Don’t Be a Kept Man

silently gritted his teeth, 

“And I will be very angry.”

Looking at Chen Yi, he really couldn’t muster up any anger after all.

“Hu……”

Hearing him, Chen Yi laughed out loud and he only stopped after a long while.
He straightened up and wrapped his arms around Fu Xiu Nian’s waist as he said,

“How did your family raise you? Raised you up to be like such an idiot?”

Fu Xiu Nian said, 

“My parents passed away when I was in my teens.
I only have a little brother.”

Chen Yi paused in surprise.
To be honest, he had always thought that since Fu Xiu Nian wore that innocent and naive look, that look that made him seem like he didn’t understand a single thing about how the world worked, his family situation should be a very bright and blessed environment, surrounded by happiness.
Who knew that his situation was almost like his own? He couldn’t keep himself from asking, 

“Then you brought your little brother up by yourself?”

Fu Xiu Nian thought about it and generalized his upbringing, 

“Wasn’t bad.
My family had a bit of a business, and it was taken care of by my uncle.
Since I have come of age, he has handed it back to me and when I decided to head into the entertainment industry, I passed it to my brother.”

Chen Yi had never heard him say anything about his family and he asked out of curiosity, 

“What kind of business is your family involved in? It can even be passed down through so many hands?”

Fu Xiu Nian said, 

“It can’t really be considered a business.
It’s just helping others build houses…… moving bricks on a construction site.”

Chen Yi immediately understood it to be the legendary “contractor” position, of those who would be contracted for work but also “collects” other workers beneath their position to act as the “general manager” of the current contracted project.
He thought to himself that this was not really any kind of good work and especially to be handing it back and forth like this.
With one hand wrapped around Fu Xiu Nian’s waist, he said, 

“How old is your brother? Does he know about us?”

Fu Xiu Nian looked at him and couldn’t help but pout, 

“Younger than me by two years.
No he doesn’t.
Whenever you let us go public, I will let my family know then.”

The last sentence there had a bit of some hidden meaning, but it wasn’t easily understood.

Chen Yi narrowed his eyes at him, 

“What a pack of lies.
If we’re already public, do you even need to tell them?”

At that point, nearly the whole entertainment industry would know.

Fu Xiu Nian really wanted to hit him out of anger at his words, but his hand was held by Chen Yi and the latter easily used a bit of strength to pull him back into his embrace.
Holding on to Fu Xiu Nian tightly to stop his struggles, he suddenly said right beside his ear, 

“After we’re done filming this drama, we’ll go public.”

The moment his words were heard, all movement stopped.

Fu Xiu Nian looked at him, with a face shocked to the heavens.

Chen Yi grabbed a lollipop from who knows where and once he tore the wrapper off, he stuck it right into Fu Xiu Nian’s mouth, 

“I don’t like hiding and being secretive, running here and there to avoid detection.
Besides, whether we say it now or later, there’s no difference either way.”

Since those words were said, Fu Xiu Nian had been shocked and still hadn’t recovered his senses.
The sour sweet taste of grape flavoured candy was slowly flowing into his mouth and his mouth wiggled.
With his cheeks puffed up, like a hamster nibbling on food, Fu Xiu Nian immediately shook his head after his brain processed what was going on, 

“No no no, your career is just starting to take flight, you can’t be exposed for this.”

Chen Yi said, 

“Like I said, I don’t like hiding and needing to be secretive all the time.”

He reached out to pull the lollipop out of Fu Xiu Nian’s mouth and asked with a low voice, eyes reflecting the millions of stars in the night sky,

“I’m not afraid.
Are you?”

Fu Xiu Nian flicked the tip of his tongue to taste the last remnants of that sweet taste and said with a bewildered look, 

“Are you not afraid of ruining your career?”

Chen Yi said, 

“As long as one has the ability, they won’t starve to death anywhere.
I have a lot of strength, so if it really can’t be done, I’ll go to your family’s construction projects and help you move some bricks.”

Fu Xiu Nian had been feeling very jumbled inside, but when he heard the last sentence, he couldn’t help but laugh.
He hesitatingly reached out his hands, grabbing onto Chen Yi’s slim cold face and as if to confirm, asked again, 

“You really want to go public with me?”

Chen Yi nodded his head, uncaring and free of societal expectations, just like his personality.

Fu Xiu Nian took in his expression and there were no other emotions besides happiness bubbling within him.
He couldn’t hold it in anymore and lurched forward to lightly drop kisses on Chen Yi’s face.
He whispered as if making a promise, 

“As long as you are always good to me, I will guarantee, you will get thousands and thousands, millions and millions more than what you have now in the future.”

Chen Yi: “…… Why? Good people will have good things happen to them?”

Fu Xiu Nian said seriously, 

“Being good to me will have good things.
Being bad to me will have terrible things.”

Chen Yi: “……”

Said it as if it were true.

Chen Yi was an honest man, with none of those “I can’t stay faithful” or “I need to play around” vibes.
When others would join in on dinners to make connections after filming, he would only run between two places, the studio and the hotel.
And even when he got back to the hotel, he would be focused on studying the script.
Because of his work ethic, since the filming started for << Minister >>, Director Kong had complimented him specifically for being the most improved out of everyone.
And so days passed like this, and it was very quickly reaching the last few scenes of this drama.
And today was to be the final scene for Chen Yi.

