Morbid Attachment - Chapter 9

After Li Feng bought the medicine, he returned to the room. Qi Boyan stood in front of the French windows drinking.

His mood didn’t look bad. Even if his face had just been beaten, the swelling hadn’t yet gone down. Li Feng walked over and handed over the medicine. Qi Boyan didn’t like being touched by others. Li Feng, as his personal assistant, usually paid attention to this.

He repeated what he had just learned from Ji Wang’s assistant and made a judgment based on this, “Mr. Ji should have no one by his side.”

Li Feng heard a chuckle and looked over in disbelief. Qi Boyan had delight in his eyes: “Cute, isn’t he?”

It was unlikely that anyone thought the tall and handsome Mr. Ji was cute, but Li Feng didn’t answer this.

Qi Boyan drank the last of the wine. “His reluctant appearance, his angry appearance, they’re all cute.” Qi Boyan didn’t have any intention of letting Li Feng respond, he was only talking to himself.

He put down the wine glass, casually took out a spray, and sprayed his wound. “Remember to send him to the set tomorrow, don’t let him run away.”

After spraying, Qi Boyan took a crumpled cigarette out of his pocket. Li Feng saw this, “This room has no lighter, I’ll go buy one now.”

“I don’t smoke.” Qi Boyan said.

Of course Li Feng knew this, but Qi Boyan’s personality was prone to doing many things on a whim. It wouldn’t be odd if he suddenly wanted to smoke.

Li Feng: “Then I’ll go back to the room first.”

Qi Boyan bit the cigarette in the mouth and responded with an ambiguous hum. It was unclear what he was thinking of when he started laughing again.

Compared with the atmosphere of this room, the atmosphere in Ji Wang’s room was solemn.

Xiao Xu quietly tip-toed around while using the bathroom for fear of affecting Ji Wang’s peace.

When Xiao Xu woke from his sleep it was still dark outside. He got up, wanting to drink a glass of water. Seeing that Ji Wang was still lying on the sofa, he went to get a blanket and planned to quietly cover Ji Wang.

Xiao Xu only took a few steps when Ji Wang opened his eyes. They were completely bloodshot, as if he had stayed up all night or gotten drunk.

Ji Wang’s voice was hoarse, “What time is it?” Xiao Xu looked at the clock on the hotel wall: “Five o’clock.” It turned out that he had only slept for two hours, but Ji Wang still hadn’t slept after two hours.

Xiao Xu felt distressed, “There is melatonin in the suitcase, do you want to take two?”

Ji Wang groaned in agreement. He was an actor, he had to be professional. Even if he couldn’t sleep he still needed to sleep. Otherwise he would be in poor condition tomorrow which would affect filming and delay the crew’s progress. He couldn’t afford it.

Ji Wang rarely ate melatonin because he rarely suffered from insomnia. His sleep quality was usually excellent. After all, he was young, only twenty-four years old, and he’d been acting for four years.

Qi Boyan debuted a year later than him, but he gained rapid, explosive popularity.

Ji Wang swallowed five melatonin in one breath. Before going to bed, he wanted to smoke a cigarette but he couldn’t find his box. He could only give up, put on his sleep mask, and cover himself with the blanket.

Early the next morning, Xiao Xu got up to buy breakfast for Ji Wang. As soon as he opened the door he saw Li Feng’s smiling face and immediately slammed the door. Too evil, why were they still here!

The phone vibrated and Li Feng said to Xiao Xu over WeChat, “I brought you two breakfast and I’ll send you to the crew on my way.”

Xiao Xu furiously jabbed at the screen, “No need!” He was Ji Wang’s assistant, he didn’t need Li Feng meddling in their business. Li Feng was Qi Boyan’s assistant. He was just as bad as him[note]“一丘之貉” translates to “jackals of the same tribe”, a Chinese idiom meaning when someone is just as bad as someone else[/note], his stomach full of evil tricks.

Li Feng knocked on the door with a gentle voice, “Xu-ge, don’t make things difficult for me, Master Qi [note]“爷” translates literally to “master” or “grandfather”, here it’s used as an honorific[/note] asked me to send you to the studio.”

Xiao Xu rolled his eyes, he even called him “master”.

The bathroom door  opened behind him and Ji Wang walked out with a wet face, “What are you doing blocking the doorway?”

Xiao Xu said awkwardly, “Li Feng is outside.” Afraid that Ji Wang wouldn’t understand, Xiao Xu added, “Qi Boyan’s assistant!”

