Summer was approaching. It was the season Xia Xicheng disliked most throughout the year—the sticky sweat, the incessant chirping of cicadas, and the sun that felt like it could bake you alive. Even finding a shady spot to escape the heat became a luxury.
His mind was constantly on Zhou Ziheng’s pool. Finally, one night, he stripped down and dove in for a satisfying swim. The thrill of trespassing without permission delighted him. He flicked his hair back, snapped a shirtless selfie in the pool, and shared it directly with Zhou Ziheng on WeChat.
Ah, he doesn’t have his phone right now, so he can’t see it.
What a shame.
After receiving the final draft of the script from Xu Qichen, Xia Xiqing spent the entire night reading it. His feelings were complicated, but he believed that if the production truly captured the essence of the script, it would be spectacular.
“You’ve got some serious bias here,” Xia Xiqing said, popping open a beer and taking a big swig. “This script reads gay enough on its own. I can totally picture the CP fans going wild over it.”
Xu Qichen sounded genuinely pleased over the phone. “It’s fine. I just wrote them as characters who rely on each other. As for the nature of their feelings toward one another, I haven’t made that decision. I think it should depend on the emotions you two bring to the performance and how the audience chooses to interpret it.”
“Interpretation?” Xia Xiqing chuckled helplessly. “Self-study girls have top-notch imagination. To them, a single glance is equivalent to them sleeping together.”
Hearing Xia Zhixu urging him on the other end, Xia Xiqing glanced at the clock—it was nearly 11 PM. He really shouldn’t disturb them any longer. Finding an excuse, he hung up. Unable to sleep, he opened Weibo and stumbled upon a peculiar trending topic: Dongming Group tax evasion.
Dongming? Wasn’t that Wei Min’s makeshift operation?
This was too interesting. Xia Xiqing clicked into the trending topic. The top entries were all official accounts like People’s Daily and Caijing, each posting the same news story. The headline read: [Dongming Group Evades 120 Million RMB in Taxes; Legal Representative Wei Awaits Court Summons].
“The lawyer for legal representative Wei stated that Wei is currently… hospitalized due to illness and will fully cooperate with the procuratorate’s investigation upon recovery…” Xia Xiqing read the news aloud and couldn’t help but laugh. Judging by the lawyer’s tone, though, Wei Min was probably guilty of cooking the books. Otherwise, he’d never admit it. This vague language now? He’s clearly scared he won’t be able to smooth things over later.
Still, Wei Min was a local big shot with considerable influence and his dad’s protection. Who could really dig this up?
Xia Xiqing thought of Ruan Xiao. While he didn’t believe she orchestrated it alone, he suspected she knew something. He messaged her on WeChat to meet for coffee, only to find her arriving the next day with a man.
“Aren’t you going to explain?” Xia Xiqing sipped his coffee with a smile, his gaze fixed on the pair across from him. “How come you two are together?”
Ruan Xiao remained unflappable. “I know why you called me. Didn’t I bring the instigator right to you?” The young man glanced at Ruan Xiao after her words. Xia Xiqing studied the boy across from her—hoodie, black-rimmed glasses—and found him strangely familiar.
His style was strikingly similar to Zhou Ziheng’s.
It suddenly clicked—this was the guy who’d been staring at him at that dinner party. “You’re Zhao Ke?”
Zhao Ke nodded, pushing his glasses up his nose. His opening words carried a thick Beijing accent. Xia Xiqing couldn’t help wondering—both were Beijing natives, so why did Zhou Ziheng have no trace of a local drawl? Was it because he’d been acting since childhood?
“Are you… okay?” Zhao Ke’s smile was slightly awkward. Xia Xiqing was sipping his coffee and nearly choked on it at the question. “Hey, can we not bring that up?”
It had barely passed, and now it was being brought up again.
“Did you ask me out to find out about Wei Min’s tax evasion?” Ruan Xiao flicked her hair, flashing a sly smile before nudging Zhao Ke’s arm with her shoulder. “He did it.”
“Him?” Xia Xiqing suddenly remembered Zhao Ke was Zhou Ziheng’s childhood friend. Though he still didn’t know how high up Zhou Ziheng’s family was in the government, this made him realize Zhao Ke’s family must have considerable influence too.
Ruan Xiao beckoned Xia Xiqing over, leaning close across the table and lowering her voice. “He’s Director Zhao’s son.”
