around until Huo Lan became so annoyed that he forgot all about those worries.
Passing notes to him… was because little Liang Xiao himself was exhausted too.
So exhausted that he couldn’t even lift his arms, no longer having the strength nor energy to fool around.
Little Liang Xiao didn’t want Huo Lan to worry about him, but he also didn’t want Huo Lan to be alone.
“He said he trusted me…”
Huo Lan closed his eyes briefly: “But deep down, he actually only trusts himself.”
Pain or exhaustion—these were burdens that couldn’t be shared with others.
Crying was something he couldn’t do in front of others either; even if tears fell uncontrollably, he’d desperately hold them back without making a single sound.
Huo Lan spoke softly: “About last night… He hasn’t fully recovered yet either; he’s just unwilling to let me worry.”
The butler understood and felt a pang of sadness too: “Mr. Liang is used to enduring alone…”
Huo Lan: “Not anymore.”
The butler desperately wanted these two men to express their feelings clearly and learn their lesson. Quickly remembering his previous experience, he swiftly took out a recorder pen: “Yes… not anymore. From now on, Mr. Liang has you.”
Huo Lan nodded slightly: “I’ll take it slowly.”
The butler gently encouraged him: “Yes, you have Mr. Liang in your heart.”
Stirred by his words into emotional turmoil, Huo Lan remained quiet for a long moment before closing his eyes again: “From now on… I’ll do everything I can.”
Taking advantage of Huo Lan’s distraction, the butler secretly pressed the record button.
Huo Lan continued: “One day… I’ll hold Mr. Liang in my arms and let him cry out loud.”
Butler: “…”
QAQ
These two are gonna drive me insane. I feel like I can truly relate to the butler lol
Thank you for the lovely translation!