Ji Wang wiped the water off his chin, “Let him in.”

Xiao Xu let out a sound in surprise but didn’t dare to disobey Ji Wang’s instructions, so he reluctantly opened the door and vigilantly glared at Li Feng.

Li Feng brought breakfast to the table, “Mr. Ji, come and drink congee.”

Xiao Xu glanced at the meal but even he couldn’t find a single fault. In the morning, Ji Wang liked to drink porridge and eat pan-fried dumplings, which had to be accompanied by a glass of milk.

Ji Wang sat down in a relaxed manner and called Xiao Xu over to eat. Xiao Xu  dallied. After Li Feng thoughtfully arranged the breakfast, he left the room before he could become an annoyance, full marks for his perceptiveness.

After he left, Xiao Xu said, “Brother, this is from Qi Boyan.”

Seeing Xiao Xu’s uncomprehending appearance, Ji Wang laughed, “If you don’t eat breakfast sent by others, you’re wasting a meal for nothing.”

Xiao Xu obediently sat down and poured Ji Wang milk: “I thought…you hate him.”

Ji Wang took a bite of the fried dumpling. “It is hate.”

Xiao Xu couldn’t understand and could only feel that he wasn’t mature enough. He didn’t have Ji Wang’s flexibility, he could hate someone and it didn’t prevent him from enjoying breakfast.

Li Feng drove a low-key car and sent Ji Wang to the crew. He didn’t have scenes until the afternoon so he put on makeup before waiting for his scenes. At this time, the director’s assistant came and gave Ji Wang a new script.

Yesterday the director didn’t say what scenes would be added. Ji Wang took the new script and flipped through it, his face turning black.

His role has changed from an assassin with a crush on the daughter of a criminal minister to the general’s admirer.

He admired the general since childhood. After learning the general was deceived by the daughter of a criminal minister, he was moved to kill, wanting to help the general eliminate this stumbling block from his bright path.

Childish! Ridiculous! Deliberately making trouble! Wasn’t Zhou Lie a great director, could Qi Boyan still fool around like this?!

Ji Wang was so furious he circled the dressing room a few times before finally swallowing his anger and sitting down. He just wanted to finish filming the MV so he never had to see Qi Boyan again.

At the set, the new scene had already been set up. The scene where the heroine should give medicine to the general had been changed to the assassin visiting the general at night to give him medicine and confess his feelings.

Ji Wang was no longer masked. Elaborate makeup was applied to his whole face. His makeup artist had also been switched to someone whose technique was even more skilled and meticulous.

Qi Boyan sat behind the awning with coffee in his hand, drinking at a leisurely pace. The director stood to the side holding a tablet and talking to him. When Ji Wang arrived, both pairs of eyes fell on him at the same time.

Zhou Lie’s expression was much more gentle than yesterday, “Xiao Wang, we added your lines without warning, are you able to memorize them? It doesn’t matter if you can’t memorize it, we can dub it in post-production.”

Ji Wang said in a low voice, “Isn’t this an MV, why are there lines for supporting actors?”

“This is more interesting.” Qi Boyan said. It wasn’t clear what his words were referring to that was more interesting.

Ji Wang didn’t feel like questioning him more closely.

An hour later, night fell in the shed. In the dilapidated old house, the assassin slowly approached the general sleeping on the bed.

The general’s wound was tied with a strip of red cloth, which Xu Xian, the daughter of the criminal minister, tore from her clothes.

Mo Ming gently untied the red cloth and threw it to the ground. He took out the precious wound medicine on his body and gently sprinkled it on the general’s wound.

The general stirred awake and was about to act when he saw the assassin’s face.

“It turned out to be you!” The general was shocked.

Ji Wang lowered his eyes and held Qi Boyan’s hand, “It’s me.”

The blood was very realistic. Dripping on Qi Boyan’s fair skin it didn’t look good and was offensive to the eyes.

Ji Wang raised his eyelashes, “General, Xu Xian can’t stay.”

Qi Boyan’s gaze fell directly on his face. Without really entering into the scene and as if reciting an actor’s line he said, “Why are you doing this?”

“Because Mo Ming has loved you for many years.”

He was depressed and in pain, as if his body was being tortured by endless emotions. Even his eyes turned red.

Ji Wang: “”All these years, in my heart…there is only you.” He said this with sincerity.

However his gaze directed at Qi Boyan was equally inept. There was no affection, only indifference and even a trace of boredom.