Chapter 66: Transmigrated as a Stingy Phoenix Man (66)
Yu Xinyu was not a guest on the show, after all, so he couldn’t return to the villa with Cen Yu.
Right now, Yu Xinyu acted as though he suffered from severe touch starvation, clinging to Cen Yu and refusing to let go. “…I told you that you shouldn’t have come to participate in this variety show.”
His arms were wrapped tightly around Cen Yu’s waist. When he raised his head from Cen Yu’s shoulder, faint tear tracks were still visible in the corners of his eyes. If Yu Xinyu’s tears in the past had mostly been an act, this time he was genuinely terrified.
He was terrified that the bottle kicked away by Cen Yu might have contained something far more dangerous.
Thankfully, it had ended up being a false alarm.
Being clung to like this by Yu Xinyu gave Cen Yu quite a headache. Raising both hands high in the air, he spoke in a somewhat surrendering tone, “…It really was impulsive of me.”
“Who the hell does Pei Zhuo think he is?”
The words practically slipped out of Yu Xinyu’s mouth. But realizing what he’d said a second later, he quickly amended, “…I mean, he has bodyguards for that.”
Cen Yu didn’t pay much mind to Yu Xinyu’s statement, which completely broke character from his usual persona. With his hands still raised, he naturally caught sight of his phone screen flashing a few times—it was a message from Sang Qianshan asking where he was.
Placing one hand on Yu Xinyu’s shoulder, Cen Yu held down the button to send a voice note, using his other hand to pat Yu Xinyu’s back in comfort. “I’m down at the beach. I’ll be back in a bit—don’t wait up for me.”
Sang Qianshan seemed somewhat worried. Upon seeing Cen Yu’s reply, he immediately sent back a voice message—
“We don’t know if that guy had any accomplices around. Why don’t you come back first? It’s already getting really dark out.”
Cen Yu thought to himself: I want to go back, too, but Yu Xinyu is practically stuck to me like a starfish right now.
So he continued messaging Sang Qianshan—
“…Little Yu came over. He was a bit worried, so I’m keeping him company.”
This time, Sang Qianshan stopped sending voice notes. Just as Cen Yu was about to put his phone away, he saw Sang Qianshan send one final text message.
[Big Star: Text me when you get back, then. I won’t disturb you two.]
Looking at the text on the screen, Cen Yu inexplicably felt that Sang Qianshan’s attitude was somewhat different from before. But perhaps because he kept texting, Yu Xinyu tightened his grip around Cen Yu’s waist even further.
It was almost as if he wanted to snap him at the waist and melt him right into his own flesh and blood.
“Ow!” Cen Yu instinctively patted Yu Xinyu’s shoulder. “Easy there.”
Yu Xinyu’s face was hidden in the darkness, his tears already wiped dry against Cen Yu’s shoulder. He looked at Cen Yu. “…I might have to go abroad soon.”
“Go abroad?”
Cen Yu looked at Yu Xinyu in surprise.
There was no such plot point in the original novel! What was going on—was the “chasing his wife back” arc starting ahead of schedule?
“I’m going to visit my old art teacher,” Yu Xinyu said. “It’s been a long time since we last met.”
Cen Yu did recall that Yu Xinyu’s art teacher was extremely famous; he hadn’t expected the teacher to be overseas recently… Though he didn’t know why Yu Xinyu was suddenly visiting the man, he still nodded.
“Then come back soon,” he said.
He remembered that in the original novel, Yu Xinyu shot to fame through a certain competition, which officially launched his career arc.
And because of Yu Xinyu’s departure, the scumbag original host had begun to regret his actions, triggering a series of desperate attempts to win Yu Xinyu back—only to end up getting jointly punished by several characters in the end.
Could this mean his career arc was starting ahead of time?
After all, even the variety show had been moved forward…
Cen Yu pondered absentmindedly, while Yu Xinyu remained silent in his embrace.
The waves crashing onto the shore constantly lapped against their calves. As the tide gradually rose, the seawater—which had previously reached only Cen Yu’s instep—now covered his ankles. If they stayed any longer, the production crew would probably have to send a search party to drag them out.
