Chapter 2

As far as Jing Shan was concerned, there was no way acting could compare to the sheer satisfaction of being his own boss—and making money while doing it. His plan was perfectly sound. Unfortunately, he'd already signed a contract for this variety show. If he walked away now, he'd have to pay a hefty penalty. Jing Shan might be rich, but money didn't grow on trees. Throwing away a fortune for no reason still hurt. After mentally calculating roughly how much he'd have to pay, Jing Shan came to a conclusion. Maybe, possibly, perhaps... For the sake of money, he could endure this for a few more days. Oh, right. There was another matter. Previously, Bai Xiaoxu had cried to the original Jing Shan about how he felt worthless because he had nothing to his name. And what had the original done? He'd actually had legal documents drawn up, intending to hand over part of his own assets to Bai Xiaoxu. What kind of spectacularly gullible fool did that make him? Who cared if someone else had nothing? What the hell did that have to do with him? Jing Shan himself had no parents. Why hadn't anyone ever offered to give him a share of their fortune? The moment he remembered this, Jing Shan was so alarmed that he immediately pulled out his phone and messaged his assistant, ordering him to stop every arrangement of that nature. He'd rather donate the money. Hell, he'd rather throw it away. But he wasn't giving it to anyone with ulterior motives. Only after his assistant replied to confirm that he'd received the instructions did Jing Shan finally breathe a sigh of relief. He worked through a few more things in his inbox before putting his phone away. Work was never going to run out. He wasn't particularly busy anyway, and staring at documents for hours in a moving vehicle wasn't exactly good for his eyes. Jing Shan valued his life. He intended to stay healthy and live a long one. Since he knew he wasn't leaving the show for the time being, he took the opportunity to look around at the other people on the bus. Besides himself, there were three other entertainers and several members of the production crew. The host was a veteran entertainer with connections all over the industry. Cheng Zimeng looked gentle and demure, but his singing voice had an impressive power behind it. Then there was Meng Letian, who looked like a cheerful, sunny young man. He was apparently only nineteen, but had a famously explosive temper. He'd debuted as the center of a boy group and was currently extremely popular. At the moment, Meng Letian had switched seats and was sitting in the middle of the bus with his arms crossed, looking thoroughly displeased. Come to think of it, he was actually the third male lead in the story. On the surface, he was simply an entertainer. In reality, he was the secretly spoiled youngest son of the Meng family. The Meng family wasn't merely wealthy. They also possessed considerable influence in both military and political circles—an area in which even the Shen family couldn't compete with them. Meng Letian had previously starred alongside Bai Xiaoxu in an idol drama. Somehow, he'd ended up treating Bai Xiaoxu as the older brother who understood him best. In the original plot, Meng Letian's primary purpose was to charge into battle on behalf of the protagonist. Because of Bai Xiaoxu, he even helped Shen Tianzong numerous times, eventually assisting him in successfully taking over the Shen family and becoming its head. No wonder he'd immediately picked a fight with him. So this was all because of his precious big brother. Jing Shan clicked his tongue inwardly. Compared with the original Jing Shan, this guy was certainly qualified to receive the honorary title of “Victim Number Two.” His ending wasn't exactly happy, either. He eventually fell out with his family because of Bai Xiaoxu, only to discover that he was nothing more than a useful tool to them. At the end of the story, he was followed by an obsessive fan who chased his car. There was an accident. He survived, but his leg was shattered. And he could never stand on the stage he loved again. Jing Shan was still thinking about this when the bus finally came to a stop. They had arrived at the filming location. Meng Letian stood up as well. When he noticed Jing Shan looking at him, he shot him a vicious glare. Unfortunately, he was so busy glaring that he failed to notice what was happening around him. A staff member carrying an enormous suitcase accidentally slammed it into his head. Meng Letian immediately stumbled backward and dropped right back into a sitting position on the floor. Jing Shan's eyelid twitched. He raised an eyebrow without the slightest hesitation and silently mouthed two words at him. Idiot. Meng Letian nearly exploded on the spot. But everyone was already getting off the bus, and the livestream had started up again. There was nothing he could do except swallow his anger. Jing Shan, meanwhile, was in an excellent mood. The unpleasantness from earlier had completely vanished. After all, who bothered getting worked up over an idiot? Unless, of course, the idiot kept actively throwing himself into danger. Since the show was called Pastoral Life, the production team had deliberately chosen a location with beautiful scenery. Today was actually the second episode of filming. Several guests had already arrived during the previous episode, including veteran actor Mo Bin, rising actress Ou Fangfang, entertainment-industry newcomer Bai Xiaoxu, and model Xie Yichen. The program used a combination of livestreaming and edited episodes. Those who couldn't catch the livestream could watch the polished episodes released by the production team later. The official livestream began the moment they stepped off the bus. Unlike the other two guests, who had brought bags upon bags of luggage, Jing Shan carried only an enormous hiking backpack containing a few changes of clothes and his daily necessities. It wasn't exactly light, but compared with everyone else's luggage, it was still considerably more manageable. As he followed the group off the bus, Jing Shan spotted the other guests standing some distance away, waving at them. Bai Xiaoxu looked almost exactly as he remembered from the original owner's memories. Plain. Delicate. Forgettable. Jing Shan's gaze lingered on him for only a few seconds before a tall figure emerged through the wooden door behind the group. The young man looked to be in his early twenties. He was tall, long-legged, and dressed simply in a white T-shirt and khaki trousers. His chestnut-brown hair was slightly messy, giving him an air of casual indifference. Yet even dressed so simply, he immediately drew everyone's attention. There was only one reason. He was breathtakingly beautiful. His fair, translucent skin was utterly flawless. His nose was high and straight, his lips full and vividly red, his jawline smooth and clean. And his eyes— They were a pale amber, so light that when the sunlight caught them, they seemed to shimmer faintly gold. A face like that would have been considered top-tier even in the entertainment industry, where beautiful men and women were everywhere. At least from Jing Shan's perspective, he had never seen anyone this beautiful in his entire twenty-eight years of life. Unfortunately, the young man was currently wearing an icy expression, looking distinctly impatient. The livestream comments immediately exploded. ــــــــــــــــــــــﮩ٨ـ ❤︎ 【AAAAAAAH! My boyfriend finally came out! See? What's the point of hiding in your room all day? Come out and let everyone admire that gorgeous face of yours!】 