Deep in the Act: Chapter 39

The car sent to pick up Zhen Xin was a very unremarkable little Buick. They weren’t sending him to the Ocean Star either, but to the Grand Hyatt two streets away. Sunglasses, face masks, and such were prepared by the production crew. Xiao Wang accompanied him all the way up to the room. Zhen Xin felt terrible. His left ear was swollen and painful, like a hand was gripping it hard. He hadn’t filmed the left side of his face all day. Chen Zhengsen had adjusted the camera angles again. The old man was furious. Once inside the room, Xiao Deng pulled the curtains shut for him and asked, “Teacher Zhen, what do you want to eat? I’ll buy it and bring it up.”

Zhen Xin said something random and went to the bathroom to shower. He pulled off his hoodie over his head and accidentally scraped his ear. It hurt so much he gritted his teeth and cursed. Xiao Wang was about to leave when he heard him through the door and asked, “Teacher Zhen, do you want me to buy some medicine?”

Zhen Xin felt like a complete loser, practically an idiot asking for trouble. “No need.” He turned on the shower, stuck his head under to wash his hair, when his phone pinged with a text message.

He picked it up and looked. It was from Zhang Zhun, just four short words: Hotel, room number.

Grand Hyatt, 1638. By the time he got to the 6, he felt like he was truly stupid enough. His finger tapped, and he called back. It rang for a long time before the other side picked up. “Hello,” it was Zhang Zhun’s voice, sounding nervous. “Why are you calling back!”

He was angry. For some reason, Zhen Xin found this amusing, and in his usual carefree way, he actually smiled. “Grand Hyatt, 1638,” he leaned against the black and gold industrial mosaic tiles, saying softly, “I’ll wait for you.”

There was no sound on the other end, but he could hear noisy background sounds, probably reporters. Someone was shouting loudly. Zhen Xin heard his own name, and “single again,” “marriage.”

“I’m hanging up.” Zhang Zhun said he was hanging up, but didn’t. Zhen Xin was too flustered to know what to say. Purely to prolong this call, he said, “It hurts so much.”

There was something a bit spoiled and whiny about it. Zhang Zhun was exactly the type to fall for this. “It’s fine, I’m coming over now.”

“It really hurts. I bumped it just now when I was taking off my clothes. I was thinking of you the whole time to endure it.”

What a smooth talker, Zhang Zhun thought. But when the words came out, there was something a bit shy about them. “Come on, ‘the whole time,'” his voice was sticky, carrying a smile. “The swelling will go down. Don’t get it wet.”

Zhen Xin’s heart itched with longing. He glanced at the showerhead gushing water beside him and reached up to turn it off. “Then hurry,” he said cheekily. “The faster the better.”

“Alright, I got it.”

The call ended. Zhen Xin called Xiao Wang and told him not to come back. Xiao Wang was a bit confused, carrying takeout and turning back, heading toward the Ocean Star. Because the two hotels were so close, he ran into Zhang Zhun halfway. He was surprised and called out, “Zhun ge!”

Zhang Zhun was walking in a hurry and got a fright when he heard it. Seeing it was him, his expression was a bit unnatural. It was dark and Xiao Wang couldn’t see clearly. Without reading the room, he asked, “It’s so late, ge, you’re still going out?”

“Ah, going out to grab a bite.”

“Don’t wander around,” Xiao Wang meant well. “With this whole Teacher Zhen marriage thing, there are reporters everywhere!”

A harmless remark, but Zhang Zhun felt wounded by it. “It’s fine, I…” He lowered his eyes. “They won’t notice me.”

Just then a car passed by, its headlights pressing a umbrella shaped beam of light across his face. It was only a flash, but Xiao Wang witnessed some kind of icy sorrow, frozen on his eyelashes, embedded at his temples. He seemed struck dumb, not knowing what to say for the longest time.

“You’re busy.” Zhang Zhun curved his lips slightly, saying goodbye first, brushing past him toward the Grand Hyatt. Xiao Wang couldn’t say why, but he stood there, looking back the whole time. After looking for a while he didn’t know what he was looking at anymore, and shook his head inexplicably, walking toward the hotel.

The Grand Hyatt had quite a few people too. Zhang Zhun crossed the lobby, took the elevator up, turned left on the 16th floor, first room on the right at the end. He rang the bell, and the door opened immediately. The lights weren’t on. A hand reached out and pulled him in, exactly as he had imagined. A wet kiss greeted him face on. An unfamiliar environment, pitch black vision, and a man. In the past he wouldn’t have dared to even think about such things. Now he was wantonly sticking out his tongue, wriggling and asking to be bitten. And when he was bitten, he still wrestled and churned.

Their breathing tangled into chaos. No matter how he was sucked and licked, it never felt like enough. Experience only told him how to tease women. Unrelieved restlessness drove him to use force and take the initiative. But Zhen Xin wouldn’t give way. In the tug of war mixed with lust, Zhang Zhun accidentally bumped his swollen red ear. Zhen Xin cried out and stopped.

