Let Me Meet You chapter 47

So It Turns Out

By the time they returned to the apartment, it was nearly midnight. Sheng Min had spent the whole day reading in the lounge, and on the way back, he leaned against the passenger seat, resting his eyes.

He seemed unaffected, but if that were truly the case, he wouldn’t have been silent on the way back, not saying a word even though he hadn’t actually fallen asleep. When they stopped at the garage, seeing Sheng Min’s slightly trembling eyelashes, Li Xuan thought to himself, if he truly didn’t care, Sheng Min wouldn’t be avoiding the topic like this.

“Are we there?” Sheng Min opened his eyes.

“Yeah,” Li Xuan glanced at the Cinnamon Roll plush on the center console and waited for Sheng Min to unbuckle his seatbelt before saying, “You go upstairs first. I need to stop by the company.”

Sheng Min paused, “So late…”

“Something came up. Qi Boyuan can’t handle it, I need to go take a look… The program’s too big for the laptop to manage. Plus, some of the files are on the office computer.”

“Ah…” Sheng Min bit his lip. “Then I’ll go with you.”

“No need. You go upstairs first.”

Li Xuan urged again, and despite this, Sheng Min stayed still. He pressed, “It’s really company business?”

“What else?” Li Xuan asked back.

Sheng Min swallowed, “About today, actually…”

“I’m not interested, don’t want to hear it.” For the second time, Li Xuan didn’t give him the chance to continue. His fingers tapped impatiently on the steering wheel. “Go up. Don’t delay me.”

His words were harsh, and he regretted them as soon as they left his mouth. He didn’t want to explain. Sheng Min was silent, opened the car door, and stepped out, but didn’t leave. After standing there for a couple of seconds, he turned back and leaned on the window, asking, “Will you come back tonight?”

His fingers pressed against the car window, turning pale from the force. He was nervous. Li Xuan realized this, and his heart softened.

“I’ll come back. Where else would I go? We still have filming tomorrow.” Li Xuan lowered his voice, “It’s just a small thing, I’ll be done quickly, don’t worry.”

…

After getting home and being called out again, Yang Xu wasn’t upset. He just seemed a bit groggy, almost bumping into the glass when he entered.

Last weekend, the office at the software park, carefully selected by Qi Boyuan, was officially put into use. During the day, everyone except Li Xuan worked there. Compared to the last time Li Xuan came, there were more signs of activity. The desk was stacked with files, and unfinished cookies sat on top. It seemed Qi Boyuan had even placed several pots of plants in his office.

“What’s this place, Ge? I thought you gave me the wrong address when I took the taxi here.”

“Just a place I borrowed from a friend.” Before Yang Xu arrived, Li Xuan had already taken down the nameplate with his name on the door and calmly covered it up. “Just make yourself at home.”

“This looks like the set of a workplace drama.” Yang Xu, believing him, sat down on the couch and asked, “Why are you alone, Ge? Where’s Li Xuan?”

“At home, why do you ask about him?”

“It’s so late, and you’re alone,” Yang Xu said, looking a bit anxious. “Did you guys have another fight?”

Li Xuan found this question annoyingly familiar. He rubbed his nose bridge and asked, “What do you think we fought about this time?”

“What else could it be?”

“I asked you to say it.”

“Because of Qin Zhengchen, your shameless ex-boyfriend!”

Li Xuan had already guessed this, and today he’d gotten several confirmations. Hearing those words clearly made him feel like he had been struck on the crown of his head.

“Is it really because of Qin Zhengchen?” Yang Xu said, sounding resolute. After he said it, seeing no reaction from Li Xuan, he seemed unsure, “He’s too petty. Everyone has an ex. I was scammed by an online lover in high school and lost money—spent a whole week eating free soup in the cafeteria… The song says we should say goodbye to the wrong ones. But honestly, his behavior is off, why don’t you just get rid of him too?”

Yang Xu spoke as if frustrated and asked again, “But how did you tell him… could it be that I…”

Li Xuan glanced at him. “What?”

“Did he guess because I made too big a reaction in the dressing room today?” Yang Xu became anxious and asked again, “It wasn’t really because of me, was it?”

Li Xuan neither confirmed nor denied. Yang Xu grew more uneasy, “…Ge, I know I was impulsive. You didn’t call me out here to settle accounts, did you?”

Li Xuan fiddled with his lighter, the flame flaring up and then extinguishing. “No… Seeing Qin Zhengchen today soured my mood. I couldn’t sleep and wanted to talk.”

“Don’t even mention him. Just seeing him annoys me to death.” Yang Xu circled around the desk and squatted down next to him. He looked at him expectantly, “Ge, don’t act like this, it’s making me feel terrible.”

Li Xuan lowered his eyes. “It’s nothing, just thinking about it again…”

“Don’t think about it. It’s his problem, it’s not your fault.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

Using Sheng Min’s identity to get information from Yang Xu wasn’t too hard for Li Xuan.

On the drive to the software park, he had hesitated. He even hesitated for a long time before calling Yang Xu. He knew it wasn’t right, he shouldn’t do it. But he couldn’t help it. Li Xuan knew his state was off, maybe it wasn’t just today, maybe it had been going on for longer, but he had always deliberately ignored it. Even now, at this moment, he didn’t want to delve into the strange reasons for it.

Since Qin Zhengchen appeared earlier, it felt like a thousand white ants were gnawing at his heart.

He had lied to Sheng Min. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to know. He just didn’t want to hear it from Sheng Min’s mouth.

Li Xuan wasn’t sure how long Yang Xu spoke. He only mechanically asked questions at every pause, subtly guiding him to continue speaking.

By the time the last word fell, Li Xuan felt disoriented, not hearing anything clearly, unable to remember what exactly Yang Xu had said.

