Song Yao searched up “The Best You”; it was a new romance movie directed by Chen Yilan with Shen Muhan and Li Ruoyun casted as lead roles. The movie was about the life experiences and regrets of a boy and a girl as they went from their high school years to adulthood. The movie would premiere on August 21st at midnight and would be released domestically on September 1st.
It was currently August 20th, 5 o’clock in the afternoon. The premiere at 7 pm mentioned on the note actually meant the premiere ceremony. The premiere ceremony was usually kept fairly private, the director and lead actors would attend, and there would be an Q&A session with the media to create some hype for the show. Meanwhile, the real premiere was at midnight.
Using his fingerprint to unlock his phone, he searched his contacts and the first person of contact he saw was someone glaringly named as “Babe Han”.
Song Yao’s finger twitched.
He immediately changed it to “bastard” and while shaking a little, he opened his photo album…
Phew, thank god there were only pictures of sceneries or documents.
The hamster eating its seeds on the side bench suddenly popped out and reminded him:
[Hamster: Host, why don’t you take a look at the “private safe” in settings, you can unlock it with your fingerprint, and I guarantee there’s a surprise…]
[Song Yao smiled: I’m not going to look.]
[The hamster bit its handkerchief: Sob sob sob.]
This CEO office was truly well-equipped; there was even a small walk-in closet and a complete bathroom.
Song Yao took off his shirt to wash up. The discarded shirt was missing two buttons, there was a mysterious liquid on his pants, and it smelled faintly of photinia. He erupted in a thick layer of goosebumps and threw his entire outfit away.
In the shower, he inspected himself. His appearance finally completely aligned with how he looked in reality and the tattoo on his left shoulder was gone. Nothing had been too unacceptable, but as he showered, he discovered there was a tattoo on the back of his waist; it was a classic-looking design of twin roses entwined together, and in the middle was an arrowish design pointing downward, towards his ass crack. Song Yao may not have read much fiction, but even he knew what a mark like this symbolized…
[The hamster stifled its snickering: Host, be calm, be calm.]
Song Yao had never experienced this level of humiliation, for a moment nothing but hot anger and white noises existed, favorability value be damned, he called the “bastard”, but lo and behold, he didn’t pick up. He opened Wechat, located that bastard, and gifted him a middle finger along with a fuck you!
[Hamster treaded carefully: Um, host, actually it was your idea to get this sexy tattoo and you even made the protagonist get one with you. Yours is on the back of the waist on the right side and the protagonist has one on his mermaid line.]
[Song Yao:…Who wrote the plot? I’ll kill them! And how come his isn’t on the back of the waist?]
[Hamster: It was based on your CP name…uh, usually the person whose name comes first is the top and the person whose name comes second is the bottom, and the bottom will use that place, so it’s hotter if the bottom gets a tattoo on the back of the waist…then the top can see the tattoo while doing it…]
[Song Yao: Haha, such vivid imagination.]
[Hamster: Wahhhh, host, your expression is so scary, don’t skin me, I’m only a cute and tiny hamster, I don’t know anything, hic.]
*
The beautiful miss secretary maintained a soothing smile the entire day, but behind the seemingly innocent smile, lurked “evil”.
Through the glass cubicle panels, she was excitedly communicating with her friend:
Miss Secretary: “I’ll say! The CEO is definitely an item with Hanhan! At 3 o’clock in the afternoon, Hanhan went inside the CEO’s office, we can’t see what’s going on inside and there’s excellent soundproofing, but there was one time that I heard something heavy fall, and when I called the CEO, the CEO said it was nothing and he voice sounded normal too. But! I carefully observed Hanhan’s expression, he was upset and quiet when he entered the office, but when he came out at 4:50, he was positively glowing!”
Miss Friend: “A lot of people ship them but it’s not possible. They’re both straight, President Song isn’t even interested in romance, and Hanhan is currently cozy with Li Ruoyun. It’s pretty normal that he stayed inside for two hours, Hanhan’s contract is about to expire, of course they’re going to have a lengthy discussion about renewing it.
“
Miss Secretary: “I’m not done talking! At 4:20, when I went to use the restroom, an intern knocked on the CEO’s door without asking me first! And it was Hanhan who opened it!”
