Just after arriving home, Du Mei's call came through directly to Xiao Yi's cell phone.

"What's going on?" Du Mei asked.

"Who gave you permission to speak!" Lu Zhou roared as he jumped up from the sofa, grabbed Xiao Yi's collar, and yelled, "Who gave you permission to speak!"

"It wasn't me!" Xiao Yi said, "I didn't make any phone calls on the way back... Du Mei... Zhou Ge!"

"Put it on speaker," Du Mei said.

Xiao Yi put it on speaker, and Du Mei continued, "Lu Zhou, Zhang Xinran wasn't in a good mood today. Qi Quan asked me to apologize to you on his behalf. We can discuss this tomorrow. Rest well."

Du Mei hung up the phone.

Lu Zhou was fuming with no outlet for his anger, and in Xiao Yi's mind, he couldn't shake the echoing words, "premature ejaculation" and "impotent freak," yelled out at full force by Zhang Xinran. It was as if the heavens were thundering. Combined with the fierce exchange of words between Zhang Xinran and Lu Zhou, all classic images of handsome men and beautiful women instantly crumbled.

Lu Zhou looked around, threw a few cushions, sat down on the sofa, and panted heavily. He poured himself a glass of liquor and downed it.

"My girlfriend often scolds me like that too," Xiao Yi said to him. "It's nothing. She'll calm down eventually."

Lu Zhou didn't respond to Xiao Yi. Xiao Yi remembered that Lu Zhou had been bitten by a dog and went to fetch some alcohol and cotton. He said, "Are you bleeding?"

Impatiently, Lu Zhou broke free from Xiao Yi's grasp. The blood had already stained his shirt cuff at his wrist. Xiao Yi was shocked and said, "You need to get a rabies shot immediately!"

"No need," Lu Zhou immediately stood up, took a step back and said angrily, "Are you kidding me?"

"You need a rabies vaccine!" Xiao Yi said. "What if you get infected with rabies?"

"Do I look like I have rabies?" Lu Zhou retorted.

Xiao Yi remained silent.

Xiao Yi thought to himself, "What do you think?" but he said, "It's because of that dog. If it carries the rabies virus, it could be a big problem. No matter what, you have to get the shot."

"Are you kidding me!" Lu Zhou shouted, "Go get a shot in the middle of the night? Do you want the media to catch wind of this?"

Xiao Yi remembered that he had a friend who worked at the disease control center and said, "Just wait."

Xiao Yi went inside to make a call, and Lu Zhou asked again, "Who are you calling now?"

Xiao Yi replied, "Don't worry, I won't tell Du Mei. I'm contacting my friend who works at the disease control center."

Lu Zhou retorted, "Even friends won't work! You signed a confidentiality agreement. You want to quit, don't you?"

Xiao Yi stood there looking at Lu Zhou and almost couldn't help but shout at him. But after a moment's thought, he decided against it and said, "I'm your assistant, and your well-being is the top priority. If you feel I'm not doing a good job, you can ask Du Mei to fire me. But since you've been bitten by a dog, you must get the rabies shot, just in case."

Lu Zhou glared at Xiao Yi and finally didn't say anything more.

An hour later, a car pulled into the underground garage of the disease control center.

Xiao Yi brought his friend along and explained, "He doesn't want to meet people..."

The car window rolled down slightly, and Lu Zhou lowered his head in the car, extending his arm through the window.

The friend "..."

"That's how it is," Xiao Yi said, "Thank you, thank you so much. When you have time, I'll treat you to a meal."

The friend couldn't help but laugh and cry, so he disinfected the muscular arm and administered the vaccine from outside the car. Lu Zhou let out a yelp. Xiao Yi immediately held Lu Zhou's wrist, pleading, "Hang in there, hang in there... it'll be over soon."

The friend glanced at the expensive watch Lu Zhou was wearing, chuckled, patted Xiao Yi's shoulder, and didn't say much.

After the vaccination was done, Xiao Yi said, "There are two more shots to be taken at home."

Lu Zhou's anger had subsided by now, and he didn't even bother to take a shower when they got back home. He lay on the bed in his shirt and underwear. Xiao Yi asked, "Shopping online?"

Lu Zhou didn't answer. Xiao Yi turned off the lights and left. In the darkness, he heard Lu Zhou sigh.

The phone rang again, this time it was Du Mei.

"How is the situation?" Du Mei asked.

"It's okay," Xiao Yi replied.

