Chapter 90: We Will Not Part Ways

At last, the director’s bright voice crackled through the walkie-talkie, calling the take excellent. She told Xiao Xi to rest easy; the leading man would certainly no longer be mistaken for a scoundrel.

The set erupted in laughter at the memory of everyone’s earlier worries during the script read-through.

During the brief break, Lin Xi bounced over to Lu Yuxiu and circled him, peering at him from every angle.

Shu Yunyi was also waiting nearby, watching the two of them flirt and tease one another.

“What is it?” Lu Yuxiu asked, baffled.

Lin Xi folded her arms and rested her chin on them. “You played that defeated look so well just now. I suddenly want to see what you’d be like when you act cute.”

“Huh?” Lu Yuxiu froze for a second, his pupils widening. This little ancestor really did dream up one thing after another, always finding new ways to torment him.

“Play along with me, will you?” Lin Xi blinked at him, eyes full of anticipation.

Shu Yunyi stifled a laugh on the side. This was the first time she had ever seen the great hero Lu so embarrassed and resistant. When he was with the person he liked, even his expressions became wonderfully rich.

“I...” Lu Yuxiu rarely found himself tongue-tied. He was still trying to think of a way to refuse when the director came to his rescue.

“Come on, come on, we’re changing scenes. Everyone to your marks, let’s keep moving!” Yan Mei called out.

Lu Yuxiu let out a breath of relief. He hurriedly slipped an arm over Lin Xi’s shoulder, turned her around, and guided her by the back toward the set.

Lin Xi did not hold it against him. She had only meant to tease him and make everyone laugh.

All the cameras were already pointed at the T and K club.

“Departments ready! Action!”

Mu Beibei burst through the door, her face anxious and her breathing ragged, only to find the other team members sprawled around the room, listless and dispirited, lying down, sitting down, staring blankly into space. Their former vigor was nowhere to be seen.

After returning to the country, the online hate had come at them in relentless waves. Qin Zexing, as the undefeated captain of T and K, naturally took the worst of it; when a tree falls, the monkeys scatter.

“Where is he?” Mu Beibei looked around the club members, but Qin Zexing was nowhere to be seen.

Shang Zhe got to his feet weakly and did not even have the energy to greet her. He only said, “Beibei is here. Ever since Xing ge got back, he’s locked himself in his room. Go take a look.”

“Okay, thanks!”

Before the words had even faded, Mu Beibei rushed straight toward Qin Zexing’s room.

She slowly pushed the door open and went in. The room was pitch black. Feeling her way through the darkness, she found the floor lamp and stepped on the switch. A faint glow lit the once-dark room.

“Zexing? Zexing, are you in there?”

At last Mu Beibei found Qin Zexing sitting on the floor beside the bed. He seemed fused with the darkness; only the faint sound of breathing in the air made his existence known.

The moment she saw him, tears burst from her eyes. She threw herself at him, her voice breaking with sobs. “Zexing...”

His stiffened body did not move. Sensing Mu Beibei’s urgency beside him, he trembled at the lashes and turned his head. His eyes held no starlight at all. His face was deathly pale, his eyes sunken and empty, his ashen features like those of a corpse.

Mu Beibei met his gaze, and it felt as though tens of thousands of steel needles were stabbing into her heart. She opened her mouth to say something, but her throat seemed blocked by something she could not swallow. Her chest tightened painfully.

Outside the window, the sky darkened. The last streaks of sunset were swallowed by gray clouds, and the whole world seemed to sink into gloom.

“Are you disappointed in me too?”

Mu Beibei stayed seated with Qin Zexing until she heard him ask this in a cracked, hoarse voice.

Her chest felt as though a great wad of cotton had been stuffed into it, leaving her unable to breathe. Her heartbeat thudded heavily. She looked at him with gentleness in her eyes and forced down her hurt.

“Of course not. How could I be disappointed in you? I’m your girlfriend. No matter what happens, we face it together, okay? Zexing, don’t put so much pressure on yourself.”

Qin Zexing met her concerned gaze and only felt himself to be utterly useless. His pride took a savage blow, and he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. His mind was in chaos. He did not know how long it would take to mend this wound—perhaps a while, perhaps a lifetime.

Tears kept falling from Mu Beibei without her noticing. Then he suddenly pulled her into his arms. His strength was greater than at any time before, his movements fierce and forceful, even frightening her a little. He buried his head at the hollow of her collarbone and inhaled deeply the scent on her body, as if he could not bear to part from a single moment of holding her. He held her tighter and tighter.

Mu Beibei sensed that something was not quite right, but she did not want to think about it. She quickly pushed the feeling away and only wanted to stay with him properly, to remain by his side no matter what. That was enough.

“Zexing, are you there? I want to talk to you.”

Someone knocked at the door. It was the team leader, Jiang Yuaner.

Qin Zexing stiffened and let go of her strength. He slowly released Mu Beibei, and the two helped each other to stand.

“I’ll go out first. Don’t think too much. Talk to the team leader properly,” Mu Beibei said softly, wiping the tears from her cheeks with her hand. She squeezed his hand firmly and gave him a faint smile. Her eyes were bright and steadfast, as if carrying some kind of light.

Qin Zexing looked at her and only felt that the person before him had somehow grown infinitely distant. She smiled so gently, with such strength, and yet this utterly broken version of himself seemed unworthy of her devotion. He forced his lips into a strained curve, but his eyes remained dim and lifeless.