Just as Xia Xiqing heard this, Ruan Xiao was yanked back by Zhao Ke, who tugged at her off-the-shoulder T-shirt. “Your back is showing!”
“It’s not that bad—it’s just the design.” Ruan Xiao mouthed something to Xia Xiqing, spelling out the name of Zhao Ke’s father’s department. Xia Xiqing instantly understood. No wonder Wei Min’s scandal had surfaced at precisely this moment—it was all because of Zhao Ke.
“How did you convince your dad to investigate him?” Xia Xiqing asked.
Zhao Ke scratched his stubble. “Not really. I just mentioned it casually over dinner. My dad had no idea Wei Min was secretly colluding with people in the bureau. He was pretty pissed. Coincidentally, my dad’s feud with the second-in-command has been escalating lately. With his promotion imminent, he wanted to use this incident to undermine that guy’s authority before leaving—and find an opportunity to discipline him.“ He stirred his iced Americano. ”Essentially, he used someone else’s knife to do his dirty work. Wei Min was just the blade.”
This Wei Min, puffing himself up so much—in reality, everyone just treated him like a pawn. Xia Xiqing found it ironic, yet also rather amusing how they all fit together. “Who knew the world was so small? Everyone at this table comes from well-connected families.”
Ruan Xiao’s fingers tapped lightly against the glass. “Everyone’s been hiding their cards well. I honestly had no idea your family background was so substantial.” She turned her head to ask, “Is Zhou Ziheng’s family like yours?”
“No, no, not at all,” Zhao Ke lowered his voice and offered a comparison. “My family is civil officials; his is military generals. He’s a pure-blooded third-generation red. His older brother is a big shot in finance—something even TV dramas wouldn’t dare write.”
Ruan Xiao was puzzled. “With a background like that, why would he go into showbiz?”
“His sister-in-law is a pretty powerful agent in the entertainment industry—Sister Yin. Not sure if you know her.”
“Jiang Yin?” Xia Xiqing hadn’t considered that. “Jiang Yin is his sister-in-law?”
“You know her?” Zhao Ke continued. “Anyway, Ziheng was basically launched by his sister-in-law. Otherwise, how else would he have zero scandals after all these years in the industry with such great resources? The only time he made headlines was with you.”
Xia Xiqing was a bit stunned by Zhao Ke’s reference.
“But that kid is dead set on acting for two reasons. One, he believes celebrities have immense power to influence many people. He hopes to leverage the idol effect to raise awareness about overlooked social issues—basically spreading positive energy. The other reason…”
Ruan Xiao urged him to continue, and Zhao Ke finally spoke up. “When he was little, he had a crush on this older girl. He said she encouraged him during his scariest moments, which gave him the courage to stand in front of the camera. He didn’t want to let her down and hoped one day she’d recognize him on screen.” Zhao Ke sighed. “Though I suspect she probably forgot about him long ago—got married, had kids.”
“What a fairy-tale love-at-first-sight plot! You’d never guess Zhou Ziheng was such a romantic at heart.”
The two chatted animatedly, completely oblivious to Xia Xiqing sitting across from them, who seemed reluctant to speak. Even Xia Xiqing himself couldn’t figure out why, but whenever his first love was mentioned, he felt a surge of anger. He stared at his phone, scrolling through WeChat and Weibo, trying to distract himself from the negative emotions.
“But it seems like he’s moved on now.” Zhao Ke glanced sideways at the silent Xia Xiqing across the table. “He hasn’t mentioned that girl in ages. All he talks about lately is someone else.”
“Who?” Ruan Xiao asked, her voice winding like a serpentine path, the trailing notes almost reaching the heavens.
“Only the person in question knows.”
Xia Xiqing pretended not to hear the two of them singing in harmony. Suddenly, he noticed the Weibo trending list had changed. The top spot was [Sanqing CP], and second place was [Self-Study CP].
“Has this week’s episode of Escape from Heaven aired yet?” Xia Xiqing asked, lifting his eyes.
Ruan Xiao pulled out her phone and glanced at the date. “Oh no, it’s out. I’m definitely going to get scolded for missing this episode.”
Zhao Ke asked, “Why?”
“I almost voted Xiqing out, but Ziheng saved him. I’m seriously impressed with Ziheng. He finally got to be the killer, yet he kept protecting Xiqing at every turn. And sure enough, he ended up failing to protect him. We had it in the bag.”