Miss Friend: “And then and then?”
Miss Secretary: “Ahem, let me describe it for you, his long and slender fingers brushed back his silver hair, revealing his forehead soaked with sweat, his eyes were full of impatience, his lips were noticeably red and swollen and the button on his collars were undone. His tall figure leaned against the doorway with one hand, and voice hoarse, he asked the intern: What is it?”
Miss Friend: “Omg, oh no, did they get into a fight inside…”
Miss Secretary: “Heh, maybe they did another kind of ‘fighting’, but trust me, pheromones were gushing! Do you get what I’m trying to say, it’s so obvious that they…were in the middle of fighting but were rudely interrupted…the intern was absolutely petrified at the time, he’s a rather innocent guy and was just shocked from seeing such a big star, meanwhile I’m literally about to get a nosebleed…”
Miss Friend: “You’re horrible, I already gave up on this ship but you’re dragging me into it again…if they’re actually an item, that would be so sweet! Hanhan has been filming for three months and the first thing he did after getting off his flight was to hurry here to see his CEO wifey and have a round with him…”
Miss Secretary: “The CEO is the top, thank you.”
Miss Friend: “This ship called friendship flips over too easily, goodbye.”
*
5:30 in the afternoon, the CEO ate a meal. 6:20, the CEO left his office, and as everyone watched, he headed down to the underground parking lot. He was meticulously dressed in a luxurious silk suit and there was a dark blue silk scarf tied around his neck, huh, it was sweltering in August, why was he wearing a silk scarf…the employees thought in befuddlement.
In the underground parking lot, a phantom extended appeared before Song Yao. The car had a spacious rear cabin along with electrochromic windows that created a secluded haven. The front and rear seats were completely partitioned, and when he sat in the rear compartment engaging in business discussions, the frequency-specific insulation prevented the employees in the front from hearing anything while the intercom system could be used to communicate with the driver. Song Yao sat lazily in the backseat, he gave the destination, there was red wine, champagne, and cocktails beside him; this familiar set-up gave him the illusion that for a split second he had returned back to reality.
On the way, Song Yao slept for a while.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Llr qtbcf yehhfv.
[Bastard: Babe, I was too busy and couldn’t pick up before, are you mad? Fidgety.jpg]
[Bastard: Your hand is so pretty.]
[Bastard: Are you sending me an invitation, after all, we didn’t have time to do it in the afternoon.]
[Bastard: Let’s continue tonight, sounds good? Naughty.jpg]
[Bastard: I’m already on site, I’ll save you the best seat. Get here soon.]
Vbcu Tjb asqfv j raglcu bo fzqifalnfr, yea tlr fzmfiifca eqyglculcu qgfnfcafv tlw ogbw rfcvlcu atfw.
6:50, tf jgglnfv.
Mjcr ktb kbc atf ibaafgs kfgf rajcvlcu bearlvf atf fcagjcmf, erlcu atflg HE mbvfr ab fzmtjcuf obg atf qgfwlfgf almxfar, jcv atf nfcef kjr reggbecvfv ys atf wfvlj. Vbcu Tjb fcafgfv erlcu atf rqfmlji qjrrjuf; jr atf wbnlf’r yluufra lcnfrabg jcv JSY bo atf Vajgvbw Scafgajlcwfca mbwqjcs, atf wbwfca tf wjvf tlr fcagjcmf, tf kjr oibmxfv ys qfbqif ktb kjcafv ab ajix ab tlw bg tjcv tlw atflg mjgvr.
Amongst the crowd, he finally located the 23-year-old Shen Muhan.
The 17-18 year old Shen Muhan had been youthfully attractive, with softer edges, fair skin, and beauty that transcended genders. Now at 23, his skin and hair were as pale as before, but the beauty had grown into handsomeness with pronounced facial features, full brows, long and slender eyes, a defined jawline, and his Adam’s apple moved as he spoke.
“President Song,” He called out gently and brought Song Yao to his side, “sit here.”
His voice had become magnetic, he no longer smelled like an orange fizzy drink, instead his fragrance was mature and refreshing, like spring water or cedar.
