Chapter 51

Without the restriction of a storyboard, without needing to mind the camera, without being particular about his profile angle, Ye Lan, with all his heart, just wanted to kiss Jiang Chi properly.

In the middle of it, Jiang Chi's phone rang again. Without lifting his head, Ye Lan pressed the button to end the call. Ye Lan gently held Jiang Chi's chin and mumbled, "Don't worry... the sky won't fall..."

The most important person was right in front of him, what was there to be anxious about.

Jiang Chi's heart was beating fast, but he felt more at ease than ever before. Ye Lan's embrace and kiss were warm and lingering. Unconsciously, Jiang Chi had been pushed to the innermost part of the sofa by Ye Lan. He leaned against the soft cushions, surrounded by the faint scent of Ye Lan's cologne, feeling light-headed, as if he were about to drown.

Until... Jiang Chi felt Ye Lan's hand slip inside his shirt.

"Mm..."

Jiang Chi's eyes suddenly widened, and he instinctively moved his waist.

Ye Lan thought Jiang Chi didn't want to be touched yet and very gentlemanly stopped his hand, not groping any further. He gave Jiang Chi a light peck on the lips and offered a very insincere apology, "Sorry, I like you too much. I couldn't help myself."

"The signature from before... it's still there." Jiang Chi's cheeks flushed as he righted himself on the sofa. "The one on my waist, you just touched it..."

Ye Lan paused for a moment, then chuckled. "You haven't washed it off?"

"No." After saying it, Jiang Chi felt embarrassed again. He tugged his shirt down. "I couldn't bear to..."

"You..." Ye Lan was so flustered by Jiang Chi's directness that he was left speechless, grinding his teeth. "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? Hmm?"

Jiang Chi didn't understand what Ye Lan meant. He stared blankly for a second before nodding honestly. "R-Right, I purposely didn't wash it."

Jiang Chi was so sweet it made Ye Lan's chest ache. He licked his canine tooth, pondering where would be a good place to start biting as he said casually, "Really haven't washed it? How come I don't believe you... I smelled shower gel on you just now."

A mischievous glint in his eyes, Ye Lan asked softly, "Can I check?"

"..." Jiang Chi's cheeks burned. He coughed and said in a low voice, "You can..."

Ye Lan smiled and lowered his head to kiss Jiang Chi's lips again.

Ye Lan "carefully," "thoroughly" inspected him. After confirming that Jiang Chi wasn't lying, in the name of a reward, he left a kiss on Jiang Chi's lower abdomen.

Jiang Chi's damn phone kept ringing. Ye Lan closed his eyes, knowing that he had neither the right time nor the right place today. Relying on "the right person" to actually do something was too late. He handed Jiang Chi's phone to him. "Answer it."

Ye Lan turned off airplane mode on his own phone, and several missed call notification texts immediately flooded in.

The person who had been calling Jiang Chi was the high-level executive friend of his. Hearing that Jiang Chi had a falling out with the company, he immediately called to ask about the situation, urging Jiang Chi to calm down and consider the bigger picture. The executive friend advised, "Don't be so stubborn. You're so young, your future is limitless. How can you go down a dead end? If you're not staying with Century and not going to Starlight, where do you want to go?"

Jiang Chi looked at Ye Lan questioningly. Ye Lan nodded. "Just tell him the truth. It's not like we're afraid of offending anyone now."

Jiang Chi did as he was told and told his friend he would be going to Ye Lan's Studio. As expected, the executive friend was shocked. It took him a good while to react, and after laughing for a long time, he sighed, "That's great, that's great. Although Film Emperor Ye has never signed an artist, his film, television, and commercial resources are all top-notch. You're at the height of your popularity right now, so your future development will definitely be good. By the way, you're still going to film that drama, right?"

"Of course." Jiang Chi separated his personal and professional life. "Having a falling out with the company is one thing, work is another. Although the company also invested in this drama, they probably won't make me leave the crew... We've been filming for so long, the cost of replacing an actor at the last minute would be too high."

The executive was relieved. "That's good. I was afraid you'd get stubborn and refuse to film. The company is hoping to sue you and get you for breach of contract."

Jiang Chi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Don't worry, I don't have that big of a temper, and I don't have the money to pay compensation again."

After Jiang Chi hung up, he saw Ye Lan looking at him with narrowed eyes.

"No money left?" Ye Lan had a cigarette dangling from his lips. While typing a message to someone, he started settling old accounts with Jiang Chi. "You've been acting for so many years, where did all the money go?"

Jiang Chi felt awkward. This man...

Was asking a question he already knew the answer to again.

"Thinking about it now, does this count as being sponsored by someone for a high price? How novel..." Ye Lan looked up, blew a smoke ring, and gave a half-smile. "Tell me, how much did you spend in total to sleep with me?"

Jiang Chi stammered, "Actually... I didn't spend it all. I still have a lot of savings, but I need to save up to buy a house."

"Buy a house?" Ye Lan was puzzled. "You're already here with all your luggage. Why do you still need to buy a house?"

Jiang Chi froze for a second, then it dawned on him. This was... living together?

Ye Lan smiled. "Baby, so you were only planning to crash with me for a few days? Then you should've gone to a hotel. Aren't there plenty of nice hotels out there for you to stay at temporarily? Why did you come here? Don't you know that Daddy's place is a man-eating shop that only swallows and never spits out?"

Ye Lan quickly typed a few more words, tossed his phone aside, and walked over to Jiang Chi. "Keep your little savings. You've already spent a lot for me. Daddy will dote on you and give you the house to live in."

Jiang Chi's heart felt full. So... from now on, after he finished filming, he could treat this place as home and come straight back?