Du Mei inquired further, "Why did you go to the disease control center in the middle of the night?"

Xiao Yi hesitated, then explained the entire situation in a hushed voice, repeatedly saying sorry. Du Mei said, "Why do you make me worry so much? If people start spreading rumours online, saying you've contracted HIV or something, the internet is full of all sorts of things, what will you do?"

Xiao Yi never expected that even the license plate number would be exposed. Fortunately, Du Mei understood his good intentions and said, "Be more careful next time. Regardless of what Lu Zhou says, if there's such a situation, just call me directly, and I'll send someone to pick you up and bring you home."

"Alright, alright," Xiao Yi's heart was pounding, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat. Du Mei continued, "Thank you for your hard work with that troublesome child."

"You've worked hard too," Xiao Yi said cautiously.

Xiao Yi felt utterly exhausted. It seemed like being Lu Zhou's assistant for just two days was equivalent to the workload of ten people. He headed to the bathroom to take a shower. Finally, today he could secretly use Lu Zhou's massage bathtub. The soothing sound of water filled the room, and Xiao Yi enjoyed the bath immensely.

Lu Zhou descended the stairs.

"What did that reporter from yesterday say?" Lu Zhou asked.

Xiao Yi didn’t hear a word.

Lu Zhou poured himself a glass of water and noticed Xiao Yi's phone flashing with "Wife" on the caller ID.

Lu Zhou hesitated but eventually answered the call.

"What are you up to?!" a woman's voice was unfriendly.

Lu Zhou's temper flared up instantly. He remembered Xiao Yi mentioning that his girlfriend was a die-hard fan of his. He had initially wanted to surprise her, but now he was filled with anger, as the image of Xiao Yi's girlfriend and Zhang Xinran seemed to overlap in his mind.

"Hello, miss," Lu Zhou politely replied, "How may I assist you?"

"Who are you?" Xiao Yi's girlfriend said with surprise, "Aren't you Xiao Yi? Where is he?"

"He's in the shower," Lu Zhou replied, "Is there anything I can pass on to him for you?"

Xiao Yi's girlfriend said, "Tell him I've already gone home. The square dance ladies downstairs introduced me to someone, and we're getting along very well. We're planning to get married next month. Tell him not to call me again and to forget about me."

"That's not a problem. I'll take responsibility for soothing his wounded heart," Lu Zhou replied.

His girlfriend hesitated, "Who are you, by the way?"

Lu Zhou answered in a serious tone, "I'm his boyfriend. Is there a problem?"

On the other end of the phone, his girlfriend's voice suddenly escalated by eight decibels as she shouted, "So, you've been deceiving me all along! You two adulterers..."

Lu Zhou asked, "Huh? Do you know who I am?"

His girlfriend asked, "What's your name? Are you Du Ma?"

"Du Ma?" Lu Zhou responded, "Who's Du Ma? Oh, he has another lover as well?"

With a click, she hung up the phone.

Lu Zhou remarked, "Your autograph is gone," and casually made an invisible gesture to black out her phone number. He then browsed through Xiao Yi's Douban account(NT: platform providing information on events, films, books etc), noticing that it had stopped at the post discussing his relationship with Zhang Xinran. A sudden realization hit him, and he began to suspect that Xiao Yi had posted his personal information on Douban, possibly exposing him. He started to investigate Xiao Yi's comment history.

He found an old Douban account that had diligently tried to clarify that Lu Zhou had not risen to fame by relying on Zhang Xinran's connections. It analyzed his movies, praising how well they catered to the tastes of Eastern audiences. The account had been active long before he applied for the assistant position, dating back to the early days of his career.

Lu Zhou tossed his phone aside in annoyance, then sat on the sofa, flipping through the script. He couldn't focus on it at all and found himself picking up the phone again, looking at the reviews of his first film where Xiao Yi, still a college student at the time, had written generous praises.

Lu Zhou read through countless times the glowing comments that praised himself in those reviews. He finally became impatient with waiting, put the phone away, and called out, "Hey!"

A loud thud came from the bathroom as Xiao Yi slipped and fell.

Panicking, Xiao Yi rushed out, still wet and anxious. He had been tense about using the bathroom in secret, and now he was caught, not knowing what kind of scolding he was about to receive. Lu Zhou shouted, "Didn't I tell you that you shouldn't shower before me?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Xiao Yi, with wet hair, hadn't even had time to dry himself. He was in a white bathrobe and barefoot as he repeatedly apologized. "Zhou Ge, I thought you... had already gone to sleep. I'll go prepare your bath right away."

