CH 46

When he said that, he intentionally didn't move the phone away, so the person on the other end of the phone heard it.

Wen Li's tone changed instantly as she lowered her voice, "Brother Bai Sen?"

Bai Sen coughed and chuckled twice, with a playful tone, "Hmm? It's me, girl. What's up? Practicing your lines?"

Wen Li didn't say anything.

Bai Sen immediately imagined her angry and furious expression, which made him even happier.

Song Yan heard Bai Sen address the person on the phone as "girl" and immediately stood up. He leaned over the table and snatched the phone away.

Bai Sen, still holding up his hand, froze for a moment, and then he snickered even more mischievously.

Song Yan took the phone and put it to his ear. Before he could say anything, there was an angry roar coming from the other end, "Are you that free? Do you have nothing better to do than to answer someone else's call? Or were you planning to eavesdrop on my conversation with Song Yan? Does he not have hands or a mouth to answer his own phone? Where is Song Yan?"

"I'm here," Song Yan replied.

Wen Li fell silent again.

"...Why did you let him answer your call?" Wen Li's tone changed, with a hint of annoyance in her complaint, "Did you want him to laugh at me?"

Song Yan glanced at Bai Sen, who was still smiling with a bent lip, seemingly savoring something. Bai Sen's finger brushed his lips, expressing his amusement.

So annoying.

"He snatched my phone," Song Yan furrowed his brows, moved his gaze away, and asked her softly, "What did you say just now?"

She replied in a muffled and sulky voice, "Nothing. I'm hanging up."

Without waiting for Song Yan to inquire further, she hung up the phone directly.

Song Yan put down the phone and straightforwardly asked Bai Sen, "What did she say on the phone just now?"

Bai Sen blinked his eyes and smiled playfully, "Nothing much. That girl asked when you're coming home."

Song Yan narrowed his eyes and tugged at his lips, "Then why are you laughing like that?"

"It's been a long time since I've talked to her. Today, I heard her voice after a long time, so I'm happy. What's wrong with that?" Bai Sen innocently shrugged, spreading his hands, "After all, we were engaged before. Can't you understand?"

The man lazily leaned back on the sofa, his arm lightly resting on the backrest. His dangling fingers drew circles in the air, following the rhythm of Bach's cello music flowing through the office, exuding an elegant and proud demeanor.

Song Yan stared at him coldly, bypassed the table, and walked up to him. Bai Sen, still unaware, closed his eyes, pretending to be cool. But then, Song Yan grabbed his tie, lifting it slightly without exerting too much force.

"Do you want a beating?"

When Song Yan was in high school, he got into a fight. The reason was that there were very few graduates from their class who were going to take the university entrance exam and they had too much free time during the period leading up to the exam. So the class organized a graduation trip.

Song Yan had to prepare for the university entrance exam and couldn't go. Bai Sen expressed that he would feel lonely without his best buddy around, so he didn't want to go either.

A few friends urged Bai Sen to bring his fiancée along.

Bai Sen immediately refused, "What's that girl going to do? She's not close with the girls in our class."

They said, "She's close to you, right? You two can go together."

Bai Sen laughed again and said, "What about at night? We'll have to share a room with the girls from our class."

A few boys who had recently come of age immediately smirked ambiguously.

"She's your fiancée, after all. Sooner or later, you'll be sharing a bed. Why not enjoy it in advance?"

Bai Sen's face turned cold and he became somewhat unhappy. The boys quickly changed the topic when they saw his expression.

As a result, in the afternoon of that day, those boys got into a fight with Song Yan. The reason was unknown. Song Yan had a cold and indifferent personality and hardly spoke. Except for Bai Sen, his relationship with everyone else was ordinary. When a few hot-blooded boys got into a fight, no one held back.

Because it was close to the university entrance exam and they were all from wealthy families, the matter of the fight was casually dismissed by the headmaster.

Later, those boys immigrated overseas one after another, while Song Yan entered the entertainment industry. This incident was completely buried like that.

At that time, it was a one-against-many situation. Song Yan's injuries were similar to those of the others. It seemed that he could fight.

When Bai Sen thought of this, he immediately surrendered, "She really didn't say much. She just asked when you're coming home. I swear, I'll be single for the rest of my life if I'm lying to you. It's just that..."

Song Yan raised an eyebrow, indicating for him to continue.

"It's just that she sounded sweet and cute," Bai Sen laughed, "She scared me. If she hadn't called out my name later, I would have thought someone possessed her."

