I Became Famous in the Entertainment Industry with High Martial Arts Skills - Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Nestled in His Arms

At this moment, the disappointment of being caught felt particularly out of place.

That pink letter, which so starkly clashed with the man’s mature aura, was like a trampoline; Xie Ci’s heart rolled back and forth on it, alternating between bursts of sourness and sweetness.

His lips curved upward instinctively. Xie Ci looked up as he took the letter, saying with a smile, “It is my honor to receive a letter from Teacher Ji.”

Ji Xiuheng smoothly guided him through the door, loosely encircling him in an embrace as he took the bag off Xie Ci’s shoulder.

Thud, thud. The slightly muffled sound of wood knocking against wood echoed from inside the bag.

“Right, I have something to give you too.” Xie Ci tucked the letter into an inner compartment of his backpack and pulled out a small, square wooden box.

Inside the box was a tiny wooden bell that could be cradled in one’s palm. The body of the bell still carried a hint of the clumsy charm of hand-carving, and its slightly oval appearance gave it a touch more warmth and polish.

“For me?” Ji Xiuheng looked at Xie Ci, a smile overflowing from his eyes.

Xie Ci nodded. “I made it based on that copper bell. Do you like…”

“I love it.” Before Xie Ci could finish his sentence, Ji Xiuheng pulled him tightly into his arms. The man’s usually faint pine scent was now incredibly aggressive, flooding Xie Ci’s nose all at once, as if trying to claim him as part of his territory.

“I love it very much,” Ji Xiuheng said gratefully, his eyes burning with intensity, showing no intention of letting go of Xie Ci.

Xie Ci’s entire face was buried in the man’s chest. He managed to tilt his head up, struggling slightly. “I… I get it. Maybe we should close the door first?”

The heavy main door was still half-open. Even though Ji Xiuheng was the only resident on this floor, Xie Ci still felt his face burning and couldn’t help but protest in a low voice.

A magnetic chuckle vibrated against his chest, bringing a slight tremor.

With a bang, Ji Xiuheng closed the door. Finally liberated along with his freedom was Xie Ci, who had been thoroughly “marinated” in the pine fragrance of Ji Xiuheng’s body.

In a black walnut display cabinet in a corner of the living room, a row of slightly yellowed straw dragonflies sat quietly on the top shelf. Ji Xiuheng placed the wooden bell inside with them, his fingers gently stroking it.

Xie Ci, wearing his exclusive kitten slippers, stood beside Ji Xiuheng. Following the man’s movements, his gaze turned to the display cabinet, curiously scanning the collection inside. The sensor light in the cabinet emitted a soft amber glow, casting long shadows across half the room along with the floor lamp in the corner.

A silver dagger inlaid with gemstones on the second shelf caught Xie Ci’s attention.

“These are all souvenirs from past movies,” Ji Xiuheng explained patiently beside him.

In truth, Ji Xiuheng was not a high-output actor. He was crowned Best Actor for his debut film, and for the next five years, he almost completely dominated the industry’s attention. Every film he starred in was a representative of high quality. The dagger Xie Ci was looking at was a souvenir from a role as an assassin—the very role that made him the youngest “Grand Slam” Best Actor.

“Is the copper bell you gave me like that too?” Xie Ci asked.

Ji Xiuheng’s voice was soft: “Yes, but it’s different.”

That copper bell, like Xie Ci’s wooden bell, had been handmade by the person giving the gift.

On the soft sofa, a throw pillow was tucked into Xie Ci’s arms. As the clock hit 7:30, the opening theme of Han River Crossing echoed through the living room.

“It’s starting.” Ji Xiuheng brought out two cups of warm oat milk from the kitchen and sat down naturally right next to Xie Ci on the sofa.

This Saturday featured episodes 7 and 8. Following last week’s preview, the audience was even more curious about the plot following the raid on the Wan family home.

The bullet comments on the streaming platform were booming:

“Han River Crossing, keep dangling me like this, I don’t blame you at all…” “Does anyone else feel like there’s something between the Sixth Prince and the second male lead… hehehe.” “I feel you, the person above. A beauty in distress is the best. That scene with the iron chains in the prison left me speechless…” “Why did the Sixth Prince find a portrait of the second male lead in the eldest Wan brother’s study?”