"You want me to bathe in your bathwater?!" Lu Zhou said, infuriated.

Xiao Yi was at a loss for what to do. Water was dripping from his hair, and his bathrobe revealed his fair collarbone. Lu Zhou finally gave in, saying, "Forget it, forget it."

Xiao Yi considered for a moment, then went back into the bathroom to empty the tub and said, "All done."

Lu Zhou, still displeased, went to take his bath. On the table, there was a bottle of chilled whiskey. Lu Zhou let out a long sigh, leaving his hair undried, and sat down to have a drink.

Xiao Yi poured himself a drink as well and consoled, "It's like this, I get scolded often too. You'll get used to it."

"Does your girlfriend scold you like this every day?" Lu Zhou asked. "Are you even a man? Huh?"

Xiao Yi: “………”

The phrase Lu Zhou kept repeating was something Xiao Yi was quite used to hearing. He thought for a moment and said, "Actually, it's not like that..."

Lu Zhou asked, "What has she ever done for you? Has she ever treated you nicely? Why do you keep grovelling? What's the point?"

Xiao Yi replied, "She loves me."

Lu Zhou said, "Oh, at least she loves you. Zhang Xinran doesn't love me."

Xiao Yi said, "You can't say it like that... If she doesn't love you, why are you with her? In reality, I love my girlfriend very much."

Xiao Yi was a bit frustrated, so he smiled at Lu Zhou and said, "I believe that when she's no longer angry, she'll forgive me. We've agreed that once I've saved enough for a down payment, we'll get married in Beijing."

 

Xiao Yi was still unaware that his girlfriend had become the Odysseus of the Trojan War expedition, never to return, and he was still waiting for that moment when she might have a change of heart. Despite his girlfriend being permanently blocked, Xiao Yi optimistically consoled Lu Zhou. Lu Zhou, on the other hand, commented with a tinge of bitterness, "Once it's blown up, it's over. Good horses don't eat the grass they've already passed. Do you understand?"

Xiao Yi smiled and put his phone away. Lu Zhou continued, "Anyway, I'll never act like a lapdog for Zhang Xinran again. Damn it, it's just degrading. Right from the start, she was trampling on my dignity."

Xiao Yi said, "I don't believe she never liked you."

"You don't understand," Lu Zhou replied. "In the entertainment industry, it may seem glamorous to outsiders, but it's all about praising one person and tearing another down. It's ruthless. The person with the most fame and popularity gets to call the shots."

Xiao Yi couldn't help but think that this seemed applicable to Lu Zhou as well, as he had also made quite a name for himself.

Lu Zhou fell silent, toying with his glass. Both of them were still in their bathrobes, sitting on opposite sides of the table. They gazed around the room, which was bathed in colorful lights, intensifying the feeling of loneliness in this empty space.

Xiao Yi was familiar with the feeling of being a newcomer in Beijing. Returning home every day, switching on the lights, and realizing you were all alone in the house could be bearable for a day or two, but when it persisted day after day and year after year, the loneliness could become overwhelming. The cold walls and the inability to find anyone to talk to in such a large house, even if you were wealthy, could be incredibly lonely.

"Why don't you invite your parents to come and take care of you?" Xiao Yi suggested.

"Divorced," Lu Zhou said, "They're both abroad. Don't you know? I mentioned it in an interview in the magazines."

Xiao Yi vaguely recalled hearing something about this.

"What about your parents?" Lu Zhou asked.

"They're back in our hometown," Xiao Yi said. "My father used to teach in the countryside, but now they've moved to the county. They live with my younger brother."

He sighed, then chuckled, saying, "You're wealthy, you have a house, and you've made it in your career. What do you have to be bothered about? Look at me." Xiao Yi gestured to himself and continued, "My entire savings can't even afford a square meter. My dad's life savings of 80,000 were meant to help me with a down payment, but three generations of our family's savings can't even afford a single square meter."

Lu Zhou fell silent for a while and finally said, "Can I compare with you?"

Xiao Yi thought, You're right. Can someone like you compare with someone like me?

"Work hard!" Lu Zhou stood up, shouting down the stairs, "You'll have a house! But if I were you, I'd hurry back to the countryside and spend time with my parents. That's something you'll never get back!"

Xiao Yi : “……..”

Xiao Yi didn't expect Lu Zhou's final words to actually sound quite human.

 

Translator : DarNan