"Tomorrow, I'll have Cen Wen get you a set of keys for the front door and the garage. Then I'll have someone move the two rarely used sports cars out of the garage to make a parking space for you." Ye Lan raised his hand and scraped his index finger across Jiang Chi's cheek. "When you come back, I'll have the auntie tidy up the walk-in closet to make room for your clothes, shoes, and whatnot. If there's anything you don't like, tell me, and we'll see about changing it."

After arranging everything in just a few words, Ye Lan smiled at his new employee. "It's already past three in the morning. Do you want me to give you the special treatment for a little longer, or do you want to rest?"

Jiang Chi struggled with the decision for a moment, his ears turning red. "Just... one more kiss?"

"You like it when I kiss you?"

Ye Lan smiled, pulled him close, and kissed him gently.

The next day, the two of them got into their respective cars heading to their separate film crews.

Li Weili was dumbfounded after hearing what Jiang Chi said. "So, does this mean I... I... I'll be part of Ye Lan's Studio from now on?"

Jiang Chi himself hadn't quite processed it either. He touched the spot on his lips that had just been kissed before he got in the car, knowing it wasn't a dream. He cleared his throat and said seriously, "Yes, but I'm not sure how the contract will be signed. It might be signed with the studio, or it could be like before, where I pay your salary."

"It's fine, it's fine, either way works for me. I'm not picky." Li Weili felt like he was in a dream. "That's amazing! Even Brother Geng couldn't get into Ye Lan's Studio, right? My starting point is so high, Brother Jiang!"

Li Weili was overjoyed, rambling on and on. "Now that you've joined Ye Lan's Studio, although your benefits can't compare to Film Emperor Ye's, they'll definitely be better than before, right? Hey! In the future, can we also have two nanny vans when we go out for filming? Can we get another assistant to be my deputy? Film Emperor Ye's assistants are all female. Does his studio have a lot of women? Can we ask for a female one too? Oh, right, I heard a rumor that Film Emperor Ye has had male assistants before, but none of them lasted long. It's said that he has a bad temper. He's gentler with female assistants, but not with male ones. He's so harsh that they want to quit every minute. I don't know if it's true, but from what I saw on the set before, I wouldn't want to be his assistant at all. He's too scary. Every time he looked at me, I wanted to hide. Uh, Brother Jiang, you..."

Li Weili didn't know that Jiang Chi and Ye Lan were already together. He looked at Jiang Chi sympathetically. "It must be tough for you when you're alone with Film Emperor Ye, right?"

"Don't listen to those haters." Jiang Chi recalled the times he had been alone with Ye Lan, and the rims of his ears gradually turned red. "Brother Ye Lan has a very good temper..."

Li Weili shivered, thinking to himself that beauty was indeed in the eye of the beholder.

When they arrived at the set, Jiang Chi had Li Weili distribute the cake they had bought on the way. He delivered the director's portion himself, apologizing as he did, "Sorry for delaying everyone's progress for a day..."

"It's fine, it's fine." The director comforted Jiang Chi in return. "Everyone has things come up, it's normal. I was actually thinking of calling you this morning to say that if you're in a rush, you can take another half day off, don't wake up too early."

Jiang Chi was surprised. He was already thankful that the director wasn't upset, but he was even telling him to rest for another half day?

"You-know-who... just called me and gave me a heads-up." The director lowered his voice and smiled. "You too, you're being too cautious. It's just one day off. Do you think you're still in school? Do you still need your parents to ask for leave for you?"

The director joked a bit more before sending Jiang Chi off to get his makeup done.

Jiang Chi returned to the dressing room and sent a message to Ye Lan: Did you call our director?

Ye Lan: Mm.

'Sure enough,' Jiang Chi thought. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry and typed: You really didn't have to. The director is easy to talk to. Besides, it was only one day off, I wouldn't have gotten scolded.

Ye Lan: Scold you? Heh.

A warm feeling spread through Jiang Chi's heart. He typed: You don't have to next time... Thank you, Brother Ye Lan.

Ye Lan: Still calling me Brother?

Jiang Chi blushed.

A moment later, Ye Lan sent another message: I heard you say yesterday that Century Entertainment also invested in your drama. I was worried those bastards would bully you and make things difficult for you after knowing you wouldn't dare to leave the crew, so I gave your director a heads-up. I've met him once before, so we're on speaking terms.

Jiang Chi understood now. The corners of his mouth curved up as he typed: Don't worry, the company is still counting on me to make one last sum of money for them. Besides, who would dare to bully me?

"Is Jiang Chi feeling better?" Wu Xiaoling knocked on the door and entered Jiang Chi's dressing room, asking with concern, "I heard from the director yesterday that you were sick. Did you have a cold?"

"Ah... yes." Jiang Chi stood up and offered his seat to Wu Xiaoling, smiling. "Thanks for your concern. I'm almost better now, it wasn't serious."

Wu Xiaoling looked closely at Jiang Chi's face, still worried. "I see your face is still red. Do you still have a fever?"

"Maybe... a little." Jiang Chi's phone vibrated again. He resisted the urge to look at it and said with difficulty, "But I'm really fine now. I won't delay the progress again, sorry."

Wu Xiaoling smiled. "It's nothing. I was happy to have a day off. As long as you're okay, that's what matters. I'm going to get my makeup done now."

After seeing Wu Xiaoling off, Jiang Chi quickly picked up his phone.

After the "Besides, who would dare to bully me?" that he had just sent, Ye Lan had replied: I would.

When Jiang Chi didn't reply for a moment, Ye Lan sent another message: What? I can't?

Jiang Chi disappointingly typed: You can...

Ye Lan: I won't tease you anymore. I'm rehearsing my lines over here, slacking off to text you. The director keeps looking at me, which is making everyone else look at me too. I'm stopping now. I'll call you tonight.

Jiang Chi felt so happy he could fly. He quickly typed: Mm.