Last night, Ye Lan was out drinking until past three in the morning.

His alcohol tolerance was average, so he didn't drink much, but he couldn't fend off everyone toasting him. With red and white wine poured down together, he was drunk to the point he couldn't tell north from south.

It was nearly five o'clock when the driver, Old Jin, carried Ye Lan into his home. Ye Lan lived alone in a detached garden villa, without even a housekeeper. Old Jin was worried that Ye Lan would wreck the house in a drunken fit, so after some consideration, he called Cen Wen. He stayed and watched over Ye Lan until Cen Wen arrived at seven before leaving.

After returning from the set, Ye Lan had a dedicated nutritionist and health consultant looking after him. Blessed with youth, in just a few days, his skin and physical condition had improved significantly. The fatigue from before was swept away, and he was so full of energy that he felt he could grab a machine gun and blast Super Entertainment's headquarters at any moment. While relieved, An Ya and Cen Wen had let their guard down, and in a single unguarded night, he had broken his alcohol ban.

Cen Wen didn't dare tell An Ya, afraid of getting chewed out by both sides. He quietly notified the nutritionist and asked them to bring over some vegetable congee, so Ye Lan wouldn't be hungry when he woke up from his hangover.

After seeing the nutritionist off, Cen Wen heard some movement from the second-floor bedroom and tiptoed upstairs.

"Hmm? I'm in North City..."

"Slept late yesterday..."

"Why did I sleep late? Busy with work, of course."

Cen Wen, expressionless, pushed open the door to Ye Lan's bedroom.

Ye Lan was only wearing a pair of loose-fitting pajama pants. He was sunk into a fluffy white silk quilt, his hair slightly messy, and he said with a slight, closed-eyed laugh, "I saw it, not a bad shoot, kiddo..."

Ye Lan heard the sound and opened his eyes a crack. Feeling guilty, he winked his right eye at Cen Wen and continued, "Any more? Send them all over for me to see."

Ye Lan got up, and Cen Wen automatically took on the role of a nanny, picking up the clothes Ye Lan had thrown all over the floor and putting them away, then getting a new set of clothes for him. Ye Lan held the phone with his shoulder, getting dressed while saying, "It's nothing, just a casual remark..."

Ye Lan suddenly laughed: "That magazine! I remember their usual style... Hey, they didn't make you shoot anything wilder?"

In the car back to the hotel, Jiang Chi's earlobes turned red as he listened to Ye Lan's lazy, just-woken-up voice.

He thought back on today's shoot, unsure what Ye Lan was referring to, and asked in a low voice, "Is it... something a little sexy? Mm... there was one shot where I had to lift a female model's chin."

"That's nothing." Ye Lan smiled. "I forget if it was three or four years ago, but I was shooting a billboard ad for a jewelry company, and it was this magazine's team that did the shoot. Man, it felt like my shirt buttons weren't done up the entire day. At one point, they had a female model stick her hand inside my shirt. That girl's hand was as cold as ice, it froze me..."

Jiang Chi naturally remembered that set of photos. They were saved on his phone right now!

Ye Lan lamented: "Later, they wanted me to shoot a photo with a model where we were so close we almost kissed, but An Ya stopped them... Hey, did you shoot anything like that today? Kissing photos or something, send them over."

Jiang Chi quickly said: "No, no, the content of the shoot was decided beforehand, there was none of that. Besides... I rarely shoot these kinds of ambiguous photos. The company doesn't want me to transition in that direction for now, and I'm... not very good at it myself."

"Not good at it?" Ye Lan recalled his few kissing scenes with Jiang Chi and smiled. "I didn't get that impression."

Jiang Chi: "..."

Jiang Chi gripped his phone tightly, gritting his teeth.

Was Ye Lan...

...sexually harassing him just now?

Li Weili, who had been focused on scrolling through Weibo since getting in the car, turned his head to glance at Jiang Chi, wondering why he'd suddenly turned so red.

Jiang Chi lowered his head, rubbing his forehead in a mix of shame and frustration, and squeezed the words out through his teeth: "Brother Ye Lan... you..."

"Hahahahaha..." Ye Lan coughed from laughing. "Not teasing you anymore, hahahaha. What's up, you're done with work?"

"Yeah." Jiang Chi's cheeks were red. "We're almost at the hotel."

Ye Lan said: "Alright, go back and get some rest. I'm going to take a shower..."

Cen Wen, who had been listening on the side, heard this and reminded him softly, "There's congee downstairs, it's still warm. Why don't you have some before your shower?"

Ye Lan made a "shh" sound and nodded to show he understood.

On the other end of the line, Jiang Chi vaguely heard someone with Ye Lan.

Ye Lan had just woken up. Who would be with him at this time?

Jiang Chi lightly pressed his lips together and asked softly, "Did someone call you? Is there... someone with you? Are you busy?"

Ye Lan laughed: "Cen Wen, telling me to eat."

Jiang Chi breathed a sigh of relief, politely said his goodbyes, and hung up.

