Scumbag Actor Screwup System

Chapter 36 - Back

Shen Yuan's hair was still damp and now he was sitting in a room with Xu Tengfei and Shang Qinghua, sipping on tea as if the whole internet didn't want his hide.

"Dude, you fucked up," said Qinghua.

"No shit. Tell me something I don't know,"

"There are photos of your room circulating online. Some fans actually started a gofundme to get you a nicer place and some are telling the production to raise your salary so you'll return."

Shen Yuan rubbed his forehead. Wonderful, collective pity.

"I told System to negotiate my return on my behalf, so they'll be happy. I can pay for my groceries again now."

"You can stay here all you want though, Shizun, my aunt and uncle are happy to have you, and of course I am too."

Even Xu Tengfei seemed to pity him now, great.

Shen Yuan looked at him, breathed out and attempted a smile.

"Thank you. You're a great kid, you know."

He got a bit of a glare as a reward for his kind comment.

"I'll be 21 next month," replied Tengfei. Qinghua was hiding behind a napkin with a suspiciously mirthful cough.

"The thing is, I'm returning. I know it's foolish to negotiate with terrorists, but honestly I don't give a shit, I just want peace. Even if they don't find my new home, I know how this goes. Some actor actually had to apologize for something he as a character did inside a fanfic, can you believe that? I don't want that. Luckily we don't have quite as big a following but still, I'd rather not risk it. It's not worth the headache to stay away when the job is fun and I get money. So yeah, I'll return. Of course the writing and production team will have a blast since the plot will have to be rewritten and my schedule rearranged, so overtime for everyone including me."

"Yeah, about that," Qinghua put down the napkin and looked at the two actors, "I... was told by the writing team to get your insight on your characters. We- they need some fresh ideas. So could I record you? Just your voices, no video, I promise!"

Shen Yuan paused for a second, then looked at Xu Tengfei who nodded.

"I'd like to help if Shizun doesn't mind."

"Well... okay. I'm fine with it as long as you avoid leaks. I don't want any more trouble."

"No leaks, I promise. Let's start now since we have nothing else to do!" Qinghua put his phone face up on the desk they were using as a makeshift table and fired the first question before they could reconsider, "so what do you think is the most likely way for Shen Qingqiu to revive?"

"Luo Binghe revives him," replied Xu Tengfei with no hesitation. Shen Yuan contained his as best as he could a creeping smile, else Qinghua might tease him forever,

"I doubt it, but it just shows how much like Binghe you are. It's too godlike to have him just get his way- especially if he's really in love with his Shizun," said Qinghua.

Xu Tengfei looked away, frowning a bit, "what's wrong with being too godlike? He's Luo Binghe, he should get to revive the person he loves."

"Revive that asshole? It just wouldn't do morally, even if he died for Binghe, he needs some sort of redemption," said Shen Yuan.

"Dude, we've been redeeming him for a while now," said Qinghua, "haven't you noticed the changes?"

Shen Yuan frowned, "even so... I think it's more likely he'd revive himself. Maybe plot not to be fully dead. Get a new body- steal a corpse or something?"

Xu Tengfei shook his head, "then he'd have another body- that wouldn't do. They want you as the actor after all."

Shen Yuan was about to protest but Qinghua interrupted.

"How about he grows himself a duplicate? We can have some magical plant plot or something of that sort."

Shen Yuan paused, "yeah, that might be even better. No dirty rotting corpse, and no having to explain why he isn't going back to his old one."

"I still think Binghe would attempt to revive him," said Xu Tengfei, the stubborn boy.

"Yeah you know Binghe best. But I'm sure Liu Qingge wouldn't let you steal his beloved shixiong to play necromancy," replied Qinghua, giving Shen Yuan an odd entertained look.

"Beloved might be a bit of an overkill- he's a man of honor. He probably wouldn't let someone desecrate Shen Qingqiu's body-" Shen Yuan was interrupted by Tengfei right away.

"There'd be no desecrating, Luo Binghe is decent! He probably wouldn't even dare to peek under his Shizun's robes!"

"I meant with infernal magic, not something else."

Qinghua was covering his mouth yet again so as not to laugh and Xu Tengfei was growing visibly red. As he should, little horndog thinking of necrophilia. Shen Yuan really needed a spray bottle or his fan.

"Well, it could always be all of it. Have Shen Qingqiu painfully revive himself to a sort of half life, Liu Qingge and Luo Binghe fighting over the corpse and then some other conflict- that's to be seen. But you two, could you try to roleplay a conversation when meeting?" Qinghua seemed to be on fire, barely even pretending he wasn't the author behind all of this. If Xu Tengfei noticed, he said nothing.

"A conversation? What's the setting," asked Shen Yuan.

"Shen Qingqiu has revived himself in another body and Luo Binghe finds him in a dream."

Xu Tengfei got up from his seat, nodding while thinking. Following his cue, Shen Yuan did the same, mentally visualizing his robes and standing up with a dignified posture.

"Shizun... are you real? You feel real but your body..." Xu Tengfei trailed off, still a bit stiff as if not quite into the scene. Shen Yuan didn't correct him, he just reacted.

"I'm a ghost. Go back to your life, Luo Binghe. I've heard you've been trying to get me back- it's useless. I was a bad person, I deserve to remain dead."

"You don't! Shizun!" he stepped closer, a sort of desperation in his eyes he tempered by closing them for a moment, "I know you died for me."

Should he be selfless? No, doing it once was more than enough. Shen Qingqiu couldn't redeem himself so fully, so fast. It felt off. And yet...

"You idealize me, I only did what I had to do. How can you return to someone who stabbed you in the back?"

His voice sounded more pleading than it should. The thought of being an asshole to Xu Tengfei crossed his mind again. How he'd pushed him away and misjudged him.

"You did it to teach me, I understand it now. I understand everything Shizun did was out of love."

Shen Qinqiu's eyes warmed up, filled with sadness.

"I wish it really were so. If I were born again I'd try to be kinder- but only death could erase my selfishness and cruelty," his words were lower, he was looking down in shame so he heard rather than saw Xu Tengfei approach him. Then Shen Yuan's hand was lifted and kissed, the tip of his fingers against the young man's soft lips.

There he was, large and broad chested and leaning his cheek into Shen Yuan's hand and how could one resist stroking his face? How could you not pity poor Luo Binghe, in love with someone who didn't deserve it?

"Shizun... forgive me for being the reason you're dead."

Xu Tengfei's voice cracked a bit and Shen Yuan got closer, leaning in.

Here's the thing with quantum physics, or as far as Shen Yuan understood from a failed semester: the observer influences the state of the electron. If nobody had been watching Shen Yuan slowly leaning in, the spin might have been romantic or non romantic. Nobody was asking anything, Qinghua was just sitting silently as if he wasn't there and Shen Yuan was entranced, feeling someone else's feelings, wanting to make Luo Binghe feel better. What might have happened is anyone's guess, but just then, someone decided to introduce an observer. The door opened and the disturbing photon, Xu Xiaosi, walked in to measure the situation. 

----Next Chapter - Chapter 37 - Take two