Turning on the light kind of killed the mood. Zhang Zhun turned away in shame, but still worried, blushing as he leaned in. “Let me see.”

Zhen Xin didn’t seem very happy. When Zhang Zhun stood on tiptoe to look at his ear, he seemed quite unenthusiastic. Zhang Zhun sensed this and asked him, “What’s wrong?”

Zhen Xin glanced at him. “Didn’t we agree,” he reached back and pinched Zhang Zhun’s waist. “In bed I get first pick.” As if to illustrate this point, he pushed Zhang Zhun against the wall and shamelessly pressed against him. “I want to be on top.”

Zhang Zhun vaguely understood what he meant, his expression turning ambiguous. “It’s not like we’re a man and a woman, what’s all this top and bottom business.”

“No,” Zhen Xin kissed his mouth with a lecherous look, peck by peck. “When we get in bed later…”

Zhang Zhun pushed him, putting on an angry act. “What kind of filthy nonsense is in your head.” He pulled a bag out of his pocket and sat on the edge of the bed. “Come here.”

Zhen Xin obediently went over and sat beside him, stealing glances at him out of the corner of his eye. In Zhang Zhun’s hand was a bag of earrings. When the bag opened, a pleasant smell of alcohol came out. “I found a few platinum ones,” he poured them out and held them in his palm. “They’ll heal faster if you wear them.”

Zhen Xin was curious about those little things since Zhang Zhun had worn them before. “Platinum ones huh…” Zhang Zhun noticed his hand wanted to reach into his pants pocket, but he seemed a bit embarrassed. “What are you doing?” he asked.

Zhen Xin played dumb. “What?”

Zhang Zhun pointed at his pants pocket. “What’s in there?”

Zhen Xin’s face suddenly flushed red, all awkward and squirmy. “Don’t laugh at me…” He also pulled a small bag from his pants pocket. Inside was a pair of earrings, very ugly and clumsy heart shapes. He muttered, “That was all they had there…”

Zhang Zhun stared at that pair of extraordinarily ugly earrings, his eyes widening in surprise. “Where did you get your ears pierced?”

“Outside the filming location, isn’t there a little plaza on the left? Go forward and there’s a small shop on the street.” The more he spoke, the less confident Zhen Xin felt. “The shop owner said they were silver…”

Zhang Zhun didn’t know what to say. “You got your ears pierced, fine. Why buy this kind of thing.”

“I was thinking…” Zhen Xin turned his head, looking at him very seriously. “We’d wear a matching pair.”

That fervent gaze made Zhen Xin’s whole person seem to shine. Zhang Zhun almost agreed. But at the last moment, reason won out. “No, too ugly.”

Zhen Xin didn’t say anything, his head down fiddling with the bag of earrings. He was somewhat deflated. At this moment Zhang Zhun got up and straddled him, one knee on the edge of the bed, pouring the earrings into his hand. “Pick one.”

Three or four platinum earrings, some hollowed out, some with diamonds. Zhen Xin took a liking to the most unremarkable one, a little fish with its tail curled, and if you looked closely, the tip of the tail was biting into the fish’s mouth. Suddenly there was a pain in his ear. Zhang Zhun had pulled out the piercing gun stud. He held up that fish, and his earlobe suddenly grew hot. The swollen nerve took a moment to react. That wet, stinging sensation was Zhang Zhun’s mouth.

Zhang Zhun held him in his mouth, his tongue like a swaying fin, teasing and licking. Zhen Xin swallowed, his arms circling the straight waist in front of him. His muscles trembled, his breathing quickened, and his hands unconsciously held tighter and tighter. Zhang Zhun was squeezed breathless, his fingertips lightly touching his face, his brow bone, nose bridge, philtrum. Zhen Xin bit those fingers in one gulp, like a starving infant, sucking them hard into his mouth.

“Goodbye my almost lover, goodbye my hopeless dream…”

Zhen Xin didn’t answer. Zhang Zhun stopped, looking down at him tenderly. Zhen Xin was swallowing his index and middle fingers, using his tongue to sweep through the gaps at the base of the fingers. Zhang Zhun’s eyes were moist, like a ripe lotus seed pod about to burst. He tried to pull his fingers out of his mouth.

“I’m trying not to think about you, can’t you just let me be…”

“Answer it.” Zhang Zhun said. Only then did Zhen Xin pull out his phone. He didn’t press answer, but speaker. Feng Yunting’s voice rang out, “Honey, turn on the TV. Southern Entertainment.”

Zhen Xin unwillingly held onto Zhang Zhun’s hand, lightly biting his fingertips with unfinished longing. Zhang Zhun lifted his leg and got down, picking up the remote to turn on the screen. The picture switched rapidly with his clicks until Feng Yunting’s face appeared. Her makeup was carefully done, her dress and accessories thoughtfully coordinated. When the flashbulbs went off, she was so dazzling and brilliant. “Zhen Xin and I have never discussed marriage,” she said. “As for the so called Weibo leak, the police have already gotten involved.”

