Yao Shen is dreaming again.
He recognizes the silk-draped pavilion and that same smell of cloying incense immediately.
He's in much the same position as before, reclining on the chaise lounge, his robes open around him, Xin Hulei with his long hair streaming down his broad back, looking down at him from between Yao Shen's spread thighs. Except this time Xin Hulei isn't on the floor, but balanced above Yao Shen's body with a knee up on the sofa.
"Is young master a virgin?" Xin Hulei asks, his voice just as silken as Yao Shen remembers it from moments ago.
Yao Shen wants to tell him to fuck off.
Instead, the him in the dream, lowers his lashes shyly and makes a sort of noncommittal sound, which is all the confirmation Xin Hulei needs.
Xin Hulei smiles, almost unguarded, and cups the back of Yao Shen's nape, dropping a soft kiss to his trembling lips. "I'm flattered," he says, and sounds like he means it. "We'll learn together. It's my first time too."
---
Yao Shen wakes up with a start. His heart beating frantically inside his chest.
The sun is filtering in through the blinds, but he can tell it's still early out.
He can't believe he's so pathetic that he would have a dream in which Xin Hulei was a virgin too. If it was possible he'd file a complaint against his own subconscious for moral damages.
It's only when he sits up on the couch that he realizes that there's a soft blanket covering him. Xin Hulei must have gotten up after Yao Shen fell asleep and got it for him.
He runs his fingers over the blanket's soft fuzz, wondering how long Xin Hulei waited before coming out to the living room to check on Yao Shen.
"Good morning," Xin Hulei says from behind the kitchen counter, startling Yao Shen into dropping the edge of the blanket as if scalded.
Xin Hulei is holding a mug of steaming tea between his cupped palms, his inscrutable gaze fixed on Yao Shen.
"Take me back to my room," Yao Shen says, rubbing the back of his neck just to have something to do with his hands.
"Do you want to have something to eat first?" Xin Hulei asks.
Yao Shen shakes his head. "No, I want to leave."
Xin Hulei finishes the last of his tea and approaches Yao Shen with measured steps, his expression unchanging. "Alright."
Yao Shen manages not to flinch away when one of Xin Hulei's arms wraps around his waist.
He steps away from Xin Hulei's embrace as soon as they materialize inside his hotel room.
"I'll see you later on set," Yao Shen says, opening the door for Xin Hulei.
"Did I do something to offend you?" Xin Hulei asks, stopping just outside the doorway.
Yao Shen smiles. "No, you were the perfect gentleman," he says, and slams the door closed in Xin Hulei's face.
No sooner is the door closed than a familiar voice rings inside his mind.
[Congratulations Host, for growing 40% closer to the Demon King. Fifth reward unlocked: Underground level access. This System apologizes for once again losing connection with Host for a period of several hours.]
Yao Shen doesn't really care about the reward, but he is jealous that the System has no memory of the previous hours. A small, bitter part of him wishes he could say the same.
---
Bi Jialu asks him what's going on all through their ride towards set, and through hair and makeup when they arrive. Yao Shen keeps reassuring her everything is fine.
He's only glad that he won't have to shoot any scenes with Xin Hulei today.
Most of his day will be spent either shooting with Gao Wu, or with secondary characters as all the the sect leaders and masters gather for the conference, and some of the trouble starts brewing already.
The atmosphere is tense between him and Gao Wu during the first few takes of their first scene of the day together.
Yao Shen waits until the director calls for a break to clear things up.
"Whatever Xin Hulei told you, just ignore it," he says, while both of them are standing under the shade of a large umbrella, the production crew standing nearby.
Gao Wu looks down at him, his eyes wide. "Does that mean that gege and him, aren't-"
Yao Shen cuts him off before he can elaborate further. "There's nothing between us."
Gao Wu is silent for a long time, and then his handsome face breaks into a sunny smile. "Would it be inappropriate of me to say I'm glad?"
Would it?
Yao Shen still doesn't know what Gao Wu was doing snooping around in his trailer, but it's not like anyone locks their doors around set. He wasn't breaking and entering or anything like that.
Ultimately, Yao Shen finds that he doesn't care.
He never considered dating a guy, but if there's anything this whole mess with Xin Hulei proves is that he might not be adverse to the idea.
Gao Wu is handsome, he's funny, he's nice to Yao Shen. He smiles so sweetly each time he calls him gege.
A small wounded part of Yao Shen likes the attention, likes knowing he's wanted -- desired even. He might not be good enough for Xin Hulei, but Gao Wu likes him well enough.
Maybe he should try. Who knows, maybe things can work out with Gao Wu in all the ways they haven't with his previous relationships.
He meets Gao Wu's eyes and shakes his head. "Not inappropriate," he says, and smiles himself when Gao Wu's brilliant smile dimples his cheeks a little.
Shooting goes much smoother after that. They're comfortable around each other as they go through the scene in which Rong Zi shares with Yan Shuyi's his concerns that Xie Huan might be taking in increasingly bigger risks because two disciples from rival sets keep taunting him.
What he doesn't tell Yan Shuyi is that those disciples have been publicly trying to slander Yan Shuyi. Implying that he rose through the ranks of Frozen Peak to become a grandmaster by lowly means.
It's purposefully left unclear in the script whether Xie Huan's anger at those claims is related to his budding feelings for Yan Shuyi already, or due to the implications that any claims against Yan Shuyi's honor affect him as well.
The audience is left to draw their own conclusions.
Xie Huan's reaction is to outdo everyone severely in each round of the competition, sweeping all the prizes and boasting about his victory without an inch of humility, drawing not only the rage of the disciples who initially slandered Yan Shuyi but everyone else's too.
Rong Zi hears the same damning remarks, but instead of making a public spectacle about it, he sneaks into those disciple's rooms and tampers with their weapons so they'll make fools of themselves in front of all the gathered audience.
Yao Shen much prefers this course of action -- it's a pity that's it's Rong Zi's actions together with all the uncharitable feelings that Xie Huan is earning that will lead to the events that follow.