“Writer, write boldly, I will support you to the end!” “Gu Huaizhou, you’re successful in officialdom now, while our Yuya suffers in prison.” “Ahhh, is the second male lead going to be exiled? It looks like Zhu Qing is going to be written out in the preview, I’m getting worried.”

As the theme song ended, Wan Yuya—dressed in cotton prisoner robes with messy hair—was roughly pushed into the exile convoy, escorted by guards onto the road of banishment.

On the city wall.

“Your Highness, do you need your subordinate to…” an attendant asked.

The Sixth Prince waved his hand, watching the convoy leave the city gates with playfulness in his eyes. “Wait a bit longer. The time hasn’t come yet.”

It was the beginning of winter. Most prisoners were thinly dressed, shivering with pale faces. Zhu Qing forced his own clothes onto Wan Yuya, but Zhu Qing’s face grew paler and paler as his body burned with fever. Suddenly, Zhu Qing stumbled and nearly fell to the ground.

“Zhu Qing! Are you okay?”

Wan Yuya was startled. He hurriedly wrapped the clothes back around Zhu Qing, straining to support the weight of the two of them. He gritted his teeth to stay in the convoy, but his heart felt heavy like a lead stone. His vision gradually blurred, and large tears fell, freezing into ice the moment they hit the ground.

With a stumble, the jade pendant around Wan Yuya’s neck swung out of his collar, attracting a cursing guard nearby.

“Halt! What’s that around your neck?” The guard, with yellowed teeth, blocked him and reached out to snatch it.

Wan Yuya naturally refused to give up his mother’s heirloom, but the guard shoved him. He and Zhu Qing fell onto the frozen mud road.

“You… how can you do this!” With a sharp pain, the string of the pendant snapped.

Seeing the guard take it, Wan Yuya tried to get it back, staring fixedly at him, but his trembling eyelashes betrayed his fear.

The audience screamed in the comments:

“My god, how shameless!” “Look in the corner, another guard is robbing an old man.” “Wait, AHHHHH!”

Sharp screams erupted within the drama as well. Wan Yuya was pushed heavily to the ground, blood seeping through his sleeve. With a pfft and the sound of tearing fabric, Zhu Qing fell like a bamboo leaf. Warm blood dripped onto Wan Yuya’s hand, thick and viscous.

The lens seemed to blur with mist. A raspy, wheezing sound came from Wan Yuya’s throat. Tears fell endlessly onto Zhu Qing’s face, as if they would never stop.

“My tears…” “Only the second male lead is left now, what’s he going to do?” “I thought the male lead would come to save him, sigh…” “How is that possible? No matter how you look at it, he grew up in the Wan family and has the blood of the man who killed the male lead’s father.” “Life advice: don’t just pick up men and take them home!”

In the wide shot, snow began to fall. Amidst the white expanse, blood soaked cold clothes. Wan Yuya knelt on the ground, his vision fading.

Looking at Xie Ci sitting safely beside him on the sofa, Ji Xiuheng barely managed to suppress the complex emotions surging within him. He nudged closer to Xie Ci until he felt the warmth of the other’s side.

Sensing the man’s tension, Xie Ci recalled the plot of Episode 8 and generously patted the man’s lean waist.

This is nothing, Xie Ci thought. After filming Episode 8, Mo Li and Xiao Ya had looked at him with teary eyes for an entire day. He eventually had to tell them a dozen dry jokes just to get them to stop.

In the second half of Episode 7, Wan Yuya was taken by the Sixth Prince’s men, tied up in a carriage, and sent back to the capital. Li Zhaobai’s character, Gu Huaizhou, sat on a horse, having specifically requested to escort the exiled criminals and their families. His eyes were cold as he watched the Wan family members perish one by one under the influence of other powers.

When a wall falls, everyone pushes. The Wan family had done so many bad things; they deserved this day. He didn’t even have to act; the political enemies Mr. Wan had offended could tear the entire family apart themselves. Gu Huaizhou sat alone on his horse, watching the numbers in the convoy dwindle day by day.

Oppression, violence—the darkness of humanity is often exposed at its lowest point. By the third day, the snow grew heavier, covering all traces. Gu Huaizhou still couldn’t find that familiar figure. Just as he prepared to return to the capital, he coincidentally saw the familiar jade crow pendant around a guard’s neck.