He gave Song Yao the program and a bottle of water and helped him take off his coat, which was then handed to the assistant. He was respectful when he spoke and he acted appropriately, which came to Song Yao as a surprise. Quickly, he caught on that while in public, they acted like a normal superior and employee.
If not for the presence of the media around, he really wanted to grab that guy by the ear: “Ren Ximing! You know about the plot and you know what our real identities are, so how could you do such shameless things with my body? Why did you send those weird messages? Are you messing with me on purpose?”
Forget it, he would settle accounts with him later.
He should focus for now, the “test” would probably happen during tonight; what could it be?
*
The premiere ceremony started at 7:20, the host introduced the director and actors onto the stage and began the interview.
When Shen Muhan and Li Ruoyun, the male and female lead, went on stage, the fans raised their posters and cheered and written on the posters were “Eternal Love yyds”. This CP name came from an idiom that means the romantic meeting between man and woman and it creatively used “mu” from Shen Muhan and “yun” from Li Ruoyun.
Shen Muhan had tied his slightly long silver hair behind his neck, his wavy bangs fell over his brows in a curtain and the gold sheen obsidian earring on his left ear glinted in the light. The black suit he wore that hugged his waist resembled a military uniform and from his neck hung a cross necklace. His stunning figure and attractive face drove the people wild. Li Ruoyun had on a cute white dress and 10 cm white heels, the top of her head only reached the bottom of Shen Muhan’s ear, making the fans swoon over the delicious height difference.
Host: “It must’ve been tough for the both of you, [Ballad of Green Mountains] just finished production and you guys rushed back from Hengdian to attend our premiere ceremony. Come to think of it, you two have been co-stars twice now and have been working together for the last two years. Can you tell us what was your first impression of each other compared to your impression now?”
Shen Muhan: “At first I thought she was quite the gentle elder sister, but now I know she actually has a pretty big temper…”
Host: “How so?”
Shen Muhan: “If I take photos of her that aren’t up to her standard, she would chase me around and hit me.”
Fans: “So sweettttt omggg—”
Li Ruoyun stomped her foot: “When did I ever!”
Host: “Do you listen to her after she hits you?”
Shen Muhan: “I’ll listen if she coaxes me.”
Fans: “Coax him, coax him, coax him.”
Host: “It’s obvious who wears the pants in this family, hahaha! And what about Yunyun?”
Li Ruoyun was a frank person, “I want to make it clear that I only hit him because he always takes photos of me from the ugliest angles, I get angry just thinking about it. My first impression of him, I thought he was way too handsome, hahaha. I thought, is this person really real? Woah he can talk. Hahaha. After we knew each other for longer, I thought he was pretty cute, oh right and there always seems to be something on his mind, he keeps looking at his Wechat all the time—oops, did I say something that shouldn’t be said?”
Shen Muhan smiled, “I was waiting for a message from you, of course.”
Fans: “Omg omg omggg—”
The fans were too excited, they started chanting, “kiss, kiss, kiss”, among other fanatical things.
The host gave them a small smile that translated to “please cooperate with us”.
Excitement in the atmosphere peaked, but Shen Muhan looked across the crowd of reporters directly at Song Yao.
Song Yao noticed his gaze but had no clue what he wanted, so he offered him a small smile.
From an angle where the camera missed, Shen Muhan’s nose twitched with rising fury.
He faced the camera and smiled politely, “The kiss is waiting for everyone in the movie.”
The fans were slightly disappointed but were understanding; the best had to be saved for later, of course.
After a beat, there was a notification.
[Oh no, God’s favorability value decreased by 3%, current favorability value is 87%. Reason: I’m not telling you.]
Song Yao: ???
Shen Muhan looked away and continued answering questions from the host, eliciting screams from the fans.
There was a certain fan, having shipped a certain CP for N years already, who snorted and muttered, “These little girls, when I was shipping ‘body like pines and cypresses, green year round”, they were still in middle school. They’re just creating hype for the two films they worked on; Yunyun is a well-known masc in the lesbian circle and Hanhan will die on the hill that is CEO Song. Are they really buying this?”
The person next to her quickly nudged her to be quiet; the people she was talking about was right in front of them!
