Ding Ming wiped the exhaust fumes and dust from his face. He seethed with resentment—resentment that transformed into a look of vicious hatred upon his face.
He thought that no one had seen the expression on his face, but he was wrong. Yan Huan had seen everything—his expressions, his feelings, and even his schemes.
Yan Huan got out her phone and sent a message to Lu Yi.
“Will you be coming home tonight?”
She did not have to wait long for Lu Yi’s reply.
“I want to eat noodles tonight.”
“Okay,” was Yan Huan’s reply.
“Yiyi, how about noodles for dinner?”
“Sure.” Yi Ling was not a picky eater. She ate everything and anything—meat, vegetarian, vegan, whatever. “I’ll buy extra noodles, you should invite Lei Qingyi over for dinner, too. We’ve been back in the city for so long now but we haven’t had him over for dinner yet. I’m sure he’s itching to eat your cooking.”
Yi Ling was the type to spring into action as soon as she had come to a decision. She made a bee-line to the supermarket and went inside to get the noodles, leaving Yan Huan in the car.
Yan Huan browsed the internet on her phone as she waited. The hat on her head obscured most of her face. A few curious passersby stopped to stare at the black Hummer, wondering who it belonged to. It was difficult not to stare, given how flashy the car was.
Yi Ling finally returned with huge bags of groceries. She had planned on buying noodles and nothing more, but had ended up getting side-tracked when she saw all the other food she felt like eating.
They were still raw ingredients right now, but they would turn into delicious food soon enough.
Yan Huan counted the bags of groceries in the back seat. She wondered if she should get a maid to help out in their apartment.
Once they returned to their apartment, Yan Huan shed her superstar aura and prepared to cook. She washed her hands and pinned her short bob in place with hairpins. An unruly lock of hair escaped to dangle next to her cheek, waving lightly as she moved about the kitchen. She did not mind; in fact, she liked the way the smooth, silky lock of hair caressed and planted warm kisses upon her cheek.
She heard the front door open. Her guests had arrived.
Yan Huan tucked her hair behind her ear. She had originally planned only on cooking noodles, but Yi Ling had bought so many other ingredients it seemed a waste not to use them.
Luckily, Yan Huan and Yi Ling had returned to their apartment early, which gave Yan Huan plenty of time to prepare dinner. She would be able to serve her guests in a moment.
After dinner, Yi Ling and Lei Qingyi began playing video games. Lu Yi and Yan Huan went out for a walk to help digest their hearty dinner. Yan Huan, who was usually a small eater, had ended up eating until she was full because she had been in a particularly good mood that night.
She knew she could not afford to overeat. She would have to go on a diet if she gained weight.
Yan Huan stopped walking. She tugged Lu Yi’s sleeve.
“What’s wrong?” Lu Yi stopped. He saw the troubled look on her face. “Is something bothering you?”
Yan Huan leaned against the railing behind her. She moved her fingers from Lu Yi’s sleeve to his buttons. She had to hold on to something; she felt uneasy otherwise.
This was a habit of Yan Huan’s that Lu Yi had only recently discovered.
“Lu Yi, I want to ask you to help me with something.”
Yan Huan looked up at him as she tugged at his buttons. Fortunately, the buttons remained firmly in place even as she played with them.
Lu Yi poked her in the forehead, before folding her into his arms. He patted her back comfortingly, as though she were a little girl.
“Good girl. You did the right thing. Don’t forget, I’m not a stranger to you. I’m your family. Your closest family.”
“I know.” Yan Huan grabbed Lu Yi’s buttons again as she inwardly said to herself: You’re my family, my closest family. You’re the person I want to protect in this life. I’ll be strong, strong enough to get rid of all the threats lurking around you—including that ruthless Lu Qin and his equally ambitious mother. I can’t stop now. I have to continue on my journey. I have to earn a lot more money.
…
Ding Ming had been in a bad mood over the last several days. He had planned on getting close to Yan Huan’s manager, Yi Ling, but how was he supposed to do that when he could barely even see her? On top of that, he had failed all of his auditions.
He was reasonably sure that his looks and his acting skills were good enough to net him a supporting role. He already had several shows under his belt, after all. All his roles so far had been bit parts, true, but then again Yan Huan had started out that way, too. No, she had started out even lower down the ladder—she had been a background actor.
Why was she now a superstar, with a never-ending stream of movie offers and a paycheck that grew with every passing day, while he, Ding Ming, was still a complete nobody? It was terribly unfair.
No, I refuse to believe that she’s better than me, he sneered to himself. I refuse to believe that this is my fate. I’ll leech off Yan Huan if it’s the last thing I do! She’s so famous and successful now. She has a responsibility to help her Junior Brother out, right?
He was so absorbed in his own thoughts and schemes he nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his ass. No, it wasn’t just on his ass—it was actively groping it.
“What are y—” Ding Ming had been about to yell in anger when he felt something against his stomach.
“Kid, you better not move. Not unless you want to see your guts on the floor.”
Ding Ming lowered his head. His pupils dilated with fear when he saw the shiny knife against his stomach. He began trembling all over like an autumn leaf in the wintry wind. Large beads of cold sweat rolled off his forehead.
The man kept the knife against Ding Ming’s stomach as he groped the latter’s ass with his other hand. Ding Ming was so disgusted he felt like puking. He was straight, not gay!
But he could only stand rooted in place and let the large man molest him. The man had moved his hand from the back to the front, and was now touching his unmentionables. Ding Ming’s face flamed with anger and humiliation—he wanted badly to dash his head against the wall.
Ding Ming did not realize that someone was watching. A small distance away, Yi Ling sat in her car, gawking at the scene unfolding before her.
She had just looked up when she saw two people kissing and fondling each other…
She had not intended to be a voyeur. She was not a pervert; she did not ogle couples when they made out in public. But when she had been about to look away, she suddenly realized that the couple was not made up of a man and a woman, but two men.
Tsk tsk, BL…
Her interest had immediately been piqued. As the saying goes, every woman was secretly a BL fangirl at heart.
She stared harder, in hopes of being able to make out the juicy details. Under the streetlight, one of the men turned towards her. Her jaw dropped—that man was definitely Ding Ming. She suddenly remembered what Yan Huan had told her: Ding Ming was gay.