Hearing this, Xia Xiqing’s ears tingled. He pretended not to understand and tapped into the trending CP search for him and Shang Sirui. The top post was a screenshot of Shang Sirui’s Weibo shared by a die-hard CP fan—the selfie from last time when Xia Xiqing deliberately leaned on Shang Sirui’s shoulder to spite Zhou Ziheng.
[San San and Qing Qing should marry immediately: Holy crap, this is vintage sweetness!! So San San’s “self-destructing player” was actually Xi Qing! Only after watching this episode did I realize it was spoiled this early. San San’s tone is way too doting.]
[SanSan is the handsome top: Is it any wonder SanQing has always been so sweet? Some CPs get off on themselves for no reason, while the real deal probably never even held hands on the show.]
Xia Xiqing saw this comment and felt a bit conflicted. They probably didn’t hold hands on the show… but privately…
[Self-Study Girl Go Go: Keep your fandom to yourself, why the sour grapes? What kind of tricks could two bottoms pull together?]
Xia Xiqing: Little sister, even though you’re a self-study girl, I’m not happy with that comment. Who’s the bottom here?
[Sanqing Segao: What new tricks does this CP dog have besides “two bottoms together won’t be happy”? Tired of the same old nonsense! Why come loitering in other people’s squares for no reason?]
[Self-Study Is My Little Treasure: The boldest one flirts first—take my Self-Study home.]
The CP fans on both sides were arguing fiercer by the minute, escalating the battle. Soon, the solo fans from all three camps joined in, and the situation spiraled out of control. Xia Xiqing couldn’t figure out how his solo fans ended up clashing hardest with Zhou Ziheng’s solo fans—it felt like a full-blown brawl.
This time, he truly understood how awkward it was for the actual celebrities caught in the middle of a fandom fight.
He’d intended to share this with Zhou Ziheng, but remembered the guy was still under house arrest with no phone access. So Xia Xiqing settled for messaging Shang Sirui instead.
[Xiqing: Fangirls’ fighting power is terrifying.]
Surprisingly, Shang Sirui—despite being swamped as an idol—replied instantly.
[Shang: I’m used to it, haha.]
[Xiqing: I have no idea how it happened—one minute we were arguing, the next it turned into a full-blown war between my fans and Zhou Ziheng’s.]
[Shang: You insult me, I insult you—our two idols are sleeping together.]
Holy crap.
Xia Xiqing was utterly impressed by Shang Sirui. He returned to Weibo to check if he’d accidentally liked any posts while lurking, lest he unwittingly ignite a firestorm. Suddenly, Ruan Xiao across from him blurted out, “Holy shit, did Zhou Ziheng post on Weibo?”
“No way. He doesn’t even have his phone—how could he post? Could it be that Xiao Luo posted it for him?” Zhao Ke logged into Weibo to take a look. “Holy crap? He really did post?”
Xia Xiqing had also intended to refresh Weibo to see what Zhou Ziheng had posted, but the two people across from him were staring straight at him, their faces adorned with an unspeakable smile.
It was the smile of CP shippers…
“That photo of you two from last time! He actually posted it!” Ruan Xiao shoved her phone toward Xia Xiqing while cheerfully bragging to Zhao Ke, “I swear I saw them take this picture myself. See that red sleeve in the bottom left corner? That’s mine!”
Too distracted to listen to the others, Xia Xiqing stared blankly at Zhou Ziheng’s Weibo. There was no caption—just the shared photo. In the frame, he looked slightly bewildered as Zhou Ziheng’s broad hand firmly pressed his head against his shoulder, smiling radiantly all by himself.
Silly goose.
Xia Xiqing mentally scolded himself while also feeling a twinge of curiosity. How did Zhou Ziheng even post this Weibo? He clearly didn’t have a phone.
“Case solved! Case solved! It really was Xiao Luo.” Zhao Ke pulled up his WeChat chat for them to see. “Xiao Luo went to deliver a script to Zhou Ziheng. They chatted at his place for a bit, and Xiao Luo casually mentioned today’s show airing. Who knew that right before leaving, Zhou Ziheng insisted on grabbing Xiao Luo, making him log into his Weibo account and post that draft.”
Drafts? Xia Xiqing narrowed his eyes at Xiao Luo’s chat history.
[Xiao Luo: No idea what got into Ziheng, but he insisted I post it right now. I checked the drafts folder and there was only one post—from half a month ago. And it was a photo of him and Xiqing together. I was baffled. When I refused to post it, he got mad at me.]
