Chapter 41.1 (1/2)

Deep in the Act

Translator: Kotoni

Editor: Isalee

Quality Check: Isalee

First Published on Chaleuria

Chapter 41.1

After showering, Zhang Zhun lay down in bed once more and idly browsed the channels on TV as he waited. It was almost midnight, and Chen Hsin was still nowhere to be seen. For reasons Zhang Zhun could not understand, unease churned within his heart; the chaos weighed on his chest. He knew that Chen Hsin would never say anything out of line, but their relations.h.i.+p had made him timid. He felt as if he were walking on tightrope, or teetering on the very edge of a precipice, and the slightest mishap would send him free falling to his doom.

His phone rang, and Zhang Zhun shuddered with a start. Flas.h.i.+ng on the screen was Xiao-Deng's caller ID. Haunted by a guilty conscience, Zhang Zhun did not dare to answer the phone. The noise stopped, but resumed shortly after. As the phone began ringing for the third time, he picked it up at last, and an urgent yell thundered in his ear, ”Where are you, Ge?!”

”I…” Zhang Zhun paused for thought. ”I'm not at the hotel right now.”

Silence - absolute, dead silence - descended on the other end. Then, little by little, Xiao-Deng's frantic and irregular breathing became audible. ”Ge,” he said, ”if you're at the Grand Hyatt, stay put and don't come out. Don't answer calls from numbers you don't recognize.”

Zhang Zhun tensed. ”What happened?”

”Chen Hsin…” Before Xiao-Deng could complete the sentence, however, someone called out his name. The next instant, the beginnings of a commotion could be heard on the young man's end, and the line went dead.

Zhang Zhun knew that he could not call his a.s.sistant again. His first instinct was to check on Chen Hsin at once, but try as he might, not one of his numerous calls made it through. Something had gone wrong, and he could not help but think of the worst. s.n.a.t.c.hing up the remote, he raced through the TV channels in a frenzy. He flicked through every single one of them, from the first to the last, but it was too late at night for any real-time entertainment programme to be found on air. He slumped on the bed and fell into a daze.

Several moments later, he got up and started getting dressed. All the while, he remained in a state of helpless confusion, lost and uncertain even after he had pulled on his clothes. His phone was ringing again; this time, as expected, the call had come from an unknown number. Zhang Zhun clamped his hands around his head as he waited for the noise to pa.s.s - but the calls kept coming, one after the other, and the torment lasted for about an hour before the ringing began to cease.

In that hour, Zhang Zhun thought a lot about what could have happened. The most plausible of all was that Chen Hsin might have given them away by accident. Yet, Zhang Zhun knew the man too well to be convinced by the idea; Chen Hsin was too articulate, too good with words to ever blunder in his speech… Zhang Zhun's blood froze all of a sudden. What if Chen Hsin had come out to the public deliberately? Zhang Zhun broke into a cold sweat as soon as the possibility struck. Only a single thought remained: he was done for. Everything he had - his career, his family, the life that he had built with blood, sweat and tears - was about to be ruined.

He unlocked his phone, opened his browser, and entered ”Chen Hsin” in the search bar with trembling fingers. Instead of tapping on the search b.u.t.ton, he went on to type out ”Zhang Zhun” as well, linking their names together for the very first time. Only then did he tap to confirm the search. The results rolled out in an instant, stark and horrifying in all their dreadful glory.

”Chen Hsin's relations.h.i.+p wrecked on set! The king of the silver screen loses his head to a man?!”

”Bonding through acting: Chen Hsin and Zhang Zhun spotted with couple earrings!”

Several trending topics later, Baidu Knows showed up, deluged with questions about the two of them:

”Can someone tell me who in the world is Zhang Zhun? Some wannabe trying to use Master Chen as a jumping board?”

”Chen Hsin isn't gay is he? My life's a total lie!”

”A man using gay rumors for a shot at fame? F***ing disgusting. Someone please hurry up and dox the h.e.l.l out of this lowlife already!”