【Shameless! He's obviously my husband!】 【Gross. He's such a dead-faced plastic-surgery freak. He didn't show a single expression all day yesterday. Our Xiaoxu is naturally handsome.】 【That's hilarious. Yichen has always been aloof. If you don't like it, leave. And some people better not make me slap you while I'm admiring my man's face!】 ــــــــــــــــــــــﮩ٨ـ ❤︎ The young man's appearance had sent another wave of excitement through the livestream. But Jing Shan wasn't paying attention to the comments anymore. His entire focus had been captured by the man in front of him. In all twenty-eight years of his life, it was the first time he'd ever felt his heart stumble out of rhythm. Across from him, the young man was scanning the newly arrived guests. Then his gaze landed on Jing Shan. The moment their eyes met, the young man's expression froze as well. For a few seconds, the two of them simply stared at each other. "Yichen, your luggage has been delivered. It's already been placed beneath the bus." The director's voice finally broke the spell. Both men seemed to come back to themselves at the same time. "That means, aside from President Shen, who's arriving later because of work, this is everyone we've got for now." Director Liu greeted the newly arrived guests with a smile. Xie Yichen came back to his senses. He gave Jing Shan one long, deep look before seemingly looking away without a second thought and walking over to collect his luggage. The moment Jing Shan heard the director call his name, he realized who the man was. Xie Yichen. A model who had recently become extremely popular. Although people called him a model, he wasn't actually a professional one. Apparently, he'd landed a chance to appear in an advertisement for a luxury perfume purely by coincidence. Once the advertisement aired, his extraordinary looks immediately went viral, earning him a huge following of fans obsessed with his appearance. After that, photography jobs and endorsement offers came pouring in. Of course, the sudden fame also brought plenty of scandals. There were all kinds of rumors about him throwing his weight around and being kept by wealthy patrons. Yet Xie Yichen didn't seem to care in the slightest. He never bothered clarifying the rumors and continued to do whatever he pleased. Come to think of it, Jing Shan knew about him because one of the clothing brands under the Jing Group had once considered hiring Xie Yichen as a spokesperson. When the person in charge reported the proposal to the original Jing Shan, they'd even included Xie Yichen's photographs and profile. But later, the original Jing Shan had quietly handed the endorsement to Bai Xiaoxu instead... Jing Shan's expression darkened at the memory. But— Xie Yichen actually looked like this? He was countless times more beautiful in person than he had appeared in the photographs and promotional materials in the original owner's memories. So it was true what people said. Cameras really did eat up beauty. For someone with looks this extraordinary, photographs and videos could never fully capture the real thing. Bai Xiaoxu noticed Jing Shan's gaze. He looked at Xie Yichen's striking face. A flicker of jealousy crossed his eyes, followed by an unmistakable sense of danger. After a brief hesitation, he turned toward the cameras with a smile. "Wow, that's quite a lot of luggage. I'll go help them carry it." With that, he walked toward Jing Shan. "Brother Jing, would you like me to carry your backpack?" He said the words, but made no move whatsoever to actually reach for it. Jing Shan frowned slightly. The man standing in front of him was blocking his view. If this had been the original Jing Shan, he certainly wouldn't have allowed Bai Xiaoxu to carry anything heavy. But now... Without changing expression, Jing Shan slipped his phone into his pocket. Then he casually tossed the enormous hiking backpack straight at Bai Xiaoxu. Bai Xiaoxu had only been making a polite offer. He hadn't expected Jing Shan to actually take him up on it. When the backpack came flying toward him, he instinctively reached out to catch it. Unfortunately, with his slender arms and legs, the weight nearly crushed him. He staggered and almost fell. After finally managing to steady himself, he was just about to look at Jing Shan with an aggrieved expression— when he realized the man who had been standing beside him was gone. Bai Xiaoxu turned around. Jing Shan was already striding toward Xie Yichen in the distance. Freed of his backpack, Jing Shan felt considerably lighter as he approached. Only when he got closer did he realize that he and Xie Yichen were almost the same height. Jing Shan himself was no short man—he stood at 185 centimeters. But Xie Yichen appeared to be just a fraction taller. When he saw Xie Yichen reach for his luggage, Jing Shan didn't hesitate. He grabbed both of the young man's enormous suitcases. They were heavy. He could tell immediately that they were packed with all kinds of things. But for Jing Shan, moving them wasn't particularly difficult. "I'll help you." Without waiting for an answer, he turned around and started walking toward the guesthouse with the suitcases in hand. He didn't notice the uncertain, startled look on Meng Letian's face as the latter stared at Xie Yichen. Meng Letian seemed to want to say something. But Xie Yichen gave him one casual glance. That was enough. Meng Letian immediately snapped his mouth shut. All he could do was watch helplessly as Xie Yichen picked up the one small backpack he had left and followed Jing Shan. The two men walked away without looking back. Behind them, Bai Xiaoxu stood there clutching the enormous hiking backpack, silently grinding his teeth.