Scumbag Actor Screwup System

Chapter 37 - Take two

"Am I interrupting something?" asked Xiaosi, eyebrows raised and smiling.

Shen Yuan immediately took his hand back from Xu Tengfei's face and felt the heat on his cheeks as if he'd been caught watching gay tentacle porn. Not that he'd ever watch that.

"We were improvising," replied Xu Tengfei, turning to his cousin but still getting a step closer to Shen Yuan, blocking his view a bit.

"Oh, can I join? I came to stay until tomorrow," he said cheerfully.

"Nice coincidence," said Qinghua, arms crossed but then paused for a moment, one hand raised as if to stop them from talking.

"You know, you should give it a shot as well. What would your version of Luo Binghe do if Shen Qingqiu were to revive? It might bring some interesting ideas."

"Now that's a fun thought," Xiaosi let down his backpack on the queen bed in front of the window and started pacing. Xu Tengfei was frowning hard meanwhile, and on a parallel line of conversation Shen Yuan was silently projecting a "what the fuck" towards Qinghua. Qinghua just smiled a big smile and gave him a thumbs up. What on earth was that supposed to mean?

"Care to set the scene, shizun?" Said Xiaosi, getting closer. Xu Tengfei was still lingering in the middle of their makeshift stage. He moved, dragging his feet as Shen Yuan started explaining.

"I have returned from the dead but you still haven't seen me or heard the news. But roaming around you find me inside my dreams and appear there to face me."

Xiaosi nodded, paused for a few moments to think and slowly he shifted his weight, expressions, his body rearranging to adopt the posture and serious expression of Xu Tengfei. It was uncanny how his body language seemed to turn him into someone else entirely. Shen Yuan stepped back, unnerved at the transformation.

"Shizun is back from the dead," he said, with a confidence that Xu Tengfei showed only sometimes, and in small doses. He was amping up the Luo Binghe in him.

"I'm not." he replied drily, making his best effort not to adopt a defensive stance, "this is a simple dream. You should learn to tell them apart from reality, Luo Binghe." He physically had to force himself not to raise his arms to his torso in a protective stance, to keep himself from looking like a coward.

Xiaosi chuckled, "you speak as if I hadn't trained with a dream demon. My Shizun, are you trying to haunt me? Or was it a lie, that you died? Are you trying to get revenge... or something else?" his tone went from threatening to seductive in a second, a small hand that felt much too big grabbed his chin. Shen Yuan slapped it away.

"I already gave you my life to atone for my sins, now you can leave me alone."

"Was that it? Guilt?" asked Xiaosi, "no regard for your best disciple?"

"None," Shen Yuan's tone was harsh as he spoke and finally he let himself move his arms to the front of his abdomen, hugging himself, in a defensive pose. He was still standing straight though, no slouching, no hiding.

"Then I might as well shatter your dreams. One life isn't enough to make up for all the harm you've done." Now Xiaosi wasn't channeling the timid Xu Tengfei as Luo Binghe but something else. He was the real Luo Binghe, the one from the novel. It was a masterful transition, a flawless execution and it still felt so wrong.

His next line wasn't quite Shen Qingqiu, but Shen Yuan's realization as well.

"It looks like your stay at the abyss taught you more than just techniques. You've lost your humanity and grown your resentment. You can't expect a happy life when your actions are guided by bitterness. I should know. "