The reporters weren’t satisfied, their cameras and microphones pressing in on her relentlessly. “Is this your one sided explanation? Does Teacher Zhen feel the same way?”

Feng Yunting didn’t answer immediately. Instead she fell into a richly suggestive silence. When this blank space had enough room for imagination, she took a deep breath, looking very helpless and exhausted. “In fact… Zhen Xin and I are planning to break up.”

This was genuine explosive news. You could feel the tension on site even through the screen. The flashbulbs flashed even faster, microphones being fought over and thrust forward. Feng Yunting still maintained very natural acting skills amid this siege. “It was the fake marriage news that made us think a lot. About this relationship, we both want some quiet time.”

A reporter immediately asked, “Then Miss Feng, may I ask who brought up the breakup?”

This was a sharp question. Feng Yunting thought for a moment. “It was me. He agreed,” she seemed very magnanimous, young but able to hold the stage. “Maybe many people think I was in a weak position in this relationship. With the breakup news announced, they’ll think I was played. Taking this opportunity, I want to say that Zhen Xin and I were just an ordinary couple dating. There were no transactions, no ulterior motives. He is a person worthy of respect. I hope media friends can view this matter with a normal heart.”

“Miss Feng!” The reporters were still pressing. “From announcing the relationship to breaking up, just a few days. You say there’s no deal behind it. It’s reported that you just signed a luxury car endorsement. May I ask…”

Feng Yunting was escorted away by staff. A scrolling ticker appeared at the bottom of the screen, and a voiceover sounded, “Southern Entertainment, reporting for you.”

Zhang Zhun turned off the TV and threw down the remote, showing no particular expression. Zhen Xin only felt that when he straddled him again, he was softer than before, and also seemed hotter, carrying an intimate air. He passed him the little fish, and in an instant his left ear hurt fiercely. He lifted his head wanting to say something sweet, but Zhang Zhun beat him to it, sealing his mouth with a kiss.

A very passionate, hold nothing back kiss. Zhang Zhun straddled him with both legs, pulling his neck back, his fingers rubbing through the fluffy curly hair. He kissed hot and urgent, looking fully aroused. The earrings rolled off his palm. Zhen Xin’s hands supported the protruding butterfly bones that shifted with his writhing. Those two bones were sometimes docile, sometimes restless, stirring his desire to conquer.

He wanted to grab his butt and flip him over. He only thought about it because he was slow again. Zhang Zhun, that ripe lotus seed pod, only swayed in his palm before breaking off and falling, falling into the sea like center of the bed. Before Zhen Xin could react, he grabbed his collar and pulled him on top of him, looking at him with burning urgency.

Zhen Xin was a bit dazed, propped above him, looking down foolishly. Zhang Zhun blinked his crimson eye corners and said softly, “Didn’t you say you wanted to be on top…”

Zhen Xin could hardly believe his initiative, and of course his yielding. They were both men, who was under whom? He understood this as Zhang Zhun’s love for him. “Are you being too… indulgent with me?”

Zhang Zhun looked at him very attentively, carefully, gently, as if to hide his shame, saying in a muffled voice, “Are we doing this or not? If not, get off.”

Zhen Xin immediately started pulling off his pants. Zhang Zhun was a bit nervous, uneasily staring at his own lower body. Watching his outer pants and underwear both being pulled down, he turned away and bit his lip. Zhen Xin saw this and knew he was afraid. His hands were impatiently stripping his clothes, but his mind was thinking of all the things along the way. That tentative kiss during the audition, the daily passionate indulgence during the adjustment period, and that punch in the bathroom… They boldly “made love” in front of the camera, cautiously kissed in corners where no light reached. They burned hotly, yet the world saw not a trace of smoke…

He suddenly stopped. Zhen Xin was breathing heavily as he let go. Zhang Zhun looked at him blankly, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”

“If I said I don’t want to do it right now,” Zhen Xin covered his forehead. “Would you hit me?”

Zhang Zhun awkwardly pulled his clothes down to cover his already hardened nipples. “Why…”

“I want to go back.”

The answer was beyond Zhang Zhun’s expectation. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. “Back to the hotel?” Both hands covering his slightly erect lower body, he didn’t want to look too ridiculous. “What for?”

“I need to talk,” Zhen Xin looked at him frankly, very firm. “Some things, I should say them myself.”

Zhang Zhun seemed to understand his thinking. “Forget it,” he persuaded. “We work in this industry. Don’t take it too seriously.”

But Zhen Xin wasn’t one to take advice. “You sleep first. Wait for me to come back.”

He got out of bed to put on sunglasses and a mask. Zhang Zhun sat there dumbly watching him, then suddenly said, “You don’t have to be this good to me.”

Zhen Xin’s hand on the door paused. Then he turned around, presenting his left face toward him. “Handsome, right,” the little fish earring flashed. “Watch TV later. This is how handsome I’ll look.”