Song Yan released his grip on Bai Sen with a complex expression.

Bai Sen adjusted his tie and told him to have a drink to calm down. It's not like he missed anything important, so why the long face?

But Song Yan didn't pay attention to his feelings and simply walked away.

"I'm heading back."

"Going home? Sure, go ahead. That girl probably has something to tell you." Bai Sen waved his hand and said, "Oh, about the show I mentioned earlier, are you going or not?"

Song Yan replied, "Go talk to President Zhang from Jiarui. See if she allows Wen Li to participate."

Bai Sen immediately resisted and frowned decisively, "You want me to go talk to Zhang Churui? I won't."

Song Yan was puzzled, but not interested in pursuing the matter.

"Tell that girl yourself, or you can talk to her manager. It's just a guest appearance anyway. Can't the manager make the decision?"

Song Yan made a sound of agreement, accepting the suggestion.

Seeing that Song Yan was really about to leave, Bai Sen immediately asked, "By the way, Ah Yan. Wen Li's contract with Jiarui is about to expire, right? Does she plan to renew it? If not, why don't you ask her to come to Bai Shi? I guarantee, as long as she's willing to come, we can offer her any conditions."

However, Song Yan said, "Her relationship with Zhang Churui from Jiarui is good. She should renew the contract."

"Good relationship? Impossible. Zhang Churui's original intention for signing that girl wasn't pure. If that girl hadn't become popular so quickly, she probably would have kicked her out long ago."

Song Yan heard his firm tone and asked curiously, "How do you know her intentions weren't pure?"

"...Zhang Churui was my classmate in university," Bai Sen paused, reluctantly saying, "We... dated during our time at university."

"..."

Looking at the indescribable expression on Song Yan's face, Bai Sen shrugged and said, "There's nothing I can do. I'm not like you, King Song. I have such great charm. I have a former fiancée and a former girlfriend. Wen Li is a femme fatale, while I'm a disaster for women."

——

After returning from work, Wen Li had been waiting for Song Yan to come back.

Today, President Zhang told her that the endorsement deal with a game company was almost finalized. The game company happened to launch a mobile version this year, coinciding with the anniversary of the PC version. Needless to say, the endorsement would bring significant exposure and various business activities. Lu Dan attached great importance to it and frequently traveled to Shen City for business trips.

During the time she was waiting for Song Yan to return, Wen Li had been playing the game.

The camera couldn't capture what Wen Li was thinking inside her mind. To the staff members watching the monitors, this was Wen Li's usual state. Even when she was alone at home, she could find ways to entertain herself. Whether Song Yan was at home or not didn't make much difference.

Although their show didn't interfere with the personal schedules of the guests, sometimes couples had their separate work to attend to. Being apart from each other was unavoidable. However, when other couples were separated, they would occasionally cue each other and remind the audience that they were a married couple. But with this couple, when they were apart, they were truly apart, completely doing their own things.

The fans had also come to accept this. After all, they had already savored four episodes of sweetness and had trained their eyes to microscopic levels. The remaining episodes just required a bit of scrutiny.

Finally, Song Yan came back.

In the previous episodes, unless it was scripted by the production team, Wen Li would at most glance at the door when she heard Song Yan return and then continue with her own business.

The staff members had no expectations, as even Teacher Song didn't ask her to come out and greet him. What right did they have to intervene?

However, contrary to their expectations, Wen Li, who had been lying on the bed playing with her phone, suddenly sat up and put on her shoes before walking out of the bedroom.

The director asked, "Does Teacher Wen need to use the bathroom?"

The assistant director said, "There's a bathroom in the master bedroom."

The director asked again, "Is the toilet in the master bedroom broken?"

Just as they were about to ponder whether the toilet in the master bedroom was broken, Wen Li, wearing slippers, leisurely walked to the living room entrance.

Leaning against the wall lazily, she drew circles on the floor with the tip of her slipper.

"You're back?"

"Yeah."

Seeing her rare act of coming out to welcome him, Song Yan subconsciously glanced at the camera and reflexively asked, "Another mission? Why did you come out to greet me?"

Wen Li's eyes flickered, and she said, "Yes, there is a mission."

The director on the monitoring side was puzzled and turned to the scriptwriter, "Did you change the script without my permission?"

The scriptwriter immediately waved his hand, "No! Absolutely not!"

The director was bewildered, "Then what mission is this? I don't remember any mission in this segment. Did Teacher Wen come up with it herself?"

Who knew? Just keep watching, we'll find out what the mission is.