Song Yao: Mixed feelings.
*
The premiere ceremony ended at 9, everyone headed to the hall to enjoy the self-serving buffet. During the meal, they sat at different tables and after eating, they were both surrounded by people and the media took pictures of them from the side.
An amorous female star leaned towards Song Yao, trying to wrap her arms around him. Song Yao could have avoided her, as he normally would have done, but he happened to see the expression Shen Muhan was looking at him with ,which made his heart skip a beat, so he allowed the female star to hold him.
As he expected, the favorability value dropped again.
[God’s favorability value decreased by 5%, current favorability value is 82%. Reason: I’m pissed.]
The favorability dropped, and it was plummeting hard.
So how come Song Yao inexplicably felt a little refreshed?
He even wanted to make it drop a little more.
*
The movie premiered at midnight. Shen Muhan had given Song Yao the silent treatment the entire time, but at the moment, he spoke to him a rare sentence, “President Song, please watch carefully at the time mark 25:02.”
Afterward, the movie started. Song Yao almost didn’t recognize Shen Muhan; he had been completely transformed into a punk. His exceedingly fair skin was dark and oily, none of his clothes were on right, he walked around in a swagger, he didn’t know when to stop talking, and he had a lollipop in his mouth all day because he was underaged and couldn’t smoke. However, if you looked closely, you would find that his features were still attractive, belonging to the kind that was born be in front of a camera.
“The Best You” began in a school campus, the female lead was an unfashionable schoolgirl and the male lead was an impoverished kid/school bully. On the surface, it looked like the school bully was picking on the female lead, but the truth was, the school bully always secretly loved and protected her, however he was always misunderstood by the female lead. Later, when it was exposed that the female was in love with the male god of the school, it escalated to her being bullied on a large-scale.
At 25:02, it was a kissing scene. It was about 5 seconds long.
It was quite romantic, the female lead’s textbooks, notebooks, and pencils fell out of her bookbag, she crouched down to pick them up while crying. The male lead bent down to help her but was refused by her, however, the male lead was extremely arrogant and loudly demanded to know who tore her bookbag. His nemesis then laughed at him upon hearing this, saying: It turns out you like ugly women? The male lead sneered and said, yeah I like her, what are you going to do about it? The nemesis then taunted: Then will you kiss her? After saying this, he and the other people laughed at the male and female lead. The male lead used his finger to wipe away the female lead’s tears, and to the others’ shock, he kissed her in front of everyone. After the kiss, he said, now you’ve seen whether I will, and I’ll also beat your asses.
The kiss started with a close up shot that captured the male lead’s collar and the female lead’s face before moving further away.
It was quite obvious the two actors did not actually kiss, however, it did not appear strange on the screen. After all, the two characters were just innocent teenagers and in the heat of the moment, more likely than not, they would probably end up hurting each other with a kiss, or miss and land on the corner of the mouth or on the side of the face.
Song Yao was engrossed, the male and female lead’s performances as well as the performances of the supporting characters were well done, and there was no denying it was a very dog-blood plot, yet it dragged people in. The movie then unfolded as such: Although the male lead loved the female lead, the female lead rejected him and on the day of their graduation, the male lead never gave out the clay figurine of the female lead he held in his hand. Later, the female lead grew up to become beautiful and elegant. The male lead, due to his family’s circumstances, didn’t go to college, he got jobs moving bricks on construction sites and cleaning fish at the market and the beautiful female lead found herself an exceptional boyfriend. Therefore, the clay figurine of the female lead could never be given out. Later on, the female lead married then divorced, and when her life hit a low point, the male lead helped her, he gave her all his savings and in order to teach the people who were ill towards her a lesson, he paid a price. He was originally meant to pursue his love without inhibition, but reality had broken the proud bones in his body, he lost his arrogance from his high school years, he considered himself to be like the mud on the floor, something filthy, and the female lead could never be together with someone like him. So in the end, when he saw the female lead walking together with another man, he placed the clay figurine made in accordance to his own image by the female lead’s window (he made a pair back then), then left. However, in reality, the man and the female lead were just friends. Ten years later, when the female lead’s daughter found the clay figurine, the female lead finally realized the truth. However, by then it was too late, the male lead had long disappeared, the female lead was already a mother; the best you was left in the past.