He watched Mu Beibei leave, staring so hard at her back that it seemed he wanted to carve it forever into his memory.

Yan Mei’s camera pulled back.

“Cut!”

“That was excellent!” Yan Mei rose from behind the monitor and stepped onto the set first, applauding the actors.

Hearing the cut, Lin Xi let out a long breath, then turned and burrowed straight into Lu Yuxiu’s arms.

This was the scene of their characters’ last meeting. After Mu Beibei left, Qin Zexing vanished without a word, and by the time they met again, everything had changed beyond recognition.

This breakup scene was far too heartbreaking. The camera had only captured her back just now, yet she could still feel the atmosphere around Lu Yuxiu’s side—utterly suffocating and desolate.

The people on set had also been affected by the mood. After the director called cut, they stood in silence for a long while, and only when Yan Mei personally came out from behind the camera to applaud did everyone snap back and clap for Lu Yuxiu and Lin Xi.

Lu Yuxiu and Lin Xi were already wrapped around each other. Lin Xi no longer cared that they were in public; right now she only wanted to cling to him, as if that were the only way to feel something real after the scene.

Lu Yuxiu, of course, was more than happy to indulge her. He wished she would cling to his waist all the time and never let go. Still, the people most wounded by their display of affection were the single dogs on set.

As expected, Fan Haoxuan was the first to jump out in protest. He put on an exaggerated angry expression and said, “You two are shameless! Flaunting your love in public and making us suffer—do you even want us to live? This is just cruel and morally bankrupt!”

“Yes, exactly!” another staff member echoed.

Lu Yuxiu only smiled without speaking, pulling Lin Xi’s shoulder tighter against him, with no intention of letting go.

“All right, all right. It’s a couple thing, leave them alone,” Yan Mei said, helping them out of the awkward moment. She was very pleased with today’s results and in an excellent mood. “That’s all for today. Go home and rest early. Tomorrow is our last day—let’s wrap this up perfectly!”

“Okay!”

The answer from the set was spirited and loud. Then, with a grand sweep of the director’s hand, everyone dispersed.

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By the time Lu Yuxiu and Lin Xi returned to the villa, dusk had only just begun to settle, which showed they had finished early that day.

Perhaps because of the scene they had filmed today, Lin Xi was especially clingy. Even when he was merely washing fruit, she would not let him out of her sight for a moment.

Lu Yuxiu laughed helplessly. He carried the fruit platter in one hand and held her hand with the other as they walked into the living room. He set the platter on the coffee table first, then gently pressed the child down onto the sofa and helped her open and play the cartoon she wanted.

Lin Xi still kept her eyes on him without blinking. Watching him take out his laptop and prepare to work, she blinked and said, “You’ve been working more and more lately.”

“Mm.” Lu Yuxiu spoke to her as though coaxing a child. “Once North Star wraps, I plan to step back slowly.”

“Huh?” Lin Xi froze. She had not expected it so soon. “That’s way too sudden...”

“Isn’t there a certain little ancestor I have to support?” Lu Yuxiu smiled faintly.

On the television, the round-eyed little cartoon boy asked his mother in a sweet, dazed voice, “Mom, why do you love Dad so much?” Then he turned to his father and asked, “Dad, why do you love Mom so much?”

Lu Yuxiu’s fingers flew over the keyboard, but after a long while he noticed that Lin Xi had not made a sound. He turned to look at her.

She was lowering her head and mumbling something.

He leaned down quietly to look. She was staring at her own nails with her head bowed, picking at them absentmindedly, her mood seeming somewhat low. A smile touched his lips. He sat down beside her and drew her whole body into his arms, his movements casual yet faintly assertive, the two of them pressed very close together.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” His gentle, magnetic voice brushed against her ear.

Lin Xi tilted her face up to look at him. She smelled the cool, pleasant scent on his body and hesitated for a moment before saying, “Xiu... do you think we’ll ever separate? Like Qin Zexing and Mu Beibei?”

At her words, the smile at the corner of Lu Yuxiu’s mouth vanished at once. His dark eyes fixed on her heavily, obscure and unreadable, and he said with utmost seriousness, “We will never separate again. I won’t allow anything like that to happen.”

His words were cold, solemn, without the slightest hesitation, beyond doubt—possessing only absolute dominance and certainty.

Lin Xi was startled by how frightening he looked. A chill seemed to run down her spine, and she instinctively shrank back.

Naturally, that movement did not escape Lu Yuxiu’s eyes. He simply picked her up and placed her on his lap, his strong arms encircling her waist. His cool face drew close, but his voice carried a trace of danger and displeasure. “Baby, where do you think you’re running? Hmm?”

Lin Xi trembled all over. She glanced at him timidly, then reached up to hook her arms around his neck and buried her face at the hollow of his collarbone, breathing in the familiar scent on him and clinging to his body.

Only then did Lu Yuxiu finally relax. He turned his head so that his right cheek rested against her long hair, leaning lazily back into the sofa. Feeling the dependence in his arms, he narrowed his eyes and ran his fingers upward through the strands wrapped around them. The touch was smooth and warm.

After a dazed moment, Lin Xi came to herself. She had been intimidated by him just now, but now she no longer feared him. She took his large hand and toyed with the thickened skin at the web between his thumb and palm, turning it over and over in her hands.

Lu Yuxiu stroked her long hair with one hand after another, silently and languidly watching her play to her heart’s content, neither speaking nor urging her on. He simply stayed with her.

Lin Xi, like a little cat, curled up on his lap, swinging her legs carelessly.