“Let’s go, the tide’s coming in.”
As Cen Yu spoke, he patted Yu Xinyu’s shoulder.
He then took his hand and led him toward the shore.
On one side lay a beach meant for only the two of them. Under the seaside night sky, there was only the ocean breeze and the glittering stars above.
On the other side was the production crew still wrapping up their work. The staff members were packing up the large floodlights they had set up. As the lights were turned off and the power cut, that side gradually sank into silence, as if everything had come to a close.
Cen Yu held Yu Xinyu’s hand just like that, leading him away from the shoreline.
Standing on the dry sand, Yu Xinyu looked down at Cen Yu’s knee. Kneeling down, he examined it closely for a moment before looking up at the standing Cen Yu. “Does it hurt?”
Although there were no lights, the moonlight allowed Cen Yu to clearly see Yu Xinyu’s face.
Perhaps because there was no need for pretense under the cover of night, Cen Yu rarely shed his usual forced, slick persona and refrained from uttering his deliberately greasy lines.
He simply looked at Yu Xinyu quietly for a moment, and then let out a gentle smile.
“It doesn’t hurt.”
“This is nothing.”
Yet Yu Xinyu was not comforted by his words in the slightest. He merely stroked the wound on Cen Yu’s knee through the gauze with gentle care.
Cen Yu simply bent down and cupped the face of the kneeling Yu Xinyu. “…Crying?”
Yu Xinyu’s tears were flowing down his cheeks. He looked at Cen Yu, allowing him to wipe away the tears streaming down his face.
He was then pulled up to his feet by Cen Yu.
“I told you it’s no big deal,” Cen Yu muttered. “In a few days, I’ll be up and jumping around again.”
Yu Xinyu remained silent, staring at the back of Cen Yu as he led him by the hand…
“Little Yu.” Yu Xinyu stared at Cen Yu’s back.
Cen Yu turned his head.
“Once we have enough money, let’s go somewhere where there’s no one else around.”
He thought to himself that Cen Yu was the sun, the moon, and the stars, while he was a black hole constantly devouring his light. He couldn’t stand any ray of light emanating from the man to reach anyone else; he wanted Cen Yu in his arms and nowhere else.
“I’m heading off first.”
Yu Xinyu offered Cen Yu a soft smile.
“You should be careful, too. Don’t get hurt again.”
Seeing that the villa was right in front of them, Cen Yu wasn’t surprised that Yu Xinyu knew where to find him. After all, Yu Xinyu knew the filming location, and given his hopelessly romantic nature, he was bound to show up.
He watched as Yu Xinyu waved, preparing to leave.
Cen Yu then called out—
“Bye-bye.”
“Bye-bye.” Yu Xinyu smiled and waved back, waiting until Cen Yu’s figure completely vanished inside the villa before slowly taking his leave.
The moment Cen Yu returned to the villa, he found that the production team had temporarily halted filming.
Spotting Cen Yu’s return, Pei Zhuo immediately walked over to him, expressing his gratitude alongside his agent.
Cen Yu waved his hand, not caring much about it.
He was exhausted to his limits and wanted nothing more than to take a bath… Yet upon returning, he didn’t see Sang Qianshan anywhere, which struck him as somewhat odd.
“Where’s Sang Qianshan?” he asked Jian Zhou, who was standing nearby.
Jian Zhou pondered for a moment upon hearing the question. “Brother Sang seemed to have gone back to his room to rest early.”
He recalled that Sang Qianshan had originally been standing by the BBQ grill, saying he would wait for Cen Yu to return so they could head back together.
However, after sending a few text messages, he had simply told them, “Forget it, let’s go back together.”
Jian Zhou had no interest in prying into other people’s business, but his best friend was quite lively. “Is Cen Yu not heading back with us?” she had asked. “What if that guy had accomplices around?”
Sang Qianshan had merely shoved his phone into his pocket.
“No need. He’s with his partner.”