As for the reason for Song Yao’s interest, it was because he wanted to see the superstar cleaning fish at a market! He also wanted to see him transporting bricks!
His overly excited expression was caught by Shen Muhan inside the dim theater.
The expression on Shen Muhan’s face grew increasingly dark.
[Bastard: You saw me kiss someone else, are you not angry at all?]
[Bastard: How I’m being shipped with other people, you don’t care at all?]
[Bastard: Li Ruoyun and I have been filming together for a long time, aren’t you worried we might start seeing each other for real?]
The hamster popped out:
[Hamster: That’ss right, this is the test! Quickly, host, comfort him, otherwise the favorability value will plummet! The efforts from before would be null and voided!]
As fun as it was making him angry like this, the other was the protagonist after all, he should offer him some comfort.
Song Yao typed, laying in on a little thick…
[Song Yao: I was wrong, okay? Be good, don’t be angry anymore.]
[Song Yao: You’re very important to me!]
Then lo and behold, Shen Muhan, that guy, didn’t even glance at his phone!
Song Yao reached his hand out, fumbling in the dark, and he gently held the other’s wrist.
Shen Muhan was inconsolable, he wrench his hand away.
Song Yao continued grabbing for it and Shen Muhan kept dodging.
I can’t catch him!
Song Yao, exasperated, leaned over towards him.
Leaning on the armrest, he subtly pressed their legs together, meaning being: Don’t be angry anymore.
Shen Muhan wrenched his leg away.
In any case, nobody in the back rows could see them, so he got even closer and whispered, “I don’t like it…you doing kissing scenes…I don’t like it when you…are shipped with other people…I’m anxious that you guys…might get together, is this more acceptable?”
Not wanting other people to hear him, he spoke in barely a whisper and slowly enunciated each word.
When he finished speaking, just in time, the lights in the theater dimmed even more.
He didn’t know for sure if Shen Muhan heard him, much to his frustration.
He was just about to try grabbing him again, and it was then, he heard the sound of heavy and restricted breathing right beside him.
This sensation actually made him feel as if…an electric shock ran through him, and he flinched backward.
But it was too late.
A hand abruptly grabbed his face, in the dim light, something soft and hot crushed onto his lips, licking, sucking, and biting him without any mercy, like a savage beast experiencing extreme hunger and the only thing on his mind right now was to swallow him into his stomach.
Shocked, he unconsciously opened his mouth. This small action gave the other person the opportunity to plunge in.
In the darkness, Shen Muhan used both of his hands to tease his extremely sensitive ears, rubbing them viciously, then covering them with his palms. The action made the noises in the theater fade into the background; the wet sounds of their mouths and the sounds of their breathings became extraordinarily loud, giving him a clear realization that right now, he, at the movie’s premiere, in front of so many people…
He was scared of being discovered, of being heard, this was shameful, but it was exhilarating.
Exhilarating?
Perhaps his mind was already abnormal, so he was having these abnormal thoughts.
*
When the premiere finished, it was 2 in the middle of the night. It was really quite late, Song Yao was still in a state of daze.
The favorability value above Shen Muhan reached 92% at some point. There was a fine print next to it:
[Congratulations on passing the first test.]
Sitting in the phantom extended, he prepared to close the door when Shen Muhan invited himself inside.
Song Yao: What are you doing?
Shen Muhan: Going home with you, of course.
Song Yao: Together? Home?
Shen Muhan stared sadly: Yeah, our home. We’ve been living together for a year now but you still speak to me so distantly, it really saddens me.
He rubbed his fluffy hair against the crook of Song Yao’s neck. He smiled innocently, but his words were anything but: We had a deal, we will continue what we didn’t finish in the afternoon tonight…babe, there’s no way I’m letting you back out.
Author’s mini theater:
Song Yao, scared: All I did was transmigrate, but I lost my virginity???
Ren Ximing/ Shen Muhan: Babe’s absolutely confuddle by me. If I keep tricking him, maybe he’ll actually let me do him.
Hehehehehehehe😏