“Where did the pendant come from?” he asked coldly.

“Sir… this… this fell off a dead prisoner. I just picked it up,” the guard flattered, inwardly cursing the vanished Wan Yuya.

“Dead?” Gu Huaizhou gripped the letter at his waist, his heart turning to ice.

By the end of Episode 8, many viewers wanted to send blades to the writer, but after seeing the preview, they realized they were early. They should send more!

Many thought the Sixth Prince rescued him out of pity, and fans had already started shipping them. But after Episode 8, the ships sank.

“Didn’t the old man say this medicine shortens his life? Don’t give it to him!” “Hahahaha, the fastest ‘bad end’ for a ship ever!” “Wan Yuya never learned martial arts, isn’t the Sixth Prince afraid of killing him?” “What’s he afraid of? He can just keep feeding him medicine.”

Xie Ci’s fan groups were silent. Even though the suffering wasn’t shown in detail, the suggestion of it was more painful. The dimpled young master from the beginning had vanished in that blizzard. Reappearing at the end of the episode was the sharpest “beauty blade” in the Sixth Prince’s hands.

As the ending theme played, Ji Xiuheng’s brows were knit tight, radiating a heavy atmosphere.

Xie Ci let go of his pillow and tried to comfort him: “I become very powerful after Episode 8. Then it’s my turn to raid houses and exile others.”

I didn’t expect Brother Ji to be so sensitive… Xie Ci thought.

The moment he spoke, the hand he reached out was gripped tightly, and he was pulled into the man’s embrace. Ji Xiuheng knew it wasn’t real, but seeing Xie Ci suffering and near death on screen still left his heart hanging.

Feeling the living Xie Ci in his arms, Ji Xiuheng brushed his fingers against Xie Ci’s jaw, trying to soothe his unease by occupying the other’s entire thoughts.

“You acted very well,” Ji Xiuheng said seriously, his lips brushing the hair on top of Xie Ci’s head. “Extremely well.”

Xie Ci’s ears turned red at the praise. He forgot he was being held and simply huddled in Ji Xiuheng’s arms like a cat. It was warm and smelled very safe.

Upstairs, Mo Li was also watching, his eyes red. He was on a video call with Xiao Ya.

“I can’t take it! I’m coming over now. I’ll feel terrible if I don’t see Xie Ci,” Xiao Ya cried, throwing a tissue into the bin.

“Forget it. He’s at Film Emperor Ji’s place. Do you dare go up and snatch him back?” Mo Li exposed reality ruthlessly.

“Wuwuwu, Film Emperor Ji is a villain just like the Sixth Prince!” Xiao Ya complained. Just as they were indignantly discussing Ji Xiuheng, the door opened, and Mo Li instantly hung up.

“What are you talking about?” Xie Ci asked casually.

Mo Li didn’t know how to answer. His eyes were drawn to the pink letter in Xie Ci’s hand. He stood up from the sofa, alarm bells ringing in his head. Is that the letter Xiao Ya mentioned?

“Xiao Ci, have you read all the fan letters today?” Mo Li asked tentatively.

“Not yet, only some.” Xie Ci hung his bag on the rack, looking relaxed.

“Ahem, well… Xiao Ya saw in the fan group that someone mixed in with the fans and gave you a letter. It might contain bad things. Don’t take it to heart.” Mo Li grew more indignant as he spoke. “Those people are crazy. Don’t read the letters for now. Xiao Ya and I will screen them for you.”

He tried to take the pink letter, but Xie Ci stopped him.

“It’s fine,” Xie Ci smiled gently. “There are more people who like me. I only care about what they want to tell me.”

Mo Li gave him a thumbs-up. Impressive. This mindset is the makings of a Best Actor.

Back in his room, Xie Ci turned on his floor lamp and carefully opened the pink envelope.

What met his eyes were several unabashed “I likes” from Ji Xiuheng.

“I like Yin Shisan, I like Wan Yuya, I like being Teacher Xie’s fan…”

It was a total “straight ball” hardly the kind of letter one would expect from someone like Ji Xiuheng. Whether the writer had blushed is unknown, but the reader’s face was already a shade of light pink.

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