Zhao Ke and Ruan Xiao were laughing so hard their eyes were squinted shut, but Xia Xiqing was the only one who hadn’t caught on. What the hell was Zhou Ziheng up to? Wasn’t the current fan war chaotic enough?
After laughing their fill, Zhao Ke’s expression softened slightly. “I just heard from Xiao Luo that Ziheng has lost a lot of weight lately. Could he be on a hunger strike at home?”
“No way…” Xia Xiqing snorted, lowering his head to take a sip of his now-cold coffee.
“Why not? Listen, I’ve been best buds with Zhou Ziheng since we were in diapers. In nearly twenty years, I’ve never seen him this furious. You were in the car that day—you didn’t see what Zhou Ziheng did, but Ruan Xiao and I saw it all. We were terrified.” Zhao Ke smirked and nudged Ruan Xiao’s shoulder. “Right? Zhou Ziheng smashed that bastard Wei Min’s windshield with a baseball bat. That was badass.”
Ruan Xiao nodded. “Me neither. Seriously.”
Xia Xiqing propped his chin on his palm, staring at the foam floating in his coffee cup. “With his nice-guy personality, shouldn’t standing up for justice be second nature to him?”
Zhao Ke shook his head. “Come on. Back in ninth grade, when I got into a fight with those punks from the neighboring high school, he didn’t lift a finger to help. He just called the cops, nearly got me killed by my dad. Then that jerk lectured me earnestly about how I shouldn’t have gotten physical with those guys. Total jerk.”
Recalling Zhou Ziheng’s expression that night, Xia Xiqing could imagine how he’d wrested himself back from Wei Min’s grasp. But Zhao Ke’s roundabout questioning was too blunt—Xia Xiqing didn’t know how to respond.
Seeing him still silent, Zhao Ke simply changed the subject, cutting straight to the point, “Want to come visit him in prison with us?”
Xia Xiqing frowned, glancing with slight disgust at the two guys across from him, their faces full of encouragement. “Prison visit?”
Zhou Ziheng had been confined at home these past few days—though calling it confinement felt like an understatement, given the physical and mental torment he endured. To better embody Gao Kun’s character, his sister-in-law had even hired a nutritionist who forced him to eat disgustingly bland yet nutritious meals daily.
Coincidentally, his father had taken his turn off work these past two days, lecturing him daily on family traditions—one moment about family values, the next about national spirit. It all boiled down to pressuring Zhou Ziheng to apologize to the victim, Wei Min.
“Tell me, when I had you train with the team—practicing combat and leg techniques—was it so you could go around hitting people? Huh? I taught you so you could step in when you see injustice!”
Zhou Ziheng knelt on the floor, looking dejected. “I only ever run into fans… not injustice…”
“Hey, don’t argue with me! You were wrong to hit him. I’m taking you over there to apologize. Zijing, get in the car and escort him.”
Zhou Zijin had just ended his conference call and was coming downstairs when he heard Old Zhou say this. He turned around, pretending not to notice, and headed straight back upstairs.
“I won’t apologize, Dad. He really deserved it. I didn’t just want to hit him, I wanted to…”
Old Zhou kicked Zhou Zijing in the side. “What do you wish you could do? Looks to me like you wish you could drive me to my grave.”
“He’s not a good person!”
On the third day, Zhou Ziheng, confined at home skipping rope, suddenly heard a familiar name on the TV news. Without a word, he tossed aside his rope and dashed to Old Zhou’s room, shaking him awake from his afternoon nap.
“Dad! Look! I told you that Wei Min was no good! He evaded taxes worth a hundred million! Doesn’t someone like that deserve a beating?”
Old Zhou squinted at the TV screen. Sure enough, Wei Min’s company was under investigation. “One hundred million? How… how could he do something like that?”
“Exactly! How could he be so evil? I should have beaten him to death that day,” Zhou Ziheng said, gritting his teeth.
“Sigh, young people these days… so restless.”
The apology incident was finally over, and his heart felt a little lighter. Little did he know that when Xiao Luo dropped by and casually mentioned it, Zhou Ziheng learned that Weibo had dug up old photos of Shang Sirui and Xia Xiqing together to stir up trouble again. That day, Xia Xiqing had provoked him, deliberately acting intimate with Shang Sirui. In a fit of rage, he’d deleted the photo of himself with Xia Xiqing.