Song Yan changed his shoes and asked, "What mission?"

Wen Li opened her mouth, wondering how to make up a story. The staff members who were monitoring everything unconsciously leaned forward, trying to decipher her lip movements.

But then Wen Li gestured for Song Yan to lean closer. Now, not only could they not hear her, they couldn't even see her lip movements.

The director disliked this bad habit of whispering among the youngsters and dissatisfiedly said, "It's not some state-level secret. Why can't we can't hear?"

When the show airs, the audience will complain in the barrage, saying, "What's the use of the production team?"

Song Yan heard what Wen Li said and raised an eyebrow.

"And then? What do we do specifically?"

"Just stay together," Wen Li whispered in his ear, "That's all."

This mission was so vague and different from the concise and clear mission setups of the previous four episodes.

However, the script for [In This World With You] had always been flexible, constantly adjusted according to the guests' preferences. Song Yan trusted that there was a reason behind it and planned to complete the mission seriously.

He knew that Wen Li usually liked to stay in the bedroom, so he went straight into the bedroom.

Song Yan sat down on the small couch.

"What do you want to do?"

Wen Li looked at the bed, thought of something, then quickly shook her head to dismiss those thoughts, and raised her phone, saying, "Do you want to play a game? 'Sheng Tang Fantasy'. It's the game you endorsed before, they released the mobile version for testing."

Song Yan nodded, "Sure, let's do that."

The two of them huddled together on the small couch, playing the mobile game. Wen Li helped Song Yan create an account and customize his character, buying clothes for his in-game avatar. Eventually, Song Yan simply handed her the phone, letting her handle everything before they continued.

After Wen Li finished setting up, she showed off to him, "Does it look good?"

Song Yan took a glance. The game character's face was modeled after his own, about fifty to sixty percent similar. He had long hair and wore a white robe with golden thread embellishments. As the robe moved, golden light flowed around it. Song Yan knew about the game's visual design, as he had endorsed it before, and it wasn't cheap.

But Wen Li was always someone willing to spend money on in-game purchases. After the game finished loading, the elegant white-robed character arrived in the beginner's village.

Wen Li used the teleportation function to go to the beginner's village to find him.

In the game, the two characters stood together, their ancient-style appearances matching each other. The only difference was that the outfit on her character was the female version, making it more elegant and graceful.

Wen Li was quite narcissistic, so she designed her game character to resemble herself.

They look so good together.

She stared at the screen, feeling a sense of satisfaction.

There was no specific mission for Wen Li in the beginner's village, so she just accompanied Song Yan, following closely behind him even when he was fighting monsters. After all, her level was high, and she had a lot of HP, so she wasn't afraid of being killed by low-level monsters.

They stayed close together, their characters overlapping and intertwined with each other.

Wen Li smiled foolishly.

But here, in this room, they couldn't overlap like that. She leaned towards Song Yan, her shoulder touching his, her thigh pressed against his. He still had that scent of midsummer moonlight, cold and faint, which made her feel comforted yet nervous at the same time.

As they spent more time together, her feelings became clearer.

Song Yan looked at the Wen Li character in the game which was almost becoming one with himself, and asked, "Aren't you supposed to do a mission?"

"My level is higher than yours. Also, the mission is in the main city."

"Then if you find it boring, you can go ahead and do your mission."

"Not bored!" Wen Li blurted out, then bit her lip and awkwardly found an excuse, "It's satisfying to watch newbies defeat low-level monsters."

Song Yan sighed at being called a newbie.

After playing for half an hour, his neck started to feel tired. He shook his head from side to side to relieve the strain, and at that moment, Wen Li's hand reached up.

"Feeling tired in your neck? Let me give you a massage."

Her hands, which had never done any heavy work, were soft and tender. Wen Li didn't like to grow long nails or do manicures, so her nails were always neatly trimmed and round. She wasn't afraid of poking him and unknowingly causing pain. She had never given a massage before, so her technique was simple and inexperienced. She couldn't hit the acupoints properly, and instead of relieving Song Yan's pain, it made it worse. Besides the soreness and stiffness, it suddenly became itchy for no reason.

On the monitor, one person was playing the game, the other was giving a massage. The director was already thinking about the post-production subtitles.

「Half a Day of Leisure.」

Wen Li massaged for a while until her fingers started to feel sore. Song Yan didn't ask her to stop either, so she continued squeezing his neck muscles. Reluctant to let go, she suddenly pursed her lips and asked, "How am I doing? Give me a comment at least."