Li Weili had heard the latter half of the conversation. After Jiang Chi hung up, he said in amazement, "Brother Jiang... you actually dared to ask Film Emperor Ye if there was someone with him."

"Huh?" Jiang Chi was a bit chagrined. "You also think I was being too forward just now, right?"

Li Weili quickly said: "Not really, Ye Lan definitely didn't mind. I was just surprised you suddenly got so bold with him."

Jiang Chi sighed. "I worked up the courage to ask. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight."

Repeatedly wondering about the relationship between Ye Lan and the person with him when he woke up would drive him crazy.

"I had to be sure. What if..." Jiang Chi said softly, "what if Brother Ye Lan really has a partner, then I can't send him messages anymore, and it wouldn't be right to keep contacting him."

Frequently sending messages and photos to a taken Ye Lan, trying to make conversation out of nothing, would be too immoral, and too cheap.

Li Weili chuckled and nodded. "That makes sense."

After returning to the hotel and having dinner, Jiang Chi went back to his room. After changing his clothes and taking a shower, he found two new messages on his phone.

Ye Lan: When I called you just now, you seemed a bit off. What's wrong?

Ye Lan: Did work not go well, or did that manager of yours yell at you again?

The sound of firecrackers came from outside the room's window from time to time. Looking at the two messages Ye Lan had sent him, Jiang Chi felt warm all over.

Jiang Chi originally wanted to make up an excuse to brush it off, but the thought that the message was from Ye Lan made him unable—and unwilling—to lie.

Jiang Chi replied: It's nothing... I just miss home.

Jiang Chi mentioned seeing the family photo his father posted on his Moments. Not wanting to fish for sympathy with his family trauma, he deliberately said: My dad, too. He didn't even think to take the picture while holding a photo of me.

In front of the French windows in the Ye Family living room, Ye Lan burst out laughing.

Jiang Chi sent a laughing-crying emoji and said: I guess he was afraid of scaring the relatives. But never mind not holding my photo, I also took photos today, and they turned out pretty nice.

Ye Lan replied: Mm, not bad.

Jiang Chi: Thank you for the compliment.

Ye Lan: Don't be so formal when you chat with me. I'm not your boss.

Jiang Chi's heart felt sweet. After some consideration, he typed: I'm not being formal, I just respect you too much to be too casual.

Ye Lan was sitting on the sofa, one leg propped up on the coffee table, and typed with a slight smile: And you call that not formal?

Ye Lan recalled the phone call from the evening and typed, questioning: Didn't I just compliment your kissing scene today? Your tone of voice changed completely. Are you that shy?

Jiang Chi sat cross-legged on the big bed in his hotel room. After reading the message, he swallowed hard. His face was threatening to burn up again.

Ye Lan really did notice his tone was off!!!

Jiang Chi squeezed his phone and typed with his head down: ...I'll change in the future.

At Ye Lan's house, Ye Lan could imagine Jiang Chi's docile little expression just from the few words he'd sent. He smiled, guessing that Jiang Chi had completely forgotten about being homesick.

Thinking carefully about Jiang Chi's awkward situation at home, Ye Lan felt a rare pang of pity. With that thought, he felt his tone might have been a bit harsh just now. It had too much of a lecturing tone, and the consoling intent was diminished.

He should praise Jiang Chi a couple more times properly. It was the New Year, he should make him happy.

Ye Lan glanced at the message above and said bluntly: Besides, you don't need to have so little confidence in yourself. Your kissing scenes are genuinely good.

In the hotel room, Jiang Chi, face flushed, typed his reply with difficulty: Thank you... Brother Ye Lan for the compliment.

Ye Lan replied with a light laugh: Finally admitting it? You're welcome. Your kissing scenes were personally taught mouth-to-mouth by daddy, how could they not be good?

Jiang Chi covered his face in agony.

He wasn't going to get any sleep tonight!

————————————————————————————————————

After getting in touch with Ye Lan, Jiang Chi messaged him almost every day.

Sometimes he would share funny jokes he saw on Weibo or his Moments, other times he would send nice photos he took. Ye Lan's replies weren't always prompt, but he would reply at least once a day. Occasionally, when he was too lazy to type, he would send Jiang Chi a voice message.

Jiang Chi was very satisfied with this.

He had listened to every voice message Ye Lan sent him countless times; he could recite each one by heart.

Geng Tian watched Jiang Chi place his phone by his ear, repeatedly listening to voice messages and amusing himself, and his brows furrowed.

Jiang Chi didn't used to be so attached to his phone. When he did use it, it was to play mobile games or browse Weibo. He rarely contacted anyone this frequently.

Geng Tian felt a little uneasy.

A few days ago, someone from Starlight Media with whom Geng Tian had a past acquaintance had contacted Geng Tian, asking if he and Jiang Chi were interested in moving to Starlight to develop their careers.

There were only six months left until Jiang Chi's contract with the company expired. Geng Tian wasn't surprised at all that someone was extending an olive branch to Jiang Chi at this time.

But Geng Tian had worked at Century Entertainment for many years. His foundations were stable and his network was strong; he wasn't keen on job-hopping.