Who knew that very night, Xia Xiqing would end up drunk in his arms, crying all night long? Zhou Ziheng felt both pity and heartache. He turned around and secretly restored that photo. He hesitated for ages about posting it, but ultimately didn’t. Instead, he let it rest quietly in his drafts folder, never touching it again.
“Xiao Luo, you absolutely must post this for me. Don’t forget!”
“Why?”
“Just… just to promote the show!”
A massive fire erupted in the backyard, yet Zhou Ziheng didn’t even have a phone to post about it on Weibo. So frustrated he couldn’t stomach his fat-burning meal, he propped his chin on his hand in boredom. He speared a piece of broccoli with his fork and stared blankly at it.
“This is what Xia Xiqing hates most—he wouldn’t even touch it with chopsticks.” He muttered to himself, shoving the broccoli into his mouth. The more he chewed, the more tasteless it became.
“He doesn’t like carrots either…”
“Celery? He’d spit it out the moment it touched his tongue…”
Zhou Ziheng stared at the plate of vegetables, then flung his head back to glare at the ceiling in frustration.
Why was Xia Xiqing so picky?
When he wasn’t around, Xia Xiqing must have gone out drinking again, probably hanging out with some shady characters. Ah, he was so good-looking, anyone who saw him would have improper thoughts. Now that he was locked up, who would protect him?
The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became.
Suddenly, something hit the window. Zhou Ziheng tilted his head to glance over but saw nothing. He returned to staring at the ceiling with a gloomy expression.
Thud—
Another sound.
Who was that? Some brat from the neighborhood?
Zhou Ziheng stood up. The balcony door was locked from the outside, so he couldn’t push it open. He could only stand by the glass door and glance out at the balcony. Nothing was there.
Creepy. Goosebumps rose on Zhou Ziheng’s skin. He swiftly pulled the floor-length curtains on both sides of the glass door shut. He figured he must be going crazy missing Xia Xiqing, so he decided to take a shower to calm down first.
When he emerged wrapped in a towel after his shower, he spotted a faint silhouette beyond the curtains. Someone was crouched on the balcony, lurking suspiciously. Zhou Ziheng circled the bedroom, then approached the glass door with a baseball bat in hand.
The figure was huddled in a ball, pressed right against the seam between the double glass doors.
Zhou Ziheng held his breath as he approached, one hand gripping the bat, the other grabbing the edge of the curtain.
With a sharp swish.
Zhou Ziheng froze.
Xia Xiqing, the very person he’d been thinking about, was kneeling on the balcony’s wooden floor, clutching the door lock. He seemed startled too, looking up at Zhou Ziheng standing behind the glass door. A rose, freshly stolen from Zhou Ziheng’s garden and still dripping with night dew, was tucked between his teeth.
The baseball bat in his hand slipped from his grasp.
“You… what are you doing here?”
Through the door, Xia Xiqing couldn’t make out his muttered words, but he could guess the gist. He stood up, pinned the rose behind his ear, and breathed on the glass door. His long, slender fingers scribbled something on it.
Zhou Ziheng stepped closer, scrutinizing the words he’d written.
[Burglary.]
After finishing, he raised an eyebrow, wearing a look that screamed, I’m here to provoke you.
This guy really is…
Zhou Ziheng’s lips curved upward involuntarily.
He mimicked Xia Xiqing’s gesture, breathing on the glass to write a reply. The words were a bit lengthy, and Xia Xiqing squinted, studying them intently for a while. This small action was utterly endearing to Zhou Ziheng, especially paired with his fluttering lashes and the beautiful red rose blooming at his ear—utterly adorable.
Silently piecing it together in his mind, Xia Xiqing finally deciphered Zhou Ziheng’s answer.
[This is all I have. Want it?]
His gaze lingered on the question mark at the end. Xia Xiqing was filled with confusion and was about to look up when he saw Zhou Ziheng reach out once more, drawing a heart on the glass. His artistic skills weren’t great—it was crooked and imperfect—but it was adorable.
Through that heart, Xia Xiqing saw his bright, gentle smile. His eyes were like a dark lake, spilled with starlight too vast to capture.
Author’s Note: Xia Xiqing, clinging to the notion that “only the top would climb walls to flirt with guys,” scaled a small second-story balcony and even snatched a little flower (intended to tease Hengheng but ended up wearing it herself). So sweet.
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