They were too close, their breaths brushing against each other's ears. Song Yan's fingers paused. He had almost defeated the mini-boss, with only a sliver of health left, when its passive skill was triggered, and it suddenly went berserk, wielding its axe and charging towards him. And then he died.

"You died?" Wen Li blinked and couldn't help but laugh, "You're so bad! Hahaha!"

"..."

Her mocking laughter shattered the warm atmosphere. The director sighed, hoping that this heartwarming scene could last a little longer, perhaps even leading to something more intimate between them.

But it was wishful thinking.

Song Yan pursed his lips, feeling a mixture of anger and helplessness. He couldn't muster a smile and put down his phone, "I'm going to get some water."

"Oh," Wen Li nodded and followed him as he stood up.

She followed him all the way to the refrigerator, watched him take out the bottled water, and followed him to the cabinet to get two glasses. Finally, she watched him pour two glasses of water and handed one to herself.

Wen Li blinked in confusion and shook her head, "I'm not thirsty."

Song Yan smiled, "Then why did you stick to me like a shadow?"

"I want to be with you," she said.

"I'm just getting a drink of water."

"Even drinking water takes two minutes," Wen Li said, "Two minutes count as being apart."

Song Yan's gaze darkened slightly as he turned his head to drink water. As he drank water, the prominent Adam's apple in his throat kept moving.

Even though they both knew it was part of the show, it was still difficult to resist.

After finishing his water, Song Yan didn't rush back to the bedroom. Instead, he headed straight to the bathroom.

Wen Li watched him walk towards the bathroom and assumed he needed to use the toilet. She muttered, "You just drank water and now you need to use the toilet. Your digestive system is really efficient."

She couldn't follow him into the bathroom. It would be too bizarre to watch him use the toilet. Wen Li hadn't reached the level of sticking to him to such an extent.

She turned her head and planned to go back to the bedroom.

However, Song Yan grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the bathroom.

Wen Li was stunned and stammered, "Uh, I don't have a voyeuristic fetish of watching you in the bathroom."

Song Yan retorted, "Didn't you say that even two minutes apart count as being separate?"

Wen Li thought to herself that she was digging her own grave. Then, he pulled her into the bathroom. When Song Yan let go of her, she immediately turned around and faced the wall.

"You can go ahead, I promise I won't peek," she said.

But Song Yan turned her shoulder forcefully, making her face him.

She quickly closed her eyes.

She didn't hear the sound of water, but she felt the hand on her shoulder tightening. Wen Li discreetly opened her eyes and met a pair of eyes with an ambiguous meaning.

He whispered, "There are no cameras in the bathroom. What is this task really about? You can secretly tell me, the production team won't find out."

Wen Li was dumbfounded.

How could she come up with an explanation for this?

With a stubborn tone, she said, "...The task is simply for us to stay together."

"Just stay together? It doesn't mean we can't be apart for even two minutes," Song Yan said. After filming so many episodes, he knew the production team's requirements couldn't be so strict, "You want to be a clingy follower?"

Wen Li frowned in distress and muttered, "I just wanted to be a clingy follower today. Is that not allowed?"

Her heart was pounding uncontrollably. She couldn't distinguish who was at a loss. In the quiet bathroom, the location was indeed not ideal. The faint scent of incense filled the space, which was narrow and dimly lit.

Wen Li was pushed back until her back leaned against the cold, waterproof tiles, and her head hit the tile, making her feel a little dazed.

In the cramped space, the silent struggle and tension, the scratching torment of hearts that were clear yet unwilling to speak, were both torturous and addictive.

This atmosphere was like a slow-acting poison, not delivering a swift blow but gradually spreading its toxins throughout the body, tormenting those who understood it. They hated the torment it brought but couldn't quit because the electric shock triggered by the grazing of feathers against their hearts was enough to compete with the sunlight streaming in at dawn.

Song Yan looked down at her, his voice hoarse as he asked, "Clingy follower, what is your real purpose?"

Wen Li answered in a small and hesitant voice, not addressing his question directly, "Don't you want to kiss me?"

Her question hadn't received consent from her brain; it was purely a result of her thoughts being stirred up.

Sometimes, when dealing with an extremely awkward person, all it takes is a little boldness to catch them off guard.

The response she received was a resigned exhale. Then his lips covered hers.

Of course, there were also earth-shattering shouts from the production team downstairs.

"Why? Why can't we install cameras in the bathroom!!!"

"Director Yan, please calm down... It's illegal to install cameras in the bathroom..."