He didn’t know what expression he had on his face, but it was probably not good. Because Yang Xu looked like he was about to cry: “Ge, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

The weather forecast said there would be rain that night, and the wind was strong enough to blow the white blackout curtains like sails. Li Xuan stood up to close the balcony window and realized, without noticing, the rain had already begun. The wind blew through his hair, and the silver-white raindrops seemed to string together every word Yang Xu had said.

So this is how it is, Li Xuan thought. So this is how it is.

Sheng Min and Qin Zhengchen met because of Pick Your Moon. Yang Xu wasn’t sure when they started seeing each other. During the recording period, the trainees were under closed management, and Yang Xu could only call him once a week. He had heard Sheng Min mention Qin Zhengchen before, but he also mentioned other trainees, so it didn’t seem out of the ordinary. But as time went on, the frequency of Qin Zhengchen appearing next to Sheng Min in every episode gradually increased. By the time the official group activities started, they still seemed very close.

Boy band fans are always eager to ship people together, and the company actually guided them to create intimate interactions at events or during live streams to cater to fans. Sheng Min didn’t like it when other teammates got too close or overstepped boundaries, and he tried to avoid it. However, he tolerated Qin Zhengchen much more.

Qin Zhengchen was popular and handsome, but at the time, Sheng Min had many popular couple pairings in the group, not just Qin Zhengchen. But the fans who disliked Qin Zhengchen the most were Sheng Min’s fans. They thought he didn’t fit the boy group’s aesthetics, with a low debut rank and often relegated to the sidelines in programs. They believed Sheng Min’s close relationship with him would drag him down. So there was a lot of dissatisfaction.

Despite this, Sheng Min’s attitude didn’t change. Whenever there was a work opportunity, he would recommend Qin Zhengchen, even if it meant sacrificing his own interests.

Yang Xu could only think of one explanation: they were really a couple. Over time, even Zhang Zhihua began to doubt and scolded Sheng Min several times because of it.

When Yang Xu first met Sheng Min, he was still a minor. After graduating from high school, Yang Xu didn’t get into college, and his parents found him a job as a courier, but he didn’t want it. He went to Hengdian to be an extra, often without work for days, and had his money stolen when he wasn’t careful. When he was about to hit rock bottom, he met Sheng Min. Back then, Sheng Min wasn’t famous, and the company didn’t plan to assign him a dedicated assistant or budget for it. But Sheng Min still gave Yang Xu a job, using his own money to subsidize him.

One day, after filming a kissing scene with an actress, Sheng Min returned to the hotel looking very quiet. A few days later, he suddenly woke up Yang Xu in the middle of the night and, without warning, said that he thought he liked men.

At that time, Sheng Min looked confused, just wanting someone to talk to. Half-awake, Yang Xu had asked him who he liked. Sheng Min shook his head and said no one, then added, “I don’t like women.”

Yang Xu thought for a moment and said, “That’s okay. I once really liked our cat and wanted to spend my life with it.” Sheng Min laughed, and Yang Xu laughed too, saying, “Anyway, Ge, you’re still my good friend and boss.”

After that, they never mentioned this again. Sheng Min became too busy and exhausted, his family constantly calling for money. He moved between unreliable sets, always filling an endless hole, with no energy to talk about love.

Even with Qin Zhengchen, Sheng Min had never admitted it.

“It’s not like that, you’re overthinking,” Sheng Min had said helplessly at the time, smiling at Yang Xu. Yang Xu just assumed he was embarrassed.

According to the requirements when they debuted, the group was supposed to be active for a year. But in reality, after just half a year, because of uneven development, the group was essentially in a state of disbandment due to conflicts between the artist’s original agency and the group’s company. Sheng Min also moved out of the villa.

There were almost no more group activities, and his contact with most of the team members decreased, but Qin Zhengchen still frequently reached out to him. At that time, Sheng Min gained more recognition through a campus drama where he played the male lead, and his schedule became busier. On the other hand, Qin Zhengchen’s career stagnated, and rumors began to circulate that he had used underhanded tactics to rise in the industry.

Yang Xu had caught Sheng Min and Qin Zhengchen arguing on the phone more than once over these matters. Sheng Min often seemed troubled by it as well.

So Yang Xu privately approached Qin Zhengchen and foolishly warned him that if they were together, he needed to treat Sheng Min well, or he wouldn’t let him off. Qin Zhengchen only seemed stunned for a moment, then smiled and nodded in agreement.

Of course, things didn’t turn out well.

One night not long after, Yang Xu woke up thirsty in the middle of the night and saw several messages from Sheng Min on his phone, including an address to a hotel on a hillside, asking him to come over. There were also several missed calls. Yang Xu had set his phone to silent before sleep and hadn’t heard them. Sheng Min couldn’t reach him and eventually gave up. The last message said, “If you see this, please call me back.”

The message was sent an hour ago. Yang Xu hurriedly dialed back, but it kept going unanswered. Frantic, he quickly called a taxi to the hotel. As the driver sped up, about two or three kilometers from the hotel, he received a call from a stranger. It was an elderly woman’s voice asking if he was Yang Xu and telling him that his friend was with her but in bad condition.

The elderly woman was using an old phone, unable to send her location. With her unclear description, Yang Xu finally found Sheng Min at dawn, next to a farm behind the hotel on a hillside.

That’s when he realized what “bad condition” meant. Sheng Min’s clothes were torn by branches, there were blood stains on his exposed arms, his body was covered in dust and dirt, half of his face was swollen, and there were bloodstains around his lips. His consciousness wasn’t clear either. Yang Xu called out to him several times without a response, and the worst part was that his right leg was broken.