This scene was set to be in front of the palace doors.
The Ninth Prince Meng Yu was starting an uprising and the crown prince and Yan Dao Ning would be trying to protect the palace.
The two sides fought and fought for a day and a night.
And just as the crown prince was about to be defeated, Li Shuang, in this pivotal moment of determining the victor, suddenly whipped out his sword, stabbing it right into the back of Meng Yu and successfully propelling the crown prince onto the throne.

There was no problem for the first couple of scenes, but Fu Xiu Nian somehow started to lose the right mindset.
Director Kong thought that his killing blow to Chen Yi was too weak, missing some speed and power, missing a murderous vibe.
After a few retakes of this particular scene, he still was not very satisfied.

Fu Xiu Nian tried to find the right feeling on his own, and during those practices alone, he would do very well.
Yet when he was to do it to Chen Yi, his hands would shake, and it got to the point where if he didn’t forget his lines, it would be considered good.

Director Kong had quite the patience to lead him the right way, 

“Xiao-Fu, there’s no problem in any other place.
Just when you stab that sword, can you do it faster? Don’t be so wishy-washy and weak as it doesn’t look good at all on camera.
We’ll try again in a bit.”

Fu Xiu Nian gave him an acknowledgement, but he didn’t look like he had a grasp on it.

 

Seeing him like this, Chen Yi went over and asked, 

“What are you afraid of? It’s not like you are killing me for real.
If you really can’t, then just pretend that I gave you a green hat3 to wear.
Perhaps your feelings would come out then.”

This last part was said very softly where only the two of them could hear it.
Fu Xiu Nian glared at him and said, 

“Why don’t you say I will give you a green hat to wear huh?”

Chen Yi said, 

“It’s you killing me right now, not me killing you.”

They hadn’t rested for too long before the director yelled out “action!” again, and the actors quickly slipped into their characters.

Wearing his silver armour, Chen Yi stood right next to piles and piles of corpses, drenched in blood.
His murderous aura was strong and his sword was as cold as ice, blood still dripping down its silver blade.
Wang Yan acting as the crown prince was heavily injured, and most of his troops had sacrificed themselves for him already, leaving him to be the only one still struggling in pain and suffering.

“Crown prince, don’t blame your little brother.
Make sure to reincarnate into a better life next time, and make sure it’s not back into the imperial family again.”

And the moment he finished, his eyes took on a tint of viciousness.
Yet just as he lifted his blade to kill the crown prince, a sword swung faster right into his heart from behind–

In that second blood sprayed out, the action of Chen Yi lifting his sword was stopped in midair.
His face frozen with shock.
He stumbled for a few steps, and then he couldn’t hold on anymore and fell to the ground.

Chen Yi’s face was drenched with blood, and even his eyes were covered in a haze of red.
He tried desperately widening his eyes, wanting to clearly see who killed him.
And what he was greeted with was that warm tender face, mouth hooked slightly up, a face with an all too familiar smile. 

Seeing this, Chen Yi’s pupils dilated and blood rose up to his mouth.
He coughed it up as he thunderously yelled, 

“Li, Shuang…… It was…… it was you!”

The smile on Fu Xiu Nian’s face went even wider, 

“Your highness, please don’t blame me.
I suddenly thought that you aren’t really suited to be the Emperor.”

Chen Yi didn’t know where the last of his strength had come from, but he struggled and fought to stand up, swaying.
Seeing all his soldiers follow Li Shuang’s order like it was law, he suddenly understood.
Letting out a cry that was like laughing and crying at the same time, his voice turned vicious as he yelled, 

“LI SHUANG! LI SHUANG! YOU WERE THE DOG OF THE CROWN PRINCE!”

Fu Xiu Nian lowered his eyes to wipe his blade on his sleeve, 

“I just follow the orders of my leader that’s all.
The crown prince’s heart is generous, facing towards the people, looking out for the citizens of this earth.
And so he is who Li Shuang has chosen as the rightful emperor.”

The moment Chen Yi yelled his words, he was like a balloon deflated of air.
Hearing these words from Fu Xiu Nian now, his face became even more grey and set in defeat.
His body swayed and then collapsed onto the ground with a thud.

Director: “Cut! Passed.”

 

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Notes:

 

*1 Xian-Sheng: This is like a respectable reference call to someone, it can also mean Mister or Teacher.
It usually is in reference to someone older, someone wiser, more knowledgeable, someone you would feel very respectful towards.
I think one of the most famous people we call Xian-Sheng even today is Sun Yat-sen, as Sun Xian-Sheng – he’s as known to me as it is to his actual name, or perhaps even more.
But there’s also other meanings to this, which in other references be like Mister or teacher as I said or as a reference to a wife calling her husband.

 

*2 flower vase: It means to be pretty eye candy but have no skills whatsoever and can’t act.

*3 Green hat: As referenced back in volume 1, a green hat is like another phrase for cheating/having an affair.